476 research outputs found
Breathing oscillations of a trapped impurity in a Bose gas
Motivated by a recent experiment [J. Catani et al., arXiv:1106.0828v1
preprint, 2011], we study breathing oscillations in the width of a harmonically
trapped impurity interacting with a separately trapped Bose gas. We provide an
intuitive physical picture of such dynamics at zero temperature, using a
time-dependent variational approach. In the Gross-Pitaevskii regime we obtain
breathing oscillations whose amplitudes are suppressed by self trapping, due to
interactions with the Bose gas. Introducing phonons in the Bose gas leads to
the damping of breathing oscillations and non-Markovian dynamics of the width
of the impurity, the degree of which can be engineered through controllable
parameters. Our results reproduce the main features of the impurity dynamics
observed by Catani et al. despite experimental thermal effects, and are
supported by simulations of the system in the Gross-Pitaevskii regime.
Moreover, we predict novel effects at lower temperatures due to self-trapping
and the inhomogeneity of the trapped Bose gas.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Phonon resonances in atomic currents through Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices
We present an analysis of Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices for the
case where the lattice potential of the fermions is tilted and the bosons (in
the superfluid phase) are described by Bogoliubov phonons. It is shown that the
Bogoliubov phonons enable hopping transitions between fermionic Wannier-Stark
states; these transitions are accompanied by energy dissipation into the
superfluid and result in a net atomic current along the lattice. We derive a
general expression for the drift velocity of the fermions and find that the
dependence of the atomic current on the lattice tilt exhibits negative
differential conductance and phonon resonances. Numerical simulations of the
full dynamics of the system based on the time-evolving block decimation
algorithm reveal that the phonon resonances should be observable under the
conditions of a realistic measuring procedure.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Phonon resonances in atomic currents through Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices
We present an analysis of Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices for the case where the lattice potential of the fermions is tilted and the bosons (in the superfluid phase) are described by Bogoliubov phonons. It is shown that the Bogoliubov phonons enable hopping transitions between fermionic Wannier-Stark states; these transitions are accompanied by energy dissipation into the superfluid and result in a net atomic current along the lattice. We derive a general expression for the drift velocity of the fermions and find that the dependence of the atomic current on the lattice tilt exhibits negative differential conductance and phonon resonances. Numerical simulations of the full dynamics of the system based on the time-evolving block decimation algorithm reveal that the phonon resonances should be observable under the conditions of a realistic measuring procedure
Multidimensional chemical modelling, II. Irradiated outflow walls
Observations of the high-mass star forming region AFGL 2591 reveal a large
abundance of CO+, a molecule known to be enhanced by far UV (FUV) and X-ray
irradiation. In chemical models assuming a spherically symmetric envelope, the
volume of gas irradiated by protostellar FUV radiation is very small due to the
high extinction by dust. The abundance of CO+ is thus underpredicted by orders
of magnitude. In a more realistic model, FUV photons can escape through an
outflow region and irradiate gas at the border to the envelope. Thus, we
introduce the first 2D axi-symmetric chemical model of the envelope of a
high-mass star forming region to explain the CO+ observations as a prototypical
FUV tracer. The model assumes an axi-symmetric power-law density structure with
a cavity due to the outflow. The local FUV flux is calculated by a Monte Carlo
radiative transfer code taking scattering on dust into account. A grid of
precalculated chemical abundances, introduced in the first part of this series
of papers, is used to quickly interpolate chemical abundances. This approach
allows to calculate the temperature structure of the FUV heated outflow walls
self-consistently with the chemistry.
Synthetic maps of the line flux are calculated using a raytracer code.
