251 research outputs found
A Mathematical Theory of Stochastic Microlensing II. Random Images, Shear, and the Kac-Rice Formula
Continuing our development of a mathematical theory of stochastic
microlensing, we study the random shear and expected number of random lensed
images of different types. In particular, we characterize the first three
leading terms in the asymptotic expression of the joint probability density
function (p.d.f.) of the random shear tensor at a general point in the lens
plane due to point masses in the limit of an infinite number of stars. Up to
this order, the p.d.f. depends on the magnitude of the shear tensor, the
optical depth, and the mean number of stars through a combination of radial
position and the stars' masses. As a consequence, the p.d.f.s of the shear
components are seen to converge, in the limit of an infinite number of stars,
to shifted Cauchy distributions, which shows that the shear components have
heavy tails in that limit. The asymptotic p.d.f. of the shear magnitude in the
limit of an infinite number of stars is also presented. Extending to general
random distributions of the lenses, we employ the Kac-Rice formula and Morse
theory to deduce general formulas for the expected total number of images and
the expected number of saddle images. We further generalize these results by
considering random sources defined on a countable compact covering of the light
source plane. This is done to introduce the notion of {\it global} expected
number of positive parity images due to a general lensing map. Applying the
result to microlensing, we calculate the asymptotic global expected number of
minimum images in the limit of an infinite number of stars, where the stars are
uniformly distributed. This global expectation is bounded, while the global
expected number of images and the global expected number of saddle images
diverge as the order of the number of stars.Comment: To appear in JM
A Theorem on the origin of Phase Transitions
For physical systems described by smooth, finite-range and confining
microscopic interaction potentials V with continuously varying coordinates, we
announce and outline the proof of a theorem that establishes that unless the
equipotential hypersurfaces of configuration space \Sigma_v ={(q_1,...,q_N)\in
R^N | V(q_1,...,q_N) = v}, v \in R, change topology at some v_c in a given
interval [v_0, v_1] of values v of V, the Helmoltz free energy must be at least
twice differentiable in the corresponding interval of inverse temperature
(\beta(v_0), \beta(v_1)) also in the N -> \infty and the
{\Sigma_v}_{v > v_c}, which is the consequence of the existence of critical
points of V on \Sigma_{v=v_c}, that is points where \nabla V=0.Comment: 10 pages, Statistical Mechanics, Phase Transitions, General Theory.
Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres
Billiards in a general domain with random reflections
We study stochastic billiards on general tables: a particle moves according
to its constant velocity inside some domain until it hits the boundary and bounces randomly inside according to some
reflection law. We assume that the boundary of the domain is locally Lipschitz
and almost everywhere continuously differentiable. The angle of the outgoing
velocity with the inner normal vector has a specified, absolutely continuous
density. We construct the discrete time and the continuous time processes
recording the sequence of hitting points on the boundary and the pair
location/velocity. We mainly focus on the case of bounded domains. Then, we
prove exponential ergodicity of these two Markov processes, we study their
invariant distribution and their normal (Gaussian) fluctuations. Of particular
interest is the case of the cosine reflection law: the stationary distributions
for the two processes are uniform in this case, the discrete time chain is
reversible though the continuous time process is quasi-reversible. Also in this
case, we give a natural construction of a chord "picked at random" in
, and we study the angle of intersection of the process with a
-dimensional manifold contained in .Comment: 50 pages, 10 figures; To appear in: Archive for Rational Mechanics
and Analysis; corrected Theorem 2.8 (induced chords in nonconvex subdomains
The Point Processes of the GRW Theory of Wave Function Collapse
The Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory is a physical theory that, when
combined with a suitable ontology, provides an explanation of quantum
mechanics. The so-called collapse of the wave function is problematic in
conventional quantum theory but not in the GRW theory, in which it is governed
by a stochastic law. A possible ontology is the flash ontology, according to
which matter consists of random points in space-time, called flashes. The joint
distribution of these points, a point process in space-time, is the topic of
this work. The mathematical results concern mainly the existence and uniqueness
of this distribution for several variants of the theory. Particular attention
is paid to the relativistic version of the GRW theory that I developed in 2004.Comment: 72 pages LaTeX, 3 figure
Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius spectrum for Anosov maps
We extend a number of results from one dimensional dynamics based on spectral
properties of the Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius transfer operator to Anosov
diffeomorphisms on compact manifolds. This allows to develop a direct operator
approach to study ergodic properties of these maps. In particular, we show that
it is possible to define Banach spaces on which the transfer operator is
quasicompact. (Information on the existence of an SRB measure, its smoothness
properties and statistical properties readily follow from such a result.) In
dimension we show that the transfer operator associated to smooth random
perturbations of the map is close, in a proper sense, to the unperturbed
transfer operator. This allows to obtain easily very strong spectral stability
results, which in turn imply spectral stability results for smooth
deterministic perturbations as well. Finally, we are able to implement an Ulam
type finite rank approximation scheme thus reducing the study of the spectral
properties of the transfer operator to a finite dimensional problem.Comment: 58 pages, LaTe
Combinatorial effects on gene expression at the Lbx1/Fgf8 locus resolve Split-Hand/Foot Malformation type 3
Split-Hand/Foot Malformation type 3 (SHFM3) is a congenital limb malformation associated with tandem duplications at the LBX1/FGF8 locus. Yet, the disease patho-mechanism remains unsolved. Here we investigated the functional consequences of SHFM3-associated rearrangements on chromatin conformation and gene expression in vivo in transgenic mice. We show that the Lbx1/Fgf8 locus consists of two separate, but interacting, regulatory domains. Re-engineering of a SHFM3-associated duplication and a newly reported inversion in mice resulted in restructuring of the chromatin architecture. This led to an ectopic activation of the Lbx1 and Btrc genes in the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) in an Fgf8-like pattern. Artificial repositioning of the AER-specific enhancers of Fgf8 was sufficient to induce misexpression of Lbx1 and Btrc. We provide evidence that the SHFM3 phenotype is the result of a combinatorial effect on gene misexpression and dosage in the developing limb. Our results reveal new insights into the molecular mechanism underlying SHFM3 and provide novel conceptual framework for how genomic rearrangements can cause gene misexpression and disease
Finite-dimensional global and exponential attractors for the reaction-diffusion problem with an obstacle potential
A reaction-diffusion problem with an obstacle potential is considered in a
bounded domain of . Under the assumption that the obstacle \K is a
closed convex and bounded subset of with smooth boundary or it
is a closed -dimensional simplex, we prove that the long-time behavior of
the solution semigroup associated with this problem can be described in terms
of an exponential attractor. In particular, the latter means that the fractal
dimension of the associated global attractor is also finite
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