9,151 research outputs found
The Evolution of Optical Depth in the Ly-alpha Forest: Evidence Against Reionization at z~6
We examine the evolution of the IGM Ly-alpha optical depth distribution using
the transmitted flux probability distribution function (PDF) in a sample of 63
QSOs spanning absorption redshifts 1.7 < z < 5.8. The data are compared to two
theoretical optical depth distributions: a model distribution based on the
density distribution of Miralda-Escude et al. (2000) (MHR00), and a lognormal
distribution. We assume a uniform UV background and an isothermal IGM for the
MHR00 model, as has been done in previous works. Under these assumptions, the
MHR00 model produces poor fits to the observed flux PDFs at redshifts where the
optical depth distribution is well sampled, unless large continuum corrections
are applied. However, the lognormal optical depth distribution fits the data at
all redshifts with only minor continuum adjustments. We use a simple
parametrization for the evolution of the lognormal parameters to calculate the
expected mean transmitted flux at z > 5.4. The lognormal optical depth
distribution predicts the observed Ly-alpha and Ly-beta effective optical
depths at z > 5.7 while simultaneously fitting the mean transmitted flux down
to z = 1.6. If the evolution of the lognormal distribution at z < 5 reflects a
slowly-evolving density field, temperature, and UV background, then no sudden
change in the IGM at z ~ 6 due to late reionization appears necessary. We have
used the lognormal optical depth distribution without any assumption about the
underlying density field. If the MHR00 density distribution is correct, then a
non-uniform UV background and/or IGM temperature may be required to produce the
correct flux PDF. We find that an inverse temperature-density relation greatly
improves the PDF fits, but with a large scatter in the equation of state index.
[Abridged]Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap
Standard model plethystics
We study the vacuum geometry prescribed by the gauge invariant operators of the minimal supersymmetric standard model via the plethystic program. This is achieved by using several tricks to perform the highly computationally challenging Molien-Weyl integral, from which we extract the Hilbert series, encoding the invariants of the geometry at all degrees. The fully refined Hilbert series is presented as the explicit sum of 1422 rational functions. We found a good choice of weights to unrefine the Hilbert series into a rational function of a single variable, from which we can read off the dimension and the degree of the vacuum moduli space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model gauge invariants. All data in Mathematica format are also presented
Efficient Phase-Encoding Quantum Key Generation with Narrow-Band Single Photons
We propose an efficient phase-encoding quantum secret key generation scheme
with heralded narrow-band single photons. The key information is carried by the
phase modulation directly on the single-photon temporal waveform without using
any passive beam splitters or optical switches. We show that, when the
technique is applied to the conventional fiber-based phase-encoding BB84 and
differential phase shift (DPS) quantum key distribution schemes, the key
generation efficiencies can be improved by a factor of 2 and 3, respectively.
For N(>3)-period DPS systems, the key generation efficiency can be improved by
a factor of N. The technique is suitable for quantum memory-based long-distance
fiber communication system.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Electrostatic colloid-membrane complexation
We investigate numerically and on the scaling level the adsorption of a
charged colloid on an oppositely charged flexible membrane. We show that the
long ranged character of the electrostatic interaction leads to a wrapping
reentrance of the complex as the salt concentration is varied. The membrane
wrapping depends on the size of the colloid and on the salt concentration and
only for intermediate salt concentration and colloid sizes we find full
wrapping. From the scaling model we derive simple relations for the phase
boundaries between the different states of the complex, which agree well with
the numerical minimization of the free energy.Comment: 7 page, 11 figure
Intrinsic Size OF Sgr A*: 72 Schwarzschild Radii
Recent proper motion studies of stars at the very center of the Galaxy
strongly suggest that Sagittarius (Sgr) A*, the compact nonthermal radio source
at the Galactic Center, is a 2.5 million solar mass black hole. By means of
near-simultaneous multi-wavelength Very Long Baseline Array measurements, we
determine for the first time the intrinsic size and shape of Sgr A* to be 72
Rsc by < 20 Rsc, with the major axis oriented essentially north-south, where
Rsc (= 7.5 x 10^{11} cm) is the Schwarzschild radius for a 2.5 million solar
mass black hole. Contrary to previous expectation that the intrinsic structure
of Sgr A* is observable only at wavelengths shorter than 1 mm, we can discern
the intrinsic source size at 7 mm because (1) the scattering size along the
minor axis is half that along the major axis, and (2) the near simultaneous
