7,274 research outputs found
Analytic Time Delays and H_0 Estimates for Gravitational Lenses
We study gravitational lens time delays for a general family of lensing
potentials, which includes the popular singular isothermal elliptical potential
and singular isothermal elliptical density distribution but allows general
angular structure. Using a novel approach, we show that the time delay can be
cast in a very simple form, depending only on the observed image positions.
Including an external shear changes the time delay proportional to the shear
strength, and varying the radial profile of the potential changes the time
delay approximately linearly. These analytic results can be used to obtain
simple estimates of the time delay and the Hubble constant in observed
gravitational lenses. The naive estimates for four of five time delay lenses
show surprising agreement with each other and with local measurements of H_0;
the complicated Q 0957+561 system is the only outlier. The agreement suggests
that it is reasonable to use simple isothermal lens models to infer H_0,
although it is still important to check this conclusion by examining detailed
models and by measuring more lensing time delays.Comment: 16 pages with 2 embedded figures; submitted to Ap
Lensing Properties of Cored Galaxy Models
A method is developed to evaluate the magnifications of the images of
galaxies with lensing potentials stratified on similar concentric ellipses. A
simple contour integral is provided which enables the sums of the
magnifications of even parity or odd parity or the central image to be easily
calculated. The sums for pairs of images vary considerably with source
position, while the signed sums can be remarkably uniform inside the tangential
caustic in the absence of naked cusps. For a family of models in which the
potential is a power-law of the elliptic radius, the number of visible images
is found as a function of flattening, external shear and core radius. The
magnification of the central image depends on the core radius and the slope of
the potential. For typical source and lens redshifts, the missing central image
leads to strong constraints; the mass distribution in the lensing galaxy must
be nearly cusped, and the cusp must be isothermal or stronger. This is in
accord with the cuspy cores seen in high resolution photometry of nearby,
massive, early-type galaxies, which typically have the surface density falling
like distance^{-1.3} outside a break radius of a few hundred parsecs. Cuspy
cores by themselves can provide an explanation of the missing central images.
Dark matter at large radii may alter the slope of the projected density;
provided the slope remains isothermal or steeper and the break radius remains
small, then the central image remains unobservable. The sensitivity of the
radio maps must be increased fifty-fold to find the central images in
abundance.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures, ApJ in pres
Exotic Statistics for Ordinary Particles in Quantum Gravity
Objects exhibiting statistics other than the familiar Bose and Fermi ones are
natural in theories with topologically nontrivial objects including geons,
strings, and black holes. It is argued here from several viewpoints that the
statistics of ordinary particles with which we are already familiar are likely
to be modified due to quantum gravity effects. In particular, such
modifications are argued to be present in loop quantum gravity and in any
theory which represents spacetime in a fundamentally piecewise-linear fashion.
The appearance of unusual statistics may be a generic feature (such as the
deformed position-momentum uncertainty relations and the appearance of a
fundamental length scale) which are to be expected in any theory of quantum
gravity, and which could be testable.Comment: Awarded an honourable mention in the 2008 Gravity Research Foundation
Essay Competitio
Technical guidelines for economic valuation of inland small-scale fisheries in developing countries
These ĂŽTechnical Guidelines for Economic Valuation of Inland Small-scale Fisheries in Developing Countriesö are one of the outputs of the project on ĂŽFood security and poverty alleviation through improved valuation and governance of river fisheries in Africaö. The guidelines draw upon research results and experience gained during the course of the project. The project was coordinated and implemented by the WorldFish Center and was carried out in cooperation with the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARs) from the participating countries: the Nigeria Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research, the Departments of Fishery of Niger, Malawi and Zambia, and the Cameroonian MinistĂŠre de lĂâ Elevage, des PĂ©ches et de lĂâ Industrie Animale; and three advanced research institutes (ARIs): the Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany, the Institute for Sustainable Development and Aquatic Resources in UK, and the University of Cape Town in South Africa.Rural development, Sustainable development, Livelihoods, Economic analysis, Research, Artisanal fishing
Microlensing of gamma ray bursts by stars and MACHOs
The microlensing interpretation of the optical afterglow of GRB 000301C seems
naively surprising, since a simple estimate of the stellar microlensing rate
gives less than one in four hundred for a flat Omega_Lambda=0.7 cosmology,
whereas one event was seen in about thirty afterglows. Considering baryonic
MACHOs making up half of the baryons in the universe, the microlensing
probability per burst can be roughly 5% for a GRB at redshift z=2. We explore
two effects that may enhance the probability of observing microlensed gamma-ray
burst afterglows: binary lenses and double magnification bias. We find that the
consideration of binary lenses can increase the rate only at the ~15% level. On
the other hand, because gamma-ray bursts for which afterglow observations exist
are typically selected based on fluxes at widely separated wavebands which are
not necessarily well correlated (e.g. localization in X-ray, afterglow in
optical/infrared), magnification bias can operate at an enhanced level compared
to the usual single-bias case. We find that existing estimates of the slope of
the luminosity function of gamma-ray bursts, while as yet quite uncertain,
point to enhancement factors of more than three above the simple estimates of
the microlensing rate. We find that the probability to observe at least one
microlensing event in the sample of 27 measured afterglows can be 3-4% for
stellar lenses, or as much as 25 Omega_lens for baryonic MACHOs. We note that
the probability to observe at least one event over the available sample of
afterglows is significant only if a large fraction of the baryons in the
universe are condensed in stellar-mass objects. (ABRIDGED)Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Benefit Plan Design and Prescription Drug Utilization Among Asthmatics: Do Patient Copayments Matter?
