3,450 research outputs found
The Pioneer Anomaly and a Machian Universe
We discuss astronomical and astrophysical evidence, which we relate to the
principle of zero-total energy of the Universe, that imply several relations
among the mass M, the radius R and the angular momentum L of a "large" sphere
representing a Machian Universe. By calculating the angular speed, we find a
peculiar centripetal acceleration for the Universe. This is an ubiquituous
property that relates one observer to any observable. It turns out that this is
exactly the anomalous acceleration observed on the Pioneers spaceships. We have
thus, shown that this anomaly is to be considered a property of the Machian
Universe. We discuss several possible arguments against our proposal.Comment: 6 pages including front page. Publishe
Conformal Scalar Propagation on the Schwarzschild Black-Hole Geometry
The vacuum activity generated by the curvature of the Schwarzschild
black-hole geometry close to the event horizon is studied for the case of a
massless, conformal scalar field. The associated approximation to the unknown,
exact propagator in the Hartle-Hawking vacuum state for small values of the
radial coordinate above results in an analytic expression which
manifestly features its dependence on the background space-time geometry. This
approximation to the Hartle-Hawking scalar propagator on the Schwarzschild
black-hole geometry is, for that matter, distinct from all other. It is shown
that the stated approximation is valid for physical distances which range from
the event horizon to values which are orders of magnitude above the scale
within which quantum and backreaction effects are comparatively pronounced. An
expression is obtained for the renormalised in the
Hartle-Hawking vacuum state which reproduces the established results on the
event horizon and in that segment of the exterior geometry within which the
approximation is valid. In contrast to previous results the stated expression
has the superior feature of being entirely analytic. The effect of the
manifold's causal structure to scalar propagation is also studied.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures. Published on line on October 16, 2009 and due to
appear in print in Gen.Rel.Gra
Integrated monitoring of water allocation reform in South Africa
South Africa faces significant inequities in the allocation of water for productive purposes. Water allocation is one component of a wider government mandate to address the inequities of the past. Water allocation reform is being implemented by the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), through the Water Allocation Reform (WAR) Programme. This paper presents an approach for determining indicators that can be used to monitor targets for WAR and for prioritising areas for specific WAR interventions. The approach integrates water use data with environmental, economic and equity data to provide a holistic picture of the progress and benefits of WAR. Limitations of the approach are discussed, specifically related to the data on which the indicators are based. The development of data for the equity indicator presents specific challenges which are discussed through examples from its application in four case study areas.Keywords: monitoring, water allocation reform, equity, indicators, South Afric
Fractal Structure of Random Matrices
A multifractal analysis is performed on the universality classes of random
matrices and the transition ones.Our results indicate that the eigenvector
probability distribution is a linear sum of two chi-squared distribution
throughout the transition between the universality ensembles of random matrix
theory and Poisson
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Common Cortical Loci Are Activated during Visuospatial Interpolation and Orientation Discrimination Judgements
There is a wealth of literature on the role of short-range interactions between low-level orientation-tuned filters in the perception of discontinuous contours. However, little is known about how spatial information is integrated across more distant regions of the visual field in the absence of explicit local orientation cues, a process referred to here as visuospatial interpolation (VSI). To examine the neural correlates of VSI high field functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study brain activity while observers either judged the alignment of three Gabor patches by a process of interpolation or discriminated the local orientation of the individual patches. Relative to a fixation baseline the two tasks activated a largely over-lapping network of regions within the occipito-temporal, occipito-parietal and frontal cortices. Activated clusters specific to the orientation task (orientation>interpolation) included the caudal intraparietal sulcus, an area whose role in orientation encoding per se has been hotly disputed. Surprisingly, there were few task-specific activations associated with visuospatial interpolation (VSI>orientation) suggesting that largely common cortical loci were activated by the two experimental tasks. These data are consistent with previous studies that suggest higher level grouping processes -putatively involved in VSI- are automatically engaged when the spatial properties of a stimulus (e.g. size, orientation or relative position) are used to make a judgement
Evidence for internal field in graphite: A conduction electron spin resonance study
We report conduction electron spin resonance measurements performed on highly
oriented pyrolitic graphite samples between 10 K and 300 K using S (f = 4 GHz),
X (f = 9.4 GHz), and Q (f = 34.4 GHz) microwave bands for the external
dc-magnetic field applied parallel (H || c) and perpendicular (H perp c) to the
sample hexagonal c-axis. The results obtained in the H || c geometry are
interpreted in terms of the presence of an effective internal
ferromagnetic-like field Heff-int(T,H) that increases as the temperature
decreases and the applied dc-magnetic field increases. We associate the
occurrence of the Heff-int(T,H) with the field-induced metal-insulator
transition in graphite and discuss its origin in the light of relevant
theoretical models.Comment: 10 pages (tex), 5 figures (ps
Critical slowing down in the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd_2Ti_2O_7
Longitudinal-field muon spin relaxation experiments have been carried out in
the paramagnetic state of single-crystal Gd_2Ti_2O_7 just above the phase
transition at T_m = 1.0 K. At high applied fields the exponential relaxation
time T_1 is proportional to field, whereas T_1 saturates below a crossover
field B_c that is ~2.5 T at 1.5 K and decreases as T_m is approached. At low
fields the relaxation rate increases markedly as the freezing temperature is
approached, as expected for critical slowing down of the spin fluctuations, but
the increase is suppressed by applied field. This behavior is consistent with
the very long autocorrelation function cutoff time implied by the low value of
B_c.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to 10th International Conference on
Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation, and Resonance, Oxford, UK, August 200
Effect of annealing on glassy dynamics and non-Fermi liquid behavior in UCu_4Pd
Longitudinal-field muon spin relaxation (LF-muSR) experiments have been
performed in unannealed and annealed samples of the heavy-fermion compound
UCu_4Pd to study the effect of disorder on non-Fermi liquid behavior in this
material. The muon spin relaxation functions G(t,H) obey the time-field scaling
relation G(t,H) = G(t/H^gamma) previously observed in this compound. The
observed scaling exponent gamma = 0.3 pm 0.1, independent of annealing. Fits of
the stretched-exponential relaxation function G(t) = exp[-(Lambda t)^K] to the
data yielded stretching exponentials K < 1 for all samples. Annealed samples
exhibited a reduction of the relaxation rate at low temperatures, indicating
that annealing shifts fluctuation noise power to higher frequencies. There was
no tendency of the inhomogeneous spread in rates to decrease with annealing,
which modifies but does not eliminate the glassy spin dynamics reported
previously in this compound. The correlation with residual resistivity
previously observed for a number of NFL heavy-electron materials is also found
in the present work.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to 10th International Conference on
Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation, and Resonance, Oxford, UK, August 200
Understanding High-Temperature Superconductors with Quantum Cluster Theories
Quantum cluster theories are a set of approaches for the theory of correlated
and disordered lattice systems, which treat correlations within the cluster
explicitly, and correlations at longer length scales either perturbatively or
within a mean-field approximation. These methods become exact when the cluster
size diverges, and most recover the corresponding (dynamical) mean-field
approximation when the cluster size becomes one. Here we will review systematic
dynamical cluster simulations of the two-dimensional Hubbard model, that
display phenomena remarkably similar to those found in the cuprates, including
antiferromagnetism, superconductivity and pseudogap behavior. We will then
discuss results for the structure of the pairing mechanism in this model,
obtained from a combination of dynamical cluster results and diagrammatic
techniques.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures; submitted to proceedings of M2S-HTSC VIII,
Dresden 200
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