3,582 research outputs found
Multi-site H-bridge breathers in a DNA--shaped double strand
We investigate the formation process of nonlinear vibrational modes
representing broad H-bridge multi--site breathers in a DNA--shaped double
strand.
Within a network model of the double helix we take individual motions of the
bases within the base pair plane into account. The resulting H-bridge
deformations may be asymmetric with respect to the helix axis. Furthermore the
covalent bonds may be deformed distinctly in the two backbone strands.
Unlike other authors that add different extra terms we limit the interaction
to the hydrogen bonds within each base pair and the covalent bonds along each
strand. In this way we intend to make apparent the effect of the characteristic
helicoidal structure of DNA. We study the energy exchange processes related
with the relaxation dynamics from a non-equilibrium conformation. It is
demonstrated that the twist-opening relaxation dynamics of a radially distorted
double helix attains an equilibrium regime characterized by a multi-site
H-bridge breather.Comment: 27 pages and 10 figure
The end-to-end testbed of the Optical Metrology System on-board LISA Pathfinder
LISA Pathfinder is a technology demonstration mission for the Laser
Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The main experiment on-board LISA
Pathfinder is the so-called LISA Technology Package (LTP) which has the aim to
measure the differential acceleration between two free-falling test masses with
an accuracy of 3x10^(-14) ms^(-2)/sqrt[Hz] between 1 mHz and 30 mHz. This
measurement is performed interferometrically by the Optical Metrology System
(OMS) on-board LISA Pathfinder. In this paper we present the development of an
experimental end-to-end testbed of the entire OMS. It includes the
interferometer and its sub-units, the interferometer back-end which is a
phasemeter and the processing of the phasemeter output data. Furthermore,
3-axes piezo actuated mirrors are used instead of the free-falling test masses
for the characterisation of the dynamic behaviour of the system and some parts
of the Drag-free and Attitude Control System (DFACS) which controls the test
masses and the satellite. The end-to-end testbed includes all parts of the LTP
that can reasonably be tested on earth without free-falling test masses. At its
present status it consists mainly of breadboard components. Some of those have
already been replaced by Engineering Models of the LTP experiment. In the next
steps, further Engineering Models and Flight Models will also be inserted in
this testbed and tested against well characterised breadboard components. The
presented testbed is an important reference for the unit tests and can also be
used for validation of the on-board experiment during the mission
Thermal diagnostic of the Optical Window on board LISA Pathfinder
Vacuum conditions inside the LTP Gravitational Reference Sensor must comply
with rather demanding requirements. The Optical Window (OW) is an interface
which seals the vacuum enclosure and, at the same time, lets the laser beam go
through for interferometric Metrology with the test masses. The OW is a
plane-parallel plate clamped in a Titanium flange, and is considerably
sensitive to thermal and stress fluctuations. It is critical for the required
precision measurements, hence its temperature will be carefully monitored in
flight. This paper reports on the results of a series of OW characterisation
laboratory runs, intended to study its response to selected thermal signals, as
well as their fit to numerical models, and the meaning of the latter. We find
that a single pole ARMA transfer function provides a consistent approximation
to the OW response to thermal excitations, and derive a relationship with the
physical processes taking place in the OW. We also show how system noise
reduction can be accomplished by means of that transfer function.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra
Reducing sample variance: halo biasing, non-linearity and stochasticity
Comparing clustering of differently biased tracers of the dark matter
distribution offers the opportunity to reduce the cosmic variance error in the
measurement of certain cosmological parameters. We develop a formalism that
includes bias non-linearities and stochasticity. Our formalism is general
enough that can be used to optimise survey design and tracers selection and
optimally split (or combine) tracers to minimise the error on the
cosmologically interesting quantities. Our approach generalises the one
presented by McDonald & Seljak (2009) of circumventing sample variance in the
measurement of . We analyse how the bias, the noise,
the non-linearity and stochasticity affect the measurements of and explore
in which signal-to-noise regime it is significantly advantageous to split a
galaxy sample in two differently-biased tracers. We use N-body simulations to
find realistic values for the parameters describing the bias properties of dark
matter haloes of different masses and their number density.
We find that, even if dark matter haloes could be used as tracers and
selected in an idealised way, for realistic haloes, the sample variance limit
can be reduced only by up to a factor .
