24,374 research outputs found
Pulsar spin-down: the glitch-dominated rotation of PSR J0537-6910
The young, fast-spinning, X-ray pulsar J0537-6910 displays an extreme glitch
activity, with large spin-ups interrupting its decelerating rotation every ~100
days. We present nearly 13 years of timing data from this pulsar, obtained with
the {\it Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer}. We discovered 22 new glitches and
performed a consistent analysis of all 45 glitches detected in the complete
data span. Our results corroborate the previously reported strong correlation
between glitch spin-up size and the time to the next glitch, a relation that
has not been observed so far in any other pulsar. The spin evolution is
dominated by the glitches, which occur at a rate ~3.5 per year, and the
post-glitch recoveries, which prevail the entire inter-glitch intervals. This
distinctive behaviour provides invaluable insights into the physics of
glitches. The observations can be explained with a multi-component model which
accounts for the dynamics of the neutron superfluid present in the crust and
core of neutron stars. We place limits on the moment of inertia of the
component responsible for the spin-up and, ignoring differential rotation, the
velocity difference it can sustain with the crust. Contrary to its rapid
decrease between glitches, the spin-down rate increased over the 13 years, and
we find the long-term braking index , the only negative
braking index seen in a young pulsar. We briefly discuss the plausible
interpretations of this result, which is in stark contrast to the predictions
of standard models of pulsar spin-down.Comment: Minor changes to match the MNRAS accepted versio
Verifying black hole orbits with gravitational spectroscopy
Gravitational waves from test masses bound to geodesic orbits of rotating
black holes are simulated, using Teukolsky's black hole perturbation formalism,
for about ten thousand generic orbital configurations. Each binary radiates
power exclusively in modes with frequencies that are
integer-linear-combinations of the orbit's three fundamental frequencies. The
following general spectral properties are found with a survey of orbits: (i)
99% of the radiated power is typically carried by a few hundred modes, and at
most by about a thousand modes, (ii) the dominant frequencies can be grouped
into a small number of families defined by fixing two of the three integer
frequency multipliers, and (iii) the specifics of these trends can be
qualitatively inferred from the geometry of the orbit under consideration.
Detections using triperiodic analytic templates modeled on these general
properties would constitute a verification of radiation from an adiabatic
sequence of black hole orbits and would recover the evolution of the
fundamental orbital frequencies. In an analogy with ordinary spectroscopy, this
would compare to observing the Bohr model's atomic hydrogen spectrum without
being able to rule out alternative atomic theories or nuclei. The suitability
of such a detection technique is demonstrated using snapshots computed at
12-hour intervals throughout the last three years before merger of a kludged
inspiral. Because of circularization, the number of excited modes decreases as
the binary evolves. A hypothetical detection algorithm that tracks mode
families dominating the first 12 hours of the inspiral would capture 98% of the
total power over the remaining three years.Comment: 18 pages, expanded section on detection algorithms and made minor
edits. Final published versio
Residue currents associated with weakly holomorphic functions
We construct Coleff-Herrera products and Bochner-Martinelli type residue
currents associated with a tuple of weakly holomorphic functions, and show
that these currents satisfy basic properties from the (strongly) holomorphic
case, as the transformation law, the Poincar\'e-Lelong formula and the
equivalence of the Coleff-Herrera product and the Bochner-Martinelli type
residue current associated with when defines a complete intersection.Comment: 28 pages. Updated with some corrections from the revision process. In
particular, corrected and clarified some things in Section 5 and 6 regarding
products of weakly holomorphic functions and currents, and the definition of
the Bochner-Martinelli type current
Structure and function of negative feedback loops at the interface of genetic and metabolic networks
The molecular network in an organism consists of transcription/translation
regulation, protein-protein interactions/modifications and a metabolic network,
together forming a system that allows the cell to respond sensibly to the
multiple signal molecules that exist in its environment. A key part of this
overall system of molecular regulation is therefore the interface between the
genetic and the metabolic network. A motif that occurs very often at this
interface is a negative feedback loop used to regulate the level of the signal
molecules. In this work we use mathematical models to investigate the steady
state and dynamical behaviour of different negative feedback loops. We show, in
particular, that feedback loops where the signal molecule does not cause the
dissociation of the transcription factor from the DNA respond faster than loops
