Lensing magnification of supernovae in the GOODS-fields

Gravitational lensing of high-redshift supernovae is potentially an important source of uncertainty when deriving cosmological parameters from the measured brightness of Type Ia supernovae, especially in deep surveys with scarce statistics. Photometric and spectroscopic measurements of foreground galaxies along the lines-of-sight of 33 supernovae discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope, both core-collapse and Type Ia, are used to model the magnification probability distributions of the sources. Modelling galaxy halos with SIS or NFW-profiles and using M/L scaling laws provided by the Faber-Jackson and Tully-Fisher relations, we find clear evidence for supernovae with lensing (de)magnification. However, the magnification distribution of the Type Ia supernovae used to determine cosmological distances matches very well the expectations for an unbiased sample, i.e.their mean magnification factor is consistent with unity. Our results show that the lensing distortions of the supernova brightness can be well understood for the GOODS sample and that correcting for this effect has a negligible impact on the derived cosmological parameters.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication by Ap

Balloon-borne radiometer measurement of Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude stratospheric HNO3 profiles spanning 12 years

Low-resolution atmospheric thermal emission spectra collected by balloon-borne radiometers over the time span of 1990–2002 are used to retrieve vertical profiles of HNO3, CFC-11 and CFC-12 volume mixing ratios between approximately 10 and 35 km altitude. All of the data analyzed have been collected from launches from a Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude site, during late summer, when stratospheric dynamic variability is at a minimum. The retrieval technique incorporates detailed forward modeling of the instrument and the radiative properties of the atmosphere, and obtains a best fit between modeled and measured spectra through a combination of onion-peeling and global optimization steps. The retrieved HNO3 profiles are consistent over the 12-year period, and are consistent with recent measurements by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier transform spectrometer satellite instrument. This suggests that, to within the errors of the 1990 measurements, there has been no significant change in the HNO3 summer mid-latitude profile

Memory and chaos in an Ising spin glass

The non-equilibrium dynamics of the model 3d-Ising spin glass - Fe$_{0.55}$Mn$_{0.45}$TiO$_3$ - has been investigated from the temperature and time dependence of the zero field cooled magnetization recorded under certain thermal protocols. The results manifest chaos, rejuvenation and memory features of the equilibrating spin configuration that are very similar to those observed in corresponding studies of the archetypal RKKY spin glass Ag(Mn). The sample is rapidly cooled in zero magnetic field, and the magnetization recorded on re-heating. When a stop at constant temperature $T_s$ is made during the cooling, the system evolves toward its equilibrium state at this temperature. The equilibrated state established during the stop becomes frozen in on further cooling and is retrieved on re-heating. The memory of the aging at $T_s$ is not affected by a second stop at a lower temperature $T'_s$. Reciprocally, the first equilibration at $T_s$ has no influence on the relaxation at $T'_s$, as expected within the droplet model for domain growth in a chaotic landscape.Comment: REVTeX style; 4 pages, 4 figure

A transmission problem across a fractal self-similar interface

We consider a transmission problem in which the interior domain has infinitely ramified structures. Transmission between the interior and exterior domains occurs only at the fractal component of the interface between the interior and exterior domains. We also consider the sequence of the transmission problems in which the interior domain is obtained by stopping the self-similar construction after a finite number of steps; the transmission condition is then posed on a prefractal approximation of the fractal interface. We prove the convergence in the sense of Mosco of the energy forms associated with these problems to the energy form of the limit problem. In particular, this implies the convergence of the solutions of the approximated problems to the solution of the problem with fractal interface. The proof relies in particular on an extension property. Emphasis is put on the geometry of the ramified domain. The convergence result is obtained when the fractal interface has no self-contact, and in a particular geometry with self-contacts, for which an extension result is proved

Selfoscillations of Suspended Carbon Nanotubes with a Deflection Sensitive Resistance under Voltage Bias

We theoretically investigate the electro-mechanics of a Suspended Carbon Nanotube with a Deflection Sensitive Resistance subjected to a homogeneous Magnetic Field and a constant Voltage Bias. We show that, (with the exception of a singular case), for a sufficiently high magnetic field the time-independent state of charge transport through the nanotube becomes unstable to selfexcitations of the mechanical vibration accompanied by oscialltions in the voltage drop and current across the nanotube.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Magnetic-field dependence of dynamical vortex response in two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays and superconducting films

The dynamical vortex response of a two-dimensional array of the resistively shunted Josephson junctions in a perpendicular magnetic field is inferred from simulations. It is found that, as the magnetic field is increased at a fixed temperature, the response crosses over from normal to anomalous, and that this crossover can be characterized by a single dimensionless parameter. It is described how this crossover should be reflected in measurements of the complex impedance for Josephson junction arrays and superconducting films.Comment: 4 pages including 5 figures in two columns, final versio

Parametrization of dark energy equation of state Revisited

A comparative study of various parametrizations of the dark energy equation of state is made. Astrophysical constraints from LSS, CMB and BBN are laid down to test the physical viability and cosmological compatibility of these parametrizations. A critical evaluation of the 4-index parametrizations reveals that Hannestad-M\"{o}rtsell as well as Lee parametrizations are simple and transparent in probing the evolution of the dark energy during the expansion history of the universe and they satisfy the LSS, CMB and BBN constraints on the dark energy density parameter for the best fit values.Comment: 11 page