Seeing Star Formation Regions with Gravitational Microlensing

We qualitatively study the effects of gravitational microlensing on our view of unresolved extragalactic star formation regions. Using a general gravitational microlensing configuration, we perform a number of simulations that reveal that specific imprints of the star forming region are imprinted, both photometrically and spectroscopically, upon observations. Such observations have the potential to reveal the nature and size of these star forming regions, through the degree of variability observed in a monitoring campaign, and hence resolve the star formation regions in distant galaxies which are too small to be probed via more standard techniques.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte

XMM-Newton Observations of Radio Pulsars B0834+06 and B0826-34 and Implications for Pulsar Inner Accelerator

We report the X-ray observations of two radio pulsars with drifting subpulses: B0834 + 06 and B0826 - 34 using \xmm\. PSR B0834 + 06 was detected with a total of 70 counts from the three EPIC instruments over 50 ks exposure time. Its spectrum was best described as that of a blackbody (BB) with temperature $T_s=(2.0^{+2.0}_{-0.9}) \times 10^6$ K and bolometric luminosity of $L_b=(8.6^{+14.2}_{-4.4}) \times 10^{28}$ erg s$^{-1}$. As it is typical in pulsars with BB thermal components in their X-ray spectra, the hot spot surface area is much smaller than that of the canonical polar cap, implying a non-dipolar surface magnetic field much stronger than the dipolar component derived from the pulsar spin-down (in this case about 50 times smaller and stronger, respectively). The second pulsar PSR B0826 - 34 was not detected over 50 ks exposure time, giving an upper limit for the bolometric luminosity $L_b \leq 1.4 \times 10^{29}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We use these data as well as the radio emission data concerned with drifting subpulses to test the Partially Screened Gap (PSG) model of the inner accelerator in pulsars.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journa

Quasar Microlensing: when compact masses mimic smooth matter

The magnification induced by gravitational microlensing is sensitive to the size of a source relative to the Einstein radius, the natural microlensing scale length. This paper investigates the effect of source size in the case where the microlensing masses are distributed with a bimodal mass function, with solar mass stars representing the normal stellar masses, and smaller masses (down to $8.5\times 10^{-5}$M$_\odot$) representing a dark matter component. It is found that there exists a critical regime where the dark matter is initially seen as individual compact masses, but with an increasing source size the compact dark matter acts as a smooth mass component. This study reveals that interpretation of microlensing light curves, especially claims of small mass dark matter lenses embedded in an overall stellar population, must consider the important influence of the size of the source.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in ApJ. As ever, quality of figures reduce

Possible evidence for the pulsed X-ray emission from outer gap in PSR B1937+21?

The fastest millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21 presents an interpulse separated from the main pulse by nealy 180^o at radio frequencies. Recently, the ASCA observations (Takahashi et al. 2001) detected pulsed X-ray emission from this pulsar. Only a single narrow X-ray pulse is observed, which is coincident with the radio interpulse in phase. We investigate the possible origin of the pulsed X-rays from the polar cap (PC) accelerators or the outer gap (OG) accelerators in the frame of PC model and OG model, respectively, by assuming a dipolar magnetic field structure and the same radio emission pattern from its poles for the pulsar. The OG model can naturally explain the main observational facts. For the PC model, the coincidence between the X-ray pulse and the radio interpulse can not be reproduced in the assumed case. However when considering possible deviation from our assumption, PC model may still be valid for this pulsar in some cases.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Astrophysical Journal, or at http://vega.bac.pku.edu.cn/~rxxu/publications/P/wxq02.ps.g

Non-Minimal and Non-Universal Supersymmetry

I motivate and discuss non-minimal and non-universal models of supersymmetry and supergravity consistent with string unification at $10^{16}$ GeV.Comment: 10 pages, Latex. Plenary talk given at 6th Workshop in High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP 6), Chennai (Madras), India, 3-15 Jan 200

A Methodology to Engineer and Validate Dynamic Multi-level Multi-agent Based Simulations

This article proposes a methodology to model and simulate complex systems, based on IRM4MLS, a generic agent-based meta-model able to deal with multi-level systems. This methodology permits the engineering of dynamic multi-level agent-based models, to represent complex systems over several scales and domains of interest. Its goal is to simulate a phenomenon using dynamically the lightest representation to save computer resources without loss of information. This methodology is based on two mechanisms: (1) the activation or deactivation of agents representing different domain parts of the same phenomenon and (2) the aggregation or disaggregation of agents representing the same phenomenon at different scales.Comment: Presented at 3th International Workshop on Multi-Agent Based Simulation, Valencia, Spain, 5th June 201

Projeto Rondon no município de Caridade – CE: avaliação dos resultados obtidos com as feiras da saúde

Trabalho apresentado no II Congresso Nacional do PROJETO RONDON, realizado em Florianópolis, SC, no período de 23 a 25 de setembro de 2015 - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS) classifica as condições de saúde em agudas e crônicas, tendo a Hipertensão Arterial Sistêmica (HAS) e o Diabetes Mellitus (DM) como condições crônico-degenerativas de saúde. Assim, tais patologias recebem atenção especial do sistema de saúde, haja vista a alta prevalência das complicações cardiovasculares, cerebrovasculares, nefrológicas e visuais oriundas dessas doenças. Nesse sentido, essas afecções e seus agravos necessitam de ações efetivas de promoção e prevenção da saúde. A Feira da Saúde foi uma das oficinas do Centro Universitário de Patos de Minas – UNIPAM durante o Projeto Rondon de Janeiro/2015 - Operação Mandacaru em Caridade - CE. As ações basearam-se na realização de um circuito de atendimento, no qual o paciente foi acolhido e devidamente identificado e a seguir, foram coletadas e registradas, em uma ficha própria desenvolvida para a feira, informações de saúde desses indivíduos. Ao final do circuito, cada pessoa atendida apresentou esse instrumento a um rondonista. Após a avaliação dos dados encontrados na ficha, o membro da equipe dialogou com o paciente, dando ênfase em orientações que, de acordo com as evidências científicas, reduzem a mortalidade, como uma alimentação saudável, a prática regular de atividade física, a redução ou abolição do consumo de bebidas alcóolicas, tabaco e outras drogas e a utilização correta de medicamentos para o controle da Hipertensão Arterial e do Diabetes Mellitus. Ao longo da realização do Projeto Rondon no município, esta oficina foi desenvolvida quatro vezes, em Caridade e nos distritos de São Domingos e Ipueira dos Gomes, ultrapassando o número de 250 indivíduos atendidos. Desses, 135 tiveram suas fichas sorteadas aleatoriamente para a avaliação do perfil dos pacientes acolhidos nas feiras de saúde. Dentre os resultados obtidos, perceberam-se nitidamente os hábitos de vida desfavoráveis para o aparecimento e a progressão das doenças crônicas, sendo relevante citar o percentual elevado de pacientes com sobrepeso e obesidade e o sedentarismo, este último observado através dos mais de 80% dos pacientes que não praticavam nenhuma atividade física. Portanto, acredita-se que as Feiras da Saúde foram de suma importância para a conscientização da população desse município para o autocuidado orientado através de hábitos de vida saudáveis