1,432 research outputs found
APOLLO: the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation: Instrument Description and First Detections
A next-generation lunar laser ranging apparatus using the 3.5 m telescope at
the Apache Point Observatory in southern New Mexico has begun science
operation. APOLLO (the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation)
has achieved one-millimeter range precision to the moon which should lead to
approximately one-order-of-magnitude improvements in the precision of several
tests of fundamental properties of gravity. We briefly motivate the scientific
goals, and then give a detailed discussion of the APOLLO instrumentation.Comment: 37 pages; 10 figures; 1 table: accepted for publication in PAS
The Search for Invariance: Repeated Positive Testing Serves the Goals of Causal Learning
Positive testing is characteristic of exploratory behavior, yet it seems to be at odds with the aim of information seeking. After all, repeated demonstrations of one’s current hypothesis often produce the same evidence and fail to distinguish it from potential alternatives. Research on the development of scientific reasoning and adult rule learning have both documented and attempted to explain this behavior. The current chapter reviews this prior work and introduces a novel theoretical account—the Search for Invariance (SI) hypothesis—which suggests that producing multiple positive examples serves the goals of causal learning. This hypothesis draws on the interventionist framework of causal reasoning, which suggests that causal learners are concerned with the invariance of candidate hypotheses. In a probabilistic and interdependent causal world, our primary goal is to determine whether, and in what contexts, our causal hypotheses provide accurate foundations for inference and intervention—not to disconfirm their alternatives. By recognizing the central role of invariance in causal learning, the phenomenon of positive testing may be reinterpreted as a rational information-seeking strategy
The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) Spectrographs
We describe the design and performance of the near-infrared (1.51--1.70
micron), fiber-fed, multi-object (300 fibers), high resolution (R =
lambda/delta lambda ~ 22,500) spectrograph built for the Apache Point
Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). APOGEE is a survey of ~
10^5 red giant stars that systematically sampled all Milky Way populations
(bulge, disk, and halo) to study the Galaxy's chemical and kinematical history.
It was part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) from 2011 -- 2014
using the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, New
Mexico. The APOGEE-2 survey is now using the spectrograph as part of SDSS-IV,
as well as a second spectrograph, a close copy of the first, operating at the
2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Although several
fiber-fed, multi-object, high resolution spectrographs have been built for
visual wavelength spectroscopy, the APOGEE spectrograph is one of the first
such instruments built for observations in the near-infrared. The instrument's
successful development was enabled by several key innovations, including a
"gang connector" to allow simultaneous connections of 300 fibers; hermetically
sealed feedthroughs to allow fibers to pass through the cryostat wall
continuously; the first cryogenically deployed mosaic volume phase holographic
grating; and a large refractive camera that includes mono-crystalline silicon
and fused silica elements with diameters as large as ~ 400 mm. This paper
contains a comprehensive description of all aspects of the instrument including
the fiber system, optics and opto-mechanics, detector arrays, mechanics and
cryogenics, instrument control, calibration system, optical performance and
stability, lessons learned, and design changes for the second instrument.Comment: 81 pages, 67 figures, PASP, accepte
Evolution of the Density of States Gap in a Disordered Superconductor
It has only recently been possible to study the superconducting state in the
attractive Hubbard Hamiltonian via a direct observation of the formation of a
gap in the density of states N(w). Here we determine the effect of random
chemical potentials on N(w) and show that at weak coupling, disorder closes the
gap concurrently with the destruction of superconductivity. At larger, but
still intermediate coupling, a pseudo-gap in N(w) remains even well beyond the
point at which off-diagonal long range order vanishes. This change in the
elementary excitations of the insulating phase corresponds to a crossover
between Fermi- and Bose-Insulators. These calculations represent the first
computation of the density of states in a finite dimensional disordered fermion
model via the Quantum Monte Carlo and maximum entropy methods.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Universality in Bacterial Colonies
The emergent spatial patterns generated by growing bacterial colonies have
been the focus of intense study in physics during the last twenty years. Both
experimental and theoretical investigations have made possible a clear
qualitative picture of the different structures that such colonies can exhibit,
depending on the medium on which they are growing. However, there are
relatively few quantitative descriptions of these patterns. In this paper, we
use a mechanistically detailed simulation framework to measure the scaling
exponents associated with the advancing fronts of bacterial colonies on hard
agar substrata, aiming to discern the universality class to which the system
belongs. We show that the universal behavior exhibited by the colonies can be
much richer than previously reported, and we propose the possibility of up to
four different sub-phases within the medium-to-high nutrient concentration
regime. We hypothesize that the quenched disorder that characterizes one of
these sub-phases is an emergent property of the growth and division of bacteria
competing for limited space and nutrients.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
CPT and Lorentz tests with muons
Precision experiments with muons are sensitive to Planck-scale CPT and
Lorentz violation that is undetectable in other tests. Existing data on the
muonium ground-state hyperfine structure and on the muon anomalous magnetic
moment could be analyzed to provide dimensionless figures of merit for CPT and
Lorentz violation at the levels of and .Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Colors of 2625 Quasars at 0<z<5 Measured in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric System
We present an empirical investigation of the colors of quasars in the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric system. The sample studied includes 2625
quasars with SDSS photometry. The quasars are distributed in a 2.5 degree wide
stripe centered on the Celestial Equator covering square degrees.
Positions and SDSS magnitudes are given for the 898 quasars known prior to SDSS
spectroscopic commissioning. New SDSS quasars represent an increase of over
200% in the number of known quasars in this area of the sky. The ensemble
average of the observed colors of quasars in the SDSS passbands are well
represented by a power-law continuum with (). However, the contributions of the bump
and other strong emission lines have a significant effect upon the colors. The
color-redshift relation exhibits considerable structure, which may be of use in
determining photometric redshifts for quasars. The range of colors can be
accounted for by a range in the optical spectral index with a distribution
(95% confidence), but there is a red tail in the
distribution. This tail may be a sign of internal reddening. Finally, we show
that there is a continuum of properties between quasars and Seyfert galaxies
and we test the validity of the traditional division between the two classes of
AGN.Comment: 66 pages, 15 figures (3 color), accepted by A
Vital Rates from the Action of Mutation Accumulation
New models for evolutionary processes of mutation accumulation allow hypotheses about the age-specificity of mutational effects to be translated into predictions of heterogeneous population hazard functions. We apply these models to questions in the biodemography of longevity, including proposed explanations of Gompertz hazards and mortality plateaus
Enhancements of nucleate boiling under microgravity conditions
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76852/1/AIAA-2000-853-986.pd
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