4,550 research outputs found
Symmetric spaces of higher rank do not admit differentiable compactifications
Any nonpositively curved symmetric space admits a topological
compactification, namely the Hadamard compactification. For rank one spaces,
this topological compactification can be endowed with a differentiable
structure such that the action of the isometry group is differentiable.
Moreover, the restriction of the action on the boundary leads to a flat model
for some geometry (conformal, CR or quaternionic CR depending of the space).
One can ask whether such a differentiable compactification exists for higher
rank spaces, hopefully leading to some knew geometry to explore. In this paper
we answer negatively.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in Mathematische Annale
The interface between the stellar wind and interstellar medium around R Cassiopeiae revealed by far-infrared imaging
The circumstellar dust shells of intermediate initial-mass (about 1 to 8
solar masses) evolved stars are generated by copious mass loss during the
asymptotic giant branch phase. The density structure of their circumstellar
shell is the direct evidence of mass loss processes, from which we can
investigate the nature of mass loss. We used the AKARI Infrared Astronomy
Satellite and the Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain the surface brightness maps
of an evolved star R Cas at far-infrared wavelengths, since the temperature of
dust decreases as the distance from the star increases and one needs to probe
dust at lower temperatures, i.e., at longer wavelengths. The observed shell
structure and the star's known proper motion suggest that the structure
represents the interface regions between the dusty wind and the interstellar
medium. The deconvolved structures are fitted with the analytic bow shock
structure to determine the inclination angle of the bow shock cone. Our data
show that (1) the bow shock cone of 1 - 5 x 10^-5 solar masses (dust mass) is
inclined at 68 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky, and (2) the dust
temperature in the bow shock cone is raised to more than 20 K by collisional
shock interaction in addition to the ambient interstellar radiation field. By
comparison between the apex vector of the bow shock and space motion vector of
the star we infer that there is a flow of interstellar medium local to R Cas
whose flow velocity is at least 55.6 km/s, consistent with an environment
conducive to dust heating by shock interactions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
A General Framework for Recursive Decompositions of Unitary Quantum Evolutions
Decompositions of the unitary group U(n) are useful tools in quantum
information theory as they allow one to decompose unitary evolutions into local
evolutions and evolutions causing entanglement. Several recursive
decompositions have been proposed in the literature to express unitary
operators as products of simple operators with properties relevant in
entanglement dynamics. In this paper, using the concept of grading of a Lie
algebra, we cast these decompositions in a unifying scheme and show how new
recursive decompositions can be obtained. In particular, we propose a new
recursive decomposition of the unitary operator on qubits, and we give a
numerical example.Comment: 17 pages. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. This article replaces
our earlier preprint "A Recursive Decomposition of Unitary Operators on N
Qubits." The current version provides a general method to generate recursive
decompositions of unitary evolutions. Several decompositions obtained before
are shown to be as a special case of this general procedur
Generalized conductance sum rule in atomic break junctions
When an atomic-size break junction is mechanically stretched, the total
conductance of the contact remains approximately constant over a wide range of
elongations, although at the same time the transmissions of the individual
channels (valence orbitals of the junction atom) undergo strong variations. We
propose a microscopic explanation of this phenomenon, based on Coulomb
correlation effects between electrons in valence orbitals of the junction atom.
The resulting approximate conductance quantization is closely related to the
Friedel sum rule.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, appears in Proceedings of the NATO Advanced
Research Workshop ``Size dependent magnetic scattering'', Pecs, Hungary, May
28 - June 1, 200
Cavitation inception of a van der Waals fluid at a sack-wall obstacle
Cavitation in a liquid moving past a constraint is numerically investigated
by means of a free-energy lattice Boltzmann simulation based on the van der
Waals equation of state. The fluid is streamed past an obstacle and, depending
on the pressure drop between inlet and outlet, vapor formation underneath the
corner of the sack-wall is observed. The circumstances of cavitation formation
are investigated and it is found that the local bulk pressure and mean stress
are insufficient to explain the phenomenon. Results obtained in this study
strongly suggest that the viscous stress, interfacial contributions to the
local pressure, and the Laplace pressure are relevant to the opening of a vapor
cavity. This can be described by a generalization of Joseph's criterion that
includes these contributions. A macroscopic investigation measuring mass flow
rate behavior and discharge coefficient was also performed. As theoretically
predicted, mass flow rate increases linearly with the square root of the
pressure drop. However, when cavitation occurs, the mass flow growth rate is
reduced and eventually it collapses into a choked flow state. In the cavitating
regime, as theoretically predicted and experimentally verified, the discharge
coefficient grows with the Nurick cavitation number
Testing Radiatively-Inefficient Accretion Flow Theory: an XMM-Newton Observation of NGC 3998
We present the results of a 10 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC 3998, a
``type-I'' LINER galaxy. Our goal is to test the extent to which
radiatively-inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models and/or scaled-down AGN
models are consistent with the observed properties of NGC 3998. The upper-limit
for narrow Fe-K emission derived from a combined fit of the XMM-Newton and
BeppoSAX spectra is 25 eV, which is one of the strictest limits to date for any
AGN. This significantly rules out Fe-K emission as is expected to be observed
in typical Seyfert 1 galaxies. The lack of any reflection features suggests
