19,056 research outputs found
Quadrupole moment of a magnetically confined mountain on an accreting neutron star: effect of the equation of state
Magnetically confined mountains on accreting neutron stars are promising
sources of continuous-wave gravitational radiation and are currently the
targets of directed searches with long-baseline detectors like the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO). In this paper, previous
ideal-magnetohydrodynamic models of isothermal mountains are generalized to a
range of physically motivated, adiabatic equations of state. It is found that
the mass ellipticity drops substantially, from \epsilon ~ 3e-4 (isothermal) to
\epsilon ~ 9e-7 (non-relativistic degenerate neutrons), 6e-8 (relativistic
degenerate electrons) and 1e-8 (non-relativistic degenerate electrons)
(assuming a magnetic field of 3e12 G at birth). The characteristic mass M_{c}
at which the magnetic dipole moment halves from its initial value is also
modified, from M_{c}/M_{\sun} ~ 5e-4 (isothermal) to M_{c}/M_{\sun} ~ 2e-6,
1e-7, and 3e-8 for the above three equations of state, respectively. Similar
results are obtained for a realistic, piecewise-polytropic nuclear equation of
state. The adiabatic models are consistent with current LIGO upper limits,
unlike the isothermal models. Updated estimates of gravitational-wave
detectability are made. Monte Carlo simulations of the spin distribution of
accreting millisecond pulsars including gravitational-wave stalling agree
better with observations for certain adiabatic equations of state, implying
that X-ray spin measurements can probe the equation of state when coupled with
magnetic mountain models.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, to be published in MNRA
First order resonance overlap and the stability of close two planet systems
Motivated by the population of multi-planet systems with orbital period
ratios 1<P2/P1<2, we study the long-term stability of packed two planet
systems. The Hamiltonian for two massive planets on nearly circular and nearly
coplanar orbits near a first order mean motion resonance can be reduced to a
one degree of freedom problem (Sessin & Ferraz Mello (1984), Wisdom (1986),
Henrard et al. (1986)). Using this analytically tractable Hamiltonian, we apply
the resonance overlap criterion to predict the onset of large scale chaotic
motion in close two planet systems. The reduced Hamiltonian has only a weak
dependence on the planetary mass ratio, and hence the overlap criterion is
independent of the planetary mass ratio at lowest order. Numerical integrations
confirm that the planetary mass ratio has little effect on the structure of the
chaotic phase space for close orbits in the low eccentricity (e <~0.1) regime.
We show numerically that orbits in the chaotic web produced primarily by first
order resonance overlap eventually experience large scale erratic variation in
semimajor axes and are Lagrange unstable. This is also true of the orbits in
this overlap region which are Hill stable. As a result, we can use the first
order resonance overlap criterion as an effective stability criterion for pairs
of observed planets. We show that for low mass (<~10 M_Earth) planetary systems
with initially circular orbits the period ratio at which complete overlap
occurs and widespread chaos results lies in a region of parameter space which
is Hill stable. Our work indicates that a resonance overlap criterion which
would apply for initially eccentric orbits needs to take into account second
order resonances. Finally, we address the connection found in previous work
between the Hill stability criterion and numerically determined Lagrange
instability boundaries in the context of resonance overlap.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Work-based training and job prospects for the unemployed: an evaluation of training for work
"Training for Work (TfW) was a major DfEE programme aimed at helping people who had been claimant unemployed for over six months to find jobs and improve their skills, by providing appropriate training and work experience. After initial assessment and guidance, entrants took one of three main routes: employer placements (with either trainee or employed status), full-time off-the-job training, or project placements... A nationally representative sample of TfW participants in England and Wales who left TfW during the autumn of 1995 was interviewed in spring 1996 and a second time in summer 1997. The present analysis excluded those who had been unemployed for less than six months at the point of entry to the programme (the 'special needs' group)." - Page 1
Breast feeding practices and views among diabetic women: a retrospective cohort study
Objective:
to explore the pattern and experiences of breast-feeding practices among diabetic women.
Design:
retrospective cohort study using maternal records and postal questionnaires in a Baby-Friendly hospital.
Participants:
diabetic mothers including women with gestational diabetes, and type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus.
Findings:
from the total group of respondents, 81.9% intended to breast feed. The actual breast feeding rates were 81.9% at birth, 68.1% at 2 weeks and 28.7% at 6 months postpartum. Major themes that were identified from women's experiences included information and advice, support vs. pressure, classification and labelling, and expectations.
Conclusions:
more than two-thirds of the diabetic women intended to breast feed and actually did breast feed in this study. For both the total study population and the type 1 and 2 diabetics alone, more than half were still breast feeding at 2 weeks postpartum, and approximately one-third were still breast feeding at 6 months postpartum.
