7,395 research outputs found
Collective Equipoise, Disappointment and the Therapeutic Misconception: On the Consequences of Selection for Clinical Research
Private information induces individuals to self-select as subjects into clinical research trials, and it induces researchers to select which trials they conduct. We show that selection can induce ex ante therapeutic misconception and ex post disappointment among research subjects; and it undermines it the rationale of collective equipoise as an ethical basis for clinical trials. Selection provides a reason to make non-trivial payments to subjects and it implies that researchers should not design experiments to maximize statistical power.clinical trials, therapeutic misconception, equipoise, selection
Robustness of the Thirty Meter Telescope Primary Mirror Control System
The primary mirror control system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) maintains the alignment of the 492 segments in the presence of both quasi-static (gravity and thermal) and dynamic disturbances due to unsteady wind loads. The latter results in a desired control bandwidth of 1Hz at high spatial frequencies. The achievable bandwidth is limited by robustness to (i) uncertain telescope structural dynamics (control-structure interaction) and (ii) small perturbations in the ill-conditioned influence matrix that relates segment edge sensor response to actuator commands. Both of these effects are considered herein using models of TMT. The former is explored through multivariable sensitivity analysis on a reduced-order Zernike-basis representation of the structural dynamics. The interaction matrix ("A-matrix") uncertainty has been analyzed theoretically elsewhere, and is examined here for realistic amplitude perturbations due to segment and sensor installation errors, and gravity and thermal induced segment motion. The primary influence of A-matrix uncertainty is on the control of "focusmode"; this is the least observable mode, measurable only through the edge-sensor (gap-dependent) sensitivity to the dihedral angle between segments. Accurately estimating focus-mode will require updating the A-matrix as a function of the measured gap. A-matrix uncertainty also results in a higher gain-margin requirement for focus-mode, and hence the A-matrix and CSI robustness need to be understood simultaneously. Based on the robustness analysis, the desired 1 Hz bandwidth is achievable in the presence of uncertainty for all except the lowest spatial-frequency response patterns of the primary mirror
Multi-GeV Neutrino Emission from Magnetized Gamma Ray Bursts
We investigate the expected neutrino emissivity from nuclear collisions in
magnetically dominated collisional models of gamma-ray bursts, motivated by
recent observational and theoretical developments. The results indicate that
significant multi-GeV neutrino fluxes are expected for model parameter values
which are typical of electromagnetically detected bursts. We show that for
detecting at least one muon event in Icecube and its Deep Core sub-array, a
single burst must be near the high end of the luminosity function and at a
redshift . We also calculate the luminosity and distance ranges
that can generate muon events per GRB in the same detectors, which may
be of interest if simultaneously detected electromagnetically, or if measured
with future extensions of Icecube or other neutrino detectors with larger
effective volume and better sensitivity.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted version for Phys.Rev.
Resonance Production in STAR
The recent results from resonance production in central Au+Au and p+p
collisions at 200 GeV from the STAR experiment at RHIC
are presented and discussed.Comment: 7 pages, proceedings 19th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics,
Breckenridge, Colorado, USA, February 8-15, 200
A Burst and Simultaneous Short-Term Pulsed Flux Enhancement from the Magnetar Candidate 1E 1048.1-5937
We report on the 2004 June 29 burst detected from the direction of the
Anomalous X-ray Pulsar (AXP) 1E 1048.1-5937 using the Rossi X-ray Timing
Explorer (RXTE). We find a simultaneous increase of ~3.5 times the quiescent
value in the 2-10 keV pulsed flux of 1E 1048.1-5937 during the tail of the
burst which identifies the AXP as the burst's origin. The burst was overall
very similar to the two others reported from the direction of this source in
2001. The unambiguous identification of 1E 1048.1-5937 as the burster here
confirms it was the origin of the 2001 bursts as well. The epoch of the burst
peak was very close to the arrival time of 1E 1048.1-5937's pulse peak. The
burst exhibited significant spectral evolution with the trend going from hard
to soft. During the 11 days following the burst, the AXP was observed further
with RXTE, XMM-Newton and Chandra. Pre- and post-burst observations revealed no
change in the total flux or spectrum of the quiescent emission. Comparing all
three bursts detected thus far from this source we find that this event was the
most fluent (>3.3x10^-8 erg/cm^2 in the 2-20 keV band), had the highest peak
flux (59+/-9x10^-10 erg/s/cm^2 in the 2-20 keV band), and the longest duration
(>699 s). The long duration of the burst differentiates it from Soft Gamma
Repeater (SGR) bursts which have typical durations of ~0.1 s. Bursts that occur
preferentially at pulse maximum, have fast-rises and long X-tails containing
the majority of the total burst energy have been seen uniquely from AXPs. The
marked differences between AXP and SGRs bursts may provide new clues to help
understand the physical differences between these objects.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa
The Dynamic Behavior of Soft Gamma Repeaters
Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) undergo changes in their pulse properties and
persistent emission during episodes of intense burst activity. Both SGR 1900+14
and SGR 1806-20 have shown significant changes in their spin-down rates during
the last several years, yet the bulk of this variability is not correlated with
burst activity. SGR 1900+14 has undergone large changes in flux and a dramatic
pulse profile change following burst activity in 1998. The flux level of SGR
162741 has been decreasing since its only recorded burst activity. Here, we
review the global properties of SGRs as well as the observed dynamics of the
pulsed and persistent emission properties of SGR 1900+14, SGR 1806-20 and SGR
1627-41 during and following burst active episodes and discuss what
implications these results have for the burst emission mechanism, the magnetic
field dynamics of magnetars, the nature of the torque variability, and SGRs in
general.Comment: Invited review to appear in "High Energy Studies of Supernova
Remnants and Neutron Stars" (COSPAR 2002). 12 pages, 7 figure
Hard Burst Emission from the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1900+14
We present evidence for burst emission from SGR 1900+14 with a power-law high
energy spectrum extending beyond 500 keV. Unlike previous detections of high
energy photons during bursts from SGRs, these emissions are not associated with
high-luminosity burst intervals. Not only is the emission hard, but the spectra
are better fit by Band's GRB function rather than by the traditional
optically-thin thermal bremsstrahlung model. We find that the spectral
evolution within these hard events obeys a hardness/intensity anti-correlation.
Temporally, these events are distinct from typical SGR burst emissions in that
they are longer (~ 1 s) and have relatively smooth profiles. Despite a
difference in peak luminosity of > 1E+11 between these bursts from SGR 1900+14
and cosmological GRBs, there are striking temporal and spectral similarities
between the two kinds of bursts, aside from spectral evolution. We outline an
interpretation of these events in the context of the magnetar model.Comment: 11 pages (text and figures), submitted to ApJ Letters, corrected
erroneous hardness ratio
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