2,933 research outputs found
A neutron star progenitor for FRBs? Insights from polarisation measurements
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are intense, millisecond-duration broadband radio
transients, the emission mechanisms of which are not understood. Masui et al.
recently presented Green Bank Telescope observations of FRB 110523, which
displayed temporal variation of the linear polarisation position angle (PA).
This effect is commonly seen in radio pulsars and is attributed to a changing
projected magnetic field orientation in the emission region as the star
rotates. If a neutron star is the progenitor of this FRB, and the emission
mechanism is pulsar-like, we show that the progenitor is either rapidly
rotating, or the emission originates from a region of complex magnetic field
geometry. The observed PA variation could also be caused by propagation effects
within a neutron-star magnetosphere, or by spatially varying magnetic fields if
the progenitor lies in a dense, highly magnetised environment. Although we urge
caution in generalising results from FRB 110523 to the broader FRB population,
our analysis serves as a guide to interpreting future polarisation measurements
of FRBs, and presents another means of elucidating the origins of these
enigmatic ephemera.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to MNRA
Rigidity for equivariant pseudo pretheories
We prove versions of the Suslin and Gabber rigidity theorems in the setting
of equivariant pseudo pretheories of smooth schemes over a field with an action
of a finite group. Examples include equivariant algebraic -theory,
presheaves with equivariant transfers, equivariant Suslin homology, and Bredon
motivic cohomology.Comment: 19 pages; to appear in Journal of Algebr
Pulsar timing noise and the minimum observation time to detect gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays
The sensitivity of pulsar timing arrays to gravitational waves is, at some
level, limited by timing noise. Red timing noise - the stochastic wandering of
pulse arrival times with a red spectrum - is prevalent in slow-spinning pulsars
and has been identified in many millisecond pulsars. Phenomenological models of
timing noise, such as from superfluid turbulence, suggest that the timing noise
spectrum plateaus below some critical frequency, , potentially aiding the
hunt for gravitational waves. We examine this effect for individual pulsars by
calculating minimum observation times, , over which the
gravitational wave signal becomes larger than the timing noise plateau. We do
this in two ways: 1) in a model-independent manner, and 2) by using the
superfluid turbulence model for timing noise as an example to illustrate how
neutron star parameters can be constrained. We show that the superfluid
turbulence model can reproduce the data qualitatively from a number of pulsars
observed as part of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We further show how a value
of , derived either through observations or theory, can be related to
. This provides a diagnostic whereby the usefulness of timing
array pulsars for gravitational-wave detection can be quantified.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Before-Commit Client State Management Services for AJAX Applications
Heavily script-based browser applications change the manner in which users interact with Web browsers. Instead of downloading a succession of HTML pages, users download a single application and use that application for a long period of time. The application is not a set of HTML pages, but rather a single page that can possible modify its own presentation based on data exchanged with a server. In such an environment, it is necessary to provide some means for the client to manage its own state. We describe the initial results of our work in providing client-side state management services for these script-based applications. We focus on browser-based services that can help the user before any data is committed on the server. Our services include state checkpointing, property binding, operation logging, operational replay, ATOM/RSS data updates, and application-controlled persistence
BB: An R Package for Solving a Large System of Nonlinear Equations and for Optimizing a High-Dimensional Nonlinear Objective Function
We discuss <code>R</code> package <b>BB</b>, in particular, its capabilities for solving a nonlinear system of equations. The function <code>BBsolve</code> in <b>BB</b> can be used for this purpose. We demonstrate the utility of these functions for solving: (a) large systems of nonlinear equations, (b) smooth, nonlinear estimating equations in statistical modeling, and (c) non-smooth estimating equations arising in rank-based regression modeling of censored failure time data. The function <code>BBoptim</code> can be used to solve smooth, box-constrained optimization problems. A main strength of <b>BB</b> is that, due to its low memory and storage requirements, it is ideally suited for solving high-dimensional problems with thousands of variables
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