Resource Upgrading in Advanced Supercritical Fluid (Supercritical Fluid with Catalyst and Cosolvent): Liquid Fuels from Biomass in Sub and Supercritical Water and Carbohydrate Up-Conversion in Ionic Liquid and Supercritical Fluids Mixtures

Liquid fuels from biomass and up-conversion of biomass in advanced supercritical fluid are reviewed in this chapter. Lignin can be converted into heavy hydrocarbons in subcritical water extraction. Lipid, which is triglyceride, is catalytically converted into straight-chain hydrocarbons of free fatty acid (decarboxylation) formed by hydrolysis. Carbohydrate is also hydrothermally converted into furan ring compound and fatty acids. Protein is converted into amino acids in hydrothermal water and depolymerization of protein is favored with rapid heating and denaturation agency such as alkaline earth metals. Free amino acids are further decomposed into carboxylic acid through deamination and into amine through decarboxylation. To inhibit Maillard reactions, which result in polymerization, the deamination of amino acid at low temperature was favored and a solid catalyst was quite active for deamination of free amino acids at quite low temperature hydrothermal water. Cellulose was dissolved in some ionic liquids with high mass percentages (5–20 wt%) and converted into monomers and useful components such as furan ring compounds and supercritical fluid cosolvent such as hydrothermal water in ionic liquids supported improvement of reaction efficiency. For hydrogenation of biomass, it was confirmed that hydrogen solubility was enhanced with supercritical carbon dioxide and it must be helpful for hydrogen reaction with biomass molecule

Pressure Effect on the Structure and Superconducting Transition Temperature of Filled Skutterudites LaT4P12 (T=Fe, Ru)

We studied the effect of pressure on the superconducting transition temperature TSC of LaT4P12 (T=Fe, Ru) up to 8 GPa through electrical resistivity measurements in a cubic anvil apparatus. The TSC of LaFe4P12 was also determined through magnetization measurements up to 3.4 GPa with an opposed-anvil pressure cell. In LaFe4P12, TSC increases with pressure at a rate of 0.71 K/GPa from 0 GPa reaching its maximum at approximately 7 GPa. In contrast, the TSC of LaRu4P12 monotonically decreases with pressure. The decrease rate gradually increases from −0.07 to −0.29 K/GPa. The distinct pressure dependences of both TSC\u27s cannot be explained solely from a structural point of view. We propose that the difference between the pressure dependence of TSC for LaFe4P12 and that for LaRu4P12 can be attributed to the difference in the electronic density of states at the Fermi energy between these two compounds

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) VIII. A less biased view of the early co-evolution of black holes and host galaxies

We present ALMA [CII] line and far-infrared (FIR) continuum observations of three $z > 6$ low-luminosity quasars ($M_{\rm 1450} > -25$) discovered by our Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. The [CII] line was detected in all three targets with luminosities of $(2.4 - 9.5) \times 10^8~L_\odot$, about one order of magnitude smaller than optically luminous ($M_{\rm 1450} \lesssim -25$) quasars. The FIR continuum luminosities range from $< 9 \times 10^{10}~L_\odot$ (3$\sigma$ limit) to $\sim 2 \times 10^{12}~L_\odot$, indicating a wide range in star formation rates in these galaxies. Most of the HSC quasars studied thus far show [CII]/FIR luminosity ratios similar to local star-forming galaxies. Using the [CII]-based dynamical mass ($M_{\rm dyn}$) as a surrogate for bulge stellar mass ($M_{\rm bulge}$), we find that a significant fraction of low-luminosity quasars are located on or even below the local $M_{\rm BH} - M_{\rm bulge}$ relation, particularly at the massive end of the galaxy mass distribution. In contrast, previous studies of optically luminous quasars have found that black holes are overmassive relative to the local relation. Given the low luminosities of our targets, we are exploring the nature of the early co-evolution of supermassive black holes and their hosts in a less biased way. Almost all of the quasars presented in this work are growing their black hole mass at much higher pace at $z \sim 6$ than the parallel growth model, in which supermassive black holes and their hosts grow simultaneously to match the local $M_{\rm BH} - M_{\rm bulge}$ relation at all redshifts. As the low-luminosity quasars appear to realize the local co-evolutionary relation even at $z \sim 6$, they should have experienced vigorous starbursts prior to the currently observed quasar phase to catch up with the relation.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) III. Star formation properties of the host galaxies at z≳6z \gtrsim 6 studied with ALMA

We present our ALMA Cycle 4 measurements of the [CII] emission line and the underlying far-infrared (FIR) continuum emission from four optically low-luminosity ($M_{\rm 1450} > -25$) quasars at $z \gtrsim 6$ discovered by the Subaru Hyper Suprime Cam (HSC) survey. The [CII] line and FIR continuum luminosities lie in the ranges $L_{\rm [CII]} = (3.8-10.2) \times 10^8~L_\odot$ and $L_{\rm FIR} = (1.2-2.0) \times 10^{11}~L_\odot$, which are at least one order of magnitude smaller than those of optically-luminous quasars at $z \gtrsim 6$. We estimate the star formation rates (SFR) of our targets as $\simeq 23-40~M_\odot ~{\rm yr}^{-1}$. Their line and continuum-emitting regions are marginally resolved, and found to be comparable in size to those of optically luminous quasars, indicating that their SFR or likely gas mass surface densities (key controlling parameter of mass accretion) are accordingly different. The $L_{\rm [CII]}/L_{\rm FIR}$ ratios of the hosts, $\simeq (2.2-8.7) \times 10^{-3}$, are fully consistent with local star-forming galaxies. Using the [CII] dynamics, we derived their dynamical masses within a radius of 1.5-2.5 kpc as $\simeq (1.4-8.2) \times 10^{10}~M_\odot$. By interpreting these masses as stellar ones, we suggest that these faint quasar hosts are on or even below the star-forming main sequence at $z \sim 6$, i.e., they appear to be transforming into quiescent galaxies. This is in contrast to the optically luminous quasars at those redshifts, which show starburst-like properties. Finally, we find that the ratios of black hole mass to host galaxy dynamical mass of the most of low-luminosity quasars including the HSC ones are consistent with the local value. The mass ratios of the HSC quasars can be reproduced by a semi-analytical model that assumes merger-induced black hole-host galaxy evolution.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in PAS

