28,730 research outputs found
Dynamic resource allocation scheme for distributed heterogeneous computer systems
This invention relates to a resource allocation in computer systems, and more particularly, to a method and associated apparatus for shortening response time and improving efficiency of a heterogeneous distributed networked computer system by reallocating the jobs queued up for busy nodes to idle, or less-busy nodes. In accordance with the algorithm (SIDA for short), the load-sharing is initiated by the server device in a manner such that extra overhead in not imposed on the system during heavily-loaded conditions. The algorithm employed in the present invention uses a dual-mode, server-initiated approach. Jobs are transferred from heavily burdened nodes (i.e., over a high threshold limit) to low burdened nodes at the initiation of the receiving node when: (1) a job finishes at a node which is burdened below a pre-established threshold level, or (2) a node is idle for a period of time as established by a wakeup timer at the node. The invention uses a combination of the local queue length and the local service rate ratio at each node as the workload indicator
HAT-P-30b: A Transiting Hot Jupiter on a Highly Oblique Orbit
We report the discovery of HAT-P-30b, a transiting exoplanet orbiting the V = 10.419 dwarf star GSC 0208-00722. The planet has a period P = 2.810595 ± 0.000005 days, transit epoch Tc = 2455456.46561 ± 0.00037 (BJD), and transit duration 0.0887 ± 0.0015 days. The host star has a mass of 1.24 ± 0.04 M_⊙, radius of 1.21 ± 0.05 R_⊙, effective temperature of 6304 ± 88 K, and metallicity [Fe/H] = +0.13 ± 0.08. The planetary companion has a mass of 0.711 ± 0.028 M J and radius of 1.340 ± 0.065 R J yielding a mean density of 0.37 ± 0.05 g cm^(–3). We also present radial velocity measurements that were obtained throughout a transit that exhibit the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect. By modeling this effect, we measure an angle of λ = 73.°5 ± 9.°0 between the sky projections of the planet's orbit normal and the star's spin axis. HAT-P-30b represents another example of a close-in planet on a highly tilted orbit, and conforms to the previously noted pattern that tilted orbits are more common around stars with T_(eff*) ≳ 6250 K
When it Pays to Rush: Interpreting Morphogen Gradients Prior to Steady-State
During development, morphogen gradients precisely determine the position of
gene expression boundaries despite the inevitable presence of fluctuations.
Recent experiments suggest that some morphogen gradients may be interpreted
prior to reaching steady-state. Theoretical work has predicted that such
systems will be more robust to embryo-to-embryo fluctuations. By analysing two
experimentally motivated models of morphogen gradient formation, we investigate
the positional precision of gene expression boundaries determined by
pre-steady-state morphogen gradients in the presence of embryo-to-embryo
fluctuations, internal biochemical noise and variations in the timing of
morphogen measurement. Morphogens that are direct transcription factors are
found to be particularly sensitive to internal noise when interpreted prior to
steady-state, disadvantaging early measurement, even in the presence of large
embryo-to-embryo fluctuations. Morphogens interpreted by cell-surface receptors
can be measured prior to steady-state without significant decrease in
positional precision provided fluctuations in the timing of measurement are
small. Applying our results to experiment, we predict that Bicoid, a
transcription factor morphogen in Drosophila, is unlikely to be interpreted
prior to reaching steady-state. We also predict that Activin in Xenopus and
Nodal in zebrafish, morphogens interpreted by cell-surface receptors, can be
decoded in pre-steady-state.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
Kepler-1656b: a Dense Sub-Saturn With an Extreme Eccentricity
Kepler-1656b is a 5 planet with an orbital period of 32 days initially
detected by the prime Kepler mission. We obtained precision radial velocities
of Kepler-1656 with Keck/HIRES in order to confirm the planet and to
characterize its mass and orbital eccentricity. With a mass of ,
Kepler-1656b is more massive than most planets of comparable size. Its high
mass implies that a significant fraction, roughly 80%, of the planet's total
mass is in high density material such as rock/iron, with the remaining mass in
a low density H/He envelope. The planet also has a high eccentricity of , the largest measured eccentricity for any planet less than 100
. The planet's high density and high eccentricity may be the result of one
or more scattering and merger events during or after the dispersal of the
protoplanetary disk.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, published in The Astronomical Journa
Generation of mechanical interference fringes by multi-photon counting
Exploring the quantum behaviour of macroscopic objects provides an intriguing
avenue to study the foundations of physics and to develop a suite of
quantum-enhanced technologies. One prominent path of study is provided by
quantum optomechanics which utilizes the tools of quantum optics to control the
motion of macroscopic mechanical resonators. Despite excellent recent progress,
the preparation of mechanical quantum superposition states remains outstanding
due to weak coupling and thermal decoherence. Here we present a novel
optomechanical scheme that significantly relaxes these requirements allowing
the preparation of quantum superposition states of motion of a mechanical
resonator by exploiting the nonlinearity of multi-photon quantum measurements.
