An eclipsing post common-envelope system consisting of a pulsating hot subdwarf B star and a brown dwarf companion

Hot subdwarf B stars (sdBs) are evolved, core helium-burning objects located on the extreme horizontal branch. Their formation history is still puzzling as the sdB progenitors must lose nearly all of their hydrogen envelope during the red-giant phase. About half of the known sdBs are in close binaries with periods from 1.2 h to a few days, a fact that implies they experienced a common-envelope phase. Eclipsing hot subdwarf binaries (also called HW Virginis systems) are rare but important objects for determining fundamental stellar parameters. Even more significant and uncommon are those binaries containing a pulsating sdB, as the mass can be determined independently by asteroseismology. Here we present a first analysis of the eclipsing hot subdwarf binary V2008-1753. The light curve shows a total eclipse, a prominent reflection effect, and low--amplitude pulsations with periods from 150 to 180 s. An analysis of the light-- and radial velocity (RV) curves indicates a mass ratio close to $q = 0.146$, an RV semi-amplitude of $K=54.6 \,\rm kms^{-1}$, and an inclination of $i=86.8^\circ$. Combining these results with our spectroscopic determination of the surface gravity, $\log \,g = 5.83$, the best--fitting model yields an sdB mass of 0.47$M_{\rm \odot}$ and a companion mass of $69 M_{\rm Jup}$. As the latter mass is below the hydrogen-burning limit, V2008-1753 represents the first HW Vir system known consisting of a pulsating sdB and a brown dwarf companion. Consequently, it holds great potential for better constraining models of sdB binary evolution and asteroseismology.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for A&

3D Photoionisation Modelling of NGC 6302

We present a three-dimensional photoionisation and dust radiative transfer model of NGC 6302, an extreme, high-excitation planetary nebula. We use the 3D photoionisation code Mocassin} to model the emission from the gas and dust. We have produced a good fit to the optical emission-line spectrum, from which we derived a density distribution for the nebula. A fit to the infrared coronal lines places strong constraints on the properties of the unseen ionising source. We find the best fit comes from using a 220,000 K hydrogen-deficient central star model atmosphere, indicating that the central star of this PN may have undergone a late thermal pulse. We have also fitted the overall shape of the ISO spectrum of NGC 6302 using a dust model with a shallow power-law size distribution and grains up to 1.0 micron in size. To obtain a good fit to the infrared SED the dust must be sufficiently recessed within the circumstellar disk to prevent large amounts of hot dust at short wavelengths, a region where the ISO spectrum is particularly lacking. These and other discoveries are helping to unveil many properties of this extreme object and trace it's evolutionary history.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; for the proceedings of "Asymmetric Planetary Nebuale IV," R. L. M. Corradi, A. Manchado, N. Soker ed

Existence of a Meromorphic Extension of Spectral Zeta Functions on Fractals

We investigate the existence of the meromorphic extension of the spectral zeta function of the Laplacian on self-similar fractals using the classical results of Kigami and Lapidus (based on the renewal theory) and new results of Hambly and Kajino based on the heat kernel estimates and other probabilistic techniques. We also formulate conjectures which hold true in the examples that have been analyzed in the existing literature

Optimizing information flow in small genetic networks. II: Feed forward interactions

Central to the functioning of a living cell is its ability to control the readout or expression of information encoded in the genome. In many cases, a single transcription factor protein activates or represses the expression of many genes. As the concentration of the transcription factor varies, the target genes thus undergo correlated changes, and this redundancy limits the ability of the cell to transmit information about input signals. We explore how interactions among the target genes can reduce this redundancy and optimize information transmission. Our discussion builds on recent work [Tkacik et al, Phys Rev E 80, 031920 (2009)], and there are connections to much earlier work on the role of lateral inhibition in enhancing the efficiency of information transmission in neural circuits; for simplicity we consider here the case where the interactions have a feed forward structure, with no loops. Even with this limitation, the networks that optimize information transmission have a structure reminiscent of the networks found in real biological systems

Knowledge-based vision and simple visual machines

The vast majority of work in machine vision emphasizes the representation of perceived objects and events: it is these internal representations that incorporate the 'knowledge' in knowledge-based vision or form the 'models' in model-based vision. In this paper, we discuss simple machine vision systems developed by artificial evolution rather than traditional engineering design techniques, and note that the task of identifying internal representations within such systems is made difficult by the lack of an operational definition of representation at the causal mechanistic level. Consequently, we question the nature and indeed the existence of representations posited to be used within natural vision systems (i.e. animals). We conclude that representations argued for on a priori grounds by external observers of a particular vision system may well be illusory, and are at best place-holders for yet-to-be-identified causal mechanistic interactions. That is, applying the knowledge-based vision approach in the understanding of evolved systems (machines or animals) may well lead to theories and models that are internally consistent, computationally plausible, and entirely wrong

Entropy and information in neural spike trains: Progress on the sampling problem

The major problem in information theoretic analysis of neural responses and other biological data is the reliable estimation of entropy--like quantities from small samples. We apply a recently introduced Bayesian entropy estimator to synthetic data inspired by experiments, and to real experimental spike trains. The estimator performs admirably even very deep in the undersampled regime, where other techniques fail. This opens new possibilities for the information theoretic analysis of experiments, and may be of general interest as an example of learning from limited data.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; referee suggested changes, accepted versio

Transition density of diffusion on Sierpinski gasket and extension of Flory's formula

Some problems related to the transition density u(t,x) of the diffusion on the Sierpinski gasket are considerd, based on recent rigorous results and detailed numerical calculations. The main contents are an extension of Flory's formula for the end-to-end distance exponent of self-avoiding walks on the fractal spaces, and an evidence of the oscillatory behavior of u(t,x) on the Sierpinski gasket.Comment: 11 pages, REVTEX, 2 postscript figure

Fortnightly Fluctuations in the O-C Diagram of CS 1246

Dominated by a single, large-amplitude pulsation mode, the rapidly-pulsating hot subdwarf B star CS 1246 is a prime candidate for a long-term O-C diagram study. We collected nearly 400 hours of photometry with the PROMPT telescopes over a time span of 14 months to begin looking for secular variations in the pulse timings. Interestingly, the O-C diagram is dominated by a strong sinusoidal pattern with a period of 14.1 days and an amplitude of 10.7 light-seconds. Underneath this sine wave is a secular trend implying a decrease in the 371.7-s pulsational period of Pdot = -1.9 x 10^-11, which we attribute to the evolution of the star through the H-R diagram. The sinusoidal variation could be produced by the presence of a low-mass companion, with m sin i ~ 0.12 Msun, orbiting the subdwarf B star at a distance of 20 Rsun. An analysis of the combined light curve reveals the presence of a low-amplitude first harmonic to the main pulsation mode.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 pages, 8 figures, 5 table