463 research outputs found
Transient resonances in the inspirals of point particles into black holes
We show that transient resonances occur in the two body problem in general
relativity, in the highly relativistic, extreme mass-ratio regime for spinning
black holes. These resonances occur when the ratio of polar and radial orbital
frequencies, which is slowly evolving under the influence of gravitational
radiation reaction, passes through a low order rational number. At such points,
the adiabatic approximation to the orbital evolution breaks down, and there is
a brief but order unity correction to the inspiral rate. Corrections to the
gravitational wave signal's phase due to resonance effects scale as the square
root of the inverse of mass of the small body, and thus become large in the
extreme-mass-ratio limit, dominating over all other post-adiabatic effects. The
resonances make orbits more sensitive to changes in initial data (though not
quite chaotic), and are genuine non-perturbative effects that are not seen at
any order in a standard post-Newtonian expansion. Our results apply to an
important potential source of gravitational waves, the gradual inspiral of
white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes into much more massive black holes.
It is hoped to exploit observations of these sources to map the spacetime
geometry of black holes. However, such mapping will require accurate models of
binary dynamics, which is a computational challenge whose difficulty is
significantly increased by resonance effects. We estimate that the resonance
phase shifts will be of order a few tens of cycles for mass ratios , by numerically evolving fully relativistic orbital dynamics
supplemented with an approximate, post-Newtonian self-force.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor correction
The potential of ground gravity measurements to validate GRACE data
New satellite missions are returning high precision, time-varying, satellite measurements of the Earthâs gravity field. The GRACE mission is now in its calibration/- validation phase and first results of the gravity field solutions are imminent. We consider here the possibility of external validation using data from the superconducting gravimeters in the European sub-array of the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) as âground truthâ for comparison with GRACE. This is a pilot study in which we use 14 months of 1-hour data from the beginning of GGP (1 July 1997) to 30 August 1998, when the Potsdam instrument was relocated to South Africa. There are 7 stations clustered in west central Europe, and one station, Metsahovi in Finland. We remove local tides, polar motion, local and global air pressure, and instrument drift and then decimate to 6-hour samples. We see large variations in the time series of 5â10<i>”</i>gal between even some neighboring stations, but there are also common features that correlate well over the 427-day period. The 8 stations are used to interpolate a minimum curvature (gridded) surface that extends over the geographical region. This surface shows time and spatial coherency at the level of 2â 4<i>”</i>gal over the first half of the data and 1â2<i>”</i>gal over the latter half. The mean value of the surface clearly shows a rise in European gravity of about 3”gal over the first 150 days and a fairly constant value for the rest of the data. The accuracy of this mean is estimated at 1<i>”</i>gal, which compares favorably with GRACE predictions for wavelengths of 500 km or less. Preliminary studies of hydrology loading over Western Europe shows the difficulty of correlating the local hydrology, which can be highly variable, with large-scale gravity variations.<br><br><b>Key words. </b>GRACE, satellite gravity, superconducting gravimeter, GGP, ground trut
Symmetry-dependent Mn-magnetism in Al69.8Pd12.1Mn18.1
Abstract.: We investigated the stability of magnetic moments in Al69.8Pd12.1Mn18.1. This alloy exists in both, the icosahedral (i) and the decagonal (d) quasicrystalline form. The transition from the i- to the d-phase is achieved by a simple heat treatment. We present the results of measurements of the 27Al NMR-response, the dc magnetic susceptibility, and the low-temperature specific heat of both phases. In the icosahedral compound, the majority of the Mn ions carries a magnetic moment. Their number is reduced by approximately a factor of two by transforming the alloy to its decagonal variety. For both compounds, we have indications for two different local environments of the Al nuclei. The first reflects a low density of states of conduction electrons and a weak coupling of the Al nuclei to the Mn-moments. The second type of environment implies a large d-electron density of states at the Fermi level and a strong coupling to the magnetic Mn moments. Spin-glass freezing transitions are observed at Tdecaf=12K for the decagonal, and Ticof=19 K for the icosahedral phas
Semianalytical estimates of scattering thresholds and gravitational radiation in ultrarelativistic black hole encounters
Ultrarelativistic collisions of black holes are ideal gedanken experiments to
study the nonlinearities of general relativity. In this paper we use
semianalytical tools to better understand the nature of these collisions and
the emitted gravitational radiation. We explain many features of the energy
spectra extracted from numerical relativity simulations using two complementary
semianalytical calculations. In the first calculation we estimate the radiation
by a "zero-frequency limit" analysis of the collision of two point particles
with finite impact parameter. In the second calculation we replace one of the
black holes by a point particle plunging with arbitrary energy and impact
parameter into a Schwarzschild black hole, and we explore the multipolar
structure of the radiation paying particular attention to the near-critical
regime. We also use a geodesic analogy to provide qualitative estimates of the
dependence of the scattering threshold on the black hole spin and on the
dimensionality of the spacetime.Comment: 29 pages, 19 figure, 6 tables, minor changes to match version in
press in Phys.Rev.
