462 research outputs found
Legislative strengthening meets party support in international assistance: a closer relationship?
Recent reports recommend that international efforts to help strengthen legislatures in emerging democracies should work more closely with support for building stronger political parties and competitive party systems. This article locates the recommendations within international assistance more generally and reviews the arguments. It explores problems that must be addressed if the recommendations are to be implemented effectively. The article argues that an alternative, issue-based approach to strengthening legislatures and closer links with civil society could gain more traction. However, that is directed more centrally at promoting good governance for the purpose of furthering development than at democratisation goals sought by party aid and legislative strengtheners in the democracy assistance industry
Planar Superconductor-Normal-Superconductor Josephson Junctions in MgB2
Since the discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 considerable progress has
been made in determining the physical properties of the material, which are
promising for bulk conductors. Tunneling studies show that the material is
reasonably isotropic and has a well-developed s-wave energy gap (∆),
implying that electronic devices based on MgB2 could operate close to 30K.
Although a number of groups have reported the formation of thin films by
post-reaction of precursors, heterostructure growth is likely to require
considerable technological development, making single-layer device structures
of most immediate interest. MgB2 is unlike the cuprate superconductors in that
grain boundaries do not form good Josephson junctions, and although a SQUID
based on MgB2 nanobridges has been fabricated, the nanobridges themselves do
not show junction-like properties. Here we report the successful creation of
planar MgB2 junctions by localised ion damage in thin films. The critical
current (IC) of these devices is strongly modulated by applied microwave
radiation and magnetic field. The product of the critical current and normal
state resistance (ICRN) is remarkably high, implying a potential for very high
frequency applications.Comment: 7 pages including 4 figure
The Discovery of a Neutron Star with a Spin Frequency of 530 Hz in A1744-361
We report the detection with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE)
Proportional Counter Array (PCA) of 530 Hz burst oscillations in a
thermonuclear (type I) burst from the transient X-ray source A1744-361. This is
only the second burst ever observed from this source, and the first to be seen
in any detail. Our results confirm that A1744-361 is a low mass X-ray binary
(LMXB) system harboring a rapidly rotating neutron star. The oscillations are
first detected along the rising edge of the burst, and they show evidence for
frequency evolution of a magnitude similar to that seen in other burst sources.
The modulation amplitude and its increase with photon energy are also typical
of burst oscillations. The lack of any strong indication of photospheric radius
expansion during the burst suggests a 9 kpc upper limit of the source distance.
We also find energy dependent dips, establishing A1744-361 as a high
inclination, dipping LMXB. The timescale between the two episodes of observed
dips suggests an orbital period of ~ 97 minutes. We have also detected a 2 - 4
Hz quasi-periodic-oscillation (QPO) for the first time from this source. This
QPO appears consistent with ~ 1 Hz QPOs seen from other high-inclination
systems. We searched for kilohertz QPOs, and found a suggestive 2.3 sigma
feature at 800 Hz in one observation. The frequency, strength, and quality
factor are consistent with that of a lower frequency kilohertz QPO, but the
relatively low significance argues for caution, so we consider this a tentative
detection requiring confirmation.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, published in ApJ Letter
Properties of a Gamma Ray Burst Host Galaxy at z ~ 5
We describe the properties of the host galaxy of the gamma-ray burst
GRB060510B based on a spectrum of the burst afterglow obtained with the Gemini
North 8m telescope. The galaxy lies at a redshift of z = 4.941 making it the
fourth highest spectroscopically identified burst host. However, it is the
second highest redshift galaxy for which the quality of the spectrum permits a
detailed metallicity analysis. The neutral hydrogen column density has a
logarithmic value of 21.0--21.2 cm^-2 and the weak metal lines of Ni, S and Fe
show that the metallicity is in excess of a tenth of solar which is far above
the metallicities in damped Lyman alpha absorbers at high redshift. The
tightest constraint is from the Fe lines which place [Fe/H] in excess of -0.8.
We argue that the results suggest that metallicity bias could be a serious
problem with inferring star formation from the GRB population and consider how
future higher quality measurements could be used to resolve this question.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Chaos in an Exact Relativistic 3-body Self-Gravitating System
We consider the problem of three body motion for a relativistic
one-dimensional self-gravitating system. After describing the canonical
decomposition of the action, we find an exact expression for the 3-body
Hamiltonian, implicitly determined in terms of the four coordinate and momentum
degrees of freedom in the system. Non-relativistically these degrees of freedom
can be rewritten in terms of a single particle moving in a two-dimensional
hexagonal well. We find the exact relativistic generalization of this
potential, along with its post-Newtonian approximation. We then specialize to
the equal mass case and numerically solve the equations of motion that follow
from the Hamiltonian. Working in hexagonal-well coordinates, we obtaining
orbits in both the hexagonal and 3-body representations of the system, and plot
the Poincare sections as a function of the relativistic energy parameter . We find two broad categories of periodic and quasi-periodic motions that we
refer to as the annulus and pretzel patterns, as well as a set of chaotic
motions that appear in the region of phase-space between these two types.
