1,387 research outputs found
Roundabout relaxation: collective excitation requires a detour to equilibrium
Relaxation to equilibrium after strong and collective excitation is studied,
by using a Hamiltonian dynamical system of one dimensional XY model. After an
excitation of a domain of elements, the excitation is concentrated to fewer
elements, which are made farther away from equilibrium, and the excitation
intensity increases logarithmically with . Equilibrium is reached only after
taking this ``roundabout'' route, with the time for relaxation diverging
asymptotically as with .Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Self-Organized Bottleneck in Energy Relaxation
We study an energy relaxation process after many degrees of freedom are
excited in a Hamiltonian system with a large number of degrees of freedom.
Bottlenecks of relaxation, where relaxations of the excited elements are
drastically slowed down, are discovered. By defining an internal state for the
excited degrees of freedom, it is shown that the drastic slowing down occurs
when the internal state is in a critical state. The relaxation dynamics brings
the internal state into the critical state, and the critical bottleneck of
relaxation is self-organized. Relevance of our result to relaxation phenomena
in condensed matters or large molecules is briefly discussed.Comment: 4pages, 5 figure
Exact Casimir-Polder potentials: interaction of an atom with a conductor-patched dielectric surface
We study the interaction between a neutral atom or molecule and a
conductor-patched dielectric surface. We model this system by a perfectly
reflecting disc lying atop of a non-dispersive dielectric half-space, both
interacting with the neutral atom or molecule. We assume the interaction to be
non-retarded and at zero temperature. We find an exact solution to this
problem. In addition we generate a number of other useful results. For the case
of no substrate we obtain the exact formula for the van der Waals interaction
energy of an atom near a perfectly conducting disc. We show that the
Casimir-Polder force acting on an atom that is polarized in the direction
normal to the surface of the disc displays intricate behaviour. This part of
our results is directly relevant to recent matter-wave experiments in which
cold molecules are scattered by a radially symmetric object in order to study
diffraction patterns and the so-called Poisson spot. Furthermore, we give an
exact expression for the non-retarded limit of the Casimir-Polder interaction
between an atom and a perfectly-conducting bowl.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Direct Dark Matter Detection with Velocity Distribution in the Eddington approach
Exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (associated with the
cosmological constant) seem to dominate the Universe. Thus its direct detection
is central to particle physics and cosmology. Supersymmetry provides a natural
dark matter candidate, the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). One
essential ingredient in obtaining the direct detection rates is the density and
the velocity distribution of the LSP in our vicinity. In the present paper we
study simultaneously density profiles and velocity distributions in the context
of the Eddington approach. In such an approach, unlike the commonly assumed
Maxwell-Boltzmann (M-B) distribution, the upper bound of the velocity arises
naturally from the potential.Comment: 21 LaTex pages, 27 figure
A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Accreting Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J121209.31+013627.7 and its Substellar Companion
The nature of the excess near-infrared emission associated with the magnetic
white dwarf commonly known as SDSS 1212 is investigated primarily through
spectroscopy, and also via photometry. The inferred low mass secondary in this
system has been previously detected by the emission and variation of H,
and the m spectral data presented here are consistent with the
presence of a late L or early T dwarf. The excess flux seen beyond 1.5 m
in the phase-averaged spectrum is adequately modeled with an L8 dwarf
substellar companion and cyclotron emission in a 7 MG magnetic field. This
interesting system manifests several observational properties typical of
polars, and is most likely an old interacting binary with a magnetic white
dwarf and a substellar donor in an extended low state.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, Accepted to Ap
Cool Customers in the Stellar Graveyard IV: Spitzer Search for Mid-IR excesses Around Five DAs
Hydrogen atmosphere white dwarfs with metal lines, so-called DAZs, require
external accretion of material to explain the presence of weak metal line
absorption in their photospheres. The source of this material is currently
unknown, but could come from the interstellar medium, unseen companions, or
relic planetesimals from asteroid belt or Kuiper belt analogues. Accurate
mid-infrared photometry of these white dwarfs provide additional information to
solve the mystery of this accretion and to look for evidence of planetary
