3,020 research outputs found
The first magnetic maps of a pre-main sequence binary star system - HD 155555
We present the first maps of the surface magnetic fields of a pre-main
sequence binary system. Spectropolarimetric observations of the young, 18 Myr,
HD 155555 (V824 Ara, G5IV + K0IV) system were obtained at the Anglo-Australian
Telescope in 2004 and 2007. Both datasets are analysed using a new binary
Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI) code. This allows us to simultaneously model the
contribution of each component to the observed circularly polarised spectra.
Stellar brightness maps are also produced for HD 155555 and compared to
previous Doppler images. Our radial magnetic maps reveal a complex surface
magnetic topology with mixed polarities at all latitudes. We find rings of
azimuthal field on both stars, most of which are found to be non-axisymmetric
with the stellar rotational axis. We also examine the field strength and the
relative fraction of magnetic energy stored in the radial and azimuthal field
components at both epochs. A marked weakening of the field strength of the
secondary star is observed between the 2004 and 2007 epochs. This is
accompanied by an apparent shift in the location of magnetic energy from the
azimuthal to radial field. We suggest that this could be indicative of a
magnetic activity cycle. We use the radial magnetic maps to extrapolate the
coronal field (by assuming a potential field) for each star individually - at
present ignoring any possible interaction. The secondary star is found to
exhibit an extreme tilt (~75 deg) of its large scale magnetic field to that of
its rotation axis for both epochs. The field complexity that is apparent in the
surface maps persists out to a significant fraction of the binary separation.
Any interaction between the fields of the two stars is therefore likely to be
complex also. Modelling this would require a full binary field extrapolation.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Lagrangian particle paths and ortho-normal quaternion frames
Experimentalists now measure intense rotations of Lagrangian particles in
turbulent flows by tracking their trajectories and Lagrangian-average velocity
gradients at high Reynolds numbers. This paper formulates the dynamics of an
orthonormal frame attached to each Lagrangian fluid particle undergoing
three-axis rotations, by using quaternions in combination with Ertel's theorem
for frozen-in vorticity. The method is applicable to a wide range of Lagrangian
flows including the three-dimensional Euler equations and its variants such as
ideal MHD. The applicability of the quaterionic frame description to Lagrangian
averaged velocity gradient dynamics is also demonstrated.Comment: 9 pages, one figure, revise
Symmetry reduction of Brownian motion and Quantum Calogero-Moser systems
Let be a Riemannian -manifold. This paper is concerned with the
symmetry reduction of Brownian motion in and ramifications thereof in a
Hamiltonian context. Specializing to the case of polar actions we discuss
various versions of the stochastic Hamilton-Jacobi equation associated to the
symmetry reduction of Brownian motion and observe some similarities to the
Schr\"odinger equation of the quantum free particle reduction as described by
Feher and Pusztai. As an application we use this reduction scheme to derive
examples of quantum Calogero-Moser systems from a stochastic setting.Comment: V2 contains some improvements thanks to referees' suggestions; to
appear in Stochastics and Dynamic
Coupling Non-Gravitational Fields with Simplicial Spacetimes
The inclusion of source terms in discrete gravity is a long-standing problem.
Providing a consistent coupling of source to the lattice in Regge Calculus (RC)
yields a robust unstructured spacetime mesh applicable to both numerical
relativity and quantum gravity. RC provides a particularly insightful approach
to this problem with its purely geometric representation of spacetime. The
simplicial building blocks of RC enable us to represent all matter and fields
in a coordinate-free manner. We provide an interpretation of RC as a discrete
exterior calculus framework into which non-gravitational fields naturally
couple with the simplicial lattice. Using this approach we obtain a consistent
mapping of the continuum action for non-gravitational fields to the Regge
lattice. In this paper we apply this framework to scalar, vector and tensor
fields. In particular we reconstruct the lattice action for (1) the scalar
field, (2) Maxwell field tensor and (3) Dirac particles. The straightforward
application of our discretization techniques to these three fields demonstrates
a universal implementation of coupling source to the lattice in Regge calculus.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, Latex, fixed typos and minor corrections
Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability in Europe - How Bright is the Future?
