551 research outputs found
Detecting premonitory seismicity patterns based on critical point dynamics
We test the hypothesis that critical point dynamics precedes strong earthquakes in a region surrounding the future hypocenter. Therefore, we search systematically for regions obeying critical point dynamics in terms of a growing spatial correlation length (GCL). The question of whether or not these spatial patterns are correlated with future seismicity is crucial for the problem of predictability. The analysis is conducted for earthquakes with <i>M</i> <u>></u> 6.5 in California. As a result, we observe that GCL patterns are correlated with the distribution of future seismicity. In particular, there are clear correlations in some cases, e.g. the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake. We claim that the critical point concept can improve the seismic hazard assessment
Properties of Foreshocks and Aftershocks of the Non-Conservative SOC Olami-Feder-Christensen Model: Triggered or Critical Earthquakes?
Following Hergarten and Neugebauer [2002] who discovered aftershock and
foreshock sequences in the Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) discrete block-spring
earthquake model, we investigate to what degree the simple toppling mechanism
of this model is sufficient to account for the properties of earthquake
clustering in time and space. Our main finding is that synthetic catalogs
generated by the OFC model share practically all properties of real seismicity
at a qualitative level, with however significant quantitative differences. We
find that OFC catalogs can be in large part described by the concept of
triggered seismicity but the properties of foreshocks depend on the mainshock
magnitude, in qualitative agreement with the critical earthquake model and in
disagreement with simple models of triggered seismicity such as the Epidemic
Type Aftershock Sequence (ETAS) model [Ogata, 1988]. Many other features of OFC
catalogs can be reproduced with the ETAS model with a weaker clustering than
real seismicity, i.e. for a very small average number of triggered earthquakes
of first generation per mother-earthquake.Comment: revtex, 19 pages, 8 eps figure
Self-organization of spatio-temporal earthquake clusters
International audienceCellular automaton versions of the Burridge-Knopoff model have been shown to reproduce the power law distribution of event sizes; that is, the Gutenberg-Richter law. However, they have failed to reproduce the occurrence of foreshock and aftershock sequences correlated with large earthquakes. We show that in the case of partial stress recovery due to transient creep occurring subsequently to earthquakes in the crust, such spring-block systems self-organize into a statistically stationary state characterized by a power law distribution of fracture sizes as well as by foreshocks and aftershocks accompanying large events. In particular, the increase of foreshock and the decrease of aftershock activity can be described by, aside from a prefactor, the same Omori law. The exponent of the Omori law depends on the relaxation time and on the spatial scale of transient creep. Further investigations concerning the number of aftershocks, the temporal variation of aftershock magnitudes, and the waiting time distribution support the conclusion that this model, even "more realistic" physics in missed, captures in some ways the origin of the size distribution as well as spatio-temporal clustering of earthquakes
Instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation: utmost analytic approach
The Bethe-Salpeter formalism in the instantaneous approximation for the
interaction kernel entering into the Bethe-Salpeter equation represents a
reasonable framework for the description of bound states within relativistic
quantum field theory. In contrast to its further simplifications (like, for
instance, the so-called reduced Salpeter equation), it allows also the
consideration of bound states composed of "light" constituents. Every
eigenvalue equation with solutions in some linear space may be (approximately)
solved by conversion into an equivalent matrix eigenvalue problem. We
demonstrate that the matrices arising in these representations of the
instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation may be found, at least for a wide class
of interactions, in an entirely algebraic manner. The advantages of having the
involved matrices explicitly, i.e., not "contaminated" by errors induced by
numerical computations, at one's disposal are obvious: problems like, for
instance, questions of the stability of eigenvalues may be analyzed more
rigorously; furthermore, for small matrix sizes the eigenvalues may even be
calculated analytically.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 2 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Time Delay Cosmography: Analysis of Quadruply Lensed QSO SDSSJ1433 from Wendelstein Observatory
The goal of this work is to obtain a Hubble constant estimate through the
study of the quadruply lensed, variable QSO SDSSJ1433+6007. To achieve this we
combine multi-filter, archival data for lens modelling and a
dedicated time delay monitoring campaign with the 2.1m Fraunhofer telescope at
the . The lens modelling is carried out with
the public Python package for each of the filters
individually. Through this approach, we find that the data in one of the
filters (F160W) contain a light contaminant, that would, if
