4,248 research outputs found
The On The Fly Imaging Technique
The On-The-Fly (OTF) imaging technique enables single-dish radio telescopes
to construct images of small areas of the sky with greater efficiency and
accuracy. This paper describes the practical application of the OTF imaging
technique. By way of example the implementation of the OTF imaging technique at
the NRAO 12 Meter Telescope is described. Specific requirements for data
sampling, image formation, and Doppler correction are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted A&
Modelling thermal flow in a transition regime using a lattice Boltzmann approach
Lattice Boltzmann models are already able to capture important rarefied flow phenomena, such as velocity-slip and temperature jump, provided the effects of the Knudsen layer are minimal. However, both conventional hydrodynamics, as exemplified by the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations, and the lattice Boltzmann method fail to predict the nonlinear velocity and temperature variations in the Knudsen layer that have been observed in kinetic theory. In the present paper, we propose an extension to the lattice Boltzmann method that will enable the simulation of thermal flows in the transition regime where Knudsen layer effects are significant. A correction function is introduced that accounts for the reduction in the mean free path near a wall. This new approach is compared with direct simulation Monte Carlo data for Fourier flow and good qualitative agreement is obtained for Knudsen numbers up to 1.58
Snow metamorphism: a fractal approach
Snow is a porous disordered medium consisting of air and three water phases:
ice, vapour and liquid. The ice phase consists of an assemblage of grains, ice
matrix, initially arranged over a random load bearing skeleton. The
quantitative relationship between density and morphological characteristics of
different snow microstructures is still an open issue. In this work, a
three-dimensional fractal description of density corresponding to different
snow microstructure is put forward. First, snow density is simulated in terms
of a generalized Menger sponge model. Then, a fully three-dimensional compact
stochastic fractal model is adopted. The latter approach yields a quantitative
map of the randomness of the snow texture, which is described as a
three-dimensional fractional Brownian field with the Hurst exponent H varying
as continuous parameter. The Hurst exponent is found to be strongly dependent
on snow morphology and density. The approach might be applied to all those
cases where the morphological evolution of snow cover or ice sheets should be
conveniently described at a quantitative level
The Quantum Mechanics of Hyperion
This paper is motivated by the suggestion [W. Zurek, Physica Scripta, T76,
186 (1998)] that the chaotic tumbling of the satellite Hyperion would become
non-classical within 20 years, but for the effects of environmental
decoherence. The dynamics of quantum and classical probability distributions
are compared for a satellite rotating perpendicular to its orbital plane,
driven by the gravitational gradient. The model is studied with and without
environmental decoherence. Without decoherence, the maximum quantum-classical
(QC) differences in its average angular momentum scale as hbar^{2/3} for
chaotic states, and as hbar^2 for non-chaotic states, leading to negligible QC
differences for a macroscopic object like Hyperion. The quantum probability
distributions do not approach their classical limit smoothly, having an
extremely fine oscillatory structure superimposed on the smooth classical
background. For a macroscopic object, this oscillatory structure is too fine to
be resolved by any realistic measurement. Either a small amount of smoothing
(due to the finite resolution of the apparatus) or a very small amount of
environmental decoherence is sufficient ensure the classical limit. Under
decoherence, the QC differences in the probability distributions scale as
(hbar^2/D)^{1/6}, where D is the momentum diffusion parameter. We conclude that
decoherence is not essential to explain the classical behavior of macroscopic
bodies.Comment: 17 pages, 24 figure
Evaluation of the ALMA Prototype Antennas
The ALMA North American and European prototype antennas have been evaluated
by a variety of measurement systems to quantify the major performance
specifications. Nearfield holography was used to set the reflector surfaces to
17 microns RMS. Pointing and fast switching performance was determined with an
optical telescope and by millimeter wavelength radiometry, yielding 2 arcsec
absolute and 0.6 arcsec offset pointing accuracies. Path length stability was
measured to be less than or approximately equal to 20 microns over 10 minute
time periods using optical measurement devices. Dynamical performance was
studied with a set of accelerometers, providing data on wind induced tracking
errors and structural deformation. Considering all measurements made during
this evaluation, both prototype antennas meet the major ALMA antenna
performance specifications.Comment: 83 pages, 36 figures, AASTex format, to appear in PASP September 2006
issu
DA495 - an aging pulsar wind nebula
We present a radio continuum study of the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) DA 495
(G65.7+1.2), including images of total intensity and linear polarization from
408 to 10550 MHz based on the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey and observations
with the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope. Removal of flux density
contributions from a superimposed \ion{H}{2} region and from compact
extragalactic sources reveals a break in the spectrum of DA 495 at 1.3 GHz,
with a spectral index below the break and
above it (). The
spectral break is more than three times lower in frequency than the lowest
break detected in any other PWN. The break in the spectrum is likely the result
of synchrotron cooling, and DA 495, at an age of 20,000 yr, may have
evolved from an object similar to the Vela X nebula, with a similarly energetic
pulsar. We find a magnetic field of 1.3 mG inside the nebula. After
correcting for the resulting high internal rotation measure, the magnetic field
structure is quite simple, resembling the inner part of a dipole field
projected onto the plane of the sky, although a toroidal component is likely
also present. The dipole field axis, which should be parallel to the spin axis
of the putative pulsar, lies at an angle of {\sim}50\degr east of the North
Celestial Pole and is pointing away from us towards the south-west. The upper
limit for the radio surface brightness of any shell-type supernova remnant
emission around DA 495 is OAWatt
m Hz sr (assuming a radio spectral index of ), lower than the faintest shell-type remnant known to date.Comment: 25 pages, accepted by Ap
Negative Quasi-Probability as a Resource for Quantum Computation
A central problem in quantum information is to determine the minimal physical
resources that are required for quantum computational speedup and, in
particular, for fault-tolerant quantum computation. We establish a remarkable
connection between the potential for quantum speed-up and the onset of negative
values in a distinguished quasi-probability representation, a discrete analog
of the Wigner function for quantum systems of odd dimension. This connection
allows us to resolve an open question on the existence of bound states for
magic-state distillation: we prove that there exist mixed states outside the
convex hull of stabilizer states that cannot be distilled to non-stabilizer
target states using stabilizer operations. We also provide an efficient
simulation protocol for Clifford circuits that extends to a large class of
mixed states, including bound universal states.Comment: 15 pages v4: This is a major revision. In particular, we have added a
new section detailing an explicit extension of the Gottesman-Knill simulation
protocol to deal with positively represented states and measurement (even
when these are non-stabilizer). This paper also includes significant
elaboration on the two main results of the previous versio
Fidelity and Purity Decay in Weakly Coupled Composite Systems
We study the stability of unitary quantum dynamics of composite systems (for
example: central system + environment) with respect to weak interaction between
the two parts. Unified theoretical formalism is applied to study different
physical situations: (i) coherence of a forward evolution as measured by purity
of the reduced density matrix, (ii) stability of time evolution with respect to
small coupling between subsystems, and (iii) Loschmidt echo measuring dynamical
irreversibility. Stability has been measured either by fidelity of pure states
of a composite system, or by the so-called reduced fidelity of reduced density
matrices within a subsystem. Rigorous inequality among fidelity,
reduced-fidelity and purity is proved and a linear response theory is developed
expressing these three quantities in terms of time correlation functions of the
generator of interaction. The qualitatively different cases of regular
(integrable) or mixing (chaotic in the classical limit) dynamics in each of the
subsystems are discussed in detail. Theoretical results are demonstrated and
confirmed in a numerical example of two coupled kicked tops.Comment: 21 pages, 12 eps figure
- âŠ