15,570 research outputs found
Measuring Dark Energy with Gamma-Ray Bursts and Other Cosmological Probes
It has been widely shown that the cosmological parameters and dark energy can
be constrained by using data from type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO)
peak from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the X-ray gas mass fraction in
clusters, and the linear growth rate of perturbations at z=0.15 as obtained
from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. Recently, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have
also been argued to be promising standard candles for cosmography. In this
paper, we present constraints on the cosmological parameters and dark energy by
combining a recent GRB sample including 69 events with the other cosmological
probes. First, we find that for the LambdaCDM cosmology this combination makes
the constraints stringent and the best fit is close to the flat universe.
Second, we fit the flat Cardassian expansion model and find that this model is
consistent with the LambdaCDM cosmology. Third, we present constraints on
several two-parameter dark energy models and find that these models are also
consistent with the LambdaCDM cosmology. Finally, we reconstruct the dark
energy equation-of-state parameter w(z) and the deceleration parameter q(z). We
see that the acceleration could have started at a redshift from
z_T=0.40_{-0.08}^{+0.14} to z_T=0.65_{-0.05}^{+0.10}. This difference in the
transition redshift is due to different dark energy models that we adopt. The
most stringent constraint on w(z) lies in the redshift range z\sim 0.3-0.6.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. One reference
added, one minor change in the final paragraph of section
Complementary Constraints on Brane Cosmology
The acceleration of the expansion of the universe represents one of the major
challenges to our current understanding of fundamental physics. In principle,
to explain this phenomenon, at least two different routes may be followed:
either adjusting the energy content of the Universe -- by introducing a
negative-pressure dark energy -- or modifying gravity at very large scales --
by introducing new spatial dimensions, an idea also required by unification
theories. In the cosmological context, the role of such extra dimensions as the
source of the dark pressure responsable for the acceleration of our Universe is
translated into the so-called brane world (BW) cosmologies. Here we study
complementary constraints on a particular class of BW scenarios in which the
modification of gravity arises due to a gravitational \emph{leakage} into extra
dimensions. To this end, we use the most recent Chandra measurements of the
X-ray gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters, the WMAP determinations of the
baryon density parameter, measurements of the Hubble parameter from the
\emph{HST}, and the current supernova data. In agreement with other recent
results, it is shown that these models provide a good description for these
complementary data, although a closed scenario is always favored in the joint
analysis. We emphasize that observational tests of BW scenarios constitute a
natural verification of the role of possible extra dimensions in both
fundamental physics and cosmology.Comment: 6 Pages, 4 Figures, LaTe
Damage detection of shear connectors in bridge structures with transmissibility in frequency domain
Shear connectors are generally used to link the slab and girder together in slab-on-girder bridge structures. Damage of shear connectors in such structures will result in shear slippage between the slab and girder, which significantly reduces the load-carrying capacity of bridges. A damage detection approach based on transmissibility in frequency domain is proposed in this paper to identify the damage of shear connectors in slab-on-girder bridge structures with or without reference data from the undamaged structure. The transmissibility, which is an inherent system characteristic, indicates the relationship between two sets of response vectors in frequency domain. Measured input force and acceleration responses from hammer tests are analyzed to obtain the frequency response functions at the slab and girder sensor locations by the experimental modal analysis. The transmissibility matrix that relates the slab response to the girder response is then derived. By comparing the transmissibility vectors in undamaged and damaged states, the damage level of shear connectors can be identified. When the measurement data from the undamaged structure are not available, a study with only the measured response data in the damaged state for the condition assessment of shear connectors is also conducted. Numerical and experimental studies on damage detection of shear connectors linking a concrete slab to two steel girders are conducted to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can be used to identify shear connector damages accurately and efficiently. The proposed method is also applied to the condition evaluation of shear connectors in a real composite bridge with in-field testing data
Direct tunneling through high- amorphous HfO: effects of chemical modification
We report first principles modeling of quantum tunneling through amorphous
HfO dielectric layer of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) nanostructures in
the form of n-Si/HfO/Al. In particular we predict that chemically modifying
the amorphous HfO barrier by doping N and Al atoms in the middle region -
far from the two interfaces of the MOS structure, can reduce the
gate-to-channel tunnel leakage by more than one order of magnitude. Several
other types of modification are found to enhance tunneling or induce
substantial band bending in the Si, both are not desired from leakage point of
view. By analyzing transmission coefficients and projected density of states,
the microscopic physics of electron traversing the tunnel barrier with or
without impurity atoms in the high- dielectric is revealed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Hybrid Chaplygin gas and phantom divide crossing
Hybrid Chaplygin gas model is put forward, in which the gases play the role
of dark energy. For this model the coincidence problem is greatly alleviated.
The effective equation of state of the dark energy may cross the phantom divide
. Furthermore, the crossing behaviour is decoupled from any gravity
theories. In the present model, is only a transient behaviour. There is
a de Sitter attractor in the future infinity. Hence, the big rip singularity,
which often afflicts the models with matter whose effective equation of state
less than -1, is naturally disappear. There exist stable scaling solutions,
both at the early universe and the late universe. We discuss the perturbation
growth of this model. We find that the index is consistent with observations.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, V3: discussions on the perturbation growth
added, V4: minor corrections, to match the published versio
Entanglement and quantum phase transition in alternating XY spin chain with next-nearest neighbour interactions
By using the method of density-matrix renormalization-group to solve the
different spin-spin correlation functions, the nearest-neighbouring
entanglement(NNE) and next-nearest-neighbouring entanglement(NNNE) of
one-dimensional alternating Heisenberg XY spin chain is investigated in the
presence of alternating nearest neighbour interactions of exchange couplings,
external magnetic fields and next-nearest neighbouring interactions. For
dimerized ferromagnetic spin chain, NNNE appears only above the critical
dimerized interaction, meanwhile, the dimerized interaction effects quantum
phase transition point and improves NNNE to a large value. We also study the
effect of ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic next-nearest neighboring (NNN)
interactions on the dynamics of NNE and NNNE. The ferromagnetic NNN interaction
increases and shrinks NNE below and above critical frustrated interaction
respectively, while the antiferromagnetic NNN interaction always decreases NNE.
The antiferromagnetic NNN interaction results to a larger value of NNNE in
comparison to the case when the NNN interaction is ferromagnetic.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures,. accepted by Chinese Physics B 2008 11 (in
press
Dual E627K and D701N mutations in the PB2 protein of A(H7N9) influenza virus increased its virulence in mammalian models
The ongoing avian H7N9 influenza outbreaks in China have caused significant human fatal cases and the virus is becoming established in poultry. Mutations with potential to increase mammalian adaptation have occurred in the polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2) and other viral genes. Here we found that dual 627K and 701N mutations could readily occur during transmission of the virus among ferrets via direct physical contact, and these mutations conferred higher polymerase activity and improved viral replication in mammalian cells, and enhanced virulence in mice. Special attention needs to be paid to patients with such mutations, as these may serve as an indicator of higher virus replication and increased pathogenicity.published_or_final_versio
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