12,322 research outputs found
A Preliminary Look at the Physics Reach of a Solar Neutrino TPC: Time-Independent Two Neutrino Oscillations
This paper will discuss the physics reach of a solar neutrino TPC containing
many tons of He4 under high pressure. Particular attention is given to the LMA
and SMA solutions, which are allowed by current data, and which are
characterized by a lack of time-dependent phenomena (either summer-winter or
day-night asymmetries). In this case, the physics of neutrino masses and mixing
is all contained in the energy dependence of the electron neutrino survival
probability, (or in its reciprocal, the electron neutrino disappearance
probability).Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Comment on ``Solidification of a Supercooled Liquid in a Narrow Channel''
Comment on PRL v. 86, p. 5084 (2001) [cond-mat/0101016]. We point out that
the authors' simulations are consistent with the known theory of steady-state
solutions in this system
Precision Measurement of the 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl Binding Energies
The binding energies of 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl have been measured with a
relative uncertainty using a flat-crystal spectrometer.
The unique features of these measurements are 1) nearly perfect crystals whose
lattice spacing is known in meters, 2) a highly precise angle scale that is
derived from first principles, and 3) a gamma-ray measurement facility that is
coupled to a high flux reactor with near-core source capability. The binding
energy is obtained by measuring all gamma-rays in a cascade scheme connecting
the capture and ground states. The measurements require the extension of
precision flat-crystal diffraction techniques to the 5 to 6 MeV energy region,
a significant precision measurement challenge. The binding energies determined
from these gamma-ray measurements are consistent with recent highly accurate
atomic mass measurements within a relative uncertainty of .
The gamma-ray measurement uncertainties are the dominant contributors to the
uncertainty of this consistency test. The measured gamma-ray energies are in
agreement with earlier precision gamma-ray measurements.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Viscous fingering in liquid crystals: Anisotropy and morphological transitions
We show that a minimal model for viscous fingering with a nematic liquid
crystal in which anisotropy is considered to enter through two different
viscosities in two perpendicular directions can be mapped to a two-fold
anisotropy in the surface tension. We numerically integrate the dynamics of the
resulting problem with the phase-field approach to find and characterize a
transition between tip-splitting and side-branching as a function of both
anisotropy and dimensionless surface tension. This anisotropy dependence could
explain the experimentally observed (reentrant) transition as temperature and
applied pressure are varied. Our observations are also consistent with previous
experimental evidence in viscous fingering within an etched cell and
simulations of solidification.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to PR
OH rotational lines as a diagnostic of the warm neutral gas in galaxies
We present Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) observations of several OH, CH
and H2O rotational lines toward the bright infrared galaxies NGC253 and
NGC1068. As found in the Galactic clouds in SgrB2 and Orion, the extragalactic
far-IR OH lines change from absorption to emission depending on the physical
conditions and distribution of gas and dust along the line of sight. As a
result, most of the OH rotational lines that appear in absorption toward NGC253
are observed in emission toward NGC1068. We show that the far-IR spectrum of OH
can be used as a powerful diagnostic to derive the physical conditions of
extragalactic neutral gas. In particular, we find that a warm (Tk~150 K, n(H2)<
5 10^4 cm^-3) component of molecular gas with an OH abundance of 10^{-7} from
the inner <15'' can qualitatively reproduce the OH lines toward NGC253. Similar
temperatures but higher densities (5 10^5 cm^-3) are required to explain the OH
emission in NGC1068.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in ApJ Part I (2004, October 6
Aggregation Patterns in Stressed Bacteria
We study the formation of spot patterns seen in a variety of bacterial
species when the bacteria are subjected to oxidative stress due to hazardous
byproducts of respiration. Our approach consists of coupling the cell density
field to a chemoattractant concentration as well as to nutrient and waste
fields. The latter serves as a triggering field for emission of
chemoattractant. Important elements in the proposed model include the
propagation of a front of motile bacteria radially outward form an initial
site, a Turing instability of the uniformly dense state and a reduction of
motility for cells sufficiently far behind the front. The wide variety of
patterns seen in the experiments is explained as being due the variation of the
