1,988 research outputs found
Developmental simulation of the adult cranial morphology of australopithecus sediba.
The type specimen of Australopithecus sediba (MH1) is a late juvenile, prompting some commentators to suggest that had it lived to adulthood its morphology would have changed sufficiently so as to render hypotheses regarding its phylogenetic relations suspect. Considering the potentially critical position of this species with regard to the origins of the genus Homo, a deeper understanding of this change is especially vital. As an empirical response to this critique, a developmental simulation of the MH1 cranium was carried out using geometric morphometric techniques to extrapolate adult morphology using extant male and female chimpanzees, gorillas and humans by modelling remaining development. Multivariate comparisons of the simulated adult A. sediba crania with other early hominin taxa indicate that subsequent cranial development primarily reflects development of secondary sexual characteristics and would not likely be substantial enough to alter suggested morphological affinities of A. sediba. This study also illustrates the importance of separating developmental vectors by sex when estimating ontogenetic change. Results of the ontogenetic projections concur with those from mandible morphology, and jointly affirm the taxonomic validity of A. sediba.Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Geographic Society.NCS201
What fraction of stars formed in infrared galaxies at high redshift?
Star formation happens in two types of environment: ultraviolet-bright
starbursts (like 30 Doradus and HII galaxies at low redshift and Lyman-break
galaxies at high redshift) and infrared-bright dust-enshrouded regions (which
may be moderately star-forming like Orion in the Galaxy or extreme like the
core of Arp 220). In this work I will estimate how many of the stars in the
local Universe formed in each type of environment, using observations of
star-forming galaxies at all redshifts at different wavelengths and of the
evolution of the field galaxy population.Comment: 7 pages, 0 figs, to appear in proceedings of "Starbursts - From 30
Doradus to Lyman break galaxies", edited by Richard de Grijs and Rosa M.
Gonzalez Delgado, published by Kluwe
Group testing with Random Pools: Phase Transitions and Optimal Strategy
The problem of Group Testing is to identify defective items out of a set of
objects by means of pool queries of the form "Does the pool contain at least a
defective?". The aim is of course to perform detection with the fewest possible
queries, a problem which has relevant practical applications in different
fields including molecular biology and computer science. Here we study GT in
the probabilistic setting focusing on the regime of small defective probability
and large number of objects, and . We construct and
analyze one-stage algorithms for which we establish the occurrence of a
non-detection/detection phase transition resulting in a sharp threshold, , for the number of tests. By optimizing the pool design we construct
algorithms whose detection threshold follows the optimal scaling . Then we consider two-stages algorithms and analyze their
performance for different choices of the first stage pools. In particular, via
a proper random choice of the pools, we construct algorithms which attain the
optimal value (previously determined in Ref. [16]) for the mean number of tests
required for complete detection. We finally discuss the optimal pool design in
the case of finite
On the stability of surfaces of stressed solids
A simple linear stability analysis is presented which demonstrates that the nominally flat surface of an elastically stressed body is unstable with respect to the growth of perturbations with wavelengths greater than a critical wavelength. For a solid, constrained in one dimension and subject to a uniform dilatation, this wavelength scales as [gamma]E/[sigma]2, where [gamma] is the surface energy, E is Young's modulus, and [sigma] is the nominal stress associated with the constrained dilatation. The maximally unstable mode depends on the manner of matter transport (surface diffusion and evaporation/condensation are considered). The predicted wavelength of the instability is consistent with observations of thin InGaAs films grown on GaAs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28081/1/0000527.pd
On the structure and evolution of a polar crown prominence/filament system
Polar crown prominences are made of chromospheric plasma partially circling
the Suns poles between 60 and 70 degree latitude. We aim to diagnose the 3D
dynamics of a polar crown prominence using high cadence EUV images from the
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/AIA at 304 and 171A and the Ahead spacecraft
of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO-A)/EUVI at 195A. Using
time series across specific structures we compare flows across the disk in 195A
with the prominence dynamics seen on the limb. The densest prominence material