Single-dish and interferometric observations are simulated and the model
results are compared to published and new JCMT and SMA observations. The
two-dimensional model of AFGL 2591 is able to reproduce the JCMT single-dish
observations and also explains the non-detection by the SMA. We conclude that
the observed CO+ line flux and its narrow width can be interpreted by emission
from the warm and dense outflow walls irradiated by protostellar FUV radiation.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 17 pages, 11 figures. A version with higher
resolution images is available from
http://www.astro.phys.ethz.ch/staff/simonbr/papgridII.pdf . First paper of
this series of papers available at arXiv:0906.058
OH far-infrared emission from low- and intermediate-mass protostars surveyed with Herschel-PACS
OH is a key species in the water chemistry of star-forming regions, because
its presence is tightly related to the formation and destruction of water. This
paper presents OH observations from 23 low- and intermediate-mass young stellar
objects obtained with the PACS integral field spectrometer on-board Herschel in
the context of the Water In Star-forming Regions with Herschel (WISH) key
program. Most low-mass sources have compact OH emission (< 5000 AU scale),
whereas the OH lines in most intermediate-mass sources are extended over the
whole PACS detector field-of-view (> 20000 AU). The strength of the OH emission
is correlated with various source properties such as the bolometric luminosity
and the envelope mass, but also with the OI and H2O emission. Rotational
diagrams for sources with many OH lines show that the level populations of OH
can be approximated by a Boltzmann distribution with an excitation temperature
at around 70 K. Radiative transfer models of spherically symmetric envelopes
cannot reproduce the OH emission fluxes nor their broad line widths, strongly
suggesting an outflow origin. Slab excitation models indicate that the observed
excitation temperature can either be reached if the OH molecules are exposed to
a strong far-infrared continuum radiation field or if the gas temperature and
density are sufficiently high. Using realistic source parameters and radiation
fields, it is shown for the case of Ser SMM1 that radiative pumping plays an
important role in transitions arising from upper level energies higher than 300
K. The compact emission in the low-mass sources and the required presence of a
strong radiation field and/or a high density to excite the OH molecules points
towards an origin in shocks in the inner envelope close to the protostar.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Abstract
abridge
ALMA unveils rings and gaps in the protoplanetary system HD 169142: signatures of two giant protoplanets
The protoplanetary system HD 169142 is one of the few cases where a potential candidate protoplanet has recently been detected by direct imaging in the near-infrared. To study the interaction between the protoplanet and the disk itself, observations of the gas and dust surface density structure are needed. This paper reports new ALMA observations of the dust continuum at 1.3 mm, 12CO, 13CO, and C18O J = 2−1 emission from the system HD 169142 (which is observed almost face-on) at an angular resolution of ∼0.3"×0.2′′ (∼35 × 20 au). The dust continuum emission reveals a double-ring structure with an inner ring between 0.17"−0.28" (∼20−35 au) and an outer ring between 0.48−0.64 (∼56−83 au). The size and position of the inner ring is in good agreement with previous polarimetric observations in the near-infrared and is consistent with dust trapping by a massive planet. No dust emission is detected inside the inner dust cavity (R μm size). Using the thermo-chemical disk code dali, we modeled the continuum and the CO isotopolog emission to quantitatively measure the gas and dust surface densities. The resulting gas surface density is reduced by a factor of ∼30−40 inward of the dust gap. The gas and dust distribution indicate that two giant planets shape the disk structure through dynamical clearing (dust cavity and gap) and dust trapping (double-ring dust distribution)
The origin of the [C II] emission in the S140 PDRs - new insights from HIFI
Using Herschel's HIFI instrument we have observed [C II] along a cut through
S140 and high-J transitions of CO and HCO+ at two positions on the cut,
corresponding to the externally irradiated ionization front and the embedded
massive star forming core IRS1. The HIFI data were combined with available
ground-based observations and modeled using the KOSMA-tau model for photon
dominated regions. Here we derive the physical conditions in S140 and in
particular the origin of [C II] emission around IRS1. We identify three
distinct regions of [C II] emission from the cut, one close to the embedded
source IRS1, one associated with the ionization front and one further into the
cloud. The line emission can be understood in terms of a clumpy model of
photon-dominated regions. At the position of IRS1, we identify at least two
distinct components contributing to the [C II] emission, one of them a small,
hot component, which can possibly be identified with the irradiated outflow
walls. This is consistent with the fact that the [C II] peak at IRS1 coincides
with shocked H2 emission at the edges of the outflow cavity. We note that
