4,454 research outputs found
An augmented moment method for stochastic ensembles with delayed couplings: II. FitzHugh-Nagumo model
Dynamics of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FN) neuron ensembles with time-delayed couplings
subject to white noises, has been studied by using both direct simulations and
a semi-analytical augmented moment method (AMM) which has been proposed in a
recent paper [H. Hasegawa, E-print: cond-mat/0311021]. For -unit FN neuron
ensembles, AMM transforms original -dimensional {\it stochastic} delay
differential equations (SDDEs) to infinite-dimensional {\it deterministic} DEs
for means and correlation functions of local and global variables.
Infinite-order recursive DEs are terminated at the finite level in the
level- AMM (AMM), yielding -dimensional deterministic DEs. When a
single spike is applied, the oscillation may be induced if parameters of
coupling strength, delay, noise intensity and/or ensemble size are appropriate.
Effects of these parameters on the emergence of the oscillation and on the
synchronization in FN neuron ensembles have been studied. The synchronization
shows the {\it fluctuation-induced} enhancement at the transition between
non-oscillating and oscillating states. Results calculated by AMM5 are in
fairly good agreement with those obtained by direct simulations.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures; changed the title with correcting typos,
accepted in Phys. Rev. E with some change
Photometric Variability in the Faint Sky Variability Survey
The Faint Sky Variability Survey (FSVS) is aimed at finding photometric
and/or astrometric variable objects between 16th and 24th mag on time-scales
between tens of minutes and years with photometric precisions ranging from 3
millimag to 0.2 mag. An area of 23 deg, located at mid and high Galactic
latitudes, was covered using the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-m Isaac
Newton Telescope (INT) on La Palma. Here we present some preliminary results on
the variability of sources in the FSVS.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in 14th European Workshop on White
Dwarfs, ASP Conference Series, eds. D. Koester, S. Moehle
The host galaxy of GRB010222: The strongest damped Lyman-alpha system known
Analysis of the absorption lines in the afterglow spectrum of the gamma-ray
burst GRB010222 indicates that its host galaxy (at a redshift of z=1.476) is
the strongest damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) system known, having a very low
metallicity and modest dust content. This conclusion is based on the detection
of the red wing of Lyman-alpha plus a comparison of the equivalent widths of
ultraviolet Mg I, Mg II, and Fe II lines with those in other DLAs. The column
density of H I, deduced from a fit to the wing of Lyman-alpha, is (5 +/- 2)
10^22 cm^-2. The ratio of the column densities of Zn and Cr lines suggests that
the dust content in our line of sight through the galaxy is low. This could be
due to either dust destruction by the ultraviolet emission of the afterglow or
to an initial dust composition different to that of the diffuse interstellar
material, or a combination of both.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS 12 page
Integrate and Fire Neural Networks, Piecewise Contractive Maps and Limit Cycles
We study the global dynamics of integrate and fire neural networks composed
of an arbitrary number of identical neurons interacting by inhibition and
excitation. We prove that if the interactions are strong enough, then the
support of the stable asymptotic dynamics consists of limit cycles. We also
find sufficient conditions for the synchronization of networks containing
excitatory neurons. The proofs are based on the analysis of the equivalent
dynamics of a piecewise continuous Poincar\'e map associated to the system. We
show that for strong interactions the Poincar\'e map is piecewise contractive.
Using this contraction property, we prove that there exist a countable number
of limit cycles attracting all the orbits dropping into the stable subset of
the phase space. This result applies not only to the Poincar\'e map under
study, but also to a wide class of general n-dimensional piecewise contractive
maps.Comment: 46 pages. In this version we added many comments suggested by the
referees all along the paper, we changed the introduction and the section
containing the conclusions. The final version will appear in Journal of
Mathematical Biology of SPRINGER and will be available at
http://www.springerlink.com/content/0303-681
SCUBA sub-millimeter observations of gamma-ray bursters. I. GRB 970508, 971214, 980326, 980329, 980519, 980703
We discuss the first results of our ongoing program of Target of Opportunity
observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using the SCUBA instrument on the James
Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We present the results for GRB 970508, 971214, 980326,
980329, 980519, and 980703.
