2,051 research outputs found
Progress towards an accurate determination of the Boltzmann constant by Doppler spectroscopy
In this paper, we present significant progress performed on an experiment
dedicated to the determination of the Boltzmann constant, k, by accurately
measuring the Doppler absorption profile of a line in a gas of ammonia at
thermal equilibrium. This optical method based on the first principles of
statistical mechanics is an alternative to the acoustical method which has led
to the unique determination of k published by the CODATA with a relative
accuracy of 1.7 ppm. We report on the first measurement of the Boltzmann
constant by laser spectroscopy with a statistical uncertainty below 10 ppm,
more specifically 6.4 ppm. This progress results from improvements in the
detection method and in the statistical treatment of the data. In addition, we
have recorded the hyperfine structure of the probed saQ(6,3) rovibrational line
of ammonia by saturation spectroscopy and thus determine very precisely the
induced 4.36 (2) ppm broadening of the absorption linewidth. We also show that,
in our well chosen experimental conditions, saturation effects have a
negligible impact on the linewidth. Finally, we draw the route to future
developments for an absolute determination of with an accuracy of a few ppm.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure
Fairness Beyond Disparate Treatment & Disparate Impact: Learning Classification without Disparate Mistreatment
Automated data-driven decision making systems are increasingly being used to
assist, or even replace humans in many settings. These systems function by
learning from historical decisions, often taken by humans. In order to maximize
the utility of these systems (or, classifiers), their training involves
minimizing the errors (or, misclassifications) over the given historical data.
However, it is quite possible that the optimally trained classifier makes
decisions for people belonging to different social groups with different
misclassification rates (e.g., misclassification rates for females are higher
than for males), thereby placing these groups at an unfair disadvantage. To
account for and avoid such unfairness, in this paper, we introduce a new notion
of unfairness, disparate mistreatment, which is defined in terms of
misclassification rates. We then propose intuitive measures of disparate
mistreatment for decision boundary-based classifiers, which can be easily
incorporated into their formulation as convex-concave constraints. Experiments
on synthetic as well as real world datasets show that our methodology is
effective at avoiding disparate mistreatment, often at a small cost in terms of
accuracy.Comment: To appear in Proceedings of the 26th International World Wide Web
Conference (WWW), 2017. Code available at:
https://github.com/mbilalzafar/fair-classificatio
On Spacetimes with Constant Scalar Invariants
We study Lorentzian spacetimes for which all scalar invariants constructed
from the Riemann tensor and its covariant derivatives are constant (
spacetimes). We obtain a number of general results in arbitrary dimensions. We
study and construct warped product spacetimes and higher-dimensional
Kundt spacetimes. We show how these spacetimes can be constructed from
locally homogeneous spaces and spacetimes. The results suggest a number
of conjectures. In particular, it is plausible that for spacetimes that
are not locally homogeneous the Weyl type is , , or , with any
boost weight zero components being constant. We then consider the
four-dimensional spacetimes in more detail. We show that there are severe
constraints on these spacetimes, and we argue that it is plausible that they
are either locally homogeneous or that the spacetime necessarily belongs to the
Kundt class of spacetimes, all of which are constructed. The
four-dimensional results lend support to the conjectures in higher dimensions.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, v2: minor changes throughou
Multi-Wavelength Monitoring of the Changing-Look AGN NGC 2617 during State Changes
Optical and near-infrared photometry, optical spectroscopy, and soft X-ray and UV monitoring of the changing-look active galactic nucleus NGC 2617 show that it continues to have the appearance of a type-1 Seyfert galaxy. An optical light curve for 2010-2017 indicates that the change of type probably occurred between 2010 October and 2012 February and was not related to the brightening in 2013. In 2016 and 2017 NGC 2617 brightened again to a level of activity close to that in 2013 April. However, in 2017 from the end of the March to end of July 2017 it was in very low level and starting to change back to a Seyfert 1.8. We find variations in all passbands and in both the intensities and profiles of the broad Balmer lines. A new displaced emission peak has appeared in Hβ. X-ray variations are well correlated with UV-optical variability and possibly lead by ̃2-3 d. The K band lags the J band by about 21.5 ± 2.5 d and lags the combined B + J bands by ̃25 d. J lags B by about 3 d. This could be because J-band variability arises predominantly from the outer part of the accretion disc, while K-band variability is dominated by thermal re-emission by dust. We propose that spectral-type changes are a result of increasing central luminosity causing sublimation of the innermost dust in the hollow bi-conical outflow. We briefly discuss various other possible reasons that might explain the dramatic changes in NGC 2617.Fil: Oknyansky, V. L.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute; RusiaFil: Gaskell, C. M.. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. University of California. Santa Cruz; Estados UnidosFil: Mikailov, K. M.. Shamakhy Astrophysical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences.
