4,786 research outputs found
Routh reduction and the class of magnetic Lagrangian systems
In this paper, some new aspects related to Routh reduction of Lagrangian
systems with symmetry are discussed. The main result of this paper is the
introduction of a new concept of transformation that is applicable to systems
obtained after Routh reduction of Lagrangian systems with symmetry, so-called
magnetic Lagrangian systems. We use these transformations in order to show
that, under suitable conditions, the reduction with respect to a (full)
semi-direct product group is equivalent to the reduction with respect to an
Abelian normal subgroup. The results in this paper are closely related to the
more general theory of Routh reduction by stages.Comment: 23 page
Integrable discretizations of some cases of the rigid body dynamics
A heavy top with a fixed point and a rigid body in an ideal fluid are
important examples of Hamiltonian systems on a dual to the semidirect product
Lie algebra . We give a Lagrangian derivation of
the corresponding equations of motion, and introduce discrete time analogs of
two integrable cases of these systems: the Lagrange top and the Clebsch case,
respectively. The construction of discretizations is based on the discrete time
Lagrangian mechanics on Lie groups, accompanied by the discrete time Lagrangian
reduction. The resulting explicit maps on are Poisson with respect to
the Lie--Poisson bracket, and are also completely integrable. Lax
representations of these maps are also found.Comment: arXiv version is already officia
Discrete Variational Optimal Control
This paper develops numerical methods for optimal control of mechanical
systems in the Lagrangian setting. It extends the theory of discrete mechanics
to enable the solutions of optimal control problems through the discretization
of variational principles. The key point is to solve the optimal control
problem as a variational integrator of a specially constructed
higher-dimensional system. The developed framework applies to systems on
tangent bundles, Lie groups, underactuated and nonholonomic systems with
symmetries, and can approximate either smooth or discontinuous control inputs.
The resulting methods inherit the preservation properties of variational
integrators and result in numerically robust and easily implementable
algorithms. Several theoretical and a practical examples, e.g. the control of
an underwater vehicle, will illustrate the application of the proposed
approach.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure
Surface differential rotation and prominences of the Lupus post T Tauri star RX J1508.6-4423
We present in this paper a spectroscopic monitoring of the Lupus post T Tauri star RX J1508.6-4423 carried out at two closely separated epochs (1998 May 06 and 10) with the UCL Echelle Spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. Applying least-squares convolution and maximum entropy image reconstruction techniques to our sets of spectra, we demonstrate that this star features on its surface a large cool polar cap with several appendages extending to lower latitudes, as well as one spot close to the equator. The images reconstructed at both epochs are in good overall agreement, except for a photospheric shear that we interpret in terms of latitudinal differential rotation. Given the spot distribution at the epoch of our observations, differential rotation could only be investigated between latitudes 15° and 60°. We find in particular that the observed differential rotation is compatible with a solar-like law (i.e., with rotation rate decreasing towards high latitudes proportionally to sin 2l, where l denotes the latitude) in this particular latitude range. Assuming that such a law can be extrapolated to all latitudes, we find that the equator of RX J1508.6-4423 does one more rotational cycle than the pole every 50 ±10 d, implying a photospheric shear 2 to 3 times stronger than that of the Sun. We also discover that the Hα emission profile of RX J1508.6-4423 is most of the time double-peaked and strongly modulated with the rotation period of the star. We interpret this rotationally modulated emission as being caused by a dense and complex prominence system, the circumstellar distribution of which is obtained through maximum entropy Doppler tomography. These maps show in particular that prominences form a complete and inhomogeneous ring around the star, precisely at the corotation radius. We use the total Hα and Hβ emission flux to estimate that the mass of the whole prominence system is about 10 20g. From our observation that the whole cloud system surrounding the star is regenerated in less than 4 d, we conclude that the braking time-scale of RX J1508.6-4423 is shorter than 1 Gyr, and that prominence expulsion is thus likely to contribute significantly to the rotational spindown of young low-mass stars
Weak Poisson structures on infinite dimensional manifolds and hamiltonian actions
We introduce a notion of a weak Poisson structure on a manifold modeled
on a locally convex space. This is done by specifying a Poisson bracket on a
subalgebra \cA \subeq C^\infty(M) which has to satisfy a non-degeneracy
condition (the differentials of elements of \cA separate tangent vectors) and
we postulate the existence of smooth Hamiltonian vector fields. Motivated by
applications to Hamiltonian actions, we focus on affine Poisson spaces which
