689 research outputs found
Adaptive synchronization in delay-coupled networks of Stuart-Landau oscillators
We consider networks of delay-coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators. In these
systems, the coupling phase has been found to be a crucial control parameter.
By proper choice of this parameter one can switch between different synchronous
oscillatory states of the network. Applying the speed-gradient method, we
derive an adaptive algorithm for an automatic adjustment of the coupling phase
such that a desired state can be selected from an otherwise multistable regime.
We propose goal functions based on both the difference of the oscillators and a
generalized order parameter and demonstrate that the speed-gradient method
allows one to find appropriate coupling phases with which different states of
synchronization, e.g., in-phase oscillation, splay or various cluster states,
can be selected.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
The continuum limit of quark number susceptibilities
We report the continuum limit of quark number susceptibilities in quenched
QCD. Deviations from ideal gas behaviour at temperature T increase as the
lattice spacing is decreased from T/4 to T/6, but a further decrease seems to
have very little effect. The measured susceptibilities are 20% lower than the
ideal gas values, and also 10% below the hard thermal loop (HTL) results. The
off-diagonal susceptibility is several orders of magnitude smaller than the HTL
results. We verify a strong correlation between the lowest screening mass and
the susceptibility. We also show that the quark number susceptibilities give a
reasonable account of the Wroblewski parameter, which measures the strangeness
yield in a heavy-ion collision.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Spatiotemporal Stochastic Resonance in Fully Frustrated Josephson Ladders
We consider a Josephson-junction ladder in an external magnetic field with
half flux quantum per plaquette. When driven by external currents, periodic in
time and staggered in space, such a fully frustrated system is found to display
spatiotemporal stochastic resonance under the influence of thermal noise. Such
resonance behavior is investigated both numerically and analytically, which
reveals significant effects of anisotropy and yields rich physics.Comment: 8 pages in two columns, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Test of the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami picture of metastable decay in a model with microscopic dynamics
The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) theory for the time evolution of
the order parameter in systems undergoing first-order phase transformations has
been extended by Sekimoto to the level of two-point correlation functions.
Here, this extended KJMA theory is applied to a kinetic Ising lattice-gas
model, in which the elementary kinetic processes act on microscopic length and
time scales. The theoretical framework is used to analyze data from extensive
Monte Carlo simulations. The theory is inherently a mesoscopic continuum
picture, and in principle it requires a large separation between the
microscopic scales and the mesoscopic scales characteristic of the evolving
two-phase structure. Nevertheless, we find excellent quantitative agreement
with the simulations in a large parameter regime, extending remarkably far
towards strong fields (large supersaturations) and correspondingly small
nucleation barriers. The original KJMA theory permits direct measurement of the
order parameter in the metastable phase, and using the extension to correlation
functions one can also perform separate measurements of the nucleation rate and
the average velocity of the convoluted interface between the metastable and
stable phase regions. The values obtained for all three quantities are verified
by other theoretical and computational methods. As these quantities are often
difficult to measure directly during a process of phase transformation, data
analysis using the extended KJMA theory may provide a useful experimental
alternative.Comment: RevTex, 21 pages including 14 ps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B.
