11,951 research outputs found
Polar kicks and the spin period - eccentricity relation in double neutron stars
We present results of a population synthesis study aimed at examining the
role of spin-kick alignment in producing a correlation between the spin period
of the first-born neutron star and the orbital eccentricity of observed double
neutron star binaries in the Galactic disk. We find spin-kick alignment to be
compatible with the observed correlation, but not to alleviate the requirements
for low kick velocities suggested in previous population synthesis studies. Our
results furthermore suggest low- and high-eccentricity systems may form through
two distinct formation channels distinguished by the presence or absence of a
stable mass transfer phase before the formation of the second neutron star. The
presence of highly eccentric systems in the observed sample of double neutron
stars may furthermore support the notion that neutron stars accrete matter when
moving through the envelope of a giant companion.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "40 Years of Pulsars: Millisecond
Pulsars, Magnetars, and More", August 12-17, 2007, McGill University,
Montreal, Canad
New Finite Rogers-Ramanujan Identities
We present two general finite extensions for each of the two Rogers-Ramanujan
identities. Of these one can be derived directly from Watson's transformation
formula by specialization or through Bailey's method, the second similar
formula can be proved either by using the first formula and the q-Gosper
algorithm, or through the so-called Bailey lattice.Comment: 19 pages. to appear in Ramanujan
Catastrophic eruption of magnetic flux rope in the corona and solar wind with and without magnetic reconnection
It is generally believed that the magnetic free energy accumulated in the
corona serves as a main energy source for solar explosions such as coronal mass
ejections (CMEs). In the framework of the flux rope catastrophe model for CMEs,
the energy may be abruptly released either by an ideal magnetohydrodynamic
(MHD) catastrophe, which belongs to a global magnetic topological instability
of the system, or by a fast magnetic reconnection across preexisting or
rapidly-developing electric current sheets. Both ways of magnetic energy
release are thought to be important to CME dynamics. To disentangle their
contributions, we construct a flux rope catastrophe model in the corona and
solar wind and compare different cases in which we either prohibit or allow
magnetic reconnection to take place across rapidly-growing current sheets
during the eruption. It is demonstrated that CMEs, even fast ones, can be
produced taking the ideal MHD catastrophe as the only process of magnetic
energy release. Nevertheless, the eruptive speed can be significantly enhanced
after magnetic reconnection sets in. In addition, a smooth transition from slow
to fast eruptions is observed when increasing the strength of the background
magnetic field, simply because in a stronger field there is more free magnetic
energy at the catastrophic point available to be released during an eruption.
This suggests that fast and slow CMEs may have an identical driving mechanism.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, ApJ, in press (vol. 666, Sept. 2007
Computing in Additive Networks with Bounded-Information Codes
This paper studies the theory of the additive wireless network model, in
which the received signal is abstracted as an addition of the transmitted
signals. Our central observation is that the crucial challenge for computing in
this model is not high contention, as assumed previously, but rather
guaranteeing a bounded amount of \emph{information} in each neighborhood per
round, a property that we show is achievable using a new random coding
technique.
Technically, we provide efficient algorithms for fundamental distributed
tasks in additive networks, such as solving various symmetry breaking problems,
approximating network parameters, and solving an \emph{asymmetry revealing}
problem such as computing a maximal input.
The key method used is a novel random coding technique that allows a node to
successfully decode the received information, as long as it does not contain
too many distinct values. We then design our algorithms to produce a limited
amount of information in each neighborhood in order to leverage our enriched
toolbox for computing in additive networks
Dynamics and Berry phase of two-species Bose-Einstein condensates
In terms of exact solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for an
effective giant spin modeled from a coupled two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate
(BEC) with adiabatic and cyclic time-varying Raman coupling between two
hyperfine states of the BEC, we obtain analytic time-evolution formulas of the
population imbalance and relative phase between two components with various
initial states, especially the SU(2)coherent state. We find the Berry phase
depending on the number parity of atoms, and particle number dependence of the
collapse revival of population-imbalance oscillation. It is shown that
self-trapping and phase locking can be achieved from initial SU(2) coherent
states with proper parameters.Comment: 18 pages,5 figure
Nanoscale Morphological and Chemical Changes of High Voltage Lithium–Manganese Rich NMC Composite Cathodes with Cycling
