64,985 research outputs found
Physical constraints on interacting dark energy models
Physical limits on the equation-of-state (EoS) parameter of a dark energy
component non-minimally coupled with the dark matter field are examined in
light of the second law of thermodynamics and the positiveness of entropy. Such
constraints are combined with observational data sets of type Ia supernovae,
baryon acoustic oscillations and the angular acoustic scale of the cosmic
microwave background to impose restrictions on the behaviour of the dark
matter/dark energy interaction. Considering two EoS parameterisations of the
type , we derive a general expression for the evolution
of the dark energy density and show that the combination of thermodynamic
limits and observational data provide tight bounds on the parameter
space.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in European Physical
Journal
Metallic Continuum Quantum Ferromagnets at Finite Temperature
We study via renormalization group (RG) and large N methods the problem of
continuum SU(N) quantum Heisenberg ferromagnets (QHF) coupled to gapless
electrons. We establish the phase diagram of the dissipative problem and
investigate the changes in the Curie temperature, magnetization, and magnetic
correlation length due to dissipation and both thermal and quantum
fluctuations. We show that the interplay between the topological term (Berry's
phase) and dissipation leads to non-trivial effects for the finite temperature
critical behavior.Comment: Corrected typos, new discussion of T=0 results, to appear in
Europhys. Let
A Time-Periodic Lyapunov Approach for Motion Planning of Controllable Driftless Systems on SU(n)
For a right-invariant and controllable driftless system on SU(n), we consider
a time-periodic reference trajectory along which the linearized control system
generates su(n): such trajectories always exist and constitute the basic
ingredient of Coron's Return Method. The open-loop controls that we propose,
which rely on a left-invariant tracking error dynamics and on a fidelity-like
Lyapunov function, are determined from a finite number of left-translations of
the tracking error and they assure global asymptotic convergence towards the
periodic reference trajectory. The role of these translations is to avoid being
trapped in the critical region of this Lyapunov-like function. The convergence
proof relies on a periodic version of LaSalle's invariance principle and the
control values are determined by numerical integration of the dynamics of the
system. Simulations illustrate the obtained controls for and the
generation of the C--NOT quantum gate.Comment: Submitte
Semi-Automated SVG Programming via Direct Manipulation
Direct manipulation interfaces provide intuitive and interactive features to
a broad range of users, but they often exhibit two limitations: the built-in
features cannot possibly cover all use cases, and the internal representation
of the content is not readily exposed. We believe that if direct manipulation
interfaces were to (a) use general-purpose programs as the representation
format, and (b) expose those programs to the user, then experts could customize
these systems in powerful new ways and non-experts could enjoy some of the
benefits of programmable systems.
In recent work, we presented a prototype SVG editor called Sketch-n-Sketch
that offered a step towards this vision. In that system, the user wrote a
program in a general-purpose lambda-calculus to generate a graphic design and
could then directly manipulate the output to indirectly change design
parameters (i.e. constant literals) in the program in real-time during the
manipulation. Unfortunately, the burden of programming the desired
relationships rested entirely on the user.
In this paper, we design and implement new features for Sketch-n-Sketch that
assist in the programming process itself. Like typical direct manipulation
systems, our extended Sketch-n-Sketch now provides GUI-based tools for drawing
shapes, relating shapes to each other, and grouping shapes together. Unlike
typical systems, however, each tool carries out the user's intention by
transforming their general-purpose program. This novel, semi-automated
programming workflow allows the user to rapidly create high-level, reusable
abstractions in the program while at the same time retaining direct
manipulation capabilities. In future work, our approach may be extended with
more graphic design features or realized for other application domains.Comment: In 29th ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium (UIST
2016
Interplay between disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in ferromagnetic alloys: The case of UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x)
We consider, theoretically and experimentally, the effects of structural
disorder, quantum and thermal fluctuations in the magnetic and transport
properties of certain ferromagnetic alloys.We study the particular case of
UCu2Si(2-x)Ge(x). The low temperature resistivity, rho(T,x), exhibits Fermi
liquid (FL) behavior as a function of temperature T for all values of x, which
can be interpreted as a result of the magnetic scattering of the conduction
electrons from the localized U spins. The residual resistivity, rho(0,x),
follows the behavior of a disordered binary alloy. The observed non-monotonic
dependence of the Curie temperature, Tc(x), with x can be explained within a
model of localized spins interacting with an electronic bath whose transport
properties cross-over from ballistic to diffusive regimes. Our results clearly
show that the Curie temperature of certain alloys can be enhanced due to the
interplay between quantum and thermal fluctuations with disorder.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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