14,287 research outputs found
Bias-free Measurement of Giant Molecular Cloud Properties
(abridged) We review methods for measuring the sizes, line widths, and
luminosities of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in molecular-line data cubes with
low resolution and sensitivity. We find that moment methods are robust and
sensitive -- making full use of both position and intensity information -- and
we recommend a standard method to measure the position angle, major and minor
axis sizes, line width, and luminosity using moment methods. Without
corrections for the effects of beam convolution and sensitivity to GMC
properties, the resulting properties may be severely biased. This is
particularly true for extragalactic observations, where resolution and
sensitivity effects often bias measured values by 40% or more. We correct for
finite spatial and spectral resolutions with a simple deconvolution and we
correct for sensitivity biases by extrapolating properties of a GMC to those we
would expect to measure with perfect sensitivity. The resulting method recovers
the properties of a GMC to within 10% over a large range of resolutions and
sensitivities, provided the clouds are marginally resolved with a peak
signal-to-noise ratio greater than 10. We note that interferometers
systematically underestimate cloud properties, particularly the flux from a
cloud. The degree of bias depends on the sensitivity of the observations and
the (u,v) coverage of the observations. In the Appendix to the paper we present
a conservative, new decomposition algorithm for identifying GMCs in
molecular-line observations. This algorithm treats the data in physical rather
than observational units, does not produce spurious clouds in the presence of
noise, and is sensitive to a range of morphologies. As a result, the output of
this decomposition should be directly comparable among disparate data sets.Comment: Accepted to PASP (19 pgs., 12 figures). The submission describes an
IDL software package available from
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~erosolow/cprops
Quantum theory of an atom laser originating from a Bose-Einstein condensate or a Fermi gas in the presence of gravity
We present a 3D quantum mechanical theory of radio-frequency outcoupled atom
lasers from trapped atomic gases in the presence of the gravitational force.
Predictions for the total outcoupling rate as a function of the radio-frequency
and for the beam wave function are given. We establish a sum rule for the
energy integrated outcoupling, which leads to a separate determination of the
coupling strength between the atoms and the radiation field.
For a non-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate analytic solutions are derived
which are subsequently extended to include the effects of atomic interactions.
The interactions enhance interference effects in the beam profile and modify
the outcoupling rate of the atom laser. We provide a complete quantum
mechanical solution which is in line with experimental findings and allows to
determine the validity of commonly used approximative methods.
We also extend the formalism to a fermionic atom laser and analyze the effect
of superfluidity on the outcoupling of atoms.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, slightly expanded versio
Quantum statistics of interacting dimer spin systems
The compound TlCuCl3 represents a model system of dimerized quantum spins with strong interdimer interactions. We investigate the triplet dispersion as a function of temperature by inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals. By comparison with a number of theoretical approaches we demonstrate that the description of Troyer, Tsunetsugu, and Wurtz [Phys. Rev. B 50, 13 515 (1994)] provides an appropriate quantum statistical model for dimer spin systems at finite temperatures, where many-body correlations become particularly important
Derivation of Apollo 14 High-Al Basalts from Distinct Source Regions at Discrete Times: New Constraints
Apollo 14 basalts occur predominantly as clasts in breccias, but represent the oldest volcanic products that were returned from the Moon [1]. These basalts are relatively enriched in Al2O3 (11-16 wt%) compared to other mare basalts (7-11 wt%) and were originally classified into 5 compositional groups [2,3]. Neal et al. [4] proposed that a continuum of compositions existed. These were related through assimilation (of KREEP) and fractional crystallization (AFC). Age data, however, show that at least three volcanic episodes are recorded in the sample collection [1,5,6]. Recent work has demonstrated that there are three, possibly four groups of basalts in the Apollo 14 sample collection that were erupted from different source regions at different times [7]. This conclusion was based upon incompatible trace element (ITE) ratios of elements that should not be fractionated from one another during partial melting (Fig. 1). These groups are defined as Group A (Groups 4 & 5 of [3]), Group B (Groups 1 & 2 of [3]), and Group C (Group 3 of [3]). Basalt 14072 is distinct from Groups A-C
A Catalog of HI Clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud
A 21 cm neutral hydrogen interferometric survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC) combined with the Parkes multi-beam HI single-dish survey clearly shows
that the HI gas is distributed in the form of clumps or clouds. The HI clouds
and clumps have been identified using a thresholding method with three separate
brightness temperature thresholds (). Each catalog of HI cloud candidates
