Non-Reciprocal MEMS Periodic Structure

In recent years, active periodic structures with in-time modulated parameters have drawn ever-increasing attention due to their peculiar (and sometimes exotic) wave propagation properties. Although many experimental works have shown the efficacy of time-modulation strategies, the benchmarks proposed until now have been mostly proof-of-concept demonstrators, with little attention to the feasibility of the solution for practical purposes. In this work, we propose a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) periodic structure with modulated electromechanical stiffness featuring non-reciprocal band-gaps that are frequency bands where elastic waves are allowed to travel only in one direction. To this aim, we derive a simplified analytical lumped-parameter model, which is then verified through numerical simulations of both the lumped-parameter system and the high-fidelity multiphysics finite element model including electrostatic effects. We envision that this system, which can easily be manufactured through standard MEMS production processes, may be used as a directional filter in MEMS devices such as insulators and circulators

Interface pinning and slow ordering kinetics on infinitely ramified fractal structures

We investigate the time dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) equation for a non conserved order parameter on an infinitely ramified (deterministic) fractal lattice employing two alternative methods: the auxiliary field approach and a numerical method of integration of the equations of evolution. In the first case the domain size evolves with time as $L(t)\sim t^{1/d_w}$, where $d_w$ is the anomalous random walk exponent associated with the fractal and differs from the normal value 2, which characterizes all Euclidean lattices. Such a power law growth is identical to the one observed in the study of the spherical model on the same lattice, but fails to describe the asymptotic behavior of the numerical solutions of the TDGL equation for a scalar order parameter. In fact, the simulations performed on a two dimensional Sierpinski Carpet indicate that, after an initial stage dominated by a curvature reduction mechanism \`a la Allen-Cahn, the system enters in a regime where the domain walls between competing phases are pinned by lattice defects. The lack of translational invariance determines a rough free energy landscape, the existence of many metastable minima and the suppression of the marginally stable modes, which in translationally invariant systems lead to power law growth and self similar patterns. On fractal structures as the temperature vanishes the evolution is frozen, since only thermally activated processes can sustain the growth of pinned domains.Comment: 16 pages+14 figure

Theoretical Models for Classical Cepheids: IV. Mean Magnitudes and Colors and the Evaluation of Distance, Reddening and Metallicity

We discuss the metallicity effect on the theoretical visual and near-infrared PL and PLC relations of classical Cepheids, as based on nonlinear, nonlocal and time--dependent convective pulsating models at varying chemical composition. In view of the two usual methods of averaging (magnitude-weighted and intensity-weighted) observed magnitudes and colors over the full pulsation cycle, we briefly discuss the differences between static and mean quantities. We show that the behavior of the synthetic mean magnitudes and colors fully reproduces the observed trend of Galactic Cepheids, supporting the validity of the model predictions. In the second part of the paper we show how the estimate of the mean reddening and true distance modulus of a galaxy from Cepheid VK photometry depend on the adopted metal content, in the sense that larger metallicities drive the host galaxy to lower extinctions and distances. Conversely, self-consistent estimates of the Cepheid mean reddening, distance and metallicity may be derived if three-filter data are taken into account. By applying the theoretical PL and PLC relations to available BVK data of Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds we eventually obtain Z \sim 0.008, E(B-V) \sim 0.02 mag, DM \sim 18.63 mag for LMC and Z \sim 0.004, E(B-V) \sim 0.01 mag., DM \sim 19.16 mag. for SMC. The discrepancy between such reddenings and the current values based on BVI data is briefly discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 11 postscript figures, accepted for publication on Ap

Uncovering the kiloparsec-scale stellar ring of NGC5128

We reveal the stellar light emerging from the kiloparsec-scale, ring-like structure of the NGC5128 (Centaurus A) galaxy in unprecedented detail. We use arcsecond-scale resolution near infrared images to create a "dust-free" view of the central region of the galaxy, which we then use to quantify the shape of the revealed structure. At the resolution of the data, the structure contains several hundreds of discreet, point-like or slightly elongated sources. Typical extinction corrected surface brightness of the structure is K_S = 16.5 mag/arcsec^2, and we estimate the total near infrared luminosity of the structure to be M = -21 mag. We use diffraction limited (FWHM resolution of ~ 0.1", or 1.6 pc) near infrared data taken with the NACO instrument on VLT to show that the structure decomposes into thousands of separate, mostly point-like sources. According to the tentative photometry, the most luminous sources have M_K = -12 mag, naming them red supergiants or relatively low-mass star clusters. We also discuss the large-scale geometry implied by the reddening signatures of dust in our near infrared images.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letters. A version with high resolution images can be downloaded from http://www.helsinki.fi/~jtkainul/CenALette

