2,112 research outputs found
Development of large radii half-wave plates for CMB satellite missions
The successful European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission has mapped the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy with unprecedented
accuracy. However, Planck was not designed to detect the polarised components
of the CMB with comparable precision. The BICEP2 collaboration has recently
reported the first detection of the B-mode polarisation. ESA is funding the
development of critical enabling technologies associated with B-mode
polarisation detection, one of these being large diameter half-wave plates. We
compare different polarisation modulators and discuss their respective
trade-offs in terms of manufacturing, RF performance and thermo-mechanical
properties. We then select the most appropriate solution for future satellite
missions, optimized for the detection of B-modes.Comment: 16 page
Detailed study of the microwave emission of the supernova remnant 3C 396
We have observed the supernova remnant 3C~396 in the microwave region using
the Parkes 64-m telescope. Observations have been made at 8.4 GHz, 13.5 GHz,
and 18.6 GHz and in polarisation at 21.5 GHz. We have used data from several
other observatories, including previously unpublished observations performed by
the Green Bank Telescope at 31.2 GHz, to investigate the nature of the
microwave emission of 3C 396. Results show a spectral energy distribution
dominated by a single component power law emission with . Data do not favour the presence of anomalous microwave emission coming
from the source. Polarised emission at 21.5 GHz is consistent with
synchrotron-dominated emission. We present microwave maps and correlate them
with infrared (IR) maps in order to characterise the interplay between thermal
dust and microwave emission. IR vs. microwave TT plots reveal poor correlation
between mid-infrared and microwave emission from the core of the source. On the
other hand, a correlation is detected in the tail emission of the outer shell
of 3C 396, which could be ascribed to Galactic contamination.Comment: published in MNRA
Molecular docking simulations on histone deacetylases (Hdac)-1 and-2 to investigate the flavone binding
Histone modifications through acetylation are fundamental for remodelling chromatin and consequently activating gene expression. The imbalance between acetylation and deacetylation activity causes transcriptional dysregulation associated with several disorders. Flavones, small molecules of plant origin, are known to interfere with class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes and to enhance acetylation, restoring cell homeostasis. To investigate the possible physical interactions of flavones on human HDAC1 and 2, we carried out in silico molecular docking simulations. Our data have revealed how flavone, and other two flavones previously investigated, i.e., apigenin and luteolin, can interact as ligands with HDAC1 and 2 at the active site binding pocket. Regulation of HDAC activity by dietary flavones could have important implications in developing epigenetic therapy to regulate the cell gene expression
Current reservoirs in the simple exclusion process
We consider the symmetric simple exclusion process in the interval
with additional birth and death processes respectively on , , and
. The exclusion is speeded up by a factor , births and deaths
by a factor . Assuming propagation of chaos (a property proved in a
companion paper "Truncated correlations in the stirring process with births and
deaths") we prove convergence in the limit to the linear heat
equation with Dirichlet condition on the boundaries; the boundary conditions
however are not known a priori, they are obtained by solving a non linear
equation. The model simulates mass transport with current reservoirs at the
boundaries and the Fourier law is proved to hold
An Analysis of the Japanese Credit Network
An analysis of the Japanese credit market in 2004 between banks and quoted
firms is done in this paper using the tools of the networks theory. It can be
pointed out that: (i) a backbone of the credit channel emerges, where some
links play a crucial role; (ii) big banks privilege long-term contracts; the
"minimal spanning trees" (iii) disclose a highly hierarchical backbone, where
the central positions are occupied by the largest banks, and emphasize (iv) a
strong geographical characterization, while (v) the clusters of firms do not
have specific common properties. Moreover, (vi) while larger firms have
multiple lending in large, (vii) the demand for credit (long vs. short term
debt and multi-credit lines) of firms with similar sizes is very heterogeneous.Comment: 23 pages with 14 figures; revised and Figure 14 adde
Shock Profiles for the Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process in One Dimension
The asymmetric simple exclusion process (ASEP) on a one-dimensional lattice
is a system of particles which jump at rates and (here ) to
adjacent empty sites on their right and left respectively. The system is
described on suitable macroscopic spatial and temporal scales by the inviscid
Burgers' equation; the latter has shock solutions with a discontinuous jump
from left density to right density , , which
travel with velocity . In the microscopic system we
may track the shock position by introducing a second class particle, which is
attracted to and travels with the shock. In this paper we obtain the time
invariant measure for this shock solution in the ASEP, as seen from such a
particle. The mean density at lattice site , measured from this particle,
approaches at an exponential rate as , with a
characteristic length which becomes independent of when
. For a special value of the
asymmetry, given by , the measure is
Bernoulli, with density on the left and on the right. In the
weakly asymmetric limit, , the microscopic width of the shock
diverges as . The stationary measure is then essentially a
superposition of Bernoulli measures, corresponding to a convolution of a
density profile described by the viscous Burgers equation with a well-defined
distribution for the location of the second class particle.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures are included in the LaTeX file. Email:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Free Energy Minimizers for a Two--Species Model with Segregation and Liquid-Vapor Transition
We study the coexistence of phases in a two--species model whose free energy
is given by the scaling limit of a system with long range interactions (Kac
potentials) which are attractive between particles of the same species and
repulsive between different species.Comment: 32 pages, 1 fig, plain tex, typeset twic
A diffusive system driven by a battery or by a smoothly varying field
We consider the steady state of a one dimensional diffusive system, such as
the symmetric simple exclusion process (SSEP) on a ring, driven by a battery at
the origin or by a smoothly varying field along the ring. The battery appears
as the limiting case of a smoothly varying field, when the field becomes a
delta function at the origin. We find that in the scaling limit, the long range
pair correlation functions of the system driven by a battery turn out to be
very different from the ones known in the steady state of the SSEP maintained
out of equilibrium by contact with two reservoirs, even when the steady state
density profiles are identical in both models
Diffusive limits on the Penrose tiling
In this paper random walks on the Penrose lattice are investigated. Heat
kernel estimates and the invariance principle are shown
Phase Segregation Dynamics in Particle Systems with Long Range Interactions I: Macroscopic Limits
We present and discuss the derivation of a nonlinear non-local
integro-differential equation for the macroscopic time evolution of the
conserved order parameter of a binary alloy undergoing phase segregation. Our
model is a d-dimensional lattice gas evolving via Kawasaki exchange dynamics,
i.e. a (Poisson) nearest-neighbor exchange process, reversible with respect to
the Gibbs measure for a Hamiltonian which includes both short range (local) and
long range (nonlocal) interactions. A rigorous derivation is presented in the
case in which there is no local interaction. In a subsequent paper (part II),
we discuss the phase segregation phenomena in the model. In particular we argue
that the phase boundary evolutions, arising as sharp interface limits of the
family of equations derived in this paper, are the same as the ones obtained
from the corresponding limits for the Cahn-Hilliard equation.Comment: amstex with macros (included in the file), tex twice, 20 page
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