Recombination Ghosts in Littrow Configuration: Implications for Spectrographs Using Volume Phase Holographic Gratings

We report the discovery of optical ghosts generated when using Volume Phase Holographic (VPH) gratings in spectrographs employing the Littrow configuration. The ghost is caused by light reflected off the detector surface, recollimated by the camera, recombined by, and reflected from, the grating and reimaged by the camera onto the detector. This recombination can occur in two different ways. We observe this ghost in two spectrographs being developed by the University of Wisconsin - Madison: the Robert Stobie Spectrograph for the Southern African Large Telescope and the Bench Spectrograph for the WIYN 3.5m telescope. The typical ratio of the brightness of the ghost relative to the integrated flux of the spectrum is of order 10^-4, implying a recombination efficiency of the VPH gratings of order 10^-3 or higher, consistent with the output of rigorous coupled wave analysis. Any spectrograph employing VPH gratings, including grisms, in Littrow configuration will suffer from this ghost, though the general effect is not intrinsic to VPH gratings themselves and has been observed in systems with conventional gratings in non-Littrow configurations. We explain the geometric configurations that can result in the ghost as well as a more general prescription for predicting its position and brightness on the detector. We make recommendations for mitigating the ghost effects for spectrographs and gratings currently built. We further suggest design modifications for future VPH gratings to eliminate the problem entirely, including tilted fringes and/or prismatic substrates. We discuss the resultant implications on the spectrograph performance metrics.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, emulateapj style, accepted for publication in PAS

Techniques for solving bound state problems

We have used different methods to obtain the bound states of a Hamiltonian of a relativistic two scalar particle system in a local potential. The potentials we are interested in are binding and confining potentials, that are associated with particle exchange. The issues we concentrate on when comparing the different methods are ease of numerical implementation, accuracy and stability. To check our codes we have made use of several potentials for which the bound states are known in the nonrelativistic situation. Finally we calculate the bound states for the Yukawa potential in the relativistic situation and look at the collapse of the wave functions in this situation

Rocket and FUSE Observations of IC 405: Differential Extinction and Fluorescent Molecular Hydrogen

We present far-ultraviolet spectroscopy of the emission/reflection nebula IC 405 obtained by a rocket-borne long-slit spectrograph and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. Both data sets show a rise in the ratio of the nebular surface brightness to stellar flux (S/F_*) of approximately two orders of magnitude towards the blue end of the far-UV bandpass. Scattering models using simple dust geometries fail to reproduce the observed S/F_* for realistic grain properties. The high spectral resolution of the FUSE data reveals a rich fluorescent molecular hydrogen spectrum ~1000" north of the star that is clearly distinguished from the steady blue continuum. The S/F_* remains roughly constant at all nebular pointings, showing that fluorescent molecular hydrogen is not the dominant cause for the blue rise. We discuss three possible mechanisms for the ``Blue Dust'': differential extinction of the dominant star (HD 34078), unusual dust grain properties, and emission from nebular dust. We conclude that uncertainties in the nebular geometry and the degree of dust clumping are most likely responsible for the blue rise. As an interesting consequence of this result, we consider how IC 405 would appear in a spatially unresolved observation. If IC 405 was observed with a spatial resolution of less than 0.4 pc, for example, an observer would infer a far-UV flux that was 2.5 times the true value, giving the appearance of a stellar continuum that was less extinguished than radiation from the surrounding nebula, an effect that is reminiscent of the observed ultraviolet properties of starburst galaxies.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, using emulateapj, ApJ - accepte

On the Correlation Between CO Absorption and Far-Ultraviolet Non-Linear Extinction Toward Galactic OB Stars

A sample of 59 sight lines to reddened Galactic OB stars was examined for correlations of the strength of the CO Fourth Positive (A - X) absorption band system with the ultraviolet interstellar extinction curve parameters. We used archival high-dispersion NEWSIPS IUE spectra to measure the CO absorption for comparison to parametric fits of the extinction curves from the literature. A strong correlation with the non-linear far-UV curvature term was found with greater absorption, normalized to E(B-V), being associated with more curvature. A weaker trend with the linear extinction term was also found. Mechanisms for enhancing CO in dust environments exhibiting high non-linear curvature are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, including 6 figures. LaTeX2e (emulateapj5.sty). To appear in ApJ, Sep 20, 200

Statistical analysis on testing of an entangled state based on Poisson distribution framework

A hypothesis testing scheme for entanglement has been formulated based on the Poisson distribution framework instead of the POVM framework. Three designs were proposed to test the entangled states in this framework. The designs were evaluated in terms of the asymptotic variance. It has been shown that the optimal time allocation between the coincidence and anti-coincidence measurement bases improves the conventional testing method. The test can be further improved by optimizing the time allocation between the anti-coincidence bases.Comment: This paper is an extended version of the theoretical part of v1 of quant-ph/0603254.quant-ph/0603254 is revised so that it is more familiar to experimentalist

Experimental quantum tomography of photonic qudits via mutually unbiased basis

We present the experimental quantum tomography of 7- and 8-dimensional quantum systems based on projective measurements in the mutually unbiased basis (MUB-QT). One of the advantages of MUB-QT is that it requires projections from a minimal number of bases to be performed. In our scheme, the higher dimensional quantum systems are encoded using the propagation modes of single photons, and we take advantage of the capabilities of amplitude- and phase-modulation of programmable spatial light modulators to implement the MUB-QT.Comment: Published versio

Far-ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Venus and Mars at 4 A Resolution with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope on Astro-2

