2,622 research outputs found
On blocks and runs estimators of extremal index
Given a sample from a stationary sequence of random variables, we study the blocks and runs estimators of the extremal index.
Conditions are given for consistency and asymptotic normality of these estimators. We show that moment restrictions assumed by Hsing (1991, 1993) may be relaxed if a stronger mixing condition holds. The CLT for the runs estimator seems to be proven for the first time
Keck Pencil-Beam Survey for Faint Kuiper Belt Objects
We present the results of a pencil-beam survey of the Kuiper Belt using the
Keck 10-m telescope. A single 0.01 square degree field is imaged 29 times for a
total integration time of 4.8 hr. Combining exposures in software allows the
detection of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) having visual magnitude V < 27.9. Two
new KBOs are discovered. One object having V = 25.5 lies at a probable
heliocentric distance d = 33 AU. The second object at V = 27.2 is located at d
= 44 AU. Both KBOs have diameters of about 50 km, assuming comet-like albedos
of 4%.
Data from all surveys are pooled to construct the luminosity function from
red magnitude R = 20 to 27. The cumulative number of objects per square degree,
N (< R), is fitted to a power law of the form log_(10) N = 0.52 (R - 23.5).
Differences between power laws reported in the literature are due mainly to
which survey data are incorporated, and not to the method of fitting. The
luminosity function is consistent with a power-law size distribution for
objects having diameters s = 50 to 500 km; dn ~ s^(-q) ds, where the
differential size index q = 3.6 +/- 0.1. The distribution is such that the
smallest objects possess most of the surface area, but the largest bodies
contain the bulk of the mass. Though our inferred size index nearly matches
that derived by Dohnanyi (1969), it is unknown whether catastrophic collisions
are responsible for shaping the size distribution. Implications of the absence
of detections of classical KBOs beyond 50 AU are discussed.Comment: Accepted to AJ. Final proof-edited version: references added,
discussion of G98 revised in sections 4.3 and 5.
Recommended from our members
Ganglion-specific splicing of TRPV1 underlies infrared sensation in vampire bats.
Vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are obligate blood feeders that have evolved specialized systems to suit their sanguinary lifestyle. Chief among such adaptations is the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey. Among vertebrates, only vampire bats, boas, pythons and pit vipers are capable of detecting infrared radiation. In each case, infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres that innervate specialized pit organs on the animal's face. Thus, vampire bats and snakes have taken thermosensation to the extreme by developing specialized systems for detecting infrared radiation. As such, these creatures provide a window into the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary tuning of thermoreceptors in a species-specific or cell-type-specific manner. Previously, we have shown that snakes co-opt a non-heat-sensitive channel, vertebrate TRPA1 (transient receptor potential cation channel A1), to produce an infrared detector. Here we show that vampire bats tune a channel that is already heat-sensitive, TRPV1, by lowering its thermal activation threshold to about 30 °C. This is achieved through alternative splicing of TRPV1 transcripts to produce a channel with a truncated carboxy-terminal cytoplasmic domain. These splicing events occur exclusively in trigeminal ganglia, and not in dorsal root ganglia, thereby maintaining a role for TRPV1 as a detector of noxious heat in somatic afferents. This reflects a unique organization of the bat Trpv1 gene that we show to be characteristic of Laurasiatheria mammals (cows, dogs and moles), supporting a close phylogenetic relationship with bats. These findings reveal a novel molecular mechanism for physiological tuning of thermosensory nerve fibres
Triton's surface age and impactor population revisited in light of Kuiper Belt fluxes: Evidence for small Kuiper Belt objects and recent geological activity
Neptune's largest satellite, Triton, is one of the most fascinating and
enigmatic bodies in the solar system. Among its numerous interesting traits,
Triton appears to have far fewer craters than would be expected if its surface
was primordial. Here we combine the best available crater count data for Triton
with improved estimates of impact rates by including the Kuiper Belt as a
source of impactors. We find that the population of impactors creating the
smallest observed craters on Triton must be sub-km in scale, and that this
small-impactor population can be best fit by a differential power-law size
index near -3. Such results provide interesting, indirect probes of the unseen
small body population of the Kuiper Belt. Based on the modern, Kuiper Belt and
Oort Cloud impactor flux estimates, we also recalculate estimated ages for
several regions of Triton's surface imaged by Voyager 2, and find that Triton
was probably active on a time scale no greater than 0.1-0.3 Gyr ago (indicating
Triton was still active after some 90% to 98% of the age of the solar system),
and perhaps even more recently. The time-averaged volumetric resurfacing rate
