8,612 research outputs found
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect from Quasar Feedback
The observed relationship between X-ray luminosity and temperature of the
diffuse intercluster medium clearly shows the effect of nongravitational
heating on the formation of galaxy clusters. Quasar feedback into the
intergalactic medium can potentially be an important source of heating, and can
have significant impact on structure formation. This feedback process is a
source of thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich distortions of the cosmic microwave
background. Using a simple one-dimensional Sedov-Taylor model of energy
outflow, we calculate the angular power spectrum of the temperature distortion,
which has an amplitude on the order of one micro-Kelvin. This signal will be at
the noise limit of upcoming arcminute-scale microwave background experiments,
including the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the South Pole Telescope, but
will be directly detectable with deep exposures by the Atacama Large Millimeter
Array or by stacking many microwave images.Comment: The discussion of detectability is expanded. Matches the ApJ Letters
accepted versio
Space-Time Approach to Scattering from Many Body Systems
We present scattering from many body systems in a new light. In place of the
usual van Hove treatment, (applicable to a wide range of scattering processes
using both photons and massive particles) based on plane waves, we calculate
the scattering amplitude as a space-time integral over the scattering sample
for an incident wave characterized by its correlation function which results
from the shaping of the wave field by the apparatus. Instrument resolution
effects - seen as due to the loss of correlation caused by the path differences
in the different arms of the instrument are automatically included and analytic
forms of the resolution function for different instruments are obtained. The
intersection of the moving correlation volumes (those regions where the
correlation functions are significant) associated with the different elements
of the apparatus determines the maximum correlation lengths (times) that can be
observed in a sample, and hence, the momentum (energy) resolution of the
measurement. This geometrical picture of moving correlation volumes derived by
our technique shows how the interaction of the scatterer with the wave field
shaped by the apparatus proceeds in space and time. Matching of the correlation
volumes so as to maximize the intersection region yields a transparent,
graphical method of instrument design. PACS: 03.65.Nk, 3.80 +r, 03.75, 61.12.BComment: Latex document with 6 fig
Stress and Strain in Flat Piling of Disks
We have created a flat piling of disks in a numerical experiment using the
Distinct Element Method (DEM) by depositing them under gravity. In the
resulting pile, we then measured increments in stress and strain that were
associated with a small decrease in gravity. We first describe the stress in
terms of the strain using isotropic elasticity theory. Then, from a
micro-mechanical view point, we calculate the relation between the stress and
strain using the mean strain assumption. We compare the predicted values of
Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio with those that were measured in the
numerical experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 1 table, 8 figures, and 2 pages for captions of figure
Genome-wide association studies for feedlot and growth traits in cattle
A genome wide-association study for production traits in cattle was carried out using genotype data from the 10K Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) and the 50K Illumina (San Diego, CA) SNP chips. The results for residual feed intake (RFI), BW, and hip height in 3 beef breed types (Bos indicus, Bos taurus, and B. indicus × B. taurus), and for stature in dairy cattle, are presented. The aims were to discover SNP associated with all traits studied, but especially RFI, and further to test the consistency of SNP effects across different cattle populations and breed types. The data were analyzed within data sets and within breed types by using a mixed model and fitting 1 SNP at a time. In each case, the number of significant SNP was more than expected by chance alone. A total of 75 SNP from the reference population with 50K chip data were significant (P < 0.001) for RFI, with a false discovery rate of 68%. These 75 SNP were mapped on 24 different BTA. Of the 75 SNP, the 9 most significant SNP were detected on BTA 3, 5, 7, and 8, with P ≤ 6.0 × 10 . In a population of Angus cattle divergently selected for high and low RFI and 10K chip data, 111 SNP were significantly (P < 0.001) associated with RFI, with a false discovery rate of 7%. Approximately 103 of these SNP were therefore likely to represent true positives. Because of the small number of SNP common to both the 10K and 50K SNP chips, only 27 SNP were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with RFI in the 2 populations. However, other chromosome regions were found that contained SNP significantly associated with RFI in both data sets, although no SNP within the region showed a consistent effect on RFI. The SNP effects were consistent between data sets only when estimated within the same breed type
Blade Loading Effects on Axial Turbine Tip Leakage Vortex Dynamics and Loss
