12,166 research outputs found
Signal-to-Noise Eigenmode Analysis of the Two-Year COBE Maps
To test a theory of cosmic microwave background fluctuations, it is natural
to expand an anisotropy map in an uncorrelated basis of linear combinations of
pixel amplitudes --- statistically-independent for both the noise and the
signal. These -eigenmodes are indispensible for rapid Bayesian analyses of
anisotropy experiments, applied here to the recently-released two-year COBE
{\it dmr} maps and the {\it firs} map. A 2-parameter model with an overall
band-power and a spectral tilt describes well inflation-based
theories. The band-powers for {\it all} the {\it dmr} + GHz
and {\it firs} 170 GHz maps agree, , and
are largely independent of tilt and degree of (sharp) -filtering. Further,
after optimal -filtering, the {\it dmr} maps reveal the same
tilt-independent large scale features and correlation function. The unfiltered
{\it dmr} + index is ; increasing the
-filtering gives a broad region at (1.0--1.2)0.5, a jump to
(1.4--1.6)0.5, then a drop to 0.8, the higher values clearly seen to be
driven by -power spectrum data points that do not fit single-tilt models.
These indices are nicely compatible with inflation values (0.8--1.2), but
not overwhelmingly so.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Letters, 4 pages, uuencoded compressed
PostScript; also bdmr2.ps.Z, via anonymous ftp to ftp.cita.utoronto.ca, cd to
/pub/dick/yukawa; CITA-94-2
Mixed tenure orthodoxy: practitioner reflections on policy effects
This article examines mixed tenure as a policy orthodoxy. It first sets out how mixed tenure may be considered to constitute an orthodoxy within planning, being generally accepted as a theory and practice even in the absence of supporting evidence. Five elements of this orthodoxy are identified, relating to (1) housing and the environment, (2) social change, (3) economic impacts, (4) sustainable communities, (5) and sociospatial integration. Interviews with practitioners involved with three social housing estates that have experienced mixed-tenure policy interventions are reported to consider why the implementation and effects of mixed tenure might not correspond with the orthodox understanding. It is argued that policy ambiguity and weaknesses in policy theory and specification, alongside practical constraints, lie behind incomplete and counterproductive policy implementation, but a belief in pursuing the policy orthodoxy persists nevertheless
Arkansas Soybean Performance Tests 2008
Soybean cultivar performance tests are conducted each year in Arkansas by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. The tests provide information to companies developing cultivars and/or marketing seed within the state, and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating cultivar recommendations for soybean producer
Arkansas Soybean Performance Tests 2007
Soybean cultivar performance tests are conducted each year in Arkansas by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. The tests provide information to companies developing cultivars and/or marketing seed within the State, and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating cultivar recommendations for soybean producers
Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Performance Tests 2003
Corn and grain sorghum performance tests are conducted each year in Arkansas by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. The tests provide information to companies marketing seed within the state, and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating recommendations for producers
CMB Likelihood Functions for Beginners and Experts
Although the broad outlines of the appropriate pipeline for cosmological
likelihood analysis with CMB data has been known for several years, only
recently have we had to contend with the full, large-scale, computationally
challenging problem involving both highly-correlated noise and extremely large
datasets (). In this talk we concentrate on the beginning and end of
this process. First, we discuss estimating the noise covariance from the data
itself in a rigorous and unbiased way; this is essentially an iterated
minimum-variance mapmaking approach. We also discuss the unbiased determination
of cosmological parameters from estimates of the power spectrum or experimental
bandpowers.Comment: Long-delayed submission. In AIP Conference Proceedings "3K Cosmology"
held in Rome, Oct 5-10, 1998, edited by Luciano Maiani, Francesco Melchiorri
and Nicola Vittorio, 343-347, New York, American Institute of Physics 199
Observation of the dielectric-waveguide mode of light propagation in p-n junctions
