1,103 research outputs found
Challenging otherness : a reassessment of early Greek attitudes toward the divine
Includes bibliographical references
The Megamaser Cosmology Project. III. Accurate Masses of Seven Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galaxies with Circumnuclear Megamaser Disks
Observations of HO masers from circumnuclear disks in active galaxies for
the Megamaser Cosmology Project allow accurate measurement of the mass of
supermassive black holes (BH) in these galaxies. We present the Very Long
Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) images and kinematics of water maser emission in
six active galaxies: NGC~1194, NGC~2273, NGC~2960 (Mrk~1419), NGC~4388,
NGC~6264 and NGC~6323. We use the Keplerian rotation curves of these six
megamaser galaxies, plus a seventh previously published, to determine accurate
enclosed masses within the central pc of these galaxies, smaller than
the radius of the sphere of influence of the central mass in all cases. We also
set lower limits to the central mass densities of between 0.12 and 60 ~pc. For six of the seven disks, the high central
densities rule out clusters of stars or stellar remnants as the central
objects, and this result further supports our assumption that the enclosed mass
can be attributed predominantly to a supermassive black hole. The seven BHs
have masses ranging between 0.76 and 6.510. The BH mass
errors are \%, dominated by the uncertainty of the Hubble constant.
We compare the megamaser BH mass determination with other BH mass measurement
techniques. The BH mass based on virial estimation in four galaxies is
consistent with the megamaser BH mass given the latest empirical value of
, but the virial mass uncertainty is much greater. MCP
observations continue and we expect to obtain more maser BH masses in the
future.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. This paper has been submitted to ApJ. An updated
version of this paper will be posted when it gets accepte
Generation of folk song melodies using Bayes transforms
The paper introduces the `Bayes transform', a mathematical procedure for putting data into a hierarchical representation. Applicable to any type of data, the procedure yields interesting results when applied to sequences. In this case, the representation obtained implicitly models the repetition hierarchy of the source. There are then natural applications to music. Derivation of Bayes transforms can be the means of determining the repetition hierarchy of note sequences (melodies) in an empirical and domain-general way. The paper investigates application of this approach to Folk Song, examining the results that can be obtained by treating such transforms as generative models
Diffusion of wave packets in a Markov random potential
We consider the evolution of a tight binding wave packet propagating in a
time dependent potential. If the potential evolves according to a stationary
Markov process, we show that the square amplitude of the wave packet converges,
after diffusive rescaling, to a solution of a heat equation.Comment: 19 pages, acknowledgments added and typos correcte
Diffusive propagation of wave packets in a fluctuating periodic potential
We consider the evolution of a tight binding wave packet propagating in a
fluctuating periodic potential. If the fluctuations stem from a stationary
Markov process satisfying certain technical criteria, we show that the square
amplitude of the wave packet after diffusive rescaling converges to a
superposition of solutions of a heat equation.Comment: 13 pages (v2: added a paragraph on the history of the problem, added
some references, correct a few typos; v3 minor corrections, added keywords
and subject classes
Scaling in a continuous time model for biological aging
In this paper we consider a generalization to the asexual version of the
Penna model for biological aging, where we take a continuous time limit. The
genotype associated to each individual is an interval of real numbers over
which Dirac --functions are defined, representing genetically
programmed diseases to be switched on at defined ages of the individual life.
