514 research outputs found
Constraining properties of GRB magnetar central engines using the observed plateau luminosity and duration correlation
An intrinsic correlation has been identified between the luminosity and
duration of plateaus in the X-ray afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs;
Dainotti et al. 2008), suggesting a central engine origin. The magnetar central
engine model predicts an observable plateau phase, with plateau durations and
luminosities being determined by the magnetic fields and spin periods of the
newly formed magnetar. This paper analytically shows that the magnetar central
engine model can explain, within the 1 uncertainties, the correlation
between plateau luminosity and duration. The observed scatter in the
correlation most likely originates in the spread of initial spin periods of the
newly formed magnetar and provides an estimate of the maximum spin period of
~35 ms (assuming a constant mass, efficiency and beaming across the GRB
sample). Additionally, by combining the observed data and simulations, we show
that the magnetar emission is most likely narrowly beamed and has 20%
efficiency in conversion of rotational energy from the magnetar into the
observed plateau luminosity. The beaming angles and efficiencies obtained by
this method are fully consistent with both predicted and observed values. We
find that Short GRBs and Short GRBs with Extended Emission lie on the same
correlation but are statistically inconsistent with being drawn from the same
distribution as Long GRBs, this is consistent with them having a wider beaming
angle than Long GRBs.Comment: MNRAS Accepte
Metastability of life
The physical idea of the natural origin of diseases and deaths has been
presented. The fundamental microscopical reason is the destruction of any
metastable state by thermal activation of a nucleus of a nonreversable change.
On the basis of this idea the quantitative theory of age dependence of death
probability has been constructed. The obtained simple Death Laws are very
accurately fulfilled almost for all known diseases.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
A multi-messenger model for neutron star - black hole mergers
We present a semi-analytic model for predicting kilonova light curves from
the mergers of neutron stars with black holes (NSBH). The model is integrated
into the MOSFiT platform, and can generate light curves from input binary
properties and nuclear equation-of-state considerations, or incorporate
measurements from gravitational wave (GW) detectors to perform multi-messenger
parameter estimation. The rapid framework enables the generation of NSBH
kilonova distributions from binary populations, light curve predictions from GW
data, and statistically meaningful comparisons with an equivalent BNS model in
MOSFiT. We investigate a sample of kilonova candidates associated with
cosmological short gamma-ray bursts, and demonstrate that they are broadly
consistent with being driven by NSBH systems, though most have limited data. We
also perform fits to the very well sampled GW170817, and show that the
inability of an NSBH merger to produce lanthanide-poor ejecta results in a
significant underestimate of the early (< 2 days) optical emission. Our model
indicates that NSBH-driven kilonovae may peak up to a week after merger at
optical wavelengths for some observer angles. This demonstrates the need for
early coverage of emergent kilonovae in cases where the GW signal is either
ambiguous or absent; they likely cannot be distinguished from BNS mergers by
the light curves alone from ~2 days after the merger. We also discuss the
detectability of our model kilonovae with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's
Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS.
