1,187 research outputs found
Pulse Profiles, Accretion Column Dips and a Flare in GX 1+4 During a Faint State
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) spacecraft observed the X-ray pulsar
GX 1+4 for a period of 34 hours on July 19/20 1996. The source faded from an
intensity of ~20 mCrab to a minimum of <~0.7 mCrab and then partially recovered
towards the end of the observation. This extended minimum lasted ~40,000
seconds. Phase folded light curves at a barycentric rotation period of
124.36568 +/- 0.00020 seconds show that near the center of the extended minimum
the source stopped pulsing in the traditional sense but retained a weak dip
feature at the rotation period. Away from the extended minimum the dips are
progressively narrower at higher energies and may be interpreted as
obscurations or eclipses of the hot spot by the accretion column. The pulse
profile changed from leading-edge bright before the extended minimum to
trailing-edge bright after it. Data from the Burst and Transient Source
Experiment (BATSE) show that a torque reversal occurred <10 days after our
observation. Our data indicate that the observed rotation departs from a
constant period with a Pdot/P value of ~-1.5% per year at a 4.5 sigma
significance. We infer that we may have serendipitously obtained data, with
high sensitivity and temporal resolution about the time of an accretion disk
spin reversal. We also observed a rapid flare which had some precursor
activity, close to the center of the extended minimum.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal (tentatively scheduled for vol. 529 #1, 20 Jan 2000
Dynamical noncommutativity
The model of dynamical noncommutativity is proposed. The system consists of
two interrelated parts. The first of them describes the physical degrees of
freedom with coordinates q^1, q^2, the second one corresponds to the
noncommutativity r which has a proper dynamics. After quantization the
commutator of two physical coordinates is proportional to the function of r.
The interesting feature of our model is the dependence of nonlocality on the
energy of the system. The more the energy, the more the nonlocality. The
lidding contribution is due to the mode of noncommutativity, however, the
physical degrees of freedom also contribute in nonlocality in higher orders in
\theta.Comment: published versio
The orbits of the quadruple star system 88 Tau A from PHASES differential astrometry and radial velocity
We have used high precision differential astrometry from the Palomar
High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES) project and
radial velocity measurements covering a time-span of 20 years to determine the
orbital parameters of the 88 Tau A system. 88 Tau is a complex hierarchical
multiple system comprising a total of six stars; we have studied the brightest
4, consisting of two short-period pairs orbiting each other with an 18-year
period. We present the first orbital solution for one of the short-period
pairs, and determine the masses of the components and distance to the system to
the level of a few percent. In addition, our astrometric measurements allow us
to make the first determination of the mutual inclinations of the orbits. We
find that the sub-systems are not coplanar.Comment: Corrected Author Ordering; 12 Pages, Accepted for publication in Ap
Initial State: Theory Status
I present a brief discussion of the different approaches to the study initial
state effects in heavy ion collisions in view of the recent results from Pb+Pb
and p+p collisions at the LHC.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the XXII
International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions,
QM2011. Annecy, France, 22-28 May 201
Physical Activity and Immunity in HIV-Infected Individuals
The purpose of this study was to determine what relationship exists among physical activity levels and viral load and CD4+ cell count in HIV-infected individuals. Increased viral load is associated with disease progression and symptom severity. A convenience sample of 66 male and female subjects between the ages of 18 and 64 years of age (mean 399/8) was recruited from a hospital-based HIV/AIDS clinic. Components of PA were assessed for three continuous days using a mini-motion logger wrist actigraph. These components included mean PA level, and PA index and acceleration index. Pearson’s correlational analysis was used to test the strength of association between PA components and viral load or CD4+ cell count. A significant inverse relationship was found between mean PA level and viral load (p=0.047). An inverse relationship was also observed between PA index and viral load (p=0.0061). Neither mean PA nor PA index scores correlated with CD4+ cell counts. Acceleration index, a measure of PA intensity, showed no correlation to viral load or CD4+ cell counts. These findings suggest that increasing levels of physical activity might have beneficial effects on viral load in HIV-infected individuals
Towards a standard jet definition
In a simulated measurement of the -boson mass, evaluation of Fisher's
information shows the optimal jet definition to be physically equivalent to the
algorithm while being much faster at large multiplicities.Comment: version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., 4 page
Impact of oceanic processes on the carbon cycle during the last termination
During the last termination (from ~18 000 years ago to ~9000 years ago), the climate significantly warmed and the ice sheets melted. Simultaneously, atmospheric CO2 increased from ~190 ppm to ~260 ppm. Although this CO2 rise plays an important role in the deglacial warming, the reasons for its evolution are difficult to explain. Only box models have been used to run transient simulations of this carbon cycle transition, but by forcing the model with data constrained scenarios of the evolution of temperature, sea level, sea ice, NADW formation, Southern Ocean vertical mixing and biological carbon pump. More complex models (including GCMs) have investigated some of these mechanisms but they have only been used to try and explain LGM versus present day steady-state climates.
In this study we use a coupled climate-carbon model of intermediate complexity to explore the role of three oceanic processes in transient simulations: the sinking of brines, stratification-dependent diffusion and iron fertilization. Carbonate compensation is accounted for in these simulations. We show that neither iron fertilization nor the sinking of brines alone can account for the evolution of CO2, and that only the combination of the sinking of brines and interactive diffusion can simultaneously simulate the increase in deep Southern Ocean δ13C. The scenario that agrees best with the data takes into account all mechanisms and favours a rapid cessation of the sinking of brines around 18 000 years ago, when the Antarctic ice sheet extent was at its maximum. In this scenario, we make the hypothesis that sea ice formation was then shifted to the open ocean where the salty water is quickly mixed with fresher water, which prevents deep sinking of salty water and therefore breaks down the deep stratification and releases carbon from the abyss. Based on this scenario, it is possible to simulate both the amplitude and timing of the long-term CO2 increase during the last termination in agreement with ice core data. The atmospheric δ13C appears to be highly sensitive to changes in the terrestrial biosphere, underlining the need to better constrain the vegetation evolution during the termination
Wigner phase space distribution as a wave function
We demonstrate that the Wigner function of a pure quantum state is a wave
function in a specially tuned Dirac bra-ket formalism and argue that the Wigner
function is in fact a probability amplitude for the quantum particle to be at a
certain point of the classical phase space. Additionally, we establish that in
the classical limit, the Wigner function transforms into a classical
Koopman-von Neumann wave function rather than into a classical probability
distribution. Since probability amplitude need not be positive, our findings
provide an alternative outlook on the Wigner function's negativity.Comment: 6 pages and 2 figure
Motivational Effects of Physical Activity Monitoring Bands and Talking Pedometers on Children with Visual Impairments
Please view abstract in the attached PDF file
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