Shocks and a Giant Planet in the Disk Orbiting BP Piscium?

Spitzer IRS spectroscopy supports the interpretation that BP Piscium, a gas and dust enshrouded star residing at high Galactic latitude, is a first-ascent giant rather than a classical T Tauri star. Our analysis suggests that BP Piscium's spectral energy distribution can be modeled as a disk with a gap that is opened by a giant planet. Modeling the rich mid-infrared emission line spectrum indicates that the solid-state emitting grains orbiting BP Piscium are primarily composed of ~75 K crystalline, magnesium-rich olivine; ~75 K crystalline, magnesium-rich pyroxene; ~200 K amorphous, magnesium-rich pyroxene; and ~200 K annealed silica ('cristobalite'). These dust grains are all sub-micron sized. The giant planet and gap model also naturally explains the location and mineralogy of the small dust grains in the disk. Disk shocks that result from disk-planet interaction generate the highly crystalline dust which is subsequently blown out of the disk mid-plane and into the disk atmosphere.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted to Ap

Coherent output of photons from coupled superconducting transmission line resonators controlled by charge qubits

We study the coherent control of microwave photons propagating in a superconducting waveguide consisting of coupled transmission line resonators, each of which is connected to a tunable charge qubit. While these coupled line resonators form an artificial photonic crystal with an engineered photonic band structure, the charge qubits collectively behave as spin waves in the low excitation limit, which modify the band-gap structure to slow and stop the microwave propagation. The conceptual exploration here suggests an electromagnetically controlled quantum device based on the on-chip circuit QED for the coherent manipulation of photons, such as the dynamic creation of laser-like output from the waveguide by pumping the artificial atoms for population inversion.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Generalization of the Darboux transformation and generalized harmonic oscillators

The Darbroux transformation is generalized for time-dependent Hamiltonian systems which include a term linear in momentum and a time-dependent mass. The formalism for the $N$-fold application of the transformation is also established, and these formalisms are applied for a general quadratic system (a generalized harmonic oscillator) and a quadratic system with an inverse-square interaction up to N=2. Among the new features found, it is shown, for the general quadratic system, that the shape of potential difference between the original system and the transformed system could oscillate according to a classical solution, which is related to the existence of coherent states in the system

Sea flavor content of octet baryons and intrinsic five-quark Fock states

Sea quark contents of the octet baryons are investigated by employing an extended chiral constituent quark approach, which embodies higher Fock five-quark components in the baryons wave-functions. The well-known flavor asymmetry of the nucleon sea $\bar{d}-\bar{u}$, is used as input to predict the probabilities of $\bar{u}$, $\bar{d}$ and $\bar{s}$ in the nucleon, $\Lambda$, $\Sigma$ and $\Xi$ baryons, due to the intrinsic five-quark components in the baryons wave functions.Comment: 22 page

The effect of directivity-induced pulse-like ground motions on fracture risk of welded steel column splices

Recent, worldwide earthquakes have highlighted the destructive potential of near-fault, pulse-like ground motions caused by forward directivity. This study investigates the fracture risk of welded steel column splices (WCSs) in near-fault regions, especially quantifying the pulse effects on WCS stress demands through incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). For this purpose, two case-study nonlinear steel moment frame models are developed and subjected to a set of pulse-like ground motions with varying pulse periods and a suite of ordinary (i.e., non-pulse-like) ground motions, respectively. Results of IDA are then combined with near-source probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (NS-PSHA) to assess fracture risk. Findings from the study suggest that WCSs in pre-Northridge steel frames may be highly susceptible to fracture due to directivity-induced pulse-like ground motions

Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799

Direct imaging of exoplanetary systems is a powerful technique that can reveal Jupiter-like planets in wide orbits, can enable detailed characterization of planetary atmospheres, and is a key step towards imaging Earth-like planets. Imaging detections are challenging due to the combined effect of small angular separation and large luminosity contrast between a planet and its host star. High-contrast observations with the Keck and Gemini telescopes have revealed three planets orbiting the star HR 8799, with projected separations of 24, 38, and 68 astronomical units. Multi-epoch data show counter-clockwise orbital motion for all three imaged planets. The low luminosity of the companions and the estimated age of the system imply planetary masses between 5 and 13 times that of Jupiter. This system resembles a scaled-up version of the outer portion of our Solar System.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, Research Article published online in Science Express Nov 13th, 200