984 research outputs found
Classical diamagnetism, magnetic interaction energies, and repulsive forces in magnetized plasmas
The Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem is often summarized as saying that there is no
classical magnetic susceptibility, in particular no diamagnetism. This is
seriously misleading. The theorem assumes position dependent interactions but
this is not required by classical physics. Since the work of Darwin in 1920 it
has been known that the magnetism due to classical charged point particles can
only be described by allowing velocity dependent interactions in the
Lagrangian. Legendre transformation to an approximate Hamiltonian can give an
estimate of the Darwin diamagnetism for a system of charged point particles.
Comparison with experiment, however, requires knowledge of the number of
classically behaving electrons in the sample. A new repulsive effective
many-body force, which should be relevant in plasmas, is predicted by the
Hamiltonian.Comment: added references, revise
On Loop Quantum Gravity Phenomenology and the Issue of Lorentz Invariance
A simple model is constructed which allows to compute modified dispersion
relations with effects from loop quantum gravity. Different quantization
choices can be realized and their effects on the order of corrections studied
explicitly. A comparison with more involved semiclassical techniques shows that
there is agreement even at a quantitative level.
Furthermore, by contrasting Hamiltonian and Lagrangian descriptions we show
that possible Lorentz symmetry violations may be blurred as an artifact of the
approximation scheme. Whether this is the case in a purely Hamiltonian analysis
can be resolved by an improvement in the effective semiclassical analysis.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX
Non-Markoffian effects of a simple nonlinear bath
We analyze a model of a nonlinear bath consisting of a single two-level
system coupled to a linear bath (a classical noise force in the limit
considered here). This allows us to study the effects of a nonlinear,
non-Markoffian bath in a particularly simple situation. We analyze the effects
of this bath onto the dynamics of a spin by calculating the decay of the
equilibrium correlator of the spin's z-component. The exact results are
compared with those obtained using three commonly used approximations: a
Markoffian master equation for the spin dynamics, a weak-coupling
approximation, and the substitution of a linear bath for the original nonlinear
bath.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
On the Wake Structure in Streaming Complex Plasmas
The theoretical description of complex (dusty) plasmas requires multiscale
concepts that adequately incorporate the correlated interplay of streaming
electrons and ions, neutrals, and dust grains. Knowing the effective dust-dust
interaction, the multiscale problem can be effectively reduced to a
one-component plasma model of the dust subsystem. The goal of the present
publication is a systematic evaluation of the electrostatic potential
distribution around a dust grain in the presence of a streaming plasma
environment by means of two complementary approaches: (i) a high precision
computation of the dynamically screened Coulomb potential from the dynamic
dielectric function, and (ii) full 3D particle-in-cell simulations, which
self-consistently include dynamical grain charging and non-linear effects. The
applicability of these two approaches is addressed
Phase space quantization and Loop Quantum Cosmology: A Wigner function for the Bohr-compactified real line
We give a definition for the Wigner function for quantum mechanics on the
Bohr compactification of the real line and prove a number of simple
consequences of this definition. We then discuss how this formalism can be
applied to loop quantum cosmology. As an example, we use the Wigner function to
give a new quantization of an important building block of the Hamiltonian
constraint.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure
Mechanics, cosmology and Mach's principle
It is pointed out that recent cosmological findings seem to support the view
that the mass/energy distribution of the universe defines the Newtonian
inertial frames as originally suggested by Mach. The background concepts of
inertial frame, Newton's second law, and fictitious forces are clarified. A
precise definition of Mach's principle is suggested. Then an approximation to
general relativity discovered by Einstein, Infeld, and Hoffmann is used and it
is found that this precise formulation of Mach's principle is realized provided
the mass/energy density of the universe has a specific value. This value turns
out to be twice the critical density. The implications of this approximate
result is put into context.Comment: 9 pages, 34 references, 0 figure
Using mice from different breeding sites fails to improve replicability of results from single-laboratory studies
Theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that low external validity due to rigorous standardization of study populations is a cause of poor replicability in animal research. Here we report a multi-laboratory study aimed at investigating whether heterogenization of study populations by using animals from different breeding sites increases the replicability of results from single-laboratory studies. We used male C57BL/6J mice from six different breeding sites to test a standardized against a heterogenized (HET) study design in six independent replicate test laboratories. For the standardized design, each laboratory ordered mice from a single breeding site (each laboratory from a different one), while for the HET design, each laboratory ordered proportionate numbers of mice from the five remaining breeding sites. To test our hypothesis, we assessed 14 outcome variables, including body weight, behavioral measures obtained from a single session on an elevated plus maze, and clinical blood parameters. Both breeding site and test laboratory affected variation in outcome variables, but the effect of test laboratory was more pronounced for most outcome variables. Moreover, heterogenization of study populations by breeding site (HET) did not reduce variation in outcome variables between test laboratories, which was most likely due to the fact that breeding site had only little effect on variation in outcome variables, thereby limiting the scope for HET to reduce between-lab variation. We conclude that heterogenization of study populations by breeding site has limited capacity for improving the replicability of results from single-laboratory animal studies
Determination of the characteristic directions of lossless linear optical elements
We show that the problem of finding the primary and secondary characteristic
directions of a linear lossless optical element can be reformulated in terms of
an eigenvalue problem related to the unimodular factor of the transfer matrix
of the optical device. This formulation makes any actual computation of the
characteristic directions amenable to pre-implemented numerical routines,
thereby facilitating the decomposition of the transfer matrix into equivalent
linear retarders and rotators according to the related Poincare equivalence
theorem. The method is expected to be useful whenever the inverse problem of
reconstruction of the internal state of a transparent medium from optical data
obtained by tomographical methods is an issue.Comment: Replaced with extended version as published in JM
The evolution of social philopatry in female primates
The transition from solitary life to sociality is considered one of the major transitions in evolution. In primates, this transition is currently not well understood. Traditional verbal models appear insufficient to unravel the complex interplay of environmental and demographic factors involved in the evolution of primate sociality, and recent phylogenetic reconstructions have produced conflicting results. We therefore analyze a theoretical model for the evolution of female social philopatry that sheds new light on the question why most primates live in groups. In individual-based simulations, we study the evolution of dispersal strategies of both resident females and their offspring. The model reveals that social philopatry can evolve through kin selection, even if retention of offspring is costly in terms of within-group resource competition and provides no direct benefits. Our model supports the role of predator avoidance as a selective pressure for group-living in primates, but it also suggests that a second benefit of group-living, communal resource defense, might be required to trigger the evolution of sizable groups. Lastly, our model reveals that seemingly small differences in demographic parameters can have profound effects on primate social evolution
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