28,063 research outputs found
Statistical Analysis of Spectral Line Candidates in Gamma-Ray Burst GRB870303
The Ginga data for the gamma-ray burst GRB870303 exhibit low-energy dips in
two temporally distinct spectra, denoted S1 and S2. S1, spanning 4 s, exhibits
a single line candidate at ~ 20 keV, while S2, spanning 9 s, exhibits
apparently harmonically spaced line candidates at ~ 20 and 40 keV. We evaluate
the statistical evidence for these lines, using phenomenological continuum and
line models which in their details are independent of the distance scale to
gamma-ray bursts. We employ the methodologies based on both frequentist and
Bayesian statistical inference that we develop in Freeman et al. (1999b). These
methodologies utilize the information present in the data to select the
simplest model that adequately describes the data from among a wide range of
continuum and continuum-plus-line(s) models. This ensures that the chosen model
does not include free parameters that the data deem unnecessary and that would
act to reduce the frequentist significance and Bayesian odds of the
continuum-plus-line(s) model. We calculate the significance of the
continuum-plus-line(s) models using the Chi-Square Maximum Likelihood Ratio
test. We describe a parametrization of the exponentiated Gaussian absorption
line shape that makes the probability surface in parameter space
better-behaved, allowing us to estimate analytically the Bayesian odds. The
significance of the continuum-plus-line models requested by the S1 and S2 data
are 3.6 x 10^-5 and 1.7 x 10^-4 respectively, with the odds favoring them being
114:1 and 7:1. We also apply our methodology to the combined (S1+S2) data. The
significance of the continuum-plus-lines model requested by the combined data
is 4.2 x 10^-8, with the odds favoring it being 40,300:1.Comment: LaTeX2e (aastex.cls included); 41 pages text, 10 figures (on 11
pages); accepted by ApJ (to be published 1 Nov 1999, v. 525
Stability of Neutral Fermi Balls with Multi-Flavor Fermions
A Fermi ball is a kind of non-topological soliton, which is thought to arise
from the spontaneous breaking of an approximate symmetry and to
contribute to cold dark matter. We consider a simple model in which fermion
fields with multi-flavors are coupled to a scalar field through Yukawa
coupling, and examine how the number of the fermion flavors affects the
stability of the Fermi ball against the fragmentation. (1)We find that the
Fermi ball is stable against the fragmentation in most cases even in the lowest
order thin-wall approximation. (2)We then find that in the other specific
cases, the stability is marginal in the lowest order thin-wall approximation,
and the next-to-leading order correction determines the stable region of the
coupling constants; We examine the simplest case where the total fermion number
and the Yukawa coupling constant of each flavor are common to
the flavor, and find that the Fermi ball is stable in the limited region of the
parameters and has the broader region for the larger number of the flavors.Comment: 10 pages, 3 eps figures, ReVTeX
V-V Bond-Length Fluctuations in Vox
We report a significantly stronger suppression of the phonon contribution to
the thermal conductivity in VOx than can be accounted for by disorder of the 16
% atomic vacancies present in VO. Since the transition from localized to
itinerant electronic behavior is first-order and has been shown to be
characterized by bond-length fluctuations in several transition-metal oxides
with the perovskite structure, we propose that cooperative V-V bond-length
fluctuations play a role in VO similar to the M-O bond-length fluctuations in
the perovskites. This model is able to account for the strong suppression of
the thermal conductivity, the existence of a pseudogap confirmed by
thermoelectric power, an anomalously large Debye-Waller factor, the temperature
dependence of the magnetic susceptibility, and the inability to order atomic
vacancies in VO.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Evaluating two soil carbon models within the global land surface model JSBACH using surface and spaceborne observations of atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub>
The trajectories of soil carbon (C) in the changing climate are of utmost importance, as soil carbon is a substantial carbon storage with a large potential to impact the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) burden. Atmospheric CO2 observations integrate all processes affecting C exchange between the surface and the atmosphere. Therefore they provide a benchmark for carbon cycle models. We evaluated two distinct soil carbon models (CBALANCE and YASSO) that were implemented to a global land surface model (JSBACH) against atmospheric CO2 observations. We transported the biospheric carbon fluxes obtained by JSBACH using the atmospheric transport model TM5 to obtain atmospheric CO2. We then compared these results with surface observations from Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) stations as well as with column XCO2 retrievals from the GOSAT satellite. The seasonal cycles of atmospheric CO2 estimated by the two different soil models differed. The estimates from the CBALANCE soil model were more in line with the surface observations at low latitudes (0 N–45 N) with only 1 % bias in the seasonal cycle amplitude (SCA), whereas YASSO was underestimating the SCA in this region by 32 %. YASSO gave more realistic seasonal cycle amplitudes of CO2 at northern boreal sites (north of 45 N) with underestimation of 15 % compared to 30 % overestimation by CBALANCE. Generally, the estimates from CBALANCE were more successful in capturing the seasonal patterns and seasonal cycle amplitudes of atmospheric CO2 even though it overestimated soil carbon stocks by 225 % (compared to underestimation of 36 % by YASSO) and its predictions of the global distribution of soil carbon stocks was unrealistic. The reasons for these differences in the results are related to the different environmental drivers and their functional dependencies of these two soil carbon models. In the tropical region the YASSO model showed earlier increase in season of the heterotophic respiration since it is driven by precipitation instead of soil moisture as CBALANCE. In the temperate and boreal region the role of temperature is more dominant. There the heterotophic respiration from the YASSO model had larger annual variability, driven by air temperature, compared to the CBALANCE which is driven by soil temperature. The results underline the importance of using sub-yearly data in the development of soil carbon models when they are used in shorter than annual time scales
Inhomogeneity in the Supernova Remnant Distribution as the Origin of the PAMELA Anomaly
Recent measurements of the positron/electron ratio in the cosmic ray (CR)
flux exhibits an apparent anomaly, whereby this ratio increases between 10 and
100 GeV. We show that inhomogeneity of CR sources on a scale of order a kpc,
can naturally explain this anomaly. If the nearest major CR source is about a
kpc away, then low energy electrons ( GeV) can easily reach us. At
higher energies ( GeV), the source electrons cool via synchrotron
and inverse-Compton before reaching Earth. Pairs formed in the local vicinity
through the proton/ISM interactions can reach Earth also at high energies, thus
increasing the positron/electron ratio. A natural origin of source
inhomogeneity is the strong concentration of supernovae in the galactic spiral
arms. Assuming supernova remnants (SNRs) as the sole primary source of CRs, and
taking into account their concentration near the galactic spiral arms, we
consistently recover the observed positron fraction between 1 and 100 GeV.
