9,406 research outputs found
A computer simulation of oscillatory behavior in primary visual cortex
Periodic variations in correlated cellular activity have been observed in many regions of the cerebral cortex. The recent discovery of stimulus-dependent, spatially-coherent oscillations in primary visual cortex of the cat has led to suggestions of neural information encoding schemes based on phase and/or frequency variation. To explore the mechanisms underlying this behavior and their possible functional consequences, we have developed a realistic neural model, based on structural features of visual cortex, which replicates observed oscillatory phenomena. In the model, this oscillatory behavior emerges directly from the structure of the cortical network and the properties of its intrinsic neurons; however, phase coherence is shown to be an average phenomenon seen only when measurements are made over multiple trials. Because average coherence does not ensure synchrony of firing over the course of single stimuli, oscillatory phase may not be a robust strategy for directly encoding stimulus-specific information. Instead, the phase and frequency of cortical oscillations may reflect the coordination of general computational processes within and between cortical areas. Under this interpretation, coherence emerges as a result of horizontal interactions that could be involved in the formation of receptive field properties
Radio Variability of Sagittarius A* - A 106 Day Cycle
We report the presence of a 106-day cycle in the radio variability of Sgr A*
based on an analysis of data observed with the Very Large Array (VLA) over the
past 20 years. The pulsed signal is most clearly seen at 1.3 cm with a ratio of
cycle frequency to frequency width f/Delta_f= 2.2+/-0.3. The periodic signal is
also clearly observed at 2 cm. At 3.6 cm the detection of a periodic signal is
marginal. No significant periodicity is detected at both 6 and 20 cm. Since the
sampling function is irregular we performed a number of tests to insure that
the observed periodicity is not the result of noise. Similar results were found
for a maximum entropy method and periodogram with CLEAN method. The probability
of false detection for several different noise distributions is less than 5%
based on Monte Carlo tests. The radio properties of the pulsed component at 1.3
cm are spectral index alpha ~ 1.0+/- 0.1 (for S nu^alpha), amplitude Delta
S=0.42 +/- 0.04 Jy and characteristic time scale Delta t_FWHM ~ 25 +/- 5 days.
The lack of VLBI detection of a secondary component suggests that the
variability occurs within Sgr A* on a scale of ~5 AU, suggesting an instability
of the accretion disk.Comment: 14 Pages, 3 figures. ApJ Lett 2000 accepte
B3 0003+387: AGN Marked Large-Scale Structure at z=1.47?
We present evidence for a significant overdensity of red galaxies, as much as
a factor of 14 over comparable field samples, in the field of the z=1.47 radio
galaxy B3 0003+387. The colors and luminosities of the brightest red galaxies
are consistent with their being at z>0.8. The radio galaxy and one of the red
galaxies are separated by 5" and show some evidence of a possible interaction.
However, the red galaxies do not show any strong clustering around the radio
galaxy nor around any of the brighter red galaxies. The data suggest that we
are looking at a wall or sheet of galaxies, possibly associated with the radio
galaxy at z=1.47. Spectroscopic redshifts of these red galaxies will be
necessary to confirm this large-scale structure.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX2e/AASTeX v5.0.2. The full photometric
catalog is included as a separate deluxetable file. To appear in the
Astronomical Journal (~Nov 00
Investigation of tidal displacements of the Earth's surface by laser ranging to GEOS-3
An analysis of laser ranging data from three stations was carried out in an attempt to measure the geometric Earth tide. Two different approaches to the problem were investigated. The dynamic method computes pass to pass apparent movements in stations height relative to short arcs fitted to several passes of data from the same station by the program GEODYNE. The quasi-geometric method reduces the dependence on unmodelled satellite dynamics to a knowledge of only the radial position of the satellite by considering two station simultaneous ranging at the precise time that the satellite passes through the plane defined by two stations and the center of mass of the Earth
The millimetre variability of M81* -- Multi-epoch dual frequency mm-observations of the nucleus of M81
There are still many open questions as to the physical mechanisms at work in
Low Luminosity AGN that accrete in the extreme sub-Eddington regime.
Simultaneous multi-wavelength studies have been very successful in constraining
the properties of SgrA*, the extremely sub-Eddington black hole at the centre
of our Milky Way. M81*, the nucleus of the nearby spiral galaxy M81, is an
ideal source to extend the insights obtained on SgrA* toward higher luminosity
AGN. Here we present observations at 3 and 1 mm that were obtained within the
framework of a coordinated,multi-wavelength campaign on M81*. The continuum
emission from M81* was observed during three epochs with the IRAM Plateau de
Bure Interferometer simultaneously at wavelengths of 3 and 1 mm. We present the
first flux measurements of M81* at wavelengths around 1 mm. We find that M81*
is a continuously variable source with the higher variability observed at the
shorter wavelength. Also, the variability at 3 and 1 mm appears to be
correlated. Like SgrA*, M81* appears to display the strongest flux density and
variability in the mm-to-submm regime. There remains still some ambiguity
concerning the exact location of the turnover frequency from optically thick to
optically thin emission. The observed variability time scales point to an upper
size limit of the emitting region of the order 25 Schwarzschild radii. The data
show that M81* is indeed a system with very similar physical properties to
SgrA* and an ideal bridge toward high luminosity AGN. The data obtained clearly
demonstrate the usefulness and, above all, the necessity of simultaneous
multi-wavelength observations of LLAGN.Comment: accepted for publication in A&
Towards a Holistic View of the Heating and Cooling of the Intracluster Medium
(Abridged) X-ray clusters are conventionally divided into two classes: "cool
core" (CC) clusters and "non-cool core" (NCC) clusters. Yet relatively little
attention has been given to the origins of this dichotomy and, in particular,
to the energetics and thermal histories of the two classes. We develop a model
for the entropy profiles of clusters starting from the configuration
established by gravitational shock heating and radiative cooling. At large
radii, gravitational heating accounts for the observed profiles and their
scalings well. However, at small and intermediate radii, radiative cooling and
gravitational heating cannot be combined to explain the observed profiles of
either type of cluster. The inferred entropy profiles of NCC clusters require
that material is preheated prior to cluster collapse in order to explain the
absence of low entropy (cool) material in these systems. We show that a similar
modification is also required in CC clusters in order to match their properties
at intermediate radii. In CC clusters, this modification is unstable, and an
additional process is required to prevent cooling below a temperature of a few
keV. We show that this can be achieved by adding a self-consistent AGN feedback
loop in which the lowest-entropy, most rapidly cooling material is heated so
that it rises buoyantly to mix with material at larger radii. The resulting
model does not require fine tuning and is in excellent agreement with a wide
variety of observational data. Some of the other implications of this model are
briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS accepted. Discussion of cluster heating
energetics extended, results unchange
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