9,502 research outputs found
Towards a Coulomb gas of instantons in the SO(4)xU(1) Higgs model on R_4
The Higgs model on is extended by a term so
that the action receives a nonvanishing contribution from the interactions of
2-instantons and 3-instantons, and can be expressed as the inverse of the
Laplacian on in terms of the mutual distances of the instantons. The
one-instanton solutions of both the basic and the extended models have been
studied in detail numerically.Comment: 29 pages LaTeX, 4 Figures available from authors on reques
Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation
Risks from extreme weather events are mediated through
state, civil society and individual action
1
,
2
. We propose evolving
social contracts as a primary mechanism by which adaptation
to climate change proceeds. We use a natural experiment
of policy and social contexts of the UK and Ireland affected
by the same meteorological event and resultant flooding in
November 2009. We analyse data from policy documents and
from household surveys of 356 residents in western Ireland and
northwest England. We find significant differences between
perceptions of individual responsibility for protection across
the jurisdictions and between perceptions of future risk from
populations directly affected by flooding events. These explain
differences in stated willingness to take individual adaptive
actions when state support retrenches. We therefore show
that expectations for state protection are critical in mediating
impacts and promoting longer-term adaptation. We argue
that making social contracts explicit may smooth pathways to
effective and legitimate adaptation
Coherent Time Evolution and Boundary Conditions of Two-Photon Quantum Walks
Multi-photon quantum walks in integrated optics are an attractive controlled
quantum system, that can mimic less readily accessible quantum systems and
exhibit behavior that cannot in general be accurately replicated by classical
light without an exponential overhead in resources. The ability to observe time
evolution of such systems is important for characterising multi-particle
quantum dynamics---notably this includes the effects of boundary conditions for
walks in spaces of finite size. Here we demonstrate the coherent evolution of
quantum walks of two indistinguishable photons using planar arrays of 21
evanescently coupled waveguides fabricated in silicon oxynitride technology. We
compare three time evolutions, that follow closely a model assuming unitary
evolution, corresponding to three different lengths of the array---in each case
we observe quantum interference features that violate classical predictions.
The longest array includes reflecting boundary conditions.Comment: 7 pages,7 figure
Swift observations of the 2006 outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi: I. Early X-ray emission from the shocked ejecta and red giant wind
RS Ophiuchi began its latest outburst on 2006 February 12. Previous outbursts
have indicated that high velocity ejecta interact with a pre-existing red giant
wind, setting up shock systems analogous to those seen in Supernova Remnants.
However, in the previous outburst in 1985, X-ray observations did not commence
until 55 days after the initial explosion. Here we report on Swift observations
covering the first month of the 2006 outburst with the Burst Alert (BAT) and
X-ray Telescope (XRT) instruments. RS Oph was clearly detected in the BAT 14-25
keV band from t=0 to days. XRT observationsfrom 0.3-10 keV, started at
3.17 days after outburst. The rapidly evolving XRT spectra clearly show the
presence of both line and continuum emission which can be fitted by thermal
emission from hot gas whose characteristic temperature, overlying absorbing
column, , and resulting unabsorbed total flux decline monotonically
after the first few days. Derived shock velocities are in good agreement with
those found from observations at other wavelengths. Similarly, is in
accord with that expected from the red giant wind ahead of the forward shock.
We confirm the basic models of the 1985 outburst and conclude that standard
Phase I remnant evolution terminated by days and the remnant then
rapidly evolved to display behaviour characteristic of Phase III. Around t=26
days however, a new, luminous and highly variable soft X-ray source began to
appear whose origin will be explored in a subsequent paper.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures (2 updated), accepted by Ap
Limitations of the Standard Gravitational Perfect Fluid Paradigm
We show that the standard perfect fluid paradigm is not necessarily a valid
description of a curved space steady state gravitational source. Simply by
virtue of not being flat, curved space geometries have to possess intrinsic
length scales, and such length scales can affect the fluid structure. For modes
of wavelength of order or greater than such scales eikonalized geometrical
optics cannot apply and rays are not geodesic. Covariantizing thus entails not
only the replacing of flat space functions by covariant ones, but also the
introduction of intrinsic scales that were absent in flat space. In principle
it is thus unreliable to construct the curved space energy-momentum tensor as
the covariant generalization of a geodesic-based flat spacetime energy-momentum
tensor. By constructing the partition function as an incoherent average over a
complete set of modes of a scalar field propagating in a curved space
background, we show that for the specific case of a static, spherically
symmetric geometry, the steady state energy-momentum tensor that ensues will in
general be of the form
where the
anisotropic is a symmetric, traceless rank two tensor which
obeys . Such a type term is absent for an
incoherently averaged steady state fluid in a spacetime where there are no
intrinsic length scales, and in principle would thus be missed in a
covariantizing of a flat spacetime . While the significance of such
type terms would need to be evaluated on a case by case basis,
through the use of kinetic theory we reassuringly find that the effect of such
type terms is small for weak gravity stars where perfect fluid
sources are commonly used.Comment: Final version to appear in General Relativity and Gravitation (the
final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com). 29 pages, 1
figur
Testing the standard fireball model of GRBs using late X-ray afterglows measured by Swift
We show that all X-ray decay curves of GRBs measured by Swift can be fitted
using one or two components both of which have exactly the same functional form
comprised of an early falling exponential phase followed by a power law decay.
