6,442 research outputs found
Influence of the Dirac sea on proton electromagnetic knockout
We use the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation (RDWIA) to study
the effects of negative-energy components of Dirac wave functions on the
left-right asymmetry for (e,e'p) reactions on 16-O with 0.2 < Q^2 < 0.8 and
12-C with 0.6 < Q^2 < 1.8 (GeV/c)^2. Spinor distortion is more important for
the bound state than for the ejectile and the net effect decreases with Q^2.
Spinor distortion breaks Godon equivalence and the data favor the CC2 operator
with intermediate coupling to the sea. The left-right asymmetry for Q^2 < 1.2
(GeV/c)^2 is described well by RDWIA calcuations, but at Q^2 = 1.8 (GeV/c)^2
the observed variation with missing momentum is flatter than predicted.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to be submitted to PR
An approach to evolving cell signaling networks in silico
Cell Signaling Networks(CSN) are complex bio-chemical networks which, through evolution, have become highly efficient for governing critical control processes such as immunological responses, cell cycle control or homeostasis. From a computational point of view, modeling Artificial Cell Signaling Networks (ACSNs) in silico may provide new ways
to design computer systems which may have specialized application areas.
To investigate these new opportunities, we review the key issues of modeling ACSNs identified as follows. We first present an analogy between analog and molecular computation.
We discuss the application of evolutionary techniques to evolve biochemical networks for computational purposes. The potential roles of crosstalk in CSNs are then examined. Finally we present how artificial CSNs can be used to build robust real-time control systems.
The research we are currently involved in is part of the multi disciplinary EU funded project, ESIGNET, with the central question of the study of the computational properties of CSNs by evolving them using methods from evolutionary computation, and to re-apply this understanding in developing new ways to model and predict real CSNs. This also complements the present requirements of Computational Systems Biology by providing new insights in micro-biology research
The Final Merger of Black-Hole Binaries
Recent breakthroughs in the field of numerical relativity have led to
dramatic progress in understanding the predictions of General Relativity for
the dynamical interactions of two black holes in the regime of very strong
gravitational fields. Such black-hole binaries are important astrophysical
systems and are a key target of current and developing gravitational-wave
detectors. The waveform signature of strong gravitational radiation emitted as
the black holes fall together and merge provides a clear observable record of
the process. After decades of slow progress, these mergers and the
gravitational-wave signals they generate can now be routinely calculated using
the methods of numerical relativity. We review recent advances in understanding
the predicted physics of events and the consequent radiation, and discuss some
of the impacts this new knowledge is having in various areas of astrophysics.Comment: 57 pages; 9 figures. Updated references & fixed typos. Published
version is at
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.nucl.010909.08324
Black-hole binaries, gravitational waves, and numerical relativity
Understanding the predictions of general relativity for the dynamical
interactions of two black holes has been a long-standing unsolved problem in
theoretical physics. Black-hole mergers are monumental astrophysical events,
releasing tremendous amounts of energy in the form of gravitational radiation,
and are key sources for both ground- and space-based gravitational-wave
detectors. The black-hole merger dynamics and the resulting gravitational
waveforms can only be calculated through numerical simulations of Einstein's
equations of general relativity. For many years, numerical relativists
attempting to model these mergers encountered a host of problems, causing their
codes to crash after just a fraction of a binary orbit could be simulated.
Recently, however, a series of dramatic advances in numerical relativity has
allowed stable, robust black-hole merger simulations. This remarkable progress
in the rapidly maturing field of numerical relativity, and the new
understanding of black-hole binary dynamics that is emerging is chronicled.
Important applications of these fundamental physics results to astrophysics, to
gravitational-wave astronomy, and in other areas are also discussed.Comment: 54 pages, 42 figures. Some typos corrected & references updated.
