21,136 research outputs found
Pattern Formation from Defect Chaos --- A Theory of Chevrons
For over 25 years it is known that the roll structure of electroconvection
(EC) in the dielectric regime in planarly aligned nematic liquid crystals has,
after a transition to defect chaos, the tendency to form chevron structures. We
show, with the help of a coarse-grained model, that this effect can generally
be expected for systems with spontaneously broken isotropy, that is lifted by a
small external perturbation. The linearized model as well as a nonlinear
extension are compared to simulations of a system of coupled amplitude
equations which generate chevrons out of defect chaos. The mechanism of chevron
formation is similar to the development of Turing patterns in reaction
diffusion systems.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 11 PS-figures, submitted to Physica
Weakly Nonlinear Theory of Pattern-Forming Systems with Spontaneously Broken Isotropy
Quasi two-dimensional pattern forming systems with spontaneously broken
isotropy represent a novel symmetry class, that is experimentally accessible in
electroconvection of homeotropically aligned liquid crystals. We present a
weakly nonlinear analysis leading to amplitude equations which couple the
short-wavelength patterning mode with the Goldstone mode resulting from the
broken isotropy. The new coefficients in these equations are calculated from
the hydrodynamics. Simulations exhibit a new type of spatio-temporal chaos at
onset. The results are compared with experiments.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 4 PS-figures, to appear in PR
The 2-10 keV emission properties of PSR B1937+21
We present the results of a BeppoSAX observation of the fastest pulsar known:
PSR B1937+21. The ~ 200 ks observation (78.5 (34) ks MECS (LECS) exposure
times) allowed us to investigate with high statistical significance both the
spectral properties and the pulse profile shape. The absorbed power law
spectral model gave a photon index of ~ 1.7 and N_H ~ 2.3 x 10^22 cm^-2. These
values explain both a) the ROSAT non-detection and b) the deviant estimate of a
photon index of ~ 0.8 obtained by ASCA. The pulse profile appears, for the
first time, clearly double peaked with the main component much stronger than
the other. The statistical significance is 10 sigma (main peak) and 5 sigma
(secondary peak). The 1.6-10 keV pulsed fraction is consistent with 100%; only
in the 1.6-4 keV band there is a ~ 2 sigma indication for a DC component. The
secondary peak is detected significantly only for energies above 3 / 4 keV. The
unabsorbed (2-10 keV) flux is F_2-10 = 3.7 x 10^-13 erg cm^-2 s^-1, implying a
luminosity of L_X = 4.6 x 10^31 Theta (d/3.6 kpc)^2 erg s^-1 and an X-ray
efficiency of eta = 4 x 10^-5 Theta, where Theta is the solid angle spanned by
the emission beam. These results are in agreement with those obtained by ASCA.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. To appear in the Proceedings of the
270. WE-Heraeus Seminar on Neutron Stars, Pulsars and Supernova Remnants,
Jan. 21-25, 2002, Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, eds W. Becker, H. Lesch & J.
Truemper. Proceedings are available as MPE-Report 27
Information Content in Decays and the Angular Moments Method
The time-dependent angular distributions of decays of neutral mesons into
two vector mesons contain information about the lifetimes, mass differences,
strong and weak phases, form factors, and CP violating quantities. A
statistical analysis of the information content is performed by giving the
``information'' a quantitative meaning. It is shown that for some parameters of
interest, the information content in time and angular measurements combined may
be orders of magnitude more than the information from time measurements alone
and hence the angular measurements are highly recommended. The method of
angular moments is compared with the (maximum) likelihood method to find that
it works almost as well in the region of interest for the one-angle
distribution. For the complete three-angle distribution, an estimate of
possible statistical errors expected on the observables of interest is
obtained. It indicates that the three-angle distribution, unraveled by the
method of angular moments, would be able to nail down many quantities of
interest and will help in pointing unambiguously to new physics.Comment: LaTeX, 34 pages with 9 figure
Long term monitoring of mode switching for PSR B0329+54
The mode switching phenomenon of PSR B0329+54 is investigated based on the
long-term monitoring from September 2003 to April 2009 made with the Urumqi 25m
radio telescope at 1540 MHz. At that frequency, the change of relative
intensity between the leading and trailing components is the predominant
feature of mode switching. The intensity ratios between the leading and
trailing components are measured for the individual profiles averaged over a
few minutes. It is found that the ratios follow normal distributions, where the
abnormal mode has a wider typical width than the normal mode, indicating that
the abnormal mode is less stable than the normal mode. Our data show that 84.9%
of the time for PSR B0329+54 was in the normal mode and 15.1% was in the
abnormal mode. From the two passages of eight-day quasi-continuous observations
in 2004, and supplemented by the daily data observed with 15 m telescope at 610
MHz at Jodrell Bank Observatory, the intrinsic distributions of mode timescales
are constrained with the Bayesian inference method. It is found that the gamma
distribution with the shape parameter slightly smaller than 1 is favored over
the normal, lognormal and Pareto distributions. The optimal scale parameters of
the gamma distribution is 31.5 minutes for the abnormal mode and 154 minutes
for the normal mode. The shape parameters have very similar values, i.e.
