Scaling range of power laws that originate from fluctuation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grech, Dariusz; Mazur, Zygmunt

2013-05-01

We extend our previous study of scaling range properties performed for detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) [Physica A0378-437110.1016/j.physa.2013.01.049 392, 2384 (2013)] to other techniques of fluctuation analysis (FA). The new technique, called modified detrended moving average analysis (MDMA), is introduced, and its scaling range properties are examined and compared with those of detrended moving average analysis (DMA) and DFA. It is shown that contrary to DFA, DMA and MDMA techniques exhibit power law dependence of the scaling range with respect to the length of the searched signal and with respect to the accuracy R2 of the fit to the considered scaling law imposed by DMA or MDMA methods. This power law dependence is satisfied for both uncorrelated and autocorrelated data. We find also a simple generalization of this power law relation for series with a different level of autocorrelations measured in terms of the Hurst exponent. Basic relations between scaling ranges for different techniques are also discussed. Our findings should be particularly useful for local FA in, e.g., econophysics, finances, or physiology, where the huge number of short time series has to be examined at once and wherever the preliminary check of the scaling range regime for each of the series separately is neither effective nor possible.

Mesoscopic Fluctuations for the Thinned Circular Unitary Ensemble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berggren, Tomas; Duits, Maurice

2017-09-01

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of mesoscopic fluctuations for the thinned Circular Unitary Ensemble. The effect of thinning is that the eigenvalues start to decorrelate. The decorrelation is stronger on the larger scales than on the smaller scales. We investigate this behavior by studying mesoscopic linear statistics. There are two regimes depending on the scale parameter and the thinning parameter. In one regime we obtain a CLT of a classical type and in the other regime we retrieve the CLT for CUE. The two regimes are separated by a critical line. On the critical line the limiting fluctuations are no longer Gaussian, but described by infinitely divisible laws. We argue that this transition phenomenon is universal by showing that the same transition and their laws appear for fluctuations of the thinned sine process in a growing box. The proofs are based on a Riemann-Hilbert problem for integrable operators.

Renormalization-group theory of plasma microturbulence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carati, D.; Chriaa, K.; Balescu, R.

1994-08-01

The dynamical renormalization-group methods are applied to the gyrokinetic equation describing drift-wave turbulence in plasmas. As in both magnetohydrodynamic and neutral turbulence, small-scale fluctuations appear to act as effective dissipative processes on large-scale phenomena. A linear renormalized gyrokinetic equation is derived. No artificial forcing is introduced into the equations and all the renormalized corrections are expressed in terms of the fluctuating electric potential. The link with the quasilinear limit and the direct interaction approximation is investigated. Simple analytical expressions for the anomalous transport coefficients are derived by using the linear renormalized gyrokinetic equation. Examples show that both quasilinear and Bohmmore » scalings can be recovered depending on the spectral amplitude of the electric potential fluctuations.« less

Chaotic dynamics of a microswimmer in Poiseuille flow.

PubMed

Chacón, Ricardo

2013-11-01

The chaotic dynamics of pointlike, spherical particles in cylindrical Poiseuille flow is theoretically characterized and numerically confirmed when their own intrinsic swimming velocity undergoes temporal fluctuations around an average value. Two dimensionless ratios associated with the three significant temporal scales of the problem are identified that fully determine the chaos scenario. In particular, small but finite periodic fluctuations of swimming speed result in chaotic or regular motion depending on the position and orientation of the microswimmer with respect to the flow center line. Remarkably, the spatial extension of chaotic microswimmers is found to depend crucially on the fluctuations' period and amplitude and to be highly sensitive to the Fourier spectrum of the fluctuations. This has implications for the design of artificial microswimmers.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koshelev, A. E.

Multiple-band electronic structure and proximity to antiferromagnetic (AF) instability are the key properties of iron-based superconductors. In this paper, we explore the influence of scattering by the AF spin fluctuations on transport of multiple-band metals above the magnetic transition. A salient feature of scattering on the AF fluctuations is that it is strongly enhanced at the Fermi surface locations where the nesting is perfect (“hot spots” or “hot lines”). We review derivation of the collision integral for the Boltzmann equation due to AF-fluctuations scattering. In the paramagnetic state, the enhanced scattering rate near the hot lines leads to anomalous behaviormore » of electronic transport in magnetic field. We explore this behavior by analytically solving the Boltzmann transport equation with approximate transition rates. This approach accounts for return scattering events and is more accurate than the relaxation-time approximation. The magnetic-field dependences are characterized by two very different field scales: the lower scale is set by the hot-spot width and the higher scale is set by the total scattering amplitude. A conventional magnetotransport behavior is limited to magnetic fields below the lower scale. In the wide range in-between these two scales, the longitudinal conductivity has linear dependence on the magnetic field and the Hall conductivity has quadratic dependence. The linear dependence of the diagonal component reflects growth of the Fermi-surface area affected by the hot spots proportional to the magnetic field. Finally, we discuss applicability of this theoretical framework for describing of anomalous magnetotransport properties in different iron pnictides and chalcogenides in the paramagnetic state.« less

Suppression of Random Dopant-Induced Threshold Voltage Fluctuations in Sub-0.1-(micron)meter MOSFET's with Epitaxial and (delta)-Doped Channels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Asenov, Asen; Saini, Subhash

1999-01-01

A detailed three-dimensional (3-D) statistical 'atomistic' simulation study of fluctuation-resistant sub-0.1-(micron)meter MOSFET architectures with epitaxial channels and delta doping is presented. The need for enhancing the fluctuation resistance of the sub-0.1-(micron)meter generation transistors is highlighted by presenting summarized results from atomistic simulations of a wide range of conventional devices with uniformly doped channel. According to our atomistic results, the doping concentration dependence of the random dopant-induced threshold voltage fluctuations in conventional devices is stronger than the analytically predicted fourth-root dependence. As a result of this, the scaling of such devices will be restricted by the "intrinsic" random dopant-induced fluctuations earlier than anticipated. Our atomistic simulations confirm that the introduction of a thin epitaxial layer in the MOSFET's channel can efficiently suppress the random dopant-induced threshold voltage fluctuations in sub-0.1-(micron)meter devices. For the first time, we observe an "anomalous" reduction in the threshold voltage fluctuations with an increase in the doping concentration behind the epitaxial channel, which we attribute to screening effects. Also, for the first time we study the effect of a delta-doping, positioned behind the epitaxial layer, on the intrinsic threshold voltage fluctuations. Above a certain thickness of epitaxial layer, we observe a pronounced anomalous decrease in the threshold voltage fluctuation with the increase of the delta doping. This phenomenon, which is also associated with screening, enhances the importance of the delta doping in the design of properly scaled fluctuation-resistant sub-0.1-(micron)meter MOSFET's. Index Terms-Doping, fluctuations, MOSFET, semiconductor device simulation, silicon devices, threshold.

Forecasting of magnitude and duration of currency crises based on the analysis of distortions of fractal scaling in exchange rate fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uritskaya, Olga Y.

2005-05-01

Results of fractal stability analysis of daily exchange rate fluctuations of more than 30 floating currencies for a 10-year period are presented. It is shown for the first time that small- and large-scale dynamical instabilities of national monetary systems correlate with deviations of the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) exponent from the value 1.5 predicted by the efficient market hypothesis. The observed dependence is used for classification of long-term stability of floating exchange rates as well as for revealing various forms of distortion of stable currency dynamics prior to large-scale crises. A normal range of DFA exponents consistent with crisis-free long-term exchange rate fluctuations is determined, and several typical scenarios of unstable currency dynamics with DFA exponents fluctuating beyond the normal range are identified. It is shown that monetary crashes are usually preceded by prolonged periods of abnormal (decreased or increased) DFA exponent, with the after-crash exponent tending to the value 1.5 indicating a more reliable exchange rate dynamics. Statistically significant regression relations (R=0.99, p<0.01) between duration and magnitude of currency crises and the degree of distortion of monofractal patterns of exchange rate dynamics are found. It is demonstrated that the parameters of these relations characterizing small- and large-scale crises are nearly equal, which implies a common instability mechanism underlying these events. The obtained dependences have been used as a basic ingredient of a forecasting technique which provided correct in-sample predictions of monetary crisis magnitude and duration over various time scales. The developed technique can be recommended for real-time monitoring of dynamical stability of floating exchange rate systems and creating advanced early-warning-system models for currency crisis prevention.

Scaling theory of temporal correlations and size-dependent fluctuations in the traded value of stocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eisler, Zoltán; Kertész, János

2006-04-01

Records of the traded value fi of stocks display fluctuation scaling, a proportionality between the standard deviation σi and the average ⟨fi⟩ : σi∝⟨fi⟩α , with a strong time scale dependence α(Δt) . The nontrivial (i.e., neither 0.5 nor 1) value of α may have different origins and provides information about the microscopic dynamics. We present a set of stylized facts and then show their connection to such behavior. The functional form α(Δt) originates from two aspects of the dynamics: Stocks of larger companies both tend to be traded in larger packages and also display stronger correlations of traded value. The results are integrated into a general framework that can be applied to a wide range of complex systems.

Nonlinear Dynamics Used to Classify Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-11

evaluate random fractal characteristics, and scale-dependent Lyapunov exponents (SDLE) to evaluate chaotic characteristics. Both Shannon and Renyi entropy...fluctuation analysis to evaluate random fractal characteristics, and scale-dependent Lyapunov exponents (SDLE) to evaluate chaotic characteristics. Both...often called the Hurst parameter [32]. When the scaling law described by Eq. (2) holds, the September 2011 I Volume 6 I Issue 9 I e24446 -Q.384

Nonextensive Entropy Approach to Space Plasma Fluctuations and Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leubner, M. P.; Vörös, Z.; Baumjohann, W.

Spatial intermittency in fully developed turbulence is an established feature of astrophysical plasma fluctuations and in particular apparent in the interplanetary medium by in situ observations. In this situation, the classical Boltzmann— Gibbs extensive thermo-statistics, applicable when microscopic interactions and memory are short ranged and the environment is a continuous and differentiable manifold, fails. Upon generalization of the entropy function to nonextensivity, accounting for long-range interactions and thus for correlations in the system, it is demonstrated that the corresponding probability distribution functions (PDFs) are members of a family of specific power-law distributions. In particular, the resulting theoretical bi-κ functional reproduces accurately the observed global leptokurtic, non-Gaussian shape of the increment PDFs of characteristic solar wind variables on all scales, where nonlocality in turbulence is controlled via a multiscale coupling parameter. Gradual decoupling is obtained by enhancing the spatial separation scale corresponding to increasing κ-values in case of slow solar wind conditions where a Gaussian is approached in the limit of large scales. Contrary, the scaling properties in the high speed solar wind are predominantly governed by the mean energy or variance of the distribution, appearing as second parameter in the theory. The PDFs of solar wind scalar field differences are computed from WIND and ACE data for different time-lags and bulk speeds and analyzed within the nonextensive theory, where also a particular nonlinear dependence of the coupling parameter and variance with scale arises for best fitting theoretical PDFs. Consequently, nonlocality in fluctuations, related to both, turbulence and its large scale driving, should be related to long-range interactions in the context of nonextensive entropy generalization, providing fundamentally the physical background of the observed scale dependence of fluctuations in intermittent space plasmas.

Spin-density fluctuations and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in 3 d ferromagnetic metals

DOE PAGES

Wysocki, Alex L.; Valmispild, V. N.; Kutepov, A.; ...

2017-11-15

Spatial and time scales of spin-density fluctuations (SDFs) were analyzed in 3d ferromagnets using ab initio linear-response calculations of complete wave-vector and energy dependence of the dynamic spin susceptibility tensor. We demonstrate that SDFs are spread continuously over the entire Brillouin zone and while the majority of them reside within the 3d bandwidth, a significant amount comes from much higher energies. A validity of the adiabatic approximation in spin dynamics is discussed. The SDF spectrum is shown to have two main constituents: a minor low-energy spin-wave contribution and a much larger high-energy component from more localized excitations. Furthermore, using themore » fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the on-site spin correlator and the related effective fluctuating moment were properly evaluated and their universal dependence on the 3d band population is further discussed.« less

Spin-density fluctuations and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in 3 d ferromagnetic metals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wysocki, Alex L.; Valmispild, V. N.; Kutepov, A.

Spatial and time scales of spin-density fluctuations (SDFs) were analyzed in 3d ferromagnets using ab initio linear-response calculations of complete wave-vector and energy dependence of the dynamic spin susceptibility tensor. We demonstrate that SDFs are spread continuously over the entire Brillouin zone and while the majority of them reside within the 3d bandwidth, a significant amount comes from much higher energies. A validity of the adiabatic approximation in spin dynamics is discussed. The SDF spectrum is shown to have two main constituents: a minor low-energy spin-wave contribution and a much larger high-energy component from more localized excitations. Furthermore, using themore » fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the on-site spin correlator and the related effective fluctuating moment were properly evaluated and their universal dependence on the 3d band population is further discussed.« less

Scattering of electromagnetic wave by the layer with one-dimensional random inhomogeneities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kogan, Lev; Zaboronkova, Tatiana; Grigoriev, Gennadii., IV.

A great deal of attention has been paid to the study of probability characteristics of electro-magnetic waves scattered by one-dimensional fluctuations of medium dielectric permittivity. However, the problem of a determination of a density of a probability and average intensity of the field inside the stochastically inhomogeneous medium with arbitrary extension of fluc-tuations has not been considered yet. It is the purpose of the present report to find and to analyze the indicated functions for the plane electromagnetic wave scattered by the layer with one-dimensional fluctuations of permittivity. We assumed that the length and the amplitude of individual fluctuations as well the interval between them are random quantities. All of indi-cated fluctuation parameters are supposed as independent random values possessing Gaussian distribution. We considered the stationary time cases both small-scale and large-scale rarefied inhomogeneities. Mathematically such problem can be reduced to the solution of integral Fred-holm equation of second kind for Hertz potential (U). Using the decomposition of the field into the series of multiply scattered waves we obtained the expression for a probability density of the field of the plane wave and determined the moments of the scattered field. We have shown that all odd moments of the centered field (U-¡U¿) are equal to zero and the even moments depend on the intensity. It was obtained that the probability density of the field possesses the Gaussian distribution. The average field is small compared with the standard fluctuation of scattered field for all considered cases of inhomogeneities. The value of average intensity of the field is an order of a standard of fluctuations of field intensity and drops with increases the inhomogeneities length in the case of small-scale inhomogeneities. The behavior of average intensity is more complicated in the case of large-scale medium inhomogeneities. The value of average intensity is the oscillating function versus the average fluctuations length if the standard of fluctuations of inhomogeneities length is greater then the wave length. When the standard of fluctuations of medium inhomogeneities extension is smaller then the wave length, the av-erage intensity value weakly depends from the average fluctuations extension. The obtained results may be used for analysis of the electromagnetic wave propagation into the media with the fluctuating parameters caused by such factors as leafs of trees, cumulus, internal gravity waves with a chaotic phase and etc. Acknowledgment: This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects 08-02-97026 and 09-05-00450).

Scaling characteristics of mountainous river flow fluctuations determined using a shallow-water acoustic tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al Sawaf, Mohamad Basel; Kawanisi, Kiyosi; Kagami, Junya; Bahreinimotlagh, Masoud; Danial, Mochammad Meddy

2017-10-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the scaling exponent properties of mountainous river flow fluctuations by detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). Streamflow data were collected continuously using Fluvial Acoustic Tomography System (FATS), which is a novel system for measuring continuous streamflow at high-frequency scales. The results revealed that river discharge fluctuations have two scaling regimes and scaling break. In contrast to the Ranting Curve method (RC), the small-scale exponent detected by the FATS is estimated to be 1.02 ± 0.42% less than that estimated by RC. More importantly, the crossover times evaluated from the FATS delayed approximately by 42 ± 21 hr ≈2-3 days than their counterparts estimated by RC. The power spectral density analysis assists our findings. We found that scaling characteristics information evaluated for a river using flux data obtained by RC approach might not be accurately detected, because this classical method assumes that flow in river is steady and depends on constructing a relationship between discharge and water level, while the discharge obtained by the FATS decomposes velocity and depth into two ratings according to the continuity equation. Generally, this work highlights the performance of FATS as a powerful and effective approach for continuous streamflow measurements at high-frequency levels.

Magnetotransport of multiple-band nearly antiferromagnetic metals due to hot-spot scattering

DOE PAGES

Koshelev, A. E.

2016-09-30

Multiple-band electronic structure and proximity to antiferromagnetic (AF) instability are the key properties of iron-based superconductors. In this paper, we explore the influence of scattering by the AF spin fluctuations on transport of multiple-band metals above the magnetic transition. A salient feature of scattering on the AF fluctuations is that it is strongly enhanced at the Fermi surface locations where the nesting is perfect (“hot spots” or “hot lines”). We review derivation of the collision integral for the Boltzmann equation due to AF-fluctuations scattering. In the paramagnetic state, the enhanced scattering rate near the hot lines leads to anomalous behaviormore » of electronic transport in magnetic field. We explore this behavior by analytically solving the Boltzmann transport equation with approximate transition rates. This approach accounts for return scattering events and is more accurate than the relaxation-time approximation. The magnetic-field dependences are characterized by two very different field scales: the lower scale is set by the hot-spot width and the higher scale is set by the total scattering amplitude. A conventional magnetotransport behavior is limited to magnetic fields below the lower scale. In the wide range in-between these two scales, the longitudinal conductivity has linear dependence on the magnetic field and the Hall conductivity has quadratic dependence. The linear dependence of the diagonal component reflects growth of the Fermi-surface area affected by the hot spots proportional to the magnetic field. Finally, we discuss applicability of this theoretical framework for describing of anomalous magnetotransport properties in different iron pnictides and chalcogenides in the paramagnetic state.« less

Quantum-gravity predictions for the fine-structure constant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eichhorn, Astrid; Held, Aaron; Wetterich, Christof

2018-07-01

Asymptotically safe quantum fluctuations of gravity can uniquely determine the value of the gauge coupling for a large class of grand unified models. In turn, this makes the electromagnetic fine-structure constant calculable. The balance of gravity and matter fluctuations results in a fixed point for the running of the gauge coupling. It is approached as the momentum scale is lowered in the transplanckian regime, leading to a uniquely predicted value of the gauge coupling at the Planck scale. The precise value of the predicted fine-structure constant depends on the matter content of the grand unified model. It is proportional to the gravitational fluctuation effects for which computational uncertainties remain to be settled.

Decadal variability of precipitation over Western North America

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cayan, D.R.; Dettinger, M.D.; Diaz, Henry F.; Graham, N.E.

1998-01-01

Decadal (>7- yr period) variations of precipitation over western North America account for 20%-50% of the variance of annual precipitation. Spatially, the decadal variability is broken into several regional [O(1000 km)] components. These decadal variations are contributed by fluctuations in precipitation from seasons of the year that vary from region to region and that are not necessarily concentrated in the wettest season(s) alone. The precipitation variations are linked to various decadal atmospheric circulation and SST anomaly patterns where scales range from regional to global scales and that emphasize tropical or extratropical connections, depending upon which precipitation region is considered. Further, wet or dry decades are associated with changes in frequency of at least a few short-period circulation 'modes' such as the Pacific-North American pattern. Precipitation fluctuations over the southwestern United States and the Saskatchewan region of western Canada are associated with extensive shifts of sea level pressure and SST anomalies, suggesting that they are components of low-frequency precipitation variability from global-scale climate proceses. Consistent with the global scale of its pressure and SST connection, the Southwest decadal precipitation is aligned with opposing precipitation fluctuations in northern Africa.Decadal (>7-yr period) variations of precipitation over western North America account for 20%-50% of the variance of annual precipitation. Spatially, the decadal variability is broken into several regional [O(1000 km)] components. These decadal variations are contributed by fluctuations in precipitation from seasons of the year that vary from region to region and that are not necessarily concentrated in the wettest season(s) alone. The precipitation variations are linked to various decadal atmospheric circulation and SST anomaly patterns where scales range from regional to global scales and that emphasize tropical or extratropical connections, depending upon which precipitation region is considered. Further, wet or dry decades are associated with changes in frequency of at least a few short-period circulation `modes' such as the Pacific-North American pattern. Precipitation fluctuations over the southwestern United States and the Saskatchewan region of western Canada are associated with extensive shifts of sea level pressure and SST anomalies, suggesting that they are components of low-frequency precipitation variability from global-scale climate processes. Consistent with the global scale of its pressure and SST connection, the Southwest decadal precipitation is aligned with opposing precipitation fluctuations in northern Africa.

Complexity of low-frequency blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations covaries with local connectivity.

PubMed

Anderson, Jeffrey S; Zielinski, Brandon A; Nielsen, Jared A; Ferguson, Michael A

2014-04-01

Very low-frequency blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fluctuations have emerged as a valuable tool for describing brain anatomy, neuropathology, and development. Such fluctuations exhibit power law frequency dynamics, with largest amplitude at lowest frequencies. The biophysical mechanisms generating such fluctuations are poorly understood. Using publicly available data from 1,019 subjects of age 7-30, we show that BOLD fluctuations exhibit temporal complexity that is linearly related to local connectivity (regional homogeneity), consistently and significantly covarying across subjects and across gray matter regions. This relationship persisted independently of covariance with gray matter density or standard deviation of BOLD signal. During late neurodevelopment, BOLD fluctuations were unchanged with age in association cortex while becoming more random throughout the rest of the brain. These data suggest that local interconnectivity may play a key role in establishing the complexity of low-frequency BOLD fluctuations underlying functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity. Stable low-frequency power dynamics may emerge through segmentation and integration of connectivity during development of distributed large-scale brain networks. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

EUCLIA—Exploring the UV/Optical Continuum Lag in Active Galactic Nuclei. I. A Model without Light Echoing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Zhen-Yi; Wang, Jun-Xian; Zhu, Fei-Fan; Sun, Mou-Yuan; Gu, Wei-Min; Cao, Xin-Wu; Yuan, Feng

2018-03-01

The tight interband correlation and the lag–wavelength relation among UV/optical continua of active galactic nuclei have been firmly established. They are usually understood within the widespread reprocessing scenario; however, the implied interband lags are generally too small. Furthermore, it is challenged by new evidence, such as that the X-ray reprocessing yields too much high-frequency UV/optical variation and that it fails to reproduce the observed timescale-dependent color variations among the Swift light curves of NGC 5548. In a different manner, we demonstrate that an upgraded inhomogeneous accretion disk model, whose local independent temperature fluctuations are subject to a speculated common large-scale temperature fluctuation, can intrinsically generate the tight interband correlation and lag across the UV/optical and be in nice agreement with several observational properties of NGC 5548, including the timescale-dependent color variation. The emergent lag is a result of the differential regression capability of local temperature fluctuations when responding to the large-scale fluctuation. An average speed of propagations as large as ≳15% of the speed of light may be required by this common fluctuation. Several potential physical mechanisms for such propagations are discussed. Our interesting phenomenological scenario may shed new light on comprehending the UV/optical continuum variations of active galactic nuclei.

Turbulence in simulated H II regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, S.-N. X.; Arthur, S. J.; Henney, W. J.; Mellema, G.; Gazol, A.

2014-12-01

We investigate the scale dependence of fluctuations inside a realistic model of an evolving turbulent H II region and to what extent these may be studied observationally. We find that the multiple scales of energy injection from champagne flows and the photoionization of clumps and filaments leads to a flatter spectrum of fluctuations than would be expected from top-down turbulence driven at the largest scales. The traditional structure function approach to the observational study of velocity fluctuations is shown to be incapable of reliably determining the velocity power spectrum of our simulation. We find that a more promising approach is the Velocity Channel Analysis technique of Lazarian & Pogosyan (2000), which, despite being intrinsically limited by thermal broadening, can successfully recover the logarithmic slope of the velocity power spectrum to a precision of ±0.1 from high-resolution optical emission-line spectroscopy.

The temporal spectrum of adult mosquito population fluctuations: conceptual and modeling implications.

PubMed

Jian, Yun; Silvestri, Sonia; Brown, Jeff; Hickman, Rick; Marani, Marco

2014-01-01

An improved understanding of mosquito population dynamics under natural environmental forcing requires adequate field observations spanning the full range of temporal scales over which mosquito abundance fluctuates in natural conditions. Here we analyze a 9-year daily time series of uninterrupted observations of adult mosquito abundance for multiple mosquito species in North Carolina to identify characteristic scales of temporal variability, the processes generating them, and the representativeness of observations at different sampling resolutions. We focus in particular on Aedes vexans and Culiseta melanura and, using a combination of spectral analysis and modeling, we find significant population fluctuations with characteristic periodicity between 2 days and several years. Population dynamical modelling suggests that the observed fast fluctuations scales (2 days-weeks) are importantly affected by a varying mosquito activity in response to rapid changes in meteorological conditions, a process neglected in most representations of mosquito population dynamics. We further suggest that the range of time scales over which adult mosquito population variability takes place can be divided into three main parts. At small time scales (indicatively 2 days-1 month) observed population fluctuations are mainly driven by behavioral responses to rapid changes in weather conditions. At intermediate scales (1 to several month) environmentally-forced fluctuations in generation times, mortality rates, and density dependence determine the population characteristic response times. At longer scales (annual to multi-annual) mosquito populations follow seasonal and inter-annual environmental changes. We conclude that observations of adult mosquito populations should be based on a sub-weekly sampling frequency and that predictive models of mosquito abundance must include behavioral dynamics to separate the effects of a varying mosquito activity from actual changes in the abundance of the underlying population.

Broadband Electrophysiological Dynamics Contribute to Global Resting-State fMRI Signal.

PubMed

Wen, Haiguang; Liu, Zhongming

2016-06-01

Spontaneous activity observed with resting-state fMRI is used widely to uncover the brain's intrinsic functional networks in health and disease. Although many networks appear modular and specific, global and nonspecific fMRI fluctuations also exist and both pose a challenge and present an opportunity for characterizing and understanding brain networks. Here, we used a multimodal approach to investigate the neural correlates to the global fMRI signal in the resting state. Like fMRI, resting-state power fluctuations of broadband and arrhythmic, or scale-free, macaque electrocorticography and human magnetoencephalography activity were correlated globally. The power fluctuations of scale-free human electroencephalography (EEG) were coupled with the global component of simultaneously acquired resting-state fMRI, with the global hemodynamic change lagging the broadband spectral change of EEG by ∼5 s. The levels of global and nonspecific fluctuation and synchronization in scale-free population activity also varied across and depended on arousal states. Together, these results suggest that the neural origin of global resting-state fMRI activity is the broadband power fluctuation in scale-free population activity observable with macroscopic electrical or magnetic recordings. Moreover, the global fluctuation in neurophysiological and hemodynamic activity is likely modulated through diffuse neuromodulation pathways that govern arousal states and vigilance levels. This study provides new insights into the neural origin of resting-state fMRI. Results demonstrate that the broadband power fluctuation of scale-free electrophysiology is globally synchronized and directly coupled with the global component of spontaneous fMRI signals, in contrast to modularly synchronized fluctuations in oscillatory neural activity. These findings lead to a new hypothesis that scale-free and oscillatory neural processes account for global and modular patterns of functional connectivity observed with resting-state fMRI, respectively. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/366030-11$15.00/0.

How to Define the Mean Square Amplitude of Solar Wind Fluctuations With Respect to the Local Mean Magnetic Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Podesta, John J.

2017-12-01

Over the last decade it has become popular to analyze turbulent solar wind fluctuations with respect to a coordinate system aligned with the local mean magnetic field. This useful analysis technique has provided new information and new insights about the nature of solar wind fluctuations and provided some support for phenomenological theories of MHD turbulence based on the ideas of Goldreich and Sridhar. At the same time it has drawn criticism suggesting that the use of a scale-dependent local mean field is somehow inconsistent or irreconcilable with traditional analysis techniques based on second-order structure functions and power spectra that, for stationary time series, are defined with respect to the constant (scale-independent) ensemble average magnetic field. Here it is shown that for fluctuations with power law spectra, such as those observed in solar wind turbulence, it is possible to define the local mean magnetic field in a special way such that the total mean square amplitude (trace amplitude) of turbulent fluctuations is approximately the same, scale by scale, as that obtained using traditional second-order structure functions or power spectra. This fact should dispel criticism concerning the physical validity or practical usefulness of the local mean magnetic field in these applications.

Derivation and precision of mean field electrodynamics with mesoscale fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hongzhe; Blackman, Eric G.

2018-06-01

Mean field electrodynamics (MFE) facilitates practical modelling of secular, large scale properties of astrophysical or laboratory systems with fluctuations. Practitioners commonly assume wide scale separation between mean and fluctuating quantities, to justify equality of ensemble and spatial or temporal averages. Often however, real systems do not exhibit such scale separation. This raises two questions: (I) What are the appropriate generalized equations of MFE in the presence of mesoscale fluctuations? (II) How precise are theoretical predictions from MFE? We address both by first deriving the equations of MFE for different types of averaging, along with mesoscale correction terms that depend on the ratio of averaging scale to variation scale of the mean. We then show that even if these terms are small, predictions of MFE can still have a significant precision error. This error has an intrinsic contribution from the dynamo input parameters and a filtering contribution from differences in the way observations and theory are projected through the measurement kernel. Minimizing the sum of these contributions can produce an optimal scale of averaging that makes the theory maximally precise. The precision error is important to quantify when comparing to observations because it quantifies the resolution of predictive power. We exemplify these principles for galactic dynamos, comment on broader implications, and identify possibilities for further work.

Establishing a direct connection between detrended fluctuation analysis and Fourier analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyono, Ken

2015-10-01

To understand methodological features of the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) using a higher-order polynomial fitting, we establish the direct connection between DFA and Fourier analysis. Based on an exact calculation of the single-frequency response of the DFA, the following facts are shown analytically: (1) in the analysis of stochastic processes exhibiting a power-law scaling of the power spectral density (PSD), S (f ) ˜f-β , a higher-order detrending in the DFA has no adverse effect in the estimation of the DFA scaling exponent α , which satisfies the scaling relation α =(β +1 )/2 ; (2) the upper limit of the scaling exponents detectable by the DFA depends on the order of polynomial fit used in the DFA, and is bounded by m +1 , where m is the order of the polynomial fit; (3) the relation between the time scale in the DFA and the corresponding frequency in the PSD are distorted depending on both the order of the DFA and the frequency dependence of the PSD. We can improve the scale distortion by introducing the corrected time scale in the DFA corresponding to the inverse of the frequency scale in the PSD. In addition, our analytical approach makes it possible to characterize variants of the DFA using different types of detrending. As an application, properties of the detrending moving average algorithm are discussed.

Experimental demonstration of scaling behavior for ionic transport and its fluctuations in individual carbon nanotube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bocquet, Lyderic; Secchi, Eleonora; Nigues, Antoine; Siria, Alessandro

2015-11-01

We perform an experimental study of ionic transport and current fluctuations inside individual Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) with a size ranging from 40 down to 7 nanometers in radius. The conductance exhibits a power law behavior dependence on the salinity, with an exponent close to 1/3. This is in contrast to Boron-Nitride nanotubes which exhibits a constant surface conductance. This scaling behavior is rationalized in terms of a model accounting for hydroxide adsorption at the (hydrophobic) carbon surface. This predicts a density dependent surface charge with a exponent 1/3 in full agreement with the experimental observations. Then we measure the low frequency noise of the ionic current in single CNTs. The noise exhibits a robust 1/f characteristic, with an amplitude which scales proportionaly to the surface charge measured independently. Data for the various CNT at a given pH do collapse on a master curve. This behavior is rationalized in terms of the fluctuations of the surface charge based on the adsorption behavior. This suggests that the low frequency noise takes its origin in the process occuring at the surface of the carbon nanotube.

Break-up dynamics of fluctuating liquid threads

PubMed Central

Petit, Julien; Rivière, David; Kellay, Hamid; Delville, Jean-Pierre

2012-01-01

The thinning dynamics of a liquid neck before break-up, as may happen when a drop detaches from a faucet or a capillary, follows different rules and dynamic scaling laws depending on the importance of inertia, viscous stresses, or capillary forces. If now the thinning neck reaches dimensions comparable to the thermally excited interfacial fluctuations, as for nanojet break-up or the fragmentation of thermally annealed nanowires, these fluctuations should play a dominant role according to recent theory and observations. Using near-critical interfaces, we here fully characterize the universal dynamics of this thermal fluctuation-dominated regime and demonstrate that the cross-over from the classical two-fluid pinch-off scenario of a liquid thread to the fluctuation-dominated regime occurs at a well-defined neck radius proportional to the thermal length scale. Investigating satellite drop formation, we also show that at the level of the cross-over between these two regimes it is more probable to produce monodisperse droplets because fluctuation-dominated pinch-off may allow the unique situation where satellite drop formation can be inhibited. Nonetheless, the interplay between the evolution of the neck profiles from the classical to the fluctuation-dominated regime and the satellites’ production remains to be clarified. PMID:23090994

Vertical Scales of Turbulence at the Mount Wilson Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Treuhaft, Robert N.; Lowe, Stephen T.; Bester, Manfred; Danchi, William C.; Townes, Charles H.

1995-01-01

The vertical scales of turbulence at the Mount Wilson Observatory are inferred from data from the University of California at Berkeley Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI), by modeling path length fluctuations observed in the interferometric paths to celestial objects and those in instrumental ground-based paths. The correlations between the stellar and ground-based path length fluctuations and the temporal statistics of those fluctuations are modeled on various timescales to constrain the vertical scales. A Kolmogorov-Taylor turbulence model with a finite outer scale was used to simulate ISI data. The simulation also included the white instrumental noise of the interferometer, aperture-filtering effects, and the data analysis algorithms. The simulations suggest that the path delay fluctuations observed in the 1992-1993 ISI data are largely consistent with being generated by refractivity fluctuations at two characteristic vertical scales: one extending to a height of 45 m above the ground, with a wind speed of about 1 m/ s, and another at a much higher altitude, with a wind speed of about 10 m/ s. The height of the lower layer is of the order of the dimensions of trees and other structures near the interferometer, which suggests that these objects, including elements of the interferometer, may play a role in generating the lower layer of turbulence. The modeling indicates that the high- attitude component contributes primarily to short-period (less than 10 s) fluctuations, while the lower component dominates the long-period (up to a few minutes) fluctuations. The lower component turbulent height, along with outer scales of the order of 10 m, suggest that the baseline dependence of long-term interferometric, atmospheric fluctuations should weaken for baselines greater than a few tens of meters. Simulations further show that there is the potential for improving the seeing or astrometric accuracy by about 30%-50% on average, if the path length fluctuations in the lower component are directly calibrated. Statistical and systematic effects induce an error of about 15 m in the estimate of the lower component turbulent altitude.

Dynamics of Secondary Large-Scale Structures in ETG Turbulence Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiquan; Y, Kishimoto; Dong, Jiaqi; N, Miyato; T, Matsumoto

2006-01-01

The dynamics of secondary large-scale structures in electron-temperature-gradient (ETG) turbulence is investigated based on gyrofluid simulations in sheared slab geometry. It is found that structural bifurcation to zonal flow dominated or streamer-like states depends on the spectral anisotropy of turbulent ETG fluctuation, which is governed by the magnetic shear. The turbulent electron transport is suppressed by enhanced zonal flows. However, it is still low even if the streamer is formed in ETG turbulence with strong shears. It is shown that the low transport may be related to the secondary excitation of poloidal long-wavelength mode due to the beat wave of the most unstable components or a modulation instability. This large-scale structure with a low frequency and a long wavelength may saturate, or at least contribute to the saturation of ETG fluctuations through a poloidal mode coupling. The result suggests a low fluctuation level in ETG turbulence.

Spatial averaging of a dissipative particle dynamics model for active suspensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panchenko, Alexander; Hinz, Denis F.; Fried, Eliot

2018-03-01

Starting from a fine-scale dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) model of self-motile point particles, we derive meso-scale continuum equations by applying a spatial averaging version of the Irving-Kirkwood-Noll procedure. Since the method does not rely on kinetic theory, the derivation is valid for highly concentrated particle systems. Spatial averaging yields stochastic continuum equations similar to those of Toner and Tu. However, our theory also involves a constitutive equation for the average fluctuation force. According to this equation, both the strength and the probability distribution vary with time and position through the effective mass density. The statistics of the fluctuation force also depend on the fine scale dissipative force equation, the physical temperature, and two additional parameters which characterize fluctuation strengths. Although the self-propulsion force entering our DPD model contains no explicit mechanism for aligning the velocities of neighboring particles, our averaged coarse-scale equations include the commonly encountered cubically nonlinear (internal) body force density.

Activation barrier scaling and crossover for noise-induced switching in micromechanical parametric oscillators.

PubMed

Chan, H B; Stambaugh, C

2007-08-10

We explore fluctuation-induced switching in parametrically driven micromechanical torsional oscillators. The oscillators possess one, two, or three stable attractors depending on the modulation frequency. Noise induces transitions between the coexisting attractors. Near the bifurcation points, the activation barriers are found to have a power law dependence on frequency detuning with critical exponents that are in agreement with predicted universal scaling relationships. At large detuning, we observe a crossover to a different power law dependence with an exponent that is device specific.

Determination of the Thermal Noise Limit of Graphene Biotransistors.

PubMed

Crosser, Michael S; Brown, Morgan A; McEuen, Paul L; Minot, Ethan D

2015-08-12

To determine the thermal noise limit of graphene biotransistors, we have measured the complex impedance between the basal plane of single-layer graphene and an aqueous electrolyte. The impedance is dominated by an imaginary component but has a finite real component. Invoking the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we determine the power spectral density of thermally driven voltage fluctuations at the graphene/electrolyte interface. The fluctuations have 1/f(p) dependence, with p = 0.75-0.85, and the magnitude of fluctuations scales inversely with area. Our results explain noise spectra previously measured in liquid-gated suspended graphene devices and provide realistic targets for future device performance.

Large angular scale CMB anisotropy from an excited initial mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sojasi, A.; Mohsenzadeh, M.; Yusofi, E.

2016-07-01

According to inflationary cosmology, the CMB anisotropy gives an opportunity to test predictions of new physics hypotheses. The initial state of quantum fluctuations is one of the important options at high energy scale, as it can affect observables such as the CMB power spectrum. In this study a quasi-de Sitter inflationary background with approximate de Sitter mode function built over the Bunch-Davies mode is applied to investigate the scale-dependency of the CMB anisotropy. The recent Planck constraint on spectral index motivated us to examine the effect of a new excited mode function (instead of pure de Sitter mode) on the CMB anisotropy at large angular scales. In so doing, it is found that the angular scale-invariance in the CMB temperature fluctuations is broken and in the limit ℓ < 200 a tiny deviation appears. Also, it is shown that the power spectrum of CMB anisotropy is dependent on a free parameter with mass dimension H << M * < M p and on the slow-roll parameter ɛ. Supported by the Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran

Entropy information of heart rate variability and its power spectrum during day and night

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Li; Jun, Wang

2013-07-01

Physiologic systems generate complex fluctuations in their output signals that reflect the underlying dynamics. We employed the base-scale entropy method and the power spectral analysis to study the 24 hours heart rate variability (HRV) signals. The results show that such profound circadian-, age- and pathologic-dependent changes are accompanied by changes in base-scale entropy and power spectral distribution. Moreover, the base-scale entropy changes reflect the corresponding changes in the autonomic nerve outflow. With the suppression of the vagal tone and dominance of the sympathetic tone in congestive heart failure (CHF) subjects, there is more variability in the date fluctuation mode. So the higher base-scale entropy belongs to CHF subjects. With the decrease of the sympathetic tone and the respiratory frequency (RSA) becoming more pronounced with slower breathing during sleeping, the base-scale entropy drops in CHF subjects. The HRV series of the two healthy groups have the same diurnal/nocturnal trend as the CHF series. The fluctuation dynamics trend of data in the three groups can be described as “HF effect”.

Detrended fluctuation analysis as a regression framework: Estimating dependence at different scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kristoufek, Ladislav

2015-02-01

We propose a framework combining detrended fluctuation analysis with standard regression methodology. The method is built on detrended variances and covariances and it is designed to estimate regression parameters at different scales and under potential nonstationarity and power-law correlations. The former feature allows for distinguishing between effects for a pair of variables from different temporal perspectives. The latter ones make the method a significant improvement over the standard least squares estimation. Theoretical claims are supported by Monte Carlo simulations. The method is then applied on selected examples from physics, finance, environmental science, and epidemiology. For most of the studied cases, the relationship between variables of interest varies strongly across scales.

Higher-order correlations for fluctuations in the presence of fields.

PubMed

Boer, A; Dumitru, S

2002-10-01

The higher-order moments of the fluctuations for thermodynamic systems in the presence of fields are investigated in the framework of a theoretical method. The method uses a generalized statistical ensemble consistent with an adequate expression for the internal energy. The applications refer to the case of a system in a magnetoquasistatic field. In the case of linear magnetic media, one finds that, for the description of the magnetic induction fluctuations, the Gaussian approximation is satisfactory. For nonlinear media, the corresponding fluctuations are non-Gaussian, having a non-null asymmetry. Furthermore, the respective fluctuations have characteristics of leptokurtic, mesokurtic and platykurtic type, depending on the value of the magnetic field strength as compared with a scaling factor of the magnetization curve.

Antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations in the heavy-fermion superconductor Ce2PdIn8

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran, V. H.; Hillier, A. D.; Adroja, D. T.; Kaczorowski, D.

2012-09-01

Inelastic neutron scattering and muon spin relaxation/rotation (μSR) measurements were performed on the heavy-fermion superconductor Ce2PdIn8. The observed scaling of the imaginary part of the dynamical susceptibility χ''Tα∝f(ℏω/kBT) with α=3/2 revealed a non-Fermi liquid character of the normal state, being due to critical antiferromagnetic fluctuations near a T=0 quantum phase transition. The longitudinal-field μSR measurements indicated that superconductivity and antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations coexist in Ce2PdIn8 on a microscopic scale. The observed power-law temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth λ∝T3/2, deduced from the transverse-field μSR data, strongly confirms an unconventional superconductivity in this compound.

Energy Current Cumulants in One-Dimensional Systems in Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhar, Abhishek; Saito, Keiji; Roy, Anjan

2018-06-01

A recent theory based on fluctuating hydrodynamics predicts that one-dimensional interacting systems with particle, momentum, and energy conservation exhibit anomalous transport that falls into two main universality classes. The classification is based on behavior of equilibrium dynamical correlations of the conserved quantities. One class is characterized by sound modes with Kardar-Parisi-Zhang scaling, while the second class has diffusive sound modes. The heat mode follows Lévy statistics, with different exponents for the two classes. Here we consider heat current fluctuations in two specific systems, which are expected to be in the above two universality classes, namely, a hard particle gas with Hamiltonian dynamics and a harmonic chain with momentum conserving stochastic dynamics. Numerical simulations show completely different system-size dependence of current cumulants in these two systems. We explain this numerical observation using a phenomenological model of Lévy walkers with inputs from fluctuating hydrodynamics. This consistently explains the system-size dependence of heat current fluctuations. For the latter system, we derive the cumulant-generating function from a more microscopic theory, which also gives the same system-size dependence of cumulants.

Light scattering from liquid crystal director fluctuations in steady magnetic fields up to 25 tesla.

PubMed

Challa, Pavan K; Curtiss, O; Williams, J C; Twieg, R; Toth, J; McGill, S; Jákli, A; Gleeson, J T; Sprunt, S N

2012-07-01

We report on homodyne dynamic light scattering measurements of orientational fluctuation modes in both calamitic and bent-core nematic liquid crystals, carried out in the new split-helix resistive magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. The relaxation rate and inverse scattered intensity of director fluctuations exhibit a linear dependence on field-squared up to 25 tesla, which is consistent with strictly lowest order coupling of the tensor order parameter Q to field (Q(αβ)B(α)B(β)) in the nematic free energy. However, we also observe evidence of field dependence of certain nematic material parameters, an effect which may be expected from the mean field scaling of these quantities with the magnitude of Q and the predicted variation of Q with field.

Superconducting fluctuations and characteristic time scales in amorphous WSi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaofu; Lita, Adriana E.; Sidorova, Mariia; Verma, Varun B.; Wang, Qiang; Nam, Sae Woo; Semenov, Alexei; Schilling, Andreas

2018-05-01

We study magnitudes and temperature dependencies of the electron-electron and electron-phonon interaction times which play the dominant role in the formation and relaxation of photon-induced hotspots in two-dimensional amorphous WSi films. The time constants are obtained through magnetoconductance measurements in a perpendicular magnetic field in the superconducting fluctuation regime and through time-resolved photoresponse to optical pulses. The excess magnetoconductivity is interpreted in terms of the weak-localization effect and superconducting fluctuations. Aslamazov-Larkin and Maki-Thompson superconducting fluctuations alone fail to reproduce the magnetic field dependence in the relatively high magnetic field range when the temperature is rather close to Tc because the suppression of the electronic density of states due to the formation of short-lifetime Cooper pairs needs to be considered. The time scale τi of inelastic scattering is ascribed to a combination of electron-electron (τe -e) and electron-phonon (τe -p h) interaction times, and a characteristic electron-fluctuation time (τe -f l) , which makes it possible to extract their magnitudes and temperature dependencies from the measured τi. The ratio of phonon-electron (τp h -e) and electron-phonon interaction times is obtained via measurements of the optical photoresponse of WSi microbridges. Relatively large τe -p h/τp h -e and τe -p h/τe -e ratios ensure that in WSi the photon energy is more efficiently confined in the electron subsystem than in other materials commonly used in the technology of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). We discuss the impact of interaction times on the hotspot dynamics and compare relevant metrics of SNSPDs from different materials.

THE EFFECTS OF KINETIC INSTABILITIES ON SMALL-SCALE TURBULENCE IN EARTH’S MAGNETOSHEATH

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Breuillard, H.; Yordanova, E.; Vaivads, A.

2016-09-20

The Earth's magnetosheath is the region delimited by the bow shock and the magnetopause. It is characterized by highly turbulent fluctuations covering all scales from MHD down to kinetic scales. Turbulence is thought to play a fundamental role in key processes such as energy transport and dissipation in plasma. In addition to turbulence, different plasma instabilities are generated in the magnetosheath because of the large anisotropies in plasma temperature introduced by its boundaries. In this study we use high-quality magnetic field measurements from Cluster spacecraft to investigate the effects of such instabilities on the small-scale turbulence (from ion down tomore » electron scales). We show that the steepening of the power spectrum of magnetic field fluctuations in the magnetosheath occurs at the largest characteristic ion scale. However, the spectrum can be modified by the presence of waves/structures at ion scales, shifting the onset of the small-scale turbulent cascade toward the smallest ion scale. This cascade is therefore highly dependent on the presence of kinetic instabilities, waves, and local plasma parameters. Here we show that in the absence of strong waves the small-scale turbulence is quasi-isotropic and has a spectral index α ≈ −2.8. When transverse or compressive waves are present, we observe an anisotropy in the magnetic field components and a decrease in the absolute value of α . Slab/2D turbulence also develops in the presence of transverse/compressive waves, resulting in gyrotropy/non-gyrotropy of small-scale fluctuations. The presence of both types of waves reduces the anisotropy in the amplitude of fluctuations in the small-scale range.« less

Measuring Happiness: From Fluctuating Happiness to Authentic–Durable Happiness

PubMed Central

Dambrun, Michaël; Ricard, Matthieu; Després, Gérard; Drelon, Emilie; Gibelin, Eva; Gibelin, Marion; Loubeyre, Mélanie; Py, Delphine; Delpy, Aurore; Garibbo, Céline; Bray, Elise; Lac, Gérard; Michaux, Odile

2012-01-01

On the basis of the theoretical distinction between self-centeredness and selflessness (Dambrun and Ricard, 2011), the main goal of this research was to develop two new scales assessing distinct dimensions of happiness. By trying to maximize pleasures and to avoid displeasures, we propose that a self-centered functioning induces a fluctuating happiness in which phases of pleasure and displeasure alternate repeatedly (i.e., Fluctuating Happiness). In contrast, a selfless psychological functioning postulates the existence of a state of durable plenitude that is less dependent upon circumstances but rather is related to a person’s inner resources and abilities to deal with whatever comes his way in life (i.e., Authentic–Durable Happiness). Using various samples (n = 735), we developed a 10-item Scale measuring Subjective Fluctuating Happiness (SFHS) and a 13-item scale assessing Subjective Authentic–Durable Happiness (SA–DHS). Results indicated high internal consistencies, satisfactory test–retest validities, and adequate convergent and discriminant validities with various constructs including a biological marker of stress (salivary cortisol). Consistent with our theoretical framework, while self-enhancement values were related only to fluctuating happiness, self-transcendence values were related only to authentic–durable happiness. Support for the distinction between contentment and inner-peace, two related markers of authentic happiness, also was found. PMID:22347202

Small-scale modification to the lensing kernel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadzhiyska, Boryana; Spergel, David; Dunkley, Joanna

2018-02-01

Calculations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing power implemented into the standard cosmological codes such as camb and class usually treat the surface of last scatter as an infinitely thin screen. However, since the CMB anisotropies are smoothed out on scales smaller than the diffusion length due to the effect of Silk damping, the photons which carry information about the small-scale density distribution come from slightly earlier times than the standard recombination time. The dominant effect is the scale dependence of the mean redshift associated with the fluctuations during recombination. We find that fluctuations at k =0.01 Mpc-1 come from a characteristic redshift of z ≈1090 , while fluctuations at k =0.3 Mpc-1 come from a characteristic redshift of z ≈1130 . We then estimate the corrections to the lensing kernel and the related power spectra due to this effect. We conclude that neglecting it would result in a deviation from the true value of the lensing kernel at the half percent level at small CMB scales. For an all-sky, noise-free experiment, this corresponds to a ˜0.1 σ shift in the observed temperature power spectrum on small scales (2500 ≲l ≲4000 ).

Scale interaction and arrangement in a turbulent boundary layer perturbed by a wall-mounted cylindrical element

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Zhanqi; Jiang, Nan

2018-05-01

This study reports the modifications of scale interaction and arrangement in a turbulent boundary layer perturbed by a wall-mounted circular cylinder. Hot-wire measurements were executed at multiple streamwise and wall-normal wise locations downstream of the cylindrical element. The streamwise fluctuating signals were decomposed into large-, small-, and dissipative-scale signatures by corresponding cutoff filters. The scale interaction under the cylindrical perturbation was elaborated by comparing the small- and dissipative-scale amplitude/frequency modulation effects downstream of the cylinder element with the results observed in the unperturbed case. It was obtained that the large-scale fluctuations perform a stronger amplitude modulation on both the small and dissipative scales in the near-wall region. At the wall-normal positions of the cylinder height, the small-scale amplitude modulation coefficients are redistributed by the cylinder wake. The similar observation was noted in small-scale frequency modulation; however, the dissipative-scale frequency modulation seems to be independent of the cylindrical perturbation. The phase-relationship observation indicated that the cylindrical perturbation shortens the time shifts between both the small- and dissipative-scale variations (amplitude and frequency) and large-scale fluctuations. Then, the integral time scale dependence of the phase-relationship between the small/dissipative scales and large scales was also discussed. Furthermore, the discrepancy of small- and dissipative-scale time shifts relative to the large-scale motions was examined, which indicates that the small-scale amplitude/frequency leads the dissipative scales.

Superconducting fluctuations in molybdenum nitride thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baskaran, R.; Thanikai Arasu, A. V.; Amaladass, E. P.; Vaidhyanathan, L. S.; Baisnab, D. K.

2018-02-01

MoN thin films have been deposited using reactive sputtering. The change in resistance near superconducting transition temperature at various magnetic fields has been analyzed based on superconducting fluctuations in the system. The Aslamazov and Larkin scaling theory has been utilized to analyze the conductance change. The results indicate that most of the measurements show two dimensional (2D) nature and exhibit scaling behavior at lower magnetic fields (<7T), while a cross over to three dimensional (3D) nature has been clearly observed in measurements at higher fields (>7T). We have also analyzed our data based on the model in which there is no explicit dependence of Tc. These analyses also substantiate a crossover from a 2D nature to a 3D at larger fields. Analysis using lowest Landau level scaling theory for a 2D system exhibit scaling behavior and substantiate our observations. The broadening at low resistance part has been explained based on thermally activated flux flow model and show universal behavior. The dependence of Uo on magnetic field indicates both single and collective vortex behavior.

A selective phenomenology of the seismicity of Southern California.

PubMed Central

Knopoff, L

1996-01-01

Predictions of earthquakes that are based on observations of precursory seismicity cannot depend on the average properties of the seismicity, such as the Gutenberg-Richter (G-R) distribution. Instead it must depend on the fluctuations in seismicity. We summarize the observational data of the fluctuations of seismicity in space, in time, and in a coupled space-time regime over the past 60 yr in Southern California, to provide a basis for determining whether these fluctuations are correlated with the times and locations of future strong earthquakes in an appropriate time- and space-scale. The simple extrapolation of the G-R distribution must lead to an overestimate of the risk due to large earthquakes. There may be two classes of earthquakes: the small earthquakes that satisfy the G-R law and the larger and large ones. Most observations of fluctuations of seismicity are of the rate of occurrence of smaller earthquakes. Large earthquakes are observed to be preceded by significant quiescence on the faults on which they occur and by an intensification of activity at distance. It is likely that the fluctuations are due to the nature of fractures on individual faults of the network of faults. There are significant inhomogeneities on these faults, which we assume will have an important influence on the nature of self-organization of seismicity. The principal source of the inhomogeneity on the large scale is the influence of geometry--i.e., of the nonplanarity of faults and the system of faults. PMID:11607661

Rogue waves and entropy consumption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadjihoseini, Ali; Lind, Pedro G.; Mori, Nobuhito; Hoffmann, Norbert P.; Peinke, Joachim

2017-11-01

Based on data from the Sea of Japan and the North Sea the occurrence of rogue waves is analyzed by a scale-dependent stochastic approach, which interlinks fluctuations of waves for different spacings. With this approach we are able to determine a stochastic cascade process, which provides information of the general multipoint statistics. Furthermore the evolution of single trajectories in scale, which characterize wave height fluctuations in the surroundings of a chosen location, can be determined. The explicit knowledge of the stochastic process enables to assign entropy values to all wave events. We show that for these entropies the integral fluctuation theorem, a basic law of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, is valid. This implies that positive and negative entropy events must occur. Extreme events like rogue waves are characterized as negative entropy events. The statistics of these entropy fluctuations changes with the wave state, thus for the Sea of Japan the statistics of the entropies has a more pronounced tail for negative entropy values, indicating a higher probability of rogue waves.

Reionization and the cosmic microwave background in an open universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Persi, Fred M.

1995-01-01

If the universe was reionized at high reshift (z greater than or approximately equal to 30) or never recombined, then photon-electron scattering can erase fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background at scales less than or approximately equal to 1 deg. Peculiar motion at the surface of last scattering will then have given rise to new anisotropy at the 1 min level through the Vishniac effect. Here the observed fluctuations in galaxy counts are extrapolated to high redshifts using linear theory, and the expected anisotropy is computed. The predicted level of anisotropies is a function of Omega(sub 0) and the ratio of the density in ionized baryons to the critical density and is shown to depend strongly on the large- and small-scale power. It is not possible to make general statements about the viability of all reionized models based on current observations, but it is possible to rule out specific models for structure formation, particularly those with high baryonic content or small-scale power. The induced fluctuations are shown to scale with cosmological parameters and optical depth.

The topology of large-scale structure. I - Topology and the random phase hypothesis. [galactic formation models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, David H.; Gott, J. Richard, III; Melott, Adrian L.

1987-01-01

Many models for the formation of galaxies and large-scale structure assume a spectrum of random phase (Gaussian), small-amplitude density fluctuations as initial conditions. In such scenarios, the topology of the galaxy distribution on large scales relates directly to the topology of the initial density fluctuations. Here a quantitative measure of topology - the genus of contours in a smoothed density distribution - is described and applied to numerical simulations of galaxy clustering, to a variety of three-dimensional toy models, and to a volume-limited sample of the CfA redshift survey. For random phase distributions the genus of density contours exhibits a universal dependence on threshold density. The clustering simulations show that a smoothing length of 2-3 times the mass correlation length is sufficient to recover the topology of the initial fluctuations from the evolved galaxy distribution. Cold dark matter and white noise models retain a random phase topology at shorter smoothing lengths, but massive neutrino models develop a cellular topology.

Search for subgrid scale parameterization by projection pursuit regression

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meneveau, C.; Lund, T. S.; Moin, Parviz

1992-01-01

The dependence of subgrid-scale stresses on variables of the resolved field is studied using direct numerical simulations of isotropic turbulence, homogeneous shear flow, and channel flow. The projection pursuit algorithm, a promising new regression tool for high-dimensional data, is used to systematically search through a large collection of resolved variables, such as components of the strain rate, vorticity, velocity gradients at neighboring grid points, etc. For the case of isotropic turbulence, the search algorithm recovers the linear dependence on the rate of strain (which is necessary to transfer energy to subgrid scales) but is unable to determine any other more complex relationship. For shear flows, however, new systematic relations beyond eddy viscosity are found. For the homogeneous shear flow, the results suggest that products of the mean rotation rate tensor with both the fluctuating strain rate and fluctuating rotation rate tensors are important quantities in parameterizing the subgrid-scale stresses. A model incorporating these terms is proposed. When evaluated with direct numerical simulation data, this model significantly increases the correlation between the modeled and exact stresses, as compared with the Smagorinsky model. In the case of channel flow, the stresses are found to correlate with products of the fluctuating strain and rotation rate tensors. The mean rates of rotation or strain do not appear to be important in this case, and the model determined for homogeneous shear flow does not perform well when tested with channel flow data. Many questions remain about the physical mechanisms underlying these findings, about possible Reynolds number dependence, and, given the low level of correlations, about their impact on modeling. Nevertheless, demonstration of the existence of causal relations between sgs stresses and large-scale characteristics of turbulent shear flows, in addition to those necessary for energy transfer, provides important insight into the relation between scales in turbulent flows.

Astrophysical Gyrokinetics: Kinetic and Fluid Turbulent Cascades in Magnetized Weakly Collisional Plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C.; Dorland, W.; Hammett, G. W.; Howes, G. G.; Quataert, E.; Tatsuno, T.

2009-05-01

This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding plasma turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. It is motivated by observations of electromagnetic and density fluctuations in the solar wind, interstellar medium and galaxy clusters, as well as by models of particle heating in accretion disks. All of these plasmas and many others have turbulent motions at weakly collisional and collisionless scales. The paper focuses on turbulence in a strong mean magnetic field. The key assumptions are that the turbulent fluctuations are small compared to the mean field, spatially anisotropic with respect to it and that their frequency is low compared to the ion cyclotron frequency. The turbulence is assumed to be forced at some system-specific outer scale. The energy injected at this scale has to be dissipated into heat, which ultimately cannot be accomplished without collisions. A kinetic cascade develops that brings the energy to collisional scales both in space and velocity. The nature of the kinetic cascade in various scale ranges depends on the physics of plasma fluctuations that exist there. There are four special scales that separate physically distinct regimes: the electron and ion gyroscales, the mean free path and the electron diffusion scale. In each of the scale ranges separated by these scales, the fully kinetic problem is systematically reduced to a more physically transparent and computationally tractable system of equations, which are derived in a rigorous way. In the "inertial range" above the ion gyroscale, the kinetic cascade separates into two parts: a cascade of Alfvénic fluctuations and a passive cascade of density and magnetic-field-strength fluctuations. The former are governed by the reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) equations at both the collisional and collisionless scales; the latter obey a linear kinetic equation along the (moving) field lines associated with the Alfvénic component (in the collisional limit, these compressive fluctuations become the slow and entropy modes of the conventional MHD). In the "dissipation range" below ion gyroscale, there are again two cascades: the kinetic-Alfvén-wave (KAW) cascade governed by two fluid-like electron reduced magnetohydrodynamic (ERMHD) equations and a passive cascade of ion entropy fluctuations both in space and velocity. The latter cascade brings the energy of the inertial-range fluctuations that was Landau-damped at the ion gyroscale to collisional scales in the phase space and leads to ion heating. The KAW energy is similarly damped at the electron gyroscale and converted into electron heat. Kolmogorov-style scaling relations are derived for all of these cascades. The relationship between the theoretical models proposed in this paper and astrophysical applications and observations is discussed in detail.

Is walking a random walk? Evidence for long-range correlations in stride interval of human gait

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hausdorff, Jeffrey M.; Peng, C.-K.; Ladin, Zvi; Wei, Jeanne Y.; Goldberger, Ary L.

1995-01-01

Complex fluctuation of unknown origin appear in the normal gait pattern. These fluctuations might be described as being (1) uncorrelated white noise, (2) short-range correlations, or (3) long-range correlations with power-law scaling. To test these possibilities, the stride interval of 10 healthy young men was measured as they walked for 9 min at their usual rate. From these time series we calculated scaling indexes by using a modified random walk analysis and power spectral analysis. Both indexes indicated the presence of long-range self-similar correlations extending over hundreds of steps; the stride interval at any time depended on the stride interval at remote previous times, and this dependence decayed in a scale-free (fractallike) power-law fashion. These scaling indexes were significantly different from those obtained after random shuffling of the original time series, indicating the importance of the sequential ordering of the stride interval. We demonstrate that conventional models of gait generation fail to reproduce the observed scaling behavior and introduce a new type of central pattern generator model that sucessfully accounts for the experimentally observed long-range correlations.

Event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum in 40, 80, and 158 A GeV/c PbAu collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamová, D.; Agakichiev, G.; Appelshäuser, H.; Belaga, V.; Braun-Munzinger, P.; Campagnolo, R.; Castillo, A.; Cherlin, A.; Damjanović, S.; Dietel, T.; Dietrich, L.; Drees, A.; Esumi, S.; Filimonov, K.; Fomenko, K.; Fraenkel, Z.; Garabatos, C.; Glässel, P.; Hering, G.; Holeczek, J.; Kushpil, V.; Lenkeit, B.; Ludolphs, W.; Maas, A.; MaríN, A.; Milošević, J.; Milov, A.; Miśkowiec, D.; Musa, L.; Panebrattsev, Yu.; Petchenova, O.; Petráček, V.; Pfeiffer, A.; Rak, J.; Ravinovich, I.; Rehak, P.; Richter, M.; Sako, H.; Schmitz, W.; Schukraft, J.; Sedykh, S.; Seipp, W.; Sharma, A.; Shimansky, S.; SlíVová, J.; Specht, H. J.; Stachel, J.; Šumbera, M.; Tilsner, H.; Tserruya, I.; Wessels, J. P.; Wienold, T.; Windelband, B.; Wurm, J. P.; Xie, W.; Yurevich, S.; Yurevich, V.; Ceres Collaboration

2003-11-01

Measurements of event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum in PbAu collisions at 40, 80, and 158 A GeV/c are presented. A significant excess of mean pT fluctuations at mid-rapidity is observed over the expectation from statistically independent particle emission. The results are somewhat smaller than recent measurements at RHIC. A possible non-monotonic behavior of the mean pT fluctuations as function of collision energy, which may have indicated that the system has passed the critical point of the QCD phase diagram in the range of μB under investigation, has not been observed. The centrality dependence of mean pT fluctuations in PbAu is consistent with an extrapolation from pp collisions assuming that the non-statistical fluctuations scale with multiplicity. The results are compared to calculations by the RQMD and URQMD event generators.

Scaling laws and fluctuations in the statistics of word frequencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerlach, Martin; Altmann, Eduardo G.

2014-11-01

In this paper, we combine statistical analysis of written texts and simple stochastic models to explain the appearance of scaling laws in the statistics of word frequencies. The average vocabulary of an ensemble of fixed-length texts is known to scale sublinearly with the total number of words (Heaps’ law). Analyzing the fluctuations around this average in three large databases (Google-ngram, English Wikipedia, and a collection of scientific articles), we find that the standard deviation scales linearly with the average (Taylor's law), in contrast to the prediction of decaying fluctuations obtained using simple sampling arguments. We explain both scaling laws (Heaps’ and Taylor) by modeling the usage of words using a Poisson process with a fat-tailed distribution of word frequencies (Zipf's law) and topic-dependent frequencies of individual words (as in topic models). Considering topical variations lead to quenched averages, turn the vocabulary size a non-self-averaging quantity, and explain the empirical observations. For the numerous practical applications relying on estimations of vocabulary size, our results show that uncertainties remain large even for long texts. We show how to account for these uncertainties in measurements of lexical richness of texts with different lengths.

Effective Lagrangian in de Sitter spacetime

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitamoto, Hiroyuki; Kitazawa, Yoshihisa

2017-01-01

Scale invariant fluctuations of metric are a universal feature of quantum gravity in de Sitter spacetime. We construct an effective Lagrangian which summarizes their implications on local physics by integrating superhorizon metric fluctuations. It shows infrared quantum effects are local and render fundamental couplings time dependent. We impose Lorenz invariance on the effective Lagrangian as it is required by the principle of general covariance. We show that such a requirement leads to unique physical predictions by fixing the quantization ambiguities. We explain how the gauge parameter dependence of observables is canceled. In particular the relative evolution speed of the couplings are shown to be gauge invariant.

Do GCM's predict the climate.... Or the low frequency weather?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovejoy, S.; Schertzer, D.; Varon, D.

2012-04-01

Over twenty-five years ago, a three-regime scaling model was proposed describing the statistical variability of the atmosphere over time scales ranging from weather scales out to ≈ 100 kyrs. Using modern in situ data reanalyses, monthly surface series (at 5ox5o), 8 "multiproxy" (yearly) series of the Northern hemisphere from 1500 - 1980, and GRIP and Vostok paleotemperatures at 5.2 and ≈ 100 year resolutions (over the past 91-420 kyrs), we refine the model and show how it can be understood with the help of new developments in nonlinear dynamics, especially multifractals and cascades. In a scaling range, mean fluctuations in state variables such as temperature ΔT vary in power law manners ≈ Δt**H the where Δt is the duration. At small (weather) scales the fluctuation exponents are generally H>0; they grow with scale (Δt). At longer scales Δt >τw (≈ 10 days) H changes sign, the fluctuations decrease with scale; this is the low variability, "low frequency weather" regime. In this regime, the spectrum is a relatively flat "plateau", it's variability is low, stable, corresponding to our usual idea of "long term weather statistics". Finally for longer times, Δt>τc ≈ 10 - 100 years, once again H>0, so that the variability increases with scale: the true climate regime. These scaling regimes allow us to objectively define the weather as fluctuations over periods <τw, to define "climate states" as fluctuations at scale τc and then "climate change" as the fluctuations at longer periods (Δt>τc). We show that the intermediate low frequency weather regime is the result of the weather regime undergoing a "dimensional transition": at temporal scales longer than the typical lifetime of planetary structures (τw), the spatial degrees of freedom are rapidly quenched so that only the temporal degrees of freedom are important. This low frequency weather regime has statistical properties well reproduced not only by stochastic cascade models of weather, but also by control runs (i.e. without climate forcing) of GCM based climate forecasting systems including those of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (Paris) and the Earth Forecasting System (Hamburg). In order for these systems to go beyond simply predicting low frequency weather i.e. in order for them to predict the climate, they need appropriate climate forcings and/ or new internal mechanisms of variability. Using statistical scaling techniques we examine the scale dependence of fluctuations from forced and unforced GCM outputs, including from the ECHO-G and EFS simulations in the Millenium climate reconstruction project and compare this with data, multiproxies and paleo data. Our general conclusion is that the models systematically underestimate the multidecadal, multicentennial scale variability.