Jet driven motions in the Narrow Line region of NGC1068

We have obtained HST FOC f/48 long-slit spectroscopy of the inner 4" of the Narrow Line Region of NGC 1068 between 3500-5400A with a spectral resolution of 1.78A/pixel. At a spatial scale of 0.0287" per pixel these data provide an order of magnitude improvement in resolution over previous ground based spectra and allow us to trace the interaction between the radio jet and the gas in the NLR. Our results show that, within +/-0.5" of the radio-jet the emission lines are kinematically disturbed and split into two components whose velocity separation is 1500 km/sec. The filaments associated with the radio lobe also show a redshifted kinematic disturbance of the order of 300 km/sec which probably is a consequence of the expansion of the radio plasma. Furthermore, the material enveloping the radio-jet is in a much higher ionization state than that of the surrounding NLR gas. The highest excitation is coincident with the jet axis where emission in the coronal line of [FeVII] 3769A is detected and the HeII 4686A is strong but where [OII] 3727A is depressed. This large localized increase in ionization on the jet axis is accompanied by the presence of an excess continuum. Because the electron density is substantially larger in the jet compared to the surrounding NLR, these results can only be explained if there is a more intense ionizing continuum associated with the jet. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways which include an intrinsically anisotropic nuclear radiation field, a reduced gas covering factor or the presence of a local ionization source. The morphology, kinematics and, possibly, the ionization structure of the NLR in the vicinity of the jet of NGC 1068 are a direct consequence of the interaction with the radio outflow.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letters in pres

Classical Cepheid Pulsation Models: IX. New Input Physics

We constructed several sequences of classical Cepheid envelope models at solar chemical composition ($Y=0.28, Z=0.02$) to investigate the dependence of the pulsation properties predicted by linear and nonlinear hydrodynamical models on input physics. To study the dependence on the equation of state (EOS) we performed several numerical experiments by using the simplified analytical EOS originally developed by Stellingwerf and the recent analytical EOS developed by Irwin. Current findings suggest that the pulsation amplitudes as well as the topology of the instability strip marginally depend on the adopted EOS. We also investigated the dependence of observables predicted by theoretical models on the mass-luminosity (ML) relation and on the spatial resolution across the Hydrogen and the Helium partial ionization regions. We found that nonlinear models are marginally affected by these physical and numerical assumptions. In particular, the difference between new and old models in the location as well as in the temperature width of the instability strip is on average smaller than 200 K. However, the spatial resolution somehow affects the pulsation properties. The new fine models predict a period at the center of the Hertzsprung Progression ($P_{HP}=9.65$$-$9.84 days) that reasonably agree with empirical data based on light curves ($P_{HP}=10.0\pm 0.5$ days; \citealt{mbm92}) and on radial velocity curves ($P_{HP}=9.95\pm 0.05$ days; \citealt{mall00}), and improve previous predictions by Bono, Castellani, and Marconi (2000, hereinafter BCM00).Comment: 35 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

The supermassive black hole of M87 and the kinematics of its associated gaseous disk

We have obtained long-slit observations of the circumnuclear region of M87 at three different locations, with a spatial sampling of 0.028" using the Faint Object Camera f/48 spectrograph on board HST. These data allow us to determine the rotation curve of the inner ~1" of the ionized gas disk in [OII]3727 to a distance as close as 0.07" (~5pc) to the dynamic center, thereby significantly improving on both the spatial resolution and coverage of previous FOS observations. We have modeled the kinematics of the gas under the assumption of the existence of both a central black hole and an extended central mass distribution, taking into account the effects of the instrumental PSF, the intrinsic luminosity distribution of the line, and the finite size of the slit. We find that the central mass must be concentrated within a sphere whose maximum radius is 0.05" (~3.5pc) and show that both the observed rotation curve and line profiles are consistent with a thin--disk in keplerian motion. We conclude that the most likely explanation for the observed motions is the presence of a supermassive black hole and derive a value of M_{BH} = (3.2+/-0.9) 10^9 M_{sun} for its mass

Theoretical models for classical Cepheids. VIII. Effects of helium and heavy elements abundance on the Cepheid distance scale

Previous nonlinear fundamental pulsation models for classical Cepheids with metal content Z <= 0.02 are implemented with new computations at super-solar metallicity (Z=0.03, 0.04) and selected choices of the helium-to-metal enrichment ratio DeltaY/Delta Z. On this basis, we show that the location into the HR diagram of the Cepheid instability strip is dependent on both metal and helium abundance, moving towards higher effective temperatures with decreasing the metal content (at fixed Y) or with increasing the helium content (at fixed Z). The contributions of helium and metals to the predicted Period-Luminosity and Period-Luminosity-Color relations are discussed, as well as the implications on the Cepheid distance scale. Based on these new results, we finally show that the empirical metallicity correction suggested by Cepheid observations in two fields of the galaxy M101 may be accounted for, provided that the adopted helium-to-metal enrichment ratio is reasonably high (Delta Y/Delta Z ~ 3.5).Comment: 23 pages, including 6 postscript figures, accepted for publication on Ap