2,590 research outputs found
Antarctic killer whales make rapid, round-trip movements to subtropical waters: evidence for physiological maintenance migrations?
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are important predators in high latitudes, where their ecological impact is mediated through their movements. We used satellite telemetry to provide the first evidence of migration for killer whales, characterized by fast (more than 12 km hâ1, 6.5 knots) and direct movements away from Antarctic waters by six of 12 type B killer whales tagged when foraging near the Antarctic Peninsula, including all tags transmitting for more than three weeks. Tags on five of these whales revealed consistent movements to subtropical waters (30â37° S) off Uruguay and Brazil, in surface water temperatures ranging from â1.9°C to 24.2°C; one 109 day track documented a non-stop round trip of almost 9400 km (5075 nmi) in just 42 days. Although whales travelled slower in the warmest waters, there was no obvious interruption in swim speed or direction to indicate calving or prolonged feeding. Furthermore, these movements were aseasonal, initiating over 80 days between February and April; one whale returned to within 40 km of the tagging site at the onset of the austral winter in June. We suggest that these movements may represent periodic maintenance migrations, with warmer waters allowing skin regeneration without the high cost of heat loss: a physiological constraint that may also affect other whales
Transport composite fuselage technology: Impact dynamics and acoustic transmission
A program was performed to develop and demonstrate the impact dynamics and acoustic transmission technology for a composite fuselage which meets the design requirements of a 1990 large transport aircraft without substantial weight and cost penalties. The program developed the analytical methodology for the prediction of acoustic transmission behavior of advanced composite stiffened shell structures. The methodology predicted that the interior noise level in a composite fuselage due to turbulent boundary layer will be less than in a comparable aluminum fuselage. The verification of these analyses will be performed by NASA Langley Research Center using a composite fuselage shell fabricated by filament winding. The program also developed analytical methodology for the prediction of the impact dynamics behavior of lower fuselage structure constructed with composite materials. Development tests were performed to demonstrate that the composite structure designed to the same operating load requirement can have at least the same energy absorption capability as aluminum structure
Solution of the Fokker-Planck equation with a logarithmic potential and mixed eigenvalue spectrum
Motivated by a problem in climate dynamics, we investigate the solution of a
Bessel-like process with negative constant drift, described by a Fokker-Planck
equation with a potential V(x) = - [b \ln(x) + a\, x], for b>0 and a<0. The
problem belongs to a family of Fokker-Planck equations with logarithmic
potentials closely related to the Bessel process, that has been extensively
studied for its applications in physics, biology and finance. The Bessel-like
process we consider can be solved by seeking solutions through an expansion
into a complete set of eigenfunctions. The associated imaginary-time
Schroedinger equation exhibits a mix of discrete and continuous eigenvalue
spectra, corresponding to the quantum Coulomb potential describing the bound
states of the hydrogen atom. We present a technique to evaluate the
normalization factor of the continuous spectrum of eigenfunctions that relies
solely upon their asymptotic behavior. We demonstrate the technique by solving
the Brownian motion problem and the Bessel process both with a negative
constant drift. We conclude with a comparison with other analytical methods and
with numerical solutions.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Windings of the 2D free Rouse chain
We study long time dynamical properties of a chain of harmonically bound
Brownian particles. This chain is allowed to wander everywhere in the plane. We
show that the scaling variables for the occupation times T_j, areas A_j and
winding angles \theta_j (j=1,...,n labels the particles) take the same general
form as in the usual Brownian motion. We also compute the asymptotic joint laws
P({T_j}), P({A_j}), P({\theta_j}) and discuss the correlations occuring in
those distributions.Comment: Latex, 17 pages, submitted to J. Phys.
Levy-Student Distributions for Halos in Accelerator Beams
We describe the transverse beam distribution in particle accelerators within
the controlled, stochastic dynamical scheme of the Stochastic Mechanics (SM)
which produces time reversal invariant diffusion processes. This leads to a
linearized theory summarized in a Shchr\"odinger--like (\Sl) equation. The
space charge effects have been introduced in a recent paper~\cite{prstab} by
coupling this \Sl equation with the Maxwell equations. We analyze the space
charge effects to understand how the dynamics produces the actual beam
distributions, and in particular we show how the stationary, self--consistent
solutions are related to the (external, and space--charge) potentials both when
we suppose that the external field is harmonic (\emph{constant focusing}), and
when we \emph{a priori} prescribe the shape of the stationary solution. We then
proceed to discuss a few new ideas~\cite{epac04} by introducing the generalized
Student distributions, namely non--Gaussian, L\'evy \emph{infinitely divisible}
(but not \emph{stable}) distributions. We will discuss this idea from two
different standpoints: (a) first by supposing that the stationary distribution
of our (Wiener powered) SM model is a Student distribution; (b) by supposing
that our model is based on a (non--Gaussian) L\'evy process whose increments
are Student distributed. We show that in the case (a) the longer tails of the
power decay of the Student laws, and in the case (b) the discontinuities of the
L\'evy--Student process can well account for the rare escape of particles from
the beam core, and hence for the formation of a halo in intense beams.Comment: revtex4, 18 pages, 12 figure
Boundary driven zero-range processes in random media
The stationary states of boundary driven zero-range processes in random media
with quenched disorder are examined, and the motion of a tagged particle is
analyzed. For symmetric transition rates, also known as the random barrier
model, the stationary state is found to be trivial in absence of boundary
drive. Out of equilibrium, two further cases are distinguished according to the
tail of the disorder distribution. For strong disorder, the fugacity profiles
are found to be governed by the paths of normalized -stable
subordinators. The expectations of integrated functions of the tagged particle
position are calculated for three types of routes.Comment: 23 page
Stochastic Gravity
Gravity is treated as a stochastic phenomenon based on fluctuations of the
metric tensor of general relativity. By using a (3+1) slicing of spacetime, a
Langevin equation for the dynamical conjugate momentum and a Fokker-Planck
equation for its probability distribution are derived. The Raychaudhuri
equation for a congruence of timelike or null geodesics leads to a stochastic
differential equation for the expansion parameter in terms of the
proper time . For sufficiently strong metric fluctuations, it is shown that
caustic singularities in spacetime can be avoided for converging geodesics. The
formalism is applied to the gravitational collapse of a star and the
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model. It is found that owing to the
stochastic behavior of the geometry, the singularity in gravitational collapse
and the big-bang have a zero probability of occurring. Moreover, as a star
collapses the probability of a distant observer seeing an infinite red shift at
the Schwarzschild radius of the star is zero. Therefore, there is a vanishing
probability of a Schwarzschild black hole event horizon forming during
gravitational collapse.Comment: Revised version. Eq. (108) has been modified. Additional comments
have been added to text. Revtex 39 page
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