Intermittency of solar system plasma turbulence near Venus and Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teodorescu, Eliza; Echim, Marius; Chang, Tom

2016-04-01

We analyze magnetic field data from Venus Express (VEX) and CLUSTER to investigate the turbulent properties of the solar wind and the Earth's and Venus' magnetosheaths. A systematic study of the PDFs (Probability Distribution Functions) of the measured magnetic fluctuations and their fourth order moments (kurtosis) reveals numerous intermittent time series. The presence of intermittency is marked by non-Gaussian PDFs with heavy wings and a scale dependent kurtosis. Higher order analyses on the scale dependence of several moment orders of the PDFs, the structure functions, along with the scaling of the kurtosis allow for a selection of scales that pertain to different scaling regimes, governed by different physics. On such sub-ranges of scales we investigate the fractal structure of fluctuations through the Rank Ordered Multifractal Analysis - ROMA (Chang and Wu, 2008). ROMA is applied to a selection of intermittent magnetic field time series in the solar wind and planetary magnetosheaths and helps to quantify the turbulence properties through the estimation of a spectrum of local Hurst exponents. Research supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 313038/STORM, and a grant of the Romanian Ministry of National Education, CNCS - UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2012-4-0418.

Buckling of thermally fluctuating spherical shells: Parameter renormalization and thermally activated barrier crossing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgarten, Lorenz; Kierfeld, Jan

2018-05-01

We study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the buckling behavior of thin elastic capsules with spherical rest shape. Above a critical uniform pressure, an elastic capsule becomes mechanically unstable and spontaneously buckles into a shape with an axisymmetric dimple. Thermal fluctuations affect the buckling instability by two mechanisms. On the one hand, thermal fluctuations can renormalize the capsule's elastic properties and its pressure because of anharmonic couplings between normal displacement modes of different wavelengths. This effectively lowers its critical buckling pressure [Košmrlj and Nelson, Phys. Rev. X 7, 011002 (2017), 10.1103/PhysRevX.7.011002]. On the other hand, buckled shapes are energetically favorable already at pressures below the classical buckling pressure. At these pressures, however, buckling requires to overcome an energy barrier, which only vanishes at the critical buckling pressure. In the presence of thermal fluctuations, the capsule can spontaneously overcome an energy barrier of the order of the thermal energy by thermal activation already at pressures below the critical buckling pressure. We revisit parameter renormalization by thermal fluctuations and formulate a buckling criterion based on scale-dependent renormalized parameters to obtain a temperature-dependent critical buckling pressure. Then we quantify the pressure-dependent energy barrier for buckling below the critical buckling pressure using numerical energy minimization and analytical arguments. This allows us to obtain the temperature-dependent critical pressure for buckling by thermal activation over this energy barrier. Remarkably, both parameter renormalization and thermal activation lead to the same parameter dependence of the critical buckling pressure on temperature, capsule radius and thickness, and Young's modulus. Finally, we study the combined effect of parameter renormalization and thermal activation by using renormalized parameters for the energy barrier in thermal activation to obtain our final result for the temperature-dependent critical pressure, which is significantly below the results if only parameter renormalization or only thermal activation is considered.

Power spectrum constraints from spectral distortions in the cosmic microwave background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hu, Wayne; Scott, Douglas; Silk, Joseph

1994-01-01

Using recent experimental limits on chemical potential distortions from Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Far Infrared Astronomy Satellite (FIRAS), and the large lever-arm spanning the damping of sub-Jeans scale fluctuations to the COBE DMR fluctuations, we set a constraint on the slope of the primordial power spectrum n. It is possible to analytically calculate the contribution over the full range of scales and redshifts, correctly taking into account fluctuation growth and damping as well as thermalization processes. Assuming conservatively that mu is less than 1.76 x 10(exp -4), we find that the 95% upper limit on n is only weakly dependent on other cosmological parameters, e.g., n is less than 1.60 (h=0.5) and n is less than 1.63 (h=1.0) for Omega(sub 0) = 1, with marginally weaker constraints for Omega(sub 0) is less than 1 in a flat model with a cosmological constant.

Strength and scales of itinerant spin fluctuations in 3 d paramagnetic metals

DOE PAGES

Wysocki, Aleksander L.; Kutepov, Andrey; Antropov, Vladimir P.

2016-10-10

The full spin density fluctuations (SDF) spectra in 3d paramagnetic metals are analyzed from first principles using the linear response technique. Using the calculated complete wave vector and energy dependence of the dynamic spin susceptibility, we obtain the most important, but elusive, characteristic of SDF in solids: on-site spin correlator (SC). We demonstrate that the SDF have a mixed character consisting of interacting collective and single-particle excitations of similar strength spreading continuously over the entire Brillouin zone and a wide energy range up to femtosecond time scales. These excitations cannot be adiabatically separated and their intrinsically multiscale nature should alwaysmore » be taken into account for a proper description of metallic systems. Altogether, in all studied systems, despite the lack of local moment, we found a very large SC resulting in an effective fluctuating moment of the order of several Bohr magnetons.« less

Strength and scales of itinerant spin fluctuations in 3 d paramagnetic metals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wysocki, Aleksander L.; Kutepov, Andrey; Antropov, Vladimir P.

The full spin density fluctuations (SDF) spectra in 3d paramagnetic metals are analyzed from first principles using the linear response technique. Using the calculated complete wave vector and energy dependence of the dynamic spin susceptibility, we obtain the most important, but elusive, characteristic of SDF in solids: on-site spin correlator (SC). We demonstrate that the SDF have a mixed character consisting of interacting collective and single-particle excitations of similar strength spreading continuously over the entire Brillouin zone and a wide energy range up to femtosecond time scales. These excitations cannot be adiabatically separated and their intrinsically multiscale nature should alwaysmore » be taken into account for a proper description of metallic systems. Altogether, in all studied systems, despite the lack of local moment, we found a very large SC resulting in an effective fluctuating moment of the order of several Bohr magnetons.« less

Statistical parameters of thermally driven turbulent anabatic flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilel, Roni; Liberzon, Dan

2016-11-01

Field measurements of thermally driven turbulent anabatic flow over a moderate slope are reported. A collocated hot-films-sonic anemometer (Combo) obtained the finer scales of the flow by implementing a Neural Networks based in-situ calibration technique. Eight days of continuous measurements of the wind and temperature fluctuations reviled a diurnal pattern of unstable stratification that forced development of highly turbulent unidirectional up slope flow. Empirical fits of important turbulence statistics were obtained from velocity fluctuations' time series alongside fully resolved spectra of velocity field components and characteristic length scales. TKE and TI showed linear dependence on Re, while velocity derivative skewness and dissipation rates indicated the anisotropic nature of the flow. Empirical fits of normalized velocity fluctuations power density spectra were derived as spectral shapes exhibited high level of similarity. Bursting phenomenon was detected at 15% of the total time. Frequency of occurrence, spectral characteristics and possible generation mechanism are discussed. BSF Grant #2014075.

Quantifying the range of cross-correlated fluctuations using a q- L dependent AHXA coefficient

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Fang; Wang, Lin; Chen, Yuming

2018-03-01

Recently, based on analogous height cross-correlation analysis (AHXA), a cross-correlation coefficient ρ×(L) has been proposed to quantify the levels of cross-correlation on different temporal scales for bivariate series. A limitation of this coefficient is that it cannot capture the full information of cross-correlations on amplitude of fluctuations. In fact, it only detects the cross-correlation at a specific order fluctuation, which might neglect some important information inherited from other order fluctuations. To overcome this disadvantage, in this work, based on the scaling of the qth order covariance and time delay L, we define a two-parameter dependent cross-correlation coefficient ρq(L) to detect and quantify the range and level of cross-correlations. This new version of ρq(L) coefficient leads to the formation of a ρq(L) surface, which not only is able to quantify the level of cross-correlations, but also allows us to identify the range of fluctuation amplitudes that are correlated in two given signals. Applications to the classical ARFIMA models and the binomial multifractal series illustrate the feasibility of this new coefficient ρq(L) . In addition, a statistical test is proposed to quantify the existence of cross-correlations between two given series. Applying our method to the real life empirical data from the 1999-2000 California electricity market, we find that the California power crisis in 2000 destroys the cross-correlation between the price and the load series but does not affect the correlation of the load series during and before the crisis.

Predictability and Quantification of Complex Groundwater Table Dynamics Driven by Irregular Surface Water Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xin, Pei; Wang, Shen S. J.; Shen, Chengji; Zhang, Zeyu; Lu, Chunhui; Li, Ling

2018-03-01

Shallow groundwater interacts strongly with surface water across a quarter of global land area, affecting significantly the terrestrial eco-hydrology and biogeochemistry. We examined groundwater behavior subjected to unimodal impulse and irregular surface water fluctuations, combining physical experiments, numerical simulations, and functional data analysis. Both the experiments and numerical simulations demonstrated a damped and delayed response of groundwater table to surface water fluctuations. To quantify this hysteretic shallow groundwater behavior, we developed a regression model with the Gamma distribution functions adopted to account for the dependence of groundwater behavior on antecedent surface water conditions. The regression model fits and predicts well the groundwater table oscillations resulting from propagation of irregular surface water fluctuations in both laboratory and large-scale aquifers. The coefficients of the Gamma distribution function vary spatially, reflecting the hysteresis effect associated with increased amplitude damping and delay as the fluctuation propagates. The regression model, in a relatively simple functional form, has demonstrated its capacity of reproducing high-order nonlinear effects that underpin the surface water and groundwater interactions. The finding has important implications for understanding and predicting shallow groundwater behavior and associated biogeochemical processes, and will contribute broadly to studies of groundwater-dependent ecology and biogeochemistry.

Nonlinear temperature effects on multifractal complexity of metabolic rate of mice

PubMed Central

Bogdanovich, Jose M.; Bozinovic, Francisco

2016-01-01

Complex physiological dynamics have been argued to be a signature of healthy physiological function. Here we test whether the complexity of metabolic rate fluctuations in small endotherms decreases with lower environmental temperatures. To do so, we examine the multifractal temporal scaling properties of the rate of change in oxygen consumption r(VO2), in the laboratory mouse Mus musculus, assessing their long range correlation properties across seven different environmental temperatures, ranging from 0 °C to 30 °C. To do so, we applied multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA), finding that r(VO2) fluctuations show two scaling regimes. For small time scales below the crossover time (approximately 102 s), either monofractal or weak multifractal dynamics are observed depending on whether Ta < 15 °C or Ta > 15 °C respectively. For larger time scales, r(VO2) fluctuations are characterized by an asymptotic scaling exponent that indicates multifractal anti-persistent or uncorrelated dynamics. For both scaling regimes, a generalization of the multiplicative cascade model provides very good fits for the Renyi exponents τ(q), showing that the infinite number of exponents h(q) can be described by only two independent parameters, a and b. We also show that the long-range correlation structure of r(VO2) time series differs from randomly shuffled series, and may not be explained as an artifact of stochastic sampling of a linear frequency spectrum. These results show that metabolic rate dynamics in a well studied micro-endotherm are consistent with a highly non-linear feedback control system. PMID:27781179

Nonlinear temperature effects on multifractal complexity of metabolic rate of mice.

PubMed

Labra, Fabio A; Bogdanovich, Jose M; Bozinovic, Francisco

2016-01-01

Complex physiological dynamics have been argued to be a signature of healthy physiological function. Here we test whether the complexity of metabolic rate fluctuations in small endotherms decreases with lower environmental temperatures. To do so, we examine the multifractal temporal scaling properties of the rate of change in oxygen consumption r ( VO 2 ), in the laboratory mouse Mus musculus , assessing their long range correlation properties across seven different environmental temperatures, ranging from 0 °C to 30 °C. To do so, we applied multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA), finding that r(VO 2 ) fluctuations show two scaling regimes. For small time scales below the crossover time (approximately 10 2 s), either monofractal or weak multifractal dynamics are observed depending on whether T a < 15 °C or T a > 15 °C respectively. For larger time scales, r(VO 2 ) fluctuations are characterized by an asymptotic scaling exponent that indicates multifractal anti-persistent or uncorrelated dynamics. For both scaling regimes, a generalization of the multiplicative cascade model provides very good fits for the Renyi exponents τ ( q ), showing that the infinite number of exponents h(q) can be described by only two independent parameters, a and b . We also show that the long-range correlation structure of r(VO 2 ) time series differs from randomly shuffled series, and may not be explained as an artifact of stochastic sampling of a linear frequency spectrum. These results show that metabolic rate dynamics in a well studied micro-endotherm are consistent with a highly non-linear feedback control system.

Temporal fluctuation scaling in populations and communities

Treesearch

Michael Kalyuzhny; Yishai Schreiber; Rachel Chocron; Curtis H. Flather; David A. Kessler; Nadav M. Shnerb

2014-01-01

Taylor's law, one of the most widely accepted generalizations in ecology, states that the variance of a population abundance time series scales as a power law of its mean. Here we reexamine this law and the empirical evidence presented in support of it. Specifically, we show that the exponent generally depends on the length of the time series, and its value...

TESTING THE EFFECTS OF EXPANSION ON SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vech, Daniel; Chen, Christopher H K, E-mail: dvech@umich.edu

2016-11-20

We present a multi-spacecraft approach to test the predictions of recent studies on the effect of solar wind expansion on the radial spectral, variance, and local 3D anisotropies of the turbulence. We found that on small scales (5000–10,000 km) the power levels of the B-trace structure functions do not depend on the sampling direction with respect to the radial suggesting that on this scale the effect of expansion is small possibly due to fast turbulent timescales. On larger scales (110–135 R{sub E}), the fluctuations of the radial magnetic field component are reduced by ∼20% compared to the transverse (perpendicular tomore » radial) ones, which could be due to expansion confining the fluctuations into the plane perpendicular to radial. For the local 3D spectral anisotropy, the B-trace structure functions showed dependence on the sampling direction with respect to radial. The anisotropy in the perpendicular plane is reduced when the increments are taken perpendicular with respect to radial, which could be an effect of expansion.« less

Synchronization in scale-free networks: The role of finite-size effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torres, D.; Di Muro, M. A.; La Rocca, C. E.; Braunstein, L. A.

2015-06-01

Synchronization problems in complex networks are very often studied by researchers due to their many applications to various fields such as neurobiology, e-commerce and completion of tasks. In particular, scale-free networks with degree distribution P(k)∼ k-λ , are widely used in research since they are ubiquitous in Nature and other real systems. In this paper we focus on the surface relaxation growth model in scale-free networks with 2.5< λ <3 , and study the scaling behavior of the fluctuations, in the steady state, with the system size N. We find a novel behavior of the fluctuations characterized by a crossover between two regimes at a value of N=N* that depends on λ: a logarithmic regime, found in previous research, and a constant regime. We propose a function that describes this crossover, which is in very good agreement with the simulations. We also find that, for a system size above N* , the fluctuations decrease with λ, which means that the synchronization of the system improves as λ increases. We explain this crossover analyzing the role of the network's heterogeneity produced by the system size N and the exponent of the degree distribution.

Complex Dynamics of Equatorial Scintillation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piersanti, Mirko; Materassi, Massimo; Forte, Biagio; Cicone, Antonio

2017-04-01

Radio power scintillation, namely highly irregular fluctuations of the power of trans-ionospheric GNSS signals, is the effect of ionospheric plasma turbulence. The scintillation patterns on radio signals crossing the medium inherit the ionospheric turbulence characteristics of inter-scale coupling, local randomness and large time variability. On this basis, the remote sensing of local features of the turbulent plasma is feasible by studying radio scintillation induced by the ionosphere. The distinctive character of intermittent turbulent media depends on the fluctuations on the space- and time-scale statistical properties of the medium. Hence, assessing how the signal fluctuation properties vary under different Helio-Geophysical conditions will help to understand the corresponding dynamics of the turbulent medium crossed by the signal. Data analysis tools, provided by complex system science, appear to be best fitting to study the response of a turbulent medium, as the Earth's equatorial ionosphere, to the non-linear forcing exerted by the Solar Wind (SW). In particular we used the Adaptive Local Iterative Filtering, the Wavelet analysis and the Information theory data analysis tool. We have analysed the radio scintillation and ionospheric fluctuation data at low latitude focusing on the time and space multi-scale variability and on the causal relationship between forcing factors from the SW environment and the ionospheric response.

Random dust charge fluctuations in the near-Enceladus plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaroshenko, V. V.; Lühr, H.

2014-08-01

Stochastic dust charge fluctuations have been studied in the light of Cassini data on the near-Enceladus plasma environment. Estimates of fluctuation time scales showed that this process can be of importance for the grains emanating from the icy moon. The analytical modeling predicts that in the dust-loaded Enceladus plasma a majority of the grains acquires fluctuating negative charges, but there might appear a minority of positively charged particles. The probability of this effect mostly depends on the ratio of the dust/plasma number densities. Our findings appear to be supported by the available Cassini Plasma Spectrometer measurements of the charged grain distributions during E3 and E5 plume flybys. The theoretical results can also provide new insights into the intricate process of particle dynamics in the inner magnetosphere.

Individuality and universality in the growth-division laws of single E. coli cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennard, Andrew S.; Osella, Matteo; Javer, Avelino; Grilli, Jacopo; Nghe, Philippe; Tans, Sander J.; Cicuta, Pietro; Cosentino Lagomarsino, Marco

2016-01-01

The mean size of exponentially dividing Escherichia coli cells in different nutrient conditions is known to depend on the mean growth rate only. However, the joint fluctuations relating cell size, doubling time, and individual growth rate are only starting to be characterized. Recent studies in bacteria reported a universal trend where the spread in both size and doubling times is a linear function of the population means of these variables. Here we combine experiments and theory and use scaling concepts to elucidate the constraints posed by the second observation on the division control mechanism and on the joint fluctuations of sizes and doubling times. We found that scaling relations based on the means collapse both size and doubling-time distributions across different conditions and explain how the shape of their joint fluctuations deviates from the means. Our data on these joint fluctuations highlight the importance of cell individuality: Single cells do not follow the dependence observed for the means between size and either growth rate or inverse doubling time. Our calculations show that these results emerge from a broad class of division control mechanisms requiring a certain scaling form of the "division hazard rate function," which defines the probability rate of dividing as a function of measurable parameters. This "model free" approach gives a rationale for the universal body-size distributions observed in microbial ecosystems across many microbial species, presumably dividing with multiple mechanisms. Additionally, our experiments show a crossover between fast and slow growth in the relation between individual-cell growth rate and division time, which can be understood in terms of different regimes of genome replication control.

Dark matter and cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schramm, D.N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the {Omega} = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between ``cold`` and ``hot`` non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed ``seeds`` that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations,more » such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.« less

Dark matter and cosmology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schramm, D.N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the {Omega} = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between cold'' and hot'' non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed seeds'' that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations,more » such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.« less

Evolution of energy-containing turbulent eddies in the solar wind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthaeus, William H.; Oughton, Sean; Pontius, Duane H., Jr.; Zhou, YE

1994-01-01

Previous theoretical treatments of fluid-scale turbulence in the solar wind have concentrated on describing the state and dynamical evolution of fluctuations in the inertial range, which are characterized by power law energy spectra. In the present paper a model for the evolution of somewhat larger, more energetic magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluctuations is developed by analogy with classical hydrodynamic turbulence in the quasi-equilibrium range. The model is constructed by assembling and extending existing phenomenologies of homogeneous MHD turbulence, as well as simple two-length-scale models for transport of MHD turbulence in a weekly inhomogeneous medium. A set of equations is presented for the evolution of the turbulence, including the transport and nonlinear evolution of magnetic and kinetic energy, cross helicity, and their correlation scales. Two versions of the model are derived, depending on whether the fluctuations are distributed isotropically in three dimensions or restricted to the two-dimensional plane perpendicular to the mean magnetic field. This model includes a number of potentially important physical effects that have been neglected in previous discussions of transport of solar wind turbulence.

Dark matter and cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schramm, David N.

1992-07-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the Ω = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between ``cold'' and ``hot'' non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed ``seeds'' that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations, such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.

Dark matter and cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schramm, D. N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the omega = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between 'cold' and 'hot' non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed 'seeds' that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations, such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages, and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.

Scale dependence of the alignment between strain rate and rotation in turbulent shear flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiscaletti, D.; Elsinga, G. E.; Attili, A.; Bisetti, F.; Buxton, O. R. H.

2016-10-01

The scale dependence of the statistical alignment tendencies of the eigenvectors of the strain-rate tensor ei, with the vorticity vector ω , is examined in the self-preserving region of a planar turbulent mixing layer. Data from a direct numerical simulation are filtered at various length scales and the probability density functions of the magnitude of the alignment cosines between the two unit vectors | ei.ω ̂| are examined. It is observed that the alignment tendencies are insensitive to the concurrent large-scale velocity fluctuations, but are quantitatively affected by the nature of the concurrent large-scale velocity-gradient fluctuations. It is confirmed that the small-scale (local) vorticity vector is preferentially aligned in parallel with the large-scale (background) extensive strain-rate eigenvector e1, in contrast to the global tendency for ω to be aligned in parallel with the intermediate strain-rate eigenvector [Hamlington et al., Phys. Fluids 20, 111703 (2008), 10.1063/1.3021055]. When only data from regions of the flow that exhibit strong swirling are included, the so-called high-enstrophy worms, the alignment tendencies are exaggerated with respect to the global picture. These findings support the notion that the production of enstrophy, responsible for a net cascade of turbulent kinetic energy from large scales to small scales, is driven by vorticity stretching due to the preferential parallel alignment between ω and nonlocal e1 and that the strongly swirling worms are kinematically significant to this process.

Dissipation of Turbulence in the Solar Wind as Measured by Cluster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldstein, Melvyn

2012-01-01

Turbulence in fluids and plasmas is a scale-dependent process that generates fluctuations towards ever-smaller scales until dissipation occurs. Recent Cluster observations in the solar wind demonstrate the existence of a cascade of magnetic energy from the scale of the proton Larmor radius, where kinetic properties of ions invalidate fluid approximations, down to the electron Larmor radius, where electrons become demagnetized. The cascade is quasi-two-dimensional and has been interpreted as consisting of highly oblique kinetic Alfvenic fluctuations that dissipate near at the electron gyroradius scale via proton and electron Landau damping. Here we investigate for the first time the spatial properties of the turbulence at these scales. We report the presence of thin current sheets and discontinuities with spatial sizes greater than or approximately equal to the proton Larmor radius. These isolated structures may be manifestations of intermittency, and such would localize sites of turbulent dissipation. Studying the relationship between turbulent dissipation, reconnection and intermittency is crucial for understanding the dynamics of laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.

Experiments on integral length scale control in atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varshney, Kapil; Poddar, Kamal

2011-11-01

Accurate predictions of turbulent characteristics in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) depends on understanding the effects of surface roughness on the spatial distribution of velocity, turbulence intensity, and turbulence length scales. Simulation of the ABL characteristics have been performed in a short test section length wind tunnel to determine the appropriate length scale factor for modeling, which ensures correct aeroelastic behavior of structural models for non-aerodynamic applications. The ABL characteristics have been simulated by using various configurations of passive devices such as vortex generators, air barriers, and slot in the test section floor which was extended into the contraction cone. Mean velocity and velocity fluctuations have been measured using a hot-wire anemometry system. Mean velocity, turbulence intensity, turbulence scale, and power spectral density of velocity fluctuations have been obtained from the experiments for various configuration of the passive devices. It is shown that the integral length scale factor can be controlled using various combinations of the passive devices.

Characterizing active cytoskeletal dynamics with magnetic microposts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Yu; Henry, Steven; Crocker, John; Reich, Daniel

Characterization of an active matter system such as the cellular cytoskeleton requires knowledge of three frequency dependent quantities: the dynamic shear modulus, G*(ω) describing its viscoelasticity, the Fourier power spectrum of forces in the material due to internal force generators f (ω) , and the spectrum of the material's active strain fluctuations x(ω) . Via use of PDMS micropost arrays with magnetic nanowires embedded in selected posts, we measure the local complex modulus of cells through mechanical actuation of the magnetic microposts. The micrometer scale microposts are also used as passive probes to measure simultaneously the frequency dependent strain fluctuations. We present data on 3T3 fibroblasts, where we find power law behavior for both the frequency dependence of cells' modulus | G (ω) | ω 0 . 27 and the power spectrum of strain fluctuations |x(ω) | ω-2 . Results for the power spectrum of active cytoskeletal stresses determined from these two measurements, and implications of this mesoscale characterization of cytoskeletal dynamics for cellular biophysics will also be discussed. Supported in part by NIH Grant 1R01HL127087.

Modeling the response of a standard accretion disc to stochastic viscous fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Naveel; Misra, Ranjeev; Iqbal, Naseer; Maqbool, Bari; Hamid, Mubashir

2018-01-01

The observed variability of X-ray binaries over a wide range of time-scales can be understood in the framework of a stochastic propagation model, where viscous fluctuations at different radii induce accretion rate variability that propagate inwards to the X-ray producing region. The scenario successfully explains the power spectra, the linear rms-flux relation as well as the time-lag between different energy photons. The predictions of this model have been obtained using approximate analytical solutions or empirically motivated models which take into account the effect of these propagating variability on the radiative process of complex accretion flows. Here, we study the variation of the accretion rate due to such viscous fluctuations using a hydro-dynamical code for the standard geometrically thin, gas pressure dominated α-disc with a zero torque boundary condition. Our results confirm earlier findings that the time-lag between a perturbation and the resultant inner accretion rate variation depends on the frequency (or time-period) of the perturbation. Here we have quantified that the time-lag tlag ∝f-0.54 , for time-periods less than the viscous time-scale of the perturbation radius and is nearly constant otherwise. This, coupled with radiative process would produce the observed frequency dependent time-lag between different energy bands. We also confirm that if there are random Gaussian fluctuations of the α-parameter at different radii, the resultant inner accretion rate has a power spectrum which is a power-law.

Ballistic protons in incoherent exclusive vector meson production as a measure of rare parton fluctuations at an electron-ion collider

DOE PAGES

Lappi, T.; Venugopalan, R.; Mantysaari, H.

2015-02-25

We argue that the proton multiplicities measured in Roman pot detectors at an electron ion collider can be used to determine centrality classes in incoherent diffractive scattering. Incoherent diffraction probes the fluctuations in the interaction strengths of multi-parton Fock states in the nuclear wavefunctions. In particular, the saturation scale that characterizes this multi-parton dynamics is significantly larger in central events relative to minimum bias events. As an application, we examine the centrality dependence of incoherent diffractive vector meson production. We identify an observable which is simultaneously very sensitive to centrality triggered parton fluctuations and insensitive to details of the model.

Brain Dynamics of Aging: Multiscale Variability of EEG Signals at Rest and during an Auditory Oddball Task1,2,3

PubMed Central

Perdikis, Dionysios; Müller, Viktor; Blanc, Jean-Luc; Huys, Raoul; Temprado, Jean-Jacques

2015-01-01

Abstract The present work focused on the study of fluctuations of cortical activity across time scales in young and older healthy adults. The main objective was to offer a comprehensive characterization of the changes of brain (cortical) signal variability during aging, and to make the link with known underlying structural, neurophysiological, and functional modifications, as well as aging theories. We analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) data of young and elderly adults, which were collected at resting state and during an auditory oddball task. We used a wide battery of metrics that typically are separately applied in the literature, and we compared them with more specific ones that address their limits. Our procedure aimed to overcome some of the methodological limitations of earlier studies and verify whether previous findings can be reproduced and extended to different experimental conditions. In both rest and task conditions, our results mainly revealed that EEG signals presented systematic age-related changes that were time-scale-dependent with regard to the structure of fluctuations (complexity) but not with regard to their magnitude. Namely, compared with young adults, the cortical fluctuations of the elderly were more complex at shorter time scales, but less complex at longer scales, although always showing a lower variance. Additionally, the elderly showed signs of spatial, as well as between, experimental conditions dedifferentiation. By integrating these so far isolated findings across time scales, metrics, and conditions, the present study offers an overview of age-related changes in the fluctuation electrocortical activity while making the link with underlying brain dynamics. PMID:26464983

Spatial fluctuations in transient creep deformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laurson, Lasse; Rosti, Jari; Koivisto, Juha; Miksic, Amandine; Alava, Mikko J.

2011-07-01

We study the spatial fluctuations of transient creep deformation of materials as a function of time, both by digital image correlation (DIC) measurements of paper samples and by numerical simulations of a crystal plasticity or discrete dislocation dynamics model. This model has a jamming or yielding phase transition, around which power law or Andrade creep is found. During primary creep, the relative strength of the strain rate fluctuations increases with time in both cases—the spatially averaged creep rate obeys the Andrade law epsilont ~ t - 0.7, while the time dependence of the spatial fluctuations of the local creep rates is given by Δepsilont ~ t - 0.5. A similar scaling for the fluctuations is found in the logarithmic creep regime that is typically observed for lower applied stresses. We review briefly some classical theories of Andrade creep from the point of view of such spatial fluctuations. We consider these phenomenological, time-dependent creep laws in terms of a description based on a non-equilibrium phase transition separating evolving and frozen states of the system when the externally applied load is varied. Such an interpretation is discussed further by the data collapse of the local deformations in the spirit of absorbing state/depinning phase transitions, as well as deformation-deformation correlations and the width of the cumulative strain distributions. The results are also compared with the order parameter fluctuations observed close to the depinning transition of the 2d linear interface model or the quenched Edwards-Wilkinson equation.

Centrality dependence of chemical freeze-out parameters from net-proton and net-charge fluctuations using a hadron resonance gas model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adak, Rama Prasad; Das, Supriya; Ghosh, Sanjay K.; Ray, Rajarshi; Samanta, Subhasis

2017-07-01

We estimate chemical freeze-out parameters in Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) and Excluded Volume HRG (EVHRG) models by fitting the experimental information of net-proton and net-charge fluctuations measured in Au + Au collisions by the STAR Collaboration at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). We observe that chemical freeze-out parameters obtained from lower and higher order fluctuations are almost the same for √{sNN}>27 GeV, but tend to deviate from each other at lower √{sNN}. Moreover, these separations increase with decrease of √{sNN}, and for a fixed √{sNN} increase towards central collisions. Furthermore, we observe an approximate scaling behavior of (μB/T ) /(μB/T)central with (Npart) /(Npart)central for the parameters estimated from lower order fluctuations for 11.5 ≤√{sNN}≤200 GeV. Scaling is violated for the parameters estimated from higher order fluctuations for √{sNN}=11.5 and 19.6 GeV. It is observed that the chemical freeze-out parameter, which can describe σ2/M of net protons very well in all energies and centralities, cannot describe the s σ equally well, and vice versa.

Magnetic field amplification by small-scale dynamo action: dependence on turbulence models and Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.

PubMed

Schober, Jennifer; Schleicher, Dominik; Federrath, Christoph; Klessen, Ralf; Banerjee, Robi

2012-02-01

The small-scale dynamo is a process by which turbulent kinetic energy is converted into magnetic energy, and thus it is expected to depend crucially on the nature of the turbulence. In this paper, we present a model for the small-scale dynamo that takes into account the slope of the turbulent velocity spectrum v(ℓ)proportional ℓ([symbol see text])V}, where ℓ and v(ℓ) are the size of a turbulent fluctuation and the typical velocity on that scale. The time evolution of the fluctuation component of the magnetic field, i.e., the small-scale field, is described by the Kazantsev equation. We solve this linear differential equation for its eigenvalues with the quantum-mechanical WKB approximation. The validity of this method is estimated as a function of the magnetic Prandtl number Pm. We calculate the minimal magnetic Reynolds number for dynamo action, Rm_{crit}, using our model of the turbulent velocity correlation function. For Kolmogorov turbulence ([symbol see text] = 1/3), we find that the critical magnetic Reynolds number is Rm(crit) (K) ≈ 110 and for Burgers turbulence ([symbol see text] = 1/2) Rm(crit)(B) ≈ 2700. Furthermore, we derive that the growth rate of the small-scale magnetic field for a general type of turbulence is Γ proportional Re((1-[symbol see text])/(1+[symbol see text])) in the limit of infinite magnetic Prandtl number. For decreasing magnetic Prandtl number (down to Pm >/~ 10), the growth rate of the small-scale dynamo decreases. The details of this drop depend on the WKB approximation, which becomes invalid for a magnetic Prandtl number of about unity.

Generation and evolution of anisotropic turbulence and related energy transfer in drifting proton-alpha plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maneva, Y. G.; Poedts, S.

2018-05-01

The power spectra of magnetic field fluctuations in the solar wind typically follow a power-law dependence with respect to the observed frequencies and wave-numbers. The background magnetic field often influences the plasma properties, setting a preferential direction for plasma heating and acceleration. At the same time the evolution of the solar-wind turbulence at the ion and electron scales is influenced by the plasma properties through local micro-instabilities and wave-particle interactions. The solar-wind-plasma temperature and the solar-wind turbulence at sub- and sup-ion scales simultaneously show anisotropic features, with different components and fluctuation power in parallel with and perpendicular to the orientation of the background magnetic field. The ratio between the power of the magnetic field fluctuations in parallel and perpendicular direction at the ion scales may vary with the heliospheric distance and depends on various parameters, including the local wave properties and nonthermal plasma features, such as temperature anisotropies and relative drift speeds. In this work we have performed two-and-a-half-dimensional hybrid simulations to study the generation and evolution of anisotropic turbulence in a drifting multi-ion species plasma. We investigate the evolution of the turbulent spectral slopes along and across the background magnetic field for the cases of initially isotropic and anisotropic turbulence. Finally, we show the effect of the various turbulent spectra for the local ion heating in the solar wind.

Quantum critical singularities in two-dimensional metallic XY ferromagnets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varma, Chandra M.; Gannon, W. J.; Aronson, M. C.; Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A.; Qiu, Y.

2018-02-01

An important problem in contemporary physics concerns quantum-critical fluctuations in metals. A scaling function for the momentum, frequency, temperature, and magnetic field dependence of the correlation function near a 2D-ferromagnetic quantum-critical point (QCP) is constructed, and its singularities are determined by comparing to the recent calculations of the correlation functions of the dissipative quantum XY model (DQXY). The calculations are motivated by the measured properties of the metallic compound YFe2Al10 , which is a realization of the DQXY model in 2D. The frequency, temperature, and magnetic field dependence of the scaling function as well as the singularities measured in the experiments are given by the theory without adjustable exponents. The same model is applicable to the superconductor-insulator transitions, classes of metallic AFM-QCPs, and as fluctuations of the loop-current ordered state in hole-doped cuprates. The results presented here lend credence to the solution found for the 2D-DQXY model and its applications in understanding quantum-critical properties of diverse systems.

Generating scale-invariant perturbations from rapidly-evolving equation of state

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khoury, Justin; Steinhardt, Paul J.

2011-06-15

Recently, we introduced an ekpyrotic model based on a single, canonical scalar field that generates nearly scale-invariant curvature fluctuations through a purely ''adiabatic mechanism'' in which the background evolution is a dynamical attractor. Despite the starkly different physical mechanism for generating fluctuations, the two-point function is identical to inflation. In this paper, we further explore this concept, focusing in particular on issues of non-Gaussianity and quantum corrections. We find that the degeneracy with inflation is broken at three-point level: for the simplest case of an exponential potential, the three-point amplitude is strongly scale dependent, resulting in a breakdown of perturbationmore » theory on small scales. However, we show that the perturbative breakdown can be circumvented--and all issues raised in Linde et al. (arXiv:0912.0944) can be addressed--by altering the potential such that power is suppressed on small scales. The resulting range of nearly scale-invariant, Gaussian modes can be as much as 12 e-folds, enough to span the scales probed by microwave background and large-scale structure observations. On smaller scales, the spectrum is not scale invariant but is observationally acceptable.« less

Statistical fluctuations of an ocean surface inferred from shoes and ships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lerche, Ian; Maubeuge, Frédéric

1995-12-01

This paper shows that it is possible to roughly estimate some ocean properties using simple time-dependent statistical models of ocean fluctuations. Based on a real incident, the loss by a vessel of a Nike shoes container in the North Pacific Ocean, a statistical model was tested on data sets consisting of the Nike shoes found by beachcombers a few months later. This statistical treatment of the shoes' motion allows one to infer velocity trends of the Pacific Ocean, together with their fluctuation strengths. The idea is to suppose that there is a mean bulk flow speed that can depend on location on the ocean surface and time. The fluctuations of the surface flow speed are then treated as statistically random. The distribution of shoes is described in space and time using Markov probability processes related to the mean and fluctuating ocean properties. The aim of the exercise is to provide some of the properties of the Pacific Ocean that are otherwise calculated using a sophisticated numerical model, OSCURS, where numerous data are needed. Relevant quantities are sharply estimated, which can be useful to (1) constrain output results from OSCURS computations, and (2) elucidate the behavior patterns of ocean flow characteristics on long time scales.

Statistical theory of dynamo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, E.; Newton, A. P.

2012-04-01

One major problem in dynamo theory is the multi-scale nature of the MHD turbulence, which requires statistical theory in terms of probability distribution functions. In this contribution, we present the statistical theory of magnetic fields in a simplified mean field α-Ω dynamo model by varying the statistical property of alpha, including marginal stability and intermittency, and then utilize observational data of solar activity to fine-tune the mean field dynamo model. Specifically, we first present a comprehensive investigation into the effect of the stochastic parameters in a simplified α-Ω dynamo model. Through considering the manifold of marginal stability (the region of parameter space where the mean growth rate is zero), we show that stochastic fluctuations are conductive to dynamo. Furthermore, by considering the cases of fluctuating alpha that are periodic and Gaussian coloured random noise with identical characteristic time-scales and fluctuating amplitudes, we show that the transition to dynamo is significantly facilitated for stochastic alpha with random noise. Furthermore, we show that probability density functions (PDFs) of the growth-rate, magnetic field and magnetic energy can provide a wealth of useful information regarding the dynamo behaviour/intermittency. Finally, the precise statistical property of the dynamo such as temporal correlation and fluctuating amplitude is found to be dependent on the distribution the fluctuations of stochastic parameters. We then use observations of solar activity to constrain parameters relating to the effect in stochastic α-Ω nonlinear dynamo models. This is achieved through performing a comprehensive statistical comparison by computing PDFs of solar activity from observations and from our simulation of mean field dynamo model. The observational data that are used are the time history of solar activity inferred for C14 data in the past 11000 years on a long time scale and direct observations of the sun spot numbers obtained in recent years 1795-1995 on a short time scale. Monte Carlo simulations are performed on these data to obtain PDFs of the solar activity on both long and short time scales. These PDFs are then compared with predicted PDFs from numerical simulation of our α-Ω dynamo model, where α is assumed to have both mean α0 and fluctuating α' parts. By varying the correlation time of fluctuating α', the ratio of the amplitude of the fluctuating to mean alpha <α'2>/α02 (where angular brackets <> denote ensemble average), and the ratio of poloidal to toroidal magnetic fields, we show that the results from our stochastic dynamo model can match the PDFs of solar activity on both long and short time scales. In particular, a good agreement is obtained when the fluctuation in alpha is roughly equal to the mean part with a correlation time shorter than the solar period.

Reaction Event Counting Statistics of Biopolymer Reaction Systems with Dynamic Heterogeneity.

PubMed

Lim, Yu Rim; Park, Seong Jun; Park, Bo Jung; Cao, Jianshu; Silbey, Robert J; Sung, Jaeyoung

2012-04-10

We investigate the reaction event counting statistics (RECS) of an elementary biopolymer reaction in which the rate coefficient is dependent on states of the biopolymer and the surrounding environment and discover a universal kinetic phase transition in the RECS of the reaction system with dynamic heterogeneity. From an exact analysis for a general model of elementary biopolymer reactions, we find that the variance in the number of reaction events is dependent on the square of the mean number of the reaction events when the size of measurement time is small on the relaxation time scale of rate coefficient fluctuations, which does not conform to renewal statistics. On the other hand, when the size of the measurement time interval is much greater than the relaxation time of rate coefficient fluctuations, the variance becomes linearly proportional to the mean reaction number in accordance with renewal statistics. Gillespie's stochastic simulation method is generalized for the reaction system with a rate coefficient fluctuation. The simulation results confirm the correctness of the analytic results for the time dependent mean and variance of the reaction event number distribution. On the basis of the obtained results, we propose a method of quantitative analysis for the reaction event counting statistics of reaction systems with rate coefficient fluctuations, which enables one to extract information about the magnitude and the relaxation times of the fluctuating reaction rate coefficient, without a bias that can be introduced by assuming a particular kinetic model of conformational dynamics and the conformation dependent reactivity. An exact relationship is established between a higher moment of the reaction event number distribution and the multitime correlation of the reaction rate for the reaction system with a nonequilibrium initial state distribution as well as for the system with the equilibrium initial state distribution.

From mean-field localized magnetism to itinerant spin fluctuations in the "nonmetallic metal" FeCrAs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plumb, K. W.; Stock, C.; Rodriguez-Rivera, J. A.; Castellan, J.-P.; Taylor, J. W.; Lau, B.; Wu, W.; Julian, S. R.; Kim, Young-June

2018-05-01

FeCrAs displays an unusual electrical response that is neither metallic in character nor divergent at low temperatures, as expected for an insulating response, and therefore it has been termed a "nonmetal metal." The anomalous resistivity occurs for temperatures below ˜900 K. We have carried out neutron scattering experiments on powder and single crystal samples to study the magnetic dynamics and critical fluctuations in FeCrAs. Magnetic neutron diffraction measurements find Cr3 + magnetic order setting in at TN=115 K ˜10 meV with a mean-field critical exponent. Using neutron spectroscopy we observe gapless, high velocity, magnetic fluctuations emanating from magnetic positions with propagation wave vector q⃗0=(1/3 ,1/3 ) , which persists up to at least 80 meV ˜927 K, an energy scale much larger than TN. Despite the mean-field magnetic order at low temperatures, the magnetism in FeCrAs therefore displays a response which resembles that of itinerant magnets at high energy transfers. We suggest that the presence of stiff high-energy spin fluctuations extending up to a temperature scale of ˜900 K is the origin of the unusual temperature dependence of the resistivity.

Frequency Dependent Macro-dispersion Induced by Oscillatory Inputs and Spatial Heterogeneity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajabi, F.; Battiato, I.

2017-12-01

Elucidating flow and transport processes at the pore scale is the cornerstone of most hydrologic studies in the subsurface. This becomes even more imperative when the system is subject to a cyclic forcing. Such temporal variations with evolving heterogeneity of time scales spanning from days to years can influence transport phenomena at the pore level, e.g. yearly freeze/thaw in the thin active layer of soil above permafrost zone whose thickness increases throughout the thaw season. Moreover, understanding the interactions of different physical phenomena at the pore scale is key to predict the behavior at the continuum scale. Yet, the connection between periodic inputs at the pore scale and macrotransport is to a great extent unknown. In the spirit of homogenization technique, we derived a macrotime continuum-scale equation as well as expressions for the effective transport coefficients. The macrodispersion arises from contributions of molecular diffusion, spatial heterogeneity and time-dependent fluctuations. Moreover, we have quantified the solute spreading by effective dispersion in terms of dimensionless numbers (Pe, Da, and Strouhal), i.e. expressing the interplay of molecular diffusion, advection, reaction and signal frequency. Yet, as every macroscopic model, spatiotemporally averaged models can breakdown when certain criteria are violated. This makes the continuum scale equation a poor approximation for the processes at the pore scale. To this end, we also provide the conditions under which the space-time averaged equations accurately describe pore-scale processes. In addition, this study gives a robust evidence that transverse mixing can in fact benefit from fluctuating boundary forcing due to the interaction of temporal fluctuations and molecular diffusion. Furthermore, it provides a robust quantitative foundation for designing the desired systems since the interplay of geometry and external forcing has been directly connected to each other in terms of dimensionless (St) number. We compare our theoretical framework with data from an experiment performed on several micro-channels with different geometry and different frequencies of injection at the inlet. The proposed formulation is found to provide remarkably good predictions and correctly explain the experimental mixing dynamics.

Characterization of nonGaussian atmospheric turbulence for prediction of aircraft response statistics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mark, W. D.

1977-01-01

Mathematical expressions were derived for the exceedance rates and probability density functions of aircraft response variables using a turbulence model that consists of a low frequency component plus a variance modulated Gaussian turbulence component. The functional form of experimentally observed concave exceedance curves was predicted theoretically, the strength of the concave contribution being governed by the coefficient of variation of the time fluctuating variance of the turbulence. Differences in the functional forms of response exceedance curves and probability densities also were shown to depend primarily on this same coefficient of variation. Criteria were established for the validity of the local stationary assumption that is required in the derivations of the exceedance curves and probability density functions. These criteria are shown to depend on the relative time scale of the fluctuations in the variance, the fluctuations in the turbulence itself, and on the nominal duration of the relevant aircraft impulse response function. Metrics that can be generated from turbulence recordings for testing the validity of the local stationary assumption were developed.

An improved method to characterise the modulation of small-scale turbulent by large-scale structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, Lionel; Leschziner, Michael; Gaitonde, Datta

2015-11-01

A key aspect of turbulent boundary layer dynamics is ``modulation,'' which refers to degree to which the intensity of coherent large-scale structures (LS) cause an amplification or attenuation of the intensity of the small-scale structures (SS) through large-scale-linkage. In order to identify the variation of the amplitude of the SS motion, the envelope of the fluctuations needs to be determined. Mathis et al. (2009) proposed to define this latter by low-pass filtering the modulus of the analytic signal built from the Hilbert transform of SS. The validity of this definition, as a basis for quantifying the modulated SS signal, is re-examined on the basis of DNS data for a channel flow. The analysis shows that the modulus of the analytic signal is very sensitive to the skewness of its PDF, which is dependent, in turn, on the sign of the LS fluctuation and thus of whether these fluctuations are associated with sweeps or ejections. The conclusion is that generating an envelope by use of a low-pass filtering step leads to an important loss of information associated with the effects of the local skewness of the PDF of the SS on the modulation process. An improved Hilbert-transform-based method is proposed to characterize the modulation of SS turbulence by LS structures

Large fluctuations in anti-coordination games on scale-free graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabsovich, Daniel; Mobilia, Mauro; Assaf, Michael

2017-05-01

We study the influence of the complex topology of scale-free graphs on the dynamics of anti-coordination games (e.g. snowdrift games). These reference models are characterized by the coexistence (evolutionary stable mixed strategy) of two competing species, say ‘cooperators’ and ‘defectors’, and, in finite systems, by metastability and large-fluctuation-driven fixation. In this work, we use extensive computer simulations and an effective diffusion approximation (in the weak selection limit) to determine under which circumstances, depending on the individual-based update rules, the topology drastically affects the long-time behavior of anti-coordination games. In particular, we compute the variance of the number of cooperators in the metastable state and the mean fixation time when the dynamics is implemented according to the voter model (death-first/birth-second process) and the link dynamics (birth/death or death/birth at random). For the voter update rule, we show that the scale-free topology effectively renormalizes the population size and as a result the statistics of observables depend on the network’s degree distribution. In contrast, such a renormalization does not occur with the link dynamics update rule and we recover the same behavior as on complete graphs.

Reynolds number of transition and self-organized criticality of strong turbulence.

PubMed

Yakhot, Victor

2014-10-01

A turbulent flow is characterized by velocity fluctuations excited in an extremely broad interval of wave numbers k>Λf, where Λf is a relatively small set of the wave vectors where energy is pumped into fluid by external forces. Iterative averaging over small-scale velocity fluctuations from the interval Λf

Irregular spiking of pyramidal neurons organizes as scale-invariant neuronal avalanches in the awake state

PubMed Central

Bellay, Timothy; Klaus, Andreas; Seshadri, Saurav; Plenz, Dietmar

2015-01-01

Spontaneous fluctuations in neuronal activity emerge at many spatial and temporal scales in cortex. Population measures found these fluctuations to organize as scale-invariant neuronal avalanches, suggesting cortical dynamics to be critical. Macroscopic dynamics, though, depend on physiological states and are ambiguous as to their cellular composition, spatiotemporal origin, and contributions from synaptic input or action potential (AP) output. Here, we study spontaneous firing in pyramidal neurons (PNs) from rat superficial cortical layers in vivo and in vitro using 2-photon imaging. As the animal transitions from the anesthetized to awake state, spontaneous single neuron firing increases in irregularity and assembles into scale-invariant avalanches at the group level. In vitro spike avalanches emerged naturally yet required balanced excitation and inhibition. This demonstrates that neuronal avalanches are linked to the global physiological state of wakefulness and that cortical resting activity organizes as avalanches from firing of local PN groups to global population activity. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07224.001 PMID:26151674

Reynolds number of transition and self-organized criticality of strong turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakhot, Victor

2014-10-01

A turbulent flow is characterized by velocity fluctuations excited in an extremely broad interval of wave numbers k >Λf , where Λf is a relatively small set of the wave vectors where energy is pumped into fluid by external forces. Iterative averaging over small-scale velocity fluctuations from the interval Λf

Simultaneous Global Positioning System observations of equatorial scintillations and total electron content fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beach, Theodore L.; Kintner, Paul M.

1999-10-01

One aspect of the Global Positioning System (GPS) is the potential to conduct geophysical research, and worldwide networks of GPS receivers have been established to exploit this potential. Several research groups have begun using this global GPS data to study ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variations, also referred to as GPS phase fluctuations, as surrogates for ionospheric scintillations. This paper investigates the relationship between GPS amplitude scintillations and TEC variations for the same line of sight using observations from Ancón, Peru. These observations were taken under equatorial spread F conditions for three nights in April 1997. As expected, only when the spectrum of TEC fluctuations includes significant power at the Fresnel scale do scintillations appear. We also find that when the TEC fluctuation spectrum includes the Fresnel scale, the S4 scintillation index is roughly proportional to measures of TEC fluctuation for the weak scintillations observed. The proportionality constant varies from night to night, however, casting doubt on the ability to predict GPS S4 successfully from TEC fluctuation data alone. We also present a simple theoretical phase screen model and show that if a relationship between TEC fluctuation measures and S4 exists, that relationship depends on the power spectrum of phase variations at the screen. Unfortunately, the available TEC data, at 30 s per sample (with some aliasing apparently permitted), offer limited spectral information. A preliminary comparison of 1 s/sample data with the same data decimated to a 30 s/sample interval suggests, however, that the level of successful S4 prediction, based on TEC fluctuation measures alone, is comparable at either sample rate.

Nematic fluctuations and phase transitions in LaFeAsO: A Raman scattering study

DOE PAGES

Kaneko, U. F.; Gomes, P. F.; Garcia-Flores, A. F.; ...

2017-07-10

Raman scattering experiments on LaFeAsO with distinct antiferromagnetic ( T AFM=140 K) and tetragonal-orthorhombic ( T S=155 K) transitions show a quasielastic peak (QEP) in B 2g symmetry (2 Fe tetragonal cell) that fades away below ~ T AFM and is ascribed to electronic nematic fluctuations. A scaling of the reported shear modulus with the T dependence of the QEP height rather than the QEP area indicates that magnetic degrees of freedom drive the structural transition. As a result, the large separation between T S and T AFM in LaFeAsO compared to BaFe 2As 2 manifests itself in slower dynamicsmore » of nematic fluctuations in the former.« less

Intrinsic Fluctuations and Driven Response of Insect Swarms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ni, Rui; Puckett, James G.; Dufresne, Eric R.; Ouellette, Nicholas T.

2015-09-01

Animals of all sizes form groups, as acting together can convey advantages over acting alone; thus, collective animal behavior has been identified as a promising template for designing engineered systems. However, models and observations have focused predominantly on characterizing the overall group morphology, and often focus on highly ordered groups such as bird flocks. We instead study a disorganized aggregation (an insect mating swarm), and compare its natural fluctuations with the group-level response to an external stimulus. We quantify the swarm's frequency-dependent linear response and its spectrum of intrinsic fluctuations, and show that the ratio of these two quantities has a simple scaling with frequency. Our results provide a new way of comparing models of collective behavior with experimental data.

Numerical investigation of kinetic turbulence in relativistic pair plasmas - I. Turbulence statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhdankin, Vladimir; Uzdensky, Dmitri A.; Werner, Gregory R.; Begelman, Mitchell C.

2018-02-01

We describe results from particle-in-cell simulations of driven turbulence in collisionless, magnetized, relativistic pair plasma. This physical regime provides a simple setting for investigating the basic properties of kinetic turbulence and is relevant for high-energy astrophysical systems such as pulsar wind nebulae and astrophysical jets. In this paper, we investigate the statistics of turbulent fluctuations in simulations on lattices of up to 10243 cells and containing up to 2 × 1011 particles. Due to the absence of a cooling mechanism in our simulations, turbulent energy dissipation reduces the magnetization parameter to order unity within a few dynamical times, causing turbulent motions to become sub-relativistic. In the developed stage, our results agree with predictions from magnetohydrodynamic turbulence phenomenology at inertial-range scales, including a power-law magnetic energy spectrum with index near -5/3, scale-dependent anisotropy of fluctuations described by critical balance, lognormal distributions for particle density and internal energy density (related by a 4/3 adiabatic index, as predicted for an ultra-relativistic ideal gas), and the presence of intermittency. We also present possible signatures of a kinetic cascade by measuring power-law spectra for the magnetic, electric and density fluctuations at sub-Larmor scales.

Direct comparison of Viking 2.3-GHz signal phase fluctuation and columnar electron density between 2 and 160 solar radii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, A. L.; Wackley, J. A.; Hietzke, W. H.

1982-01-01

The relationship between solar wind induced signal phase fluctuation and solar wind columnar electron density has been the subject of intensive analysis during the last two decades. In this article, a sizeable volume of 2.3-GHz signal phase fluctuation and columnar electron density measurements separately and concurrently inferred from Viking spacecraft signals are compared as a function of solar geometry. These data demonstrate that signal phase fluctuation and columnar electron density are proportional over a very wide span of solar elongation angle. A radially dependent electron density model which provides a good fit to the columnar electron density measurements and, when appropriately scaled, to the signal phase fluctuation measurements, is given. This model is also in good agreement with K-coronameter observations at 2 solar radii (2r0), with pulsar time delay measurements at 10r0, and with spacecraft in situ electron density measurements at 1 AU.

Development of TEC fluctuations in northern and southern hemispheres on the base of GPS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shagimuratov, Irk; Krankowski, Andrzej; Sieradzki, Rafal; Ephishov, I. I.

GPS technique is widely used to study the global structure and dynamics of the ionosphere. In this paper GPS observations carried out at Arctic and Antarctic stations belonging to the IGS network were used to study TEC fluctuations in the high-latitude ionosphere during the ionospheric storms. Dual-frequency GPS phase measurements along individual satellite passes served as raw data. It was shown that ionospheric irregularities of a different scale were devel-oped in the auroral and polar ionosphere. It is a common phenomenon caused phase fluctuations of GPS signals. In November 2009, West Department of IZMIRAN in Kaliningrad (Russia) and University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland) established computer server for automatic monitoring of these irregularities. The rate of TEC index (ROTI) expressed in TECU/min was used as a measure of TEC fluctuations. During its operation TEC variations related to ionospheric structures of a spatial scale more than 200-300 km were detected. Large-scale ionospheric structures cause an increase in horizontal gradients and difficulties with the carrier phase ambiguity resolution in GPS positioning. In turn, the phase fluctuations can cause cycle-slip effects. At the polar stations, ionospheric structures with TEC enhanced by a factor of 3-5 relative to the background were detected, whereas TEC increased to 5-8 TECU in about 10-15 min. These structures were observed during a storm, as well as during a moderate geomagnetic activity. It can be probably attributed to the polar cap patches. In this study are presented the extended and more detailed analyses of TEC fluctuations in both the northern and southern hemispheres and compare the winter and summer events (November and July 2004 storms). A special attention is given to the features related to TEC fluctuations occur-rence in both hemispheres for conjugated GPS stations. The temporal development of both storms was rather similar. During storms the intensity of irregularities essentially increases and its location expands to equator. Maximal activity of TEC fluctuations took place when IMF Bz component was negative. Storm-time development of TEC fluctuations caused by ionospheric irregularities was controlled by UT. At polar stations TEC fluctuations were more expressed at southern (winter) hemisphere. Over auroral stations the difference of TEC fluctuations oc-currence was less expressed. During storm the strong TEC fluctuations can be registered at subauroral ionosphere (on latitudes lower than 55 CGL). The seasonal effect in this area also took place. Differences and similarities of these storms occurrence of TEC fluctuations with dependence on season are discussed.

Studies of interactions of a propagating shock wave with decaying grid turbulence: velocity and vorticity fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agui, Juan H.; Briassulis, George; Andreopoulos, Yiannis

2005-02-01

The unsteady interaction of a moving shock wave with nearly homogeneous and isotropic decaying compressible turbulence has been studied experimentally in a large-scale shock tube facility. Rectangular grids of various mesh sizes were used to generate turbulence with Reynolds numbers based on Taylor's microscale ranging from 260 to 1300. The interaction has been investigated by measuring the three-dimensional velocity and vorticity vectors, the full velocity gradient and rate-of-strain tensors with instrumentation of high temporal and spatial resolution. This allowed estimates of dilatation, compressible dissipation and dilatational stretching to be obtained. The time-dependent signals of enstrophy, vortex stretching/tilting vector and dilatational stretching vector were found to exhibit a rather strong intermittent behaviour which is characterized by high-amplitude bursts with values up to 8 times their r.m.s. within periods of less violent and longer lived events. Several of these bursts are evident in all the signals, suggesting the existence of a dynamical flow phenomenon as a common cause. Fluctuations of all velocity gradients in the longitudinal direction are amplified significantly downstream of the interaction. Fluctuations of the velocity gradients in the lateral directions show no change or a minor reduction through the interaction. Root mean square values of the lateral vorticity components indicate a 25% amplification on average, which appears to be very weakly dependent on the shock strength. The transmission of the longitudinal vorticity fluctuations through the shock appears to be less affected by the interaction than the fluctuations of the lateral components. Non-dissipative vortex tubes and irrotational dissipative motions are more intense in the region downstream of the shock. There is also a significant increase in the number of events with intense rotational and dissipative motions. Integral length scales and Taylor's microscales were reduced after the interaction with the shock in all investigated flow cases. The integral length scales in the lateral direction increase at low Mach numbers and decrease during strong interactions. It appears that in the weakest of the present interactions, turbulent eddies are compressed drastically in the longitudinal direction while their extent in the normal direction remains relatively the same. As the shock strength increases the lateral integral length scales increase while the longitudinal ones decrease. At the strongest interaction of the present flow cases turbulent eddies are compressed in both directions. However, even at the highest Mach number the issue is more complicated since amplification of the lateral scales has been observed in flows with fine grids. Thus the outcome of the interaction strongly depends on the initial conditions.

Azimuthal diffusion of the large-scale circulation of turbulent Rayleight-Bénard convection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xiaozhou; van Gils, Dennis P. M.; Bodenschatz, Eberhard; Ahlers, Guenter

2015-11-01

We present measurements of the azimuthal orientation θ0 (t) of the large-scale circulation (LSC) of turbulent Rayleight-Bénard convection. The sample was a cylinder with height and diameter equal to 1.12 m. We used compressed SF6 gas at pressures up to 19 bars as the fluid. The measurements covered the Rayleigh-number range 1012 <= Ra <=1014 at a Prandtl number Pr ~= 0 . 80 . We found that the preferred orientation of the LSC upflow was aligned to the West, consistent with Earth's Coriolis force. The LSC azimuthal dynamics was diffusive, driven by the small-scale turbulent fluctuations. For Ra <=1013 the Reynolds number Reθ˙ based on the azimuthal diffusivity had a Ra dependence similar to that seen for 109 <= Ra <=1011 and Pr = 4 . 38 . The Pr dependence Reθ˙ ~Prα with α ~= - 1 . 2 was the same as that found for the Reynolds number based on the root-mean-square fluctuation velocity in the interior bulk flow. For Ra = Ra1* ~= 2 ×1013 Reθ˙ showed the ultimate-state transition and for Ra >= Ra2* ~= 8 ×1013 it had a Ra dependence with an exponent of 0 . 40 +/- 0 . 02 . Supported by the Max Planck Society, the Volkswagenstiftung, the DFD Sonderforschungsbereich SFB963, and NSF Grant DMR11-58514.

Time variability of viscosity parameter in differentially rotating discs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajesh, S. R.; Singh, Nishant K.

2014-07-01

We propose a mechanism to produce fluctuations in the viscosity parameter (α) in differentially rotating discs. We carried out a nonlinear analysis of a general accretion flow, where any perturbation on the background α was treated as a passive/slave variable in the sense of dynamical system theory. We demonstrate a complete physical picture of growth, saturation and final degradation of the perturbation as a result of the nonlinear nature of coupled system of equations. The strong dependence of this fluctuation on the radial location in the accretion disc and the base angular momentum distribution is demonstrated. The growth of fluctuations is shown to have a time scale comparable to the radial drift time and hence the physical significance is discussed. The fluctuation is found to be a power law in time in the growing phase and we briefly discuss its statistical significance.

Quantifying fluctuations of resting state networks using arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI

PubMed Central

Varma, Gopal; Scheidegger, Rachel; Alsop, David C

2015-01-01

Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been widely used to investigate spontaneous low-frequency signal fluctuations across brain resting state networks. However, BOLD only provides relative measures of signal fluctuations. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI holds great potential for quantitative measurements of resting state network fluctuations. This study systematically quantified signal fluctuations of the large-scale resting state networks using ASL data from 20 healthy volunteers by separating them from global signal fluctuations and fluctuations caused by residual noise. Global ASL signal fluctuation was 7.59% ± 1.47% relative to the ASL baseline perfusion. Fluctuations of seven detected resting state networks vary from 2.96% ± 0.93% to 6.71% ± 2.35%. Fluctuations of networks and residual noise were 6.05% ± 1.18% and 6.78% ± 1.16% using 4-mm resolution ASL data applied with Gaussian smoothing kernel of 6mm. However, network fluctuations were reduced by 7.77% ± 1.56% while residual noise fluctuation was markedly reduced by 39.75% ± 2.90% when smoothing kernel of 12 mm was applied to the ASL data. Therefore, global and network fluctuations are the dominant structured noise sources in ASL data. Quantitative measurements of resting state networks may enable improved noise reduction and provide insights into the function of healthy and diseased brain. PMID:26661226

Quantifying fluctuations of resting state networks using arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI.

PubMed

Dai, Weiying; Varma, Gopal; Scheidegger, Rachel; Alsop, David C

2016-03-01

Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been widely used to investigate spontaneous low-frequency signal fluctuations across brain resting state networks. However, BOLD only provides relative measures of signal fluctuations. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI holds great potential for quantitative measurements of resting state network fluctuations. This study systematically quantified signal fluctuations of the large-scale resting state networks using ASL data from 20 healthy volunteers by separating them from global signal fluctuations and fluctuations caused by residual noise. Global ASL signal fluctuation was 7.59% ± 1.47% relative to the ASL baseline perfusion. Fluctuations of seven detected resting state networks vary from 2.96% ± 0.93% to 6.71% ± 2.35%. Fluctuations of networks and residual noise were 6.05% ± 1.18% and 6.78% ± 1.16% using 4-mm resolution ASL data applied with Gaussian smoothing kernel of 6mm. However, network fluctuations were reduced by 7.77% ± 1.56% while residual noise fluctuation was markedly reduced by 39.75% ± 2.90% when smoothing kernel of 12 mm was applied to the ASL data. Therefore, global and network fluctuations are the dominant structured noise sources in ASL data. Quantitative measurements of resting state networks may enable improved noise reduction and provide insights into the function of healthy and diseased brain. © The Author(s) 2015.

Scaling Behavior for Ionic Transport and its Fluctuations in Individual Carbon Nanotubes.

PubMed

Secchi, Eleonora; Niguès, Antoine; Jubin, Laetitia; Siria, Alessandro; Bocquet, Lydéric

2016-04-15

In this Letter, we perform an experimental study of ionic transport and current fluctuations inside individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The conductance exhibits a power law behavior at low salinity, with an exponent close to 1/3 versus the salt concentration in this regime. This behavior is rationalized in terms of a salinity dependent surface charge, which is accounted for on the basis of a model for hydroxide adsorption at the (hydrophobic) carbon surface. This is in contrast to boron nitride nanotubes which exhibit a constant surface conductance. Further, we measure the low frequency noise of the ionic current in CNTs and show that the amplitude of the noise scales with the surface charge, with data collapsing on a master curve for the various studied CNTs at a given pH.

Scaling Behavior for Ionic Transport and its Fluctuations in Individual Carbon Nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Secchi, Eleonora; Niguès, Antoine; Jubin, Laetitia; Siria, Alessandro; Bocquet, Lydéric

2016-04-01

In this Letter, we perform an experimental study of ionic transport and current fluctuations inside individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The conductance exhibits a power law behavior at low salinity, with an exponent close to 1 /3 versus the salt concentration in this regime. This behavior is rationalized in terms of a salinity dependent surface charge, which is accounted for on the basis of a model for hydroxide adsorption at the (hydrophobic) carbon surface. This is in contrast to boron nitride nanotubes which exhibit a constant surface conductance. Further, we measure the low frequency noise of the ionic current in CNTs and show that the amplitude of the noise scales with the surface charge, with data collapsing on a master curve for the various studied CNTs at a given p H .

The seesaw space, a vector space to identify and characterize large-scale structures at 1 AU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lara, A.; Niembro, T.

2017-12-01

We introduce the seesaw space, an orthonormal space formed by the local and the global fluctuations of any of the four basic solar parameters: velocity, density, magnetic field and temperature at any heliospheric distance. The fluctuations compare the standard deviation of a moving average of three hours against the running average of the parameter in a month (consider as the local fluctuations) and in a year (global fluctuations) We created this new vectorial spaces to identify the arrival of transients to any spacecraft without the need of an observer. We applied our method to the one-minute resolution data of WIND spacecraft from 1996 to 2016. To study the behavior of the seesaw norms in terms of the solar cycle, we computed annual histograms and fixed piecewise functions formed by two log-normal distributions and observed that one of the distributions is due to large-scale structures while the other to the ambient solar wind. The norm values in which the piecewise functions change vary in terms of the solar cycle. We compared the seesaw norms of each of the basic parameters due to the arrival of coronal mass ejections, co-rotating interaction regions and sector boundaries reported in literature. High seesaw norms are due to large-scale structures. We found three critical values of the norms that can be used to determined the arrival of coronal mass ejections. We present as well general comparisons of the norms during the two maxima and the minimum solar cycle periods and the differences of the norms due to large-scale structures depending on each period.

Cross-sectional fluctuation scaling in the high-frequency illiquidity of Chinese stocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Qing; Gao, Xing-Lu; Zhou, Wei-Xing; Stanley, H. Eugene

2018-03-01

Taylor's law of temporal and ensemble fluctuation scaling has been ubiquitously observed in diverse complex systems including financial markets. Stock illiquidity is an important nonadditive financial quantity, which is found to comply with Taylor's temporal fluctuation scaling law. In this paper, we perform the cross-sectional analysis of the 1 min high-frequency illiquidity time series of Chinese stocks and unveil the presence of Taylor's law of ensemble fluctuation scaling. The estimated daily Taylor scaling exponent fluctuates around 1.442. We find that Taylor's scaling exponents of stock illiquidity do not relate to the ensemble mean and ensemble variety of returns. Our analysis uncovers a new scaling law of financial markets and might stimulate further investigations for a better understanding of financial markets' dynamics.

Skewness in large-scale structure and non-Gaussian initial conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fry, J. N.; Scherrer, Robert J.

1994-01-01

We compute the skewness of the galaxy distribution arising from the nonlinear evolution of arbitrary non-Gaussian intial conditions to second order in perturbation theory including the effects of nonlinear biasing. The result contains a term identical to that for a Gaussian initial distribution plus terms which depend on the skewness and kurtosis of the initial conditions. The results are model dependent; we present calculations for several toy models. At late times, the leading contribution from the initial skewness decays away relative to the other terms and becomes increasingly unimportant, but the contribution from initial kurtosis, previously overlooked, has the same time dependence as the Gaussian terms. Observations of a linear dependence of the normalized skewness on the rms density fluctuation therefore do not necessarily rule out initially non-Gaussian models. We also show that with non-Gaussian initial conditions the first correction to linear theory for the mean square density fluctuation is larger than for Gaussian models.

