1,448 research outputs found
Semiclassical Description of Tunneling in Mixed Systems: The Case of the Annular Billiard
We study quantum-mechanical tunneling between symmetry-related pairs of
regular phase space regions that are separated by a chaotic layer. We consider
the annular billiard, and use scattering theory to relate the splitting of
quasi-degenerate states quantized on the two regular regions to specific paths
connecting them. The tunneling amplitudes involved are given a semiclassical
interpretation by extending the billiard boundaries to complex space and
generalizing specular reflection to complex rays. We give analytical
expressions for the splittings, and show that the dominant contributions come
from {\em chaos-assisted}\/ paths that tunnel into and out of the chaotic
layer.Comment: 4 pages, uuencoded postscript file, replaces a corrupted versio
Behavioural correlate of choice confidence in a discrete trial paradigm
How animals make choices in a changing and often uncertain environment is a central theme in the behavioural sciences. There is a substantial literature on how animals make choices in various experimental paradigms but less is known about the way they assess a choice after it has been made in terms of the expected outcome. Here, we used a discrete trial paradigm to characterise how the reward history shaped the behaviour on a trial by trial basis. Rats initiated each trial which consisted of a choice between two drinking spouts that differed in their probability of delivering a sucrose solution. Critically, sucrose was delivered after a delay from the first lick at the spouts--this allowed us to characterise the behavioural profile during the window between the time of choice and its outcome. Rats' behaviour converged to optimum choice, both during the acquisition phase and after the reversal of contingencies. We monitored the post-choice behaviour at a temporal precision of 1 millisecond; lick-response profiles revealed that rats spent more time at the spout with the higher reward probability and exhibited a sparser lick pattern. This was the case when we exclusively examined the unrewarded trials, where the outcome was identical. The differential licking profiles preceded the differential choice ratios and could thus predict the changes in choice behaviour.This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant DP0987133 to EA
XMM-Newton Spectroscopy of the Starburst Dominated Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy NGC 6240
We present new XMM-Newton observation of the Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy
(ULIRG) NGC 6240. We analyze the reflecting grating spectrometer (RGS) data,
and data from the other instruments, and find a starburst dominated 0.5-3 keV
spectrum with global properties resembling those observed in M82 but with a
much higher luminosity. We show that the starburst region can be divided into
an outer zone, beyond a radius of about 2.1 kpc, with a gas temperature of
about 10^7 K and a central region with temperatures in the range (2-6) x 10^7
K. The gas in the outer region emits most of the observed Oviii Lyman-alpha
line and the gas in the inner region the emission lines of higher ionization
ions, including a strong Fexxv line. We also identify a small inner part, very
close to the active nuclei, with typical Seyfert 2 properties including a large
amount of photoionized gas producing a strong Fe K-alpha 6.4 keV line. The
combined abundance, temperature and emission measure analysis indicates super
solar Ne/O, Mg/O, Si/O, S/O and possibly also Fe/O. The analysis suggests
densities in the range of (0.07-0.28) x epsilon^(-1/2) cm^(-3) and a total
thermal gas mass of about 4 x 10^8 x epsilon^(1/2) solar masses, where epsilon
is the volume filling factor. We used a simple model to argue that a massive
starburst with an age of about 2 x 10^7 years can explain most of the observed
properties of the source. NGC 6240 is perhaps the clearest case of an X-ray
bright luminous AGN, in a merger, whose soft X-ray spectrum is dominated by a
powerful starburst.Comment: 10 pages, 6 diagrams, accepted by ApJ, added a few minor change
Theory of the spontaneous buckling of doped graphene
Graphene is a realization of an esoteric class of materials -- electronic
crystalline membranes. We study the interplay between the free electrons and
the two-dimensional crystal, and find that it induces a substantial effect on
the elastic structure of the membrane. For the hole-doped membrane, in
particular, we predict a spontaneous buckling. In addition, attenuation of
elastic waves is expected, due to the effect of corrugations on the bulk
modulus. These discoveries have a considerable magnitude in graphene, affecting
both its mesoscopic structure, and its electrical resistivity, which has an
inherent asymmetry between hole- and electron-doped graphene.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR
Computer services for business schools: a procedure for analysis and application to the Sloan School of Management,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. Thesis. 1974. M.S.MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN DEWEY LIBRARY.Bibliography: leaves 83-84.by Doron C. Holzer and Loretta R. Patzelt.M.S
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