This would still correspond to the gain from a three times larger survey volume
if the two tracers were not to be split. Before any practical application one
should bear in mind that these findings apply to dark matter haloes as tracers,
while realistic surveys would select galaxies: the galaxy-host halo relation is
likely to introduce extra stochasticity, which may reduce the gain further.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures. Published version in MNRA
Integral Field Spectroscopy based H\alpha\ sizes of local Luminous and Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies. A Direct Comparison with high-z Massive Star Forming Galaxies
Aims. We study the analogy between local U/LIRGs and high-z massive SFGs by
comparing basic H{\alpha} structural characteristics, such as size, and
luminosity (and SFR) surface density, in an homogeneous way (i.e. same tracer
and size definition, similar physical scales). Methods. We use Integral Field
Spectroscopy based H{\alpha} emission maps for a representative sample of 54
local U/LIRGs (66 galaxies). From this initial sample we select 26 objects with
H{\alpha} luminosities (L(H{\alpha})) similar to those of massive (i.e. M\ast
\sim 10^10 M\odot or larger) SFGs at z \sim 2, and observed on similar physical
scales. Results. The sizes of the H{\alpha} emitting region in the sample of
local U/LIRGs span a large range, with r1/2(H{\alpha}) from 0.2 to 7 kpc.
However, about 2/3 of local U/LIRGs with Lir > 10^11.4 L\odot have compact
H{\alpha} emission (i.e. r1/2 < 2 kpc). The comparison sample of local U/LIRGs
also shows a higher fraction (59%) of objects with compact H{\alpha} emission
than the high-z sample (25%). This gives further support to the idea that for
this luminosity range the size of the star forming region is a distinctive
factor between local and distant galaxies of similar SF rates. However, when
using H{\alpha} as a tracer for both local and high-z samples, the differences
are smaller than the ones recently reported using a variety of other tracers.
Despite of the higher fraction of galaxies with compact H{\alpha} emission, a
sizable group (\sim 1/3) of local U/LIRGs are large (i.e. r1/2 > 2 kpc). These
are systems showing pre-coalescence merger activity and they are
indistinguishable from the massive high-z SFGs galaxies in terms of their
H{\alpha} sizes, and luminosity and SFR surface densities.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. (!5 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables
Effect of the Introduction of Impurities on the Stability Properties of Multibreathers at Low Coupling
sing a theorem dubbed the {\em Multibreather Stabiliy Theorem} [Physica D 180
(2003) 235-255] we have obtained the stability properties of multibreathers in
systems of coupled oscillators with on-site potentials, with an inhomogeneity.
Analytical results are obtained for 2-site, 3-site breathers, multibreathers,
phonobreathers and dark breathers. The inhomogeneity is considered both at the
on-site potential and at the coupling terms. All the results have been checked
numerically with excellent agreement. The main conclusion is that the
introduction of a impurity does not alter the stability properties.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figure
Localized Faraday patterns under heterogeneous parametric excitation
Faraday waves are a classic example of a system in which an extended pattern
emerges under spatially uniform forcing. Motivated by systems in which uniform
excitation is not plausible, we study both experimentally and theoretically the
effect of heterogeneous forcing on Faraday waves. Our experiments show that
vibrations restricted to finite regions lead to the formation of localized
subharmonic wave patterns and change the onset of the instability. The
prototype model used for the theoretical calculations is the parametrically
driven and damped nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, which is known to describe
well Faraday-instability regimes. For an energy injection with a Gaussian
spatial profile, we show that the evolution of the envelope of the wave pattern
can be reduced to a Weber-equation eigenvalue problem. Our theoretical results
provide very good predictions of our experimental observations provided that
the decay length scale of the Gaussian profile is much larger than the pattern
wavelength.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepte
Stability of non-time-reversible phonobreathers
Non-time reversible phonobreathers are non-linear waves that can transport
energy in coupled oscillator chains by means of a phase-torsion mechanism. In
this paper, the stability properties of these structures have been considered.
It has been performed an analytical study for low-coupling solutions based upon
the so called {\em multibreather stability theorem} previously developed by
some of the authors [Physica D {\bf 180} 235]. A numerical analysis confirms
the analytical predictions and gives a detailed picture of the existence and
stability properties for arbitrary frequency and coupling.Comment: J. Phys. A.:Math. and Theor. In Press (2010
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