Robustness of d-Density Wave Order to Nonmagnetic Impurities

Effect of finite density of nonmagnetic impurities on a coexisting phase of d-density wave (DDW) order and d-wave superconducting (DSC) order is studied using Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) method. The spatial variation of the inhomogeneous DDW order due to impurities has a strong correlation with that of density, which is very different from that of DSC order. The length scale associated with DDW is found to be of the order of a lattice spacing. The nontrivial inhomogeneities are shown to make DDW order much more robust to the impurities, while DSC order becomes very sensitive to them. The effect of disorder on the density of states is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 PostScript figure

Gravitino Dark Matter in the CMSSM With Improved Constraints from BBN

In the framework of the Constrained MSSM we re--examine the gravitino as the lightest superpartner and a candidate for cold dark matter in the Universe. Unlike in other recent studies, we include both a thermal contribution to its relic population from scatterings in the plasma and a non--thermal one from neutralino or stau decays after freeze--out. Relative to a previous analysis [1] we update, extend and considerably improve our treatment of constraints from observed light element abundances on additional energy released during BBN in association with late gravitino production. Assuming the gravitino mass in the GeV to TeV range, and for natural ranges of other supersymmetric parameters, the neutralino region is excluded, while for smaller values of the gravitino mass it becomes allowed again. The gravitino relic abundance is consistent with observational constraints on cold dark matter from BBN and CMB in some well defined domains of the stau region but, in most cases, only due to a dominant contribution of the thermal population. This implies, depending on the gravitino mass, a large enough reheating temperature. If \mgravitino>1 GeV then $T_R>10^7$ GeV, if allowed by BBN and other constraints but, for light gravitinos, if \mgravitino>100 keV then $T_R>3\times 10^3$ GeV. On the other hand, constraints mostly from BBN imply an upper bound T_R \lsim {a few}x 10^8\times10^9 GeV which appears inconsistent with thermal leptogenesis. Finally, most of the preferred stau region corresponds to the physical vacuum being a false vacuum. The scenario can be partially probed at the LHC.Comment: Version with Erratum. Numerical bug fixed. An upper bound on the reheating temperature strengthened by about an order of magnitud

Titan imagery with Keck adaptive optics during and after probe entry

We present adaptive optics data from the Keck telescope, taken while the Huygens probe descended through Titan's atmosphere and on the days following touchdown. No probe entry signal was detected. Our observations span a solar phase angle range from 0.05° up to 0.8°, with the Sun in the west. Contrary to expectations, the east side of Titan's stratosphere was usually brightest. Compiling images obtained with Keck and Gemini over the past few years reveals that the east-west asymmetry can be explained by a combination of the solar phase angle effect and an enhancement in the haze density on Titan's morning hemisphere. While stratospheric haze was prominent over the northern hemisphere, tropospheric haze dominated the south, from the south pole up to latitudes of ∼45°S. At 2.1 μm this haze forms a polar cap, while at 1.22 μm it appears in the form of a collar at 60°S. A few small clouds were usually present near the south pole, at altitudes of 30–40 km. Our narrowband J,H,K images of Titan's surface compare extremely well with that obtained by Cassini ISS, down to the small-scale features. The surface contrast between dark and bright areas may be larger at 2 μm than at 1.6 and 1.3 μm, which would imply that the dark areas may be covered by a coarser-grained frost than the bright regions and/or that there is additional 2 μm absorption there

A new 1.6-micron map of Titan’s surface

We present a new map of Titan's surface obtained in the spectral 'window' at ∼1.6 μm between strong methane absorption. This pre-Cassini view of Titan's surface was created from images obtained using adaptive optics on the W.M. Keck II telescope and is the highest resolution map yet made of Titan's surface. Numerous surface features down to the limits of the spatial resolution (∼200–300 km) are apparent. No features are easily identifiable in terms of their geologic origin, although several are likely craters

Local excitations in mean field spin glasses

We address the question of geometrical as well as energetic properties of local excitations in mean field Ising spin glasses. We study analytically the Random Energy Model and numerically a dilute mean field model, first on tree-like graphs, equivalent to a replica symmetric computation, and then directly on finite connectivity random lattices. In the first model, characterized by a discontinuous replica symmetry breaking, we found that the energy of finite volume excitation is infinite whereas in the dilute mean field model, described by a continuous replica symmetry breaking, it slowly decreases with sizes and saturates at a finite value, in contrast with what would be naively expected. The geometrical properties of these excitations are similar to those of lattice animals or branched polymers. We discuss the meaning of these results in terms of replica symmetry breaking and also possible relevance in finite dimensional systems.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publicatio

Reciprocal knock-in mice to investigate the functional redundancy of lamin B1 and lamin B2.

