5,795 research outputs found
Impact of neutron star oscillations on the accelerating electric field in the polar cap of pulsar: or could we see oscillations of the neutron star after the glitch in pulsar?
Pulsar "standard model", that considers a pulsar as a rotating magnetized
conducting sphere surrounded by plasma, is generalized to the case of
oscillating star. We developed an algorithm for calculation of the
Goldreich-Julian charge density for this case. We consider distortion of the
accelerating zone in the polar cap of pulsar by neutron star oscillations. It
is shown that for oscillation modes with high harmonic numbers (l,m) changes in
the Goldreich-Julian charge density caused by pulsations of neutron star could
lead to significant altering of an accelerating electric field in the polar cap
of pulsar. In the moderately optimistic scenario, that assumes excitation of
the neutron star oscillations by glitches, it could be possible to detect
altering of the pulsar radioemission due to modulation of the accelerating
field.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Presented at the conference "Isolated Neutron
Stars: from the Interior to the Surface", London, April 24-28, 2006; to
appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Learning physics in context: a study of student learning about electricity and magnetism
This paper re-centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus
on context. In order to do so, a theoretically-motivated understanding of
context is developed. Given a well-defined notion of context, data from a novel
university class in electricity and magnetism are analyzed to demonstrate the
central and inextricable role of context in student learning. This work sits
within a broader effort to create and analyze environments which support
student learning in the sciencesComment: 36 pages, 4 Figure
Unstable Nonradial Oscillations on Helium Burning Neutron Stars
Material accreted onto a neutron star can stably burn in steady state only
when the accretion rate is high (typically super-Eddington) or if a large flux
from the neutron star crust permeates the outer atmosphere. For such situations
we have analyzed the stability of nonradial oscillations, finding one unstable
mode for pure helium accretion. This is a shallow surface wave which resides in
the helium atmosphere above the heavier ashes of the ocean. It is excited by
the increase in the nuclear reaction rate during the oscillations, and it grows
on the timescale of a second. For a slowly rotating star, this mode has a
frequency of approximately 20-30 Hz (for l=1), and we calculate the full
spectrum that a rapidly rotating (>>30 Hz) neutron star would support. The
short period X-ray binary 4U 1820--30 is accreting helium rich material and is
the system most likely to show this unstable mode,especially when it is not
exhibiting X-ray bursts. Our discovery of an unstable mode in a thermally
stable atmosphere shows that nonradial perturbations have a different stability
criterion than the spherically symmetric thermal perturbations that generate
type I X-ray bursts.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal, 22 pages, 14
figure
Nonlinear r-modes in Rapidly Rotating Relativistic Stars
The r-mode instability in rotating relativistic stars has been shown recently
to have important astrophysical implications (including the emission of
detectable gravitational radiation, the explanation of the initial spins of
young neutron stars and the spin-distribution of millisecond pulsars and the
explanation of one type of gamma-ray bursts), provided that r-modes are not
saturated at low amplitudes by nonlinear effects or by dissipative mechanisms.
Here, we present the first study of nonlinear r-modes in isentropic, rapidly
rotating relativistic stars, via 3-D general-relativistic hydrodynamical
evolutions. Our numerical simulations show that (1) on dynamical timescales,
there is no strong nonlinear coupling of r-modes to other modes at amplitudes
of order one -- unless nonlinear saturation occurs on longer timescales, the
maximum r-mode amplitude is of order unity (i.e., the velocity perturbation is
of the same order as the rotational velocity at the equator). An absolute upper
limit on the amplitude (relevant, perhaps, for the most rapidly rotating stars)
is set by causality. (2) r-modes and inertial modes in isentropic stars are
predominantly discrete modes and possible associated continuous parts were not
identified in our simulations. (3) In addition, the kinematical drift
associated with r-modes, recently found by Rezzolla, Lamb and Shapiro (2000),
appears to be present in our simulations, but an unambiguous confirmation
requires more precise initial data. We discuss the implications of our findings
for the detectability of gravitational waves from the r-mode instability.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted in Physical Review Letter
The Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry
The document attached has been archived with permission from the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.In the financial year ending June 2002, 26 689 hip replacements and 26089 knee replacements (total, 52778) were performed in Australia. Hip and knee replacement procedures have increased between 5%-10% each year for the past 10 years, with a combined increase in hip and knee replacement of 13.4% in the past year. The revision rate for hip replacement surgery in Australia is unknown but is estimated to be 20%-24%; the revision rate for hip replacement surgery in Sweden is 7%. Although data collection for the Registry is voluntary, it has 100% compliance from hospitals undertaking joint-replacement surgery.Stephen E Graves, David Davidson, Lisa Ingerson, Philip Ryan, Elizabeth C Griffith, Brian F J McDermott, Heather J McElroy and Nicole L Prat
Comparison of neoclassical predictions with measured flows and evaluation of a poloidal impurity density asymmetry
NLO BFKL Equation, Running Coupling and Renormalization Scales
I examine the solution of the BFKL equation with NLO corrections relevant for
deep inelastic scattering. Particular emphasis is placed on the part played by
the running of the coupling. It is shown that the solution factorizes into a
part describing the evolution in Q^2, and a constant part describing the input
distribution. The latter is infrared dominated, being described by a coupling
which grows as x decreases, and thus being contaminated by infrared
renormalons. Hence, for this part we agree with previous assertions that
predictive power breaks down for small enough x at any Q^2. However, the former
is ultraviolet dominated, being described by a coupling which falls like
1/(\ln(Q^2/\Lambda^2) + A(\bar\alpha_s(Q^2)\ln(1/x))^1/2)with decreasing x, and
thus is perturbatively calculable at all x. Therefore, although the BFKL
equation is unable to predict the input for a structure function for small x,
it is able to predict its evolution in Q^2, as we would expect from the
factorization theory. The evolution at small x has no true powerlike behaviour
due to the fall of the coupling, but does have significant differences from
that predicted from a standard NLO in alpha_s treatment. Application of the
resummed splitting functions with the appropriate coupling constant to an
analysis of data, i.e. a global fit, is very successful.Comment: Tex file, including a modification of Harvmac, 46 pages, 8 figures as
.ps files. Correction of typos, updating of references, very minor
corrections to text and fig.
The colour dipole approach to small-x processes
We explain why it is possible to formulate a wide variety of high energy
(small-x) photon-proton processes in terms of a universal dipole cross section
and compare and contrast various parameterizations of this function that exist
in the literature.Comment: 6 pages, latex, 2 figures. Contribution to Durham Collider Workshop
(Sept 99) proceeding
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