8,772 research outputs found
Amplituhedron meets Jeffrey-Kirwan Residue
The tree amplituhedra A^(m)_n,k are mathematical objects generalising the notion of polytopes into the Grassmannian. Proposed for m=4 as a geometric construction encoding tree-level scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, they are mathematically interesting for any m. In this paper we strengthen the relation between scattering amplitudes and geometry by linking the amplituhedron to the Jeffrey-Kirwan residue, a powerful concept in symplectic and algebraic geometry. We focus on a particular class of amplituhedra in any dimension, namely cyclic polytopes, and their even-dimensional conjugates. We show how the Jeffrey-Kirwan residue prescription allows to extract the correct amplituhedron volume functions in all these cases. Notably, this also naturally exposes the rich combinatorial and geometric structures of amplituhedra, such as their regular triangulations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Constraining the parameters of globular cluster NGC 1904 from its variable star population
We present the analysis of 11 nights of V and I time-series observations of
the globular cluster NGC 1904 (M 79). Using this we searched for variable stars
in this cluster and attempted to refine the periods of known variables, making
use of a time baseline spanning almost 8 years. We use our data to derive the
metallicity and distance of NGC 1904. We used difference imaging to reduce our
data to obtain high-precision light curves of variable stars. We then estimated
the cluster parameters by performing a Fourier decomposition of the light
curves of RR Lyrae stars for which a good period estimate was possible. We also
derive an estimate for the age of the cluster by fitting theoretical isochrones
to our colour-magnitude diagram (CMD). Out of 13 stars previously classified as
variables, we confirm that 10 are bona fide variables. We cannot detect
variability in one other within the precision of our data, while there are two
which are saturated in our data frames, but we do not find sufficient evidence
in the literature to confirm their variability. We also detect a new RR Lyrae
variable, giving a total number of confirmed variable stars in NGC 1904 of 11.
Using the Fourier parameters, we find a cluster metallicity [Fe/H]_ZW=-1.63 +-
0.14, or [Fe/H]_UVES=-1.57 \pm 0.18, and a distance of 13.3 +- 0.4 kpc (using
RR0 variables) or 12.9 kpc (using the one RR1 variable in our sample for which
Fourier decomposition was possible).Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Foreword
This work reports on the performances of ohmic contacts fabricated on highly p-type doped 4H-SiC epitaxial layer selectively grown by vapor-liquid-solid transport. Due to the very high doping level obtained, the contacts have an ohmic behavior even without any annealing process. Upon variation of annealing temperatures, it was shown that both 500 and 800â°C annealing temperature lead to a minimum value of the Specific Contact Resistance (SCR) down to 1.3Ă10â6âΩâ
cm2. However, a large variation of the minimum SCR values has been observed (up to 4Ă10â4âΩâ
cm2). Possible sources of this fluctuation have been also discussed in this paper
An evaluation resource for geographic information retrieval
In this paper we present an evaluation resource for geographic information retrieval developed within the Cross Language Evaluation
Forum (CLEF). The GeoCLEF track is dedicated to the evaluation of geographic information retrieval systems. The resource
encompasses more than 600,000 documents, 75 topics so far, and more than 100,000 relevance judgments for these topics. Geographic
information retrieval requires an evaluation resource which represents realistic information needs and which is geographically
challenging. Some experimental results and analysis are reported
RR Lyrae Stars In The GCVS Observed By The Qatar Exoplanet Survey
We used the light curve archive of the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES) to
investigate the RR Lyrae variable stars listed in the General Catalogue of
Variable Stars (GCVS). Of 588 variables studied, we reclassify 14 as eclipsing
binaries, one as an RS Canum Venaticorum-type variable, one as an irregular
variable, four as classical Cepheids, and one as a type II Cepheid, while also
improving their periods. We also report new RR Lyrae sub-type classifications
for 65 variables and improve on the GCVS period estimates for 135 RR Lyrae
variables. There are seven double-mode RR Lyrae stars in the sample for which
we measured their fundamental and first overtone periods. Finally, we detect
the Blazhko effect in 38 of the RR Lyrae stars for the first time and we
successfully measured the Blazhko period for 26 of them.Comment: Accepted IBV
GeoCLEF 2007: the CLEF 2007 cross-language geographic information retrieval track overview
GeoCLEF ran as a regular track for the second time within the Cross
Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) 2007. The purpose of GeoCLEF is to test
and evaluate cross-language geographic information retrieval (GIR): retrieval
for topics with a geographic specification. GeoCLEF 2007 consisted of two sub
tasks. A search task ran for the third time and a query classification task was
organized for the first. For the GeoCLEF 2007 search task, twenty-five search
topics were defined by the organizing groups for searching English, German,
Portuguese and Spanish document collections. All topics were translated into
English, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Several topics in 2007
were geographically challenging. Thirteen groups submitted 108 runs. The
groups used a variety of approaches. For the classification task, a query log
from a search engine was provided and the groups needed to identify the
queries with a geographic scope and the geographic components within the
local queries
Fundamental parameters of Cepheids. V. Additional photometry and radial velocity for southern Cepheids
I present photometric and radial velocity data for Galactic Cepheids, most of
them being in the southern hemisphere. There are 1250 Geneva 7-color
photometric measurements for 62 Cepheids, the average uncertainty per
measurement is better than 0.01 mag. A total of 832 velocity measurements have
been obtained with the CORAVEL radial velocity spectrograph for 46 Cepheids.
The average accuracy of the radial velocity data is 0.38 km/s. There are 33
stars with both photometry and radial velocity data. I discuss the possible
binarity or period change that these new data reveal. I also present reddenings
for all Cepheids with photometry. The data are available electronically.Comment: To appear in ApJS. Data available electronically at
ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/dbersier
Modified Debye-Huckel Electron Shielding and Penetration Factor
Screened potential, modified by non standard electron cloud distributions
responsible for the shielding effect on fusion of reacting nuclei in
astrophysical plasmas, is derived. The case of clouds with depleted tails in
space coordinates is discussed. The modified screened potential is obtained
both from statistical mechanics arguments based on fluctuations of the inverse
of the Debye-Huckel radius and from the solution of a Bernoulli equation used
in generalized statistical mechanics. Plots and tables useful in evaluating
penetration probability at any energy are provided.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
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