Scalings of intermittent structures in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhdankin, Vladimir, E-mail: zhdankin@jila.colorado.edu; Boldyrev, Stanislav; Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado 80301

Turbulence is ubiquitous in plasmas, leading to rich dynamics characterized by irregularity, irreversibility, energy fluctuations across many scales, and energy transfer across many scales. Another fundamental and generic feature of turbulence, although sometimes overlooked, is the inhomogeneous dissipation of energy in space and in time. This is a consequence of intermittency, the scale-dependent inhomogeneity of dynamics caused by fluctuations in the turbulent cascade. Intermittency causes turbulent plasmas to self-organize into coherent dissipative structures, which may govern heating, diffusion, particle acceleration, and radiation emissions. In this paper, we present recent progress on understanding intermittency in incompressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with a strongmore » guide field. We focus on the statistical analysis of intermittent dissipative structures, which occupy a small fraction of the volume but arguably account for the majority of energy dissipation. We show that, in our numerical simulations, intermittent structures in the current density, vorticity, and Elsässer vorticities all have nearly identical statistical properties. We propose phenomenological explanations for the scalings based on general considerations of Elsässer vorticity structures. Finally, we examine the broader implications of intermittency for astrophysical systems.« less

The impact of inter-annual variability of annual cycle on long-term persistence of surface air temperature in long historical records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Qimin; Nian, Da; Fu, Zuntao

2018-02-01

Previous studies in the literature show that the annual cycle of surface air temperature (SAT) is changing in both amplitude and phase, and the SAT departures from the annual cycle are long-term correlated. However, the classical definition of temperature anomalies is based on the assumption that the annual cycle is constant, which contradicts the fact of changing annual cycle. How to quantify the impact of the changing annual cycle on the long-term correlation of temperature anomaly variability still remains open. In this paper, a recently developed data adaptive analysis tool, the nonlinear mode decomposition (NMD), is used to extract and remove time-varying annual cycle to reach the new defined temperature anomalies in which time-dependent amplitude of annual cycle has been considered. By means of detrended fluctuation analysis, the impact induced by inter-annual variability from the time-dependent amplitude of annual cycle has been quantified on the estimation of long-term correlation of long historical temperature anomalies in Europe. The results show that the classical climatology annual cycle is supposed to lack inter-annual fluctuation which will lead to a maximum artificial deviation centering around 600 days. This maximum artificial deviation is crucial to defining the scaling range and estimating the long-term persistence exponent accurately. Selecting different scaling range could lead to an overestimation or underestimation of the long-term persistence exponent. By using NMD method to extract the inter-annual fluctuations of annual cycle, this artificial crossover can be weakened to extend a wider scaling range with fewer uncertainties.

Mass dependency of turbulent parameters in stationary glow discharge plasmas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Titus, J. B.; Alexander, A. B.; Wiggins, D. L.

A direct current glow discharge tube is used to determine how mass changes the effects of certain turbulence characteristics in a weakly ionized gas. Helium, neon, argon, and krypton plasmas were created, and an axial magnetic field, varied from 0.0 to 550.0 Gauss, was used to enhance mass dependent properties of turbulence. From the power spectra of light emission variations associated with velocity fluctuations, determination of mass dependency on turbulent characteristic unstable modes, energy associated with turbulence, and the rate at which energy is transferred from scale to scale are measured. The magnetic field strength is found to be toomore » weak to overcome particle diffusion to the walls to affect the turbulence in all four types of plasmas, though mass dependency is still detected. Though the total energy and the rate at which the energy moves between scales are mass invariant, the amplitude of the instability modes that characterize each plasma are dependent on mass.« less

Scale-dependency of the global mean surface temperature trend and its implication for the recent hiatus of global warming.

PubMed

Lin, Yong; Franzke, Christian L E

2015-08-11

Studies of the global mean surface temperature trend are typically conducted at a single (usually annual or decadal) time scale. The used scale does not necessarily correspond to the intrinsic scales of the natural temperature variability. This scale mismatch complicates the separation of externally forced temperature trends from natural temperature fluctuations. The hiatus of global warming since 1999 has been claimed to show that human activities play only a minor role in global warming. Most likely this claim is wrong due to the inadequate consideration of the scale-dependency in the global surface temperature (GST) evolution. Here we show that the variability and trend of the global mean surface temperature anomalies (GSTA) from January 1850 to December 2013, which incorporate both land and sea surface data, is scale-dependent and that the recent hiatus of global warming is mainly related to natural long-term oscillations. These results provide a possible explanation of the recent hiatus of global warming and suggest that the hiatus is only temporary.

Plasma fluctuations in a Kaufman thruster. [root mean square magnitude, spectra and cross correlation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Serafini, J. S.; Terdan, F. F.

1973-01-01

Measurements of the RMS magnitude, spectra and cross-correlations for the fluctuations in the beam, discharge and neutralizer keeper currents are presented for a 30-cm diameter dished grid ion thrustor for a range of magnetic baffle currents and up to 2.0 amperes beam current. The ratio of RMS to mean ion beam current varied from 0.04 to 0.23. The spectra of the amplitudes of the beam and discharge current fluctuations were taken up to 9 MHz and show that the predominant amplitudes occur at frequencies of 10 kHz or below. The fall-off with increasing frequency is rapid. Frequencies above 100 kHz the spectral levels are 45 kb or more below the maximum peak amplitudes. The cross-correlations revealed the ion beam fluctuations to have large radial and axial scales which implied that the beam fluctuates as a whole or 'in-phase.' The cross-correlations of the beam and neutralizer keeper current fluctuations indicated the neutralizer contributions to the beam fluctuations to be small, but not negligible. The mode of operation of the thrustor (values of beam and magnetic baffle currents) was significant in determining the RMS magnitude and spectral shape of the beam fluctuations. The major oscillations were not found to be directly dependent on the power conditioner inverter frequencies.

Effect of pressure fluctuations on Richtmyer-Meshkov coherent structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhowmick, Aklant K.; Abarzhi, Snezhana

2016-11-01

We investigate the formation and evolution of Richtmyer Meshkov bubbles after the passage of a shock wave across a two fluid interface in the presence of pressure fluctuations. The fluids are ideal and incompressible and the pressure fluctuations are scale invariant in space and time, and are modeled by a power law time dependent acceleration field with exponent -2. Solutions indicate sensitivity to pressure fluctuations. In the linear regime, the growth of curvature and bubble velocity is linear. The growth rate is dominated by the initial velocity for weak pressure fluctuations, and by the acceleration term for strong pressure fluctuations. In the non-linear regime, the bubble curvature is constant and the solutions form a one parameter family (parametrized by the bubble curvature). The solutions are shown to be convergent and asymptotically stable. The physical solution (stable fastest growing) is a flat bubble for small pressure fluctuations and a curved bubble for large pressure fluctuations. The velocity field (in the frame of references accounting for the background motion) involves intense motion of the fluids in a vicinity of the interface, effectively no motion of the fluids away from the interfaces, and formation of vortical structures at the interface. The work is supported by the US National Science Foundation.

Effect of pressure fluctuations on Richtmyer-Meshkov coherent structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhowmick, Aklant K.; Abarzhi, Snezhana

2016-10-01

We investigate the formation and evolution of Richtmyer Meshkov bubbles after the passage of a shock wave across a two fluid interface in the presence of pressure fluctuations. The fluids are ideal and incompressible and the pressure fluctuations are scale invariant in space and time, and are modeled by a power law time dependent acceleration field with exponent -2. Solutions indicate sensitivity to pressure fluctuations. In the linear regime, the growth of curvature and bubble velocity is linear. The growth rate is dominated by the initial velocity for weak pressure fluctuations, and by the acceleration term for strong pressure fluctuations. In the non-linear regime, the bubble curvature is constant and the solutions form a one parameter family (parametrized by the bubble curvature). The solutions are shown to be convergent and asymptotically stable. The physical solution (stable fastest growing) is a flat bubble for small pressure fluctuations and a curved bubble for large pressure fluctuations. The velocity field (in the frame of references accounting for the background motion) involves intense motion of the fluids in a vicinity of the interface, effectively no motion of the fluids away from the interfaces, and formation of vortical structures at the interface. The work is supported by the US National Science Foundation.

Scaling behavior of EEG amplitude and frequency time series across sleep stages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantelhardt, Jan W.; Tismer, Sebastian; Gans, Fabian; Schumann, Aicko Y.; Penzel, Thomas

2015-10-01

We study short-term and long-term persistence properties (related with auto-correlations) of amplitudes and frequencies of EEG oscillations in 176 healthy subjects and 40 patients during nocturnal sleep. The amplitudes show scaling from 2 to 500 seconds (depending on the considered band) with large fluctuation exponents during (nocturnal) wakefulness (0.73-0.83) and small ones during deep sleep (0.50-0.69). Light sleep is similar to deep sleep, while REM sleep (0.64-0.76) is closer to wakefulness except for the EEG γ band. Some of the frequency time series also show long-term scaling, depending on the selected bands and stages. Only minor deviations are seen for patients with depression, anxiety, or Parkinson's disease.

Scaling theory of magnetoresistance and carrier localization in Ga1-xMnxAs.

PubMed

Moca, C P; Sheu, B L; Samarth, N; Schiffer, P; Janko, B; Zarand, G

2009-04-03

We compare experimental resistivity data on Ga1-xMnxAs films with theoretical calculations using a scaling theory for strongly disordered ferromagnets. The characteristic features of the temperature dependent resistivity can be quantitatively understood through this approach as originating from the close vicinity of the metal-insulator transition. However, accounting for thermal fluctuations is crucial for a quantitative description of the magnetic field induced changes in resistance. While the noninteracting scaling theory is in reasonable agreement with the data, we find clear evidence for interaction effects at low temperatures.

Fluctuation scaling in the visual cortex at threshold

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, José M.; Díaz, José A.

2016-05-01

Fluctuation scaling relates trial-to-trial variability to the average response by a power function in many physical processes. Here we address whether fluctuation scaling holds in sensory psychophysics and its functional role in visual processing. We report experimental evidence of fluctuation scaling in human color vision and form perception at threshold. Subjects detected thresholds in a psychophysical masking experiment that is considered a standard reference for studying suppression between neurons in the visual cortex. For all subjects, the analysis of threshold variability that results from the masking task indicates that fluctuation scaling is a global property that modulates detection thresholds with a scaling exponent that departs from 2, β =2.48 ±0.07 . We also examine a generalized version of fluctuation scaling between the sample kurtosis K and the sample skewness S of threshold distributions. We find that K and S are related and follow a unique quadratic form K =(1.19 ±0.04 ) S2+(2.68 ±0.06 ) that departs from the expected 4/3 power function regime. A random multiplicative process with weak additive noise is proposed based on a Langevin-type equation. The multiplicative process provides a unifying description of fluctuation scaling and the quadratic S -K relation and is related to on-off intermittency in sensory perception. Our findings provide an insight into how the human visual system interacts with the external environment. The theoretical methods open perspectives for investigating fluctuation scaling and intermittency effects in a wide variety of natural, economic, and cognitive phenomena.

Rectifying full-counting statistics in a spin Seebeck engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Gaomin; Chen, Xiaobin; Ren, Jie; Wang, Jian

2018-02-01

In terms of the nonequilibrium Green's function framework, we formulate the full-counting statistics of conjugate thermal spin transport in a spin Seebeck engine, which is made by a metal-ferromagnet insulator interface driven by a temperature bias. We obtain general expressions of scaled cumulant generating functions of both heat and spin currents that hold special fluctuation symmetry relations, and demonstrate intriguing properties, such as rectification and negative differential effects of high-order fluctuations of thermal excited spin current, maximum output spin power, and efficiency. The transport and noise depend on the strongly fluctuating electron density of states at the interface. The results are relevant for designing an efficient spin Seebeck engine and can broaden our view in nonequilibrium thermodynamics and the nonlinear phenomenon in quantum transport systems.

How scaling fluctuation analyses can transform our view of the climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovejoy, Shaun; Schertzer, Daniel

2013-04-01

There exist a bewildering diversity of proxy climate data including tree rings, ice cores, lake varves, boreholes, ice cores, pollen, foraminifera, corals and speleothems. Their quantitative use raises numerous questions of interpretation and calibration. Even in classical cases - such as the isotope signal in ice cores - the usual assumption of linear dependence on ambient temperature is only a first approximation. In other cases - such as speleothems - the isotope signals arise from multiple causes (which are not always understood) and this hinders their widespread use. We argue that traditional interpretations and calibrations - based on essentially deterministic comparisons between instrumental data, model outputs and proxies (albeit with the help of uncertainty analyses) - have been both overly ambitious while simultaneously underexploiting the data. The former since comparisons typically involve series at different temporal resolutions and from different geographical locations - one does not expect agreement in a deterministic sense, while with respect to climate models, one only expects statistical correspondences. The proxies are underexploited since comparisons are done at unique temporal and / or spatial resolutions whereas the fluctuations they describe provide information over wide ranges of scale. A convenient method of overcoming these difficulties is the use of fluctuation analysis systematically applied over the full range of available scales to determine the scaling proeprties. The new transformative element presented here, is to define fluctuations ΔT in a series T(t) at scale Δt not by differences (ΔT(Δt) = T(t+Δt) - T(t)) but rather by the difference in the means over the first and second halves of the lag Δt . This seemingly minor change - technically from "poor man's" to "Haar" wavelets - turns out to make a huge difference since for example, it is adequate for analysing temperatures from seconds to hundreds of millions of years yet remaining simple to interpret [Lovejoy and Schertzer, 2012]. It has lead for example to the discovery of the new "macroweather" regime between weather (Δt <≈ 10days) and climate (Δt ≈> 30 yrs) in which fluctuations decrease rather than increase with scale [Lovejoy, 2013]. We illustrate the transformative power of combining such fluctuation analysis with scaling by giving numerous examples from instrumental data, multiproxies, ice core proxies, corals, speleothems and GCM outputs [Lovejoy and Schertzer, 2013]. References: Lovejoy, S. (2013), What is climate?, EOS, 94, (1), 1 January, p1-2. Lovejoy, S., and D. Schertzer (2012), Haar wavelets, fluctuations and structure functions: convenient choices for geophysics, Nonlinear Proc. Geophys. , 19, 1-14 doi: 10.5194/npg-19-1-2012. Lovejoy, S., and D. Schertzer (2013), The Weather and Climate: Emergent Laws and Multifractal Cascades, 480 pp., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Scale invariant rearrangement of resting state networks in the human brain under sustained stimulation.

PubMed

Tommasin, Silvia; Mascali, Daniele; Moraschi, Marta; Gili, Tommaso; Assan, Ibrahim Eid; Fratini, Michela; DiNuzzo, Mauro; Wise, Richard G; Mangia, Silvia; Macaluso, Emiliano; Giove, Federico

2018-06-14

Brain activity at rest is characterized by widely distributed and spatially specific patterns of synchronized low-frequency blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fluctuations, which correspond to physiologically relevant brain networks. This network behaviour is known to persist also during task execution, yet the details underlying task-associated modulations of within- and between-network connectivity are largely unknown. In this study we exploited a multi-parametric and multi-scale approach to investigate how low-frequency fluctuations adapt to a sustained n-back working memory task. We found that the transition from the resting state to the task state involves a behaviourally relevant and scale-invariant modulation of synchronization patterns within both task-positive and default mode networks. Specifically, decreases of connectivity within networks are accompanied by increases of connectivity between networks. In spite of large and widespread changes of connectivity strength, the overall topology of brain networks is remarkably preserved. We show that these findings are strongly influenced by connectivity at rest, suggesting that the absolute change of connectivity (i.e., disregarding the baseline) may be not the most suitable metric to study dynamic modulations of functional connectivity. Our results indicate that a task can evoke scale-invariant, distributed changes of BOLD fluctuations, further confirming that low frequency BOLD oscillations show a specialized response and are tightly bound to task-evoked activation. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Investigation of the spatial variability and possible origins of wind-induced air pressure fluctuations responsible for pressure pumping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohr, Manuel; Laemmel, Thomas; Maier, Martin; Zeeman, Matthias; Longdoz, Bernard; Schindler, Dirk

2017-04-01

The exchange of greenhouse gases between the soil and the atmosphere is highly relevant for the climate of the Earth. Recent research suggests that wind-induced air pressure fluctuations can alter the soil gas transport and therefore soil gas efflux significantly. Using a newly developed method, we measured soil gas transport in situ in a well aerated forest soil. Results from these measurements showed that the commonly used soil gas diffusion coefficient is enhanced up to 30% during periods of strong wind-induced air pressure fluctuations. The air pressure fluctuations above the forest floor are only induced at high above-canopy wind speeds (> 5 m s-1) and lie in the frequency range 0.01-0.1 Hz. Moreover, the amplitudes of air pressure fluctuations in this frequency range show a clear quadratic dependence on mean above-canopy wind speed. However, the origin of these wind-induced pressure fluctuations is still unclear. Airflow measurements and high-precision air pressure measurements were conducted at three different vegetation-covered sites (conifer forest, deciduous forest, grassland) to investigate the spatial variability of dominant air pressure fluctuations, their origin and vegetation-dependent characteristics. At the conifer forest site, a vertical profile of air pressure fluctuations was measured and an array consisting of five pressure sensors were installed at the forest floor. At the grassland site, the air pressure measurements were compared with wind observations made by ground-based LIDAR and spatial temperature observations from a fibre-optic sensing network (ScaleX Campaign 2016). Preliminary results show that at all sites the amplitudes of relevant air pressure fluctuations increase with increasing wind speed. Data from the array measurements reveal that there are no time lags between the air pressure signals of different heights, but a time lag existed between the air pressure signals of the sensors distributed laterally on the forest floor, suggesting a horizontal propagation of the air pressure waves.

Scaling Behavior for Ionic Transport and its Fluctuations in Individual Carbon Nanotubes

PubMed Central

Secchi, Eleonora; Niguès, Antoine; Jubin, Laetitia; Siria, Alessandro; Bocquet, Lydéric

2016-01-01

In this Letter, we perform an experimental study of ionic transport and current fluctuations inside individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The conductance exhibits a power law behavior at low salinity, with an exponent close to 1/3 versus the salt concentration in this regime. This behavior is rationalized in terms of a salinity dependent surface charge, which is accounted for on the basis of a model for hydroxide adsorption at the (hydrophobic) carbon surface. This is in contrast to boron nitride nanotubes which exhibit a constant surface conductance. Further, we measure the low frequency noise of the ionic current in CNTs and show that the amplitude of the noise scales with the surface charge, with data collapsing on a master curve for the various studied CNTs at a given pH. PMID:27127970

Cosmological structure formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schramm, David N.

1991-01-01

A summary of the current forefront problem of physical cosmology, the formation of structures (galaxies, clusters, great walls, etc.) in the universe is presented. Solutions require two key ingredients: (1) matter; and (2) seeds. Regarding the matter, it now seems clear that both baryonic and non-baryonic matter are required. Whether the non-baryonic matter is hot or cold depends on the choice of seeds. Regarding the seeds, both density fluctuations and topological defects are discussed. The combination of isotropy of the microwave background and the recent observations indicating more power on large scales have severly constrained, if not eliminated, Gaussian fluctuations with equal power on all scales, regardless of the eventual resolution of both the matter and seed questions. It is important to note that all current structure formation ideas require new physics beyond SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1).

Statistical characterization of Earth’s heterogeneities from seismic scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Y.; Wu, R.

2009-12-01

The distortion of a teleseismic wavefront carries information about the heterogeneities through which the wave propagates and it is manifestited as logarithmic amplitude (logA) and phase fluctuations of the direct P wave recorded by a seismic network. By cross correlating the fluctuations (e.g., logA-logA or phase-phase), we obtain coherence functions, which depend on spatial lags between stations and incident angles between the incident waves. We have mathematically related the depth-dependent heterogeneity spectrum to the observable coherence functions using seismic scattering theory. We will show that our method has sharp depth resolution. Using the HiNet seismic network data in Japan, we have inverted power spectra for two depth ranges, ~0-120km and below ~120km depth. The coherence functions formed by different groups of stations or by different groups of earthquakes at different back azimuths are similar. This demonstrates that the method is statistically stable and the inhomogeneities are statistically stationary. In both depth intervals, the trend of the spectral amplitude decays from large scale to small scale in a power-law fashion with exceptions at ~50km for the logA data. Due to the spatial spacing of the seismometers, only information from length scale 15km to 200km is inverted. However our scattering method provides new information on small to intermediate scales that are comparable to scales of the recycled materials and thus is complimentary to the global seismic tomography which reveals mainly large-scale heterogeneities on the order of ~1000km. The small-scale heterogeneities revealed here are not likely of pure thermal origin. Therefore, the length scale and strength of heterogeneities as a function of depth may provide important constraints in mechanical mixing of various components in the mantle convection.

Nature of Kinetic Scale Fluctuations in Solar Wind Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salem, C. S.; Chen, C. H.; Sundkvist, D. J.; Chaston, C. C.; Bale, S. D.; Mozer, F.

2012-12-01

We present an investigation of the nature of small-scale turbulent fluctuations in the solar wind. The nature of the dissipation range fluctuations of solar wind turbulence remains a major open question in heliospheric physics. The steepening of the observed (magnetic field) spectra at ion scales was originally attributed to ion cyclotron damping, but it was later suggested that it could well be due to the dispersive nature of fluctuations at these scales. The nature of the dispersive cascade at and below the ion scales is still debated, two leading hypothesis being that these fluctuations have characteristics of Kinetic Alfven Waves (KAW) or whistler waves. Other possible contributions from current sheets and/or kinetic instabilities have been suggested. There is mounting evidence that the fluctuations at these scales are KAW-like. In this study, we analyze several carefully selected unperturbed solar wind intervals, using magnetic field, electric field as well as density measurements from the Cluster spacecraft in order to identify the nature of the wave modes present, how frequent they are and try to determine whether one or more wave modes at different times. We examine the electric to magnetic field fluctuation ratio (δ E/δd B), the magnetic compressibility (δ B∥ /δ B) as well as density fluctuations using newly developed diagnostic techniques by Salem et al (2012) and Chen et al (2012). We look for variations of the nature and properties of these kinetic scale fluctuations with solar wind conditions, such as the plasma beta and the angle between the magnetic field and the flow velocity which controls the measured (spacecraft frame) frequency of the fluctuations. We discuss how these results would impact how the solar wind plasma is heated.

Is this scaling nonlinear?

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

One of the most celebrated findings in complex systems in the last decade is that different indexes y (e.g. patents) scale nonlinearly with the population x of the cities in which they appear, i.e. y∼xβ,β≠1. More recently, the generality of this finding has been questioned in studies that used new databases and different definitions of city boundaries. In this paper, we investigate the existence of nonlinear scaling, using a probabilistic framework in which fluctuations are accounted for explicitly. In particular, we show that this allows not only to (i) estimate β and confidence intervals, but also to (ii) quantify the evidence in favour of β≠1 and (iii) test the hypothesis that the observations are compatible with the nonlinear scaling. We employ this framework to compare five different models to 15 different datasets and we find that the answers to points (i)–(iii) crucially depend on the fluctuations contained in the data, on how they are modelled, and on the fact that the city sizes are heavy-tailed distributed. PMID:27493764

Temporal coherence of the acoustic field forward propagated through a continental shelf with random internal waves.

PubMed

Gong, Zheng; Chen, Tianrun; Ratilal, Purnima; Makris, Nicholas C

2013-11-01

An analytical model derived from normal mode theory for the accumulated effects of range-dependent multiple forward scattering is applied to estimate the temporal coherence of the acoustic field forward propagated through a continental-shelf waveguide containing random three-dimensional internal waves. The modeled coherence time scale of narrow band low-frequency acoustic field fluctuations after propagating through a continental-shelf waveguide is shown to decay with a power-law of range to the -1/2 beyond roughly 1 km, decrease with increasing internal wave energy, to be consistent with measured acoustic coherence time scales. The model should provide a useful prediction of the acoustic coherence time scale as a function of internal wave energy in continental-shelf environments. The acoustic coherence time scale is an important parameter in remote sensing applications because it determines (i) the time window within which standard coherent processing such as matched filtering may be conducted, and (ii) the number of statistically independent fluctuations in a given measurement period that determines the variance reduction possible by stationary averaging.

A quantitative approach to the topology of large-scale structure. [for galactic clustering computation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gott, J. Richard, III; Weinberg, David H.; Melott, Adrian L.

1987-01-01

A quantitative measure of the topology of large-scale structure: the genus of density contours in a smoothed density distribution, is described and applied. For random phase (Gaussian) density fields, the mean genus per unit volume exhibits a universal dependence on threshold density, with a normalizing factor that can be calculated from the power spectrum. If large-scale structure formed from the gravitational instability of small-amplitude density fluctuations, the topology observed today on suitable scales should follow the topology in the initial conditions. The technique is illustrated by applying it to simulations of galaxy clustering in a flat universe dominated by cold dark matter. The technique is also applied to a volume-limited sample of the CfA redshift survey and to a model in which galaxies reside on the surfaces of polyhedral 'bubbles'. The topology of the evolved mass distribution and 'biased' galaxy distribution in the cold dark matter models closely matches the topology of the density fluctuations in the initial conditions. The topology of the observational sample is consistent with the random phase, cold dark matter model.

The stratigraphic filter and bias in measurement of geologic rates

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schumer, Rina; Jerolmack, Douglas; McElroy, Brandon

2011-01-01

Erosion and deposition rates estimated from the stratigraphic record frequently exhibit a power-law dependence on measurement interval. This dependence can result from a power-law distribution of stratigraphic hiatuses. By representing the stratigraphic filter as a stochastic process called a reverse ascending ladder, we describe a likely origin of power-law hiatuses, and thus, rate scaling. While power-law hiatuses in certain environments can be a direct result of power-law periods of stasis (no deposition or erosion), they are more generally the result of randomness in surface fluctuations irrespective of mean subsidence or uplift. Autocorrelation in fluctuations can make hiatuses more or less heavy-tailed, but still exhibit power-law characteristics. In addition we show that by passing stratigraphic data backward through the filter, certain statistics of surface kinematics from their formative environments can be inferred.

Theory of dynamic barriers, activated hopping, and the glass transition in polymer melts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schweizer, Kenneth S.; Saltzman, Erica J.

2004-07-01

A statistical mechanical theory of collective dynamic barriers, slow segmental relaxation, and the glass transition of polymer melts is developed by combining, and in some aspects extending, methods of mode coupling, density functional, and activated hopping transport theories. A coarse-grained description of polymer chains is adopted and the melt is treated as a liquid of segments. The theory is built on the idea that collective density fluctuations on length scales considerably longer than the local cage scale are of primary importance in the deeply supercooled regime. The barrier hopping or segmental relaxation time is predicted to be a function primarily of a single parameter that is chemical structure, temperature, and pressure dependent. This parameter depends on the material-specific dimensionless amplitude of thermal density fluctuations (compressibility) and a reduced segmental density determined by the packing length and backbone characteristic ratio. Analytic results are derived for a crossover temperature Tc, collective barrier, and glass transition temperature Tg. The relation of these quantities to structural and thermodynamic properties of the polymer melt is established. A universal power-law scaling behavior of the relaxation time below Tc is predicted based on identification of a reduced temperature variable that quantifies the breadth of the supercooled regime. Connections between the ratio Tc/Tg, two measures of dynamic fragility, and the magnitude of the local relaxation time at Tg logically follow. Excellent agreement with experiment is found for these generic aspects, and the crucial importance of the experimentally observed near universality of the dynamic crossover time is established. Extensions of the theory to treat the full chain dynamics, heterogeneity, barrier fluctuations, and nonpolymeric thermal glass forming liquids are briefly discussed.

Correlations of stock price fluctuations under multi-scale and multi-threshold scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sui, Guo; Li, Huajiao; Feng, Sida; Liu, Xueyong; Jiang, Meihui

2018-01-01

The multi-scale method is widely used in analyzing time series of financial markets and it can provide market information for different economic entities who focus on different periods. Through constructing multi-scale networks of price fluctuation correlation in the stock market, we can detect the topological relationship between each time series. Previous research has not addressed the problem that the original fluctuation correlation networks are fully connected networks and more information exists within these networks that is currently being utilized. Here we use listed coal companies as a case study. First, we decompose the original stock price fluctuation series into different time scales. Second, we construct the stock price fluctuation correlation networks at different time scales. Third, we delete the edges of the network based on thresholds and analyze the network indicators. Through combining the multi-scale method with the multi-threshold method, we bring to light the implicit information of fully connected networks.

Large-scale fluctuations in the diffusive decomposition of solid solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karpov, V. G.; Grimsditch, M.

1995-04-01

The concept of an instability in the classic Ostwald ripening theory with respect to compositional fluctuations is suggested. We show that small statistical fluctuations in the precipitate phase lead to gigantic Coulomb-like fluctuations in the solute concentration which in turn affect the ripening. As a result large-scale fluctuations in both the precipitate and solute concentrations appear. These fluctuations are characterized by amplitudes of the order of the average values of the corresponding quantities and by a space scale L~(na)-1/2 which is considerably greater than both the average nuclear radius and internuclear distance. The Lifshitz-Slyozov theory of ripening is shown to remain locally applicable, over length scales much less than L. The implications of these findings for elastic light scattering in solid solutions that have undergone Ostwald ripening are considered.

Imprints of fluctuating proton shapes on flow in proton-lead collisions at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mäntysaari, Heikki; Schenke, Björn; Shen, Chun; Tribedy, Prithwish

2017-09-01

Results for particle production in √{ s} = 5.02TeV p + Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider within a combined classical Yang-Mills and relativistic viscous hydrodynamic calculation are presented. We emphasize the importance of sub-nucleon scale fluctuations in the proton projectile to describe the experimentally observed azimuthal harmonic coefficients vn, demonstrating their sensitivity to the proton shape. We stress that the proton shape and its fluctuations are not free parameters in our calculations. Instead, they have been constrained using experimental data from HERA on exclusive vector meson production. Including temperature dependent shear and bulk viscosities, as well as UrQMD for the low temperature regime, we present results for mean transverse momenta, harmonic flow coefficients for charged hadrons and identified particles, as well as Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii.

The Spectrum of Wind Power Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandi, Mahesh

2016-11-01

Wind is a variable energy source whose fluctuations threaten electrical grid stability and complicate dynamical load balancing. The power generated by a wind turbine fluctuates due to the variable wind speed that blows past the turbine. Indeed, the spectrum of wind power fluctuations is widely believed to reflect the Kolmogorov spectrum; both vary with frequency f as f - 5 / 3. This variability decreases when aggregate power fluctuations from geographically distributed wind farms are averaged at the grid via a mechanism known as geographic smoothing. Neither the f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum nor the mechanism of geographic smoothing are understood. In this work, we explain the wind power fluctuation spectrum from the turbine through grid scales. The f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum results from the largest length scales of atmospheric turbulence of order 200 km influencing the small scales where individual turbines operate. This long-range influence spatially couples geographically distributed wind farms and synchronizes farm outputs over a range of frequencies and decreases with increasing inter-farm distance. Consequently, aggregate grid-scale power fluctuations remain correlated, and are smoothed until they reach a limiting f - 7 / 3 spectrum. This work was funded by the Collective Interactions Unit, OIST Graduate University, Japan.

Non-Hookean statistical mechanics of clamped graphene ribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bowick, Mark J.; Košmrlj, Andrej; Nelson, David R.; Sknepnek, Rastko

2017-03-01

Thermally fluctuating sheets and ribbons provide an intriguing forum in which to investigate strong violations of Hooke's Law: Large distance elastic parameters are in fact not constant but instead depend on the macroscopic dimensions. Inspired by recent experiments on free-standing graphene cantilevers, we combine the statistical mechanics of thin elastic plates and large-scale numerical simulations to investigate the thermal renormalization of the bending rigidity of graphene ribbons clamped at one end. For ribbons of dimensions W ×L (with L ≥W ), the macroscopic bending rigidity κR determined from cantilever deformations is independent of the width when W <ℓth , where ℓth is a thermal length scale, as expected. When W >ℓth , however, this thermally renormalized bending rigidity begins to systematically increase, in agreement with the scaling theory, although in our simulations we were not quite able to reach the system sizes necessary to determine the fully developed power law dependence on W . When the ribbon length L >ℓp , where ℓp is the W -dependent thermally renormalized ribbon persistence length, we observe a scaling collapse and the beginnings of large scale random walk behavior.

Synchrony in broadband fluctuation and the 2008 financial crisis.

PubMed

Lin, Der Chyan

2013-01-01

We propose phase-like characteristics in scale-free broadband processes and consider fluctuation synchrony based on the temporal signature of significant amplitude fluctuation. Using wavelet transform, successful captures of similar fluctuation pattern between such broadband processes are demonstrated. The application to the financial data leading to the 2008 financial crisis reveals the transition towards a qualitatively different dynamical regime with many equity price in fluctuation synchrony. Further analysis suggests an underlying scale free "price fluctuation network" with large clustering coefficient.

A Rationale for System-Dependent Advantages and Disadvantages of Solution Crystal Growth at Low Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenberger, Franz; Vekilov, Peter G.; Lin, Hong; Alexander, J. Iwan D.

1997-01-01

Protein crystallization experiments at reduced gravity have yielded crystals that, depending on the specific material, are either superior or inferior in their structural perfection compared to counterparts grown at normal gravity. A reduction of the crystals' quality due to their growth at low gravity cannot be understood from existing models. Our experimental investigations of the ground-based crystallization of the protein lysozyme have revealed pronounced unsteady growth layer dynamics and associated defect formation under steady external conditions. Through scaling analysis and numerical simulations we show that the observed fluctuations originate from the coupling of bulk transport with non-linear interface kinetics under mixed kinetics-transport control of the growth rate. The amplitude of the fluctuations is smallest when either transport or interfacial kinetics dominate the control of the crystallization process. Thus, depending on the specific system, crystal quality may be improved by either enhancing or suppressing the transport in the solution. These considerations provide, for the first time, a material-dependent rationale for the advantages, as well as the disadvantages, of reduced gravity for (protein) crystallization.

Comparison of specific-yield estimates for calculating evapotranspiration from diurnal groundwater-level fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gribovszki, Zoltán

2018-05-01

Methods that use diurnal groundwater-level fluctuations are commonly used for shallow water-table environments to estimate evapotranspiration (ET) and recharge. The key element needed to obtain reliable estimates is the specific yield (Sy), a soil-water storage parameter that depends on unsaturated soil-moisture and water-table fluxes, among others. Soil-moisture profile measurement down to the water table, along with water-table-depth measurements, can provide a good opportunity to calculate Sy values even on a sub-daily scale. These values were compared with Sy estimates derived by traditional techniques, and it was found that slug-test-based Sy values gave the most similar results in a sandy soil environment. Therefore, slug-test methods, which are relatively cheap and require little time, were most suited to estimate Sy using diurnal fluctuations. The reason for this is that the timeframe of the slug-test measurement is very similar to the dynamic of the diurnal signal. The dynamic characteristic of Sy was also analyzed on a sub-daily scale (depending mostly on the speed of drainage from the soil profile) and a remarkable difference was found in Sy with respect to the rate of change of the water table. When comparing constant and sub-daily (dynamic) Sy values for ET estimation, the sub-daily Sy application yielded higher correlation, but only a slightly smaller deviation from the control ET method, compared with the usage of constant Sy.

General scale-dependent anisotropic turbulence and its impact on free space optical communication system performance.

PubMed

Toselli, Italo; Korotkova, Olga

2015-06-01

We generalize a recently introduced model for nonclassic turbulent spatial power spectrum involving anisotropy along two mutually orthogonal axes transverse to the direction of beam propagation by including two scale-dependent weighting factors for these directions. Such a turbulent model may be pertinent to atmospheric fluctuations in the refractive index in stratified regions well above the boundary layer and employed for air-air communication channels. When restricting ourselves to an unpolarized, coherent Gaussian beam and a weak turbulence regime, we examine the effects of such a turbulence type on the OOK FSO link performance by including the results on scintillation flux, probability of fade, SNR, and BERs.

On creating macroscopically identical granular systems with different numbers of particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Meer, Devaraj; Rivas, Nicolas

2015-11-01

One of the fundamental differences between granular and molecular hydrodynamics is the enormous difference in the total number of constituents. The small number of particles implies that the role of fluctuations in granular dynamics is of paramount importance. To obtain more insight in these fluctuations, we investigate to what extent it is possible to create identical granular hydrodynamic states with different number of particles. A definition is given of macroscopically equivalent systems, and the dependency of the conservation equations on the particle size is studied. We show that, in certain cases, and by appropriately scaling the microscopic variables, we are able to compare systems with significantly different number of particles that present the same macroscopic phenomenology. We apply these scalings in simulations of a vertically vibrated system, namely the density inverted granular Leidenfrost state and its transition to a buoyancy-driven convective state.

Local Orthorhombicity in the Magnetic C 4 Phase of the Hole-Doped Iron-Arsenide Superconductor Sr 1 - x Na x Fe 2 As 2

DOE PAGES

Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Taddei, Keith M.; Yi, Ming; ...

2017-10-30

We report on temperature-dependent pair distribution function measurements of Sr 1-xNa xFe 2As 2, an iron-based superconductor system that contains a magnetic phase with reentrant tetragonal symmetry, known as the magnetic C 4 phase. Quantitative refinements indicate that the instantaneous local structure in the C 4 phase comprises fluctuating orthorhombic regions with a length scale of similar to 2 nm, despite the tetragonal symmetry of the average static structure. Additionally, local orthorhombic fluctuations exist on a similar length scale at temperatures well into the paramagnetic tetragonal phase. Furthermore, these results highlight the exceptionally large nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors andmore » have significant implications for the magnetic C 4 phase and the neighboring C 2 and superconducting phases.« less

Local Orthorhombicity in the Magnetic C 4 Phase of the Hole-Doped Iron-Arsenide Superconductor Sr 1 - x Na x Fe 2 As 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frandsen, Benjamin A.; Taddei, Keith M.; Yi, Ming

We report on temperature-dependent pair distribution function measurements of Sr 1-xNa xFe 2As 2, an iron-based superconductor system that contains a magnetic phase with reentrant tetragonal symmetry, known as the magnetic C 4 phase. Quantitative refinements indicate that the instantaneous local structure in the C 4 phase comprises fluctuating orthorhombic regions with a length scale of similar to 2 nm, despite the tetragonal symmetry of the average static structure. Additionally, local orthorhombic fluctuations exist on a similar length scale at temperatures well into the paramagnetic tetragonal phase. Furthermore, these results highlight the exceptionally large nematic susceptibility of iron-based superconductors andmore » have significant implications for the magnetic C 4 phase and the neighboring C 2 and superconducting phases.« less

Quantum and classical ripples in graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hašík, Juraj; Tosatti, Erio; MartoÅák, Roman

2018-04-01

Thermal ripples of graphene are well understood at room temperature, but their quantum counterparts at low temperatures are in need of a realistic quantitative description. Here we present atomistic path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of freestanding graphene, which show upon cooling a striking classical-quantum evolution of height and angular fluctuations. The crossover takes place at ever-decreasing temperatures for ever-increasing wavelengths so that a completely quantum regime is never attained. Zero-temperature quantum graphene is flatter and smoother than classical graphene at large scales yet rougher at short scales. The angular fluctuation distribution of the normals can be quantitatively described by coexistence of two Gaussians, one classical strongly T -dependent and one quantum about 2° wide, of zero-point character. The quantum evolution of ripple-induced height and angular spread should be observable in electron diffraction in graphene and other two-dimensional materials, such as MoS2, bilayer graphene, boron nitride, etc.

Phase transition to turbulence in a pipe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldenfeld, Nigel

Leo Kadanoff taught us much about phase transitions, turbulence and collective behavior. Here I explore the transition to turbulence in a pipe, showing how a collective mode determines the universality class. Near the transition, turbulent puffs decay either directly or through splitting, with characteristic time-scales that exhibit a super-exponential dependence on Reynolds number. Direct numerical simulations reveal that a collective mode, a so-called zonal flow emerges at large scales, activated by anisotropic turbulent fluctuations, as represented by Reynolds stress. This zonal flow imposes a shear on the turbulent fluctuations that tends to suppress their anisotropy, leading to a Landau theory of predator-prey type, in the directed percolation universality class. Stochastic simulations of this model reproduce the functional form and phenomenology of pipe flow experiments. Talk based on work performed with Hong-Yan Shih and Tsung-Lin Hsieh. This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant NSF-DMR-1044901.

The effect of electron cyclotron heating on density fluctuations at ion and electron scales in ITER baseline scenario discharges on the DIII-D tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinoni, A.; Pinsker, R. I.; Porkolab, M.; Rost, J. C.; Davis, E. M.; Burrell, K. H.; Candy, J.; Staebler, G. M.; Grierson, B. A.; McKee, G. R.; Rhodes, T. L.; The DIII-D Team

2017-12-01

Experiments simulating the ITER baseline scenario on the DIII-D tokamak show that torque-free pure electron heating, when coupled to plasmas subject to a net co-current beam torque, affects density fluctuations at electron scales on a sub-confinement time scale, whereas fluctuations at ion scales change only after profiles have evolved to a new stationary state. Modifications to the density fluctuations measured by the phase contrast imaging diagnostic (PCI) are assessed by analyzing the time evolution following the switch-off of electron cyclotron heating (ECH), thus going from mixed beam/ECH to pure neutral beam heating at fixed βN . Within 20 ms after turning off ECH, the intensity of fluctuations is observed to increase at frequencies higher than 200 kHz in contrast, fluctuations at lower frequency are seen to decrease in intensity on a longer time scale, after other equilibrium quantities have evolved. Non-linear gyro-kinetic modeling at ion and electron scales scales suggest that, while the low frequency response of the diagnostic is consistent with the dominant ITG modes being weakened by the slow-time increase in flow shear, the high frequency response is due to prompt changes to the electron temperature profile that enhance electron modes and generate a larger heat flux and an inward particle pinch. These results suggest that electron heated regimes in ITER will feature multi-scale fluctuations that might affect fusion performance via modifications to profiles.

Endogenous and exogenous dynamics in the fluctuations of capital fluxes. An empirical analysis of the Chinese stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Z.-Q.; Guo, L.; Zhou, W.-X.

2007-06-01

A phenomenological investigation of the endogenous and exogenous dynamics in the fluctuations of capital fluxes is carried out on the Chinese stock market using mean-variance analysis, fluctuation analysis, and their generalizations to higher orders. Non-universal dynamics have been found not only in the scaling exponent α, which is different from the universal values 1/2 and 1, but also in the distributions of the ratio η= σexo / σendo of individual stocks. Both the scaling exponent α of fluctuations and the Hurst exponent Hi increase in logarithmic form with the time scale Δt and the mean traded value per minute , respectively. We find that the scaling exponent αendo of the endogenous fluctuations is independent of the time scale. Multiscaling and multifractal features are observed in the data as well. However, the inhomogeneous impact model is not verified.

The stratigraphic filter and bias in measurement of geologic rates

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schumer, R.; Jerolmack, D.; McElroy, B.

2011-01-01

Erosion and deposition rates estimated from the stratigraphic record frequently exhibit a power-law dependence on measurement interval. This dependence can result from a power-law distribution of stratigraphic hiatuses. By representing the stratigraphic filter as a stochastic process called a reverse ascending ladder, we describe a likely origin of power-law hiatuses, and thus, rate scaling. While power-law hiatuses in certain environments can be a direct result of power-law periods of stasis (no deposition or erosion), they are more generally the result of randomness in surface fluctuations irrespective of mean subsidence or uplift. Autocorrelation in fluctuations can make hiatuses more or less heavy-tailed, but still exhibit power-law characteristics. In addition we show that by passing stratigraphic data backward through the filter, certain statistics of surface kinematics from their formative environments can be inferred. Copyright ?? 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

First-passage dynamics of linear stochastic interface models: weak-noise theory and influence of boundary conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, Markus

2018-03-01

We consider a one-dimensional fluctuating interfacial profile governed by the Edwards–Wilkinson or the stochastic Mullins-Herring equation for periodic, standard Dirichlet and Dirichlet no-flux boundary conditions. The minimum action path of an interfacial fluctuation conditioned to reach a given maximum height M at a finite (first-passage) time T is calculated within the weak-noise approximation. Dynamic and static scaling functions for the profile shape are obtained in the transient and the equilibrium regime, i.e. for first-passage times T smaller or larger than the characteristic relaxation time, respectively. In both regimes, the profile approaches the maximum height M with a universal algebraic time dependence characterized solely by the dynamic exponent of the model. It is shown that, in the equilibrium regime, the spatial shape of the profile depends sensitively on boundary conditions and conservation laws, but it is essentially independent of them in the transient regime.

Auto-correlation in the motor/imaginary human EEG signals: A vision about the FDFA fluctuations.

PubMed

Zebende, Gilney Figueira; Oliveira Filho, Florêncio Mendes; Leyva Cruz, Juan Alberto

2017-01-01

In this paper we analyzed, by the FDFA root mean square fluctuation (rms) function, the motor/imaginary human activity produced by a 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG). We utilized the Physionet on-line databank, a publicly available database of human EEG signals, as a standardized reference database for this study. Herein, we report the use of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) method for EEG analysis. We show that the complex time series of the EEG exhibits characteristic fluctuations depending on the analyzed channel in the scalp-recorded EEG. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, we analyzed four distinct channels represented here by F332, F637 (frontal region of the head) and P349, P654 (parietal region of the head). We verified that the amplitude of the FDFA rms function is greater for the frontal channels than for the parietal. To tabulate this information in a better way, we define and calculate the difference between FDFA (in log scale) for the channels, thus defining a new path for analysis of EEG signals. Finally, related to the studied EEG signals, we obtain the auto-correlation exponent, αDFA by DFA method, that reveals self-affinity at specific time scale. Our results shows that this strategy can be applied to study the human brain activity in EEG processing.

Chromatin hydrodynamics.

PubMed

Bruinsma, Robijn; Grosberg, Alexander Y; Rabin, Yitzhak; Zidovska, Alexandra

2014-05-06

Following recent observations of large scale correlated motion of chromatin inside the nuclei of live differentiated cells, we present a hydrodynamic theory-the two-fluid model-in which the content of a nucleus is described as a chromatin solution with the nucleoplasm playing the role of the solvent and the chromatin fiber that of a solute. This system is subject to both passive thermal fluctuations and active scalar and vector events that are associated with free energy consumption, such as ATP hydrolysis. Scalar events drive the longitudinal viscoelastic modes (where the chromatin fiber moves relative to the solvent) while vector events generate the transverse modes (where the chromatin fiber moves together with the solvent). Using linear response methods, we derive explicit expressions for the response functions that connect the chromatin density and velocity correlation functions to the corresponding correlation functions of the active sources and the complex viscoelastic moduli of the chromatin solution. We then derive general expressions for the flow spectral density of the chromatin velocity field. We use the theory to analyze experimental results recently obtained by one of the present authors and her co-workers. We find that the time dependence of the experimental data for both native and ATP-depleted chromatin can be well-fitted using a simple model-the Maxwell fluid-for the complex modulus, although there is some discrepancy in terms of the wavevector dependence. Thermal fluctuations of ATP-depleted cells are predominantly longitudinal. ATP-active cells exhibit intense transverse long wavelength velocity fluctuations driven by force dipoles. Fluctuations with wavenumbers larger than a few inverse microns are dominated by concentration fluctuations with the same spectrum as thermal fluctuations but with increased intensity. Copyright © 2014 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chromatin Hydrodynamics

PubMed Central

Bruinsma, Robijn; Grosberg, Alexander Y.; Rabin, Yitzhak; Zidovska, Alexandra

2014-01-01

Following recent observations of large scale correlated motion of chromatin inside the nuclei of live differentiated cells, we present a hydrodynamic theory—the two-fluid model—in which the content of a nucleus is described as a chromatin solution with the nucleoplasm playing the role of the solvent and the chromatin fiber that of a solute. This system is subject to both passive thermal fluctuations and active scalar and vector events that are associated with free energy consumption, such as ATP hydrolysis. Scalar events drive the longitudinal viscoelastic modes (where the chromatin fiber moves relative to the solvent) while vector events generate the transverse modes (where the chromatin fiber moves together with the solvent). Using linear response methods, we derive explicit expressions for the response functions that connect the chromatin density and velocity correlation functions to the corresponding correlation functions of the active sources and the complex viscoelastic moduli of the chromatin solution. We then derive general expressions for the flow spectral density of the chromatin velocity field. We use the theory to analyze experimental results recently obtained by one of the present authors and her co-workers. We find that the time dependence of the experimental data for both native and ATP-depleted chromatin can be well-fitted using a simple model—the Maxwell fluid—for the complex modulus, although there is some discrepancy in terms of the wavevector dependence. Thermal fluctuations of ATP-depleted cells are predominantly longitudinal. ATP-active cells exhibit intense transverse long wavelength velocity fluctuations driven by force dipoles. Fluctuations with wavenumbers larger than a few inverse microns are dominated by concentration fluctuations with the same spectrum as thermal fluctuations but with increased intensity. PMID:24806919

Reynolds number trend of hierarchies and scale interactions in turbulent boundary layers.

PubMed

Baars, W J; Hutchins, N; Marusic, I

2017-03-13

Small-scale velocity fluctuations in turbulent boundary layers are often coupled with the larger-scale motions. Studying the nature and extent of this scale interaction allows for a statistically representative description of the small scales over a time scale of the larger, coherent scales. In this study, we consider temporal data from hot-wire anemometry at Reynolds numbers ranging from Re τ ≈2800 to 22 800, in order to reveal how the scale interaction varies with Reynolds number. Large-scale conditional views of the representative amplitude and frequency of the small-scale turbulence, relative to the large-scale features, complement the existing consensus on large-scale modulation of the small-scale dynamics in the near-wall region. Modulation is a type of scale interaction, where the amplitude of the small-scale fluctuations is continuously proportional to the near-wall footprint of the large-scale velocity fluctuations. Aside from this amplitude modulation phenomenon, we reveal the influence of the large-scale motions on the characteristic frequency of the small scales, known as frequency modulation. From the wall-normal trends in the conditional averages of the small-scale properties, it is revealed how the near-wall modulation transitions to an intermittent-type scale arrangement in the log-region. On average, the amplitude of the small-scale velocity fluctuations only deviates from its mean value in a confined temporal domain, the duration of which is fixed in terms of the local Taylor time scale. These concentrated temporal regions are centred on the internal shear layers of the large-scale uniform momentum zones, which exhibit regions of positive and negative streamwise velocity fluctuations. With an increasing scale separation at high Reynolds numbers, this interaction pattern encompasses the features found in studies on internal shear layers and concentrated vorticity fluctuations in high-Reynolds-number wall turbulence.This article is part of the themed issue 'Toward the development of high-fidelity models of wall turbulence at large Reynolds number'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Competition of mesoscales and crossover to theta-point tricriticality in near-critical polymer solutions.

PubMed

Anisimov, M A; Kostko, A F; Sengers, J V; Yudin, I K

2005-10-22

The approach to asymptotic critical behavior in polymer solutions is governed by a competition between the correlation length of critical fluctuations diverging at the critical point of phase separation and an additional mesoscopic length scale, the radius of gyration. In this paper we present a theory for crossover between two universal regimes: a regime with Ising (fluctuation-induced) asymptotic critical behavior, where the correlation length prevails, and a mean-field tricritical regime with theta-point behavior controlled by the mesoscopic polymer chain. The theory yields a universal scaled description of existing experimental phase-equilibria data and is in excellent agreement with our light-scattering experiments on polystyrene solutions in cyclohexane with polymer molecular weights ranging from 2 x 10(5) up to 11.4 x 10(6). The experiments demonstrate unambiguously that crossover to theta-point tricriticality is controlled by a competition of the two mesoscales. The critical amplitudes deduced from our experiments depend on the polymer molecular weight as predicted by de Gennes [Phys. Lett. 26A, 313 (1968)]. Experimental evidence for the presence of logarithmic corrections to mean-field tricritical theta-point behavior in the molecular-weight dependence of the critical parameters is also presented.

Role of band 3 in the erythrocyte membrane structural changes under thermal fluctuations -multi scale modeling considerations.

PubMed

Pajic-Lijakovic, Ivana

2015-12-01

An attempt was made to discuss and connect various modeling approaches on various time and space scales which have been proposed in the literature in order to shed further light on the erythrocyte membrane rearrangement caused by the cortex-lipid bilayer coupling under thermal fluctuations. Roles of the main membrane constituents: (1) the actin-spectrin cortex, (2) the lipid bilayer, and (3) the trans membrane protein band 3 and their course-consequence relations were considered in the context of the cortex non linear stiffening and corresponding anomalous nature of energy dissipation. The fluctuations induce alternating expansion and compression of the membrane parts in order to ensure surface and volume conservation. The membrane structural changes were considered within two time regimes. The results indicate that the cortex non linear stiffening and corresponding anomalous nature of energy dissipation are related to the spectrin flexibility distribution and the rate of its changes. The spectrin flexibility varies from purely flexible to semi flexible. It is influenced by: (1) the number of band 3 molecules attached to single spectrin filaments, and (2) phosphorylation of the actin-junctions. The rate of spectrin flexibility changes depends on the band 3 molecules rearrangement.

Characterizing multi-scale self-similar behavior and non-statistical properties of fluctuations in financial time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Sayantan; Manimaran, P.; Panigrahi, Prasanta K.

2011-11-01

We make use of wavelet transform to study the multi-scale, self-similar behavior and deviations thereof, in the stock prices of large companies, belonging to different economic sectors. The stock market returns exhibit multi-fractal characteristics, with some of the companies showing deviations at small and large scales. The fact that, the wavelets belonging to the Daubechies’ (Db) basis enables one to isolate local polynomial trends of different degrees, plays the key role in isolating fluctuations at different scales. One of the primary motivations of this work is to study the emergence of the k-3 behavior [X. Gabaix, P. Gopikrishnan, V. Plerou, H. Stanley, A theory of power law distributions in financial market fluctuations, Nature 423 (2003) 267-270] of the fluctuations starting with high frequency fluctuations. We make use of Db4 and Db6 basis sets to respectively isolate local linear and quadratic trends at different scales in order to study the statistical characteristics of these financial time series. The fluctuations reveal fat tail non-Gaussian behavior, unstable periodic modulations, at finer scales, from which the characteristic k-3 power law behavior emerges at sufficiently large scales. We further identify stable periodic behavior through the continuous Morlet wavelet.

Criticality and Phase Transition in Stock-Price Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyono, Ken; Struzik, Zbigniew R.; Yamamoto, Yoshiharu

2006-02-01

We analyze the behavior of the U.S. S&P 500 index from 1984 to 1995, and characterize the non-Gaussian probability density functions (PDF) of the log returns. The temporal dependence of fat tails in the PDF of a ten-minute log return shows a gradual, systematic increase in the probability of the appearance of large increments on approaching black Monday in October 1987, reminiscent of parameter tuning towards criticality. On the occurrence of the black Monday crash, this culminates in an abrupt transition of the scale dependence of the non-Gaussian PDF towards scale-invariance characteristic of critical behavior. These facts suggest the need for revisiting the turbulent cascade paradigm recently proposed for modeling the underlying dynamics of the financial index, to account for time varying—phase transitionlike and scale invariant-critical-like behavior.

Temporal scaling of hydraulic head and river base flow and its implication for groundwater recharge

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhang, You‐Kuan; Schilling, Keith

2004-01-01

Spectral analyses were conducted for hourly hydraulic head (h) data observed over a 4‐year period at seven monitoring wells in the Walnut Creek watershed, Iowa. The log power spectral density of the hydraulic head fluctuations versus log frequency (f) at all seven wells is shown to have a distinct slope or fractal dimension (D), indicating temporal scaling in the time series of water level fluctuations. The fractal dimension of the time series varies from well to well, and the spectrum for the average h over all seven wells has a fractal dimension of 1.46 and Hurst coefficient of 0.54. The log power spectral density of estimated base flow in the Walnut Creek and four other watersheds versus log f is shown to have two distinct slopes with a break in scaling at about 30 days. It is shown that the groundwater recharge process in a basin can be estimated from a head spectrum based on existing theoretical results. Hydraulic head in an aquifer may fluctuate as a fractal in time in response to either a white noise or fractal recharge process, depending on physical parameters (i.e., transmissivity and specific yield) of the aquifer. The recharge process at the Walnut Creek watershed is shown to have a white noise spectrum based on the observed head spectrum.

Effects of solvent concentration and composition on protein dynamics: 13C MAS NMR studies of elastin in glycerol-water mixtures.

PubMed

Demuth, Dominik; Haase, Nils; Malzacher, Daniel; Vogel, Michael

2015-08-01

We use (13)C CP MAS NMR to investigate the dependence of elastin dynamics on the concentration and composition of the solvent at various temperatures. For elastin in pure glycerol, line-shape analysis shows that larger-scale fluctuations of the protein backbone require a minimum glycerol concentration of ~0.6 g/g at ambient temperature, while smaller-scale fluctuations are activated at lower solvation levels of ~0.2 g/g. Immersing elastin in various glycerol-water mixtures, we observe at room temperature that the protein mobility is higher for lower glycerol fractions in the solvent and, thus, lower solvent viscosity. When decreasing the temperature, the elastin spectra approach the line shape for the rigid protein at 245 K for all studied samples, indicating that the protein ceases to be mobile on the experimental time scale of ~10(-5) s. Our findings yield evidence for a strong coupling between elastin fluctuations and solvent dynamics and, hence, such interaction is not restricted to the case of protein-water mixtures. Spectral resolution of different carbon species reveals that the protein-solvent couplings can, however, be different for side chain and backbone units. We discuss these results against the background of the slaving model for protein dynamics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of Telecoupling on Global Vegetation Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viña, A.; Liu, J.

2016-12-01

With the ever increasing trend in telecoupling processes, such as international trade, all countries around the world are becoming more interdependent. However, the effects of this growing interdependence on vegetation (e.g., shifts in the geographic extent and distribution) remain unknown even though vegetation dynamics are crucially important for food production, carbon sequestration, provision of other ecosystem services, and biodiversity conservation. In this study we evaluate the effects of international trade on the spatio-temporal trajectories of vegetation at national and global scales, using vegetation index imagery collected over more than three decades by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite sensor series together with concurrent national and international data on international trade (and its associated movement of people, goods, services and information). The spatio-temporal trajectories of vegetation are obtained using the scale of fluctuation technique, which is based on the decomposition of the AVHRR image time series to obtain information on its spatial dependence structure over time. Similar to the correlation length, the scale of fluctuation corresponds to the range over which fluctuations in the vegetation index are spatially correlated. Results indicate that global vegetation has changed drastically over the last three decades. These changes are not uniform across space, with hotspots in active trading countries. This study not only has direct implications for understanding global vegetation dynamics, but also sheds important insights on the complexity of human-nature interactions across telecoupled systems.

Gravity waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fritts, David

1987-01-01

Gravity waves contributed to the establishment of the thermal structure, small scale (80 to 100 km) fluctuations in velocity (50 to 80 m/sec) and density (20 to 30%, 0 to peak). Dominant gravity wave spectrum in the middle atmosphere: x-scale, less than 100 km; z-scale, greater than 10 km; t-scale, less than 2 hr. Theorists are beginning to understand middle atmosphere motions. There are two classes: Planetary waves and equatorial motions, gravity waves and tidal motions. The former give rise to variability at large scales, which may alter apparent mean structure. Effects include density and velocity fluctuations, induced mean motions, and stratospheric warmings which lead to the breakup of the polar vortex and cooling of the mesosphere. On this scale are also equatorial quasi-biennial and semi-annual oscillations. Gravity wave and tidal motions produce large rms fluctuations in density and velocity. The magnitude of the density fluctuations compared to the mean density is of the order of the vertical wavelength, which grows with height. Relative density fluctuations are less than, or of the order of 30% below the mesopause. Such motions may cause significant and variable convection, and wind shear. There is a strong seasonal variation in gravity wave amplitude. Additional observations are needed to address and quantify mean and fluctuation statistics of both density and mean velocity, variability of the mean and fluctuations, and to identify dominant gravity wave scales and sources as well as causes of variability, both temporal and geographic.

Stellar granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity. II. Theoretical scaling relations compared with observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samadi, R.; Belkacem, K.; Ludwig, H.-G.; Caffau, E.; Campante, T. L.; Davies, G. R.; Kallinger, T.; Lund, M. N.; Mosser, B.; Baglin, A.; Mathur, S.; Garcia, R. A.

2013-11-01

Context. A large set of stars observed by CoRoT and Kepler shows clear evidence for the presence of a stellar background, which is interpreted to arise from surface convection, i.e., granulation. These observations show that the characteristic time-scale (τeff) and the root-mean-square (rms) brightness fluctuations (σ) associated with the granulation scale as a function of the peak frequency (νmax) of the solar-like oscillations. Aims: We aim at providing a theoretical background to the observed scaling relations based on a model developed in Paper I. Methods: We computed for each 3D model the theoretical power density spectrum (PDS) associated with the granulation as seen in disk-integrated intensity on the basis of the theoretical model published in Paper I. For each PDS we derived the associated characteristic time (τeff) and the rms brightness fluctuations (σ) and compared these theoretical values with the theoretical scaling relations derived from the theoretical model and the measurements made on a large set of Kepler targets. Results: We derive theoretical scaling relations for τeff and σ, which show the same dependence on νmax as the observed scaling relations. In addition, we show that these quantities also scale as a function of the turbulent Mach number (ℳa) estimated at the photosphere. The theoretical scaling relations for τeff and σ match the observations well on a global scale. Quantitatively, the remaining discrepancies with the observations are found to be much smaller than previous theoretical calculations made for red giants. Conclusions: Our modelling provides additional theoretical support for the observed variations of σ and τeff with νmax. It also highlights the important role of ℳa in controlling the properties of the stellar granulation. However, the observations made with Kepler on a wide variety of stars cannot confirm the dependence of our scaling relations on ℳa. Measurements of the granulation background and detections of solar-like oscillations in a statistically sufficient number of cool dwarf stars will be required for confirming the dependence of the theoretical scaling relations with ℳa. Appendices are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Motor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention

PubMed Central

Morillon, Benjamin; Schroeder, Charles E.; Wyart, Valentin

2014-01-01

In temporal—or dynamic—attending theory, it is proposed that motor activity helps to synchronize temporal fluctuations of attention with the timing of events in a task-relevant stream, thus facilitating sensory selection. Here we develop a mechanistic behavioural account for this theory by asking human participants to track a slow reference beat, by noiseless finger pressing, while extracting auditory target tones delivered on-beat and interleaved with distractors. We find that overt rhythmic motor activity improves the segmentation of auditory information by enhancing sensitivity to target tones while actively suppressing distractor tones. This effect is triggered by cyclic fluctuations in sensory gain locked to individual motor acts, scales parametrically with the temporal predictability of sensory events and depends on the temporal alignment between motor and attention fluctuations. Together, these findings reveal how top-down influences associated with a rhythmic motor routine sharpen sensory representations, enacting auditory ‘active sensing’. PMID:25314898

Motor contributions to the temporal precision of auditory attention.

PubMed

Morillon, Benjamin; Schroeder, Charles E; Wyart, Valentin

2014-10-15

In temporal-or dynamic-attending theory, it is proposed that motor activity helps to synchronize temporal fluctuations of attention with the timing of events in a task-relevant stream, thus facilitating sensory selection. Here we develop a mechanistic behavioural account for this theory by asking human participants to track a slow reference beat, by noiseless finger pressing, while extracting auditory target tones delivered on-beat and interleaved with distractors. We find that overt rhythmic motor activity improves the segmentation of auditory information by enhancing sensitivity to target tones while actively suppressing distractor tones. This effect is triggered by cyclic fluctuations in sensory gain locked to individual motor acts, scales parametrically with the temporal predictability of sensory events and depends on the temporal alignment between motor and attention fluctuations. Together, these findings reveal how top-down influences associated with a rhythmic motor routine sharpen sensory representations, enacting auditory 'active sensing'.

Acoustic Radiation from a Mach 14 Turbulent Boundary layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, Lian; Choudhari, Meelan

2014-11-01

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) are used to examine the pressure fluctuations generated by a high-speed turbulent boundary layer with a nominal freestream Mach number of 14 and wall temperature of 0.15 times the recovery temperature. The emphasis is on characterizing the acoustic radiation from the turbulent boundary layer and comparing it with previous simulations at Mach 2.5 and Mach 6 to assess the Mach-number dependence of the freestream pressure fluctuations. In particular, the numerical database is used to provide insights into the pressure disturbance spectrum and amplitude scaling with respect to the freestream Mach number as well as to understand the acoustic source mechanisms at very high Mach numbers. Such information is important for characterizing the freestream disturbance environment in conventional (i.e., noisy) hypersonic wind tunnels. Spectral characteristics of pressure fluctuations at the surface are also investigated. Supported by AFOSR and NASA Langley Research Center.

Imprints of fluctuating proton shapes on flow in proton-lead collisions at the LHC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mantysaari, Heikki; Schenke, Bjorn; Shen, Chun

Results for particle production inmore » $$\\sqrt{s}$$ = 5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider within a combined classical Yang-Mills and relativistic viscous hydrodynamic calculation are presented. We emphasize the importance of sub-nucleon scale fluctuations in the proton projectile to describe the experimentally observed azimuthal harmonic coefficients v n, demonstrating their sensitivity to the proton shape. We stress that the proton shape and its fluctuations are not free parameters in our calculations. Instead, they have been constrained using experimental data from HERA on exclusive vector meson production. Including temperature dependent shear and bulk viscosities, as well as UrQMD for the low temperature regime, we present results for mean trans-verse momenta, harmonic flow coefficients for charged hadrons and identified particles, as well as Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii.« less

Magnetic Field Fluctuations in Saturn's Magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Papen, Michael; Saur, Joachim; Alexandrova, Olga

2013-04-01

In the framework of turbulence, we analyze the statistical properties of magnetic field fluctuations measured by the Cassini spacecraft inside Saturn's plasma sheet. In the spacecraft-frame power spectra of the fluctuations we identify two power-law spectral ranges seperated by a spectral break around ion gyro-frequencies of O+ and H+. The spectral indices of the low frequency power-law are found to be between 5-3 (for fully developed cascades) and 1 (during energy input on the corresponding scales). Above the spectral break there is a constant power-law with mean spectral index ~2.5 indicating a permament turbulent cascade in the kinetic range. An increasing non-gaussian probability density with frequency indicates the build-up of intermittency. Correlations of plasma parameters with the spectral indices are examined and it is found that the power-law slope depends on background magnetic field strength and plasma beta.

Coherence degree of the fundamental Bessel-Gaussian beam in turbulent atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukin, Igor P.

2017-11-01

In this article the coherence of a fundamental Bessel-Gaussian optical beam in turbulent atmosphere is analyzed. The problem analysis is based on the solution of the equation for the transverse second-order mutual coherence function of a fundamental Bessel-Gaussian optical beam of optical radiation. The behavior of a coherence degree of a fundamental Bessel-Gaussian optical beam depending on parameters of an optical beam and characteristics of turbulent atmosphere is examined. It was revealed that at low levels of fluctuations in turbulent atmosphere the coherence degree of a fundamental Bessel-Gaussian optical beam has the characteristic oscillating appearance. At high levels of fluctuations in turbulent atmosphere the coherence degree of a fundamental Bessel-Gaussian optical beam is described by an one-scale decreasing curve which in process of increase of level of fluctuations on a line of formation of a laser beam becomes closer to the same characteristic of a spherical optical wave.

Imprints of fluctuating proton shapes on flow in proton-lead collisions at the LHC

DOE PAGES

Mantysaari, Heikki; Schenke, Bjorn; Shen, Chun; ...