that any optically-thick, geometrically-thin accretion disk must be truncated,
probably at a radius of order 100-300 R_s. RIAF models fit the UV to X-ray
spectral energy distribution of NGC 3998 reasonably well. In these models the
mid-IR flux also constrains the emission from any outer thin disk component
that might be present. The UV to X-ray SED is also consistent with a
Comptonized thin disk with a very low accretion rate, in which case the lack of
Fe-K emission may be due to an ionized accretion disk. Accretion models in
general do not account for the observed radio flux of NGC 3998, and the radio
flux may be due to a jet. Recent jet models may also be consistent with the
nuclear fluxes of NGC 3998 in general, including the X-ray, optical/UV and
mid-IR bands. We also derive nuclear fluxes using archival HST WFPC2 data to
constrain the SED of NGC 3998. We discuss a possible OM U band and USNO-B
detection of the NGC 3998 ULX.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 13 pages and 5 figures formatted
with emulateapj. Version with black-and-white only plots available at
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~ptak/paper
Transfer of K-types on local theta lifts of characters and unitary lowest weight modules
In this paper we study representations of the indefinite orthogonal group
O(n,m) which are local theta lifts of one dimensional characters or unitary
lowest weight modules of the double covers of the symplectic groups. We apply
the transfer of K-types on these representations of O(n,m), and we study their
effects on the dual pair correspondences. These results provide examples that
the theta lifting is compatible with the transfer of K-types. Finally we will
use these results to study subquotients of some cohomologically induced
modules
Time-optimal synthesis of unitary transformations in coupled fast and slow qubit system
In this paper, we study time-optimal control problems related to system of
two coupled qubits where the time scales involved in performing unitary
transformations on each qubit are significantly different. In particular, we
address the case where unitary transformations produced by evolutions of the
coupling take much longer time as compared to the time required to produce
unitary transformations on the first qubit but much shorter time as compared to
the time to produce unitary transformations on the second qubit. We present a
canonical decomposition of SU(4) in terms of the subgroup SU(2)xSU(2)xU(1),
which is natural in understanding the time-optimal control problem of such a
coupled qubit system with significantly different time scales. A typical
setting involves dynamics of a coupled electron-nuclear spin system in pulsed
electron paramagnetic resonance experiments at high fields. Using the proposed
canonical decomposition, we give time-optimal control algorithms to synthesize
various unitary transformations of interest in coherent spectroscopy and
quantum information processing.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Benchmarking airborne laser scanning tree segmentation algorithms in broadleaf forests shows high accuracy only for canopy trees
Individual tree segmentation from airborne laser scanning data is a longstanding and important challenge in forest remote sensing. Tree segmentation algorithms are widely available, but robust intercomparison studies are rare due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable reference data. Here we provide a benchmark data set for temperate and tropical broadleaf forests generated from labelled terrestrial laser scanning data. We compared the performance of four widely used tree segmentation algorithms against this benchmark data set. All algorithms performed reasonably well on the canopy trees. The point cloud-based algorithm AMS3D (Adaptive Mean Shift 3D) had the highest overall accuracy, closely followed by the 2D raster based region growing algorithm Dalponte2016 +. However, all algorithms failed to accurately segment the understory trees. This result was consistent across both forest types. This study emphasises the need to assess tree segmentation algorithms directly using benchmark data, rather than comparing with forest indices such as biomass or the number and size distribution of trees. We provide the first openly available benchmark data set for tropical forests and we hope future studies will extend this work to other regions
Long-term retrospective assessment of a transmission hotspot for human alveolar echinococcosis in mid-west China
Background
Human alveolar echinococcosis caused by infection with Echinococcus multilocularis is one of the most potentially pathogenic helminthic zoonoses. Transmission occurs involving wildlife cycles typically between fox and small mammal intermediate hosts. In the late 1980s/early 1990s a large focus of human AE was identified in poor upland agricultural communities in south Gansu Province, China. More detailed investigations in 1994–97 expanded community screening and identified key risk factors of dog ownership and landscape type around villages that could support susceptible rodent populations. A crash of the dog population (susceptible domestic definitive host) in the early 1990s appeared to stop transmission.
Methodology/Findings
We subsequently undertook follow-up eco-epidemiological studies based on human population screening and dog survey, in 2005/6 and in 2014/15. Our observations show a decrease in human AE prevalence, especially marked in the 11–30 year old age category. In 2015, although the dog population had recovered and in addition, forest protection and the reforestation of some areas may have favoured red fox (wild definitive host) population growth, there was no evidence of infection in owned dogs.
Conclusions/Significance
Those observations suggest that over decades socio-ecological changes resulted in a cascade of factors that exacerbated and then interrupted parasite emergence, with probable elimination of peri-domestic transmission of E. multilocularis in this area, despite the relative proximity of large active transmission foci on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. This study case exemplifies how anthropogenic land use and behavioural changes can modify emergence events and the transmission of endemic zoonotic parasite infections, and subsequently the importance of considering processes over the long-term in a systems approach in order to understand pathogen and disease distribution
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