Application of energy and angular momentum balance to gravitational radiation reaction for binary systems with spin-orbit coupling

We study gravitational radiation reaction in the equations of motion for binary systems with spin-orbit coupling, at order (v/c)^7 beyond Newtonian gravity, or O(v/c)^2 beyond the leading radiation reaction effects for non-spinning bodies. We use expressions for the energy and angular momentum flux at infinity that include spin-orbit corrections, together with an assumption of energy and angular momentum balance, to derive equations of motion that are valid for general orbits and for a class of coordinate gauges. We show that the equations of motion are compatible with those derived earlier by a direct calculation.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to General Relativity and Gravitatio

Two nonmagnetic impurities in the DSC and DDW state of the cuprate superconductors as a probe for the pseudogap

The quantum interference between two nonmagnetic impurities is studied numerically in both the d-wave superconducting (DSC) and the d-density wave (DDW) state. In all calculations we include the tunnelling through excited states from the CuO$_2$ planes to the BiO layer probed by the STM tip. Compared to the single impurity case, a systematic study of the modulations in the two-impurity local density of states can distinguish between the DSC or DDW states. This is important if the origin of the pseudogap phase is caused by preformed pairs or DDW order. Furthermore, in the DSC state the study of the LDOS around two nonmagnetic impurities provide further tests for the potential scattering model versus more strongly correlated models.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Short-Range Interactions and Scaling Near Integer Quantum Hall Transitions

We study the influence of short-range electron-electron interactions on scaling behavior near the integer quantum Hall plateau transitions. Short-range interactions are known to be irrelevant at the renormalization group fixed point which represents the transition in the non-interacting system. We find, nevertheless, that transport properties change discontinuously when interactions are introduced. Most importantly, in the thermodynamic limit the conductivity at finite temperature is zero without interactions, but non-zero in the presence of arbitrarily weak interactions. In addition, scaling as a function of frequency, $\omega$, and temperature, $T$, is determined by the scaling variable $\omega/T^p$ (where $p$ is the exponent for the temperature dependence of the inelastic scattering rate) and not by $\omega/T$, as it would be at a conventional quantum phase transition described by an interacting fixed point. We express the inelastic exponent, $p$, and the thermal exponent, $z_T$, in terms of the scaling dimension, $-\alpha < 0$, of the interaction strength and the dynamical exponent $z$ (which has the value $z=2$), obtaining $p=1+2\alpha/z$ and $z_T=2/p$.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Thermoeconomic assessment of a spectral-splitting hybrid PVT system in dairy farms for combined heat and power

We investigate the thermoeconomic potential of a solar-combined heat and power (S-CHP) system based on concentrating, spectral-splitting hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collectors for the provision of electricity, steam and hot water for processing milk products in dairy applications. Transient simulations are conducted by using a system model with real-time demand and weather data as inputs, taking account of the spectrum-selective features of the PV cells as well as key heat transfer mechanisms that determine the electrical and thermal performance of the PVT collector. Economic performance is also assessed by considering the investment and savings enabled by the reduced electrical and fuel consumption. The results show that incorporating spectral beam-splitting technology into hybrid PVT collectors can be effective in maintaining the PV cells at low temperatures, while at the same time supplying thermal outputs (fluid streams) at temperatures significantly higher than then cell temperatures for steam generation and/or hot water provision. Based on a 15, 000-m2 installed area, it is found that 80% of the thermal demand for steam generation and 60% of the hot water demand can be satisfied by the PVT S-CHP system, along with a net electrical output amounting to 60% of the demand. Economic and environmental assessments show that the system has an excellent decarbonisation potential (1, 500 tCO2/year) and is economically viable if the investment cost of the spectrum splitter is lower than 0.85 of the cost of the parabolic concentrator (i.e., &lt;2, 150 €/m2 spectrum splitter) in this application

Fault-tolerance techniques for hybrid CMOS/nanoarchitecture

The authors propose two fault-tolerance techniques for hybrid CMOS/nanoarchitecture implementing logic functions as look-up tables. The authors compare the efficiency of the proposed techniques with recently reported methods that use single coding schemes in tolerating high fault rates in nanoscale fabrics. Both proposed techniques are based on error correcting codes to tackle different fault rates. In the first technique, the authors implement a combined two-dimensional coding scheme using Hamming and Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes to address fault rates greater than 5. In the second technique, Hamming coding is complemented with bad line exclusion technique to tolerate fault rates higher than the first proposed technique (up to 20). The authors have also estimated the improvement that can be achieved in the circuit reliability in the presence of Don-t Care Conditions. The area, latency and energy costs of the proposed techniques were also estimated in the CMOS domain