Understanding the evolution of chemical composition and morphology of battery materials during electrochemical cycling is fundamental to extending battery cycle life and ensuring safety. This is particularly true for the much debated high energy density (high voltage) lithium–manganese rich cathode material of composition Li1 + xM1 – xO2 (M = Mn, Co, Ni). In this study we combine full-field transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) with X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) to spatially resolve changes in chemical phase, oxidation state, and morphology within a high voltage cathode having nominal composition Li1.2Mn0.525Ni0.175Co0.1O2. Nanoscale microscopy with chemical/elemental sensitivity provides direct quantitative visualization of the cathode, and insights into failure. Single-pixel (∼30 nm) TXM XANES revealed changes in Mn chemistry with cycling, possibly to a spinel conformation and likely including some Mn(II), starting at the particle surface and proceeding inward. Morphological analysis of the particles revealed, with high resolution and statistical sampling, that the majority of particles adopted nonspherical shapes after 200 cycles. Multiple-energy tomography showed a more homogeneous association of transition metals in the pristine particle, which segregate significantly with cycling. Depletion of transition metals at the cathode surface occurs after just one cycle, likely driven by electrochemical reactions at the surface
An Observational Perspective of Transitional Disks
archiveprefix: arXiv primaryclass: astro-ph.SR keywords: Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics adsurl: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014arXiv1402.7103E adsnote: Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data SystemarticleTransitional disks are objects whose inner disk regions have undergone substantial clearing. The Spitzer Space Telescope produced detailed spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of transitional disks that allowed us to infer their radial dust disk structure in some detail, revealing the diversity of this class of disks. The growing sample of transitional disks also opened up the possibility of demographic studies, which provided unique insights. There now exist (sub)millimeter and infrared images that confirm the presence of large clearings of dust in transitional disks. In addition, protoplanet candidates have been detected within some of these clearings. Transitional disks are thought to be a strong link to planet formation around young stars and are a key area to study if further progress is to be made on understanding the initial stages of planet formation. Here we provide a review and synthesis of transitional disk observations to date with the aim of providing timely direction to the field, which is about to undergo its next burst of growth as ALMA reaches its full potential. We discuss what we have learned about transitional disks from SEDs, color-color diagrams, and imaging in the (sub)mm and infrared. We then distill the observations into constraints for the main disk clearing mechanisms proposed to date (i.e., photoevaporation, grain growth, and companions) and explore how the expected observational signatures from these mechanisms, particularly planet-induced disk clearing, compare to actual observations. Lastly, we discuss future avenues of inquiry to be pursued with ALMA, JWST, and next generation of ground-based telescopes.NAS
Realistic boundary conditions for stochastic simulations of reaction-diffusion processes
Many cellular and subcellular biological processes can be described in terms
of diffusing and chemically reacting species (e.g. enzymes). Such
reaction-diffusion processes can be mathematically modelled using either
deterministic partial-differential equations or stochastic simulation
algorithms. The latter provide a more detailed and precise picture, and several
stochastic simulation algorithms have been proposed in recent years. Such
models typically give the same description of the reaction-diffusion processes
far from the boundary of the simulated domain, but the behaviour close to a
reactive boundary (e.g. a membrane with receptors) is unfortunately
model-dependent. In this paper, we study four different approaches to
stochastic modelling of reaction-diffusion problems and show the correct choice
of the boundary condition for each model. The reactive boundary is treated as
partially reflective, which means that some molecules hitting the boundary are
adsorbed (e.g. bound to the receptor) and some molecules are reflected. The
probability that the molecule is adsorbed rather than reflected depends on the
reactivity of the boundary (e.g. on the rate constant of the adsorbing chemical
reaction and on the number of available receptors), and on the stochastic model
used. This dependence is derived for each model.Comment: 24 pages, submitted to Physical Biolog
Solar cycle modulation of Titan's ionosphere
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgra.50463/abstractDuring the six Cassini Titan flybys T83–T88 (May 2012 to November 2012) the electron density in the ionospheric peak region, as measured by the radio and plasma wave science instrument/Langmuir probe, has increased significantly, by 15–30%, compared to previous average. These measurements suggest that a long‒term change has occurred in the ionosphere of Titan, likely caused by the rise to the new solar maximum with increased EUV fluxes. We compare measurements from TA, TB, and T5, from the declining phase of solar cycle 23 to the recent T83–T88 measurements during cycle 24, since the solar irradiances from those two intervals are comparable. The peak electron densities normalized to a common solar zenith angle Nnorm from those two groups of flybys are comparable but increased compared to the solar minimum flybys (T16–T71). The integrated solar irradiance over the wavelengths 1–80nm, i.e., the solar energy flux, Fe, correlates well with the observed ionospheric peak density values. Chapman layer theory predicts that inline image, with k=0.5. We find observationally that the exponent k=0.54±0.18. Hence, the observations are in good agreement with theory despite the fact that many assumptions in Chapman theory are violated. This is also in good agreement with a similar study by Girazian and Withers (2013) on the ionosphere of Mars. We use this power law to estimate the peak electron density at the subsolar point of Titan during solar maximum conditions and find it to be about 6500cm−3, i.e., 85–160% more than has been measured during the entire Cassini mission
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