Comparison of FDMA and CDMA for second generation land-mobile satellite communications

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) (both analog and digital) systems capacities are compared on the basis of identical link availabilities and physical propagation models. Parameters are optimized for a bandwidth limited, multibeam environment. For CDMA, the benefits of voice activated carriers, antenna discrimination, polarization reuse, return link power control and multipath suppression are included in the analysis. For FDMA, the advantages of bandwidth efficient modulation/coding combinations, voice activated carriers, polarization reuse, beam placement, and frequency staggering were taken into account

Numerical Studies of Weakly Stochastic Magnetic Reconnection

We study the effects of turbulence on magnetic reconnection using three-dimensional numerical simulations. This is the first attempt to test a model of fast magnetic reconnection proposed by Lazarian & Vishniac (1999), which assumes the presence of weak, small-scale magnetic field structure near the current sheet. This affects the rate of reconnection by reducing the transverse scale for reconnection flows and by allowing many independent flux reconnection events to occur simultaneously. We performed a number of simulations to test the dependencies of the reconnection speed, defined as the ratio of the inflow velocity to the Alfven speed, on the turbulence power, the injection scale and resistivity. Our results show that turbulence significantly affects the topology of magnetic field near the diffusion region and increases the thickness of the outflow region. We confirm the predictions of the Lazarian & Vishniac model. In particular, we report the growth of the reconnection speed proportional to ~ V^2, where V is the amplitude of velocity at the injection scale. It depends on the injection scale l as ~ (l/L)^(2/3), where L is the size of the system, which is somewhat faster but still roughly consistent with the theoretical expectations. We also show that for 3D reconnection the Ohmic resistivity is important in the local reconnection events only, and the global reconnection rate in the presence of turbulence does not depend on it.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Endotaxial Si nanolines in Si(001):H

We present a detailed study of the structural and electronic properties of a self-assembled silicon nanoline embedded in the H-terminated silicon (001) surface, known as the Haiku stripe. The nanoline is a perfectly straight and defect free endotaxial structure of huge aspect ratio; it can grow micrometre long at a constant width of exactly four Si dimers (1.54nm). Another remarkable property is its capacity to be exposed to air without suffering any degradation. The nanoline grows independently of any step edges at tunable densities, from isolated nanolines to a dense array of nanolines. In addition to these unique structural characteristics, scanning tunnelling microscopy and density functional theory reveal a one-dimensional state confined along the Haiku core. This nanoline is a promising candidate for the long sought after electronic solid-state one-dimensional model system to explore the fascinating quantum properties emerging in such reduced dimensionality.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Real Time Relativity: exploration learning of special relativity

Real Time Relativity is a computer program that lets students fly at relativistic speeds though a simulated world populated with planets, clocks, and buildings. The counterintuitive and spectacular optical effects of relativity are prominent, while systematic exploration of the simulation allows the user to discover relativistic effects such as length contraction and the relativity of simultaneity. We report on the physics and technology underpinning the simulation, and our experience using it for teaching special relativity to first year university students

One dimensional Si-in-Si(001) template for single-atom wire growth

Single atom metallic wires of arbitrary length are of immense technological and scientific interest. We describe a novel silicon-only template enabling the self-organised growth of isolated micrometer long surface and subsurface single-atom chains. It consists of a one dimensional, defect-free reconstruction - the Haiku core, here revealed for the first time in details - self-assembled on hydrogenated Si(001) terraces, independent of any step edges. We discuss the potential of this Si-in-Si template as an appealing alternative to vicinal surfaces for nanoscale patterning.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Building blocks of a black hole

What is the nature of the energy spectrum of a black hole ? The algebraic approach to black hole quantization requires the horizon area eigenvalues to be equally spaced. As stressed long ago by by Mukhanov, such eigenvalues must be exponentially degenerate with respect to the area quantum number if one is to understand black hole entropy as reflecting degeneracy of the observable states. Here we construct the black hole states by means of a pair of "creation operators" subject to a particular simple algebra, a slight generalization of that for the harmonic oscillator. We then prove rigorously that the n-th area eigenvalue is exactly 2 raised to the n-fold degenerate. Thus black hole entropy qua logarithm of the number of states for fixed horizon area comes out proportional to that area.Comment: PhysRevTeX, 14 page

BRST quantization of the massless minimally coupled scalar field in de Sitter space (zero modes, euclideanization and quantization)

