3,078 research outputs found
The Two Modes of Gas Giant Planet Formation
I argue for two modes of gas giant planet formation and discuss the
conditions under which each mode operates. Gas giant planets at disk radii
AU are likely to form in situ by disk instability, while core accretion
plus gas capture remains the dominant formation mechanism for AU.
During the mass accretion phase, mass loading can push disks toward
fragmentation conditions at large . Massive, extended disks can fragment
into clumps of a few to tens of Jupiter masses. This is confirmed by radiation
hydrodynamics simulations. The two modes of gas giant formation should lead to
a bimodal distribution of gas giant semi-major axes. Because core accretion is
expected to be less efficient in low-metallicity systems, the ratio of gas
giants at large to planets at small should increase with decreasing
metallicity.Comment: Submitted to ApJL after addressing referee's comment
Quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution
Quantum sensing takes advantage of well controlled quantum systems for
performing measurements with high sensitivity and precision. We have
implemented a concept for quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution,
independent of the qubit probe and limited only by the stability of an external
synchronization clock. Our concept makes use of quantum lock-in detection to
continuously probe a signal of interest. Using the electronic spin of a single
nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we demonstrate detection of oscillating
magnetic fields with a frequency resolution of 70 uHz over a MHz bandwidth. The
continuous sampling further guarantees an excellent sensitivity, reaching a
signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 10,000:1 for a 170 nT test signal measured
during a one-hour interval. Our technique has applications in magnetic
resonance spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and sensitive signal detection.Comment: Manuscript resubmitted to Science. Includes Supplementary Material
Our exciting journey to ACT-451840
We describe our work resulting in the selection of ACT-451840 ( 38 ) as a novel antimalarial drug with a novel mode of action. The compound was broadly characterized in vitro as well as in vivo in rat PK experiments as well as two different mouse malaria models. In the P. berghei infected mouse model cure could be achieved at oral doses of 300 mg/kg over 3 consecutive days. ACT-451840 was clinically investigated up to an experimental human malaria infection model, where therapeutic effects could be shown
The Heavy Element Composition of Disk Instability Planets Can Range From Sub- to Super-Nebular
Transit surveys combined with Doppler data have revealed a class of gas giant
planets that are massive and highly enriched in heavy elements (e.g.,
HD149026b, GJ436b, and HAT-P-20b). It is tempting to consider these planets as
validation of core accretion plus gas capture because it is often assumed that
disk instability planets should be of nebular composition. We show in this
paper, to the contrary, that gas giants that form by disk instability can have
a variety of heavy element compositions, ranging from sub- to super-nebular
values. High levels of enrichment can be achieved through one or multiple
mechanisms, including enrichment at birth, planetesimal capture, and
differentiation plus tidal stripping. As a result, the metallicity of an
individual gas giant cannot be used to discriminate between gas giant formation
modes.Comment: Accepted by Ap
Spurious harmonic response of multipulse quantum sensing sequences
Multipulse sequences based on Carr-Purcell decoupling are frequently used for
narrow-band signal detection in single spin magnetometry. We have analyzed the
behavior of multipulse sensing sequences under real-world conditions, including
finite pulse durations and the presence of detunings. We find that these
non-idealities introduce harmonics to the filter function, allowing additional
frequencies to pass the filter. In particular, we find that the XY family of
sequences can generate signals at the 2fac, 4fac and 8fac harmonics and their
odd subharmonics, where fac is the ac signal frequency. Consideration of the
harmonic response is especially important for diamond-based nuclear spin
sensing where the NMR frequency is used to identify the nuclear spin species,
as it leads to ambiguities when several isotopes are present.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
The Supernova Triggered Formation and Enrichment of Our Solar System
We investigate the enrichment of the pre-solar cloud core with short lived
radionuclides (SLRs), especially 26Al. The homogeneity and the surprisingly
small spread in the ratio 26Al/27Al observed in the overwhelming majority of
calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) in a vast variety of primitive
chondritic meteorites places strong constraints on the formation of the the
solar system. Freshly synthesized radioactive 26Al has to be included and well
mixed within 20kyr. After discussing various scenarios including X-winds, AGB
stars and Wolf-Rayet stars, we come to the conclusion that triggering the
collapse of a cold cloud core by a nearby supernova is the most promising
scenario. We then narrow down the vast parameter space by considering the
pre-explosion survivability of such a clump as well as the cross-section
necessary for sufficient enrichment. We employ numerical simulations to address
the mixing of the radioactively enriched SN gas with the pre-existing gas and
the forced collapse within 20kyr. We show that a cold clump of 10Msun at a
distance of 5pc can be sufficiently enriched in 26Al and triggered into
collapse fast enough - within 18kyr after encountering the supernova shock -
for a range of different metallicities and progenitor masses, even if the
enriched material is assumed to be distributed homogeneously in the entire
supernova bubble. In summary, we envision an environment for the birth place of
the Solar System 4.567Gyr ago similar to the situation of the pillars in M16
nowadays, where molecular cloud cores adjacent to an HII region will be hit by
a supernova explosion in the future. We show that the triggered collapse and
formation of the Solar System as well as the required enrichment with
radioactive 26Al are possible in this scenario.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Resolution of
most figures degraded to fit within arXiv size limits. A full resolution
version is available at
http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/~gritschm/Gritschneder_2011_sun.pd
- …