3,026 research outputs found
C.V.D. annual report: November 1965 research project RU27-1 :an analogue method for the determination of potential distributions in semiconductor systems
A general method for the solution of the nonlinear
Shockley-Poisson differential equation which
governs the potential distribution in non-degenerate
semiconductor systems is described which can be applied
to the evaluation of depletion layer widths, carrier
densities and capacitance bias relationships of p-n
junction structures.
The method is based upon the use of a particular
type of resistance network analogue and results obtained
for several one and two dimensional configurations are
discussed
Detection of Gravitational Waves from the Coalescence of Population-III Remnants with Advanced LIGO
The comoving mass density of massive black hole (MBH) remnants from
pre-galactic star formation could have been similar in magnitude to the
mass-density of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the present-day universe.
We show that the fraction of MBHs that coalesce during the assembly of SMBHs
can be extracted from the rate of ring-down gravitational waves that are
detectable by Advanced LIGO. Based on the SMBH formation history inferred from
the evolution of the quasar luminosity function, we show that an observed event
rate of 1 per year will constrain the SMBH mass fraction that was contributed
by MBHs coalescence down to a level of ~10^-6 for 20 solar mass MBH remnants
(or ~10^-4 for 260 solar mass remnants).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letter
Redshifted 21cm Signatures Around the Highest Redshift Quasars
The Ly-alpha absorption spectrum of the highest redshift quasars indicates
that they are surrounded by giant HII regions, a few Mpc in size. The neutral
gas around these HII regions should emit 21cm radiation in excess of the Cosmic
Microwave Background, and enable future radio telescopes to measure the
transverse extent of these HII regions. At early times, the HII regions expand
with a relativistic speed. Consequently, their measured sizes along the
line-of-sight (via Ly-alpha absorption) and transverse to it (via 21 cm
emission) should have different observed values due to relativistic time-delay.
We show that the combined measurement of these sizes would directly constrain
the neutral fraction of the surrounding intergalactic medium (IGM) as well as
the quasar lifetime. Based on current number counts of luminous quasars at z>6,
an instrument like LOFAR should detect >2 redshifted 21cm shells per field
(with a radius of 11 degrees) around active quasars as bright as those already
discovered by SDSS, and >200 relic shells of inactive quasars per field. We
show that Ly-alpha photons from the quasar are unable to heat the IGM or to
couple the spin and kinetic temperatures of atomic hydrogen beyond the edge of
the HII region. The detection of the IGM in 21cm emission around high redshift
quasars would therefore gauge the presence of a cosmic Ly-alpha background
during the reionization epoch.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Ap
The Electric Double Layer Structure Around Charged Spherical Interfaces
We derive a formally simple approximate analytical solution to the
Poisson-Boltzmann equation for the spherical system via a geometric mapping.
Its regime of applicability in the parameter space of the spherical radius and
the surface potential is determined, and its superiority over the linearized
solution is demonstrated.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Distortion of Gravitational-Wave Packets Due to their Self-Gravity
When a source emits a gravity-wave (GW) pulse over a short period of time,
the leading edge of the GW signal is redshifted more than the inner boundary of
the pulse. The GW pulse is distorted by the gravitational effect of the
self-energy residing in between these shells. We illustrate this distortion for
GW pulses from the final plunge of black hole (BH) binaries, leading to the
evolution of the GW profile as a function of the radial distance from the
source. The distortion depends on the total GW energy released and the duration
of the emission, scaled by the total binary mass, M. The effect should be
relevant in finite box simulations where the waveforms are extracted within a
radius of <~ 100M. For characteristic emission parameters at the final plunge
between binary BHs of arbitrary spins, this effect could distort the simulated
GW templates for LIGO and LISA by a fraction of 0.001. Accounting for the wave
distortion would significantly decrease the waveform extraction errors in
numerical simulations.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review
The Expected Rate of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows In Supernova Searches
We predict the rate at which Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows should be
detected in supernova searches as a function of limiting flux. Although GRB
afterglows are rarer than supernovae, they are detectable at greater distances
