5,742 research outputs found
Continuous wave detector has wide frequency range
Portable battery-operated detector indicates the presence of steady state signals exceeding a predetermined value over a wide frequency range by the closure of output relay contacts. It was designed to monitor electronic equipment used in the Saturn 2 program
An Ultraviolet-Excess Optical Candidate for the Luminous Globular Cluster X-ray Source in NGC1851
The intense, bursting X-ray source in the globular cluster NGC 1851 was one
of the first cluster sources discovered, but has remained optically
unidentified for 25 years. We report here on results from Hubble Space
Telescope WFPC2 multicolor images in NGC 1851. Our high spatial resolution
images resolve ~200 objects in the 3'' radius Einstein X-ray error circle, 40
times as many as in previous ground-based work. A color-magnitude diagram of
the cluster clearly reveals a markedly UV-excess object with B~21, (U-B) ~ -0.9
only 2'' from the X-ray position. The UV-excess candidate is 0.12'' distant
from a second, unremarkable star that is 0.5 mag brighter in B; thus
ground-based studies of this field are probably impractical. Three other
UV-excess objects are also present among the ~16,000 objects in the surveyed
region of the cluster, leaving a ~5% probability that a UV-excess object has
fallen in the X-ray error circle by chance. No variability of the candidate is
seen in these data, although a more complete study is required. If this object
is in fact the counterpart of the X-ray source, previous inferences that some
globular cluster X-ray sources are optically subluminous with respect to
low-mass X-ray binaries in the field are now strengthened.Comment: 13 pages including 1 table and 3 figures in AASTeX 4.0; To appear in
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, volume 472 (1996 December 1). Preprint
with full-resolution figures available at
http://www.astro.washington.edu/deutsch/pubs/pubs.htm
Time-Resolved Ultraviolet Observations of the Globular Cluster X-ray Source in NGC 6624: The Shortest Known Period Binary System
Using the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope,
we have obtained the first time-resolved spectra of the King et al.
ultraviolet-bright counterpart to the 11-minute binary X-ray source in the core
of the globular cluster NGC 6624. This object cannot be readily observed in the
visible, even from HST, due to a much brighter star superposed <0.1'' distant.
Our FOS data show a highly statistically significant UV flux modulation with a
period of 11.46+-0.04 min, very similar to the 685 sec period of the known
X-ray modulation, definitively confirming the association between the King et
al. UV counterpart and the intense X-ray source. The UV amplitude is very large
compared with the observed X-ray oscillations: X-ray variations are generally
reported as 2-3% peak-to-peak, whereas our data show an amplitude of about 16%
in the 126-251 nm range. A model for the system by Arons & King predicts
periodic UV fluctuations in this shortest-known period binary system, due to
the cyclically changing aspect of the X-ray heated face of the secondary star
(perhaps a very low mass helium degenerate). However, prior to our
observations, this predicted modulation has not been detected. Employing the
Arons & King formalism, which invokes a number of different physical
assumptions, we infer a system orbital inclination 35deg<i<50 deg. Amongst the
three best-studied UV/optical counterparts to the intense globular cluster
X-ray sources, two are now thought to consist of exotic double-degenerate
ultrashort period binary systems.Comment: 10 pages including 2 figures in Latex (AASTeX 4.0). Accepted for
publication in vol. 482 (1997 June 10 issue) of The Astrophysical Journal
(Letters
A Search for the Optical Counterpart of the Luminous X-ray Source in NGC 6652
We examine images of the field of X1832-330, the luminous (Lx ~ 10^36 erg/s)
X-ray burst source near the center of the globular cluster NGC 6652, in order
to identify the optical counterpart for further study. U and B ground-based
images allow us to set a limit M_B > 3.5 for the counterpart at the time of
those observations, provided that the color is (U-B)_0 ~ -1, similar to the
sources known in other clusters. Archival Hubble Space Telescope observations
survey most but not all of the 1 sigma X-ray error circle, and allow us to set
limits M_B > 5.9 and M_B > 5.2 in the WF/PC and WFPC2 regions, respectively. In
the WF/PC images we do weakly detect a faint object with UV-excess, but it is
located 11.7'' from the ROSAT X-ray position. This considerable (2.3 sigma)
discrepancy in position suggests that this candidate be treated with caution,
but it remains the only reasonable one advanced thus far. We measure for this
star m_439 = 20.2 +- 0.2, (m_336 - m_439) = -0.5 +- 0.2, and estimate M_B =
5.5, (U-B)_0 = -0.9, similar to other known optical counterparts. If this
candidate is not the identification, our limits imply that the true
counterpart, not yet identified, is probably the optically-faintest cluster
