24,573 research outputs found
Phases of granular segregation in a binary mixture
We present results from an extensive experimental investigation into granular
segregation of a shallow binary mixture in which particles are driven by
frictional interactions with the surface of a vibrating horizontal tray. Three
distinct phases of the mixture are established viz; binary gas (unsegregated),
segregation liquid and segregation crystal. Their ranges of existence are
mapped out as a function of the system's primary control parameters using a
number of measures based on Voronoi tessellation. We study the associated
transitions and show that segregation can be suppressed is the total filling
fraction of the granular layer, , is decreased below a critical value,
, or if the dimensionless acceleration of the driving, , is
increased above a value .Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Broad Iron Emission from Gravitationally Lensed Quasars Observed by Chandra
Recent work has demonstrated the potential of gravitationally lensed quasars
to extend measurements of black hole spin out to high-redshift with the current
generation of X-ray observatories. Here we present an analysis of a large
sample of 27 lensed quasars in the redshift range 1.0<z<4.5 observed with
Chandra, utilizing over 1.6 Ms of total observing time, focusing on the
rest-frame iron K emission from these sources. Although the X-ray
signal-to-noise (S/N) currently available does not permit the detection of iron
emission from the inner accretion disk in individual cases in our sample, we
find significant structure in the stacked residuals. In addition to the narrow
core, seen almost ubiquitously in local AGN, we find evidence for an additional
underlying broad component from the inner accretion disk, with a clear red wing
to the emission profile. Based on simulations, we find the detection of this
broader component to be significant at greater than the 3-sigma level. This
implies that iron emission from the inner disk is relatively common in the
population of lensed quasars, and in turn further demonstrates that, with
additional observations, this population represents an opportunity to
significantly extend the sample of AGN spin measurements out to high-redshift.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A Rapidly Spinning Black Hole Powers the Einstein Cross
Observations over the past 20 years have revealed a strong relationship
between the properties of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) lying at the
center of a galaxy and the host galaxy itself. The magnitude of the spin of the
black hole will play a key role in determining the nature of this relationship.
To date, direct estimates of black hole spin have been restricted to the local
Universe. Herein, we present the results of an analysis of 0.5 Ms of
archival Chandra observations of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q 2237+305
(aka the "Einstein-cross"), lying at a redshift of z = 1.695. The boost in flux
provided by the gravitational lens allows constraints to be placed on the spin
of a black hole at such high redshift for the first time. Utilizing state of
the art relativistic disk reflection models, the black hole is found to have a
spin of at the 90% confidence level. Placing a
lower limit on the spin, we find (4). The high value of
the spin for the black hole in Q 2237+305 lends
further support to the coherent accretion scenario for black hole growth. This
is the most distant black hole for which the spin has been directly constrained
to date.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, formatted using emulateapj.cls. Accepted
for publication in ApJ
Universal velocity distributions in an experimental granular fluid
We present experimental results on the velocity statistics of a uniformly
heated granular fluid, in a quasi-2D configuration. We find the base state, as
measured by the single particle velocity distribution , to be universal
over a wide range of filling fractions and only weakly dependent on all other
system parameters. There is a consistent overpopulation in the distribution's
tails, which scale as . More
importantly, the high probability central region of , at low velocities,
deviates from a Maxwell-Boltzmann by a second order Sonine polynomial with a
single adjustable parameter, in agreement with recent theoretical analysis of
inelastic hard spheres driven by a stochastic thermostat. To our knowledge,
this is the first time that Sonine deviations have been measured in an
experimental system.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, with minor corrections, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Testing the Equivalence of Regular Languages
The minimal deterministic finite automaton is generally used to determine
regular languages equality. Antimirov and Mosses proposed a rewrite system for
deciding regular expressions equivalence of which Almeida et al. presented an
improved variant. Hopcroft and Karp proposed an almost linear algorithm for
testing the equivalence of two deterministic finite automata that avoids
minimisation. In this paper we improve the best-case running time, present an
extension of this algorithm to non-deterministic finite automata, and establish
a relationship between this algorithm and the one proposed in Almeida et al. We
also present some experimental comparative results. All these algorithms are
closely related with the recent coalgebraic approach to automata proposed by
Rutten
A Complex Case of Cholestasis in a Patient with ABCB4 and ABCB11 Mutations
The low-phospholipid-associated cholelithiasis (LPAC) syndrome is a form of symptomatic cholelithiasis occurring in young adults, characterized by recurrence of symptoms after cholecystectomy and presence of hepatolithiasis. The case refers to a healthy 39-year-old Caucasian male who presented with abdominal pain and jaundice. His blood tests showed conjugated hyperbilirubinemia and elevated liver enzymes (total bilirubin 6.65 mg/dL, γ-glutamyltransferase 699 IU/L) and abdominal computed tomography revealed dilation of common bile duct and left intrahepatic ducts. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography identified choledocholithiasis, retrieved by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, after which there was a worsening of jaundice (total bilirubin 23 mg/dL), which persisted for several weeks, possibly due to ciprofloxacin toxicity. After an extensive workup including liver biopsy, the identification of two foci of hepatolithiasis on reevaluation abdominal ultrasound raised the hypothesis of LPAC syndrome and the patient was started on ursodeoxycholic acid, with remarkable improvement. Genetic testing identified the mutation c.1954A>G (p.Arg652Gly) in ABCB4 gene (homozygous) and c.1331T>C (p.Val444Ala) in ABCB11 gene (heterozygous). In conclusion, we describe the unique case of an adult male with choledocholithiasis, hepatolithiasis, and persistent conjugated hyperbilirubinemia after retrieval of stones, fulfilling the criteria for LPAC syndrome and with possible superimposed drug-induced liver injury, in whom ABCB4 and ABCB11 mutations were found, both of which had not been previously described in association with LPAC.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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