17,491 research outputs found
Bubble Growth in Superfluid 3-He: The Dynamics of the Curved A-B Interface
We study the hydrodynamics of the A-B interface with finite curvature. The
interface tension is shown to enhance both the transition velocity and the
amplitudes of second sound. In addition, the magnetic signals emitted by the
growing bubble are calculated, and the interaction between many growing bubbles
is considered.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, ITP-UH 11/9
Phase Variation in the Pulse Profile of SMC X-1
We present the results of timing and spectral analysis of X-ray high state
observations of the high-mass X-ray pulsar SMC X-1 with Chandra, XMM-Newton,
and ROSAT, taken between 1991 and 2001. The source has L_X ~ 3-5 x 10^38
ergs/s, and the spectra can be modeled as a power law plus blackbody with kT_BB
\~ 0.18 keV and reprocessed emission radius R_BB ~ 2 x 10^8 cm, assuming a
distance of 60 kpc to the source. Energy-resolved pulse profiles show several
distinct forms, more than half of which include a second pulse in the soft
profile, previously documented only in hard energies. We also detect
significant variation in the phase shift between hard and soft pulses, as has
recently been reported in Her X-1. We suggest an explanation for the observed
characteristics of the soft pulses in terms of precession of the accretion
disk.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL; v2 minor
corrections, as will appear in ApJ
Dissipation of the 3^He A-B Transition
A rigorous hydrodynamic theory of the A-B transition is presented. All
dissipative processes are considered. At low interface velocities, those
occurring on hydrodynamic length scales, not considered hitherto, are most
probably the dominant ones.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX, 2 figures, ITP-UH 13/9
Narrow Line Photoassociation in an Optical Lattice
With ultracold Sr in a 1D magic wavelength optical lattice, we
performed narrow line photoassociation spectroscopy near the SP intercombination transition. Nine least-bound vibrational molecular
levels associated with the long-range and potential energy surfaces
were measured and identified. A simple theoretical model accurately describes
the level positions and treats the effects of the lattice confinement on the
line shapes. The measured resonance strengths show that optical tuning of the
ground state scattering length should be possible without significant atom
loss.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Canonical wave packets in quantum cosmology
We discuss the construction of wave packets resulting from the solutions of a
class of Wheeler-DeWitt equations in Robertson-Walker type cosmologies, for
arbitrary curvature. We show that there always exists a ``canonical initial
slope" for a given initial wave function, which optimizes some desirable
properties of the resulting wave packet, most importantly good
classical-quantum correspondence. This can be properly denoted as a canonical
wave packet. We introduce a general method for finding these canonical initial
slopes which is generalization of our earlier work.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Effect of Inhomogeneous Heat Flow on the Enhancement of Heat Capacity in Helium-II by Counterflow near Tλ
In 2000 Harter et al. reported the first measurements of the enhancement of the heat capacity ΔCQ[equivalent]C(Q)-C(Q=0) of helium-II transporting a heat flux density Q near Tλ. Surprisingly, their measured ΔCQ was ~7–12 times larger than predicted, depending on which theory was assumed. In this report we present a candidate explanation for this discrepancy: unintended heat flux inhomogeneity. Because C(Q) should diverge at a critical heat flux density Qc, homogeneous heat flow is required for an accurate measurement. We present results from numerical analysis of the heat flow in the Harter et al. cell indicating that substantial inhomogeneity occurred. We determine the effect of the inhomogeneity on ΔCQ and find rough agreement with the observed disparity between prediction and measurement
Production of superpositions of coherent states in traveling optical fields with inefficient photon detection
We develop an all-optical scheme to generate superpositions of
macroscopically distinguishable coherent states in traveling optical fields. It
non-deterministically distills coherent state superpositions (CSSs) with large
amplitudes out of CSSs with small amplitudes using inefficient photon
detection. The small CSSs required to produce CSSs with larger amplitudes are
extremely well approximated by squeezed single photons. We discuss some
remarkable features of this scheme: it effectively purifies mixed initial
states emitted from inefficient single photon sources and boosts negativity of
Wigner functions of quantum states.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Investigating Non-linear and Stochastic Hard X-ray Variability of Active Galactic Nuclei using Recurrence Analysis
We present results of recurrence analysis of 46 active galactic nuclei (AGN)
using light curves from the 157-month catalog of the Swift Burst Alert
