15,482 research outputs found
Using temporal distributions of transient events to characterize cosmological source populations
The brightest events in a time series of cosmological transients obey an
observation time dependence which is often overlooked. This dependence can be
exploited to probe the global properties of electromagnetic and gravitational
wave transients (Howell et al. 2007a, Coward & Burman 2005). We describe a new
relation based on a peak flux--observation time distribution and show that it
is invariant to the luminosity distribution of the sources (Howell et al.
2007b). Applying this relation, in combination with a new data analysis filter,
to \emph{Swift} gamma-ray burst data, we demonstrate that it can constrain
their rate density.Comment: published in proceedings of FRONTIERS OF FUNDAMENTAL AND
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS: 10th International Symposium, AIP,1246,203, (2010
An improved method for estimating source densities using the temporal distribution of Cosmological Transients
It has been shown that the observed temporal distribution of transient events
in the cosmos can be used to constrain their rate density. Here we show that
the peak flux--observation time relation takes the form of a power law that is
invariant to the luminosity distribution of the sources, and that the method
can be greatly improved by invoking time reversal invariance and the temporal
cosmological principle. We demonstrate how the method can be used to constrain
distributions of transient events, by applying it to Swift gamma-ray burst data
and show that the peak flux--observation time relation is in good agreement
with recent estimates of source parameters. We additionally show that the
intrinsic time dependence allows the method to be used as a predictive tool.
Within the next year of Swift observation, we find a 50% chance of obtaining a
peak flux greater than that of GRB 060017 -- the highest Swift peak flux to
date -- and the same probability of detecting a burst with peak flux > 100
photons s^{-1} cm^{-2} within 6 years.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letter
Phenology satellite experiment
The detection of a phenological event (the brown wave-vegetation senescence) for specific forest and crop types using ERTS-1 imagery is described. Data handling techniques included computer analysis and photo interpretation procedures. Computer analysis of ERTS-1 multispectral scanner digital tapes in all bands was used to give the relative changes of spectral reflectance with time of forests and specified crops. These data were obtained for a number of the study's twenty-four sites located within four north-south corridors across the United States. Analysis of ground observation photography and ERTS-1 imagery for sites in the Appalachian Corridor and Mississippi Valley Corridor indicates that the recession of vegetation development can be detected very well. Tentative conclusions are that specific phenological events such as crop maturity or leaf fall can be mapped for specific sites and possibly for entire regions
SUSY-Breaking Parameters from RG Invariants at the LHC
We study Renormalization Group invariant (RGI) quantities in the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model and show that they are a powerful and simple
instrument for testing high scale models of supersymmetry (SUSY)-breaking. For
illustration, we analyze the frameworks of minimal and general gauge mediated
(MGM and GGM) SUSY-breaking, with additional arbitrary soft Higgs mass
parameters at the messenger scale. We show that if a gaugino and two first
generation sfermion soft masses are determined at the LHC, the RGIs lead to MGM
sum rules that yield accurate predictions for the other gaugino and first
generation soft masses. RGIs can also be used to reconstruct the fundamental
MGM parameters (including the messenger scale), calculate the hypercharge
D-term, and find relationships among the third generation and Higgs soft
masses. We then study the extent to which measurements of the full first
generation spectrum at the LHC may distinguish different SUSY-breaking
scenarios. In the case of MGM, although most deviations violate the sum rules
by more than estimated experimental errors, we find a 1-parameter family of GGM
models that satisfy the constraints and produce the same first generation
spectrum. The GGM-MGM degeneracy is lifted by differences in the third
generation masses and the messenger scales.Comment: (v1) 30 pages; (v2) mislabeling in figs 2 and 3 corrected, version
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Entendiendo, evaluando y solucionando los problemas de contaminación de luz en playas de anidamiento de tortugas marinas/understanding, assessing, and resolving light- pollution problems on sea turtle nesting beaches
