3,653 research outputs found
Parisi Phase in a Neuron
Pattern storage by a single neuron is revisited. Generalizing Parisi's
framework for spin glasses we obtain a variational free energy functional for
the neuron. The solution is demonstrated at high temperature and large relative
number of examples, where several phases are identified by thermodynamical
stability analysis, two of them exhibiting spontaneous full replica symmetry
breaking. We give analytically the curved segments of the order parameter
function and in representative cases compute the free energy, the storage
error, and the entropy.Comment: 4 pages in prl twocolumn format + 3 Postscript figures. Submitted to
Physical Review Letter
On the Exchange of Kinetic and Magnetic Energy Between Clouds and the Interstellar Medium
We investigate, through 2D MHD numerical simulations, the interaction of a
uniform magnetic field oblique to a moving interstellar cloud. In particular we
explore the transformation of cloud kinetic energy into magnetic energy as a
result of field line stretching. Some previous simulations have emphasized the
possible dynamical importance of a ``magnetic shield'' formed around clouds
when the magnetic field is perpendicular to the cloud motion (Jones et al.
1996, Miniati et al. 1998). It was not clear, however, how dependent those
findings were to the assumed field configuration and cloud properties. To
expand our understanding of this effect, we examine several new cases by varing
the magnetic field orientation angle with respect to the cloud motion (\theta),
the cloud-background density contrast, and the cloud Mach number.
We show that in 2D and with \theta large enough, the magnetic field tension
can become dominant in the dynamics of the motion of high density contrast, low
Mach number clouds. In such cases a significant fraction of cloud kinetic
energy can be transformed into magnetic energy with the magnetic pressure at
the cloud nose exceeding the ram pressure of the impinging flow. We derive a
characteristic timescale for this process of energy ``conversion''. We find
also that unless the cloud motion is highly aligned to the magnetic field,
reconnection through tearing mode instabilities in the cloud wake limit the
formation of a strong flux rope feature following the cloud. Finally we attempt
to interpret some observational properties of the magnetic field in view of our
results.Comment: 24 pages in aaspp4 Latex and 7 figures. Accepted for publication in
The Astrophysical Journa
Dimensional Evolution of Spin Correlations in the Magnetic Pyrochlore Yb2Ti2O7
The pyrochlore material Yb2Ti2O7 displays unexpected quasi-two-dimensional
(2D) magnetic correlations within a cubic lattice environment at low
temperatures, before entering an exotic disordered ground state below T=265mK.
We report neutron scattering measurements of the thermal evolution of the 2D
spin correlations in space and time. Short range three dimensional (3D) spin
correlations develop below 400 mK, accompanied by a suppression in the
quasi-elastic (QE) scattering below ~ 0.2 meV. These show a slowly fluctuating
ground state with spins correlated over short distances within a
kagome-triangular-kagome (KTK) stack along [111], which evolves to isolated
kagome spin-stars at higher temperatures. Furthermore, low-temperature specific
heat results indicate a sample dependence to the putative transition
temperature that is bounded by 265mK, which we discuss in the context of recent
mean field theoretical analysis.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
To maximize or not to maximize the free energy of glassy systems, !=?
The static free energy of glassy systems can be expressed in terms of the
Parisi order parameter function. When this function has a discontinuity, the
location of the step is determined by maximizing the free energy. In dynamics a
transition is found at larger temperature, while the location of the step
satisfies a marginality criterion. It is shown here that in a replica
calculation this criterion minimizes the free energy. This leads to first order
phase transitions at the dynamic transition point. Though the order parameter
function is the same as in the long-time limit of a dynamical analysis,
thermodynamics is different.Comment: 4 pages PostScript, one figur
Critical behavior of interfaces in disordered Potts ferromagnets : statistics of free-energy, energy and interfacial adsorption
A convenient way to study phase transitions of finite spins systems of linear
size is to fix boundary conditions that impose the presence of a
system-size interface. In this paper, we study the statistical properties of
such an interface in a disordered Potts ferromagnet in dimension within
Migdal-Kadanoff real space renormalization. We first focus on the interface
free-energy and energy to measure the singularities of the average and random
contributions, as well as the corresponding histograms, both in the
low-temperature phase and at criticality. We then consider the critical
behavior of the interfacial adsorption of non-boundary states. Our main
conclusion is that all singularities involve the correlation length
appearing in the average free-energy of the interface of dimension , except for
the free-energy width that involves
the droplet exponent and another correlation length
which diverges more rapidly than . We compare with the spin-glass
transition in , where is the 'true' correlation length, and
where the interface energy presents unconventional scaling with a chaos
critical exponent [Nifle and Hilhorst, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68,
2992 (1992)]. The common feature is that in both cases, the characteristic
length scale associated with the chaotic nature of the
low-temperature phase, diverges more slowly than the correlation length.Comment: v2 : thoroughly rewritten paper with new title, new data and new
interpretations (18 pages, 22 figures
Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy
To test the dust torus model for active galactic nuclei directly, we study
the extent and morphology of the nuclear dust distribution in the Circinus