multi-wavelength mapping of Sgr A* with the same interferometer makes it
possible to extrapolate precisely the minor axis scattering angle at 7 mm. The
intrinsic size and shape place direct constraints on the various emission
models for Sgr A*. In particular, the advection dominated accretion flow model
may have to incorporate a radio jet in order to account for the structure of
Sgr A*.Comment: 15 pages including 2 ps figures and 1 table, to appear in ApJ Letter
Relating Quantum Information to Charged Black Holes
Quantum non-cloning theorem and a thought experiment are discussed for
charged black holes whose global structure exhibits an event and a Cauchy
horizon. We take Reissner-Norstr\"{o}m black holes and two-dimensional dilaton
black holes as concrete examples. The results show that the quantum non-cloning
theorem and the black hole complementarity are far from consistent inside the
inner horizon. The relevance of this work to non-local measurements is briefly
discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
Nonlinear ac response of anisotropic composites
When a suspension consisting of dielectric particles having nonlinear
characteristics is subjected to a sinusoidal (ac) field, the electrical
response will in general consist of ac fields at frequencies of the
higher-order harmonics. These ac responses will also be anisotropic. In this
work, a self-consistent formalism has been employed to compute the induced
dipole moment for suspensions in which the suspended particles have nonlinear
characteristics, in an attempt to investigate the anisotropy in the ac
response. The results showed that the harmonics of the induced dipole moment
and the local electric field are both increased as the anisotropy increases for
the longitudinal field case, while the harmonics are decreased as the
anisotropy increases for the transverse field case. These results are
qualitatively understood with the spectral representation. Thus, by measuring
the ac responses both parallel and perpendicular to the uniaxial anisotropic
axis of the field-induced structures, it is possible to perform a real-time
monitoring of the field-induced aggregation process.Comment: 14 pages and 4 eps figure
Constraining the Lifetime of Quasars from their Spatial Clustering
The lifetime t_Q of the luminous phase of quasars is constrained by current
observations to be between 10^6 and 10^8 years, but is otherwise unkown. We
model the quasar luminosity function in detail in the optical and X-ray bands
using the Press-Schechter formalism, and show that the expected clustering of
quasars depends strongly on their assumed lifetime. We quantify this
dependence, and find that existing measurements of the correlation length of
quasars are consistent with the range 10^6 < t_Q < 10^8 years. We then show
that future measurements of the power spectrum of quasars out to z=3, from the
2dF or Sloan Digital Sky Survey, can significantly improve this constraint, and
in principle allow a precise determination of t_Q. We estimate the systematic
errors introduced by uncertainties in the modeling of the quasar-halo
relationship, as well as by the possible existence of obscured quasars.Comment: ApJ, in press (emulateapj
Signals of neutralinos and charginos from gauge boson fusion at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
We point out that interesting signals of the non-strongly interacting sector
of the supersymmetric standard model arise from the production of charginos and
neutralinos via vector boson fusion (VBF) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
In particular, if R-parity is violated, the hadronically quiet signals of
charginos and neutralinos through direct production get considerably
suppressed. We show that in such cases, the VBF channel can be useful in
identifying this sector through clean and background-free final states.Comment: 10 pages Latex, 8 figures, minor changes in text and few references
added, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Observing two dark accelerators around the Galactic Centre with Fermi Large Area Telescope
We report the results from a detailed ray investigation in the field
of two "dark accelerators", HESS J1745-303 and HESS J1741-302, with years
of data obtained by the Fermi Large Area Telescope. For HESS J1745-303, we
found that its MeV-GeV emission is mainly originated from the "Region A" of the
TeV feature. Its ray spectrum can be modeled with a single power-law
with a photon index of from few hundreds MeV to TeV. Moreover,
an elongated feature, which extends from "Region A" toward northwest for
, is discovered for the first time. The orientation of this
feature is similar to that of a large scale atomic/molecular gas distribution.
For HESS J1741-302, our analysis does not yield any MeV-GeV counterpart for
this unidentified TeV source. On the other hand, we have detected a new point
source, Fermi J1740.1-3013, serendipitously. Its spectrum is apparently curved
which resembles that of a ray pulsar. This makes it possibly
associated with PSR B1737-20 or PSR J1739-3023.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
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