Essentially final published versio
Ecological thinking: Four qualities
O artigo propõe uma viagem em torno dos pressupostos ecológicos ou atributos do pensamento ecológico. Identifica as suas principais quatro qualidades e procura demonstrar como se podem fundamentar em evidência empírica. A primeira das premissas focaliza-se na interdependência das pessoas e os seus ambientes sociais, a segunda que as metodologias de investigação podem ser congruentes com a cultura de um lugar ou de um contexto concretos. Em terceiro lugar que ao(à) psicólogo(a) comunitário é requerido que desenvolva relações de confiança e a quarta que na sua busca de entendimento acerca da comunidade aprenda mais sobre si próprio(a)
Preliminary steps toward artificial protocell computation
Protocells are hypothesised as a transitional phase in the origin of life, prior to the evolution of fully functional prokaryotic cells. The work reported here is being done in the context of the PACE project, which is investigating the fabrication of artificial protocells de novo. We consider here the important open question of whether or how articifial protocells (if or when they are successfully
fabricated) might be applied as “computing” devices—what sort of computing might they be suitable for, and how might they be “programmed”? We also present some preliminary analysis of a crude model of such “evolutionary protocell computation”
False discovery rate regression: an application to neural synchrony detection in primary visual cortex
Many approaches for multiple testing begin with the assumption that all tests
in a given study should be combined into a global false-discovery-rate
analysis. But this may be inappropriate for many of today's large-scale
screening problems, where auxiliary information about each test is often
available, and where a combined analysis can lead to poorly calibrated error
rates within different subsets of the experiment. To address this issue, we
introduce an approach called false-discovery-rate regression that directly uses
this auxiliary information to inform the outcome of each test. The method can
be motivated by a two-groups model in which covariates are allowed to influence
the local false discovery rate, or equivalently, the posterior probability that
a given observation is a signal. This poses many subtle issues at the interface
between inference and computation, and we investigate several variations of the
overall approach. Simulation evidence suggests that: (1) when covariate effects
are present, FDR regression improves power for a fixed false-discovery rate;
and (2) when covariate effects are absent, the method is robust, in the sense
that it does not lead to inflated error rates. We apply the method to neural
recordings from primary visual cortex. The goal is to detect pairs of neurons
that exhibit fine-time-scale interactions, in the sense that they fire together
more often than expected due to chance. Our method detects roughly 50% more
synchronous pairs versus a standard FDR-controlling analysis. The companion R
package FDRreg implements all methods described in the paper
Consistency of post-Newtonian waveforms with numerical relativity
General relativity predicts the gravitational wave signatures of coalescing
binary black holes. Explicit waveform predictions for such systems, required
for optimal analysis of observational data, have so far been achieved using the
post-Newtonian (PN) approximation. The quality of this treatment is unclear,
however, for the important late-inspiral portion. We derive late-inspiral
waveforms via a complementary approach, direct numerical simulation of
Einstein's equations. We compare waveform phasing from simulations of the last
cycles of gravitational radiation from equal-mass, nonspinning black
holes with the corresponding 2.5PN, 3PN, and 3.5PN orbital phasing. We find
phasing agreement consistent with internal error estimates based on either
approach, suggesting that PN waveforms for this system are effective until the
last orbit prior to final merger.Comment: Replaced with published version -- one figure removed, text and other
figures updated for clarity of discussio
Toward faithful templates for non-spinning binary black holes using the effective-one-body approach
We present an accurate approximation of the full gravitational radiation
waveforms generated in the merger of non-eccentric systems of two non-spinning
black holes. Utilizing information from recent numerical relativity simulations
and the natural flexibility of the effective-one-body (EOB) model, we extend
the latter so that it can successfully match the numerical relativity waveforms
during the last stages of inspiral, merger and ringdown. By ``successfully''
here, we mean with phase differences < 8% of a gravitational-wave cycle
accumulated by the end of the ringdown phase, maximizing only over time of
arrival and initial phase. We obtain this result by simply adding a
4-post-Newtonian order correction in the EOB radial potential and determining
the (constant) coefficient by imposing high-matching performances with
numerical waveforms of mass ratios m1/m2 = 1, 3/2, 2 and 4, m1 and m2 being the
individual black-hole masses. The final black-hole mass and spin predicted by
the numerical simulations are used to determine the ringdown frequency and
decay time of three quasi-normal-mode damped sinusoids that are attached to the
EOB inspiral-(plunge) waveform at the EOB light-ring. The EOB waveforms might
be tested and further improved in the future by comparison with extremely long
and accurate inspiral numerical-relativity waveforms. They may already be
employed for coherent searches and parameter estimation of gravitational waves
emitted by non-spinning coalescing binary black holes with ground-based
laser-interferometer detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
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