4,383 research outputs found
Fluctuations of the Unruh Temperature
Using the influence functional formalism, the problem of an accelerating
detector in the presence of a scalar field in its ground state is considered in
Minkowski space. As is known since the work of Unruh, to a quantum mechanical
detector following a definite, classical acceleration, the field appears to be
thermally excited. We relax the requirement of perfect classicality for the
trajectory and substitute it with one of {\it derived} classicality through the
criteria of decoherence. The ensuing fluctuations in temperature are then
related with the time and the amplitude of excitation in the detector's
internal degree of freedom.Comment: LATEX, 12 pages + 2 figures (available upon request) MIT-CTP 234
Hermiticity and the Cohomology Condition in Topological Yang-Mills Theory
The symmetries of the topological Yang-Mills theory are studied in the
Hamiltonian formalism and the generators of the twisted N=2 superPoincar\'e
algebra are explicitly constructed. Noting that the twisted Lorentz generators
do not generate the Lorentz symmetry of the theory, we relate the two by
extracting from the latter the twisted version of the internal SU(2) generator.
The hermiticity properties of the various generators are also considered
throughout, and the boost generators are found to be non-hermitian. We then
recover the BRST cohomology condition on physical states from representation
theory arguments.Comment: 19 pages, MIT-CTP 223
Behavior of the Escape Rate Function in Hyperbolic Dynamical Systems
For a fixed initial reference measure, we study the dependence of the escape
rate on the hole for a smooth or piecewise smooth hyperbolic map. First, we
prove the existence and Holder continuity of the escape rate for systems with
small holes admitting Young towers. Then we consider general holes for Anosov
diffeomorphisms, without size or Markovian restrictions. We prove bounds on the
upper and lower escape rates using the notion of pressure on the survivor set
and show that a variational principle holds under generic conditions. However,
we also show that the escape rate function forms a devil's staircase with jumps
along sequences of regular holes and present examples to elucidate some of the
difficulties involved in formulating a general theory.Comment: 21 pages. v2 differs from v1 only by additions to the acknowledgment
The elusive old population of the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I
We report the discovery of a significant old population in the dwarf
spheroidal (dSph) galaxy Leo I as a result of a wide-area search with the ESO
New Technology Telescope. Studies of the stellar content of Local Group dwarf
galaxies have shown the presence of an old stellar population in almost all of
the dwarf spheroidals. The only exception was Leo I, which alone appeared to
have delayed its initial star formation episode until just a few Gyr ago. The
color-magnitude diagram of Leo I now reveals an extended horizontal branch,
unambiguously indicating the presence of an old, metal-poor population in the
outer regions of this galaxy. Yet we find little evidence for a stellar
population gradient, at least outside R > 2' (0.16 kpc), since the old
horizontal branch stars of Leo I are radially distributed as their more
numerous intermediate-age helium-burning counterparts. The discovery of a
definitely old population in the predominantly young dwarf spheroidal galaxy
Leo I points to a sharply defined first epoch of star formation common to all
of the Local Group dSph's as well as to the halo of the Milky Way.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures, uses apjfonts.sty, emulateapj.sty.
Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Media outlets and their moguls: why concentrated individual or family ownership is bad for editorial independence
This article investigates the levels of owner influence in 211 different print and broadcast outlets in 32 different European media markets. Drawing on the literature from industrial organisation, it sets out reasons why we should expect greater levels of influence where ownership of individual outlets is concentrated; where it is concentrated in the hands of individuals or families; and where ownership groups own multiple outlets in the same media market. Conversely, we should expect lower levels of influence where ownership is dispersed between transnational companies. The articles uses original data on the ownership structures of these outlets, and combines it with reliable expert judgments as to the level of owner influence in each of the outlets. These hypotheses are tested and confirmed in a multilevel regression model of owner influence. The findings are relevant for policy on ownership limits in the media, and for the debate over transnational versus local control of media
Normal-Superfluid Interface Scattering For Polarized Fermion Gases
We argue that, for the recent experiments with imbalanced fermion gases, a
temperature difference may occur between the normal (N) and the gapped
superfluid (SF) phase. Using the mean-field formalism, we study particle
scattering off the N-SF interface from the deep BCS to the unitary regime. We
show that the thermal conductivity across the interface drops exponentially
fast with increasing , where is the chemical potential imbalance.
This implies a blocking of thermal equilibration between the N and the SF
phase. We also provide a possible mechanism for the creation of gap
oscillations (FFLO-like states) as seen in recent studies on these systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Improved photometry of SDSS crowded field images: Structure and dark matter content in the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I
We explore how well crowded field point-source photometry can be accomplished
with SDSS data: We present a photometric pipeline based on DoPhot, and tuned
for analyzing crowded-field images from the SDSS. Using Monte Carlo simulations
we show that the completeness of source extraction is above 80% to i < 21 (AB)
and a stellar surface density of about 200 sq.amin. Hence, a specialized data
pipeline can efficiently be used for e.g. nearby resolved galaxies in SDSS
images, where the standard SDSS photometric package Photo, when applied in
normal survey mode, gives poor results. We apply our pipeline to an area of
about 3.55sq.deg. around the dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) Leo I, and
construct a high S/N star-count map of Leo I via an optimized filter in
color-magnitude space (g,r,i). Although the radial surface-density profile of
the dwarf deviates from the best fit empirical King model towards outer radii,
we find no evidence for tidal debris out to a stellar surface-density of
4*10^(-3) of the central value. We determine the total luminosity of Leo I, and
model its mass using the spherical and isotropic Jeans equation. Assuming that
'mass follows light' we constrain a lower limit of the total mass of the dSph
to be (1.7+/-0.2)*10^7 Msol. Contrary, if the mass in Leo I is dominated by a
constant density dark-matter (DM) halo, then the mass within the central 12' is
(2+/-0.6)*10^8 Msol. This leads to a mass-to-light ratio of >>6 (Ic_sol), and
possibly >75 if the DM halo dominates the mass and extends further out than
12'. In summary, our results show that Leo I is a symmetric, relaxed and bound
system; this supports the idea that Leo I is a dark-matter dominated system.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in A
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