13,863 research outputs found
PAH emission in the proplyd HST10: what is the mechanism behind photoevaporation?
Proplyds are photodissociation region (PDR)-like cometary cocoons around
young stars which are thought to originate through photo-evaporation of the
central protoplanetary disk by external UV radiation from the nearby OB stars.
This letter presents spatially resolved mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy
of the proplyd HST10 obtained with the VLT/VISIR instrument. These observations
allow us to detect Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) emission in the
proplyd photodissociation region and to study the general properties of PAHs in
proplyds for the first time. We find that PAHs in HST10 are mostly neutral and
at least 50 times less abundant than typical values found for the diffuse ISM
or the nearby Orion Bar. With such a low PAH abundance, photoelectric heating
is significantly reduced. If this low abundance pertains also to the original
disk material, gas heating rates could be too low to efficiently drive
photoevaporation unless other processes can be identified. Alternatively, the
model behind the formation of proplyds as evaporating disks may have to be
revised.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Delocalization transition for the Google matrix
We study the localization properties of eigenvectors of the Google matrix,
generated both from the World Wide Web and from the Albert-Barabasi model of
networks. We establish the emergence of a delocalization phase for the PageRank
vector when network parameters are changed. In the phase of localized PageRank,
a delocalization takes place in the complex plane of eigenvalues of the matrix,
leading to delocalized relaxation modes. We argue that the efficiency of
information retrieval by Google-type search is strongly affected in the phase
of delocalized PageRank.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Research done at
http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr
Stability of Monitoring Weak Changes in Multiply Scattering Media with Ambient Noise Correlation: Laboratory Experiments
Previous studies have shown that small changes can be monitored in a
scattering medium by observing phase shifts in the coda. Passive monitoring of
weak changes through ambient noise correlation has already been applied to
seismology, acoustics and engineering. Usually, this is done under the
assumption that a properly reconstructed Green function as well as stable
background noise sources are necessary. In order to further develop this
monitoring technique, a laboratory experiment was performed in the 2.5MHz range
in a gel with scattering inclusions, comparing an active (pulse-echo) form of
monitoring to a passive (correlation) one. Present results show that
temperature changes in the medium can be observed even if the Green function
(GF) of the medium is not reconstructed. Moreover, this article establishes
that the GF reconstruction in the correlations is not a necessary condition:
the only condition to monitoring with correlation (passive experiment) is the
relative stability of the background noise structure
Thermoelectric properties of Co, Ir, and Os-Doped FeSi Alloys: Evidence for Strong Electron-Phonon Coupling
The effects of various transition metal dopants on the electrical and thermal
transport properties of Fe1-xMxSi alloys (M= Co, Ir, Os) are reported. The
maximum thermoelectric figure of merit ZTmax is improved from 0.007 at 60 K for
pure FeSi to ZT = 0.08 at 100 K for 4% Ir doping. A comparison of the thermal
conductivity data among Os, Ir and Co doped alloys indicates strong
electron-phonon coupling in this compound. Because of this interaction, the
common approximation of dividing the total thermal conductivity into
independent electronic and lattice components ({\kappa}Total =
{\kappa}electronic + {\kappa}lattice) fails for these alloys. The effects of
grain size on thermoelectric properties of Fe0.96Ir0.04Si alloys are also
reported. The thermal conductivity can be lowered by about 50% with little or
no effect on the electrical resistivity or Seebeck coefficient. This results in
ZTmax = 0.125 at 100 K, still about a factor of five too low for solid-state
refrigeration applications
Phase-Dependent Electronic Specific Heat in Mesoscopic Josephson Junctions
We study the influence of superconducting correlations on the electronic
specific heat in a diffusive superconductor-normal metal-superconductor
Josephson junction. We present a description of this system in the framework of
the diffusive-limit Green's function theory, taking into account finite
temperatures, phase difference as well as junction parameters. We find that
proximity effect may lead to a substantial deviation of the specific heat as
compared to that in the normal state, and that it can be largely tuned in
magnitude by changing the phase difference between the superconductors. A
measurement setup to confirm these predictions is also suggested.Comment: 4+ pages, 4 figure
Co-ordination and integration of social security in the SADC region: developing the social dimension of economic co-operation and integration
This article focuses on the need for developing a distinct social security paradigm in the SADC region in order to address poverty alleviation at a regional level and to address the challenge posed by the task of coordinating social security systems in the sub-continent. The paper departs from the premise that economic co-operation and integration is not an alone-standing aim, but has to be accompanied by development in the social sense. The contribution highlights the sheer extent of the inadequate social protection provisioning in the SADC region and the apparent failure of domestic social security measures to address poverty alleviation meaningfully and to bring about the social inclusion and participation of large numbers and significant categories of people who have effectively been left out. The article also examines different possibilities for the co-ordination of social security measures in SADC, bearing in mind experiences elsewhere in the world
Chaos in computer performance
Modern computer microprocessors are composed of hundreds of millions of
transistors that interact through intricate protocols. Their performance during
program execution may be highly variable and present aperiodic oscillations. In
this paper, we apply current nonlinear time series analysis techniques to the
performances of modern microprocessors during the execution of prototypical
programs. Our results present pieces of evidence strongly supporting that the
high variability of the performance dynamics during the execution of several
programs display low-dimensional deterministic chaos, with sensitivity to
initial conditions comparable to textbook models. Taken together, these results
show that the instantaneous performances of modern microprocessors constitute a
complex (or at least complicated) system and would benefit from analysis with
modern tools of nonlinear and complexity science
Anomalous transport in Charney-Hasegawa-Mima flows
Transport properties of particles evolving in a system governed by the
Charney-Hasegawa-Mima equation are investigated. Transport is found to be
anomalous with a non linear evolution of the second moments with time. The
origin of this anomaly is traced back to the presence of chaotic jets within
the flow. All characteristic transport exponents have a similar value around
, which is also the one found for simple point vortex flows in the
literature, indicating some kind of universality. Moreover the law
linking the trapping time exponent within jets to the transport
exponent is confirmed and an accumulation towards zero of the spectrum of
finite time Lyapunov exponent is observed. The localization of a jet is
performed, and its structure is analyzed. It is clearly shown that despite a
regular coarse grained picture of the jet, motion within the jet appears as
chaotic but chaos is bounded on successive small scales.Comment: revised versio
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