743 research outputs found
Experimental ratchet effect in superconducting films with periodic arrays of asymmetric potentials
A vortex lattice ratchet effect has been investigated in Nb films grown on
arrays of nanometric Ni triangles, which induce periodic asymmetric pinning
potentials. The vortex lattice motion yields a net dc-voltage when an ac
driving current is applied to the sample and the vortex lattice moves through
the field of asymmetric potentials. This ratchet effect is studied taking into
account the array geometry, the temperature, the number of vortices per unit
cell of the array and the applied ac currents.Comment: 15 pages, figures include
Automated Discrimination of Pathological Regions in Tissue Images: Unsupervised Clustering vs Supervised SVM Classification
Recognizing and isolating cancerous cells from non pathological tissue areas (e.g. connective stroma) is crucial for fast and objective immunohistochemical analysis of tissue images. This operation allows the further application of fully-automated techniques for quantitative evaluation of protein activity, since it avoids the necessity of a preventive manual selection of the representative pathological areas in the image, as well as of taking pictures only in the pure-cancerous portions of the tissue. In this paper we present a fully-automated method based on unsupervised clustering that performs tissue segmentations highly comparable with those provided by a skilled operator, achieving on average an accuracy of 90%. Experimental results on a heterogeneous dataset of immunohistochemical lung cancer tissue images demonstrate that our proposed unsupervised approach overcomes the accuracy of a theoretically superior supervised method such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) by 8%
Lattice effects and current reversal in superconducting ratchets
Competition between the vortex lattice and a lattice of asymmetric artificial
defects is shown to play a crucial role in ratchet experiments in
superconducting films. We present a novel and collective mechanism for current
reversal based on a reconfiguration of the vortex lattice. In contrast to
previous models of vortex current reversal, the mechanism is based on the
global response of the vortex lattice to external forces.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Vortex motion channeling effects in Nb with mesoscopic arrays of Ni lines
Ordered arrays of submicrometric Ni lines have been fabricated in sputtered Nb films. Magnetotransport R(H) and (I, V) curves were measured close to the critical temperature using a cross-shape bridge that allows us to apply current in two directions: parallel or perpendicular to the lines. The experimental results show anisotropic vortex motion with clear channeling effects. In R(H) data, magnetic features appear but they are absent in the (I, V) curves
Active Sampling-based Binary Verification of Dynamical Systems
Nonlinear, adaptive, or otherwise complex control techniques are increasingly
relied upon to ensure the safety of systems operating in uncertain
environments. However, the nonlinearity of the resulting closed-loop system
complicates verification that the system does in fact satisfy those
requirements at all possible operating conditions. While analytical proof-based
techniques and finite abstractions can be used to provably verify the
closed-loop system's response at different operating conditions, they often
produce conservative approximations due to restrictive assumptions and are
difficult to construct in many applications. In contrast, popular statistical
verification techniques relax the restrictions and instead rely upon
simulations to construct statistical or probabilistic guarantees. This work
presents a data-driven statistical verification procedure that instead
constructs statistical learning models from simulated training data to separate
the set of possible perturbations into "safe" and "unsafe" subsets. Binary
evaluations of closed-loop system requirement satisfaction at various
realizations of the uncertainties are obtained through temporal logic
robustness metrics, which are then used to construct predictive models of
requirement satisfaction over the full set of possible uncertainties. As the
accuracy of these predictive statistical models is inherently coupled to the
quality of the training data, an active learning algorithm selects additional
sample points in order to maximize the expected change in the data-driven model
and thus, indirectly, minimize the prediction error. Various case studies
demonstrate the closed-loop verification procedure and highlight improvements
in prediction error over both existing analytical and statistical verification
techniques.Comment: 23 page
Anisotropic pinning enhancement in Nb films with arrays of submicrometric Ni lines
Arrays of submicrometric Ni lines have been fabricated in superconducting Nb films by electron beam lithography. In the mixed state, these arrays induce strong anisotropy in the dissipation behavior. The dissipation is reduced several orders of magnitude, in the whole applied magnetic field range, when the vortex motion is perpendicular to the Ni lines (applied current parallel to them) in comparison with dissipation of vortices moving parallel to the lines. In addition, for the samples studied in this work, a change in the slope of the ρ(B) curves is observed when the vortices move perpendicular to the lines and the vortex lattice parameter matches the width of the Ni lines. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.The authors want to thank Spanish CICYT MAT2002-
04543 and ESF Vortex program. D.J. and E.M.G. thank Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologı´a ~Spain! for Ramo´n y Cajal
Contracts.Peer reviewe
The ALMA Frontier Fields Survey - IV. Lensing-corrected 1.1 mm number counts in Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403 and MACSJ1149.5+2223
[abridged] Characterizing the number counts of faint, dusty star-forming
galaxies is currently a challenge even for deep, high-resolution observations
in the FIR-to-mm regime. They are predicted to account for approximately half
of the total extragalactic background light at those wavelengths. Searching for
dusty star-forming galaxies behind massive galaxy clusters benefits from strong
lensing, enhancing their measured emission while increasing spatial resolution.