on Triton implied by these results, 0.01 km yr or more, is likely
second only to Io and Europa in the outer solar system, and is within an order
of magnitude of estimates for Venus and for the Earth's intraplate zones. This
finding indicates that Triton likely remains a highly geologically active world
at present, some 4.5 Gyr after its formation. We briefly speculate on how such
a situation might obtain.Comment: 14 pages (TeX), plus 2 postscript figures Stern & McKinnon, 2000, AJ,
in pres
First albedo determination of 2867 Steins, target of the Rosetta mission
We present the first albedo determination of 2867 Steins, the asteroid target
o f the Rosetta space mission together with 21 Lutetia. The data were obtained
in polarimetric mode at the ESO-VLT telescope with the FORS1 instrument in the
V and R filters. Observations were carried out from Jun e to August 2005
covering the phase angle range from 10.3 deg. to 28.3 deg., allowing the
determination of the asteroid albedo by the well known experimenta l
relationship between the albedo and the slope of the polarimetric curve at th e
inversion angle. The measured polarization values of Steins are small,
confirming an E-type cla ssification for this asteroid, as already suggested
from its spectral propertie s. The inversion angle of the polarization curve in
the V and R filters is resp ectively of 17.3 +/-1.5deg. and 18.4+/-1.0 deg.,
and the corresponding sl ope parameter is of 0.037+/-0.003 %/deg and
0.032+/-0.003 %/deg. On the basis of its polarimetric slope value, we have
derived an albedo of 0.45 +/-0.1, that gives an estimated diameter of 4.6 km,
assuming an absolute V ma gnitude of 13.18 mag.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, letter accepted for pubblication on A&
Coherent oscillations and incoherent tunnelling in one - dimensional asymmetric double - well potential
For a model 1d asymmetric double-well potential we calculated so-called
survival probability (i.e. the probability for a particle initially localised
in one well to remain there). We use a semiclassical (WKB) solution of
Schroedinger equation. It is shown that behaviour essentially depends on
transition probability, and on dimensionless parameter which is a ratio of
characteristic frequencies for low energy non-linear in-well oscillations and
inter wells tunnelling. For the potential describing a finite motion
(double-well) one has always a regular behaviour. For the small value of the
parameter there is well defined resonance pairs of levels and the survival
probability has coherent oscillations related to resonance splitting. However
for the large value of the parameter no oscillations at all for the survival
probability, and there is almost an exponential decay with the characteristic
time determined by Fermi golden rule. In this case one may not restrict oneself
to only resonance pair levels. The number of perturbed by tunnelling levels
grows proportionally to the value of this parameter (by other words instead of
isolated pairs there appear the resonance regions containing the sets of
strongly coupled levels). In the region of intermediate values of the parameter
one has a crossover between both limiting cases, namely the exponential decay
with subsequent long period recurrent behaviour.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, Revtex, revised version. Accepted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of 208 Pb ( n , γ ) 209 Pb Maxwellian averaged neutron capture cross section
The doubly magic 208Pb nucleus is a bottleneck at the termination of the s-process path due to its very low
neutron capture cross section. This cross section is also important for the decomposition ofs,r processes and U/Th
radiogenic decay contributions to the Pb-Bi solar abundances. The 208Pb(n,γ )
209Pb cross section was measured
at the Soreq Applied Research Accelerator Facility Phase I using an intense quasi-Maxwellian neutron source
produced by irradiation of the liquid-lithium target with a 1.5-mA continuous-wave proton beam at 1.94 MeV.
The cross section was measured by counting the β activity from the irradiated lead target. The measurement
allowed us to evaluate the Maxwellian averaged cross section (MACS) at 30 keV obtaining a value of 0.33(2)
mb. This has been compared with the earlier activation and time-of-flight measurements found in the literature.
The MACS cross-sectional value of the 63Cu(n,γ )
64Cu reaction was determined in the same experiment and is
compared to a recent published value.EC NeutAndalus (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG No. 334315
Semiclassical dynamics of a spin-1/2 in an arbitrary magnetic field
The spin coherent state path integral describing the dynamics of a
spin-1/2-system in a magnetic field of arbitrary time-dependence is considered.
Defining the path integral as the limit of a Wiener regularized expression, the
semiclassical approximation leads to a continuous minimal action path with
jumps at the endpoints. The resulting semiclassical propagator is shown to
coincide with the exact quantum mechanical propagator. A non-linear
transformation of the angle variables allows for a determination of the
semiclassical path and the jumps without solving a boundary-value problem. The
semiclassical spin dynamics is thus readily amenable to numerical methods.Comment: 16 pages, submitted to Journal of Physics
- …