The inner knot of the Crab nebula

We model the inner knot of the Crab Nebula as a synchrotron emission coming from the non-spherical MHD termination shock of relativistic pulsar wind. The post-shock flow is mildly relativistic; as a result the Doppler-beaming has a strong impact on the shock appearance. The model can reproduce the knot location, size, elongation, brightness distribution, luminosity and polarization provided the effective magnetization of the section of the pulsar wind producing the knot is low, $\sigma \leq 1$. In the striped wind model, this implies that the striped zone is rather wide, with the magnetic inclination angle of the Crab pulsar $\ge 45^\circ$; this agrees with the previous model-dependent estimate based on the gamma-ray emission of the pulsar. We conclude that the tiny knot is indeed a bright spot on the surface of a quasi-stationary magnetic relativistic shock and that this shock is a site of efficient particle acceleration. On the other hand, the deduced low magnetization of the knot plasma implies that this is an unlikely site for the Crab's gamma-ray flares, if they are related to the fast relativistic magnetic reconnection events.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figure

Characterization of a Transition-Edge Sensor for the ALPS II Experiment

The ALPS II experiment, Any Light Particle Search II at DESY in Hamburg, will look for light (m< 10-4 eV) new fundamental bosons (e.g., axion-like particles, hidden photons and other WISPs) in the next years by the mean of a light-shining-through-the-wall setup. The ALPS II photosensor is a Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) optimized for lambda = 1064 nm photons. The detector is routinely operated at 80 mK, allowing single infrared photon detections as well as non-dispersive spectroscopy with very low background rates. The demonstrated quantum efficiency for such TES is up to 95% at lambda =1064 nm. For 1064 nm photons, the measured background rate is < 10-2 sec-1 and the intrinsic dark count rate in a dark environment was found to be of 1,0.10-4 sec-1. Latest characterization results are discussed.Comment: Contributed to the 11th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, Zaragoza, June 22 to 26, 201

Notes from the 3rd Axion Strategy Meeting

In this note we briefly summarize the main future targets and strategies for axion and general low energy particle physics identified in the "3rd axion strategy meeting" held during the AXIONS 2010 workshop. This summary follows a wide discussion with contributions from many of the workshop attendees.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Geeks, Cowboys, and Bureaucrats: Deploying Broadband, the Wireless Way

The advent of new unlicensed wireless technologies allows a variety of new actors – from co-operatives to municipalities – to deploy and operate communication networks. This article reviews the evolution of the new breed of wireless technologies, in particular Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), and discusses its implications for the architecture and control of emerging wireless broadband networks. Drawing on the social constructivist history of large technical systems and the work of economic historians concerned with the evolution of technology, the article explores the largely unexpected success of Wi-Fi. It then reviews the evidence to date on the bottom-up deployment of wireless networks by local actors in the United States, focusing on three types of initiatives driven by different deployment dynamics: end-user co-operatives (the “geeks”), wireless internet service providers (“cowboys”), and municipal government (“bureaucrats”). The conclusion discusses the policy and institutional issues most likely to affect the balance between centralised and decentralised deployment of wireless broadband networks in the near future, and suggests possible implications for the developing world

CEERS Epoch 1 NIRCam Imaging: Reduction Methods and Simulations Enabling Early JWST Science Results

We present the data release and data reduction process for the Epoch 1 NIRCam observations for the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS). These data consist of NIRCam imaging in six broadband filters (F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W and F444W) and one medium band filter (F410M) over four pointings, obtained in parallel with primary CEERS MIRI observations (Yang et al. in prep). We reduced the NIRCam imaging with the JWST Calibration Pipeline, with custom modifications and reduction steps designed to address additional features and challenges with the data. Here we provide a detailed description of each step in our reduction and a discussion of future expected improvements. Our reduction process includes corrections for known pre-launch issues such as 1/f noise, as well as in-flight issues including snowballs, wisps, and astrometric alignment. Many of our custom reduction processes were first developed with pre-launch simulated NIRCam imaging over the full 10 CEERS NIRCam pointings. We present a description of the creation and reduction of this simulated dataset in the Appendix. We provide mosaics of the real images in a public release, as well as our reduction scripts with detailed explanations to allow users to reproduce our final data products. These represent one of the first official public datasets released from the Directors Discretionary Early Release Science (DD-ERS) program.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures, submitted to ApJ. Accompanying CEERS public Data Release 0.5 available at ceers.github.io/releases.htm

Cosmic Axion Spin Precession Experiment (CASPEr)

We propose an experiment to search for QCD axion and axion-like-particle (ALP) dark matter. Nuclei that are interacting with the background axion dark matter acquire time-varying CP-odd nuclear moments such as an electric dipole moment. In analogy with nuclear magnetic resonance, these moments cause precession of nuclear spins in a material sample in the presence of an electric field. Precision magnetometry can be used to search for such precession. An initial phase of this experiment could cover many orders of magnitude in ALP parameter space beyond the current astrophysical and laboratory limits. And with established techniques, the proposed experimental scheme has sensitivity to QCD axion masses m_a < 10^-9 eV, corresponding to theoretically well-motivated axion decay constants f_a > 10^16 GeV. With further improvements, this experiment could ultimately cover the entire range of masses m_a < 10^-6 eV, complementary to cavity searches.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. v2: Reordered sections and minor modifications to agree with published versio

The Case for Liberal Spectrum Licenses: A Technical and Economic Perspective

The traditional system of radio spectrum allocation has inefficiently restricted wireless services. Alternatively, liberal licenses ceding de facto spectrum ownership rights yield incentives for operators to maximize airwave value. These authorizations have been widely used for mobile services in the U.S. and internationally, leading to the development of highly productive services and waves of innovation in technology, applications and business models. Serious challenges to the efficacy of such a spectrum regime have arisen, however. Seeing the widespread adoption of such devices as cordless phones and wi-fi radios using bands set aside for unlicensed use, some scholars and policy makers posit that spectrum sharing technologies have become cheap and easy to deploy, mitigating airwave scarcity and, therefore, the utility of exclusive rights. This paper evaluates such claims technically and economically. We demonstrate that spectrum scarcity is alive and well. Costly conflicts over airwave use not only continue, but have intensified with scientific advances that dramatically improve the functionality of wireless devices and so increase demand for spectrum access. Exclusive ownership rights help direct spectrum inputs to where they deliver the highest social gains, making exclusive property rules relatively more socially valuable. Liberal licenses efficiently accommodate rival business models (including those commonly associated with unlicensed spectrum allocations) while mitigating the constraints levied on spectrum use by regulators imposing restrictions in traditional licenses or via use rules and technology standards in unlicensed spectrum allocations.