umerical simulations have been carried out to define the loss generation mechanisms associated with tip leakage in un-shrouded axial turbines. Tip clearance vortex dynamics are a dominant feature of two mechanisms important in determining this loss: (i) decreased swirl velocity due to vortex line contraction in regions of decreasing axial velocity, i.e., adverse pressure gradient and (ii) vortex breakdown and reverse flow in the vortex core. The mixing losses behave differently from the conventional view of flow exiting a turbine tip clearance. More specifically, it is shown, through both control volume arguments and computations, that as a swirling leakage flow passes through a pressure rise, such as in the aft portion of the suction side of a turbine blade, the mixed-out loss can either decrease or increase. For turbines the latter typically occurs if the deceleration is large enough to initiate vortex breakdown, and it is demonstrated that this is the case in modern turbines. The effect of blade pressure distribution on clearance losses is illustrated through computational examination of two turbine blades, one with forward loading at the tip and one with aft loading. A 15% difference in leakage loss is found between the two, due to lower clearance vortex deceleration (lower core static pressure rise) with forward loading, and hence lower vortex breakdown loss. Additional computational experiments, carried out to define the effects of blade loading, incidence, and solidity, are found to be consistent with the proposed ideas linking blade pressure distribution, vortex breakdown and turbine tip leakage loss
Predictability of large future changes in a competitive evolving population
The dynamical evolution of many economic, sociological, biological and
physical systems tends to be dominated by a relatively small number of
unexpected, large changes (`extreme events'). We study the large, internal
changes produced in a generic multi-agent population competing for a limited
resource, and find that the level of predictability actually increases prior to
a large change. These large changes hence arise as a predictable consequence of
information encoded in the system's global state.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
High Pressure Insulator-Metal Transition in Molecular Fluid Oxygen
We report the first experimental evidence for a metallic phase in fluid
molecular oxygen. Our electrical conductivity measurements of fluid oxygen
under dynamic quasi-isentropic compression show that a non-metal/metal
transition occurs at 3.4 fold compression, 4500 K and 1.2 Mbar. We discuss the
main features of the electrical conductivity dependence on density and
temperature and give an interpretation of the nature of the electrical
transport mechanisms in fluid oxygen at these extreme conditions.Comment: RevTeX, 4 figure
Internal states of model isotropic granular packings. I. Assembling process, geometry and contact networks
This is the first paper of a series of three, reporting on numerical
simulation studies of geometric and mechanical properties of static assemblies
of spherical beads under an isotropic pressure. Frictionless systems assemble
in the unique random close packing (RCP) state in the low pressure limit if the
compression process is fast enough, slower processes inducing traces of
crystallization, and exhibit specific properties directly related to
isostaticity of the force-carrying structure. The different structures of
frictional packings assembled by various methods cannot be classified by the
sole density. While lubricated systems approach RCP densities and coordination
number z^*~=6 on the backbone in the rigid limit, an idealized "vibration"
procedure results in equally dense configurations with z^*~=4.5. Near neighbor
correlations on various scales are computed and compared to available
laboratory data, although z^* values remain experimentally inaccessible. Low
coordination packings have many rattlers (more than 10% of the grains carry no
force), which should be accounted for on studying position correlations, and a
small proportion of harmless "floppy modes" associated with divalent grains.
Frictional packings, however slowly assembled under low pressure, retain a
finite level of force indeterminacy, except in the limit of infinite friction.Comment: 29 pages. Published in Physical Review
Separability and Fourier representations of density matrices
Using the finite Fourier transform, we introduce a generalization of
Pauli-spin matrices for -dimensional spaces, and the resulting set of
unitary matrices is a basis for matrices. If and H^{[ N]}=\bigotimes H^{% [ d_{k}]}, we give a
sufficient condition for separability of a density matrix relative to
the in terms of the norm of the spin coefficients of
Since the spin representation depends on the form of the tensor
product, the theory applies to both full and partial separability on a given
space % . It follows from this result that for a prescribed form of
separability, there is always a neighborhood of the normalized identity in
which every density matrix is separable. We also show that for every prime
and the generalized Werner density matrix is fully
separable if and only if
Two-photon spin injection in semiconductors
A comparison is made between the degree of spin polarization of electrons
excited by one- and two-photon absorption of circularly polarized light in bulk
zincblende semiconductors. Time- and polarization-resolved experiments in
(001)-oriented GaAs reveal an initial degree of spin polarization of 49% for
both one- and two-photon spin injection at wavelengths of 775 and 1550 nm, in
agreement with theory. The macroscopic symmetry and microscopic theory for
two-photon spin injection are reviewed, and the latter is generalized to
account for spin-splitting of the bands. The degree of spin polarization of
one- and two-photon optical orientation need not be equal, as shown by
calculations of spectra for GaAs, InP, GaSb, InSb, and ZnSe using a 14x14 k.p
Hamiltonian including remote band effects. By including the higher conduction
bands in the calculation, cubic anisotropy and the role of allowed-allowed
transitions can be investigated. The allowed-allowed transitions do not
conserve angular momentum and can cause a high degree of spin polarization
close to the band edge; a value of 78% is calculated in GaSb, but by varying
the material parameters it could be as high as 100%. The selection rules for
spin injection from allowed-allowed transitions are presented, and interband
spin-orbit coupling is found to play an important role.Comment: 12 pages including 7 figure
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