0.75^{+0.22}_{-0.17} for the normal mode and 0.84^{+0.28}_{-0.22} for the
abnormal mode, indicating the physical mechanisms in both modes may be the
same. No long-term modulation of the relative intensity ratios was found for
both the modes, suggesting that the mode switching was stable. The intrinsic
timescale distributions, for the first time constrained for this pulsar,
provide valuable information to understand the physics of mode switching.Comment: 31 pages,12 figures, Accepted by the Ap
Sum rule for transport in a Luttinger liquid with long range interaction in the presence of an impurity
We show that the non-linear dc transport in a Luttinger liquid with
interaction of finite range in the presence of an impurity is governed by a sum
rule which causes the charging energy to vanish.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 1 figure, to be published in Europhysics Letter
Association Between Air Pollution and Low Birth Weight: A Community-Based Study
The relationship between maternal exposure to air pollution during periods of pregnancy (entire and specific periods) and birth weight was investigated in a well-defined cohort. Between 1988 and 1991, all pregnant women living in four residential areas of Beijing were registered and followed from early pregnancy until delivery. Information on individual mothers and infants was collected. Daily air pollution data were obtained independently. The sample for analysis included 74,671 first-parity live births were gestational age 37-44 weeks. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were used to estimate the effects of air pollution on birth weight and low birth weight (< 2,500 g), adjusting for gestational age, residence, year of birth, maternal age, and infant gender. There was a significant exposure-response relationship between maternal exposures to sulfur dioxide (SO2) and total suspended particles (TSP) during the third trimester of pregnancy and infant birth weight. The adjusted odds ratio for low birth weight was 1.11 (95% CI, 1.06-1.16) for each 100 micrograms/m3 increase in SO2 and 1.10 (95% CI, 1.05-1.14) for each 100 micrograms/m3 increase in TSP. The estimated reduction in birth weight was 7.3 g and 6.9 g for each 100 micrograms/m3 increase in SO2 and in TSP, respectively. The birth weight distribution of the high-exposure group was more skewed toward the left tail (i.e., with higher proportion of births < 2,500 g) than that of the low-exposure group. Although the effects of other unmeasured risk factors cannot be excluded with certainty, our data suggests that TSP and SO2, or a more complex pollution mixture associated with these pollutants, contribute to an excess risk of low birth weight in the Beijing population.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES05947, ES08337); National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (R01 HD32505); Department of Health and Human Services (MCJ-259501, HRSA 5 T32 PE10014
Symmetry and inert states of spin Bose Condensates
We construct the list of all possible inert states of spin Bose condensates
for . In doing so, we also obtain their symmetry properties. These
results are applied to classify line defects of these spin condensates at zero
magnetic field.Comment: an error in Sec III C correcte
DefiningkinG(k)
AbstractWe show how the field of definitionkof ak-isotropic absolutely almost simplek-groupG“lives” in the groupG(k) ofk-rational points. The construction which is inspired by the fundamental work of Borel-Tits is as follows: We choose an element inside the center of the unipotent radical of a minimal parabolick-subgroupP; the orbit under the action of the centerZof a Levik-subgroup ofPgenerates a one-dimensional vector space which then carries the additive field structure in a natural way. The multiplicative structure is induced by the action ofZ. IfGisk-simple, our construction yields a finite extensionlofk.As an immediate consequence we obtain an answer to a question of Borovik–Nesin under the additional assumption thatGisk-isotropic:Theorem. IfGis ak-simplek-isotropic group such thatG(k) has finite Morley rank, thenkis either algebraically closed or real closed. IfGis absolutely simplek-isotropic, thenkis algebraically closed
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