Spectral responses in granular compaction

The slow compaction of a gently tapped granular packing is reminiscent of the low-temperature dynamics of structural and spin glasses. Here, I probe the dynamical spectrum of granular compaction by measuring a complex (frequency-dependent) volumetric susceptibility $\tilde{\chi}_v$. While the packing density $\rho$ displays glass-like slow relaxations (aging) and history-dependence (memory) at low tapping amplitudes, the susceptibility $\tilde{\chi}_v$ displays very weak aging effects, and its spectrum shows no sign of a rapidly growing timescale. These features place $\tilde{\chi}_v$ in sharp contrast to its dielectric and magnetic counterparts in structural and spin glasses; instead, $\tilde\chi_v$ bears close similarities to the complex specific heat of spin glasses. This, I suggest, indicates the glass-like dynamics in granular compaction are governed by statistically rare relaxation processes that become increasingly separated in timescale from the typical relaxations of the system. Finally, I examine the effect of finite system size on the spectrum of compaction dynamics. Starting from the ansatz that low frequency processes correspond to large scale particle rearrangements, I suggest the observed finite size effects are consistent with the suppression of large-scale collective rearrangements in small systems.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to PR

Monitoring the Low-Energy Gamma-Ray Sky Using Earth Occultation with GLAST GBM

Long term all-sky monitoring of the 20 keV – 2 MeV gamma-ray sky using the Earth occultation technique was demonstrated by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The principles and techniques used for the development of an end-to-end earth occultation data analysis system for BATSE can be extended to the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), resulting in multiband light curves and time-resolved spectra in the energy range 8 keV to above 1 MeV for known gamma-ray sources and transient outbursts, as well as the discovery of new sources of gamma-ray emission. In this paper we describe the application of the technique to the GBM. We also present the expected sensitivity for the GBM

Gamma-Ray Spectra & Variability of the Crab Nebula Emission Observed by BATSE

We report ~ 600 days of BATSE earth-occultation observations of the total gamma-ray (30 keV to 1.7 MeV) emission from the Crab nebula, between 1991 May 24 (TJD 8400) and 1994 October 2 (TJD 9627). Lightcurves from 35-100, 100-200, 200-300, 300-400, 400-700, and 700-1000 keV, show that positive fluxes were detected by BATSE in each of these six energy bands at significances of approximately 31, 20, 9.2, 4.5, 2.6, and 1.3 sigma respectively per day. We also observed significant flux and spectral variations in the 35-300 keV energy region, with time scales of days to weeks. The spectra below 300 keV, averaged over typical CGRO viewing periods of 6-13 days, can be well described by a broken power law with average indices of ~ 2.1 and ~ 2.4 varying around a spectral break at ~ 100 keV. Above 300 keV, the long-term averaged spectra, averaged over three 400 d periods (TJD 8400-8800, 8800-9200, and 9200-9628, respectively) are well represented by the same power law with index of ~ 2.34 up to ~ 670 keV, plus a hard spectral component extending from ~ 670 keV to ~ 1.7 MeV, with a spectral index of ~ 1.75. The latter component could be related to a complex structure observed by COMPTEL in the 0.7-3 MeV range. Above 3 MeV, the extrapolation of the power-law continuum determined by the low-energy BATSE spectrum is consistent with fluxes measured by COMPTEL in the 3-25 MeV range, and by EGRET from 30-50 MeV. We interpret these results as synchrotron emission produced by the interaction of particles ejected from the pulsar with the field in different dynamical regions of the nebula system, as observed recently by HST, XMM-Newton, and Chandra.Comment: To be published in the November 20, 2003, Vol 598 issue of the Astrophysical Journa

The role of right and left parietal lobes in the conceptual processing of numbers

Neuropsychological and functional imaging studies have associated the conceptual processing of numbers with bilateral parietal regions (including intraparietal sulcus). However, the processes driving these effects remain unclear because both left and right posterior parietal regions are activated by many other conceptual, perceptual, attention, and response-selection processes. To dissociate parietal activation that is number-selective from parietal activation related to other stimulus or response-selection processes, we used fMRI to compare numbers and object names during exactly the same conceptual and perceptual tasks while factoring out activations correlating with response times. We found that right parietal activation was higher for conceptual decisions on numbers relative to the same tasks on object names, even when response time effects were fully factored out. In contrast, left parietal activation for numbers was equally involved in conceptual processing of object names. We suggest that left parietal activation for numbers reflects a range of processes, including the retrieval of learnt facts that are also involved in conceptual decisions on object names. In contrast, number selectivity in right parietal cortex reflects processes that are more involved in conceptual decisions on numbers than object names. Our results generate a new set of hypotheses that have implications for the design of future behavioral and functional imaging studies of patients with left and right parietal damage

