Possible thermodynamic structure underlying the laws of Zipf and Benford

We show that the laws of Zipf and Benford, obeyed by scores of numerical data generated by many and diverse kinds of natural phenomena and human activity are related to the focal expression of a generalized thermodynamic structure. This structure is obtained from a deformed type of statistical mechanics that arises when configurational phase space is incompletely visited in a severe way. Specifically, the restriction is that the accessible fraction of this space has fractal properties. The focal expression is an (incomplete) Legendre transform between two entropy (or Massieu) potentials that when particularized to first digits leads to a previously existing generalization of Benford's law. The inverse functional of this expression leads to Zipf's law; but it naturally includes the bends or tails observed in real data for small and large rank. Remarkably, we find that the entire problem is analogous to the transition to chaos via intermittency exhibited by low-dimensional nonlinear maps. Our results also explain the generic form of the degree distribution of scale-free networks.Comment: To be published in European Physical Journal

Bipolar molecular outflows driven by hydromagnetic protostellar winds

We demonstrate that magnetically-collimated protostellar winds will sweep ambient material into thin, radiative, momentum-conserving shells whose features reproduce those commonly observed in bipolar molecular outflows. We find the typical position-velocity and mass-velocity relations to occur in outflows in a wide variety of ambient density distributions, regardless of the time histories of their driving winds.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, submitted to ApJ

Near-Infrared Photometry of the High-Redshift Quasar RDJ030117+002025: Evidence for a Massive Starburst at z=5.5

With a redshift of z=5.5 and an optical blue magnitude M_B ~ -24.2 mag (~4.5 10^12 L_sun), RDJ030117+002025 is the most distant optically faint (M_B > -26 mag) quasar known. MAMBO continuum observations at lambda=1.2 mm (185 micrometer rest-frame) showed that this quasar has a far-IR luminosity comparable to its optical luminosity. We present near-infrared J- and K-band photometry obtained with NIRC on the Keck I telescope, tracing the slope of the rest frame UV spectrum of this quasar. The observed spectral index is close to the value of alpha_nu ~ -0.44 measured in composite spectra of optically-bright SDSS quasars. It thus appears that the quasar does not suffer from strong dust extinction, which further implies that its low rest-frame UV luminosity is due to an intrinsically-faint AGN. The FIR to optical luminosity ratio is then much larger than that observed for the more luminous quasars, supporting the suggestion that the FIR emission is not powered by the AGN but by a massive starburst.Comment: 6 pages, APJ in pres

Metalheads: the influence of personality and individual differences on preference for heavy metal

Previous studies have reported reliable associations between personality and music preferences, but have tended to rely on cross-genre preferences at the expense of preferences within a single subgenre. We sought to overcome this limitation by examining associations between individual differences and preferences for a specific subgenre of music, namely, contemporary heavy metal. A total of 414 individuals from Britain were presented with clips of 10 tracks of contemporary heavy metal and asked to rate each for liking. Participants also completed measures of the Big Five personality traits, attitudes toward authority, self-esteem, need for uniqueness, and religiosity. A multiple regression showed that stronger composite preference for the heavy metal tracks was associated with higher Openness to Experience, more negative attitudes toward authority, lower self-esteem, greater need for uniqueness, and lower religiosity. In addition, men showed a significantly stronger preference for the tracks than women (d = 0.54). These results are discussed in terms of the psychological needs that contemporary heavy metal fills for some individuals

The thermodynamics of urban population flows

Orderliness, reflected via mathematical laws, is encountered in different frameworks involving social groups. Here we show that a thermodynamics can be constructed that macroscopically describes urban population flows. Microscopic dynamic equations and simulations with random walkers underlie the macroscopic approach. Our results might be regarded, via suitable analogies, as a step towards building an explicit social thermodynamics

First Digit Distribution of Hadron Full Width

A phenomenological law, called Benford's law, states that the occurrence of the first digit, i.e., $1,2,...,9$, of numbers from many real world sources is not uniformly distributed, but instead favors smaller ones according to a logarithmic distribution. We investigate, for the first time, the first digit distribution of the full widths of mesons and baryons in the well defined science domain of particle physics systematically, and find that they agree excellently with the Benford distribution. We also discuss several general properties of Benford's law, i.e., the law is scale-invariant, base-invariant, and power-invariant. This means that the lifetimes of hadrons follow also Benford's law.Comment: 8 latex pages, 4 figures, final version in journal publicatio

Atomic carbon at redshift ~2.5

Using the IRAM 30m telescope we detected the lower fine structure line of neutral carbon towards three high--redshift sources: IRAS FSC10214 (z=2.3), SMMJ14011+0252 (z=2.5) and H1413+117 (Cloverleaf quasar, z=2.5). SMMJ14011+0252 is the first high--redshift, non--AGN source in which CI has been detected. The CI(1-0) line from FSC10214 is almost an order of magnitude weaker than previously claimed, while our detection in the Cloverleaf is in good agreement with earlier observations. The CI(1-0) linewidths are similar to the CO widths, indicating that both lines trace similar regions of molecular gas on galactic scales. Derived CI masses for all three objects are of order few 10^7 solar masses and the implied CI(1-0)/CO(3-2) line luminosity ratio is about 0.2. This number is similar to values found in local galaxies. We derive a CI abundance of 5x10^{-5} which implies significant metal enrichment of the cold molecular gas at redshifts 2.5 (age of the universe 2.7 Gyr). We conclude that the physical properties of systems at large lookback times are similar to today's starburst/AGN environments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; accepted by A&

MaxEnt and dynamical information

The MaxEnt solutions are shown to display a variety of behaviors (beyond the traditional and customary exponential one) if adequate dynamical information is inserted into the concomitant entropic-variational principle. In particular, we show both theoretically and numerically that power laws and power laws with exponential cut-offs emerge as equilibrium densities in proportional and other dynamics

Curvature Radiation in Rotating Pulsar Magnetosphere

We consider the curvature emission properties from relativistic particles streaming along magnetic field lines and co-rotating with pulsar magnetosphere. The co-rotation affects the trajectories of the particles and hence the emission properties, especially the polarization. We consider the modification of the particle velocity and acceleration due to the co-rotation. Curvature radiation from a single particle is calculated using the approximation of a circular path to the particle trajectory. Curvature radiation from particles at a given height actually contains the contributions from particles streaming along all the nearby field lines around the tangential point, forming the emission cone of 1/{\gamma}. The polarization patterns from the emission cone are distorted by the additional rotation, more serious for emission from a larger height. Net circular polarization can be generated by the density gradient in the emission cone. For three typical density models in the form of core, cone and patches, we calculate the polarization profiles for emission generated at a given height. We find that the circular polarization could have a single sign or sign reversal, depending on the density gradient along the rotation phase. The polarization profiles of the total curvature radiation from the whole open field line region, calculated by adding the emission from all possible heights, are similar to that from a dominating emission height. The circular polarization of curvature radiation has sign reversals in the patchy emission, while it has a single sign for the core emission, and is negligible for the cone emission.Comment: 13pages,20figure