36,779 research outputs found
Symmetry breaking: A tool to unveil the topology of chaotic scattering with three degrees of freedom
We shall use symmetry breaking as a tool to attack the problem of identifying
the topology of chaotic scatteruing with more then two degrees of freedom.
specifically we discuss the structure of the homoclinic/heteroclinic tangle and
the connection between the chaotic invariant set, the scattering functions and
the singularities in the cross section for a class of scattering systems with
one open and two closed degrees of freedom.Comment: 13 pages and 8 figure
Optical-NIR spectroscopy of the puzzling gamma-ray source 3FGL 1603.9-4903/PMN J1603-4904 with X-shooter
The Fermi/LAT instrument has detected about two thousands Extragalactic High
Energy (E > 100 MeV) gamma-ray sources. One of the brightest is 3FGL
1603.9-4903, associated to the radio source PMN J1603-4904. Its nature is not
yet clear, it could be either a very peculiar BL Lac or a CSO (Compact
Symmetric Object) radio source, considered as the early stage of a radio
galaxy. The latter, if confirmed, would be the first detection in gamma-rays
for this class of objects. Recently a redshift z=0.18 +/- 0.01 has been claimed
on the basis of the detection of a single X-ray line at 5.44 +/- 0.05 keV
interpreted as a 6.4 keV (rest frame) fluorescent line. We aim to investigate
the nature of 3FGL 1603.9-4903/PMN J1603-4904 using optical to NIR
spectroscopy. We observed PMN J1603-4904 with the UV-NIR VLT/X-shooter
spectrograph for two hours. We extracted spectra in the VIS and NIR range that
we calibrated in flux and corrected for telluric absorption and we
systematically searched for absorption and emission features. The source was
detected starting from ~6300 Ang down to 24000 Ang with an intensity comparable
to the one of its 2MASS counterpart and a mostly featureless spectrum. The
continuum lacks absorption features and thus is non-stellar in origin and
likely non-thermal. On top of this spectrum we detected three emission lines
that we interpret as the Halpha-[NII] complex, the [SII] 6716,6731 doublet and
the [SIII] 9530 line, obtaining a redshift estimate of z= 0.2321 +/- 0.0004.
The equivalent width of the Halpha-[NII] complex implies that PMN J1603-4904
does not follow the observational definition of BL Lac, the line ratios suggest
that a LINER/Seyfert nucleus is powering the emission. This new redshift
measurement implies that the X-ray line previously detected should be
interpreted as a 6.7 keV line which is very peculiar.Comment: Published in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Escape from a metastable well under a time-ramped force
Thermally activated escape of an over-damped particle from a metastable well
under the action of a time-ramped force is studied. We express the mean first
passage time (MFPT) as the solution to a partial differential equation, which
we solve numerically for a model case. We discuss two approximations of the
MFPT, one of which works remarkably well over a wide range of loading rates,
while the second is easy to calculate and can provide a valuable first
estimate.Comment: 9 pages, including 2 figure
Spectroscopic Evidence for Anisotropic S-Wave Pairing Symmetry in MgB2
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of superconducting MgB ( K)
were studied on high-density pellets and c-axis oriented films. The sample
surfaces were chemically etched to remove surface carbonates and hydroxides,
and the data were compared with calculated spectra for all symmetry-allowed
pairing channels. The pairing potential () is best described by an
anisotropic s-wave pairing model, with , where is the angle relative to the
crystalline c-axis, meV, and meV.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Corresponding author: Nai-Chang Yeh (e-mail: [email protected]
Large thermomagnetic effects in weakly disordered Heisenberg chains
The interplay of different scattering mechanisms can lead to novel effects in
transport. We show theoretically that the interplay of weak impurity and
Umklapp scattering in spin-1/2 chains leads to a pronounced dip in the magnetic
field dependence of the thermal conductivity at a magnetic field . In sufficiently clean samples, the reduction of the magnetic
contribution to heat transport can easily become larger than 50% and the effect
is predicted to exist even in samples with a large exchange coupling, J >> B,
where the field-induced magnetization is small. Qualitatively, our theory might
explain dips at observed in recent heat transport measurements on
copper pyrazine dinitrate, but a fully quantitative description is not possible
within our model.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
TMDlib and TMDplotter: library and plotting tools for transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions
Transverse-momentum-dependent distributions (TMDs) are central in high-energy
physics from both theoretical and phenomenological points of view. In this
manual we introduce the library, TMDlib, of fits and parameterisations for
transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions (TMD PDFs) and
fragmentation functions (TMD FFs) together with an online plotting tool,
TMDplotter. We provide a description of the program components and of the
different physical frameworks the user can access via the available
parameterisations.Comment: version 2, referring to TMDlib 1.0.2 - comments and references adde
Reconceptualising Personas Across Cultures: Archetypes, Stereotypes & Collective Personas in Pastoral Namibia
The paucity of projects where persona is the research foci and a lack of consensus on this artefact keep many reticent about its purpose and value. Besides crafting personas is expected to differ across cultures, which contrasts the advancements in Western theory with studies and progress in other sites. We postulate User-Created Personas reveal specific characteristics of situated contexts by allowing laypeople to design persona artefacts in their own terms. Hence analysing four persona sessions with an ethnic group in pastoral Namibia –ovaHerero– brought up a set of fundamental questions around the persona artefact regarding stereotypes, archetypes, and collective persona representations: (1) to what extent user depictions are stereotypical or archetypal? If stereotypes prime (2) to what degree are current personas a useful method to represent end-users in technology design? And, (3) how can we ultimately read accounts not conforming to mainstream individual persona descriptions but to collectives
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