549 research outputs found
Perturbations on steady spherical accretion in Schwarzschild geometry
The stationary background flow in the spherically symmetric infall of a
compressible fluid, coupled to the space-time defined by the static
Schwarzschild metric, has been subjected to linearized perturbations. The
perturbative procedure is based on the continuity condition and it shows that
the coupling of the flow with the geometry of space-time brings about greater
stability for the flow, to the extent that the amplitude of the perturbation,
treated as a standing wave, decays in time, as opposed to the amplitude
remaining constant in the Newtonian limit. In qualitative terms this situation
simulates the effect of a dissipative mechanism in the classical Bondi
accretion flow, defined in the Newtonian construct of space and time. As a
result of this approach it becomes impossible to define an acoustic metric for
a conserved spherically symmetric flow, described within the framework of
Schwarzschild geometry. In keeping with this view, the perturbation, considered
separately as a high-frequency travelling wave, also has its amplitude reduced.Comment: 8 pages, no figur
Implications of nonlinearity for spherically symmetric accretion
We subject the steady solutions of a spherically symmetric accretion flow to
a time-dependent radial perturbation. The equation of the perturbation includes
nonlinearity up to any arbitrary order, and bears a form that is very similar
to the metric equation of an analogue acoustic black hole. Casting the
perturbation as a standing wave on subsonic solutions, and maintaining
nonlinearity in it up to the second order, we get the time-dependence of the
perturbation in the form of a Li\'enard system. A dynamical systems analysis of
the Li\'enard system reveals a saddle point in real time, with the implication
that instabilities will develop in the accreting system when the perturbation
is extended into the nonlinear regime. The instability of initial subsonic
states also adversely affects the temporal evolution of the flow towards a
final and stable transonic state.Comment: 14 pages, ReVTeX. Substantially revised with respect to the previous
version. Three figures and a new section (Sec. VI) adde
A Toy Model for Blandford-Znajek Mechanism
A toy model for the Blandford-Znajek mechanism is investigated: a Kerr black
hole with a toroidal electric current residing in a thin disk around the black
hole. The toroidal electric current generates a poloidal magnetic field
threading the black hole and disk. Due to the interaction of the magnetic field
with remote charged particles, the rotation of the black hole and disk induces
an electromotive force, which can power an astrophysical load at remote
distance. The power of the black hole and disk is calculated. It is found that,
for a wide range of parameters specifying the rotation of the black hole and
the distribution of the electric current in the disk, the power of the disk
exceeds the power of the black hole. The torque provided by the black hole and
disk is also calculated. The torque of the disk is comparable to the torque of
the black hole. As the disk loses its angular momentum, the mass of the disk
gradually drifts towards the black hole and gets accreted. Ultimately the power
comes from the gravitational binding energy between the disk and the black
hole, as in the standard theory of accretion disk, instead of the rotational
energy of the black hole. This suggests that the Blandford-Znajek mechanism may
be less efficient in extracting energy from a rotating black hole with a thin
disk. The limitations of our simple model and possible improvements deserved
for future work are also discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Evolution of transonicity in an accretion disc
For inviscid, rotational accretion flows driven by a general pseudo-Newtonian
potential on to a Schwarzschild black hole, the only possible fixed points are
saddle points and centre-type points. For the specific choice of the Newtonian
potential, the flow has only two critical points, of which the outer one is a
saddle point while the inner one is a centre-type point. A restrictive upper
bound is imposed on the admissible range of values of the angular momentum of
sub-Keplerian flows through a saddle point. These flows are very unstable to
any deviation from a necessarily precise boundary condition. The difficulties
against the physical realisability of a solution passing through the saddle
point have been addressed through a temporal evolution of the flow, which gives
a non-perturbative mechanism for selecting a transonic solution passing through
the saddle point. An equation of motion for a real-time perturbation about the
stationary flows reveals a very close correspondence with the metric of an
acoustic black hole, which is also an indication of the primacy of
transonicity.Comment: 18 page
Improving the Prospects for Detecting Extrasolar Planets in Gravitational Microlensing in 2002
Gravitational microlensing events of high magnification have been shown to be
promising targets for detecting extrasolar planets. However, only a few events
of high magnification have been found using conventional survey techniques.
