2,030 research outputs found
Impactor flux and cratering on Ceres and Vesta: Implications for the early Solar System
We study the impactor flux and cratering on Ceres and Vesta caused by the
collisional and dynamical evolution of the asteroid Main Belt. We develop a
statistical code based on a well-tested model for the simultaneous evolution of
the Main Belt and NEA size distributions. This code includes catastrophic
collisions and noncollisional removal processes such as the Yarkovsky effect
and the orbital resonances. The model assumes that the dynamical depletion of
the early Main Belt was very strong, and owing to that, most Main Belt
comminution occurred when its dynamical structure was similar to the present
one. Our results indicate that the number of D > 1 km Main Belt asteroids
striking Ceres and Vesta over the Solar System history are approximately 4 600
and 1 100 respectively. The largest Main Belt asteroids expected to have
impacted Ceres and Vesta had diameters of 71.7 km and 21.1 km. The number of D
> 0.1 km craters on Ceres is \sim 3.4 \times 10^8 and 6.2 \times 10^7 on Vesta.
The number of craters with D > 100 km are 47 on Ceres and 8 on Vesta. Our study
indicates that the D = 460 km crater observed on Vesta had to be formed by the
impact of a D \sim 66.2 km projectile, which has a probability of occurr \sim
30% over the Solar System history. If significant discrepancies between our
results about the cratering on Ceres and Vesta and data obtained from the Dawn
Mission were found, they should be linked to a higher degree of collisional
evolution during the early Main Belt and/or the existence of the late heavy
bombardment. An increase in the collisional activity in the early phase may be
provided for an initial configuration of the giant planets consistent with, for
example, the Nice model. From this, the Dawn Mission would be able to give us
clues about the initial configuration of the early Solar System and its
subsequent dynamical evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Lens or Binary? Chandra Observations of the Wide Separation Broad Absorption Line Quasar Pair UM425
We have obtained a 110 ksec Chandra ACIS-S exposure of UM425, a pair of QSOs
at z=1.47 separated by 6.5 arcsec, which show remarkably similar emission and
broad absorption line (BAL) profiles in the optical/UV. Our 5000 count X-ray
spectrum of UM425A (the brighter component) is well-fit with a power law
(photon spectral index Gamma=2.0) partially covered by a hydrogen column of
3.8x10^22 cm^-2. The underlying power-law slope for this object and for other
recent samples of BALQSOs is typical of radio-quiet quasars, lending credence
to the hypothesis that BALs exist in every quasar. Assuming the same Gamma for
the much fainter image of UM425B, we detect an obscuring column 5 times larger.
We search for evidence of an appropriately large lensing mass in our Chandra
image and find weak diffuse emission near the quasar pair, with an X-ray flux
typical of a group of galaxies at redshift z ~ 0.6. From our analysis of
archival HST WFPC2 and NICMOS images, we find no evidence for a luminous
lensing galaxy, but note a 3-sigma excess of galaxies in the UM425 field with
plausible magnitudes for a z=0.6 galaxy group. However, the associated X-ray
emission does not imply sufficient mass to produce the observed image
splitting. The lens scenario thus requires a dark (high M/L ratio) lens, or a
fortuitous configuration of masses along the line of sight. UM425 may instead
be a close binary pair of BALQSOs, which would boost arguments that
interactions and mergers increase nuclear activity and outflows.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Reply to âComments on âMonitoring and Understanding Trends in Extreme Storms: State of Knowledgeââ
We welcome the comments of Landsea (2015, hereafter L15) and we1 applaud his efforts toward reanalyzing past tropical cyclone data in the Atlantic (Landsea et al. 2008, 2012, 2014; Hagen et al. 2012). However, L15 does not substantially change the conclusions stated in Kunkel et al. (2013, hereafter K13). L15 voices two main concerns:
