3,597 research outputs found
UV Spectropolarimetry of Narrow-line Radio Galaxies
We present the results of UV spectropolarimetry (2000 - 3000A) and far-UV
spectroscopy (1500 - 2000A) of two low-redshift narrow-line radio galaxies
(NLRGs) taken with the Faint Object Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST). Spectropolarimetry of several NLRGs has shown that, by the
presence of broad permitted lines in polarized flux spectrum, they have hidden
quasars seen through scattered light. Imaging polarimetry has shown that NLRGs
including our targets often have large scattering regions of a few kpc to >~10
kpc scale. This has posed a problem about the nature of the scatterers in these
radio galaxies. Their polarized continuum has the spectral index similar to or
no bluer than that of quasars, which favors electrons as the dominant
scattering particles. The large scattering region size, however, favors dust
scattering, because of its higher scattering efficiency compared to electrons.
In this paper, we investigate the polarized flux spectrum over a wide
wavelength range, combining our UV data with previous optical/infrared
polarimetry data. We infer that the scattering would be often caused by opaque
dust clouds in the NLRGs and this would be a part of the reason for the
apparently grey scattering. In the high-redshift radio galaxies, these opaque
clouds could be the proto-galactic subunits inferred to be seen in the HST
images. However, we still cannot rule out the possibility of electron
scattering, which could imply the existence of a large gas mass surrounding
these radio galaxies.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figures. To appear in Ap
Nanofilters for Optical Nanocircuits
We theoretically and numerically study the design of optical 'lumped'
nanofiltering devices in the framework of our recently proposed paradigm for
optical nanocircuits. In particular, we present the design of basic filtering
elements, such as low-pass, band-pass, stop-band and high-pass 'lumped'
nanofilters, for use in optical nanocircuits together with more complex
designs, such as multi-zero or multi-pole nanofilters, to work at THz, infrared
and optical frequencies. Following the nanocircuit theory, we show how it is
possible to design such complex frequency responses by simple rules, similar to
RF circuit design, and we compare the frequency response of these optical
nanofilters with classic filters in RF circuits. These results may provide a
theoretical foundation for fabricating nanofilters in optical lumped
nanocircuit devices.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figure
Quantum interference and Klein tunneling in graphene heterojunctions
The observation of quantum conductance oscillations in mesoscopic systems has
traditionally required the confinement of the carriers to a phase space of
reduced dimensionality. While electron optics such as lensing and focusing have
been demonstrated experimentally, building a collimated electron interferometer
in two unconfined dimensions has remained a challenge due to the difficulty of
creating electrostatic barriers that are sharp on the order of the electron
wavelength. Here, we report the observation of conductance oscillations in
extremely narrow graphene heterostructures where a resonant cavity is formed
between two electrostatically created bipolar junctions. Analysis of the
oscillations confirms that p-n junctions have a collimating effect on
ballistically transmitted carriers. The phase shift observed in the conductance
fringes at low magnetic fields is a signature of the perfect transmission of
carriers normally incident on the junctions and thus constitutes a direct
experimental observation of ``Klein Tunneling.''Comment: 13 pages and 6 figures including supplementary information. The paper
has been modified in light of new theoretical results available at
arXiv:0808.048
Simulations of Two-Dimensional Melting on the Surface of a Sphere
We have simulated a system of classical particles confined on the surface of
a sphere interacting with a repulsive potential. The same system
simulated on a plane with periodic boundary conditions has van der Waals loops
in pressure-density plots which are usually interpreted as evidence for a first
order melting transition, but on the sphere such loops are absent.
We also investigated the structure factor and from the width of the first
peak as a function of density we can show that the growth of the correlation
length is consistent with KTHNY theory. This suggests that simulations of two
dimensional melting phenomena are best performed on the surface of a sphere.Comment: 4 eps figure
Direct measurement of discrete valley and orbital quantum numbers in bilayer graphene
The high magnetic field electronic structure of bilayer graphene is enhanced by the spin, valley isospin, and an accidental orbital degeneracy, leading to a complex phase diagram of broken symmetry states. Here, we present a technique for measuring the layer-resolved charge density, from which we directly determine the valley and orbital polarization within the zero energy Landau level. Layer polarization evolves in discrete steps across 32 electric field-tuned phase transitions between states of different valley, spin, and orbital order, including previously unobserved orbitally polarized states stabilized by skew interlayer hopping. We fit our data to a model that captures both single-particle and interaction-induced anisotropies, providing a complete picture of this correlated electron system. The resulting roadmap to symmetry breaking paves the way for deterministic engineering of fractional quantum Hall states, while our layer-resolved technique is readily extendable to other two-dimensional materials where layer polarization maps to the valley or spin quantum numbers.United States. Department of Energy. Office of Basic Energy Sciences (Contract FG02-08ER46514)Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Grant GBMF2931
Critical behavior of the random-anisotropy model in the strong-anisotropy limit
We investigate the nature of the critical behavior of the random-anisotropy
Heisenberg model (RAM), which describes a magnetic system with random uniaxial
single-site anisotropy, such as some amorphous alloys of rare earths and
transition metals. In particular, we consider the strong-anisotropy limit
(SRAM), in which the Hamiltonian can be rewritten as the one of an Ising
spin-glass model with correlated bond disorder. We perform Monte Carlo
simulations of the SRAM on simple cubic L^3 lattices, up to L=30, measuring
correlation functions of the replica-replica overlap, which is the order
parameter at a glass transition. The corresponding results show critical
behavior and finite-size scaling. They provide evidence of a finite-temperature
continuous transition with critical exponents and
. These results are close to the corresponding estimates that
have been obtained in the usual Ising spin-glass model with uncorrelated bond
disorder, suggesting that the two models belong to the same universality class.
We also determine the leading correction-to-scaling exponent finding .Comment: 24 pages, 13 figs, J. Stat. Mech. in pres
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