Mantener al público informado sobre los problemas de la contaminación con luz de las playas de anidamiento de tortugas es un paso fundamental para oscurecer las playas de tortugas marinas. Muchas de aquellas personas responsables de esta iluminación no tienen conocimiento del efecto negativo que esto ocasiona y están dispuestos a corregir el problema voluntariamente una vez que son informados. Sin
embargo, a menudo es necesaria legislación para un mayor control de la iluminación, y en muchas playas de anidamiento, esta es la única forma de resolver el
problema de contaminación de luz. En este manual se
incluyen una guía para iniciar, promocionar e implementar
leyes sobre la iluminación artifical de playas, así como un modelo de una ordenanza que puede asistir con este fin
Sand in the wheels, or oiling the wheels, of international finance? : New Labour's appeal to a 'new Bretton Woods'
Tony Blair’s political instinct typically is to associate himself only with the future. As such, his explicit appeal to ‘the past’ in his references to New Labour’s desire to establish a “new Bretton Woods” is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity (see Blair 1998a). The fact that this appeal was made specifically in relation to Bretton Woods is even more interesting. The resonant image of the international economic context established by the original Bretton Woods agreements invokes a style and content of policy-making which Tony Blair typically dismisses as neither economically nor politically consistent with his preferred vision of the future (see Blair 2000c, 2001b)
Isotropic-medium three-dimensional cloaks for acoustic and electromagnetic waves
We propose a generalization of the two-dimensional eikonal-limit cloak
derived from a conformal transformation to three dimensions. The proposed cloak
is a spherical shell composed of only isotropic media; it operates in the
transmission mode and requires no mirror or ground plane. Unlike the well-known
omnidirectional spherical cloaks, it may reduce visibility of an arbitrary
object only for a very limited range of observation angles. In the
short-wavelength limit, this cloaking structure restores not only the
trajectories of incident rays, but also their phase, which is a necessary
ingredient to complete invisibility. Both scalar-wave (acoustic) and transverse
vector-wave (electromagnetic) versions are presented.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure
Search for bursts in air shower data
There have been reports in recent years of the possible observation of bursts in air shower data. If such events are truly of an astrophysical nature then, they represent an important new class of phemonenon since no other bursts have been observed above the MeV level. The spectra of conventional gamma ray bursts are unknown at higher energies but their observed spectra at MeV energies appear generally to exhibit a steepening in the higher MeV range and are thus unlikely to extrapolate to measurable fluxes at air shower energies. An attempt has been made to look for deviations from randomness in the arrival times of air showers above approx. 10 to the 14th power eV with a number of systems and results so far are presented here. This work will be continued for a substantial period of ime with a system capable of recording bursts with multiple events down to a spacing of 4 microns. Earlier data have also been searched for the possible association of air shower events with a glitch of the Vela pulsar
Determining the Structure of Supersymmetry-Breaking with Renormalization Group Invariants
If collider experiments demonstrate that the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard
Model (MSSM) is a good description of nature at the weak scale, the
experimental priority will be the precise determination of superpartner masses.
These masses are governed by the weak scale values of the soft supersymmetry
(SUSY)-breaking parameters, which are in turn highly dependent on the
SUSY-breaking scheme present at high scales. It is therefore of great interest
to find patterns in the soft parameters that can distinguish different high
scale SUSY-breaking structures, identify the scale at which the breaking is
communicated to the visible sector, and determine the soft breaking parameters
at that scale. In this work, we demonstrate that 1-loop Renormalization
Group~(RG) invariant quantities present in the MSSM may be used to answer each
of these questions. We apply our method first to generic flavor-blind models of
SUSY-breaking, and then examine in detail the subset of these models described
by General Gauge Mediation and the constrained MSSM with non-universal Higgs
masses. As RG invariance generally does not hold beyond leading-log order, we
investigate the magnitude and direction of the 2-loop corrections. We find that
with superpartners at the TeV scale, these 2-loop effects are either
negligible, or they are of the order of optimistic experimental uncertainties
and have definite signs, which allows them to be easily accounted for in the
overall uncertainty.Comment: v2 -- references added, version to be published in PRD; 40 page
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