1,131 research outputs found
Dialogue based interfaces for universal access.
Conversation provides an excellent means of communication for almost all people. Consequently, a conversational interface is an excellent mechanism for allowing people to interact with systems. Conversational systems are an active research area, but a wide range of systems can be developed with current technology. More sophisticated interfaces can take considerable effort, but simple interfaces can be developed quite rapidly. This paper gives an introduction to the current state of the art of conversational systems and interfaces. It describes a methodology for developing conversational interfaces and gives an example of an interface for a state benefits web site. The paper discusses how this interface could improve access for a wide range of people, and how further development of this interface would allow a larger range of people to use the system and give them more functionality
Non-Gaussianity from Instant and Tachyonic Preheating
We study non-Gaussianity in two distinct models of preheating: instant and
tachyonic. In instant preheating non-Gaussianity is sourced by the local terms
generated through the coupled perturbations of the two scalar fields. We find
that the non-Gaussianity parameter is given by ,
where is a coupling constant, so that instant preheating is unlikely to be
constrained by WMAP or Planck. In the case of tachyonic preheating
non-Gaussianity arises solely from the instability of the tachyon matter and is
found to be large. We find that for single field inflation the present WMAP
data implies a bound on the scale of tachyonic
instability. We argue that the tachyonic preheating limits are useful also for
string-motivated inflationary models.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, additional discussion, improved constraint on the
scale of tachyonic preheatin
Supergravity origin of the MSSM inflation
We consider the supergravity origin of the recently proposed MSSM
inflationary model, which relies on the existence of a saddle point along a
dimension six flat direction. We derive the conditions that the Kahler
potential has to satisfy for the saddle point to exist irrespective of the
hidden sector vevs. We show that these conditions are satisfied by a simple
class of Kahler potentials, which we find to have a similar form as in various
string theory compactifications. For these potentials, slow roll MSSM inflation
requires no fine tuning of the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters.Comment: v3: 10 pages, no figures; version accepted for publication. Typos
correcte
Kahler potentials for the MSSM inflation and the spectral index
Recently it has been argued that some of the fine-tuning problems of the MSSM
inflation associated with the existence of a saddle point along a flat
direction may be solved naturally in a class of supergravity models. Here we
extend the analysis and show that the constraints on the Kahler potentials in
these models are considerably relaxed when the location of the saddle point is
treated as a free variable. We also examine the effect of supergravity
corrections on inflationary predictions and find that they can slightly alter
the value of the spectral index. As an example, for flat direction field values
we find while the
prediction of the MSSM inflation without any corrections is .Comment: 13 pages, one figure. Typos corrected and a reference adde
Laser Spectroscopy of Niobium Fission Fragments: First Use of Optical Pumping in an Ion Beam Cooler Buncher
A new method of optical pumping in an ion beam cooler buncher has been developed to selectively enhance ionic metastable state populations. The technique permits the study of elements previously inaccessible to laser spectroscopy and has been applied here to the study of Nb. Model independent mean-square charge radii and nuclear moments have been studied for Nb to cover the region of the N=50 shell closure and N≈60 sudden onset of deformation. The increase in mean-square charge radius is observed to be less than that for Y, with a substantial degree of β softness observed before and after N=60
Identifying the curvaton within MSSM
We consider inflaton couplings to MSSM flat directions and the thermalization
of the inflaton decay products, taking into account gauge symmetry breaking due
to flat direction condensates. We then search for a suitable curvaton candidate
among the flat directions, requiring an early thermally induced start for the
flat direction oscillations to facilitate the necessary curvaton energy density
dominance. We demonstrate that the supersymmetry breaking -term is crucial
for achieving a successful curvaton scenario. Among the many possible
candidates, we identify the flat direction as a viable MSSM
curvaton.Comment: 9 pages. Discussion on the evaporation of condensate added, final
version published in JCA
Numerical simulations of fragmentation of the Affleck-Dine condensate
We present numerical simulations of fragmentation of the Affleck-Dine
condensate in two spatial dimensions. We argue analytically that the final
state should consist of both Q-balls and anti-Q-balls in a state of maximum
entropy, with most of the balls small and relativistic. Such a behaviour is
found in simulations on a 100x100 lattice with cosmologically realistic
parameter values. During fragmentation process, we observe filament-like
texture in the spatial distribution of charge. The total charge in Q-balls is
found to be almost equal to the charge in anti-Q-balls and typically orders of
magnitude larger than charge asymmetry. Analytical considerations indicate
that, apart from geometrical factors, the results of the simulated two
dimensional case should apply also to the fully realistic three dimensional
case.Comment: 28 pages, 39 figure
- …