51,856 research outputs found
Drip Paintings and Fractal Analysis
It has been claimed [1-6] that fractal analysis can be applied to
unambiguously characterize works of art such as the drip paintings of Jackson
Pollock. This academic issue has become of more general interest following the
recent discovery of a cache of disputed Pollock paintings. We definitively
demonstrate here, by analyzing paintings by Pollock and others, that fractal
criteria provide no information about artistic authenticity. This work has also
led to two new results in fractal analysis of more general scientific
significance. First, the composite of two fractals is not generally scale
invariant and exhibits complex multifractal scaling in the small distance
asymptotic limit. Second the statistics of box-counting and related staircases
provide a new way to characterize geometry and distinguish fractals from
Euclidean objects
Cool Companions to White Dwarfs from the 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release
We present near-infrared magnitudes for all white dwarfs (selected from the
catalog of McCook & Sion) contained in the 2 Micron All Sky Survey Second
Incremental Data Release(2MASS 2IDR). We show that the near-IR color-color
diagram is an effective means of identifying candidate binary stars containing
a WD and a low mass main sequence star. The loci of single WDs and WD + red
dwarf binaries occupy distinct regions of the near-IR color-color diagram. We
recovered all known unresolved WD + red dwarf binaries located in the 2IDR sky
coverage, and also identified as many new candidate binaries (47 new candidates
out of 95 total). Using observational near-IR data for WDs and M-L dwarfs, we
have compared a sample of simulated WD + red dwarf binaries with our 2MASS
data. The colors of the simulated binaries are dominated by the low mass
companion through the late-M to early-L spectral types. As the spectral type of
the companion becomes progressively later, however, the colors of unresolved
binaries become progressively bluer. Binaries containing the lowest mass
companions will be difficult to distinguish from single WDs solely on the basis
of their near-IR colors.Comment: 18 pages, including 2 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Scientific possibilities of a solar electric powered rendezvous with comet Encke
The minimum scientific spacecraft instrumentation is considered that is likely to result in as complete an understanding of the composition, structure, and activity of a cometary nucleus as is possible without landing on it. The payload will also give useful results on secondary goals of a better understanding of physical processes in the inner and outer coma. Studies of composition, by means of an actual landing on the surface, details of the internal structure of the nucleus, and sample return were considered beyond the scope of this mission
The unphysical nature of "Warp Drive"
We will apply the quantum inequality type restrictions to Alcubierre's warp
drive metric on a scale in which a local region of spacetime can be considered
``flat''. These are inequalities that restrict the magnitude and extent of the
negative energy which is needed to form the warp drive metric. From this we are
able to place limits on the parameters of the ``Warp Bubble''. It will be shown
that the bubble wall thickness is on the order of only a few hundred Planck
lengths. Then we will show that the total integrated energy density needed to
maintain the warp metric with such thin walls is physically unattainable.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, latex. This revision corrects a typographical
sign error in Eq. (3
Science aspects of a 1980 flyby of Comet Encke with a Pioneer spacecraft
Results are presented of an investigation of the feasibility of a 1980 flyby of Comet Encke using a Pioneer class spacecraft. Specific areas studied include: science objectives and rationale; science observables; effects of encounter velocity; science encounter and targeting requirements; selection and description of science instruments; definition of a candidate science payload; engineering characteristics of suggested payload; value of a separable probe; science instruments for a separable probe; science payload integration problems; and science operations profile
Weighing the Milky Way
We describe an experiment to measure the mass of the Milky Way galaxy. The
experiment is based on calculated light travel times along orthogonal
directions in the Schwarzschild metric of the Galactic center. We show that the
difference is proportional to the Galactic mass. We apply the result to light
travel times in a 10cm Michelson type interferometer located on Earth. The mass
of the Galactic center is shown to contribute 10^-6 to the flat space component
of the metric. An experiment is proposed to measure the effect.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur
Brownian forces in sheared granular matter
We present results from a series of experiments on a granular medium sheared
in a Couette geometry and show that their statistical properties can be
computed in a quantitative way from the assumption that the resultant from the
set of forces acting in the system performs a Brownian motion. The same
assumption has been utilised, with success, to describe other phenomena, such
as the Barkhausen effect in ferromagnets, and so the scheme suggests itself as
a more general description of a wider class of driven instabilities.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures and 1 tabl
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