We discuss two different continuous limits for the evolution equation and two
different mutation protocols, to be implemented during reproduction. Exact
stationary solutions are obtained and scaling properties are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Evaluation of health effects of air pollution in the Chestnut Ridge area : preliminary analysis
This project involves several tasks designed to take advantage of
(1) a very extensive air pollution monitoring system that is operating
..n the Chestnut Ridge.region of Western Pennsylvania and (2) -the very
well developed analytic dispersion models that have been previously
fine-tuned to this particular area.. The major task in this project is
to establish, through several distinct epidemiolopic approaches, health
data to be used to test hypotheses about relations of air pollution
exposures to morbidity and mortality rates in this region. Because
the air quality monitoring network involves no expense to this contract
this project affords a very cost-effective 6pportunity-for state-of-the-art
techniques to be used in both costly areas of air pollution and health
-effects data col1 ection. . The closely spaced network of monitors, plus
the dispersion modeling capabilities,.allow for the investigation- of
health impacts of. various pollutant gradients in neighboring geographic
areas, thus minimizing -the confounding effects of social, ethnic, and
economic factors. The pollutants that are monitored in this network
include total gaseous sulfur, sulfates, total suspended particulates,
NOx, NO, ozone/oxidants, and coefficient of haze. In addition to enabling
the simulation of exposure profiles between monitors, the air quality2
modeling, along with extensive source and background inventories, will
allow for upgrading the quality of the monitored data. as well as
simulating the exposure levels for about 25 additional air pollutants.
Another important goal of this project is to collect and test the many
available models for associating.health effects with air pollution, to
determine their predictive validity and their usefulness in the choice
and siting of future energy facilities
DFT Calculations as a Tool to Analyse Quadrupole Splittings of Spin Crossover Fe(II) complexes
Density functional methods have been applied to calculate the quadrupole
splitting of a series of iron(II) spin crossover complexes. Experimental and
calculated values are in reasonable agreement. In one case spin-orbit coupling
is necessary to explain the very small quadrupole splitting value of 0.77 mm/s
at 293 K for a high-spin isomer
SPIDER: a balloon-borne CMB polarimeter for large angular scales
We describe SPIDER, a balloon-borne instrument to map the polarization of the
millimeter-wave sky with degree angular resolution. Spider consists of six
monochromatic refracting telescopes, each illuminating a focal plane of
large-format antenna-coupled bolometer arrays. A total of 2,624 superconducting
transition-edge sensors are distributed among three observing bands centered at
90, 150, and 280 GHz. A cold half-wave plate at the aperture of each telescope
modulates the polarization of incoming light to control systematics. Spider's
first flight will be a 20-30-day Antarctic balloon campaign in December 2011.
This flight will map \sim8% of the sky to achieve unprecedented sensitivity to
the polarization signature of the gravitational wave background predicted by
inflationary cosmology. The Spider mission will also serve as a proving ground
for these detector technologies in preparation for a future satellite mission.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; as published in the conference proceedings for
SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and
Instrumentation for Astronomy V (2010
The Megamaser Cosmology Project. III. Accurate Masses of Seven Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galaxies with Circumnuclear Megamaser Disks
Observations of HO masers from circumnuclear disks in active galaxies for
the Megamaser Cosmology Project allow accurate measurement of the mass of
supermassive black holes (BH) in these galaxies. We present the Very Long
Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) images and kinematics of water maser emission in
six active galaxies: NGC~1194, NGC~2273, NGC~2960 (Mrk~1419), NGC~4388,
NGC~6264 and NGC~6323. We use the Keplerian rotation curves of these six
megamaser galaxies, plus a seventh previously published, to determine accurate
enclosed masses within the central pc of these galaxies, smaller than
the radius of the sphere of influence of the central mass in all cases. We also
set lower limits to the central mass densities of between 0.12 and 60 ~pc. For six of the seven disks, the high central
densities rule out clusters of stars or stellar remnants as the central
objects, and this result further supports our assumption that the enclosed mass
can be attributed predominantly to a supermassive black hole. The seven BHs
have masses ranging between 0.76 and 6.510. The BH mass
errors are \%, dominated by the uncertainty of the Hubble constant.
We compare the megamaser BH mass determination with other BH mass measurement
techniques. The BH mass based on virial estimation in four galaxies is
consistent with the megamaser BH mass given the latest empirical value of
, but the virial mass uncertainty is much greater. MCP
observations continue and we expect to obtain more maser BH masses in the
future.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. This paper has been submitted to ApJ. An updated
version of this paper will be posted when it gets accepte
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