8,121 research outputs found
Magnetic Field Limits on SGRs
We measure the period and spin-down rate for SGR 1900+14 during the
quiescient period two years before the recent interval of renewed burst
activity. We find that the spin-down rate doubled during the burst activity
which is inconsistent with both mangetic dipole driven spin down and a magnetic
field energy source for the bursts. We also show that SGRs 1900+14 and 1806-20
have braking indices of 1 which indicate that the spin-down is due to
wind torques and not magnetic dipole radiation. We further show that a
combination of dipole radiation, and wind luminosity, coupled with estimated
ages and present spin parameters, imply that the magnetic fields of SGRs
1900+14 and 1806-20 are less than the critical field of 4 G and
that the efficiency for conversion of wind luminosity to x-ray luminosity is
<2%.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures submitted to 5th Huntsville GRB Symposium
proceeding
Is SGR 1900+14 a Magnetar?
We present RXTE observations of the soft gamma--ray repeater SGR 1900+14
taken September 4-18, 1996, nearly 2 years before the 1998 active period of the
source. The pulsar period (P) of 5.1558199 +/- 0.0000029 s and period
derivative (Pdot) of (6.0 +/- 1.0) X 10^-11 s/s measured during the 2-week
observation are consistent with the mean Pdot of (6.126 +/- 0.006) X 10^-11 s/s
over the time up to the commencement of the active period. This Pdot is less
than half that of (12.77 +/- 0.01) X 10^-11 s/s observed during and after the
active period. If magnetic dipole radiation were the primary cause of the
pulsar spindown, the implied pulsar magnetic field would exceed the critical
field of 4.4 X 10^13 G by more than an order of magnitude, and such field
estimates for this and other SGRs have been offered as evidence that the SGRs
are magnetars, in which the neutron star magnetic energy exceeds the rotational
energy. The observed doubling of Pdot, however, would suggest that the pulsar
magnetic field energy increased by more than 100% as the source entered an
active phase, which seems very hard to reconcile with models in which the SGR
bursts are powered by the release of magnetic energy. Because of this, we
suggest that the spindown of SGR pulsars is not driven by magnetic dipole
radiation, but by some other process, most likely a relativistic wind. The
Pdot, therefore, does not provide a measure of the pulsar magnetic field
strength, nor evidence for a magnetar.Comment: 14 pages, aasms4 latex, figures 1 & 2 changed, accepted by ApJ
letter
Reduction, Symmetry and Phases in Mechanics
Various holonomy phenomena are shown to be instances of the reconstruction procedure
for mechanical systems with symmetry. We systematically exploit this point of view for fixed
systems (for example with controls on the internal, or reduced, variables) and for slowly moving
systems in an adiabatic context. For the latter, we obtain the phases as the holonomy for a
connection which synthesizes the Cartan connection for moving mechanical systems with the
Hannay-Berry connection for integrable systems. This synthesis allows one to treat in a natural
way examples like the ball in the slowly rotating hoop and also non-integrable mechanical systems
Variational Multisymplectic Formulations of Nonsmooth Continuum Mechanics
This paper develops the foundations of the multisymplectic
formulation of nonsmooth continuum mechanics. It may be regarded as a PDE generalization of previous techniques that developed a variational approach to collision problems. These methods have already proved of value in
computational mechanics, particularly in the development of asynchronous integrators and efficient collision methods. The present formulation also includes solid-fluid interactions and material interfaces and, in addition, lays
the groundwork for a treatment of shocks
Astrometric observations of comets and asteroids and subsequent orbital investigations
Comets and minor planets were observed with a 155 cm reflector. Their orbital positions are presented in tabular form
The 4C framework for making reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities
Background
People with learning disabilities experience significant inequalities in accessing healthcare. Legal frameworks, such as the Equality Act 2010, are intended to reduce such disparities in care, and require organisations to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for people with disabilities, including learning disabilities. However, reasonable adjustments are often not clearly defined or adequately implemented in clinical practice.
Aim
To examine and synthesise the challenges in caring for people with learning disabilities to develop a framework for making reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities in hospital. This framework would assist ward staff in identifying and managing the challenges of delivering person-centred, safe and effective healthcare to people with learning disabilities in this setting.
Method
Fourth-generation evaluation, collaborative thematic analysis, reflection and a secondary analysis were used to develop a framework for making reasonable adjustments in the hospital setting. The authors attended ward manager and matron group meetings to collect their claims, concerns and issues, then conducted a collaborative thematic analysis with the group members to identify the main themes.
Findings
Four main themes were identified from the ward manager and matron group meetings: communication, choice-making, collaboration and coordination. These were used to develop the 4C framework for making reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities in hospital.
Discussion
The 4C framework has provided a basis for delivering person-centred care for people with learning disabilities. It has been used to inform training needs analyses, develop audit tools to review delivery of care that is adjusted appropriately to the individual patient; and to develop competencies for learning disability champions. The most significant benefit of the 4C framework has been in helping to evaluate and resolve practice-based scenarios.
Conclusion
Use of the 4C framework may enhance the care of people with learning disabilities in hospital, by enabling reasonable adjustments to be made in these settings
Discrete Routh Reduction
This paper develops the theory of abelian Routh reduction for discrete
mechanical systems and applies it to the variational integration of mechanical
systems with abelian symmetry. The reduction of variational Runge-Kutta
discretizations is considered, as well as the extent to which symmetry
reduction and discretization commute. These reduced methods allow the direct
simulation of dynamical features such as relative equilibria and relative
periodic orbits that can be obscured or difficult to identify in the unreduced
dynamics. The methods are demonstrated for the dynamics of an Earth orbiting
satellite with a non-spherical correction, as well as the double
spherical pendulum. The problem is interesting because in the unreduced
picture, geometric phases inherent in the model and those due to numerical
discretization can be hard to distinguish, but this issue does not appear in
the reduced algorithm, where one can directly observe interesting dynamical
structures in the reduced phase space (the cotangent bundle of shape space), in
which the geometric phases have been removed. The main feature of the double
spherical pendulum example is that it has a nontrivial magnetic term in its
reduced symplectic form. Our method is still efficient as it can directly
handle the essential non-canonical nature of the symplectic structure. In
contrast, a traditional symplectic method for canonical systems could require
repeated coordinate changes if one is evoking Darboux' theorem to transform the
symplectic structure into canonical form, thereby incurring additional
computational cost. Our method allows one to design reduced symplectic
integrators in a natural way, despite the noncanonical nature of the symplectic
structure.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, numerous minor improvements, references added,
fixed typo
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