Despite the high degree of non-linearity in the relativistic system, we find
that the the global structure of its phase space remains qualitatively the same
as its non-relativisitic counterpart for all values of that we could
study. However the relativistic system has a weaker symmetry and so its
Poincare section develops an asymmetric distortion that increases with
increasing . For the post-Newtonian system we find that it experiences a
KAM breakdown for : above which the near integrable regions
degenerate into chaos.Comment: latex, 65 pages, 36 figures, high-resolution figures available upon
reques
Nanospintronics with carbon nanotubes
One of the actual challenges of spintronics is the realization of a
spin-transistor allowing to control spin transport through an electrostatic
gate. In this review, we report on different experiments which demonstrate a
gate control of spin transport in a carbon nanotube connected to ferromagnetic
leads. We also discuss some theoretical approaches which can be used to analyze
spin transport in these systems. We emphasize the roles of the gate-tunable
quasi-bound states inside the nanotube and the coherent spin-dependent
scattering at the interfaces between the nanotube and its ferromagnetic
contacts.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures, some figures in gi
Phase diagram of bismuth in the extreme quantum limit
Elemental bismuth provides a rare opportunity to explore the fate of a
three-dimensional gas of highly mobile electrons confined to their lowest
Landau level. Coulomb interaction, neglected in the band picture, is expected
to become significant in this extreme quantum limit with poorly understood
consequences. Here, we present a study of the angular-dependent Nernst effect
in bismuth, which establishes the existence of ultraquantum field scales on top
of its complex single-particle spectrum. Each time a Landau level crosses the
Fermi level, the Nernst response sharply peaks. All such peaks are resolved by
the experiment and their complex angular-dependence is in very good agreement
with the theory. Beyond the quantum limit, we resolve additional Nernst peaks
signaling a cascade of additional Landau sub-levels caused by electron
interaction
Properties of a Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy at z ~ 5
We describe the properties of the host galaxy of the gamma-ray burst GRB 060510B based on a spectrum of the burst afterglow obtained with the Gemini North 8 m telescope. The galaxy lies at a redshift of z = 4.941, making it the fourth highest spectroscopically identified burst host. However, it is the second highest redshift galaxy for which the quality of the spectrum permits a detailed metallicity analysis. The neutral hydrogen column density has a logarithmic value of 21.0-21.2 cm-2, and the weak metal lines of Ni, S, and Fe show that the metallicity is in excess of a tenth of solar, which is far above the metallicities in damped Lya absorbers at high redshift. The tightest constraint is from the Fe lines, which place [Fe/H] in excess of -0.8. We argue that the results suggest that metallicity bias could be a serious obstacle to inferring star formation from the GRB population, and we consider how future higher quality measurements could be used to resolve this issue
Disorder induced collapse of the electron phonon coupling in MgB observed by Raman Spectroscopy
The Raman spectrum of the superconductor MgB has been measured as a
function of the Tc of the film. A striking correlation is observed between the
onset and the frequency of the mode. Analysis of the data with
the McMillan formula provides clear experimental evidence for the collapse of
the electron phonon coupling at the temperature predicted for the convergence
of two superconducting gaps into one observable gap. This gives indirect
evidence of the convergence of the two gaps and direct evidence of a transition
to an isotropic state at 19 K. The value of the electron phonon coupling
constant is found to be 1.22 for films with T 39K and 0.80 for films with
T19K.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
A New Population of High-Redshift Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts
The redshift distribution of the short-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is a crucial, but currently fragmentary, clue to the nature of their progenitors. Here we present optical observations of nine short GRBs obtained with Gemini, Magellan, and the Hubble Space Telescope. We detect the afterglows and host galaxies of two short bursts, and host galaxies for two additional bursts with known optical afterglow positions, and five with X-ray positions (≲6" radius). In eight of the nine cases we find that the most probable host galaxies are faint, R ≈ 23-26.5 mag, and are therefore starkly different from the first few short GRB hosts with R ≈ 17-22 mag and z ≲ 0.5. Indeed, we measure spectroscopic redshifts of z ≈ 0.4-1.1 for the four brightest hosts. A comparison to large field galaxy samples, as well as the hosts of long GRBs and previous short GRBs, indicates that the fainter hosts likely reside at z ≳ 1. Our most conservative limit is that at least half of the five hosts without a known redshift reside at z > 0.7 (97% confidence level), suggesting that about 1/3 to 2/3 of all short GRBs originate at higher redshifts than previously determined. This has two important implications: (1) we constrain the acceptable age distributions to a wide lognormal (σ ≳ 1) with τ* ~ 4-8 Gyr, or to a power law, P(τ)α τ^n, with -1 ≲ n ≲ 0; and (2) the inferred isotropic energies, E_γ,iso ~ 10^50-10^52 ergs, are significantly larger than ~10^48-10^49 ergs for the low-redshift, short GRBs, indicating a large spread in energy release or jet opening angles. Finally, we reiterate the importance of short GRBs as potential gravitational-wave sources and find a conservative detection rate with the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) of ~2-6 yr^-1
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