2017-07-21

Results for particle production inmore » $$\\sqrt{s}$$ = 5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider within a combined classical Yang-Mills and relativistic viscous hydrodynamic calculation are presented. We emphasize the importance of sub-nucleon scale fluctuations in the proton projectile to describe the experimentally observed azimuthal harmonic coefficients v n, demonstrating their sensitivity to the proton shape. We stress that the proton shape and its fluctuations are not free parameters in our calculations. Instead, they have been constrained using experimental data from HERA on exclusive vector meson production. Including temperature dependent shear and bulk viscosities, as well as UrQMD for the low temperature regime, we present results for mean trans-verse momenta, harmonic flow coefficients for charged hadrons and identified particles, as well as Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii.« less

The effect of Electron Cyclotron Heating on density fluctuations at ion and electron scales in ITER Baseline Scenario discharges on the DIII-D tokamak

DOE PAGES

Marinoni, Alessandro; Pinsker, Robert I.; Porkolab, Miklos; ...

2017-08-01

Experiments simulating the ITER Baseline Scenario on the DIII-D tokamak show that torque-free pure electron heating, when coupled to plasmas subject to a net co-current beam torque, affects density fluctuations at electron scales on a sub-confinement time scale, whereas fluctuations at ion scales change only after profiles have evolved to a new stationary state. Modifications to the density fluctuations measured by the Phase Contrast Imaging diagnostic (PCI) are assessed by analyzing the time evolution following the switch-off of Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH), thus going from mixed beam/ECH to pure neutral beam heating at fixed β N . Within 20 msmore » after turning off ECH, the intensity of fluctuations is observed to increase at frequencies higher than 200 kHz; in contrast, fluctuations at lower frequency are seen to decrease in intensity on a longer time scale, after other equilibrium quantities have evolved. Non-linear gyro-kinetic modeling at ion and electron scales scales suggest that, while the low frequency response of the diagnostic is consistent with the dominant ITG modes being weakened by the slow-time increase in flow shear, the high frequency response is due to prompt changes to the electron temperature profile that enhance electron modes and generate a larger heat flux and an inward particle pinch. Furthermore, these results suggest that electron heated regimes in ITER will feature multi-scale fluctuations that might affect fusion performance via modifications to profiles.« less

Ionization balance of impurities in turbulent scrape-off layer plasmas I: local ionization-recombination equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guzman, F.; Marandet, Y.; Tamain, P.; Bufferand, H.; Ciraolo, G.; Ghendrih, Ph; Guirlet, R.; Rosato, J.; Valentinuzzi, M.

2015-12-01

In magnetized fusion devices, cross field impurity transport is often dominated by turbulence, in particular in the scrape-off layer. In these outer regions of the plasma, fluctuations of plasma parameters can be comparable to mean values, and the way ionization and recombination sources are treated in transport codes becomes questionnable. In fact, sources are calculated using the mean density and temperature values, with no account of fluctuations. In this work we investigate the modeling uncertainties introduced by this approximation, both qualitatively and quantitatively for the local ionization equilibrium. As a first step transport effects are neglected, and their role will be discussed in a companion paper. We show that temperature fluctuations shift the ionization balance towards lower temperatures, essentially because of the very steep temperature dependence of the ionization rate coefficients near the threshold. To reach this conclusion, a thorough analysis of the time scales involved is carried out, in order to devise a proper way of averaging over fluctuations. The effects are found to be substantial only for fairly large relative fluctuation levels for temperature, that is of the order of a few tens of percents.

Quantum critical scaling and fluctuations in Kondo lattice materials

PubMed Central

Yang, Yi-feng; Pines, David; Lonzarich, Gilbert

2017-01-01

We propose a phenomenological framework for three classes of Kondo lattice materials that incorporates the interplay between the fluctuations associated with the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point and those produced by the hybridization quantum critical point that marks the end of local moment behavior. We show that these fluctuations give rise to two distinct regions of quantum critical scaling: Hybridization fluctuations are responsible for the logarithmic scaling in the density of states of the heavy electron Kondo liquid that emerges below the coherence temperature T∗, whereas the unconventional power law scaling in the resistivity that emerges at lower temperatures below TQC may reflect the combined effects of hybridization and antiferromagnetic quantum critical fluctuations. Our framework is supported by experimental measurements on CeCoIn5, CeRhIn5, and other heavy electron materials. PMID:28559308

Fluctuations in Cerebral Hemodynamics

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-12-01

Determination of scaling properties Detrended Fluctuations Analysis (see (28) and references therein) is commonly used to determine scaling...pressure (averaged over a cardiac beat) of a healthy subject. First 1000 values of the time series are shown. (b) Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA...1000 values of the time series are shown. (b) Detrended fluctuation analysis of the time series shown in (a). Fig . 3 Side-by-side boxplot for the

Investigation of grain-scale microstructural variability in tantalum using crystal plasticity-finite element simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, Hojun; Dingreville, Rémi; Deibler, Lisa A.

In this research, a crystal plasticity-finite element (CP-FE) model is used to investigate the effects of microstructural variability at a notch tip in tantalum single crystals and polycrystals. It is shown that at the macroscopic scale, the mechanical response of single crystals is sensitive to the crystallographic orientation while the response of polycrystals shows relatively small susceptibility to it. However, at the microscopic scale, the local stress and strain fields in the vicinity of the crack tip are completely determined by the local crystallographic orientation at the crack tip for both single and polycrystalline specimens with similar mechanical field distributions.more » Variability in the local metrics used (maximum von Mises stress and equivalent plastic strain at 3% deformation) for 100 different realizations of polycrystals fluctuates by up to a factor of 2–7 depending on the local crystallographic texture. Comparison with experimental data shows that the CP model captures variability in stress–strain response of polycrystals that can be attributed to the grain-scale microstructural variability. In conclusion, this work provides a convenient approach to investigate fluctuations in the mechanical behavior of polycrystalline materials induced by grain morphology and crystallographic orientations.« less

Investigation of grain-scale microstructural variability in tantalum using crystal plasticity-finite element simulations

DOE PAGES

Lim, Hojun; Dingreville, Rémi; Deibler, Lisa A.; ...

2016-02-27

In this research, a crystal plasticity-finite element (CP-FE) model is used to investigate the effects of microstructural variability at a notch tip in tantalum single crystals and polycrystals. It is shown that at the macroscopic scale, the mechanical response of single crystals is sensitive to the crystallographic orientation while the response of polycrystals shows relatively small susceptibility to it. However, at the microscopic scale, the local stress and strain fields in the vicinity of the crack tip are completely determined by the local crystallographic orientation at the crack tip for both single and polycrystalline specimens with similar mechanical field distributions.more » Variability in the local metrics used (maximum von Mises stress and equivalent plastic strain at 3% deformation) for 100 different realizations of polycrystals fluctuates by up to a factor of 2–7 depending on the local crystallographic texture. Comparison with experimental data shows that the CP model captures variability in stress–strain response of polycrystals that can be attributed to the grain-scale microstructural variability. In conclusion, this work provides a convenient approach to investigate fluctuations in the mechanical behavior of polycrystalline materials induced by grain morphology and crystallographic orientations.« less

X-ray light curves of active galactic nuclei are phase incoherent

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krolik, Julian; Done, Chris; Madejski, Grzegorz

1993-01-01

We compute the Fourier phase spectra for the light curves of five low-luminosity active galactic nuclei observed by EXOSAT. There is no statistically significant phase coherence in any of them. This statement is equivalent, subject to a technical caveat, to a demonstration that their fluctuation statistics are Gaussian. Models in which the X-ray output is controlled wholly by a unitary process undergoing a nonlinear limit cycle are therefore ruled out, while models with either a large number of randomly excited independent oscillation modes or nonlinearly interacting spatially dependent oscillations are favored. We also demonstrate how the degree of phase coherence in light curve fluctuations influences the application of causality bounds on internal length scales.

Efficiency and cross-correlation in equity market during global financial crisis: Evidence from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Pengcheng; Li, Daye; Li, Shuo

2016-02-01

Using one minute high-frequency data of the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCI) and the Shenzhen Composite Index (SZCI) (2007-2008), we employ the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and the detrended cross correlation analysis (DCCA) with rolling window approach to observe the evolution of market efficiency and cross-correlation in pre-crisis and crisis period. Considering the fat-tail distribution of return time series, statistical test based on shuffling method is conducted to verify the null hypothesis of no long-term dependence. Our empirical research displays three main findings. First Shanghai equity market efficiency deteriorated while Shenzhen equity market efficiency improved with the advent of financial crisis. Second the highly positive dependence between SHCI and SZCI varies with time scale. Third financial crisis saw a significant increase of dependence between SHCI and SZCI at shorter time scales but a lack of significant change at longer time scales, providing evidence of contagion and absence of interdependence during crisis.

A model of the saturation of coupled electron and ion scale gyrokinetic turbulence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Staebler, Gary M.; Howard, Nathan T.; Candy, Jeffrey M.

A new paradigm of zonal flow mixing as the mechanism by which zonal E × B fluctuations impact the saturation of gyrokinetic turbulence has recently been deduced from the nonlinear 2D spectrum of electric potential fluctuations in gyrokinetic simulations. These state of the art simulations span the physical scales of both ion and electron turbulence. It was found that the zonal flow mixing rate, rather than zonal flow shearing rate, competes with linear growth at both electron and ion scales. A model for saturation of the turbulence by the zonal flow mixing was developed and applied to the quasilinear trappedmore » gyro-Landau fluid transport model (TGLF). The first validation tests of the new saturation model are reported in this paper with data from L-mode and high-β p regime discharges from the DIII-D tokamak. Lastly, the shortfall in the predicted L-mode edge electron energy transport is improved with the new saturation model for these discharges but additional multiscale simulations are required in order to verify the safety factor and collisionality dependencies found in the modeling.« less

A model of the saturation of coupled electron and ion scale gyrokinetic turbulence

DOE PAGES

Staebler, Gary M.; Howard, Nathan T.; Candy, Jeffrey M.; ...

2017-05-09

A new paradigm of zonal flow mixing as the mechanism by which zonal E × B fluctuations impact the saturation of gyrokinetic turbulence has recently been deduced from the nonlinear 2D spectrum of electric potential fluctuations in gyrokinetic simulations. These state of the art simulations span the physical scales of both ion and electron turbulence. It was found that the zonal flow mixing rate, rather than zonal flow shearing rate, competes with linear growth at both electron and ion scales. A model for saturation of the turbulence by the zonal flow mixing was developed and applied to the quasilinear trappedmore » gyro-Landau fluid transport model (TGLF). The first validation tests of the new saturation model are reported in this paper with data from L-mode and high-β p regime discharges from the DIII-D tokamak. Lastly, the shortfall in the predicted L-mode edge electron energy transport is improved with the new saturation model for these discharges but additional multiscale simulations are required in order to verify the safety factor and collisionality dependencies found in the modeling.« less

Nonlocal and collective relaxation in stellar systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinberg, Martin D.

1993-01-01

The modal response of stellar systems to fluctuations at large scales is presently investigated by means of analytic theory and n-body simulation; the stochastic excitation of these modes is shown to increase the relaxation rate even for a system which is moderately far from instability. The n-body simulations, when designed to suppress relaxation at small scales, clearly show the effects of large-scale fluctuations. It is predicted that large-scale fluctuations will be largest for such marginally bound systems as forming star clusters and associations.

Probing subnucleon scale fluctuations in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions

DOE PAGES

Mantysaari, Heikki; Schenke, Bjorn

2017-08-02

We show that introducing subnucleon scale fluctuations constrained by HERA diffractive J/Ψ production data significantly affects the incoherent diffractive J/Ψ production cross section in ul-traperipheral heavy ion collisions. We find that the inclusion of the additional fluctuations increases the ratio of the incoherent to the coherent cross section approximately by a factor of 2, and modifies the transverse momentum spectra of the produced J/Ψ at momenta larger than the scale that corresponds to the distance scale of the subnucleonic fluctuations. We present predictions for J/Ψ production in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV at the LHC andmore » 200 GeV at RHIC.« less

On the Behavior of Velocity Fluctuations in Rapidly Rotating Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Girimaji, S. S.; Ristorcelli, J. R.

1997-01-01

The behavior of velocity fluctuations subjected to rapid rotation is examined. The rapid rotation considered is any arbitrary combination of two basic forms of rotation, reference frame rotation and mean flow rotation. It is recognized that the two types of rotating flows differ in the manner in which the fluctuating fields are advected. The first category is comprised of flows in rotating systems of which synoptic scale geophysical flows are a good example. In this class of flows the fluctuating velocity field advects and rotates with the mean flow. In the rapid rotation limit, the Taylor-Proudman theorem describes the behavior of this class of fluctuations. Velocity fluctuations that are advected without rotation by the mean flow constitute the second category which includes vortical flows of aerodynamic interest. The Taylor-Proudman theorem is not pertinent to I his class flows and a new result appropriate to this second category of fluctuations is derived. The present development demonstrates that the fluctuating velocity fields are rendered two-dimensional and horizontally non-divergent in the limit of any large combination of reference frame rotation and mean-flow rotation. The concommitant 'geostrophic' balance of the momentum equation is, however, dependent upon the form of rapid rotation. It is also demonstrated that the evolution equations of a two-dimensional fluctuating velocity fields are frame-indifferent with any imposed mean-flow rotation. The analyses and results of this paper highlight many fundamental aspects of rotating flows and have important consequences for their turbulence closures in inertial and non-inertial frames.

The effect of aperture averaging upon tropospheric delay fluctuations seen with a DSN antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linfield, R.

1996-01-01

The spectrum of tropospheric delay fluctuations expected for a DSN antenna at time scales less than 100 s has been calculated. A new feature included in these calculations is the effect of aperture averaging, which causes a reduction in delay fluctuations on time scales less than the antenna wind speed crossing time, approximately equal to 5-10 s. On time scales less than a few seconds, the Allan deviation sigma(sub y)(Delta(t)) varies as (Delta(t))(sup +1), rather than sigma(sub y)(Delta(t)) varies as (Delta(t))(exp -1/6) without aperture averaging. Due to thermal radiometer noise, calibration of tropospheric delay fluctuations with water vapor radiometers will not be possible on time scales less than approximately 10 s. However, the tropospheric fluctuation level will be small enough that radio science measurements with a spacecraft on time scales less than a few seconds will be limited by the stability of frequency standards and/or other nontropospheric effects.

Detecting fractal power-law long-range dependence in pre-sliced cooked pork ham surface intensity patterns using Detrended Fluctuation Analysis.

PubMed

Valous, Nektarios A; Drakakis, Konstantinos; Sun, Da-Wen

2010-10-01

The visual texture of pork ham slices reveals information about the different qualities and perceived image heterogeneity, which is encapsulated as spatial variations in geometry and spectral characteristics. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) detects long-range correlations in nonstationary spatial sequences, by a self-similarity scaling exponent alpha. In the current work, the aim is to investigate the usefulness of alpha, using different colour channels (R, G, B, L*, a*, b*, H, S, V, and Grey), as a quantitative descriptor of visual texture in sliced ham surface patterns for the detection of long-range correlations in unidimensional spatial series of greyscale intensity pixel values at 0 degrees , 30 degrees , 45 degrees , 60 degrees , and 90 degrees rotations. Images were acquired from three qualities of pre-sliced pork ham, typically consumed in Ireland (200 slices per quality). Results indicated that the DFA approach can be used to characterize and quantify the textural appearance of the three ham qualities, for different image orientations, with a global scaling exponent. The spatial series extracted from the ham images display long-range dependence, indicating an average behaviour around 1/f-noise. Results indicate that alpha has a universal character in quantifying the visual texture of ham surface intensity patterns, with no considerable crossovers that alter the behaviour of the fluctuations. Fractal correlation properties can thus be a useful metric for capturing information embedded in the visual texture of hams. Copyright (c) 2010 The American Meat Science Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perceived Treatment Status of Fluctuations in Parkinson Disease Impacts Suicidality.

PubMed

Hinkle, Jared T; Perepezko, Kate; Mari, Zoltan; Marsh, Laura; Pontone, Gregory M

2018-01-31

On/off motor fluctuations in Parkinson disease (PD) can be associated with extreme mood fluctuations and severe dysphoria. The impact of these affective symptoms may be overlooked in the treatment of motor fluctuations. Our goal was to examine the relationship between motor fluctuations, their treatment status, and suicidality in PD participants. We analyzed data from the Methods of Optimal Depression Detection in Parkinson's Disease (MOOD-PD) study of 223 individuals with PD. Suicidality was measured using items from four depression scales: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17); Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS); Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-C); and the self-rated Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Multivariable Poisson regression analyses tested whether self-reported motor fluctuations and their treatment status were associated with suicidality while controlling for recognized risk factors. Thirty-seven participants (16.6%) self-reported suicidality and 89 (39.5%) self-reported motor fluctuations, of whom 21 (23.6%) perceived their fluctuations as untreated. Participants reporting untreated motor fluctuations more frequently had a current depressive disorder (p < 0.001) and endorsed suicidality (p = 0.006) than participants with treated or no fluctuations. They also had significantly higher total scores on the HAM-D-17, MADRS, IDS-C, and BDI depression scales (p < 0.001 for each). Regression analyses showed significant associations between untreated motor fluctuations and higher scores on suicide questions extracted from the HAM-D-17, MADRS, and IDS-C (p < 0.01 for each). PD patients with untreated motor fluctuations are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and should be monitored for mood changes as treatment is adapted. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Critical phenomena at the complex tensor ordering phase transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boettcher, Igor; Herbut, Igor F.

2018-02-01

We investigate the critical properties of the phase transition towards complex tensor order that has been proposed to occur in spin-orbit-coupled superconductors. For this purpose, we formulate the bosonic field theory for fluctuations of the complex irreducible second-rank tensor order parameter close to the transition. We then determine the scale dependence of the couplings of the theory by means of the perturbative renormalization group (RG). For the isotropic system, we generically detect a fluctuation-induced first-order phase transition. The initial values for the running couplings are determined by the underlying microscopic model for the tensorial order. As an example, we study three-dimensional Luttinger semimetals with electrons at a quadratic band-touching point. Whereas the strong-coupling transition of the model receives substantial fluctuation corrections, the weak-coupling transition at low temperatures is rendered only weakly first order due to the presence of a fixed point in the vicinity of the RG trajectory. If the number of fluctuating complex components of the order parameter is reduced by cubic anisotropy, the theory maps onto the field theory for frustrated magnetism.

Spatial and mesoscopic fluctuations in glassy dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chamon, Claudio C.; Cugliandolo, Leticia F.

2004-05-01

One of the striking properties of a glassy system is that many material properties depend on its age, i.e., the time since the system entered its glassy phase. In this this talk we shall review some recent progress (work in collaboration with H. E. Castillo, P. Charbonneau, J. L. Iguain, M. P. Kennett, D. R. Reichman and M. Sellitto) in understanding local aging, through the study of local observable quantities, which reveal that there are spatial heterogeneities and fluctuations in the aging process of macroscopic systems. We show that a number of universal properties are shared by many non-equilibrium systems, both with and without quenched disorder, such as the 3D Edwards-Anderson model and some kinetically constrained non-interacting 2D and 3D spin models, for example. Similar scaling relations are found for mesoscopic sample-to-sample fluctuations of global quantities in small size systems. We discuss how the emergence of a symmetry in aging systems, time-reparametrization invariance, could be responsible for the observed universal behavior of the local and mesoscopic non-equilibrium fluctuations.

Range-dependence of acoustic channel with traveling sinusoidal surface wave.

PubMed

Choo, Youngmin; Seong, Woojae; Lee, Keunhwa

2014-04-01

Range-dependence of time-varying acoustic channels caused by a traveling surface wave is investigated through water tank experiments and acoustic propagation analysis schemes. As the surface wave travels, surface reflected signals fluctuate and the fluctuation varies with source-receiver horizontal range. Amplitude fluctuations of surface reflected signals increase with increasing horizontal range whereas the opposite occurs in delay fluctuations. The scattered pressure field at a fixed time shows strong dependence on the receiver position because of caustics and shadow zones formed by the surface. The Doppler shifts of surface reflected signals also depend on the horizontal range. Comparison between measurement data and model results indicates the Doppler shift relies on the delay fluctuation under current experimental conditions.

Generic evolution of mixing in heterogeneous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Dreuzy, J.; Carrera, J.; Dentz, M.; Le Borgne, T.

2011-12-01

Mixing in heterogeneous media results from the competition bewteen flow fluctuations and local scale diffusion. Flow fluctuations quickly create concentration contrasts and thus heterogeneity of the concentration field, which is slowly homogenized by local scale diffusion. Mixing first deviates from Gaussian mixing, which represents the potential mixing induced by spreading before approaching it. This deviation fundamentally expresses the evolution of the interaction between spreading and local scale diffusion. We characterize it by the ratio γ of the non-Gaussian to the Gaussian mixing states. We define the Gaussian mixing state as the integrated squared concentration of the Gaussian plume that has the same longitudinal dispersion as the real plume. The non-Gaussian mixing state is the difference between the overall mixing state defined as the integrated squared concentration and the Gaussian mixing state. The main advantage of this definition is to use the full knowledge previously acquired on dispersion for characterizing mixing even when the solute concentration field is highly non Gaussian. Using high precision numerical simulations, we show that γ quickly increases, peaks and slowly decreases. γ can be derived from two scales characterizing spreading and local mixing, at least for large flux-weighted solute injection conditions into classically log-normal Gaussian correlated permeability fields. The spreading scale is directly related to the longitudinal dispersion. The local mixing scale is the largest scale over which solute concentrations can be considered locally uniform. More generally, beyond the characteristics of its maximum, γ turns out to have a highly generic scaling form. Its fast increase and slow decrease depend neither on the heterogeneity level, nor on the ratio of diffusion to advection, nor on the injection conditions. They might even not depend on the particularities of the flow fields as the same generic features also prevail for Taylor dispersion. This generic characterization of mixing can offer new ways to set up transport equations that honor not only advection and spreading (dispersion), but also mixing.

Is a Higgs vacuum instability fatal for high-scale inflation?

DOE PAGES

Kearney, John; Yoo, Hojin; Zurek, Kathryn M.

2015-06-25

We study the inflationary evolution of a scalar field h with an unstable potential for the case where the Hubble parameter H during inflation is larger than the instability scale Λ I of the potential. Quantum fluctuations in the field of size δh ~ H/2π imply that the unstable part of the potential is sampled during inflation. We investigate the evolution of these fluctuations to the unstable regime and in particular whether they generate cosmological defects or even terminate inflation. We apply the results of a toy scalar model to the case of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson, themore » quartic of which evolves to negative values at high scales, and extend previous analyses of Higgs dynamics during inflation utilizing statistical methods to a perturbative and fully gauge-invariant formulation. We show that the dynamics are controlled by the renormalization group-improved quartic coupling λ(μ) evaluated at a scale μ = H, such that Higgs fluctuations are enhanced by the instability if H > Λ I. Even if H > Λ I, the instability in the Standard Model Higgs potential does not end inflation; instead the universe slowly sloughs off crunching patches of space that never come to dominate the evolution. As inflation proceeds past 50 e-folds, a significant proportion of patches exits inflation in the unstable vacuum, and as much as 1% of the spacetime can rapidly evolve to a defect. Depending on the nature of these defects, however, the resulting universe could still be compatible with ours.« less

Fluctuation scaling, Taylor's law, and crime.

PubMed

Hanley, Quentin S; Khatun, Suniya; Yosef, Amal; Dyer, Rachel-May

2014-01-01

Fluctuation scaling relationships have been observed in a wide range of processes ranging from internet router traffic to measles cases. Taylor's law is one such scaling relationship and has been widely applied in ecology to understand communities including trees, birds, human populations, and insects. We show that monthly crime reports in the UK show complex fluctuation scaling which can be approximated by Taylor's law relationships corresponding to local policing neighborhoods and larger regional and countrywide scales. Regression models applied to local scale data from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire found that different categories of crime exhibited different scaling exponents with no significant difference between the two regions. On this scale, violence reports were close to a Poisson distribution (α = 1.057 ± 0.026) while burglary exhibited a greater exponent (α = 1.292 ± 0.029) indicative of temporal clustering. These two regions exhibited significantly different pre-exponential factors for the categories of anti-social behavior and burglary indicating that local variations in crime reports can be assessed using fluctuation scaling methods. At regional and countrywide scales, all categories exhibited scaling behavior indicative of temporal clustering evidenced by Taylor's law exponents from 1.43 ± 0.12 (Drugs) to 2.094 ± 0081 (Other Crimes). Investigating crime behavior via fluctuation scaling gives insight beyond that of raw numbers and is unique in reporting on all processes contributing to the observed variance and is either robust to or exhibits signs of many types of data manipulation.

Fluctuation Scaling, Taylor’s Law, and Crime

PubMed Central

Hanley, Quentin S.; Khatun, Suniya; Yosef, Amal; Dyer, Rachel-May

2014-01-01

Fluctuation scaling relationships have been observed in a wide range of processes ranging from internet router traffic to measles cases. Taylor’s law is one such scaling relationship and has been widely applied in ecology to understand communities including trees, birds, human populations, and insects. We show that monthly crime reports in the UK show complex fluctuation scaling which can be approximated by Taylor’s law relationships corresponding to local policing neighborhoods and larger regional and countrywide scales. Regression models applied to local scale data from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire found that different categories of crime exhibited different scaling exponents with no significant difference between the two regions. On this scale, violence reports were close to a Poisson distribution (α = 1.057±0.026) while burglary exhibited a greater exponent (α = 1.292±0.029) indicative of temporal clustering. These two regions exhibited significantly different pre-exponential factors for the categories of anti-social behavior and burglary indicating that local variations in crime reports can be assessed using fluctuation scaling methods. At regional and countrywide scales, all categories exhibited scaling behavior indicative of temporal clustering evidenced by Taylor’s law exponents from 1.43±0.12 (Drugs) to 2.094±0081 (Other Crimes). Investigating crime behavior via fluctuation scaling gives insight beyond that of raw numbers and is unique in reporting on all processes contributing to the observed variance and is either robust to or exhibits signs of many types of data manipulation. PMID:25271781

Nanoscopic length scale dependence of hydrogen bonded molecular associates’ dynamics in methanol

PubMed Central

Bertrand, C. E.; Self, J. L.; Copley, J. R. D.; Faraone, A.

2017-01-01

In a recent paper [C. E. Bertrand et al., J. Chem. Phys. 145, 014502 (2016)], we have shown that the collective dynamics of methanol shows a fast relaxation process related to the standard density-fluctuation heat mode and a slow non-Fickian mode originating from the hydrogen bonded molecular associates. Here we report on the length scale dependence of this slow relaxation process. Using quasielastic neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the dynamics of the slow process is affected by the structuring of the associates, which is accessible through polarized neutron diffraction experiments. Using a series of partially deuterated samples, the dynamics of the associates is investigated and is found to have a similar time scale to the lifetime of hydrogen bonding in the system. Both the structural relaxation and the dynamics of the associates are thermally activated by the breaking of hydrogen bonding. PMID:28527447

Jumping the gap: the formation conditions and mass function of `pebble-pile' planetesimals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopkins, Philip F.

2016-03-01

In a turbulent proto-planetary disc, dust grains undergo large-density fluctuations and under the right circumstances, grain overdensities can collapse under self-gravity (forming a `pebble-pile' planetesimal). Using a simple model for fluctuations predicted in simulations, we estimate the rate of formation and mass function of self-gravitating planetesimal-mass bodies formed by this mechanism. This depends sensitively on the grain size, disc surface density, and turbulent Mach numbers. However, when it occurs, the resulting planetesimal mass function is broad and quasi-universal, with a slope dN/dM ∝ M-(1-2), spanning size/mass range ˜10-104 km (˜10-9-5 M⊕). Collapse to planetesimal through super-Earth masses is possible. The key condition is that grain density fluctuations reach large amplitudes on large scales, where gravitational instability proceeds most easily (collapse of small grains is suppressed by turbulence). This leads to a new criterion for `pebble-pile' formation: τs ≳ 0.05 ln (Q1/2/Zd)/ln (1 + 10 α1/4) ˜ 0.3 ψ(Q, Z, α) where τs = ts Ω is the dimensionless particle stopping time. In a minimum-mass solar nebula, this requires grains larger than a = (50, 1, 0.1) cm at r=(1, 30, 100) au}. This may easily occur beyond the ice line, but at small radii would depend on the existence of large boulders. Because density fluctuations depend strongly on τs (inversely proportional to disc surface density), lower density discs are more unstable. Conditions for pebble-pile formation also become more favourable around lower mass, cooler stars.

AKARI OBSERVATION OF THE SUB-DEGREE SCALE FLUCTUATION OF THE NEAR-INFRARED BACKGROUND

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seo, H. J.; Lee, Hyung Mok; Lee, Myung Gyoon

2015-07-10

We report spatial fluctuation analysis of the sky brightness in the near-infrared from observations toward the north ecliptic pole (NEP) by the AKARI at 2.4 and 3.2 μm. As a follow-up study of our previous work on the Monitor field of AKARI, we used NEP deep survey data, which covered a circular area of about 0.4 square degrees, in order to extend fluctuation analysis at angular scales up to 1000″. We found residual fluctuation over the estimated shot noise at larger angles than the angular scale of the Monitor field. The excess fluctuation of the NEP deep field smoothly connectsmore » with that of the Monitor field at angular scales of a few hundred arcseconds and extends without any significant variation to larger angular scales up to 1000″. By comparing excess fluctuations at two wavelengths, we confirm a blue spectral feature similar to the result of the Monitor field. We find that the result of this study is consistent with Spitzer Space Telescope observations at 3.6 μm. The origin of the excess fluctuation in the near-infrared background remains to be determined, but we could exclude zodiacal light, diffuse Galactic light, and unresolved faint galaxies at low redshift based on the comparison with mid- and far-infrared brightness, ground-based near-infrared images.« less

Dynamic properties of small-scale solar wind plasma fluctuations.

PubMed

Riazantseva, M O; Budaev, V P; Zelenyi, L M; Zastenker, G N; Pavlos, G P; Safrankova, J; Nemecek, Z; Prech, L; Nemec, F

2015-05-13

The paper presents the latest results of the studies of small-scale fluctuations in a turbulent flow of solar wind (SW) using measurements with extremely high temporal resolution (up to 0.03 s) of the bright monitor of SW (BMSW) plasma spectrometer operating on astrophysical SPECTR-R spacecraft at distances up to 350,000 km from the Earth. The spectra of SW ion flux fluctuations in the range of scales between 0.03 and 100 s are systematically analysed. The difference of slopes in low- and high-frequency parts of spectra and the frequency of the break point between these two characteristic slopes was analysed for different conditions in the SW. The statistical properties of the SW ion flux fluctuations were thoroughly analysed on scales less than 10 s. A high level of intermittency is demonstrated. The extended self-similarity of SW ion flux turbulent flow is constantly observed. The approximation of non-Gaussian probability distribution function of ion flux fluctuations by the Tsallis statistics shows the non-extensive character of SW fluctuations. Statistical characteristics of ion flux fluctuations are compared with the predictions of a log-Poisson model. The log-Poisson parametrization of the structure function scaling has shown that well-defined filament-like plasma structures are, as a rule, observed in the turbulent SW flows. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Kinetic-Scale Electric and Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Solar Wind at 1 AU: THEMIS/ARTEMIS Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salem, C. S.; Hanson, E.; Bonnell, J. W.; Chaston, C. C.; Bale, S. D.; Mozer, F.

2017-12-01

We present here an analysis of kinetic-scale electromagnetic fluctuations in the solar wind using data from THEMIS and ARTEMIS spacecraft. We use high-time resolution electric and magnetic field measurements, as well as density fluctuations, up to 128 samples per second, as well as particle burst plasma data during carefully selected solar wind intervals. We focus our analysis on a few such intervals spanning different values of plasma beta and angles between the local magnetic field and the radial Sun-Earth direction. We discuss the careful analysis process of characterizing and removing the different instrumental effects and noise sources affecting the electric and magnetic field data at those scales, above 0.1 Hz or so, above the breakpoint marking the start of the so-called dissipation range of solar wind turbulence. We compute parameters such as the electric to magnetic field ratio, the magnetic compressibility, magnetic helicity, and other relevant quantities in order to diagnose the nature of the fluctuations at those scales between the ion and electron cyclotron frequencies, extracting information on the dominant modes composing the fluctuations. We also discuss the presence and role of coherent structures in the measured fluctuations. The nature of the fluctuations in the dissipation or dispersive scales of solar wind turbulence is still debated. This observational study is also highly relevant to the current Turbulent Dissipation Challenge.

Evolving Waves and Turbulence in the Outer Corona and Inner Heliosphere: The Accelerating Expanding Box

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenerani, Anna; Velli, Marco

2017-07-01

Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar wind display many properties reflecting an ongoing nonlinear cascade, e.g., a well-defined spectrum in frequency, together with some characteristics more commonly associated with the linear propagation of waves from the Sun, such as the variation of fluctuation amplitude with distance, dominated by solar wind expansion effects. Therefore, both nonlinearities and expansion must be included simultaneously in any successful model of solar wind turbulence evolution. Because of the disparate spatial scales involved, direct numerical simulations of turbulence in the solar wind represent an arduous task, especially if one wants to go beyond the incompressible approximation. Indeed, most simulations neglect solar wind expansion effects entirely. Here we develop a numerical model to simulate turbulent fluctuations from the outer corona to 1 au and beyond, including the sub-Alfvénic corona. The accelerating expanding box (AEB) extends the validity of previous expanding box models by taking into account both the acceleration of the solar wind and the inhomogeneity of background density and magnetic field. Our method incorporates a background accelerating wind within a magnetic field that naturally follows the Parker spiral evolution using a two-scale analysis in which the macroscopic spatial effect coupling fluctuations with background gradients becomes a time-dependent coupling term in a homogeneous box. In this paper we describe the AEB model in detail and discuss its main properties, illustrating its validity by studying Alfvén wave propagation across the Alfvén critical point.

Local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes and the dependencies of demands: a copula analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shanshan; Guhr, Thomas

2018-03-01

We investigate how the local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes affect the dependence of demands between stocks. We analyze the empirical dependence of demands using copulas and show that they are well described by a bivariate K copula density function. We find that large local fluctuations strongly increase the positive dependence but lower slightly the negative one in the copula density. This interesting feature is due to cross-correlations of volume imbalances between stocks. Also, we explore the asymmetries of tail dependencies of the copula density, which are moderate for the negative dependencies but strong for the positive ones. For the latter, we reveal that large local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes trigger stronger dependencies of demands than of supplies, probably indicating a bull market with persistent raising of prices.

The glassy state of crambin and the THz time scale protein-solvent fluctuations possibly related to protein function

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background THz experiments have been used to characterize the picosecond time scale fluctuations taking place in the model, globular protein crambin. Results Using both hydration and temperature as an experimental parameter, we have identified collective fluctuations (<= 200 cm−1) in the protein. Observation of the protein dynamics in the THz spectrum from both below and above the glass transition temperature (Tg) has provided unique insight into the microscopic interactions and modes that permit the solvent to effectively couple to the protein thermal fluctuations. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the solvent dynamics on the picosecond time scale not only contribute to protein flexibility but may also delineate the types of fluctuations that are able to form within the protein structure. PMID:25184036

Non-stationary dynamics in the bouncing ball: A wavelet perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Behera, Abhinna K., E-mail: abhinna@iiserkol.ac.in; Panigrahi, Prasanta K., E-mail: pprasanta@iiserkol.ac.in; Sekar Iyengar, A. N., E-mail: ansekar.iyengar@saha.ac.in

2014-12-01

The non-stationary dynamics of a bouncing ball, comprising both periodic as well as chaotic behavior, is studied through wavelet transform. The multi-scale characterization of the time series displays clear signatures of self-similarity, complex scaling behavior, and periodicity. Self-similar behavior is quantified by the generalized Hurst exponent, obtained through both wavelet based multi-fractal detrended fluctuation analysis and Fourier methods. The scale dependent variable window size of the wavelets aptly captures both the transients and non-stationary periodic behavior, including the phase synchronization of different modes. The optimal time-frequency localization of the continuous Morlet wavelet is found to delineate the scales corresponding tomore » neutral turbulence, viscous dissipation regions, and different time varying periodic modulations.« less

Intrinsic Neuronal Properties Switch the Mode of Information Transmission in Networks

PubMed Central

Gjorgjieva, Julijana; Mease, Rebecca A.; Moody, William J.; Fairhall, Adrienne L.

2014-01-01

Diverse ion channels and their dynamics endow single neurons with complex biophysical properties. These properties determine the heterogeneity of cell types that make up the brain, as constituents of neural circuits tuned to perform highly specific computations. How do biophysical properties of single neurons impact network function? We study a set of biophysical properties that emerge in cortical neurons during the first week of development, eventually allowing these neurons to adaptively scale the gain of their response to the amplitude of the fluctuations they encounter. During the same time period, these same neurons participate in large-scale waves of spontaneously generated electrical activity. We investigate the potential role of experimentally observed changes in intrinsic neuronal properties in determining the ability of cortical networks to propagate waves of activity. We show that such changes can strongly affect the ability of multi-layered feedforward networks to represent and transmit information on multiple timescales. With properties modeled on those observed at early stages of development, neurons are relatively insensitive to rapid fluctuations and tend to fire synchronously in response to wave-like events of large amplitude. Following developmental changes in voltage-dependent conductances, these same neurons become efficient encoders of fast input fluctuations over few layers, but lose the ability to transmit slower, population-wide input variations across many layers. Depending on the neurons' intrinsic properties, noise plays different roles in modulating neuronal input-output curves, which can dramatically impact network transmission. The developmental change in intrinsic properties supports a transformation of a networks function from the propagation of network-wide information to one in which computations are scaled to local activity. This work underscores the significance of simple changes in conductance parameters in governing how neurons represent and propagate information, and suggests a role for background synaptic noise in switching the mode of information transmission. PMID:25474701

Isocurvature cold dark matter fluctuations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Efstathiou, G.; Bond, J. R.

1986-01-01

According to Preskill et al. (1983), the axion field represents a particularly attractive candidate for the dark matter in the universe. In many respects it behaves like other forms of cold dark matter, such as massive gravitinos, photinos, and monopoles. It is, however, a pseudo-Goldstone boson of very low mass, and it is only because of rapid coherent oscillations of the field that it can dominate the mass density of the universe. In the present paper it is assumed that the isocurvature mode is dominant. The linear evolution calculations conducted do not depend upon specific details of particle physics. For this reason, the conducted discussion is applicable to any cold dark matter model with isocurvature perturbations. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that scale-invariant isocurvature perturbations do not seem an attractive possibility for the origin of large-scale structure. The findings strengthen the review that primordial adiabatic perturbations were the dominant fluctuations in the early stages of the Big Bang.

Regulation of pressure anisotropy in the solar wind: processes within inertial range of turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strumik, M.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Squire, J.; Bale, S. D.

2016-12-01

Dynamics of weakly collisional plasmas may lead to thermal pressure anisotropies that are driven by velocity shear, plasma expansion/compression or temperature gradients. The pressure anisotropies can provide free energy for the growth of micro-scale instabilities, like the mirror of firehose instabilities, that are commonly believed to constrain the pressure anisotropy in the solar wind if appropriate thresholds are exceeded. We discuss possible alternative mechanisms of regulation of the pressure anisotropy in the inertial range of solar wind turbulence that provide β-dependent constraints on the amplitude of fluctuations of pressure components and other quantities. In particular it is shown that double-adiabatic (CGL) closure for magnetohydrodynamic regime leads to 1/β scaling of the amplitude of the pressure component fluctuations and the pressure anisotropy. Both freely decaying and forced turbulence are discussed based on results of 3D numerical simulations and analytical theoretical predictions. The theoretical results are contrasted with WIND spacecraft measurements.

Large-scale anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silk, J.; Wilson, M. L.

1981-01-01

Inhomogeneities in the large-scale distribution of matter inevitably lead to the generation of large-scale anisotropy in the cosmic background radiation. The dipole, quadrupole, and higher order fluctuations expected in an Einstein-de Sitter cosmological model have been computed. The dipole and quadrupole anisotropies are comparable to the measured values, and impose important constraints on the allowable spectrum of large-scale matter density fluctuations. A significant dipole anisotropy is generated by the matter distribution on scales greater than approximately 100 Mpc. The large-scale anisotropy is insensitive to the ionization history of the universe since decoupling, and cannot easily be reconciled with a galaxy formation theory that is based on primordial adiabatic density fluctuations.

Scale-dependent Normalized Amplitude and Weak Spectral Anisotropy of Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Solar Wind Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xin; Tu, Chuanyi; Marsch, Eckart; He, Jiansen; Wang, Linghua

2016-01-01

Turbulence in the solar wind was recently reported to be anisotropic, with the average power spectral index close to -2 when sampling parallel to the local mean magnetic field B0 and close to -5/3 when sampling perpendicular to the local B0. This result was widely considered to be observational evidence for the critical balance theory (CBT), which is derived by making the assumption that the turbulence strength is close to one. However, this basic assumption has not yet been checked carefully with observational data. Here we present for the first time the scale-dependent magnetic-field fluctuation amplitude, which is normalized by the local B0 and evaluated for both parallel and perpendicular sampling directions, using two 30-day intervals of Ulysses data. From our results, the turbulence strength is evaluated as much less than one at small scales in the parallel direction. An even stricter criterion is imposed when selecting the wavelet coefficients for a given sampling direction, so that the time stationarity of the local B0 is better ensured during the local sampling interval. The spectral index for the parallel direction is then found to be -1.75, whereas the spectral index in the perpendicular direction remains close to -1.65. These two new results, namely that the value of the turbulence strength is much less than one in the parallel direction and that the angle dependence of the spectral index is weak, cannot be explained by existing turbulence theories, like CBT, and thus will require new theoretical considerations and promote further observations of solar-wind turbulence.

Collisionality dependence and ion species effects on heat transport in He and H plasma, and the role of ion scale turbulence in LHD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, K.; Nagaoka, K.; Murakami, S.; Takahashi, H.; Osakabe, M.; Yokoyama, M.; Seki, R.; Michael, C. A.; Yamaguchi, H.; Suzuki, C.; Shimizu, A.; Tokuzawa, T.; Yoshinuma, M.; Akiyama, T.; Ida, K.; Yamada, I.; Yasuhara, R.; Funaba, H.; Kobayashi, T.; Yamada, H.; Du, X. D.; Vyacheslavov, L. N.; Mikkelsen, D. R.; Yun, G. S.; the LHD Experimental Group

2017-11-01

Surveys of the ion and electron heat transports of neutral beam (NB) heating plasma were carried out by power balance analysis in He and H rich plasma at LHD. Collisionality was scanned by changing density and heating power. The characteristics of the transport vary depending on collisionality. In low collisionality, with low density and high heating power, an ion internal transport barrier (ITB) was formed. The ion heat conductivity (χ i) is lower than electron heat conductivity (χ e) in the core region at ρ  <  0.7. On the other hand, in high collisionality, with high density and low heating power, χ i is higher than χ e across the entire range of plasma. These different confinement regimes are associated with different fluctuation characteristics. In ion ITB, fluctuation has a peak at ρ  =  0.7, and in normal confinement, fluctuation has a peak at ρ  =  1.0. The two confinement modes change gradually depending on the collisionality. Scans of concentration ratio between He and H were also performed. The ion confinement improvements were investigated using gyro-Bohm normalization, taking account of the effective mass and charge. The concentration ratio affected the normalized χ i only in the edge region (ρ ~ 1.0). This indicates ion species effects vary depending on collisionality. Turbulence was modulated by the fast ion loss instability. The modulation of turbulence is higher in H rich than in He rich plasma.

Defibrillation depends on conductivity fluctuations and the degree of disorganization in reentry patterns.

PubMed

Plank, Gernot; Leon, L Joshua; Kimber, Shane; Vigmond, Edward J

2005-02-01

Defibrillation depends on conductivity and disorganization. Cardiac fibrillation is the deterioration of the heart's normally well-organized activity into one or more meandering spiral waves, which subsequently break up into many meandering wave fronts. Delivery of an electric shock (defibrillation) is the only effective way of restoring the normal rhythm. This study focuses on examining whether higher degrees of disorganization requires higher shock strengths to defibrillate and whether microscopic conductivity fluctuations favor shock success. We developed a three-dimensional computer bidomain model of a block of cardiac tissue with straight fibers immersed in a conductive bath. The membrane behavior was described by the Courtemanche human atrial action potential model incorporating electroporation and an acetylcholine- (ACh) dependent potassium current. Intracellular conductivities were varied stochastically around nominal values with variations of up to 50%. A single rotor reentry was initiated and, by adjusting the spatial ACh variation, the level of organization could be controlled. The single rotor could be stabilized or spiral wave breakup could be provoked leading to fibrillatory-like activity. For each level of organization, multiple shock timings and strengths were applied to compute the probability of shock success as a function of shock strength. Our results suggest that the level of the small-scale conductivity fluctuations is a very important factor in defibrillation. A higher variation significantly lowers the required shock strength. Further, we demonstrated that success also heavily depends on the level of organization of the fibrillatory episode. In general, higher levels of disorganization require higher shock strengths to defibrillate.

Scaling characteristics of one-dimensional fractional diffusion processes in the presence of power-law distributed random noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nezhadhaghighi, Mohsen Ghasemi

2017-08-01

Here, we present results of numerical simulations and the scaling characteristics of one-dimensional random fluctuations with heavy-tailed probability distribution functions. Assuming that the distribution function of the random fluctuations obeys Lévy statistics with a power-law scaling exponent, we investigate the fractional diffusion equation in the presence of μ -stable Lévy noise. We study the scaling properties of the global width and two-point correlation functions and then compare the analytical and numerical results for the growth exponent β and the roughness exponent α . We also investigate the fractional Fokker-Planck equation for heavy-tailed random fluctuations. We show that the fractional diffusion processes in the presence of μ -stable Lévy noise display special scaling properties in the probability distribution function (PDF). Finally, we numerically study the scaling properties of the heavy-tailed random fluctuations by using the diffusion entropy analysis. This method is based on the evaluation of the Shannon entropy of the PDF generated by the random fluctuations, rather than on the measurement of the global width of the process. We apply the diffusion entropy analysis to extract the growth exponent β and to confirm the validity of our numerical analysis.

Scaling characteristics of one-dimensional fractional diffusion processes in the presence of power-law distributed random noise.

PubMed

Nezhadhaghighi, Mohsen Ghasemi

2017-08-01

Here, we present results of numerical simulations and the scaling characteristics of one-dimensional random fluctuations with heavy-tailed probability distribution functions. Assuming that the distribution function of the random fluctuations obeys Lévy statistics with a power-law scaling exponent, we investigate the fractional diffusion equation in the presence of μ-stable Lévy noise. We study the scaling properties of the global width and two-point correlation functions and then compare the analytical and numerical results for the growth exponent β and the roughness exponent α. We also investigate the fractional Fokker-Planck equation for heavy-tailed random fluctuations. We show that the fractional diffusion processes in the presence of μ-stable Lévy noise display special scaling properties in the probability distribution function (PDF). Finally, we numerically study the scaling properties of the heavy-tailed random fluctuations by using the diffusion entropy analysis. This method is based on the evaluation of the Shannon entropy of the PDF generated by the random fluctuations, rather than on the measurement of the global width of the process. We apply the diffusion entropy analysis to extract the growth exponent β and to confirm the validity of our numerical analysis.

Noise is the new signal: Moving beyond zeroth-order geomorphology (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jerolmack, D. J.

2010-12-01

The last several decades have witnessed a rapid growth in our understanding of landscape evolution, led by the development of geomorphic transport laws - time- and space-averaged equations relating mass flux to some physical process(es). In statistical mechanics this approach is called mean field theory (MFT), in which complex many-body interactions are replaced with an external field that represents the average effect of those interactions. Because MFT neglects all fluctuations around the mean, it has been described as a zeroth-order fluctuation model. The mean field approach to geomorphology has enabled the development of landscape evolution models, and led to a fundamental understanding of many landform patterns. Recent research, however, has highlighted two limitations of MFT: (1) The integral (averaging) time and space scales in geomorphic systems are sometimes poorly defined and often quite large, placing the mean field approximation on uncertain footing, and; (2) In systems exhibiting fractal behavior, an integral scale does not exist - e.g., properties like mass flux are scale-dependent. In both cases, fluctuations in sediment transport are non-negligible over the scales of interest. In this talk I will synthesize recent experimental and theoretical work that confronts these limitations. Discrete element models of fluid and grain interactions show promise for elucidating transport mechanics and pattern-forming instabilities, but require detailed knowledge of micro-scale processes and are computationally expensive. An alternative approach is to begin with a reasonable MFT, and then add higher-order terms that capture the statistical dynamics of fluctuations. In either case, moving beyond zeroth-order geomorphology requires a careful examination of the origins and structure of transport “noise”. I will attempt to show how studying the signal in noise can both reveal interesting new physics, and also help to formalize the applicability of geomorphic transport laws. Flooding on an experimental alluvial fan. Intensity is related to the cumulative amount of time flow has visited an area of the fan over the experiment. Dark areas represent an emergent channel network resulting from stochastic migration of river channels.

Stoichiometric vs hydroclimatic controls on soil biogeochemical processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manzoni, Stefano; Porporato, Amilcare

2010-05-01

Soil nutrient cycles are controlled by both stoichiometric constraints (e.g., carbon to nutrient ratios) and hydroclimatic conditions (e.g., soil moisture and temperature). Both controls tend to act in a nonlinear manner and give rise to complex dynamics in soil biogeochemistry at different space-time scales. We first review the theoretical basis of soil biogeochemical models, looking for the general principles underlying these models across space-time scales and scientific disciplines. By comparing more than 250 models, we show that similar kinetic and stoichiometric laws, formulated to mechanistically represent the complex biochemical constraints to decomposition, are common to most models, providing a basis for their classification. Moreover, a historic analysis reveals that the complexity (e.g., phase space dimension, model architecture) and degree and number of nonlinearities generally increased with date, while they decreased with increasing spatial and temporal scale of interest. Soil biogeochmical dynamics may be suitable conceptualized using a number of compartments (e.g., decomposers, organic substrates, inorganic ions) interacting among each other at rates that depend (nonlinearly) on climatic drivers. As a consequence, hydroclimatic-induced fluctuations at the daily scale propagate through the various soil compartments leading to cascading effects ranging from short-term fluctuations in the smaller pools to long-lasting changes in the larger ones. Such cascading effects are known to occur in dryland ecosystems, and are increasingly being recongnized to control the long-term carbon and nutrient balances in more mesic ecosystems. We also show that separating biochemical from climatic impacts on organic matter decomposition results in universal curves describing data of plant residue decomposition and nutrient mineralization across the globe. Future extensions to larger spatial scales and managed ecosystems are also briefly outlined. It is critical that future modeling efforts carefully account for the scale-dependence of their mathematical formulations, especially when applied to a wide range of scales.

Random Resistor Network Model of Minimal Conductivity in Graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheianov, Vadim V.; Fal'Ko, Vladimir I.; Altshuler, Boris L.; Aleiner, Igor L.

2007-10-01

Transport in undoped graphene is related to percolating current patterns in the networks of n- and p-type regions reflecting the strong bipolar charge density fluctuations. Finite transparency of the p-n junctions is vital in establishing the macroscopic conductivity. We propose a random resistor network model to analyze scaling dependencies of the conductance on the doping and disorder, the quantum magnetoresistance and the corresponding dephasing rate.

Effects of cycle length and plot density on estimators for a national-scale forest monitoring sample design

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch; Todd A. Schroeder; James T. Vogt

2017-01-01

The resilience of a National Forest Inventory and Monitoring sample design can sometimes depend upon the degree to which it can adapt to fluctuations in funding. If a budget reduction necessitates the observation of fewer plots per year, some practitioners weigh the problem as a tradeoff between reducing the total number of plots and measuring the original number of...

Anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background: an analytic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Wayne; Sugiyama, Naoshi

1995-05-01

We introduce a conceptually simple yet powerful analytic method which traces the structure of cosmic microwave background anisotropies to better than 5%-10% in temperature fluctuations on all scales. It is applicable to any model in which the gravitational potential is known and last scattering is sufficiently early. Moreover, it recovers and explains the presence of the 'Doppler peaks' at degree scales as driven acoustic oscillations of the photon-baryon fluid. We treat in detail such subtleties as the time dependence of the gravitational driving force, anisotropic stress from the neutrino quadrupole, and damping during the recombination process, again all from an analytic standpoint. We apply this formalism to the standard cold dark matter model to gain physical insight into the anisotropies, including the dependence of the peak locations and heights on cosmological parameters such as Omegab and h. Furthermore, the ionization history controls damping due to the finite thickness of the last scattering surface, which is in fact mianly caused by photon diffusion. In addition to being a powerful probe into the nature of anisotropies, this treatment can be used in place of the standard Boltzmann code where 5%-10% accuracy in temperature fluctuations is satisfactory and/or speed is essential. Equally importantly, it can be used as a portable standard by which numerical codes can be tested and compared.

Dependence of Perpendicular Viscosity on Magnetic Fluctuations in a Stochastic Topology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fridström, R.; Chapman, B. E.; Almagri, A. F.; Frassinetti, L.; Brunsell, P. R.; Nishizawa, T.; Sarff, J. S.

2018-06-01

In a magnetically confined plasma with a stochastic magnetic field, the dependence of the perpendicular viscosity on the magnetic fluctuation amplitude is measured for the first time. With a controlled, ˜ tenfold variation in the fluctuation amplitude, the viscosity increases ˜100 -fold, exhibiting the same fluctuation-amplitude-squared dependence as the predicted rate of stochastic field line diffusion. The absolute value of the viscosity is well predicted by a model based on momentum transport in a stochastic field, the first in-depth test of this model.

First results from the Wendelstein 7-X Phase Contrast Imaging Diagnostic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edlund, Eric; Porkolab, Miklos; Grulke, Olaf; von Stechow, Adrian; Böttger, Lukas-Georg

2017-10-01

Experiments in the first W7-X campaign achieved conditions of Te > 8 keV, Ti > 2 keV and line-integrated densities of 3 ×1019 m-2, with energy confinement times close to the ISS04 scaling at about 100 ms. The addition of an island divertor for the OP1.2 campaign is expected to lead to improved plasma performance. Experiments from this campaign will investigate the relative balance of neoclassical and turbulent transport of energy and particles and further test the ISS04 scaling. Gyrokinetic modeling indicates that there may be measurable differences in turbulence amplitude and quality as the mirror ratio and rotational transform of the magnetic geometry are changed. Among the new W7-X diagnostics is a Phase Contrast Imaging (PCI) system, a joint effort between MIT and IPP. The PCI diagnostic measures electron density fluctuations that may arise from turbulence or coherent modes. The system is capable of detecting fluctuations spanning a frequency range of about 1 kHz to 2 MHz, and wavenumbers of about 0.5 cm-1 to 30 cm-1, depending on the optical configuration. We present initial PCI measurements of turbulent fluctuations in relation to global system parameters. This work is supported by the US DOE under Grant Number DE-SC0014229.

Wall Modeled Large Eddy Simulation of Airfoil Trailing Edge Noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kocheemoolayil, Joseph; Lele, Sanjiva

2014-11-01

Large eddy simulation (LES) of airfoil trailing edge noise has largely been restricted to low Reynolds numbers due to prohibitive computational cost. Wall modeled LES (WMLES) is a computationally cheaper alternative that makes full-scale Reynolds numbers relevant to large wind turbines accessible. A systematic investigation of trailing edge noise prediction using WMLES is conducted. Detailed comparisons are made with experimental data. The stress boundary condition from a wall model does not constrain the fluctuating velocity to vanish at the wall. This limitation has profound implications for trailing edge noise prediction. The simulation over-predicts the intensity of fluctuating wall pressure and far-field noise. An improved wall model formulation that minimizes the over-prediction of fluctuating wall pressure is proposed and carefully validated. The flow configurations chosen for the study are from the workshop on benchmark problems for airframe noise computations. The large eddy simulation database is used to examine the adequacy of scaling laws that quantify the dependence of trailing edge noise on Mach number, Reynolds number and angle of attack. Simplifying assumptions invoked in engineering approaches towards predicting trailing edge noise are critically evaluated. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from GE Global Research and thank Cascade Technologies Inc. for providing access to their massively-parallel large eddy simulation framework.

Spatial and temporal demographic variation drives within-season fluctuations in sexual selection.

PubMed

Kasumovic, Michael M; Bruce, Matthew J; Andrade, Maydianne C B; Herberstein, Marie E

2008-09-01

Our understanding of selection in nature stems mainly from whole-season and cross-sectional estimates of selection gradients. These estimates suggest that selection is relatively constant within, but fluctuates between seasons. However, the strength of selection depends on demographics, and because demographics can vary within seasons, there is a gap in our understanding regarding the extent to which seasonal fluctuations in demographics may cause variation in selection. Here we use two populations of the golden orb-web spider (Nephila plumipes) that differ in density to examine how demographics change within a season and whether there are correlated shifts in selection. We demonstrate that there is within-season variation in sex ratio and density at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This variation led to changes in the competitive challenges that males encountered at different times of the season and was correlated with significant variation in selection gradients on male size and weight between sampling periods. We highlight the importance of understanding the biology of the organism under study to correctly determine the relevant scale in which to examine selection. We also argue that studies may underestimate the true variation in selection by averaging values, leading to misinterpretation of the effect of selection on phenotypic evolution.

The microphysics and macrophysics of cosmic rays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zweibel, Ellen G.

2013-05-15

This review paper commemorates a century of cosmic ray research, with emphasis on the plasma physics aspects. Cosmic rays comprise only ∼10{sup −9} of interstellar particles by number, but collectively their energy density is about equal to that of the thermal particles. They are confined by the Galactic magnetic field and well scattered by small scale magnetic fluctuations, which couple them to the local rest frame of the thermal fluid. Scattering isotropizes the cosmic rays and allows them to exchange momentum and energy with the background medium. I will review a theory for how the fluctuations which scatter the cosmicmore » rays can be generated by the cosmic rays themselves through a microinstability excited by their streaming. A quasilinear treatment of the cosmic ray–wave interaction then leads to a fluid model of cosmic rays with both advection and diffusion by the background medium and momentum and energy deposition by the cosmic rays. This fluid model admits cosmic ray modified shocks, large scale cosmic ray driven instabilities, cosmic ray heating of the thermal gas, and cosmic ray driven galactic winds. If the fluctuations were extrinsic turbulence driven by some other mechanism, the cosmic ray background coupling would be entirely different. Which picture holds depends largely on the nature of turbulence in the background medium.« less

Scaling of seismic memory with earthquake size

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Zeyu; Yamasaki, Kazuko; Tenenbaum, Joel; Podobnik, Boris; Tamura, Yoshiyasu; Stanley, H. Eugene

2012-07-01

It has been observed that discrete earthquake events possess memory, i.e., that events occurring in a particular location are dependent on the history of that location. We conduct an analysis to see whether continuous real-time data also display a similar memory and, if so, whether such autocorrelations depend on the size of earthquakes within close spatiotemporal proximity. We analyze the seismic wave form database recorded by 64 stations in Japan, including the 2011 “Great East Japan Earthquake,” one of the five most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, which resulted in a tsunami and devastating nuclear accidents. We explore the question of seismic memory through use of mean conditional intervals and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). We find that the wave form sign series show power-law anticorrelations while the interval series show power-law correlations. We find size dependence in earthquake autocorrelations: as the earthquake size increases, both of these correlation behaviors strengthen. We also find that the DFA scaling exponent α has no dependence on the earthquake hypocenter depth or epicentral distance.

Deviations from uniform power law scaling in nonstationary time series

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Viswanathan, G. M.; Peng, C. K.; Stanley, H. E.; Goldberger, A. L.

1997-01-01

A classic problem in physics is the analysis of highly nonstationary time series that typically exhibit long-range correlations. Here we test the hypothesis that the scaling properties of the dynamics of healthy physiological systems are more stable than those of pathological systems by studying beat-to-beat fluctuations in the human heart rate. We develop techniques based on the Fano factor and Allan factor functions, as well as on detrended fluctuation analysis, for quantifying deviations from uniform power-law scaling in nonstationary time series. By analyzing extremely long data sets of up to N = 10(5) beats for 11 healthy subjects, we find that the fluctuations in the heart rate scale approximately uniformly over several temporal orders of magnitude. By contrast, we find that in data sets of comparable length for 14 subjects with heart disease, the fluctuations grow erratically, indicating a loss of scaling stability.

Fractal Dynamics of Heartbeat Interval Fluctuations in Health and Disease

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, M.; Marconi, C.; Rahmel, A.; Grassi, B.; Ferretti, G.; Skinner, J. E.; Cerretelli, P.

The dynamics of heartbeat interval time series were studied by a modified random walk analysis recently introduced as Detrended Fluctuation Analysis. In this analysis, the intrinsic fractal long-range power-law correlation properties of beat-to-beat fluctuations generated by the dynamical system (i.e. cardiac rhythm generator), after decomposition from extrinsic uncorrelated sources, can be quantified by the scaling exponent which, in healthy subjects, is about 1.0. The finding of a scaling coefficient of 1.0, indicating scale-invariant long-range power-law correlations (1/ƒnoise) of heartbeat fluctuations, would reflect a genuinely self-similar fractal process that typically generates fluctuations on a wide range of time scales. Lack of a characteristic time scale suggests that the neuroautonomic system underlying the control of heart rate dynamics helps prevent excessive mode-locking (error tolerance) that would restrict its functional responsiveness (plasticity) to environmental stimuli. The 1/ƒ dynamics of heartbeat interval fluctuations are unaffected by exposure to chronic hypoxia suggesting that the neuroautonomic cardiac control system is preadapted to hypoxia. Functional (hypothermia, cardiac disease) and/or structural (cardiac transplantation, early cardiac development) inactivation of neuroautonomic control is associated with the breakdown or absence of fractal complexity reflected by anticorrelated random walk-like dynamics, indicating that in these conditions the heart is unadapted to its environment.

Model selection for identifying power-law scaling.

PubMed

Ton, Robert; Daffertshofer, Andreas

2016-08-01

Long-range temporal and spatial correlations have been reported in a remarkable number of studies. In particular power-law scaling in neural activity raised considerable interest. We here provide a straightforward algorithm not only to quantify power-law scaling but to test it against alternatives using (Bayesian) model comparison. Our algorithm builds on the well-established detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). After removing trends of a signal, we determine its mean squared fluctuations in consecutive intervals. In contrast to DFA we use the values per interval to approximate the distribution of these mean squared fluctuations. This allows for estimating the corresponding log-likelihood as a function of interval size without presuming the fluctuations to be normally distributed, as is the case in conventional DFA. We demonstrate the validity and robustness of our algorithm using a variety of simulated signals, ranging from scale-free fluctuations with known Hurst exponents, via more conventional dynamical systems resembling exponentially correlated fluctuations, to a toy model of neural mass activity. We also illustrate its use for encephalographic signals. We further discuss confounding factors like the finite signal size. Our model comparison provides a proper means to identify power-law scaling including the range over which it is present. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Polymeric quantum mechanics and the zeros of the Riemann zeta function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berra-Montiel, Jasel; Molgado, Alberto

We analyze the Berry-Keating model and the Sierra and Rodríguez-Laguna Hamiltonian within the polymeric quantization formalism. By using the polymer representation, we obtain for both models, the associated polymeric quantum Hamiltonians and the corresponding stationary wave functions. The self-adjointness condition provides a proper domain for the Hamiltonian operator and the energy spectrum, which turned out to be dependent on an introduced scale parameter. By performing a counting of semiclassical states, we prove that the polymer representation reproduces the smooth part of the Riemann-von Mangoldt formula, and also introduces a correction depending on the energy and the scale parameter. This may shed some light on the understanding of the fluctuation behavior of the zeros of the Riemann function from a purely quantum point of view.

Strongly scale-dependent CMB dipolar asymmetry from super-curvature fluctuations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Byrnes, Christian; Domènech, Guillem; Sasaki, Misao

2016-12-01

We reconsider the observed CMB dipolar asymmetry in the context of open inflation, where a supercurvature mode might survive the bubble nucleation. If such a supercurvature mode modulates the amplitude of the curvature power spectrum, it would easily produce an asymmetry in the power spectrum. We show that current observational data can be accommodated in a three-field model, with simple quadratic potentials and a non-trivial field-space metric. Despite the presence of three fields, we believe this model is so far the simplest that can match current observations. We are able to match the observed strong scale dependence of the dipolarmore » asymmetry, without a fine tuning of initial conditions, breaking slow roll or adding a feature to the evolution of any field.« less

Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity

DOE PAGES

Cerbino, Roberto; Sun, Yifei; Donev, Aleksandar; ...

2015-09-30

Diffusion processes are widespread in biological and chemical systems, where they play a fundamental role in the exchange of substances at the cellular level and in determining the rate of chemical reactions. Recently, the classical picture that portrays diffusion as random uncorrelated motion of molecules has been revised, when it was shown that giant non-equilibrium fluctuations develop during diffusion processes. Under microgravity conditions and at steady-state, non-equilibrium fluctuations exhibit scale invariance and their size is only limited by the boundaries of the system. Here in this work, we investigate the onset of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations induced by thermophoretic diffusion inmore » microgravity, a regime not accessible to analytical calculations but of great relevance for the understanding of several natural and technological processes. A combination of state of the art simulations and experiments allows us to attain a fully quantitative description of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion in microgravity. Both experiments and simulations show that during the onset the fluctuations exhibit scale invariance at large wave vectors. In a broader range of wave vectors simulations predict a spinodal-like growth of fluctuations, where the amplitude and length-scale of the dominant mode are determined by the thickness of the diffuse layer.« less

Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity

PubMed Central

Cerbino, Roberto; Sun, Yifei; Donev, Aleksandar; Vailati, Alberto

2015-01-01

Diffusion processes are widespread in biological and chemical systems, where they play a fundamental role in the exchange of substances at the cellular level and in determining the rate of chemical reactions. Recently, the classical picture that portrays diffusion as random uncorrelated motion of molecules has been revised, when it was shown that giant non-equilibrium fluctuations develop during diffusion processes. Under microgravity conditions and at steady-state, non-equilibrium fluctuations exhibit scale invariance and their size is only limited by the boundaries of the system. In this work, we investigate the onset of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations induced by thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity, a regime not accessible to analytical calculations but of great relevance for the understanding of several natural and technological processes. A combination of state of the art simulations and experiments allows us to attain a fully quantitative description of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion in microgravity. Both experiments and simulations show that during the onset the fluctuations exhibit scale invariance at large wave vectors. In a broader range of wave vectors simulations predict a spinodal-like growth of fluctuations, where the amplitude and length-scale of the dominant mode are determined by the thickness of the diffuse layer. PMID:26419420

Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity.

PubMed

Cerbino, Roberto; Sun, Yifei; Donev, Aleksandar; Vailati, Alberto

2015-09-30

Diffusion processes are widespread in biological and chemical systems, where they play a fundamental role in the exchange of substances at the cellular level and in determining the rate of chemical reactions. Recently, the classical picture that portrays diffusion as random uncorrelated motion of molecules has been revised, when it was shown that giant non-equilibrium fluctuations develop during diffusion processes. Under microgravity conditions and at steady-state, non-equilibrium fluctuations exhibit scale invariance and their size is only limited by the boundaries of the system. In this work, we investigate the onset of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations induced by thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity, a regime not accessible to analytical calculations but of great relevance for the understanding of several natural and technological processes. A combination of state of the art simulations and experiments allows us to attain a fully quantitative description of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion in microgravity. Both experiments and simulations show that during the onset the fluctuations exhibit scale invariance at large wave vectors. In a broader range of wave vectors simulations predict a spinodal-like growth of fluctuations, where the amplitude and length-scale of the dominant mode are determined by the thickness of the diffuse layer.

