38,825 research outputs found
Electromagnetically induced transparency of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules
We study the impact of Rydberg molecule formation on the storage and
retrieval of Rydberg polaritons in an ultracold atomic medium. We observe
coherent revivals appearing in the retrieval efficiency of stored photons that
originate from simultaneous excitation of Rydberg atoms and Rydberg molecules
in the system with subsequent interference between the possible storage paths.
We show that over a large range of principal quantum numbers the observed
results can be described by a two-state model including only the atomic Rydberg
state and the Rydberg dimer molecule state. At higher principal quantum numbers
the influence of polyatomic molecules becomes relevant and the dynamics of the
system undergoes a transition from coherent evolution of a few-state system to
an effective dephasing into a continuum of molecular states.Comment: Submitted to PR
The Origin of Nitrogen on Jupiter and Saturn from the N/N Ratio
The Texas Echelon cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES), mounted on NASA's
Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), was used to map mid-infrared ammonia
absorption features on both Jupiter and Saturn in February 2013. Ammonia is the
principle reservoir of nitrogen on the giant planets, and the ratio of
isotopologues (N/N) can reveal insights into the molecular
carrier (e.g., as N or NH) of nitrogen to the forming protoplanets, and
hence the source reservoirs from which these worlds accreted. We targeted two
spectral intervals (900 and 960 cm) that were relatively clear of
terrestrial atmospheric contamination and contained close features of
NH and NH, allowing us to derive the ratio from a single
spectrum without ambiguity due to radiometric calibration (the primary source
of uncertainty in this study). We present the first ground-based determination
of Jupiter's N/N ratio (in the range from to
), which is consistent with both previous space-based studies
and with the primordial value of the protosolar nebula. On Saturn, we present
the first upper limit on the N/N ratio of no larger than
for the 900-cm channel and a less stringent
requirement that the ratio be no larger than for the
960-cm channel ( confidence). Specifically, the data rule out
strong N-enrichments such as those observed in Titan's atmosphere and in
cometary nitrogen compounds. To the extent possible with ground-based
radiometric uncertainties, the saturnian and jovian N/N ratios
appear indistinguishable, implying that N-enriched ammonia ices could
not have been a substantial contributor to the bulk nitrogen inventory of
either planet, favouring the accretion of primordial N from the gas phase
or as low-temperature ices.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures, manuscript accepted for publication in Icaru
Peering into the formation history of β Pictoris b with VLTI/GRAVITY long-baseline interferometry
Context. β Pictoris is arguably one of the most studied stellar systems outside of our own. Some 30 yr of observations have revealed a highly-structured circumstellar disk, with rings, belts, and a giant planet: β Pictoris b. However very little is known about how this system came into being.
Aims. Our objective is to estimate the C/O ratio in the atmosphere of β Pictoris b and obtain an estimate of the dynamical mass of the planet, as well as to refine its orbital parameters using high-precision astrometry.
Methods. We used the GRAVITY instrument with the four 8.2 m telescopes of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer to obtain K-band spectro-interferometric data on β Pic b. We extracted a medium resolution (R = 500) K-band spectrum of the planet and a high-precision astrometric position. We estimated the planetary C/O ratio using two different approaches (forward modeling and free retrieval) from two different codes (ExoREM and petitRADTRANS, respectively). Finally, we used a simplified model of two formation scenarios (gravitational collapse and core-accretion) to determine which can best explain the measured C/O ratio.
Results. Our new astrometry disfavors a circular orbit for β Pic b (e = 0.15_(−0.04)^(+0.05)). Combined with previous results and with HIPPARCOS/Gaia measurements, this astrometry points to a planet mass of M = 12.7 ± 2.2 M_(Jup). This value is compatible with the mass derived with the free-retrieval code petitRADTRANS using spectral data only. The forward modeling and free-retrieval approches yield very similar results regarding the atmosphere of β Pic b. In particular, the C/O ratios derived with the two codes are identical (0.43 ± 0.05 vs. 0.43_(−0.03)^(+0.04)). We argue that if the stellar C/O in β Pic is Solar, then this combination of a very high mass and a low C/O ratio for the planet suggests a formation through core-accretion, with strong planetesimal enrichment
HD-Index: Pushing the Scalability-Accuracy Boundary for Approximate kNN Search in High-Dimensional Spaces
Nearest neighbor searching of large databases in high-dimensional spaces is
inherently difficult due to the curse of dimensionality. A flavor of
approximation is, therefore, necessary to practically solve the problem of
nearest neighbor search. In this paper, we propose a novel yet simple indexing
scheme, HD-Index, to solve the problem of approximate k-nearest neighbor
queries in massive high-dimensional databases. HD-Index consists of a set of
novel hierarchical structures called RDB-trees built on Hilbert keys of
database objects. The leaves of the RDB-trees store distances of database
objects to reference objects, thereby allowing efficient pruning using distance
filters. In addition to triangular inequality, we also use Ptolemaic inequality
to produce better lower bounds. Experiments on massive (up to billion scale)
high-dimensional (up to 1000+) datasets show that HD-Index is effective,
efficient, and scalable.Comment: PVLDB 11(8):906-919, 201
I-BEAT: New ultrasonic method for single bunch measurement of ion energy distribution
The shape of a wave carries all information about the spatial and temporal
structure of its source, given that the medium and its properties are known.
Most modern imaging methods seek to utilize this nature of waves originating
from Huygens' principle. We discuss the retrieval of the complete kinetic
energy distribution from the acoustic trace that is recorded when a short ion
bunch deposits its energy in water. This novel method, which we refer to as
Ion-Bunch Energy Acoustic Tracing (I-BEAT), is a generalization of the
ionoacoustic approach. Featuring compactness, simple operation,
indestructibility and high dynamic ranges in energy and intensity, I-BEAT is a
promising approach to meet the needs of petawatt-class laser-based ion
accelerators. With its capability of completely monitoring a single, focused
proton bunch with prompt readout it, is expected to have particular impact for
experiments and applications using ultrashort ion bunches in high flux regimes.
We demonstrate its functionality using it with two laser-driven ion sources for
quantitative determination of the kinetic energy distribution of single,
focused proton bunches.Comment: Paper: 17 Pages, 3 figures Supplementary Material 16 pages, 7 figure
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