466 research outputs found
Moment operators of the Cartesian margins of the phase space observables
The theory of operator integrals is used to determine the moment operators of
the Cartesian margins of the phase space observables generated by the mixtures
of the number states. The moments of the -margin are polynomials of the
position operator and those of the -margin are polynomials of the momentum
operator.Comment: 14 page
Signal processing in local neuronal circuits based on activity-dependent noise and competition
We study the characteristics of weak signal detection by a recurrent neuronal
network with plastic synaptic coupling. It is shown that in the presence of an
asynchronous component in synaptic transmission, the network acquires
selectivity with respect to the frequency of weak periodic stimuli. For
non-periodic frequency-modulated stimuli, the response is quantified by the
mutual information between input (signal) and output (network's activity), and
is optimized by synaptic depression. Introducing correlations in signal
structure resulted in the decrease of input-output mutual information. Our
results suggest that in neural systems with plastic connectivity, information
is not merely carried passively by the signal; rather, the information content
of the signal itself might determine the mode of its processing by a local
neuronal circuit.Comment: 15 pages, 4 pages, in press for "Chaos
Semispectral measures as convolutions and their moment operators
The moment operators of a semispectral measure having the structure of the
convolution of a positive measure and a semispectral measure are studied, with
paying attention to the natural domains of these unbounded operators. The
results are then applied to conveniently determine the moment operators of the
Cartesian margins of the phase space observables.Comment: 7 page
Chaotic Phase Synchronization in Bursting-neuron Models Driven by a Weak Periodic Force
We investigate the entrainment of a neuron model exhibiting a chaotic
spiking-bursting behavior in response to a weak periodic force. This model
exhibits two types of oscillations with different characteristic time scales,
namely, long and short time scales. Several types of phase synchronization are
observed, such as 1 : 1 phase locking between a single spike and one period of
the force and 1 : l phase locking between the period of slow oscillation
underlying bursts and l periods of the force. Moreover, spiking-bursting
oscillations with chaotic firing patterns can be synchronized with the periodic
force. Such a type of phase synchronization is detected from the position of a
set of points on a unit circle, which is determined by the phase of the
periodic force at each spiking time. We show that this detection method is
effective for a system with multiple time scales. Owing to the existence of
both the short and the long time scales, two characteristic phenomena are found
around the transition point to chaotic phase synchronization. One phenomenon
shows that the average time interval between successive phase slips exhibits a
power-law scaling against the driving force strength and that the scaling
exponent has an unsmooth dependence on the changes in the driving force
strength. The other phenomenon shows that Kuramoto's order parameter before the
transition exhibits stepwise behavior as a function of the driving force
strength, contrary to the smooth transition in a model with a single time
scale
Network synchronization landscape reveals compensatory structures, quantization, and the positive effect of negative interactions
Synchronization, in which individual dynamical units keep in pace with each
other in a decentralized fashion, depends both on the dynamical units and on
the properties of the interaction network. Yet, the role played by the network
has resisted comprehensive characterization within the prevailing paradigm that
interactions facilitating pair-wise synchronization also facilitate collective
synchronization. Here we challenge this paradigm and show that networks with
best complete synchronization, least coupling cost, and maximum dynamical
robustness, have arbitrary complexity but quantized total interaction strength
that constrains the allowed number of connections. It stems from this
characterization that negative interactions as well as link removals can be
used to systematically improve and optimize synchronization properties in both
directed and undirected networks. These results extend the recently discovered
compensatory perturbations in metabolic networks to the realm of oscillator
networks and demonstrate why "less can be more" in network synchronization.Comment: 11 pages and 8 figures (including Supporting Information), Supporting
video available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMI1Yyxmb
Fermi-LAT Study of Gamma-ray Emission in the Direction of Supernova Remnant W49B
We present an analysis of the gamma-ray data obtained with the Large Area
Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the direction of
SNR W49B (G43.3-0.2). A bright unresolved gamma-ray source detected at a
significance of 38 sigma is found to coincide with SNR W49B. The energy
spectrum in the 0.2-200 GeV range gradually steepens toward high energies. The
luminosity is estimated to be 1.5x10^{36} (D/8 kpc)^2 erg s^-1 in this energy
range. There is no indication that the gamma-ray emission comes from a pulsar.
