9,660 research outputs found
Dynamics of a quantum quench in an ultra-cold atomic BCS superfluid
We study dynamics of an ultra-cold atomic BCS superfluid driven towards the
BCS superfluid-Fermi liquid quantum critical point by a gradual decrease of the
pairing interaction. We analyze how the BCS superfluid falls out of equilibrium
and show that the non-equilibrium gap and Cooper pair size reflect critical
properties of the transition. We observe three stages of evolution: adiabatic
where the Cooper pair size is inversely proportional to the equilibrium gap,
weakly non-equilibrium where it is inversely proportional to the
non-equilibrium gap, and strongly non-equilibrium where it decouples from both
equilibrium and non-equilibrium gap. These phenomena should stimulate future
experimental characterization of non-equilibrium ultra-cold atomic BCS
superfluids.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in PR
Manual for extending the laser specklegram technique to strain analysis of rotating components
The theory, techniques, and equipment necessary for extending laser speckle techniques to analyze stresses in rotating blades are described. Details for setting up the equipment, for timing the events, for data recording, and for data analysis are discussed. Finite element techniques are investigated for analysis of speckle data. Advantages and limitations of the finite element analysis for the speckle data are discussed. The finite element program is listed
Microwave Remote Sensing of Ocean Surface Wind Speed and Rain Rates over Tropical Storms
The value of using narrowly spaced frequencies within a microwave band to measure wind speeds and rain rates over tropical storms with radiometers is reviewed. The technique focuses on results obtained in the overflights of Hurricane Allen during 5 and 8 of August, 1980
A Two Energy Gap Preformed-Pair Scenario For the Cuprates: Implications for Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy
We show how, within a preformed pair scenario for the cuprate pseudogap, the
nodal and antinodal responses in angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy
necessarily have very different temperature dependences. We examine the
behavior and the contrasting dependences for a range of temperatures both
below and above . Our calculations are based on a fully microscopic
-matrix approach for addressing pairing correlations in a regime where the
attraction is stronger than BCS and the coherence length is anomalously short.
Previously, the distinct nodal and anti-nodal responses have provided strong
support for the "two-gap scenario" of the cuprates in which the pseudogap
competes with superconductivity. Instead, our theory supports a picture in
which the pseudogap derives from pairing correlations, identifying the two gap
components with non-condensed and condensed pairs. It leads to reasonably good
agreement with a range of different experiments in the moderately underdoped
regime and we emphasize that here there is no explicit curve fitting. Ours is a
microscopic rather than a phenomenological theory. We briefly address the more
heavily underdoped regime in which the behavior is more complex.Comment: 12 pages; 10 figure
Stellar Photometric Structures of the Host Galaxies of Nearby Type 1 Active Galactic Nuclei
We present detailed image analysis of rest-frame optical images of 235
low-redshift ( 0.35) type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) observed with
the Hubble Space Telescope. The high-resolution images enable us to perform
rigorous two-dimensional image modeling to decouple the luminous central point
source from the host galaxy, which, when warranted, is further decomposed into
its principal structural components (bulge, bar, and disk). In many cases, care
must be taken to account for structural complexities such as spiral arms, tidal
features, and overlapping or interacting companion galaxies. We employ Fourier
modes to characterize the degree of asymmetry of the light distribution of the
stars, as a quantitative measure of morphological distortion due to
interactions or mergers. We examine the dependence of the physical parameters
of the host galaxies on the properties of the AGNs, namely radio-loudness and
the width of the broad emission lines. In accordance with previous studies,
narrow-line (H FWHM km~s) type 1 AGNs, in contrast to
their broad-line (H FWHM km~s) counterparts, are
preferentially hosted in later type, lower luminosity galaxies, which have a
higher incidence of pseudo-bulges, are more frequently barred, and are less
morphologically disturbed. This suggests narrow-line type 1 AGNs experienced a
more quiescent evolutionary history driven primarily by internal secular
evolution instead of external dynamical perturbations. The fraction of AGN
hosts showing merger signatures is larger for more luminous sources. Radio-loud
AGNs generally preferentially live in earlier type (bulge-dominated), more
massive hosts, although a minority of them appears to contain a significant
disk component. We do not find convincing evidence for enhanced merger
signatures in the radio-loud population.Comment: Published in ApJ
Fermionic superfluidity: From high Tc superconductors to ultracold Fermi gases
We present a pairing fluctuation theory which self-consistently incorporates
finite momentum pair excitations in the context of BCS--Bose-Einstein
condensation (BEC) crossover, and we apply this theory to high
superconductors and ultracold Fermi gases. There are strong similarities
between Fermi gases in the unitary regime and high Tc superconductors. Here we
address key issues of common interest, especially the pseudogap. In the Fermi
gases we summarize recent experiments including various phase diagrams (with
and without population imbalance), as well as evidence for a pseudogap in
thermodynamic and other experiments.Comment: Expanded version, invited talk at the 5th International Conference on
Complex Matter -- Stripes 2006, 6 pages, 6 figure
Accuracy of Electronic Wave Functions in Quantum Monte Carlo: the Effect of High-Order Correlations
Compact and accurate wave functions can be constructed by quantum Monte Carlo
methods. Typically, these wave functions consist of a sum of a small number of
Slater determinants multiplied by a Jastrow factor. In this paper we study the
importance of including high-order, nucleus-three-electron correlations in the
Jastrow factor. An efficient algorithm based on the theory of invariants is
used to compute the high-body correlations. We observe significant improvements
in the variational Monte Carlo energy and in the fluctuations of the local
energies but not in the fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo energies. Improvements
for the ground states of physical, fermionic atoms are found to be smaller than
those for the ground states of fictitious, bosonic atoms, indicating that
errors in the nodal surfaces of the fermionic wave functions are a limiting
factor.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, Late
The Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. III. The Three-Component Structure of Nearby Elliptical Galaxies
Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and
evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of
a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using
high-quality optical images from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. The sample
spans a range of environments and stellar masses, from M* = 10^{10.2} to
10^{12.0} solar mass. We exploit the unique capabilities of two-dimensional
image decomposition to explore the possibility that local elliptical galaxies
may contain photometrically distinct substructure that can shed light on their
evolutionary history. Compared with the traditional one-dimensional approach,
these two-dimensional models are capable of consistently recovering the surface
brightness distribution and the systematic radial variation of geometric
information at the same time. Contrary to conventional perception, we find that
the global light distribution of the majority (>75%) of elliptical galaxies is
not well described by a single Sersic function. Instead, we propose that local
elliptical galaxies generically contain three subcomponents: a compact (R_e < 1
kpc) inner component with luminosity fraction f ~ 0.1-0.15; an
intermediate-scale (R_e ~ 2.5 kpc) middle component with f ~ 0.2-0.25; and a
dominant (f = 0.6), extended (R_e ~ 10 kpc) outer envelope. All subcomponents
have average Sersic indices n ~ 1-2, significantly lower than the values
typically obtained from single-component fits. The individual subcomponents
follow well-defined photometric scaling relations and the stellar mass-size
relation. We discuss the physical nature of the substructures and their
implications for the formation of massive elliptical galaxies.Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal; 36 pages, 2 tables, 38
figures; For the full resolution version, see:
http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/shuang/PaperIII.pdf ; For the atlas of
all selected models, see
http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/shuang/AppendixE.pd
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