10,260 research outputs found
Reply to the comment by C. Capan and K. Behnia on "Nernst effect in poor conductors and in the cuprate superconductors" (cond-mat/0501288)
The comment criticisms (cond-mat/0501288) are completely out of line with the
context of the commented theory (Phys. Rev. Lett. v.93, 217002 (2004)). The
comment neglected essential parts of the theory, which actually addressed all
relevant experimental observations. I argue that the coexistence of the large
Nernst signal and the insulating-like in-plane resistivity in underdoped
cuprates rules out the vortex scenario, but agrees remarkably well with our
theory.Comment: 1 page, 1 figur
Activity Dependent Branching Ratios in Stocks, Solar X-ray Flux, and the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld Sandpile Model
We define an activity dependent branching ratio that allows comparison of
different time series . The branching ratio is defined as . The random variable is the value of the next signal given
that the previous one is equal to , so . If
, the process is on average supercritical when the signal is equal to
, while if , it is subcritical. For stock prices we find
within statistical uncertainty, for all , consistent with an ``efficient
market hypothesis''. For stock volumes, solar X-ray flux intensities, and the
Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld (BTW) sandpile model, is supercritical for small
values of activity and subcritical for the largest ones, indicating a tendency
to return to a typical value. For stock volumes this tendency has an
approximate power law behavior. For solar X-ray flux and the BTW model, there
is a broad regime of activity where , which we interpret as an
indicator of critical behavior. This is true despite different underlying
probability distributions for , and for . For the BTW model the
distribution of is Gaussian, for sufficiently larger than one, and
its variance grows linearly with . Hence, the activity in the BTW model
obeys a central limit theorem when sampling over past histories. The broad
region of activity where is close to one disappears once bulk dissipation
is introduced in the BTW model -- supporting our hypothesis that it is an
indicator of criticality.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
Buoyancy waves in Pluto's high atmosphere: Implications for stellar occultations
We apply scintillation theory to stellar signal fluctuations in the
high-resolution, high signal/noise, dual-wavelength data from the MMT
observation of the 2007 March 18 occultation of P445.3 by Pluto. A well-defined
high wavenumber cutoff in the fluctuations is consistent with viscous-thermal
dissipation of buoyancy waves (internal gravity waves) in Pluto's high
atmosphere, and provides strong evidence that the underlying density
fluctuations are governed by the gravity-wave dispersion relation.Comment: Accepted 18 June 2009 for publication in Icaru
De-biased Populations of Kuiper Belt Objects from the Deep Ecliptic Survey
The Deep Ecliptic Survey (DES) discovered hundreds of Kuiper Belt objects
from 1998-2005. Follow-up observations yielded 304 objects with good dynamical
classifications (Classical, Scattered, Centaur, or 16 mean-motion resonances
with Neptune). The DES search fields are well documented, enabling us to
calculate the probability of detecting objects with particular orbital
parameters and absolute magnitudes at a randomized point in each orbit.
Grouping objects together by dynamical class leads, we estimate the orbital
element distributions (a, e, i) for the largest three classes (Classical, 3:2,
and Scattered) using maximum likelihood. Using H-magnitude as a proxy for the
object size, we fit a power law to the number of objects for 8 classes with at
least 5 detected members (246 objects). The best Classical slope is
alpha=1.02+/-0.01 (observed from 5<=H<=7.2). Six dynamical classes (Scattered
plus 5 resonances) are consistent in slope with the Classicals, though the
absolute number of objects is scaled. The exception to the power law relation
are the Centaurs (non-resonant with perihelia closer than Neptune, and thus
detectable at smaller sizes), with alpha=0.42+/-0.02 (7.5<H<11). This is
consistent with a knee in the H-distribution around H=7.2 as reported elsewhere
(Bernstein et al. 2004, Fraser et al. 2014). Based on the Classical-derived
magnitude distribution, the total number of objects (H<=7) in each class are:
Classical (2100+/-300 objects), Scattered (2800+/-400), 3:2 (570+/-80), 2:1
(400+/-50), 5:2 (270+/-40), 7:4 (69+/-9), 5:3 (60+/-8). The independent
estimate for the number of Centaurs in the same H range is 13+/-5. If instead
all objects are divided by inclination into "Hot" and "Cold" populations,
following Fraser et al. (2014), we find that alphaHot=0.90+/-0.02, while
alphaCold=1.32+/-0.02, in good agreement with that work.Comment: 26 pages emulateapj, 6 figures, 5 tables, accepted by A
Pluto's lower atmosphere structure and methane abundance from high-resolution spectroscopy and stellar occultations
Context: Pluto possesses a thin atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen,
in which the detection of methane has been reported.
Aims: The goal is to constrain essential but so far unknown parameters of
Pluto's atmosphere such as the surface pressure, lower atmosphere thermal
stucture, and methane mixing ratio.