Reynold-Number Effects on Near-Wall Turbulence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mansour, N. N.; Kim, J.; Moser, R. D.; Rai, Man Mohan (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

The Reynolds stress budget in a full developed turbulent channel flow for three Reynolds numbers (Re = 180,395,590) are used to investigate the near wall scaling of various turbulence quantities. We find that as the Reynolds number increases, the extent of the region where the production of the kinetic energy is equal to the dissipation increases. At the highest Reynolds number the region of equilibrium extends from y+ - 120 to y+ = 240. As the Reynolds number increases, we find that wall scaling collapses the budgets for the streamwise fluctuating component, but the budgets for the other two components show Reynolds number dependency.

Superaging and Subaging Phenomena in a Nonequilibrium Critical Behavior of the Structurally Disordered Two-Dimensional XY Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prudnikov, V. V.; Prudnikov, P. V.; Popov, I. S.

2018-03-01

A Monte Carlo numerical simulation of the specific features of nonequilibrium critical behavior is carried out for the two-dimensional structurally disordered XY model during its evolution from a low-temperature initial state. On the basis of the analysis of the two-time dependence of autocorrelation functions and dynamic susceptibility for systems with spin concentrations of p = 1.0, 0.9, and 0.6, aging phenomena characterized by a slowing down of the relaxation system with increasing waiting time and the violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) are revealed. The values of the universal limiting fluctuation-dissipation ratio (FDR) are obtained for the systems considered. As a result of the analysis of the two-time scaling dependence for spin-spin and connected spin autocorrelation functions, it is found that structural defects lead to subaging phenomena in the behavior of the spin-spin autocorrelation function and superaging phenomena in the behavior of the connected spin autocorrelation function.

Equivalent refractive-index structure constant of non-Kolmogorov turbulence.

PubMed

Li, Yujie; Zhu, Wenyue; Wu, Xiaoqing; Rao, Ruizhong

2015-09-07

The relationship between the non-Kolmogorov refractive-index structure constant and the Kolmogorov refractive-index structure constant is derived by using the refractive-index structure function and the variance of refractive-index fluctuations. It shows that the non-Kolmogorov structure constant is proportional to the Kolmogorov structure constant and the scaling factor depends on the outer scale and the spectral power law. For a fixed Kolmogorov structure constant, the non-Kolmogorov structure constant increases with a increasing outer scale for the power law less than 11/3, the trend is opposite for the power law greater than 11/3. This equivalent relation provides a way of obtaining the non-Kolmogorov structure constant by using the Kolmogorov structure constant.

Intrinsic fluctuations of the proton saturation momentum scale in high multiplicity p+p collisions

DOE PAGES

McLerran, Larry; Tribedy, Prithwish

2015-11-02

High multiplicity events in p+p collisions are studied using the theory of the Color Glass Condensate. Here, we show that intrinsic fluctuations of the proton saturation momentum scale are needed in addition to the sub-nucleonic color charge fluctuations to explain the very high multiplicity tail of distributions in p+p collisions. It is presumed that the origin of such intrinsic fluctuations is non-perturbative in nature. Classical Yang Mills simulations using the IP-Glasma model are performed to make quantitative estimations. Furthermore, we find that fluctuations as large as O(1) of the average values of the saturation momentum scale can lead to raremore » high multiplicity events seen in p+p data at RHIC and LHC energies. Using the available data on multiplicity distributions we try to constrain the distribution of the proton saturation momentum scale and make predictions for the multiplicity distribution in 13 TeV p+p collisions.« less

Universal scaling in the aging of the strong glass former SiO{sub 2}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vollmayr-Lee, Katharina, E-mail: kvollmay@bucknell.edu; Gorman, Christopher H.; Castillo, Horacio E.

We show that the aging dynamics of a strong glass former displays a strikingly simple scaling behavior, connecting the average dynamics with its fluctuations, namely, the dynamical heterogeneities. We perform molecular dynamics simulations of SiO{sub 2} with van Beest-Kramer-van Santen interactions, quenching the system from high to low temperature, and study the evolution of the system as a function of the waiting time t{sub w} measured from the instant of the quench. We find that both the aging behavior of the dynamic susceptibility χ{sub 4} and the aging behavior of the probability distribution P(f{sub s,r}) of the local incoherent intermediatemore » scattering function f{sub s,r} can be described by simple scaling forms in terms of the global incoherent intermediate scattering function C. The scaling forms are the same that have been found to describe the aging of several fragile glass formers and that, in the case of P(f{sub s,r}), have been also predicted theoretically. A thorough study of the length scales involved highlights the importance of intermediate length scales. We also analyze directly the scaling dependence on particle type and on wavevector q and find that both the average and the fluctuations of the slow aging dynamics are controlled by a unique aging clock, which is not only independent of the wavevector q, but is also the same for O and Si atoms.« less

Renormalization-group flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Floerchinger, Stefan; Garny, Mathias; Tetradis, Nikolaos

Following an approach of Matarrese and Pietroni, we derive the functional renormalization group (RG) flow of the effective action of cosmological large-scale structures. Perturbative solutions of this RG flow equation are shown to be consistent with standard cosmological perturbation theory. Non-perturbative approximate solutions can be obtained by truncating the a priori infinite set of possible effective actions to a finite subspace. Using for the truncated effective action a form dictated by dissipative fluid dynamics, we derive RG flow equations for the scale dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity of non-interacting dark matter, and we solve them numerically. Physically,more » the effective viscosity and sound velocity account for the interactions of long-wavelength fluctuations with the spectrum of smaller-scale perturbations. We find that the RG flow exhibits an attractor behaviour in the IR that significantly reduces the dependence of the effective viscosity and sound velocity on the input values at the UV scale. This allows for a self-contained computation of matter and velocity power spectra for which the sensitivity to UV modes is under control.« less

Electrostatic attraction of coupled Wigner crystals: finite temperature effects.

PubMed

Lau, A W; Pincus, P; Levine, D; Fertig, H A

2001-05-01

In this paper we present a unified physical picture for the electrostatic attraction between two coupled planar Wigner crystals at finite temperature. This model may facilitate our conceptual understanding of counterion-mediated attractions between (highly) similarly charged planes. By adopting an elastic theory, we show that the total attractive force between them can be (approximately) decomposed into a short-ranged and a long-ranged component. They are evaluated below the melting temperature of the Wigner crystals. In particular, we analyze the temperature dependence of the short-ranged attraction, arising from ground-state configuration, and we argue that thermal fluctuations may drastically reduce its strength. Also, the long-range force agrees exactly with that based on the charge-fluctuation approach. Furthermore, we take quantum contributions to the long-ranged (fluctuation-induced) attraction into account and show how the fractional power law, which scales as d(-7/2) for large interplanar distance d at zero temperature, crosses over to the classical regime d(-3) via an intermediate regime of d(-2).

Enhancement of the finite-frequency superfluid response in the pseudogap regime of strongly disordered superconducting films

PubMed Central

Mondal, Mintu; Kamlapure, Anand; Ganguli, Somesh Chandra; Jesudasan, John; Bagwe, Vivas; Benfatto, Lara; Raychaudhuri, Pratap

2013-01-01

The persistence of a soft gap in the density of states above the superconducting transition temperature Tc, the pseudogap, has long been thought to be a hallmark of unconventional high-temperature superconductors. However, in the last few years this paradigm has been strongly revised by increasing experimental evidence for the emergence of a pseudogap state in strongly-disordered conventional superconductors. Nonetheless, the nature of this state, probed primarily through scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements, remains partly elusive. Here we show that the dynamic response above Tc, obtained from the complex ac conductivity, is highly modified in the pseudogap regime of strongly disordered NbN films. Below the pseudogap temperature, T*, the superfluid stiffness acquires a strong frequency dependence associated with a marked slowing down of critical fluctuations. When translated into the length-scale of fluctuations, our results suggest a scenario of thermal phase fluctuations between superconducting domains in a strongly disordered s-wave superconductor. PMID:23446946

Simulation of Nonisothermal Consolidation of Saturated Soils Based on a Thermodynamic Model

PubMed Central

Cheng, Xiaohui

2013-01-01

Based on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics, a thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model for saturated soils is established, including a constitutive model without such concepts as yield surface and flow rule. An elastic potential energy density function is defined to derive a hyperelastic relation among the effective stress, the elastic strain, and the dry density. The classical linear non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory is employed to quantitatively describe the unrecoverable energy processes like the nonelastic deformation development in materials by the concepts of dissipative force and dissipative flow. In particular the granular fluctuation, which represents the kinetic energy fluctuation and elastic potential energy fluctuation at particulate scale caused by the irregular mutual movement between particles, is introduced in the model and described by the concept of granular entropy. Using this model, the nonisothermal consolidation of saturated clays under cyclic thermal loadings is simulated in this paper to validate the model. The results show that the nonisothermal consolidation is heavily OCR dependent and unrecoverable. PMID:23983623

Enhancement of the finite-frequency superfluid response in the pseudogap regime of strongly disordered superconducting films.

PubMed

Mondal, Mintu; Kamlapure, Anand; Ganguli, Somesh Chandra; Jesudasan, John; Bagwe, Vivas; Benfatto, Lara; Raychaudhuri, Pratap

2013-01-01

The persistence of a soft gap in the density of states above the superconducting transition temperature Tc, the pseudogap, has long been thought to be a hallmark of unconventional high-temperature superconductors. However, in the last few years this paradigm has been strongly revised by increasing experimental evidence for the emergence of a pseudogap state in strongly-disordered conventional superconductors. Nonetheless, the nature of this state, probed primarily through scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements, remains partly elusive. Here we show that the dynamic response above Tc, obtained from the complex ac conductivity, is highly modified in the pseudogap regime of strongly disordered NbN films. Below the pseudogap temperature, T*, the superfluid stiffness acquires a strong frequency dependence associated with a marked slowing down of critical fluctuations. When translated into the length-scale of fluctuations, our results suggest a scenario of thermal phase fluctuations between superconducting domains in a strongly disordered s-wave superconductor.

Simulation of nonisothermal consolidation of saturated soils based on a thermodynamic model.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhichao; Cheng, Xiaohui

2013-01-01

Based on the nonequilibrium thermodynamics, a thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model for saturated soils is established, including a constitutive model without such concepts as yield surface and flow rule. An elastic potential energy density function is defined to derive a hyperelastic relation among the effective stress, the elastic strain, and the dry density. The classical linear non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory is employed to quantitatively describe the unrecoverable energy processes like the nonelastic deformation development in materials by the concepts of dissipative force and dissipative flow. In particular the granular fluctuation, which represents the kinetic energy fluctuation and elastic potential energy fluctuation at particulate scale caused by the irregular mutual movement between particles, is introduced in the model and described by the concept of granular entropy. Using this model, the nonisothermal consolidation of saturated clays under cyclic thermal loadings is simulated in this paper to validate the model. The results show that the nonisothermal consolidation is heavily OCR dependent and unrecoverable.

The distinct character of anisotropy and intermittency in inertial and kinetic range solar wind plasma turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiyani, Khurom; Chapman, Sandra; Osman, Kareem; Sahraoui, Fouad; Hnat, Bogdan

2014-05-01

The anisotropic nature of the scaling properties of solar wind magnetic turbulence fluctuations is investigated scale by scale using high cadence in situ magnetic field measurements from the Cluster, ACE and STEREO spacecraft missions in both fast and slow quiet solar wind conditions. The data span five decades in scales from the inertial range to the electron Larmor radius. We find a clear transition in scaling behaviour between the inertial and kinetic range of scales, which provides a direct, quantitative constraint on the physical processes that mediate the cascade of energy through these scales. In the inertial (magnetohydrodynamic) range the statistical nature of turbulent fluctuations are known to be anisotropic, both in the vector components of the magnetic field fluctuations (variance anisotropy) and in the spatial scales of these fluctuations (wavevector or k-anisotropy). We show for the first time that, when measuring parallel to the local magnetic field direction, the full statistical signature of the magnetic and Elsasser field fluctuations is that of a non-Gaussian globally scale-invariant process. This is distinct from the classic multi-exponent statistics observed when the local magnetic field is perpendicular to the flow direction. These observations suggest the weakness, or absence, of a parallel magnetofluid turbulence energy cascade. In contrast to the inertial range, there is a successive increase toward isotropy between parallel and transverse power at scales below the ion Larmor radius, with isotropy being achieved at the electron Larmor radius. Computing higher-order statistics, we show that the full statistical signature of both parallel, and perpendicular fluctuations at scales below the ion Larmor radius are that of an isotropic globally scale-invariant non-Gaussian process. Lastly, we perform a survey of multiple intervals of quiet solar wind sampled under different plasma conditions (fast, slow wind; plasma beta etc.) and find that the above results on the scaling transition between inertial and kinetic range scales are qualitatively robust, and that quantitatively, there is a spread in the values of the scaling exponents.

Event Horizon Telescope observations as probes for quantum structure of astrophysical black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giddings, Steven B.; Psaltis, Dimitrios

2018-04-01

The need for a consistent quantum evolution for black holes has led to proposals that their semiclassical description is modified not just near the singularity, but at horizon or larger scales. If such modifications extend beyond the horizon, they influence regions accessible to distant observation. Natural candidates for these modifications behave like metric fluctuations, with characteristic length scales and timescales set by the horizon radius. We investigate the possibility of using the Event Horizon Telescope to observe these effects, if they have a strength sufficient to make quantum evolution consistent with unitarity, without introducing new scales. We find that such quantum fluctuations can introduce a strong time dependence for the shape and size of the shadow that a black hole casts on its surrounding emission. For the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, detecting the rapid time variability of its shadow will require nonimaging timing techniques. However, for the much larger black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy, a variable black-hole shadow, if present with these parameters, would be readily observable in the individual snapshots that will be obtained by the Event Horizon Telescope.

Turbulent mixing of a critical fluid: The non-perturbative renormalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hnatič, M.; Kalagov, G.; Nalimov, M.

2018-01-01

Non-perturbative Renormalization Group (NPRG) technique is applied to a stochastical model of a non-conserved scalar order parameter near its critical point, subject to turbulent advection. The compressible advecting flow is modeled by a random Gaussian velocity field with zero mean and correlation function 〈υjυi 〉 ∼ (Pji⊥ + αPji∥) /k d + ζ. Depending on the relations between the parameters ζ, α and the space dimensionality d, the model reveals several types of scaling regimes. Some of them are well known (model A of equilibrium critical dynamics and linear passive scalar field advected by a random turbulent flow), but there is a new nonequilibrium regime (universality class) associated with new nontrivial fixed points of the renormalization group equations. We have obtained the phase diagram (d, ζ) of possible scaling regimes in the system. The physical point d = 3, ζ = 4 / 3 corresponding to three-dimensional fully developed Kolmogorov's turbulence, where critical fluctuations are irrelevant, is stable for α ≲ 2.26. Otherwise, in the case of "strong compressibility" α ≳ 2.26, the critical fluctuations of the order parameter become relevant for three-dimensional turbulence. Estimations of critical exponents for each scaling regime are presented.

The NEUF-DIX space project - Non-EquilibriUm Fluctuations during DIffusion in compleX liquids.

PubMed

Baaske, Philipp; Bataller, Henri; Braibanti, Marco; Carpineti, Marina; Cerbino, Roberto; Croccolo, Fabrizio; Donev, Aleksandar; Köhler, Werner; Ortiz de Zárate, José M; Vailati, Alberto

2016-12-01

Diffusion and thermal diffusion processes in a liquid mixture are accompanied by long-range non-equilibrium fluctuations, whose amplitude is orders of magnitude larger than that of equilibrium fluctuations. The mean-square amplitude of the non-equilibrium fluctuations presents a scale-free power law behavior q -4 as a function of the wave vector q, but the divergence of the amplitude of the fluctuations at small wave vectors is prevented by the presence of gravity. In microgravity conditions the non-equilibrium fluctuations are fully developed and span all the available length scales up to the macroscopic size of the systems in the direction parallel to the applied gradient. Available theoretical models are based on linearized hydrodynamics and provide an adequate description of the statics and dynamics of the fluctuations in the presence of small temperature/concentration gradients and under stationary or quasi-stationary conditions. We describe a project aimed at the investigation of Non-EquilibriUm Fluctuations during DIffusion in compleX liquids (NEUF-DIX). The focus of the project is on the investigation in micro-gravity conditions of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in complex liquids, trying to tackle several challenging problems that emerged during the latest years, such as the theoretical predictions of Casimir-like forces induced by non-equilibrium fluctuations; the understanding of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in multi-component mixtures including a polymer, both in relation to the transport coefficients and to their behavior close to a glass transition; the understanding of the non-equilibrium fluctuations in concentrated colloidal suspensions, a problem closely related with the detection of Casimir forces; and the investigation of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion. We envision to parallel these experiments with state-of-the-art multi-scale simulations.

Solar Wind Turbulence and the Role of Ion Instabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexandrova, O.; Chen, C. H. K.; Sorriso-Valvo, L.; Horbury, T. S.; Bale, S. D.

Solar wind is probably the best laboratory to study turbulence in astrophysical plasmas. In addition to the presence of magnetic field, the differences with neutral fluid isotropic turbulence are: (i) weakness of collisional dissipation and (ii) presence of several characteristic space and time scales. In this paper we discuss observational properties of solar wind turbulence in a large range from the MHD to the electron scales. At MHD scales, within the inertial range, turbulence cascade of magnetic fluctuations develops mostly in the plane perpendicular to the mean field, with the Kolmogorov scaling k_{perp}^{-5/3} for the perpendicular cascade and k_⊥^{-2} for the parallel one. Solar wind turbulence is compressible in nature: density fluctuations at MHD scales have the Kolmogorov spectrum. Velocity fluctuations do not follow magnetic field ones: their spectrum is a power-law with a -3/2 spectral index. Probability distribution functions of different plasma parameters are not Gaussian, indicating presence of intermittency. At the moment there is no global model taking into account all these observed properties of the inertial range. At ion scales, turbulent spectra have a break, compressibility increases and the density fluctuation spectrum has a local flattening. Around ion scales, magnetic spectra are variable and ion instabilities occur as a function of the local plasma parameters. Between ion and electron scales, a small scale turbulent cascade seems to be established. It is characterized by a well defined power-law spectrum in magnetic and density fluctuations with a spectral index close to -2.8. Approaching electron scales, the fluctuations are no more self-similar: an exponential cut-off is usually observed (for time intervals without quasi-parallel whistlers) indicating an onset of dissipation. The small scale inertial range between ion and electron scales and the electron dissipation range can be together described by ˜ k_{perp}^{-α}exp(-k_{perp}elld), with α≃8/3 and the dissipation scale ℓ d close to the electron Larmor radius ℓ d ≃ρ e . The nature of this small scale cascade and a possible dissipation mechanism are still under debate.

Equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium mechanics of living mammalian cytoplasm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Satish Kumar; Guo, Ming

2017-10-01

Living cells are intrinsically non-equilibrium systems. They are driven out of equilibrium by the activity of the molecular motors and other enzymatic processes. This activity along with the ever present thermal agitation results in intracellular fluctuations inside the cytoplasm. In analogy to Brownian motion, the material property of the cytoplasm also influences the characteristics of these fluctuations. In this paper, through a combination of experimentation and theoretical analysis, we show that intracellular fluctuations are indeed due to non-thermal forces at relatively long time-scales, however, are dominated solely by thermal forces at relatively short time-scales. Thus, the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells behaves as an equilibrium material at short time-scales. The mean square displacement of these intracellular fluctuations scales inversely with the cytoplasmic shear modulus in this short time-scale equilibrium regime, and is inversely proportional to the square of the cytoplasmic shear modulus in the long time-scale out-of-equilibrium regime. Furthermore, we deploy passive microrheology based on these fluctuations to extract the mechanical property of the cytoplasm at the high-frequency regime. We show that the cytoplasm of living mammalian cells is a weak elastic gel in this regime; this is in an excellent agreement with an independent micromechanical measurement using optical tweezers.

Chemical Reactions in Turbulent Mixing Flows.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-06-15

length from Reynolds and Schmidt numbers at high Reynolds number, 2. the linear dependence of flame length on the stoichiometric mixture ratio, and, 3...processes are unsteady and the observed large scale flame length fluctuations are the best evidence of the individual cascade. A more detailed examination...Damk~hler number. When the same ideas are used in a model of fuel jets burning in air, it explains (Broadwell 1982): 1. the independence of flame

Holographic curvature perturbations in a cosmology with a space-like singularity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferreira, Elisa G.M.; Brandenberger, Robert; Institute for Theoretical Studies, ETH Zürich,Clausiusstr. 47, Zürich, CH-8092

2016-07-19

We study the evolution of cosmological perturbations in an anti-de-Sitter (AdS) bulk through a cosmological singularity by mapping the dynamics onto the boundary conformal fields theory by means of the AdS/CFT correspondence. We consider a deformed AdS space-time obtained by considering a time-dependent dilaton which induces a curvature singularity in the bulk at a time which we call t=0, and which asymptotically approaches AdS both for large positive and negative times. The boundary field theory becomes free when the bulk curvature goes to infinity. Hence, the evolution of the fluctuations is under better controle on the boundary than in themore » bulk. To avoid unbounded particle production across the bounce it is necessary to smooth out the curvature singularity at very high curvatures. We show how the bulk cosmological perturbations can be mapped onto boundary gauge field fluctuations. We evolve the latter and compare the spectrum of fluctuations on the infrared scales relevant for cosmological observations before and after the bounce point. We find that the index of the power spectrum of fluctuations is the same before and after the bounce.« less

Hierarchical structure of stock price fluctuations in financial markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Ya-Chun; Cai, Shi-Min; Wang, Bing-Hong

2012-12-01

The financial market and turbulence have been broadly compared on account of the same quantitative methods and several common stylized facts they share. In this paper, the She-Leveque (SL) hierarchy, proposed to explain the anomalous scaling exponents deviating from Kolmogorov monofractal scaling of the velocity fluctuation in fluid turbulence, is applied to study and quantify the hierarchical structure of stock price fluctuations in financial markets. We therefore observed certain interesting results: (i) the hierarchical structure related to multifractal scaling generally presents in all the stock price fluctuations we investigated. (ii) The quantitatively statistical parameters that describe SL hierarchy are different between developed financial markets and emerging ones, distinctively. (iii) For the high-frequency stock price fluctuation, the hierarchical structure varies with different time periods. All these results provide a novel analogy in turbulence and financial market dynamics and an insight to deeply understand multifractality in financial markets.

Time scale defined by the fractal structure of the price fluctuations in foreign exchange markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumagai, Yoshiaki

2010-04-01

In this contribution, a new time scale named C-fluctuation time is defined by price fluctuations observed at a given resolution. The intraday fractal structures and the relations of the three time scales: real time (physical time), tick time and C-fluctuation time, in foreign exchange markets are analyzed. The data set used is trading prices of foreign exchange rates; US dollar (USD)/Japanese yen (JPY), USD/Euro (EUR), and EUR/JPY. The accuracy of the data is one minute and data within a minute are recorded in order of transaction. The series of instantaneous velocity of C-fluctuation time flowing are exponentially distributed for small C when they are measured by real time and for tiny C when they are measured by tick time. When the market is volatile, for larger C, the series of instantaneous velocity are exponentially distributed.

Evolving Waves and Turbulence in the Outer Corona and Inner Heliosphere: The Accelerating Expanding Box

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tenerani, Anna; Velli, Marco

Alfvénic fluctuations in the solar wind display many properties reflecting an ongoing nonlinear cascade, e.g., a well-defined spectrum in frequency, together with some characteristics more commonly associated with the linear propagation of waves from the Sun, such as the variation of fluctuation amplitude with distance, dominated by solar wind expansion effects. Therefore, both nonlinearities and expansion must be included simultaneously in any successful model of solar wind turbulence evolution. Because of the disparate spatial scales involved, direct numerical simulations of turbulence in the solar wind represent an arduous task, especially if one wants to go beyond the incompressible approximation. Indeed,more » most simulations neglect solar wind expansion effects entirely. Here we develop a numerical model to simulate turbulent fluctuations from the outer corona to 1 au and beyond, including the sub-Alfvénic corona. The accelerating expanding box (AEB) extends the validity of previous expanding box models by taking into account both the acceleration of the solar wind and the inhomogeneity of background density and magnetic field. Our method incorporates a background accelerating wind within a magnetic field that naturally follows the Parker spiral evolution using a two-scale analysis in which the macroscopic spatial effect coupling fluctuations with background gradients becomes a time-dependent coupling term in a homogeneous box. In this paper we describe the AEB model in detail and discuss its main properties, illustrating its validity by studying Alfvén wave propagation across the Alfvén critical point.« less

Logarithmic scaling for fluctuations of a scalar concentration in wall turbulence.

PubMed

Mouri, Hideaki; Morinaga, Takeshi; Yagi, Toshimasa; Mori, Kazuyasu

2017-12-01

Within wall turbulence, there is a sublayer where the mean velocity and the variance of velocity fluctuations vary logarithmically with the height from the wall. This logarithmic scaling is also known for the mean concentration of a passive scalar. By using heat as such a scalar in a laboratory experiment of a turbulent boundary layer, the existence of the logarithmic scaling is shown here for the variance of fluctuations of the scalar concentration. It is reproduced by a model of energy-containing eddies that are attached to the wall.

Dynamical Scaling Implications of Ferrari, Prähofer, and Spohn's Remarkable Spatial Scaling Results for Facet-Edge Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Einstein, T. L.; Pimpinelli, Alberto

2014-06-01

Spurred by theoretical predictions from Ferrari et al. (Phys Rev E 69:035102(R), 2004), we rederived and extended their result heuristically. With experimental colleagues we used STM line scans to corroborate their prediction that the fluctuations of the step bounding a facet exhibit scaling properties distinct from those of isolated steps or steps on vicinal surfaces. The correlation functions was shown to go as , decidedly different from the behavior for fluctuations of isolated steps.

Scale and time dependence of serial correlations in word-length time series of written texts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, E.; Aguilar-Cornejo, M.; Femat, R.; Alvarez-Ramirez, J.

2014-11-01

This work considered the quantitative analysis of large written texts. To this end, the text was converted into a time series by taking the sequence of word lengths. The detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was used for characterizing long-range serial correlations of the time series. To this end, the DFA was implemented within a rolling window framework for estimating the variations of correlations, quantified in terms of the scaling exponent, strength along the text. Also, a filtering derivative was used to compute the dependence of the scaling exponent relative to the scale. The analysis was applied to three famous English-written literary narrations; namely, Alice in Wonderland (by Lewis Carrol), Dracula (by Bram Stoker) and Sense and Sensibility (by Jane Austen). The results showed that high correlations appear for scales of about 50-200 words, suggesting that at these scales the text contains the stronger coherence. The scaling exponent was not constant along the text, showing important variations with apparent cyclical behavior. An interesting coincidence between the scaling exponent variations and changes in narrative units (e.g., chapters) was found. This suggests that the scaling exponent obtained from the DFA is able to detect changes in narration structure as expressed by the usage of words of different lengths.

The brain's resting-state activity is shaped by synchronized cross-frequency coupling of neural oscillations

PubMed Central

Florin, Esther; Baillet, Sylvain

2015-01-01

Functional imaging of the resting brain consistently reveals broad motifs of correlated blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activity that engage cerebral regions from distinct functional systems. Yet, the neurophysiological processes underlying these organized, large-scale fluctuations remain to be uncovered. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) imaging during rest in 12 healthy subjects we analyse the resting state networks and their underlying neurophysiology. We first demonstrate non-invasively that cortical occurrences of high-frequency oscillatory activity are conditioned to the phase of slower spontaneous fluctuations in neural ensembles. We further show that resting-state networks emerge from synchronized phase-amplitude coupling across the brain. Overall, these findings suggest a unified principle of local-to-global neural signaling for long-range brain communication. PMID:25680519

Fluctuations of the gluon distribution from the small- x effective action

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dumitru, Adrian; Skokov, Vladimir

The computation of observables in high-energy QCD involves an average over stochastic semiclassical small-x gluon fields. The weight of various configurations is determined by the effective action. We introduce a method to study fluctuations of observables, functionals of the small-x fields, which does not explicitly involve dipoles. We integrate out those fluctuations of the semiclassical gluon field under which a given observable is invariant. Thereby we obtain the effective potential for that observable describing its fluctuations about the average. Here, we determine explicitly the effective potential for the covariant gauge gluon distribution both for the McLerran-Venugopalan (MV) model and formore » a (nonlocal) Gaussian approximation for the small-x effective action. This provides insight into the correlation of fluctuations of the number of hard gluons versus their typical transverse momentum. We find that the spectral shape of the fluctuations of the gluon distribution is fundamentally different in the MV model, where there is a pileup of gluons near the saturation scale, versus the solution of the small-x JIMWLK renormalization group, which generates essentially scale-invariant fluctuations above the absorptive boundary set by the saturation scale.« less

Fluctuations of the gluon distribution from the small- x effective action

DOE PAGES

Dumitru, Adrian; Skokov, Vladimir

2017-09-29

The computation of observables in high-energy QCD involves an average over stochastic semiclassical small-x gluon fields. The weight of various configurations is determined by the effective action. We introduce a method to study fluctuations of observables, functionals of the small-x fields, which does not explicitly involve dipoles. We integrate out those fluctuations of the semiclassical gluon field under which a given observable is invariant. Thereby we obtain the effective potential for that observable describing its fluctuations about the average. Here, we determine explicitly the effective potential for the covariant gauge gluon distribution both for the McLerran-Venugopalan (MV) model and formore » a (nonlocal) Gaussian approximation for the small-x effective action. This provides insight into the correlation of fluctuations of the number of hard gluons versus their typical transverse momentum. We find that the spectral shape of the fluctuations of the gluon distribution is fundamentally different in the MV model, where there is a pileup of gluons near the saturation scale, versus the solution of the small-x JIMWLK renormalization group, which generates essentially scale-invariant fluctuations above the absorptive boundary set by the saturation scale.« less

Statistical properties of fluctuations of time series representing appearances of words in nationwide blog data and their applications: An example of modeling fluctuation scalings of nonstationary time series.

PubMed

Watanabe, Hayafumi; Sano, Yukie; Takayasu, Hideki; Takayasu, Misako

2016-11-01

To elucidate the nontrivial empirical statistical properties of fluctuations of a typical nonsteady time series representing the appearance of words in blogs, we investigated approximately 3×10^{9} Japanese blog articles over a period of six years and analyze some corresponding mathematical models. First, we introduce a solvable nonsteady extension of the random diffusion model, which can be deduced by modeling the behavior of heterogeneous random bloggers. Next, we deduce theoretical expressions for both the temporal and ensemble fluctuation scalings of this model, and demonstrate that these expressions can reproduce all empirical scalings over eight orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we show that the model can reproduce other statistical properties of time series representing the appearance of words in blogs, such as functional forms of the probability density and correlations in the total number of blogs. As an application, we quantify the abnormality of special nationwide events by measuring the fluctuation scalings of 1771 basic adjectives.

Scaling, Microstructure and Dynamic Fracture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minich, Roger W.; Kumar, Mukul; Schwarz, Adam; Cazamias, James

2006-07-01

The relationship between pullback velocity and impact velocity is studied for different microstructures in Cu. A size distribution of potential nucleation sites is derived under the conditions of an applied stochastic stress field. The size distribution depends on the amplitude of the stress fluctuations, which may be proportional to the flow stress thereby providing a connection between plastic flow and microvoid nucleation rate. The pullback velocity in turn depends on the nucleation rate resulting in a prediction for the relationship between pullback velocity and flow stress. The theory is compared to results from Cu on Cu gas-gun experiments (10-50 GPa) with different microstructures. The scaling law relating pullback velocity and impact velocity is incorporated into a 1D finite difference code and is shown to reproduce the experimental data with one adjustable parameter, the nucleation exponent, Γ.

Intermittent Anisotropic Turbulence Detected by THEMIS in the Magnetosheath

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macek, W. M.; Wawrzaszek, A.; Kucharuk, B.; Sibeck, D. G.

2017-12-01

Following our previous study of Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) data, we consider intermittent turbulence in the magnetosheath depending on various conditions of the magnetized plasma behind the Earth’s bow shock and now also near the magnetopause. Namely, we look at the fluctuations of the components of the Elsässer variables in the plane perpendicular to the scale-dependent background magnetic fields and along the local average ambient magnetic fields. We have shown that Alfvén fluctuations often exhibit strong anisotropic non-gyrotropic turbulent intermittent behavior resulting in substantial deviations of the probability density functions from a normal Gaussian distribution with a large kurtosis. In particular, for very high Alfvénic Mach numbers and high plasma beta, we have clear anisotropy with non-Gaussian statistics in the transverse directions. However, along the magnetic field, the kurtosis is small and the plasma is close to equilibrium. On the other hand, intermittency becomes weaker for moderate Alfvén Mach numbers and lower values of the plasma parameter beta. It also seems that the degree of intermittency of turbulence for the outgoing fluctuations propagating relative to the ambient magnetic field is usually similar as for the ingoing fluctuations, which is in agreement with approximate equipartition of energy between these oppositely propagating Alfvén waves. We believe that the different characteristics of this intermittent anisotropic turbulent behavior in various regions of space and astrophysical plasmas can help identify nonlinear structures responsible for deviations of the plasma from equilibrium.

Scaling in non-stationary time series. (II). Teen birth phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignaccolo, M.; Allegrini, P.; Grigolini, P.; Hamilton, P.; West, B. J.

2004-05-01

This paper is devoted to the problem of statistical mechanics raised by the analysis of an issue of sociological interest: the teen birth phenomenon. It is expected that these data are characterized by correlated fluctuations, reflecting the cooperative properties of the process. However, the assessment of the anomalous scaling generated by these correlations is made difficult, and ambiguous as well, by the non-stationary nature of the data that shows a clear dependence on seasonal periodicity (periodic component) and an average changing slowly in time (slow component) as well. We use the detrending techniques described in the companion paper [The earlier companion paper], to safely remove all the biases and to derive the genuine scaling of the teen birth phenomenon.

Emergence of linear elasticity from the atomistic description of matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cakir, Abdullah, E-mail: acakir@ntu.edu.sg; Pica Ciamarra, Massimo; Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, CNR–SPIN, Università di Napoli Federico II, I-80126 Napoli

2016-08-07

We investigate the emergence of the continuum elastic limit from the atomistic description of matter at zero temperature considering how locally defined elastic quantities depend on the coarse graining length scale. Results obtained numerically investigating different model systems are rationalized in a unifying picture according to which the continuum elastic limit emerges through a process determined by two system properties, the degree of disorder, and a length scale associated to the transverse low-frequency vibrational modes. The degree of disorder controls the emergence of long-range local shear stress and shear strain correlations, while the length scale influences the amplitude of themore » fluctuations of the local elastic constants close to the jamming transition.« less

Scaling Behavior in Mitochondrial Redox Fluctuations

PubMed Central

Ramanujan, V. Krishnan; Biener, Gabriel; Herman, Brian A.

2006-01-01

Scale-invariant long-range correlations have been reported in fluctuations of time-series signals originating from diverse processes such as heart beat dynamics, earthquakes, and stock market data. The common denominator of these apparently different processes is a highly nonlinear dynamics with competing forces and distinct feedback species. We report for the first time an experimental evidence for scaling behavior in NAD(P)H signal fluctuations in isolated mitochondria and intact cells isolated from the liver of a young (5-month-old) mouse. Time-series data were collected by two-photon imaging of mitochondrial NAD(P)H fluorescence and signal fluctuations were quantitatively analyzed for statistical correlations by detrended fluctuation analysis and spectral power analysis. Redox [NAD(P)H / NAD(P)+] fluctuations in isolated mitochondria and intact liver cells were found to display nonrandom, long-range correlations. These correlations are interpreted as arising due to the regulatory dynamics operative in Krebs' cycle enzyme network and electron transport chain in the mitochondria. This finding may provide a novel basis for understanding similar regulatory networks that govern the nonequilibrium properties of living cells. PMID:16565066

Fluid-structure coupling in the guide vanes cascade of a pump-turbine scale model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, S.; Hasmatuchi, V.; Botero, F.; Farhat, M.; Avellan, F.

2010-08-01

The present study concerns fluid-structure coupling phenomena occurring in a guide vane cascade of a pump-turbine scale model placed in the EPFL PF3 test rig. An advanced instrument set is used to monitor both vibrating structures and the surrounding flow. The paper highlights the interaction between vibrating guide vanes and the flow behavior. The pressure fluctuations in the stay vanes region are found to be strongly influenced by the amplitude of the vibrating guide vanes. Moreover, the flow induces different hydrodynamic damping on the vibrating guide vanes depending on the operating point of the pump-turbine.

Size and density avalanche scaling near jamming.

PubMed

Arévalo, Roberto; Ciamarra, Massimo Pica

2014-04-28

The current microscopic picture of plasticity in amorphous materials assumes local failure events to produce displacement fields complying with linear elasticity. Indeed, the flow properties of nonaffine systems, such as foams, emulsions and granular materials close to jamming, that produce a fluctuating displacement field when failing, are still controversial. Here we show, via a thorough numerical investigation of jammed materials, that nonaffinity induces a critical scaling of the flow properties dictated by the distance to the jamming point. We rationalize this critical behavior by introducing a new universal jamming exponent and hyperscaling relationships, and we use these results to describe the volume fraction dependence of the friction coefficient.

Distortion of the cosmic background radiation by superconducting strings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostriker, J. P.; Thompson, C.

1987-01-01

Superconducting cosmic strings can be significant energy sources, keeping the universe ionized past the commonly assumed epoch of recombination. As a result, the spectrum of the cosmic background radiation is distorted in the presence of heated primordial gas via the Suniaev-Zel'dovich effect. Thiis distortion can be relatively large: the Compton y parameter attains a maximum in the range 0.001-0.005, with these values depending on the mass scale of the string. A significant contribution to y comes from loops decaying at high redshift when the universe is optically thick to Thomson scattering. Moreover, the isotropic spectral distortion is large compared to fluctuations at all angular scales.

Independent Metrics for Protein Backbone and Side-Chain Flexibility: Time Scales and Effects of Ligand Binding.

PubMed

Fuchs, Julian E; Waldner, Birgit J; Huber, Roland G; von Grafenstein, Susanne; Kramer, Christian; Liedl, Klaus R

2015-03-10

Conformational dynamics are central for understanding biomolecular structure and function, since biological macromolecules are inherently flexible at room temperature and in solution. Computational methods are nowadays capable of providing valuable information on the conformational ensembles of biomolecules. However, analysis tools and intuitive metrics that capture dynamic information from in silico generated structural ensembles are limited. In standard work-flows, flexibility in a conformational ensemble is represented through residue-wise root-mean-square fluctuations or B-factors following a global alignment. Consequently, these approaches relying on global alignments discard valuable information on local dynamics. Results inherently depend on global flexibility, residue size, and connectivity. In this study we present a novel approach for capturing positional fluctuations based on multiple local alignments instead of one single global alignment. The method captures local dynamics within a structural ensemble independent of residue type by splitting individual local and global degrees of freedom of protein backbone and side-chains. Dependence on residue type and size in the side-chains is removed via normalization with the B-factors of the isolated residue. As a test case, we demonstrate its application to a molecular dynamics simulation of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) on the millisecond time scale. This allows for illustrating different time scales of backbone and side-chain flexibility. Additionally, we demonstrate the effects of ligand binding on side-chain flexibility of three serine proteases. We expect our new methodology for quantifying local flexibility to be helpful in unraveling local changes in biomolecular dynamics.

Retrieving cosmological signal using cosmic flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouillot, V.; Alimi, J.-M.

2011-12-01

To understand the origin of the anomalously high bulk flow at large scales, we use very large simulations in various cosmological models. To disentangle between cosmological and environmental effects, we select samples with bulk flow profiles similar to the observational data Watkins et al. (2009) which exhibit a maximum in the bulk flow at 53 h^{-1} Mpc. The estimation of the cosmological parameters Ω_M and σ_8, done on those samples, is correct from the rms mass fluctuation whereas this estimation gives completely false values when done on bulk flow measurements, hence showing a dependance of velocity fields on larger scales. By drawing a clear link between velocity fields at 53 h^{-1} Mpc and asymmetric patterns of the density field at 85 h^{-1} Mpc, we show that the bulk flow can depend largely on the environment. The retrieving of the cosmological signal is achieved by studying the convergence of the bulk flow towards the linear prediction at very large scale (˜ 150 h^{-1} Mpc).

Toward topology-based characterization of small-scale mixing in compressible turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suman, Sawan; Girimaji, Sharath

2011-11-01

Turbulent mixing rate at small scales of motion (molecular mixing) is governed by the steepness of the scalar-gradient field which in turn is dependent upon the prevailing velocity gradients. Thus motivated, we propose a velocity-gradient topology-based approach for characterizing small-scale mixing in compressible turbulence. We define a mixing efficiency metric that is dependent upon the topology of the solenoidal and dilatational deformation rates of a fluid element. The mixing characteristics of solenoidal and dilatational velocity fluctuations are clearly delineated. We validate this new approach by employing mixing data from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of compressible decaying turbulence with passive scalar. For each velocity-gradient topology, we compare the mixing efficiency predicted by the topology-based model with the corresponding conditional scalar variance obtained from DNS. The new mixing metric accurately distinguishes good and poor mixing topologies and indeed reasonably captures the numerical values. The results clearly demonstrate the viability of the proposed approach for characterizing and predicting mixing in compressible flows.

The Relationship Between Temperature and Gas Concentration Fluctuation Rates at an Air-Water Interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asher, W. E.; Jessup, A. T.; Liang, H.; Zappa, C. J.

2008-12-01

The air-sea flux, F, of a sparingly soluble nonreactive gas can be expressed as F = kG(CS-CW), where kG is the gas transfer velocity, CS is the concentration of gas that would be expected in the water if the system were in Henry's Gas Law equilibrium, and CW is the gas concentration in the bulk water. An analogous relationship for the net heat flux can also be written using the heat transfer velocity, kH, and the bulk-skin temperature difference in the aqueous phase. Surface divergence theory for the air-water transfer of gas and heat predicts that kG and kH will scale as the square root of the surface divergence rate, r. However, because of the interaction between diffusivity and the scale depth of the surface divergences, the scale factor for heat is likely to be different from the scale factor for gases. Infrared imagery was used to measure the timescales of variations in temperature at a water surface and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) was used to measure temporal fluctuations in aqueous-phase concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) at a water surface. The rate at which these temperature and concentration fluctuations occur is then assumed to be related to r. The divergence rates derived for temperature from the IR images can be compared to the rates for gas derived from the LIF measurements to understand how r estimated from the two measurements differ. The square root of r is compared to concurrently measured kG for helium and sulfur hexafluoride to test the assumption that r1/2 scales with kG. Additionally, we measured kH using the active controlled flux technique, and those heat transfer velocities can also be used to test for a r1/2 dependence. All measurements reported here were made in the APL-UW synthetic jet array facility.

SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE FROM MHD TO SUB-ION SCALES: HIGH-RESOLUTION HYBRID SIMULATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Franci, Luca; Verdini, Andrea; Landi, Simone

2015-05-10

We present results from a high-resolution and large-scale hybrid (fluid electrons and particle-in-cell protons) two-dimensional numerical simulation of decaying turbulence. Two distinct spectral regions (separated by a smooth break at proton scales) develop with clear power-law scaling, each one occupying about a decade in wavenumbers. The simulation results simultaneously exhibit several properties of the observed solar wind fluctuations: spectral indices of the magnetic, kinetic, and residual energy spectra in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) inertial range along with a flattening of the electric field spectrum, an increase in magnetic compressibility, and a strong coupling of the cascade with the density and themore » parallel component of the magnetic fluctuations at sub-proton scales. Our findings support the interpretation that in the solar wind, large-scale MHD fluctuations naturally evolve beyond proton scales into a turbulent regime that is governed by the generalized Ohm’s law.« less

Solar Wind Turbulence from MHD to Sub-ion Scales: High-resolution Hybrid Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franci, Luca; Verdini, Andrea; Matteini, Lorenzo; Landi, Simone; Hellinger, Petr

2015-05-01

We present results from a high-resolution and large-scale hybrid (fluid electrons and particle-in-cell protons) two-dimensional numerical simulation of decaying turbulence. Two distinct spectral regions (separated by a smooth break at proton scales) develop with clear power-law scaling, each one occupying about a decade in wavenumbers. The simulation results simultaneously exhibit several properties of the observed solar wind fluctuations: spectral indices of the magnetic, kinetic, and residual energy spectra in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) inertial range along with a flattening of the electric field spectrum, an increase in magnetic compressibility, and a strong coupling of the cascade with the density and the parallel component of the magnetic fluctuations at sub-proton scales. Our findings support the interpretation that in the solar wind, large-scale MHD fluctuations naturally evolve beyond proton scales into a turbulent regime that is governed by the generalized Ohm’s law.

Double-slit interferometry with a Bose-Einstein condensate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collins, L.A.; Berman, G.P.; Bishop, A.R.

2005-03-01

A Bose-Einstein 'double-slit' interferometer has been recently realized experimentally by Y. Shin et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 050405 (2004). We analyze the interferometric steps by solving numerically the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation in three-dimensional space. We focus on the adiabaticity time scales of the problem and on the creation of spurious collective excitations as a possible source of the strong degradation of the interference pattern observed experimentally. The role of quantum fluctuations is discussed.

The role of large eddy fluctuations in the magnetic dynamics of the Madison Dynamo Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplan, Elliot

The Madison Dynamo Experiment (MDE), a liquid sodium magnetohydrodynamics experiment in a 1 m diameter sphere at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had measured [in Spence et al., 2006] diamagnetic electrical currents in the experiment that violated an anti dynamo theorem for axisymmetric flow. The diamagnetic currents were instead attributed to nonaxisymmetric turbulent fluctuations. The experimental apparatus has been modified to reduce the strength of the large-scale turbulence driven by the shear layer in its flow. A 7.62 cm baffle was affixed to the equator of the machine to stabilize the shear layer. This reduction has correlated with a decrease in the magnetic fields, induced by the flow, which had been associated with the α and β effects of mean-field magnetohydrodynamics. The research presented herein presents the experimental evidence for reduced fluctuations and reduced mean field emfs, and provides a theoretical framework—based upon mean-field MHD—that connects the observations. The shapes of the large-scale velocity fluctuations are inferred by the spectra of induced magnetic fluctuations and measured in a kinematically similar water experiment. The Bullard and Gellman [1954] formalism demonstrates that the large-scale velocity fluctuations that are inhibited by the baffle can beat with the large-scale magnetic fluctuations that they produce to generate a mean-field emf of the sort measured in Spence et al. [2006]. This shows that the reduction of these large-scale eddies has brought the MDE closer to exciting a dynamo magnetic field. We also examine the mean-field like effects of large-scale (stable) eddies in the Dudley-James [1989] two-vortex dynamo (that the MDE was based upon). Rotating the axis of symmetry redefines the problem from one of an axisymmetric flow exciting a nonaxisymmetric field to one of a combination of axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric flows exciting a predominantly axisymmetric magnetic eigenmode. As a result, specific interactions between large-scale velocity modes and large-scale magnetic modes are shown to correspond to the Ω effect and the mean-field α and β effects.

Warming reduces metabolic rate in marine snails: adaptation to fluctuating high temperatures challenges the metabolic theory of ecology.

PubMed

Marshall, David J; McQuaid, Christopher D

2011-01-22

The universal temperature-dependence model (UTD) of the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) proposes that temperature controls mass-scaled, whole-animal resting metabolic rate according to the first principles of physics (Boltzmann kinetics). Controversy surrounds the model's implication of a mechanistic basis for metabolism that excludes the effects of adaptive regulation, and it is unclear how this would apply to organisms that live in fringe environments and typically show considerable metabolic adaptation. We explored thermal scaling of metabolism in a rocky-shore eulittoral-fringe snail (Echinolittorina malaccana) that experiences constrained energy gain and fluctuating high temperatures (between 25°C and approximately 50°C) during prolonged emersion (weeks). In contrast to the prediction of the UTD model, metabolic rate was often negatively related to temperature over a benign range (30-40°C), the relationship depending on (i) the temperature range, (ii) the degree of metabolic depression (related to the quiescent period), and (iii) whether snails were isolated within their shells. Apparent activation energies (E) varied between 0.05 and -0.43 eV, deviating excessively from the UTD's predicted range of between 0.6 and 0.7 eV. The lowering of metabolism when heated should improve energy conservation in a high-temperature environment and challenges both the theory's generality and its mechanistic basis.

Preliminary measurements of plasma fluctuations in an 8-cm mercury ion thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Serafini, J. S.; Nakanishi, S.

1975-01-01

The rms magnitude, spectra, and cross correlations for the fluctuations in the beam current, the neutralizer keeper current, and the discharge current and voltage were measured for an 8-cm diameter, dished grid ion thruster for a beam current of 72 milliamps. The ratio of the rms magnitude of the fluctuations to the time-mean neutralizer keeper current was found to depend significantly on the neutralizer time-mean keeper current, the flow rate, and keeper hold diameter. The maxima of the spectra of the beam current fluctuations did not depend on the discharge fluctuations. It was found that: (1) the discharge current fluctuations do not directly contribute to the beam current fluctuations; and (2) the neutralizer contributions to the beam fluctuations are small (for good neutralizer-to-beam coupling) but not negligible and appear mostly in the higher frequency range measured.

Implications of a frame dependent gravitational effective action for perturbations on the Robertson-Walker metric

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adler, Stephen L.

In earlier work we showed that a frame dependent effective action motivated by the postulates of three-space general coordinate invariance and Weyl scaling invariance exactly mimics a cosmological constant in Robertson-Walker (RW) spacetimes. Here we study the implications of this effective action for small fluctuations around a spatially flat RW background geometry. The equations for the conserving extension of the modified stress-energy tensor can be integrated in closed form, and involve only the metric perturbation h00. Hence the equations for tensor and vector perturbations are unmodified, but there are Hubble scale additions to the scalar perturbation equations, which nonetheless admit no propagating wave solutions. Consequently, there are no modifications to standard gravitational wave propagation theory, but there may be observable implications for cosmology. We give a self-contained discussion, including an analysis of the restricted class of gauge transformations that act when a frame dependent effective action is present.

Scaling Features of High-Latitude Geomagnetic Field Fluctuations at Swarm Altitude: Impact of IMF Orientation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Michelis, Paola; Consolini, Giuseppe; Tozzi, Roberta; Marcucci, Maria Federica

2017-10-01

This paper attempts to explore the statistical scaling features of high-latitude geomagnetic field fluctuations at Swarm altitude. Data for this study are low-resolution (1 Hz) magnetic data recorded by the vector field magnetometer on board Swarm A satellite over 1 year (from 15 April 2014 to 15 April 2015). The first- and second-order structure function scaling exponents and the degree of intermittency of the fluctuations of the intensity of the horizontal component of the magnetic field at high northern latitudes have been evaluated for different interplanetary magnetic field orientations in the GSM Y-Z plane and seasons. In the case of the first-order structure function scaling exponent, a comparison between the average spatial distributions of the obtained values and the statistical convection patterns obtained using a Super Dual Auroral Radar Network dynamic model (CS10 model) has been also considered. The obtained results support the idea that the knowledge of the scaling features of the geomagnetic field fluctuations can help in the characterization of the different ionospheric turbulence regimes of the medium crossed by Swarm A satellite. This study shows that different turbulent regimes of the geomagnetic field fluctuations exist in the regions characterized by a double-cell convection pattern and in those regions near the border of the convective structures.

Patterns of resting state connectivity in human primary visual cortical areas: a 7T fMRI study.

PubMed

Raemaekers, Mathijs; Schellekens, Wouter; van Wezel, Richard J A; Petridou, Natalia; Kristo, Gert; Ramsey, Nick F

2014-01-01

The nature and origin of fMRI resting state fluctuations and connectivity are still not fully known. More detailed knowledge on the relationship between resting state patterns and brain function may help to elucidate this matter. We therefore performed an in depth study of how resting state fluctuations map to the well known architecture of the visual system. We investigated resting state connectivity at both a fine and large scale within and across visual areas V1, V2 and V3 in ten human subjects using a 7Tesla scanner. We found evidence for several coexisting and overlapping connectivity structures at different spatial scales. At the fine-scale level we found enhanced connectivity between the same topographic locations in the fieldmaps of V1, V2 and V3, enhanced connectivity to the contralateral functional homologue, and to a lesser extent enhanced connectivity between iso-eccentric locations within the same visual area. However, by far the largest proportion of the resting state fluctuations occurred within large-scale bilateral networks. These large-scale networks mapped to some extent onto the architecture of the visual system and could thereby obscure fine-scale connectivity. In fact, most of the fine-scale connectivity only became apparent after the large-scale network fluctuations were filtered from the timeseries. We conclude that fMRI resting state fluctuations in the visual cortex may in fact be a composite signal of different overlapping sources. Isolating the different sources could enhance correlations between BOLD and electrophysiological correlates of resting state activity. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Statistics of initial density perturbations in heavy ion collisions and their fluid dynamic response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Floerchinger, Stefan; Wiedemann, Urs Achim

2014-08-01

An interesting opportunity to determine thermodynamic and transport properties in more detail is to identify generic statistical properties of initial density perturbations. Here we study event-by-event fluctuations in terms of correlation functions for two models that can be solved analytically. The first assumes Gaussian fluctuations around a distribution that is fixed by the collision geometry but leads to non-Gaussian features after averaging over the reaction plane orientation at non-zero impact parameter. In this context, we derive a three-parameter extension of the commonly used Bessel-Gaussian event-by-event distribution of harmonic flow coefficients. Secondly, we study a model of N independent point sources for which connected n-point correlation functions of initial perturbations scale like 1 /N n-1. This scaling is violated for non-central collisions in a way that can be characterized by its impact parameter dependence. We discuss to what extent these are generic properties that can be expected to hold for any model of initial conditions, and how this can improve the fluid dynamical analysis of heavy ion collisions.

Size dependence of spin-torque induced magnetic switching in CoFeB-based perpendicular magnetization tunnel junctions (invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, J. Z.; Trouilloud, P. L.; Gajek, M. J.; Nowak, J.; Robertazzi, R. P.; Hu, G.; Abraham, D. W.; Gaidis, M. C.; Brown, S. L.; O'Sullivan, E. J.; Gallagher, W. J.; Worledge, D. C.

2012-04-01

CoFeB-based magnetic tunnel junctions with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are used as a model system for studies of size dependence in spin-torque-induced magnetic switching. For integrated solid-state memory applications, it is important to understand the magnetic and electrical characteristics of these magnetic tunnel junctions as they scale with tunnel junction size. Size-dependent magnetic anisotropy energy, switching voltage, apparent damping, and anisotropy field are systematically compared for devices with different materials and fabrication treatments. Results reveal the presence of sub-volume thermal fluctuation and reversal, with a characteristic length-scale of the order of approximately 40 nm, depending on the strength of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and exchange stiffness. To have the best spin-torque switching efficiency and best stability against thermal activation, it is desirable to optimize the perpendicular anisotropy strength with the junction size for intended use. It also is important to ensure strong exchange-stiffness across the magnetic thin film. These combine to give an exchange length that is comparable or larger than the lateral device size for efficient spin-torque switching.

Microstructural analysis in the depth direction of a heteroepitaxial AlN thick film grown on a trench-patterned template by nanobeam X-ray diffraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shida, K.; Takeuchi, S.; Tohei, T.; Miyake, H.; Hiramatsu, K.; Sumitani, K.; Imai, Y.; Kimura, S.; Sakai, A.

2018-04-01

This work quantitatively assessed the three-dimensional distribution of crystal lattice distortions in an epitaxial AlN thick film grown on a trench-patterned template, using nanobeam X-ray diffraction. Position-dependent ω-2θ-φ mapping clearly demonstrated local tilting, spacing and twisting of lattice planes as well as fluctuations in these phenomena on a sub-micrometer scale comparable to the pitch of the trench-and-terrace patterning. Analysis of the crystal lattice distortion in the depth direction was performed using a newly developed method in which the X-ray nanobeam diffracted from the sample surface to specific depths can be selectively detected by employing a Pt wire profiler. This technique generated depth-resolved ω-2θ-φ maps confirming that fluctuations in lattice plane tilting and spacing greatly depend on the dislocation distribution and the history of the AlN epitaxial growth on the trench-patterned structure. It was also found that both fluctuations were reduced on approaching the AlN surface and, in particular, were sharply reduced at specific depths in the terrace regions. These sharp reductions are attributed to the formation of sacrificial zones with degraded crystal quality around the trenches and possibly lead to raising the crystal quality near the surface of the AlN film.

Screening for delirium with the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC): Symptom profile and utility of individual items in the identification of delirium dependent on the level of sedation.

PubMed

Boettger, Soenke; Meyer, Rafael; Richter, André; Fernandez, Susana Franco; Rudiger, Alain; Schubert, Maria; Jenewein, Josef; Nuñez, David Garcia

2018-05-24

The importance of the proper identification of delirium, with its high incidence and adversities in the intensive care setting, has been widely recognized. One common screening instrument is the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC); however, the symptom profile and key features of delirium dependent on the level of sedation have not yet been evaluated. In this prospective cohort study, the ICDSC was evaluated versus the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition, text revision, diagnosis of delirium set as standard with respect to the symptom profile, and correct identification of delirium. The aim of this study was to identify key features of delirium in the intensive care setting dependent on the Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale levels of sedation: drowsiness versus alert and calmness.ResultThe 88 delirious patients of 225 were older, had more severe disease, and prolonged hospitalization. Irrespective of the level of sedation, delirium was correctly classified by items related to inattention, disorientation, psychomotor alterations, inappropriate speech or mood, and symptom fluctuation. In the drowsy patients, inattention reached substantial sensitivity and specificity, whereas psychomotor alterations and sleep-wake cycle disturbances were sensitive lacked specificity. The positive prediction was substantial across items, whereas the negative prediction was only moderate. In the alert and calm patient, the sensitivities were substantial for psychomotor alterations, sleep-wake cycle disturbances, and symptom fluctuations; however, these fluctuations were not specific. The positive prediction was moderate and the negative prediction substantial. Between the nondelirious drowsy and alert, the symptom profile was similar; however, drowsiness was associated with alterations in consciousness.Significance of resultsIn the clinical routine, irrespective of the level of sedation, delirium was characterized by the ICDSC items for inattention, disorientation, psychomotor alterations, inappropriate speech or mood and symptom fluctuation. Further, drowsiness caused altered levels of consciousness.

Data series embedding and scale invariant statistics.

PubMed

Michieli, I; Medved, B; Ristov, S

2010-06-01

Data sequences acquired from bio-systems such as human gait data, heart rate interbeat data, or DNA sequences exhibit complex dynamics that is frequently described by a long-memory or power-law decay of autocorrelation function. One way of characterizing that dynamics is through scale invariant statistics or "fractal-like" behavior. For quantifying scale invariant parameters of physiological signals several methods have been proposed. Among them the most common are detrended fluctuation analysis, sample mean variance analyses, power spectral density analysis, R/S analysis, and recently in the realm of the multifractal approach, wavelet analysis. In this paper it is demonstrated that embedding the time series data in the high-dimensional pseudo-phase space reveals scale invariant statistics in the simple fashion. The procedure is applied on different stride interval data sets from human gait measurements time series (Physio-Bank data library). Results show that introduced mapping adequately separates long-memory from random behavior. Smaller gait data sets were analyzed and scale-free trends for limited scale intervals were successfully detected. The method was verified on artificially produced time series with known scaling behavior and with the varying content of noise. The possibility for the method to falsely detect long-range dependence in the artificially generated short range dependence series was investigated. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Non-Gaussian Nature of Fracture and the Survival of Fat-Tail Exponents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tallakstad, Ken Tore; Toussaint, Renaud; Santucci, Stephane; Måløy, Knut Jørgen

2013-04-01

We study the fluctuations of the global velocity Vl(t), computed at various length scales l, during the intermittent mode-I propagation of a crack front. The statistics converge to a non-Gaussian distribution, with an asymmetric shape and a fat tail. This breakdown of the central limit theorem (CLT) is due to the diverging variance of the underlying local crack front velocity distribution, displaying a power law tail. Indeed, by the application of a generalized CLT, the full shape of our experimental velocity distribution at large scale is shown to follow the stable Levy distribution, which preserves the power law tail exponent under upscaling. This study aims to demonstrate in general for crackling noise systems how one can infer the complete scale dependence of the activity—and extreme event distributions—by measuring only at a global scale.

The scale-dependent market trend: Empirical evidences using the lagged DFA method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Daye; Kou, Zhun; Sun, Qiankun

2015-09-01

In this paper we make an empirical research and test the efficiency of 44 important market indexes in multiple scales. A modified method based on the lagged detrended fluctuation analysis is utilized to maximize the information of long-term correlations from the non-zero lags and keep the margin of errors small when measuring the local Hurst exponent. Our empirical result illustrates that a common pattern can be found in the majority of the measured market indexes which tend to be persistent (with the local Hurst exponent > 0.5) in the small time scale, whereas it displays significant anti-persistent characteristics in large time scales. Moreover, not only the stock markets but also the foreign exchange markets share this pattern. Considering that the exchange markets are only weakly synchronized with the economic cycles, it can be concluded that the economic cycles can cause anti-persistence in the large time scale but there are also other factors at work. The empirical result supports the view that financial markets are multi-fractal and it indicates that deviations from efficiency and the type of model to describe the trend of market price are dependent on the forecasting horizon.

Scale-dependent cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry in a forced rotating turbulence experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallet, B.; Campagne, A.; Cortet, P.-P.; Moisy, F.

2014-03-01

We characterize the statistical and geometrical properties of the cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry in a statistically steady forced rotating turbulence experiment. Turbulence is generated by a set of vertical flaps which continuously inject velocity fluctuations towards the center of a tank mounted on a rotating platform. We first characterize the cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry from conventional single-point vorticity statistics. We propose a phenomenological model to explain the emergence of the asymmetry in the experiment, from which we predict scaling laws for the root-mean-square velocity in good agreement with the experimental data. We further quantify the cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry using a set of third-order two-point velocity correlations. We focus on the correlations which are nonzero only if the cyclone-anticyclone symmetry is broken. They offer two advantages over single-point vorticity statistics: first, they are defined from velocity measurements only, so an accurate resolution of the Kolmogorov scale is not required; second, they provide information on the scale-dependence of the cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry. We compute these correlation functions analytically for a random distribution of independent identical vortices. These model correlations describe well the experimental ones, indicating that the cyclone-anticyclone asymmetry is dominated by the large-scale long-lived cyclones.

Asymmetric multiscale detrended fluctuation analysis of California electricity spot price

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Qingju

2016-01-01

In this paper, we develop a new method called asymmetric multiscale detrended fluctuation analysis, which is an extension of asymmetric detrended fluctuation analysis (A-DFA) and can assess the asymmetry correlation properties of series with a variable scale range. We investigate the asymmetric correlations in California 1999-2000 power market after filtering some periodic trends by empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Our findings show the coexistence of symmetric and asymmetric correlations in the price series of 1999 and strong asymmetric correlations in 2000. What is more, we detect subtle correlation properties of the upward and downward price series for most larger scale intervals in 2000. Meanwhile, the fluctuations of Δα(s) (asymmetry) and | Δα(s) | (absolute asymmetry) are more significant in 2000 than that in 1999 for larger scale intervals, and they have similar characteristics for smaller scale intervals. We conclude that the strong asymmetry property and different correlation properties of upward and downward price series for larger scale intervals in 2000 have important implications on the collapse of California power market, and our findings shed a new light on the underlying mechanisms of power price.

Density dependence in demography and dispersal generates fluctuating invasion speeds

PubMed Central

Li, Bingtuan; Miller, Tom E. X.

2017-01-01

Density dependence plays an important role in population regulation and is known to generate temporal fluctuations in population density. However, the ways in which density dependence affects spatial population processes, such as species invasions, are less understood. Although classical ecological theory suggests that invasions should advance at a constant speed, empirical work is illuminating the highly variable nature of biological invasions, which often exhibit nonconstant spreading speeds, even in simple, controlled settings. Here, we explore endogenous density dependence as a mechanism for inducing variability in biological invasions with a set of population models that incorporate density dependence in demographic and dispersal parameters. We show that density dependence in demography at low population densities—i.e., an Allee effect—combined with spatiotemporal variability in population density behind the invasion front can produce fluctuations in spreading speed. The density fluctuations behind the front can arise from either overcompensatory population growth or density-dependent dispersal, both of which are common in nature. Our results show that simple rules can generate complex spread dynamics and highlight a source of variability in biological invasions that may aid in ecological forecasting. PMID:28442569

Event-by-Event Anisotropic Flow in Heavy-ion Collisions from Combined Yang-Mills and Viscous Fluid Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gale, Charles; Jeon, Sangyong; Schenke, Björn; Tribedy, Prithwish; Venugopalan, Raju

2013-01-01

Anisotropic flow coefficients v1-v5 in heavy ion collisions are computed by combining a classical Yang-Mills description of the early time Glasma flow with the subsequent relativistic viscous hydrodynamic evolution of matter through the quark-gluon plasma and hadron gas phases. The Glasma dynamics, as realized in the impact parameter dependent Glasma (IP-Glasma) model, takes into account event-by-event geometric fluctuations in nucleon positions and intrinsic subnucleon scale color charge fluctuations; the preequilibrium flow of matter is then matched to the music algorithm describing viscous hydrodynamic flow and particle production at freeze-out. The IP-Glasma+MUSIC model describes well both transverse momentum dependent and integrated vn data measured at the Large Hadron Collider and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The model also reproduces the event-by-event distributions of v2, v3 and v4 measured by the ATLAS Collaboration. The implications of our results for better understanding of the dynamics of the Glasma and for the extraction of transport properties of the quark-gluon plasma are outlined.

Swimming path statistics of an active Brownian particle with time-dependent self-propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babel, S.; ten Hagen, B.; Löwen, H.

2014-02-01

Typically, in the description of active Brownian particles, a constant effective propulsion force is assumed, which is then subjected to fluctuations in orientation and translation, leading to a persistent random walk with an enlarged long-time diffusion coefficient. Here, we generalize previous results for the swimming path statistics to a time-dependent, and thus in many situations more realistic, propulsion which is a prescribed input. We analytically calculate both the noise-free and the noise-averaged trajectories for time-periodic propulsion under the action of an additional torque. In the deterministic case, such an oscillatory microswimmer moves on closed paths that can be much more complicated than the commonly observed straight lines and circles. When exposed to random fluctuations, the mean trajectories turn out to be self-similar curves which bear the characteristics of their noise-free counterparts. Furthermore, we consider a propulsion force which scales in time t as ∝tα (with α = 0,1,2, …) and analyze the resulting superdiffusive behavior. Our predictions are verifiable for diffusiophoretic artificial microswimmers with prescribed propulsion protocols.

Characterizing Detrended Fluctuation Analysis of multifractional Brownian motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setty, V. A.; Sharma, A. S.

2015-02-01

The Hurst exponent (H) is widely used to quantify long range dependence in time series data and is estimated using several well known techniques. Recognizing its ability to remove trends the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) is used extensively to estimate a Hurst exponent in non-stationary data. Multifractional Brownian motion (mBm) broadly encompasses a set of models of non-stationary data exhibiting time varying Hurst exponents, H(t) as against a constant H. Recently, there has been a growing interest in time dependence of H(t) and sliding window techniques have been used to estimate a local time average of the exponent. This brought to fore the ability of DFA to estimate scaling exponents in systems with time varying H(t) , such as mBm. This paper characterizes the performance of DFA on mBm data with linearly varying H(t) and further test the robustness of estimated time average with respect to data and technique related parameters. Our results serve as a bench-mark for using DFA as a sliding window estimator to obtain H(t) from time series data.