Entanglement in SU(2)-invariant quantum spin systems

We analyze the entanglement of SU(2)-invariant density matrices of two spins $\vec S_{1}$, $\vec S_{2}$ using the Peres-Horodecki criterion. Such density matrices arise from thermal equilibrium states of isotropic spin systems. The partial transpose of such a state has the same multiplet structure and degeneracies as the original matrix with eigenvalue of largest multiplicity being non-negative. The case $S_{1}=S$, $S_{2}=1/2$ can be solved completely and is discussed in detail with respect to isotropic Heisenberg spin models. Moreover, in this case the Peres-Horodecki ciriterion turns out to be a sufficient condition for non-separability. We also characterize SU(2)-invariant states of two spins of length 1.Comment: 5 page

Active Galaxies in the UV

In this article we present different aspects of AGN studies demonstrating the importance of the UV spectral range. Most important diagnostic lines for studying the general physical conditions as well as the metalicities in the central broad line region in AGN are emitted in the UV. The UV/FUV continuum in AGN excites not only the emission lines in the immediate surrounding but it is responsible for the ionization of the intergalactic medium in the early stages of the universe. Variability studies of the emission line profiles of AGN in the UV give us information on the structure and kinematics of the immediate surrounding of the central supermassive black hole as well as on its mass itself.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, Ap&SS in pres

Real Time Turbulent Video Perfecting by Image Stabilization and Super-Resolution

Image and video quality in Long Range Observation Systems (LOROS) suffer from atmospheric turbulence that causes small neighbourhoods in image frames to chaotically move in different directions and substantially hampers visual analysis of such image and video sequences. The paper presents a real-time algorithm for perfecting turbulence degraded videos by means of stabilization and resolution enhancement. The latter is achieved by exploiting the turbulent motion. The algorithm involves generation of a reference frame and estimation, for each incoming video frame, of a local image displacement map with respect to the reference frame; segmentation of the displacement map into two classes: stationary and moving objects and resolution enhancement of stationary objects, while preserving real motion. Experiments with synthetic and real-life sequences have shown that the enhanced videos, generated in real time, exhibit substantially better resolution and complete stabilization for stationary objects while retaining real motion.Comment: Submitted to The Seventh IASTED International Conference on Visualization, Imaging, and Image Processing (VIIP 2007) August, 2007 Palma de Mallorca, Spai

Perfusion Deficits Detected by Arterial Spin-Labeling in Patients with TIA with Negative Diffusion and Vascular Imaging

Background and purposeA substantial portion of clinically diagnosed TIA cases is imaging-negative. The purpose of the current study is to determine if arterial spin-labeling is helpful in detecting perfusion abnormalities in patients presenting clinically with TIA.Materials and methodsPseudocontinuous arterial spin-labeling with 3D background-suppressed gradient and spin-echo was acquired on 49 patients suspected of TIA within 24 hours of symptom onset. All patients were free of stroke history and had no lesion-specific findings on general MR, DWI, and MRA sequences. The calculated arterial spin-labeling CBF maps were scored from 1-3 on the basis of presence and severity of perfusion disturbance by 3 independent observers blinded to patient history. An age-matched cohort of 36 patients diagnosed with no cerebrovascular events was evaluated as a control. Interobserver agreement was assessed by use of the Kendall concordance test.ResultsScoring of perfusion abnormalities on arterial spin-labeling scans of the TIA cohort was highly concordant among the 3 observers (W = 0.812). The sensitivity and specificity of arterial spin-labeling in the diagnosis of perfusion abnormalities in TIA was 55.8% and 90.7%, respectively. In 93.3% (70/75) of the arterial spin-labeling CBF map readings with positive scores (≥2), the brain regions where perfusion abnormalities were identified by 3 observers matched with the neurologic deficits at TIA onset.ConclusionsIn this preliminary study, arterial spin-labeling showed promise in the detection of perfusion abnormalities that correlated with clinically diagnosed TIA in patients with otherwise normal neuroimaging results