include in particular the linear and affine Poisson structures on duals of
locally convex Lie algebras. As an interesting byproduct of our approach, we
can associate to an invariant symmetric bilinear form on a Lie algebra
\g and a -skew-symmetric derivation a weak affine Poisson
structure on \g itself. This leads naturally to a concept of a Hamiltonian
-action on a weak Poisson manifold with a \g-valued momentum map and hence
to a generalization of quasi-hamiltonian group actions
A Kolmogorov theorem for nearly-integrable Poisson systems with asymptotically decaying time-dependent perturbation
The aim of this paper is to prove the Kolmogorov theorem of persistence of
Diophantine flows for nearly-integrable Poisson systems associated to a real
analytic Hamiltonian with aperiodic time dependence, provided that the
perturbation is asymptotically vanishing. The paper is an extension of an
analogous result by the same authors for canonical Hamiltonian systems; the
flexibility of the Lie series method developed by A. Giorgilli et al., is
profitably used in the present generalisation.Comment: 10 page
Routhian reduction for quasi-invariant Lagrangians
In this paper we describe Routhian reduction as a special case of standard
symplectic reduction, also called Marsden-Weinstein reduction. We use this
correspondence to present a generalization of Routhian reduction for
quasi-invariant Lagrangians, i.e. Lagrangians that are invariant up to a total
time derivative. We show how functional Routhian reduction can be seen as a
particular instance of reduction of a quasi-invariant Lagrangian, and we
exhibit a Routhian reduction procedure for the special case of Lagrangians with
quasi-cyclic coordinates. As an application we consider the dynamics of a
charged particle in a magnetic field.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure
Disks Surviving the Radiation Pressure of Radio Pulsars
The radiation pressure of a radio pulsar does not necessarily disrupt a
surrounding disk. The position of the inner radius of a thin disk around a
neutron star can be estimated by comparing the electromagnetic energy density
generated by the neutron star with the kinetic energy density of the disk.
Inside the light cylinder, the near zone electromagnetic field is essentially
the dipole magnetic field, and the inner radius is the conventional Alfven
radius. Far outside the light cylinder, in the radiation zone, and the
electromagnetic energy density is where is the
Poynting vector. Shvartsman (1970) argued that a stable equilibrium can not be
found in the radiative zone because the electromagnetic energy density
dominates over the kinetic energy density, with the relative strength of the
electromagnetic stresses increasing with radius. In order to check whether this
is true also near the light cylinder, we employ global electromagnetic field
solutions for rotating oblique magnetic dipoles (Deutsch 1955). Near the light
cylinder the electromagnetic energy density increases steeply enough with
decreasing to balance the kinetic energy density at a stable equilibrium.
The transition from the near zone to the radiation zone is broad. The radiation
pressure of the pulsar can not disrupt the disk for values of the inner radius
up to about twice the light cylinder radius if the rotation axis and the
magnetic axis are orthogonal. This allowed range beyond the light cylinder
extends much further for small inclination angles. We discuss implications of
this result for accretion driven millisecond pulsars and young neutron stars
with fallback disks.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal, final version with a minor
correctio
Mapping of serotype-specific, immunodominant epitopes in the NS-4 region of hepatitis C virus (HCV):use of type-specific peptides to serologically differentiate infections with HCV types 1, 2, and 3
The effect of sequence variability between different types of hepatitis C virus (HCV) on the antigenicity of the NS-4 protein was investigated by epitope mapping and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with branched oligopeptides. Epitope mapping of the region between amino acid residues 1679 and 1768 in the HCV polyprotein revealed two major antigenic regions (1961 to 1708 and 1710 to 1728) that were recognized by antibody elicited upon natural infection of HCV. The antigenic regions were highly variable between variants of HCV, with only 50 to 60% amino acid sequence similarity between types 1, 2, and 3. Although limited serological cross-reactivity between HCV types was detected between peptides, particularly in the first antigenic region of NS-4, type-specific reactivity formed the principal component of the natural humoral immune response to NS-4. Type-specific antibody to particular HCV types was detected in 89% of the samples from anti-HCV-positive blood donors and correlated almost exactly with genotypic analysis of HCV sequences amplified from the samples by polymerase chain reaction. Whereas almost all blood donors appeared to be infected with a single virus type (97%), a higher proportion of samples (40%) from hemophiliacs infected from transfusion of non-heat-inactivated clotting factor contained antibody to two or even all three HCV types, providing evidence that long-term exposure may lead to multiple infection with different variants of HCV
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