17,914 research outputs found
Temperature- and Bias-dependence of magnetoresistance in doped manganite thin film trilayer junctions
Thin film trilayer junction of LaSrMnO - SrTiO -
LaSrMnO shows a factor of 9.7 change in resistance, in a
magnetic field around 100 Oe at 14K. The junction magnetoresistance is bias and
temperature dependent. The energy scales associated with bias and temperature
dependence are an order of magnitude apart. The same set of energies also
determine the bias and temperature dependence of the differential conductance
of the junction. We discuss these results in terms of metallic cluster
inclusions at the junction-barrier interface.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Constraining the unexplored period between reionization and the dark ages with observations of the global 21 cm signal
Observations of the frequency dependence of the global brightness temperature
of the redshifted 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen may be possible with single
dipole experiments. In this paper, we develop a Fisher matrix formalism for
calculating the sensitivity of such instruments to the 21 cm signal from
reionization and the dark ages. We show that rapid reionization histories with
duration delta z< 2 can be constrained, provided that local foregrounds can be
well modelled by low order polynomials. It is then shown that observations in
the range nu = 50 - 100 MHz can feasibly constrain the Lyman alpha and X-ray
emissivity of the first stars forming at z = 15 - 25, provided that systematic
temperature residuals can be controlled to less than 1 mK. Finally, we
demonstrate the difficulty of detecting the 21 cm signal from the dark ages
before star formation.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR
A Complexity-Brightness Correlation in Gamma Ray Bursts
We observe strong correlations between the temporal properties of gamma ray
bursts (GRBs) and their apparent peak brightness. The strongest effect (with a
significance level of 10^{-6}) is the difference between the brightness
distributions of simple bursts (dominated by a single smooth pulse) and complex
bursts (consisting of overlapping pulses). The latter has a break at a peak
flux of 1.5 ph/cm^2/s, while the distribution of simple bursts is smooth down
to the BATSE threshold. We also observe brightness dependent variations in the
shape of the average peak aligned time profile (ATP) of GRBs. The decaying
slope of the ATP shows time dilation when comparing bright and dim bursts while
the rising slope hardly changes. Both slopes of the ATP are deformed for weak
bursts as compared to strong bursts. The interpretation of these effects is
simple: a complex burst where a number of independent pulses overlap in time
appears intrinsically stronger than a simple burst. Then the BATSE sample of
complex bursts covers larger redshifts where some cosmological factor causes
the break in the peak brightness distribution. This break could correspond to
the peak in the star formation rate that was recently shown to occur at a
redshift of z~1.5.Comment: 13 pages; 11 figures; replaced with the published versio
Comment on "Correlation of the Highest-Energy Cosmic Rays with Nearby Extragalactic Objects"
We argue that the data published by the Pierre Auger Collaboration
(arXiv:0711.2256) disfavor at 99% confidence level their hypothesis that most
of the highest-energy cosmic rays are protons from nearby astrophysical
sources, either Active Galactic Nuclei or other objects with a similar spatial
distribution.Comment: 1000 words, 2 figures, scicite.st
Observational evidence of spin-induced precession in active galactic nuclei
We show that it is possible to explain the physical origin of jet precession
in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) through the misalignment between the rotation
axes of the accretion disk and of the Kerr black hole. We apply this scenario
to quasars, Seyfert galaxies and also to the Galactic Center black hole Sgr A*,
for which signatures of either jet or disk precession have been found. The
formalism adopted is parameterized by the ratio of the precession period to the
black hole mass and can be used to put constraints to the physical properties
of the accretion disk as well as to the black hole spin in those systems.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
A new approach for asynchronous distributed rate control of elastic sessions in integrated packet networks
We develop a new class of asynchronous distributed algorithms for the explicit rate control of elastic sessions in an integrated packet network. Sessions can request for minimum guaranteed rate allocations (e.g., minimum cell rates in the ATM context), and, under this constraint, we seek to allocate the max-min fair rates to the sessions. We capture the integrated network context by permitting the link bandwidths available to elastic sessions to be stochastically time varying. The available capacity of each link is viewed as some statistic of this stochastic process [e.g., a fraction of the mean, or a large deviations-based equivalent service capacity (ESC)]. The ESC is obtained so as to satisfy an overflow probability constraint on the buffer length. For fixed available capacity at each link, we show that the vector of max-min fair rates can be computed from the root of a certain vector equation. A distributed asynchronous stochastic approximation technique is then used to develop a provably convergent distributed algorithm for obtaining the root of the equation, even when the link flows and the available capacities are obtained from on-line measurements. The switch algorithm does not require per connection monitoring, nor does it require per connection marking of control packets. A virtual buffer based approach for on-line estimation of the ESC is utilized. We also propose techniques for handling large variations in the available capacity owing to the arrivals or departures of CBR/VBR sessions. Finally, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of this class of algorithms in the local and wide area network context
Laser method can also be used for endothelial function assessment in clinical practice
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Observing Lense-Thirring Precession in Tidal Disruption Flares
When a star is tidally disrupted by a supermassive black hole (SMBH), the
streams of liberated gas form an accretion disk after their return to
pericenter. We demonstrate that Lense-Thirring precession in the spacetime
around a rotating SMBH can produce significant time evolution of the disk
angular momentum vector, due to both the periodic precession of the disk and
the nonperiodic, differential precession of the bound debris streams. Jet
precession and periodic modulation of disk luminosity are possible
consequences. The persistence of the jetted X-ray emission in the Swift
J164449.3+573451 flare suggests that the jet axis was aligned with the spin
axis of the SMBH during this event.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letters. Minor changes made to match proof
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