Infrared signatures of the peptide dynamical transition: A molecular dynamics simulation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobus, Maja; Nguyen, Phuong H.; Stock, Gerhard

2010-07-01

Recent two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) experiments on a short peptide 310-helix in chloroform solvent [E. H. G. Backus et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 113, 13405 (2009)] revealed an intriguing temperature dependence of the homogeneous line width, which was interpreted in terms of a dynamical transition of the peptide. To explain these findings, extensive molecular dynamics simulations at various temperatures were performed in order to construct the free energy landscape of the system. The study recovers the familiar picture of a glass-forming system, which below the glass transition temperature Tg is trapped in various energy basins, while it diffuses freely between these basins above Tg. In fact, one finds at Tg≈270 K a sharp rise of the fluctuations of the backbone dihedral angles, which reflects conformational transitions of the peptide. The corresponding CO frequency fluctuations are found to be a sensitive probe of the peptide conformational dynamics from femtosecond to nanosecond time scales and lead to 2D-IR spectra that qualitatively match the experiment. The calculated homogeneous line width, however, does not show the biphasic temperature dependence observed in experiment.

INTERPRETATION OF THE STRUCTURE FUNCTION OF ROTATION MEASURE IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Siyao; Zhang, Bing, E-mail: syxu@pku.edu.cn, E-mail: zhang@physics.unlv.edu

2016-06-20

The observed structure function (SF) of rotation measure (RM) varies as a broken power-law function of angular scales. The systematic shallowness of its spectral slope is inconsistent with the standard Kolmogorov scaling. This motivates us to examine the statistical analysis on RM fluctuations. The correlations of RM constructed by Lazarian and Pogosyan are demonstrated to be adequate in explaining the observed features of RM SFs through a direct comparison between the theoretically obtained and observationally measured SF results. By segregating the density and magnetic field fluctuations and adopting arbitrary indices for their respective power spectra, we find that when themore » SFs of RM and emission measure have a similar form over the same range of angular scales, the statistics of the RM fluctuations reflect the properties of density fluctuations. RM SFs can be used to evaluate the mean magnetic field along the line of sight, but cannot serve as an informative source on the properties of turbulent magnetic field in the interstellar medium. We identify the spectral break of RM SFs as the inner scale of a shallow spectrum of electron density fluctuations, which characterizes the typical size of discrete electron density structures in the observed region.« less

Detrended fluctuation analysis made flexible to detect range of cross-correlated fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwapień, Jarosław; Oświecimka, Paweł; DroŻdŻ, Stanisław

2015-11-01

The detrended cross-correlation coefficient ρDCCA has recently been proposed to quantify the strength of cross-correlations on different temporal scales in bivariate, nonstationary time series. It is based on the detrended cross-correlation and detrended fluctuation analyses (DCCA and DFA, respectively) and can be viewed as an analog of the Pearson coefficient in the case of the fluctuation analysis. The coefficient ρDCCA works well in many practical situations but by construction its applicability is limited to detection of whether two signals are generally cross-correlated, without the possibility to obtain information on the amplitude of fluctuations that are responsible for those cross-correlations. In order to introduce some related flexibility, here we propose an extension of ρDCCA that exploits the multifractal versions of DFA and DCCA: multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis, respectively. The resulting new coefficient ρq not only is able to quantify the strength of correlations but also allows one to identify the range of detrended fluctuation amplitudes that are correlated in two signals under study. We show how the coefficient ρq works in practical situations by applying it to stochastic time series representing processes with long memory: autoregressive and multiplicative ones. Such processes are often used to model signals recorded from complex systems and complex physical phenomena like turbulence, so we are convinced that this new measure can successfully be applied in time-series analysis. In particular, we present an example of such application to highly complex empirical data from financial markets. The present formulation can straightforwardly be extended to multivariate data in terms of the q -dependent counterpart of the correlation matrices and then to the network representation.

Charged-Particle Transport in the Data-Driven, Non-Isotropic Turbulent Mangetic Field in the Solar Wind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, P.; Jokipii, J. R.; Giacalone, J.

2016-12-01

Anisotropies in astrophysical turbulence has been proposed and observed for a long time. And recent observations adopting the multi-scale analysis techniques provided a detailed description of the scale-dependent power spectrum of the magnetic field parallel and perpendicular to the scale-dependent magnetic field line at different scales in the solar wind. In the previous work, we proposed a multi-scale method to synthesize non-isotropic turbulent magnetic field with pre-determined power spectra of the fluctuating magnetic field as a function of scales. We present the effect of test particle transport in the resulting field with a two-scale algorithm. We find that the scale-dependent turbulence anisotropy has a significant difference in the effect on charged par- ticle transport from what the isotropy or the global anisotropy has. It is important to apply this field synthesis method to the solar wind magnetic field based on spacecraft data. However, this relies on how we extract the power spectra of the turbulent magnetic field across different scales. In this study, we propose here a power spectrum synthesis method based on Fourier analysis to extract the large and small scale power spectrum from a single spacecraft observation with a long enough period and a high sampling frequency. We apply the method to the solar wind measurement by the magnetometer onboard the ACE spacecraft and regenerate the large scale isotropic 2D spectrum and the small scale anisotropic 2D spectrum. We run test particle simulations in the magnetid field generated in this way to estimate the transport coefficients and to compare with the isotropic turbulence model.

Neuronal long-range temporal correlations and avalanche dynamics are correlated with behavioral scaling laws

PubMed Central

Palva, J. Matias; Zhigalov, Alexander; Hirvonen, Jonni; Korhonen, Onerva; Linkenkaer-Hansen, Klaus; Palva, Satu

2013-01-01

Scale-free fluctuations are ubiquitous in behavioral performance and neuronal activity. In time scales from seconds to hundreds of seconds, psychophysical dynamics and the amplitude fluctuations of neuronal oscillations are governed by power-law-form long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs). In millisecond time scales, neuronal activity comprises cascade-like neuronal avalanches that exhibit power-law size and lifetime distributions. However, it remains unknown whether these neuronal scaling laws are correlated with those characterizing behavioral performance or whether neuronal LRTCs and avalanches are related. Here, we show that the neuronal scaling laws are strongly correlated both with each other and with behavioral scaling laws. We used source reconstructed magneto- and electroencephalographic recordings to characterize the dynamics of ongoing cortical activity. We found robust power-law scaling in neuronal LRTCs and avalanches in resting-state data and during the performance of audiovisual threshold stimulus detection tasks. The LRTC scaling exponents of the behavioral performance fluctuations were correlated with those of concurrent neuronal avalanches and LRTCs in anatomically identified brain systems. The behavioral exponents also were correlated with neuronal scaling laws derived from a resting-state condition and with a similar anatomical topography. Finally, despite the difference in time scales, the scaling exponents of neuronal LRTCs and avalanches were strongly correlated during both rest and task performance. Thus, long and short time-scale neuronal dynamics are related and functionally significant at the behavioral level. These data suggest that the temporal structures of human cognitive fluctuations and behavioral variability stem from the scaling laws of individual and intrinsic brain dynamics. PMID:23401536

Rayleigh instability at small length scales.

PubMed

Gopan, Nandu; Sathian, Sarith P

2014-09-01

The Rayleigh instability (also called the Plateau-Rayleigh instability) of a nanosized liquid propane thread is investigated using molecular dynamics (MD). The validity of classical predictions at small length scales is verified by comparing the temporal evolution of liquid thread simulated by MD against classical predictions. Previous works have shown that thermal fluctuations become dominant at small length scales. The role and influence of the stochastic nature of thermal fluctuations in determining the instability at small length scale is also investigated. Thermal fluctuations are seen to dominate and accelerate the breakup process only during the last stages of breakup. The simulations also reveal that the breakup profile of nanoscale threads undergo modification due to reorganization of molecules by the evaporation-condensation process.

Large-Scale Structure and Hyperuniformity of Amorphous Ices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martelli, Fausto; Torquato, Salvatore; Giovambattista, Nicolas; Car, Roberto

2017-09-01

We investigate the large-scale structure of amorphous ices and transitions between their different forms by quantifying their large-scale density fluctuations. Specifically, we simulate the isothermal compression of low-density amorphous ice (LDA) and hexagonal ice to produce high-density amorphous ice (HDA). Both HDA and LDA are nearly hyperuniform; i.e., they are characterized by an anomalous suppression of large-scale density fluctuations. By contrast, in correspondence with the nonequilibrium phase transitions to HDA, the presence of structural heterogeneities strongly suppresses the hyperuniformity and the system becomes hyposurficial (devoid of "surface-area fluctuations"). Our investigation challenges the largely accepted "frozen-liquid" picture, which views glasses as structurally arrested liquids. Beyond implications for water, our findings enrich our understanding of pressure-induced structural transformations in glasses.

The role of large scale motions on passive scalar transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dharmarathne, Suranga; Araya, Guillermo; Tutkun, Murat; Leonardi, Stefano; Castillo, Luciano

2014-11-01

We study direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent channel flow at Reτ = 394 to investigate effect of large scale motions on fluctuating temperature field which forms a passive scalar field. Statistical description of the large scale features of the turbulent channel flow is obtained using two-point correlations of velocity components. Two-point correlations of fluctuating temperature field is also examined in order to identify possible similarities between velocity and temperature fields. The two-point cross-correlations betwen the velocity and temperature fluctuations are further analyzed to establish connections between these two fields. In addition, we use proper orhtogonal decompotion (POD) to extract most dominant modes of the fields and discuss the coupling of large scale features of turbulence and the temperature field.

Massive superclusters as a probe of the nature and amplitude of primordial density fluctuations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaiser, N.; Davis, M.

1985-01-01

It is pointed out that correlation studies of galaxy positions have been widely used in the search for information about the large-scale matter distribution. The study of rare condensations on large scales provides an approach to extend the existing knowledge of large-scale structure into the weakly clustered regime. Shane (1975) provides a description of several apparent massive condensations within the Shane-Wirtanen catalog, taking into account the Serpens-Virgo cloud and the Corona cloud. In the present study, a description is given of a model for estimating the frequency of condensations which evolve from initially Gaussian fluctuations. This model is applied to the Corona cloud to estimate its 'rareness' and thereby estimate the rms density contrast on this mass scale. An attempt is made to find a conflict between the density fluctuations derived from the Corona cloud and independent constraints. A comparison is conducted of the estimate and the density fluctuations predicted to arise in a universe dominated by cold dark matter.

Mean-field dynamo in a turbulence with shear and kinetic helicity fluctuations.

PubMed

Kleeorin, Nathan; Rogachevskii, Igor

2008-03-01

We study the effects of kinetic helicity fluctuations in a turbulence with large-scale shear using two different approaches: the spectral tau approximation and the second-order correlation approximation (or first-order smoothing approximation). These two approaches demonstrate that homogeneous kinetic helicity fluctuations alone with zero mean value in a sheared homogeneous turbulence cannot cause a large-scale dynamo. A mean-field dynamo is possible when the kinetic helicity fluctuations are inhomogeneous, which causes a nonzero mean alpha effect in a sheared turbulence. On the other hand, the shear-current effect can generate a large-scale magnetic field even in a homogeneous nonhelical turbulence with large-scale shear. This effect was investigated previously for large hydrodynamic and magnetic Reynolds numbers. In this study we examine the threshold required for the shear-current dynamo versus Reynolds number. We demonstrate that there is no need for a developed inertial range in order to maintain the shear-current dynamo (e.g., the threshold in the Reynolds number is of the order of 1).

Primordial non-gaussianity from the bispectrum of 21-cm fluctuations in the dark ages

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz, Julian B.; Ali-Haïmoud, Yacine; Kamionkowski, Marc

2015-10-01

A measurement of primordial non-Gaussianity will be of paramount importance to distinguish between different models of inflation. Cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy observations have set unprecedented bounds on the non-Gaussianity parameter fNL but the interesting regime fNL≲1 is beyond their reach. Brightness-temperature fluctuations in the 21-cm line during the dark ages (z ˜30 - 100 ) are a promising successor to CMB studies, giving access to a much larger number of modes. They are, however, intrinsically nonlinear, which results in secondary non-gaussianities orders of magnitude larger than the sought-after primordial signal. In this paper we carefully compute the primary and secondary bispectra of 21-cm fluctuations on small scales. We use the flat-sky formalism, which greatly simplifies the analysis, while still being very accurate on small angular scales. We show that the secondary bispectrum is highly degenerate with the primordial one, and argue that even percent-level uncertainties in the amplitude of the former lead to a bias of order Δ fNL˜10 . To tackle this problem we carry out a detailed Fisher analysis, marginalizing over the amplitudes of a few smooth redshift-dependent coefficients characterizing the secondary bispectrum. We find that the signal-to-noise ratio for a single redshift slice is reduced by a factor of ˜5 in comparison to a case without secondary non-gaussianities. Setting aside foreground contamination, we forecast that a cosmic-variance-limited experiment observing 21-cm fluctuations over 30 ≤z ≤100 with a 0.1-MHz bandwidth and 0.1 arc min angular resolution could achieve a sensitivity of order fNLlocal˜0.03 , fNLequil˜0.04 and fNLortho˜0.03 .

[Hydrogen exchange and proteolytic degradation of ribonuclease A. Similarities and distinctions of the kinetic mechanisms].

PubMed

Abaturov, L V; Nosova, N G

2007-01-01

The studies by IR spectroscopy of the temperature dependence of the H-D exchange rate of the RNase A peptide NH atoms permit one to characterize two types of conformation fluctuations, local and global. A comparison with the temperature dependence of the proteolytic degradation rate of RNase A shows that similar in nature fluctuations allow for the H-D exchange of NH atoms and the splitting of peptide bonds of the native protein. In the low temperature region, both processes occur through local fluctuations, by way of the EX2 mechanism, and in the high temperature region, they occur through global fluctuations with the overall denaturation desorganization of the native structure, by way of the EX1 mechanism. The biphasic dependence of the rate of H-D exchange and proteolytic degradation of RNase A on urea concentration is also explained by the combination of local and global fluctuations.

Experimental study of stable imbibition displacements in a model open fracture. II. Scale-dependent avalanche dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clotet, Xavier; Santucci, Stéphane; Ortín, Jordi

2016-01-01

We report the results of an experimental investigation of the spatiotemporal dynamics of stable imbibition fronts in a disordered medium, in the regime of capillary disorder, for a wide range of experimental conditions. We have used silicone oils of various viscosities μ and nearly identical oil-air surface tension, and forced them to slowly invade a model open fracture at very different flow rates v . In this second part of the study we have carried out a scale-dependent statistical analysis of the front dynamics. We have specifically analyzed the influence of μ and v on the statistical properties of the velocity Vℓ, the spatial average of the local front velocities over a window of lateral size ℓ . We have varied ℓ from the local scale defined by our spatial resolution up to the lateral system size L . Even though the imposed flow rate is constant, the signals Vℓ(t ) present very strong fluctuations which evolve systematically with the parameters μ , v , and ℓ . We have verified that the non-Gaussian fluctuations of the global velocity Vℓ(t ) are very well described by a generalized Gumbel statistics. The asymmetric shape and the exponential tail of those distributions are controlled by the number of effective degrees of freedom of the imbibition fronts, given by Neff=ℓ /ℓc (the ratio of the lateral size of the measuring window ℓ to the correlation length ℓc˜1 /√{μ v } ). The large correlated excursions of Vℓ(t ) correspond to global avalanches, which reflect extra displacements of the imbibition fronts. We show that global avalanches are power-law distributed, both in sizes and durations, with robustly defined exponents—independent of μ , v , and ℓ . Nevertheless, the exponential upper cutoffs of the distributions evolve systematically with those parameters. We have found, moreover, that maximum sizes ξS and maximum durations ξT of global avalanches are not controlled by the same mechanism. While ξS are also determined by ℓ /ℓc , like the amplitude fluctuations of Vℓ(t ) , ξT and the temporal correlations of Vℓ(t ) evolve much more strongly with imposed flow rate v than with fluid viscosity μ .

Seeded hot dark matter models with inflation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gratsias, John; Scherrer, Robert J.; Steigman, Gary; Villumsen, Jens V.

1993-01-01

We examine massive neutrino (hot dark matter) models for large-scale structure in which the density perturbations are produced by randomly distributed relic seeds and by inflation. Power spectra, streaming velocities, and the Sachs-Wolfe quadrupole fluctuation are derived for this model. We find that the pure seeded hot dark matter model without inflation produces Sachs-Wolfe fluctuations far smaller than those seen by COBE. With the addition of inflationary perturbations, fluctuations consistent with COBE can be produced. The COBE results set the normalization of the inflationary component, which determines the large-scale (about 50/h Mpc) streaming velocities. The normalization of the seed power spectrum is a free parameter, which can be adjusted to obtain the desired fluctuations on small scales. The power spectra produced are very similar to those seen in mixed hot and cold dark matter models.

Large-Scale Chaos and Fluctuations in Active Nematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngo, Sandrine; Peshkov, Anton; Aranson, Igor S.; Bertin, Eric; Ginelli, Francesco; Chaté, Hugues

2014-07-01

We show that dry active nematics, e.g., collections of shaken elongated granular particles, exhibit large-scale spatiotemporal chaos made of interacting dense, ordered, bandlike structures in a parameter region including the linear onset of nematic order. These results are obtained from the study of both the well-known (deterministic) hydrodynamic equations describing these systems and of the self-propelled particle model they were derived from. We prove, in particular, that the chaos stems from the generic instability of the band solution of the hydrodynamic equations. Revisiting the status of the strong fluctuations and long-range correlations in the particle model, we show that the giant number fluctuations observed in the chaotic phase are a trivial consequence of density segregation. However anomalous, curvature-driven number fluctuations are present in the homogeneous quasiordered nematic phase and characterized by a nontrivial scaling exponent.

Microcanonical fluctuations of the condensate in weakly interacting Bose gases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Idziaszek, Zbigniew

2005-05-15

We study fluctuations of the number of Bose condensed atoms in a weakly interacting homogeneous and trapped gases. For a homogeneous system we apply the particle-number-conserving formulation of the Bogoliubov theory and calculate the condensate fluctuations within the canonical and the microcanonical ensembles. We demonstrate that, at least in the low-temperature regime, predictions of the particle-number-conserving and traditional, nonconserving theory are identical, and lead to the anomalous scaling of fluctuations. Furthermore, the microcanonical fluctuations differ from the canonical ones by a quantity which scales normally in the number of particles, thus predictions of both ensembles are equivalent in the thermodynamicmore » limit. We observe a similar behavior for a weakly interacting gas in a harmonic trap. This is in contrast to the trapped, ideal gas, where microcanonical and canonical fluctuations are different in the thermodynamic limit.« less

Axionic landscape for Higgs coupling near-criticality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cline, James M.; Espinosa, José R.

2018-02-01

The measured value of the Higgs quartic coupling λ is peculiarly close to the critical value above which the Higgs potential becomes unstable, when extrapolated to high scales by renormalization group running. It is tempting to speculate that there is an anthropic reason behind this near-criticality. We show how an axionic field can provide a landscape of vacuum states in which λ scans. These states are populated during inflation to create a multiverse with different quartic couplings, with a probability distribution P that can be computed. If P is peaked in the anthropically forbidden region of Higgs instability, then the most probable universe compatible with observers would be close to the boundary, as observed. We discuss three scenarios depending on the Higgs vacuum selection mechanism: decay by quantum tunneling, by thermal fluctuations, or by inflationary fluctuations.

Anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations for Au + Au at √sNN =200 GeV in a multiphase transport model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, L.; Ma, G. L.; Ma, Y. G.

2014-04-01

Anisotropic flow coefficients and their fluctuations are investigated for Au + Au collisions at center-of-mass energy √sNN = 200 GeV by using a multiphase transport model with string melting scenario. Experimental results of azimuthal anisotropies by means of the two- and four-particle cumulants are generally well reproduced by the model including both parton cascade and hadronic rescatterings. Event-by-event treatments of the harmonic flow coefficients vn (for n =2, 3, and 4) are performed, in which event distributions of vn for different orders are consistent with Gaussian shapes over all centrality bins. Systematic studies on centrality, transverse momentum (pT), and pseudorapidity (η) dependencies of anisotropic flows and quantitative estimations of the flow fluctuations are presented. The pT and η dependencies of absolute fluctuations for both v2 and v3 follow trends similar to their flow coefficients. Relative fluctuation of triangular flow v3 is slightly centrality dependent, which is quite different from that of elliptic flow v2. It is observed that parton cascade has a large effect on the flow fluctuations, but hadronic scatterings make little contribution to the flow fluctuations, which indicates flow fluctuations are mainly modified during partonic evolution stage.

Adiabatic Coupling Constant of Nitrobenzene- n-Alkane Critical Mixtures. Evidence from Ultrasonic Spectra and Thermodynamic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirzaev, Sirojiddin Z.; Kaatze, Udo

2016-09-01

Ultrasonic spectra of mixtures of nitrobenzene with n-alkanes, from n-hexane to n-nonane, are analyzed. They feature up to two Debye-type relaxation terms with discrete relaxation times and, near the critical point, an additional relaxation term due to the fluctuations in the local concentration. The latter can be well represented by the dynamic scaling theory. Its amplitude parameter reveals the adiabatic coupling constant of the mixtures of critical composition. The dependence of this thermodynamic parameter upon the length of the n-alkanes corresponds to that of the slope in the pressure dependence of the critical temperature and is thus taken another confirmation of the dynamic scaling model. The change in the variation of the coupling constant and of several other mixture parameters with alkane length probably reflects a structural change in the nitrobenzene- n-alkane mixtures when the number of carbon atoms per alkane exceeds eight.

Dynamic spectrin/ankyrin-G microdomains promote lateral membrane assembly by opposing endocytosis

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Paul M.; He, Meng; Bennett, Vann

2015-01-01

Current physical models for plasma membranes emphasize dynamic 10- to 300-nm compartments at thermodynamic equilibrium but subject to thermal fluctuations. However, epithelial lateral membranes contain micrometer-sized domains defined by an underlying membrane skeleton composed of spectrin and its partner ankyrin-G. We demonstrate that these spectrin/ankyrin-G domains exhibit local microtubule-dependent movement on a time scale of minutes and encounter most of the lateral membranes within an hour. Spectrin/ankyrin-G domains exclude clathrin and clathrin-dependent cargo, and inhibit both receptor-mediated and bulk endocytosis. Moreover, inhibition of endocytosis fully restores lateral membrane height in spectrin- or ankyrin-G–depleted cells. These findings support a non-equilibrium cellular-scale model for epithelial lateral membranes, where spectrin/ankyrin-G domains actively patrol the plasma membrane, analogous to “window washers,” and promote columnar morphology by blocking membrane uptake. PMID:26523289

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arévalo, P.; Churazov, E.; Zhuravleva, I.

X-ray images of galaxy clusters and gas-rich elliptical galaxies show a wealth of small-scale features that reflect fluctuations in density and/or temperature of the intracluster medium. In this paper we study these fluctuations in M87/Virgo to establish whether sound waves/shocks, bubbles, or uplifted cold gas dominate the structure. We exploit the strong dependence of the emissivity on density and temperature in different energy bands to distinguish between these processes. Using simulations we demonstrate that our analysis recovers the leading type of fluctuation even in the presence of projection effects and temperature gradients. We confirm the isobaric nature of cool filamentsmore » of gas entrained by buoyantly rising bubbles, extending to 7′ to the east and southwest, and the adiabatic nature of the weak shocks at 40″ and 3′ from the center. For features of ∼5–10 kpc, we show that the central 4′ × 4′ region is dominated by cool structures in pressure equilibrium with the ambient hotter gas while up to 30% of the variance in this region can be ascribed to adiabatic fluctuations. The remaining part of the central 14′ × 14′ region, excluding the arms and shocks described above, is dominated by apparently isothermal fluctuations (bubbles) with a possible admixture (at the level of ∼30%) of adiabatic (sound waves) and by isobaric structures. Larger features, of about 30 kpc, show a stronger contribution from isobaric fluctuations. The results broadly agree with a model based on feedback from an active galactic nucleus mediated by bubbles of relativistic plasma.« less

The statistics of primordial density fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrow, John D.; Coles, Peter

1990-05-01

The statistical properties of the density fluctuations produced by power-law inflation are investigated. It is found that, even the fluctuations present in the scalar field driving the inflation are Gaussian, the resulting density perturbations need not be, due to stochastic variations in the Hubble parameter. All the moments of the density fluctuations are calculated, and is is argued that, for realistic parameter choices, the departures from Gaussian statistics are small and would have a negligible effect on the large-scale structure produced in the model. On the other hand, the model predicts a power spectrum with n not equal to 1, and this could be good news for large-scale structure.

Negative Binomial Fits to Multiplicity Distributions from Central Collisions of (16)O+Cu at 14.6A GeV/c and Intermittency

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tannenbaum, M. J.

1994-01-01

The concept of "Intermittency" was introduced by Bialas and Peschanski to try to explain the "large" fluctuations of multiplicity in restricted intervals of rapidity or pseudorapidity. A formalism was proposed to to study non-statistical (more precisely, non-Poisson) fluctuations as a function of the size of rapidity interval, and it was further suggested that the "spikes" in the rapidity fluctuations were evidence of fractal or intermittent behavior, in analogy to turbulence in fluid dynamics which is characterized by self-similar fluctuations at all scales-the absence of well defined scale of length.

Seasonal and latitudinal acclimatization of cardiac transcriptome responses to thermal stress in porcelain crabs, Petrolisthes cinctipes.

PubMed

Stillman, Jonathon H; Tagmount, Abderrahmane

2009-10-01

Central predictions of climate warming models include increased climate variability and increased severity of heat waves. Physiological acclimatization in populations across large-scale ecological gradients in habitat temperature fluctuation is an important factor to consider in detecting responses to climate change related increases in thermal fluctuation. We measured in vivo cardiac thermal maxima and used microarrays to profile transcriptome heat and cold stress responses in cardiac tissue of intertidal zone porcelain crabs across biogeographic and seasonal gradients in habitat temperature fluctuation. We observed acclimatization dependent induction of heat shock proteins, as well as unknown genes with heat shock protein-like expression profiles. Thermal acclimatization had the largest effect on heat stress responses of extensin-like, beta tubulin, and unknown genes. For these genes, crabs acclimatized to thermally variable sites had higher constitutive expression than specimens from low variability sites, but heat stress dramatically induced expression in specimens from low variability sites and repressed expression in specimens from highly variable sites. Our application of ecological transcriptomics has yielded new biomarkers that may represent sensitive indicators of acclimatization to habitat temperature fluctuation. Our study also has identified novel genes whose further description may yield novel understanding of cellular responses to thermal acclimatization or thermal stress.

New Insights into the Nature of Turbulence in the Earth's Magnetosheath Using Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breuillard, H.; Matteini, L.; Argall, M. R.; Sahraoui, F.; Andriopoulou, M.; Le Contel, O.; Retinò, A.; Mirioni, L.; Huang, S. Y.; Gershman, D. J.; Ergun, R. E.; Wilder, F. D.; Goodrich, K. A.; Ahmadi, N.; Yordanova, E.; Vaivads, A.; Turner, D. L.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Graham, D. B.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Chasapis, A.; Burch, J. L.; Torbert, R. B.; Russell, C. T.; Magnes, W.; Strangeway, R. J.; Plaschke, F.; Moore, T. E.; Giles, B. L.; Paterson, W. R.; Pollock, C. J.; Lavraud, B.; Fuselier, S. A.; Cohen, I. J.

2018-06-01

The Earth’s magnetosheath, which is characterized by highly turbulent fluctuations, is usually divided into two regions of different properties as a function of the angle between the interplanetary magnetic field and the shock normal. In this study, we make use of high-time resolution instruments on board the Magnetospheric MultiScale spacecraft to determine and compare the properties of subsolar magnetosheath turbulence in both regions, i.e., downstream of the quasi-parallel and quasi-perpendicular bow shocks. In particular, we take advantage of the unprecedented temporal resolution of the Fast Plasma Investigation instrument to show the density fluctuations down to sub-ion scales for the first time. We show that the nature of turbulence is highly compressible down to electron scales, particularly in the quasi-parallel magnetosheath. In this region, the magnetic turbulence also shows an inertial (Kolmogorov-like) range, indicating that the fluctuations are not formed locally, in contrast with the quasi-perpendicular magnetosheath. We also show that the electromagnetic turbulence is dominated by electric fluctuations at sub-ion scales (f > 1 Hz) and that magnetic and electric spectra steepen at the largest-electron scale. The latter indicates a change in the nature of turbulence at electron scales. Finally, we show that the electric fluctuations around the electron gyrofrequency are mostly parallel in the quasi-perpendicular magnetosheath, where intense whistlers are observed. This result suggests that energy dissipation, plasma heating, and acceleration might be driven by intense electrostatic parallel structures/waves, which can be linked to whistler waves.

A Model for Dissipation of Solar Wind Magnetic Turbulence by Kinetic Alfvén Waves at Electron Scales: Comparison with Observations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schreiner, Anne; Saur, Joachim, E-mail: schreiner@geo.uni-koeln.de

In hydrodynamic turbulence, it is well established that the length of the dissipation scale depends on the energy cascade rate, i.e., the larger the energy input rate per unit mass, the more the turbulent fluctuations need to be driven to increasingly smaller scales to dissipate the larger energy flux. Observations of magnetic spectral energy densities indicate that this intuitive picture is not valid in solar wind turbulence. Dissipation seems to set in at the same length scale for different solar wind conditions independently of the energy flux. To investigate this difference in more detail, we present an analytic dissipation modelmore » for solar wind turbulence at electron scales, which we compare with observed spectral densities. Our model combines the energy transport from large to small scales and collisionless damping, which removes energy from the magnetic fluctuations in the kinetic regime. We assume wave–particle interactions of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) to be the main damping process. Wave frequencies and damping rates of KAWs are obtained from the hot plasma dispersion relation. Our model assumes a critically balanced turbulence, where larger energy cascade rates excite larger parallel wavenumbers for a certain perpendicular wavenumber. If the dissipation is additionally wave driven such that the dissipation rate is proportional to the parallel wavenumber—as with KAWs—then an increase of the energy cascade rate is counterbalanced by an increased dissipation rate for the same perpendicular wavenumber, leading to a dissipation length independent of the energy cascade rate.« less

A Model for Dissipation of Solar Wind Magnetic Turbulence by Kinetic Alfvén Waves at Electron Scales: Comparison with Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreiner, Anne; Saur, Joachim

2017-02-01

In hydrodynamic turbulence, it is well established that the length of the dissipation scale depends on the energy cascade rate, I.e., the larger the energy input rate per unit mass, the more the turbulent fluctuations need to be driven to increasingly smaller scales to dissipate the larger energy flux. Observations of magnetic spectral energy densities indicate that this intuitive picture is not valid in solar wind turbulence. Dissipation seems to set in at the same length scale for different solar wind conditions independently of the energy flux. To investigate this difference in more detail, we present an analytic dissipation model for solar wind turbulence at electron scales, which we compare with observed spectral densities. Our model combines the energy transport from large to small scales and collisionless damping, which removes energy from the magnetic fluctuations in the kinetic regime. We assume wave-particle interactions of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) to be the main damping process. Wave frequencies and damping rates of KAWs are obtained from the hot plasma dispersion relation. Our model assumes a critically balanced turbulence, where larger energy cascade rates excite larger parallel wavenumbers for a certain perpendicular wavenumber. If the dissipation is additionally wave driven such that the dissipation rate is proportional to the parallel wavenumber—as with KAWs—then an increase of the energy cascade rate is counterbalanced by an increased dissipation rate for the same perpendicular wavenumber, leading to a dissipation length independent of the energy cascade rate.

Magnetic small-angle neutron scattering on bulk metallic glasses: A feasibility study for imaging displacement fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mettus, Denis; Deckarm, Michael; Leibner, Andreas; Birringer, Rainer; Stolpe, Moritz; Busch, Ralf; Honecker, Dirk; Kohlbrecher, Joachim; Hautle, Patrick; Niketic, Nemanja; Fernández, Jesús Rodríguez; Barquín, Luis Fernández; Michels, Andreas

2017-12-01

Magnetic-field-dependent small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been utilized to study the magnetic microstructure of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). In particular, the magnetic scattering from soft magnetic Fe70Mo5Ni5P12.5B2.5C5 and hard magnetic (Nd60Fe30Al10) 92Ni8 alloys in the as-prepared, aged, and mechanically deformed state is compared. While the soft magnetic BMGs exhibit a large field-dependent SANS response with perturbations originating predominantly from spatially varying magnetic anisotropy fields, the SANS cross sections of the hard magnetic BMGs are only weakly dependent on the field, and their angular anisotropy indicates the presence of scattering contributions due to spatially dependent saturation magnetization. Moreover, we observe an unusual increase in the magnetization of the rare-earth-based alloy after deformation. Analysis of the SANS cross sections in terms of the correlation function of the spin misalignment reveals the existence of field-dependent anisotropic long-wavelength magnetization fluctuations on a scale of a few tens of nanometers. We also give a detailed account of how the SANS technique relates to unraveling displacement fields on a mesoscopic length scale in disordered magnetic materials.

Optical Asymmetry and Nonlinear Light Scattering from Colloidal Gold Nanorods.

PubMed

Lien, Miao-Bin; Kim, Ji-Young; Han, Myung-Geun; Chang, You-Chia; Chang, Yu-Chung; Ferguson, Heather J; Zhu, Yimei; Herzing, Andrew A; Schotland, John C; Kotov, Nicholas A; Norris, Theodore B

2017-06-27

A systematic study is presented of the intensity-dependent nonlinear light scattering spectra of gold nanorods under resonant excitation of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The spectra exhibit features due to coherent second and third harmonic generation as well as a broadband feature that has been previously attributed to multiphoton photoluminescence arising primarily from interband optical transitions in the gold. A detailed study of the spectral dependence of the scaling of the scattered light with excitation intensity shows unexpected scaling behavior of the coherent signals, which is quantitatively accounted for by optically induced damping of the SPR mode through a Fermi liquid model of the electronic scattering. The broadband feature is shown to arise not from luminescence, but from scattering of the second-order longitudinal SPR mode with the electron gas, where efficient excitation of the second order mode arises from an optical asymmetry of the nanorod. The electronic-temperature-dependent plasmon damping and the Fermi-Dirac distribution together determine the intensity dependence of the broadband emission, and the structure-dependent absorption spectrum determines the spectral shape through the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Hence a complete self-consistent picture of both coherent and incoherent light scattering is obtained with a single set of physical parameters.

Magnetic Field Fluctuations Observed in the Heliosheath and Interstellar Magnetic Field by Voyager 1 at 115.7-124.9 AU during 2011-2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burlaga, L. F.; Ness, N. F.; Florinski, V.; Heerikhuisen, J.

2014-09-01

We discuss microscale fluctuations of the hour averages of the magnetic field B observed on a scale of one day by Voyager 1 (V1) from 2011.0 to 2012.3143 (when it was within the distant heliosheath, where the average magnetic field strength langBrang = 0.17 nT) and during the interval from 2012.6503 to 2013.5855 (when it was within the interstellar plasma with langBrang = 0.47 nT). In both regions, the fluctuations were primarily compressive fluctuations, varying along the average B (≈T direction in RTN coordinates). In the heliosheath, the average of the daily standard deviations (SDs) of the compressive and transverse components of B were langSDcrang = 0.010 nT and langSDtrang <= 0.005 nT (which is the limit of the measurement). In the distant heliosheath langSDcrang/langBrang = 0.06, and the distributions of SD were skewed and highly kurtotic. The interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) strength was B = 0.48 nT, but the fluctuations were below the limit of measurement: langSDcrang = 0.004 nT and langabs(SDt)rang = 0.004 nT. The distributions of these interstellar SDs have skewness and kurtosis consistent with a Gaussian noise distribution. We also discuss the fluctuations of 48 s averages of B on a scale of 1 day during a 30 day interval when V1 was observing the ISMF. For the fluctuations in all three components of B, SD = 0.010 nT, which gives an upper limit on the fluctuations of the ISMF on the scales observed by V1. This SD rules out the possibility that there is significant power in electromagnetic fluctuations generated by pickup ion ring instabilities at these scales, which strongly constrains models of the IBEX ribbon.

Probing the statistics of primordial fluctuations and their evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaztanaga, Enrique; Yokoyama, Jun'ichi

1993-01-01

The statistical distribution of fluctuations on various scales is analyzed in terms of the counts in cells of smoothed density fields, using volume-limited samples of galaxy redshift catalogs. It is shown that the distribution on large scales, with volume average of the two-point correlation function of the smoothed field less than about 0.05, is consistent with Gaussian. Statistics are shown to agree remarkably well with the negative binomial distribution, which has hierarchial correlations and a Gaussian behavior at large scales. If these observed properties correspond to the matter distribution, they suggest that our universe started with Gaussian fluctuations and evolved keeping hierarchial form.

Dealing with Variations over Space and Time in Urban Vegetation-Air Quality Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, P. Y.

2017-12-01

Studies on role of urban vegetation ameliorate poor air quality frequently encountered in urban areas should aim to answer a pertinent question: what is the net impact of urban vegetation in improving public health directly or indirectly through removal of air pollutants? Answers to this question need to consider that role of urban vegetation in air quality improvement is not just dependent on physical and physiological processes mediated by plants, it is also highly dependent on atmospheric processes. The roles of these two components thus need to be separated. This uncertainty is further complicated by heterogeneity of air quality over spatial scales and fluctuations in air quality over time. Singapore is used to illustrate these complexities. Between seasons, the main external source of atmospheric pollutants is aerosols from biomass burning in plantations in surrounding SE Asian countries, and air quality is highly dependent on wind directions dictated by monsoon systems. When air quality does deteriorate from transboundary pollution, there are also spatial differences within the city, as air pollutant levels differ in different regions. Rainfall from monsoons and other rain-bearing weather systems over Singapore also dictate the relative amounts of wet and dry deposition and the persistence of particulate matter deposited on vegetation surfaces. For locally generated air pollutants, diurnal fluctuations of anthropogenic activities, such as vehicular emissions between peak and non-peak hours, should also lead to fluctuations over the day. Not only does air quality vary from region to region, air quality within a vertical transect in the urban canopy layer also differs due to urban morphology and urban elements. A pedestrian along a treed street may experience poorer air quality than one living on highrise building, despite proximity to vegetation. There are thus interactions between climate, weather and urban context, which lead to spatial heterogeneity over multiple scales and temporal variations in air quality. They present challenges in field studies seeking to establish causality between urban vegetation, air quality improvement and public health status. Suggestions on approaches and additional questions that need to be asked will be shared during the panel discussion.

A doping dependent study of interplay between magnetic and superconducting properties in BaFe2-x Co x As2 single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bag, Biplab; Shaw, Gorky; Banerjee, S. S.; Vinod, K.; Bharathi, A.

2018-03-01

We show strong interplay between magnetic and superconducting order in three BaFe2-xCoxAs2 single crystals with different x. Our study reveals the presence of magnetic fluctuations with superconducting order in our samples and the strength of the magnetic fluctuations as well as the pinning properties are found to be the strongest for the optimally doped sample and weakest for the overdoped sample. Using local magnetization measurements, we show that application of an external magnetic field in our samples suppresses the magnetic fluctuations and enhances the diamagnetic response. Further, we show presence of unusual superconducting fluctuations above T c in our samples which we find strongly depends on the strength of the magnetic fluctuations. We believe that our data suggest the possible role of magnetic fluctuations in mediating superconducting fluctuations above Tc in our samples.

Scaling Laws in Turbulence: Their Manifestation and Utility.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juneja, Anurag

1995-01-01

It has long been hypothesized that small-scale features in turbulence possess some form of scale-invariance leading to several interesting predictions about related flow quantities. In the present work, we examine the scaling features and scaling exponents of various quantities in turbulence and the relationship they bear to Kolmogorov and multifractal scaling theories. A related goal (which is the inverse problem) is to synthesize stochastic fields which faithfully reproduce the observed scaling features of velocity fluctuations in high-Reynolds-number turbulence. First, we obtain, for structure functions of arbitrary order, an expression which is uniformly valid for the inertial and dissipation range. This enables a more definitive determination of scaling exponents than has been possible in the past. Next, we examine the scaling properties of circulation around contours of various sizes, as it is suggested that a better way to study the small-scale features might be to focus on the vortical component of the velocity field. We then utilize a quantity called the cancellation exponent to characterize the singular nature of vorticity fluctuations, whose trace exhibits an oscillation in sign on arbitrary fine scales. We note that the inter-relationships which can be established among the aforementioned scaling exponents for velocity structure functions, circulation and vorticity provide support for the multifractal formalism of turbulence. Next, we examine the fractal structure of self -affine time series data in turbulent flows. It is shown that the fractal dimension of velocity and temperature signals in atmospheric turbulence is 1.65 +/- 0.05 implying that the dimension of iso-velocity or iso-temperature surfaces in fully developed turbulence is about 2.65 +/- 0.05 in agreement with previous theoretical predictions. The Reynolds number dependence of the measured dimensions is also explored by examining laboratory data at moderate Reynolds numbers. Using simple ideas from turbulence physics underlying the observed scaling features, we outline a family of schemes for generating artificial velocity fields, dubbed synthetic turbulence, which mimic velocity fluctuations in high-Reynolds -number turbulence to various degrees of detail. In the case of one-dimensional implementation of these schemes, we provide comparisons with experimental turbulence data and note that analytical predictions from the model allow us to relate the parameters of synthetic turbulence to those of real turbulence. Finally, we show that, compared to random initial conditions, an artificial velocity field in three-dimensions generated using a simplified synthetic turbulence scheme may be better suited for use as the initial condition for direct numerical simulation of homogeneous isotropic turbulence.

On the Estimate of Frequency Break and Spectral Index at Ion Scales for Interplanetary Magnetic Field Fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Telloni, D.; Bruno, R.; Trenchi, L.

2014-12-01

We exploited radial alignments between MESSENGER and WIND spacecraft to study: 1) the radial dependence of the spectral break located at the border between fluid and kinetic regimes; 2) the dependence, if any, of the spectral slope, around the frequency break, on the type of wind, either fast or slow.We found that this spectral break moves to lower and lower frequencies as heliocentric distance increases, following a power-law dependence. Moreover, we found evidence that a cyclotron-resonant dissipation mechanism must participate into the spectral energy cascade together with other possible kinetic noncyclotron-resonant mechanisms.On the other hand, the spectral slope shows a large variability between -3.75 and -1.75 with an average value around -2.8 and a robust tendency for this parameter to be steeper within the trailing edge of high speed streams and to be flatter within the subsequent slower wind, following a gradual transition between these two states. The value of the spectral index seems to depend firmly on the power associated to the fluctuations within the inertial range, higher the power steeper the slope. Research partially supported by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, contract ASI/INAF I/013/12/0 and by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 313038/STORM

Turbulence scalings in pipe flows exhibiting polymer-induced drag reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zadrazil, Ivan; Markides, Christos

2014-11-01

Non-intrusive laser based diagnostics technique, namely Particle Image Velocimetry, was used to in detail characterise polymer induced drag reduction in a turbulent pipe flow. The effect of polymer additives was investigated in a pneumatically-driven flow facility featuring a horizontal pipe test section of inner diameter 25.3 mm and length 8 m. Three high molecular weight polymers (2, 4 and 8 MDa) at concentrations of 5 - 250 wppm were used at Reynolds numbers from 35000 to 210000. The PIV derived results show that the level of drag reduction scales with different normalised turbulence parameters, e.g. streamwise and spanwise velocity fluctuations, vorticity or Reynolds stresses. These scalings are dependent of the distance from the wall, however, are independent of the Reynolds numbers range investigated.

Pulsational mode fluctuations and their basic conservation laws

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borah, B.; Karmakar, P. K.

2015-01-01

We propose a theoretical hydrodynamic model for investigating the basic features of nonlinear pulsational mode stability in a partially charged dust molecular cloud within the framework of the Jeans homogenization assumption. The inhomogeneous cloud is modeled as a quasi-neutral multifluid consisting of the warm electrons, warm ions, and identical inertial cold dust grains with partial ionization in a neutral gaseous background. The grain-charge is assumed not to vary in the fluctuation evolution time scale. The active inertial roles of the thermal species are included. We apply a standard multiple scaling technique centered on the gravito-electrostatic equilibrium to understand the fluctuations on the astrophysical scales of space and time. This is found that electrostatic and self-gravitational eigenmodes co-exist as diverse solitary spectral patterns governed by a pair of Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equations. In addition, all the relevant classical conserved quantities associated with the KdV system under translational invariance are methodologically derived and numerically analyzed. A full numerical shape-analysis of the fluctuations, scale lengths and perturbed densities with multi-parameter variation of judicious plasma conditions is carried out. A correlation of the perturbed densities and gravito-electrostatic spectral patterns is also graphically indicated. It is demonstrated that the solitary mass, momentum and energy densities also evolve like solitary spectral patterns which remain conserved throughout the spatiotemporal scales of the fluctuation dynamics. Astrophysical and space environments significant to our results are briefly highlighted.

Comparison of detrending methods for fluctuation analysis in hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiang; Zhou, Yu; Singh, Vijay P.; Chen, Yongqin David

2011-03-01

SummaryTrends within a hydrologic time series can significantly influence the scaling results of fluctuation analysis, such as rescaled range (RS) analysis and (multifractal) detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). Therefore, removal of trends is important in the study of scaling properties of the time series. In this study, three detrending methods, including adaptive detrending algorithm (ADA), Fourier-based method, and average removing technique, were evaluated by analyzing numerically generated series and observed streamflow series with obvious relative regular periodic trend. Results indicated that: (1) the Fourier-based detrending method and ADA were similar in detrending practices, and given proper parameters, these two methods can produce similarly satisfactory results; (2) detrended series by Fourier-based detrending method and ADA lose the fluctuation information at larger time scales, and the location of crossover points is heavily impacted by the chosen parameters of these two methods; and (3) the average removing method has an advantage over the other two methods, i.e., the fluctuation information at larger time scales is kept well-an indication of relatively reliable performance in detrending. In addition, the average removing method performed reasonably well in detrending a time series with regular periods or trends. In this sense, the average removing method should be preferred in the study of scaling properties of the hydrometeorolgical series with relative regular periodic trend using MF-DFA.

The q-dependent detrended cross-correlation analysis of stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Longfeng; Li, Wei; Fenu, Andrea; Podobnik, Boris; Wang, Yougui; Stanley, H. Eugene

2018-02-01

Properties of the q-dependent cross-correlation matrices of the stock market have been analyzed by using random matrix theory and complex networks. The correlation structures of the fluctuations at different magnitudes have unique properties. The cross-correlations among small fluctuations are much stronger than those among large fluctuations. The large and small fluctuations are dominated by different groups of stocks. We use complex network representation to study these q-dependent matrices and discover some new identities. By utilizing those q-dependent correlation-based networks, we are able to construct some portfolios of those more independent stocks which consistently perform better. The optimal multifractal order for portfolio optimization is around q  =  2 under the mean-variance portfolio framework, and q\\in[2, 6] under the expected shortfall criterion. These results have deepened our understanding regarding the collective behavior of the complex financial system.

First Predictions of the Angular Power Spectrum of the Astrophysical Gravitational Wave Background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cusin, Giulia; Dvorkin, Irina; Pitrou, Cyril; Uzan, Jean-Philippe

2018-06-01

We present the first predictions for the angular power spectrum of the astrophysical gravitational wave background constituted of the radiation emitted by all resolved and unresolved astrophysical sources. Its shape and amplitude depend on both the astrophysical properties on galactic scales and on cosmological properties. We show that the angular power spectrum behaves as Cℓ∝1 /ℓ on large scales and that relative fluctuations of the signal are of order 30% at 100 Hz. We also present the correlations of the astrophysical gravitational wave background with weak lensing and galaxy distribution. These numerical results pave the way to the study of a new observable at the crossroad between general relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology.

Towards uncovering the structure of power fluctuations of wind farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Huiwen; Jin, Yaqing; Tobin, Nicolas; Chamorro, Leonardo P.

2017-12-01

The structure of the turbulence-driven power fluctuations in a wind farm is fundamentally described from basic concepts. A derived tuning-free model, supported with experiments, reveals the underlying spectral content of the power fluctuations of a wind farm. It contains two power-law trends and oscillations in the relatively low- and high-frequency ranges. The former is mostly due to the turbulent interaction between the flow and the turbine properties, whereas the latter is due to the advection between turbine pairs. The spectral wind-farm scale power fluctuations ΦP exhibit a power-law decay proportional to f-5 /3 -2 in the region corresponding to the turbulence inertial subrange and at relatively large scales, ΦP˜f-2 . Due to the advection and turbulent diffusion of large-scale structures, a spectral oscillation exists with the product of a sinusoidal behavior and an exponential decay in the frequency domain.

Towards uncovering the structure of power fluctuations of wind farms.

PubMed

Liu, Huiwen; Jin, Yaqing; Tobin, Nicolas; Chamorro, Leonardo P

2017-12-01

The structure of the turbulence-driven power fluctuations in a wind farm is fundamentally described from basic concepts. A derived tuning-free model, supported with experiments, reveals the underlying spectral content of the power fluctuations of a wind farm. It contains two power-law trends and oscillations in the relatively low- and high-frequency ranges. The former is mostly due to the turbulent interaction between the flow and the turbine properties, whereas the latter is due to the advection between turbine pairs. The spectral wind-farm scale power fluctuations Φ_{P} exhibit a power-law decay proportional to f^{-5/3-2} in the region corresponding to the turbulence inertial subrange and at relatively large scales, Φ_{P}∼f^{-2}. Due to the advection and turbulent diffusion of large-scale structures, a spectral oscillation exists with the product of a sinusoidal behavior and an exponential decay in the frequency domain.

Electromotive force due to magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in sheared rotating turbulence

DOE PAGES

Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A.

2015-11-02

Here, this article presents a calculation of the mean electromotive force arising from general small-scale magnetohydrodynamical turbulence, within the framework of the second-order correlation approximation. With the goal of improving understanding of the accretion disk dynamo, effects arising through small-scale magnetic fluctuations, velocity gradients, density and turbulence stratification, and rotation, are included. The primary result, which supplements numerical findings, is that an off-diagonal turbulent resistivity due to magnetic fluctuations can produce large-scale dynamo action-the magnetic analog of the "shear-current" effect. In addition, consideration of alpha effects in the stratified regions of disks gives the puzzling result that there is nomore » strong prediction for a sign of alpha, since the effects due to kinetic and magnetic fluctuations, as well as those due to shear and rotation, are each of opposing signs and tend to cancel each other.« less

The origin of density fluctuations in the 'new inflationary universe'

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, M. S.

1983-01-01

Cosmological mysteries which are not explained by the Big Bang hypothesis but may be approached by a revamped inflationary universe model are discussed. Attention is focused on the isotropy, the large-scale homogeneity, small-scale inhomogeneity, the oldness/flatness of the universe, and the baryon asymmetry. The universe is assumed to start in the lowest energy state, be initially dominated by false vacuum energy, enter a de Sitter phase, and then cross a barrier which is followed by the formation of fluctuation regions that lead to structure. The scalar fields (perturbation regions) experience quantum fluctuations which produce spontaneous symmetry breaking on a large scale. The scalar field value would need to be much greater than the expansion rate during the de Sitter epoch. A supersymmetric (flat) potential which satisfies the requirement, yields fluctuations of the right magnitude, and allows inflation to occur is described.

Role of large-scale velocity fluctuations in a two-vortex kinematic dynamo.

PubMed

Kaplan, E J; Brown, B P; Rahbarnia, K; Forest, C B

2012-06-01

This paper presents an analysis of the Dudley-James two-vortex flow, which inspired several laboratory-scale liquid-metal experiments, in order to better demonstrate its relation to astrophysical dynamos. A coordinate transformation splits the flow into components that are axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric relative to the induced magnetic dipole moment. The reformulation gives the flow the same dynamo ingredients as are present in more complicated convection-driven dynamo simulations. These ingredients are currents driven by the mean flow and currents driven by correlations between fluctuations in the flow and fluctuations in the magnetic field. The simple model allows us to isolate the dynamics of the growing eigenvector and trace them back to individual three-wave couplings between the magnetic field and the flow. This simple model demonstrates the necessity of poloidal advection in sustaining the dynamo and points to the effect of large-scale flow fluctuations in exciting a dynamo magnetic field.

Non-universality of the turbulent spectra at sub-ion scales in the solar wind: dispersive effects vs the Doppler shif

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahraoui, F.; Huang, S.

2017-12-01

Large surveys of power spectral density (PSD) of the magnetic fluctuations in the solar wind have reported different slopes distributions at MHD, sub-ion and sub-electron scales; the smaller the scale the broader the distribution. Several explanations of the variability the slopes at sub-ion scales have been proposed. Here, we present a new one that has been overlooked in the literature, which is based on the relative importance of the dispersive effects w.r.t. the Doppler shift due to the flow speed. We build a toy model based on a dispersion relation of a linear mode that matches at high frequency (ω ≳ ω ci) the Alfvén (resp. whistler) mode at high oblique (resp. quasi-parallel) propagation angles θ kB. Starting with double power-law spectrum of turbulence {k⊥}-1.66 in the inertial range and {k⊥}-2.8 at the sub-ion scales, the transformed spectrum (in frequency f) as it would be measured in the spacecraft frame shows a broad range of slopes at the sub-ion scales that depend both on the angle θ kB and the flow speed V. Varying θ kB in the range 10o-100o and V in the range 400-800 km/s, the resulting distribution of slopes at the sub-ion scales reproduces quite well the observed one in the solar wind. Fluctuations in the solar wind speed and the anisotropy of the turbulence may explain (or at least contribute to) the variability of the spectral slopes reported in the solar wind.

Non-linear Membrane Properties in Entorhinal Cortical Stellate Cells Reduce Modulation of Input-Output Responses by Voltage Fluctuations

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Fernando R.; Malerba, Paola; White, John A.

2015-01-01

The presence of voltage fluctuations arising from synaptic activity is a critical component in models of gain control, neuronal output gating, and spike rate coding. The degree to which individual neuronal input-output functions are modulated by voltage fluctuations, however, is not well established across different cortical areas. Additionally, the extent and mechanisms of input-output modulation through fluctuations have been explored largely in simplified models of spike generation, and with limited consideration for the role of non-linear and voltage-dependent membrane properties. To address these issues, we studied fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses in medial entorhinal cortical (MEC) stellate cells of rats, which express strong sub-threshold non-linear membrane properties. Using in vitro recordings, dynamic clamp and modeling, we show that the modulation of input-output responses by random voltage fluctuations in stellate cells is significantly limited. In stellate cells, a voltage-dependent increase in membrane resistance at sub-threshold voltages mediated by Na+ conductance activation limits the ability of fluctuations to elicit spikes. Similarly, in exponential leaky integrate-and-fire models using a shallow voltage-dependence for the exponential term that matches stellate cell membrane properties, a low degree of fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses can be attained. These results demonstrate that fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses is not a universal feature of neurons and can be significantly limited by subthreshold voltage-gated conductances. PMID:25909971

Non-linear Membrane Properties in Entorhinal Cortical Stellate Cells Reduce Modulation of Input-Output Responses by Voltage Fluctuations.

PubMed

Fernandez, Fernando R; Malerba, Paola; White, John A

2015-04-01

The presence of voltage fluctuations arising from synaptic activity is a critical component in models of gain control, neuronal output gating, and spike rate coding. The degree to which individual neuronal input-output functions are modulated by voltage fluctuations, however, is not well established across different cortical areas. Additionally, the extent and mechanisms of input-output modulation through fluctuations have been explored largely in simplified models of spike generation, and with limited consideration for the role of non-linear and voltage-dependent membrane properties. To address these issues, we studied fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses in medial entorhinal cortical (MEC) stellate cells of rats, which express strong sub-threshold non-linear membrane properties. Using in vitro recordings, dynamic clamp and modeling, we show that the modulation of input-output responses by random voltage fluctuations in stellate cells is significantly limited. In stellate cells, a voltage-dependent increase in membrane resistance at sub-threshold voltages mediated by Na+ conductance activation limits the ability of fluctuations to elicit spikes. Similarly, in exponential leaky integrate-and-fire models using a shallow voltage-dependence for the exponential term that matches stellate cell membrane properties, a low degree of fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses can be attained. These results demonstrate that fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses is not a universal feature of neurons and can be significantly limited by subthreshold voltage-gated conductances.

Impact of resonance decays on critical point signals in net-proton fluctuations

DOE PAGES

Bluhm, Marcus; Nahrgang, Marlene; Bass, Steffen A.; ...

2017-04-03

The non-monotonic beam energy dependence of the higher cumulants of net-proton fluctuations is a widely studied signature of the conjectured presence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. In this work we study the effect of resonance decays on critical fluctuations. We show that resonance effects reduce the signatures of critical fluctuations, but that for reasonable parameter choices critical effects in the net-proton cumulants survive. The relative role of resonance decays has a weak dependence on the order of the cumulants studied with a slightly stronger suppression of critical effects for higher-order cumulants.

Non scale-invariant density perturbations from chaotic extended inflation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mollerach, Silvia; Matarrese, Sabino

1991-01-01

Chaotic inflation is analyzed in the frame of scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Fluctuations in the energy density arise from quantum fluctuations of the Brans-Dicke field and of the inflation field. The spectrum of perturbations is studied for a class of models: it is non scale-invarient and, for certain values of the parameters, it has a peak. If the peak appears at astrophysically interesting scales, it may help to reconcile the Cold Dark Matter scenario for structure formation with large scale observations.

Kinetic-scale fluctuations resolved with the Fast Plasma Investigation on NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gershman, D. J.; Figueroa-Vinas, A.; Dorelli, J.; Goldstein, M. L.; Shuster, J. R.; Avanov, L. A.; Boardsen, S. A.; Stawarz, J. E.; Schwartz, S. J.; Schiff, C.; Lavraud, B.; Saito, Y.; Paterson, W. R.; Giles, B. L.; Pollock, C. J.; Strangeway, R. J.; Russell, C. T.; Torbert, R. B.; Moore, T. E.; Burch, J. L.

2017-12-01

Measurements from the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) on NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission have enabled unprecedented analyses of kinetic-scale plasma physics. FPI regularly provides estimates of current density and pressure gradients of sufficient accuracy to evaluate the relative contribution of terms in plasma equations of motion. In addition, high-resolution three-dimensional velocity distribution functions of both ions and electrons provide new insights into kinetic-scale processes. As an example, for a monochromatic kinetic Alfven wave (KAW) we find non-zero, but out-of-phase parallel current density and electric field fluctuations, providing direct confirmation of the conservative energy exchange between the wave field and particles. In addition, we use fluctuations in current density and magnetic field to calculate the perpendicular and parallel wavelengths of the KAW. Furthermore, examination of the electron velocity distribution inside the KAW reveals a population of electrons non-linearly trapped in the kinetic-scale magnetic mirror formed between successive wave peaks. These electrons not only contribute to the wave's parallel electric field but also account for over half of the density fluctuations within the wave, supplying an unexpected mechanism for maintaining quasi-neutrality in a KAW. Finally, we demonstrate that the employed wave vector determination technique is also applicable to broadband fluctuations found in Earth's turbulent magnetosheath.

Density fluctuation in HT-6M tokamak by CO2 laser scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Lei; Cao, Jinxiang; Zhu, Guoliang; Ding, Weixing; Yu, Chang-Xuan; Zhang, Daqing; Li, Youyi

1993-09-01

The small scale density fluctuations in the interior of HT-6M Ohmic plasma have been studied by CO2 laser collective scattering system in deuterium discharges covering a wide range of nqa (chord-average density times safety factor at the limiter) and energy confinement time. The relative density fluctuation level in the interior is inversely proportional to the toroidal magnetic field and average density, and the energy confinement time (tau) E decreases with the fluctuation level increasing in the region where (tau) E linearly increases with nq0.5a and satisfies the Goldston scaling law. It is suggested that the microturbulence in the interior zone is responsible for anomalous transport in tokamaks.

A Heliosphere Buffeted by Interstellar Turbulence?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jokipii, J. R.; Giacalone, J.

2014-12-01

Recent observations from IBEX combined with previous measurements from other sources suggest new, local, effects of interstellar turbulence. Observations of various interstellar parameters such as the magnetic field, fluid velocity and electron density, over large spatial scales, have revealed a broadband Kolmogorov spectrum of interstellar turbulence which pervades most of interstellar space. The outer scale (or coherence scale of this turbulence) is found to be approximately 10^19 cm and the inner cutoff scale is less than 1000 km. The root-mean-square relative fluctuation in the fluid and the magnetic-field parameters is of order unity. If this turbulence exists at the heliosphere, the root-mean-square relative fluctuations at 100 (heliospheric) AU scales is approximately 0.1. The recently published value for the change In observed velocity direction for the interstellar flow relative to the heliosphere (Frisch, etal, 2014)is consistent with this. Similarly, interpreting the width of the IBEX ribbon in terms of a fluctuating magnetic field also is in agreement with this picture. Observations of TeV cosmic rays can also be explained. Potential effects of these fluctuations in the interstellar medium on the heliosphere will be discussed. Reference: Frisch, etal, Science, 341, 480

Underlying dynamics of typical fluctuations of an emerging market price index: The Heston model from minutes to months

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vicente, Renato; de Toledo, Charles M.; Leite, Vitor B. P.; Caticha, Nestor

2006-02-01

We investigate the Heston model with stochastic volatility and exponential tails as a model for the typical price fluctuations of the Brazilian São Paulo Stock Exchange Index (IBOVESPA). Raw prices are first corrected for inflation and a period spanning 15 years characterized by memoryless returns is chosen for the analysis. Model parameters are estimated by observing volatility scaling and correlation properties. We show that the Heston model with at least two time scales for the volatility mean reverting dynamics satisfactorily describes price fluctuations ranging from time scales larger than 20 min to 160 days. At time scales shorter than 20 min we observe autocorrelated returns and power law tails incompatible with the Heston model. Despite major regulatory changes, hyperinflation and currency crises experienced by the Brazilian market in the period studied, the general success of the description provided may be regarded as an evidence for a general underlying dynamics of price fluctuations at intermediate mesoeconomic time scales well approximated by the Heston model. We also notice that the connection between the Heston model and Ehrenfest urn models could be exploited for bringing new insights into the microeconomic market mechanics.

Culmination of the inverse cascade - mean flow and fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frishman, Anna; Herbert, Corentin

2017-11-01

An inverse cascade-energy transfer to progressively larger scales - is a salient feature of two-dimensional turbulence. If the cascade reaches the system scale, it terminates in the self organization of the turbulence into a large scale coherent structure, on top of small scale fluctuations. A recent theoretical framework in which this coherent mean flow can be obtained will be discussed. Assuming that the quasi-linear approximation applies, the forcing acts at small scales, and a strong shear, the theory gives an inverse relation between the average momentum flux and the mean shear rate. It will be argued that this relation is quite general, being independent of the dissipation mechanism and largely insensitive to the type of forcing. Furthermore, in the special case of a homogeneous forcing, the relation between the momentum flux and mean shear rate is completely determined by dimensional analysis and symmetry arguments. The subject of the average energy of the fluctuations will also be touched upon, focusing on a vortex mean flow. In contrast to the momentum flux, we find that the energy of the fluctuations is determined by zero modes of the mean-flow advection operator. Using an analytic derivation for the zero mo.

Temperature Dependence and Energetics of Single Ions at the Aqueous Liquid-Vapor Interface

PubMed Central

Ou, Shuching; Patel, Sandeep

2014-01-01

We investigate temperature-dependence of free energetics with two single halide anions, I− and Cl−, crossing the aqueous liquid-vapor interface through molecular dynamics simulations. The result shows that I− has a modest surface stability of 0.5 kcal/mol at 300 K and the stability decreases as the temperature increases, indicating the surface adsorption process for the anion is entropically disfavored. In contrast, Cl− shows no such surface state at all temperatures. Decomposition of free energetics reveals that water-water interactions provide a favorable enthalpic contribution, while the desolvation of ion induces an increase in free energy. Calculations of surface fluctuations demonstrate that I− generates significantly greater interfacial fluctuations compared to Cl−. The fluctuation is attributed to the malleability of the solvation shells, which allows for more long-ranged perturbations and solvent density redistribution induced by I− as the anion approaches the liquid-vapor interface. The increase in temperature of the solvent enhances the inherent thermally-excited fluctuations and consequently reduces the relative contribution from anion to surface fluctuations, which is consistent with the decrease in surface-stability of I−. Our results indicate a strong correlation with induced interfacial fluctuations and anion surface stability; moreover, resulting temperature dependent behavior of induced fluctuations suggests the possibility of a critical level of induced fluctuations associated with surface stability. PMID:23537166

Enhanced Spectral Anisotropies Near the Proton-Cyclotron Scale: Possible Two-Component Structure in Hall-FLR MHD Turbulence Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghosh, Sanjoy; Goldstein, Melvyn L.

2011-01-01

Recent analysis of the magnetic correlation function of solar wind fluctuations at 1 AU suggests the existence of two-component structure near the proton-cyclotron scale. Here we use two-and-one-half dimensional and three-dimensional compressible MHD models to look for two-component structure adjacent the proton-cyclotron scale. Our MHD system incorporates both Hall and Finite Larmor Radius (FLR) terms. We find that strong spectral anisotropies appear adjacent the proton-cyclotron scales depending on selections of initial condition and plasma beta. These anisotropies are enhancements on top of related anisotropies that appear in standard MHD turbulence in the presence of a mean magnetic field and are suggestive of one turbulence component along the inertial scales and another component adjacent the dissipative scales. We compute the relative strengths of linear and nonlinear accelerations on the velocity and magnetic fields to gauge the relative influence of terms that drive the system with wave-like (linear) versus turbulent (nonlinear) dynamics.

Scaling oxygen microprofiles at the sediment interface of deep stratified waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwefel, Robert; Hondzo, Miki; Wüest, Alfred; Bouffard, Damien

2017-02-01

Dissolved oxygen microprofiles at the sediment-water interface of Lake Geneva were measured concurrently with velocities 0.25 to 2 m above the sediment. The measurements and scaling analyses indicate dissolved oxygen fluctuations and turbulent fluxes in exceedance of molecular diffusion in the proximity of the sediment-water interface. The measurements allowed the parameterization of the turbulent diffusion as a function of the dimensionless height above the sediment and the turbulence above the sediment-water interface. Turbulent diffusion depended strongly on the friction velocity and differed from formulations reported in the literature that are based on concepts of turbulent and developed wall-bounded flows. The dissolved oxygen microprofiles and proposed parameterization of turbulent diffusion enable a foundation for the similarity scaling of oxygen microprofiles in proximity to the sediment. The proposed scaling allows the estimation of diffusive boundary layer thickness, oxygen flux, and oxygen microprofile distribution in the near-sediment boundary layer.

Autocorrelation and cross-correlation in time series of homicide and attempted homicide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machado Filho, A.; da Silva, M. F.; Zebende, G. F.

2014-04-01

We propose in this paper to establish the relationship between homicides and attempted homicides by a non-stationary time-series analysis. This analysis will be carried out by Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA), Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (DCCA), and DCCA cross-correlation coefficient, ρ(n). Through this analysis we can identify a positive cross-correlation between homicides and attempted homicides. At the same time, looked at from the point of view of autocorrelation (DFA), this analysis can be more informative depending on time scale. For short scale (days), we cannot identify auto-correlations, on the scale of weeks DFA presents anti-persistent behavior, and for long time scales (n>90 days) DFA presents a persistent behavior. Finally, the application of this new type of statistical analysis proved to be efficient and, in this sense, this paper can contribute to a more accurate descriptive statistics of crime.

