3,963 research outputs found
Transportation Systems Evaluation
A methodology for the analysis of transportation systems consisting of five major interacting elements is reported. The analysis begins with the causes of travel demand: geographic, economic, and demographic characteristics as well as attitudes toward travel. Through the analysis, the interaction of these factors with the physical and economic characteristics of the transportation system is determined. The result is an evaluation of the system from the point of view of both passenger and operator. The methodology is applicable to the intraurban transit systems as well as major airlines. Applications of the technique to analysis of a PRT system and a study of intraurban air travel are given. In the discussion several unique models or techniques are mentioned: i.e., passenger preference modeling, an integrated intraurban transit model, and a series of models to perform airline analysis
Relativity tests by complementary rotating Michelson-Morley experiments
We report Relativity tests based on data from two simultaneous
Michelson-Morley experiments, spanning a period of more than one year. Both
were actively rotated on turntables. One (in Berlin, Germany) uses optical
Fabry-Perot resonators made of fused silica; the other (in Perth, Australia)
uses microwave whispering-gallery sapphire resonators. Within the standard
model extension, we obtain simultaneous limits on Lorentz violation for
electrons (5 coefficients) and photons (8) at levels down to ,
improved by factors between 3 and 50 compared to previous work.Comment: 5 pages revtex, 2 figure
Modern Michelson-Morley experiment using cryogenic optical resonators
We report on a new test of Lorentz invariance performed by comparing the
resonance frequencies of two orthogonal cryogenic optical resonators subject to
Earth's rotation over 1 year. For a possible anisotropy of the speed of light
c, we obtain 2.6 +/- 1.7 parts in 10^15. Within the Robertson-Mansouri-Sexl
test theory, this implies an isotropy violation parameter beta - delta - 1/2 of
-2.2 +/- 1.5 parts in 10^9, about three times lower than the best previous
result. Within the general extension of the standard model of particle physics,
we extract limits on 7 parameters at accuracies down to a part in 10^15,
improving the best previous result by about two orders of magnitude
Cosmologies with Null Singularities and their Gauge Theory Duals
We investigate backgrounds of Type IIB string theory with null singularities
and their duals proposed in hep-th/0602107. The dual theory is a deformed N=4
Yang-Mills theory in 3+1 dimensions with couplings dependent on a light-like
direction. We concentrate on backgrounds which become AdS_5 x S^5 at early and
late times and where the string coupling is bounded, vanishing at the
singularity. Our main conclusion is that in these cases the dual gauge theory
is nonsingular. We show this by arguing that there exists a complete set of
gauge invariant observables in the dual gauge theory whose correlation
functions are nonsingular at all times. The two-point correlator for some
operators calculated in the gauge theory does not agree with the result from
the bulk supergravity solution. However, the bulk calculation is invalid near
the singularity where corrections to the supergravity approximation become
important. We also obtain pp-waves which are suitable Penrose limits of this
general class of solutions, and construct the Matrix Membrane theory which
describes these pp-wave backgrounds.Comment: 43 pages REVTeX and AMSLaTeX. v2: references adde
Blazar Counterparts for 3EG Sources at -40 < decl. < 0: Pushing South Through the Bulge
Supplementing existing survey data with VLA observations, we have extended
ray counterpart identifications down to decl. = -40 using our
Figure of Merit approach. We find blazar counterparts for 70% of EGRET
sources above decl. = -40 away from the Galaxy. Spectroscopic
confirmation is in progress, and spectra for two dozen sources are
presented here. We find evidence that increased exposure in the bulge region
allowed EGRET to detect relatively faint blazars; a clear excess of non-blazar
objects in this region however argues for an additional (new) source class.Comment: ApJ accepte
Arago (1810): the first experimental result against the ether
95 years before Special Relativity was born, Arago attempted to detect the
absolute motion of the Earth by measuring the deflection of starlight passing
through a prism fixed to the Earth. The null result of this experiment gave
rise to the Fresnel's hypothesis of an ether partly dragged by a moving
substance. In the context of Einstein's Relativity, the sole frame which is
privileged in Arago's experiment is the proper frame of the prism, and the null
result only says that Snell's law is valid in that frame. We revisit the
history of this premature first evidence against the ether theory and calculate
the Fresnel's dragging coefficient by applying the Huygens' construction in the
frame of the prism. We expose the dissimilar treatment received by the ray and
the wave front as an unavoidable consequence of the classical notions of space
and time.Comment: 16 pages. To appear in European Journal of Physic
Tundra Relief Features near Point Barrow, Alaska
Topography of this area results from erosion and mass wasting of a permafrost terrain, low temperature processes such as thermal expansion and contraction of frozen ground, surface uplift caused by accumulation of, and subsistence resulting from thaw of ground ice. High- and low-centered polygons, ice-wedge troughs, ice-core mounds and thaw basins are features in this region; genetic relations between these are discussed.Traits de relief de la toundra près de Point Barrow, Alaska. La distribution des traits mineurs du relief de la toundra démontre que la topographie joue un rôle majeur dans leur développement. Dans de grandes zones de relief très faible, l'expression locale dépasse souvent la portée régionale. Abstraction faite du relief initial, les plus grandes déviations de la surface plane dans la région de Barrow sont liées à la croissance ou à la fonte de la glace dans le sol. Ce qui donne des traits comme les polygones à centre soulevé ou en creux, les fentes de coins de glace, les monticules à noyau de glace et des cuvettes de fonte de toutes dimensions. On a pu déterminer la genèse de la plupart de ces traits. Cependant, on a mis en doute la formation des cuvettes par la fonte. La cueillette et l'analyse de spécimens de sol gelé ont permis de déterminer leur teneur relative en glace. Ces valeurs extrapolées ont démontré que même les plus grandes cuvettes peuvent être d'origine thermokarstique
- …