58,447 research outputs found
On the Formation of Galaxy Halos: Comparing NGC 5128 and the Local Group Members
The metallicity distribution function (MDF) for the old red-giant stars in
the halo of NGC 5128, the nearest giant elliptical galaxy, is virtually
identical with the MDF for the old-disk stars in the LMC and also strongly
resembles the halo MDF in M31. These galaxies all have high mean halo
metallicities ( ~ -0.4$) with very small proportions of low-metallicity
stars. These observations reinforce the view that metal-rich halos are quite
normal for large galaxies of all types. Such systems are unlikely to have built
up by accretion of pre-existing, gas-free small satellite galaxies, unless
these satellites had an extremely shallow mass distribution (d log N / d log M
> -1). We suggest that the halo of NGC 5128 is more likely to have assembled
from hierarchical merging of gas-rich lumps in which the bulk of star formation
took place during or after the merger stage.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, plus 3 figures in separate postscript files;
Astronomical Journal, in press for December 200
Pump linewidth requirement for optical parametric oscillators
Pumping laser bandwidth requirement for optical parametric oscillator
Fluctuations of the heat flux of a one-dimensional hard particle gas
Momentum-conserving one-dimensional models are known to exhibit anomalous
Fourier's law, with a thermal conductivity varying as a power law of the system
size. Here we measure, by numerical simulations, several cumulants of the heat
flux of a one-dimensional hard particle gas. We find that the cumulants, like
the conductivity, vary as power laws of the system size. Our results also
indicate that cumulants higher than the second follow different power laws when
one compares the ring geometry at equilibrium and the linear case in contact
with two heat baths (at equal or unequal temperatures). keywords: current
fluctuations, anomalous Fourier law, hard particle gasComment: 5 figure
Two-dimensional Site-Bond Percolation as an Example of Self-Averaging System
The Harris-Aharony criterion for a statistical model predicts, that if a
specific heat exponent , then this model does not exhibit
self-averaging. In two-dimensional percolation model the index .
It means that, in accordance with the Harris-Aharony criterion, the model can
exhibit self-averaging properties. We study numerically the relative variances
and for the probability of a site belongin to the
"infinite" (maximum) cluster and the mean finite cluster size . It was
shown, that two-dimensional site-bound percolation on the square lattice, where
the bonds play the role of impurity and the sites play the role of the
statistical ensemble, over which the averaging is performed, exhibits
self-averaging properties.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Current fluctuations in stochastic systems with long-range memory
We propose a method to calculate the large deviations of current fluctuations
in a class of stochastic particle systems with history-dependent rates.
Long-range temporal correlations are seen to alter the speed of the large
deviation function in analogy with long-range spatial correlations in
equilibrium systems. We give some illuminating examples and discuss the
applicability of the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor alterations. v3: Very minor alterations
for consistency with published version appearing at
http://stacks.iop.org/1751-8121/42/34200
Demixing kinetics of phase separated polymer solutions in microgravity
Phase separated solutions of two neutral polymers in buffer provide a useful and versatile medium for the partition separation of biological cells. However, the efficiency of such separations is orders of magnitude lower than the thermodynamic limit. To test the hypothesis that this inefficiency is at least partially due to the convection and sedimentation that occur during the gravity driven demixing that follows introduction of cells to the systems, a series of experiments were begun aimed at performing cell partition in a low g environment. Demixing of isopycnic three polymer solvent systems was studied, experiments were performed on KC-135 aircraft and one shuttle middeck experiment was completed. Analysis of the results of these experiments and comparisons with the predictions of scaling relations for the dependence of phase domain size on time, derived for a number of possible demixing mechanisms, are presented
Enhancement of Kerr nonlinearity via multi-photon coherence
We propose a new method of resonant enhancement of optical Kerr nonlinearity
using multi-level atomic coherence. The enhancement is accompanied by
suppression of the other linear and nonlinear susceptibility terms of the
medium. We show that the effect results in a modification of the nonlinear
Faraday rotation of light propagating in an Rb87 vapor cell by changing the
ellipticity of the light.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures Submitted to Optics Letter
The Measure-theoretic Identity Underlying Transient Fluctuation Theorems
We prove a measure-theoretic identity that underlies all transient
fluctuation theorems (TFTs) for entropy production and dissipated work in
inhomogeneous deterministic and stochastic processes, including those of Evans
and Searles, Crooks, and Seifert. The identity is used to deduce a tautological
physical interpretation of TFTs in terms of the arrow of time, and its
generality reveals that the self-inverse nature of the various trajectory and
process transformations historically relied upon to prove TFTs, while necessary
for these theorems from a physical standpoint, is not necessary from a
mathematical one. The moment generating functions of thermodynamic variables
appearing in the identity are shown to converge in general only in a vertical
strip in the complex plane, with the consequence that a TFT that holds over
arbitrary timescales may fail to give rise to an asymptotic fluctuation theorem
for any possible speed of the corresponding large deviation principle. The case
of strongly biased birth-death chains is presented to illustrate this
phenomenon. We also discuss insights obtained from our measure-theoretic
formalism into the results of Saha et. al. on the breakdown of TFTs for driven
Brownian particles
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