Reionization Through the Lens of Percolation Theory

The reionization of intergalactic hydrogen has received intense theoretical scrutiny over the past two decades. Here, we approach the process formally as a percolation process and phase transition. Using semi-numeric simulations, we demonstrate that an infinitely-large ionized region abruptly appears at an ionized fraction of ~0.1 and quickly grows to encompass most of the ionized gas: by an ionized fraction of 0.3, nearly ninety percent of the ionized material is part of this region. Throughout most of reionization, nearly all of the intergalactic medium is divided into just two regions, one ionized and one neutral, and both infinite in extent. We also show that the discrete ionized regions that exist before and near this transition point follow a near-power law distribution in volume, with equal contributions to the total filling factor per logarithmic interval in size up to a sharp cutoff in volume. These qualities are generic to percolation processes, with the detailed behavior a result of long-range correlations in the underlying density field. These insights will be crucial to understanding the distribution of ionized and neutral gas during reionization and provide precise meaning to the intuitive description of reionization as an "overlap" process.Comment: 16 pages, version accepted by MNRAS (conclusions unchanged from original

Photo-heating and the fate of hard photons during the reionisation of HeII by quasars

We use a combination of analytic and numerical arguments to consider the impact of quasar photo-heating during HeII reionisation on the thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We demonstrate that rapid (\Delta z 10^4 K) photo-heating is difficult to achieve across the entire IGM unless quasar spectra are significantly harder than implied by current observational constraints. Although filtering of intrinsic quasar radiation through dense regions in the IGM does increase the mean excess energy per HeII photo-ionisation, it also weakens the radiation intensity and lowers the photo-ionisation rate, preventing rapid heating over time intervals shorter than the local photo-ionisation timescale. Moreover, the hard photons responsible for the strongest heating are more likely to deposit their energy inside dense clumps. The abundance of such clumps is, however, uncertain and model-dependent, leading to a fairly large uncertainty in the photo-heating rates. Nevertheless, although some of the IGM may be exposed to a hardened and weakened ionising background for long periods, most of the IGM must instead be reionised by the more abundant, softer photons and with accordingly modest heating rates (\Delta T < 10^4 K). The repeated ionisation of fossil quasar HeIII regions does not increase the net heating because the recombination times in these regions typically exceed the IGM cooling times and the average time lag between successive rounds of quasar activity. Detailed line-of-sight radiative transfer simulations confirm these expectations and predict a rich thermal structure in the IGM during HeII reionisation. [Abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA

Strong laws of large numbers for sub-linear expectations

We investigate three kinds of strong laws of large numbers for capacities with a new notion of independently and identically distributed (IID) random variables for sub-linear expectations initiated by Peng. It turns out that these theorems are natural and fairly neat extensions of the classical Kolmogorov's strong law of large numbers to the case where probability measures are no longer additive. An important feature of these strong laws of large numbers is to provide a frequentist perspective on capacities.Comment: 10 page

Status of Spin Physics - Experimental Summary

The current status of spin physics experiments, based on talks presented at the Third Circum-Pan-Pacific Symposium on High Energy Spin Physics held in Beijing, 2001, is summarized in this article. Highlights of recent experimental results at SLAC, JLab, and DESY, as well as future plans at these facilities and at RHIC-spin are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, Invited talk presented at the Third Circum-Pan-Pacific Symposium on High Energy Spin Physics held in Beijing, October, 200

Formation and kinetics of transient metastable states in mixtures under coupled phase ordering and chemical demixing

We present theory and simulation of simultaneous chemical demixing and phase ordering in a polymer-liquid crystal mixture in conditions where isotropic- isotropic phase separation is metastable with respect to isotropic-nematic phase transition. It is found that mesophase formation proceeds by a transient metastable phase that surround the ordered phase, and whose lifetime is a function of the ratio of diffusional to orientational mobilities. It is shown that kinetic phase ordering in polymer-mesogen mixtures is analogous to kinetic crystallization in polymer solutions.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures accepted for publication in EP

Review of morphology dependent charge carrier mobility in MEH-PPV

Charge carrier mobility in poly(2-methoxy,5(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) films were measured as a function of temperature and electric field parallel and perpendicular to the substrate for devices prepared from different solvents and under different processing conditions Bulk structural morphology was characterized by various X-ray diffraction measurements such as wide angle, small angle and X-ray reflection. Surface morphology was characterized using various scanning probe microscopic techniques Mobilities were found to follow Gaussian disorder model (GDM) and to be highly anisotropic not only depending on the solvents used but also on the film preparation method such as spin-coating or drop-casting While no direct correlation was found between charge carrier mobility and photoluminescence, charge transport parameters were correlated with structural morpholog

The Peculiar Velocity Function of Galaxy Clusters

The peculiar velocity function of clusters of galaxies is determined using an accurate sample of cluster velocities based on Tully-Fisher distances of Sc galaxies (Giovanelli et al 1995b). In contrast with previous results based on samples with considerably larger velocity uncertainties, the observed velocity function does not exhibit a tail of high velocity clusters. The results indicate a low probability of $\lesssim$\,5\% of finding clusters with one-dimensional velocities greater than $\sim$ 600 {\kms}. The root-mean-square one-dimensional cluster velocity is 293$\pm$28 {\kms}. The observed cluster velocity function is compared with expectations from different cosmological models. The absence of a high velocity tail in the observed function is most consistent with a low mass-density ($\Omega \sim$0.3) CDM model, and is inconsistent at $\gtrsim 3 \sigma$ level with $\Omega$= 1.0 CDM and HDM models. The root-mean-square one-dimensional cluster velocities in these models correspond, respectively, to 314, 516, and 632 {\kms} (when convolved with the observational uncertainties). Comparison with the observed RMS cluster velocity of 293$\pm$28 {\kms} further supports the low-density CDM model.Comment: revised version accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 18 pages, uuencoded PostScript with 3 figures included; complete paper available through WWW at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~library/prep.htm