593 research outputs found
Entwined Paths, Difference Equations and the Dirac Equation
Entwined space-time paths are bound pairs of trajectories which are traversed
in opposite directions with respect to macroscopic time. In this paper we show
that ensembles of entwined paths on a discrete space-time lattice are simply
described by coupled difference equations which are discrete versions of the
Dirac equation. There is no analytic continuation, explicit or forced, involved
in this description. The entwined paths are `self-quantizing'. We also show
that simple classical stochastic processes that generate the difference
equations as ensemble averages are stable numerically and converge at a rate
governed by the details of the stochastic process. This result establishes the
Dirac equation in one dimension as a phenomenological equation describing an
underlying classical stochastic process in the same sense that the Diffusion
and Telegraph equations are phenomenological descriptions of stochastic
processes.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures Replacement 11/02 contains minor editorial
change
A Study of Giant Pulses from PSR J1824-2452A
We have searched for microsecond bursts of emission from millisecond pulsars
in the globular cluster M28 using the Parkes radio telescope. We detected a
total of 27 giant pulses from the known emitter PSR J1824-2452A. At wavelengths
around 20 cm the giant pulses are scatter-broadened to widths of around 2
microseconds and follow power-law statistics. The pulses occur in two narrow
phase-windows which correlate in phase with X-ray emission and trail the peaks
of the integrated radio pulse-components. Notably, the integrated radio
emission at these phase windows has a steeper spectral index than other
emission. The giant pulses exhibit a high degree of polarization, with many
being 100% elliptically polarized. Their position angles appear random.
Although the integrated emission of PSR J1824-2452A is relatively stable for
the frequencies and bandwidths observed, the intensities of individual giant
pulses vary considerably across our bands. Two pulses were detected at both
2700 and 3500 MHz. The narrower of the two pulses is 20 ns wide at 3500 MHz. At
2700 MHz this pulse has an inferred brightness temperature at maximum of 5 x
10^37 K. Our observations suggest the giant pulses of PSR J1824-2452A are
generated in the same part of the magnetosphere as X-ray emission through a
different emission process to that of ordinary pulses.Comment: Accepted by Ap
Challenges in the development of the orbiter atmosphere revitalization subsystem
The space shuttle orbiter atmospheric revitalization subsystem provides thermal and contaminant control as well as total- and oxygen partial-pressure control of the environment within the orbiter crew cabin. Challenges that occurred during the development of this subsystem for the space shuttle orbiter are described. The design of the rotating hardware elements of the system (pumps, fans, etc.) required significant development to meet the requirements of long service life, maintainability, and high cycle-fatigue life. As a result, a stringent development program, particularly in the areas of bearing life and heat dissipation, was required. Another area requiring significant development was cabin humidity control and condensate collection
Quantum-classical transition in Scale Relativity
The theory of scale relativity provides a new insight into the origin of
fundamental laws in physics. Its application to microphysics allows us to
recover quantum mechanics as mechanics on a non-differentiable (fractal)
spacetime. The Schrodinger and Klein-Gordon equations are demonstrated as
geodesic equations in this framework. A development of the intrinsic properties
of this theory, using the mathematical tool of Hamilton's bi-quaternions, leads
us to a derivation of the Dirac equation within the scale-relativity paradigm.
The complex form of the wavefunction in the Schrodinger and Klein-Gordon
equations follows from the non-differentiability of the geometry, since it
involves a breaking of the invariance under the reflection symmetry on the
(proper) time differential element (ds - ds). This mechanism is generalized
for obtaining the bi-quaternionic nature of the Dirac spinor by adding a
further symmetry breaking due to non-differentiability, namely the differential
coordinate reflection symmetry (dx^mu - dx^mu) and by requiring invariance
under parity and time inversion. The Pauli equation is recovered as a
non-relativistic-motion approximation of the Dirac equation.Comment: 28 pages, no figur
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Development of an Under-Sodium Ultrasonic Scanner for in-Reactor Surveillance.
Discovery of Five Recycled Pulsars in a High Galactic Latitude Survey
We present five recycled pulsars discovered during a 21-cm survey of
approximately 4,150 deg^2 between 15 deg and 30 deg from the galactic plane
using the Parkes radio telescope. One new pulsar, PSR J1528-3146, has a 61 ms
spin period and a massive white dwarf companion. Like many recycled pulsars
with heavy companions, the orbital eccentricity is relatively high (~0.0002),
consistent with evolutionary models that predict less time for circularization.
The four remaining pulsars have short spin periods (3 ms < P < 6 ms); three of
these have probable white dwarf binary companions and one (PSR J2010-1323) is
isolated. PSR J1600-3053 is relatively bright for its dispersion measure of
52.3 pc cm^-3 and promises good timing precision thanks to an intrinsically
narrow feature in its pulse profile, resolvable through coherent dedispersion.
In this survey, the recycled pulsar discovery rate was one per four days of
telescope time or one per 600 deg^2 of sky. The variability of these sources
implies that there are more millisecond pulsars that might be found by
repeating this survey.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
MWA Tied-Array Processing IV: A Multi-Pixel Beamformer for Pulsar Surveys and Ionospheric Corrected Localisation
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low-frequency aperture array capable
of high-time and frequency resolution astronomy applications such as pulsar
studies. The large field-of-view of the MWA (hundreds of square degrees) can
also be exploited to attain fast survey speeds for all-sky pulsar search
applications, but to maximise sensitivity requires forming thousands of
tied-array beams from each voltage-capture observation. The necessity of using
calibration solutions that are separated from the target observation both
temporally and spatially makes pulsar observations vulnerable to uncorrected,
frequency-dependent positional offsets due to the ionosphere. These offsets may
be large enough to move the source away from the centre of the tied-array beam,
incurring sensitivity drops of 30-50\% in Phase II extended array
configuration. We analyse these offsets in pulsar observations and develop a
method for mitigating them, improving both the source position accuracy and the
sensitivity. This analysis prompted the development of a multi-pixel
beamforming functionality that can generate dozens of tied-array beams
simultaneously, which runs a factor of ten times faster compared to the
original single-pixel version. This enhancement makes it feasible to observe
multiple pulsars within the vast field of view of the MWA and supports the
ongoing large-scale pulsar survey efforts with the MWA. We explore the extent
to which ionospheric offset correction will be necessary for the MWA Phase III
and the low-frequency Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Low).Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
ZOBOV: a parameter-free void-finding algorithm
ZOBOV (ZOnes Bordering On Voidness) is an algorithm that finds density
depressions in a set of points, without any free parameters, or assumptions
about shape. It uses the Voronoi tessellation to estimate densities, which it
uses to find both voids and subvoids. It also measures probabilities that each
void or subvoid arises from Poisson fluctuations. This paper describes the
ZOBOV algorithm, and the results from its application to the dark-matter
particles in a region of the Millennium Simulation. Additionally, the paper
points out an interesting high-density peak in the probability distribution of
dark-matter particle densities.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS, accepted. Added explanatory figures, and
better edge-detection methods. ZOBOV code available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~neyrinck/vobo
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