9,185 research outputs found
The uncoupling limit of identical Hopf bifurcations with an application to perceptual bistability
We study the dynamics arising when two identical oscillators are coupled near
a Hopf bifurcation where we assume a parameter uncouples the system
at . Using a normal form for identical systems undergoing
Hopf bifurcation, we explore the dynamical properties. Matching the normal form
coefficients to a coupled Wilson-Cowan oscillator network gives an
understanding of different types of behaviour that arise in a model of
perceptual bistability. Notably, we find bistability between in-phase and
anti-phase solutions that demonstrates the feasibility for synchronisation to
act as the mechanism by which periodic inputs can be segregated (rather than
via strong inhibitory coupling, as in existing models). Using numerical
continuation we confirm our theoretical analysis for small coupling strength
and explore the bifurcation diagrams for large coupling strength, where the
normal form approximation breaks down
Pulsar "Drifting"-Subpulse Polarization: No Evidence for Systematic Polarization-Angle Rotations
Polarization-angle density displays are given for pulsars B0809+74 and
B2303+30, which exhibit no evidence of the systematic polarization-angle
rotation within individual subpulses previously reported for these two stars.
The ``drifting'' subpulses of both pulsars exhibit strikingly linear and
circular polarization which appears to reflect the characteristics of two
nearly orthogonally polarized emission ``modes''--along which the severe
average-profile depolarization that is characteristic of their admixture at
comparable overall intensities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Revised Pulsar Spindown
We address the issue of electromagnetic pulsar spindown by combining our
experience from the two limiting idealized cases which have been studied in
great extent in the past: that of an aligned rotator where ideal MHD conditions
apply, and that of a misaligned rotator in vacuum. We construct a spindown
formula that takes into account the misalignment of the magnetic and rotation
axes, and the magnetospheric particle acceleration gaps. We show that near the
death line aligned rotators spin down much slower than orthogonal ones. In
order to test this approach, we use a simple Monte Carlo method to simulate the
evolution of pulsars and find a good fit to the observed pulsar distribution in
the P-Pdot diagram without invoking magnetic field decay. Our model may also
account for individual pulsars spinning down with braking index n < 3, by
allowing the corotating part of the magnetosphere to end inside the light
cylinder. We discuss the role of magnetic reconnection in determining the
pulsar braking index. We show, however, that n ~ 3 remains a good approximation
for the pulsar population as a whole. Moreover, we predict that pulsars near
the death line have braking index values n > 3, and that the older pulsar
population has preferentially smaller magnetic inclination angles. We discuss
possible signatures of such alignment in the existing pulsar data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; accepted to Ap
PSR 0943+10: a bare strange star?
Recent work by Rankin & Deshpande strongly suggests that there exist strong
``micro-storms'' rotating around the magnetic axis of the 1.1s pulsar PSR
0943+10. Such a feature hints that most probably the large-voltage vacuum gap
proposed by Ruderman & Sutherland (RS) does exist in the pulsar polar cap.
However, there are severe arguments against the formation of the RS-type gap in
pulsars, since the binding energies of both the Fe ions and the electrons in a
neutron star's surface layer is too small to prevent thermionic ejection of the
particles from the surface. Here we propose that PSR 0943+10 (probably also
most of the other ``drifting'' pulsars) might be bare strange stars rather than
normal neutron stars, in which the ``binding energy'' at the surface is merely
infinity either for the case of ``pulsar'' or ``anti-pulsar''. It is further
proposed that identifying a drifting pulsar as an anti-pulsar is the key
criterion to distinguish strange stars from neutron stars.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, LaTeX, accepted 1999 July 9 by ApJ Letter
Should Higher Education respond to recent changes in the forensic science marketplace?