Pirkuli; AzerbaiyánFil: Lipunov, V. M.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University ; RusiaFil: Shatsky, N. I.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Tsygankov, S. S.. Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy. University of Turku.; FinlandiaFil: Gorbovskoy, E. S.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Tatarnikov, A. M.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Metlov, V. G.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Malanchev, K. L.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Brotherton, M.B.. University of Wyoming; Estados UnidosFil: Kasper, D.. University of Wyoming; Estados UnidosFil: Du, P.. Institute of High Energy Physics. Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Chen, X.. School of Space Science and Physics. Shandong University; ChinaFil: Burlak, M. A.. Sternberg Astronomical Institute. M.V.Lomonosov Moscow State University; RusiaFil: Buckley, D. A. H.. The South African Astronomical Observatory; SudáfricaFil: Rebolo, R.. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias; EspañaFil: Serra-Ricart, M.. Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias; EspañaFil: Podestá, R.. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Levato, O. H.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio; Argentin
Power and spectral index anisotropy of the entire inertial range of turbulence in the fast solar wind
We measure the power and spectral index anisotropy of high speed solar wind
turbulence from scales larger than the outer scale down to the ion gyroscale,
thus covering the entire inertial range. We show that the power and spectral
indices at the outer scale of turbulence are approximately isotropic. The
turbulent cascade causes the power anisotropy at smaller scales manifested by
anisotropic scalings of the spectrum: close to k^{-5/3} across and k^{-2} along
the local magnetic field, consistent with a critically balanced Alfvenic
turbulence. By using data at different radial distances from the Sun, we show
that the width of the inertial range does not change with heliocentric distance
and explain this by calculating the radial dependence of the ratio of the outer
scale to the ion gyroscale. At the smallest scales of the inertial range, close
to the ion gyroscale, we find an enhancement of power parallel to the magnetic
field direction coincident with a decrease in the perpendicular power. This is
most likely related to energy injection by ion kinetic modes such as the
firehose instability and also marks the beginning of the dissipation range of
solar wind turbulence.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to MNRAS letter
Systematics of the magnetic-Prandtl-number dependence of homogeneous, isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
We present the results of our detailed pseudospectral direct numerical
simulation (DNS) studies, with up to collocation points, of
incompressible, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in three dimensions,
without a mean magnetic field. Our study concentrates on the dependence of
various statistical properties of both decaying and statistically steady MHD
turbulence on the magnetic Prandtl number over a large range,
namely, . We obtain data for a wide variety of
statistical measures such as probability distribution functions (PDFs) of
moduli of the vorticity and current density, the energy dissipation rates, and
velocity and magnetic-field increments, energy and other spectra, velocity and
magnetic-field structure functions, which we use to characterise intermittency,
isosurfaces of quantities such as the moduli of the vorticity and current, and
joint PDFs such as those of fluid and magnetic dissipation rates. Our
systematic study uncovers interesting results that have not been noted
hitherto. In particular, we find a crossover from larger intermittency in the
magnetic field than in the velocity field, at large , to smaller
intermittency in the magnetic field than in the velocity field, at low . Furthermore, a comparison of our results for decaying MHD turbulence
and its forced, statistically steady analogue suggests that we have strong
universality in the sense that, for a fixed value of , multiscaling
exponent ratios agree, at least within our errorbars, for both decaying and
statistically steady homogeneous, isotropic MHD turbulence.Comment: 49 pages,33 figure
Kinetic Turbulence
The weak collisionality typical of turbulence in many diffuse astrophysical
plasmas invalidates an MHD description of the turbulent dynamics, motivating
the development of a more comprehensive theory of kinetic turbulence. In
particular, a kinetic approach is essential for the investigation of the
physical mechanisms responsible for the dissipation of astrophysical turbulence
and the resulting heating of the plasma. This chapter reviews the limitations
of MHD turbulence theory and explains how kinetic considerations may be
incorporated to obtain a kinetic theory for astrophysical plasma turbulence.
Key questions about the nature of kinetic turbulence that drive current
research efforts are identified. A comprehensive model of the kinetic turbulent
cascade is presented, with a detailed discussion of each component of the model
and a review of supporting and conflicting theoretical, numerical, and
observational evidence.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, 99 references, Chapter 6 in A. Lazarian et al.
(eds.), Magnetic Fields in Diffuse Media, Astrophysics and Space Science
Library 407, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (2015
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