Monopole clusters and critical dynamics in four-dimensional U(1)

We investigate monopoles in four-dimensional compact U(1) with Wilson action. We focus our attention on monopole clusters as they can be identified unambiguously contrary to monopole loops. We locate the clusters and determine their properties near the U(1) phase transition. The Coulomb phase is characterized by several small clusters, whereas in the confined phase the small clusters coalesce to one large cluster filling up the whole system. We find that clusters winding around the periodic lattice are absent within both phases and during the transition. However, within the confined phase, we observe periodically closed monopole loops if cooling is applied.Comment: 3 pages, Wuppertal preprint WUB 93-3

Study of nickel hydroxide electrodes. 2: Oxidation products of nickel (2) hydroxides

Pure phases of some oxidized Ni oxides were prepared galvanimetrically with the Ni(2) hydroxide electrode of an alkaline battery. The crystallographic data of these phases, their chemical behavior, and conditions of transition were studied

Monopoles in Compact U(1) -- Anatomy of the Phase Transition

We present evidence that the existence of a first order phase transition in compact U(1) with Wilson action is not related to monopole loops wrapping around the toroidal lattice, as has been previously suggested. Our analysis is based on the suppression of such loops by `soft boundary conditions' that correspond to an infinitely large chemical potential for the monopoles on the boundary, during the updating process. It is observed that the double peak structure characteristic for the first order phase transition reappears at sufficiently large lattice sizes and separations from the lattice boundary.Comment: 8 pages, (color) ps-figures available via anonymous ftp at ftp://wpts0.physik.uni-wuppertal.de/pub/monopoles/figures.u

New Record of \u3ci\u3eBrachycercus Maculatus\u3c/i\u3e Berner (Ephemeroptera: Caenidae) From New York and a Key to Larvae of Northeastern Species

Brachycercus maculatus, a member of a rare group of mayflies, is now recorded for the first time from New York State in the upper Hudson River. An illustrated key to the Brachycercus larvae of northeastern North America is provided to spur further study of the genus in the region

A Spitzer Survey of Novae in M31

We report the results of the first infrared survey of novae in the nearby spiral galaxy, M31. Both photometric and spectroscopic observations of a sample of 10 novae (M31N 2006-09c, 2006-10a, 2006-10b, 2006-11a, 2007-07f, 2007-08a, 2007-08d, 2007-10a, 2007-11d, and 2007-11e) were obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Eight of the novae were observed with the IRAC (all but M31N 2007-11d and 2007-11e) and eight with the IRS (all but 2007-07f and 2007-08a), resulting in six in common between the two instruments. The observations, which were obtained between ~3 and ~7 months after discovery, revealed evidence for dust formation in two of the novae: M31N 2006-10a and (possibly) 2007-07f, and [Ne II] 12.8 micron line emission in a third (2007-11e). The Spitzer observations were supplemented with ground-based optical photometric and spectroscopic data that were used to determine the speed classes and spectroscopic types of the novae in our survey. After including data for dust-forming Galactic novae, we show that dust formation timescales are correlated with nova speed class in that dust typically forms earlier in faster novae. We conclude that our failure to detect the signature of dust formation in most of our M31 sample is likely a result of the relatively long delay between nova eruption and our Spitzer observations. Indeed, the two novae for which we found evidence of dust formation were the two "slowest" novae in our sample. Finally, as expected, we found that the majority of the novae in our sample belong to the Fe II spectroscopic class, with only one clear example of the He/N class (M31N 2006-10b). Typical of an He/N system, M31N 2006-10b was the fastest nova in our sample, not detected with the IRS, and just barely detected in three of the IRAC bands when it was observed ~4 months after eruption.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Robustness of Binary Black Hole Mergers in the Presence of Spurious Radiation

We present an investigation into how sensitive the last orbits and merger of binary black hole systems are to the presence of spurious radiation in the initial data. Our numerical experiments consist of a binary black hole system starting the last couple of orbits before merger with additional spurious radiation centered at the origin and fixed initial angular momentum. As the energy in the added spurious radiation increases, the binary is invariably hardened for the cases we tested, i.e. the merger of the two black holes is hastened. The change in merger time becomes significant when the additional energy provided by the spurious radiation increases the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) mass of the spacetime by about 1%. While the final masses of the black holes increase due to partial absorption of the radiation, the final spins remain constant to within our numerical accuracy. We conjecture that the spurious radiation is primarily increasing the eccentricity of the orbit and secondarily increasing the mass of the black holes while propagating out to infinity.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

First-Order Signals in Compact QED with Monopole Suppressed Boundaries

Pure gauge compact QED on hypercubic lattices is considered with periodically closed monopole currents suppressed. We compute observables on sublattices which are nested around the centre of the lattice in order to locate regions where translation symmetry is approximately recovered. Our Monte Carlo simulations on $24^4$-lattices give indications for a first-order nature of the U(1) phase transition.Comment: 3 pages, uuencoded Z-compressed .tar file, to appear in proceedings of lattice 9

Swift observations of the 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi: III. X-ray spectral modelling

Following the Swift X-ray observations of the 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi, we developed hydrodynamical models of mass ejection from which the forward shock velocities were used to estimate the ejecta mass and velocity. In order to further constrain our model parameters, here we present synthetic X-ray spectra from our hydrodynamical calculations which we compare to the Swift data. An extensive set of simulations was carried out to find a model which best fits the spectra up to 100 days after outburst. We find a good fit at high energies but require additional absorption to match the low energy emission. We estimate the ejecta mass to be in the range (2-5) x 10^{-7} solar masses and the ejection velocity to be greater than 6000 km/s (and probably closer to 10,000 km/s). We also find that estimates of shock velocity derived from gas temperatures via standard model fits to the X-ray spectra are much lower than the true shock velocities.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Dynamical overlap simulations using HMC

We apply the Hybrid Monte Carlo method to the simulation of overlap fermions. We give the fermionic force for the molecular dynamics update. We present early results on a small dynamical chiral ensemble.Comment: Lattice2004(machines), 3 pages; references updated, minor changes to tex