6,931 research outputs found
Lattice QCD study of a five-quark hadronic molecule
We compute the ground-state energies of a heavy-light K-Lambda like system as
a function of the relative distance r of the hadrons. The heavy quarks, one in
each hadron, are treated as static. Then, the energies give rise to an
adiabatic potential Va(r) which we use to study the structure of the five-quark
system. The simulation is based on an anisotropic and asymmetric lattice with
Wilson fermions. Energies are extracted from spectral density functions
obtained with the maximum entropy method. Our results are meant to give
qualitative insight: Using the resulting adiabatic potential in a Schroedinger
equation produces bound state wave functions which indicate that the ground
state of the five-quark system resembles a hadronic molecule, whereas the first
excited state, having a very small rms radius, is probably better described as
a five-quark cluster, or a pentaquark. We hypothesize that an all light-quark
pentaquark may not exist, but in the heavy-quark sector it might, albeit only
as an excited state.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, 4 table
Force Chains, Microelasticity and Macroelasticity
It has been claimed that quasistatic granular materials, as well as nanoscale
materials, exhibit departures from elasticity even at small loadings. It is
demonstrated, using 2D and 3D models with interparticle harmonic interactions,
that such departures are expected at small scales [below O(100) particle
diameters], at which continuum elasticity is invalid, and vanish at large
scales. The models exhibit force chains on small scales, and force and stress
distributions which agree with experimental findings. Effects of anisotropy,
disorder and boundary conditions are discussed as well.Comment: 4 pages, 11 figures, RevTeX 4, revised and resubmitted to Phys. Rev.
Let
Participatory Militias: An Analysis of an Armed Movement's Online Audience
Armed groups of civilians known as "self-defense forces" have ousted the
powerful Knights Templar drug cartel from several towns in Michoacan. This
militia uprising has unfolded on social media, particularly in the "VXM"
("Valor por Michoacan," Spanish for "Courage for Michoacan") Facebook page,
gathering more than 170,000 fans. Previous work on the Drug War has documented
the use of social media for real-time reports of violent clashes. However, VXM
goes one step further by taking on a pro-militia propagandist role, engaging in
two-way communication with its audience. This paper presents a descriptive
analysis of VXM and its audience. We examined nine months of posts, from VXM's
inception until May 2014, totaling 6,000 posts by VXM administrators and more
than 108,000 comments from its audience. We describe the main conversation
themes, post frequency and relationships with offline events and public
figures. We also characterize the behavior of VXM's most active audience
members. Our work illustrates VXM's online mobilization strategies, and how its
audience takes part in defining the narrative of this armed conflict. We
conclude by discussing possible applications of our findings for the design of
future communication technologies.Comment: Participatory Militias: An Analysis of an Armed Movement's Online
Audience. Saiph Savage, Andres Monroy-Hernandez. CSCW: ACM Conference on
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work 201
Understanding the dynamics of segregation bands of simulated granular material in a rotating drum
Axial segregation of a binary mixture of grains in a rotating drum is studied
using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. A force scheme leading to a constant
restitution coefficient is used and shows that axial segregation is possible
between two species of grains made of identical material differing by size.
Oscillatory motion of bands is investigated and the influence of the frictional
properties elucidated. The mechanism of bands merging is explained using direct
imaging of individual grains
Earthquake Mechanism and Displacement Fields Close to Fault Zones
The Sixth Geodesy/Solid Earth and Ocean Physics (GEOP) Research Conference was held on February 4–5, 1974, at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California. It was attended by about 100 persons.
James N. Brune, program chairman, opened the conference and delivered the introductory address, a somewhat extended version of which is printed elsewhere in this issue. Brune's paper and the following summaries of the sessions constitute a report of the conference
Dynamics and stress in gravity driven granular flow
We study, using simulations, the steady-state flow of dry sand driven by
gravity in two-dimensions. An investigation of the microscopic grain dynamics
reveals that grains remain separated but with a power-law distribution of
distances and times between collisions.
