29,865 research outputs found
A double peaked pulse profile observed in GX 1+4
The hard X-ray pulsar GX 1+4 was observed several times in the last few years
with a pair of balloon-borne Xenon filled Multi-cell Proportional Counters
(XMPC). In a balloon flight made on 22 March 1995, the source was detected in a
bright state, the average observed source count rate being per
detector. X-ray pulsations with a period of s were detected in
the source with a broad double peak pulse feature. When observed in December
1993 with the same instrument, the pulse profile of GX 1+4 showed a single
peak. This change in the pulse profile to a double pulse structure in about 15
months indicates either activation of the opposite pole of the neutron star if
the magnetic field is asymmetric or possibly a change in the beam pattern, from
a pencil beam to a fan beam. Assuming a fan beam configuration, the pulse
profile is used to find the inclinations of the magnetic axis and the viewing
axis with the spin axis. The derived angles support the GINGA observations of a
dip in the pulse profile which was resolved to have a local maximum in one of
the observations and was explained with resonance scattering of cyclotron line
energy photons by the accretion column (Makishima et al., \markcite{maki1988},
Dotani et al., \markcite{dotani1989}.). Compared to our previous observation of
the same source with the same telescope (Rao et al., \markcite{rao1994}) a
period change rate of is obtained which is the lowest rate
of change of period for this source since its discovery. Average pulse fraction
in the hard X-ray range is low (30%), consistent with its anti correlation with
luminosity as reported by us earlier (Rao et al., \markcite{rao1994}) and the
observed spectrum is very hard (power law photon index ).Comment: 10 pages, to appear in A&
A plausible mechanism for the evolution of helical forms in nanostructure growth
The observation of helices and coils in nano-tube/-fiber (NT/NF) syntheses is explained on the basis of the interactions between specific catalyst particles and the growing nanostructure. In addition to rationalizing nonlinear structure, the proposed model probes the interplay between thermodynamic quantities and predicts conditions for optimal growth. Experimental results on the effect of indium catalyst on affecting the coil pitch in NTs and NFs are presented
Magnetic and electron transport properties of the rare-earth cobaltates, La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy) : A case of phase separation
Magnetic and electrical properties of four series of rare earth cobaltates of
the formula La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 with Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy have been
investigated. Compositions close to x = 0.0 contain large ferromagnetic
clusters or domains, and show Brillouin-like behaviour of the field-cooled DC
magnetization data with fairly high ferromagnetic Tc values, besides low
electrical resistivities with near-zero temperature coefficients. The
zero-field-cooled data generally show a non-monotonic behaviour with a peak at
a temperatures slightly lower than Tc. The near x = 0.0 compositions show a
prominent peak corresponding to the Tc in the AC-susceptibility data. The
ferromagnetic Tc varies linearly with x or the average radius of the A-site
cations, (rA). With increase in x or decrease in (rA), the magnetization value
at any given temperature decreases markedly and the AC-susceptibility
measurements show a prominent transition arising from small magnetic clusters
with some characteristics of a spin-glass. Electrical resistivity increases
with increase in x, showed a significant increase around a critical value of x
or (rA), at which composition the small clusters also begin to dominate. These
properties can be understood in terms of a phase separation scenario wherein
large magnetic clusters give way to smaller ones with increase in x, with both
types of clusters being present in certain compositions. The changes in
magnetic and electrical properties occur parallely since the large
ferromagnetic clusters are hole-rich and the small clusters are hole-poor.
Variable-range hopping seems to occur at low temperatures in these cobaltates.Comment: 23 pages including figure
QoS Constrained Optimal Sink and Relay Placement in Planned Wireless Sensor Networks
We are given a set of sensors at given locations, a set of potential
locations for placing base stations (BSs, or sinks), and another set of
potential locations for placing wireless relay nodes. There is a cost for
placing a BS and a cost for placing a relay. The problem we consider is to
select a set of BS locations, a set of relay locations, and an association of
sensor nodes with the selected BS locations, so that number of hops in the path
from each sensor to its BS is bounded by hmax, and among all such feasible
networks, the cost of the selected network is the minimum. The hop count bound
suffices to ensure a certain probability of the data being delivered to the BS
within a given maximum delay under a light traffic model. We observe that the
problem is NP-Hard, and is hard to even approximate within a constant factor.
For this problem, we propose a polynomial time approximation algorithm
(SmartSelect) based on a relay placement algorithm proposed in our earlier
work, along with a modification of the greedy algorithm for weighted set cover.
We have analyzed the worst case approximation guarantee for this algorithm. We
have also proposed a polynomial time heuristic to improve upon the solution
provided by SmartSelect. Our numerical results demonstrate that the algorithms
provide good quality solutions using very little computation time in various
randomly generated network scenarios
Electrical and Magnetic behaviour of PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 superconductor
The superconducting and ground state samples of PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 and PrFeAsO
have been synthesised via easy and versatile single step solid state reaction
route. X-ray & Reitveld refine parameters of the synthesised samples are in
good agreement to the earlier reported value of the structure. The ground state
of the pristine compound (PrFeAsO) exhibited a metallic like step in
resistivity below 150K followed by another step at 12K. The former is
associated with the spin density wave (SDW) like ordering of Fe spins and later
to the anomalous magnetic ordering for Pr moments. Both the resistivity
anomalies are absent in case of superconducting PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 sample. Detailed
high field (up to 12Tesla) electrical and magnetization measurements are
carried out for superconducting PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 sample. The PrFeAsO0.8F0.2
exhibited superconducting onset (Tconset) at around 47K with Tc({\rho} =0) at
38K. Though the Tconset remains nearly invariant, the Tc({\rho} =0) is
decreased with applied field, and the same is around 23K under applied field of
12Tesla. The upper critical field (Hc2) is estimated from the Ginzburg Landau
equation (GL) fitting, which is found to be ~ 182Tesla. Critical current
density (Jc) being calculated from high field isothermal magnetization (MH)
loops with the help of Beans critical state model, is found to be of the order
of 103 A/cm2. Summarily, the superconductivity characterization of single step
synthesised PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 superconductor is presented.Comment: 15 Pages Text + Fig
Density and ultrasonic velocity measurements in hexyloxybenzylidene phenylazoaniline
The temperature variation of density and ultrasonic velocity of the liquid crystal hexyloxybenzylidene phenylazoaniline are reported. The density across the smectic A-smectic B transition is more predominant than the other transitions. The density variation with temperature and the calculated thermal expansion coefficients suggest that the transitions isotropic liquid-nematic, nematic-smectic A and smectic A-smectic B are of first order. Anomalous behaviour of ultrasonic velocity is observed across the isotropic liquid-nematic transition and prominent dips in velocity are observed at the nematic-smectic A and smectic A-smectic B transitions. The adiabatic compressibility (βad) Rao number (Ra) and molar compressibility (B) are estimated using the experimental density and ultrasonic velocity
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