7,443 research outputs found
Measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules: methods and data analysis
We recently reported a new measurement of the electron's electric dipole
moment using YbF molecules [Nature 473, 493 (2011)]. Here, we give a more
detailed description of the methods used to make this measurement, along with a
fuller analysis of the data. We show how our methods isolate the electric
dipole moment from imperfections in the experiment that might mimic it. We
describe the systematic errors that we discovered, and the small corrections
that we made to account for these. By making a set of additional measurements
with greatly exaggerated experimental imperfections, we find upper bounds on
possible uncorrected systematic errors which we use to determine the systematic
uncertainty in the measurement. We also calculate the size of some systematic
effects that have been important in previous electric dipole moment
measurements, such as the motional magnetic field effect and the geometric
phase, and show them to be negligibly small in the present experiment. Our
result is consistent with an electric dipole moment of zero, so we provide
upper bounds to its size at various confidence levels. Finally, we review the
prospects for future improvements in the precision of the experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure
A robust floating nanoammeter
A circuit capable of measuring nanoampere currents while floating at voltages
up to at least 25kV is described. The circuit relays its output to ground
potential via an optical fiber. We particularly emphasize the design and
construction techniques which allow robust operation in the presence of high
voltage spikes and discharges.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
X-ray reverberation around accreting black holes
Luminous accreting stellar mass and supermassive black holes produce
power-law continuum X-ray emission from a compact central corona. Reverberation
time lags occur due to light travel time-delays between changes in the direct
coronal emission and corresponding variations in its reflection from the
accretion flow. Reverberation is detectable using light curves made in
different X-ray energy bands, since the direct and reflected components have
different spectral shapes. Larger, lower frequency, lags are also seen and are
identified with propagation of fluctuations through the accretion flow and
associated corona. We review the evidence for X-ray reverberation in active
galactic nuclei and black hole X-ray binaries, showing how it can be best
measured and how it may be modelled. The timescales and energy-dependence of
the high frequency reverberation lags show that much of the signal is
originating from very close to the black hole in some objects, within a few
gravitational radii of the event horizon. We consider how these signals can be
studied in the future to carry out X-ray reverberation mapping of the regions
closest to black holes.Comment: 72 pages, 32 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astronomy and
Astrophysics Review. Corrected for mostly minor typos, but in particular
errors are corrected in the denominators of the covariance and rms spectrum
error equations (Eqn. 14 and 15
A NuSTAR observation of disk reflection from close to the neutron star in 4U 1608-52
Studying the reflection of X-rays off the inner edge of the accretion disk in
a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary, allows us to investigate the accretion
geometry and to constrain the radius of the neutron star. We report on a NuSTAR
observation of 4U 1608-52 obtained during a faint outburst in 2014 when the
neutron star, which has a known spin frequency of 620 Hz, was accreting at
~1-2% of the Eddington limit. The 3-79 keV continuum emission was dominated by
a Gamma~2 power law, with a ~1-2% contribution from a kTbb~0.3-0.6 keV black
body component. The high-quality NuSTAR spectrum reveals the hallmarks of disk
reflection; a broad iron line peaking near 7~keV and a Compton back-scattering
hump around ~20-30 keV. Modeling the disk reflection spectrum points to a
binary inclination of i~30-40 degrees and a small `coronal' height of h<8.5
GM/c2. Furthermore, our spectral analysis suggests that the inner disk radius
extended to Rin~7-10 GM/c2, close to the innermost stable circular obit. This
constrains the neutron star radius to R<21 km and the redshift from the stellar
surface to z>0.12, for a mass of M=1.5 Msun and a spin parameter of a=0.29.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, MNRAS Letters in pres
Discovery of high-frequency iron K lags in Ark 564 and Mrk 335
We use archival XMM-Newton observations of Ark 564 and Mrk 335 to calculate
the frequency dependent time-lags for these two well-studied sources. We
discover high-frequency Fe K lags in both sources, indicating that the red wing
