Estimation of cosmological parameters from neutral hydrogen observations of the post-reionization epoch

The emission from neutral hydrogen (HI) clouds in the post-reionization era (z <= 6), too faint to be individually detected, is present as a diffuse background in all low frequency radio observations below 1420MHz. The angular and frequency fluctuations of this radiation (similar to 1 mK) are an important future probe of the large-scale structures in the Universe. We show that such observations are a very effective probe of the background cosmological model and the perturbed Universe. In our study we focus on the possibility of determining the redshift-space distortion parameter beta, coordinate distance r(nu), and its derivative with redshift r(nu)('). Using reasonable estimates for the observational uncertainties and configurations representative of the ongoing and upcoming radio interferometers, we predict parameter estimation at a precision comparable with supernova Ia observations and galaxy redshift surveys, across a wide range in redshift that is only partially accessed by other probes. Future HI observations of the post-reionization era present a new technique, complementing several existing ones, to probe the expansion history and to elucidate the nature of the dark energy.

LISA as a dark energy probe

Recently, it has been shown that the inclusion of higher signal harmonics in the inspiral signals of binary supermassive black holes (SMBH) leads to dramatic improvements in the parameter estimation with Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In particular, the angular resolution becomes good enough to identify the host galaxy or galaxy cluster, in which case the redshift can be determined by electromagnetic means. The gravitational wave signal also provides the luminosity distance with high accuracy, and the relationship between this and the redshift depends sensitively on the cosmological parameters, such as the equation-of-state parameter w = p(DE)/rho(DE) of dark energy. Using binary SMBH events at z < 1 with appropriate masses and orientations, one would be able to constrain w to within a few per cent. We show that, if the measured sky location is folded into the error analysis, the uncertainty on w goes down by an additional factor of 2-3, leaving weak lensing as the only limiting factor in using LISA as a dark energy probe.

Studies on elastic coupling parameters of fracture modes in orthotropic materials

The characterisation of cracks is usually done using the well known three basic fracture modes, namely opening, shearing and tearing modes. In isotropic materials these modes are uncoupled and provide a convenient way to define the fracture parameters. It is well known that these fracture modes are coupled in anisotropic materials. In the case of orthotropic materials also, coupling exists between the fracture modes, unless the crack plane coincides with one of the axes of orthotropy. The strength of coupling depends upon the orientation of the axes of orthotropy with respect to the crack plane and so the energy release rate components associated with each of the modes vary with crack orientation. The variation, of these energy release rate components with the crack orientation with respect to orthotropic axes, is analyzed in this paper. Results indicate that in addition to the orthotropic planes there exists other planes with reference to which fracture modes are uncoupled.

Determination of diffusion parameters and activation energy of diffusion in V3Si phase with A15 crystal structure

Diffusion such is the integrated diffusion coefficient of the phase, the tracer diffusion coefficient of species at different temperatures and the activation energy for diffusion, are determined in V3Si phase with A15 crystal structure. The tracer diffusion coefficient of Si Was found to be negligible compared to the tracer diffusion coefficient of V. The calculated diffusion parameters will help to validate the theoretical analysis of defect structure of the phase, which plays an important role in the superconductivity.

A probabilistic constrained nonlinear optimization framework to optimize RED parameters

The random early detection (RED) technique has seen a lot of research over the years. However, the functional relationship between RED performance and its parameters viz,, queue weight (omega(q)), marking probability (max(p)), minimum threshold (min(th)) and maximum threshold (max(th)) is not analytically availa ble. In this paper, we formulate a probabilistic constrained optimization problem by assuming a nonlinear relationship between the RED average queue length and its parameters. This problem involves all the RED parameters as the variables of the optimization problem. We use the barrier and the penalty function approaches for its Solution. However (as above), the exact functional relationship between the barrier and penalty objective functions and the optimization variable is not known, but noisy samples of these are available for different parameter values. Thus, for obtaining the gradient and Hessian of the objective, we use certain recently developed simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) based estimates of these. We propose two four-timescale stochastic approximation algorithms based oil certain modified second-order SPSA updates for finding the optimum RED parameters. We present the results of detailed simulation experiments conducted over different network topologies and network/traffic conditions/settings, comparing the performance of Our algorithms with variants of RED and a few other well known adaptive queue management (AQM) techniques discussed in the literature.

The Influence of Processing Parameters on Characteristics of an Aluminum Alloy Spray Deposition

In the present investigation, two nozzle configurations are used for spray deposition, convergent nozzle (nozzle-A), and convergent nozzle with 2 mm parallel portion attached at its end (nozzle-C) without changing the exit area. First, the conditions for subambient aspiration pressure, i.e., pressure at the tip of the melt delivery tube, are established by varying the protrusion length of the melt delivery tube at different applied gas pressures for both of the nozzles. Using these conditions, spray deposits in a reproducible manner are successfully obtained for 7075 Al alloy. The effect of applied gas pressure, flight distance, and nozzle configuration on various characteristics of spray deposition, viz., yield, melt flow rate, and gas-to-metal ratio, is examined. The over-spray powder is also characterized with respect to powder size distribution, shape, and microstructure. Some of the results are explained with the help of numerical analysis presented in an earlier article.