Detection of Phase Jumps of Free Core Nutation of the Earth and their Concurrence with Geomagnetic Jerks
We detected phase jumps of the Free Core Nutation (FCN) of the Earth directly
from the analysis of the Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) observation
of the Earth rotation for the period 1984-2003 by applying the Weighted Wavelet
Z-Transform (WWZ) method and the Short-time Periodogram with the Gabor function
(SPG) method. During the period, the FCN had two significant phase jumps in
1992 and 1998. These epochs coincide with the reported occurrence of
geomagnetic jerks.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Unconventional Charge Ordering in Na0.70CoO2 below 300 K
We present the results of measurements of the dc-magnetic susceptibility
chi(T) and the 23Na-NMR response of Na_{0.70}CoO_{2} at temperatures between 50
and 340 K. The chi(T) data suggest that for T > 75 K, the Co ions adopt an
effective configuration of Co^{3.4+}. The 23Na-NMR response reveals pronounced
anomalies near 250 and 295 K, but no evidence for magnetic phase transitions is
found in chi(T). Our data suggest the onset of a dramatic change in the Co
3d-electron spin dynamics at 295 K. This process is completed at 230 K. Our
results maybe interpreted as evidence for either a tendency to electron
localization or an unconventional charge-density wave phenomenon within the
cobalt oxide layer, CoO_2, 3d electron system near room temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, re-submitted to Physical Review Letters. The
manuscript has been revised following the recommendations of the referees.
The discussion section contains substantial change
Entropy of vortex cores on the border of the superconductor-to-insulator transition in an underdoped cuprate
We present a study of Nernst effect in underdoped in
magnetic fields as high as 28T. At high fields, a sizeable Nernst signal was
found to persist in presence of a field-induced non-metallic resistivity. By
simultaneously measuring resistivity and the Nernst coefficient, we extract the
entropy of vortex cores in the vicinity of this field-induced
superconductor-insulator transition. Moreover, the temperature dependence of
the thermo-electric Hall angle provides strong constraints on the possible
origins of the finite Nernst signal above , as recently discovered by Xu
et al.Comment: 5 Pages inculding 4 figure
Successful Use of Squeezed-Fat Grafts to Correct a Breast Affected by Poland Syndrome
This study attempted to reconstruct deformities of a Poland syndrome patient using autologous fat tissues. All injected fat tissues were condensed by squeezing centrifugation. Operations were performed four times with intervals over 6Â months. The total injection volume was 972Â ml, and the maintained volume of 628Â ml was measured by means of a magnetic resonance image (MRI). The entire follow-up period was 4.5Â years. After surgery, several small cysts and minimal calcifications were present but no significant complications. The cosmetic outcomes and volume maintenance rates were excellent despite the overlapped large-volume injections. In conclusion, higher condensation of fat tissues through squeezing centrifugation would help to achieve better results in volume maintenance and reduce complications. It is necessary, however, to perform more comparative studies with many clinical cases for a more scientific analysis. The study experiments with squeezed fat simply suggest a hypothesis that squeezing centrifugation could select healthier cells through pressure disruption of relatively thinner membranes of larger, more vulnerable and more mature fat cells
Identification of a Specific Vimentin Isoform That Induces an Antibody Response in Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis, in part due to lack of early detection. The identification of circulating tumor antigens or their related autoantibodies provides a means for early cancer diagnosis. We have used a proteomic approach to identify proteins that commonly induce a humoral response in pancreatic cancer. Proteins from a pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line (Panc-1) were subjected to two-dimensional PAGE, followed by Western blot analysis in which individual sera were tested for autoantibodies. Sera from 36 newly diagnosed patients with pancreatic cancer, 18 patients with chronic pancreatitis and 15 healthy subjects were analyzed. Autoantibodies were detected against a protein identified by mass spectrometry as vimentin, in sera from 16/36 patients with pancreatic cancer (44.4%). Only one of 18 chronic pancreatitis patients and none of the healthy controls exhibited reactivity against this vimentin isoform. Interestingly, none of several other isoforms of vimentin detectable in 2-D gels exhibited reactivity with patient sera. Vimentin protein expression levels were investigated by comparing the integrated intensity of spots visualized in 2-D PAGE gels of various cancers. Pancreatic tumor tissues showed greater than a 3-fold higher expression of total vimentin protein than did the lung, colon, and ovarian tumors that were analyzed. The specific antigenic isoform was found at 5â10 fold higher levels. The detection of autoantibodies to this specific isoform of vimentin may have utility for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer
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