1,367 research outputs found
Harmonic behavior of metallic glasses up to the metastable melt
In two amorphous alloys ZrTiCuNiBe and ZrAlNiCu coherent neutron scattering has been measured over five decades in energy, including measurements in the metastable melt of a metallic alloy more than 80 K above Tg. In the vibrational spectra a pronounced "boson" peak is found: Even in crystallized samples the density of states exceeds the Debye ω2 model, and in the amorphous state low-frequency vibrations are further enhanced. The peak position shows no dispersion in q, while intensities are strongly correlated with the static structure factor. Over the full energy range the temperature dependence is strictly harmonic. From high-energy resolution measurements we establish lower bounds for the temperatures at which structural α and fast β relaxation become observable
Within-herd effects of age at test day and lactation stage on test-day yields
Variance ratios were estimated for random within-herd effects of age at test day and lactation stage, on test-day yield and somatic cell score to determine whether including these effects would improve the accuracy of estimation. Test-day data starting with 1990 calvings for the entire US Jersey population and Holsteins from California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Texas were analyzed. Test-day yields were adjusted for across-herd effects using solutions from a regional analysis. Estimates of the relative variance ( fraction of total variance) due to within-herd age effects were small, indicating that regional adjustments for age were adequate. The relative variances for within-herd lactation stage were large enough to indicate that accuracy of genetic evaluations could be improved by including herd stage effects in the model for milk, fat, and protein, but not for somatic cell score. Because the within-herd lactation stage effect is assumed to be random, the effect is regressed toward the regional effects for small herds, but in large herds, lactation curves become herd specific. Model comparisons demonstrated the greater explanatory power of the model with a within-herd-stage effect as prediction error standard deviations were greater for the model without this effect. The benefit of the within-herd-stage effects was confirmed in a random regression model by comparing variance components from models with and without random within-herd regressions and through log-likelihood ratio tests
The Effect of Large Amplitude Fluctuations in the Ginzburg-Landau Phase Transition
The lattice Ginzburg-Landau model in d=3 and d=2 is simulated, for different
values of the coherence length in units of the lattice spacing , using
a Monte Carlo method. The energy, specific heat, vortex density , helicity
modulus and mean square amplitude are measured to map the phase
diagram on the plane . When amplitude fluctuations, controlled by the
parameter , become large () a proliferation of vortex
excitations occurs changing the phase transition from continuous to first
order.Comment: 4 pages, 5 postscript (eps) figure
Holocene Earthquakes and Late Pleistocene Slip-Rate Estimates on the Wassuk Range Fault Zone, Nevada
The Wassuk Range fault zone is an 80‐km‐long, east‐dipping, high‐angle normal fault that flanks the eastern margin of the Wassuk Range in central Nevada. Observations from two alluvial fan systems truncated by the fault yield information on the vertical slip rate and Holocene earthquake history along the range front. At the apex of the Rose Creek alluvial fan, radiocarbon dating of offset stratigraphy exposed in two fault trenches shows that multiple earthquakes resulted in 7.0 m of vertical offset along the fault since ∼9400 cal B.P. These data yield a Holocene vertical slip rate of 0.7±0.1 mm/yr. The south trench exposure records at least two faulting events since ∼9400 cal B.P., with the most recent displacement postdating ∼2810 cal B.P. The north trench exposure records an ∼1 m offset between ∼610 cal B.P. and A.D. ∼1850, a 1.3‐m minimum offset prior to ∼1460 cal B.P., and one earlier undated earthquake of a similar size. Variations in stratigraphy and limited datable material preclude a unique correlation of paleoevents between the two trenches. Approximately 25 km north, the range‐front fault has truncated and uplifted a remnant of the Penrod Canyon fan by \u3e40 m since the surface was deposited ∼113 ka, based on cosmogenic dating of two large boulders. These data allow an estimate of the minimum late Pleistocene vertical slip rate at \u3e0.3–0.4 mm/yr for the Wassuk Range fault zone
Holocene Earthquakes and Late Pleistocene Slip Rate Estimates on the Wassuk Range Fault Zone, Nevada, USA
The Wassuk Range fault zone is an 80‐km‐long, east‐dipping, high‐angle normal fault that flanks the eastern margin of the Wassuk Range in central Nevada. Observations from two alluvial fan systems truncated by the fault yield information on the vertical slip rate and Holocene earthquake history along the range front. At the apex of the Rose Creek alluvial fan, radiocarbon dating of offset stratigraphy exposed in two fault trenches shows that multiple earthquakes resulted in 7.0 m of vertical offset along the fault since ∼9400 cal B.P. These data yield a Holocene vertical slip rate of 0.7±0.1 mm/yr. The south trench exposure records at least two faulting events since ∼9400 cal B.P., with the most recent displacement postdating ∼2810 cal B.P. The north trench exposure records an ∼1 m offset between ∼610 cal B.P. and A.D. ∼1850, a 1.3‐m minimum offset prior to ∼1460 cal B.P., and one earlier undated earthquake of a similar size. Variations in stratigraphy and limited datable material preclude a unique correlation of paleoevents between the two trenches. Approximately 25 km north, the range‐front fault has truncated and uplifted a remnant of the Penrod Canyon fan by \u3e40 m since the surface was deposited ∼113 ka, based on cosmogenic dating of two large boulders. These data allow an estimate of the minimum late Pleistocene vertical slip rate at \u3e0.3–0.4 mm/yr for the Wassuk Range fault zone
First Order Transition in the Ginzburg-Landau Model
The d-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau (GL) model is solved according to a
variational method by separating phase and amplitude. The GL transition becomes
first order for high superfluid density because of effects of phase
fluctuations. We discuss its origin with various arguments showing that, in
particular for d = 3, the validity of our approach lies precisely in the first
order domain.Comment: 4 pages including 2 figure
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Improving the condition number of estimated covariance matrices
High dimensional error covariance matrices and their inverses are used to weight the
contribution of observation and background information in data assimilation procedures. As
observation error covariance matrices are often obtained by sampling methods, estimates are
often degenerate or ill-conditioned, making it impossible to invert an observation error
covariance matrix without the use of techniques to reduce its condition number. In this paper
we present new theory for two existing methods that can be used to ‘recondition’ any covariance
matrix: ridge regression, and the minimum eigenvalue method. We compare these methods
with multiplicative variance inflation, which cannot alter the condition number of a matrix, but
is often used to account for neglected correlation information. We investigate the impact of
reconditioning on variances and correlations of a general covariance matrix in both a theoretical
and practical setting. Improved theoretical understanding provides guidance to users regarding
method selection, and choice of target condition number. The new theory shows that, for the
same target condition number, both methods increase variances compared to the original
matrix, with larger increases for ridge regression than the minimum eigenvalue method. We
prove that the ridge regression method strictly decreases the absolute value of off-diagonal
correlations. Theoretical comparison of the impact of reconditioning and multiplicative
variance inflation on the data assimilation objective function shows that variance inflation alters
information across all scales uniformly, whereas reconditioning has a larger effect on scales
corresponding to smaller eigenvalues. We then consider two examples: a general correlation
function, and an observation error covariance matrix arising from interchannel correlations. The
minimum eigenvalue method results in smaller overall changes to the correlation matrix than
ridge regression, but can increase off-diagonal correlations. Data assimilation experiments reveal
that reconditioning corrects spurious noise in the analysis but underestimates the true signal
compared to multiplicative variance inflation
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