42,132 research outputs found
Dark Energy and the Statistical Study of the Observed Image Separations of the Multiply Imaged Systems in the CLASS Statistical Sample
The present day observations favour a universe which is flat, accelerated and
composed of matter (baryonic + dark) and of a negative
pressure component, usually referred to as dark energy or quintessence. The
Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS), the largest radio-selected galactic mass
scale gravitational lens search project to date, has resulted in the largest
sample suitable for statistical analyses. In the work presented here, we
exploit observed image separations of the multiply imaged lensed radio sources
in the sample. We use two different tests: (1) image separation distribution
function of the lensed radio sources and (2)
{\dtheta}_{\mathrm{pred}} vs {\dtheta}_{\mathrm{obs}} as observational
tools to constrain the cosmological parameters and \Om. The results are
in concordance with the bounds imposed by other cosmological tests.Comment: 20 pages latex; Modified " Results and Discussion " section, new
references adde
Systematic Errors in Future Weak Lensing Surveys: Requirements and Prospects for Self-Calibration
We study the impact of systematic errors on planned weak lensing surveys and
compute the requirements on their contributions so that they are not a dominant
source of the cosmological parameter error budget. The generic types of error
we consider are multiplicative and additive errors in measurements of shear, as
well as photometric redshift errors. In general, more powerful surveys have
stronger systematic requirements. For example, for a SNAP-type survey the
multiplicative error in shear needs to be smaller than 1%(fsky/0.025)^{-1/2} of
the mean shear in any given redshift bin, while the centroids of photometric
redshift bins need to be known to better than 0.003(fsky/0.025)^{-1/2}. With
about a factor of two degradation in cosmological parameter errors, future
surveys can enter a self-calibration regime, where the mean systematic biases
are self-consistently determined from the survey and only higher-order moments
of the systematics contribute. Interestingly, once the power spectrum
measurements are combined with the bispectrum, the self-calibration regime in
the variation of the equation of state of dark energy w_a is attained with only
a 20-30% error degradation.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted to MNRAS. Comments are welcom
Large amplitude oscillations in prominences
Since the first reports of oscillations in prominences in the 1930s, there have been major theoretical and observational developments to understand the nature of these oscillatory phenomena, leading to the whole new field of the so-called âprominence seismologyâ. There are two types of oscillatory phenomena observed in prominences; âsmall
amplitude oscillationsâ (2â3 km sâ1), which are quite common, and âlarge-amplitude oscillationsâ (>20 km sâ1) for which observations are scarce. Large-amplitude oscillations have been found as âwinking filamentâ in Hα as well as motion in the plane-of-sky in Hα, EUV, micro-wave and He 10830 observations. Historically, it has been suggested that the large-amplitude oscillations in prominences were triggered by disturbances such as fastmode MHD waves (Moreton wave) produced by remote flares. Recent observations show, in addition, that near-by flares or jets can also create such large-amplitude oscillations in prominences. Large-amplitude oscillations, which are observed both in transverse as well as longitudinal direction, have a range of periods varying from tens of minutes to a few hours. Using the observed period of oscillation and simple theoretical models, the obtained magnetic field in prominences has shown quite a good agreement with directly measured one and, therefore, justifies prominence seismology as a powerful diagnostic tool. On rare occasions, when the large-amplitude oscillations have been observed before or during the eruption, the oscillations may be applied to diagnose the stability and the eruption mechanism. Here we review the recent developments and understanding in the observational properties of large-amplitude oscillations and their trigger mechanisms and stability in the context of prominence seismology
Activation gaps for the fractional quantum Hall effect: realistic treatment of transverse thickness
The activation gaps for fractional quantum Hall states at filling fractions
are computed for heterojunction, square quantum well, as well as
parabolic quantum well geometries, using an interaction potential calculated
from a self-consistent electronic structure calculation in the local density
approximation. The finite thickness is estimated to make 30% correction
to the gap in the heterojunction geometry for typical parameters, which
accounts for roughly half of the discrepancy between the experiment and
theoretical gaps computed for a pure two dimensional system. Certain model
interactions are also considered. It is found that the activation energies
behave qualitatively differently depending on whether the interaction is of
longer or shorter range than the Coulomb interaction; there are indications
that fractional Hall states close to the Fermi sea are destabilized for the
latter.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figure
Number of adaptive steps to a local fitness peak
We consider a population of genotype sequences evolving on a rugged fitness
landscape with many local fitness peaks. The population walks uphill until it
encounters a local fitness maximum. We find that the statistical properties of
the walk length depend on whether the underlying fitness distribution has a
finite mean. If the mean is finite, all the walk length cumulants grow with the
sequence length but approach a constant otherwise. Experimental implications of
our analytical results are also discussed
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