Galaxy Clustering and Large-Scale Structure from z = 0.2 to z = 0.5 in Two Norris Redshift Surveys

(abridged) We present a study of the nature and evolution of large-scale structure based on two independent redshift surveys of faint field galaxies conducted with the 176-fiber Norris Spectrograph on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. The two surveys together sparsely cover ~20 sq. degrees and contain 835 r < 21 mag galaxies with redshifts 0.2 < z < 0.5. Both surveys have a median redshift of z = 0.30. In order to obtain a rough estimate of the cosmic variance, we analyze the two surveys independently. We measure the comoving correlation length to be 3.70 +/- 0.13 h^-1 Mpc at z = 0.30 with a power-law slope gamma = 1.77 +/- 0.05. Dividing the sample into low (0.2 < z < 0.3) and high (0.32 < z < 0.5) redshift intervals, we see no evidence for a change in the comoving correlation length over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.5. Similar to the well-established results in the local universe, we find that intrinsically bright galaxies are more strongly clustered than intrinsically faint galaxies and that galaxies with little ongoing star formation, as judged from the rest-frame equivalent width of the [OII]3727, are more strongly clustered than galaxies with significant ongoing star formation. The rest-frame pairwise velocity dispersion of the sample is 326^+67_-52 km s^-1, ~25% lower than typical values measured locally. The appearance of the galaxy distribution, particularly in the more densely sampled Abell 104 field, is quite striking. The pattern of sheets and voids which has been observed locally continues at least to z ~ 0.5. A friends-of-friends analysis of the galaxy distribution supports the visual impression that > 90% of all galaxies at z < 0.5 are part of larger structures with overdensities of > 5.Comment: 40 pages including 26 Postscript figures; revised version to match version accepted by Ap

Bound on the Dark Matter Density in the Solar System from Planetary Motions

High precision planet orbital data extracted from direct observation, spacecraft explorations and laser ranging techniques enable to put a strong constraint on the maximal dark matter density of a spherical halo centered around the Sun. The maximal density at Earth's location is of the order $10^5$ ${\rm GeV/cm^3}$ and shows only a mild dependence on the slope of the halo profile, taken between 0 and -2. This bound is somewhat better than that obtained from the perihelion precession limits.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur

A momentum-conserving, consistent, Volume-of-Fluid method for incompressible flow on staggered grids

The computation of flows with large density contrasts is notoriously difficult. To alleviate the difficulty we consider a consistent mass and momentum-conserving discretization of the Navier-Stokes equation. Incompressible flow with capillary forces is modelled and the discretization is performed on a staggered grid of Marker and Cell type. The Volume-of-Fluid method is used to track the interface and a Height-Function method is used to compute surface tension. The advection of the volume fraction is performed using either the Lagrangian-Explicit / CIAM (Calcul d'Interface Affine par Morceaux) method or the Weymouth and Yue (WY) Eulerian-Implicit method. The WY method conserves fluid mass to machine accuracy provided incompressiblity is satisfied which leads to a method that is both momentum and mass-conserving. To improve the stability of these methods momentum fluxes are advected in a manner "consistent" with the volume-fraction fluxes, that is a discontinuity of the momentum is advected at the same speed as a discontinuity of the density. To find the density on the staggered cells on which the velocity is centered, an auxiliary reconstruction of the density is performed. The method is tested for a droplet without surface tension in uniform flow, for a droplet suddenly accelerated in a carrying gas at rest at very large density ratio without viscosity or surface tension, for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, for a falling raindrop and for an atomizing flow in air-water conditions

Experimental Polarization State Tomography using Optimal Polarimeters

We report on the experimental implementation of a polarimeter based on a scheme known to be optimal for obtaining the polarization vector of ensembles of spin-1/2 quantum systems, and the alignment procedure for this polarimeter is discussed. We also show how to use this polarimeter to estimate the polarization state for identically prepared ensembles of single photons and photon pairs and extend the method to obtain the density matrix for generic multi-photon states. State reconstruction and performance of the polarimeter is illustrated by actual measurements on identically prepared ensembles of single photons and polarization entangled photon pairs

Comment on "Two Phase Transitions in the Fully frustrated XY Model"

The conclusions of a recent paper by Olsson (Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2758 (1995), cond-mat/9506082) about the fully frustrated XY model in two dimensions are questioned. In particular, the evidence presented for having two separate chiral and U(1) phase transitions are critically considered.Comment: One page one table, to Appear in Physical Review Letter