Spectral Softening Between Outburst and Quiescence In The Neutron Star Low-Mass X-Ray Binary SAX J1750.8-2900

Tracking the spectral evolution of transiently accreting neutron stars between outburst and quiescence probes relatively poorly understood accretion regimes. Such studies are challenging because they require frequent monitoring of sources with luminosities below the thresholds of current all-sky X-ray monitors. We present the analysis of over 30 observations of the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary SAX J1750.8-2900 taken across four years with the X-ray telescope aboard Swift. We find spectral softening with decreasing luminosity both on long ($\sim$1 year) and short ($\sim$days to week) timescales. As the luminosity decreases from $4\times10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$ to $\sim1\times10^{35}$ erg s$^{-1}$ (0.5-10 keV), the power law photon index increases from from 1.4 to 2.9. Although not statistically required, our spectral fits allow an additional soft component that displays a decreasing temperature as the luminosity decreases from $4 \times 10^{36}$ to $6 \times 10^{34}$ erg s$^{-1}$. Spectral softening exhibited by SAX J1750.8-2900 is consistent both with accretion emission whose spectral shape steepens with decreasing luminosity and also with being dominated by a changing soft component, possibly associated with accretion onto the neutron star surface, as the luminosity declines.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 3 Tables. Resubmitted to The Astrophysical Journal after incorporating comments from the refere

Rheological measurements of large particles in high shear rate flows

This paper presents experimental measurements of the rheological behavior of liquid-solid mixtures at moderate Stokes and Reynolds numbers. The experiments were performed in a coaxial rheometer that was designed to minimize the effects of secondary flows. By changing the shear rate, particle size, and liquid viscosity, the Reynolds numbers based on shear rate and particle diameter ranged from 20 to 800 (Stokes numbers from 3 to 90), which is higher than examined in earlier rheometric studies. Prior studies have suggested that as the shear rate is increased, particle-particle collisions also increase resulting in a shear stress that depends non-linearly on the shear rate. However, over the range of conditions that were examined in this study, the shear stress showed a linear dependence on the shear rate. Hence, the effective relative viscosity is independent of the Reynolds and Stokes numbers and a non-linear function of the solid fraction. The present work also includes a series of rough-wall experiments that show the relative effective viscosity is also independent of the shear rate and larger than in the smooth wall experiments. In addition, measurements were made of the near-wall particle velocities, which demonstrate the presence of slip at the wall for the smooth-walled experiments. The depletion layer thickness, a region next to the walls where the solid fraction decreases, was calculated based on these measurements. The relative effective viscosities in the current work are larger than found in low-Reynolds number suspension studies but are comparable with a few granular suspension studies from which the relative effective viscosities can be inferred

Critical behavior of self-assembled rigid rods on triangular and honeycomb lattices

Using Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling analysis, the critical behavior of self-assembled rigid rods on triangular and honeycomb lattices at intermediate density has been studied. The system is composed of monomers with two attractive (sticky) poles that, by decreasing temperature or increasing density, polymerize reversibly into chains with three allowed directions and, at the same time, undergo a continuous isotropic-nematic (IN) transition. The determination of the critical exponents, along with the behavior of Binder cumulants, indicate that the IN transition belongs to the q=1 Potts universality class.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

A USB3.0 FPGA Event-based Filtering and Tracking Framework for Dynamic Vision Sensors

Dynamic vision sensors (DVS) are frame-free sensors with an asynchronous variable-rate output that is ideal for hard real-time dynamic vision applications under power and latency constraints. Post-processing of the digital sensor output can reduce sensor noise, extract low level features, and track objects using simple algorithms that have previously been implemented in software. In this paper we present an FPGA-based framework for event-based processing that allows uncorrelated-event noise removal and real-time tracking of multiple objects, with dynamic capabilities to adapt itself to fast or slow and large or small objects. This framework uses a new hardware platform based on a Lattice FPGA which filters the sensor output and which then transmits the results through a super-speed Cypress FX3 USB microcontroller interface to a host computer. The packets of events and timestamps are transmitted to the host computer at rates of 10 Mega events per second. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate a low latency of 10us for tracking and computing the center of mass of a detected object.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-37868-C04-0

Past and present potential distribution of the Iberian Abies species: A phytogeographic approach using pollen data and species distribution models

This is the accepted version of the following article: Alba-Sánchez, F., López-Sáez, J. A., Pando, B. B.-d., Linares, J. C., Nieto-Lugilde, D. and López-Merino, L. (2010), Past and present potential distribution of the Iberian Abies species: a phytogeographic approach using fossil pollen data and species distribution models. Diversity and Distributions, 16: 214–228, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00636.x/abstract.Aim - Quaternary palaeopalynological records collected throughout the Iberian Peninsula and species distribution models (SDMs) were integrated to gain a better understanding of the historical biogeography of the Iberian Abies species (i.e. Abies pinsapo and Abies alba). We hypothesize that SDMs and Abies palaeorecords are closely correlated, assuming a certain stasis in climatic and topographic ecological niche dimensions. In addition, the modelling results were used to assign the fossil records to A. alba or A. pinsapo, to identify environmental variables affecting their distribution, and to evaluate the ecological segregation between the two taxa. Location - The Iberian Peninsula. Methods - For the estimation of past Abies distributions, a hindcasting process was used. Abies pinsapo and A. alba were modelled individually, first calibrating the model for their current distributions in relation to the present climate, and then projecting it into the past—the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the Middle Holocene periods—in relation to palaeoclimate simulations. The resulting models were compared with Iberian-wide fossil pollen records to detect areas of overlap. Results - The overlap observed between past Abies refugia—inferred from fossil pollen records—and the SDMs helped to construct the Quaternary distribution of the Iberian Abies species. SDMs yielded two well-differentiated potential distributions: A. pinsapo throughout the Baetic mountain Range and A. alba along the Pyrenees and Cantabrian Range. These results propose that the two taxa remained isolated throughout the Quaternary, indicating a significant geographical and ecological segregation. In addition, no significant differences were detected comparing the three projections (present-day, Mid-Holocene and LGM), suggesting a relative climate stasis in the refuge areas during the Quaternary. Main conclusions - Our results confirm that SDM projections can provide a useful complement to palaeoecological studies, offering a less subjective and spatially explicit hypothesis concerning past geographic patterns of Iberian Abies species. The integration of ecological-niche characteristics from known occurrences of Abies species in conjunction with palaeoecological studies could constitute a suitable tool to define appropriate areas in which to focus proactive conservation strategies.The Andalusian Innovation, Science, and Industry Regional Ministry and the National Plan of the Spanish Government