3,731 research outputs found
Studies of waveform requirements for intermediate mass-ratio coalescence searches with advanced detectors
The coalescence of a stellar-mass compact object into an intermediate-mass
black hole (intermediate mass-ratio coalescence; IMRAC) is an important
astrophysical source for ground-based gravitational-wave interferometers in the
so-called advanced configuration. However, the ability to carry out effective
matched-filter based searches for these systems is limited by the lack of
reliable waveforms. Here we consider binaries in which the intermediate-mass
black hole has mass in the range 24 - 200 solar masses with a stellar-mass
companion having masses in the range 1.4 - 18.5 solar masses. In addition, we
constrain the mass ratios, q, of the binaries to be in the range 1/140 < q <
1/10 and we restrict our study to the case of circular binaries with
non-spinning components. We investigate the relative contribution to the
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the three different phases of the coalescence:
inspiral, merger and ringdown. We show that merger and ringdown contribute to a
substantial fraction of the total SNR over a large portion of the mass
parameter space, although in a limited portion the SNR is dominated by the
inspiral phase. We further identify three regions in the IMRAC mass-space in
which: (i) inspiral-only searches could be performed with losses in detection
rates L in the range 10% < L < 27%, (ii) searches based on inspiral-only
templates lead to a loss in detection rates in the range 27% < L < 50%$, and
(iii) templates that include merger and ringdown are essential to prevent
losses in detection rates greater than 50%. We investigate the effectiveness
with which the inspiral-only portion of the IMRAC waveform space is covered by
comparing several existing waveform families in this regime. Our results
reinforce the importance of extensive numerical relativity simulations of
IMRACs and the need for further studies of suitable approximation schemes in
this mass range.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
BDDC and FETI-DP under Minimalist Assumptions
The FETI-DP, BDDC and P-FETI-DP preconditioners are derived in a particulary
simple abstract form. It is shown that their properties can be obtained from
only on a very small set of algebraic assumptions. The presentation is purely
algebraic and it does not use any particular definition of method components,
such as substructures and coarse degrees of freedom. It is then shown that
P-FETI-DP and BDDC are in fact the same. The FETI-DP and the BDDC
preconditioned operators are of the same algebraic form, and the standard
condition number bound carries over to arbitrary abstract operators of this
form. The equality of eigenvalues of BDDC and FETI-DP also holds in the
minimalist abstract setting. The abstract framework is explained on a standard
substructuring example.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, also available at
http://www-math.cudenver.edu/ccm/reports
Report on the first round of the Mock LISA Data Challenges
The Mock LISA Data Challenges (MLDCs) have the dual purpose of fostering the development of LISA data analysis tools and capabilities, and demonstrating the technical readiness already achieved by the gravitational-wave community in distilling a rich science payoff from the LISA data output. The first round of MLDCs has just been completed: nine challenges consisting of data sets containing simulated gravitational-wave signals produced either by galactic binaries or massive black hole binaries embedded in simulated LISA instrumental noise were released in June 2006 with deadline for submission of results at the beginning of December 2006. Ten groups have participated in this first round of challenges. All of the challenges had at least one entry which successfully characterized the signal to better than 95% when assessed via a correlation with phasing ambiguities accounted for. Here, we describe the challenges, summarize the results and provide a first critical assessment of the entries
Gaussian-State Theory of Two-Photon Imaging
Biphoton states of signal and idler fields--obtained from spontaneous
parametric downconversion (SPDC) in the low-brightness, low-flux regime--have
been utilized in several quantum imaging configurations to exceed the
resolution performance of conventional imagers that employ coherent-state or
thermal light. Recent work--using the full Gaussian-state description of
SPDC--has shown that the same resolution performance seen in quantum optical
coherence tomography and the same imaging characteristics found in quantum
ghost imaging can be realized by classical-state imagers that make use of
phase-sensitive cross correlations. This paper extends the Gaussian-state
analysis to two additional biphoton-state quantum imaging scenarios: far field
diffraction-pattern imaging; and broadband thin-lens imaging. It is shown that
the spatial resolution behavior in both cases is controlled by the nonzero
phase-sensitive cross correlation between the signal and idler fields. Thus,
the same resolution can be achieved in these two configurations with
classical-state signal and idler fields possessing a nonzero phase-sensitive
cross correlation.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Adiabatic loading of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a 3D optical lattice
We experimentally investigate the adiabatic loading of a Bose-Einstein
condensate into an optical lattice potential. The generation of excitations
during the ramp is detected by a corresponding decrease in the visibility of