Telescope (BAT) in the 14-150 keV band. We generate recurrence plots and
compute recurrence plot metrics for each object. We use the surrogate data
method to compare all derived recurrence-based quantities to three sets of
stochastic light curves with identical power spectrum, flux distribution, or
both, in order to determine the presence of determinism, non-linearity,
entropy, and non-stationarity. We compare these quantities with known physical
characteristics of each system, such as black hole mass, Eddington ratio, and
bolometric luminosity, radio loudness, obscuration, and spectroscopic type. We
find that almost all AGN in this sample exhibit substantial higher-order modes
of variability than is contained in the power spectrum, with approximately half
exhibiting nonlinear or non-stationary behavior. We find that Type 2 AGN are
more likely to contain deterministic variability than Type 1 AGN while the same
distinction is not found between obscured and unobscured AGN. The complexity of
variability among Type 1 AGN is anticorrelated with Eddington ratio, while no
relationship is found among Type 2 AGN. The connections between the recurrence
properties and AGN class suggest that hard X-ray emission is a probe of
distinct accretion processes among classes of AGN, which supports
interpretations of changing-look AGN and challenges the traditional unification
model that classifies AGN only on viewing angle.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, 13 table
On designing observers for time-delay systems with nonlinear disturbances
This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright 2002 Taylor & Francis LtdIn this paper, the observer design problem is studied for a class of time-delay nonlinear systems. The system under consideration is subject to delayed state and non-linear disturbances. The time-delay is allowed to be time-varying, and the non-linearities are assumed to satisfy global Lipschitz conditions. The problem addressed is the design of state observers such that, for the admissible time-delay as well as non-linear disturbances, the dynamics of the observation error is globally exponentially stable. An effective algebraic matrix inequality approach is developed to solve the non-linear observer design problem. Specifically, some conditions for the existence of the desired observers are derived, and an explicit expression of desired observers is given in terms of some free parameters. A simulation example is included to illustrate the practical applicability of the proposed theory.The work of Z. Wang was supported in part by the University of Kaiserslautern of Germany and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
A phase II study of capecitabine and oxalplatin combination chemotherapy in patients with inoperable adenocarcinoma of the gall bladder or biliary tract
Background: Advanced biliary tract carcinomas are associated with a poor prognosis, and palliative chemotherapy has only modest benefit. This multi-centre phase II study was conducted to determine the efficacy of capecitabine in combination with oxaliplatin in patients with inoperable gall bladder or biliary tract cancer. Methods: This was a Phase II, non-randomised, two-stage Simon design, multi-centre study. Ethics approval was sought and obtained by the North West MREC, and then locally by the West Glasgow Hospitals Research Ethics Com mittee. Eligible patients with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the gall bladder or biliary tract and with adequate performance status, haematologic, renal, and hepatic function were treated with capecit abine (1000 mg/m2 po, twice daily, days 1–14) and oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2 i.v., day 1) every 3 weeks for up to six cycles. The primary objective of the study was to determine the objective tumour response rates (complete and partial). The secondary objectives included assessment of toxicity, progression-free survival, and overall survival. Results: Forty-three patients were recruited between July 2003 and December 2005. The regimen was well tolerated with no grade 3/4 neutropenia or thrombocytopenia. Grade 3/4 sensory neuropathy was observed in six patients. Two-thirds of patients received their chemotherapy without any dose delays. Overall response rate was 23.8 % (95 % CI 12.05–39.5 %). Stable disease was observed in a further 13 patients (31 %) and progressive disease observed in 12 (28.6 %) of patients. The median progression-free survival was 4.6 months (95 % CI 2.8–6.4 months; Fig. 1) and the median overall survival 7.9 months (95 % CI 5.3–10.4 months; Fig. 2). Conclusion: Capecitabine combined with oxaliplatin has a lower disease control and shorter overall survival than the combination of cisplatin with gemcitabine which has subsequently become the standard of care in this disease. How ever, capecitabine in combination with oxaliplatin does have modest activity in this disease, and can be considered as an alternative treatment option for patients in whom cisplatin and/or gemcitabine are contra-indicated
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