24,055 research outputs found
Major Galaxy Mergers and the Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars
Despite observed strong correlations between central supermassive black holes
(SMBHs) and star-formation in galactic nuclei, uncertainties exist in our
understanding of their coupling. We present observations of the ratio of
heavily-obscured to unobscured quasars as a function of cosmic epoch up to z~3,
and show that a simple physical model describing mergers of massive, gas-rich
galaxies matches these observations. In the context of this model, every
obscured and unobscured quasar represent two distinct phases that result from a
massive galaxy merger event. Much of the mass growth of the SMBH occurs during
the heavily-obscured phase. These observations provide additional evidence for
a causal link between gas-rich galaxy mergers, accretion onto the nuclear SMBH
and coeval star formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Science. Published by Science Express on
March 25th. 17 pages, 5 figures, including supplemental online materia
Memetic Multilevel Hypergraph Partitioning
Hypergraph partitioning has a wide range of important applications such as
VLSI design or scientific computing. With focus on solution quality, we develop
the first multilevel memetic algorithm to tackle the problem. Key components of
our contribution are new effective multilevel recombination and mutation
operations that provide a large amount of diversity. We perform a wide range of
experiments on a benchmark set containing instances from application areas such
VLSI, SAT solving, social networks, and scientific computing. Compared to the
state-of-the-art hypergraph partitioning tools hMetis, PaToH, and KaHyPar, our
new algorithm computes the best result on almost all instances
Interaction of GABA and Excitatory Amino Acids in the Basolateral Amygdala: Role in Cardiovascular Regulation
Activation of the amygdala in rats produces cardiovascular changes that include increases in heart rate and arterial pressure as well as behavioral changes characteristic of emotional arousal. The objective of the present study was to examine the interaction of GABA and excitatory amino acid (EAA) receptors in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in regulating cardiovascular function. Microinjection of the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline methiodide (BMI) or the E A A receptor agonists NMDA or AMPA into the same region of the BLA of conscious rats produced dose-related increases in heart rate and arterial pressure. Injection of the nonselective EAA receptor antagonist kynurenic acid into the BLA prevented or reversed the cardiovascular changes caused by local injection of BMI or the noncompetitive GABA antagonist picrotoxin. Conversely, local pretreatment with the glutamate reuptake inhibitorl-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylic acid enhanced the effects of intra-amygdalar injection of BMI. The cardiovascular effects of BMI were also attenuated by injection of either the NMDA antagonist 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) or the AMPA receptor antagonist 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-6-nitro-2,3-dioxo-benzo[f]quinoxaline-7-sulfonamide (NBQX). When these two EAA receptor antagonists were combined, their ability to suppress BMI-induced tachycardic and pressor responses was additive. These findings indicate that the cardiovascular effects caused by blockade of GABAergic inhibition in the BLA of the rat are dependent on activation of local NMDA and AMPA receptors
Metastability in Markov processes
We present a formalism to describe slowly decaying systems in the context of
finite Markov chains obeying detailed balance. We show that phase space can be
partitioned into approximately decoupled regions, in which one may introduce
restricted Markov chains which are close to the original process but do not
leave these regions. Within this context, we identify the conditions under
which the decaying system can be considered to be in a metastable state.
Furthermore, we show that such metastable states can be described in
thermodynamic terms and define their free energy. This is accomplished showing
that the probability distribution describing the metastable state is indeed
proportional to the equilibrium distribution, as is commonly assumed. We test
the formalism numerically in the case of the two-dimensional kinetic Ising
model, using the Wang--Landau algorithm to show this proportionality
explicitly, and confirm that the proportionality constant is as derived in the
theory. Finally, we extend the formalism to situations in which a system can
have several metastable states.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures; version with one higher quality figure available
at http://www.fis.unam.mx/~dsanders
Multiphoton Coincidence Spectroscopy
We extend the analysis of photon coincidence spectroscopy beyond bichromatic
excitation and two-photon coincidence detection to include multichromatic
excitation and multiphoton coincidence detection. Trichromatic excitation and
three-photon coincidence spectroscopy are studied in detail, and we identify an
observable signature of a triple resonance in an atom-cavity system.Comment: 6 page, REVTeXs, 6 Postscript figures. The abstract appeared in the
Proceedings of ACOLS9
Occurrence of normal and anomalous diffusion in polygonal billiard channels
From extensive numerical simulations, we find that periodic polygonal
billiard channels with angles which are irrational multiples of pi generically
exhibit normal diffusion (linear growth of the mean squared displacement) when
they have a finite horizon, i.e. when no particle can travel arbitrarily far
without colliding. For the infinite horizon case we present numerical tests
showing that the mean squared displacement instead grows asymptotically as t
log t. When the unit cell contains accessible parallel scatterers, however, we
always find anomalous super-diffusion, i.e. power-law growth with an exponent
larger than 1. This behavior cannot be accounted for quantitatively by a simple
continuous-time random walk model. Instead, we argue that anomalous diffusion
correlates with the existence of families of propagating periodic orbits.
Finally we show that when a configuration with parallel scatterers is
approached there is a crossover from normal to anomalous diffusion, with the
diffusion coefficient exhibiting a power-law divergence.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures. Revised after referee reports: redrawn figures,
additional comments. Some higher quality figures available at
http://www.fis.unam.mx/~dsander
Supply of accounting graduates and the demand for public accounting recruits, spring 1971
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_arprts/1063/thumbnail.jp
‘It’s better than daytime television’: questioning the socio-spatial impacts of massage parlours on residential communities
It has been shown that street sex work is problematic for some communities, but there is less evidence of the effects of brothels. Emerging research also suggests that impact discourses outlined by residential communities and in regulatory policies should be critiqued, because they are often based on minority community voices, and limited tangible evidence is used to masquerade wider moral viewpoints about the place of sex work. Using a study of residents living in close proximity to brothels in Blackpool, this paper argues that impact is socially and spatially fluid. Impact needs to be evaluated in a more nuanced manner, which is considerate of the heterogeneity of (even one type of) sex work, and the community in question. Brothels in Blackpool had a variety of roles in the everyday socio-spatial fabric; thus also questioning the common assumption that sex work only impacts negatively on residential communities
Is dark matter an extra-dimensional effect?
We investigate the possibility that the observed behavior of test particles
outside galaxies, which is usually explained by assuming the presence of dark
matter, is the result of the dynamical evolution of particles in higher
dimensional space-times. Hence, dark matter may be a direct consequence of the
presence of an extra force, generated by the presence of extra-dimensions,
which modifies the dynamic law of motion, but does not change the intrinsic
properties of the particles, like, for example, the mass (inertia). We discuss
in some detail several possible particular forms for the extra force, and the
acceleration law of the particles is derived. Therefore, the constancy of the
galactic rotation curves may be considered as an empirical evidence for the
existence of the extra dimensions.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in MPLA; references
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