1,733 research outputs found
Magnetic field structure due to the global velocity field in spiral galaxies
We present a set of global, self-consistent N-body/SPH simulations of the
dynamic evolution of galactic discs with gas and including magnetic fields. We
have implemented a description to follow the evolution of magnetic fields with
the ideal induction equation in the SPH part of the Vine code. Results from a
direct implementation of the field equations are compared to a representation
by Euler potentials, which pose a div(B)-free description, an constraint not
fulfilled for the direct implementation. All simulations are compared to an
implementation of magnetic fields in the Gadget code which includes also
cleaning methods for div(B).
Starting with a homogeneous seed field we find that by differential rotation
and spiral structure formation of the disc the field is amplified by one order
of magnitude within five rotation periods of the disc. The amplification is
stronger for higher numerical resolution. Moreover, we find a tight connection
of the magnetic field structure to the density pattern of the galaxy in our
simulations, with the magnetic field lines being aligned with the developing
spiral pattern of the gas. Our simulations clearly show the importance of
non-axisymmetry for the evolution of the magnetic field.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figure
Does asymmetric gene flow among matrilines maintain the evolutionary potential of the European eel?
Using evolutionary theory to predict the dynamics of populations is one of the aims of evolutionary conservation. In endangered species, with geographic range extending over continuous areas, the predictive capacity of evolutionary-based conservation measures greatly depends on the accurate identification of reproductive units. The endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a highly migratory fish species with declining population due to a steep recruitment collapse in the beginning of the 1980s. Despite punctual observations of genetic structure, the population is viewed as a single panmictic reproductive unit. To understand the possible origin of the detected structure in this species, we used a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear loci to indirectly evaluate the possible existence of cryptic demes. For that, 403 glass eels from three successive cohorts arriving at a single location were screened for phenotypic and genetic diversity, while controlling for possible geographic variation. Over the 3Â years of sampling, we consistently identified three major matrilines which we hypothesized to represent demes. Interestingly, not only we found that population genetic models support the existence of those matriline-driven demes over a completely panmictic mode of reproduction, but also we found evidence for asymmetric gene flow amongst those demes. We uphold the suggestion that the detection of demes related to those matrilines reflect a fragmented spawning ground, a conceptually plausible consequence of the low abundance that the European eel has been experiencing for three decades. Furthermore, we suggest that this cryptic organization may contribute to the maintenance of the adaptive potential of the species
Feynman graph polynomials
The integrand of any multi-loop integral is characterised after Feynman
parametrisation by two polynomials. In this review we summarise the properties
of these polynomials. Topics covered in this article include among others:
Spanning trees and spanning forests, the all-minors matrix-tree theorem,
recursion relations due to contraction and deletion of edges, Dodgson's
identity and matroids.Comment: 35 pages, references adde
On the Origin of HD149026b
The high density of the close-in extrasolar planet HD149026b suggests the
presence of a huge core in the planet, which challenges planet formation
theory. We first derive constraints on the amount of heavy elements and
hydrogen/helium present in the planet: We find that preferred values of the
core mass are between 50 and 80 M_E. We then investigate the possibility of
subcritical core accretion as envisioned for Uranus and Neptune and find that
the subcritical accretion scenario is unlikely in the case of HD149026b for at
least two reasons: (i) Subcritical planets are such that the ratio of their
core mass to their total mass is above ~0.7, in contradiction with constraints
for all but the most extreme interior models of HD149026b; (ii) High accretion
rates and large isolation mass required for the formation of a subcritical core
of 30 M_E are possible only at specific orbital distances in a disk with a
surface density of dust equal to at least 10 times that of the minimum mass
solar nebula. This value climbs to 30 when considering a 50 M_E core. These
facts point toward two main routes for the formation of this planet: (i) Gas
accretion that is limited by a slow viscous inflow of gas in an evaporating
disk; (ii) A significant modification of the composition of the planet after as
accretion has stopped. These two routes are not mutually exclusive.
Illustrating the second route, we show that for a wide range of impact
parameters, giant impacts lead to a loss of the gas component of the planet and
thus may lead to planets that are highly enriched in heavy elements. In the
giant impact scenario, we expect an outer giant planet to be present.
Observational studies by imaging, astrometry and long term interferometry of
this system are needed to better narrow down the ensemble of possibilities.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the 10 October 2006 issue of Ap
Do Lognormal Column-Density Distributions in Molecular Clouds Imply Supersonic Turbulence?