An E-Convergence Method For The Evaluation Of Critical Parameters

A simple cconversence technique is applied to obtain accurate estimates of critical temperatures and critical it\ponmts of a few two- and threpdiniensional king models. When applied to the virial series for hard spheres and hard discs, this method predicts a divergence of the equation-of-state at the density of closest packing.

Identification of parameters in unconfined aquifers

A method is presented for identification of parameters in unconfined aquifers from pumping tests, based on the optimisation of the objective function using the least squares approach. Four parameters are to be evaluated, namely: The hydraulic conductivity in the radial and the vertical directions, the storage coefficient and the specific yield. The sensitivity analysis technique is used for solving the optimisation problem. Besides eliminating the subjectivity involved in the graphical procedure, the method takes into account the field data at all time intervals without classifying them into small and large time intervals and does not use the approximation that the ratio of the storage coefficient to the specific yield tends to zero. Two illustrative examples are presented and it is found that the parameter estimates from the computational and graphical procedures differ fairly significantly.

The Milky Way's Dark Matter Halo Appears To Be Lopsided

The atomic hydrogen gas (H I) disk in the outer region (beyond similar to 10 kpc from the center) of Milky Way can provide valuable information about the structure of the dark matter halo. The recent three-dimensional thickness map of the outer H I disk from the all sky 21 cm line Leiden/Argentine/Bonn survey, gives us a unique opportunity to investigate the structure of the dark matter halo of Milky Way in great detail. A striking feature of this new survey is the north-south (N-S) asymmetry in the thickness map of the atomic hydrogen gas. Assuming vertical hydrostatic equilibrium under the total potential of the Galaxy, we derive the model thickness map of the H I gas. We show that simple axisymmetric halo models, such as softened isothermal halo (producing a flat rotation curve with V-c similar to 220 km s(-1)) or any halo with density falling faster than the isothermal one, are not able to explain the observed radial variation of the gas thickness. We also show that such axisymmetric halos along with different H I velocity dispersion in the two halves, cannot explain the observed asymmetry in the thickness map. Amongst the nonaxisymmetric models, it is shown that a purely lopsided (m = 1, first harmonic) dark matter halo with reasonable H I velocity dispersion fails to explain the N-S asymmetry satisfactorily. However, we show that by superposing a second harmonic (m = 2) out of phase onto a purely lopsided halo, e. g., our best fit and more acceptable model A (with parameters epsilon(1)(h) = 0.2, epsilon(2)(h) = 0.18, and sigma(H I) = 8.5 km s(-1)) can provide an excellent fit to the observation and reproduce the N-S asymmetry naturally. The emerging picture of the asymmetric dark matter halo is supported by the. cold dark matter halos formed in the cosmological N-body simulation.

Effect of wave parameters on flood wave subsidence

A detailed analy~is on the propagation of a sinusoidal flood wave in a wide prismatic open channel b.as hen made by numc? ii.~ll~integrating We govemins nondimenional equations of unsteady flow in an open chamei. EmpE:dsis has been laid on the effect of wave parmefen on th propagation of 6.8 sinusoidal wave. Results show that the amount of subsidence is more in the case of small wave anplltude and wave duration cases. Further, wave duration has been noticed to have a relatively Vier influence on subsidence than wave amplitude. The speed at which the peak of the wave moves is observed to be a function of only the wave amplitude.

Diffusion Parameters in the Nb-Mo System: Revisited

The variation of the interdiffusion coefficient with the change in composition in the Nb-Mo system is determined in the temperature range of 1800 °C to 1900 °C. It was found that the activation energy has a minimum at around 45 at. pct Nb. The values of the pre-exponential factor and the activation energy for diffusion are compared with the data available in the literature. Further, the impurity diffusion coefficients of Nb in Mo and Mo in Nb are calculated.

Nucleation parameters for polymer crystallization from non-isothermal thermal analysis

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used to obtain kinetic and nucleation parameters for polymer crystallization under a non-isothermal mode of operation. The available isothermal nucleation growth-rate equation has been modified for non-isothermal kinetic analysis. The values of the nucleation constant (K g ) and surface free energies (sgr, sgr e ) have been obtained for i-polybutene-1, i-polypropylene, poly(L-lactic acid), and polyoxymethylene and are compared with those obtained from isothermal kinetic analysis; a good agreement in both is seen.

Effect of experimental parameters on non-isothermal TG

The effect of some experimental parameters, namely sample weight, particle size and its distribution, heating rate and flow rate of inert gas, on the fractional decomposition of calcium carbonate samples have been studied both experimentally and theoretical. The general conclusions obtained from theoretical analysis are corroborated qualitatively by the experimental data. The analysis indicates that the kinetic compensating effect may be partly due to the variations in experimental parameters for different experiments.

Isomerization Dynamics In Solution In The Absence Of An Activation Barrier - Evaluation Of The Potential Parameters

We analyze recent experimental results of Sundström and Gillbro by using the theory of Bagchi, Fleming and Oxtoby. The experimental results are in good agreement with this theory, but not with the earlier theory of Förster and Hoffmann. By fitting the new experimental results to the theory, we obtain approximate estimates of the frequency of the excited surface (assumed harmonic) and the width of the sink function.