systems that have survived post main sequence evolution. We present {\em
Spitzer} IRAC photometry accurate to 3% for four DAZs and one DA with
circumstellar absorption lines in the UV. We search for excesses due to unseen
companions or circumstellar dust disks. We use {\em Hubble Space Telescope}
NICMOS imaging of these white dwarfs to gauge the level of background
contamination to our targets as well as rule out common proper motion
companions to WD 1620-391. All of our targets show no excesses due to
companions 20 M, ruling out all but very low mass companions to these
white dwarfs at all separations. No excesses due to circumstellar disks are
observed, and we place limits on what types of disks may still be present.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, Accepted to A
Estimate of blow-up and relaxation time for self-gravitating Brownian particles and bacterial populations
We determine an asymptotic expression of the blow-up time t_coll for
self-gravitating Brownian particles or bacterial populations (chemotaxis) close
to the critical point. We show that t_coll=t_{*}(eta-eta_c)^{-1/2} with
t_{*}=0.91767702..., where eta represents the inverse temperature (for Brownian
particles) or the mass (for bacterial colonies), and eta_c is the critical
value of eta above which the system blows up. This result is in perfect
agreement with the numerical solution of the Smoluchowski-Poisson system. We
also determine the asymptotic expression of the relaxation time close but above
the critical temperature and derive a large time asymptotic expansion for the
density profile exactly at the critical point
On the Gravitational Collapse of a Gas Cloud in Presence of Bulk Viscosity
We analyze the effects induced by the bulk viscosity on the dynamics
associated to the extreme gravitational collapse. Aim of the work is to
investigate whether the presence of viscous corrections to the evolution of a
collapsing gas cloud influence the fragmentation process. To this end we study
the dynamics of a uniform and spherically symmetric cloud with corrections due
to the negative pressure contribution associated to the bulk viscosity
phenomenology. Within the framework of a Newtonian approach (whose range of
validity is outlined), we extend to the viscous case either the Lagrangian,
either the Eulerian motion of the system and we treat the asymptotic evolution
in correspondence to a viscosity coefficient of the form ( being the cloud density and ). We show how,
in the adiabatic-like behavior of the gas (i.e. when the politropic index takes
values ), density contrasts acquire, asymptotically, a
vanishing behavior which prevents the formation of sub-structures. We can
conclude that in the adiabatic-like collapse the top down mechanism of
structures formation is suppressed as soon as enough strong viscous effects are
taken into account. Such a feature is not present in the isothermal-like (i.e.
) collapse because the sub-structures formation is yet present
and outlines the same behavior as in the non-viscous case. We emphasize that in
the adiabatic-like collapse the bulk viscosity is also responsible for the
appearance of a threshold scale beyond which perturbations begin to increase.Comment: 13 pages, no figur
Self-consistent models of cuspy triaxial galaxies with dark matter haloes
We have constructed realistic, self-consistent models of triaxial elliptical
galaxies embedded in triaxial dark matter haloes. We examined three different
models for the shape of the dark matter halo: (i) the same axis ratios as the
luminous matter (0.7:0.86:1); (ii) a more prolate shape (0.5:0.66:1); (iii) a
more oblate shape (0.7:0.93:1). The models were obtained by means of the
standard orbital superposition technique introduced by Schwarzschild.
Self-consistent solutions were found in each of the three cases. Chaotic orbits
were found to be important in all of the models,and their presence was shown to
imply a possible slow evolution of the shapes of the haloes. Our results
demonstrate for the first time that triaxial dark matter haloes can co-exist
with triaxial galaxies.Comment: Latex paper based on the AASTEX format, 20 pages, 11 figures, 2
tables. Paper submitted to Ap
Weyl asymptotics: From closed to open systems
We present microwave experiments on the symmetry reduced 5-disk billiard
studying the transition from a closed to an open system. The measured microwave
reflection signal is analyzed by means of the harmonic inversion and the
counting function of the resulting resonances is studied. For the closed system
this counting function shows the Weyl asymptotic with a leading exponent equal
to 2. By opening the system successively this exponent decreases smoothly to an
non-integer value. For the open systems the extraction of resonances by the
harmonic inversion becomes more challenging and the arising difficulties are
discussed. The results can be interpreted as a first experimental indication
for the fractal Weyl conjecture for resonances.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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