The 1st component contains the prompt gamma-ray emission and the initial X-ray
decay. The 2nd component appears later, has a much longer duration and is
present for ~80% of GRBs. It most likely arises from the external shock which
eventually develops into the X-ray afterglow. In the remaining ~20% of GRBs the
initial X-ray decay of the 1st component fades more slowly than the 2nd and
dominates at late times to form an afterglow but it is not clear what the
origin of this emission is.
The temporal decay parameters and gamma/X-ray spectral indices derived for
107 GRBs are compared to the expectations of the standard fireball model
including a search for possible "jet breaks". For ~50% of GRBs the observed
afterglow is in accord with the model but for the rest the temporal and
spectral indices do not conform to the expected closure relations and are
suggestive of continued, late, energy injection. We identify a few possible jet
breaks but there are many examples where such breaks are predicted but are
absent.
The time, T_a, at which the exponential phase of the 2nd component changes to
a final powerlaw decay afterglow is correlated with the peak of the gamma-ray
spectrum, E_peak. This is analogous to the Ghirlanda relation, indicating that
this time is in some way related to optically observed break times measured for
pre-Swift bursts.Comment: submitted to Ap
Preparation of Knill-Laflamme-Milburn states using tunable controlled phase gate
A specific class of partially entangled states known as
Knill-Laflamme-Milburn states (or KLM states) has been proved to be useful in
relation to quantum information processing [Knill et al., Nature 409, 46
(2001)]. Although the usage of such states is widely investigated, considerably
less effort has been invested into experimentally accessible preparation
schemes. This paper discusses the possibility to employ a tunable controlled
phase gate to generate an arbitrary Knill-Laflamme-Milburn state. In the first
part, the idea of using the controlled phase gate is explained on the case of
two-qubit KLM states. Optimization of the proposed scheme is then discussed for
the framework of linear optics. Subsequent generalization of the scheme to
arbitrary n-qubit KLM state is derived in the second part of this paper.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Journal of Physics
PG 2131+066: A Test of Pre-White Dwarf Asteroseismology
PG 2131+066 is a composite-spectrum binary with a hot pulsating PG 1159-type
pre-white dwarf and an early M-type main sequence star. Analysis of Whole Earth
Telescope observations of the pulsating pre-white dwarf component provided an
asteroseismological determination of its mass, luminosity, and effective
temperature. These determinations allowed Kawaler et al. (1995) to determine
the distance to this star. In this paper, we refine the asteroseismological
distance determination, and confirm the distance by an independent measurement
to the system via the spectroscopic parallax of the M star. PG 2131+066 was
observed by the HST using the original PC in September 1993. Exposures with
filters F785LP and F555W both showed the companion at a distance of 0.3 arc
seconds. Photometry of the images provides an apparent magnitude for the main
sequence companion of v=18.97+/-0.15, from which we find a distance of 560
(+200 -134) pc. We also recalculated the asteroseismological distance to the
pre-white dwarf using updated models and new spectroscopic constraints from UV
spectra. The new seismological distance is 668 (+78 -83) pc, in satisfactory
agreement with the distance of the secondary star. These results suggest that
this is indeed a physical binary, and that seismological distance determination
may be the best way to determine the distance to the pulsating hot pre-white
dwarf stars.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal, Dec.10,
200
Some New/Old Approaches to QCD
This is a talk delivered at the Meeting on Integrable Quantum Field Theories,
Villa Olmo and at STRINGS 1992, Rome, September 1992. I discuss some recent
attempts to revive two old ideas regarding an analytic approach to QCD-the
development of a string representation of the theory and the large N limit of
QCD.Comment: 20 page
Si-compatible candidates for high-K dielectrics with the Pbnm perovskite structure
We analyze both experimentally (where possible) and theoretically from
first-principles the dielectric tensor components and crystal structure of five
classes of Pbnm perovskites. All of these materials are believed to be stable
on silicon and are therefore promising candidates for high-K dielectrics. We
also analyze the structure of these materials with various simple models,
decompose the lattice contribution to the dielectric tensor into force constant
matrix eigenmode contributions, explore a peculiar correlation between
structural and dielectric anisotropies in these compounds and give phonon
frequencies and infrared activities of those modes that are infrared-active. We
find that CaZrO_3, SrZrO_3, LaHoO_3, and LaYO_3 are among the most promising
candidates for high-K dielectrics among the compounds we considered.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Supplementary information:
http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.064101 or
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~sinisa/highk/supp.pd
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