Gravity-modes in ZZ Ceti Stars. II. Effects of Turbulent Dissipation

We investigate dynamical interactions between turbulent convection and g-mode pulsations in ZZ Ceti variables (DAVs). Since our understanding of turbulence is rudimentary, we are compelled to settle for order of magnitude results. A key feature of these interactions is that convective response times are much shorter than pulsation periods. Thus the dynamical interactions enforce near uniform horizontal velocity inside the convection zone. They also give rise to a narrow shear layer in the region of convective overshoot at the top of the radiative interior. Turbulent damping inside the convection zone is negligible for all modes, but that in the region of convective overshoot may be significant for a few long period modes near the red edge of the instability strip. These conclusions are in accord with those reached earlier by Brickhill. Our major new result concerns nonlinear damping arising from the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the aforementioned shear layer. Amplitudes of overstable modes saturate where dissipation due to this instability balances excitation by convective driving. This mechanism of amplitude saturation is most effective for long period modes, and it may play an important role in defining the red edge of the instability strip.Comment: 7 pages, including 2 figures. Used emulateapj.sty and apjfonts.sty obtained from http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~alexey/emulateapj

Symmetry-preserving Loop Regularization and Renormalization of QFTs

A new symmetry-preserving loop regularization method proposed in \cite{ylw} is further investigated. It is found that its prescription can be understood by introducing a regulating distribution function to the proper-time formalism of irreducible loop integrals. The method simulates in many interesting features to the momentum cutoff, Pauli-Villars and dimensional regularization. The loop regularization method is also simple and general for the practical calculations to higher loop graphs and can be applied to both underlying and effective quantum field theories including gauge, chiral, supersymmetric and gravitational ones as the new method does not modify either the lagrangian formalism or the space-time dimension of original theory. The appearance of characteristic energy scale $M_c$ and sliding energy scale $\mu_s$ offers a systematic way for studying the renormalization-group evolution of gauge theories in the spirit of Wilson-Kadanoff and for exploring important effects of higher dimensional interaction terms in the infrared regime.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, extended modified version, more references adde

The Effect of Intragroup Communication on Preference Shifts in Groups

We use a laboratory gift-exchange game to examine decisions made by groups under three different procedures that dictate how group members interact and reach decisions in comparison to individuals acting alone. We find that group decisions do deviate from those of individuals, but the direction and magnitude of gift exchange depend critically on the procedure. This suggests that no general statements can be made concerning the propensity of groups to exhibit reciprocal or other-regarding behavior relative to individuals. The rules governing how group members can express their preferences and expectations to other group members are critical for determining group outcomes.group behavior, teams, decision making, social preferences

Weak-Light, Zero to -\pi Lossless Kerr-Phase Gate in Quantum-well System via Tunneling Interference Effect

We examine a Kerr phase gate in a semiconductor quantum well structure based on the tunnelling interference effect. We show that there exist a specific signal field detuning, at which the absorption/amplification of the probe field will be eliminated with the increase of the tunnelling interference. Simultaneously, the probe field will acquire a -\pi phase shift at the exit of the medium. We demonstrate with numerical simulations that a complete 180^\circ phase rotation for the probe field at the exit of the medium is achieved, which may result in many applications in information science and telecommunication