2,413 research outputs found
Catching NGC4051 in the low state with XMM-Newton
The Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC4051 shows unusual low flux states,
lasting several months, when the 2-10 keV X-ray spectrum becomes unusually hard
(photon index<1) while the spectrum at lower X-ray energies is dominated by a
large soft excess. A Chandra TOO of the low state has shown that the soft
excess and hard components are variable and well-correlated. The variability of
the hard component rules out an origin in a distant reflector. Here we present
results from a recent XMM-Newton TOO of NGC4051 in the low state, which allows
a much more detailed examination of the nature of the hard and soft spectral
components in the low state. We demonstrate that the spectral shape in the low
state is consistent with the extrapolation of the spectral pivoting observed at
higher fluxes. The XMM-Newton data also reveals the warm absorbing gas in
emission, as the drop in the primary continuum flux unmasks prominent emission
lines from a range of ion species.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Proc. of the meeting: "The Restless High-Energy
Universe" (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), E.P.J. van den Heuvel, J.J.M. in 't
Zand, and R.A.M.J. Wijers Ed
Effective surface energies in nematic liquid crystals as homogenised rugosity effects
We study the effect of boundary rugosity in nematic liquid crystalline systems. We consider
a highly general formulation of the problem, able to simultaneously deal with several liquid
crystal theories. We use techniques of Gamma convergence and demonstrate that the effect of
fine-scale surface oscillations may be replaced by an effective homogenised surface energy on a
simpler domain. The homogenisation limit is then quantitatively studied in a simplified setting,
obtaining convergence rates
Supplemental Lysine in Drinking Water of Growing-Finishing Swine Fed Rations of Two Different Protein Levels
Cereal grains do not contain an adequate amount of the amino acids (protein building blocks) to support optimum growth of growing-finishing pigs. The protein present in cereal grains is of relatively poor quality since it does not contain the proper balance of amino acids to support optimum growth of growing-finishing swine. The most limiting amino acid in cereal grains is lysine. Protein supplements such as soybean meal, contain larger amounts of the essential amino acids and thus are used to balance a cereal grain ration. Previous research at this station, however, has shown that a corn-soybean meal ration can often be improved with lysine supplementation to the drinking water of growing pigs. These trials were conducted to obtain further information on the effect of adding 4 gm of L-lysine monohydrochloride per gallon of drinking water to pigs fed com-soybean meal rations of two protein levels
On the survivability and detectability of terrestrial meteorites on the moon
Materials blasted into space from the surface of early Earth may preserve a unique record of our planet's early surface environment. Armstrong et al. (2002) pointed out that such materials, in the form of terrestrial meteorites, may exist on the Moon and be of considerable astrobiological interest if biomarkers from early Earth are preserved within them. Here, we report results obtained via the AUTODYN hydrocode to calculate the peak pressures within terrestrial meteorites on the lunar surface to assess their likelihood of surviving the impact. Our results confirm the order-of-magnitude estimates of Armstrong et al. (2002) that substantial survivability is to be expected, especially in the case of relatively low velocity (ca. 2.5 km/s) or oblique (≤45°) impacts, or both. We outline possible mechanisms for locating such materials on the Moon and conclude that searching for them would be a scientifically valuable activity for future lunar exploration
Integrability and Conformal Symmetry in the BCS model
The exactly solvable BCS Hamiltonian of superconductivity is considered from
several viewpoints: Richardson's ansatz, conformal field theory, integrable
inhomogenous vertex models and Chern-Simons theory.Comment: Latex with macros included, 12 pages, Proceedings of the NATO
Advanced Research Workshop on Statistical Field Theories, Como 18-23 June
2001. Editors: Andrea Cappelli and Giuseppe Mussardo. to be published by
Kluwer, Academic Publishers. Corrected some typos and further acknowledgment
Structural, item, and test generalizability of the psychopathology checklist - revised to offenders with intellectual disabilities
The Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy in forensic clinical practice, but the generalizability of the measure to offenders with intellectual disabilities (ID) has not been clearly established. This study examined the structural equivalence and scalar equivalence of the PCL-R in a sample of 185 male offenders with ID in forensic mental health settings, as compared with a sample of 1,212 male prisoners without ID. Three models of the PCL-R’s factor structure were evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis. The 3-factor hierarchical model of psychopathy was found to be a good fit to the ID PCL-R data, whereas neither the 4-factor model nor the traditional 2-factor model fitted. There were no cross-group differences in the factor structure, providing evidence of structural equivalence. However, item response theory analyses indicated metric differences in the ratings of psychopathy symptoms between the ID group and the comparison prisoner group. This finding has potential implications for the interpretation of PCL-R scores obtained with people with ID in forensic psychiatric settings
Field Measurements of Terrestrial and Martian Dust Devils
Surface-based measurements of terrestrial and martian dust devils/convective vortices provided from mobile and stationary platforms are discussed. Imaging of terrestrial dust devils has quantified their rotational and vertical wind speeds, translation speeds, dimensions, dust load, and frequency of occurrence. Imaging of martian dust devils has provided translation speeds and constraints on dimensions, but only limited constraints on vertical motion within a vortex. The longer mission durations on Mars afforded by long operating robotic landers and rovers have provided statistical quantification of vortex occurrence (time-of-sol, and recently seasonal) that has until recently not been a primary outcome of more temporally limited terrestrial dust devil measurement campaigns. Terrestrial measurement campaigns have included a more extensive range of measured vortex parameters (pressure, wind, morphology, etc.) than have martian opportunities, with electric field and direct measure of dust abundance not yet obtained on Mars. No martian robotic mission has yet provided contemporaneous high frequency wind and pressure measurements. Comparison of measured terrestrial and martian dust devil characteristics suggests that martian dust devils are larger and possess faster maximum rotational wind speeds, that the absolute magnitude of the pressure deficit within a terrestrial dust devil is an order of magnitude greater than a martian dust devil, and that the time-of-day variation in vortex frequency is similar. Recent terrestrial investigations have demonstrated the presence of diagnostic dust devil signals within seismic and infrasound measurements; an upcoming Mars robotic mission will obtain similar measurement types
Stochastic homogenization of the laser intensity to improve the irradiation uniformity of capsules directly driven by thousands laser beams
Illumination uniformity of a spherical capsule directly driven by laser beams has been assessed numerically. Laser facilities characterized by ND = 12, 20, 24, 32, 48 and 60 directions of irradiation with associated a single laser beam or a bundle of NB laser beams have been considered. The laser beam intensity profile is assumed super-Gaussian and the calculations take into account beam imperfections as power imbalance and pointing errors. The optimum laser intensity profile, which minimizes the root-mean-square deviation of the capsule illumination, depends on the values of the beam imperfections. Assuming that the NB beams are statistically independents is found that they provide a stochastic homogenization of the laser intensity associated to the whole bundle, reducing the errors associated to the whole bundle by the factor  , which in turn improves the illumination uniformity of the capsule. Moreover, it is found that the uniformity of the irradiation is almost the same for all facilities and only depends on the total number of laser beams Ntot = ND × NB
The VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey at 5 GHz
We present the first results of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey
(VIPS), a 5 GHz VLBI survey of 1,127 sources with flat radio spectra. Through
automated data reduction and imaging routines, we have produced publicly
available I, Q, and U images and have detected polarized flux density from 37%
of the sources. We have also developed an algorithm to use each source's I
image to automatically classify it as a point-like source, a core-jet, a
compact symmetric object (CSO) candidate, or a complex source. The mean ratio
of the polarized to total 5 GHz flux density for VIPS sources with detected
polarized flux density ranges from 1% to 20% with a median value of about 5%.
We have also found significant evidence that the directions of the jets in
core-jet systems tend to be perpendicular to the electric vector position
angles (EVPAs). The data is consistent with a scenario in which ~24% of the
polarized core-jets have EVPAs that are anti-aligned with the directions of
their jet components and which have a substantial amount of Faraday rotation.
In addition to these initial results, plans for future follow-up observations
are discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 3 tables, 13 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
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