Towards a knowledge-based system to assist the Brazilian data-collecting system operation

A study is reported which was carried out to show how a knowledge-based approach would lead to a flexible tool to assist the operation task in a satellite-based environmental data collection system. Some characteristics of a hypothesized system comprised of a satellite and a network of Interrogable Data Collecting Platforms (IDCPs) are pointed out. The Knowledge-Based Planning Assistant System (KBPAS) and some aspects about how knowledge is organized in the IDCP's domain are briefly described

Transmission coefficient and two-fold degenerate discrete spectrum of spin-1 bosons in a double-step potential

The scattering of spin-1 bosons in a nonminimal vector double-step potential is described in terms of eigenstates of the helicity operator and it is shown that the transmission coefficient is insensitive to the choice of the polarization of the incident beam. Poles of the transmission amplitude reveal the existence of a two-fold degenerate spectrum. The results are interpreted in terms of solutions of two coupled effective Schr\"{o}dinger equations for a finite square well with additional $\delta$-functions situated at the borders.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1203.119

Near-infrared study of new embedded clusters in the Carina complex

We analyse the nature of a sample of stellar overdensities that we found projected on the Carina complex. This study is based on 2MASS photometry and involves the photometry decontamination of field stars, elaboration of intrinsic colour-magnitude diagrams J$\times$(J-Ks), colour-colour diagrams (J-H)$\times$(H-Ks) and radial density profiles, in order to determine the structure and the main astrophysical parameters of the best candidates. The verification of an overdensity as an embedded cluster requires a CMD consistent with a PMS content and MS stars, if any. From these results, we are able to verify if they are, in fact, embedded clusters. The results were, in general, rewarding: in a sample of 101 overdensities, the analysis provided 15 candidates, of which three were previously catalogued as clusters (CCCP-Cl$\,$16, Treasure Chest and FSR$\,$1555), and the 12 remaining are discoveries that provided significant results, with ages not above 4.5$\,$Myr and distances compatible with the studied complex. The resulting values for the differential reddening of most candidates were relatively high, confirming that these clusters are still (partially or fully) embedded in the surrounding gas and dust, as a rule within a shell. Histograms with the distribution of the masses, ages and distances were also produced, to give an overview of the results. We conclude that all the 12 newly found embedded clusters are related to the Carina complex.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Chaos and a Resonance Mechanism for Structure Formation in Inflationary Models

We exhibit a resonance mechanism of amplification of density perturbations in inflationary mo-dels, using a minimal set of ingredients (an effective cosmological constant, a scalar field minimally coupled to the gravitational field and matter), common to most models in the literature of inflation. This mechanism is based on the structure of homoclinic cylinders, emanating from an unstable periodic orbit in the neighborhood of a saddle-center critical point, present in the phase space of the model. The cylindrical structure induces oscillatory motions of the scales of the universe whenever the orbit visits the neighborhood of the saddle-center, before the universe enters a period of exponential expansion. The oscillations of the scale functions produce, by a resonance mechanism, the amplification of a selected wave number spectrum of density perturbations, and can explain the hierarchy of scales observed in the actual universe. The transversal crossings of the homoclinic cylinders induce chaos in the dynamics of the model, a fact intimately connected to the resonance mechanism occuring immediately before the exit to inflation.Comment: 4 pages. This essay received an Honorable Mention from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1998-Ed. To appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.