3,682 research outputs found
Constraints on Superconducting Cosmic Strings from Early Reionization
Electromagnetic radiation from superconducting cosmic string loops can
reionize neutral hydrogen in the universe at very early epochs, and affect the
cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization correlation
functions at large angular scales. We constrain the string tension and current
using WMAP7 data, and compare with earlier constraints that employed CMB
spectral distortions. Over a wide range of string tensions, the current on the
string has to be less than 10^7 GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to PR
Asymptotic behavior of the mean square displacement of the Brownian parametric oscillator near the singular point
A parametric oscillator with damping driven by white noise is studied. The
mean square displacement (MSD) in the long-time limit is derived analytically
for the case that the static force vanishes, which was not treated in the past
work \cite{tashiro07}. The formula is asymptotic but is applicable to a general
periodic function. On the basis of this formula, some periodic functions
reducing MSD remarkably are proposed
On Spectral and Temporal Variability in Blazars and Gamma Ray Bursts
A simple model for variability in relativistic plasma outflows is studied, in
which nonthermal electrons are continuously and uniformly injected in the
comoving frame over a time interval dt. The evolution of the electron
distribution is assumed to be dominated by synchrotron losses, and the energy-
and time-dependence of the synchrotron and synchrotron self-Compton (SSC)
fluxes are calculated for a power-law electron injection function with index s
= 2. The mean time of a flare or pulse measured at photon energy E with respect
to the onset of the injection event varies as E^{-1/2} and E^{-1/4} for
synchrotron and SSC processes, respectively, until the time approaches the
limiting intrinsic mean time (1+z)dt/(2 D), where z is the redshift and D is
the Doppler factor. This dependence is in accord with recent analyses of blazar
and GRB emissions, and suggests a method to discriminate between external
Compton and SSC models of high-energy gamma radiation from blazars and GRBs.
The qualititative behavior of the X-ray spectral index/flux relation observed
from BL Lac objects can be explained with this model. This demonstrates that
synchrotron losses are primarily responsible for the X-ray variability behavior
and strengthens a new test for beaming from correlated hard X-ray/TeV
observations.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal Letters; uses aaspp4.sty, epsf.st
Kaehler Manifolds of Quasi-Constant Holomorphic Sectional Curvatures
The Kaehler manifolds of quasi-constant holomorphic sectional curvatures are
introduced as Kaehler manifolds with complex distribution of codimension two,
whose holomorphic sectional curvature only depends on the corresponding point
and the geometric angle, associated with the section. A curvature identity
characterizing such manifolds is found. The biconformal group of
transformations whose elements transform Kaehler metrics into Kaehler ones is
introduced and biconformal tensor invariants are obtained. This makes it
possible to classify the manifolds under consideration locally. The class of
locally biconformal flat Kaehler metrics is shown to be exactly the class of
Kaehler metrics whose potential function is only a function of the distance
from the origin in complex Euclidean space. Finally we show that any rotational
even dimensional hypersurface carries locally a natural Kaehler structure,
which is of quasi-constant holomorphic sectional curvatures.Comment: 36 page
Cosmological constraints from CMB distortion
We examine bounds on adiabatic and isocurvature density fluctuations from
-type spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
Studies of such distortion are complementary to CMB measurements of the
spectral index and its running, and will help to constrain these parameters on
significantly smaller scales. We show that a detection on the order of would strongly be at odds with the standard cosmological model of
a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic perturbations. Further, we find
that given the current CMB constraints on the isocurvature mode amplitude, a
nearly scale-invariant isocurvature mode (common in many curvaton models)
cannot produce significant -distortion. Finally, we show that future
experiments will strongly constrain the amplitude of the isocurvature modes
with a highly blue spectrum as predicted by certain axion models.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, version 3 contains a new figure showing the
contribution to \mu_k as a function of k, and a clarification regarding the
acoustic wave energy, accompanied by a related acknowledgement and referenc
Self-Regulation of Star Formation in Low Metallicity Clouds
We investigate the process of self-regulated star formation via
photodissociation of hydrogen molecules in low metallicity clouds. We evaluate
the influence region's scale of a massive star in low metallicity gas clouds
whose temperatures are between 100 and 10000 Kelvin. A single O star can
photodissociate hydrogen molecules in the whole of the host cloud. If
metallicity is smaller than about 10^{-2.5} of the solar metallicity, the
depletion of coolant of the the host cloud is very serious so that the cloud
cannot cool in a free-fall time, and subsequent star formation is almost
quenched. On the contrary, if metallicity is larger than about 10^{-1.5} of the
solar metallicity, star formation regulation via photodissociation is not
efficient. The typical metallicity when this transition occurs is about 1/100
of the solar metallicity. This indicates that stars do not form efficiently
before the metallicity becomes larger than about 1/100 of the solar metallicity
and we considered that this value becomes the lower limit of the metallicity of
luminous objects such as galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, including 5 figures, To appear in ApJ, Vol. 53
Laser Phase and Frequency Stabilization Using Atomic Coherence
We present a novel and simple method of stabilizing the laser phase and
frequency by polarization spectroscopy of an atomic vapor. In analogy to the
Pound-Drever-Hall method, which uses a cavity as a memory of the laser phase,
this method uses atomic coherence (dipole oscillations) as a phase memory of
the transmitting laser field. A preliminary experiment using a distributed
feedback laser diode and a rubidium vapor cell demonstrates a
shot-noise-limited laser linewidth reduction (from 2 MHz to 20 kHz). This
method would improve the performance of gas-cell-based optical atomic clocks
and magnetometers and facilitate laser-cooling experiments using narrow
transitions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, appendix on the derivation of Eq.(3) (transfer
function for a polarization-spectroscopy-based frequency discriminator) has
been adde
R-matrix calculation of electron collisions with electronically excited O2 molecules
Low-energy electron collisions with O molecules are studied using the
fixed-bond R-matrix method. In addition to the O ground
state, integrated cross sections are calculated for elecron collisions with the
and excited states of O molecules. 13
target electronic states of O are included in the model within a valence
configuration interaction representations of the target states. Elastic cross
sections for the and excited states are
similar to the cross sections for the ground state. As in
case of excitation from the state, the O
resonance makes the dominant contribution to excitation cross sections from the
and states. The magnitude of excitation
cross sections from the state to the
state is about 10 time larger than the corresponding cross sections from the
to the state. For this
transition, our cross section at
4.5 eV agrees well with the available experimental value. These results should
be important for models of plasma discharge chemistry which often requires
cross sections between the excited electronic states of O.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figure
CMB Distortions from Superconducting Cosmic Strings
We reconsider the effect of electromagnetic radiation from superconducting
strings on cosmic microwave background (CMB) mu- and y-distortions and derive
present (COBE-FIRAS) and future (PIXIE) constraints on the string tension,
mu_s, and electric current, I. We show that absence of distortions of the CMB
in PIXIE will impose strong constraints on mu_s and I, leaving the possibility
of light strings (G mu_s < 10^{-18}) or relatively weak currents (I < 10 TeV).Comment: 10pages, 5 figures, Submitted to PRD, v2:References added, replaced
to match the PRD versio
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