Automated Lensing Learner: Automated Strong Lensing Identification with a Computer Vision Technique

Forthcoming surveys such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Euclid necessitate automatic and efficient identification methods of strong lensing systems. We present a strong lensing identification approach that utilizes a feature extraction method from computer vision, the Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG), to capture edge patterns of arcs. We train a supervised classifier model on the HOG of mock strong galaxy-galaxy lens images similar to observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and LSST. We assess model performance with the area under the curve (AUC) of a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Models trained on 10,000 lens and non-lens containing images images exhibit an AUC of 0.975 for an HST-like sample, 0.625 for one exposure of LSST, and 0.809 for 10-year mock LSST observations. Performance appears to continually improve with the training set size. Models trained on fewer images perform better in absence of the lens galaxy light. However, with larger training data sets, information from the lens galaxy actually improves model performance, indicating that HOG captures much of the morphological complexity of the arc finding problem. We test our classifier on data from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey and find that small scale image features reduces the efficiency of our trained model. However, these preliminary tests indicate that some parameterizations of HOG can compensate for differences between observed mock data. One example best-case parameterization results in an AUC of 0.6 in the F814 filter image with other parameterization results equivalent to random performance.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, summarizing results in figure

Circadian and Ultradian Rhythms of Free Glucocorticoid Hormone Are Highly Synchronized between the Blood, the Subcutaneous Tissue, and the Brain

Total glucocorticoid hormone levels in plasma of various species, including humans, follow a circadian rhythm that is made up from an underlying series of hormone pulses. In blood most of the glucocorticoid is bound to corticosteroid-binding globulin and albumin, resulting in low levels of free hormone. Although only the free fraction is biologically active, surprisingly little is known about the rhythms of free glucocorticoid hormones. We used single-probe microdialysis to measure directly the free corticosterone levels in the blood of freely behaving rats. Free corticosterone in the blood shows a distinct circadian and ultradian rhythm with a pulse frequency of approximately one pulse per hour together with an increase in hormone levels and pulse height toward the active phase of the light/dark cycle. Similar rhythms were also evident in the subcutaneous tissue, demonstrating that free corticosterone rhythms are transferred from the blood into peripheral target tissues. Furthermore, in a dual-probe microdialysis study, we demonstrated that the circadian and ultradian rhythms of free corticosterone in the blood and the subcutaneous tissue were highly synchronized. Moreover, free corticosterone rhythms were also synchronous between the blood and the hippocampus. These data demonstrate for the first time an ultradian rhythm of free corticosterone in the blood that translates into synchronized rhythms of free glucocorticoid hormone in peripheral and central tissues. The maintenance of ultradian rhythms across tissue barriers in both the periphery and the brain has important implications for research into aberrant biological rhythms in disease and for the development of improved protocols for glucocorticoid therapy

Absorption of dark matter by a supermassive black hole at the Galactic center: role of boundary conditions

The evolution of the dark matter distribution at the Galactic center is analyzed, which is caused by the combination of gravitational scattering on Galactic bulge stars and absorption by a supermassive black hole at the center of the bulge. Attention is focused on the boundary condition on the black hole. It is shown that its form depends on the energy of dark matter particles. The modified flux of dark matter particles onto the black hole is calculated. Estimates of the amount of dark matter absorbed show that the fraction of dark matter in the total mass of the black hole may be significant. The density of dark matter at the central part of the bulge is calculated. It is shown that recently observed gamma radiation from the Galactic center can be attributed to the annihilation of dark matter with this density.Comment: 5 page

Lattice determination of the K→(ππ)I=2K \to (\pi\pi)_{I=2} Decay Amplitude A2A_2

We describe the computation of the amplitude A_2 for a kaon to decay into two pions with isospin I=2. The results presented in the letter Phys.Rev.Lett. 108 (2012) 141601 from an analysis of 63 gluon configurations are updated to 146 configurations giving Re$A_2=1.381(46)_{\textrm{stat}}(258)_{\textrm{syst}} 10^{-8}$ GeV and Im$A_2=-6.54(46)_{\textrm{stat}}(120)_{\textrm{syst}}10^{-13}$ GeV. Re$A_2$ is in good agreement with the experimental result, whereas the value of Im$A_2$ was hitherto unknown. We are also working towards a direct computation of the $K\to(\pi\pi)_{I=0}$ amplitude $A_0$ but, within the standard model, our result for Im$A_2$ can be combined with the experimental results for Re$A_0$, Re$A_2$ and $\epsilon^\prime/\epsilon$ to give Im$A_0/$Re$A_0= -1.61(28)\times 10^{-4}$ . Our result for Im\,$A_2$ implies that the electroweak penguin (EWP) contribution to $\epsilon^\prime/\epsilon$ is Re$(\epsilon^\prime/\epsilon)_{\mathrm{EWP}} = -(6.25 \pm 0.44_{\textrm{stat}} \pm 1.19_{\textrm{syst}}) \times 10^{-4}$.Comment: 59 pages, 11 figure

