PONDER - A Real time software backend for pulsar and IPS observations at the Ooty Radio Telescope

This paper describes a new real-time versatile backend, the Pulsar Ooty Radio Telescope New Digital Efficient Receiver (PONDER), which has been designed to operate along with the legacy analog system of the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT). PONDER makes use of the current state of the art computing hardware, a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and sufficiently large disk storage to support high time resolution real-time data of pulsar observations, obtained by coherent dedispersion over a bandpass of 16 MHz. Four different modes for pulsar observations are implemented in PONDER to provide standard reduced data products, such as time-stamped integrated profiles and dedispersed time series, allowing faster avenues to scientific results for a variety of pulsar studies. Additionally, PONDER also supports general modes of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements and very long baseline interferometry data recording. The IPS mode yields a single polarisation correlated time series of solar wind scintillation over a bandwidth of about four times larger (16 MHz) than that of the legacy system as well as its fluctuation spectrum with high temporal and frequency resolutions. The key point is that all the above modes operate in real time. This paper presents the design aspects of PONDER and outlines the design methodology for future similar backends. It also explains the principal operations of PONDER, illustrates its capabilities for a variety of pulsar and IPS observations and demonstrates its usefulness for a variety of astrophysical studies using the high sensitivity of the ORT.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, Accepted by Experimental Astronom

FTIR and XRD studies on some archaeological artifacts from Bohn, India

          Spectroscopic studies have been performed on archaeological pottery samples from Bhon in Maharashtra. The clay mineral type and its structural deformation due to firing have been studied from their Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra. The maximum firing temperature attained during baking, firing conditions (open/reduced atmosphere) and iron mineral phase changes are well established. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies on archaeological artifacts pave the way to identify the minerals

Spontaneous Interlayer Charge Transfer near the Magnetic Quantum Limit

Experiments reveal that a confined electron system with two equally-populated layers at zero magnetic field can spontaneously break this symmetry through an interlayer charge transfer near the magnetic quantum limit. New fractional quantum Hall states at unusual total filling factors such as \nu = 11/15 (= 1/3 + 2/5) stabilize as signatures that the system deforms itself, at substantial electrostatic energy cost, in order to gain crucial correlation energy by "locking in" separate incompressible liquid phases at unequal fillings in the two layers (e.g., layered 1/3 and 2/5 states in the case of \nu = 11/15).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (1 color) included in text. Related papers at http://www.ee.princeton.edu/~hari/papers.htm

Scattering Theory of Kondo Mirages and Observation of Single Kondo Atom Phase Shift

We explain the origin of the Kondo mirage seen in recent quantum corral Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) experiments with a scattering theory of electrons on the surfaces of metals. Our theory combined with experimental data provides the first direct observation of a single Kondo atom phase shift. The Kondo mirage at the empty focus of an elliptical quantum corral is shown to arise from multiple electron bounces off the walls of the corral in a manner analagous to the formation of a real image in optics. We demonstrate our theory with direct quantitive comparision to experimental data.Comment: 13 pages; significant clarifications of metho

Projecting the Kondo Effect: Theory of the Quantum Mirage

A microscopic theory is developed for the projection (quantum mirage) of the Kondo resonance from one focus of an elliptic quantum corral to the other focus. The quantum mirage is shown to be independent of the size and the shape of the ellipse, and experiences \lambda_F/4 oscillations (\lambda_F is the surface-band Fermi wavelength) with an increasing semimajor axis length. We predict an oscillatory behavior of the mirage as a function of a weak magnetic field applied perpendicular to the sample.Comment: 4 pages 2 figures include