Structure in the Epislon Eridani dusty disk caused by mean motion resonances with a 0.3 eccentricity planet at periastron

The morphology of the epsilon Eridani dust ring is reproduced by a numerical simulation of dust particles captured into the 5:3 and 3:2 exterior mean-motion resonances with a 0.3 eccentricity 10^-4 solar mass planet at periastron at a semi-major axis of 40 AU. The morphology will differ when the planet is at aphelion, in about 140 years. Moderate eccentricity planets in outer extra-solar systems will cause observable variations in the morphology of associated dusty rings.Comment: accepted to ApJ

Gauge and Lorentz transformation placed on the same foundation

In this note we show that a "dynamical" interaction for arbitrary spin can be constructed in a straightforward way if gauge and Lorentz transformations are placed on the same foundation. As Lorentz transformations act on space-time coordinates, gauge transformations are applied to the gauge field. Placing these two transformations on the same ground means that all quantized field like spin-1/2 and spin-3/2 spinors are functions not only of the coordinates but also of the gauge field components. This change of perspective solves a couple of problems occuring for higher spin fields like the loss of causality, bad high-energy properties and the deviation of the gyromagnetic ratio from its constant value g=2 for any spin, as caused by applying the minimal coupling. Starting with a "dynamical" interaction, a non-minimal coupling can be derived which is consistent with causality, the expectation for the gyromagnetic ratio, and well-behaved for high energies. As a consequence, on this stage the (elektromagnetic) gauge field has to be considered as classical field. Therefore, standard quantum field theory cannot be applied. Despite this inconvenience, such a common ground is consistent with an old dream of physicists almost a century ago. Our approach, therefore, indicates a straightforward way to realize this dream.Comment: 12 pages, no figures, published version. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0908.376

Bisous model - detecting filamentary patterns in point processes

The cosmic web is a highly complex geometrical pattern, with galaxy clusters at the intersection of filaments and filaments at the intersection of walls. Identifying and describing the filamentary network is not a trivial task due to the overwhelming complexity of the structure, its connectivity and the intrinsic hierarchical nature. To detect and quantify galactic filaments we use the Bisous model, which is a marked point process built to model multi-dimensional patterns. The Bisous filament finder works directly with the galaxy distribution data and the model intrinsically takes into account the connectivity of the filamentary network. The Bisous model generates the visit map (the probability to find a filament at a given point) together with the filament orientation field. Using these two fields, we can extract filament spines from the data. Together with this paper we publish the computer code for the Bisous model that is made available in GitHub. The Bisous filament finder has been successfully used in several cosmological applications and further development of the model will allow to detect the filamentary network also in photometric redshift surveys, using the full redshift posterior. We also want to encourage the astro-statistical community to use the model and to connect it with all other existing methods for filamentary pattern detection and characterisation.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Computin

Ehrenfest-time dependence of weak localization in open quantum dots

Semiclassical theory predicts that the weak localization correction to the conductance of a ballistic chaotic cavity is suppressed if the Ehrenfest time exceeds the dwell time in the cavity [I. L. Aleiner and A. I. Larkin, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 54}, 14424 (1996)]. We report numerical simulations of weak localization in the open quantum kicked rotator that confirm this prediction. Our results disagree with the `effective random matrix theory' of transport through ballistic chaotic cavities.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Interactions of the magnetospheres of stars and close-in giant planets

Since the first discovery of an extrasolar planetary system more than a decade ago, hundreds more have been discovered. Surprisingly, many of these systems harbor Jupiter-class gas giants located close to the central star, at distances of 0.1 AU or less. Observations of chromospheric 'hot spots' that rotate in phase with the planetary orbit, and elevated stellar X-ray luminosities,suggest that these close-in planets significantly affect the structure of the outer atmosphere of the star through interactions between the stellar magnetic field and the planetary magnetosphere. Here we carry out the first detailed three-dimensional MagnetoHydroHynamics (MHD) simulation containing the two magnetic bodies and explore the consequences of such interactions on the steady-state coronal structure. The simulations reproduce the observable features of 1) increase in the total X-ray luminosity, 2) appearance of coronal hot spots, and 3) phase shift of these spots with respect to the direction of the planet. The proximate cause of these is an increase in the density of coronal plasma in the direction of the planet, which prevents the corona from expanding and leaking away this plasma via a stellar wind. The simulations produce significant low temperature heating. By including dynamical effects, such as the planetary orbital motion, the simulation should better reproduce the observed coronal heating