4,115 research outputs found
Waves attractors in rotating fluids: a paradigm for ill-posed Cauchy problems
In the limit of low viscosity, we show that the amplitude of the modes of
oscillation of a rotating fluid, namely inertial modes, concentrate along an
attractor formed by a periodic orbit of characteristics of the underlying
hyperbolic Poincar\'e equation. The dynamics of characteristics is used to
elaborate a scenario for the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenmodes and
eigenspectrum in the physically relevant r\'egime of very low viscosities which
are out of reach numerically. This problem offers a canonical ill-posed Cauchy
problem which has applications in other fields.Comment: 4 pages, 5 fi
Far-field optical microscope with nanometer-scale resolution based on in-plane surface plasmon imaging
A new far-field optical microscopy technique capable of reaching
nanometer-scale resolution has been developed recently using the in-plane image
magnification by surface plasmon polaritons. This microscopy is based on the
optical properties of a metal-dielectric interface that may, in principle,
provide extremely large values of the effective refractive index n up to
100-1000 as seen by the surface plasmons. Thus, the theoretical diffraction
limit on resolution becomes lambda/2n, and falls into the nanometer-scale
range. The experimental realization of the microscope has demonstrated the
optical resolution better than 50 nm for 502 nm illumination wavelength.
However, the theory of such surface plasmon-based far-field microscope
presented so far gives an oversimplified picture of its operation. For example,
the imaginary part of the metal dielectric constant severely limits the
surface-plasmon propagation and the shortest attainable wavelength in most
cases, which in turn limits the microscope magnification. Here I describe how
this limitation has been overcome in the experiment, and analyze the practical
limits on the surface plasmon microscope resolution. In addition, I present
more experimental results, which strongly support the conclusion of extremely
high spatial resolution of the surface plasmon microscope.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, will be published in the topical issue on
Nanostructured Optical Metamaterials of the Journal of Optics A: Pure and
Applied Optics, Manuscript revised in response to referees comment
The Role of the Radial Orbit Instability in Dark Matter Halo Formation and Structure
For a decade, N-body simulations have revealed a nearly universal dark matter
density profile, which appears to be robust to changes in the overall density
of the universe and the underlying power spectrum. Despite its universality,
the physical origin of this profile has not yet been well understood.
Semi--analytic models by Barnes et al. (2005) have suggested that the density
structure of dark matter halos is determined by the onset of the radial orbit
instability (ROI). We have tested this hypothesis using N-body simulations of
collapsing dark matter halos with a variety of initial conditions. For
dynamically cold initial conditions, the resulting halo structures are triaxial
in shape, due to the mild aspect of the instability. We examine how variations
in initial velocity dispersion affect the onset of the instability, and find
that an isotropic velocity dispersion can suppress the ROI entirely, while a
purely radial dispersion does not. The quantity sigma^2/vc^2 is a criterion for
instability, where regions with sigma^2/vc^2 <~1 become triaxial due to the ROI
or other perturbations. We also find that the radial orbit instability sets a
scale length at which the velocity dispersion changes rapidly from isotropic to
radially anisotropic. This scale length is proportional to the radius at which
the density profile changes shape, as is the case in the semi--analytic models;
however, the coefficient of proportionality is different by a factor of ~2.5.
We conclude that the radial orbit instability is likely to be a key physical
mechanism responsible for the nearly universal profiles of simulated dark
matter halos.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted to Ap
Measurement of Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q^2=0.230 (GeV/c)^2
We report on a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in the
scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons on unpolarized protons at a
of 0.230 (GeV/c)^2 and a scattering angle of \theta_e = 30^o - 40^o.
Using a large acceptance fast PbF_2 calorimeter with a solid angle of
\Delta\Omega = 0.62 sr the A4 experiment is the first parity violation
experiment to count individual scattering events. The measured asymmetry is
A_{phys} =(-5.44 +- 0.54_{stat} +- 0.27_{\rm sys}) 10^{-6}. The Standard Model
expectation assuming no strangeness contributions to the vector form factors is
. The difference is a direct measurement of the
strangeness contribution to the vector form factors of the proton. The
extracted value is G^s_E + 0.225 G^s_M = 0.039 +- 0.034 or F^s_1 + 0.130 F^s_2
= 0.032 +- 0.028.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters on Dec 11, 200
Gluons at finite temperature in Landau gauge Yang--Mills theory
The infrared behavior of Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature provides
access to the role of confinement. In this review recent results on this topic
from lattice calculations and especially Dyson-Schwinger studies are discussed.
