A Correlation Between Changes in Solar Luminosity and Differential Radius Measurements

Solar luminosity variations occurring during solar cycle 21 can be attributed in large part to the presence of sunspots and faculae. Nevertheless, there remains a residual portion of the luminosity variation distinctly unaccounted for by these phenomena of solar activity. At the Santa Catalina Laboratory for Experimental Relativity by Astrometry (SCLERA), observations of the solar limb are capable of detecting changes in the solar limb darkening function by monitoring a quantity known as the differential radius. These observations are utilized in such a way that the effects of solar activity are minimized in order to reveal the more fundamental structure of the photosphere. The results of observations made during solar cycle 21 at various solar latitudes indicate that a measurable change did occur in the global photospheric limb darkening function. It is proposed that the residual luminosity change is associated in part with this change in limb darkening

Dynamic correlations in stochastic rotation dynamics

The dynamic structure factor, vorticity and entropy density dynamic correlation functions are measured for Stochastic Rotation Dynamics (SRD), a particle based algorithm for fluctuating fluids. This allows us to obtain unbiased values for the longitudinal transport coefficients such as thermal diffusivity and bulk viscosity. The results are in good agreement with earlier numerical and theoretical results, and it is shown for the first time that the bulk viscosity is indeed zero for this algorithm. In addition, corrections to the self-diffusion coefficient and shear viscosity arising from the breakdown of the molecular chaos approximation at small mean free paths are analyzed. In addition to deriving the form of the leading correlation corrections to these transport coefficients, the probabilities that two and three particles remain collision partners for consecutive time steps are derived analytically in the limit of small mean free path. The results of this paper verify that we have an excellent understanding of the SRD algorithm at the kinetic level and that analytic expressions for the transport coefficients derived elsewhere do indeed provide a very accurate description of the SRD fluid.Comment: 33 pages including 16 figure

X-ray absorption spectroscopy on layered cobaltates Na_xCoO_2

Measurements of polarization and temperature dependent soft x-ray absorption have been performed on Na_xCoO_2 single crystals with x=0.4 and x=0.6. They show a deviation of the local trigonal symmetry of the CoO_6 octahedra, which is temperature independent in a temperature range between 25 K and 372 K. This deviation was found to be different for Co^{3+} and Co^{4+} sites. With the help of a cluster calculation we are able to interpret the Co L_{23}-edge absorption spectrum and find a doping dependent energy splitting between the t_{2g} and the e_g levels (10Dq) in Na_xCoO_2.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Kink-induced transport and segregation in oscillated granular layers

We use experiments and molecular dynamics simulations of vertically oscillated granular layers to study horizontal particle segregation induced by a kink (a boundary between domains oscillating out of phase). Counter-rotating convection rolls carry the larger particles in a bidisperse layer along the granular surface to a kink, where they become trapped. The convection originates from avalanches that occur inside the layer, along the interface between solidified and fluidized grains. The position of a kink can be controlled by modulation of the container frequency, making possible systematic harvesting of the larger particles.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Mesoscopic model for the fluctuating hydrodynamics of binary and ternary mixtures

A recently introduced particle-based model for fluid dynamics with continuous velocities is generalized to model immiscible binary mixtures. Excluded volume interactions between the two components are modeled by stochastic multiparticle collisions which depend on the local velocities and densities. Momentum and energy are conserved locally, and entropically driven phase separation occurs for high collision rates. An explicit expression for the equation of state is derived, and the concentration dependence of the bulk free energy is shown to be the same as that of the Widom-Rowlinson model. Analytic results for the phase diagram are in excellent agreement with simulation data. Results for the line tension obtained from the analysis of the capillary wave spectrum of a droplet agree with measurements based on the Laplace's equation. The introduction of "amphiphilic" dimers makes it possible to model the phase behavior and dynamics of ternary surfactant mixtures.Comment: 7 pages including 6 figure

Infinite Momentum Frame Calculation of Semileptonic Heavy \Lambda_b\to\Lambda_c Transitions Including HQET Improvements

We calculate the transition form factors that occur in heavy $\Lambda$-type baryon semileptonic decays as e.g. in $\Lambda_{b} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} + l^{-} + \bar{\nu}_{l}$. We use Bauer-Stech-Wirbel type infinite momentum frame wave functions for the heavy $\Lambda$-type baryons which we assume to consist of a heavy quark and a light spin-isospin zero diquark system. The form factors at $q^{2} = 0$ are calculated from the overlap integrals of the initial and final $\Lambda$-type baryon states. To leading order in the heavy mass scale the structure of the form factors agrees with the HQET predictions including the normalization at zero recoil. The leading order $\omega$-dependence of the form factors is extracted by scaling arguments. By comparing the model form factors with the HQET predictions at ${\cal O}(1/m_{Q})$ we obtain a consistent set of model form factors up to ${\cal O}(1/m_{Q})$. With our preferred choice of parameter values we find that the contribution of the non-leading form factor is practically negligible. We use our form factor predictions to compute rates, spectra and various asymmetry parameters for the semi-leptonic decay $\Lambda_{b} \to \Lambda_{c}^{+} + l^{-} + \bar{\nu}_{l}$.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures are included in PostScript format. Final version of paper to appear in Phys.Rev.

Exclusive Photoproduction of Large Momentum-Transfer K and K* Mesons

The reactions gamma p -> K+ Lambda and gamma p -> K* Lambda are analyzed within perturbative QCD, allowing for diquarks as quasi-elementary constituents of baryons. The diquark-model parameters and the quark-diquark distribution amplitudes of proton and Lambda are taken from previous investigations of electromagnetic baryon form factors and Compton-scattering off protons. Unpolarized differential cross sections and polarization observables are computed for different choices of the K and K* distribution amplitudes. The asymptotic form of the K distribution amplitude (proportional to x1 x2) is found to provide a satisfactory description of the K photoproduction data.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures available as tared, compressed and uuencoded PS-file

Survey for Emission-Line Galaxies: Universidad Complutense de Madrid List 3

A new low-dispersion objective-prism search for low-redshift (z<0.045) emission-line galaxies (ELG) has been carried out by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with the Schmidt Telescope at the Calar-Alto Observatory. This is a continuation of the UCM Survey, which was performed by visual selection of candidates in photographic plates via the presence of the Halpha+[NII]6584 blend in emission. In this new list we have applied an automatic procedure, fully developed by us, for selecting and analyzing the ELG candidates on the digitized images obtained with the MAMA machine. The analyzed region of the sky covers 189 square degrees in nine fields near R.A.=14h & 17h, Dec=25 deg. The final sample contains 113 candidates. Special effort has been made to obtain a large amount of information directly from our uncalibrated plates by using several external calibrations. The parameters obtained for the ELG candidates allow for the study of the statistical properties for the sample.Comment: 13 pages, 18 PostScript figures, 6 JPEG figures, Table 2 corrected. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Supplements, also available at http://www.ucm.es/info/Astrof/opera/LIST3_ApJS99

Electric Quadrupole Moments of the Decuplet and the Strangeness Content of the Proton

In the SU3 Skyrme model the electric quadrupole moments of $\frac{3}{2}^+$ baryons show a strong sensitivity with respect to flavor distortions in baryon wavefunctions. SU3 symmetric wavefunctions lead to quadrupole moments proportional to the charge of the baryon whereas for strongly broken flavor symmetry a proportionality to baryonic isospin emerges. Since the flavor distortions in the wavefunctions also determine the strangeness content of the proton the Skyrme model provides a link between both quantities.Comment: 6 pages, LATEX, (1 LATEX-figure), hardcopy : preprint# SI-94-TP3S

Weighted-density approximation for general nonuniform fluid mixtures

In order to construct a general density-functional theory for nonuniform fluid mixtures, we propose an extension to multicomponent systems of the weighted-density approximation (WDA) of Curtin and Ashcroft [Phys. Rev. A 32, 2909 (1985)]. This extension corrects a deficiency in a similar extension proposed earlier by Denton and Ashcroft [Phys. Rev. A 42, 7312 (1990)], in that that functional cannot be applied to the multi-component nonuniform fluid systems with spatially varying composition, such as solid-fluid interfaces. As a test of the accuracy of our new functional, we apply it to the calculation of the freezing phase diagram of a binary hard-sphere fluid, and compare the results to simulation and the Denton-Ashcroft extension.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E as Brief Repor