Far-ultraviolet spectra of Venus and Mars in the range 820-1840 A at 4 A resolution were obtained on 13 and 12 March 1995, respectively, by the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT), which was part of the Astro-2 observatory on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Longward of 1250 A, the spectra of both planets are dominated by emission of the CO Fourth Positive band system and strong OI and CI multiplets. In addition, CO Hopfield-Birge bands, B - X (0,0) at 1151 A and C - X (0,0) at 1088 A, are detected for the first time, and there is a weak indication of the E - X (0,0) band at 1076 A in the spectrum of Venus. The B - X band is blended with emission from OI 1152. Modeling the relative intensities of these bands suggests that resonance fluorescence of CO is the dominant source of the emission, as it is for the Fourth Positive system. Shortward of Lyman-alpha, other emission features detected include OII 834, OI lambda 989, HI Lyman-beta, and NI 1134 and 1200. For Venus, the derived disk brightnesses of the OI, OII, and HI features are about one-half of those reported by Hord et al. (1991) from Galileo EUV measurements made in February 1990. This result is consistent with the expected variation from solar maximum to solar minimum. The ArI 1048, 1066 doublet is detected only in the spectrum of Mars and the derived mixing ratio of Ar is of the order of 2%, consistent with previous determinations.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, July 20, 200

The Dark Molecular Gas

The mass of molecular gas in an interstellar cloud is often measured using line emission from low rotational levels of CO, which are sensitive to the CO mass, and then scaling to the assumed molecular hydrogen H_2 mass. However, a significant H_2 mass may lie outside the CO region, in the outer regions of the molecular cloud where the gas phase carbon resides in C or C+. Here, H_2 self-shields or is shielded by dust from UV photodissociation, where as CO is photodissociated. This H_2 gas is "dark" in molecular transitions because of the absence of CO and other trace molecules, and because H_2 emits so weakly at temperatures 10 K < T < 100 K typical of this molecular component. This component has been indirectly observed through other tracers of mass such as gamma rays produced in cosmic ray collisions with the gas and far-infrared/submillimeter wavelength dust continuum radiation. In this paper we theoretically model this dark mass and find that the fraction of the molecular mass in this dark component is remarkably constant (~ 0.3 for average visual extinction through the cloud with mean A_V ~ 8) and insensitive to the incident ultraviolet radiation field strength, the internal density distribution, and the mass of the molecular cloud as long as mean A_V, or equivalently, the product of the average hydrogen nucleus column and the metallicity through the cloud, is constant. We also find that the dark mass fraction increases with decreasing mean A_V, since relatively more molecular H_2 material lies outside the CO region in this case.Comment: 38 page, 11 figures, Accepted for Publication in ApJ, corrected citation and typo in Appendix

Beyond the pseudo-time-dependent approach: chemical models of dense core precursors

Context: Chemical models of dense cloud cores often utilize the so-called pseudo-time-dependent approximation, in which the physical conditions are held fixed and uniform as the chemistry occurs. In this approximation, the initial abundances chosen, which are totally atomic in nature except for molecular hydrogen, are artificial. A more detailed approach to the chemistry of dense cold cores should include the physical evolution during their early stages of formation. Aims: Our major goal is to investigate the initial synthesis of molecular ices and gas-phase molecules as cold molecular gas begins to form behind a shock in the diffuse interstellar medium. The abundances calculated as the conditions evolve can then be utilized as reasonable initial conditions for a theory of the chemistry of dense cores. Methods: Hydrodynamic shock-wave simulations of the early stages of cold core formation are used to determine the time-dependent physical conditions for a gas-grain chemical network. We follow the cold post-shock molecular evolution of ices and gas-phase molecules for a range of visual extinction up to AV ~ 3, which increases with time. At higher extinction, self-gravity becomes important. Results: As the newly condensed gas enters its cool post-shock phase, a large amount of CO is produced in the gas. As the CO forms, water ice is produced on grains, while accretion of CO produces CO ice. The production of CO2 ice from CO occurs via several surface mechanisms, while the production of CH4 ice is slowed by gas-phase conversion of C into CO.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

The Far-Ultraviolet "Continuum" in Protoplanetary Disk Systems II: CO Fourth Positive Emission and Absorption

We exploit the high sensitivity and moderate spectral resolution of the $HST$-Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to detect far-ultraviolet spectral features of carbon monoxide (CO) present in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks for the first time. We present spectra of the classical T Tauri stars HN Tau, RECX-11, and V4046 Sgr, representative of a range of CO radiative processes. HN Tau shows CO bands in absorption against the accretion continuum. We measure a CO column density and rotational excitation temperature of N(CO) = 2 +/- 1 $\times$ 10$^{17}$ cm$^{-2}$ and T_rot(CO) 500 +/- 200 K for the absorbing gas. We also detect CO A-X band emission in RECX-11 and V4046 Sgr, excited by ultraviolet line photons, predominantly HI LyA. All three objects show emission from CO bands at $\lambda$ $>$ 1560 \AA, which may be excited by a combination of UV photons and collisions with non-thermal electrons. In previous observations these emission processes were not accounted for due to blending with emission from the accretion shock, collisionally excited H$_{2}$, and photo-excited H2; all of which appeared as a "continuum" whose components could not be separated. The CO emission spectrum is strongly dependent upon the shape of the incident stellar LyA emission profile. We find CO parameters in the range: N(CO) 10$^{18-19}$ cm$^{-2}$, T_{rot}(CO) > 300 K for the LyA-pumped emission. We combine these results with recent work on photo- and collisionally-excited H$_{2}$ emission, concluding that the observations of ultraviolet-emitting CO and H2 are consistent with a common spatial origin. We suggest that the CO/H2 ratio in the inner disk is ~1, a transition between the much lower interstellar value and the higher value observed in solar system comets today, a result that will require future observational and theoretical study to confirm.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. ApJ - accepte