where the molecule acts by sequestering transcription factors off the DNA. We
use three examples, the bet, mer and lac systems in E. coli, to illustrate the
behaviour of such feedback loops.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
The enigmatic spin evolution of PSR J0537-6910: r-modes, gravitational waves and the case for continued timing
We discuss the unique spin evolution of the young X-ray pulsar PSR
J0537-6910, a system in which the regular spin down is interrupted by glitches
every few months. Drawing on the complete timing data from the Rossi X-ray
Timing Explorer (RXTE, from 1999-2011), we argue that a trend in the
inter-glitch behaviour points to an effective braking index close to ,
much larger than expected. This value is interesting because it would accord
with the neutron star spinning down due to gravitational waves from an unstable
r-mode. We discuss to what extent this, admittedly speculative, scenario may be
consistent and if the associated gravitational-wave signal would be within
reach of ground based detectors. Our estimates suggest that one may, indeed, be
able to use future observations to test the idea. Further precision timing
would help enhance the achievable sensitivity and we advocate a joint observing
campaign between the Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) and the
LIGO-Virgo network.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, emulate ApJ forma
Equilibrium spin pulsars unite neutron star populations
Many pulsars are formed with a binary companion from which they can accrete
matter. Torque exerted by accreting matter can cause the pulsar spin to
increase or decrease, and over long times, an equilibrium spin rate is
achieved. Application of accretion theory to these systems provides a probe of
the pulsar magnetic field. We compare the large number of recent torque
measurements of accreting pulsars with a high-mass companion to the standard
model for how accretion affects the pulsar spin period. We find that many long
spin period (P > 100 s) pulsars must possess either extremely weak (B < 10^10
G) or extremely strong (B > 10^14 G) magnetic fields. We argue that the
strong-field solution is more compelling, in which case these pulsars are near
spin equilibrium. Our results provide evidence for a fundamental link between
pulsars with the slowest spin periods and strong magnetic fields around
high-mass companions and pulsars with the fastest spin periods and weak fields
around low-mass companions. The strong magnetic fields also connect our pulsars
to magnetars and strong-field isolated radio/X-ray pulsars. The strong field
and old age of our sources suggests their magnetic field penetrates into the
superconducting core of the neutron star.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; to appear in MNRA
Repeatable Performance Measurements of MIMO Systems in Connected Reverberation Chambers with Controlled Keyhole Effect
A straightforward, fast, and repeatable procedure for measuring the system performance of the antennas in a MIMO system is presented. Due to the use of two connected reverberation chambers, the so called keyhole effect is observed and can be controlled. The method is possible to use for performance measurements of complete MIMO systems, and the present paper lays out the basics for making this possible
Relativistic Two-stream Instability
We study the (local) propagation of plane waves in a relativistic,
non-dissipative, two-fluid system, allowing for a relative velocity in the
"background" configuration. The main aim is to analyze relativistic two-stream
instability. This instability requires a relative flow -- either across an
interface or when two or more fluids interpenetrate -- and can be triggered,
for example, when one-dimensional plane-waves appear to be left-moving with
respect to one fluid, but right-moving with respect to another. The dispersion
relation of the two-fluid system is studied for different two-fluid equations
of state: (i) the "free" (where there is no direct coupling between the fluid
densities), (ii) coupled, and (iii) entrained (where the fluid momenta are
linear combinations of the velocities) cases are considered in a
frame-independent fashion (eg. no restriction to the rest-frame of either
fluid). As a by-product of our analysis we determine the necessary conditions
for a two-fluid system to be causal and absolutely stable and establish a new
constraint on the entrainment.Comment: 15 pages, 2 eps-figure
R-mode oscillations and rocket effect in rotating superfluid neutron stars. I. Formalism
We derive the hydrodynamical equations of r-mode oscillations in neutron
stars in presence of a novel damping mechanism related to particle number
changing processes. The change in the number densities of the various species
leads to new dissipative terms in the equations which are responsible of the
{\it rocket effect}. We employ a two-fluid model, with one fluid consisting of
the charged components, while the second fluid consists of superfluid neutrons.
We consider two different kind of r-mode oscillations, one associated with
comoving displacements, and the second one associated with countermoving, out
of phase, displacements.Comment: 10 page
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