Theoretical considerations of the propagation of electromagnetic energy near a p-n junction (1) show that the “sandwich” formed by having a depletion layer bounded by the p and n regions can act as a dielectric waveguide. (1,2
Constraining Large Scale Structure Theories with the Cosmic Background Radiation
We review the relevant 10+ parameters associated with inflation and matter
content; the relation between LSS and primary and secondary CMB anisotropy
probes; COBE constraints on energy injection; current anisotropy band-powers
which strongly support the gravitational instability theory and suggest the
universe could not have reionized too early. We use Bayesian analysis methods
to determine what current CMB and CMB+LSS data imply for inflation-based
Gaussian fluctuations in tilted CDM, hCDM and oCDM model
sequences with age 11-15 Gyr, consisting of mixtures of baryons, cold (and
possibly hot) dark matter, vacuum energy, and curvature energy in open
cosmologies. For example, we find the slope of the initial spectrum is within
about 5% of the (preferred) scale invariant form when just the CMB data is
used, and for CDM when LSS data is combined with CMB; with both, a
nonzero value of is strongly preferred ( for a 13
Gyr sequence, similar to the value from SNIa). The CDM sequence prefers
, but is overall much less likely than the flat
sequence with CMB+LSS. We also review the rosy forecasts
of angular power spectra and parameter estimates from future balloon and
satellite experiments when foreground and systematic effects are ignored.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures, 2 tables, uses rspublic.sty To appear in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A, 1998.
"Discussion Meeting on Large Scale Structure in the Universe," Royal Society,
London, March 1998. Text and colour figures also available at
ftp://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/bond/roysoc9
The Exotic Eclipsing Nucleus of the Ring Planetary Nebula SuWt2
SuWt2 is a planetary nebula (PN) consisting of a bright ionized thin ring
seen nearly edge-on. It has a bright (V=12) central star, too cool to ionize
the PN, which we discovered to be an eclipsing binary. A spectrum from IUE did
not reveal a UV source. We present extensive ground-based photometry and
spectroscopy of the central binary collected over the ensuing two decades,
resulting in the determination that the orbital period of the eclipsing pair is
4.9 d, and consists of two nearly identical A1 V stars, each of mass ~2.7
M_sun. The physical parameters of the A stars, combined with evolutionary
tracks, show that both are in the short-lived "blue-hook" evolutionary phase
that occurs between the main sequence and the Hertzsprung gap, and that the age
of the system is about 520 Myr. One puzzle is that the stars' rotational
velocities are different from each other, and considerably slower than
synchronous with the orbital period. It is possible that the center-of-mass
velocity of the eclipsing pair is varying with time, suggesting that there is
an unseen third orbiting body in the system. We propose a scenario in which the
system began as a hierarchical triple, consisting of a ~2.9 M_sun star orbiting
the close pair of A stars. Upon reaching the AGB stage, the primary engulfed
the pair into a common envelope, leading to a rapid contraction of the orbit
and catastrophic ejection of the envelope into the orbital plane. In this
picture, the exposed core of the initial primary is now a white dwarf of ~0.7
M_sun, orbiting the eclipsing pair, which has already cooled below the
detectability possible by IUE at our derived distance of 2.3 kpc and a
reddening of E(B-V)=0.40. The SuWt2 system may be destined to perish as a Type
Ia supernova. (Abridged)Comment: 60 pages, 11 figure, to appear in the Astronomical Journa
Angular Power Spectrum of the Microwave Background Anisotropy seen by the COBE Differential Microwave Radiometer
The angular power spectrum estimator developed by Peebles (1973) and Hauser &
Peebles (1973) has been modified and applied to the 4 year maps produced by the
COBE DMR. The power spectrum of the observed sky has been compared to the power
spectra of a large number of simulated random skies produced with noise equal
to the observed noise and primordial density fluctuation power spectra of power
law form, with . The best fitting value of the spectral index
in the range of spatial scales corresponding to spherical harmonic indices is an apparent spectral index = 1.13 (+0.3)
(-0.4) which is consistent with the Harrison-Zel'dovich primordial spectral
index The best fitting amplitude for is = 18 uK.Comment: 17 pages including 3 PostScript figures. Submitted to The
Astrophysical Journal (Letters
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