previously available observations of IRS1 can be well reproduced by a
single-component KOSMA-tau model. Thus it is HIFI's unprecedented spatial and
spectral resolution, as well as its sensitivity which has allowed us to uncover
an additional hot gas component in the S140 region.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (HIFI special
issue
Impurity transport through a strongly interacting bosonic quantum gas
Using near-exact numerical simulations we study the propagation of an
impurity through a one-dimensional Bose lattice gas for varying bosonic
interaction strengths and filling factors at zero temperature. The impurity is
coupled to the Bose gas and confined to a separate tilted lattice. The precise
nature of the transport of the impurity is specific to the excitation spectrum
of the Bose gas which allows one to measure properties of the Bose gas
non-destructively, in principle, by observing the impurity; here we focus on
the spatial and momentum distributions of the impurity as well as its reduced
density matrix. For instance we show it is possible to determine whether the
Bose gas is commensurately filled as well as the bandwidth and gap in its
excitation spectrum. Moreover, we show that the impurity acts as a witness to
the cross-over of its environment from the weakly to the strongly interacting
regime, i.e., from a superfluid to a Mott insulator or Tonks-Girardeau lattice
gas and the effects on the impurity in both of these strongly-interacting
regimes are clearly distinguishable. Finally, we find that the spatial
coherence of the impurity is related to its propagation through the Bose gas,
giving an experimentally controllable example of noise-enhanced quantum
transport.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
The abundance of C18O and HDO in the envelope and hot core of the intermediate mass protostar NGC 7129 FIRS 2
NGC 7129 FIRS 2 is a young intermediate-mass (IM) protostar, which is
associated with two energetic bipolar outflows and displays clear signs of the
presence of a hot core. It has been extensively observed with ground based
telescopes and within the WISH Guaranteed Time Herschel Key Program. We present
new observations of the C18O 3-2 and the HDO 3_{12}-2_{21} lines towards NGC
7129 FIRS 2. Combining these observations with Herschel data and modeling their
emissions, we constrain the C18O and HDO abundance profiles across the
protostellar envelope. In particular, we derive the abundance of C18O and HDO
in the hot core. The intensities of the C18O lines are well reproduced assuming
that the C18O abundance decreases through the protostellar envelope from the
outer edge towards the centre until the point where the gas and dust reach the
CO evaporation temperature (~20-25 K) where the C18O is released back to the
gas phase. Once the C18O is released to the gas phase, the modelled C18O
abundance is found to be ~1.6x10^{-8}, which is a factor of 10 lower than the
reference abundance. This result is supported by the non-detection of C18O 9-8,
which proves that even in the hot core (T_k>100 K) the CO abundance must be 10
times lower than the reference value. Several scenarios are discussed to
explain this C18O deficiency. One possible explanation is that during the
pre-stellar and protostellar phase, the CO is removed from the grain mantles by
reactions to form more complex molecules. Our HDO modeling shows that the
emission of HDO 3_{12}-2_{21} line is maser and comes from the hot core
(T_k>100 K). Assuming the physical structure derived by Crimier et al. (2010),
we determine a HDO abundance of ~0.4 - 1x10^{-7} in the hot core of this IM
protostar, similar to that found in the hot corinos NGC 1333 IRAS 2A and IRAS
16293-2422.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Bird migration flight altitudes studied by a network of operational weather radars
A fully automated method for the detection and quantification of bird migration was developed for operational C-band weather radar, measuring bird density, speed and direction as a function of altitude. These weather radar bird observations have been validated with data from a high-accuracy dedicated bird radar, which was stationed in the measurement volume of weather radar sites in The Netherlands, Belgium and France for a full migration season during autumn 2007 and spring 2008. We show that weather radar can extract near real-time bird density altitude profiles that closely correspond to the density profiles measured by dedicated bird radar. Doppler weather radar can thus be used as a reliable sensor for quantifying bird densities aloft in an operational setting, which—when extended to multiple radars—enables the mapping and continuous monitoring of bird migration flyways. By applying the automated method to a network of weather radars, we observed how mesoscale variability in weather conditions structured the timing and altitude profile of bird migration within single nights. Bird density altitude profiles were observed that consisted of multiple layers, which could be explained from the distinct wind conditions at different take-off sites. Consistently lower bird densities are recorded in The Netherlands compared with sites in France and eastern Belgium, which reveals some of the spatial extent of the dominant Scandinavian flyway over continental Europe
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