A MERLIN Study of 6 GHz Excited-state OH & 6.7 GHz Methanol Masers in ON1

MERLIN observations of 6.668-GHz methanol and both 6.031- and 6.035-GHz hydroxyl (OH) emission from the massive star-formation region ON1 are presented. These are the first methanol observations made in full polarization using 5 antennas of MERLIN, giving high resolution and sensitivity to extended emission. Maser features are found to lie at the southern edge of the ultra-compact HII region, following the known distribution of ground-state OH masers. The masers cover a region ~1 arcsec in extent, lying perpendicular to the H13CO+ bipolar outflow. Excited-state OH emission demonstrates consistent polarization angles across the strongest linearly polarized features which are parallel to the overall distribution. The linear polarizations vary between 10.0 and 18.5 per cent, with an average polarization angle of -60 deg +/- 28 deg. The strongest 6.668-GHz methanol features provide an upper limit to linear polarization of ~1 per cent. Zeeman splitting of OH shows magnetic fields between -1.1 to -5.8 mG, and a tentative methanol magnetic field strength of -18 mG is measured.Comment: 10 Pages, 5 Figure

Tilting mutation of weakly symmetric algebras and stable equivalence

We consider tilting mutations of a weakly symmetric algebra at a subset of simple modules, as recently introduced by T. Aihara. These mutations are defined as the endomorphism rings of certain tilting complexes of length 1. Starting from a weakly symmetric algebra A, presented by a quiver with relations, we give a detailed description of the quiver and relations of the algebra obtained by mutating at a single loopless vertex of the quiver of A. In this form the mutation procedure appears similar to, although significantly more complicated than, the mutation procedure of Derksen, Weyman and Zelevinsky for quivers with potentials. By definition, weakly symmetric algebras connected by a sequence of tilting mutations are derived equivalent, and hence stably equivalent. The second aim of this article is to study these stable equivalences via a result of Okuyama describing the images of the simple modules. As an application we answer a question of Asashiba on the derived Picard groups of a class of self-injective algebras of finite representation type. We conclude by introducing a mutation procedure for maximal systems of orthogonal bricks in a triangulated category, which is motivated by the effect that a tilting mutation has on the set of simple modules in the stable category.Comment: Description and proof of mutated algebra made more rigorous (Prop. 3.1 and 4.2). Okuyama's Lemma incorporated: Theorem 4.1 is now Corollary 5.1, and proof is omitted. To appear in Algebras and Representation Theor

Cooperative Chiral Order in Copolymers of Chiral and Achiral Units

Polyisocyanates can be synthesized with chiral and achiral pendant groups distributed randomly along the chains. The overall chiral order, measured by optical activity, is strongly cooperative and depends sensitively on the concentration of chiral pendant groups. To explain this cooperative chiral order theoretically, we map the random copolymer onto the one-dimensional random-field Ising model. We show that the optical activity as a function of composition is well-described by the predictions of this theory.Comment: 13 pages, including 3 postscript figures, uses REVTeX 3.0 and epsf.st

A New Symmetric Expression of Weyl Ordering

For the creation operator \adag and the annihilation operator $a$ of a harmonic oscillator, we consider Weyl ordering expression of (\adag a)^n and obtain a new symmetric expression of Weyl ordering w.r.t. \adag a \equiv N and a\adag =N+1 where $N$ is the number operator. Moreover, we interpret intertwining formulas of various orderings in view of the difference theory. Then we find that the noncommutative parameter corresponds to the increment of the difference operator w.r.t. variable $N$. Therefore, quantum (noncommutative) calculations of harmonic oscillators are done by classical (commutative) ones of the number operator by using the difference theory. As a by-product, nontrivial relations including the Stirling number of the first kind are also obtained.Comment: 15 pages, Latex2e, the title before replacement is "Orderings of Operators in Quantum Physics", new proofs by using a difference operator added, some references added, to appear in Modern Physics Letters

Primordial black holes as a tool for constraining non-Gaussianity

Primordial Black Holes (PBH's) can form in the early Universe from the collapse of large density fluctuations. Tight observational limits on their abundance constrain the amplitude of the primordial fluctuations on very small scales which can not otherwise be constrained, with PBH's only forming from the extremely rare large fluctuations. The number of PBH's formed is therefore sensitive to small changes in the shape of the tail of the fluctuation distribution, which itself depends on the amount of non-Gaussianity present. We study, for the first time, how quadratic and cubic local non-Gaussianity of arbitrary size (parameterised by f_nl and g_nl respectively) affects the PBH abundance and the resulting constraints on the amplitude of the fluctuations on very small scales. Intriguingly we find that even non-linearity parameters of order unity have a significant impact on the PBH abundance. The sign of the non-Gaussianity is particularly important, with the constraint on the allowed fluctuation amplitude tightening by an order of magnitude as f_nl changes from just -0.5 to 0.5. We find that if PBH's are observed in the future, then regardless of the amplitude of the fluctuations, non-negligible negative f_nl would be ruled out. Finally we show that g_nl can have an even larger effect on the number of PBH's formed than f_nl.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, v2: version to appear in Phys. Rev. D with minor changes, v3: typos corrected (including factor of 1/2 in erfc prefactor), no changes to result

D-instanton partition functions

Duality arguments are used to determine D-instanton contributions to certain effective interaction terms of type II supergravity theories in various dimensions. This leads to exact expressions for the partition functions of the finite N D-instanton matrix model in d=4 and 6 dimensions that generalize our previous expression for the case d=10. These results are consistent with the fact that the Witten index of the T-dual D-particle process should only be non-vanishing for d=10.Comment: 20 pages, harvmac, typos corrected, reference adde

The population of hot subdwarf stars studied with Gaia I. The catalogue of known hot subdwarf stars

In preparation for the upcoming all-sky data releases of the Gaia mission we compiled a catalogue of known hot subdwarf stars and candidates drawn from the literature and yet unpublished databases. The catalogue contains 5613 unique sources and provides multi-band photometry from the ultraviolet to the far infrared, ground based proper motions, classifications based on spectroscopy and colours, published atmospheric parameters, radial velocities and light curve variability information. Using several different techniques we removed outliers and misclassified objects. By matching this catalogue with astrometric and photometric data from the Gaia mission, we will develop selection criteria to construct a homogeneous, magnitude-limited all-sky catalogue of hot subdwarf stars based on Gaia data.Comment: 11 pages, A&A accepte

Quartz crystal microbalance use in biological studies

Design, development, and applications of quartz crystal microbalance are discussed. Two types of crystals are used. One serves as reference and other senses changes in mass. Specific application to study of bacterial spores is described