27,532 research outputs found
Spontaneous patterns in coherently driven polariton microcavities
We consider a polariton microcavity resonantly driven by two external lasers
which simultaneously pump both lower and upper polariton branches at normal
incidence. In this setup, we study the occurrence of instabilities of the
pump-only solutions towards the spontaneous formation of patterns. Their
appearance is a consequence of the spontaneous symmetry breaking of
translational and rotational invariance due to interaction induced parametric
scattering. We observe the evolution between diverse patterns which can be
classified as single-pump, where parametric scattering occurs at the same
energy as one of the pumps, and as two-pump, where scattering occurs at a
different energy. For two-pump instabilities, stripe and chequerboard patterns
become the dominant steady-state solutions because cubic parametric scattering
processes are forbidden. This contrasts with the single-pump case, where
hexagonal patterns are the most common arrangements. We study the possibility
of controlling the evolution between different patterns. Our results are
obtained within a linear stability analysis and are confirmed by finite size
full numerical calculations.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure
A comprehensive study of rate capability in Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers
Systematic measurements on the rate capability of thin MWPCs operated in
Xenon, Argon and Neon mixtures using CO2 as UV-quencher are presented. A good
agreement between data and existing models has been found, allowing us to
present the rate capability of MWPCs in a comprehensive way and ultimately
connect it with the mobilities of the drifting ions.Comment: 29 pages, 18 figure
Self-organized evolution in socio-economic environments
We propose a general scenario to analyze social and economic changes in
modern environments. We illustrate the ideas with a model that incorporating
the main trends is simple enough to extract analytical results and, at the same
time, sufficiently complex to display a rich dynamic behavior. Our study shows
that there exists a macroscopic observable that is maximized in a regime where
the system is critical, in the sense that the distribution of events follow
power-laws. Computer simulations show that, in addition, the system always
self-organizes to achieve the optimal performance in the stationary state.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX; needs epsf.sty and rotate.sty; submitted to Phys Rev
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A center for commercial development of space: Real-time satellite mapping. Remote sensing-based agricultural information expert system
The research project results in a powerful yet user friendly CROPCAST expert system for use by a client to determine the crop yield production of a certain crop field. The study is based on the facts that heuristic assessment and decision making in agriculture are significant and dominate much of agribusiness. Transfer of the expert knowledge concerning remote sensing based crop yield production into a specific expert system is the key program in this study. A knowledge base consisting of a root frame, CROP-YIELD-FORECAST, and four subframes, namely, SATELLITE, PLANT-PHYSIOLOGY, GROUND, and MODEL were developed to accommodate the production rules obtained from the domain expert. The expert system shell Personal Consultant Plus version 4.0. was used for this purpose. An external geographic program was integrated to the system. This project is the first part of a completely built expert system. The study reveals that much effort was given to the development of the rules. Such effort is inevitable if workable, efficient, and accurate rules are desired. Furthermore, abundant help statements and graphics were included. Internal and external display routines add to the visual capability of the system. The work results in a useful tool for the client for making decisions on crop yield production
PPAK Wide-field Integral Field Spectroscopy of NGC 628: I. The largest spectroscopic mosaic on a single galaxy
We present a wide-field IFS survey on the nearby face-on Sbc galaxy NGC 628,
comprising 11094 individual spectra, covering a nearly circular field-of-view
of ~6 arcmin in diameter, with a sampling of ~2.7 arcsec per spectrum in the
optical wavelength range (3700--7000 AA). This galaxy is part of the PPAK IFS
Nearby Galaxies Survey, (PINGS, Rosales-Ortega et al. 2009). To our knowledge,
this is the widest spectroscopic survey ever made in a single nearby galaxy. A
detailed flux calibration was applied, granting a spectrophotometric accuracy
of \,0.2 mag.
The age of the stellar populations shows a negative gradient from the inner
(older) to the outer (younger) regions. We found an inversion of this gradient
in the central ~1 kpc region, where a somewhat younger stellar population is
present within a ring at this radius. This structure is associated with a
circumnuclear star-forming region at ~ 500 pc, also found in similar spiral
galaxies. From the study of the integrated and spatially resolved ionized gas
we found a moderate SFR of ~ 2.4 Msun yr. The oxygen abundance shows a a
clear gradient of higher metallicity values from the inner part to the outer
part of the galaxy, with a mean value of 12~+~log(O/H) ~ 8.7. At some specific
regions of the galaxy, the spatially resolved distribution of the physical
properties show some level of structure, suggesting real point-to-point
variations within an individual \hh region. Our results are consistent with an
inside-out growth scheme, with stronger star formation at the outer regions,
and with evolved stellar populations in the inner ones.Comment: 31 pages, 22 Figuras, Accepted for Publishing in MNRAS (corrected
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Interplanetary propulsion using inertial fusion
Inertial fusion can be used to power spacecraft within the solar system and beyond. Such spacecraft have the potential for short-duration manned-mission performance exceeding other technologies. We are conducting a study to assess the systems aspects of inertial fusion as applied to such missions, based on the conceptual engine design of Hyde (1983) we describe the required systems for an entirely new spacecraft design called VISTA that is based on the use of DT fuel. We give preliminary design details for the power conversion and power conditioning systems for manned missions to Mars of total duration of about 100 days. Specific mission performance results will be published elsewhere, after the study has been completed
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