Methods: We use high-resolution spectroscopic observations of gaseous
methane, and a novel analysis of occultation light-curves.
Results: We show that (i) Pluto's surface pressure is currently in the 6.5-24
microbar range (ii) the methane mixing ratio is 0.5+/-0.1 %, adequate to
explain Pluto's inverted thermal structure and ~100 K upper atmosphere
temperature (iii) a troposphere is not required by our data, but if present, it
has a depth of at most 17 km, i.e. less than one pressure scale height; in this
case methane is supersaturated in most of it. The atmospheric and bulk surface
abundance of methane are strikingly similar, a possible consequence of the
presence of a CH4-rich top surface layer.Comment: AA vers. 6.1, LaTeX class for Astronomy & Astrophysics, 9 pages with
5 figures Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, in pres
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Laos: A community-wide cross-sectional study of humans and dogs in a mass drug administration environment
We conducted a community cross-sectional survey of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in humans and dogs in four provinces in northern Laos. We collected and tested human and dog fecal samples and analyzed results against sociodemographic data. The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm, and Strongyloides stercoralis was 26.1% (95% confidence interval [CI,1 = 23.7-28.4%), 41.5% (95% CI = 38.8-44.1%), 46.3% (95% CI = 43.3-49.0%), and 8.9% (95% CI = 7.4-10.4%), respectively. We observed strong heterogeneity for helminthiasis by ethnicity, province, and wealth status, which coincided with a risk profile demonstrating that Mon-Khmer persons and the poorest households are highly vulnerable. Necator americanus was the dominant hookworm species infecting humans and Ancylostoma ceylanicum was the only Ancylastoma species detected. Hookworm prevalence in village dogs was 94%, and the dominant species was A. ceylanicum. Necator americanus was also detected in dogs. It appears that dogs have a role in human hookworm transmission and warrant further investigation
Quantum Phase Transitions in the Ising model in spatially modulated field
The phase transitions in the transverse field Ising model in a competing
spatially modulated (periodic and oscillatory) longitudinal field are studied
numerically. There is a multiphase point in absence of the transverse field
where the degeneracy for a longitudinal field of wavelength is
for a system with spins, an exact
result obtained from the known result for . The phase transitions
in the (transverse field) versus (amplitude of the longitudinal
field) phase diagram are obtained from the vanishing of the mass gap .
We find that for all the phase transition points obtained in this way, shows finite size scaling behaviour signifying a continuous phase transition
everywhere. The values of the critical exponents show that the model belongs to
the universality class of the two dimensional Ising model. The longitudinal
field is found to have the same scaling behaviour as that of the transverse
field, which seems to be a unique feature for the competing field. The phase
boundaries for two different wavelengths of the modulated field are obtained.
Close to the multiphase point at , the phase boundary behaves as , where is also dependent.Comment: To appear in Physical Review
Charon's radius and density from the combined data sets of the 2005 July 11 occultation
The 2005 July 11 C313.2 stellar occultation by Charon was observed by three
separate research groups, including our own, at observatories throughout South
America. Here, the published timings from the three data sets have been
combined to more accurately determine the mean radius of Charon: 606.0 +/- 1.5
km. Our analysis indicates that a slight oblateness in the body (0.006 +/-
0.003) best matches the data, with a confidence level of 86%. The oblateness
has a pole position angle of 71.4 deg +/- 10.4 deg and is consistent with
Charon's pole position angle of 67 deg. Charon's mean radius corresponds to a
bulk density of 1.63 +/- 0.07 g/cm3, which is significantly less than Pluto's
(1.92 +/- 0.12 g/cm3). This density differential favors an impact formation
scenario for the system in which at least one of the impactors was
differentiated. Finally, unexplained differences between chord timings measured
at Cerro Pachon and the rest of the data set could be indicative of a
depression as deep as 7 km on Charon's limb.Comment: 25 pages including 4 tables and 2 figures. Submitted to the
Astronomical Journal on 2006 Feb 0
Status of Neutrino Masses and Mixing and Future Perspectives
Status of the problem of neutrino masses, mixing and oscillations is
discussed. Future perspectives are briefly considered.Comment: Report at the conference IRGAC 2006, Barcelona July 11-15 200
Group projector generalization of dirac-heisenberg model
The general form of the operators commuting with the ground representation
(appearing in many physical problems within single particle approximation) of
the group is found. With help of the modified group projector technique, this
result is applied to the system of identical particles with spin independent
interaction, to derive the Dirac-Heisenberg hamiltonian and its effective space
for arbitrary orbital occupation numbers and arbitrary spin. This gives
transparent insight into the physical contents of this hamiltonian, showing
that formal generalizations with spin greater than 1/2 involve nontrivial
additional physical assumptions.Comment: 10 page
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