This is the author's final submitted version. The model code is available
through MOSFiT at https://github.com/guillochon/MOSFi
Evidence for the Gompertz Curve in the Income Distribution of Brazil 1978-2005
This work presents an empirical study of the evolution of the personal income
distribution in Brazil. Yearly samples available from 1978 to 2005 were studied
and evidence was found that the complementary cumulative distribution of
personal income for 99% of the economically less favorable population is well
represented by a Gompertz curve of the form , where
is the normalized individual income. The complementary cumulative
distribution of the remaining 1% richest part of the population is well
represented by a Pareto power law distribution . This
result means that similarly to other countries, Brazil's income distribution is
characterized by a well defined two class system. The parameters , ,
, were determined by a mixture of boundary conditions,
normalization and fitting methods for every year in the time span of this
study. Since the Gompertz curve is characteristic of growth models, its
presence here suggests that these patterns in income distribution could be a
consequence of the growth dynamics of the underlying economic system. In
addition, we found out that the percentage share of both the Gompertzian and
Paretian components relative to the total income shows an approximate cycling
pattern with periods of about 4 years and whose maximum and minimum peaks in
each component alternate at about every 2 years. This finding suggests that the
growth dynamics of Brazil's economic system might possibly follow a
Goodwin-type class model dynamics based on the application of the
Lotka-Volterra equation to economic growth and cycle.Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. LaTeX. Accepted for publication in
"The European Physical Journal B
Empirical maximum lifespan of earthworms is twice that of mice
We considered a Gompertzian model for the population dynamics of Eisenia andrei case-cohorts in artificial OECD soil under strictly controlled conditions. The earthworm culture was kept between 18 and 22°C at a constant pH of 5.0. In all, 77 lumbricids were carefully followed for almost 9 years, until the oldest died. The Eisenia median longevity is 4.25 years and the oldest specimen was 8.73 years. Eisenia cocoons were hand-sorted every 3 weeks, washed in distilled water, placed in Petri dishes, and counted. Regular removal did not reduce breeding. Each fertile cocoon contained on average two or three embryos. The failure rates (mortality and infertility percentages) are smooth power functions where the rate at time (n + 1) captured most of the phenomenology of the previous rate at time n, as expected by the considered law, but not at both the beginning and the end of this long-term laboratory study
Exact Solution of an Evolutionary Model without Ageing
We introduce an age-structured asexual population model containing all the
relevant features of evolutionary ageing theories. Beneficial as well as
deleterious mutations, heredity and arbitrary fecundity are present and managed
by natural selection. An exact solution without ageing is found. We show that
fertility is associated with generalized forms of the Fibonacci sequence, while
mutations and natural selection are merged into an integral equation which is
solved by Fourier series. Average survival probabilities and Malthusian growth
exponents are calculated indicating that the system may exhibit mutational
meltdown. The relevance of the model in the context of fissile reproduction
groups as many protozoa and coelenterates is discussed.Comment: LaTeX file, 15 pages, 2 ps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Interplay between distribution of live cells and growth dynamics of solid tumours
Experiments show that simple diffusion of nutrients and waste molecules is not sufficient to explain the typical multilayered structure of solid tumours, where an outer rim of proliferating cells surrounds a layer of quiescent but viable cells and a central necrotic region. These experiments challenge models of tumour growth based exclusively on diffusion. Here we propose a model of tumour growth that incorporates the volume dynamics and the distribution of cells within the viable cell rim. The model is suggested by in silico experiments and is validated using in vitro data. The results correlate with in vivo data as well, and the model can be used to support experimental and clinical oncology
The Heumann-Hotzel model for aging revisited
Since its proposition in 1995, the Heumann-Hotzel model has remained as an
obscure model of biological aging. The main arguments used against it were its
apparent inability to describe populations with many age intervals and its
failure to prevent a population extinction when only deleterious mutations are
present. We find that with a simple and minor change in the model these
difficulties can be surmounted. Our numerical simulations show a plethora of
interesting features: the catastrophic senescence, the Gompertz law and that
postponing the reproduction increases the survival probability, as has already
been experimentally confirmed for the Drosophila fly.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
A comparison between radio loud and quiet gamma-ray bursts, and evidence for a potential correlation between intrinsic duration and redshift in the radio loud population
We extend our study of energetic radio-loud and -quiet gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), suggesting these GRBs potentially come from two separate progenitor systems. We expand the sample from our previous paper and find that our results are strengthened—radio-quiet GRBs have significantly shorter intrinsic prompt duration, and are also less energetic on average. However, the tenuous correlation between isotropic energy and intrinsic duration in the radio dark sample remains tenuous and is slightly weakened by adding more bursts. Interestingly, we find an anticorrelation between the intrinsic duration and redshift in the radio bright sample but not the radio dark sample, further supporting that these two samples may come from separate progenitors. We also find that very high energy (0.1–100 GeV) extended emission is only present in the radio-loud sample. There is no significant difference between the presence of X-ray/optical plateaus or the average jet opening angles between the two samples. We explore the interpretation of these results in the context of different progenitor models. The data are consistent with the radio-loud GRBs coming from a helium merger system and the radio-quiet GRBs coming from a collapsar system, but may also reflect other dichotomies in the inner engine such as a neutron star versus black hole core
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