remained undetected, have severely biased the lensing potentials and thus our
cosmological inference. After rejecting these data we obtain a combined
posterior for the Fermat potential differences from the lens modelling in the
remaining filters (F475X, F814W, F105W and F140W) with a precision of
. The analysis of the -band Wendelstein light curve data
is carried out with a free-knot spline fitting method implemented in the public
Python tools. The precision of the time delays between the QSO
images has a range between 7.5 and 9.8 depending on the brightness of the
images and their time delay. We then combine the posteriors for the Fermat
potential differences and time delays. Assuming a flat CDM cosmology,
we infer a Hubble parameter of
, reaching
uncertainty for a single system.Comment: 27 pages, 29 figures, to be submitted to MNRA
The CRESST II Dark Matter Search
Direct Dark Matter detection with cryodetectors is briefly discussed, with
particular mention of the possibility of the identification of the recoil
nucleus. Preliminary results from the CREEST II Dark Matter search, with 730
kg-days of data, are presented. Major backgrounds and methods of identifying
and dealing with them are indicated.Comment: Talk at DSU workshop, ITP Beijing, Oct. 2011. 9 figures, 2 table
Results from 730 kg days of the CRESST-II Dark Matter Search
The CRESST-II cryogenic Dark Matter search, aiming at detection of WIMPs via
elastic scattering off nuclei in CaWO crystals, completed 730 kg days of
data taking in 2011. We present the data collected with eight detector modules,
each with a two-channel readout; one for a phonon signal and the other for
coincidently produced scintillation light. The former provides a precise
measure of the energy deposited by an interaction, and the ratio of
scintillation light to deposited energy can be used to discriminate different
types of interacting particles and thus to distinguish possible signal events
from the dominant backgrounds. Sixty-seven events are found in the acceptance
region where a WIMP signal in the form of low energy nuclear recoils would be
expected. We estimate background contributions to this observation from four
sources: 1) "leakage" from the e/\gamma-band 2) "leakage" from the
\alpha-particle band 3) neutrons and 4) Pb-206 recoils from Po-210 decay. Using
a maximum likelihood analysis, we find, at a high statistical significance,
that these sources alone are not sufficient to explain the data. The addition
of a signal due to scattering of relatively light WIMPs could account for this
discrepancy, and we determine the associated WIMP parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure
Application of Jain and Munczek's bound-state approach to gamma gamma-processes of pi0, eta_c and eta_b
We point out the problems affecting most quark--antiquark bound state
approaches when they are faced with the electromagnetic processes dominated by
Abelian axial anomaly. However, these problems are resolved in the consistently
coupled Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach. Using one of the most
successful variants of this approach, we find the dynamically dressed
propagators of the light u and d quarks, as well as the heavy c and b quarks,
and find the Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes for their bound states pi0, eta_c and
\eta_b. Thanks to incorporating the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, the
pion simultaneously appears as the (pseudo)Goldstone boson. We give the
theoretical predictions for the gamma-gamma decay widths of pi0, eta_c and
eta_b, and for the pi0 gamma* -> gamma transition form factor, and compare them
with experiment. In the chiral limit, the axial-anomaly result for
pi0->gamma-gamma is reproduced analytically in the consistently coupled
Schwinger-Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter approach, provided that the quark-photon
vertex is dressed consistently with the quark propagator, so that the vector
Ward-Takahashi identity of QED is obeyed. On the other hand, the present
approach is also capable of quantitatively describing systems of heavy quarks,
concretely eta_c and possibly eta_b, and their gamma-gamma decays. We discuss
the reasons for the broad phenomenological success of the bound-state approach
of Jain and Munczek.Comment: RevTeX, 37 pages, 7 eps figures, submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys.
On the broken gauge, conformal and discrete symmetries in particle physics
Relationships between gauge, conformal and discrete symmetries in particle
physics are analysed. We study also the effect of the electroweak mixing on the
cancellation of SU(2) anomalous actions. It is shown that the relation
theta_{W} = 2(theta_{12}+theta_{23}+theta_{13}) between the Weinberg angle and
the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angles should be satisfied and this effect is
completely defined by the mixing of Dirac fermions. We compare two mechanisms
of the spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry, discuss the renormalizability of
theories, and argue for the existence of the Majorana fermions necessary to
remove the SU(2) anomalous action. The fate of the majoron and the
spontaneously broken lepton number is discussed. We also show the compatibility
of the boson and fermion mixings with Dyson-Schwinger equations.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX style; v2: published version, two figures adde
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