Our method is capable of generating non-classical mechanical states without the
need for strong single photon coupling, is resilient against optical loss, and
offers more favourable scaling against initial mechanical thermal occupation
than existing schemes. Moreover, our approach allows the generation of larger
superposition states by projecting the optical field onto NOON states. We
experimentally demonstrate this multi-photon-counting technique on a mechanical
thermal state in the classical limit and observe interference fringes in the
mechanical position distribution that show phase superresolution. This opens a
feasible route to explore and exploit quantum phenomena at a macroscopic scale.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. v1: submitted for review on 28 Jan 2016. v2:
significantly revised manuscript. v3: some further revisions and some extra
results included. v3: new results added, extra author added, close to
published version, supplementary material available with published versio
Newly-Discovered Planets Orbiting HD~5319, HD~11506, HD~75784 and HD~10442 from the N2K Consortium
Initially designed to discover short-period planets, the N2K campaign has
since evolved to discover new worlds at large separations from their host
stars. Detecting such worlds will help determine the giant planet occurrence at
semi-major axes beyond the ice line, where gas giants are thought to mostly
form. Here we report four newly-discovered gas giant planets (with minimum
masses ranging from 0.4 to 2.1 MJup) orbiting stars monitored as part of the
N2K program. Two of these planets orbit stars already known to host planets: HD
5319 and HD 11506. The remaining discoveries reside in previously-unknown
planetary systems: HD 10442 and HD 75784. The refined orbital period of the
inner planet orbiting HD 5319 is 641 days. The newly-discovered outer planet
orbits in 886 days. The large masses combined with the proximity to a 4:3 mean
motion resonance make this system a challenge to explain with current formation
and migration theories. HD 11506 has one confirmed planet, and here we confirm
a second. The outer planet has an orbital period of 1627.5 days, and the
newly-discovered inner planet orbits in 223.6 days. A planet has also been
discovered orbiting HD 75784 with an orbital period of 341.7 days. There is
evidence for a longer period signal; however, several more years of
observations are needed to put tight constraints on the Keplerian parameters
for the outer planet. Lastly, an additional planet has been detected orbiting
HD 10442 with a period of 1043 days.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Solar Magnetic Tracking. IV. The Death of Magnetic Features
The removal of magnetic flux from the quiet-sun photosphere is important for
maintaining the statistical steady-state of the magnetic field there, for
determining the magnetic flux budget of the Sun, and for estimating the rate of
energy injected into the upper solar atmosphere. Magnetic feature death is a
measurable proxy for the removal of detectable flux. We used the SWAMIS feature
tracking code to understand how nearly 20000 detected magnetic features die in
an hour-long sequence of Hinode/SOT/NFI magnetograms of a region of quiet Sun.
Of the feature deaths that remove visible magnetic flux from the photosphere,
the vast majority do so by a process that merely disperses the
previously-detected flux so that it is too small and too weak to be detected.
The behavior of the ensemble average of these dispersals is not consistent with
a model of simple planar diffusion, suggesting that the dispersal is
constrained by the evolving photospheric velocity field. We introduce the
concept of the partial lifetime of magnetic features, and show that the partial
lifetime due to Cancellation of magnetic flux, 22 h, is 3 times slower than
previous measurements of the flux turnover time. This indicates that prior
feature-based estimates of the flux replacement time may be too short, in
contrast with the tendency for this quantity to decrease as resolution and
instrumentation have improved. This suggests that dispersal of flux to smaller
scales is more important for the replacement of magnetic fields in the quiet
Sun than observed bipolar cancellation. We conclude that processes on spatial
scales smaller than those visible to Hinode dominate the processes of flux
emergence and cancellation, and therefore also the quantity of magnetic flux
that threads the photosphere.Comment: Accepted by Ap
The TRENDS High-Contrast Imaging Survey. V. Discovery of an Old and Cold Benchmark T-dwarf Orbiting the Nearby G-star HD 19467
The nearby Sun-like star HD 19467 shows a subtle radial velocity (RV)
acceleration of -1.37+/-0.09 m/s/yr over an 16.9 year time baseline (an RV
trend), hinting at the existence of a distant orbiting companion. We have
obtained high-contrast adaptive optics images of the star using NIRC2 at Keck
Observatory and report the direct detection of the body that causes the
acceleration. The companion, HD 19467 B, is dK=12.57+/-0.09 mag fainter than
its parent star (contrast ratio of 9.4e-6), has blue colors J-K_s=-0.36+/-0.14
(J-H=-0.29+/-0.15), and is separated by 1.653+/-0.004" (51.1+/-1.0 AU).
Follow-up astrometric measurements obtained over an 1.1 year time baseline
demonstrate physical association through common parallactic and proper motion.
We calculate a firm lower-limit of m>51.9^{+3.6}_{-4.3}Mjup for the companion
mass from orbital dynamics using a combination of Doppler observations and
imaging. We estimate a model-dependent mass of m=56.7^{+4.6}_{-7.2}Mjup from a
gyrochronological age of 4.3^{+1.0}_{-1.2} Gyr. Isochronal analysis suggests a
much older age of Gyr, which corresponds to a mass of
m=67.4^{+0.9}_{-1.5}Mjup. HD 19467 B's measured colors and absolute magnitude
are consistent with a late T-dwarf [~T5-T7]. We may infer a low metallicity of
[Fe/H]=-0.15+/-0.04 for the companion from its G3V parent star. HD 19467 B is
the first directly imaged benchmark T-dwarf found orbiting a Sun-like star with
a measured RV acceleration.Comment: Updated to reflect ApJ versio
Brownian molecular motors driven by rotation-translation coupling
We investigated three models of Brownian motors which convert rotational
diffusion into directed translational motion by switching on and off a
potential. In the first model a spatially asymmetric potential generates
directed translational motion by rectifying rotational diffusion. It behaves
much like a conventional flashing ratchet. The second model utilizes both
rotational diffusion and drift to generate translational motion without spatial
asymmetry in the potential. This second model can be driven by a combination of
a Brownian motor mechanism (diffusion driven) or by powerstroke (drift driven)
depending on the chosen parameters. In the third model, elements of both the
Brownian motor and powerstroke mechanisms are combined by switching between
three distinct states. Relevance of the model to biological motor proteins is
discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
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