Objective: The ratio of controller to reliever medication use has been proposed as a measure of treatment quality for asthma patients. In this study we examine the effects of plan level mean out-of-pocket asthma medication patient copayments and other features of benefit plan design on the use of controller medications alone, controller and reliever medications (combination therapy), and reliever medications alone. Methods: 1995-2000 MarketScan claims data were used to construct plan-level out-of-pocket copayment and physician/practice prescriber preference variables for asthma medications. Separate multinomial logit models were estimated for patients in fee-for-service (FFS) and non-FFS plans relating benefit plan design features, physician/practice prescribing preferences, patient demographics, patient comorbidities and county-level income variables to patient-level asthma treatment patterns. Results: We find that the controller reliever ratio rose steadily over 1995-2000, along with out-of-pocket payments for asthma medications, which rose more for controllers than for relievers. However, after controlling for other variables, plan level mean out-of-pocket copayments were not found to have a statistically significant influence upon patient-level asthma treatment patterns. On the other hand, physician practice prescribing patterns strongly influenced patient level treatment patterns. Conclusions: There is no strong statistical evidence that higher levels of out-of-pocket copayments for prescription drugs influence asthma treatment patterns. However, physician/practice prescribing preferences influence patient treatment.
Probing the Atmospheres of Planets Orbiting Microlensed Stars via Polarization Variability
We present a new method to identify and probe planetary companions of stars
in the Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds using gravitational microlensing.
While spectroscopic studies of these planets is well beyond current
observational techniques, monitoring polarization fluctuations during high
magnification events induced by binary microlensing events will probe the
composition of the planetary atmospheres, an observation which otherwise is
currently unattainable even for nearby planetary systems.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letter
Improved Detection Rates for Close Binaries Via Astrometric Observations of Gravitational Microlensing Events
In addition to constructing a Galactic matter mass function free from the
bias induced by the hydrogen-burning limit, gravitational microlensing allows
one to construct a mass function which is less affected by the problem of
unresolved binaries (Gaudi & Gould). However, even with the method of
microlensing, the photometric detection of binaries is limited to binary
systems with relatively large separations of of their combined
Einstein ring radius, and thus the mass function is still not totally free from
the problem of unresolved binaries. In this paper, we show that by detecting
distortions of the astrometric ellipse of a microlensing event with high
precision instruments such as the {\it Space Interferometry Mission}, one can
detect close binaries at a much higher rate than by the photometric method. We
find that by astrometrically observing microlensing events, of
binaries with separations of can be detected with the detection
threshold of 3%. The proposed astrometric method is especially efficient at
detecting very close binaries. With a detection threshold of 3% and a rate of
10%, one can astrometrically detect binaries with separations down to .Comment: total 14 pages, including 5 Figures and no Table (For figure 1,
please send a request mail to [email protected]), accepted to
ApJ (Vol 525, 000), updated versio
An accurate equation of state for the one component plasma in the low coupling regime
An accurate equation of state of the one component plasma is obtained in the
low coupling regime . The accuracy results from a smooth
combination of the well-known hypernetted chain integral equation, Monte Carlo
simulations and asymptotic analytical expressions of the excess internal energy
. In particular, special attention has been brought to describe and take
advantage of finite size effects on Monte Carlo results to get the
thermodynamic limit of . This combined approach reproduces very accurately
the different plasma correlation regimes encountered in this range of values of
. This paper extends to low 's an earlier Monte Carlo
simulation study devoted to strongly coupled systems for ({J.-M. Caillol}, {J. Chem. Phys.} \textbf{111}, 6538 (1999)). Analytical
fits of in the range are provided with a
precision that we claim to be not smaller than . HNC equation and
exact asymptotic expressions are shown to give reliable results for
only in narrow intervals, i.e. and respectively
Hadronization Approach for a Quark-Gluon Plasma Formed in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
A transport model is developed to describe hadron emission from a strongly
coupled quark-gluon plasma formed in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The
quark-gluon plasma is controlled by ideal hydrodynamics, and the hadron motion
is characterized by a transport equation with loss and gain terms. The two sets
of equations are coupled to each other, and the hadronization hypersurface is
determined by both the hydrodynamic evolution and the hadron emission. The
model is applied to calculate the transverse momentum distributions of mesons
and baryons, and most of the results agree well with the experimental data at
RHIC.Comment: 16 pages, 24 figures. Version accepted by PR
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