the interference pattern observed after free expansion of the cloud. We focus
on the superfluid regime, where we show that the limiting time scale is related
to the redistribution of atoms across the lattice by single-particle tunneling
Duality Between Spatial and Angular Shift in Optical Reflection
We report a unified representation of the spatial and angular Goos-Hanchen
and Imbert-Fedorov shifts that occur when a light beam reflects from a plane
interface. We thus reveal the dual nature of spatial and angular shifts in
optical beam reflection. In the Goos-Hanchen case we show theoretically and
experimentally that this unification naturally arises in the context of
reflection from a lossy surface (e.g., a metal).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Signal-to-noise ratio of Gaussian-state ghost imaging
The signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of three Gaussian-state ghost imaging
configurations--distinguished by the nature of their light sources--are
derived. Two use classical-state light, specifically a joint signal-reference
field state that has either the maximum phase-insensitive or the maximum
phase-sensitive cross correlation consistent with having a proper
representation. The third uses nonclassical light, in particular an entangled
signal-reference field state with the maximum phase-sensitive cross correlation
permitted by quantum mechanics. Analytic SNR expressions are developed for the
near-field and far-field regimes, within which simple asymptotic approximations
are presented for low-brightness and high-brightness sources. A high-brightness
thermal-state (classical phase-insensitive state) source will typically achieve
a higher SNR than a biphoton-state (low-brightness, low-flux limit of the
entangled-state) source, when all other system parameters are equal for the two
systems. With high efficiency photon-number resolving detectors, a
low-brightness, high-flux entangled-state source may achieve a higher SNR than
that obtained with a high-brightness thermal-state source.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures. This version incorporates additional references
and a new analysis of the nonclassical case that, for the first time,
includes the complete transition to the classical signal-to-noise ratio
asymptote at high source brightnes
Comparison of Gravitational Wave Detector Network Sky Localization Approximations
Gravitational waves emitted during compact binary coalescences are a
promising source for gravitational-wave detector networks. The accuracy with
which the location of the source on the sky can be inferred from gravitational
wave data is a limiting factor for several potential scientific goals of
gravitational-wave astronomy, including multi-messenger observations. Various
methods have been used to estimate the ability of a proposed network to
localize sources. Here we compare two techniques for predicting the uncertainty
of sky localization -- timing triangulation and the Fisher information matrix
approximations -- with Bayesian inference on the full, coherent data set. We
find that timing triangulation alone tends to over-estimate the uncertainty in
sky localization by a median factor of for a set of signals from
non-spinning compact object binaries ranging up to a total mass of , and the over-estimation increases with the mass of the system. We
find that average predictions can be brought to better agreement by the
inclusion of phase consistency information in timing-triangulation techniques.
However, even after corrections, these techniques can yield significantly
different results to the full analysis on specific mock signals. Thus, while
the approximate techniques may be useful in providing rapid, large scale
estimates of network localization capability, the fully coherent Bayesian
analysis gives more robust results for individual signals, particularly in the
presence of detector noise.Comment: 11 pages, 7 Figure
Quantum Monte Carlo study of ring-shaped polariton parametric luminescence in a semiconductor microcavity
We present a quantum Monte Carlo study of the quantum correlations in the
parametric luminescence from semiconductor microcavities in the strong
exciton-photon coupling regime. As already demonstrated in recent experiments,
a ring-shaped emission is obtained by applying two identical pump beams with
opposite in-plane wavevectors, providing symmetrical signal and idler beams
with opposite in-plane wavevectors on the ring. We study the squeezing of the
signal-idler difference noise across the parametric instability threshold,
accounting for the radiative and non-radiative losses, multiple scattering and
static disorder. We compare the results of the complete multimode Monte Carlo
simulations with a simplified linearized quantum Langevin analytical model
Parity Effects in Spin Decoherence
We demonstrate that decoherence of many-spin systems can drastically differ
from decoherence of single-spin systems. The difference originates at the most
basic level, being determined by parity of the central system, i.e. by whether
the system comprises even or odd number of spin-1/2 entities. Therefore, it is
very likely that similar distinction between the central spin systems of even
and odd parity is important in many other situations. Our consideration
clarifies the physical origin of the unusual two-step decoherence found
previously in the two-spin systems.Comment: RevTeX 4, 5 pages, 2 figures; acknowledgments added; replaced with
the published version; journal reference adde
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