These indicate persistence of a residual confinement even in the
high-temperature phase. The confinement mechanism is very similar to the one in
the vacuum for the chromomagnetic sector. In the chromoelectric sector
screening occurs at the soft scale g^2T, although not leading to a perturbative
behavior.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, invited brief review for MPL
Destabilization of chromosome 9 in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder
The most frequent genetic alteration in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder (TCC) is loss of chromosome 9 which targets CDKN2A on 9p. The targets on 9q are not confirmed. Here, 81 advanced TCC specimens were investigated for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and homozygous deletions (HD) on chromosome 9q using multiplex analysis of microsatellite markers. 41/81 tumours (51%) showed LOH on 9q, with LOH at all markers in 33 cases. Eight partial losses involved three regions in 9q12, 9q22.3, and 9q33– 9q34. No mutations were identified in the candidate tumour suppressor gene DBCCR1 in three tumours showing restricted LOH at 9q32-33. 22% of the specimens had HD at CDKN2A, but no HD was found on 9q. Two tumours had lost 9p only and five 9q only. 9q LOH was not related to tumour grade or stage and present or absent with equal frequency in recurrent TCC. LOH on 9q correlated with the extent of genome-wide hypomethylation (P < 0.0001) which extended into satellite sequences located in 9q12 juxtacentromeric heterochromatin. While the high frequency of chromosome 9q loss in TCC may reflect destabilization of the chromosome related to hypomethylation of repetitive DNA, the data are compatible with the existence of tumour suppressor genes on this chromosome arm. http://www.bjcancer.com © 2001 Cancer Research Campaig
On the gauge boson's properties in a candidate technicolor theory
The technicolor scenario replaces the Higgs sector of the standard model with
a strongly interacting sector. One candidate for a realization of such a sector
is two-technicolor Yang-Mills theory coupled to two degenerate flavors of
adjoint, massless techniquarks. Using lattice gauge theory the properties of
the technigluons in this scenario are investigated as a function of the
techniquark mass towards the massless limit. For that purpose the minimal
Landau gauge two-point and three-point correlation functions are determined,
including a detailed systematic error analysis. The results are, within the
relatively large systematic uncertainties, compatible with a behavior very
similar to QCD at finite techniquark mass. However, the limit of massless
techniquarks exhibits features which could be compatible with a
(quasi-)conformal behavior.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, 1 table; v2: persistent notational error
corrected, some minor modification
International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC): Scientific Division, Committee on pH, Blood Gases and Electrolytes: Guidelines for Transcutaneouspo2andpco2 Measurement
This document provides guidelines for the terminology, methodology,
and for the interpretation of data obtained from the use of skin
(transcutaneous) po2 and pco2 electrodes. The transcutaneous
technique has found special application in newborn infants. The
causes of analytical bias with respect to arterial blood gas values,
and imprecision obtained with transcutaneous pco2 electrodes, are reviewed. Electrode temperatures above 44°C should not be used
routinely, and, at a measuring temperature of 44°C, the measuring
site should be changed at least every 4 h to avoid skin burns
The Chemical Compositions of the Type II Cepheids -- The BL Her and W Vir Variables
Abundance analyses from high-resolution optical spectra are presented for 19
Type II Cepheids in the Galactic field. The sample includes both short-period
(BL Her) and long-period (W Vir) stars. This is the first extensive abundance
analysis of these variables. The C, N, and O abundances with similar spreads
for the BL Her and W Vir show evidence for an atmosphere contaminated with
-process and CN-cycling products. A notable anomaly of the BL Her
stars is an overabundance of Na by a factor of about five relative to their
presumed initial abundances. This overabundance is not seen in the W Vir stars.
The abundance anomalies running from mild to extreme in W Vir stars but not
seen in the BL Her stars are attributed to dust-gas separation that provides an
atmosphere deficient in elements of high condensation temperature, notably Al,
Ca, Sc, Ti, and -process elements. Such anomalies have previously been seen
among RV Tau stars which represent a long-period extension of the variability
enjoyed by the Type II Cepheids. Comments are offered on how the contrasting
abundance anomalies of BL Her and W Vir stars may be explained in terms of the
stars' evolution from the blue horizontal branch.Comment: 41 pages including 11 figures and 4 tables; Accepted for publication
in Ap
Infrared Behavior of Three-Point Functions in Landau Gauge Yang-Mills Theory
Analytic solutions for the three-gluon and ghost-gluon vertices in Landau
gauge Yang-Mills theory at low momenta are presented in terms of hypergeometric
series. They do not only show the expected scaling behavior but also additional
kinematic divergences when only one momentum goes to zero. These singularities,
which have also been proposed previously, induce a strong dependence on the
kinematics in many dressing functions. The results are generalized to two and
three dimensions and a range of values for the ghost propagator's infrared
exponent kappa.Comment: 21 pages, 29 figures; numerical data of the infrared dressing
functions can be obtained from the authors v2: a few minor changes,
corresponds to version appearing in EPJ
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