206 research outputs found
Superdiffusion of energy in Hamiltonian systems perturbed by a conservative noise
We review some recent results on the anomalous diffusion of energy in systems
of 1D coupled oscillators and we revisit the role of momentum conservation.Comment: Proceedings of the conference PSPDE 2012
https://sites.google.com/site/meetingpspde
Gallavotti-Cohen theorem, Chaotic Hypothesis and the zero-noise limit
The Fluctuation Relation for a stationary state, kept at constant energy by a
deterministic thermostat - the Gallavotti-Cohen Theorem -- relies on the
ergodic properties of the system considered. We show that when perturbed by an
energy-conserving random noise, the relation follows trivially for any system
at finite noise amplitude. The time needed to achieve stationarity may stay
finite as the noise tends to zero, or it may diverge. In the former case the
Gallavotti-Cohen result is recovered, while in the latter case, the crossover
time may be computed from the action of `instanton' orbits that bridge
attractors and repellors. We suggest that the `Chaotic Hypothesis' of
Gallavotti can thus be reformulated as a matter of stochastic stability of the
measure in trajectory space. In this form this hypothesis may be directly
tested
Mapping citizen science contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a vision for achieving a sustainable future. Reliable, timely, comprehensive, and consistent data are critical for measuring progress towards, and ultimately achieving, the SDGs. Data from citizen science represent one new source of data that could be used for SDG reporting and monitoring. However, information is still lacking regarding the current and potential contributions of citizen science to the SDG indicator framework. Through a systematic review of the metadata and work plans of the 244 SDG indicators, as well as the identification of past and ongoing citizen science initiatives that could directly or indirectly provide data for these indicators, this paper presents an overview of where citizen science is already contributing and could contribute data to the SDG indicator framework. The results demonstrate that citizen science is “already contributing” to the monitoring of 5 SDG indicators, and that citizen science “could contribute” to 76 indicators, which, together, equates to around 33%. Our analysis also shows that the greatest inputs from citizen science to the SDG framework relate to SDG 15 Life on Land, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing, and SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation. Realizing the full potential of citizen science requires demonstrating its value in the global data ecosystem, building partnerships around citizen science data to accelerate SDG progress, and leveraging investments to enhance its use and impact
Photoassociation spectroscopy of cold calcium atoms
Photoassociation spectroscopy experiments on 40Ca atoms close to the
dissociation limit 4s4s 1S0 - 4s4p 1P1 are presented. The vibronic spectrum was
measured for detunings of the photoassociation laser ranging from 0.6 GHz to 68
GHz with respect to the atomic resonance. In contrast to previous measurements
the rotational splitting of the vibrational lines was fully resolved. Full
quantum mechanical numerical simulations of the photoassociation spectrum were
performed which allowed us to put constraints on the possible range of the
calcium scattering length to between 50 a_0 and 300 a_0
A Search for Rapid Photometric Variability in Symbiotic Binaries
We report on our survey for rapid (time scale of minutes) photometric
variability in symbiotic binaries. These binaries are becoming an increasingly
important place to study accretion onto white dwarfs since they are candidate
Type Ia supernovae progenitors. Unlike in most cataclysmic variables, the white
dwarfs in symbiotics typically accrete from a wind, at rates greater than or
equal to 10^{-9} solar masses per year. In order to elucidate the differences
between symbiotics and other white dwarf accretors, as well as search for
magnetism in symbiotic white dwarfs, we have studied 35 primarily northern
symbiotic binaries via differential optical photometry. Our study is the most
comprehensive to date of rapid variability in symbiotic binaries. We have found
one magnetic accretor, Z And, previously reported by Sokoloski & Bildsten
(1999). In four systems (EG And, BX Mon, CM Aql, and BF Cyg), some evidence for
flickering at a low level (roughly 10 mmag) is seen for the first time. These
detections are, however, marginal. For 25 systems, we place tight upper limits
(order of mmag) on both aperiodic and periodic variability, highlighting a
major difference between symbiotics and cataclysmic variables. The remaining
five of the objects included in our sample (the 2 recurrent novae RS Oph and T
CrB, plus CH Cyg, o Ceti, and MWC 560) had previous detections of
large-amplitude optical flickering, and we present our extensive observations
of these systems in a separate paper. We discuss the impact of our results on
the ``standard'' picture of wind-fed accretion, and speculate on the
possibility that in most symbiotics, light from quasi-steady nuclear burning on
the surface of the white dwarf hides the fluctuating emission from accretion.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to MNRAS (12/21/00), and revised in
response to referee comments (3/30/01
Harmonisation, Mosaicing and Production of the Global Land Cover 2000 Database.
Abstract not availableJRC.H-Institute for environment and sustainability (Ispra
Age at first birth in women is genetically associated with increased risk of schizophrenia
Prof. Paunio on PGC:n jäsenPrevious studies have shown an increased risk for mental health problems in children born to both younger and older parents compared to children of average-aged parents. We previously used a novel design to reveal a latent mechanism of genetic association between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women (AFB). Here, we use independent data from the UK Biobank (N = 38,892) to replicate the finding of an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women, and to estimate the genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in women stratified into younger and older groups. We find evidence for an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women (P-value = 1.12E-05), and we show genetic heterogeneity between younger and older AFB groups (P-value = 3.45E-03). The genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in the younger AFB group is -0.16 (SE = 0.04) while that between schizophrenia and AFB in the older AFB group is 0.14 (SE = 0.08). Our results suggest that early, and perhaps also late, age at first birth in women is associated with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia in the UK Biobank sample. These findings contribute new insights into factors contributing to the complex bio-social risk architecture underpinning the association between parental age and offspring mental health.Peer reviewe
The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes
This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed
A muon-track reconstruction exploiting stochastic losses for large-scale Cherenkov detectors
IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope operating at the South Pole. The main goal of IceCube is the detection of astrophysical neutrinos and the identification of their sources. High-energy muon neutrinos are observed via the secondary muons produced in charge current interactions with nuclei in the ice. Currently, the best performing muon track directional reconstruction is based on a maximum likelihood method using the arrival time distribution of Cherenkov photons registered by the experiment\u27s photomultipliers. A known systematic shortcoming of the prevailing method is to assume a continuous energy loss along the muon track. However at energies >1 TeV the light yield from muons is dominated by stochastic showers. This paper discusses a generalized ansatz where the expected arrival time distribution is parametrized by a stochastic muon energy loss pattern. This more realistic parametrization of the loss profile leads to an improvement of the muon angular resolution of up to 20% for through-going tracks and up to a factor 2 for starting tracks over existing algorithms. Additionally, the procedure to estimate the directional reconstruction uncertainty has been improved to be more robust against numerical errors
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