Perspective on gravitational self-force analyses

A point particle of mass $\mu$ moving on a geodesic creates a perturbation $h_{ab}$, of the spacetime metric $g_{ab}$, that diverges at the particle. Simple expressions are given for the singular $\mu/r$ part of $h_{ab}$ and its distortion caused by the spacetime. This singular part h^\SS_{ab} is described in different coordinate systems and in different gauges. Subtracting h^\SS_{ab} from $h_{ab}$ leaves a regular remainder $h^\R_{ab}$. The self-force on the particle from its own gravitational field adjusts the world line at \Or(\mu) to be a geodesic of $g_{ab}+h^\R_{ab}$; this adjustment includes all of the effects of radiation reaction. For the case that the particle is a small non-rotating black hole, we give a uniformly valid approximation to a solution of the Einstein equations, with a remainder of \Or(\mu^2) as $\mu\to0$. An example presents the actual steps involved in a self-force calculation. Gauge freedom introduces ambiguity in perturbation analysis. However, physically interesting problems avoid this ambiguity.Comment: 40 pages, to appear in a special issue of CQG on radiation reaction, contains additional references, improved notation for tensor harmonic

Active Mass Under Pressure

After a historical introduction to Poisson's equation for Newtonian gravity, its analog for static gravitational fields in Einstein's theory is reviewed. It appears that the pressure contribution to the active mass density in Einstein's theory might also be noticeable at the Newtonian level. A form of its surprising appearance, first noticed by Richard Chase Tolman, was discussed half a century ago in the Hamburg Relativity Seminar and is resolved here.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figure

Nineteenth-Century Popular Science Magazines, Narrative, and the Problem of Historical Materiality

In his Some Reminiscences of a Lecturer, Andrew Wilson emphasizes the importance of narrative to popular science lecturing. Although Wilson promotes the teaching of science as useful knowledge in its own right, he also recognizes that the way science is taught can encourage audiences to take the subject up and read further on their own. Form, according to Wilson, should not be divorced from scientific content and lecturers should ensure that not only is their science accurate, but that it is presented in a way that will provoke curiosity and stimulate interest. This paper discusses the influence of narrative in structuring scientific objects and phenomena, and considers the consequences of such presentations for historical research. As scientific journalism necessarily weaves both its intended audience and the objects under discussion into its accounts, these texts demand that we recognize their nature as social relationships inscribed in historical objects

On the Conformal forms of the Robertson-Walker metric

All possible transformations from the Robertson-Walker metric to those conformal to the Lorentz-Minkowski form are derived. It is demonstrated that the commonly known family of transformations and associated conformal factors are not exhaustive and that there exists another relatively less well known family of transformations with a different conformal factor in the particular case that K = -1. Simplified conformal factors are derived for the special case of maximally-symmetric spacetimes. The full set of all possible cosmologically-compatible conformal forms is presented as a comprehensive table. A product of the analysis is the determination of the set-theoretical relationships between the maximally symmetric spacetimes, the Robertson-Walker spacetimes, and functionally more general spacetimes. The analysis is preceded by a short historical review of the application of conformal metrics to Cosmology.Comment: Historical review added. Accepted by J. Math. Phy

Effects of 7.5% carbon dioxide inhalation on anxiety and mood in cigarette smokers

Cigarette smoking is associated with elevated risk of anxiety and mood disorder. Using the 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO(2)) inhalation model of anxiety induction, we examined the effects of smoking status and abstinence from smoking on anxiety responses. Physiological and subjective responses to CO(2) and medical air were compared in smokers and non-smokers (Experiment One) and in overnight abstinent and non-abstinent smokers (Experiment Two). CO(2) induced greater increases in blood pressure in non-smokers compared with smokers (ps < 0.043), and greater increases in anxiety (p = 0.005) and negative affect (p = 0.054) in non-abstinent compared with abstinent smokers. CO(2) increased physiological and subjective indices of anxiety. There were differences across smoking groups indicating that the CO(2) inhalation model is a useful tool for examining the relationship between smoking and anxiety. The findings suggested that both acute smoking and acute abstinence may protect against anxious responding. Further investigation is needed in long-term heavy smokers

Bernstein modes in a weakly relativistic electron-positron plasma

The kinetic theory of weakly relativistic electron-positron plasmas, producing dispersion relations for the electrostatic Bernstein modes was addressed. The treatment presented preserves the full momentum dependence of the cyclotron frequency, albeit with a relaxation on the true relativistic form of the distribution function. The implications of this new treatment were confined largely to astrophysical plasmas, where relativistic electronpositron plasmas occur naturally