26,976 research outputs found
Semiclassical Mechanics of Rotons
The elementary excitations in superfluid liquid He-4 named rotons have an
unusual dispersion curve. The energy is an approximately quadratic function of
(p-p_0), the difference between the magnitude of the momentum p and a
characteristic value p_0. As a result, while for p>p_0 a roton has its (group)
velocity parallel to its momentum, when p<p_0 the velocity and momentum are
antiparallel. When p=p_0, the roton has non-zero momentum but zero velocity.
These kinematic properties lead to unusual trajectories when rotons scatter or
experience external forces. This paper examines this behavior in the classical
(ray optics) limit, where the roton wavelength is small compared with all other
dimensions. Several experiments illustrate these effects. The examples are
interesting in themselves, and also offer unconventional pedagogical
possibilities.Comment: 21 pp, 7 figures, submitted to Contemporary Physic
Behind at the Starting Line: Poverty Among Hispanic Infants
In this brief, authors Daniel Lichter, Scott Sanders, and Kenneth Johnson examine the economic circumstances of Hispanic infants using the Census Bureauâs American Community Survey annual microdata files from 2006 through 2010. They report that a disproportionate share of Hispanic infants start lifeâs race behind the starting line, poor and disadvantagedâan important finding because the proportion of all U.S. births that are Hispanic is growing rapidly. The poverty risk is especially high among rural Hispanic infants and those in new destinations. Despite higher poverty risks, Hispanic infants receive less governmental assistance. High Hispanic infant poverty has immediate and long-term consequences for infants and the nation. Failing to invest in families and children now has long-term consequences because early childhood poverty tends to set into motion a series of lifecycle disadvantages (such as insufficient parenting, bad neighborhoods, underfunded schools, and poor health care) that greatly increases the likelihood of poverty in adulthood. The authors conclude that whether todayâs Hispanic children will assimilate into Americaâs economic mainstream is an open question, but the Hispanic infants who will help reshape Americaâs future require public policy attention now
âItâs better than daytime televisionâ: 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
Galactic metric, dark radiation, dark pressure and gravitational lensing in brane world models
In the braneworld scenario, the four dimensional effective Einstein equation
has extra terms which arise from the embedding of the 3-brane in the bulk.
These non-local effects, generated by the free gravitational field of the bulk,
may provide an explanation for the dynamics of the neutral hydrogen clouds at
large distances from the galactic center, which is usually explained by
postulating the existence of the dark matter. We obtain the exact galactic
metric, the dark radiation and the dark pressure in the flat rotation curves
region in the brane world scenario. Due to the presence of the bulk effects,
the flat rotation curves could extend several hundred kpc. The limiting radius
for which bulk effects are important is estimated and compared with the
numerical values of the truncation parameter of the dark matter halos, obtained
from weak lensing observations. There is a relatively good agreement between
the predictions of the model and observations. The deflection of photons is
also considered and the bending angle of light is computed. The bending angle
predicted by the brane world models is much larger than that predicted by
standard general relativistic and dark matter models. The angular radii of the
Einstein rings are obtained in the small angles approximation. The predictions
of the brane world model for the tangential shear are compared with the
observational data obtained in the weak lensing of galaxies in the Red-Sequence
Cluster Survey. Therefore the study of the light deflection by galaxies and the
gravitational lensing could discriminate between the different dynamical laws
proposed to model the motion of particles at the galactic level and the
standard dark matter models.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A Modelling Approach for Evaluating Agri-Environmental Policies at Sector Level
This paper presents a new approach to evaluate the cost effectiveness of agri-environmental policies at sector level. Policy uptake, cumulative environmental effects and public expenditure are identified as the main determinants of cost-effectiveness. On the basis of the sector-consistent, comparative-static, farm group model FARMIS, the determinants of policy cost-effectiveness at sector level are addressed. Firstly, intensity levels for the FARMIS activities are defined in order to model uptake of agri-environmental policies with FARMIS, secondly, life-cycle assessment data is attached to these intensity levels to determine environmental effects of the policies and thirdly, public expenditure is calculated under consideration of transaction costs. This paper concludes delineating the strengths and limitations of the approach
The Interstellar Medium of IRAS 08572+3915 NW: H3+ and Warm High Velocity CO
We confirm the first detection of the molecular ion H3+ in an extragalactic
object, the highly obscured ultraluminous galaxy IRAS 08572+3915 NW. We also
have detected absorption lines of the fundamental band of CO in this galaxy.
The CO absorption consists of a cold component close to the systemic velocity
and warm, highly blueshifted and redshifted components. The warm blueshifted
component is remarkably strong and broad and extends at least to -350 km/s.
Some analogies can be drawn between the H3+ and cold CO in IRAS08572+3915 NW
and the same species seen toward the Galactic center. The profiles of the warm
CO components are not those expected from a dusty torus of the type thought to
obscure active galactic nuclei. They are probably formed close to the dust
continuum surface near the buried and active nucleus and are probably
associated with an unusual and energetic event there.Comment: 21 pages, 4 postscript figures, accepted by Ap
Optical Spectroscopy of the IRAS 1-Jy Sample of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
This paper discusses the optical spectroscopic properties of the IRAS 1-Jy
sample of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs). One hundred and eight of the
118 1-Jy ULIGs have been observed at dlambda = 8.3 AA resolution over the
wavelength range ~4500 A -- 8900 A. These data are combined with large,
previously published sets of optical spectroscopic data of lower luminosity
infrared galaxies to look for systematic trends with infrared luminosity over
the luminosity range L_ir ~ 10^{10.5}-10^{13} L_sun. As found in previous
studies, the fraction of Seyfert galaxies among luminous infrared galaxies
increases abruptly above L_ir ~ 10^{12.3} L_sun --- about 50% of the galaxies
with L_ir > 10^{12.3} L_sun present Seyfert characteristics. Many of the
optical and infrared spectroscopic properties of the Seyfert galaxies are
consistent with the presence of a genuine active galactic nucleus (AGN). About
30% of these galaxies are Seyfert 1s with broad-line regions similar to those
of optical quasars. The percentage of Seyfert 1 ULIGs increases with infrared
luminosity, contrary to the predictions of the standard unification model for
Seyfert galaxies. Comparisons of the broad-line luminosities of optical and
obscured Seyfert 1 ULIGs with those of optically selected quasars of comparable
bolometric luminosity suggest that the dominant energy source in most of these
ULIGs is the same as in optical quasars, namely mass accretion onto a
supermassive black hole, rather than a starburst. These results are consistent
with recently published ISO, ASCA, and VLBI data. (abridged)Comment: Text and 23 figures (45 pages), Tables 1 - 6 (16 pages
Modified gravity without dark matter
On an empirical level, the most successful alternative to dark matter in
bound gravitational systems is the modified Newtonian dynamics, or MOND,
proposed by Milgrom. Here I discuss the attempts to formulate MOND as a
modification of General Relativity. I begin with a summary of the
phenomenological successes of MOND and then discuss the various covariant
theories that have been proposed as a basis for the idea. I show why these
proposals have led inevitably to a multi-field theory. I describe in some
detail TeVeS, the tensor-vector-scalar theory proposed by Bekenstein, and
discuss its successes and shortcomings. This lecture is primarily pedagogical
and directed to those with some, but not a deep, background in General
RelativityComment: 28 pages, 10 figures, lecture given at Third Aegean Summer School,
The Invisible Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy, minor errors corrected,
references update
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