Quantum effects in gravitational wave signals from cuspy superstrings

We study the gravitational emission, in Superstring Theory, from fundamental strings exhibiting cusps. The classical computation of the gravitational radiation signal from cuspy strings features strong bursts in the special null directions associated to the cusps. We perform a quantum computation of the gravitational radiation signal from a cuspy string, as measured in a gravitational wave detector using matched filtering and located in the special null direction associated to the cusp. We study the quantum statistics (expectation value and variance) of the measured filtered signal and find that it is very sharply peaked around the classical prediction. Ultimately, this result follows from the fact that the detector is a low-pass filter which is blind to the violent high-frequency quantum fluctuations of both the string worldsheet, and the incoming gravitational field.Comment: 16 pages, no figur

Low-frequency gravitational radiation from coalescing massive black hole binaries in hierarchical cosmologies

We compute the expected gravitational wave signal from coalescing massive black hole (MBH) binaries at the center of galaxies in a hierarchical structure formation scenario in which seed holes of intermediate mass form far up in the dark halo merger tree. The merger history of DM halos and MBHs is followed from z=20 to the present in a LCDM cosmology. MBHs get incorporated through halo mergers into larger and larger structures, sink to the center owing to dynamical friction against the DM background, accrete cold material in the merger remnant, and form MBH binary systems. Stellar dynamical interactions cause the hardening of the binary at large separations, while gravitational wave emission takes over at small radii and leads to the final coalescence of the pair. The integrated emission from inspiraling MBH binaries results in a gravitational wave background (GWB). The characteristic strain spectrum has the standard h_c(f)\propto f^{-2/3} behavior only in the range 1E-9<f<1E-6 Hz. At lower frequencies the orbital decay of MBH binaries is driven by the ejection of background stars, and h_c(f) \propto f. At higher frequencies, f>1E-6 Hz, the strain amplitude is shaped by the convolution of last stable circular orbit emission. We discuss the observability of inspiraling MBH binaries by the planned LISA. Over a 3-year observing period LISA should resolve this GWB into discrete sources, detecting ~60 (~250) individual events above a S/N=5 (S/N=1) confidence level. (Abridged)Comment: 11 pages, 8 figues. Revised version accepted to be published in ApJ Discussion on number counts corrected and expande

New Pulsars from an Arecibo Drift Scan Search

We report the discovery of pulsars J0030+0451, J0711+0931, and J1313+0931 that were found in a search of 470 square degrees at 430 MHz using the 305m Arecibo telescope. The search has an estimated sensitivity for long period, low dispersion measure, low zenith angle, and high Galactic latitude pulsars of ~1 mJy, comparable to previous Arecibo searches. Spin and astrometric parameters for the three pulsars are presented along with polarimetry at 430 MHz. PSR J0030+0451, a nearby pulsar with a period of 4.8 ms, belongs to the less common category of isolated millisecond pulsars. We have measured significant polarization in PSR J0030+0451 over more than 50% of the period, and use these data for a detailed discussion of its magnetospheric geometry. Scintillation observations of PSR J0030+0451 provide an estimate of the plasma turbulence level along the line of sight through the local interstellar medium.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for Publication in Ap

Treating Speech Anxiety in Youth:A Randomized Controlled Microtrial Testing the Efficacy of Exposure Only versus Exposure Combined with Anxiety Management Strategies

Contains fulltext : 239184.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)CBT for anxious youth usually combines anxiety management strategies (AMS) with exposure, with exposure assumed to be critical for treatment success. To limit therapy time while retaining effectiveness, one might optimize CBT by restricting treatment to necessary components. This study tested whether devoting all sessions to exposure is more effective in reducing speech anxiety in youth than devoting half to AMS including cognitive or relaxation strategies and half to exposure. After a 6-week waitlist period, adolescents with speech anxiety (N = 65; age 12-15; 42 girls) were randomized to a 5-session in-school group-based CBT training consisting of either (1) exposure-only (EXP+EXP) or (2) cognitive strategies followed by exposure (COG+EXP) or (3) relaxation strategies followed by exposure (REL+EXP). Clinical interviews, speech tests, and self-report measures were assessed at pretest, posttest, and follow-up. For all conditions (a) the intervention period resulted in a stronger decline of speech anxiety than waitlist period; (b) there was a large sized reduction of speech anxiety that was maintained at six-week follow-up; (c) there was no meaningful difference in the efficacy of EXP+EXP versus COG+EXP or REL+EXP. These findings suggest that devoting all sessions to exposure is not more effective than combining exposure with AMS. AMS appeared neither necessary for CBT to be effective, nor necessary for youth to tolerate exposure. This indicates that CBT can be optimized by restricting treatment to exposure.18 p