A Human-Computer Duet System for Music Performance

Virtual musicians have become a remarkable phenomenon in the contemporary multimedia arts. However, most of the virtual musicians nowadays have not been endowed with abilities to create their own behaviors, or to perform music with human musicians. In this paper, we firstly create a virtual violinist, who can collaborate with a human pianist to perform chamber music automatically without any intervention. The system incorporates the techniques from various fields, including real-time music tracking, pose estimation, and body movement generation. In our system, the virtual musician's behavior is generated based on the given music audio alone, and such a system results in a low-cost, efficient and scalable way to produce human and virtual musicians' co-performance. The proposed system has been validated in public concerts. Objective quality assessment approaches and possible ways to systematically improve the system are also discussed

Discovery of the First Low-Luminosity Quasar at z > 7

We report the discovery of a quasar at z = 7.07, which was selected from the deep multi-band imaging data collected by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. This quasar, HSC J124353.93+010038.5, has an order of magnitude lower luminosity than do the other known quasars at z > 7. The rest-frame ultraviolet absolute magnitude is M1450 = -24.13 +/- 0.08 mag and the bolometric luminosity is Lbol = (1.4 +/- 0.1) x 10^{46} erg/s. Its spectrum in the optical to near-infrared shows strong emission lines, and shows evidence for a fast gas outflow, as the C IV line is blueshifted and there is indication of broad absorption lines. The Mg II-based black hole mass is Mbh = (3.3 +/- 2.0) x 10^8 Msun, thus indicating a moderate mass accretion rate with an Eddington ratio 0.34 +/- 0.20. It is the first z > 7 quasar with sub-Eddington accretion, besides being the third most distant quasar, known to date. The luminosity and black hole mass are comparable to, or even lower than, those measured for the majority of low-z quasars discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and thus this quasar likely represents a z > 7 counterpart to quasars commonly observed in the low-z universe.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XII. Extended [C ii] Structure (Merger or Outflow) in a z = 6.72 Red Quasar

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array [C II] 158 μm line and far-infrared (FIR) continuum emission observations toward HSC J120505.09−000027.9 (J1205−0000) at z = 6.72 with a beam size of ∼0 8 × 0 5 (or 4.1 kpc × 2.6 kpc), the most distant red quasar known to date. Red quasars are modestly reddened by dust and are thought to be in rapid transition from an obscured starburst to an unobscured normal quasar, driven by powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback that blows out a cocoon of interstellar medium. The FIR continuum of J1205−0000 is bright, with an estimated luminosity of LFIR ∼ 3 × 1012 Le. The [C II] line emission is extended on scales of r ∼ 5 kpc, greater than that of the FIR continuum. The line profiles at the extended regions are complex and broad (FWHM ∼ 630–780 km s−1 ). Although it is not practical to identify the nature of this extended structure, possible explanations include (i) companion/merging galaxies and (ii) massive AGN-driven outflows. For the case of (i), the companions are modestly star-forming (∼10 Me yr−1 ) but are not detected by our Subaru optical observations (yAB,5σ = 24.4 mag). For the case of (ii), our lower limit to the cold neutral outflow rate is ∼100 Me yr−1 . The outflow kinetic energy and momentum are both much lower than predicted in energyconserving wind models, suggesting that the AGN feedback in this quasar is not capable of completely suppressing its star formatio

Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). X. Discovery of 35 Quasars and Luminous Galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0

The American Astronomical Society, find out more The Institute of Physics, find out more THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE ISOPEN ACCESS Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). X. Discovery of 35 Quasars and Luminous Galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0 Yoshiki Matsuoka1, Kazushi Iwasawa2, Masafusa Onoue3, Nobunari Kashikawa4,5,6, Michael A. Strauss7, Chien-Hsiu Lee8, Masatoshi Imanishi5,6, Tohru Nagao1, Masayuki Akiyama9, Naoko Asami10Show full author list Published 2019 October 3 © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 883, Number 2 DownloadArticle PDF DownloadArticle ePub Figures Tables References Download PDFDownload ePub 674 Total downloads 99 total citations on Dimensions. Turn on MathJax Share this article Share this content via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on Mendeley Article information Abstract We report the discovery of 28 quasars and 7 luminous galaxies at 5.7 ≤ z ≤ 7.0. This is the tenth in a series of papers from the Subaru High-z Exploration of Low-Luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs) project, which exploits the deep multiband imaging data produced by the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. The total number of spectroscopically identified objects in SHELLQs has now grown to 93 high-z quasars, 31 high-z luminous galaxies, 16 [O iii] emitters at z ~ 0.8, and 65 Galactic cool dwarfs (low-mass stars and brown dwarfs). These objects were found over 900 deg2, surveyed by HSC between 2014 March and 2018 January. The full quasar sample includes 18 objects with very strong and narrow Lyα emission, whose stacked spectrum is clearly different from that of other quasars or galaxies. While the stacked spectrum shows N v λ1240 emission and resembles that of lower-z narrow-line quasars, the small Lyα width may suggest a significant contribution from the host galaxies. Thus, these objects may be composites of quasars and star-forming galaxies