Neutrino scattering and flavor transformation in supernovae

We argue that the small fraction of neutrinos that undergo direction-changing scattering outside of the neutrinosphere could have significant influence on neutrino flavor transformation in core-collapse supernova environments. We show that the standard treatment for collective neutrino flavor transformation is adequate at late times, but could be inadequate in the crucial shock revival/explosion epoch of core-collapse supernovae, where the potentials that govern neutrino flavor evolution are affected by the scattered neutrinos. Taking account of this effect, and the way it couples to entropy and composition, will require a new paradigm in supernova modeling.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Halo Modification of a Supernova Neutronization Neutrino Burst

We give the first self-consistent calculation of the effect of the scattered neutrino halo on flavor evolution in supernovae. Our example case is an O-Ne-Mg core collapse supernova neutronization neutrino burst. We find that the addition of the halo neutrinos produces qualitative and quantitative changes in the final flavor states of neutrinos. We also find that the halo neutrinos produce a novel distortion of the neutrino flavor swap. Our results provide strong motivation for tackling the full multidimensional and composition-dependent aspects of this problem in the future.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl

Using airborne LiDAR Survey to explore historic-era archaeological landscapes of Montserrat in the eastern Caribbean

This article describes what appears to be the first archaeological application of airborne LiDAR survey to historic-era landscapes in the Caribbean archipelago, on the island of Montserrat. LiDAR is proving invaluable in extending the reach of traditional pedestrian survey into less favorable areas, such as those covered by dense neotropical forest and by ashfall from the past two decades of active eruptions by the Soufrière Hills volcano, and to sites in localities that are inaccessible on account of volcanic dangers. Emphasis is placed on two aspects of the research: first, the importance of ongoing, real-time interaction between the LiDAR analyst and the archaeological team in the field; and second, the advantages of exploiting the full potential of the three-dimensional LiDAR point cloud data for purposes of the visualization of archaeological sites and features

Density Fluctuation Effects on Collective Neutrino Oscillations in O-Ne-Mg Core-Collapse Supernovae

We investigate the effect of matter density fluctuations on supernova collective neutrino flavor oscillations. In particular, we use full multi-angle, 3-flavor, self-consistent simulations of the evolution of the neutrino flavor field in the envelope of an O-Ne-Mg core collapse supernova at shock break-out (neutrino neutronization burst) to study the effect of the matter density "bump" left by the He-burning shell. We find a seemingly counterintuitive increase in the overall electron neutrino survival probability created by this matter density feature. We discuss this behavior in terms of the interplay between the matter density profile and neutrino collective effects. While our results give new insights into this interplay, they also suggest an immediate consequence for supernova neutrino burst detection: it will be difficult to use a burst signal to extract information on fossil burning shells or other fluctuations of this scale in the matter density profile. Consistent with previous studies, our results also show that the interplay of neutrino self-coupling and matter fluctuation could cause a significant increase in the electron neutrino survival probability at very low energyComment: 12 pages, 11 figures. This is a pre-submission version of the pape

Mode signature and stability for a Hamiltonian model of electron temperature gradient turbulence

Stability properties and mode signature for equilibria of a model of electron temperature gradient (ETG) driven turbulence are investigated by Hamiltonian techniques. After deriving the infinite families of Casimir invariants, associated with the noncanonical Poisson bracket of the model, a sufficient condition for stability is obtained by means of the Energy-Casimir method. Mode signature is then investigated for linear motions about homogeneous equilibria. Depending on the sign of the equilibrium "translated" pressure gradient, stable equilibria can either be energy stable, i.e.\ possess definite linearized perturbation energy (Hamiltonian), or spectrally stable with the existence of negative energy modes (NEMs). The ETG instability is then shown to arise through a Kre\u{\i}n-type bifurcation, due to the merging of a positive and a negative energy mode, corresponding to two modified drift waves admitted by the system. The Hamiltonian of the linearized system is then explicitly transformed into normal form, which unambiguously defines mode signature. In particular, the fast mode turns out to always be a positive energy mode (PEM), whereas the energy of the slow mode can have either positive or negative sign

Cardiac cell modelling: Observations from the heart of the cardiac physiome project

In this manuscript we review the state of cardiac cell modelling in the context of international initiatives such as the IUPS Physiome and Virtual Physiological Human Projects, which aim to integrate computational models across scales and physics. In particular we focus on the relationship between experimental data and model parameterisation across a range of model types and cellular physiological systems. Finally, in the context of parameter identification and model reuse within the Cardiac Physiome, we suggest some future priority areas for this field