Lamins B1 and B2 (B-type lamins) have very similar sequences and are expressed ubiquitously. In addition, both Lmnb1- and Lmnb2-deficient mice die soon after birth with neuronal layering abnormalities in the cerebral cortex, a consequence of defective neuronal migration. The similarities in amino acid sequences, expression patterns, and knockout phenotypes raise the question of whether the two proteins have redundant functions. To investigate this topic, we generated "reciprocal knock-in mice"-mice that make lamin B2 from the Lmnb1 locus (Lmnb1(B2/B2)) and mice that make lamin B1 from the Lmnb2 locus (Lmnb2(B1/B1)). Lmnb1(B2/B2) mice produced increased amounts of lamin B2 but no lamin B1; they died soon after birth with neuronal layering abnormalities in the cerebral cortex. However, the defects in Lmnb1(B2/B2) mice were less severe than those in Lmnb1-knockout mice, indicating that increased amounts of lamin B2 partially ameliorate the abnormalities associated with lamin B1 deficiency. Similarly, increased amounts of lamin B1 in Lmnb2(B1/B1) mice did not prevent the neurodevelopmental defects elicited by lamin B2 deficiency. We conclude that lamins B1 and B2 have unique roles in the developing brain and that increased production of one B-type lamin does not fully complement loss of the other

Passive tracer reconstruction as a least-squares problem with a semi-Lagrangian constraint: An application to fish eggs and larvae

A variational, data assimilation, algorithm was developed for reconstruction of a two-dimensional, nonstationary, passive tracer field in the ocean with open boundaries and a known velocity field. The observations, spatial smoothing terms and passive tracer conservation equation were included as weak constraints. The algorithm was tested with simulated, nonstationary, pseudo-oceanographic data integrated for a 7-day period. Simulations were run to determine the robustness of the algorithm and the effect of theoretical, simulated \u27sampling events,\u27 mimicking the standard oceanographic survey. We explored the sensitivity of the reconstructed tracer fields to the distribution of the pseudo-oceanographic sampling strategy, essentially an antenna problem, and to errors in the velocity field and the observations. The algorithm was applied to observations of silver hake ( Merluccius bilinearis) eggs and larvae obtained in August 1998 on the Scotian Shelf. Finally, the evolution of fish eggs and larvae concentration was found. The corresponding mortality rate of fish eggs and larvae was determined to be 0.28 day-1, with errors of 0.03 day-1. The approach, which is quite general and could be applied to many different problems requiring minimization subject to constraints, allows for error analysis of the results

Morphology Segregation of Galaxies in the Color-Color Gradient Space

We have found the u -r color versus g -i color gradient space can be used for highly successful morphology classification of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In this space galaxies form early and late type branches well-separated from each other. The location of galaxies along the branches reflects the degree and locality of star formation activity, and monotonically corresponds to the sequence of morphological subclasses. When the concentration index is used together, the completeness and reliability of classification reaches about 91% for a training set of SDSS galaxies brighter than r~15.9. At faintest magnitudes (r~17.5) of the SDSS spectroscopic sample, the performance still remains at about 88%. The new classification scheme will help us find accurate relations of galaxy morphology with spatial and temporal environments, and help one understand the origin of morphology of galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, ApJL accepte

The Stability of the Replica Symmetric State in Finite Dimensional Spin Glasses

According to the droplet picture of spin glasses, the low-temperature phase of spin glasses should be replica symmetric. However, analysis of the stability of this state suggested that it was unstable and this instability lends support to the Parisi replica symmetry breaking picture of spin glasses. The finite-size scaling functions in the critical region of spin glasses below T_c in dimensions greater than 6 can be determined and for them the replica symmetric solution is unstable order by order in perturbation theory. Nevertheless the exact solution can be shown to be replica-symmetric. It is suggested that a similar mechanism might apply in the low-temperature phase of spin glasses in less than six dimensions, but that a replica symmetry broken state might exist in more than six dimensions.Comment: 5 pages. Modified to include a paragraph on the relation of this work to that of Newman and Stei

Molecular gas in the galaxy M83. I - The molecular gas distribution

We present CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) observations of the barred spiral galaxy M83 (NGC5236). The maps cover the entire optical disk. The CO emission is strongly peaked toward the nucleus, which breaks up into two separate components in the CO(2-1) data due to the higher spatial resolution. Emission from the bar is strong, in particular on the leading edges of the bar. The molecular gas arms are clearly resolved and can be traced for more than 360\degr . Emission in the inter-arm regions is detected. The average CO CO(2-1)/CO(1-0) line ratio is 0.77. The ratio is lower than this on the spiral arms and higher in the inter-arm regions. The arms show regularly spaced concentrations of molecular gas, Giant Molecular Associations (GMA's), whose masses are of the order 10^7 Msun. The total molecular gas mass is estimated to be 3.9*10^9 Msun. This mass is comparable to the total HI mass, but H_2 dominates in the optical disk. In the disk, H_2 and HI show very similar distributions, including small scale clumping. We compare the molecular gas distribution with those of other star formation tracers, such as B and H_alpha images.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, A&A accepted. A higher resolution version available at http://www.astro.su.se/~andreas/publications