forms vertical columns which are separated by many tens of Mm and connected by
dynamic bridges of plasma that are clearly visible in 304/171A two-color
images. We also observe intermittent but repetitious flows with velocity 15
km/s in the prominence that appear to be associated with EUV bright points on
the solar disk. The boundary between the prominence and the overlying cavity
appears as a sharp edge. We discuss the structure of the coronal cavity seen
both above and around the prominence. SDO/HMI and GONG magnetograms are used to
infer the underlying magnetic topology. The evolution and structure of the
prominence with respect to the magnetic field seems to agree with the filament
linkage model.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication in Solar Physics
Journal, Movies can be found at http://www2.mps.mpg.de/data/outgoing/panesar
Irreducible holonomy algebras of Riemannian supermanifolds
Possible irreducible holonomy algebras \g\subset\osp(p,q|2m) of Riemannian
supermanifolds under the assumption that \g is a direct sum of simple Lie
superalgebras of classical type and possibly of a one-dimensional center are
classified. This generalizes the classical result of Marcel Berger about the
classification of irreducible holonomy algebras of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.Comment: 27 pages, the final versio
Reduction of the Three Dimensional Schrodinger Equation for Multilayered Films
In this paper, we present a method for reducing the three dimensional
Schrodinger equation to study confined metallic states, such as quantum well
states, in a multilayer film geometry. While discussing some approximations
that are employed when dealing with the three dimensionality of the problem, we
derive a one dimensional equation suitable for studying such states using an
envelope function approach. Some applications to the Cu/Co multilayer system
with regard to spin tunneling/rotations and angle resolved photoemission are
discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur
Improved description of charged Higgs boson production at hadron colliders
We present a new method for matching the two twin-processes gb->H+/-t and
gg->H+/-tb in Monte Carlo event generators. The matching is done by defining a
double-counting term, which is used to generate events that are subtracted from
the sum of these two twin-processes. In this way we get a smooth transition
between the collinear region of phase space, which is best described by
gb->H+/-t, and the hard region, which requires the use of the gg->H+/-tb
process. The resulting differential distributions show large differences
compared to both the gb-> H+/-t and gg->H+/-tb processes illustrating the
necessity to use matching when tagging the accompanying b-jet.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Revised with updated discussion and reference
Efficient implementation of a CCA2-secure variant of McEliece using generalized Srivastava codes
International audienceIn this paper we present efficient implementations of McEliece variants using quasi-dyadic codes. We provide secure parameters for a classical McEliece encryption scheme based on quasi-dyadic generalized Srivastava codes, and successively convert our scheme to a CCA2-secure protocol in the random oracle model applying the Fujisaki-Okamoto transform. In contrast with all other CCA2-secure code-based cryptosystems that work in the random oracle model, our conversion does not require a constant weight encoding function. We present results for both 128-bit and 80-bit security level, and for the latter we also feature an implementation for an embedded device
New hadrons as ultra-high energy cosmic rays
Ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) protons produced by uniformly
distributed astrophysical sources contradict the energy spectrum measured by
both the AGASA and HiRes experiments, assuming the small scale clustering of
UHECR observed by AGASA is caused by point-like sources. In that case, the
small number of sources leads to a sharp exponential cutoff at the energy
E<10^{20} eV in the UHECR spectrum. New hadrons with mass 1.5-3 GeV can solve
this cutoff problem. For the first time we discuss the production of such
hadrons in proton collisions with infrared/optical photons in astrophysical
sources. This production mechanism, in contrast to proton-proton collisions,
requires the acceleration of protons only to energies E<10^{21} eV. The diffuse
gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes in this model obey all existing experimental
limits. We predict large UHE neutrino fluxes well above the sensitivity of the
next generation of high-energy neutrino experiments. As an example we study
hadrons containing a light bottom squark. These models can be tested by
accelerator experiments, UHECR observatories and neutrino telescopes.Comment: 17 pages, revtex style; v2: shortened, as to appear in PR
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