Mechanisms for Superconductivity in Cuprates compared with results from the Generalized MacMillan-Rowell Analysis of High Resolution Laser- ARPES

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varma, Chandra; Choi, Han-Yong; Zhang, Wentao; Zhou, Xingjiang

2012-02-01

The spectra of fluctuations and their coupling to fermions has been deduced from extensive high resolution laser ARPES in several BISCCO samples and quantitatively analyzed. We ask the question whether some of the theories for superconductivity in Cuprates are consistent or inconsistent with the frequency and the momentum dependence of the deductions. We find that any fluctuation spectra, for example that of Antiferromagnetic Fluctuations, whose frequency dependence depends significantly on momentum dependence are excluded. We consider the quantum-critical spectra of the loop-current order observed in under-doped cuprates and its coupling to fermions and find it consistent with the data.

Relationship between Musical Characteristics and Temporal Breathing Pattern in Piano Performance

PubMed Central

Sakaguchi, Yutaka; Aiba, Eriko

2016-01-01

Although there is growing evidence that breathing is modulated by various motor and cognitive activities, the nature of breathing in musical performance has been little explored. The present study examined the temporal breath pattern in piano performance, aiming to elucidate how breath timing is related to musical organization/events and performance. In the experiments, the respiration of 15 professional and amateur pianists, playing 10 music excerpts in total (from four-octave C major scale, Hanon's exercise, J. S. Bach's Invention, Mozart's Sonatas, and Debussy's Clair de lune), was monitored by capnography. The relationship between breathing and musical characteristics was analyzed. Five major results were obtained. (1) Mean breath interval was shortened for excerpts in faster tempi. (2) Fluctuation of breath intervals was reduced for the pieces for finger exercise and those in faster tempi. Pianists showing large within-trial fluctuation also exhibited large inter-excerpt difference. (3) Inter-trial consistency of the breath patterns depended on the excerpts. Consistency was generally reduced for the excerpts that could be performed mechanically (i.e., pieces for finger exercise), but interestingly, one third of the participant showed consistent patterns for the simple scale, correlated with the ascending/descending sequences. (4) Pianists tended to exhale just after the music onsets, inhale at the rests, and inhibit inhale during the slur parts. There was correlation between breathing pattern and two-voice polyphonic structure for several participants. (5) Respiratory patterns were notably different among the pianists. Every pianist showed his or her own characteristic features commonly for various musical works. These findings suggest that breathing in piano performance depends not only on musical parameters and organization written in the score but also some pianist-dependent factors which might be ingrained to individual pianists. PMID:27516736

Relationship between Musical Characteristics and Temporal Breathing Pattern in Piano Performance.

PubMed

Sakaguchi, Yutaka; Aiba, Eriko

2016-01-01

Although there is growing evidence that breathing is modulated by various motor and cognitive activities, the nature of breathing in musical performance has been little explored. The present study examined the temporal breath pattern in piano performance, aiming to elucidate how breath timing is related to musical organization/events and performance. In the experiments, the respiration of 15 professional and amateur pianists, playing 10 music excerpts in total (from four-octave C major scale, Hanon's exercise, J. S. Bach's Invention, Mozart's Sonatas, and Debussy's Clair de lune), was monitored by capnography. The relationship between breathing and musical characteristics was analyzed. Five major results were obtained. (1) Mean breath interval was shortened for excerpts in faster tempi. (2) Fluctuation of breath intervals was reduced for the pieces for finger exercise and those in faster tempi. Pianists showing large within-trial fluctuation also exhibited large inter-excerpt difference. (3) Inter-trial consistency of the breath patterns depended on the excerpts. Consistency was generally reduced for the excerpts that could be performed mechanically (i.e., pieces for finger exercise), but interestingly, one third of the participant showed consistent patterns for the simple scale, correlated with the ascending/descending sequences. (4) Pianists tended to exhale just after the music onsets, inhale at the rests, and inhibit inhale during the slur parts. There was correlation between breathing pattern and two-voice polyphonic structure for several participants. (5) Respiratory patterns were notably different among the pianists. Every pianist showed his or her own characteristic features commonly for various musical works. These findings suggest that breathing in piano performance depends not only on musical parameters and organization written in the score but also some pianist-dependent factors which might be ingrained to individual pianists.

Fluctuating pressures in flow fields of jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, J. C.; Haviland, J. K.

1976-01-01

The powered lift configurations under present development for STOL aircraft are the externally blown flap (EBF), involving direct jet impingement on the aircraft flaps, and the upper surface blown (USB), where the jet flow is attached on the upper surface of the wing and directed downwards. Towards the goal of developing scaling laws to predict unsteady loads imposed on the structural components of these STOL aircraft from small model tests, the near field fluctuating pressure behavior for the simplified cases of a round free cold jet and the same jet impinging on a flat plate was investigated. Examples are given of coherences, phase lags (giving convection velocities), and overall fluctuating pressure levels measured. The fluctuating pressure levels measured on the flat plate are compared to surface fluctuating pressure levels measured on full-scale powered-lift configuration models.

Fluctuating magnetic moments in liquid metals.

PubMed

Patty, Mark; Schoen, Keary; Montfrooij, Wouter

2006-02-01

We reanalyze literature data on neutron scattering by liquid metals and show that there is an additional broad (in energy) quasielastic mode present that is absent in x-ray scattering. This mode cannot be accounted for by the standard coherent and incoherent scattering mechanisms. We argue that this mode indicates that nonmagnetic liquid metals possess a magnetic moment which fluctuates on a picosecond time scale. This time scale is the same as the time scale of the cage-diffusion process in which an ion rattles around in the cage formed by its neighbors. We find that these fluctuating magnetic moments are present in liquid Hg, Al, Ga, and Pb and possibly also in the alkali metals.

Large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies in an open universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamionkowski, Marc; Spergel, David N.

1994-01-01

If the universe is open, scales larger than the curvature scale may be probed by observation of large-angle fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We consider primordial adiabatic perturbations and discuss power spectra that are power laws in volume, wavelength, and eigenvalue of the Laplace operator. Such spectra may have arisen if, for example, the universe underwent a period of `frustated' inflation. The resulting large-angle anisotropies of the CMB are computed. The amplitude generally increases as Omega is decreased but decreases as h is increased. Interestingly enough, for all three Ansaetze, anisotropies on angular scales larger than the curvature scale are suppressed relative to the anisotropies on scales smaller than the curvature scale, but cosmic variance makes discrimination between various models difficult. Models with 0.2 approximately less than Omega h approximately less than 0.3 appear compatible with CMB fluctuations detected by Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) and the Tenerife experiment and with the amplitude and spectrum of fluctuations of galaxy counts in the APM, CfA, and 1.2 Jy IRAS surveys. COBE normalization for these models yields sigma(sub 8) approximately = 0.5 - 0.7. Models with smaller values of Omega h when normalized to COBE require bias factors in excess of 2 to be compatible with the observed galaxy counts on the 8/h Mpc scale. Requiring that the age of the universe exceed 10 Gyr implies that Omega approximately greater than 0.25, while requiring that from the last-scattering term in the Sachs-Wolfe formula, large-angle anisotropies come primarily from the decay of potential fluctuations at z approximately less than 1/Omega. Thus, if the universe is open, COBE has been detecting temperature fluctuations produced at moderate redshift rather than at z approximately 1300.

Scaling in cognitive performance reflects multiplicative multifractal cascade dynamics

PubMed Central

Stephen, Damian G.; Anastas, Jason R.; Dixon, James A.

2012-01-01

Self-organized criticality purports to build multi-scaled structures out of local interactions. Evidence of scaling in various domains of biology may be more generally understood to reflect multiplicative interactions weaving together many disparate scales. The self-similarity of power-law scaling entails homogeneity: fluctuations distribute themselves similarly across many spatial and temporal scales. However, this apparent homogeneity can be misleading, especially as it spans more scales. Reducing biological processes to one power-law relationship neglects rich cascade dynamics. We review recent research into multifractality in executive-function cognitive tasks and propose that scaling reflects not criticality but instead interactions across multiple scales and among fluctuations of multiple sizes. PMID:22529819

Radio interferometer measurements of turbulence in the inner solar wind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spangler, S. R.; Sakurai, T.; Coles, William A.; Grall, R. R.; Harmon, J. K.

1995-01-01

Measurements can be made of Very Long Baseline Interferometer (VLBI) phase scintillations due to plasma turbulence in the solar corona and solar wind. These measurements provide information on the spectrum and intensity of density fluctuations with scale sizes of a few hundred to several thousand kilometers. If we model the spatial power spectrum of the density fluctuations as P(sub delta n)(q) = C(sup 2)(sub N) q(sup -alpha), where q is the spatial wavenumber, these observations yield both alpha and the path-integrated value of C(sup 2)(sub N). The recently completed Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is capable of making such measurements over the heliocentric distance range from a few solar radii to 60 solar radii and beyond. This permits the determination with the same technique and instrument of the radial evolution of turbulent characteristics, as well as their dependence on solar wind transients, sector structure, etc. In this paper we present measurements of 13 sources observed at a wide range of solar elongations, and at different times. These observations show that the coefficient C(sup 2(sub N), depends on heliocentric distance as approximately C(sup 2)(sub N) varies as (R/Solar Radius)(sup -3.7). The radio derived power spectral characteristics are in agreement with in situ measurements by the Helios spacecraft for regions of slow solar wind, but fast solar wind does not have large enough density fluctuations to account for the magnitude of the observed scintillations. The observed radial dependence is consistent with a WKB-type evolution of the turbulence with heliocentric distance. Our data also show indication of turbulence enhancement associated with solar wind transients.

Inelastic Light Scattering Measurements of a Pressure-Induced Quantum Liquid in KCuF3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, S.; Kim, M.; Seeley, J. T.; Lee, J. C. T.; Lal, S.; Abbamonte, P.; Cooper, S. L.

2012-11-01

Pressure-dependent, low-temperature inelastic light (Raman) scattering measurements of KCuF3 show that applied pressure above P*˜7kbar suppresses a previously observed structural phase transition temperature to zero temperature in KCuF3, resulting in the development of a fluctuational (quasielastic) response near T˜0K. This pressure-induced fluctuational response—which we associate with slow fluctuations of the CuF6 octahedral orientation—is temperature independent and exhibits a characteristic fluctuation rate that is much larger than the temperature, consistent with quantum fluctuations of the CuF6 octahedra. A model of pseudospin-phonon coupling provides a qualitative description of both the temperature- and pressure-dependent evolution of the Raman spectra of KCuF3.

Scale-invariant structure of energy fluctuations in real earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ping; Chang, Zhe; Wang, Huanyu; Lu, Hong

2017-11-01

Earthquakes are obviously complex phenomena associated with complicated spatiotemporal correlations, and they are generally characterized by two power laws: the Gutenberg-Richter (GR) and the Omori-Utsu laws. However, an important challenge has been to explain two apparently contrasting features: the GR and Omori-Utsu laws are scale-invariant and unaffected by energy or time scales, whereas earthquakes occasionally exhibit a characteristic energy or time scale, such as with asperity events. In this paper, three high-quality datasets on earthquakes were used to calculate the earthquake energy fluctuations at various spatiotemporal scales, and the results reveal the correlations between seismic events regardless of their critical or characteristic features. The probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuations exhibit evidence of another scaling that behaves as a q-Gaussian rather than random process. The scaling behaviors are observed for scales spanning three orders of magnitude. Considering the spatial heterogeneities in a real earthquake fault, we propose an inhomogeneous Olami-Feder-Christensen (OFC) model to describe the statistical properties of real earthquakes. The numerical simulations show that the inhomogeneous OFC model shares the same statistical properties with real earthquakes.

Transition from geostrophic turbulence to inertia-gravity waves in the atmospheric energy spectrum.

PubMed

Callies, Jörn; Ferrari, Raffaele; Bühler, Oliver

2014-12-02

Midlatitude fluctuations of the atmospheric winds on scales of thousands of kilometers, the most energetic of such fluctuations, are strongly constrained by the Earth's rotation and the atmosphere's stratification. As a result of these constraints, the flow is quasi-2D and energy is trapped at large scales—nonlinear turbulent interactions transfer energy to larger scales, but not to smaller scales. Aircraft observations of wind and temperature near the tropopause indicate that fluctuations at horizontal scales smaller than about 500 km are more energetic than expected from these quasi-2D dynamics. We present an analysis of the observations that indicates that these smaller-scale motions are due to approximately linear inertia-gravity waves, contrary to recent claims that these scales are strongly turbulent. Specifically, the aircraft velocity and temperature measurements are separated into two components: one due to the quasi-2D dynamics and one due to linear inertia-gravity waves. Quasi-2D dynamics dominate at scales larger than 500 km; inertia-gravity waves dominate at scales smaller than 500 km.

Transition from geostrophic turbulence to inertia–gravity waves in the atmospheric energy spectrum

PubMed Central

Callies, Jörn; Ferrari, Raffaele; Bühler, Oliver

2014-01-01

Midlatitude fluctuations of the atmospheric winds on scales of thousands of kilometers, the most energetic of such fluctuations, are strongly constrained by the Earth’s rotation and the atmosphere’s stratification. As a result of these constraints, the flow is quasi-2D and energy is trapped at large scales—nonlinear turbulent interactions transfer energy to larger scales, but not to smaller scales. Aircraft observations of wind and temperature near the tropopause indicate that fluctuations at horizontal scales smaller than about 500 km are more energetic than expected from these quasi-2D dynamics. We present an analysis of the observations that indicates that these smaller-scale motions are due to approximately linear inertia–gravity waves, contrary to recent claims that these scales are strongly turbulent. Specifically, the aircraft velocity and temperature measurements are separated into two components: one due to the quasi-2D dynamics and one due to linear inertia–gravity waves. Quasi-2D dynamics dominate at scales larger than 500 km; inertia–gravity waves dominate at scales smaller than 500 km. PMID:25404349

Wind-Tunnel Experiments for Gas Dispersion in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer with Large-Scale Turbulent Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michioka, Takenobu; Sato, Ayumu; Sada, Koichi

2011-10-01

Large-scale turbulent motions enhancing horizontal gas spread in an atmospheric boundary layer are simulated in a wind-tunnel experiment. The large-scale turbulent motions can be generated using an active grid installed at the front of the test section in the wind tunnel, when appropriate parameters for the angular deflection and the rotation speed are chosen. The power spectra of vertical velocity fluctuations are unchanged with and without the active grid because they are strongly affected by the surface. The power spectra of both streamwise and lateral velocity fluctuations with the active grid increase in the low frequency region, and are closer to the empirical relations inferred from field observations. The large-scale turbulent motions do not affect the Reynolds shear stress, but change the balance of the processes involved. The relative contributions of ejections to sweeps are suppressed by large-scale turbulent motions, indicating that the motions behave as sweep events. The lateral gas spread is enhanced by the lateral large-scale turbulent motions generated by the active grid. The large-scale motions, however, do not affect the vertical velocity fluctuations near the surface, resulting in their having a minimal effect on the vertical gas spread. The peak concentration normalized using the root-mean-squared value of concentration fluctuation is remarkably constant over most regions of the plume irrespective of the operation of the active grid.

Scales of Heterogeneities in the Continental Crust and Upper Mantle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tittgemeyer, M.; Wenzel, F.; Ryberg, T.; Fuchs, K.

1999-09-01

A seismological characterization of crust and upper mantle can refer to large-scale averages of seismic velocities or to fluctuations of elastic parameters. Large is understood here relative to the wavelength used to probe the earth.¶In this paper we try to characterize crust and upper mantle by the fluctuations in media properties rather than by their average velocities. As such it becomes evident that different scales of heterogeneities prevail in different layers of crust and mantle. Although we cannot provide final models and an explanation of why these different scales exist, we believe that scales of inhomogeneities carry significant information regarding the tectonic processes that have affected the lower crust, the lithospheric and the sublithospheric upper mantle.¶We focus on four different types of small-scale inhomogeneities (1) the characteristics of the lower crust, (2) velocity fluctuations in the uppermost mantle, (3) scattering in the lowermost lithosphere and on (4) heterogeneities in the mantle transition zone.

Rapid climate fluctuations over the past millennium: evidence from a lacustrine record of Basomtso Lake, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

PubMed Central

Li, Kai; Liu, Xingqi; Herzschuh, Ulrike; Wang, Yongbo

2016-01-01

Abrupt climate changes and fluctuations over short time scales are superimposed on long-term climate changes. Understanding rapid climate fluctuations at the decadal time scale over the past millennium will enhance our understanding of patterns of climate variability and aid in forecasting climate changes in the future. In this study, climate changes on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau over the past millennium were determined from a 4.82-m-long sediment core from Basomtso Lake. At the centennial time scale, the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), Little Ice Age (LIA) and Current Warm Period (CWP) are distinct in the Basomtso region. Rapid climate fluctuations inferred from five episodes with higher sediment input and likely warmer conditions, as well as seven episodes with lower sediment input and likely colder conditions, were well preserved in our record. These episodes with higher and lower sediment input are characterized by abrupt climate changes and short time durations. Spectral analysis indicates that the climate variations at the centennial scale on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau are influenced by solar activity during the past millennium. PMID:27091591

Detrended fluctuation analysis of non-stationary cardiac beat-to-beat interval of sick infants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Govindan, Rathinaswamy B.; Massaro, An N.; Al-Shargabi, Tareq; Niforatos Andescavage, Nickie; Chang, Taeun; Glass, Penny; du Plessis, Adre J.

2014-11-01

We performed detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) of cardiac beat-to-beat intervals (RRis) collected from sick newborn infants over 1-4 day periods. We calculated four different metrics from the DFA fluctuation function: the DFA exponents αL (>40 beats up to one-fourth of the record length), αs (15-30 beats), root-mean-square (RMS) fluctuation on a short-time scale (20-50 beats), and RMS fluctuation on a long-time scale (110-150 beats). Except αL , all metrics clearly distinguished two groups of newborn infants (favourable vs. adverse) with well-characterized outcomes. However, the RMS fluctuations distinguished the two groups more consistently over time compared to αS . Furthermore, RMS distinguished the RRi of the two groups earlier compared to the DFA exponent. In all the three measures, the favourable outcome group displayed higher values, indicating a higher magnitude of (auto-)correlation and variability, thus normal physiology, compared to the adverse outcome group.

Work and power fluctuations in a critical heat engine.

PubMed

Holubec, Viktor; Ryabov, Artem

2017-09-01

We investigate fluctuations of output work for a class of Stirling heat engines with working fluid composed of interacting units and compare these fluctuations to an average work output. In particular, we focus on engine performance close to a critical point where Carnot's efficiency may be attained at a finite power as reported by M. Campisi and R. Fazio [Nat. Commun. 7, 11895 (2016)2041-172310.1038/ncomms11895]. We show that the variance of work output per cycle scales with the same critical exponent as the heat capacity of the working fluid. As a consequence, the relative work fluctuation diverges unless the output work obeys a rather strict scaling condition, which would be very hard to fulfill in practice. Even under this condition, the fluctuations of work and power do not vanish in the infinite system size limit. Large fluctuations of output work thus constitute inseparable and dominant element in performance of the macroscopic heat engines close to a critical point.

Work and power fluctuations in a critical heat engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holubec, Viktor; Ryabov, Artem

2017-09-01

We investigate fluctuations of output work for a class of Stirling heat engines with working fluid composed of interacting units and compare these fluctuations to an average work output. In particular, we focus on engine performance close to a critical point where Carnot's efficiency may be attained at a finite power as reported by M. Campisi and R. Fazio [Nat. Commun. 7, 11895 (2016), 10.1038/ncomms11895]. We show that the variance of work output per cycle scales with the same critical exponent as the heat capacity of the working fluid. As a consequence, the relative work fluctuation diverges unless the output work obeys a rather strict scaling condition, which would be very hard to fulfill in practice. Even under this condition, the fluctuations of work and power do not vanish in the infinite system size limit. Large fluctuations of output work thus constitute inseparable and dominant element in performance of the macroscopic heat engines close to a critical point.

Studying the ICM in clusters of galaxies via surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolodzig, Alexander; Gilfanov, Marat; Hütsi, Gert; Sunyaev, Rashid

2018-02-01

We study surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) using Chandra data of XBOOTES. After masking out resolved sources we compute the power spectrum of fluctuations of the unresolved CXB for angular scales from {≈ } 2 arcsec to ≈3°. The non-trivial large-scale structure (LSS) signal dominates over the shot noise of unresolved point sources on angular scales above {˜ } 1 arcmin and is produced mainly by the intracluster medium (ICM) of unresolved clusters and groups of galaxies, as shown in our previous publication. The shot-noise-subtracted power spectrum of CXB fluctuations has a power-law shape with the slope of Γ = 0.96 ± 0.06. Their energy spectrum is well described by the redshifted emission spectrum of optically thin plasma with the best-fitting temperature of T ≈ 1.3 keV and the best-fitting redshift of z ≈ 0.40. These numbers are in good agreement with theoretical expectations based on the X-ray luminosity function and scaling relations of clusters. From these values we estimate the typical mass and luminosity of the objects responsible for CXB fluctuations, M500 ∼ 1013.6 M⊙ h-1 and L0.5-2.0 keV ∼ 1042.5 erg s-1. On the other hand, the flux-weighted mean temperature and redshift of resolved clusters are T ≈ 2.4 keV and z ≈ 0.23 confirming that fluctuations of unresolved CXB are caused by cooler (i.e. less massive) and more distant clusters, as expected. We show that the power spectrum shape is sensitive to the ICM structure all the way to the outskirts, out to ∼few × R500. We also searched for possible contribution of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) to the observed CXB fluctuations. Our results underline the significant diagnostic potential of the CXB fluctuation analysis in studying the ICM structure in clusters.

A study of sound generation in subsonic rotors, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chalupnik, J. D.; Clark, L. T.

1975-01-01

A model for the prediction of wake related sound generation by a single airfoil is presented. It is assumed that the net force fluctuation on an airfoil may be expressed in terms of the net momentum fluctuation in the near wake of the airfoil. The forcing function for sound generation depends on the spectra of the two point velocity correlations in the turbulent region near the airfoil trailing edge. The spectra of the two point velocity correlations were measured for the longitudinal and transverse components of turbulence in the wake of a 91.4 cm chord airfoil. A scaling procedure was developed using the turbulent boundary layer thickness. The model was then used to predict the radiated sound from a 5.1 cm chord airfoil. Agreement between the predicted and measured sound radiation spectra was good. The single airfoil results were extended to a rotor geometry, and various aerodynamic parameters were studied.

Hill functions for stochastic gene regulatory networks from master equations with split nodes and time-scale separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipan, Ovidiu; Ferwerda, Cameron

2018-02-01

The deterministic Hill function depends only on the average values of molecule numbers. To account for the fluctuations in the molecule numbers, the argument of the Hill function needs to contain the means, the standard deviations, and the correlations. Here we present a method that allows for stochastic Hill functions to be constructed from the dynamical evolution of stochastic biocircuits with specific topologies. These stochastic Hill functions are presented in a closed analytical form so that they can be easily incorporated in models for large genetic regulatory networks. Using a repressive biocircuit as an example, we show by Monte Carlo simulations that the traditional deterministic Hill function inaccurately predicts time of repression by an order of two magnitudes. However, the stochastic Hill function was able to capture the fluctuations and thus accurately predicted the time of repression.

Toughness and strength of nanocrystalline graphene

DOE PAGES

Shekhawat, Ashivni; Ritchie, Robert O.

2016-01-28

Pristine monocrystalline graphene is claimed to be the strongest material known with remarkable mechanical and electrical properties. However, graphene made with scalable fabrication techniques is polycrystalline and contains inherent nanoscale line and point defects—grain boundaries and grain-boundary triple junctions—that lead to significant statistical fluctuations in toughness and strength. These fluctuations become particularly pronounced for nanocrystalline graphene where the density of defects is high. Here we use large-scale simulation and continuum modelling to show that the statistical variation in toughness and strength can be understood with ‘weakest-link’ statistics. We develop the first statistical theory of toughness in polycrystalline graphene, and elucidatemore » the nanoscale origins of the grain-size dependence of its strength and toughness. Lastly, our results should lead to more reliable graphene device design, and provide a framework to interpret experimental results in a broad class of two-dimensional materials.« less

Long memory in international financial markets trends and short movements during 2008 financial crisis based on variational mode decomposition and detrended fluctuation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lahmiri, Salim

2015-11-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate long-range dependence in trend and short variation of stock market price and return series before, during, and after 2008 financial crisis. Variational mode decomposition (VMD), a newly introduced technique for signal processing, is adopted to decompose stock market data into a finite set of modes so as to obtain long term trends and short term movements of stock market data. Then, the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and range scale (R/S) analysis are used to estimate Hurst exponent in each variational mode obtained from VMD. For both price and return series, the empirical results from twelve international stock markets show evidence that long term trends are persistent, whilst short term variations are anti-persistent before, during, and after 2008 financial crisis.

Extinction phase transitions in a model of ecological and evolutionary dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barghathi, Hatem; Tackkett, Skye; Vojta, Thomas

2017-07-01

We study the non-equilibrium phase transition between survival and extinction of spatially extended biological populations using an agent-based model. We especially focus on the effects of global temporal fluctuations of the environmental conditions, i.e., temporal disorder. Using large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations of up to 3 × 107 organisms and 105 generations, we find the extinction transition in time-independent environments to be in the well-known directed percolation universality class. In contrast, temporal disorder leads to a highly unusual extinction transition characterized by logarithmically slow population decay and enormous fluctuations even for large populations. The simulations provide strong evidence for this transition to be of exotic infinite-noise type, as recently predicted by a renormalization group theory. The transition is accompanied by temporal Griffiths phases featuring a power-law dependence of the life time on the population size.

Nonlinear response in runoff magnitude to fluctuating rain patterns.

PubMed

Curtu, R; Fonley, M

2015-03-01

The runoff coefficient of a hillslope is a reliable measure for changes in the streamflow response at the river link outlet. A high runoff coefficient is a good indicator of the possibility of flash floods. Although the relationship between runoff coefficient and streamflow has been the subject of much study, the physical mechanisms affecting runoff coefficient including the dependence on precipitation pattern remain open topics for investigation. In this paper, we analyze a rainfall-runoff model at the hillslope scale as that hillslope is forced with different rain patterns: constant rain and fluctuating rain with different frequencies and amplitudes. When an oscillatory precipitation pattern is applied, although the same amount of water may enter the system, its response (measured by the runoff coefficient) will be maximum for a certain frequency of precipitation. The significant increase in runoff coefficient after a certain pattern of rainfall can be a potential explanation for the conditions preceding flash-floods.

Distinct nature of orbital-selective Mott phases dominated by low-energy local spin fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ze-Yi; Jiang, Xiu-Cai; Lin, Hai-Qing; Zhang, Yu-Zhong

2017-12-01

Quantum orbital-selective Mott (OSM) transitions are investigated within dynamical mean-field theory based on a two-orbital Hubbard model with different bandwidth at half filling. We find two distinct OSM phases both showing coexistence of itinerant electrons and localized spins, dependent on whether the Hund's coupling is full or of Ising type. The critical values and the nature of the OSM transitions are efficiently determined by entanglement entropy. We reveal that vanishing of the Kondo energy scale evidenced by absence of local spin fluctuations at low frequency in local dynamical spin susceptibility is responsible for the appearance of non-Fermi-liquid OSM phase in Ising Hund's coupling case. We argue that this scenario can also be applied to account for emergent quantum non-Fermi liquid in the one-band Hubbard model when short-range antiferromagnetic order is considered.

A simple phenomenological model for grain clustering in turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopkins, Philip F.

2016-01-01

We propose a simple model for density fluctuations of aerodynamic grains, embedded in a turbulent, gravitating gas disc. The model combines a calculation for the behaviour of a group of grains encountering a single turbulent eddy, with a hierarchical approximation of the eddy statistics. This makes analytic predictions for a range of quantities including: distributions of grain densities, power spectra and correlation functions of fluctuations, and maximum grain densities reached. We predict how these scale as a function of grain drag time ts, spatial scale, grain-to-gas mass ratio tilde{ρ }, strength of turbulence α, and detailed disc properties. We test these against numerical simulations with various turbulence-driving mechanisms. The simulations agree well with the predictions, spanning ts Ω ˜ 10-4-10, tilde{ρ }˜ 0{-}3, α ˜ 10-10-10-2. Results from `turbulent concentration' simulations and laboratory experiments are also predicted as a special case. Vortices on a wide range of scales disperse and concentrate grains hierarchically. For small grains this is most efficient in eddies with turnover time comparable to the stopping time, but fluctuations are also damped by local gas-grain drift. For large grains, shear and gravity lead to a much broader range of eddy scales driving fluctuations, with most power on the largest scales. The grain density distribution has a log-Poisson shape, with fluctuations for large grains up to factors ≳1000. We provide simple analytic expressions for the predictions, and discuss implications for planetesimal formation, grain growth, and the structure of turbulence.

Different modelling approaches to evaluate nitrogen transport and turnover at the watershed scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Epelde, Ane Miren; Antiguedad, Iñaki; Brito, David; Jauch, Eduardo; Neves, Ramiro; Garneau, Cyril; Sauvage, Sabine; Sánchez-Pérez, José Miguel

2016-08-01

This study presents the simulation of hydrological processes and nutrient transport and turnover processes using two integrated numerical models: Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) (Arnold et al., 1998), an empirical and semi-distributed numerical model; and Modelo Hidrodinâmico (MOHID) (Neves, 1985), a physics-based and fully distributed numerical model. This work shows that both models reproduce satisfactorily water and nitrate exportation at the watershed scale at annual and daily basis, MOHID providing slightly better results. At the watershed scale, both SWAT and MOHID simulated similarly and satisfactorily the denitrification amount. However, as MOHID numerical model was the only one able to reproduce adequately the spatial variation of the soil hydrological conditions and water table level fluctuation, it proved to be the only model able of reproducing the spatial variation of the nutrient cycling processes that are dependent to the soil hydrological conditions such as the denitrification process. This evidences the strength of the fully distributed and physics-based models to simulate the spatial variability of nutrient cycling processes that are dependent to the hydrological conditions of the soils.

Constraints on a scale-dependent bias from galaxy clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amendola, L.; Menegoni, E.; Di Porto, C.; Corsi, M.; Branchini, E.

2017-01-01

We forecast the future constraints on scale-dependent parametrizations of galaxy bias and their impact on the estimate of cosmological parameters from the power spectrum of galaxies measured in a spectroscopic redshift survey. For the latter we assume a wide survey at relatively large redshifts, similar to the planned Euclid survey, as the baseline for future experiments. To assess the impact of the bias we perform a Fisher matrix analysis, and we adopt two different parametrizations of scale-dependent bias. The fiducial models for galaxy bias are calibrated using mock catalogs of H α emitting galaxies mimicking the expected properties of the objects that will be targeted by the Euclid survey. In our analysis we have obtained two main results. First of all, allowing for a scale-dependent bias does not significantly increase the errors on the other cosmological parameters apart from the rms amplitude of density fluctuations, σ8 , and the growth index γ , whose uncertainties increase by a factor up to 2, depending on the bias model adopted. Second, we find that the accuracy in the linear bias parameter b0 can be estimated to within 1%-2% at various redshifts regardless of the fiducial model. The nonlinear bias parameters have significantly large errors that depend on the model adopted. Despite this, in the more realistic scenarios departures from the simple linear bias prescription can be detected with a ˜2 σ significance at each redshift explored. Finally, we use the Fisher matrix formalism to assess the impact od assuming an incorrect bias model and find that the systematic errors induced on the cosmological parameters are similar or even larger than the statistical ones.

Regional synchrony in full-scale activated sludge bioreactors due to deterministic microbial community assembly

PubMed Central

Griffin, James S; Wells, George F

2017-01-01

Seasonal community structure and regionally synchronous population dynamics have been observed in natural microbial ecosystems, but have not been well documented in wastewater treatment bioreactors. Few studies of community dynamics in full-scale activated sludge systems facing similar meteorological conditions have been done to compare the importance of deterministic and neutral community assembly mechanisms. We subjected weekly activated sludge samples from six regional full-scale bioreactors at four wastewater treatment plants obtained over 1 year to Illumina sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA genes, resulting in a library of over 17 million sequences. All samples derived from reactors treating primarily municipal wastewater. Despite variation in operational characteristics and location, communities displayed temporal synchrony at the individual operational taxonomic unit (OTU), broad phylogenetic affiliation and community-wide scale. Bioreactor communities were dominated by 134 abundant and highly regionally synchronized OTU populations that accounted for over 50% of the total reads. Non-core OTUs displayed abundance-dependent population synchrony. Alpha diversity varied by reactor, but showed a highly reproducible and synchronous seasonal fluctuation. Community similarity was dominated by seasonal changes, but individual reactors maintained minor stable differences after 1 year. Finally, the impacts of mass migration driven by direct biomass transfers between reactors was investigated, but had no significant effect on community similarity or diversity in the sink community. Our results show that population dynamics in activated sludge bioreactors are consistent with niche-driven assembly guided by seasonal temperature fluctuations. PMID:27996980

Trend Switching Processes in Financial Markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preis, Tobias; Stanley, H. Eugene

For an intriguing variety of switching processes in nature, the underlying complex system abruptly changes at a specific point from one state to another in a highly discontinuous fashion. Financial market fluctuations are characterized by many abrupt switchings creating increasing trends ("bubble formation") and decreasing trends ("bubble collapse"), on time scales ranging from macroscopic bubbles persisting for hundreds of days to microscopic bubbles persisting only for very short time scales. Our analysis is based on a German DAX Future data base containing 13,991,275 transactions recorded with a time resolution of 10- 2 s. For a parallel analysis, we use a data base of all S&P500 stocks providing 2,592,531 daily closing prices. We ask whether these ubiquitous switching processes have quantifiable features independent of the time horizon studied. We find striking scale-free behavior of the volatility after each switching occurs. We interpret our findings as being consistent with time-dependent collective behavior of financial market participants. We test the possible universality of our result by performing a parallel analysis of fluctuations in transaction volume and time intervals between trades. We show that these financial market switching processes have features similar to those present in phase transitions. We find that the well-known catastrophic bubbles that occur on large time scales - such as the most recent financial crisis - are no outliers but in fact single dramatic representatives caused by the formation of upward and downward trends on time scales varying over nine orders of magnitude from the very large down to the very small.

Statistical Study between Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Plasma Sheet Fluctuation Properties and Correlation with Magnetotail Bursty Bulk Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, C. S.; Nykyri, K.; Dimmock, A. P.

2017-12-01

In this paper we test a hypothesis that magnetotail reconnection in the thin current sheet could be initiated by external fluctuations. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) has been observed during southward IMF and it can produce, cold, dense plasma transport and compressional fluctuations that can move further into the magnetosphere. The properties of the KHI depend on the magnetosheath seed fluctuation spectrum (Nykyri et al., JGR, 2017). In this paper we present a statistical correlation study between Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Plasma sheet fluctuation properties using 9+ years of THEMIS data in aberrated GSM frame, and in a normalized coordinate system that takes into account the changes of the magnetopause and bow shock location with respect to changing solar wind conditions. We present statistical results of the plasma sheet fluctuation properties (dn, dV and dB) and their dependence on IMF orientation and fluctuation properties and resulting magnetosheath state. These statistical maps are compared with spatial distribution of magnetotail Bursty Bulk Flows to study possible correlations with magnetotail reconnection and these fluctuations.

Double inflation - A possible resolution of the large-scale structure problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Michael S.; Villumsen, Jens V.; Vittorio, Nicola; Silk, Joseph; Juszkiewicz, Roman

1987-01-01

A model is presented for the large-scale structure of the universe in which two successive inflationary phases resulted in large small-scale and small large-scale density fluctuations. This bimodal density fluctuation spectrum in an Omega = 1 universe dominated by hot dark matter leads to large-scale structure of the galaxy distribution that is consistent with recent observational results. In particular, large, nearly empty voids and significant large-scale peculiar velocity fields are produced over scales of about 100 Mpc, while the small-scale structure over less than about 10 Mpc resembles that in a low-density universe, as observed. Detailed analytical calculations and numerical simulations are given of the spatial and velocity correlations.

Dynamic characteristics of a 30-centimeter mercury ion thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Serafini, J. S.; Mantenieks, M. A.; Rawlin, V. K.

1975-01-01

The present work reports on measurements of the fluctuations in the beam current, discharge current, neutralizer keeper current, and discharge voltage of a 30-cm ion thruster made with 60Hz laboratory-type power supplies. The intensities of the fluctuations (ratio of the root-mean-square magnitude to time-average quantity) were found to depend significantly on the beam and magnetic baffle currents. The shape of the frequency spectra of the discharge plasma fluctuations was related to the beam and magnetic baffle currents. The predominant peaks of the beam and discharge current spectra occurred at frequencies less than 30 kilohertz. This discharge chamber resonance could be attributable to ion-acoustic wave phenomena. Cross-correlations of the discharge and beam currents indicated that the dependence on the magnetic baffle current was strong. The measurements revealed that the discharge current fluctuations directly contribute to the beam current fluctuations and that the power supply characteristics can modify these fluctuations.

Multiscale turbulence models based on convected fluid microstructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holm, Darryl D.; Tronci, Cesare

2012-11-01

The Euler-Poincaré approach to complex fluids is used to derive multiscale equations for computationally modeling Euler flows as a basis for modeling turbulence. The model is based on a kinematic sweeping ansatz (KSA) which assumes that the mean fluid flow serves as a Lagrangian frame of motion for the fluctuation dynamics. Thus, we regard the motion of a fluid parcel on the computationally resolvable length scales as a moving Lagrange coordinate for the fluctuating (zero-mean) motion of fluid parcels at the unresolved scales. Even in the simplest two-scale version on which we concentrate here, the contributions of the fluctuating motion under the KSA to the mean motion yields a system of equations that extends known results and appears to be suitable for modeling nonlinear backscatter (energy transfer from smaller to larger scales) in turbulence using multiscale methods.

Seismicity in a model governed by competing frictional weakening and healing mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hillers, G.; Carlson, J. M.; Archuleta, R. J.

2009-09-01

Observations from laboratory, field and numerical work spanning a wide range of space and time scales suggest a strain dependent progressive evolution of material properties that control the stability of earthquake faults. The associated weakening mechanisms are counterbalanced by a variety of restrengthening mechanisms. The efficiency of the healing processes depends on local material properties and on rheologic, temperature, and hydraulic conditions. We investigate the relative effects of these competing non-linear feedbacks on seismogenesis in the context of evolving frictional properties, using a mechanical earthquake model that is governed by slip weakening friction. Weakening and strengthening mechanisms are parametrized by the evolution of the frictional control variable-the slip weakening rate R-using empirical relationships obtained from laboratory experiments. In our model, weakening depends on the slip of an earthquake and tends to increase R, following the behaviour of real and simulated frictional interfaces. Healing causes R to decrease and depends on the time passed since the last slip. Results from models with these competing feedbacks are compared with simulations using non-evolving friction. Compared to fixed R conditions, evolving properties result in a significantly increased variability in the system dynamics. We find that for a given set of weakening parameters the resulting seismicity patterns are sensitive to details of the restrengthening process, such as the healing rate b and a lower cutoff time, tc, up to which no significant change in the friction parameter is observed. For relatively large and small cutoff times, the statistics are typical of fixed large and small R values, respectively. However, a wide range of intermediate values leads to significant fluctuations in the internal energy levels. The frequency-size statistics of earthquake occurrence show corresponding non-stationary characteristics on time scales over which negligible fluctuations are observed in the fixed-R case. The progressive evolution implies that-except for extreme weakening and healing rates-faults and fault networks possibly are not well characterized by steady states on typical catalogue time scales, thus highlighting the essential role of memory and history dependence in seismogenesis. The results suggest that an extrapolation to future seismicity occurrence based on temporally limited data may be misleading due to variability in seismicity patterns associated with competing mechanisms that affect fault stability.

Switch between competition and facilitation within a seasonal scale at colony level in bryophytes.

PubMed

Spitale, Daniel

2009-06-01

The relative importance of positive and negative interaction in species assemblages is thought to be dependent on the harshness of the physical environment. I studied the consistency of this prediction in a field experiment using growth of the target species Warnstorfia exannulata as influenced by the presence or absence of two adjacent species, Sphagnum warnstorfii and Scapania undulata. In particular, I focused on the mechanism by which colony-colony interactions occur, elucidating how the balance of positive and negative interactions changes along a water gradient. Because the natural fluctuations of the environment modify the water gradient, it was expected that the competitive hierarchies of the species would not remain consistent over time. Results indicated that the different hydrological properties of the colonies, thought to be the necessary condition for the appearance of species interactions, were not sufficient to explain the outcome of the species interactions. The switch from competition to facilitation under more stressful conditions was not confirmed along a water stress gradient. In addition, natural climatic fluctuations, by affecting the length of the water gradient, changed the competitive hierarchies of the species on a seasonal scale.

Generalized Landau Equation for a System with a Self-Consistent Mean Field - Derivation from an N-Particle Liouville Equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kandrup, H.

1981-02-01

Assume that the evolution of a system is determined by an N-particle Liouville equation. Suppose, moreover, that the particles which compose the system interact via a long range force like gravity so that the system will be spatially inhomogeneous. In this case, the mean force acting upon a test particle does not vanish, so that one wishes to isolate a self-consistent mean field and distinguish its "systematic" effects from the effects of "fluctuations." This is done here. The time-dependent projection operator formalism of Willis and Picard is used to obtain an exact equation for the time evolution of an appropriately defined one-particle probability density. If one implements the assumption that the "fluctuation" time scale is much shorter than both the relaxation and dynamical time scales, this exact equation can be approximated as a closed Markovian equation. In the limiting case of spatial homogeneity, one recovers precisely the standard Landau equation, which is customarily derived by a stochastic binary-encounter argument. This equation is contrasted with the standard heuristic equation for a mean field theory, as formulated for a Newtonian r-1 gravitational potential in stellar dynamics.

Analysis of Numerical Simulation Database for Pressure Fluctuations Induced by High-Speed Turbulent Boundary Layers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duan, Lian; Choudhari, Meelan M.

2014-01-01

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of Mach 6 turbulent boundary layer with nominal freestream Mach number of 6 and Reynolds number of Re(sub T) approximately 460 are conducted at two wall temperatures (Tw/Tr = 0.25, 0.76) to investigate the generated pressure fluctuations and their dependence on wall temperature. Simulations indicate that the influence of wall temperature on pressure fluctuations is largely limited to the near-wall region, with the characteristics of wall-pressure fluctuations showing a strong temperature dependence. Wall temperature has little influence on the propagation speed of the freestream pressure signal. The freestream radiation intensity compares well between wall-temperature cases when normalized by the local wall shear; the propagation speed of the freestream pressure signal and the orientation of the radiation wave front show little dependence on the wall temperature.

Faraday polarization fluctuations of satellite beacon signals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, M. C.; Klobuchar, J. A.

1988-01-01

The anisotropic effects of random density irregularities in causing Faraday polarization fluctuations of VHF radio signals are examined, taking both rod-like and sheet-like irregularities into consideration. It is found that the variance of Faraday polarization fluctuations depends on the ratio of perpendicular to parallel correlation lengths. The anisotropic effect of rod-like ionospheric irregularities are shown to be most appreciable for longitudinal propagation. The anisotropic effect of sheet-like ionospheric irregularities, however, is not strongly dependent on the radio propagation angle. During transionospheric propagation at large angles with respect to the geomagnetic field, sheet-like irregularities may cause greater Faraday polarization fluctuations than rod-like irregularities.

The influence of super-horizon scales on cosmological observables generated during inflation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matarrese, Sabino; Musso, Marcello A.; Riotto, Antonio

2004-05-01

Using the techniques of out-of-equilibrium field theory, we study the influence on properties of cosmological perturbations generated during inflation on observable scales coming from fluctuations corresponding today to scales much bigger than the present Hubble radius. We write the effective action for the coarse grained inflaton perturbations, integrating out the sub-horizon modes, which manifest themselves as a coloured noise and lead to memory effects. Using the simple model of a scalar field with cubic self-interactions evolving in a fixed de Sitter background, we evaluate the two- and three-point correlation function on observable scales. Our basic procedure shows that perturbations do preserve some memory of the super-horizon scale dynamics, in the form of scale dependent imprints in the statistical moments. In particular, we find a blue tilt of the power spectrum on large scales, in agreement with the recent results of the WMAP collaboration which show a suppression of the lower multipoles in the cosmic microwave background anisotropies, and a substantial enhancement of the intrinsic non-Gaussianity on large scales.

Solar-Cycle Variability of Magnetosheath Fluctuations at Earth and Venus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwivedi, N. K.; Narita, Y.; Kovacs, P.

2014-12-01

The magnetosheath is a region between the bow-shock and magnetopause and the magnetosheath plasma is mostly in the turbulent state. In the present investigation we put an effort to closely examine the magnetosheath fluctuations dependency on the solar-cycles (solar-maximum and solar minimum) at the magnetized planetary body (Earth) and their comparison with the un-magnetized planetary body (Venus) for the solar minimum. We use the CLUSTER FGM data for the solar-maximum (2001-2002), solar-minimum (2006-2008) and Venus fluxgate magnetometer data for the solar-minimum (2006-2008) to perform a comparative statistical study on the energy spectra and probability density function (PDF) and asses the spectral features of the magnetic fluctuations of the both planetary bodies. In the comparison we study the relation between the inertial ranges of the spectra and the temporal scales of non-Gaussian magnetic fluctuations derived from PDF analyses. The first can refer to turbulent cascade dynamics, while the latter may indicate intermittency. We first transformed the magnetic field data into mean field aligned coordinate system with respect to the large-scale magnetic field direction and then after we compute the power spectral density with the help of Welch algorithm. The computed energy spectra of Earth's magnetosheath show a moderate variability with the solar-cycles and have a broader inertial range. However the estimated energy spectra for the solar-minimum at Venus give the clear evidence of the existence of the break point in the vicinity of the ion gyroradius. After the break-point the energy spectra become steeper and show a distinctive spectral scales which is interpreted as the realization of the begging of the energy cascade. We also briefly address the influence of turbulence on the plasma transport and wave dynamics responsible for the spectral break and predict spectral features of the energy spectra for the solar-maximum at Venus based on the results obtained for the solar-minimum. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under grant agreement number 313038/STORM.

Fluctuations and discrete particle noise in gyrokinetic simulation of drift waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Thomas G.; Lee, W. W.

2007-03-01

The relevance of the gyrokinetic fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) to thermal equilibrium and nonequilibrium states of the gyrokinetic plasma is explored, with particular focus being given to the contribution of weakly damped normal modes to the fluctuation spectrum. It is found that the fluctuation energy carried in the normal modes exhibits the proper scaling with particle count (as predicted by the FDT in thermal equilibrium) even in the presence of drift waves, which grow linearly and attain a nonlinearly saturated steady state. This favorable scaling is preserved, and the saturation amplitude of the drift wave unaffected, for parameter regimes in which the normal modes become strongly damped and introduce a broad spectrum of discreteness-induced background noise in frequency space.

An Open-Source Galaxy Redshift Survey Simulator for next-generation Large Scale Structure Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seijak, Uros

Galaxy redshift surveys produce three-dimensional maps of the galaxy distribution. On large scales these maps trace the underlying matter fluctuations in a relatively simple manner, so that the properties of the primordial fluctuations along with the overall expansion history and growth of perturbations can be extracted. The BAO standard ruler method to measure the expansion history of the universe using galaxy redshift surveys is thought to be robust to observational artifacts and understood theoretically with high precision. These same surveys can offer a host of additional information, including a measurement of the growth rate of large scale structure through redshift space distortions, the possibility of measuring the sum of neutrino masses, tighter constraints on the expansion history through the Alcock-Paczynski effect, and constraints on the scale-dependence and non-Gaussianity of the primordial fluctuations. Extracting this broadband clustering information hinges on both our ability to minimize and subtract observational systematics to the observed galaxy power spectrum, and our ability to model the broadband behavior of the observed galaxy power spectrum with exquisite precision. Rapid development on both fronts is required to capitalize on WFIRST's data set. We propose to develop an open-source computational toolbox that will propel development in both areas by connecting large scale structure modeling and instrument and survey modeling with the statistical inference process. We will use the proposed simulator to both tailor perturbation theory and fully non-linear models of the broadband clustering of WFIRST galaxies and discover novel observables in the non-linear regime that are robust to observational systematics and able to distinguish between a wide range of spatial and dynamic biasing models for the WFIRST galaxy redshift survey sources. We have demonstrated the utility of this approach in a pilot study of the SDSS-III BOSS galaxies, in which we improved the redshift space distortion growth rate measurement precision by a factor of 2.5 using customized clustering statistics in the non-linear regime that were immunized against observational systematics. We look forward to addressing the unique challenges of modeling and empirically characterizing the WFIRST galaxies and observational systematics.

Multiscale analysis of the intensity fluctuation in a time series of dynamic speckle patterns.

PubMed

Federico, Alejandro; Kaufmann, Guillermo H

2007-04-10

We propose the application of a method based on the discrete wavelet transform to detect, identify, and measure scaling behavior in dynamic speckle. The multiscale phenomena presented by a sample and displayed by its speckle activity are analyzed by processing the time series of dynamic speckle patterns. The scaling analysis is applied to the temporal fluctuation of the speckle intensity and also to the two derived data sets generated by its magnitude and sign. The application of the method is illustrated by analyzing paint-drying processes and bruising in apples. The results are discussed taking into account the different time organizations obtained for the scaling behavior of the magnitude and the sign of the intensity fluctuation.

Scaling laws from geomagnetic time series

USGS Publications Warehouse

Voros, Z.; Kovacs, P.; Juhasz, A.; Kormendi, A.; Green, A.W.

1998-01-01

The notion of extended self-similarity (ESS) is applied here for the X - component time series of geomagnetic field fluctuations. Plotting nth order structure functions against the fourth order structure function we show that low-frequency geomagnetic fluctuations up to the order n = 10 follow the same scaling laws as MHD fluctuations in solar wind, however, for higher frequencies (f > l/5[h]) a clear departure from the expected universality is observed for n > 6. ESS does not allow to make an unambiguous statement about the non triviality of scaling laws in "geomagnetic" turbulence. However, we suggest to use higher order moments as promising diagnostic tools for mapping the contributions of various remote magnetospheric sources to local observatory data. Copyright 1998 by the American Geophysical Union.

Mathematical model for logarithmic scaling of velocity fluctuations in wall turbulence.

PubMed

Mouri, Hideaki

2015-12-01

For wall turbulence, moments of velocity fluctuations are known to be logarithmic functions of the height from the wall. This logarithmic scaling is due to the existence of a characteristic velocity and to the nonexistence of any characteristic height in the range of the scaling. By using the mathematics of random variables, we obtain its necessary and sufficient conditions. They are compared with characteristics of a phenomenological model of eddies attached to the wall and also with those of the logarithmic scaling of the mean velocity.

Theory of the magnetic susceptibility including zero-point spin fluctuations of itinerant nearly ferromagnetic compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konno, Rikio; Hatayama, Nobukuni; Takahashi, Yoshinori

2018-05-01

We have investigated the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of itinerant nearly ferromagnetic compounds based on the spin fluctuation theory. It is based on the conservation of the local spin amplitude that consists of both the thermal and the zero-point components. The linear dependence of the zero-point spin fluctuation amplitude on the inverse of magnetic susceptibility is usually assumed. The purpose of our present study is to include its higher order terms and to see their effects on the magnetic susceptibility. For the thermal amplitude, it shows T2-linear temperature dependence at low temperatures.

Non-Gaussian statistics and nanosecond dynamics of electrostatic fluctuations affecting optical transitions in proteins.

PubMed

Martin, Daniel R; Matyushov, Dmitry V

2012-08-30

We show that electrostatic fluctuations of the protein-water interface are globally non-Gaussian. The electrostatic component of the optical transition energy (energy gap) in a hydrated green fluorescent protein is studied here by classical molecular dynamics simulations. The distribution of the energy gap displays a high excess in the breadth of electrostatic fluctuations over the prediction of the Gaussian statistics. The energy gap dynamics include a nanosecond component. When simulations are repeated with frozen protein motions, the statistics shifts to the expectations of linear response and the slow dynamics disappear. We therefore suggest that both the non-Gaussian statistics and the nanosecond dynamics originate largely from global, low-frequency motions of the protein coupled to the interfacial water. The non-Gaussian statistics can be experimentally verified from the temperature dependence of the first two spectral moments measured at constant-volume conditions. Simulations at different temperatures are consistent with other indicators of the non-Gaussian statistics. In particular, the high-temperature part of the energy gap variance (second spectral moment) scales linearly with temperature and extrapolates to zero at a temperature characteristic of the protein glass transition. This result, violating the classical limit of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, leads to a non-Boltzmann statistics of the energy gap and corresponding non-Arrhenius kinetics of radiationless electronic transitions, empirically described by the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law.

Oceanic crustal carbon cycle drives 26-million-year atmospheric carbon dioxide periodicities.

PubMed

Müller, R Dietmar; Dutkiewicz, Adriana

2018-02-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) data for the last 420 million years (My) show long-term fluctuations related to supercontinent cycles as well as shorter cycles at 26 to 32 My whose origin is unknown. Periodicities of 26 to 30 My occur in diverse geological phenomena including mass extinctions, flood basalt volcanism, ocean anoxic events, deposition of massive evaporites, sequence boundaries, and orogenic events and have previously been linked to an extraterrestrial mechanism. The vast oceanic crustal carbon reservoir is an alternative potential driving force of climate fluctuations at these time scales, with hydrothermal crustal carbon uptake occurring mostly in young crust with a strong dependence on ocean bottom water temperature. We combine a global plate model and oceanic paleo-age grids with estimates of paleo-ocean bottom water temperatures to track the evolution of the oceanic crustal carbon reservoir over the past 230 My. We show that seafloor spreading rates as well as the storage, subduction, and emission of oceanic crustal and mantle CO 2 fluctuate with a period of 26 My. A connection with seafloor spreading rates and equivalent cycles in subduction zone rollback suggests that these periodicities are driven by the dynamics of subduction zone migration. The oceanic crust-mantle carbon cycle is thus a previously overlooked mechanism that connects plate tectonic pulsing with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon and surface environments.

Oceanic crustal carbon cycle drives 26-million-year atmospheric carbon dioxide periodicities

PubMed Central

Müller, R. Dietmar; Dutkiewicz, Adriana

2018-01-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) data for the last 420 million years (My) show long-term fluctuations related to supercontinent cycles as well as shorter cycles at 26 to 32 My whose origin is unknown. Periodicities of 26 to 30 My occur in diverse geological phenomena including mass extinctions, flood basalt volcanism, ocean anoxic events, deposition of massive evaporites, sequence boundaries, and orogenic events and have previously been linked to an extraterrestrial mechanism. The vast oceanic crustal carbon reservoir is an alternative potential driving force of climate fluctuations at these time scales, with hydrothermal crustal carbon uptake occurring mostly in young crust with a strong dependence on ocean bottom water temperature. We combine a global plate model and oceanic paleo-age grids with estimates of paleo-ocean bottom water temperatures to track the evolution of the oceanic crustal carbon reservoir over the past 230 My. We show that seafloor spreading rates as well as the storage, subduction, and emission of oceanic crustal and mantle CO2 fluctuate with a period of 26 My. A connection with seafloor spreading rates and equivalent cycles in subduction zone rollback suggests that these periodicities are driven by the dynamics of subduction zone migration. The oceanic crust-mantle carbon cycle is thus a previously overlooked mechanism that connects plate tectonic pulsing with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon and surface environments. PMID:29457135

Numerical simulation of a plane turbulent mixing layer, with applications to isothermal, rapid reactions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, P.; Pratt, D. T.

1987-01-01

A hybrid method has been developed for the numerical prediction of turbulent mixing in a spatially-developing, free shear layer. Most significantly, the computation incorporates the effects of large-scale structures, Schmidt number and Reynolds number on mixing, which have been overlooked in the past. In flow field prediction, large-eddy simulation was conducted by a modified 2-D vortex method with subgrid-scale modeling. The predicted mean velocities, shear layer growth rates, Reynolds stresses, and the RMS of longitudinal velocity fluctuations were found to be in good agreement with experiments, although the lateral velocity fluctuations were overpredicted. In scalar transport, the Monte Carlo method was extended to the simulation of the time-dependent pdf transport equation. For the first time, the mixing frequency in Curl's coalescence/dispersion model was estimated by using Broadwell and Breidenthal's theory of micromixing, which involves Schmidt number, Reynolds number and the local vorticity. Numerical tests were performed for a gaseous case and an aqueous case. Evidence that pure freestream fluids are entrained into the layer by large-scale motions was found in the predicted pdf. Mean concentration profiles were found to be insensitive to Schmidt number, while the unmixedness was higher for higher Schmidt number. Applications were made to mixing layers with isothermal, fast reactions. The predicted difference in product thickness of the two cases was in reasonable quantitative agreement with experimental measurements.

Allan deviation analysis of financial return series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Pérez, R.

2012-05-01

We perform a scaling analysis for the return series of different financial assets applying the Allan deviation (ADEV), which is used in the time and frequency metrology to characterize quantitatively the stability of frequency standards since it has demonstrated to be a robust quantity to analyze fluctuations of non-stationary time series for different observation intervals. The data used are opening price daily series for assets from different markets during a time span of around ten years. We found that the ADEV results for the return series at short scales resemble those expected for an uncorrelated series, consistent with the efficient market hypothesis. On the other hand, the ADEV results for absolute return series for short scales (first one or two decades) decrease following approximately a scaling relation up to a point that is different for almost each asset, after which the ADEV deviates from scaling, which suggests that the presence of clustering, long-range dependence and non-stationarity signatures in the series drive the results for large observation intervals.

Is Global Warming Accelerating?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shukla, J.; Delsole, T. M.; Tippett, M. K.

2009-12-01

A global pattern that fluctuates naturally on decadal time scales is identified in climate simulations and observations. This newly discovered component, called the Global Multidecadal Oscillation (GMO), is related to the Atlantic Meridional Oscillation and shown to account for a substantial fraction of decadal fluctuations in the observed global average sea surface temperature. IPCC-class climate models generally underestimate the variance of the GMO, and hence underestimate the decadal fluctuations due to this component of natural variability. Decomposing observed sea surface temperature into a component due to anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing plus the GMO, reveals that most multidecadal fluctuations in the observed global average sea surface temperature can be accounted for by these two components alone. The fact that the GMO varies naturally on multidecadal time scales implies that it can be predicted with some skill on decadal time scales, which provides a scientific rationale for decadal predictions. Furthermore, the GMO is shown to account for about half of the warming in the last 25 years and hence a substantial fraction of the recent acceleration in the rate of increase in global average sea surface temperature. Nevertheless, in terms of the global average “well-observed” sea surface temperature, the GMO can account for only about 0.1° C in transient, decadal-scale fluctuations, not the century-long 1° C warming that has been observed during the twentieth century.

Minimum spanning tree filtering of correlations for varying time scales and size of fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwapień, Jarosław; Oświecimka, Paweł; Forczek, Marcin; DroŻdŻ, Stanisław

2017-05-01

Based on a recently proposed q -dependent detrended cross-correlation coefficient, ρq [J. Kwapień, P. Oświęcimka, and S. Drożdż, Phys. Rev. E 92, 052815 (2015), 10.1103/PhysRevE.92.052815], we generalize the concept of the minimum spanning tree (MST) by introducing a family of q -dependent minimum spanning trees (q MST s ) that are selective to cross-correlations between different fluctuation amplitudes and different time scales of multivariate data. They inherit this ability directly from the coefficients ρq, which are processed here to construct a distance matrix being the input to the MST-constructing Kruskal's algorithm. The conventional MST with detrending corresponds in this context to q =2 . In order to illustrate their performance, we apply the q MSTs to sample empirical data from the American stock market and discuss the results. We show that the q MST graphs can complement ρq in disentangling "hidden" correlations that cannot be observed in the MST graphs based on ρDCCA, and therefore, they can be useful in many areas where the multivariate cross-correlations are of interest. As an example, we apply this method to empirical data from the stock market and show that by constructing the q MSTs for a spectrum of q values we obtain more information about the correlation structure of the data than by using q =2 only. More specifically, we show that two sets of signals that differ from each other statistically can give comparable trees for q =2 , while only by using the trees for q ≠2 do we become able to distinguish between these sets. We also show that a family of q MSTs for a range of q expresses the diversity of correlations in a manner resembling the multifractal analysis, where one computes a spectrum of the generalized fractal dimensions, the generalized Hurst exponents, or the multifractal singularity spectra: the more diverse the correlations are, the more variable the tree topology is for different q 's. As regards the correlation structure of the stock market, our analysis exhibits that the stocks belonging to the same or similar industrial sectors are correlated via the fluctuations of moderate amplitudes, while the largest fluctuations often happen to synchronize in those stocks that do not necessarily belong to the same industry.

Hybrid phase transition into an absorbing state: Percolation and avalanches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Deokjae; Choi, S.; Stippinger, M.; Kertész, J.; Kahng, B.

2016-04-01

Interdependent networks are more fragile under random attacks than simplex networks, because interlayer dependencies lead to cascading failures and finally to a sudden collapse. This is a hybrid phase transition (HPT), meaning that at the transition point the order parameter has a jump but there are also critical phenomena related to it. Here we study these phenomena on the Erdős-Rényi and the two-dimensional interdependent networks and show that the hybrid percolation transition exhibits two kinds of critical behaviors: divergence of the fluctuations of the order parameter and power-law size distribution of finite avalanches at a transition point. At the transition point global or "infinite" avalanches occur, while the finite ones have a power law size distribution; thus the avalanche statistics also has the nature of a HPT. The exponent βm of the order parameter is 1 /2 under general conditions, while the value of the exponent γm characterizing the fluctuations of the order parameter depends on the system. The critical behavior of the finite avalanches can be described by another set of exponents, βa and γa. These two critical behaviors are coupled by a scaling law: 1 -βm=γa .

Range and Energy Straggling in Ion Beam Transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, John W.; Tai, Hsiang

2000-01-01

A first-order approximation to the range and energy straggling of ion beams is given as a normal distribution for which the standard deviation is estimated from the fluctuations in energy loss events. The standard deviation is calculated by assuming scattering from free electrons with a long range cutoff parameter that depends on the mean excitation energy of the medium. The present formalism is derived by extrapolating Payne's formalism to low energy by systematic energy scaling and to greater depths of penetration by a second-order perturbation. Limited comparisons are made with experimental data.

Isocurvature constraints and anharmonic effects on QCD axion dark matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kobayashi, Takeshi; Kurematsu, Ryosuke; Takahashi, Fuminobu, E-mail: takeshi@cita.utoronto.ca, E-mail: rkurematsu@tuhep.phys.tohoku.ac.jp, E-mail: fumi@tuhep.phys.tohoku.ac.jp

2013-09-01

We revisit the isocurvature density perturbations induced by quantum fluctuations of the axion field by extending a recently developed analytic method and approximations to a time-dependent scalar potential, which enables us to follow the evolution of the axion until it starts to oscillate. We find that, as the initial misalignment angle approaches the hilltop of the potential, the isocurvature perturbations become significantly enhanced, while the non-Gaussianity parameter increases slowly but surely. As a result, the isocurvature constraint on the inflation scale is tightened as H{sub inf}∼

Parasitic momentum flux in the tokamak core

DOE PAGES

Stoltzfus-Dueck, T.

2017-03-06

A geometrical correction to the E × B drift causes an outward flux of co-current momentum whenever electrostatic potential energy is transferred to ion parallel flows. The robust, fully nonlinear symmetry breaking follows from the free-energy flow in phase space and does not depend on any assumed linear eigenmode structure. The resulting rotation peaking is counter-current and scales as temperature over plasma current. Lastly, this peaking mechanism can only act when fluctuations are low-frequency enough to excite ion parallel flows, which may explain some recent experimental observations related to rotation reversals.

A measurement of the large-scale cosmic microwave background anisotropy at 1.8 millimeter wavelength

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, Stephan S.; Cheng, Edward S.; Page, Lyman A.

1991-01-01

This measurement of the large-scale cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) anisotropy places the most stringent constraints to date on fluctuations in the CMBR on angular scales greater than about 4 deg. Using a four-channel bolometric radiometer operating at 1.8, 1.1, 0.63, and 0.44 mm, the diffuse sky brightness over half of the northern hemisphere has been mapped with an angular resolution of 3.8 deg. Analysis of the sky map at the longest wavelength for Galactic latitudes of 15 deg or more yields a 95-percent confidence level upper limit on fluctuations of the CMBR at Delta T/T of 1.6 x 10 to the -5th with a statistical power of 92 percent for Gaussian fluctuations at a correlation angle of 13 deg. Between 3 deg and 22 deg, the upper limit of fluctuations is 4.0 x 10 to the -5th . An anisotropy is detected in the map, but it cannot yet be attributed to primordial sources. The ultimate sensitivity for this experiment is 7 x 10 to the -6th over this angular range for Gaussian fluctuations.

Sequence composition and environment effects on residue fluctuations in protein structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruvinsky, Anatoly M.; Vakser, Ilya A.

2010-10-01

Structure fluctuations in proteins affect a broad range of cell phenomena, including stability of proteins and their fragments, allosteric transitions, and energy transfer. This study presents a statistical-thermodynamic analysis of relationship between the sequence composition and the distribution of residue fluctuations in protein-protein complexes. A one-node-per-residue elastic network model accounting for the nonhomogeneous protein mass distribution and the interatomic interactions through the renormalized inter-residue potential is developed. Two factors, a protein mass distribution and a residue environment, were found to determine the scale of residue fluctuations. Surface residues undergo larger fluctuations than core residues in agreement with experimental observations. Ranking residues over the normalized scale of fluctuations yields a distinct classification of amino acids into three groups: (i) highly fluctuating-Gly, Ala, Ser, Pro, and Asp, (ii) moderately fluctuating-Thr, Asn, Gln, Lys, Glu, Arg, Val, and Cys, and (iii) weakly fluctuating-Ile, Leu, Met, Phe, Tyr, Trp, and His. The structural instability in proteins possibly relates to the high content of the highly fluctuating residues and a deficiency of the weakly fluctuating residues in irregular secondary structure elements (loops), chameleon sequences, and disordered proteins. Strong correlation between residue fluctuations and the sequence composition of protein loops supports this hypothesis. Comparing fluctuations of binding site residues (interface residues) with other surface residues shows that, on average, the interface is more rigid than the rest of the protein surface and Gly, Ala, Ser, Cys, Leu, and Trp have a propensity to form more stable docking patches on the interface. The findings have broad implications for understanding mechanisms of protein association and stability of protein structures.

A correlation between the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure in the Universe.

PubMed

Boughn, Stephen; Crittenden, Robert

2004-01-01

Observations of distant supernovae and the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) indicate that the expansion of the Universe may be accelerating under the action of a 'cosmological constant' or some other form of 'dark energy'. This dark energy now appears to dominate the Universe and not only alters its expansion rate, but also affects the evolution of fluctuations in the density of matter, slowing down the gravitational collapse of material (into, for example, clusters of galaxies) in recent times. Additional fluctuations in the temperature of CMB photons are induced as they pass through large-scale structures and these fluctuations are necessarily correlated with the distribution of relatively nearby matter. Here we report the detection of correlations between recent CMB data and two probes of large-scale structure: the X-ray background and the distribution of radio galaxies. These correlations are consistent with those predicted by dark energy, indicating that we are seeing the imprint of dark energy on the growth of structure in the Universe.

Stem cell motility enables a density-dependent rate of fate commitment during scaled resizing of adult organs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Xinxin; O'Brien, Lucy; Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar

Many adult organs grow or shrink to accommodate fluctuating levels of physiological demand. Specifically, the intestine of the fruit fly (the midgut) expands four-fold in the number of mature cells and, proportionally, the number of stem cells when the fly eats. However, the cellular behaviors that give rise to this stem scaling are not well-understood. Here we present a biophysical model of the adult fly midgut. A set of differential equations can recapitulate the physiological kinetics of cells during midgut growth and shrinkage as long as the rate of stem cell fate commitment depends on the stem cell number density in the tissue. To elucidate the source of this dependence, we model the tissue in a 2D simulation with soft spheres, where stem cells choose fate commitment through Delta-Notch pathway interactions with other stem cells, a known process in fly midguts. We find that as long as stem cells exhibit a large enough amplitude of random motion through the tissue (`stem cell motility'), and explore a large enough `territory' in their lifetime, stem cell scaling can occur. These model observations are confirmed through in vivo live-imaging, where we indeed see that stem cells are motile in the fly midgut.

