73,311 research outputs found
Secondary CMB anisotropies in a universe reionized in patches
In a universe reionized in patches, the Doppler effect from Thomson
scattering off free electrons generates secondary cosmic microwave background
(CMB) anisotropies. For a simple model with small patches and late
reionization, we analytically calculate the anisotropy power spectrum. Patchy
reionization can, in principle, be the main source of anisotropies on arcminute
scales. On larger angular scales, its contribution to the CMB power spectrum is
a small fraction of the primary signal and is only barely detectable in the
power spectrum with even an ideal, i.e. cosmic variance limited, experiment and
an extreme model of reionization. Consequently patchy reionization is unlikely
to affect cosmological parameter estimation from the acoustic peaks in the CMB.
Its detection on small angles would help determine the ionization history of
the universe, in particular the typical size of the ionized region and the
duration of the reionization process.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Ap
A Fast Conservative Spectral Solver For The Nonlinear Boltzmann Collision Operator
We present a conservative spectral method for the fully nonlinear Boltzmann collision operator based on the weighted convolution structure in Fourier space developed by Gamba and Tharkabhushnanam.. This method can simulate a broad class of collisions, including both elastic and inelastic collisions as well as angularly dependent cross sections in which grazing collisions play a major role. The extension presented in this paper consists of factorizing the convolution weight on quadrature points by exploiting the symmetric nature of the particle interaction law, which reduces the computational cost and memory requirements of the method to O(M(2)N(4)logN) from the O(N-6) complexity of the original spectral method, where N is the number of velocity grid points in each velocity dimension and M is the number of quadrature points in the factorization, which can be taken to be much smaller than N. We present preliminary numerical results.Mathematic
New Approach on the General Shape Equation of Axisymmetric Vesicles
The general Helfrich shape equation determined by minimizing the curvature
free energy describes the equilibrium shapes of the axisymmetric lipid bilayer
vesicles in different conditions. It is a non-linear differential equation with
variable coefficients. In this letter, by analyzing the unique property of the
solution, we change this shape equation into a system of the two differential
equations. One of them is a linear differential equation. This equation system
contains all of the known rigorous solutions of the general shape equation. And
the more general constraint conditions are found for the solution of the
general shape equation.Comment: 8 pages, LaTex, submit to Mod. Phys. Lett.
Fragile phase stability in (1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3O3)-xPbTiO3 crystals: A comparisons of [001] and [110] field-cooled phase diagrams
Phase diagrams of [001] and [110] field-cooled (FC)
(1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3O3)-xPbTiO3 or PMN-xPT crystals have been constructed, based
on high-resolution x-ray diffraction data. Comparisons reveal several
interesting findings. First, a region of abnormal thermal expansion above the
dielectric maximum was found, whose stability range extended to higher
temperatures by application of electric field (E). Second, the rhombohedral (R)
phase of the ZFC state was replaced by a monoclinic MA in the [001] FC diagram,
but with monoclinic MB in the [110] FC. Third, the monoclinic MC phase in ZFC
and [001] FC diagram was replaced by an orthorhombic (O) phase in the [110] FC.
Finally, in the [001] FC diagram, the phase boundary between tetragonal (T) and
MA was extended to lower PT contents (x=0.25); whereas in the [110] FC diagram,
this extended region was entirely replaced by the O phase. These results
clearly demonstrate that the phase stability of PMN-xPT crystals is quite
fragile, depending not only on modest changes in E, but also on the direction
along which that E is applied.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Do Job, Age, and Place of Residence Matter for Gaming Activity? A Study of the Mid-Colorado River Communities
A household survey in the mid-Colorado River communities of Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona examined local residents\u27 gaming activities. A censored regression analysis distinguished between factors affecting gaming participation versus expenditures. Results suggest that gaming behavior can often be predicted with knowledge of individuals\u27 residence, workplace, and other household demographic characteristics. Both local government agencies and casino managers can use the results to make better-informed decisions
Testing flatness of the universe with probes of cosmic distances and growth
When using distance measurements to probe spatial curvature, the geometric
degeneracy between curvature and dark energy in the distance-redshift relation
typically requires either making strong assumptions about the dark energy
evolution or sacrificing precision in a more model-independent approach.
Measurements of the redshift evolution of the linear growth of perturbations
can break the geometric degeneracy, providing curvature constraints that are
both precise and model-independent. Future supernova, CMB, and cluster data
have the potential to measure the curvature with an accuracy of
sigma(Omega_K)=0.002, without specifying a particular dark energy
phenomenology. In combination with distance measurements, the evolution of the
growth function at low redshifts provides the strongest curvature constraint if
the high-redshift universe is well approximated as being purely matter
dominated. However, in the presence of early dark energy or massive neutrinos,
the precision in curvature is reduced due to additional degeneracies, and
precise normalization of the growth function relative to recombination is
important for obtaining accurate constraints. Curvature limits from distances
and growth compare favorably to other approaches to curvature estimation
proposed in the literature, providing either greater accuracy or greater
freedom from dark energy modeling assumptions, and are complementary due to the
use of independent data sets. Model-independent estimates of curvature are
critical for both testing inflation and obtaining unbiased constraints on dark
energy parameters.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Model-Independent Reionization Observables in the CMB
We represent the reionization history of the universe as a free function in
redshift and study the potential for its extraction from CMB polarization
spectra. From a principal component analysis, we show that the ionization
history information is contained in 5 modes, resembling low-order Fourier modes
in redshift space. The amplitude of these modes represent a compact description
of the observable properties of reionization in the CMB, easily predicted given
a model for the ionization fraction. Measurement of these modes can ultimately
constrain the total optical depth, or equivalently the initial amplitude of
fluctuations to the 1% level regardless of the true model for reionization.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRD (rapid communications
The Structure of Structure Formation Theories
We study the general structure of models for structure formation, with
applications to the reverse engineering of the model from observations. Through
a careful accounting of the degrees of freedom in covariant gravitational
instability theory, we show that the evolution of structure is completely
specified by the stress history of the dark sector. The study of smooth,
entropic, sonic, scalar anisotropic, vector anisotropic, and tensor anisotropic
stresses reveals the origin, robustness, and uniqueness of specific model
phenomenology. We construct useful and illustrative analytic solutions that
cover cases with multiple species of differing equations of state relevant to
the current generation of models, especially those with effectively smooth
components. We present a simple case study of models with phenomenologies
similar to that of a LambdaCDM model to highlight reverse-engineering issues. A
critical-density universe dominated by a single type of dark matter with the
appropriate stress history can mimic a LambdaCDM model exactly.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, RevTeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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