3,087 research outputs found
Deviations from Berry--Robnik Distribution Caused by Spectral Accumulation
By extending the Berry--Robnik approach for the nearly integrable quantum
systems,\cite{[1]} we propose one possible scenario of the energy level spacing
distribution that deviates from the Berry--Robnik distribution. The result
described in this paper implies that deviations from the Berry--Robnik
distribution would arise when energy level components show strong accumulation,
and otherwise, the level spacing distribution agrees with the Berry--Robnik
distribution.Comment: 4 page
Electronic structure of CaSrVO: a tale of two energy-scales
We investigate the electronic structure of CaSrVO using
photoemission spectroscopy. Core level spectra establish an electronic phase
separation at the surface, leading to distinctly different surface electronic
structure compared to the bulk. Analysis of the photoemission spectra of this
system allowed us to separate the surface and bulk contributions. These results
help us to understand properties related to two vastly differing energy-scales,
namely the low energy-scale of thermal excitations (~) and the
high-energy scale related to Coulomb and other electronic interactions.Comment: 4 pages and 3 figures. Europhysics Letters (appearing
Recoverin Regulates Light-dependent Phosphodiesterase Activity in Retinal Rods
The Ca2+-binding protein recoverin may regulate visual transduction in retinal rods and cones, but its functional role and mechanism of action remain controversial. We compared the photoresponses of rods from control mice and from mice in which the recoverin gene was knocked out. Our analysis indicates that Ca2+-recoverin prolongs the dark-adapted flash response and increases the rod's sensitivity to dim steady light. Knockout rods had faster Ca2+ dynamics, indicating that recoverin is a significant Ca2+ buffer in the outer segment, but incorporation of exogenous buffer did not restore wild-type behavior. We infer that Ca2+-recoverin potentiates light-triggered phosphodiesterase activity, probably by effectively prolonging the catalytic activity of photoexcited rhodopsin
N-body Integrators with Individual Time Steps from Hierarchical Splitting
We review the implementation of individual particle time-stepping for N-body
dynamics. We present a class of integrators derived from second order
Hamiltonian splitting. In contrast to the usual implementation of individual
time-stepping, these integrators are momentum conserving and show excellent
energy conservation in conjunction with a symmetrized time step criterion. We
use an explicit but approximate formula for the time symmetrization that is
compatible with the use of individual time steps. No iterative scheme is
necessary. We implement these ideas in the HUAYNO (available online at
www.amusecode.org) code and present tests of the integrators and show that the
presented integration schemes shows good energy conservation, with little or no
systematic drift, while conserving momentum and angular momentum to machine
precision for long term integrations.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronom
Calibration of radii and masses of open clusters with a simulation
Context: A recent new approach to apply a simple dynamical mass estimate of
tidally limited star clusters is based on the identification of the tidal
radius in a King profile with the dynamical Jacobi radius. The application to
an unbiased open cluster catalogue yields significantly higher cluster masses
compared to the classical methods. Aims: We quantify the bias in the mass
determination as function of projection direction and cluster age by analysing
a simulated star cluster. Methods: We use direct -body simulations of a star
cluster including stellar evolution in an analytic Milky Way potential and
apply a best fit to the projected number density of cluster stars. Results: We
obtain significantly overestimated star cluster masses which depend strongly on
the viewing direction. The overestimation is typically in the range of 10-50
percent and reaches a factor of 3.5 for young clusters. Mass segregation
reduces the derived limiting radii systematically.Comment: 9 pages, 10+1 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
The stability of modified gravity models
Conditions for the existence and stability of de Sitter space in modified
gravity are derived by considering inhomogeneous perturbations in a
gauge-invariant formalism. The stability condition coincides with the
corresponding condition for stability with respect to homogeneous
perturbations, while this is not the case in scalar-tensor gravity. The
stability criterion is applied to various modified gravity models of the early
and the present universe.Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Star cluster evolution in barred disc galaxies. I. Planar periodic orbits
The dynamical evolution of stellar clusters is driven to a large extent by
their environment. Several studies so far have considered the effect of tidal
fields and their variations, such as, e.g., from giant molecular clouds,
galactic discs, or spiral arms. In this paper we will concentrate on a tidal
field whose effects on star clusters have not yet been studied, namely that of
bars. We present a set of direct N-body simulations of star clusters moving in
an analytic potential representing a barred galaxy. We compare the evolution of
the clusters moving both on different planar periodic orbits in the barred
potential and on circular orbits in a potential obtained by axisymmetrising its
mass distribution. We show that both the shape of the underlying orbit and its
stability have strong impact on the cluster evolution as well as the morphology
and orientation of the tidal tails and the sub-structures therein. We find that
the dissolution time-scale of the cluster in our simulations is mainly
determined by the tidal forcing along the orbit and, for a given tidal forcing,
only very little by the exact shape of the gravitational potential in which the
cluster is moving.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Complementary movies can be be found at this http URL
http://lam.oamp.fr/research/dynamique-des-galaxies/scientific-results/star-cluster-evolution
Induced-gravity Inflation and the Density Perturbation Spectrum
Recent experimental determinations of the spectral index describing the
scalar mode spectrum of density perturbations encourage comparison with
predictions from models of the very early universe. Unlike extended inflation,
Induced-gravity Inflation predicts a power spectrum with , in close agreement with the experimental measurements.Comment: 11pp, no figures. Plain LaTeX. HUTP-94/A011. Revised edition --
Forthcoming in Physics Letters
Fermi Surface of 3d^1 Perovskite CaVO3 Near the Mott Transition
We present a detailed de Haas van Alphen effect study of the perovskite
CaVO3, offering an unprecedented test of electronic structure calculations in a
3d transition metal oxide. Our experimental and calculated Fermi surfaces are
in good agreement -- but only if we ignore large orthorhombic distortions of
the cubic perovskite structure. Subtle discrepancies may shed light on an
apparent conflict between the low energy properties of CaVO3, which are those
of a simple metal, and high energy probes which reveal strong correlations that
place CaVO3 on the verge of a metal-insulator transition.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (REVTeX
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