One misprint corrected in Eq.(C1
Parameterizing the Power Spectrum: Beyond the Truncated Taylor Expansion
The power spectrum is traditionally parameterized by a truncated Taylor
series: . It is
reasonable to truncate the Taylor series if , but
it is not if . We argue that there is no good
theoretical reason to prefer , and show that current
observations are consistent with even for
. Thus, there are regions of parameter space, which are both
theoretically and observationally relevant, for which the traditional truncated
Taylor series parameterization is inconsistent, and hence it can lead to
incorrect parameter estimations. Motivated by this, we propose a simple
extension of the traditional parameterization, which uses no extra parameters,
but that, unlike the traditional approach, covers well motivated inflationary
spectra with . Our parameterization therefore covers not only
standard-slow-roll inflation models but also a much wider class of inflation
models. We use this parameterization to perform a likelihood analysis for the
cosmological parameters.Comment: References added. Typo correcte
Plasmoid-Induced-Reconnection and Fractal Reconnection
As a key to undertanding the basic mechanism for fast reconnection in solar
flares, plasmoid-induced-reconnection and fractal reconnection are proposed and
examined. We first briefly summarize recent solar observations that give us
hints on the role of plasmoid (flux rope) ejections in flare energy release. We
then discuss the plasmoid-induced-reconnection model, which is an extention of
the classical two-ribbon-flare model which we refer to as the CSHKP model. An
essential ingredient of the new model is the formation and ejection of a
plasmoid which play an essential role in the storage of magnetic energy (by
inhibiting reconnection) and the induction of a strong inflow into reconnection
region. Using a simple analytical model, we show that the plasmoid ejection and
acceleration are closely coupled with the reconnection process, leading to a
nonlinear instability for the whole dynamics that determines the macroscopic
reconnection rate uniquely. Next we show that the current sheet tends to have a
fractal structure via the following process path: tearing, sheet thinning,
Sweet- Parker sheet, secondary tearing, further sheet thinning... These
processes occur repeatedly at smaller scales until a microscopic plasma scale
(either the ion Larmor radius or the ion inertial length) is reached where
anomalous resistivity or collisionless reconnection can occur. The current
sheet eventually has a fractal structure with many plasmoids (magnetic islands)
of different sizes. When these plasmoids are ejected out of the current sheets,
fast reconnection occurs at various different scales in a highly time dependent
manner. Finally, a scenario is presented for fast reconnection in the solar
corona on the basis of above plasmoid-induced-reconnection in a fractal current
sheet.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, with using eps.sty; Earth, Planets and Space in
press; ps-file is also available at
http://stesun8.stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~tanuma/study/shibata2001
The QCD thermal phase transition in the presence of a small chemical potential
We propose a new method to investigate the thermal properties of QCD with a
small quark chemical potential . Derivatives of the phase transition point
with respect to are computed at for 2 flavors of p-4 improved
staggered fermions with on a lattice. The resulting
Taylor expansion is well behaved for the small values of relevant for RHIC phenomenology, and predicts a critical curve
in reasonable agreement with estimates obtained using exact
reweighting. In addition, we contrast the case of isoscalar and isovector
chemical potentials, quantify the effect of on the equation of
state, and comment on the complex phase of the fermion determinant in QCD with
.Comment: 26 pages, 25 figures, minor modificatio
The Migration of Elites in a Borderless World: Citizenship as an Incentive for Professionals and Managers?
Der Artikel geht der Frage nach, inwiefern die geöffneten Türen für die Immigration Hochqualifizierter in den OECD-Ländern tatsächlich zu einer verstärkten Migrationsbewegung führen. Die Analyse von Daten zu Eliten- und Hochqualifiziertenmigration in Ostasien, Europa und den USA führt zu dem Ergebnis, dass diese dem Muster einer „brain circulation“ folgt und die Staatsbürgerrechte dabei keine entscheidende Rolle spielen
Parenting and child adjustment: a comparison of Turkish and English families
The links between parenting and child behaviour in cultural context have received increasing research attention. We investigated the effect of parenting on child adjustment using a multi-method design, comparing English and Turkish families. The socioeconomically diverse samples included 118 English and 100 Turkish families, each with two children aged 4–8 years. Mothers completed questionnaires as well as parent–child interaction being assessed using a structured Etch-a-Sketch task with each child separately. Children were interviewed about their relationships with their mothers using the Berkeley Puppet Interview. Multiple-group Confirmatory Analysis was used to test Measurement Invariance across groups, and a multi-informant approach was used to assess parenting. We found partial cross-cultural measurement invariance for parenting and child adjustment. Strikingly, the association between parenting and child adjustment was stronger among English families than Turkish families. Culturally distinct meanings of both parenting and child behaviour must be considered when interpreting their association
Identifying Ligand Binding Conformations of the β2-Adrenergic Receptor by Using Its Agonists as Computational Probes
Recently available G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) structures and biophysical studies suggest that the difference between the effects of various agonists and antagonists cannot be explained by single structures alone, but rather that the conformational ensembles of the proteins need to be considered. Here we use an elastic network model-guided molecular dynamics simulation protocol to generate an ensemble of conformers of a prototypical GPCR, β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR). The resulting conformers are clustered into groups based on the conformations of the ligand binding site, and distinct conformers from each group are assessed for their binding to known agonists of β2AR. We show that the select ligands bind preferentially to different predicted conformers of β2AR, and identify a role of β2AR extracellular region as an allosteric binding site for larger drugs such as salmeterol. Thus, drugs and ligands can be used as "computational probes" to systematically identify protein conformers with likely biological significance. © 2012 Isin et al
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