8,093 research outputs found
Measuring the star formation rate with gravitational waves from binary black holes
A measurement of the history of cosmic star formation is central to
understand the origin and evolution of galaxies. The measurement is extremely
challenging using electromagnetic radiation: significant modeling is required
to convert luminosity to mass, and to properly account for dust attenuation,
for example. Here we show how detections of gravitational waves from
inspiraling binary black holes made by proposed third-generation detectors can
be used to measure the star formation rate of massive stars with high precision
up to redshifts of ~10. Depending on the time-delay model, the predicted
detection rates ranges from ~1400 to ~16000 per month with the current
measurement of local merger rate density. With three months of observations,
parameters describing the volumetric star formation rate can be constrained at
the few percent level, and the volumetric merger rate can be directly measured
to 3% at z~2. Given a parameterized star formation rate, the characteristic
delay time between binary formation and merger can be measured to ~60%.Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, 4 fig
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"If We Don't Produce, Bring Another:" Work Organization and Tomato Worker Health.
Objectives: Specific work processes and management structures that contribute to high rates of occupational illness and injury in agricultural industries are not well described in academic literature. This qualitative study of work organization in the U.S. fresh tomato industry investigates how work processes and management structures impact tomato workers' occupational health. Methods: After conducting literature review and key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 36 individuals with experience working in the U.S. fresh tomato industry. Interviews and focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach. Results: These data indicate that participants endured income insecurity and hazardous supervisory practices, including wage theft, retaliation, intimidation, and humiliation, that put them at risk of preventable illness and injury. Support from workers' organizations and health-conscious supervisory practices helped mitigate some of these occupational hazards. Conclusion: Participants' adverse work experiences may be considered sequelae of workers' lack of job control and positions of socioeconomic structural vulnerability. Other aspects of tomato work organization, including health-conscious supervisory practices and the involvement of workers' organizations, indicate that modifying work organization to better safeguard health is possible. Such modifications present compelling opportunities for employers, employees, organizations, community and government leaders, and health care professionals to help create healthier occupational environments for tomato workers
Ultrafast photocurrent measurement of the escape time of electrons and holes from carbon nanotube PN junction photodiodes
Ultrafast photocurrent measurements are performed on individual carbon
nanotube PN junction photodiodes. The photocurrent response to sub-picosecond
pulses separated by a variable time delay {\Delta}t shows strong photocurrent
suppression when two pulses overlap ({\Delta}t = 0). The picosecond-scale decay
time of photocurrent suppression scales inversely with the applied bias VSD,
and is twice as long for photon energy above the second subband E22 as compared
to lower energy. The observed photocurrent behavior is well described by an
escape time model that accounts for carrier effective mass.Comment: 8 pages Main text, 4 Figure
Microscopic heat from the energetics of stochastic phenomena
The energetics of the stochastic process has shown the balance of energy on
the mesoscopic level. The heat and the energy defined there are, however,
generally different from their macroscopic counterpart. We show that this
discrepancy can be removed by adding to these quantities the reversible heat
associated with the mesoscopic free energy.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figur
Anomalous shell effect in the transition from a circular to a triangular billiard
We apply periodic orbit theory to a two-dimensional non-integrable billiard
system whose boundary is varied smoothly from a circular to an equilateral
triangular shape. Although the classical dynamics becomes chaotic with
increasing triangular deformation, it exhibits an astonishingly pronounced
shell effect on its way through the shape transition. A semiclassical analysis
reveals that this shell effect emerges from a codimension-two bifurcation of
the triangular periodic orbit. Gutzwiller's semiclassical trace formula, using
a global uniform approximation for the bifurcation of the triangular orbit and
including the contributions of the other isolated orbits, describes very well
the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level density of this system. We also
discuss the role of discrete symmetry for the large shell effect obtained here.Comment: 14 pages REVTeX4, 16 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. E.
Qualities of some figures are lowered to reduce their sizes. Original figures
are available at http://www.phys.nitech.ac.jp/~arita/papers/tricirc
Mobile application for utility domains
This research, a collaboration between MIT and ABB/Ventyx, is focused on the development of a mobile interface for field workers in power repair settings and field service delivery. A Human Systems Engineering (HSE) approach of Plan, Analyze, and Design was utilized to develop the interface, which included a Hybrid Cognitive Task Analysis (hCTA) that identified requirements for the envisioned interface. This paper overviews the results of the HSE process and presents a preliminary design for the mobile interface that emerged during initial display prototyping.CPS Energy (Firm)DTE Energy CompanyComcast Corporatio
Cosmic Ray Production of Lithium-6 by Structure Formation Shocks in the Early Milky Way: A Fossil Record of Dissipative Processes during Galaxy Formation
While the abundances of Be and B observed in metal-poor halo stars are well
explained as resulting from spallation of CNO-enriched cosmic rays (CRs)
accelerated by supernova shocks, accounting for the observed Li in such
stars with supernova CRs is more problematic. Here we propose that
gravitational shocks induced by infalling and merging sub-Galactic clumps
during hierarchical structure formation of the Galaxy should dissipate enough
energy at early epochs, and CRs accelerated by such shocks can provide a
natural explanation of the observed Li. In clear constrast to supernovae,
structure formation shocks do not eject freshly synthesized CNO nor Fe, so that
the only effective production channel at low metallicity is
fusion, capable of generating sufficient Li with no accompanying Be or B
and no direct correspondence with Fe. Correlations between the Li abundance
and the kinematic properties of the halo stars may also be expected in this
scenario. Further, more extensive observations of Li in metal-poor halo
stars, e.g. by the Subaru HDS or VLT/UVES, may offer us an invaluable fossil
record of dissipative dynamical processes which occurred during the formation
of our Galaxy.Comment: Ap.J. in press; 6 pages, 1 figur
Signature of superconducting states in cubic crystal without inversion symmetry
The effects of absence of inversion symmetry on superconducting states are
investigated theoretically. In particular we focus on the noncentrosymmetric
compounds which have the cubic symmetry like LiPtB. An appropriate
and isotropic spin-orbital interaction is added in the Hamiltonian and it acts
like a magnetic monopole in the momentum space. The consequent pairing
wavefunction has an additional triplet component in the pseudospin space, and a
Zeeman magnetic field can induce a collinear supercurrent
with a coefficient . The effects of anisotropy embedded in the cubic
symmetry and the nodal superconducting gap function on are also
considered. From the macroscopic perspectives, the pair of mutually induced
and magnetization can affect the distribution of magnetic
field in such noncentrosymmetric superconductors, which is studied through
solving the Maxwell equation in the Meissner geometry as well as the case of a
single vortex line. In both cases, magnetic fields perpendicular to the
external ones emerge as a signature of the broken symmetry.Comment: 16 pages in pre-print forma
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