2,640 research outputs found
Fluctuations and correlations in hexagonal optical patterns
We analyze the influence of noise in transverse hexagonal patterns in
nonlinear Kerr cavities. The near field fluctuations are determined by the
neutrally stable Goldstone modes associated to translational invariance and by
the weakly damped soft modes. However these modes do not contribute to the far
field intensity fluctuations which are dominated by damped perturbations with
the same wave vectors than the pattern. We find strong correlations between the
intensity fluctuations of any arbitrary pair of wave vectors of the pattern.
Correlation between pairs forming 120 degrees is larger than between pairs
forming 180 degrees, contrary to what a naive interpretation of emission in
terms of twin photons would suggest.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure
The Rising Light Curves of Type Ia Supernovae
We present an analysis of the early, rising light curves of 18 Type Ia
supernovae (SNe Ia) discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and the
La Silla-QUEST variability survey (LSQ). We fit these early data flux using a
simple power-law to determine the time of first
light , and hence the rise-time from first light to
peak luminosity, and the exponent of the power-law rise (). We find a mean
uncorrected rise time of days, with individual SN rise-times
ranging from to days. The exponent n shows significant
departures from the simple 'fireball model' of (or ) usually assumed in the literature. With a mean value of , our data also show significant diversity from event to event. This
deviation has implications for the distribution of 56Ni throughout the SN
ejecta, with a higher index suggesting a lesser degree of 56Ni mixing. The
range of n found also confirms that the 56Ni distribution is not standard
throughout the population of SNe Ia, in agreement with earlier work measuring
such abundances through spectral modelling. We also show that the duration of
the very early light curve, before the luminosity has reached half of its
maximal value, does not correlate with the light curve shape or stretch used to
standardise SNe Ia in cosmological applications. This has implications for the
cosmological fitting of SN Ia light curves.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
All-optical delay line using semiconductor cavity solitons
An all-optical delay line based on the lateral drift of cavity solitons in semiconductor microresonators is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The functionalities of the device proposed as well as its performance is analyzed and compared with recent alternative methods based on the decrease of group velocity in the vicinity of resonances. We show that the current limitations can be overcome using broader devices with tailored material responses
Large optical gain from four-wave mixing instabilities in semiconductor quantum wells
Based on a microscopic many-particle theory, we predict large optical gain in
the probe and background-free four-wave mixing directions caused by excitonic
instabilities in semiconductor quantum wells. For a single quantum well with
radiative-decay limited dephasing in a typical pump-probe setup we discuss the
microscopic driving mechanisms and polarization and frequency dependence of
these instabilities
Steps towards a map of the nearby universe
We present a new analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data aimed at
producing a detailed map of the nearby (z < 0.5) universe. Using neural
networks trained on the available spectroscopic base of knowledge we derived
distance estimates for about 30 million galaxies distributed over ca. 8,000 sq.
deg. We also used unsupervised clustering tools developed in the framework of
the VO-Tech project, to investigate the possibility to understand the nature of
each object present in the field and, in particular, to produce a list of
candidate AGNs and QSOs.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Nucl Phys. B, in the proceedings of
the NOW-2006 (Neutrino Oscillation Workshop - 2006), R. Fogli et al. ed
Mpemba Effect, Shechtman's Quasicrystals and Students' Exploring Activities
In the 1960s, Tanzanian student Erasto Mpemba and his teacher published an
article with the title "Cool" in the journal Physics Education (Mpemba, E. B. -
Osborne, D. G.: Cool?. In: Physics Education, vol.4, 1969, pp. 172-175.). In
this article they claimed that hot water freezes faster than cold water. The
article raised not only a wave of discussions, and other articles about this
topic, but also a whole series of new experiments, which should verify this
apparent thermodynamic absurdity and find an adequate explanation. Here we give
a review with references to explanations and we bring some proposals for
experimental student work in this area. We introduce Mpemba Effect not only as
a paradoxical physics phenomenon, but we shall present a strong educational
message that the Mpemba story brings to the teachers and their students. This
message also creates a bridge between this phenomenon and the discovery for
which the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded. It leads to critical
adoption of traditional knowledge and encourages resilience in investigative
exploration of new things
All-optical delay line using semiconductor cavity solitons (vol 92, 011101, 2008)
Correction of Pedaci, F. and Barland, S. and Caboche, E. and Firth, W.J. and Oppo, G.L. and Tredicce, J.R. and Ackemann, T. and Scroggie, A.J. (2008) All-optical delay line using semiconductor cavity solitons. Applied Physics Letters, 92 (1). ISSN 0003-695
Exploiting Cation Structure and Water Content in Modulating the Acidity of Ammonium Hydrogen Sulfate Protic Ionic Liquids
In this paper, we investigated the effect of cation structure and water content on proton dissociation in alkylammonium [HSO₄]⁻ protic ionic liquids (ILs) doped with 20 wt % water and correlated this with experimental Hammett acidities. For pure systems, increased cation substitution resulted in a reduction in the number of direct anion–anion neighbors leading to larger numbers of small aggregates, which is further enhanced with addition of water. We also observed spontaneous proton dissociation from [HSO₄]⁻ to water only for primary amine-based protic ILs, preceded by the formation of an anion trimer motif. Investigation using DFT calculations revealed spontaneous proton dissociation from [HSO₄]⁻ to water can occur for each of the protic ILs investigated; however, this is dependent on the size of the anion aggregates. These findings are important in the fields of catalysis and lignocellulosic biomass, where solvent acidity is a crucial parameter in biomass fractionation and lignin chemistry
Deglaciation and neotectonics in South East Raasay, Scottish Inner Hebrides
The authors greatly appreciate the help and advice which they have received from: Dr Nicol Morton, who read an early version of the manuscript and provided advice and permission to reproduce the geological map in Figure 3; Dr Iain Stewart for earlier discussions on the geology of Raasay; Dr Alison Macleod for her advice on the magnetic susceptibility of sediments; Dr Adrian Hall, for his advice on the Quaternary geology of the area; Mrs Rebecca Mackay for her advice on the correct Gaelic spelling for place names and Dr Stephan Harrison and Professor Michael Tooley for their help in the field. We are grateful for the comments of the two referees, whose evidently complementary knowledge of the area was most illuminating.Peer reviewedPostprin
Infrared constraints on the dark mass concentration observed in the cluster Abell 1942
We present a deep H-band image of the region in the vicinity of the cluster
Abell 1942 containing the puzzling dark matter concentration detected in an
optical weak lensing study by Erben et al. (2000). We demonstrate that our
limiting magnitude, H=22, would be sufficient to detect clusters of appropriate
mass out to redshifts comparable with the mean redshift of the background
sources. Despite this, our infrared image reveals no obvious overdensity of
sources at the location of the lensing mass peak, nor an excess of sources in
the I-H vs. H colour-magnitude diagram. We use this to further constrain the
luminosity and mass-to-light ratio of the putative dark clump as a function of
its redshift. We find that for spatially-flat cosmologies, background lensing
clusters with reasonable mass-to-light ratios lying in the redshift range 0<z<1
are strongly excluded, leaving open the possibility that the mass concentration
is a new type of truly dark object.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. MNRAS submitted (after referee revision
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