1. The U.S. landfalling hurricane time series considered by K13 is dated.
2. The U.S. landfall record exhibits multidecadal variability that places the changes since 1970 into a larger perspective than K13 provided. Related to this concern, L15 introduces assertions about the relationship between U.S. landfall variability and basinwide North Atlantic variability
Measuring information dependency for construction engineering projects
Information dependency may be the most important key for managing information exchange to reduce project risks. Studies to date have not successfully discovered objective and quantitative surrogate to measure information dependency. This paper suggests an approach to measure information dependency with the productivity relationships among various disciplines for heavy industrial engineering projects. As part of a Construction Industry Institute (CII) study, the authors identified the information exchange pattern of engineering disciplines. Based on the patterns, the authors discovered the information dependency that various engineering disciplines had with their productivity relationships and conducted a survey afterwards for validation. Both results show significant and consistent evidence suggesting that: 1) information of equipment and piping disciplines is statistically dependent rather than the other paired disciplines; and 2) productivity relationship can be a legitimate surrogate to measure information dependency between equipment and piping disciplines. As such, this study enlightens a research trajectory for improvement of engineering productivity
Many-body spin related phenomena in ultra-low-disorder quantum wires
Zero length quantum wires (or point contacts) exhibit unexplained conductance
structure close to 0.7 X 2e^2/h in the absence of an applied magnetic field. We
have studied the density- and temperature-dependent conductance of
ultra-low-disorder GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wires with nominal lengths l=0 and 2 mu
m, fabricated from structures free of the disorder associated with modulation
doping. In a direct comparison we observe structure near 0.7 X 2e^2/h for l=0
whereas the l=2 mu m wires show structure evolving with increasing electron
density to 0.5 X 2e^2/h in zero magnetic field, the value expected for an ideal
spin-split sub-band. Our results suggest the dominant mechanism through which
electrons interact can be strongly affected by the length of the 1D region.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 figure
Quantum error mitigation
For quantum computers to successfully solve real-world problems, it is necessary to tackle the challenge of noise: the errors that occur in elementary physical components due to unwanted or imperfect interactions. The theory of quantum fault tolerance can provide an answer in the long term, but in the coming era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum machines one must seek to mitigate errors rather than completely eliminate them. This review surveys the diverse methods that have been proposed for quantum error mitigation, assesses their in-principle efficacy, and describes the hardware demonstrations achieved to date. Commonalities and limitations among the methods are identified, while mention is made of how mitigation methods can be chosen according to the primary type of noise present, including algorithmic errors. Open problems in the field are identified, and the prospects for realizing mitigation-based devices that can deliver a quantum advantage with an impact on science and business are discussed
Garden varieties: how attractive are recommended garden plants to butterflies?
One way the public can engage in insect conservation is through wildlife gardening, including the growing of insect-friendly flowers as sources of nectar. However, plant varieties differ in the types of insects they attract. To determine which garden plants attracted which butterflies, we counted butterflies nectaring on 11 varieties of summer-flowering garden plants in a rural garden in East Sussex, UK. These plants were all from a list of 100 varieties considered attractive to British butterflies, and included the five varieties specifically listed by the UK charity Butterfly Conservation as best for summer nectar. A total of 2659 flower visits from 14 butterfly and one moth species were observed. We performed a principal components analysis which showed contrasting patterns between the species attracted to Origanum vulgare and Buddleia davidii. The âbutterfly bushâ Buddleia attracted many nymphalines, such as the peacock, Inachis io, but very few satyrines such as the gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus, which mostly visited Origanum. Eupatorium cannibinum had the highest Simpsonâs Diversity score of 0.75, while Buddleia and Origanum were lower, scoring 0.66 and 0.50 respectively. No one plant was good at attracting all observed butterfly species, as each attracted only a subset of the butterfly community. We conclude that to create a butterfly-friendly garden, a variety of plant species are required as nectar sources for butterflies. Furthermore, garden plant recommendations can probably benefit from being more precise as to the species of butterfly they attract
OpenFermion: The Electronic Structure Package for Quantum Computers
Quantum simulation of chemistry and materials is predicted to be an important
application for both near-term and fault-tolerant quantum devices. However, at
present, developing and studying algorithms for these problems can be difficult
due to the prohibitive amount of domain knowledge required in both the area of
chemistry and quantum algorithms. To help bridge this gap and open the field to
more researchers, we have developed the OpenFermion software package
(www.openfermion.org). OpenFermion is an open-source software library written
largely in Python under an Apache 2.0 license, aimed at enabling the simulation
of fermionic models and quantum chemistry problems on quantum hardware.
Beginning with an interface to common electronic structure packages, it
simplifies the translation between a molecular specification and a quantum
circuit for solving or studying the electronic structure problem on a quantum
computer, minimizing the amount of domain expertise required to enter the
field. The package is designed to be extensible and robust, maintaining high
software standards in documentation and testing. This release paper outlines
the key motivations behind design choices in OpenFermion and discusses some
basic OpenFermion functionality which we believe will aid the community in the
development of better quantum algorithms and tools for this exciting area of
research.Comment: 22 page
The Effect of Progressive Non-Aerobic High-Intensity Maximal Effort Exercise (MEE) on the Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis
Background: Studies indicate that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients are less satisfied with the quality of their lives than healthy individuals in similar circumstances. Common symptoms experienced include fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, pain, spasticity, depression, bladder/bowel dysfunction and sexual dysfunction. Several pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods have been employed for such symptoms to try to increase quality of life and reduce the mortality rate. Non-pharmacological methods recommended for MS patients include lifestyle modifications, exercise programs and physical therapy. MS patients easily fatigue during aerobic exercise but a non-aerobic progressive maximal effort exercise (MEE) protocol consisting of a few short, duration isometric and eccentric leg press and whole body lunges was previously seen to increase strength without increasing fatigue. The IsoPUMPÂź (Neuromuscular Engineering, Nashville TN) exercise system permitted safe conduct and measurement of muscle strength and duration during each exercise repetition
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