galaxy using high resolution interferometric observations in the mid-infrared
with the MIDI instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. We find
that the dust distribution in the nucleus of Circinus can be explained by two
components, a dense and warm disk-like component of 0.4 pc size and a slightly
cooler, geometrically thick torus component with a size of 2.0 pc. The disk
component is oriented perpendicular to the ionisation cone and outflow and
seems to show the silicate feature at 10 micron in emission. It coincides with
a nuclear maser disk in orientation and size. From the energy needed to heat
the dust, we infer a luminosity of the accretion disk corresponding to 20% of
the Eddington luminosity of the nuclear black hole. We find that the
interferometric data are inconsistent with a simple, smooth and axisymmetric
dust emission. The irregular behaviour of the visibilities and the shallow
decrease of the dust temperature with radius provide strong evidence for a
clumpy or filamentary dust structure. We see no evidence for dust reprocessing,
as the silicate absorption profile is consistent with that of standard galactic
dust. We argue that the collimation of the ionising radiation must originate in
the geometrically thick torus component. Our findings confirm the presence of a
geometrically thick, torus-like dust distribution in the nucleus of Circinus,
as required in unified schemes of Seyfert galaxies. Several aspects of our data
require that this torus is irregular, or "clumpy".Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease responsive to interleukin-1 beta inhibition
BACKGROUND:Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease is characterized by fever, urticarial rash, aseptic meningitis, deforming arthropathy, hearing loss, and mental retardation. Many patients have mutations in the cold-induced autoinflammatory syndrome 1 (CIAS1) gene, encoding cryopyrin, a protein that regulates inflammation.METHODS:We selected 18 patients with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (12 with identifiable CIAS1 mutations) to receive anakinra, an interleukin-1-receptor antagonist (1 to 2 mg per kilogram of body weight per day subcutaneously). In 11 patients, anakinra was withdrawn at three months until a flare occurred. The primary end points included changes in scores in a daily diary of symptoms, serum levels of amyloid A and C-reactive protein, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate from baseline to month 3 and from month 3 until a disease flare.RESULTS:All 18 patients had a rapid response to anakinra, with disappearance of rash. Diary scores improved (P<0.001) and serum amyloid A (from a median of 174 mg to 8 mg per liter), C-reactive protein (from a median of 5.29 mg to 0.34 mg per deciliter), and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased at month 3 (all P<0.001), and remained low at month 6. Magnetic resonance imaging showed improvement in cochlear and leptomeningeal lesions as compared with baseline. Withdrawal of anakinra uniformly resulted in relapse within days; retreatment led to rapid improvement. There were no drug-related serious adverse events.CONCLUSIONS:Daily injections of anakinra markedly improved clinical and laboratory manifestations in patients with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease, with or without CIAS1 mutations
An Updated Algorithm for the Generation of Neutral Landscapes by Spectral Synthesis
Background: Patterns that arise from an ecological process can be driven as much from the landscape over which the process is run as it is by some intrinsic properties of the process itself. The disentanglement of these effects is aided if it possible to run models of the process over artificial landscapes with controllable spatial properties. A number of different methods for the generation of so-called âneutral landscapesâ have been developed to provide just such a tool. Of these methods, a particular class that simulate fractional Brownian motion have shown particular promise. The existing methods of simulating fractional Brownian motion suffer from a number of problems however: they are often not easily generalisable to an arbitrary number of dimensions and produce outputs that can exhibit some undesirable artefacts. Methodology: We describe here an updated algorithm for the generation of neutral landscapes by fractional Brownian motion that do not display such undesirable properties. Using Monte Carlo simulation we assess the anisotropic properties of landscapes generated using the new algorithm described in this paper and compare it against a popular benchmark algorithm. Conclusion/Significance: The results show that the existing algorithm creates landscapes with values strongly correlated in the diagonal direction and that the new algorithm presented here corrects this artefact. A number of extensions of the algorithm described here are also highlighted: we describe how the algorithm can be employed to generate landscapes that display different properties in different dimensions and how they can be combined with an environmental gradient to produce landscapes that combine environmental variation at the local and macro scales
Supersonic water masers in 30 Doradus
We report on extremely high velocity molecular gas, up to -80 km/s relative
to the ambient medium, in the giant star-formation complex 30 Doradus in the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), as observed in new 22 GHz H2O maser emission
spectra obtained with the Mopra radio telescope. The masers may trace the
velocities of protostars, and the observed morphology and kinematics indicate
that current star formation occurs near the interfaces of colliding
stellar-wind blown bubbles. The large space velocities of the protostars and
associated gas could result in efficient mixing of the LMC. A similar mechanism
in the Milky Way could seed the galactic halo with relatively young stars and
gas.Comment: 11 pages plus 1 PS and 1 EPS figure, uses AASTeX preprint style;
accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter
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