Here we demonstrate that high magnification events can be readily found in
microlensing surveys using a strategy that combines high frequency sampling of
target fields with online difference imaging analysis. We present 10
microlensing events with peak magnifications greater than 40 that were detected
in real-time towards the Galactic Bulge during 2001 by MOA. We show that Earth
mass planets can be detected in future events such as these through intensive
follow-up observations around the event peaks. We report this result with
urgency as a similar number of such events are expected in 2002.Comment: 11 pages, 3 embedded ps figures including 2 colour, revised version
accepted by MNRA
Microlensing optical depth towards the Galactic bulge from MOA observations during 2000 with Difference Image Analysis
We analyze the data of the gravitational microlensing survey carried out by
by the MOA group during 2000 towards the Galactic Bulge (GB). Our observations
are designed to detect efficiently high magnification events with faint source
stars and short timescale events, by increasing the the sampling rate up to 6
times per night and using Difference Image Analysis (DIA). We detect 28
microlensing candidates in 12 GB fields corresponding to 16 deg^2. We use Monte
Carlo simulations to estimate our microlensing event detection efficiency,
where we construct the I-band extinction map of our GB fields in order to find
dereddened magnitudes. We find a systematic bias and large uncertainty in the
measured value of the timescale in our simulations. They are
associated with blending and unresolved sources, and are allowed for in our
measurements. We compute an optical depth tau = 2.59_{-0.64}^{+0.84} \times
10^{-6} towards the GB for events with timescales 0.3<t_E<200 days. We consider
disk-disk lensing, and obtain an optical depth tau_{bulge} =
3.36_{-0.81}^{+1.11} \times 10^{-6}[0.77/(1-f_{disk})] for the bulge component
assuming a 23% stellar contribution from disk stars. These observed optical
depths are consistent with previous measurements by the MACHO and OGLE groups,
and still higher than those predicted by existing Galactic models. We present
the timescale distribution of the observed events, and find there are no
significant short events of a few days, in spite of our high detection
efficiency for short timescale events down to t_E = 0.3 days. We find that half
of all our detected events have high magnification (>10). These events are
useful for studies of extra-solar planets.Comment: 65 pages and 30 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. A
systematic bias and uncertainty in the optical depth measurement has been
quantified by simulation
Family Physician Participation in Maintenance of Certification
PURPOSE The American Board of Family Medicine has completed the 7-year transition of all of its diplomates into Maintenance of Certification (MOC). Participation in this voluntary process must be broad-based and balanced for MOC to have any practical national impact on health care. This study explores family physicians’ geographic, demographic, and practice characteristics associated with the variations in MOC participation to examine whether MOC has potential as a viable mechanism for dissemination of information or for altering practice
Neurobehavioral consequences of chronic intrauterine opioid exposure in infants and preschool children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
<b>Background</b><p></p>
It is assumed within the accumulated literature that children born of pregnant opioid dependent mothers have impaired neurobehavioral function as a consequence of chronic intrauterine opioid use.<p></p>
<b>Methods</b><p></p>
Quantitative and systematic review of the literature on the consequences of chronic maternal opioid use during pregnancy on neurobehavioral function of children was conducted using the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched Cinahl, EMBASE, PsychINFO and MEDLINE between the periods of January 1995 to January 2012.<p></p>
<b>Results</b><p></p>
There were only 5 studies out of the 200 identified that quantitatively reported on neurobehavioral function of children after maternal opioid use during pregnancy. All 5 were case control studies with the number of exposed subjects within the studies ranging from 33–143 and 45–85 for the controls. This meta-analysis showed no significant impairments, at a non-conservative significance level of p < 0.05, for cognitive, psychomotor or observed behavioural outcomes for chronic intra-uterine exposed infants and pre-school children compared to non-exposed infants and children. However, all domains suggested a trend to poor outcomes in infants/children of opioid using mothers. The magnitude of all possible effects was small according to Cohen’s benchmark criteria.<p></p>
<b>Conclusions</b><p></p>
Chronic intra-uterine opioid exposed infants and pre-school children experienced no significant impairment in neurobehavioral outcomes when compared to non-exposed peers, although in all domains there was a trend to poorer outcomes. The findings of this review are limited by the small number of studies analysed, the heterogenous populations and small numbers within the individual studies. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if any neuropsychological impairments appear after the age of 5 years and to help investigate further the role of environmental risk factors on the effect of ‘core’ phenotypes
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