While there are large random grain velocities, many of these fluctuations are
correlated across the system and local rearrangements are very slow. Stresses
in the system are almost entirely transfered by collisions and the structure of
the stress tensor comes almost entirely from a bias in the directions in which
collisions occur.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures, RevTe
Survelliance Problems: Wiener Processes
1 online resource (PDF, 24 pages
Dust in the Ionized Medium of the Galaxy: GHRS Measurements of Al III and S III
We present interstellar absorption line measurements of the ions S III and Al
III towards six stars using archival Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph data.
The ions Al III and S III trace heavily depleted and non-depleted elements,
respectively, in ionized gas. We use the photoionization code CLOUDY to derive
the ionization correction relating N(Al III)/N(S III) to the gas-phase
abundance [Al/S]_i in the ionized gas. For spectral types considered here, the
corrections are small and independent of the assumed ionization parameter.
Using the results of these photoionization models, we find [Al/S]_i = -1.0 in
the ionized gas towards three disk stars. These values of [Al/S]_i (=[Al/H]_i)
imply that Al-bearing grains are present in the ionized nebulae around these
stars. If the WIM of the Galaxy is photoionized by OB stars, our data for two
halo stars imply [Al/S]_i = -0.4 to -0.5 in the WIM and thus the presence of
dust grains containing Al in this important phase of the ISM. While
photoionization appears to be the most likely origin of the ionization for Al
III and S III, we cannot rule out confusion from the presence of hot,
collisionally ionized gas along two sightlines. We find that [Al/S]_i in the
ionized gas along the six sightlines is anti-correlated with the electron
density and average sightline neutral density. The degree of grain destruction
in the ionized medium of the Galaxy is not much higher than in the warm neutral
medium. The existence of grains in the ionized regions studied here has
important implications for the thermal balance of these regions. (Abstract
Abridged)Comment: 30 pages including 8 embedded tables and 8 embedded figures. Accepted
for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Nonlinear analysis of a simple model of temperature evolution in a satellite
We analyse a simple model of the heat transfer to and from a small satellite
orbiting round a solar system planet. Our approach considers the satellite
isothermal, with external heat input from the environment and from internal
energy dissipation, and output to the environment as black-body radiation. The
resulting nonlinear ordinary differential equation for the satellite's
temperature is analysed by qualitative, perturbation and numerical methods,
which show that the temperature approaches a periodic pattern (attracting limit
cycle). This approach can occur in two ways, according to the values of the
parameters: (i) a slow decay towards the limit cycle over a time longer than
the period, or (ii) a fast decay towards the limit cycle over a time shorter
than the period. In the first case, an exactly soluble average equation is
valid. We discuss the consequences of our model for the thermal stability of
satellites.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures (5 EPS files
Bayesian Conditioning, the Reflection Principle, and Quantum Decoherence
The probabilities a Bayesian agent assigns to a set of events typically
change with time, for instance when the agent updates them in the light of new
data. In this paper we address the question of how an agent's probabilities at
different times are constrained by Dutch-book coherence. We review and attempt
to clarify the argument that, although an agent is not forced by coherence to
use the usual Bayesian conditioning rule to update his probabilities, coherence
does require the agent's probabilities to satisfy van Fraassen's [1984]
reflection principle (which entails a related constraint pointed out by
Goldstein [1983]). We then exhibit the specialized assumption needed to recover
Bayesian conditioning from an analogous reflection-style consideration.
Bringing the argument to the context of quantum measurement theory, we show
that "quantum decoherence" can be understood in purely personalist
terms---quantum decoherence (as supposed in a von Neumann chain) is not a
physical process at all, but an application of the reflection principle. From
this point of view, the decoherence theory of Zeh, Zurek, and others as a story
of quantum measurement has the plot turned exactly backward.Comment: 14 pages, written in memory of Itamar Pitowsk
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