High-resolution simulations of planetesimal formation in turbulent protoplanetary discs

We present high-resolution computer simulations of dust dynamics and planetesimal formation in turbulence generated by the magnetorotational instability. We show that the turbulent viscosity associated with magnetorotational turbulence in a non-stratified shearing box increases when going from 256^3 to 512^3 grid points in the presence of a weak imposed magnetic field, yielding a turbulent viscosity of $\alpha\approx0.003$ at high resolution. Particles representing approximately meter-sized boulders concentrate in large-scale high-pressure regions in the simulation box. The appearance of zonal flows and particle concentration in pressure bumps is relatively similar at moderate (256^3) and high (512^3) resolution. In the moderate-resolution simulation we activate particle self-gravity at a time when there is little particle concentration, in contrast with previous simulations where particle self-gravity was activated during a concentration event. We observe that bound clumps form over the next ten orbits, with initial birth masses of a few times the dwarf planet Ceres. At high resolution we activate self-gravity during a particle concentration event, leading to a burst of planetesimal formation, with clump masses ranging from a significant fraction of to several times the mass of Ceres. We present a new domain decomposition algorithm for particle-mesh schemes. Particles are spread evenly among the processors and the local gas velocity field and assigned drag forces are exchanged between a domain-decomposed mesh and discrete blocks of particles. We obtain good load balancing on up to 4096 cores even in simulations where particles sediment to the mid-plane and concentrate in pressure bumps.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, with some changes in response to referee repor

Traffic matrix estimation on a large IP backbone: a comparison on real data

This paper considers the problem of estimating the point-to-point traffic matrix in an operational IP backbone. Contrary to previous studies, that have used a partial traffic matrix or demands estimated from aggregated Netflow traces, we use a unique data set of complete traffic matrices from a global IP network measured over five-minute intervals. This allows us to do an accurate data analysis on the time-scale of typical link-load measurements and enables us to make a balanced evaluation of different traffic matrix estimation techniques. We describe the data collection infrastructure, present spatial and temporal demand distributions, investigate the stability of fan-out factors, and analyze the mean-variance relationships between demands. We perform a critical evaluation of existing and novel methods for traffic matrix estimation, including recursive fanout estimation, worst-case bounds, regularized estimation techniques, and methods that rely on mean-variance relationships. We discuss the weaknesses and strengths of the various methods, and highlight differences in the results for the European and American subnetworks

Prospects of long-time-series observations from Dome C for transit search

The detection of transiting extrasolar planets requires high-photometric quality and long-duration photometric stellar time-series. In this paper, we investigate the advantages provided by the Antarctic observing platform Dome C for planet transit detections during its long winter period, which allows for relatively long, uninterrupted time-series. Our calculations include limiting effects due to the Sun and Moon, cloud coverage and the effect of reduced photometric quality for high extinction of target fields. We compare the potential for long time-series from Dome C with a single site in Chile, a three-site low-latitude network as well as combinations of Dome C with Chile and the network, respectively. Dome C is one of the prime astronomical sites on Earth for obtaining uninterrupted long-duration observations in terms of prospects for a high observational duty cycle. The duty cycle of a project can, however, be significantly improved by integrating Dome C into a network of sites.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted by PAS

An algorithm for lifting points in a tropical variety

The aim of this paper is to give a constructive proof of one of the basic theorems of tropical geometry: given a point on a tropical variety (defined using initial ideals), there exists a Puiseux-valued ``lift'' of this point in the algebraic variety. This theorem is so fundamental because it justifies why a tropical variety (defined combinatorially using initial ideals) carries information about algebraic varieties: it is the image of an algebraic variety over the Puiseux series under the valuation map. We have implemented the ``lifting algorithm'' using Singular and Gfan if the base field are the rational numbers. As a byproduct we get an algorithm to compute the Puiseux expansion of a space curve singularity in (K^{n+1},0).Comment: 33 page

Decentralisation of bargaining and manufacturing employment: Sweden 1970-96

Swedish unemployment was very low up to the early 1990s when it rose rapidly. At the same time manufacturing employment fell by more than 20 %. The decentralisation of wage bargaining that started in 1983 may have contributed to this by making employment more shock sensitive or by increasing wage mark-ups. In Swedish plant-level data for manufacturing 197096 relatively less employment is in low-productivity plants after decentralisation than before, but the correlation between industry wage costs and productivity becomes stronger. Our conclusion is that decentralisation of bargaining in Sweden has not allowed more low-productivity plants in manufacturing to survive. On the contrary, the evidence indicates that a higher wage mark-up may have resulted from the decentralisation. This would weed out low-productivity plants and decrease manufacturing employment

Computing Groebner Fans

This paper presents algorithms for computing the Groebner fan of an arbitrary polynomial ideal. The computation involves enumeration of all reduced Groebner bases of the ideal. Our algorithms are based on a uniform definition of the Groebner fan that applies to both homogeneous and non-homogeneous ideals and a proof that this object is a polyhedral complex. We show that the cells of a Groebner fan can easily be oriented acyclically and with a unique sink, allowing their enumeration by the memory-less reverse search procedure. The significance of this follows from the fact that Groebner fans are not always normal fans of polyhedra in which case reverse search applies automatically. Computational results using our implementation of these algorithms in the software package Gfan are included.Comment: 26 page