Temporal and Spectral Correlations of Cyg X-1

Temporal and spectral properties of X-ray rapid variability of Cyg X-1 are studied by an approach of correlation analysis in the time domain on different time scales. The correlation coefficients between the total intensity in 2-60 keV and the hardness ratio of 13-60 keV to 2-6 keV band on the time scale of about 1 ms are always negative in all states. For soft states, the correlation coefficients are positive on all the time scales from about 0.01 s to 100 s, which is significantly different with that for transition and low states. Temporal structures in high energy band are narrower than that in low energy band in quite a few cases. The delay of high energy photons relative to low energy ones in the X-ray variations has also been revealed by the correlation analysis. The implication of observed temporal and spectral characteristics to the production region and mechanism of Cyg X-1 X-ray variations is discussed.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures included, to appear in Ap

Dimer models from mirror symmetry and quivering amoebae

Dimer models are 2-dimensional combinatorial systems that have been shown to encode the gauge groups, matter content and tree-level superpotential of the world-volume quiver gauge theories obtained by placing D3-branes at the tip of a singular toric Calabi-Yau cone. In particular the dimer graph is dual to the quiver graph. However, the string theoretic explanation of this was unclear. In this paper we use mirror symmetry to shed light on this: the dimer models live on a T^2 subspace of the T^3 fiber that is involved in mirror symmetry and is wrapped by D6-branes. These D6-branes are mirror to the D3-branes at the singular point, and geometrically encode the same quiver theory on their world-volume

Extend transferable belief models with probabilistic priors

In this paper, we extend Smets' transferable belief model (TBM) with probabilistic priors. Our first motivation for the extension is about evidential reasoning when the underlying prior knowledge base is Bayesian. We extend standard Dempster models with prior probabilities to represent beliefs and distinguish between two types of induced mass functions on an extended Dempster model: one for believing and the other essentially for decision-making. There is a natural correspondence between these two mass functions. In the extended model, we propose two conditioning rules for evidential reasoning with probabilistic knowledge base. Our second motivation is about the partial dissociation of betting at the pignistic level from believing at the credal level in TBM. In our extended TBM, we coordinate these two levels by employing the extended Dempster model to represent beliefs at the credal level. Pignistic probabilities are derived not from the induced mass function for believing but from the one for decision-making in the model and hence need not rely on the choice of frame of discernment. Moreover, we show that the above two proposed conditionings and marginalization (or coarsening) are consistent with pignistic transformation in the extended TBM

Surface Adsorbate Fluctuations and Noise in Nanoelectromechanical Systems

Physisorption on solid surfaces is important in both fundamental studies and technology. Adsorbates can also be critical for the performance of miniature electromechanical resonators and sensors. Advances in resonant nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), particularly mass sensitivity attaining the single-molecule level, make it possible to probe surface physics in a new regime, where a small number of adatoms cause a detectable frequency shift in a high quality factor (Q) NEMS resonator, and adsorbate fluctuations result in resonance frequency noise. Here we report measurements and analysis of the kinetics and fluctuations of physisorbed xenon (Xe) atoms on a high-Q NEMS resonator vibrating at 190.5 MHz. The measured adsorption spectrum and frequency noise, combined with analytic modeling of surface diffusion and adsorption−desorption processes, suggest that diffusion dominates the observed excess noise. This study also reveals new power laws of frequency noise induced by diffusion, which could be important in other low-dimensional nanoscale systems

A review of microgrid development in the United States – A decade of progress on policies, demonstrations, controls, and software tools

Microgrids have become increasingly popular in the United States. Supported by favorable federal and local policies, microgrid projects can provide greater energy stability and resilience within a project site or community. This paper reviews major federal, state, and utility-level policies driving microgrid development in the United States. Representative U.S. demonstration projects are selected and their technical characteristics and non-technical features are introduced. The paper discusses trends in the technology development of microgrid systems as well as microgrid control methods and interactions within the electricity market. Software tools for microgrid design, planning, and performance analysis are illustrated with each tool's core capability. Finally, the paper summarizes the successes and lessons learned during the recent expansion of the U.S. microgrid industry that may serve as a reference for other countries developing their own microgrid industries