44,423 research outputs found
A fast and portable Re-Implementation of Piskunov and Valenti's Optimal-Extraction Algorithm with improved Cosmic-Ray Removal and Optimal Sky Subtraction
We present a fast and portable re-implementation of Piskunov and Valenti's
optimal-extraction algorithm (Piskunov & Valenti, 2002} in C/C++ together with
full uncertainty propagation, improved cosmic-ray removal, and an optimal
background-subtraction algorithm. This re-implementation can be used with IRAF
and most existing data-reduction packages and leads to signal-to-noise ratios
close to the Poisson limit. The algorithm is very stable, operates on spectra
from a wide range of instruments (slit spectra and fibre feeds), and has been
extensively tested for VLT/UVES, ESO/CES, ESO/FEROS, NTT/EMMI, NOT/ALFOSC,
STELLA/SES, SSO/WiFeS, and finally, P60/SEDM-IFU data.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Statistical characterization of phenolic-novolak structures
Three statistical methods of general validity are valuable for characterizing any polymer which results from chain polymerization of multifunctional branching monomers linked through bifunctional monomers
Turbulent magnetic dynamo excitation at low magnetic Prandtl number
Planetary and stellar dynamos likely result from turbulent motions in
magnetofluids with kinematic viscosities that are small compared to their
magnetic diffusivities. Laboratory experiments are in progress to produce
similar dynamos in liquid metals. This work reviews recent computations of
thresholds in critical magnetic Reynolds number above which dynamo
amplification can be expected for mechanically-forced turbulence (helical and
non-helical, short wavelength and long wavelength) as a function of the
magnetic Prandtl number . New results for helical forcing are discussed,
for which a dynamo is obtained at . The fact that the
kinetic turbulent spectrum is much broader in wavenumber space than the
magnetic spectrum leads to numerical difficulties which are bridged by a
combination of overlapping direct numerical simulations and subgrid models of
magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. Typically, the critical magnetic Reynolds
number increases steeply as the magnetic Prandtl number decreases, and then
reaches an asymptotic plateau at values of at most a few hundred. In the
turbulent regime and for magnetic Reynolds numbers large enough, both small and
large scale magnetic fields are excited. The interactions between different
scales in the flow are also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Physics of Plasma
New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster
We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of
the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK
Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major
concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in
Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent
larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to
the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear
in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology,
held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie
The Generation of Magnetic Fields Through Driven Turbulence
We have tested the ability of driven turbulence to generate magnetic field
structure from a weak uniform field using three dimensional numerical
simulations of incompressible turbulence. We used a pseudo-spectral code with a
numerical resolution of up to collocation points. We find that the
magnetic fields are amplified through field line stretching at a rate
proportional to the difference between the velocity and the magnetic field
strength times a constant. Equipartition between the kinetic and magnetic
energy densities occurs at a scale somewhat smaller than the kinetic energy
peak. Above the equipartition scale the velocity structure is, as expected,
nearly isotropic. The magnetic field structure at these scales is uncertain,
but the field correlation function is very weak. At the equipartition scale the
magnetic fields show only a moderate degree of anisotropy, so that the typical
radius of curvature of field lines is comparable to the typical perpendicular
scale for field reversal. In other words, there are few field reversals within
eddies at the equipartition scale, and no fine-grained series of reversals at
smaller scales. At scales below the equipartition scale, both velocity and
magnetic structures are anisotropic; the eddies are stretched along the local
magnetic field lines, and the magnetic energy dominates the kinetic energy on
the same scale by a factor which increases at higher wavenumbers. We do not
show a scale-free inertial range, but the power spectra are a function of
resolution and/or the imposed viscosity and resistivity. Our results are
consistent with the emergence of a scale-free inertial range at higher Reynolds
numbers.Comment: 14 pages (8 NEW figures), ApJ, in press (July 20, 2000?
Mapping the Asymmetric Thick Disk: The Hercules Thick Disk Cloud
The stellar asymmetry of faint thick disk/inner halo stars in the first
quadrant first reported by Larsen & Humphreys (1996) and investigated further
by Parker et al. (2003, 2004) has been recently confirmed by SDSS (Juric et al.
2008). Their interpretation of the excess in the star counts as a ringlike
structure, however, is not supported by critical complimentary data in the
fourth quadrant not covered by SDSS. We present stellar density maps from the
Minnesota Automated Plate Scanner (MAPS) Catalog of the POSS I showing that the
overdensity does not extend into the fourth quadrant. The overdensity is most
probably not a ring. It could be due to interaction with the disk bar, evidence
for a triaxial thick disk, or a merger remnant/stream. We call this feature the
Hercules Thick Disk Cloud.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letter
Relation Between Einstein And Quantum Field Equations
We show that there exists a choice of scalar field modes, such that the
evolution of the quantum field in the zero-mass and large-mass limits is
consistent with the Einstein equations for the background geometry. This choice
of modes is also consistent with zero production of these particles and thus
corresponds to a preferred vacuum state preserved by the evolution. In the
zero-mass limit, we find that the quantum field equation implies the Einstein
equation for the scale factor of a radiation-dominated universe; in the
large-mass case, it implies the corresponding Einstein equation for a
matter-dominated universe. Conversely, if the classical radiation-dominated or
matter-dominated Einstein equations hold, there is no production of scalar
particles in the zero and large mass limits, respectively. The suppression of
particle production in the large mass limit is over and above the expected
suppression at large mass. Our results hold for a certain class of conformally
ultrastatic background geometries and therefore generalize previous results by
one of us for spatially flat Robertson-Walker background geometries. In these
geometries, we find that the temporal part of the graviton equations reduces to
the temporal equation for a massless minimally coupled scalar field, and
therefore the results for massless particle production hold also for gravitons.
Within the class of modes we study, we also find that the requirement of zero
production of massless scalar particles is not consistent with a non-zero
cosmological constant. Possible implications are discussed.Comment: Latex, 24 pages. Minor changes in text from original versio
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