Our most important result to date is the detection of a fading counterpart to
GRB 980329 at 850 microns. Although it proved to be difficult to find the
infrared counterpart to this burst, the sub-millimeter flux was relatively
bright. This indicates that intrinsically the brightness of this counterpart
was very similar to GRB 970508. The radio through sub-millimeter spectrum of
GRB 980329 is well fit by a power law with index alpha = +0.9. However, we
cannot exclude a nu^(1/3) power law attenuated by synchrotron self-absorption.
An alpha = +1 VLA-SCUBA power law spectrum is definitely ruled out for GRB
980703, and possibly also for GRB 980519.
We cannot rule out that part of the sub-millimeter flux from GRB 980329 comes
from a dusty star-forming galaxy at high redshift, such as the ones recently
discovered by SCUBA. Any quiescent dust contribution will be much larger at
sub-millimeter than at radio wavelengths. Both a high redshift and large dust
extinction would help explain the reddening of the counterpart to GRB 980329,
and a redshift of z = 5 has been suggested. The large intensity of this burst
might then indicate that beaming is important.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
GRB990712: First Indication of Polarization Variability in a Gamma-ray Burst Afterglow
We report the detection of significant polarization in the optical afterglow
of GRB990712 on three instances 0.44, 0.70 and 1.45 days after the gamma-ray
burst, with (P, theta) being (2.9% +- 0.4%, 121.1 degr +- 3.5 degr), (1.2% +-
0.4%, 116.2 degr +- 10.1 degr) and (2.2% +- 0.7%, 139.2 degr +- 10.4 degr)
respectively. The polarization is intrinsic to the afterglow. The degree of
polarization is not constant, and smallest at the second measurement. The
polarization angle does not vary significantly during these observations. We
find that none of the existing models predict such polarization variations at
constant polarization angle, and suggest ways in which these models might be
modified to accommodate the observed behavior of this afterglow.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures, accepted by ApJ. Uses aastex 5.
Emerging analytical methods to characterize zeolite-based materials
Zeolites and zeolitic materials are, through their use in numerous conventional and sustainable applications, very important to our daily lives, including to foster the necessary transition to a more circular society. The characterization of zeolite-based materials has a tremendous history and a great number of applications and properties of these materials have been discovered in the past decades. This review focuses on recently developed novel as well as more conventional techniques applied with the aim of better understanding zeolite-based materials. Recently explored analytical methods, e.g. atom probe tomography, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy and photo-induced force microscopy, are discussed on their important contributions to the better understanding of zeolites as they mainly focus on the micro- to nanoscale chemical imaging and the revelation of structure-composition-performance relationships. Some other techniques have a long and established history, e.g. nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared, neutron scattering, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques, and have gone through increasing developments allowing the techniques to discover new and important features in zeolite-based materials. Additional to the increasing application of these methods, multiple techniques are nowadays used to study zeolites under working conditions (i.e. the in situ/operando mode of analysis) providing new insights in reaction and deactivation mechanisms
VLT observations of GRB 990510 and its environment
We present BVRI photometry and spectrophotometry of GRB990510 obtained with
the ESO VLT/Antu telescope during the late decline phase. Between days 8 and 29
after the burst, the afterglow faded from R=24.2 to ~26.4. The spectral flux
distribution and the light curve support the interpretation of the afterglow as
synchrotron emission from a jet. The light curve is consistent with the optical
transient alone but an underlying SN with maximum brightness R>27.4 or a galaxy
with R>27.6 (3-sigma upper limits) cannot be ruled out. To a 5-sigma detection
threshold of R=26.1, no galaxy is found within 6'' of the transient. A very
blue V~24.5 extended object which may qualify as a starburst galaxy is located
12'' SE, but at unknown redshift.Comment: 5 pages A&A Latex, accepted for publication in A&A Letter
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