Assuming that the SNR shell is the site of gamma-ray production, the observed
spectrum can be explained either by the decay of neutral pi mesons produced
through the proton-proton collisions or by electron bremsstrahlung. The
calculated energy density of relativistic particles responsible for the LAT
flux is estimated to be remarkably large, U_{e,p}>10^4 eV cm^-3, for either
gamma-ray production mechanism.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
The RING-CH ligase K5 antagonizes restriction of KSHV and HIV-1 particle release by mediating ubiquitin-dependent endosomal degradation of tetherin
Tetherin (CD317/BST2) is an interferon-induced membrane protein that inhibits the release of diverse enveloped viral particles. Several mammalian viruses have evolved countermeasures that inactivate tetherin, with the prototype being the HIV-1 Vpu protein. Here we show that the human herpesvirus Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is sensitive to tetherin restriction and its activity is counteracted by the KSHV encoded RING-CH E3 ubiquitin ligase K5. Tetherin expression in KSHV-infected cells inhibits viral particle release, as does depletion of K5 protein using RNA interference. K5 induces a species-specific downregulation of human tetherin from the cell surface followed by its endosomal degradation. We show that K5 targets a single lysine (K18) in the cytoplasmic tail of tetherin for ubiquitination, leading to relocalization of tetherin to CD63-positive endosomal compartments. Tetherin degradation is dependent on ESCRT-mediated endosomal sorting, but does not require a tyrosine-based sorting signal in the tetherin cytoplasmic tail. Importantly, we also show that the ability of K5 to substitute for Vpu in HIV-1 release is entirely dependent on K18 and the RING-CH domain of K5. By contrast, while Vpu induces ubiquitination of tetherin cytoplasmic tail lysine residues, mutation of these positions has no effect on its antagonism of tetherin function, and residual tetherin is associated with the trans-Golgi network (TGN) in Vpu-expressing cells. Taken together our results demonstrate that K5 is a mechanistically distinct viral countermeasure to tetherin-mediated restriction, and that herpesvirus particle release is sensitive to this mode of antiviral inhibition
Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Cosmic-Ray Induced gamma-ray Emission of the Earth's Atmosphere
We report on measurements of the cosmic-ray induced gamma-ray emission of
Earth's atmosphere by the Large Area Telescope onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray
Space Telescope. The LAT has observed the Earth during its commissioning phase
and with a dedicated Earth-limb following observation in September 2008. These
measurements yielded 6.4 x 10^6 photons with energies >100MeV and ~250hours
total livetime for the highest quality data selection. This allows the study of
the spatial and spectral distributions of these photons with unprecedented
detail. The spectrum of the emission - often referred to as Earth albedo
gamma-ray emission - has a power-law shape up to 500 GeV with spectral index
Gamma = 2.79+-0.06.Comment: Accepted for publication in PR
Fermi-LAT observations of the exceptional gamma-ray outbursts of 3C 273 in September 2009
We present the light curves and spectral data of two exceptionally luminous
gamma-ray outburts observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) experiment on
board Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope from 3C 273 in September 2009. During
these flares, having a duration of a few days, the source reached its highest
gamma-ray flux ever measured. This allowed us to study in some details their
spectral and temporal structures. The rise and decay are asymmetric on
timescales of 6 hours, and the spectral index was significantly harder during
the flares than during the preceding 11 months. We also found that short, very
intense flares put out the same time-integrated energy as long, less intense
flares like that observed in August 2009.Comment: Corresponding authors: E. Massaro, [email protected]; G.
Tosti, [email protected]. 15 pages, 4 figures, published in The
Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 714, Issue 1, pp. L73-L78 (2010
Fermi observations of high-energy gamma-ray emission from GRB 090217A
The Fermi observatory is advancing our knowledge of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)
through pioneering observations at high energies, covering more than 7 decades
in energy with the two on-board detectors, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and
the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). Here we report on the observation of the
long GRB 090217A which triggered the GBM and has been detected by the LAT with
a significance greater than 9 sigma. We present the GBM and LAT observations
and on-ground analyses, including the time-resolved spectra and the study of
the temporal profile from 8 keV up to 1 GeV. All spectra are well reproduced by
a Band model. We compare these observations to the first two LAT-detected, long
bursts GRB 080825C and GRB 080916C. These bursts were found to have
time-dependent spectra and exhibited a delayed onset of the high-energy
emission, which are not observed in the case of GRB 090217A. We discuss some
theoretical implications for the high-energy emission of GRBs.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures. Contact Authors: Fred, Piron; Sara, Cutini;
Andreas, von Kienli
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