Leakage measuring method

Technique measures leakages of high pressure test specimens occurring on the input rather than the output side of a test specimen. Technique involves paralleling-off the pressure supply line and duplicating and measuring the leakage flowing into a specimen rather than attempting to measure the leakage flowing out of it

Conditional quantum state engineering in repeated 2-photon down conversion

The U(1,1) and U(2) transformations realized by three-mode interaction in the respective parametric approximations are studied in conditional measurement, and the corresponding non-unitary transformation operators are derived. As an application, the preparation of single-mode quantum states using an optical feedback loop is discussed, with special emphasis of Fock state preparation. For that example, the influence of non-perfect detection and feedback is also considered.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, using a4.st

Quantum state conversion by cross-Kerr interaction

A generalized Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer equipped with cross-Kerr elements is proposed to convert N-photon truncated single-mode quantum states into (N+1)-mode single-photon states, which are suitable for further state manipulation by means of beam splitter arrays and ON/OFF-detections, and vice versa. Applications to the realization of unitary and non-unitary transformations, quantum state reconstruction, and quantum telemanipulation are studied.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, using a4.st

Absolute dimensions of eclipsing binaries. XVII. A metal-weak F-type system, perhaps with preference for Y = 0.23-0.24

V1130 Tau is a bright (m_V = 6.56), nearby (71 +/- 2 pc) detached system with a circular orbit (P = 0.80d). The components are deformed with filling factors above 0.9. Their masses and radii have been established to 0.6-0.7%. We derive a [Fe/H] abundance of -0.25 +/- 0.10. The measured rotational velocities, 92.4 +/- 1.1 (primary) and 104.7 +/- 2.7 (secondary) km/s, are in fair agreement with synchronization. The larger 1.39 Msun secondary component has evolved to the middle of the main-sequence band and is slightly cooler than the 1.31 Msun primary. Yonsai-Yale, BaSTI, and Granada evolutionary models for the observed metal abundance and a 'normal' He content of Y = 0.25-0.26, marginally reproduce the components at ages between 1.8 and 2.1 Gyr. All such models are, however, systematically about 200 K hotter than observed and predict ages for the more massive component, which are systematically higher than for the less massive component. These trends can not be removed by adjusting the amount of core overshoot or envelope convection level, or by including rotation in the model calculations. They may be due to proximity effects in V1130 Tau, but on the other hand, we find excellent agreement for 2.5-2.8 Gyr Granada models with a slightly lower Y of 0.23-0.24. V1130 Tau is a valuable addition to the very few well-studied 1-2 Msun binaries with component(s) in the upper half of the main-sequence band, or beyond. The stars are not evolved enough to provide new information on the dependence of core overshoot on mass (and abundance), but might - together with a larger sample of well-detached systems - be useful for further tuning of the helium enrichment law.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Entanglement purification of multi-mode quantum states

An iterative random procedure is considered allowing an entanglement purification of a class of multi-mode quantum states. In certain cases, a complete purification may be achieved using only a single signal state preparation. A physical implementation based on beam splitter arrays and non-linear elements is suggested. The influence of loss is analyzed in the example of a purification of entangled N-mode coherent states.Comment: 6 pages, 3 eps-figures, using revtex

Absolute dimensions of solar-type eclipsing binaries. EF Aquarii: a G0 test for stellar evolution models

Recent studies have shown that stellar chromospheric activity, and its effect on convective energy transport in the envelope, is most likely the cause of significant radius and temperature discrepancies between theoretical evolution models and observations. We aim to determine absolute dimensions and abundances for the solar-type detached eclipsing binary EF Aqr, and to perform a detailed comparison with results from recent stellar evolutionary models. uvby-beta standard photometry was obtained with the Stromgren Automatic Telescope. The broadening function formalism was applied on spectra observed with HERMES at the Mercator telescope in La Palma, to obtain radial velocity curves. Masses and radii with a precision of 0.6% and 1.0% respectively have been established for both components of EF Aqr. The active 0.956 M_sol secondary shows star spots and strong Ca II H and K emission lines. The 1.224 M_sol primary shows signs of activity as well, but at a lower level. An [Fe/H] abundance of 0.00+-0.10 is derived with similar abundances for Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Co, and Ni. Solar calibrated evolutionary models such as Yonsei-Yale, Victoria-Regina and BaSTI isochrones and evolutionary tracks are unable to reproduce EF Aqr, especially for the secondary, which is 9% larger and 400 K cooler than predicted. Models adopting significantly lower mixing length parameters l/H_p remove these discrepancies, as seen in other solar type binaries. For the observed metallicity, Granada models with a mixing length of l/H_p=1.30 (primary) and 1.05 (secondary) reproduce both components at a common age of 1.5+-0.6 Gyr. Observations of EF Aqr suggests that magnetic activity, and its effect on envelope convection, is likely to be the cause of discrepancies in both radius and temperature, which can be removed by adjusting the mixing length parameter of the models downwards.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication by A&