Recent observations of column densities in molecular clouds find lognormal
distributions with power-law high-density tails. These results are often
interpreted as indications that supersonic turbulence dominates the dynamics of
the observed clouds. We calculate and present the column-density distributions
of three clouds, modeled with very different techniques, none of which is
dominated by supersonic turbulence. The first star-forming cloud is simulated
using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH); in this case gravity, opposed only
by thermal-pressure forces, drives the evolution. The second cloud is
magnetically subcritical with subsonic turbulence, simulated using nonideal
MHD; in this case the evolution is due to gravitationally-driven ambipolar
diffusion. The third cloud is isothermal, self-gravitating, and has a smooth
density distribution analytically approximated with a uniform inner region and
an r^-2 profile at larger radii. We show that in all three cases the
column-density distributions are lognormal. Power-law tails develop only at
late times (or, in the case of the smooth analytic profile, for strongly
centrally concentrated configurations), when gravity dominates all opposing
forces. It therefore follows that lognormal column-density distributions are
generic features of diverse model clouds, and should not be interpreted as
being a consequence of supersonic turbulence.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Comparison of ankle and subtalar joint complex range of motion during barefoot walking and walking in Masai Barefoot Technology sandals
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT, Switzerland) produce footwear which they claim simulate walking barefoot on soft undulating ground. This paper reports an investigation into the effect of MBT sandals on the motion of the ankle and subtalar joint complex during walking.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Range of motion data was collected in the sagittal, frontal and transverse plane from the ankle and subtalar joint complex from 32 asymptomatic subjects using the CODA MPX30 motion analysis system during both barefoot walking and walking in the MBT sandal. Shod and un-shod data were compared using the Wilcoxon signed ranks test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significantly greater range of motion in the frontal and sagittal planes was recorded when walking in the MBT sandal (p = 0.031, and p = 0.015 respectively). In the transverse plane, no significant difference was found (p = 0.470).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>MBT sandals increase the range of motion of the ankle and subtalar joint complex in the frontal and sagittal planes. MBT footwear could therefore have a role to play in the management of musculoskeletal disorders where an increase in frontal and sagittal plane range of motion is desirable.</p
Newtonian Hydrodynamics of the Coalescence of Black Holes with Neutron Stars I: Tidally locked binaries with a stiff equation of state
We present a detailed study of the hydrodynamical interactions in a Newtonian
black hole-neutron star binary during the last stages of inspiral. We consider
close binaries which are tidally locked, use a stiff equation of state (with an
adiabatic index Gamma=3) throughout, and explore the effect of different
initial mass ratios on the evolution of the system. We calculate the
gravitational radiation signal in the quadrupole approximation. Our
calculations are carried out using a Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code.Comment: Replaces previous version which had figures separate from the text of
the paper. Now 47 pages long with 19 embedded figures (the figures are the
same, they were renumbered) Uses aaspp4.st
Representing complex data using localized principal components with application to astronomical data
Often the relation between the variables constituting a multivariate data
space might be characterized by one or more of the terms: ``nonlinear'',
``branched'', ``disconnected'', ``bended'', ``curved'', ``heterogeneous'', or,
more general, ``complex''. In these cases, simple principal component analysis
(PCA) as a tool for dimension reduction can fail badly. Of the many alternative
approaches proposed so far, local approximations of PCA are among the most
promising. This paper will give a short review of localized versions of PCA,
focusing on local principal curves and local partitioning algorithms.
Furthermore we discuss projections other than the local principal components.
When performing local dimension reduction for regression or classification
problems it is important to focus not only on the manifold structure of the
covariates, but also on the response variable(s). Local principal components
only achieve the former, whereas localized regression approaches concentrate on
the latter. Local projection directions derived from the partial least squares
(PLS) algorithm offer an interesting trade-off between these two objectives. We
apply these methods to several real data sets. In particular, we consider
simulated astrophysical data from the future Galactic survey mission Gaia.Comment: 25 pages. In "Principal Manifolds for Data Visualization and
Dimension Reduction", A. Gorban, B. Kegl, D. Wunsch, and A. Zinovyev (eds),
Lecture Notes in Computational Science and Engineering, Springer, 2007, pp.
180--204,
http://www.springer.com/dal/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=1-40109-22-173750210-
Conformally Flat Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics: Application to Neutron Star Mergers
We present a new 3D SPH code which solves the general relativistic field +
hydrodynamics equations in the conformally flat approximation. Several test
cases are considered to test different aspects of the code. We finally apply
then the code to the coalescence of a neutron star binary system. The neutron
stars are modeled by a polytropic equation of state (EoS) with adiabatic
indices , and . We calculate the
gravitational wave signals, luminosities and frequency spectra by employing the
quadrupole approximation for emission and back reaction in the slow motion
limit. In addition, we consider the amount of ejected mass.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. v3:
Final Versio
Gravitational Radiation from Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars
We calculate the gravitational radiation produced by the merger and
coalescence of inspiraling binary neutron stars using 3-dimensional numerical
simulations. The stars are modeled as polytropes and start out in the
point-mass limit at wide separation. The hydrodynamic integration is performed
using smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) with Newtonian gravity, and the
gravitational radiation is calculated using the quadrupole approximation. We
have run several simulations, varying both the neutron star radius and the
equation of state. The resulting gravitational wave energy spectra are
rich in information about the hydrodynamics of merger and coalescence. In
particular, our results demonstrate that detailed information on both
and the equation of state can in principle be extracted from the spectrum.Comment: 33 pages, LaTex with RevTex macros; 21 figures available in
compressed PostScript format via anonymous ftp to
ftp://zonker.drexel.edu/papers/ns_coll_1 ; in press, Phys. Rev. D (Nov 15,
1994 issue
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