of the line precedes the rest frame energy by roughly 100 s and 150 s for Ark
564 and Mrk 335, respectively. Including these two new sources, Fe K
reverberation lags have been observed in seven Seyfert galaxies. We examine the
low-frequency lag-energy spectrum, which is smooth, and shows no feature of
reverberation, as would be expected if the low-frequency lags were produced by
distant reflection off circumnuclear material. The clear differences in the low
and high frequency lag-energy spectra indicate that the lags are produced by
two distinct physical processes. Finally, we find that the amplitude of the Fe
K lag scales with black hole mass for these seven sources, consistent with a
relativistic reflection model where the lag is the light travel delay
associated with reflection of continuum photons off the inner disc.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Prospects for the measurement of the electron electric dipole moment using YbF
We discuss an experiment underway at Imperial College London to measure the
permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron using a molecular beam
of YbF. We describe the measurement method, which uses a combination of laser
and radiofrequency resonance techniques to detect the spin precession of the
YbF molecule in a strong electric field. We pay particular attention to the
analysis scheme and explore some of the possible systematic effects which might
mimic the EDM signal. Finally, we describe technical improvements which should
increase the sensitivity by more than an order of magnitude over the current
experimental limit.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Probing the effects of a thermonuclear X-ray burst on the neutron star accretion flow with NuSTAR
Observational evidence has been accumulating that thermonuclear X-ray bursts
ignited on the surface of neutron stars influence the surrounding accretion
flow. Here, we exploit the excellent sensitivity of NuSTAR up to 79 keV to
analyze the impact of an X-ray burst on the accretion emission of the neutron
star LMXB 4U 1608-52. The ~200 s long X-ray burst occurred during a hard X-ray
spectral state, and had a peak intensity of ~30-50 per cent of the Eddington
limit with no signs of photospheric radius expansion. Spectral analysis
suggests that the accretion emission was enhanced up to a factor of ~5 during
the X-ray burst. We also applied a linear unsupervised decomposition method,
namely non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), to study this X-ray burst. We
find that the NMF performs well in characterizing the evolution of the burst
emission and is a promising technique to study changes in the underlying
accretion emission in more detail than is possible through conventional
spectral fitting. For the burst of 4U 1608-52, the NMF suggests a possible
softening of the accretion spectrum during the X-ray burst, which could
potentially be ascribed to cooling of a corona. Finally, we report a small (~3
per cent) but significant rise in the accretion emission ~0.5 h before the
X-ray burst, although it is unclear whether this was related to the X-ray burst
ignition.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, to appear in MNRA
Computational Modeling of Joist-to-Ledger Connections in Cold-Formed Steel Diaphragms
Cold-formed steel framed buildings can involve a range of options for framing systems, including balloon framing, platform framing, and ledger framing. Transfer of lateral forces from the diaphragms to the wall system (and ultimately to the ground) depends on the interactions within the wall-diaphragm connection, which is dependent on choice of framing system. In ledger framing, floor joists are hung from top of wall studs via a rim track (ledger) and clip angle connection. Recent experimental efforts at Johns Hopkins University studied the wall-diaphragm connection with the goal of quantifying its contribution to overall diaphragm response. Results from these experiments showed the contribution to the rotational stiffness based on the location relative of floor joist and wall stud, location of clip angle, presence of top/bottom screws at ledger/joist flanges and presence of oriented strand board (OSB). In addition, it was observed that ledger flange buckling, and wall stud web crippling were the primary limit states. In current design codes there is not check for these limit states. The objective of this paper is to provide a robust computational model for a joist-to-ledger connection in CFS floor diaphragm with the ultimate goal of expanding the experimental test variables via a parametric study the computational model is compared and validated with experimental results. This detailed work at the connection level will motivate and inform future efforts for complete diaphragm system modeling. Furthermore, the work herein will lead to more robust modeling and prediction capabilities for CFS diaphragms
- …