993 research outputs found
Equivariant differential characters and symplectic reduction
We describe equivariant differential characters (classifying equivariant
circle bundles with connections), their prequantization, and reduction
Sensorimotor signals underlying space perception: An investigation based on self-touch
Perception of space has puzzled scientists since antiquity, and is among the foundational questions of scientific psychology. Classical “local sign” theories assert that perception of spatial extent ultimately derives from efferent signals specifying the intensity of motor commands. Everyday cases of self-touch, such as stroking the left forearm with the right index fingertip, provide an important platform for studying spatial perception, because of the tight correlation between motor and tactile extents. Nevertheless, if the motor and sensory information in self-touch were artificially decoupled, these classical theories would clearly predict that motor signals – especially if self-generated rather than passive – should influence spatial perceptual judgements, but not vice versa. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the contribution of tactile, kinaesthetic, and motor information to judgements of spatial extent. In a self-touch paradigm involving two coupled robots in master-slave configuration, voluntary movements of the right-hand produced simultaneous tactile stroking on the left forearm. Crucially, the coupling between robots was manipulated so that tactile stimulation could be shorter, equal, or longer in extent than the movement that caused it. Participants judged either the extent of the movement, or the extent of the tactile stroke. By controlling sensorimotor gains in this way, we quantified how motor signals influence tactile spatial perception, and vice versa. Perception of tactile extent was strongly biased by the amplitude of the movement performed. Importantly, touch also affected the perceived extent of movement. Finally, the effect of movement on touch was significantly stronger when movements were actively-generated compared to when the participant's right hand was passively moved by the experimenter. Overall, these results suggest that motor signals indeed dominate the construction of spatial percepts, at least when the normal tight correlation between motor and sensory signals is broken. Importantly, however, this dominance is not total, as classical theory might suggest
Twisted K-theory and finite-dimensional approximation
We provide a finite-dimensional model of the twisted K-group twisted by any
degree three integral cohomology class of a CW complex. One key to the model is
Furuta's generalized vector bundle, and the other is a finite-dimensional
approximation of Fredholm operators.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX 2e, Xypic; main theorem improve
Interhemispheric communication during haptic self-perception
During the haptic exploration of a planar surface, slight resistances against the hand's movement are illusorily perceived as asperities (bumps) in the surface. If the surface being touched is one's own skin, an actual bump would also produce increased tactile pressure from the moving finger onto the skin. We investigated how kinaesthetic and tactile signals combine to produce haptic perceptions during self-touch. Participants performed two successive movements with the right hand. A haptic force-control robot applied resistances to both movements, and participants judged which movement was felt to contain the larger bump. An additional robot delivered simultaneous but task-irrelevant tactile stroking to the left forearm. These strokes contained either increased or decreased tactile pressure synchronized with the resistance-induced illusory bump encountered by the right hand. We found that the size of bumps perceived by the right hand was enhanced by an increase in left tactile pressure, but also by a decrease. Tactile event detection was thus transferred interhemispherically, but the sign of the tactile information was not respected. Randomizing (rather than blocking) the presentation order of left tactile stimuli abolished these interhemispheric enhancement effects. Thus, interhemispheric transfer during bimanual self-touch requires a stable model of temporally synchronized events, but does not require geometric consistency between hemispheric information, nor between tactile and kinaesthetic representations of a single common object
Silicon Photo-Multiplier radiation hardness tests with a beam controlled neutron source
We report radiation hardness tests performed at the Frascati Neutron
Generator on silicon Photo-Multipliers, semiconductor photon detectors built
from a square matrix of avalanche photo-diodes on a silicon substrate. Several
samples from different manufacturers have been irradiated integrating up to
7x10^10 1-MeV-equivalent neutrons per cm^2. Detector performances have been
recorded during the neutron irradiation and a gradual deterioration of their
properties was found to happen already after an integrated fluence of the order
of 10^8 1-MeV-equivalent neutrons per cm^2.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth.
