26,378 research outputs found
Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking and Decoherence in Chaotic Dirac Billiards
In this work, we perform a statistical study on Dirac Billiards in the
extreme quantum limit (a single open channel on the leads). Our numerical
analysis uses a large ensemble of random matrices and demonstrates the
preponderant role of dephasing mechanisms in such chaotic billiards. Physical
implementations of these billiards range from quantum dots of graphene to
topological insulators structures. We show, in particular, that the role of
finite crossover fields between the universal symmetries quickly leaves the
conductance to the asymptotic limit of unitary ensembles. Furthermore, we show
that the dephasing mechanisms strikingly lead Dirac billiards from the extreme
quantum regime to the semiclassical Gaussian regime
Rings and arcs around evolved stars. II. The Carbon Star AFGL 3068 and the Planetary Nebulae NGC 6543, NGC 7009 and NGC 7027
We present a detailed comparative study of the arcs and fragmented ring-like
features in the haloes of the planetary nebulae (PNe) NGC 6543, NGC 7009, and
NGC 7027 and the spiral pattern around the carbon star AFGL 3068 using
high-quality multi-epoch HST images. This comparison allows us to investigate
the connection and possible evolution between the regular patterns surrounding
AGB stars and the irregular concentric patterns around PNe. The radial proper
motion of these features, ~15 km/s, are found to be consistent with the AGB
wind and their linear sizes and inter-lapse times (500-1900 yr) also agree with
those found around AGB stars, suggesting a common origin. We find evidence
using radiative-hydrodynamic simulations that regular patterns produced at the
end of the AGB phase become highly distorted by their interactions with the
expanding PN and the anisotropic illumination and ionization patterns caused by
shadow instabilities. These processes will disrupt the regular (mostly spiral)
patterns around AGB stars, plausibly becoming the arcs and fragmented rings
observed in the haloes of PNe.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Robust reputation independence in ranking systems for multiple sensitive attributes
Ranking systems have an unprecedented influence on how and what information people access, and their impact on our society is being analyzed from different perspectives, such as users’ discrimination. A notable example is represented by reputation-based ranking systems, a class of systems that rely on users’ reputation to generate a non-personalized item-ranking, proved to be biased against certain demographic classes. To safeguard that a given sensitive user’s attribute does not systematically affect the reputation of that user, prior work has operationalized a reputation independence constraint on this class of systems. In this paper, we uncover that guaranteeing reputation independence for a single sensitive attribute is not enough. When mitigating biases based on one sensitive attribute (e.g., gender), the final ranking might still be biased against certain demographic groups formed based on another attribute (e.g., age). Hence, we propose a novel approach to introduce reputation independence for multiple sensitive attributes simultaneously. We then analyze the extent to which our approach impacts on discrimination and other important properties of the ranking system, such as its quality and robustness against attacks. Experiments on two real-world datasets show that our approach leads to less biased rankings with respect to multiple users’ sensitive attributes, without affecting the system’s quality and robustness
Projection effects in galaxy cluster samples: insights from X-ray redshifts
Up to now, the largest sample of galaxy clusters selected in X-rays comes
from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). Although there have been many interesting
clusters discovered with the RASS data, the broad point spread function (PSF)
of the ROSAT satellite limits the amount of spatial information of the detected
objects. This leads to the discovery of new cluster features when a
re-observation is performed with higher resolution X-ray satellites. Here we
present the results from XMM-Newton observations of three clusters:
RXCJ2306.6-1319, ZwCl1665 and RXCJ0034.6-0208, for which the observations
reveal a double or triple system of extended components. These clusters belong
to the extremely expanded HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample
(eeHIFLUGCS), which is a flux-limited cluster sample ( erg s cm in the keV energy band). For
each structure in each cluster, we determine the redshift with the X-ray
spectrum and find that the components are not part of the same cluster. This is
confirmed by an optical spectroscopic analysis of the galaxy members.
Therefore, the total number of clusters is actually 7 and not 3. We derive
global cluster properties of each extended component. We compare the measured
properties to lower-redshift group samples, and find a good agreement. Our flux
measurements reveal that only one component of the ZwCl1665 cluster has a flux
above the eeHIFLUGCS limit, while the other clusters will no longer be part of
the sample. These examples demonstrate that cluster-cluster projections can
bias X-ray cluster catalogues and that with high-resolution X-ray follow-up
this bias can be corrected
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