ATIC's electron excess at GeV is explained, in this picture, as the
contribution of a few known nearby SNRs. The apparent coincident similarity
between the cooling time of electrons at 10 GeV (where the positron/electron
ratio upturn), Myr, and the CRs protons cosmogenic age at the same
energy is predicted by this model
in generalized supergravity
We showed in previous work that for homogeneous Yang-Baxter (YB) deformations
of AdSS, the open string metric and coupling, and as a result the
closed string density , remain undeformed. In this work,
in addition to extending these results to the deformation associated with the
modified CYBE, or -deformation, we identify the Page forms as the open
string counterpart for RR fields and demonstrate case by case that the non-zero
Page forms remain invariant under YB deformations. We give a physical meaning
to the Killing vector of generalized supergravity and show for all YB
deformations: 1) appears as a current for center of mass motion on the
worldvolume of a D-branes probing the background, 2) is equal to the
divergence of the noncommutativity parameter, 3) exhibits "holographic"
behavior, where the radial component of vanishes at the AdS boundary, and
4) in pure spinor formalism is related to a certain state in the BRST
cohomology.Comment: 11 pages, 2 column; v2 references updated; v3 to appear in EPJ
Resonant Cyclotron Radiation Transfer Model Fits to Spectra from Gamma-Ray Burst GRB870303
We demonstrate that models of resonant cyclotron radiation transfer in a
strong field (i.e. cyclotron scattering) can account for spectral lines seen at
two epochs, denoted S1 and S2, in the Ginga data for GRB870303. Using a
generalized version of the Monte Carlo code of Wang et al. (1988,1989b), we
model line formation by injecting continuum photons into a static
plane-parallel slab of electrons threaded by a strong neutron star magnetic
field (~ 10^12 G) which may be oriented at an arbitrary angle relative to the
slab normal. We examine two source geometries, which we denote "1-0" and "1-1,"
with the numbers representing the relative electron column densities above and
below the continuum photon source plane. We compare azimuthally symmetric
models, i.e. models in which the magnetic field is parallel to the slab normal,
with models having more general magnetic field orientations. If the bursting
source has a simple dipole field, these two model classes represent line
formation at the magnetic pole, or elsewhere on the stellar surface. We find
that the data of S1 and S2, considered individually, are consistent with both
geometries, and with all magnetic field orientations, with the exception that
the S1 data clearly favor line formation away from a polar cap in the 1-1
geometry, with the best-fit model placing the line-forming region at the
magnetic equator. Within both geometries, fits to the combined (S1+S2) data
marginally favor models which feature equatorial line formation, and in which
the observer's orientation with respect to the slab changes between the two
epochs. We interpret this change as being due to neutron star rotation, and we
place limits on the rotation period.Comment: LaTeX2e (aastex.cls included); 45 pages text, 17 figures (on 21
pages); accepted by ApJ (to be published 1 Nov 1999, v. 525
Cosmic Ray in the Northern Hemisphere: Results from the Telescope Array Experiment
The Telescope Array (TA) is the largest ultrahigh energy (UHE) cosmic ray
observatory in the northern hemisphere TA is a hybrid experiment with a unique
combination of fluorescence detectors and a stand-alone surface array of
scintillation counters. We will present the spectrum measured by the surface
array alone, along with those measured by the fluorescence detectors in
monocular, hybrid, and stereo mode. The composition results from stereo TA data
will be discussed. Our report will also include results from the search for
correlations between the pointing directions of cosmic rays, seen by the TA
surface array, with active galactic nuclei.Comment: 8 pages 11 figure, Proceedings of the APS Division of Particle and
Fields (DPF) Meeting, Aug 2011, Brown University, Providence, RI, US
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