The Formation of Star Clusters II: 3D Simulations of Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in Molecular Clouds

(Abridged) We present a series of decaying turbulence simulations that represent a cluster-forming clump within a molecular cloud, investigating the role of magnetic fields on the formation of potential star-forming cores. We present an exhaustive analysis of numerical data from these simulations that includes a compilation of all of the distributions of physical properties that characterize bound cores - including their masses, radii, mean densities, angular momenta, spins, magnetizations, and mass-to-flux ratios. We also present line maps of our models that can be compared with observations. Our simulations range between 5-30 Jeans masses of gas, and are representative of molecular cloud clumps with masses between 100-1000 solar masses. The cores have mass-to-flux ratios that are generally less than that of the original cloud, and so a cloud that is initially highly supercritical can produce cores that are slightly supercritical, similar to that seen by Zeeman measurements of molecular cloud cores. Clouds that are initially only slightly supercritical will instead collapse along the field lines into sheets, and the cores that form as these sheets fragment have a different mass spectrum than what is observed. The spin rates of these cores suggests that subsequent fragmentation into multiple systems is likely. The sizes of the bound cores that are produced are typically 0.02-0.2 pc and have densities in the range 10^4-10^5 cm^{-3} in agreement with observational surveys. Finally, our numerical data allow us to test theoretical models of the mass spectrum of cores, such as the turbulent fragmentation picture of Padoan-Nordlund. We find that while this model gets the shape of the core mass spectrum reasonably well, it fails to predict the peak mass in the core mass spectrum.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 28 pages, 16 figures. Substantial revision since last versio

Tracking ocean wave spectrum from SAR images

An end to end algorithm for recovery of ocean wave spectral peaks from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is described. Current approaches allow precisions of 1 percent in wave number, and 0.6 deg in direction

Gravitational waves in preheating

We study the evolution of gravitational waves through the preheating era that follows inflation. The oscillating inflaton drives parametric resonant growth of scalar field fluctuations, and although super-Hubble tensor modes are not strongly amplified, they do carry an imprint of preheating. This is clearly seen in the Weyl tensor, which provides a covariant description of gravitational waves.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Revte

Topological stability of stored optical vortices

We report an experiment in which an optical vortex is stored in a vapor of Rb atoms. Due to its 2\pi phase twist, this mode, also known as the Laguerre-Gauss mode, is topologically stable and cannot unwind even under conditions of strong diffusion. To supplement our finding, we stored a flat phase Gaussian beam with a dark center. Contrary to the optical vortex, which stays stable for over 100 microseconds, the dark center in the retrieved flat-phased image was filled with light at storage times as small as 10 microseconds. This experiment proves that higher electromagnetic modes can be converted into atomic coherences, and that modes with phase singularities are robust to decoherence effects such as diffusion. This opens the possibility to more elaborate schemes for two dimensional information storage in atomic vapors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures v2: minor grammatical corrections v3: problem with references fixed v4: minor clarifications added to the tex

Polarization states of polydomain epitaxial Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 thin films and their dielectric properties

Ferroelectric and dielectric properties of polydomain (twinned) single-crystal Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 thin films are described with the aid of a nonlinear thermodynamic theory, which has been developed recently for epitaxial ferroelectric films with dense laminar domain structures. For Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 (PZT) films with compositions x = 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, and 0.4, the "misfit strain-temperature" phase diagrams are calculated and compared with each other. It is found that the equilibrium diagrams of PZT films with x > 0.7 are similar to the diagram of PbTiO3 films. They consist of only four different stability ranges, which correspond to the paraelectric phase, single-domain tetragonal ferroelectric phase, and two pseudo-tetragonal domain patterns. In contrast, at x = 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6, the equilibrium diagram displays a rich variety of stable polarization states, involving at least one monoclinic polydomain state. Using the developed phase diagrams, the mean out-of-plane polarization of a poled PZT film is calculated as a function of the misfit strain and composition. Theoretical results are compared with the measured remanent polarizations of PZT films grown on SrTiO3. Dependence of the out-of-plane dielectric response of PZT films on the misfit strain in the heterostructure is also reported.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

The high-lying 6^6Li levels at excitation energy around 21 MeV

The $^3$H+$^3$He cluster structure in $^6$Li was investigated by the $^3$H($\alpha$,$^3$H $^3$He)n kinematically complete experiment at the incident energy $E_\alpha$ = 67.2 MeV. We have observed two resonances at $E_x^*$ = 21.30 and 21.90 MeV which are consistent with the $^3$He($^3$H, $\gamma$)$^6$Li analysis in the Ajzenberg-Selove compilation. Our data are compared with the previous experimental data and the RGM and CSRGM calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Troglitazone stimulates beta-arrestin-dependent cardiomyocyte contractility via the angiotensin II type 1A receptor.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) agonists are commonly used to treat cardiovascular diseases, and are reported to have several effects on cardiovascular function that may be due to PPAR gamma-independent signaling events. Select angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) interact with and modulate PPAR gamma activity, thus we hypothesized that a PPAR gamma agonist may exert physiologic effects via the angiotensin II type 1(A) receptor (AT1(A)R). In AT1(A)R-overexpressing HEK 293 cells, both angiotensin II (Ang II) and the PPAR gamma agonist troglitazone (Trog) enhanced AT1(A)R internalization and recruitment of endogenous beta-arrestin 1/2 (beta arr1/2) to the AT1(A)R. A fluorescence assay to measure diacylglycerol (DAG) accumulation showed that although Ang II induced AT1(A)R-G(q) protein-mediated DAG accumulation, Trog had no impact on DAG generation. Trog-mediated recruitment of beta arr1/2 was selective to AT1(A)R as the response was prevented by an ARB- and Trog-mediated beta arr1/2 recruitment to beta1-adrenergic receptor (beta 1AR) was not observed. In isolated mouse cardiomyocytes, Trog increased both % and rate of cell shortening to a similar extent as Ang II, effects which were blocked with an ARB. Additionally, these effects were found to be beta arr2-dependent, as cardiomyocytes isolated from beta arr2-KO mice showed blunted contractile responses to Trog. These findings show for the first time that the PPAR gamma agonist Trog acts at the AT1(A)R to simultaneously block G(q) protein activation and induce the recruitment of beta arr1/2, which leads to an increase in cardiomyocyte contractility

Critical properties and Bose Einstein Condensation in dimer spin systems

We analyze the spin relaxation time $1/T_1$ for a system made of weakly coupled one dimensional ladders.This system allows to probe the dimensional crossover between a Luttinger liquid and a Bose-Einstein condensateof magnons. We obtain the temperature dependence of $1/T_1$ in the various dimensional regimes, and discuss the experimental consequences.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4, 3 EPS figure

(Giant) Vortex - (anti) vortex interaction in bulk superconductors: The Ginzburg-Landau theory

The vortex-vortex interaction potential in bulk superconductors is calculated within the Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory and is obtained from a numerical solution of a set of two coupled non-linear GL differential equations for the vector potential and the superconducting order parameter, where the merger of vortices into a giant vortex is allowed. Further, the interaction potentials between a vortex and a giant vortex and between a vortex and an antivortex are obtained for both type-I and type-II superconductors. Our numerical results agree asymptotically with the analytical expressions for large inter-vortex separations which are available in the literature. We propose new empirical expressions valid over the full interaction range, which are fitted to our numerical data for different values of the GL parameter