5,925 research outputs found
Consequences of a strong phase transition in the dense matter equation of state for the rotational evolution of neutron stars
We explore the implications of a strong first-order phase transition region
in the dense matter equation of state in the interiors of rotating neutron
stars, and the resulting creation of two disjoint families of neutron-star
configurations (the so-called high-mass twins). We numerically obtained
rotating, axisymmetric, and stationary stellar configurations in the framework
of general relativity, and studied their global parameters and stability. The
instability induced by the equation of state divides stable neutron star
configurations into two disjoint families: neutron stars (second family) and
hybrid stars (third family), with an overlapping region in mass, the high-mass
twin-star region. These two regions are divided by an instability strip. Its
existence has interesting astrophysical consequences for rotating neutron
stars. We note that it provides a natural explanation for the rotational
frequency cutoff in the observed distribution of neutron star spins, and for
the apparent lack of back-bending in pulsar timing. It also straightforwardly
enables a substantial energy release in a mini-collapse to another neutron-star
configuration (core quake), or to a black hole.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Astronomy and Astrophysics accepte
Flexible and practical modeling of animal telemetry data: hidden Markov models and extensions
We discuss hidden Markov-type models for fitting a variety of multistate random walks to wildlife movement data. Discrete-time hidden Markov models (HMMs) achieve considerable computational gains by focusing on observations that are regularly spaced in time, and for which the measurement error is negligible. These conditions are often met, in particular for data related to terrestrial animals, so that a likelihood-based HMM approach is feasible. We describe a number of extensions of HMMs for animal movement modeling, including more flexible state transition models and individual random effects (fitted in a non-Bayesian framework). In particular we consider so-called hidden semi-Markov models, which may substantially improve the goodness of fit and provide important insights into the behavioral state switching dynamics. To showcase the expediency of these methods, we consider an application of a hierarchical hidden semi-Markov model to multiple bison movement paths
Thermalisation time and specific heat of neutron stars crust
We discuss the thermalisation process of the neutron stars crust described by
solving the heat transport equation with a microscopic input for the specific
heat of baryonic matter. The heat equation is solved with initial conditions
specific to a rapid cooling of the core. To calculate the specific heat of
inner crust baryonic matter, i.e., nuclear clusters and unbound neutrons, we
use the quasiparticle spectrum provided by the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach
at finite temperature. In this framework we analyse the dependence of the crust
thermalisation on pairing properties and on cluster structure of inner crust
matter. It is shown that the pairing correlations reduce the crust
thermalisation time by a very large fraction. The calculations show also that
the nuclear clusters have a non-negligible influence on the time evolution of
the surface temperature of the neutron star.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Observation of Magnetic Supercooling of the Transition to the Vortex State
We demonstrate that the transition from the high-field state to the vortex
state in a nanomagnetic disk shows the magnetic equivalent of supercooling.
This is evidence that this magnetic transition can be described in terms of a
modified Landau first-order phase transition. To accomplish this we have
measured the bulk magnetization of single magnetic disks using nanomechanical
torsional resonator torque magnetometry. This allows observation of single
vortex creation events without averaging over an array of disks or over
multiple runs.Comment: 11 pages preprint, 4 figures, accepted to New Journal of Physic
Strong Enhancement of Superconducting Correlation in a Two-Component Fermion Gas
We study high-density electron-hole (e-h) systems with the electron density
slightly larger than the hole density. We find a new superconducting phase, in
which the excess electrons form Cooper pairs moving in an e-h BCS phase. The
coexistence of the e-h and e-e orders is possible because e and h have opposite
charges, whereas analogous phases are impossible in the case of two fermion
species that have the same charge or are neutral. Most strikingly, the e-h
order enhances the superconducting e-h order parameter by more than one order
of magnitude as compared with that given by the BCS formula, for the same value
of the effective e-e attractive potential \lambda^{ee}. This new phase should
be observable in an e-h system created by photoexcitation in doped
semiconductors at low temperatures.Comment: 5 pages including 5 PostScript figure
Auger decay, Spin-exchange, and their connection to Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in Cu_2O
In view of the recent experiments of O'Hara, et al. on excitons in Cu_2O, we
examine the interconversion between the angular-momentum triplet-state excitons
and the angular-momentum singlet-state excitons by a spin-exchange process
which has been overlooked in the past. We estimate the rate of this
particle-conserving mechanism and find a substantially higher value than the
Auger process considered so far. Based on this idea, we give a possible
explanation of the recent experimental observations, and make certain
predictions, with the most important being that the singlet-state excitons in
Cu_2O is a very serious candidate for exhibiting the phenomenon of
Bose-Einstein condensation.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 1 ps figur
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