because of their higher intrinsic luminosity. Assuming that GRBs trace the
cosmic star formation history and that every GRB gives rise to a bright
afterglow, we find that the average detection rate of supernovae and afterglows
should be comparable at limiting magnitudes brighter than K=18. The actual rate
of afterglows is expected to be somewhat lower since only a fraction of all
gamma-ray selected GRBs were observed to have associated afterglows. However,
the rate could also be higher if the initial gamma-ray emission from GRB
sources is more beamed than their late afterglow emission. Hence, current and
future supernova searches can place strong constraints on the afterglow
appearance fraction and the initial beaming angle of GRB sources.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to ApJ
Limits on the Position Wander of Sgr A*
We present measurements with the VLBA of the variability in the centroid
position of Sgr A* relative to a background quasar at 7-mm wavelength. We find
an average centroid wander of 71 +/- 45 micro-arcsec for time scales between 50
and 100 min and 113 +/- 50 micro-arcsec for timescales between 100 and 200 min,
with no secular trend. These are sufficient to begin constraining the viability
of the hot-spot model for the radio variability of Sgr A*. It is possible to
rule out hot spots with orbital radii above 15GM_SgrA*/c^2 that contribute more
than 30% of the total 7-mm flux. However, closer or less luminous hot spots
remain unconstrained. Since the fractional variability of Sgr A* during our
observations was ~20% on time scales of hours, the hot-spot model for Sgr A*'s
radio variability remains consistent with these limits. Improved monitoring of
Sgr A*'s centroid position has the potential to place significant constraints
upon the existence and morphology of inhomogeneities in a supermassive black
hole accretion flow.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures submitted to Ap
Observing GRBs with EXIST
We describe the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope EXIST, designed to carry out a sensitive all-sky survey in the 10 keV – 600 keV band. The primary goal of EXIST is to find black holes in the local and distant universe. EXIST also traces cosmic star formation via gamma-ray bursts and gamma-ray lines from radioactive elements ejected by supernovae and novae
Injection of photoelectrons into dense argon gas
The injection of photoelectrons in a gaseous or liquid sample is a widespread
technique to produce a cold plasma in a weakly--ionized system in order to
study the transport properties of electrons in a dense gas or liquid. We report
here the experimental results of photoelectron injection into dense argon gas
at the temperatureT=142.6 K as a function of the externally applied electric
field and gas density. We show that the experimental data can be interpreted in
terms of the so called Young-Bradbury model only if multiple scattering effects
due to the dense environment are taken into account when computing the
scattering properties and the energetics of the electrons.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, figure nr. 10 has been redrawn, to be submitted
to Plasma Sources Science and Technolog
Gravitational Lensing of the X-Ray Background by Clusters of Galaxies
Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies affects the cosmic X-ray
background (XRB) by altering the observed density and flux distribution of
background X-ray sources. At faint detection flux thresholds, the resolved
X-ray sources appear brighter and diluted, while the unresolved component of
the XRB appears dimmer and more anisotropic, due to lensing. The diffuse X-ray
intensity in the outer halos of clusters might be lower than the sky-averaged
XRB, after the subtraction of resolved sources. Detection of the lensing signal
with a wide-field X-ray telescope could probe the mass distribution of a
cluster out to its virialization boundary. In particular, we show that the
lensing signature imprinted on the resolved component of the XRB by the cluster
A1689, should be difficult but possible to detect out to 8' at the 2-4 sigma
level, after 10^6 seconds of observation with the forthcoming AXAF satellite.
The lensing signal is fairly insensitive to the lens redshift in the range
0.1<z<0.6. The amplitude of the lensing signal is however sensitive to the
faint end slope of the number-flux relation for unresolved X-ray sources, and
can thus help constrain models of the XRB. A search for X-ray arcs or arclets
could identify the fraction of all faint sources which originate from extended
emission of distant galaxies. The probability for a 3 sigma detection of an
arclet which is stretched by a factor of about 3 after a 10^6 seconds
observation of A1689 with AXAF, is roughly comparable to the fraction of all
background X-ray sources that have an intrinsic size of order 1''.Comment: 41 LaTeX pages, 11 postscript figures, 1 table, in AASTeX v4.0
format. To appear in ApJ, April 1, 1997, Vol. 47
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