We consider the massless scalar field on the four-dimensional sphere $S^4$. Its classical action $S={1\over 2}\int_{S^4} dV (\nabla \phi)^2$ is degenerate under the global invariance $\phi \to \phi + \hbox{constant}$. We then quantize the massless scalar field as a gauge theory by constructing a BRST-invariant quantum action. The corresponding gauge-breaking term is a non-local one of the form $S^{\rm GB}={1\over {2\alpha V}}\bigl(\int_{S^4} dV \phi \bigr)^2$ where $\alpha$ is a gauge parameter and $V$ is the volume of $S^4$. It allows us to correctly treat the zero mode problem. The quantum theory is invariant under SO(5), the symmetry group of $S^4$, and the associated two-point functions have no infrared divergence. The well-known infrared divergence which appears by taking the massless limit of the massive scalar field propagator is therefore a gauge artifact. By contrast, the massless scalar field theory on de Sitter space $dS^4$ - the lorentzian version of $S^4$ - is not invariant under the symmetry group of that spacetime SO(1,4). Here, the infrared divergence is real. Therefore, the massless scalar quantum field theories on $S^4$ and $dS^4$ cannot be linked by analytic continuation. In this case, because of zero modes, the euclidean approach to quantum field theory does not work. Similar considerations also apply to massive scalar field theories for exceptional values of the mass parameter (corresponding to the discrete series of the de Sitter group).Comment: This paper has been published under the title "Zero modes, euclideanization and quantization" [Phys. Rev. D46, 2553 (1992)

Charge States of Energetic Particles From Corotating Interaction Regions As Constraints On Their Source

Since the discovery of large (factor of greater than 1000) enhancements of singly ionized helium in corotating interaction regions (CIRs), it has become clear that low charge state ions from interstellar neutrals or other heliospheric sources can be preferentially injected into the energetic particle population. The large enhancements in suprathermal and energetic He suggest that low charge state ions may likewise affect the composition of CIR-related heavy ions such as C or Ne. Therefore, a key observational test of the contribution of pickup ions to the energetic particles associated with CIRs is their ionization state. We have used instrumentation on board the low Earth orbiting SAMPEX satellite, along with the geomagnetic cutoff technique, to investigate the ionization states of CIR heavy ions in the energy range 0.5-1.0 MeV nucleon^(-1). In a sum of 14 CIR events, we find heavy-ion charge states similar to those of solar energetic particles from interplanetary shocks, with upper limits to the contribution of singly ionized particles on the order of a few percent of the total flux. We find that stripping in the interplanetary medium of singly ionized heavy ions energized in the CIR could not account for the observed high charge states. Thus, the high charge state material we observed must have originated in the bulk solar wind or its suprathermal tail

Deuteron-equivalent and phase-equivalent interactions within light nuclei

Background: Phase-equivalent transformations (PETs) are well-known in quantum scattering and inverse scattering theory. PETs do not affect scattering phase shifts and bound state energies of two-body system but are conventionally supposed to modify two-body bound state observables such as the rms radius and electromagnetic moments. Purpose: In order to preserve all bound state observables, we propose a new particular case of PETs, a deuteron-equivalent transformation (DET-PET), which leaves unchanged not only scattering phase shifts and bound state (deuteron) binding energy but also the bound state wave function. Methods: The construction of DET-PET is discussed; equations defining the simplest DET-PETs are derived. We apply these simplest DET-PETs to the JISP16 $NN$ interaction and use the transformed $NN$ interactions in calculations of $^3$H and $^4$He binding energies in the No-core Full Configuration (NCFC) approach based on extrapolations of the No-core Shell Model (NCSM) basis space results to the infinite basis space. Results: We demonstrate the DET-PET modification of the $np$ scattering wave functions and study the DET-PET manifestation in the binding energies of $^3$H and $^4$He nuclei and their correlation (Tjon line). Conclusions: It is shown that some DET-PETs generate modifications of the central component while the others modify the tensor component of the $NN$ interaction. DET-PETs are able to modify significantly the $np$ scattering wave functions and hence the off-shell properties of the $NN$ interaction. DET-PETs give rise to significant changes in the binding energies of $^3$H (in the range of approximately 1.5 MeV) and $^4$He (in the range of more than 9 MeV) and are able to modify the correlation patterns of binding energies of these nuclei

Cosmological Dark Energy: Prospects for a Dynamical Theory

We present an approach to the problem of vacuum energy in cosmology, based on dynamical screening of Lambda on the horizon scale. We review first the physical basis of vacuum energy as a phenomenon connected with macroscopic boundary conditions, and the origin of the idea of its screening by particle creation and vacuum polarization effects. We discuss next the relevance of the quantum trace anomaly to this issue. The trace anomaly implies additional terms in the low energy effective theory of gravity, which amounts to a non-trivial modification of the classical Einstein theory, fully consistent with the Equivalence Principle. We show that the new dynamical degrees of freedom the anomaly contains provide a natural mechanism for relaxing Lambda to zero on cosmological scales. We consider possible signatures of the restoration of conformal invariance predicted by the fluctuations of these new scalar degrees of freedom on the spectrum and statistics of the CMB, in light of the latest bounds from WMAP. Finally we assess the prospects for a new cosmological model in which the dark energy adjusts itself dynamically to the cosmological horizon boundary, and therefore remains naturally of order H^2 at all times without fine tuning.Comment: 50 pages, Invited Contribution to New Journal of Physics Focus Issue on Dark Energ