Simulation of transient energy distributions in sub-ns streamer formation

Breakdown and streamer formation is simulated in atmospheric pressure nitrogen for a 2D planar electrode system. A PIC code with multigrid potential solver is used to simulate the evolution of the non-equilibrium ionization front on sub-nanosecond timescales. The ion and electron energy distributions are computed, accounting for the inclusion of inelastic scattering of electrons, and collisionally excited metastable production and ionization. Of particular interest is the increased production of metastable and low-energy ions and electrons when the applied field is reversed during the progress of the ionization front, giving insight into the improved species yields in nanosecond pulsed systems

X - Ray Flares and Their Connection With Prompt Emission in GRBs

We use a wavelet technique to investigate the time variations in the light curves from a sample of GRBs detected by Fermi and Swift. We focus primarily on the behavior of the flaring region of Swift-XRT light curves in order to explore connections between variability time scales and pulse parameters (such as rise and decay times, widths, strengths, and separation distributions) and spectral lags. Tight correlations between some of these temporal features suggest a common origin for the production of X-ray flares and the prompt emission.Comment: 7th Huntsville Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium, GRB 2013: paper 15 in eConf Proceedings C130414

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Temporal Scales and the Bulk Lorentz Factor

For a sample of Swift and Fermi GRBs, we show that the minimum variability timescale and the spectral lag of the prompt emission is related to the bulk Lorentz factor in a complex manner: For small $\Gamma$'s, the variability timescale exhibits a shallow (plateau) region. For large $\Gamma$'s, the variability timescale declines steeply as a function of $\Gamma$ ($\delta T\propto\Gamma^{-4.05\pm0.64}$). Evidence is also presented for an intriguing correlation between the peak times, t$_p$, of the afterglow emission and the prompt emission variability timescale.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Corrections to Gravity due to a Sol Manifold Extra Dimensional Space

The corrections to the gravitational potential due to a Sol extra dimensional compact manifold, denoted as $M_A^3$, are studied. The total spacetime is of the form $M^4\times M_A^3$. The range of the Sol corrections is investigated and compared to the range of the $T^3$ corrections.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, published versio

The Hurst Exponent of Fermi GRBs

Using a wavelet decomposition technique, we have extracted the Hurst exponent for a sample of 46 long and 22 short Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) aboard the Fermi satellite. This exponent is a scaling parameter that provides a measure of long-range behavior in a time series. The mean Hurst exponent for the short GRBs is significantly smaller than that for the long GRBs. The separation may serve as an unbiased criterion for distinguishing short and long GRBs.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Optimizing astrophotonic spatial reformatters using simulated on-sky performance

One of the most useful techniques in astronomical instrumentation is image slicing. It enables a spectrograph to have a more compact angular slit, whilst retaining throughput and increasing resolving power. Astrophotonic components like the photonic lanterns and photonic reformatters can be used to replace bulk optics used so far. This study investigates the performance of such devices using end-to-end simulations to approximate realistic on-sky conditions. It investigates existing components, tries to optimize their performance and aims to understand better how best to design instruments to maximize their performance. This work complements the recent work in the field and provides an estimation for the performance of the new components.Comment: Conference proceedings in SPIE 2018 Austin Texa

(Z)-2-Amino-3-[(E)-benzyl­ideneamino]but-2-enedinitrile

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C11H8N4, contains two independent mol­ecules. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds link mol­ecules into ribbons extended in the [100] direction

On multiplicities in length spectra of arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds

Asymptotic laws for mean multiplicities of lengths of closed geodesics in arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds are derived. The sharpest results are obtained for non-compact orbifolds associated with the Bianchi groups SL(2,o) and some congruence subgroups. Similar results hold for cocompact arithmetic quaternion groups, if a conjecture on the number of gaps in their length spectra is true. The results related to the groups above give asymptotic lower bounds for the mean multiplicities in length spectra of arbitrary arithmetic hyperbolic three-orbifolds. The investigation of these multiplicities is motivated by their sensitive effect on the eigenvalue spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a hyperbolic orbifold, which may be interpreted as the Hamiltonian of a three-dimensional quantum system being strongly chaotic in the classical limit.Comment: 29 pages, uuencoded ps. Revised version, to appear in NONLINEARIT