source yet known, or alternatively that it did not show significant UV excess
at the time of these observations. Finally, we assess the outlook for the
identification of the remaining luminous globular cluster X-ray sources.Comment: 15 pages including 5 figures and no tables. Accepted for publication
in The Astronomical Journal; to appear in Volume 116, September 1998. A
preprint with full resolution figures may be downloaded from
http://www.astro.washington.edu/deutsch/pubs
Conditional Quantum Dynamics and Logic Gates
Quantum logic gates provide fundamental examples of conditional quantum
dynamics. They could form the building blocks of general quantum information
processing systems which have recently been shown to have many interesting
non--classical properties. We describe a simple quantum logic gate, the quantum
controlled--NOT, and analyse some of its applications. We discuss two possible
physical realisations of the gate; one based on Ramsey atomic interferometry
and the other on the selective driving of optical resonances of two subsystems
undergoing a dipole--dipole interaction.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, two figures in a uuencoded, compressed fil
Ultracompact X-ray Binaries in Globular Clusters: Variability of the Optical Counterpart of X1832-330 in NGC 6652
Evidence is emerging that the luminous X-ray sources in the cores of globular
clusters may often consist of, or perhaps even as a class be dominated by,
ultracompact (P < 1 hr) binary stars. To the two such systems already known, in
NGC 6624 and NGC 6712, we now add evidence for two more. We detect large
amplitude variability in the candidate optical counterpart for the X-ray source
in the core of NGC 6652. Although the available observations are relatively
brief, the existing Hubble Space Telescope data indicate a strong 43.6 min
periodic modulation of the visible flux of semi-amplitude 30%. Further,
although the orbital period of the source in NGC 1851 is not yet explicitly
measured, we demonstrate that previous correlations of optical luminosity with
X-ray luminosity and accretion disk size, strengthened by recent data, strongly
imply that the period of that system is also less than 1 hr. Thus currently
there is evidence that 4 of the 7 globular cluster X-ray sources with
constrained periods are ultracompact, a fraction far greater than that found in
X-ray binaries the field.Comment: 10 pages including 2 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in
The Astrophysical Journal Letter
A Technique for Narrowband Time Series Photometry: the X-ray Star V2116 Oph
We have used innovative features of the Taurus Tunable Filter instrument on
the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain nearly-continuous,
high-throughput, linear photometry of V2116 Oph in a 7 Angstrom bandpass at the
center of the O I 8446 emission line. This instrumental technique shows promise
for applications requiring precise, rapid, narrowband photometry of faint
objects. The spectrum of V2116 Oph, the counterpart of GX 1+4 (=X1728-247), is
exotic, even among the unusual spectra of other optical counterparts of compact
Galactic X-ray sources. The second strongest emission line is an unusual one,
namely extremely prominent O I 8446, which is likely to result from pumping by
an intense Ly beta radiation field. As the X-radiation from GX 1+4 is steadily
pulsed, with typical pulsed fractions of 0.4, the O I 8446 emission in V2116
Oph may also be strongly modulated with the current 127 s period of the X-ray
source. If so, this may well allow us to obtain high signal-to-noise radial
velocity measurements and thus to determine the system parameters. However, no
such pulsations are detected, and we set an upper limit of ~1% (full-amplitude)
on periodic 8446 oscillations at the X-ray frequency. This value is comparable
to the amplitude of continuum oscillations observed on some nights by other
workers. Thus we rule out an enhancement of the pulsation amplitude in O I
emission, at least at the time of our observations.Comment: 9 pages including 4 figures and no tables. Accepted for publication
in PASP; to appear in Volume 110, August 199
Mean-field analysis of a dynamical phase transition in a cellular automaton model for collective motion
A cellular automaton model is presented for random walkers with biologically
motivated interactions favoring local alignment and leading to collective
motion or swarming behavior. The degree of alignment is controlled by a
sensitivity parameter, and a dynamical phase transition exhibiting spontaneous
breaking of rotational symmetry occurs at a critical parameter value. The model
is analyzed using nonequilibrium mean field theory: Dispersion relations for
the critical modes are derived, and a phase diagram is constructed. Mean field
predictions for the two critical exponents describing the phase transition as a
function of sensitivity and density are obtained analytically.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, final version as publishe
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