18,036 research outputs found
Selective excitation of homogeneous spectral lines
It is possible, for homogeneously broadened lines, to excite selectively the
response signals, which are orders of magnitude narrower than the original
lines. The new type of echo, which allows detecting such signals, and the
formalism, useful for understanding the phenomenon, as well as the experimental
examples from NMR spectroscopy are presented.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
The Gamma-limit of the two-dimensional Ohta-Kawasaki energy. II. Droplet arrangement at the sharp interface level via the renormalized energy
This is the second in a series of papers in which we derive a
-expansion for the two-dimensional non-local Ginzburg-Landau energy
with Coulomb repulsion known as the Ohta-Kawasaki model in connection with
diblock copolymer systems. In this model, two phases appear, which interact via
a nonlocal Coulomb type energy. Here we focus on the sharp interface version of
this energy in the regime where one of the phases has very small volume
fraction, thus creating small "droplets" of the minority phase in a "sea" of
the majority phase. In our previous paper, we computed the -limit of
the leading order energy, which yields the averaged behavior for almost
minimizers, namely that the density of droplets should be uniform. Here we go
to the next order and derive a next order -limit energy, which is
exactly the Coulombian renormalized energy obtained by Sandier and Serfaty as a
limiting interaction energy for vortices in the magnetic Ginzburg-Landau model.
The derivation is based on the abstract scheme of Sandier-Serfaty that serves
to obtain lower bounds for 2-scale energies and express them through some
probabilities on patterns via the multiparameter ergodic theorem. Without thus
appealing to the Euler-Lagrange equation, we establish for all configurations
which have "almost minimal energy" the asymptotic roundness and radius of the
droplets, and the fact that they asymptotically shrink to points whose
arrangement minimizes the renormalized energy in some averaged sense. Via a
kind of -equivalence, the obtained results also yield an expansion of
the minimal energy for the original Ohta-Kawasaki energy. This leads to
expecting to see triangular lattices of droplets as energy minimizers
Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students' Learning
A new report finds that technology - when implemented properly -can produce significant gains in student achievement and boost engagement, particularly among students most at risk
Parallax measurements of cool brown dwarfs
Accurate parallax measurements allow us to determine physical properties of
brown dwarfs, and help us to constrain evolutionary and atmospheric models,
break the age-mass degeneracy and reveal unresolved binaries.
We measured absolute trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of 6 cool
brown dwarfs using background galaxies to establish an absolute reference
frame. We derive the absolute J-mag. The six T brown dwarfs in our sample have
spectral types between T2.5 and T7.5 and magnitudes in J between 13.9 and 18.0,
with photometric distances below 25 pc.
The observations were taken in the J-band with the Omega-2000 camera on the
3.5 m telescope at Calar Alto, during a time period of 27 months, between March
2011 and June 2013. The number of epochs varied between 11 and 12 depending on
the object. The reduction of the astrometric measurements was carried out with
respect to the field stars. The relative parallax and proper motions were
transformed into absolute measurements using the background galaxies in our
fields.
We obtained absolute parallaxes for our six brown dwarfs with a precision
between 3 and 6 mas. We compared our results in a color-magnitude diagram with
other brown dwarfs with determined parallax and with the BT-Settl 2012
atmospheric models. For four of the six targets we found a good agreement in
luminosity with objects of similar spectral types. We obtained an improved
accuracy in the parallaxes and proper motions in comparison to previous works.
The object 2MASS J11061197+2754225 is more than 1 mag overluminous in all bands
pointing to binarity or high order multiplicity.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 201
(Trade) Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun—Especially When Disclosed Through FOIA Requests to Everyone
While the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) contains a provision exempting trade secrets from public information requests, FOIA was enacted to serve policies essentially antithetical to those of trade secrets—allowing individuals to access records collected by governmental agencies. The FOIA trade secret exemption is discretionary, allowing an agency, rather than a party submitting information to the government, to determine what constitutes a trade secret. Consequently, government agencies often disclose information through FOIA requests that are considered to be trade secrets by the information’s owners. One such instance arose in the Seventh Circuit in Patriot Homes, Inc. v. Forest River Housing, Inc.
This situation typifies a legal question about whether a trade secret can continue to exist after its disclosure by the government and whether obtaining such information via a FOIA request can act as a defense to a claim of trade secret misappropriation. This article contrasts the underlying principles behind the Freedom of Information Act and various trade secret regimes. Ultimately, this article suggests that FOIA should offer greater protection of private information submitted to government agencies, rewarding those individuals or businesses willing to both cooperate with the government and accept the costs of protecting their information. This end might best be achieved through an amendment to the Federal FOIA, applicable to the states through the Commerce Clause, allowing individuals to assume responsibility for protecting information that they submit to the government
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