Conservation laws of semidiscrete canonical Hamiltonian equations
There are many evolution partial differential equations which can be cast
into Hamiltonian form. Conservation laws of these equations are related to
one-parameter Hamiltonian symmetries admitted by the PDEs. The same result
holds for semidiscrete Hamiltonian equations. In this paper we consider
semidiscrete canonical Hamiltonian equations. Using symmetries, we find
conservation laws for the semidiscretized nonlinear wave equation and
Schrodinger equation.Comment: 19 pages, 2 table
Winter activity of a population of greater horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum)
Activity patterns of a greater horseshoe bats Rhinolophus ferrumequinum were investigated at caves in Cheddar (south-west England) during the hibernation season. An ultrasound detector and datalogger were used to monitor and record the number of echolocation calls in a single cave. Activity of R. ferrumequinum remained largely nocturnal throughout winter, and the mean time of activity over 24 hours was 88 to 369 minutes (1.47 to 6.15 hours) after sunset. There was an increase in diurnal activity from late May to early June, probably because bats remained active after foraging at dawn towards the end of the hibernation season. Visits to the cave did not increase bat activity. Cave air temperature reflected external climatic temperature, although there was variation in cave temperature and its range within and across caves. Individual R. ferrumequinum are usually dispersed in caves in regions where temperature fluctuations correlate with climatic variations in temperature. There was a positive correlation between the number of daily bat passes monitored by the bat detector and datalogger (= daily activity) and cave temperature. Nocturnal activity may sometimes be associated with winter feeding. Neither date nor barometric pressure had a significant effect on daily activity. Activity patterns largely reflected the findings from individual R. ferrumequinum studied by telemetry (Park, 1998), in that bat activity increased with cave and climatic temperatures, and the temporal pattern of activity remained consistently nocturnal throughout winter, starting at dusk
Dynamical elastic bodies in Newtonian gravity
Well-posedness for the initial value problem for a self-gravitating elastic
body with free boundary in Newtonian gravity is proved. In the material frame,
the Euler-Lagrange equation becomes, assuming suitable constitutive properties
for the elastic material, a fully non-linear elliptic-hyperbolic system with
boundary conditions of Neumann type. For systems of this type, the initial data
must satisfy compatibility conditions in order to achieve regular solutions.
Given a relaxed reference configuration and a sufficiently small Newton's
constant, a neigborhood of initial data satisfying the compatibility conditions
is constructed
Spacetime Covariant Form of Ashtekar's Constraints
The Lagrangian formulation of classical field theories and in particular
general relativity leads to a coordinate-free, fully covariant analysis of
these constrained systems. This paper applies multisymplectic techniques to
obtain the analysis of Palatini and self-dual gravity theories as constrained
systems, which have been studied so far in the Hamiltonian formalism. The
constraint equations are derived while paying attention to boundary terms, and
the Hamiltonian constraint turns out to be linear in the multimomenta. The
equivalence with Ashtekar's formalism is also established. The whole constraint
analysis, however, remains covariant in that the multimomentum map is evaluated
on {\it any} spacelike hypersurface. This study is motivated by the
non-perturbative quantization program of general relativity.Comment: 22 pages, plain Tex, no figures, accepted for publication in Nuovo
Cimento
Phase transitions and configuration space topology
Equilibrium phase transitions may be defined as nonanalytic points of
thermodynamic functions, e.g., of the canonical free energy. Given a certain
physical system, it is of interest to understand which properties of the system
account for the presence of a phase transition, and an understanding of these
properties may lead to a deeper understanding of the physical phenomenon. One
possible approach of this issue, reviewed and discussed in the present paper,
is the study of topology changes in configuration space which, remarkably, are
found to be related to equilibrium phase transitions in classical statistical
mechanical systems. For the study of configuration space topology, one
considers the subsets M_v, consisting of all points from configuration space
with a potential energy per particle equal to or less than a given v. For
finite systems, topology changes of M_v are intimately related to nonanalytic
points of the microcanonical entropy (which, as a surprise to many, do exist).
In the thermodynamic limit, a more complex relation between nonanalytic points
of thermodynamic functions (i.e., phase transitions) and topology changes is
observed. For some class of short-range systems, a topology change of the M_v
at v=v_t was proved to be necessary for a phase transition to take place at a
potential energy v_t. In contrast, phase transitions in systems with long-range
interactions or in systems with non-confining potentials need not be
accompanied by such a topology change. Instead, for such systems the
nonanalytic point in a thermodynamic function is found to have some
maximization procedure at its origin. These results may foster insight into the
mechanisms which lead to the occurrence of a phase transition, and thus may
help to explore the origin of this physical phenomenon.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
- …