2,886 research outputs found
Star Maps and Travelling to Ceremonies -- the Euahlayi People and Their Use of the Night Sky
The Euahlayi people are an Australian Aboriginal language group located in
north-central New South Wales and south-central Queensland. They have a rich
culture of astronomy, and use of the night sky in resource management. Like
several other Aboriginal peoples, they did not travel extensively at night, and
so were assumed not to use the night sky for navigation. This study has
confirmed that they, like most other Aboriginal groups, travelled extensively
outside their own country for purposes of trade and ceremonies. We also found
that, previously unknown, they used star maps in the night sky for learning and
remembering waypoints along their routes of travel, but not for actual
navigation. Further research may find that this was common to many Aboriginal
groups in Australia.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure
Superconductivity in CoO Layers and the Resonating Valence Bond Mean Field Theory of the Triangular Lattice t-J model
Motivated by the recent discovery of superconductivity in two dimensional
CoO layers, we present some possibly useful results of the RVB mean field
theory applied to the triangular lattice. Away from half filling, the order
parameter is found to be complex, and yields a fully gapped quasiparticle
spectrum. The sign of the hopping plays a crucial role in the analysis, and we
find that superconductivity is as fragile for one sign as it is robust for the
other. NaCoOHO is argued to belong to the robust case, by
comparing the LDA Fermi surface with an effective tight binding model. The high
frequency Hall constant in this system is potentially interesting, since it is
pointed out to increase linearly with temperature without saturation for T
T.Comment: Published in Physical Review B, total 1 tex + 9 eps files. Erratum
added as separate tex file on November 7, 2003, a numerical factor corrected
in the erratum on Dec 3, 200
Robotic ubiquitous cognitive ecology for smart homes
Robotic ecologies are networks of heterogeneous robotic devices pervasively embedded in everyday environments, where they cooperate to perform complex tasks. While their potential makes them increasingly popular, one fundamental problem is how to make them both autonomous and adaptive, so as to reduce the amount of preparation, pre-programming and human supervision that they require in real world applications. The project RUBICON develops learning solutions which yield cheaper, adaptive and efficient coordination of robotic ecologies. The approach we pursue builds upon a unique combination of methods from cognitive robotics, machine learning, planning and agent- based control, and wireless sensor networks. This paper illustrates the innovations advanced by RUBICON in each of these fronts before describing how the resulting techniques have been integrated and applied to a smart home scenario. The resulting system is able to provide useful services and pro-actively assist the users in their activities. RUBICON learns through an incremental and progressive approach driven by the feed- back received from its own activities and from the user, while also self-organizing the manner in which it uses available sensors, actuators and other functional components in the process. This paper summarises some of the lessons learned by adopting such an approach and outlines promising directions for future work
Classification of a supersolid: Trial wavefunctions, Symmetry breakings and Excitation spectra
A state of matter is characterized by its symmetry breaking and elementary
excitations.
A supersolid is a state which breaks both translational symmetry and internal
symmetry.
Here, we review some past and recent works in phenomenological
Ginsburg-Landau theories, ground state trial wavefunctions and microscopic
numerical calculations. We also write down a new effective supersolid
Hamiltonian on a lattice.
The eigenstates of the Hamiltonian contains both the ground state
wavefunction and all the excited states (supersolidon) wavefunctions. We
contrast various kinds of supersolids in both continuous systems and on
lattices, both condensed matter and cold atom systems. We provide additional
new insights in studying their order parameters, symmetry breaking patterns,
the excitation spectra and detection methods.Comment: REVTEX4, 19 pages, 3 figure
Defects and glassy dynamics in solid He-4: Perspectives and current status
We review the anomalous behavior of solid He-4 at low temperatures with
particular attention to the role of structural defects present in solid. The
discussion centers around the possible role of two level systems and structural
glassy components for inducing the observed anomalies. We propose that the
origin of glassy behavior is due to the dynamics of defects like dislocations
formed in He-4. Within the developed framework of glassy components in a solid,
we give a summary of the results and predictions for the effects that cover the
mechanical, thermodynamic, viscoelastic, and electro-elastic contributions of
the glassy response of solid He-4. Our proposed glass model for solid He-4 has
several implications: (1) The anomalous properties of He-4 can be accounted for
by allowing defects to freeze out at lowest temperatures. The dynamics of solid
He-4 is governed by glasslike (glassy) relaxation processes and the
distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different
torsional oscillator, shear modulus, and dielectric function experiments. (2)
Any defect freeze-out will be accompanied by thermodynamic signatures
consistent with entropy contributions from defects. It follows that such
entropy contribution is much smaller than the required superfluid fraction, yet
