3,226 research outputs found
Embedded Mean-Field Theory
We introduce embedded mean-field theory (EMFT), an approach that flexibly allows for the embedding of one mean-field theory in another without the need to specify or fix the number of particles in each subsystem. EMFT is simple, is well-defined without recourse to parameters, and inherits the simple gradient theory of the parent mean-field theories. In this paper, we report extensive benchmarking of EMFT for the case where the subsystems are treated using different levels of Kohn–Sham theory, using PBE or B3LYP/6-31G* in the high-level subsystem and LDA/STO-3G in the low-level subsystem; we also investigate different levels of density fitting in the two subsystems. Over a wide range of chemical problems, we find EMFT to perform accurately and stably, smoothly converging to the high-level of theory as the active subsystem becomes larger. In most cases, the performance is at least as good as that of ONIOM, but the advantages of EMFT are highlighted by examples that involve partitions across multiple bonds or through aromatic systems and by examples that involve more complicated electronic structure. EMFT is simple and parameter free, and based on the tests provided here, it offers an appealing new approach to a multiscale electronic structure
Antenna Technology Shuttle Experiment (ATSE)
Numerous space applications of the future will require mesh deployable antennas of 15 m in diameter or greater for frequencies up to 20 GHz. These applications include mobile communications satellites, orbiting very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) astrophysics missions, and Earth remote sensing missions. A Lockheed wrap rip antennas was used as the test article. The experiments covered a broad range of structural, control, and RF discipline objectives, which is fulfilled in total, would greatly reduce the risk of employing these antenna systems in future space applications. It was concluded that a flight experiment of a relatively large mesh deployable reflector is achievable with no major technological or cost drivers. The test articles and the instrumentation are all within the state of the art and in most cases rely on proven flight hardware. Every effort was made to design the experiments for low cost
Planet Four: Terrains - Discovery of Araneiforms Outside of the South Polar Layered Deposits
We present the results of a systematic mapping of seasonally sculpted
terrains on the South Polar region of Mars with the Planet Four: Terrains (P4T)
online citizen science project. P4T enlists members of the general public to
visually identify features in the publicly released Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
CTX images. In particular, P4T volunteers are asked to identify: 1) araneiforms
(including features with a central pit and radiating channels known as
'spiders'); 2) erosional depressions, troughs, mesas, ridges, and
quasi-circular pits characteristic of the South Polar Residual Cap (SPRC) which
we collectively refer to as 'Swiss cheese terrain', and 3) craters. In this
work we present the distributions of our high confidence classic spider
araneiforms and Swiss cheese terrain identifications. We find no locations
within our high confidence spider sample that also have confident Swiss cheese
terrain identifications. Previously spiders were reported as being confined to
the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD). Our work has provided the first
identification of spiders at locations outside of the SPLD, confirmed with high
resolution HiRISE imaging. We find araneiforms on the Amazonian and Hesperian
polar units and the Early Noachian highland units, with 75% of the identified
araneiform locations in our high confidence sample residing on the SPLD. With
our current coverage, we cannot confirm whether these are the only geologic
units conducive to araneiform formation on the Martian South Polar region. Our
results are consistent with the current CO2 jet formation scenario with the
process exploiting weaknesses in the surface below the seasonal CO2 ice sheet
to carve araneiform channels into the regolith over many seasons. These new
regions serve as additional probes of the conditions required for channel
creation in the CO2 jet process. (Abridged)Comment: accepted to Icarus - Supplemental data files are available at
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mschwamb/planet-four-terrains/about/results
- Icarus print version available at
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910351730055
Hierarchy Theory of Evolution and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: Some Epistemic Bridges, Some Conceptual Rifts
Contemporary evolutionary biology comprises a plural landscape of multiple co-existent conceptual frameworks and strenuous voices that disagree on the nature and scope of evolutionary theory. Since the mid-eighties, some of these conceptual frameworks have denounced the ontologies of the Modern Synthesis and of the updated Standard Theory of Evolution as unfinished or even flawed. In this paper, we analyze and compare two of those conceptual frameworks, namely Niles Eldredge’s Hierarchy Theory of Evolution (with its extended ontology of evolutionary entities) and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (with its proposal of an extended ontology of evolutionary processes), in an attempt to map some epistemic bridges (e.g. compatible views of causation; niche construction) and some conceptual rifts (e.g. extra-genetic inheritance; different perspectives on macroevolution; contrasting standpoints held in the “externalism–internalism” debate) that exist between them. This paper seeks to encourage theoretical, philosophical and historiographical discussions about pluralism or the possible unification of contemporary evolutionary biology
On the cosmic ray bound for models of extragalactic neutrino production
We obtain the maximum diffuse neutrino intensity predicted by hadronic
photoproduction models of the type which have been applied to the jets of
active galactic nuclei or gamma ray bursts. For this, we compare the proton and
gamma ray fluxes associated with hadronic photoproduction in extragalactic
neutrino sources with the present experimental upper limit on cosmic ray
protons and the extragalactic gamma ray background, employing a transport
calculation of energetic protons traversing cosmic photon backgrounds. We take
into account the effects of the photon spectral shape in the sources on the
photoproduction process, cosmological source evolution, the optical depth for
cosmic ray ejection, and discuss the possible effects of magnetic fields in the
vicinity of the sources. For photohadronic neutrino sources which are optically
thin to the emission of neutrons we find that the cosmic ray flux imposes a
stronger bound than the extragalactic gamma ray background in the energy range
between 10^5 GeV and 10^11 GeV, as previously noted by Waxman & Bahcall (1999).
We also determine the maximum contribution from the jets of active galactic
nuclei, using constraints set to their neutron opacity by gamma-ray
observations. This present upper limit is consistent with the jets of active
galactic nuclei producing the extragalactic gamma ray background hadronically,
but we point out future observations in the GeV-to-TeV regime could lower this
limit. We also briefly discuss the contribution of gamma ray bursts to
ultra-high energy cosmic rays as it can be inferred from possible observations
or limits on their correlated neutrino fluxes.Comment: 16 pages, includes 7 figures, using REVtex3.1, accepted for
publication in Phys.Rev.D after minor revision
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