Implications for practice:
structured support, provided for women through Baby-Friendly initiatives, was appreciated by the diabetic women in this study. The extent to which this support influenced the highly successful breast feeding practices in this group of women needs focused investigation. The need for a delicate balancing act between pressure and advice in order to prevent coercion was noted.</p
Stability of Satellites in Closely Packed Planetary Systems
We perform numerical integrations of four-body (star, planet, planet,
satellite) systems to investigate the stability of satellites in planetary
Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets (STIPs). We find that the majority of
closely-spaced stable two-planet systems can stably support satellites across a
range of parameter-space which is only slightly decreased compared to that seen
for the single-planet case. In particular, circular prograde satellites remain
stable out to (where is the Hill Radius) as opposed to
in the single-planet case. A similarly small restriction in the
stable parameter-space for retrograde satellites is observed, where planetary
close approaches in the range 2.5 to 4.5 mutual Hill radii destabilize most
satellites orbits only if . In very close planetary pairs (e.g.
the 12:11 resonance) the addition of a satellite frequently destabilizes the
entire system, causing extreme close-approaches and the loss of satellites over
a range of circumplanetary semi-major axes. The majority of systems
investigated stably harbored satellites over a wide parameter-space, suggesting
that STIPs can generally offer a dynamically stable home for satellites, albeit
with a slightly smaller stable parameter-space than the single-planet case. As
we demonstrate that multi-planet systems are not a priori poor candidates for
hosting satellites, future measurements of satellite occurrence rates in
multi-planet systems versus single-planet systems could be used to constrain
either satellite formation or past periods of strong dynamical interaction
between planets.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication, ApJ
Reconstructing ice-sheet accumulation rates at ridge B, East Antarctica
Understanding how ice sheets responded to past climate change is fundamental to forecasting how they will respond in the future. Numerical models calculating the evolution of ice sheets depend upon accumulation data, which are principally available from ice cores. Here, we calculate past rates of ice accumulation using internal layering. The englacial structure of the East Antarctic ice divide at ridge B is extracted from airborne ice-penetrating radar. The isochronous surfaces are dated at their intersection with the Vostok ice-core site, where the depth–age relationship is known. The dated isochrons are used as input to a one-dimensional ice-flow model to investigate the spatial accumulation distribution. The calculations show that ice-accumulation rates generally increase from Vostok lake towards ridge B. The western flank of the ice divide experiences markedly more accumulation than in the east. Further, ice accumulation increases northwards along the ice divide. The results also show the variability of accumulation in time and space around the ridge B ice divide over the last 124 000 years
Superluminal propagation of an optical pulse in a Doppler broadened three-state, single channel active Raman gain medium
Using a single channel active Raman gain medium we show a ns
advance time for an optical pulse of s propagating
through a 10 cm medium, a lead time that is comparable to what was reported
previously. In addition, we have verified experimentally all the features
associated with this single channel Raman gain system. Our results show that
the reported gain-assisted superluminal propagation should not be attributed to
the interference between the two frequencies of the pump field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Identifiability of generalised Randles circuit models
The Randles circuit (including a parallel resistor and capacitor in series
with another resistor) and its generalised topology have widely been employed
in electrochemical energy storage systems such as batteries, fuel cells and
supercapacitors, also in biomedical engineering, for example, to model the
electrode-tissue interface in electroencephalography and baroreceptor dynamics.
This paper studies identifiability of generalised Randles circuit models, that
is, whether the model parameters can be estimated uniquely from the
input-output data. It is shown that generalised Randles circuit models are
structurally locally identifiable. The condition that makes the model structure
globally identifiable is then discussed. Finally, the estimation accuracy is
evaluated through extensive simulations
New Consequences of Induced Transparency in a Double-Lambda scheme: Destructive Interference In Four-wave Mixing
We investigate a four-state system interacting with long and short laser
pulses in a weak probe beam approximation. We show that when all lasers are
tuned to the exact unperturbed resonances, part of the four-wave mixing (FWM)
field is strongly absorbed. The part which is not absorbed has the exact
intensity required to destructively interfere with the excitation pathway
involved in producing the FWM state. We show that with this three-photon
destructive interference, the conversion efficiency can still be as high as
25%. Contrary to common belief,our calculation shows that this process, where
an ideal one-photon electromagnetically induced transparency is established, is
not most suitable for high efficiency conversion. With appropriate
phase-matching and propagation distance, and when the three-photon destructive
interference does not occur, we show that the photon flux conversion efficiency
is independent of probe intensity and can be close to 100%. In addition, we
show clearly that the conversion efficiency is not determined by the maximum
atomic coherence between two lower excited states, as commonly believed. It is
the combination of phase-matching and constructive interference involving the
two terms arising in producing the mixing wave that is the key element for the
optimized FWM generation. Indeed, in this scheme no appreciable excited state
is produced, so that the atomic coherence between states |0> and |2> is always
very small.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. A, 7 pages, 4 figure
Compact high-power tunable three-level operation of double cladding Nd-doped fiber laser
We present a compact high-power continuous-wave tunable neodymium-doped double cladding fiber laser operating on three-level 4F3/2 - 4I9/2 transition with a maximum output power up to 810 mW. At 926.7 nm, it has a maximum slope efficiency of 49.3% against absorbed 808-nm pump. By compressing the fiber Bragg grating, 15-nm tuning range is achieved
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