Age and helium content of the open cluster NGC 6791 from multiple eclipsing binary members. I. Measurements, methods, and first results

Earlier measurements of the masses and radii of the detached eclipsing binary V20 in the open cluster NGC 6791 were accurate enough to demonstrate that there are significant differences between current stellar models. Here we improve on those results and add measurements of two additional detached eclipsing binaries, the cluster members V18 and V80. The enlarged sample sets much tighter constraints on the properties of stellar models than has hitherto been possible, thereby improving both the accuracy and precision of the cluster age. We employed (i) high-resolution UVES spectroscopy of V18, V20 and V80 to determine their spectroscopic effective temperatures, [Fe/H] values, and spectroscopic orbital elements, and (ii) time-series photometry from the Nordic Optical Telescope to obtain the photometric elements. The masses and radii of the V18 and V20 components are found to high accuracy, with errors on the masses in the range 0.27-0.36% and errors on the radii in the range 0.61-0.92%. V80 is found to be magnetically active, and more observations are needed to determine its parameters accurately. The metallicity of NGC 6791 is measured from disentangled spectra of the binaries and a few single stars to be [Fe/H]= +0.29 \pm 0.03 (random) \pm 0.07 (systematic). The cluster reddening and apparent distance modulus are found to be E(B - V) = 0.160 \pm 0.025 and (m - M)V = 13.51 \pm 0.06 . A first model comparison shows that we can constrain the helium content of the NGC 6791 stars, and thus reach a more accurate age than previously possible. It may be possible to constrain additional parameters, in particular the C, N, and O abundances. This will be investigated in paper II.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Approaches to Measuring Entanglement in Chemical Magnetometers

Chemical magnetometers are radical pair systems such as solutions of pyrene and N,N-dimethylaniline (Py–DMA) that show magnetic field effects in their spin dynamics and their fluorescence. We investigate the existence and decay of quantum entanglement in free geminate Py–DMA radical pairs and discuss how entanglement can be assessed in these systems. We provide an entanglement witness and propose possible observables for experimentally estimating entanglement in radical pair systems with isotropic hyperfine couplings. As an application, we analyze how the field dependence of the entanglement lifetime in Py–DMA could in principle be used for magnetometry and illustrate the propagation of measurement errors in this approach

Absolute dimensions of eclipsing binaries. XXVIII. BK Pegasi and other F-type binaries: Prospects for calibration of convective core overshoot

We present a detailed study of the F-type detached eclipsing binary BK Peg, based on new photometric and spectroscopic observations. The two components, which have evolved to the upper half of the main-sequence band, are quite different with masses and radii of (1.414 +/- 0.007 Msun, 1.988 +/- 0.008 Rsun) and (1.257 +/- 0.005 Msun, 1.474 +/- 0.017 Rsun), respectively. The 5.49 day period orbit of BK Peg is slightly eccentric (e = 0.053). The measured rotational velocities are 16.6 +/- 0.2 (primary) and 13.4 +/- 0.2 (secondary) km/s. For the secondary component this corresponds to (pseudo)synchronous rotation, whereas the primary component seems to rotate at a slightly lower rate. We derive an iron abundance of [Fe/H] =-0.12 +/- 0.07 and similar abundances for Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr and Ni. Yonsei-Yale and Victoria-Regina evolutionary models for the observed metal abundance reproduce BK Peg at ages of 2.75 and 2.50 Gyr, respectively, but tend to predict a lower age for the more massive primary component than for the secondary. We find the same age trend for three other upper main-sequence systems in a sample of well studied eclipsing binaries with components in the 1.15-1.70 Msun range, where convective core overshoot is gradually ramped up in the models. We also find that the Yonsei-Yale models systematically predict higher ages than the Victoria-Regina models. The sample includes BW Aqr, and as a supplement we have determined a [Fe/H] abundance of -0.07 +/- 0.11 for this late F-type binary. We propose to use BK Peg, BW Aqr, and other well-studied 1.15-1.70 Msun eclipsing binaries to fine-tune convective core overshoot, diffusion, and possibly other ingredients of modern theoretical evolutionary models.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic