11,962 research outputs found
Quasinormal Modes of Dirty Black Holes
Quasinormal mode (QNM) gravitational radiation from black holes is expected
to be observed in a few years. A perturbative formula is derived for the shifts
in both the real and the imaginary part of the QNM frequencies away from those
of an idealized isolated black hole. The formulation provides a tool for
understanding how the astrophysical environment surrounding a black hole, e.g.,
a massive accretion disk, affects the QNM spectrum of gravitational waves. We
show, in a simple model, that the perturbed QNM spectrum can have interesting
features.Comment: 4 pages. Published in PR
Enhancing the representation of subgrid land surface characteristics in land surface models
Land surface heterogeneity has long been recognized as important to represent in the land surface models. In most existing land surface models, the spatial variability of surface cover is represented as subgrid composition of multiple surface cover types, although subgrid topography also has major controls on surface processes. In this study, we developed a new subgrid classification method (SGC) that accounts for variability of both topography and vegetation cover. Each model grid cell was represented with a variable number of elevation classes and each elevation class was further described by a variable number of vegetation types optimized for each model grid given a predetermined total number of land response units (LRUs). The subgrid structure of the Community Land Model (CLM) was used to illustrate the newly developed method in this study. Although the new method increases the computational burden in the model simulation compared to the CLM subgrid vegetation representation, it greatly reduced the variations of elevation within each subgrid class and is able to explain at least 80% of the total subgrid plant functional types (PFTs). The new method was also evaluated against two other subgrid methods (SGC1 and SGC2) that assigned fixed numbers of elevation and vegetation classes for each model grid (SGC1: <i>M</i> elevation bands–<i>N</i> PFTs method; SGC2: <i>N</i> PFTs–<i>M</i> elevation bands method). Implemented at five model resolutions (0.1°, 0.25°, 0.5°, 1.0°and 2.0°) with three maximum-allowed total number of LRUs (i.e., <i>N</i><sub>LRU</sub> of 24, 18 and 12) over North America (NA), the new method yielded more computationally efficient subgrid representation compared to SGC1 and SGC2, particularly at coarser model resolutions and moderate computational intensity (<i>N</i><sub>LRU</sub> = 18). It also explained the most PFTs and elevation variability that is more homogeneously distributed spatially. The SGC method will be implemented in CLM over the NA continent to assess its impacts on simulating land surface processes
Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muons and Muon-induced Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory
We have measured the muon flux and production rate of muon-induced neutrons
at a depth of 611 m water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises three layers of
crossed plastic scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray
muons and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator for producing and
detecting neutrons. The vertical muon intensity was measured to be cmssr. The yield of
muon-induced neutrons in the liquid scintillator was determined to be
neutrons/(gcm). A fit to the recently measured neutron
yields at different depths gave a mean muon energy dependence of for liquid-scintillator targets.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 3 table
Multi-wavelength emissions from the millisecond pulsar binary PSR J1023+0038 during an accretion active state
Recent observations strongly suggest that the millisecond pulsar binary PSR
J1023+0038 has developed an accretion disk since 2013 June. We present a
multi-wavelength analysis of PSR J1023+0038, which reveals that 1) its
gamma-rays suddenly brightened within a few days in June/July 2013 and has
remained at a high gamma-ray state for several months; 2) both UV and X-ray
fluxes have increased by roughly an order of magnitude, and 3) the spectral
energy distribution has changed significantly after the gamma-ray sudden flux
change. Time variabilities associated with UV and X-rays are on the order of
100-500 seconds and 50-100 seconds, respectively. Our model suggests that a
newly formed accretion disk due to the sudden increase of the stellar wind
could explain the changes of all these observed features. The increase of UV is
emitted from the disk, and a new component in gamma-rays is produced by inverse
Compton scattering between the new UV component and pulsar wind. The increase
of X-rays results from the enhancement of injection pulsar wind energy into the
intra-binary shock due to the increase of the stellar wind. We also predict
that the radio pulses may be blocked by the evaporated winds from the disk and
the pulsar is still powered by rotation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
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