arXiv subjects

Hugo Solís-Sánchez

Publications and source records attributed to Hugo Solís-Sánchez.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Deciding the status of controversial phonemes using frequency distributions; an application to semiconsonants in Spanish

Exploiting the fact that natural languages are complex systems, the present exploratory article proposes a direct method based on frequency distributions that may be useful when making a decision on the status of problematic phonemes, an open problem in linguistics. The main notion is that natural languages, which can be considered from a complex outlook as information processing machines, and which somehow manage to set appropriate levels of redundancy, already "made the choice" whether a linguistic unit is a phoneme or not, and this would be reflected in a greater smoothness in a frequency versus rank graph. For the particular case we chose to study, we conclude that it is reasonable to consider the Spanish semiconsonant /w/ as a separate phoneme from its vowel counterpart /u/, on the one hand, and possibly also the semiconsonant /j/ as a separate phoneme from its vowel counterpart /i/, on the other. As language has been so central a topic in the study of complexity, this discussion grants us, in addition, an opportunity to gain insight into emerging properties in the broader complex systems debate.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2018

Is there a relationship between Stephen Hawking's worldview and his physical disability? On the importance of cognitive diversity

We tackle the question of whether there is a relationship between Stephen Hawking's disability and his ideas on the physics of black holes. The issue is relevant as it underscores the importance of diversity perspective in science.

physics.pop-ph↗

arXiv2018

The effects of anger on automated long-term-spectra based speaker-identification

Forensic speaker identification has traditionally considered approaches based on long term spectra analysis as especially robust, given that they work well for short recordings, are not sensitive to changes in the intensity of the sample, and continue to function in the presence of noise and limited passband. We find, however, that anger induces a significant distortion of the acoustic signal for long term spectra analysis purposes. Even moderate anger offsets speaker identification results by 33% in the direction of a different speaker altogether. Thus, caution should be exercised when applying this tool.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2017

The Early Scientific Contributions of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Why Did the Scientific Community Miss the Black Hole Opportunity?

We aim to carry out an assessment of the scientific value of Oppenheimer's research on black holes in order to determine and weigh possible factors to explain its neglect by the scientific community, and even by Oppenheimer himself. Dealing primarily with the science and looking closely at the scientific culture and the scientific conceptual belief system of the 1930s, the present article seeks to supplement the existent literature on the subject by enriching the explanations and possibly complicating the guiding questions. We suggest a rereading of Oppenheimer as a more intriguing, ahead-of-his-time figure.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2015

Do Magnetic Fields Destroy Black Hole Accretion Disk g-Modes?

Diskoseismology, the theoretical study of normal mode oscillations in geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disks, is a strong candidate to explain some QPOs in the power spectra of many black hole X-ray binary systems. The existence of g-modes, presumably the most robust and visible of the modes, depends on general relativistic gravitational trapping in the hottest part of the disk. As the existence of the required cavity in the presence of magnetic fields has been put into doubt by theoretical calculations, we will explore in greater generality what the inclusion of magnetic fields has to say on the existence of g-modes. We use an analytical perturbative approach on the equations of MHD to assess the impact of such effects. Our main conclusion is that there appears to be no compelling reason to discard g-modes. In particular, the inclusion of a non-zero {\it radial} component of the magnetic field enables a broader scenario for cavity non-destruction, especially taking into account recent simulations' saturation values for the magnetic field.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2014

The 2:3:6 QPO structure in GRS 1915+105 and cubic subharmonics in the context of relativistic diskoseismology

We propose a simple toy model to explain the 2:3:6 QPO structure in GRS 1915+105 and, more generally, the 2:3 QPO structure in XTE J1550-564, GRO J1655-40, and H 1743-322. The model exploits the onset of subharmonics in the context of diskoseismology. We suggest that the observed frequencies may be the consequence of a resonance between a fundamental g-mode and an unobservable p-wave. The results include the prediction that, as better data become available, a QPO with a frequency of twice the higher twin frequency and a large quality factor will be observed in twin peak sources, as it might already have been observed in the especially active GRS 1915+105.

astro-ph.HE↗