it is sufficient to account for excess entropy at lowest temperatures. (3) We
predict a Cole-Cole type relation between the real and imaginary part of the
response functions for rotational and planar shear that is occurring due to the
dynamics of defects. Similar results apply for other response functions. (4)
Using the framework of glassy dynamics, we predict low-frequency yet to be
measured electro-elastic features in defect rich He-4 crystals. These
predictions allow one to directly test the ideas and very presence of glassy
contributions in He-4.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figure
Prospects for Supersymmetry at LEP2
Working within the framework of the minimal supergravity model with gauge
coupling unification and radiative electroweak symmetry breaking (SUGRA), we
map out regions of parameter space explorable by experiments at LEP2, for
center of mass energy options of , and 205 GeV. We
compute signals from all accessible SUSY pair production
processes using the ISAJET simulation program, and devise cuts that enhance the
signal relative to Standard Model backgrounds, and which also serve to
differentiate various supersymmetric processes from one another. We delineate
regions of SUGRA parameter space where production of neutralino pairs, chargino
pairs, slepton pairs and the production of the light Higgs scalar of SUSY is
detectable above Standard Model backgrounds and distinguishable from other SUSY
processes. In addition, we find small regions of SUGRA parameter space where
\te\te, \tz_2\tz_2 and \tnu_L\tnu_L production yields spectacular events
with up to four isolated leptons. The combined regions of parameter space
explorable by LEP2 are compared with the reach of Tevatron Main Injector era
experiments. Finally, we comment on how the reach via the neutralino pair
channel is altered when the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking constraint
is relaxed.Comment: 22 page REVTEX file + 9 uuencoded figures; a uuencoded PS file with
PS figures is available via anonymous ftp at
ftp://hep.fsu.edu/preprints/baer/FSUHEP950501.u
A glassy contribution to the heat capacity of hcp He solids
We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid He in the hexagonal
closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to
the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the
Debye temperature, . By introducing a cutoff energy in the
two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat
observed in solid hcp He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the
specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature
behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence
of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level
tunneling systems in solid He, irrespective of the existence of
supersolidity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Hydrodynamic Hunters
The Gram-negative Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus (BV) is a model bacterial predator that hunts other bacteria and may serve as a living antibiotic. Despite over 50 years since its discovery, it is suggested that BV probably collides into its prey at random. It remains unclear to what degree, if any, BV uses chemical cues to target its prey. The targeted search problem by the predator for its prey in three dimensions is a difficult problem: it requires the predator to sensitively detect prey and forecast its mobile prey’s future position on the basis of previously detected signal. Here instead we find that rather than chemically detecting prey, hydrodynamics forces BV into regions high in prey density, thereby improving its odds of a chance collision with prey and ultimately reducing BV’s search space for prey. We do so by showing that BV’s dynamics are strongly influenced by self-generated hydrodynamic flow fields forcing BV onto surfaces and, for large enough defects on surfaces, forcing BV in orbital motion around these defects. Key experimental controls and calculations recapitulate the hydrodynamic origin of these behaviors. While BV’s prey (Escherichia coli) are too small to trap BV in hydrodynamic orbit, the prey are also susceptible to their own hydrodynamic fields, substantially confining them to surfaces and defects where mobile predator and prey density is now dramatically enhanced. Colocalization, driven by hydrodynamics, ultimately reduces BV’s search space for prey from three to two dimensions (on surfaces) even down to a single dimension (around defects). We conclude that BV’s search for individual prey remains random, as suggested in the literature, but confined, however—by generic hydrodynamic forces—to reduced dimensionality
Protecting climate with forests
Policies for climate mitigation on land rarely acknowledge biophysical factors, such as reflectivity, evaporation, and surface roughness. Yet such factors can alter temperatures much more than carbon sequestration does, and often in a conflicting way. We outline a framework for examining biophysical factors in mitigation policies and provide some best-practice recommendations based on that framework. Tropical projects-avoided deforestation, forest restoration, and afforestation-provide the greatest climate value, because carbon storage and biophysics align to cool the Earth. In contrast, the climate benefits of carbon storage are often counteracted in boreal and other snow-covered regions, where darker trees trap more heat than snow does. Managers can increase the climate benefit of some forest projects by using more reflective and deciduous species and through urban forestry projects that reduce energy use. Ignoring biophysical interactions could result in millions of dollars being invested in some mitigation projects that provide little climate benefit or, worse, are counter-productive
- …