Application of Hamamatsu MPPC to T2K Neutrino Detectors
A special type of Hamamatsu MPPC, with a sensitive area of 1.3x1.3mm^2
containing 667 pixels with 50x50um^2 each, has been developed for the near
neutrino detector in the T2K long baseline neutrino experiment. About 60 000
MPPCs will be used in total to read out the plastic scintillator detectors with
wavelength shifting fibers. We report on the basic performance of MPPCs
produced for T2K.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of NDIP 2008, Aix-les-Bains, France,
June 15-20, 200
Transient dynamics for sequence processing neural networks
An exact solution of the transient dynamics for a sequential associative
memory model is discussed through both the path-integral method and the
statistical neurodynamics. Although the path-integral method has the ability to
give an exact solution of the transient dynamics, only stationary properties
have been discussed for the sequential associative memory. We have succeeded in
deriving an exact macroscopic description of the transient dynamics by
analyzing the correlation of crosstalk noise. Surprisingly, the order parameter
equations of this exact solution are completely equivalent to those of the
statistical neurodynamics, which is an approximation theory that assumes
crosstalk noise to obey the Gaussian distribution. In order to examine our
theoretical findings, we numerically obtain cumulants of the crosstalk noise.
We verify that the third- and fourth-order cumulants are equal to zero, and
that the crosstalk noise is normally distributed even in the non-retrieval
case. We show that the results obtained by our theory agree with those obtained
by computer simulations. We have also found that the macroscopic unstable state
completely coincides with the separatrix.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Performance of Multi-Pixel Photon Counters for the T2K near detectors
We have developed a Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) for the neutrino
detectors of T2K experiment. About 64,000 MPPCs have been produced and tested
in about a year. In order to characterize a large number of MPPCs, we have
developed a system that simultaneously measures 64 MPPCs with various bias
voltage and temperature. The performance of MPPCs are found to satisfy the
requirement of T2K experiment. In this paper, we present the performance of
17,686 MPPCs measured at Kyoto University.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure
Constructing Self-Dual Strings
We present an ADHMN-like construction which generates self-dual string
solutions to the effective M5-brane worldvolume theory from solutions to the
Basu-Harvey equation. Our construction finds a natural interpretation in terms
of gerbes, which we develop in some detail. We also comment on a possible
extension to stacks of multiple M5-branes.Comment: 1+19 pages, presentation improved, minor corrections, published
versio
Breakup of loosely bound nuclei as indirect method in nuclear astrophysics: 8B, 9C, 23Al
We discuss the use of one-nucleon breakup reactions of loosely bound nuclei
at intermediate energies as an indirect method in nuclear astrophysics. These
are peripheral processes, therefore we can extract asymptotic normalization
coefficients (ANC) from which reaction rates of astrophysical interest can be
inferred. To show the usefulness of the method, three different cases are
discussed. In the first, existing experimental data for the breakup of 8B at
energies from 30 to 1000 MeV/u and of 9C at 285 MeV/u on light through heavy
targets are analyzed. Glauber model calculations in the eikonal approximation
and in the optical limit using different effective interactions give
consistent, though slightly different results, showing the limits of the
precision of the method. The results lead to the astrophysical factor
S_17(0)=18.7+/-1.9 eVb for the key reaction for solar neutrino production
7Be(p,\gamma)8B. It is consistent with the values from other indirect methods
and most direct measurements, but one. Breakup reactions can be measured with
radioactive beams as weak as a few particles per second, and therefore can be
used for cases where no direct measurements or other indirect methods for
nuclear astrophysics can be applied. We discuss a proposed use of the breakup
of the proton drip line nucleus 23Al to obtain spectroscopic information and
the stellar reaction rate for 22Mg(p,\gamma)23Al.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Presented at the conference "Nuclear Physics for
Astrophysics 2", Debrecen, Hungary, May 2005. Prepared for the Proceeding
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