172 research outputs found
Angular momentum spatial distribution symmetry breaking in Rb by an external magnetic field
Excited state angular momentum alignment -- orientation conversion for atoms
with hyperfine structure in presence of an external magnetic field is
investigated. Transversal orientation in these conditions is reported for the
first time. This phenomenon occurs under Paschen Back conditions at
intermediate magnetic field strength. Weak radiation from a linearly polarized
diode laser is used to excite Rb atoms in a cell. The laser beam is polarized
at an angle of pi/4 with respect to the external magnetic field direction.
Ground state hyperfine levels of the 5S_1/2 state are resolved using
laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy under conditions for which all excited
5P_3/2 state hyperfine components are excited simultaneously. Circularly
polarized fluorescence is observed to be emitted in the direction perpendicular
to both to the direction of the magnetic field B and direction of the light
polarization E. The obtained circularity is shown to be in quantitative
agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Nonleptonic Cabibbo Favoured -Decays and -Asymmetries for Charmed Final Hadron States in Isgur and Wise Theory
The Cabibbo allowed non-leptonic -decays in two hadrons are studied,
within the factorization hypothesis, in the framework of Isgur and Wise theory
for the matrix elements of the weak currents. The
symmetry relates to currents, which
have been measured in the semileptonic strange decays of charmed particles. By
assuming colour screening and allowing for invariant contributions from
the annihilation terms with charmed final states one is able to comply with the
present experimental knowledge.\\ The violating asymmetries in neutral
decays are given for charmed final states in terms of the angles. With
the central values found for the annihilation parameters there is a destructive
(constructive) interference between the direct and annihilation terms in the
Cabibbo allowed (doubly forbidden) amplitudes for the decays into
and so that they may be of the same order.
This would imply large asymmetries, for which however our present knowledge on
the amplitudes does not allow to predict even their sign.\\ We have better
confidence in our predictions for the charged final states than the neutral
ones and can draw the conclusion that the detection of the corresponding
asymmetries requires, at least, tagged neutral -particles.Comment: CERNTEX, 17 pages, DSF-92/23, INFN-NA-IV-92/2
Three-Nucleon Continuum by means of the Hyperspherical Adiabatic Method
This paper investigates the possible use of the Hyperspherical Adiabatic
basis in the description of scattering states of a three-body system. In
particular, we analyze a 1+2 collision process below the three-body breakup.
The convergence patterns for the observables of interest are analyzed by
comparison to a unitary equivalent Hyperspherical Harmonic expansion.
Furthermore, we compare and discuss two different possible choices for
describing the asymptotic configurations of the system, related to the use of
Jacobi or hyperspherical coordinates. In order to illustrate the difficulties
and advantages of the approach two simple numerical applications are shown in
the case of neutron-deuteron scattering at low energies using s-wave
interactions. We found that the optimization driven by the Hyperspherical
Adiabatic basis is not as efficient for scattering states as in bound state
applications.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Few-Body Systems (in
press
Scaling Analysis of Fluctuating Strength Function
We propose a new method to analyze fluctuations in the strength function
phenomena in highly excited nuclei. Extending the method of multifractal
analysis to the cases where the strength fluctuations do not obey power scaling
laws, we introduce a new measure of fluctuation, called the local scaling
dimension, which characterizes scaling behavior of the strength fluctuation as
a function of energy bin width subdividing the strength function. We discuss
properties of the new measure by applying it to a model system which simulates
the doorway damping mechanism of giant resonances. It is found that the local
scaling dimension characterizes well fluctuations and their energy scales of
fine structures in the strength function associated with the damped collective
motions.Comment: 22 pages with 9 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
The Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function at the Dawn of Gaia
The [O III] 5007 Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) is an excellent
extragalactic standard candle. In theory, the PNLF method should not work at
all, since the luminosities of the brightest planetary nebulae (PNe) should be
highly sensitive to the age of their host stellar population. Yet the method
appears robust, as it consistently produces < 10% distances to galaxies of all
Hubble types, from the earliest ellipticals to the latest-type spirals and
irregulars. It is therefore uniquely suited for cross-checking the results of
other techniques and finding small offsets between the Population I and
Population II distance ladders. We review the calibration of the method and
show that the zero points provided by Cepheids and the Tip of the Red Giant
Branch are in excellent agreement. We then compare the results of the PNLF with
those from Surface Brightness Fluctuation measurements, and show that, although
both techniques agree in a relative sense, the latter method yields distances
that are ~15% larger than those from the PNLF. We trace this discrepancy back
to the calibration galaxies and argue that, due to a small systematic error