The evolution of forensic science within the United Kingdom over the past four decades has been rapid and dynamic. This has included policy responses to highly public miscarriages of justice, introduction of commercialisation and pioneering scientific developments such as DNA profiling. However even within this context, changes within forensic science over the last two years has been unprecedented; such as the closure of The Forensic Science Service; a Home Office review of Research and Development within forensic science; the challenges facing fingerprint identification as a result of The Fingerprint Inquiry (Scotland) and the embryonic development of a new professional body for the police force. Correspondingly, development of forensic science within Higher Education (HE) has been substantially transformed from a small number of Masters Courses in forensic science delivered by a small number of universities, to a plethora of undergraduate courses now available throughout the United Kingdom. This rapid expansion of forensic science courses has been openly criticised and debated and it is incumbent upon the university to not only focus on education but also to provide graduates with transferrable skills making them more employment ready. As a consequence HE establishments must be cognisant of and reactive to changes within any associated industry and respond to changes accordingly. However, have the universities delivering forensic science courses fully responded to these recent and unprecedented developments in the history of forensic science within the United Kingdom? This paper will consider the most recent changes to the forensic science marketplace and their ramifications for forensic science education within the HE sector. Challenges which have resulted from the changes will be highlighted and the educational impact on forensic science courses throughout the UK and their future will be evaluated in chronological order
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Complete Experimental Structure Determination of the p(3x2)pg Phase of Glycine on Cu{110}
We present a quantitative low energy electron diffraction (LEED) surface-crystallograpic
study of the complete adsorption geometry of glycine adsorbed on Cu{110} in the ordered
p(3Ă—2) phase. The glycine molecules form bonds to the surface through the N atoms of the
amino group and the two O atoms of the de-protonated carboxylate group, each with separate
Cu atoms such that every Cu atom in the first layer is involved in a bond. Laterally, N atoms are
nearest to the atop site (displacement 0.41 Ă…). The O atoms are asymmetrically displaced from
the atop site by 0.54 Ă… and 1.18 Ă… with two very different O-Cu bond lengths of 1.93 Ă… and
2.18 Ă…. The atom positions of the upper-most Cu layers show small relaxations within 0.07 Ă…
of the bulk-truncated surface geometry. The unit cell of the adsorbate layer consists of two
glycine molecules, which are related by a glide-line symmetry operation. This study clearly
shows that a significant coverage of adsorbate structures without this glide-line symmetry must
be rejected, both on the grounds of the energy dependence of the spot intensities (LEED-IV
curves) and of systematic absences in the LEED pattern
Toward An Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission. VII. On the Spectral Behavior of Conal Beam Radii and Emission Heights
In this paper we return to the old problem of conal component-pair widths and
profile dimensions. Observationally, we consider a set of 10 pulsars with
prominent conal component pairs, for which well measured profiles exist over
the largest frequency range now possible. Apart from some tendency to narrow at
high frequency, the conal components exhibit almost constant widths. We use all
three profile measures, the component separation as well as the outside
half-power and 10% widths, to determine conal beam radii, which are the focus
of our subsequent analysis. These radii at different frequencies are well
fitted by a relationship introduced by Thorsett (1991), but the resulting
parameters are highly correlated. Three different types of behavior are found:
one group of stars exhibits a continuous variation of beam radius which can be
extrapolated down to the stellar surface along the ``last open field lines''; a
second group exhibits beam radii which asymptotically approach a minimum high
frequency value that is 3--5 times larger; and a third set shows almost no
spectral change in beam radius at all. The first two behaviors are associated
with outer-cone component pairs; whereas the constant separation appears to
reflect inner-cone emission.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal, uses aaste
The relative contribution of noise and adaptation to competition during tri-stable motion perception
Animals exploit antagonistic interactions for sensory processing and these can cause oscillations between competing states. Ambiguous sensory inputs yield such perceptual multi-stability. Despite numerous empirical studies using binocular rivalry or plaid pattern motion, the driving mechanisms behind the spontaneous transitions between alternatives remain unclear. In the current work, we used a tri-stable barberpole motion stimulus combining empirical and modelling approaches to elucidate the contributions of noise and adaptation to underlying competition. We first robustly characterised the coupling between perceptual reports of transitions and continuously recorded eye direction, identifying a critical window of 480ms before button presses within which both measures were most strongly correlated. Second, we identified a novel non monotonic relationship between stimulus contrast and average perceptual switching rate with an initially rising rate before a gentle reduction at higher contrasts. A neural fields model of the underlying dynamics introduced in previous theoretical work and incorporating noise and adaptation mechanisms was adapted, extended and empirically validated. Noise and adaptation contributions were confirmed to dominate at the lower, and higher, contrasts respectively. Model simulations with two free parameters, controlling adaptation dynamics and direction thresholds, captured the measured mean transition rates for participants. We verified the shift from noise dominated towards adaptation-driven in both the eye direction distributions and inter-transition duration statistics. This work combines modelling and empirical evidence to demonstrate the signal strength dependent interplay between noise and adaptation during tri- stability. We propose that the findings generalise beyond the barberpole stimulus case to ambiguous perception in continuous feature space
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