shows a power law relationship between the sizes and the velocity dispersions
of the clouds roughly following the Larson Law scaling , with steeper indices associated with dynamically hot regions. The
clouds in each catalog have roughly constant virial parameters as a function
mass suggesting that that the clouds are all in roughly the same dynamical
state, but the values of the virial parameter are significantly larger than
unity showing that turbulent motions dominate gravity in these clouds. The mass
distribution of the clouds is a power law with differential indices between
-1.6 and -2.0 for the three catalogs. In contrast, the distribution of mean
surface densities is a log-normal distribution.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, ApJS, in pres
Limitations on the smooth confinement of an unstretchable manifold
We prove that an m-dimensional unit ball D^m in the Euclidean space {\mathbb
R}^m cannot be isometrically embedded into a higher-dimensional Euclidean ball
B_r^d \subset {\mathbb R}^d of radius r < 1/2 unless one of two conditions is
met -- (1)The embedding manifold has dimension d >= 2m. (2) The embedding is
not smooth. The proof uses differential geometry to show that if d<2m and the
embedding is smooth and isometric, we can construct a line from the center of
D^m to the boundary that is geodesic in both D^m and in the embedding manifold
{\mathbb R}^d. Since such a line has length 1, the diameter of the embedding
ball must exceed 1.Comment: 20 Pages, 3 Figure
Molecular line mapping of the giant molecular cloud associated with RCW 106 - II. Column density and dynamical state of the clumps
We present a fully sampled C^{18}O (1-0) map towards the southern giant
molecular cloud (GMC) associated with the HII region RCW 106, and use it in
combination with previous ^{13}CO (1-0) mapping to estimate the gas column
density as a function of position and velocity. We find localized regions of
significant ^{13}CO optical depth in the northern part of the cloud, with
several of the high-opacity clouds in this region likely associated with a
limb-brightened shell around the HII region G333.6-0.2. Optical depth
corrections broaden the distribution of column densities in the cloud, yielding
a log-normal distribution as predicted by simulations of turbulence.
Decomposing the ^{13}CO and C^{18}O data cubes into clumps, we find relatively
weak correlations between size and linewidth, and a more sensitive dependence
of luminosity on size than would be predicted by a constant average column
density. The clump mass spectrum has a slope near -1.7, consistent with
previous studies. The most massive clumps appear to have gravitational binding
energies well in excess of virial equilibrium; we discuss possible
explanations, which include magnetic support and neglect of time-varying
surface terms in the virial theorem. Unlike molecular clouds as a whole, the
clumps within the RCW 106 GMC, while elongated, appear to show random
orientations with respect to the Galactic plane.Comment: 17 pages, to appear in MNRA
Star formation in clusters: a survey of compact mm-wave sources in the Serpens core
We report the results of a millimeter interferometric survey of compact 3 mm
continuum sources in the inner 5.5'x5.5' region of the Serpens core. We detect
32 discrete sources above 4.0 mJy/beam, 21 of which are new detections at
millimeter wavelengths. By comparing our data with published infrared surveys,
we estimate that 26 sources are probably protostellar condensations and derive
their mass assuming optically thin thermal emission from dust grains. The mass
spectrum of the clumps, dN/dM~M^(-2.1), is consistent with the stellar initial
mass function, supporting the idea that the stellar masses in young clusters
are determined by the fragmentation of turbulent cloud cores.Comment: To be published on The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 11 pages, 4
figures, aastex macros neede
The effect of magnetic field and disorders on the electronic transport in graphene nanoribbons
We developed a unified mesoscopic transport model for graphene nanoribbons,
which combines the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism with the
real-space {\pi}-orbital model. Based on this model, we probe the spatial
distributions of electrons under a magnetic field, in order to obtain insights
into the various signature Hall effects in disordered armchair graphene
nanoribbons (AGNR). In the presence of a uniform perpendicular magnetic field
(B\perp-field), a perfect AGNR shows three distinct spatial current profiles at
equilibrium, depending on its width. Under non-equilibrium conditions (i.e. in
the presence of an applied bias), the net electron flow is restricted to the
edges and occurs in opposite directions depending on whether the Fermi level
lies within the valence or conduction band. For electrons at energy level below
the conduction window, the B\perp-field gives rise to local electron flux
circulation, although the global flux is zero. Our study also reveals the
suppression of electron backscattering as a result of the edge transport which
is induced by the B\perp-field. This phenomenon can potentially mitigate the
undesired effects of disorders, such as the bulk and edge vacancies, on the
transport properties of AGNR. Lastly, we show that the effect of B\perp-field
on electronic transport is less significant in the multimode compared to the
single mode electron transport.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
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