associated with internal reddening, the true distance scale likely falls
between the extremes of the two methods. We also demonstrate how PNLF
measurements in the early-type galaxies that have hosted Type Ia supernovae can
help calibrate the SN Ia maximum magnitude-rate of decline relation. Finally,
we discuss how the results from space missions such as Kepler and Gaia can help
our understanding of the PNLF phenomenon and improve our knowledge of the
physics of local planetary nebulae.Comment: 12 pages, invited review at the conference "The Fundamental Cosmic
Distance Scale: State of the Art and Gaia Perspective", to appear in
Astrophysics and Space Scienc
Post-Newtonian SPH calculations of binary neutron star coalescence. I. Method and first results
We present the first results from our Post-Newtonian (PN) Smoothed Particle
Hydrodynamics (SPH) code, which has been used to study the coalescence of
binary neutron star (NS) systems. The Lagrangian particle-based code
incorporates consistently all lowest-order (1PN) relativistic effects, as well
as gravitational radiation reaction, the lowest-order dissipative term in
general relativity. We test our code on sequences of single NS models of
varying compactness, and we discuss ways to make PN simulations more relevant
to realistic NS models. We also present a PN SPH relaxation procedure for
constructing equilibrium models of synchronized binaries, and we use these
equilibrium models as initial conditions for our dynamical calculations of
binary coalescence. Though unphysical, since tidal synchronization is not
expected in NS binaries, these initial conditions allow us to compare our PN
work with previous Newtonian results.
We compare calculations with and without 1PN effects, for NS with stiff
equations of state, modeled as polytropes with . We find that 1PN
effects can play a major role in the coalescence, accelerating the final
inspiral and causing a significant misalignment in the binary just prior to
final merging. In addition, the character of the gravitational wave signal is
altered dramatically, showing strong modulation of the exponentially decaying
waveform near the end of the merger. We also discuss briefly the implications
of our results for models of gamma-ray bursts at cosmological distances.Comment: RevTeX, 37 pages, 17 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D, minor
corrections onl
Towards a Realistic Neutron Star Binary Inspiral: Initial Data and Multiple Orbit Evolution in Full General Relativity
This paper reports on our effort in modeling realistic astrophysical neutron
star binaries in general relativity. We analyze under what conditions the
conformally flat quasiequilibrium (CFQE) approach can generate
``astrophysically relevant'' initial data, by developing an analysis that
determines the violation of the CFQE approximation in the evolution of the
binary described by the full Einstein theory. We show that the CFQE assumptions
significantly violate the Einstein field equations for corotating neutron stars
at orbital separations nearly double that of the innermost stable circular
orbit (ISCO) separation, thus calling into question the astrophysical relevance
of the ISCO determined in the CFQE approach. With the need to start numerical
simulations at large orbital separation in mind, we push for stable and long
term integrations of the full Einstein equations for the binary neutron star
system. We demonstrate the stability of our numerical treatment and analyze the
stringent requirements on resolution and size of the computational domain for
an accurate simulation of the system.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev.
Diffusion in supersonic, turbulent, compressible flows
We investigate diffusion in supersonic, turbulent, compressible flows.
Supersonic turbulence can be characterized as network of interacting shocks. We
consider flows with different rms Mach numbers and where energy necessary to
maintain dynamical equilibrium is inserted at different spatial scales. We find
that turbulent transport exhibits super-diffusive behavior due to induced bulk
motions. In a comoving reference frame, however, diffusion behaves normal and
can be described by mixing length theory extended into the supersonic regime.Comment: 11 pages, incl. 5 figures, accepted for publication in Physical
Review E (a high-resolution version is available at
http://www.aip.de./~ralf/Publications/p21.abstract.html
Various features of quasiequilibrium sequences of binary neutron stars in general relativity
Quasiequilibrium sequences of binary neutron stars are numerically calculated
in the framework of the Isenberg-Wilson-Mathews (IWM) approximation of general
relativity. The results are presented for both rotation states of synchronized
spins and irrotational motion, the latter being considered as the realistic one
for binary neutron stars just prior to the merger. We assume a polytropic
equation of state and compute several evolutionary sequences of binary systems
composed of different-mass stars as well as identical-mass stars with adiabatic
indices gamma=2.5, 2.25, 2, and 1.8. From our results, we propose as a
conjecture that if the turning point of binding energy (and total angular
momentum) locating the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) is found in
Newtonian gravity for some value of the adiabatic index gamma_0, that of the
ADM mass (and total angular momentum) should exist in the IWM approximation of
general relativity for the same value of the adiabatic index.Comment: Text improved, some figures changed or deleted, new table, 38 pages,
31 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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