Comparison of the Scaling Properties of EUV Intensity Fluctuations in Coronal Holes to those in Regions of Quiet Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cadavid, Ana Cristina; Lawrence, John K.; Jennings, Peter John

2017-08-01

We investigate the scaling properties of EUV intensity fluctuations seen in low-latitude coronal holes (CH) and in regions of Quiet Sun (QS), in signals obtained with the SDO/AIA instrument in the 193 Å waveband. Contemporaneous time series in the 171 and 211 Å wavebands are used for comparison among emissions at different heights in the transition region and low corona. Potential-field extrapolations of contemporaneous SDO/HMI line-of-sight magnetic fields provide a context in the physical environment. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) shows that the variance of the fluctuations obeys a power-law as a function of temporal scales with periods in the range ~15-60 min. This scaling is characterized by a generalized Hurst exponent α. In QS regions, and in regions within CHs that include magnetic bipoles, the scaling exponent lies in the range 1.0 < α < 1.5, and it thus corresponds to anti-correlated, turbulent-like, dynamical processes. Regions inside the coronal holes primarily associated with magnetic field of a dominant single polarity, have a generalized exponent (0.5 < α < 1) corresponding to positively correlated (“persistent”) processes. The results indicate the influence of the magnetic fields on the dynamics of the emission.

Optical Asymmetry and Nonlinear Light Scattering from Colloidal Gold Nanorods

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lien, Miao-Bin; Kim, Ji-Young; Han, Myung-Geun

A systematic study is presented of the intensity-dependent nonlinear light scattering spectra of gold nanorods under resonant excitation of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The spectra exhibit features due to coherent second and third harmonic generation as well as a broadband feature that has been previously attributed to multiphoton photoluminescence arising primarily from interband optical transitions in the gold. A detailed study of the spectral dependence of the scaling of the scattered light with excitation intensity shows unexpected scaling behavior of the coherent signals, which is quantitatively accounted for by optically induced damping of the SPR mode through amore » Fermi liquid model of the electronic scattering. The broadband feature is shown to arise not from luminescence, but from scattering of the secondorder longitudinal SPR mode with the electron gas, where efficient excitation of the 2nd order mode arises from an optical asymmetry of the nanorod. The electronic-temperature-dependent plasmon damping and the Fermi-Dirac distribution together determine the intensity dependence of the broadband emission, and the structure-dependent absorption spectrum determines the spectral shape through the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Hence a complete self-consistent picture of both coherent and incoherent light scattering is obtained with a single set of physical parameters.« less

Optical Asymmetry and Nonlinear Light Scattering from Colloidal Gold Nanorods

DOE PAGES

Lien, Miao-Bin; Kim, Ji-Young; Han, Myung-Geun; ...

2017-05-16

A systematic study is presented of the intensity-dependent nonlinear light scattering spectra of gold nanorods under resonant excitation of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The spectra exhibit features due to coherent second and third harmonic generation as well as a broadband feature that has been previously attributed to multiphoton photoluminescence arising primarily from interband optical transitions in the gold. A detailed study of the spectral dependence of the scaling of the scattered light with excitation intensity shows unexpected scaling behavior of the coherent signals, which is quantitatively accounted for by optically induced damping of the SPR mode through amore » Fermi liquid model of the electronic scattering. The broadband feature is shown to arise not from luminescence, but from scattering of the secondorder longitudinal SPR mode with the electron gas, where efficient excitation of the 2nd order mode arises from an optical asymmetry of the nanorod. The electronic-temperature-dependent plasmon damping and the Fermi-Dirac distribution together determine the intensity dependence of the broadband emission, and the structure-dependent absorption spectrum determines the spectral shape through the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Hence a complete self-consistent picture of both coherent and incoherent light scattering is obtained with a single set of physical parameters.« less

Scaling behavior of sleep-wake transitions across species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lo, Chung-Chuan; Chou, Thomas; Ivanov, Plamen Ch.; Penzel, Thomas; Mochizuki, Takatoshi; Scammell, Thomas; Saper, Clifford B.; Stanley, H. Eugene

2003-03-01

Uncovering the mechanisms controlling sleep is a fascinating scientific challenge. It can be viewed as transitions of states of a very complex system, the brain. We study the time dynamics of short awakenings during sleep for three species: humans, rats and mice. We find, for all three species, that wake durations follow a power-law distribution, and sleep durations follow exponential distributions. Surprisingly, all three species have the same power-law exponent for the distribution of wake durations, but the exponential time scale of the distributions of sleep durations varies across species. We suggest that the dynamics of short awakenings are related to species-independent fluctuations of the system, while the dynamics of sleep is related to system-dependent mechanisms which change with species.

An ab initio CASSCF study of zero field splitting fluctuations in the octet ground state of aqueous [Gd(iii)(HPDO3A)(H2O)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Shehryar; Pollet, Rodolphe; Vuilleumier, Rodolphe; Kowalewski, Jozef; Odelius, Michael

2017-12-01

In this work, we present ab initio calculations of the zero-field splitting (ZFS) of a gadolinium complex [Gd(iii)(HPDO3A)(H2O)] sampled from an ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation. We perform both post-Hartree-Fock (complete active space self-consistent field—CASSCF) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the ZFS and compare and contrast the methods with experimental data. Two different density functional approximations (TPSS and LC-BLYP) were investigated. The magnitude of the ZFS from the CASSCF calculations is in good agreement with experiment, whereas the DFT results in varying degrees overestimate the magnitude of the ZFS for both functionals and exhibit a strong functional dependence. It was found in the sampling over the AIMD trajectory that the fluctuations in the transient ZFS tensor derived from DFT are not correlated with those of CASSCF nor does the magnitude of the ZFS from CASSCF and DFT correlate. From the fluctuations in the ZFS tensor, we extract a correlation time of the transient ZFS which is on the sub-picosecond time scale, showing a faster decay than experimental estimates.

Stress and cortisol responses in men: differences according to facial symmetry.

PubMed

Borráz-León, Javier I; Cerda-Molina, Ana Lilia; Mayagoitia-Novales, Lilian

2017-11-01

Stress response is associated with increased activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Chronic stress-induced elevation in cortisol may alter its own negative regulation with multiple long-term consequences for physical and psychological health. One of the most reliable physical traits associated with mental, apparent physical health, and competitiveness is the degree of facial fluctuating asymmetry. However, to our knowledge there are no studies regarding the relationship between cortisol levels, facial symmetry and male competitiveness, and how cortisol changes after a stressful test depending on these traits. Here, a group of 100 college men were photographed to obtain their facial asymmetry levels. They then, answered the perceived stress scale and the intrasexual competition test and donated two saliva samples (pre-and post-test sample) to measure the change in their cortisol levels after a stressful test. We found that basal cortisol levels were positively correlated with both perceived stress and competitiveness, but not with facial fluctuating asymmetry. Cortisol levels increased in most symmetrical men after a short stressful test, but it decreased in most asymmetrical men. The results suggest differences in endocrine responses according to facial fluctuating asymmetry in men and how these responses could be related to the maintenance of social status.

Power-Smoothing Scheme of a DFIG Using the Adaptive Gain Depending on the Rotor Speed and Frequency Deviation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Hyewon; Hwang, Min; Muljadi, Eduard

In an electric power grid that has a high penetration level of wind, the power fluctuation of a large-scale wind power plant (WPP) caused by varying wind speeds deteriorates the system frequency regulation. This paper proposes a power-smoothing scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) that significantly mitigates the system frequency fluctuation while preventing over-deceleration of the rotor speed. The proposed scheme employs an additional control loop relying on the system frequency deviation that operates in combination with the maximum power point tracking control loop. To improve the power-smoothing capability while preventing over-deceleration of the rotor speed, the gain ofmore » the additional loop is modified with the rotor speed and frequency deviation. The gain is set to be high if the rotor speed and/or frequency deviation is large. In conclusion, the simulation results based on the IEEE 14-bus system clearly demonstrate that the proposed scheme significantly lessens the output power fluctuation of a WPP under various scenarios by modifying the gain with the rotor speed and frequency deviation, and thereby it can regulate the frequency deviation within a narrow range.« less

Linear response to long wavelength fluctuations using curvature simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baldauf, Tobias; Zaldarriaga, Matias; Seljak, Uroš

2016-09-01

We study the local response to long wavelength fluctuations in cosmological N -body simulations, focusing on the matter and halo power spectra, halo abundance and non-linear transformations of the density field. The long wavelength mode is implemented using an effective curved cosmology and a mapping of time and distances. The method provides an alternative, more direct, way to measure the isotropic halo biases. Limiting ourselves to the linear case, we find generally good agreement between the biases obtained from the curvature method and the traditional power spectrum method at the level of a few percent. We also study the responsemore » of halo counts to changes in the variance of the field and find that the slope of the relation between the responses to density and variance differs from the naïve derivation assuming a universal mass function by approximately 8–20%. This has implications for measurements of the amplitude of local non-Gaussianity using scale dependent bias. We also analyze the halo power spectrum and halo-dark matter cross-spectrum response to long wavelength fluctuations and derive second order halo bias from it, as well as the super-sample variance contribution to the galaxy power spectrum covariance matrix.« less

The influence of chronotype on making music: circadian fluctuations in pianists' fine motor skills

PubMed Central

Van Vugt, Floris T.; Treutler, Katharina; Altenmüller, Eckart; Jabusch, Hans-Christian

2013-01-01

Making music on a professional level requires a maximum of sensorimotor precision. Chronotype-dependent fluctuations of sensorimotor precision in the course of the day may prove a challenge for musicians because public performances or recordings are usually scheduled at fixed times of the day. We investigated pianists' sensorimotor timing precision in a scale playing task performed in the morning and in the evening. Participants' chronotype was established through the Munich Chrono-Type Questionnaire, where mid-sleep time served as a marker for the individual chronotypes. Twenty-one piano students were included in the study. Timing precision was decomposed into consistent within-trial variability (irregularity) and residual, between-trial variability (instability). The timing patterns of late chronotype pianists were more stable in the evening than in the morning, whereas early chronotype pianists did not show a difference between the two recording timepoints. In sum, the present results indicate that even highly complex sensorimotor tasks such as music playing are affected by interactions between chronotype and the time of day. Thus, even long-term, massed practice of these expert musicians has not been able to wash out circadian fluctuations in performance. PMID:23847515

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Rap1 Myb-type domain in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

PubMed Central

Mukherjee, Koel; Pandey, Dev Mani; Vidyarthi, Ambarish Saran

2012-01-01

Telomere is a nucleoprotein complex that plays important role in stability and their maintenance and consists of random repeats of species specific motifs. In budding Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Repressor Activator Protein 1 (Rap1) is a sequence specific protein that involved in transcriptional regulation. Rap1 consist of three active domains like N-terminal BRCT-domain, DNA-binding domain and C-terminal RCT-domain. In this study the unknown 3D structure of Myb-type domain (having 61 residues) within DNAbinding domain was modeled by Modeller7, and verified using different online bioinformatics tools (ProCheck, WhatIf, Verify3D). Dynamics of Myb-type domain of Rap1was carried out through simulation studies using GROMACS software. Time dependent interactions among the molecules were analyzed by Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), Radius of Gyration (Rg) and Root Mean Square Fluctuation (RMSF) plots. Motional properties in reduced dimension were also performed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Result indicated that Rap1 interacts with DNA major groove through its Helix Turn Helix motifs. Helix 3 was rigid, less amount of fluctuation was found as it interacts with DNA major groove. Helix2 and N-terminal having considerable fluctuation in the time scale. PMID:23144544

Self-Consistent Monte Carlo Study of the Coulomb Interaction under Nano-Scale Device Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sano, Nobuyuki

2011-03-01

It has been pointed that the Coulomb interaction between the electrons is expected to be of crucial importance to predict reliable device characteristics. In particular, the device performance is greatly degraded due to the plasmon excitation represented by dynamical potential fluctuations in high-doped source and drain regions by the channel electrons. We employ the self-consistent 3D Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, which could reproduce both the correct mobility under various electron concentrations and the collective plasma waves, to study the physical impact of dynamical potential fluctuations on device performance under the Double-gate MOSFETs. The average force experienced by an electron due to the Coulomb interaction inside the device is evaluated by performing the self-consistent MC simulations and the fixed-potential MC simulations without the Coulomb interaction. Also, the band-tailing associated with the local potential fluctuations in high-doped source region is quantitatively evaluated and it is found that the band-tailing becomes strongly dependent of position in real space even inside the uniform source region. This work was partially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research B (No. 2160160) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan.

Power-Smoothing Scheme of a DFIG Using the Adaptive Gain Depending on the Rotor Speed and Frequency Deviation

DOE PAGES

Lee, Hyewon; Hwang, Min; Muljadi, Eduard; ...

2017-04-18

In an electric power grid that has a high penetration level of wind, the power fluctuation of a large-scale wind power plant (WPP) caused by varying wind speeds deteriorates the system frequency regulation. This paper proposes a power-smoothing scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) that significantly mitigates the system frequency fluctuation while preventing over-deceleration of the rotor speed. The proposed scheme employs an additional control loop relying on the system frequency deviation that operates in combination with the maximum power point tracking control loop. To improve the power-smoothing capability while preventing over-deceleration of the rotor speed, the gain ofmore » the additional loop is modified with the rotor speed and frequency deviation. The gain is set to be high if the rotor speed and/or frequency deviation is large. In conclusion, the simulation results based on the IEEE 14-bus system clearly demonstrate that the proposed scheme significantly lessens the output power fluctuation of a WPP under various scenarios by modifying the gain with the rotor speed and frequency deviation, and thereby it can regulate the frequency deviation within a narrow range.« less

Possible ergodic-nonergodic regions in the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin glass model and quantum annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukherjee, Sudip; Rajak, Atanu; Chakrabarti, Bikas K.

2018-02-01

We explore the behavior of the order parameter distribution of the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model in the spin glass phase using Monte Carlo technique for the effective Suzuki-Trotter Hamiltonian at finite temperatures and that at zero temperature obtained using the exact diagonalization method. Our numerical results indicate the existence of a low- but finite-temperature quantum-fluctuation-dominated ergodic region along with the classical fluctuation-dominated high-temperature nonergodic region in the spin glass phase of the model. In the ergodic region, the order parameter distribution gets narrower around the most probable value of the order parameter as the system size increases. In the other region, the Parisi order distribution function has nonvanishing value everywhere in the thermodynamic limit, indicating nonergodicity. We also show that the average annealing time for convergence (to a low-energy level of the model, within a small error range) becomes system size independent for annealing down through the (quantum-fluctuation-dominated) ergodic region. It becomes strongly system size dependent for annealing through the nonergodic region. Possible finite-size scaling-type behavior for the extent of the ergodic region is also addressed.

The influence of chronotype on making music: circadian fluctuations in pianists' fine motor skills.

PubMed

Van Vugt, Floris T; Treutler, Katharina; Altenmüller, Eckart; Jabusch, Hans-Christian

2013-01-01

Making music on a professional level requires a maximum of sensorimotor precision. Chronotype-dependent fluctuations of sensorimotor precision in the course of the day may prove a challenge for musicians because public performances or recordings are usually scheduled at fixed times of the day. We investigated pianists' sensorimotor timing precision in a scale playing task performed in the morning and in the evening. Participants' chronotype was established through the Munich Chrono-Type Questionnaire, where mid-sleep time served as a marker for the individual chronotypes. Twenty-one piano students were included in the study. Timing precision was decomposed into consistent within-trial variability (irregularity) and residual, between-trial variability (instability). The timing patterns of late chronotype pianists were more stable in the evening than in the morning, whereas early chronotype pianists did not show a difference between the two recording timepoints. In sum, the present results indicate that even highly complex sensorimotor tasks such as music playing are affected by interactions between chronotype and the time of day. Thus, even long-term, massed practice of these expert musicians has not been able to wash out circadian fluctuations in performance.

A physical model for earthquakes. I - Fluctuations and interactions. II - Application to southern California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rundle, John B.

1988-01-01

The idea that earthquakes represent a fluctuation about the long-term motion of plates is expressed mathematically through the fluctuation hypothesis, under which all physical quantities which pertain to the occurance of earthquakes are required to depend on the difference between the present state of slip on the fault and its long-term average. It is shown that under certain circumstances the model fault dynamics undergo a sudden transition from a spatially ordered, temporally disordered state to a spatially disordered, temporally ordered state, and that the latter stages are stable for long intervals of time. For long enough faults, the dynamics are evidently chaotic. The methods developed are then used to construct a detailed model for earthquake dynamics in southern California. The result is a set of slip-time histories for all the major faults, which are similar to data obtained by geological trenching studies. Although there is an element of periodicity to the events, the patterns shift, change and evolve with time. Time scales for pattern evolution seem to be of the order of a thousand years for average recurring intervals of about a hundred years.

Dwelling quietly in the rich club: brain network determinants of slow cortical fluctuations

PubMed Central

Gollo, Leonardo L.; Zalesky, Andrew; Hutchison, R. Matthew; van den Heuvel, Martijn; Breakspear, Michael

2015-01-01

For more than a century, cerebral cartography has been driven by investigations of structural and morphological properties of the brain across spatial scales and the temporal/functional phenomena that emerge from these underlying features. The next era of brain mapping will be driven by studies that consider both of these components of brain organization simultaneously—elucidating their interactions and dependencies. Using this guiding principle, we explored the origin of slowly fluctuating patterns of synchronization within the topological core of brain regions known as the rich club, implicated in the regulation of mood and introspection. We find that a constellation of densely interconnected regions that constitute the rich club (including the anterior insula, amygdala and precuneus) play a central role in promoting a stable, dynamical core of spontaneous activity in the primate cortex. The slow timescales are well matched to the regulation of internal visceral states, corresponding to the somatic correlates of mood and anxiety. In contrast, the topology of the surrounding ‘feeder’ cortical regions shows unstable, rapidly fluctuating dynamics likely to be crucial for fast perceptual processes. We discuss these findings in relation to psychiatric disorders and the future of connectomics. PMID:25823864

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Rap1 Myb-type domain in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Koel; Pandey, Dev Mani; Vidyarthi, Ambarish Saran

2012-01-01

Telomere is a nucleoprotein complex that plays important role in stability and their maintenance and consists of random repeats of species specific motifs. In budding Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Repressor Activator Protein 1 (Rap1) is a sequence specific protein that involved in transcriptional regulation. Rap1 consist of three active domains like N-terminal BRCT-domain, DNA-binding domain and C-terminal RCT-domain. In this study the unknown 3D structure of Myb-type domain (having 61 residues) within DNAbinding domain was modeled by Modeller7, and verified using different online bioinformatics tools (ProCheck, WhatIf, Verify3D). Dynamics of Myb-type domain of Rap1was carried out through simulation studies using GROMACS software. Time dependent interactions among the molecules were analyzed by Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), Radius of Gyration (Rg) and Root Mean Square Fluctuation (RMSF) plots. Motional properties in reduced dimension were also performed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Result indicated that Rap1 interacts with DNA major groove through its Helix Turn Helix motifs. Helix 3 was rigid, less amount of fluctuation was found as it interacts with DNA major groove. Helix2 and N-terminal having considerable fluctuation in the time scale.

Evidence of strong proton shape fluctuations from incoherent diffraction

DOE PAGES

Mantysaari, H.; Schenke, B.

2016-07-25

We show within the saturation framework that measurements of exclusive vector meson production at high energy provide evidence for strong geometric fluctuations of the proton. In comparison, the effect of saturation scale and color charge fluctuations is weak. This knowledge will allow detailed future measurements of the incoherent cross section to tightly constrain the fluctuating geometry of the proton as a function of the parton momentum fraction x.

Extreme reaction times determine fluctuation scaling in human color vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medina, José M.; Díaz, José A.

2016-11-01

In modern mental chronometry, human reaction time defines the time elapsed from stimulus presentation until a response occurs and represents a reference paradigm for investigating stochastic latency mechanisms in color vision. Here we examine the statistical properties of extreme reaction times and whether they support fluctuation scaling in the skewness-kurtosis plane. Reaction times were measured for visual stimuli across the cardinal directions of the color space. For all subjects, the results show that very large reaction times deviate from the right tail of reaction time distributions suggesting the existence of dragon-kings events. The results also indicate that extreme reaction times are correlated and shape fluctuation scaling over a wide range of stimulus conditions. The scaling exponent was higher for achromatic than isoluminant stimuli, suggesting distinct generative mechanisms. Our findings open a new perspective for studying failure modes in sensory-motor communications and in complex networks.

Statistics of velocity fluctuations of Geldart A particles in a circulating fluidized bed riser

DOE PAGES

Vaidheeswaran, Avinash; Shaffer, Franklin; Gopalan, Balaji

2017-11-21

Here, the statistics of fluctuating velocity components are studied in the riser of a closed-loop circulating fluidized bed with fluid catalytic cracking catalyst particles. Our analysis shows distinct similarities as well as deviations compared to existing theories and bench-scale experiments. The study confirms anisotropic and non-Maxwellian distribution of fluctuating velocity components. The velocity distribution functions (VDFs) corresponding to transverse fluctuations exhibit symmetry, and follow a stretched-exponential behavior up to three standard deviations. The form of the transverse VDF is largely determined by interparticle interactions. The tails become more overpopulated with an increase in particle loading. The observed deviations from themore » Gaussian distribution are represented using the leading order term in the Sonine expansion, which is commonly used to approximate the VDFs in kinetic theory for granular flows. The vertical fluctuating VDFs are asymmetric and the skewness shifts as the wall is approached. In comparison to transverse fluctuations, the vertical VDF is determined by the local hydrodynamics. This is an observation of particle velocity fluctuations in a large-scale system and their quantitative comparison with the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics.« less

Nonlinear Response of Layer Growth Dynamics in the Mixed Kinetics-Bulk-Transport Regime

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vekilov, Peter G.; Alexander, J. Iwan D.; Rosenberger, Franz

1996-01-01

In situ high-resolution interferometry on horizontal facets of the protein lysozyme reveal that the local growth rate R, vicinal slope p, and tangential (step) velocity v fluctuate by up to 80% of their average values. The time scale of these fluctuations, which occur under steady bulk transport conditions through the formation and decay of step bunches (macrosteps), is of the order of 10 min. The fluctuation amplitude of R increases with growth rate (supersaturation) and crystal size, while the amplitude of the v and p fluctuations changes relatively little. Based on a stability analysis for equidistant step trains in the mixed transport-interface-kinetics regime, we argue that the fluctuations originate from the coupling of bulk transport with nonlinear interface kinetics. Furthermore, step bunches moving across the interface in the direction of or opposite to the buoyancy-driven convective flow increase or decrease in height, respectively. This is in agreement with analytical treatments of the interaction of moving steps with solution flow. Major excursions in growth rate are associated with the formation of lattice defects (striations). We show that, in general, the system-dependent kinetic Peclet number, Pe(sub k) , i.e., the relative weight of bulk transport and interface kinetics in the control of the growth process, governs the step bunching dynamics. Since Pe(sub k) can be modified by either forced solution flow or suppression of buoyancy-driven convection under reduced gravity, this model provides a rationale for the choice of specific transport conditions to minimize the formation of compositional inhomogeneities under steady bulk nutrient crystallization conditions.

Stress fluctuations in fracture networks from theoretical and numerical models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davy, P.; Darcel, C.; Mas Ivars, D.; Le Goc, R.

2017-12-01

We analyze the spatial fluctuations of stress in a simple tridimensional model constituted by a population of disc-shaped fractures embedded in an elastic matrix with uniform and isotropic properties. The fluctuations arise from the classical stress enhancement at fracture tips and stress shadowing around fracture centers that are amplified or decreased by the interactions between close-by fractures. The distribution of local stresses is calculated at the elementary mesh scale with the 3DEC numerical program based on the distinct element method. As expected, the stress distributions vary with fracture density, the larger is the density, the wider is the distribution. For freely slipping fractures, it is mainly controlled by the percolation parameter p (i.e., the total volume of spheres surrounding fractures). For stresses smaller than the remote deviatoric stress, the distribution depends only on for the range of density that has been studied. For large stresses, the distribution decreases exponentially when increasing stress, with a characteristic stress that increases with entailing a widening of the stress distribution. We extend the analysis to fractures with plane resistance defined by an elastic shear stiffness ks and a slip Coulomb threshold. A consequence of the fracture plane resistance is to lower the stress perturbation in the surrounding matrix by a factor that depends on the ratio between ks and a fracture-matrix stiffness km mainly dependent on the ratio between Young modulus and fracture size. km is also the ratio between the remote shear stress and the displacement across the fracture plane in the case of freely slipping fractures. A complete analytical derivation of the expressions of the stress perturbations and of the fracture displacements is obtained and checked with numerical simulations. In the limit ks >> km, the stress perturbation tends to 0 and the stress state is spatially uniform. The analysis allows us to quantify the intensity of the stress fluctuations in fractured rocks as a function of both the fracture network characteristics (density and size distribution), and the mechanical properties (fracture shear stiffness vs matrix elastic properties).

Effects of thermal cycling parameters on residual stresses in alumina scales of CoNiCrAlY and NiCoCrAlY bond coats

DOE PAGES

Nordhorn, Christian; Mücke, Robert; Unocic, Kinga A.; ...

2014-08-20

In this paper, furnace cycling experiments were performed on free-standing high-velocity oxygen-fuel bond coat samples to investigate the effect of material composition, surface texture, and cycling conditions on the average stresses in the formed oxide scales after cooling. The oxide scale thicknesses were determined by SEM image analyses and information about the stresses were acquired by photo-stimulated luminescence-spectroscopy. Additionally, the scale thickness dependent stress fields were calculated in finite-element analyses including approximation functions for the surface roughness derived on the basis of profilometry data. The evolution of the average residual stress as a function of oxide scale thickness was subjectmore » to stochastic fluctuations predominantly caused by local scale spallations. In comparison to the supplemental modeling results, thermal stresses due to mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients are identified as the main contribution to the residual stresses. Finally, the theoretical results emphasize that analyses of spectroscopic data acquired for average stress investigations of alumina scales rely on detailed information about microstructural features.« less

Scale-invariant curvature fluctuations from an extended semiclassical gravity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pinamonti, Nicola, E-mail: pinamont@dima.unige.it, E-mail: siemssen@dima.unige.it; INFN Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova; Siemssen, Daniel, E-mail: pinamont@dima.unige.it, E-mail: siemssen@dima.unige.it

2015-02-15

We present an extension of the semiclassical Einstein equations which couple n-point correlation functions of a stochastic Einstein tensor to the n-point functions of the quantum stress-energy tensor. We apply this extension to calculate the quantum fluctuations during an inflationary period, where we take as a model a massive conformally coupled scalar field on a perturbed de Sitter space and describe how a renormalization independent, almost-scale-invariant power spectrum of the scalar metric perturbation is produced. Furthermore, we discuss how this model yields a natural basis for the calculation of non-Gaussianities of the considered metric fluctuations.

Quantum statistical mechanics of nonrelativistic membranes: crumpling transition at finite temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borelli, M. E. S.; Kleinert, H.; Schakel, Adriaan M. J.

2000-03-01

The effect of quantum fluctuations on a nearly flat, nonrelativistic two-dimensional membrane with extrinsic curvature stiffness and tension is investigated. The renormalization group analysis is carried out in first-order perturbative theory. In contrast to thermal fluctuations, which soften the membrane at large scales and turn it into a crumpled surface, quantum fluctuations are found to stiffen the membrane, so that it exhibits a Hausdorff dimension equal to two. The large-scale behavior of the membrane is further studied at finite temperature, where a nontrivial fixed point is found, signaling a crumpling transition.

Comparison of various multifractal approaches to analyze the intermittent magnetic fluctuations observed in the Earth's magnetospheric cusp

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamy, Hervé; Echim, Marius; Chang, Tom

2014-05-01

Several approaches exist to compute the multifractal characteristics of an intermittent set of fluctuations. First, the classical method based on the computation of the partition function uses the full set of fluctuations . Since it is dominated by the more numerous fluctuations of small amplitudes, this method can mask the fractal characteristics of minor fluctuations of much larger amplitude. To solve this issue, a new method was developed by Chang & Wu (2008) : the Rank-Ordered Multifractal Analysis (ROMA) The ROMA method offers a natural connection between the one-parameter monofractal scaling idea and the multifractal phenomenon of intermittency. The key-element in ROMA is to find s(Y), the spectrum of the scaling exponents, and Ps(Y), the scaled Probability Distribution Function (PDFs), from the raw PDFs of the variable X at various scales tau , P(X,tau), with the following scaling: P(X,tau) tau ^s(Y)=Ps(Y) with Y= X/tau ^s(Y) The first (direct) method is to use range-limited structure functions in a sufficiently small range of the scaled variable Y and search for the value of monofroctal exponent s(Y). A drawback of this approach is that the range of Y must be large enough to ensure that the statistics is meaningful. As a consequence, some cross-over behavior between fluctuations with different monofractal exponents can lead to an ambiguity with several solutions s(Y) for some ranges of Y. Also the multifractal spectrum produced is step-wise discontinuous. To overcome these difficulties, Wu & Chang (2011) have suggested a refined method where a value of the parameter s is assumed and the corresponding value of Y ensuring a collapse of the raw PDFs is searched for. The advantage of this latter approach is that s(Y) and Ps(Y) can be obtained for single values of Y. The two ROMA methods and the partition function method are used on a set of intermittent magnetic field fluctuations observed by the Cluster spacecraft in the Earth's magnetospheric cusp. Results are presented and discussed. Research supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 313038/STORM. TC was also partially supported by the US National Science Foundation. T. Chang and C.C. Wu, Rank-Ordered Multifractal Spectrum for Intermittent Fluctuations, Phys. Rev. E77,045401(R), 2008 CC. Wu and T. Chang, Application of rank-ordered multifractal analysis (ROMA) to intermittent fluctuations in 3D turbulent flows, 2D MHD simulation and solar wind data, to be submitted to the special issue "Multifractals and Intermittent Turbulence in the Solar-Terrestrial System", Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, 2011.

Local time dependence of turbulent magnetic fields in Saturn's magnetodisc

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminker, V.; Delamere, P. A.; Ng, C. S.; Dennis, T.; Otto, A.; Ma, X.

2017-04-01

Net plasma transport in magnetodiscs around giant planets is outward. Observations of plasma temperature have shown that the expanding plasma is heating nonadiabatically during this process. Turbulence has been suggested as a source of heating. However, the mechanism and distribution of magnetic fluctuations in giant magnetospheres are poorly understood. In this study we attempt to quantify the radial and local time dependence of fluctuating magnetic field signatures that are suggestive of turbulence, quantifying the fluctuations in terms of a plasma heating rate density. In addition, the inferred heating rate density is correlated with magnetic field configurations that include azimuthal bend forward/back and magnitude of the equatorial normal component of magnetic field relative to the dipole. We find a significant local time dependence in magnetic fluctuations that is consistent with flux transport triggered in the subsolar and dusk sectors due to magnetodisc reconnection.

Liquidity crisis, granularity of the order book and price fluctuations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cristelli, M.; Alfi, V.; Pietronero, L.; Zaccaria, A.

2010-01-01

We introduce a microscopic model for the dynamics of the order book to study how the lack of liquidity influences price fluctuations. We use the average density of the stored orders (granularity g) as a proxy for liquidity. This leads to a Price Impact Surface which depends on both volume ω and g. The dependence on the volume (averaged over the granularity) of the Price Impact Surface is found to be a concave power law function <φ(ω,g)>g ˜ ωδ with δ ≈ 0.59. Instead the dependence on the granularity is φ(ω,g|ω) ˜ gα with α ≈ -1, showing a divergence of price fluctuations in the limit g → 0. Moreover, even in intermediate situations of finite liquidity, this effect can be very large and it is a natural candidate for understanding the origin of large price fluctuations.

The magnetic shear-current effect: Generation of large-scale magnetic fields by the small-scale dynamo

DOE PAGES

Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A.

2016-03-14

A novel large-scale dynamo mechanism, the magnetic shear-current effect, is discussed and explored. Here, the effect relies on the interaction of magnetic fluctuations with a mean shear flow, meaning the saturated state of the small-scale dynamo can drive a large-scale dynamo – in some sense the inverse of dynamo quenching. The dynamo is non-helical, with the mean fieldmore » $${\\it\\alpha}$$coefficient zero, and is caused by the interaction between an off-diagonal component of the turbulent resistivity and the stretching of the large-scale field by shear flow. Following up on previous numerical and analytic work, this paper presents further details of the numerical evidence for the effect, as well as an heuristic description of how magnetic fluctuations can interact with shear flow to produce the required electromotive force. The pressure response of the fluid is fundamental to this mechanism, which helps explain why the magnetic effect is stronger than its kinematic cousin, and the basic idea is related to the well-known lack of turbulent resistivity quenching by magnetic fluctuations. As well as being interesting for its applications to general high Reynolds number astrophysical turbulence, where strong small-scale magnetic fluctuations are expected to be prevalent, the magnetic shear-current effect is a likely candidate for large-scale dynamo in the unstratified regions of ionized accretion disks. Evidence for this is discussed, as well as future research directions and the challenges involved with understanding details of the effect in astrophysically relevant regimes.« less

Quantification of scaling exponent with Crossover type phenomena for different types of forcing in DC glow discharge plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saha, Debajyoti; Shaw, Pankaj Kumar; Ghosh, Sabuj; Janaki, M. S.; Sekar Iyengar, A. N.

2018-01-01

We have carried out a detailed study of scaling region using detrended fractal analysis test by applying different forcing likewise noise, sinusoidal, square on the floating potential fluctuations acquired under different pressures in a DC glow discharge plasma. The transition in the dynamics is observed through recurrence plot techniques which is an efficient method to observe the critical regime transitions in dynamics. The complexity of the nonlinear fluctuation has been revealed with the help of recurrence quantification analysis which is a suitable tool for investigating recurrence, an ubiquitous feature providing a deep insight into the dynamics of real dynamical system. An informal test for stationarity which checks for the compatibility of nonlinear approximations to the dynamics made in different segments in a time series has been proposed. In case of sinusoidal, noise, square forcing applied on fluctuation acquired at P = 0.12 mbar only one dominant scaling region is observed whereas the forcing applied on fluctuation (P = 0.04 mbar) two prominent scaling regions have been explored reliably using different forcing amplitudes indicating the signature of crossover phenomena. Furthermore a persistence long range behavior has been observed in one of these scaling regions. A comprehensive study of the quantification of scaling exponents has been carried out with the increase in amplitude and frequency of sinusoidal, square type of forcings. The scalings exponent is envisaged to be the roughness of the time series. The method provides a single quantitative idea of the scaling exponent to quantify the correlation properties of a signal.

Nonlinear stratospheric variability: multifractal de-trended fluctuation analysis and singularity spectra

PubMed Central

Domeisen, Daniela I. V.

2016-01-01

Characterizing the stratosphere as a turbulent system, temporal fluctuations often show different correlations for different time scales as well as intermittent behaviour that cannot be captured by a single scaling exponent. In this study, the different scaling laws in the long-term stratospheric variability are studied using multifractal de-trended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). The analysis is performed comparing four re-analysis products and different realizations of an idealized numerical model, isolating the role of topographic forcing and seasonal variability, as well as the absence of climate teleconnections and small-scale forcing. The Northern Hemisphere (NH) shows a transition of scaling exponents for time scales shorter than about 1 year, for which the variability is multifractal and scales in time with a power law corresponding to a red spectrum, to longer time scales, for which the variability is monofractal and scales in time with a power law corresponding to white noise. Southern Hemisphere (SH) variability also shows a transition at annual scales. The SH also shows a narrower dynamical range in multifractality than the NH, as seen in the generalized Hurst exponent and in the singularity spectra. The numerical integrations show that the models are able to reproduce the low-frequency variability but are not able to fully capture the shorter term variability of the stratosphere. PMID:27493560

Total ozone trend over Cairo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hassan, G. K. Y.

1994-01-01

A world wide interest in protecting ozone layer against manmade effects is now increasing. Assessment of the ozone depletion due to these activities depends on how successfully we can separate the natural variabilities from the data. The monthly mean values of total ozone over Cairo (30 05N) for the period 1968-1988, have been analyzed using the power spectral analysis technique. The technique used in this analysis does not depend on a pre-understanding of the natural fluctuations in the ozone data. The method depends on increasing the resolution of the spectral peaks in order to obtain the more accurate sinusoidal fluctuations with wavelength equal to or less than record length. Also it handles the possible sinusoidal fluctuations with wavelength equal to or less than record length. The results show that it is possible to detect some of the well known national fluctuations in the ozone record such as annual, semiannual, quasi-biennial and quasi-quadrennial oscillations. After separating the natural fluctuations from the ozone record, the trend analysis of total ozone over Cairo showed that a decrease of about -1.2% per decade has occurred since 1979.

Fluctuating cognition in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease is qualitatively distinct

PubMed Central

Bradshaw, J; Saling, M; Hopwood, M; Anderson, V; Brodtmann, A

2004-01-01

Objectives: To document and illustrate qualitative features of fluctuating cognition as described by care givers of patients with probable dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). To determine whether the quality of the fluctuations differs between DLB and AD. To examine the clinical utility of two recently developed rating scales. Methods: Care givers of 13 patients with early probable DLB and 12 patients with early probable AD were interviewed using the Clinician Assessment of Fluctuation and the One Day Fluctuation Assessment Scale, both developed recently. Descriptions of fluctuating cognition were recorded verbatim, analysed, and rated. Results: Descriptions of fluctuating cognition in DLB had a spontaneous, periodic, transient quality, which appeared to reflect an interruption in the ongoing flow of awareness or attention that impacted on functional abilities. Descriptions of fluctuations in AD frequently highlighted episodes of memory failure, or a more enduring state shift in the form of "good" and "bad" days, typically occurring in response to the cognitive demands of the immediate environment. These qualitative differences could be detected reliably by independent raters, but were not always captured in standard severity scores. Conclusion: Fluctuations occuring in DLB have particular characteristics that are distinguishable from fluctuations occurring in AD. Interpretation and application of the fluctuation criterion continues to limit the diagnostic sensitivity of the consensus criteria for DLB. Findings suggest that explicit documentation and a wider appreciation of these distinctions could improve the reliability with which less experienced clinicians identify this core diagnostic feature in the clinical setting. PMID:14966152

New Measurements of the Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations in Deep SpitzerllRAC Survey Data and their Cosmological Implications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kashlinsky, A.; Arendt, R. G.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Fazio, G. G.; Mather, J.; Moseley, S. H.

2012-01-01

We extend the previous measurements of CIB fluctuations to angular scales of less than or equal to 1 degree new data obtained in the course of the 2,000+ hour Spitzer Extended Deep Survey. Two fields with completed observations of approximately equal to 12 hr/pixel are analyzed for source-subtracted CIB fluctuations at 3.6 and 4.5 micrometers. The fields, EGS and UDS, cover a total area of approximately 0.25 deg and lie at high Galactic and Ecliptic latitudes, thus minimizing cirrus and zodiacal light contributions to the fluctuations. The observations have been conducted at 3 distinct epochs separated by about 6 months. As in our previous studies, the fields were assembled using the self-calibration method which is uniquely suitable for probing faint diffuse backgrounds. The assembled fields were cleaned off the bright sources down to the low shot noise levels corresponding to AB mag approximately equal to 25, Fourier-transformed and their power spectra evaluated. The noise was estimated from the time-differenced data and subtracted from the signal isolating the fluctuations remaining above the noise levels. The power spectra of the source-subtracted fields remain identical (within the observational uncertainties) for the three epochs of observations indicating that zodiacal light contributes negligibly to the fluctuations. By comparing to the measurements for the same regions at 8 micrometers we demonstrate that Galactic cirrus cannot account for the levels of the fluctuations either. The signal appears isotropically distributed on the sky as required by its origin in the CIB fluctuations. This measurement thus extends our earlier results to the important range of sub-degree scales. We find that the CIB fluctuations continue to diverge to more than 10 times those of known galaxy populations on angular scales out to less than or equal to 1 degree. The low shot noise levels remaining in the diffuse maps indicate that the large scale fluctuations arise from spatial clustering of faint sources well within the confusion noise. The spatial spectrum of these fluctuations is in reasonable agreement with simple fitting assuming that they originate in early populations spatially distributed according to the standard cosmological model (ACDM) at epochs coinciding with the first stars era. The alternative to this identification would require a new population never observed before, nor expected on theoretical grounds, but if true this would represent an important discovery in its own right.

Identifying large scale structures at 1 AU using fluctuations and wavelets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niembro, T.; Lara, A.

2016-12-01

The solar wind (SW) is inhomogeneous and it is dominated for two types of flows: one quasi-stationary and one related to large scale transients (such as coronal mass ejections and co-rotating interaction regions). The SW inhomogeneities can be study as fluctuations characterized by a wide range of length and time scales. We are interested in the study of the characteristic fluctuations caused by large scale transient events. To do so, we define the vector space F with the normalized moving monthly/annual deviations as the orthogonal basis. Then, we compute the norm in this space of the solar wind parameters (velocity, magnetic field, density and temperature) fluctuations using WIND data from August 1992 to August 2015. This norm gives important information about the presence of a large structure disturbance in the solar wind and by applying a wavelet transform to this norm, we are able to determine, without subjectivity, the duration of the compression regions of these large transient structures and, even more, to identify if the structure corresponds to a single or complex (or merged) event. With this method we have automatically detected most of the events identified and published by other authors.

On the scaling features of high-latitude geomagnetic field fluctuations during a large geomagnetic storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Michelis, Paola; Federica Marcucci, Maria; Consolini, Giuseppe

2015-04-01

Recently we have investigated the spatial distribution of the scaling features of short-time scale magnetic field fluctuations using measurements from several ground-based geomagnetic observatories distributed in the northern hemisphere. We have found that the scaling features of fluctuations of the horizontal magnetic field component at time scales below 100 minutes are correlated with the geomagnetic activity level and with changes in the currents flowing in the ionosphere. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the dynamical changes of the magnetic field scaling features as a function of the geomagnetic activity level during the well-known large geomagnetic storm occurred on July, 15, 2000 (the Bastille event). The observed dynamical changes are discussed in relationship with the changes of the overall ionospheric polar convection and potential structure as reconstructed using SuperDARN data. This work is supported by the Italian National Program for Antarctic Research (PNRA) - Research Project 2013/AC3.08 and by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013]) under Grant no. 313038/STORM and

Fractal Tempo Fluctuation and Pulse Prediction

PubMed Central

Rankin, Summer K.; Large, Edward W.; Fink, Philip W.

2010-01-01

WE INVESTIGATED PEOPLES’ ABILITY TO ADAPT TO THE fluctuating tempi of music performance. In Experiment 1, four pieces from different musical styles were chosen, and performances were recorded from a skilled pianist who was instructed to play with natural expression. Spectral and rescaled range analyses on interbeat interval time-series revealed long-range (1/f type) serial correlations and fractal scaling in each piece. Stimuli for Experiment 2 included two of the performances from Experiment 1, with mechanical versions serving as controls. Participants tapped the beat at ¼- and ⅛-note metrical levels, successfully adapting to large tempo fluctuations in both performances. Participants predicted the structured tempo fluctuations, with superior performance at the ¼-note level. Thus, listeners may exploit long-range correlations and fractal scaling to predict tempo changes in music. PMID:25190901

The impact of turbulent renewable energy production on power grid stability and quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmietendorf, Katrin; Peinke, Joachim; Kamps, Oliver

2017-11-01

Feed-in fluctuations induced by renewables are one of the key challenges to the stability and quality of electrical power grids. In particular short-term fluctuations disturb the system on a time scale, on which load balancing does not operate yet and the system is intrinsically governed by self-organized synchronization. Wind and solar power are known to be strongly non-Gaussian with intermittent increment statistics in these time scales. We investigate the impact of short-term wind fluctuations on the basis of a Kuramoto-like power grid model considering stability in terms of desynchronization and frequency and voltage quality aspects. We present a procedure to generate realistic feed-in fluctuations with temporal correlations, Kolmogorov power spectrum and intermittent increments. By comparison to correlated Gaussian noise of the same spectrum and Gaussian white noise, we found out that while the correlations are essential to capture the likelihood of severe outages, the intermittent nature of wind power has significant consequences on power quality: intermittency is directly transferred into frequency and voltage fluctuations yielding a novel type of fluctuations, which is beyond engineering status of knowledge.

Non-Gaussian microwave background fluctuations from nonlinear gravitational effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salopek, D. S.; Kunstatter, G. (Editor)

1991-01-01

Whether the statistics of primordial fluctuations for structure formation are Gaussian or otherwise may be determined if the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Satellite makes a detection of the cosmic microwave-background temperature anisotropy delta T(sub CMB)/T(sub CMB). Non-Gaussian fluctuations may be generated in the chaotic inflationary model if two scalar fields interact nonlinearly with gravity. Theoretical contour maps are calculated for the resulting Sachs-Wolfe temperature fluctuations at large angular scales (greater than 3 degrees). In the long-wavelength approximation, one can confidently determine the nonlinear evolution of quantum noise with gravity during the inflationary epoch because: (1) different spatial points are no longer in causal contact; and (2) quantum gravity corrections are typically small-- it is sufficient to model the system using classical random fields. If the potential for two scalar fields V(phi sub 1, phi sub 2) possesses a sharp feature, then non-Gaussian fluctuations may arise. An explicit model is given where cold spots in delta T(sub CMB)/T(sub CMB) maps are suppressed as compared to the Gaussian case. The fluctuations are essentially scale-invariant.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vaidheeswaran, Avinash; Shaffer, Franklin; Gopalan, Balaji

Here, the statistics of fluctuating velocity components are studied in the riser of a closed-loop circulating fluidized bed with fluid catalytic cracking catalyst particles. Our analysis shows distinct similarities as well as deviations compared to existing theories and bench-scale experiments. The study confirms anisotropic and non-Maxwellian distribution of fluctuating velocity components. The velocity distribution functions (VDFs) corresponding to transverse fluctuations exhibit symmetry, and follow a stretched-exponential behavior up to three standard deviations. The form of the transverse VDF is largely determined by interparticle interactions. The tails become more overpopulated with an increase in particle loading. The observed deviations from themore » Gaussian distribution are represented using the leading order term in the Sonine expansion, which is commonly used to approximate the VDFs in kinetic theory for granular flows. The vertical fluctuating VDFs are asymmetric and the skewness shifts as the wall is approached. In comparison to transverse fluctuations, the vertical VDF is determined by the local hydrodynamics. This is an observation of particle velocity fluctuations in a large-scale system and their quantitative comparison with the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics.« less

Quantum resonant activation.

PubMed

Magazzù, Luca; Hänggi, Peter; Spagnolo, Bernardo; Valenti, Davide

2017-04-01

Quantum resonant activation is investigated for the archetype setup of an externally driven two-state (spin-boson) system subjected to strong dissipation by means of both analytical and extensive numerical calculations. The phenomenon of resonant activation emerges in the presence of either randomly fluctuating or deterministic periodically varying driving fields. Addressing the incoherent regime, a characteristic minimum emerges in the mean first passage time to reach an absorbing neighboring state whenever the intrinsic time scale of the modulation matches the characteristic time scale of the system dynamics. For the case of deterministic periodic driving, the first passage time probability density function (pdf) displays a complex, multipeaked behavior, which depends crucially on the details of initial phase, frequency, and strength of the driving. As an interesting feature we find that the mean first passage time enters the resonant activation regime at a critical frequency ν^{*} which depends very weakly on the strength of the driving. Moreover, we provide the relation between the first passage time pdf and the statistics of residence times.

Quantum resonant activation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magazzó, Luca; Hänggi, Peter; Spagnolo, Bernardo; Valenti, Davide

2017-04-01

Quantum resonant activation is investigated for the archetype setup of an externally driven two-state (spin-boson) system subjected to strong dissipation by means of both analytical and extensive numerical calculations. The phenomenon of resonant activation emerges in the presence of either randomly fluctuating or deterministic periodically varying driving fields. Addressing the incoherent regime, a characteristic minimum emerges in the mean first passage time to reach an absorbing neighboring state whenever the intrinsic time scale of the modulation matches the characteristic time scale of the system dynamics. For the case of deterministic periodic driving, the first passage time probability density function (pdf) displays a complex, multipeaked behavior, which depends crucially on the details of initial phase, frequency, and strength of the driving. As an interesting feature we find that the mean first passage time enters the resonant activation regime at a critical frequency ν* which depends very weakly on the strength of the driving. Moreover, we provide the relation between the first passage time pdf and the statistics of residence times.

Clustering of the Diffuse Infrared Light from the COBE DIRBE Maps. 3; Power Spectrum Analysis and Excess Isotropic Component of Fluctuations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kashlinsky, A.; Mather, J. C.; Odenwald, S.

1999-01-01

The cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation is the cosmic repository for energy release throughout the history of the universe. The spatial fluctuations of the CIB resulting from galaxy clustering are expected to be at least a few percent on scales of a degree, depending on the luminosity and clustering history of the early universe. Using the all-sky data from the COBE DIRBE instrument at wavelengths 1.25 - 100 microns we attempt to measure the CIB fluctuations. In the near-IR, foreground emission is dominated by small scale structure due to stars in the Galaxy. There we find a strong correlation between the amplitude of the fluctuations and Galactic latitude after removing bright foreground stars. Using data outside the Galactic plane (absolute value of b > 20 deg) and away from the center (90 deg < l < 270 deg) we extrapolate the amplitude of the fluctuations to cosec absolute value of b = 0. We find a positive intercept of delta.F(sub rms) = 15.5(sup +3.7, sub -7.0), 5.9(sup +1.6, sub -3.7), 2.4(sup +0.5, sub -0.9), 2.0(sup +0.25, sub -0.5) nW/sq m.sr at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 microns respectively, where the errors are the range of 92% confidence limits. For color subtracted maps between band 1 and 2 we find the isotropic part of the fluctuations at 7.6(sup +1.2, sub -2.4) nW/sq m.sr. Based on detailed numerical and analytic models, this residual is not likely to originate from the Galaxy, our clipping algorithm, or instrumental noise. We demonstrate that the residuals from the fit used in the extrapolation are distributed isotropically and suggest that this extra variance may result from structure in the CIB. We also obtain a positive intercept from a linear combination of maps at 1.25 and 2.2 microns. For 2 deg < theta < 15 deg, a power-spectrum analysis yields limits of (theta/5 deg) x delta.F(sub rms)(theta) < 6, 2.5, 0.8, 0.5 nW/sq m.sr at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 microns respectively. From 10 - 100 microns, the dominant foregrounds are emission by dust in the Solar system and the Galaxy. There the upper limits on the CIB fluctuations are below 1 nW/sq m.sr and are lowest (< equal 0.5 nW/sq m.sr) at 25 microns.

Attribution of glacier fluctuations to climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oerlemans, J.

2012-04-01

Glacier retreat is a worlwide phenomenon, which started around the middle of the 19th century. During the period 1800-1850 the number of retreating and advancing glaciers was roughly equal (based on 42 records from different continents). During the period 1850-1900 about 92% of all mountain glaciers became shorter (based on 65 records). After this, the percentage of shrinking glaciers has been around 90% until the present time. The glacier signal is rather coherent over the globe, especially when surging and calving glaciers are not considered (for such glaciers the response to climate change is often masked by length changes related to internal dynamics). From theoretical studies as well as extensive meteorological work on glaciers, the processes that control the response of glaciers to climate change are now basically understood. It is useful to make a difference between geometric factors (e.g. slope, altitudinal range, hypsometry) and climatic setting (e.g. seasonal cycle, precipitation). The most sensitive glaciers appear to be flat glaciers in a maritime climate. Characterizing the dynamic properties of a glacier requires at least two quantities: the climate sensitivity, expressing how the equilibrium glacier state depends on the climatic conditions, and the response time, indicating how fast a glacier approaches a new equilibrium state after a stepwise change in the climatic forcing. These quantities can be estimated from relatively simple theory, showing that differences among glaciers are substantial. For larger glaciers, climate sensitivities (in terms of glacier length) vary from 1 to 8 km per 100 m change in the equilibrium-line altitude. Response times are mainly in the range of 20 to 200 years, with most values between 30 and 80 years. Changes in the equilibrium-line altitude or net mass balance of a glacier are mainly driven by fluctuations in air temperature, precipitation, and global radiation. Energy-balance modelling for many glaciers shows that, globally speaking, a 1 K temperature increase has the same effect as a ~25% decrease in precipitation, or a ~15% increase in global radiation. However, the relative importance of these drivers depends significantly on the climatic setting (notably continentality). In this contribution I will give a brief survey of glacier fluctuations over the past few centuries, and provide arguments that on the worldwide scale air temperature must have been the main driver of these fluctuations. A history of global mean temperature that explains the observed glacier fluctuations best will be discussed. On smaller spatial (regional) and temporal (decades) scales, changes in precipitation become important. Both with respect to the attribution problem (what caused the glacier fluctuations in the past?) and the projection issue (what will happen in the next 100 years?), it is important that many more glaciers are explicitly studied with numerical models. I will argue that for non-calving glaciers these models can be relatively simple.

Short-term fluctuations in motivation to quit smoking in a sample of smokers in Hawaii.

PubMed

Herzog, Thaddeus; Pokhrel, Pallav; Kawamoto, Crissy T

2015-01-01

Despite its potential for usefulness in informing the development of smoking cessation interventions, short-term fluctuations in motivation to quit is a relatively understudied topic. To assess the prevalence of smokers' day-to-day fluctuations in motivation to quit, and to assess associations of day-to-day fluctuations in motivation to quit with several established cessation-related variables. A cross-sectional survey was administered to smokers in Hawaii (N = 1,567). To assess short-term fluctuations in motivation to quit smoking, participants were asked to respond "True" or "False" to the statement: "My motivation to quit smoking changes from one day to the next." Other items measured desire to quit smoking, intention to quit, confidence in quitting, cigarette dependence, and other cessation-related variables. "My motivation to quit smoking changes from one day to the next" was endorsed as true by 64.7% of smokers, and false by 35.3%. Analyses revealed that smokers who indicated fluctuating motivation were significantly more interested in quitting as compared to smokers without fluctuations. Fluctuations in motivation to quit also were associated with greater confidence in quitting, lesser cigarette dependence, and more recent quitting activity (all p < .01). Day-to-day fluctuations in motivation to quit are common. Day-to-day fluctuations in motivation to quit are strongly associated with higher motivation to quit, greater confidence in future quitting, and other positive cessation-relevant trends.

Mathematical modeling of alignment dynamics in active motor-filament systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swaminathan, Sumanth

The formation of the cytoskeleton, via motor-mediated microtubule self-organization, is an important subject of study in the biological sciences as well as in nonequilibrium, soft matter physics. Accurate modeling of the dynamics is a formidable task as it involves intrinsic nonlinearities, structural anisotropies, nonequilibrium processes, and a broad window of time scales, length scales, and densities. In this thesis, we study the ordering dynamics and pattern formations arising from motor-mediated microtubule self-organization in dilute and semi-dilute filament solutions. In the dilute case, we use a probabilistic model in which microtubules interact through motor induced, inelastic binary collisions. This model shows that initially disordered filament solutions exhibit an ordering transition resulting in the emergence of well aligned rod bundles. We study the existence and dynamic interaction of microtubule bundles analytically and numerically. Our results show a long term attraction and coalescing of bundles indicating a clear coarsening in the system; microtubule bundles concentrate into fewer orientations on a slow logarithmic time scale. In the semi-dilute case, multiple motors can bind a filament to several others and, for a critical motor density, induce a transition to an ordered state with a nonzero mean orientation. We develop a spatially homogeneous, mean-field theory that explicitly accounts for motor forcing and thermal fluctuations which enter into the model as multiplicative and additive noises respectively. Our model further incorporates a force-dependent detachment rate of motors, which in turn affects the mean and the fluctuations of the net force acting on a filament. We demonstrate that the transition to the oriented state changes from second order to first order when the force-dependent detachment becomes important. In our final analysis, we add complex spatial inhomogeneities to our mean field theory. The revised model consists of a system of stochastic differential equations governing the time evolution of the orientation and center of mass of each filament; microtubules translate and rotate under the influence of motor forces and intrinsic thermal fluctuations. We show through a molecular dynamics type stochastic simulation that initially disordered systems of microtubules exhibit an ordering transition resulting in the formation of bundles and vortices. This finding is compared with previous binary interaction and hydrodynamic models and shown to be consistent with in vitro experiments on motor-mediated self-organization of microtubules and actin filaments.

High-Energy Emissions Induced by Air Density Fluctuations of Discharges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Köhn, C.; Chanrion, O.; Neubert, T.

2018-05-01

Bursts of X-rays and γ-rays are observed from lightning and laboratory sparks. They are bremsstrahlung from energetic electrons interacting with neutral air molecules, but it is still unclear how the electrons achieve the required energies. It has been proposed that the enhanced electric field of streamers, found in the corona of leader tips, may account for the acceleration; however, their efficiency is questioned because of the relatively low production rate found in simulations. Here we emphasize that streamers usually are simulated with the assumption of homogeneous gas, which may not be the case on the small temporal and spatial scales of discharges. Since the streamer properties strongly depend on the reduced electric field E/n, where n is the neutral number density, fluctuations may potentially have a significant effect. To explore what might be expected if the assumption of homogeneity is relaxed, we conducted simple numerical experiments based on simulations of streamers in a neutral gas with a radial gradient in the neutral density, assumed to be created, for instance, by a previous spark. We also studied the effects of background electron density from previous discharges. We find that X-radiation and γ-radiation are enhanced when the on-axis air density is reduced by more than ˜25%. Pre-ionization tends to reduce the streamer field and thereby the production rate of high-energy electrons; however, the reduction is modest. The simulations suggest that fluctuations in the neutral densities, on the temporal and spacial scales of streamers, may be important for electron acceleration and bremsstrahlung radiation.

A Model-Based Approach to Trial-By-Trial P300 Amplitude Fluctuations

PubMed Central

Kolossa, Antonio; Fingscheidt, Tim; Wessel, Karl; Kopp, Bruno

2013-01-01

It has long been recognized that the amplitude of the P300 component of event-related brain potentials is sensitive to the degree to which eliciting stimuli are surprising to the observers (Donchin, 1981). While Squires et al. (1976) showed and modeled dependencies of P300 amplitudes from observed stimuli on various time scales, Mars et al. (2008) proposed a computational model keeping track of stimulus probabilities on a long-term time scale. We suggest here a computational model which integrates prior information with short-term, long-term, and alternation-based experiential influences on P300 amplitude fluctuations. To evaluate the new model, we measured trial-by-trial P300 amplitude fluctuations in a simple two-choice response time task, and tested the computational models of trial-by-trial P300 amplitudes using Bayesian model evaluation. The results reveal that the new digital filtering (DIF) model provides a superior account of the trial-by-trial P300 amplitudes when compared to both Squires et al.’s (1976) model, and Mars et al.’s (2008) model. We show that the P300-generating system can be described as two parallel first-order infinite impulse response (IIR) low-pass filters and an additional fourth-order finite impulse response (FIR) high-pass filter. Implications of the acquired data are discussed with regard to the neurobiological distinction between short-term, long-term, and working memory as well as from the point of view of predictive coding models and Bayesian learning theories of cortical function. PMID:23404628

Detrended fluctuation analysis of human brain electroencephalogram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, C. P.; Zheng, B.; Wu, Y. Z.; Wang, Y.; Tang, X. W.

2004-08-01

With the detrended fluctuation analysis, we investigate dynamics of human brain electroencephalogram. Long-range temporal correlation and scaling behavior are observed, and certain characteristic of the Alzheimer's disease is revealed.

Frequency-dependent selection acting on the widely fluctuating sex ratio of the aphid Prociphilus oriens.

PubMed

Li, Y; Akimoto, S

2017-07-01

Frequency-dependent selection is a fundamental principle of adaptive sex ratio evolution in all sex ratio theories but has rarely been detected in the wild. Through long-term censuses, we confirmed large fluctuations in the population sex ratio of the aphid Prociphilus oriens and detected frequency-dependent selection acting on these fluctuations. Fluctuations in the population sex ratio were partly attributable to climatic factors during the growing season. Climatic factors likely affected the growth conditions of host plants, which in turn led to yearly fluctuations in maternal conditions and sex ratios. In the process of frequency-dependent selection, female proportion higher or lower than ca. 60% was associated with a reduction or increase in female proportion, respectively, the next year. The rearing of aphid clones in the laboratory indicated that mothers of each clone produced an increasing number of females as maternal size increased. However, the mean male number was not related to maternal size, but varied largely among clones. Given genetic variance in the ability to produce males among clones, selection should favour clones that can produce more numerous males in years with a high female proportion. Population-level sex allocation to females was on average 71%-73% for three localities and more female-biased when maternal conditions were better. This tendency was accounted for by the hypothesis of competition among foundresses rather than the hypothesis of local mate competition. We conclude that despite consistent operation of frequency-dependent selection, the sex ratio continues to fluctuate because environmental conditions always push it away from equilibrium. © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2017 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Interplay of Anderson localization and quench dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahmani, Armin; Vishveshwara, Smitha

2018-06-01

In the context of an isolated three-dimensional noninteracting fermionic lattice system, we study the effects of a sudden quantum quench between a disorder-free situation and one in which disorder results in a mobility edge and associated Anderson localization. Salient post-quench features hinge upon the overlap between momentum states and post-quench eigenstates and whether these latter states are extended or localized. We find that the post-quench momentum distribution directly reflects these overlaps. For the local density, we show that disorder generically prevents the equilibration of quantum expectation values to a steady state and that the persistent fluctuations have a nonmonotonic dependence on the strength of disorder. We identify two distinct types of fluctuations, namely, temporal fluctuations describing the time-dependent fluctuations of the local density around its time average and sample-to-sample fluctuations characterizing the variations of these time averages from one realization of disorder to another. We demonstrate that both of these fluctuations vanish for extremely extended as well as extremely localized states, peaking at some intermediate value.

Long-range correlation in cosmic microwave background radiation.

PubMed

Movahed, M Sadegh; Ghasemi, F; Rahvar, Sohrab; Tabar, M Reza Rahimi

2011-08-01

We investigate the statistical anisotropy and gaussianity of temperature fluctuations of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe survey, using the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis, Rescaled Range, and Scaled Windowed Variance methods. Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis shows that CMB fluctuations has a long-range correlation function with a multifractal behavior. By comparing the shuffled and surrogate series of CMB data, we conclude that the multifractality nature of the temperature fluctuation of CMB radiation is mainly due to the long-range correlations, and the map is consistent with a gaussian distribution.

Low-frequency random telegraphic noise and 1/f noise in the rare-earth manganite Pr0.63Ca0.37MnO3 near the charge-ordering transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bid, Aveek; Guha, Ayan; Raychaudhuri, A. K.

2003-05-01

We have studied low-frequency resistance fluctuations (noise) in a single crystal of the rare-earth perovskite manganite Pr0.63Ca0.37MnO3, which shows a charge-ordering transition at a temperature TCO≈245 K. The measurements were made across the charge-ordering transition covering the temperature range 200 K

Characterization of large-scale fluctuations and short-term variability of Seine river daily streamflow (France) over the period 1950-2008 by empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert-Huang transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massei, N.; Fournier, M.

2010-12-01

Daily Seine river flow from 1950 to 2008 was analyzed using Hilbert-Huang Tranform (HHT). For the last ten years, this method which combines the so-called Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) multiresolution analysis and the Hilbert transform has proven its efficiency for the analysis of transient oscillatory signals, although the mathematical definition of the EMD is not totally established yet. HHT also provides an interesting alternative to other time-frequency or time-scale analysis of non-stationary signals, the most famous of which being wavelet-based approaches. In this application of HHT to the analysis of the hydrological variability of the Seine river, we seek to characterize the interannual patterns of daily flow, differenciate them from the short-term dynamics and eventually interpret them in the context of regional climate regime fluctuations. In this aim, HHT is also applied to the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) through the annual winter-months NAO index time series. For both hydrological and climatic signals, dominant variability scales are extracted and their temporal variations analyzed by determination of the intantaneous frequency of each component. When compared to previous ones obtained from continuous wavelet transform (CWT) on the same data, HHT results highlighted the same scales and somewhat the same internal components for each signal. However, HHT allowed the identification and extraction of much more similar features during the 1950-2008 period (e.g., around 7-yr, between NAO and Seine flow than what was obtained from CWT, which comes to say that variability scales in flow likely to originate from climatic regime fluctuations were much properly identified in river flow. In addition, a more accurate determination of singularities in the natural processes analyzed were authorized by HHT compared to CWT, in which case the time-frequency resolution partly depends on the basic properties of the filter (i.e., the reference wavelet chosen initially). Compared to CWT or even to discrete wavelet multiresolution analysis, HHT is auto-adaptive, non-parametric, allows an orthogonal decomposition of the signal analyzed and provides a more accurate estimation of changing variability scales across time for highly transient signals.

Non-Gaussian Analysis of Turbulent Boundary Layer Fluctuating Pressure on Aircraft Skin Panels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rizzi, Stephen A.; Steinwolf, Alexander

2005-01-01

The purpose of the study is to investigate the probability density function (PDF) of turbulent boundary layer fluctuating pressures measured on the outer sidewall of a supersonic transport aircraft and to approximate these PDFs by analytical models. Experimental flight results show that the fluctuating pressure PDFs differ from the Gaussian distribution even for standard smooth surface conditions. The PDF tails are wider and longer than those of the Gaussian model. For pressure fluctuations in front of forward-facing step discontinuities, deviations from the Gaussian model are more significant and the PDFs become asymmetrical. There is a certain spatial pattern of the skewness and kurtosis behavior depending on the distance upstream from the step. All characteristics related to non-Gaussian behavior are highly dependent upon the distance from the step and the step height, less dependent on aircraft speed, and not dependent on the fuselage location. A Hermite polynomial transform model and a piecewise-Gaussian model fit the flight data well both for the smooth and stepped conditions. The piecewise-Gaussian approximation can be additionally regarded for convenience in usage after the model is constructed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bluhm, Marcus; Nahrgang, Marlene; Bass, Steffen A.

The non-monotonic beam energy dependence of the higher cumulants of net-proton fluctuations is a widely studied signature of the conjectured presence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. In this work we study the effect of resonance decays on critical fluctuations. We show that resonance effects reduce the signatures of critical fluctuations, but that for reasonable parameter choices critical effects in the net-proton cumulants survive. The relative role of resonance decays has a weak dependence on the order of the cumulants studied with a slightly stronger suppression of critical effects for higher-order cumulants.

Curvature bound from gravitational catalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gies, Holger; Martini, Riccardo

2018-04-01

We determine bounds on the curvature of local patches of spacetime from the requirement of intact long-range chiral symmetry. The bounds arise from a scale-dependent analysis of gravitational catalysis and its influence on the effective potential for the chiral order parameter, as induced by fermionic fluctuations on a curved spacetime with local hyperbolic properties. The bound is expressed in terms of the local curvature scalar measured in units of a gauge-invariant coarse-graining scale. We argue that any effective field theory of quantum gravity obeying this curvature bound is safe from chiral symmetry breaking through gravitational catalysis and thus compatible with the simultaneous existence of chiral fermions in the low-energy spectrum. With increasing number of dimensions, the curvature bound in terms of the hyperbolic scale parameter becomes stronger. Applying the curvature bound to the asymptotic safety scenario for quantum gravity in four spacetime dimensions translates into bounds on the matter content of particle physics models.