Optical observations of NEA 162173 (1999 JU3) during the 2011-2012 apparition

Near-Earth asteroid 162173 (1999 JU3) is a potential target of two asteroid sample return missions, not only because of its accessibility but also because of the first C-type asteroid for exploration missions. The lightcurve-related physical properties of this object were investigated during the 2011-2012 apparition. We aim to confirm the physical parameters useful for JAXA's Hayabusa 2 mission, such as rotational period, absolute magnitude, and phase function. Our data complement previous studies that did not cover low phase angles. With optical imagers and 1-2 m class telescopes, we acquired the photometric data at different phase angles. We independently derived the rotational lightcurve and the phase curve of the asteroid. We have analyzed the lightcurve of 162173 (1999 JU3), and derived a synodic rotational period of 7.625 +/- 0.003 h, the axis ratio a/b = 1.12. The absolute magnitude H_R = 18.69 +/- 0.07 mag and the phase slope of G = -0.09 +/- 0.03 were also obtained based on the observations made during the 2011-2012 apparition.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Compaction and dilation rate dependence of stresses in gas-fluidized beds

A particle dynamics-based hybrid model, consisting of monodisperse spherical solid particles and volume-averaged gas hydrodynamics, is used to study traveling planar waves (one-dimensional traveling waves) of voids formed in gas-fluidized beds of narrow cross sectional areas. Through ensemble-averaging in a co-traveling frame, we compute solid phase continuum variables (local volume fraction, average velocity, stress tensor, and granular temperature) across the waves, and examine the relations among them. We probe the consistency between such computationally obtained relations and constitutive models in the kinetic theory for granular materials which are widely used in the two-fluid modeling approach to fluidized beds. We demonstrate that solid phase continuum variables exhibit appreciable ``path dependence'', which is not captured by the commonly used kinetic theory-based models. We show that this path dependence is associated with the large rates of dilation and compaction that occur in the wave. We also examine the relations among solid phase continuum variables in beds of cohesive particles, which yield the same path dependence. Our results both for beds of cohesive and non-cohesive particles suggest that path-dependent constitutive models need to be developed.Comment: accepted for publication in Physics of Fluids (Burnett-order effect analysis added

Quantum Numbers of Textured Hall Effect Quasiparticles

We propose a class of variational wave functions with slow variation in spin and charge density and simple vortex structure at infinity, which properly generalize both the Laughlin quasiparticles and baby Skyrmions. We argue that the spin of the corresponding quasiparticle has a fractional part related in a universal fashion to the properties of the bulk state, and propose a direct experimental test of this claim. We show that certain spin-singlet quantum Hall states can be understood as arising from primary polarized states by Skyrmion condensation.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, Phyzz

Discovery of Coupling between Periodic and Aperiodic Variability and X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillations from Her X-1

We report the discovery of coupling between periodic and aperiodic variability and ~12-mHz X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) from the X-ray binary pulsar Her X-1 using data from the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer. We found two different couplings, one during the pre-eclipse dips and the other during the normal state of the source, using a method which directly compares the low-frequency power-density spectra (PDS) with those of the sidebands around the coherent pulse frequency. The pre-eclipse dip lightcurves show significant time variation of photon counts, and this variation appears in the PDS as both strong mHz powers and well-developed sidebands around the coherent pulse frequency. The linear correlation coefficients between the mHz PDS and the sideband PDS obtained from two pre-eclipse dip data segments are 0.880 +- 0.003 and 0.982 +- 0.001, respectively. This very strong coupling demonstrates that the amplitudes of the coherent pulsations are almost exactly modulated by the aperiodic variabilities, suggesting that both the periodic and aperiodic variabilities are related to time variation of obscuration of X-rays from the central pulsar by an accretion disk during pre-eclipse dips. We also found weak coupling during the normal state of the source, together with ~12-mHz QPOs. The normal state coupling seems to reconcile with the prediction that the aperiodic variabilities from X-ray binary pulsars are due to time-varying accretion flows onto the pulsar's magnetic poles. If the ~12-mHz QPOs are due to global-normal disk oscillations caused by the gravitational interactions between the central pulsar and the accretion disk, the inferred inner-disk radius is roughly comparable to the magnetospheric radius, ~1 10^8 cm.Comment: 13 pages (including 5 figures), submitted to ApJL (revised after referee's report

The black hole final state for the Dirac fields In Schwarzschild spacetime

We show that the internal stationary state of a black hole for massless Dirac fields can be represented by an entangled state of collapsing matter and infalling Hawking radiation. This implies that the Horowitz-Maldacena conjecture for the black hole final state originally proposed for the massless scalar fields is also applicable to fermionic fields as well. For an initially mixed state we find that the measure of mixedness is expected to decrease under evaporation

Strain-controlled band engineering and self-doping in ultrathin LaNiO3_3 films

We report on a systematic study of the temperature-dependent Hall coefficient and thermoelectric power in ultra-thin metallic LaNiO$_3$ films that reveal a strain-induced, self-doping carrier transition that is inaccessible in the bulk. As the film strain varies from compressive to tensile at fixed composition and stoichiometry, the transport coefficients evolve in a manner strikingly similar to those of bulk hole-doped superconducting cuprates with varying doping level. Density functional calculations reveal that the strain-induced changes in the transport properties are due to self-doping in the low-energy electronic band structure. The results imply that thin-film epitaxy can serve as a new means to achieve hole-doping in other (negative) charge-transfer gap transition metal oxides without resorting to chemical substitution

Lorenz-like systems and classical dynamical equations with memory forcing: a new point of view for singling out the origin of chaos

A novel view for the emergence of chaos in Lorenz-like systems is presented. For such purpose, the Lorenz problem is reformulated in a classical mechanical form and it turns out to be equivalent to the problem of a damped and forced one dimensional motion of a particle in a two-well potential, with a forcing term depending on the ``memory'' of the particle past motion. The dynamics of the original Lorenz system in the new particle phase space can then be rewritten in terms of an one-dimensional first-exit-time problem. The emergence of chaos turns out to be due to the discontinuous solutions of the transcendental equation ruling the time for the particle to cross the intermediate potential wall. The whole problem is tackled analytically deriving a piecewise linearized Lorenz-like system which preserves all the essential properties of the original model.Comment: 48 pages, 25 figure