115 research outputs found
Nonlinear Analysis of Irregular Variables
The Fourier spectral techniques that are common in Astronomy for analyzing
periodic or multi-periodic light-curves lose their usefulness when they are
applied to unsteady light-curves. We review some of the novel techniques that
have been developed for analyzing irregular stellar light or radial velocity
variations, and we describe what useful physical and astronomical information
can be gained from their use.Comment: 31 pages, to appear as a chapter in `Nonlinear Stellar Pulsation' in
the Astrophysics and Space Science Library (ASSL), Editors: M. Takeuti & D.
Sasselo
Relating a calcium indicator signal to the unperturbed calcium concentration time-course
BACKGROUND: Optical indicators of cytosolic calcium levels have become important experimental tools in systems and cellular neuroscience. Indicators are known to interfere with intracellular calcium levels by acting as additional buffers, and this may strongly alter the time-course of various dynamical variables to be measured. RESULTS: By investigating the underlying reaction kinetics, we show that in some ranges of kinetic parameters one can explicitly link the time dependent indicator signal to the time-course of the calcium influx, and thus, to the unperturbed calcium level had there been no indicator in the cell
Self-organization in the olfactory system: one shot odor recognition in insects
We show in a model of spiking neurons that synaptic plasticity in the mushroom bodies in combination with the general fan-in, fan-out properties of the early processing layers of the olfactory system might be sufficient to account for its efficient recognition of odors. For a large variety of initial conditions the model system consistently finds a working solution without any fine-tuning, and is, therefore, inherently robust. We demonstrate that gain control through the known feedforward inhibition of lateral horn interneurons increases the capacity of the system but is not essential for its general function. We also predict an upper limit for the number of odor classes Drosophila can discriminate based on the number and connectivity of its olfactory neurons
Classical Effective Field Theory for Weak Ultra Relativistic Scattering
Inspired by the problem of Planckian scattering we describe a classical
effective field theory for weak ultra relativistic scattering in which field
propagation is instantaneous and transverse and the particles' equations of
motion localize to the instant of passing. An analogy with the non-relativistic
(post-Newtonian) approximation is stressed. The small parameter is identified
and power counting rules are established. The theory is applied to reproduce
the leading scattering angle for either a scalar interaction field or
electro-magnetic or gravitational; to compute some subleading corrections,
including the interaction duration; and to allow for non-zero masses. For the
gravitational case we present an appropriate decomposition of the gravitational
field onto the transverse plane together with its whole non-linear action. On
the way we touch upon the relation with the eikonal approximation, some
evidence for censorship of quantum gravity, and an algebraic ring structure on
2d Minkowski spacetime.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures. v4: Duration of interaction is determined in Sec
4 and detailed in App C. Version accepted for publication in JHE
Dynamic clamp with StdpC software
Dynamic clamp is a powerful method that allows the introduction of artificial electrical components into target cells to simulate ionic conductances and synaptic inputs. This method is based on a fast cycle of measuring the membrane potential of a cell, calculating the current of a desired simulated component using an appropriate model and injecting this current into the cell. Here we present a dynamic clamp protocol using free, fully integrated, open-source software (StdpC, for spike timing-dependent plasticity clamp). Use of this protocol does not require specialist hardware, costly commercial software, experience in real-time operating systems or a strong programming background. The software enables the configuration and operation of a wide range of complex and fully automated dynamic clamp experiments through an intuitive and powerful interface with a minimal initial lead time of a few hours. After initial configuration, experimental results can be generated within minutes of establishing cell recording
Deterministic polarization chaos from a laser diode
Fifty years after the invention of the laser diode and fourty years after the
report of the butterfly effect - i.e. the unpredictability of deterministic
chaos, it is said that a laser diode behaves like a damped nonlinear
oscillator. Hence no chaos can be generated unless with additional forcing or
parameter modulation. Here we report the first counter-example of a
free-running laser diode generating chaos. The underlying physics is a
nonlinear coupling between two elliptically polarized modes in a
vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. We identify chaos in experimental
time-series and show theoretically the bifurcations leading to single- and
double-scroll attractors with characteristics similar to Lorenz chaos. The
reported polarization chaos resembles at first sight a noise-driven mode
hopping but shows opposite statistical properties. Our findings open up new
research areas that combine the high speed performances of microcavity lasers
with controllable and integrated sources of optical chaos.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Next-to-eikonal corrections to soft gluon radiation: a diagrammatic approach
We consider the problem of soft gluon resummation for gauge theory amplitudes
and cross sections, at next-to-eikonal order, using a Feynman diagram approach.
At the amplitude level, we prove exponentiation for the set of factorizable
contributions, and construct effective Feynman rules which can be used to
compute next-to-eikonal emissions directly in the logarithm of the amplitude,
finding agreement with earlier results obtained using path-integral methods.
For cross sections, we also consider sub-eikonal corrections to the phase space
for multiple soft-gluon emissions, which contribute to next-to-eikonal
logarithms. To clarify the discussion, we examine a class of log(1 - x) terms
in the Drell-Yan cross-section up to two loops. Our results are the first steps
towards a systematic generalization of threshold resummations to
next-to-leading power in the threshold expansion.Comment: 66 pages, 19 figure
High Energy Bounds on Soft N=4 SYM Amplitudes from AdS/CFT
Using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study the high-energy behavior of
colorless dipole elastic scattering amplitudes in N=4 SYM gauge theory through
the Wilson loop correlator formalism and Euclidean to Minkowskian analytic
continuation. The purely elastic behavior obtained at large impact-parameter L,
through duality from disconnected AdS_5 minimal surfaces beyond the
Gross-Ooguri transition point, is combined with unitarity and analyticity
constraints in the central region. In this way we obtain an absolute bound on
the high-energy behavior of the forward scattering amplitude due to the
graviton interaction between minimal surfaces in the bulk. The dominant
"Pomeron" intercept is bounded by alpha less than or equal to 11/7 using the
AdS/CFT constraint of a weak gravitational field in the bulk. Assuming the
elastic eikonal approximation in a larger impact-parameter range gives alpha
between 4/3 and 11/7. The actual intercept becomes 4/3 if one assumes the
elastic eikonal approximation within its maximally allowed range L larger than
exp{Y/3}, where Y is the total rapidity. Subleading AdS/CFT contributions at
large impact-parameter due to the other d=10 supergravity fields are obtained.
A divergence in the real part of the tachyonic KK scalar is cured by
analyticity but signals the need for a theoretical completion of the AdS/CFT
scheme.Comment: 25 pages, 3 eps figure
Synchronous bursts on scale-free neuronal networks with attractive and repulsive coupling
This paper investigates the dependence of synchronization transitions of
bursting oscillations on the information transmission delay over scale-free
neuronal networks with attractive and repulsive coupling. It is shown that for
both types of coupling, the delay always plays a subtle role in either
promoting or impairing synchronization. In particular, depending on the
inherent oscillation period of individual neurons, regions of irregular and
regular propagating excitatory fronts appear intermittently as the delay
increases. These delay-induced synchronization transitions are manifested as
well-expressed minima in the measure for spatiotemporal synchrony. For
attractive coupling, the minima appear at every integer multiple of the average
oscillation period, while for the repulsive coupling, they appear at every odd
multiple of the half of the average oscillation period. The obtained results
are robust to the variations of the dynamics of individual neurons, the system
size, and the neuronal firing type. Hence, they can be used to characterize
attractively or repulsively coupled scale-free neuronal networks with delays.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication in PLoS ONE [related
work available at http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.4961 and
http://www.matjazperc.com/
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