Derived number counts depend, however, on mass reconstruction models that
properly constrain these clusters. We estimate the 1.1 mm number counts along
the line of sight of three galaxy clusters, i.e. Abell 2744, MACSJ0416.1-2403
and MACSJ1149.5+2223, which are part of the ALMA Frontier Fields Survey. We
perform detailed simulations to correct these counts for lensing effects. We
use several publicly available lensing models for the galaxy clusters to derive
the intrinsic flux densities of our sources. We perform Monte Carlo simulations
of the number counts for a detailed treatment of the uncertainties in the
magnifications and adopted source redshifts. We find an overall agreement among
the number counts derived for the different lens models, despite their
systematic variations regarding source magnifications and effective areas. Our
number counts span ~2.5 dex in demagnified flux density, from several mJy down
to tens of uJy. Our number counts are consistent with recent estimates from
deep ALMA observations at a 3 level. Below 0.1 mJy, however,
our cumulative counts are lower by 1 dex, suggesting a flattening in
the number counts. In our deepest ALMA mosaic, we estimate number counts for
intrinsic flux densities 4 times fainter than the rms level. This
highlights the potential of probing the sub-10 uJy population in larger samples
of galaxy cluster fields with deeper ALMA observations.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
Zooming into the broad line region of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 = the Einstein Cross: III. Determination of the size and structure of the CIV and CIII] emitting regions using microlensing
Aims: We aim to use microlensing taking place in the lensed quasar Q2237+0305 to study the structure of the broad line region and measure the size of the region emitting the CIV and CIII] lines. Methods: Based on 39 spectrophotometric monitoring data points obtained between Oct. 2004 and Dec. 2007, we derive lightcurves for the CIV and CIII] emission lines. We use three different techniques to analyse the microlensing signal. Different components of the lines (narrow, broad and very broad) are identified and studied. We build a library of simulated microlensing lightcurves which reproduce the signal observed in the continuum and in the lines provided only the source size is changed. A Bayesian analysis scheme is then developed to derive the size of the various components of the BLR. Results: 1. The half-light radius of the region emitting the CIV line is found to be R_CIV ~ 66^{+110}_{-46} lt-days = 0.06^{+0.09}_{-0.04} pc = 1.7^{+2.8}_{-1.1} 10^17 cm (at 68.3% CI). Similar values are obtained for CIII]. Relative sizes of the V-band continuum and of the carbon line emitting regions are also derived with median values of R(line)/R(cont) in the range [4,29], depending of the FWHM of the line component. 2. The size of the CIV emitting region agrees with the Radius-Luminosity relationship derived from reverberation mapping. Using the virial theorem we derive the mass of the black hole in Q2237+0305 to be M_BH ~ 10^{8.3+/-0.3} M_sun. 3. We find that the CIV and CIII] lines are produced in at least 2 spatially distinct regions, the most compact one giving rise to the broadest component of the line. The broad and narrow line profiles are slightly different for CIV and CIII]. 4. Our analysis suggests a different structure of the CIV and FeII+III emitting regions, with the latter being produced in the inner part of the BLR or in a less extended emitting region than CIV.Peer reviewe
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