A Bayesian parameter estimation approach to pulsar time-of-arrival analysis

The increasing sensitivities of pulsar timing arrays to ultra-low frequency (nHz) gravitational waves promises to achieve direct gravitational wave detection within the next 5-10 years. While there are many parallel efforts being made in the improvement of telescope sensitivity, the detection of stable millisecond pulsars and the improvement of the timing software, there are reasons to believe that the methods used to accurately determine the time-of-arrival (TOA) of pulses from radio pulsars can be improved upon. More specifically, the determination of the uncertainties on these TOAs, which strongly affect the ability to detect GWs through pulsar timing, may be unreliable. We propose two Bayesian methods for the generation of pulsar TOAs starting from pulsar "search-mode" data and pre-folded data. These methods are applied to simulated toy-model examples and in this initial work we focus on the issue of uncertainties in the folding period. The final results of our analysis are expressed in the form of posterior probability distributions on the signal parameters (including the TOA) from a single observation.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Urinary pesticide mixture patterns and exposure determinants in the adult population from the Netherlands and Switzerland : Application of a suspect screening approach

INTRODUCTION: Non-occupational sources of pesticide exposure may include domestic pesticide usage, diet, occupational exposure of household members, and agricultural activities in the residential area. We conducted a study with the ambition to characterize pesticide mixture patterns in a sample of the adult population of the Netherlands and Switzerland, using a suspect screening approach and to identify related exposure determinants. METHODS: A total of 105 and 295 adults participated in the Dutch and Swiss studies, respectively. First morning void urine samples were collected and analyzed in the same laboratory. Harmonized questionnaires about personal characteristics, pesticide-related activities, and diet were administered. Detection rates and co-occurrence patterns were calculated to explore internal pesticide exposure patterns. Censored linear and logistic regression models were constructed to investigate the association between exposure and domestic pesticide usage, consumption of homegrown and organic foods, household members' exposure, and distance to agricultural and forest areas. RESULTS: From the 37 detected biomarkers, 3 (acetamiprid (-CH2), chlorpropham (4-HSA), and flonicamid (-C2HN)) were detected in ≥40% of samples. The most frequent combination of biomarkers (acetamiprid-flonicamid) was detected in 22 (5.5%) samples. Regression models revealed an inverse association between high organic vegetable and fruit consumption and exposure to acetamiprid, chlorpropham, propamocarb (+O), and pyrimethanil (+O + SO3). Within-individual correlations in repeated samples (summer/winter) from the Netherlands were low (≤0.3), and no seasonal differences in average exposures were observed in Switzerland. CONCLUSION: High consumption of organic fruit and vegetables was associated with lower pesticide exposure. In the two countries, detection rates and co-occurrence were typically low, and within-person variability was high. Our study results provide an indication for target biomarkers to include in future studies aimed at quantifying urinary exposure levels in European adult populations

C2D Spitzer-IRS spectra of disks around T Tauri stars V. Spectral decomposition

(Abridged) Dust particles evolve in size and lattice structure in protoplanetary disks, due to coagulation, fragmentation and crystallization, and are radially and vertically mixed in disks. This paper aims at determining the mineralogical composition and size distribution of the dust grains in disks around 58 T Tauri stars observed with Spitzer/IRS. We present a spectral decomposition model that reproduces the IRS spectra over the full spectral range. The model assumes two dust populations: a warm component responsible for the 10\mu m emission arising from the disk inner regions and a colder component responsible for the 20-30\mu m emission, arising from more distant regions. We show evidence for a significant size distribution flattening compared to the typical MRN distribution, providing an explanation for the usual boxy 10\mu m feature profile generally observed. We reexamine the crystallinity paradox, observationally identified by Olofsson et al. (2009), and we find a simultaneous enrichment of the crystallinity in both the warm and cold regions, while grain sizes in both components are uncorrelated. Our modeling results do not show evidence for any correlations between the crystallinity and either the star spectral type, or the X-ray luminosity (for a subset of the sample). The size distribution flattening may suggests that grain coagulation is a slightly more effective process than fragmentation in disk atmospheres, and that this imbalance may last over most of the T Tauri phase. This result may also point toward small grain depletion via strong stellar winds or radiation pressure in the upper layers of disk. The non negligible cold crystallinity fractions suggests efficient radial mixing processes in order to distribute crystalline grains at large distances from the central object, along with possible nebular shocks in outer regions of disks that can thermally anneal amorphous grains

Circular Polarization in Pulsar Integrated Profiles: Updates

We update the systematic studies of circular polarization in integrated pulse profiles by Han et al (1998). Data of circular polarization profiles are compiled. Sense reversals can occur in core or cone components, or near the intersection between components. The correlation between the sense of circular polarization and the sense of position angle variation for conal-double pulsars is confirmed with a much large database. Circular polarization of some pulsars has clear changes with frequency. Circular polarization of millisecond pulsars is marginally different from that of normal pulsars.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted and will be published soon by Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ChJAA

Confronting hybrid inflation in supergravity with CMB data

$F$-term GUT inflation coupled to N=1 Supergravity is confronted with CMB data. Corrections to the string mass-per-unit-length away from the Bogomolny limit are taken into account. We find that a superpotential coupling 10^{-7}/\mcN \lesssim \kappa \lesssim 10^{-2}/\mcN, with \mcN the dimension of the Higgs-representation, is still compatible with the data. The parameter space is enlarged in warm inflation, as well as in the curvaton and inhomogeneous reheat scenario. $F$-strings formed at the end of $P$-term inflation are also considered. Because these strings satisfy the Bogomolny bound the bounds are stronger: the gauge coupling is constrained to the range $10^{-7} < g <10^{-4}$.Comment: 36 pages, 15 figure