details of the initiation of the chemoattractant emission as well as the
transition to a non-motile phase.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX with 4 postscript figures (uuencoded) Figures 1a and
1b are available from the authors; paper submitted to PRL
Continuum and CO/HCO+ Emission from the Disk Around the T Tauri Star LkCa 15
We present OVRO Millimeter Array lambda = 3.4 - 1.2 mm dust continuum and
spectral line observations of the accretion disk encircling the T Tauri star
LkCa 15. The 1.2 mm dust continuum emission is resolved, and gives a minimum
diameter of 190 AU and an inclination angle of 57+/-5 degrees. There is a
noticeable, but at present poorly constrained, decrease in the continuum
spectral slope with frequency that may result from the coupled processes of
grain growth and dust settling. Imaging of the fairly intense emission from the
lowest rotational transitions of CO, 13CO and HCO+ reveals a rotating disk and
emission extends to 750 AU and the characteristic radius of the disk is
determined to be around 425 AU (HWHM) based on model fits to the CO velocity
field. The disk mass derived from the CO isotopologues with ``typical'' dense
cloud abundances is still nearly two orders of magnitude less than that
inferred from the dust emission, which is probably due to extensive molecular
depletion in the cold, dense disk midplane. N2H+ 1-0 emission has also been
detected which, along with HCO+, sets a lower limit to the fractional
ionization of 10^{-8} in the near-surface regions of protoplanetary disks. This
first detection of N2H+ in circumstellar disks has also made possible a
determination of the N2/CO ratio (~2) that is at least an order of magnitude
larger than those in the envelopes of young stellar objects and dense clouds.
The large N2/CO ratio indicates that our observations probe disk layers in
which CO is depleted but some N2 remains in the gas phase. Such differential
depletion can lead to large variations in the fractional ionization with height
in the outer reaches of circumstellar disks, and may help to explain the
relative nitrogen deficiency observed in comets.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 28 pages, 7 figure
BEAMS: separating the wheat from the chaff in supernova analysis
We introduce Bayesian Estimation Applied to Multiple Species (BEAMS), an
algorithm designed to deal with parameter estimation when using contaminated
data. We present the algorithm and demonstrate how it works with the help of a
Gaussian simulation. We then apply it to supernova data from the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey (SDSS), showing how the resulting confidence contours of the
cosmological parameters shrink significantly.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures. Chapter 4 in "Astrostatistical Challenges for
the New Astronomy" (Joseph M. Hilbe, ed., Springer, New York, forthcoming in
2012), the inaugural volume for the Springer Series in Astrostatistic
Detection of Far-Infrared Water Vapor, Hydroxyl, and Carbon Monoxide Emissions from the Supernova Remnant 3C 391
We report the detection of shock-excited far-infrared emission of H2O, OH,
and CO from the supernova remnant 3C 391, using the ISO Long-Wavelength
Spectrometer. This is the first detection of thermal H2O and OH emission from a
supernova remnant. For two other remnants, W~28 and W~44, CO emission was
detected but OH was only detected in absorption. The observed H2O and OH
emission lines arise from levels within ~400 K of the ground state, consistent
with collisional excitation in warm, dense gas created after the passage of the
shock front through the dense clumps in the pre-shock cloud. The post-shock gas
we observe has a density ~2x10^5 cm^{-3} and temperature 100-1000 K, and the
relative abundances of CO:OH:H2O in the emitting region are 100:1:7 for a
temperature of 200 K. The presence of a significant column of warm H2O suggests
that the chemistry has been significantly changed by the shock. The existence
of significant column densities of both OH and H2O, which is at odds with
models for non-dissociative shocks into dense gas, could be due to
photodissociation of H2O or a mix of fast and slow shocks through regions with
different pre-shock density.Comment: AASTeX manuscript and 4 postscript figure
Microscopic Selection of Fluid Fingering Pattern
We study the issue of the selection of viscous fingering patterns in the
limit of small surface tension. Through detailed simulations of anisotropic
fingering, we demonstrate conclusively that no selection independent of the
small-scale cutoff (macroscopic selection) occurs in this system. Rather, the
small-scale cutoff completely controls the pattern, even on short time scales,
in accord with the theory of microscopic solvability. We demonstrate that
ordered patterns are dynamically selected only for not too small surface
tensions. For extremely small surface tensions, the system exhibits chaotic
behavior and no regular pattern is realized.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
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