3,071 research outputs found
Quadratic reheating
The reheating process for the inflationary scenario is investigated
phenomenologically. The decay of the oscillating massive inflaton field into
light bosons is modeled after an out of equilibrium mixture of interacting
fluids within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Self-consistent,
analytic results for the evolution of the main macroscopic magnitudes like
temperature and particle number densities are obtained. The models for linear
and quadratic decay rates are investigated in the quasiperfect regime. The
linear model is shown to reheat very slowly while the quadratic one is shown to
yield explosive particle and entropy production. The maximum reheating
temperature is reached much faster and its magnitude is comparable with the
inflaton mass.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX 2.09, 4 figures. To be published in International
Journal of Modern Physics
Long slit spectroscopy of NH2 in comets Halley, Wilson, and Nishikawa-Takamizawa-Tago
Long-slit spectra of comets Halley, Wilson and Nishikawa-Takamizawa-Tago were obtained with the 3.9 meter Anglo-Australian Telescope. Spectra of comets Halley and Wilson were obtained with the IPCS at a spectral resolution of 0.5 A and a spatial resolution of 10(exp 3) km. Spectra of comets Wilson and Nishikawa-Takamizawa-Tago were obtained with a CCD at a spectral resolution of 1.5 A and a spatial resolution of approximately 3 x 10(exp 3) km. Surface brightness profiles for NH2 were extracted from the long-slit spectra of each comet. The observed surface brightness profiles extend along the slit to approximately 6 x 10(exp 4) km from the nucleus in both sunward and tailward directions. By comparing surface distribution calculated from an appropriate coma model with observed surface brightness distributions, the photodissociation timescale of the parent molecule of NH2 can be inferred. The observed NH2 surface brightness profiles in all three comets compares well with a surface brightness profile calculated using the vectorial model, an NH3 photodissociation timescale of 7 x 10(exp 3) seconds, and an NH2 photodissociation timescale of 34,000 seconds
Feedback from massive stars at low metallicities : MUSE observations of N44 and N180 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 27 pages, 21 figuresWe present MUSE integral field data of two HII region complexes in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), N44 and N180. Both regions consist of a main superbubble and a number of smaller, more compact HII regions that formed on the edge of the superbubble. For a total of 11 HII regions, we systematically analyse the radiative and mechanical feedback from the massive O-type stars on the surrounding gas. We exploit the integral field property of the data and the coverage of the HeII5412 line to identify and classify the feedback-driving massive stars, and from the estimated spectral types and luminosity classes we determine the stellar radiative output in terms of the ionising photon flux . We characterise the HII regions in terms of their sizes, morphologies, ionisation structure, luminosity and kinematics, and derive oxygen abundances via emission line ratios. We analyse the role of different stellar feedback mechanisms for each region by measuring the direct radiation pressure, the pressure of the ionised gas, and the pressure of the shock-heated winds. We find that stellar winds and ionised gas are the main drivers of HII region expansion in our sample, while the direct radiation pressure is up to three orders of magnitude lower than the other terms. We relate the total pressure to the star formation rate per unit area, , for each region and find that stellar feedback has a negative effect on star formation, and sets an upper limit to as a function of increasing pressure.Peer reviewe
An Optimal Linear Time Algorithm for Quasi-Monotonic Segmentation
Monotonicity is a simple yet significant qualitative characteristic. We
consider the problem of segmenting a sequence in up to K segments. We want
segments to be as monotonic as possible and to alternate signs. We propose a
quality metric for this problem using the l_inf norm, and we present an optimal
linear time algorithm based on novel formalism. Moreover, given a
precomputation in time O(n log n) consisting of a labeling of all extrema, we
compute any optimal segmentation in constant time. We compare experimentally
its performance to two piecewise linear segmentation heuristics (top-down and
bottom-up). We show that our algorithm is faster and more accurate.
Applications include pattern recognition and qualitative modeling.Comment: This is the extended version of our ICDM'05 paper (arXiv:cs/0702142
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