906 research outputs found
Phonon Density of States and Anharmonicity of UO2
Phonon density of states (PDOS) measurements have been performed on
polycrystalline UO2 at 295 and 1200 K using time-of-flight inelastic neutron
scattering to investigate the impact of anharmonicity on the vibrational
spectra and to benchmark ab initio PDOS simulations performed on this strongly
correlated Mott-insulator. Time-of-flight PDOS measurements include anharmonic
linewidth broadening inherently and the factor of ~ 7 enhancement of the oxygen
spectrum relative to the uranium component by the neutron weighting increases
sensitivity to the oxygen-dominated optical phonon modes. The first-principles
simulations of quasi-harmonic PDOS spectra were neutron-weighted and
anharmonicity was introduced in an approximate way by convolution with
wavevector-weighted averages over our previously measured phonon linewidths for
UO2 that are provided in numerical form. Comparisons between the PDOS
measurements and the simulations show reasonable agreement overall, but they
also reveal important areas of disagreement for both high and low temperatures.
The discrepancies stem largely from an ~ 10 meV compression in the overall
bandwidth (energy range) of the oxygen-dominated optical phonons in the
simulations. A similar linewidth-convoluted comparison performed with the PDOS
spectrum of Dolling et al. obtained by shell-model fitting to their historical
phonon dispersion measurements shows excellent agreement with the
time-of-flight PDOS measurements reported here. In contrast, we show by
comparisons of spectra in linewidth-convoluted form that recent
first-principles simulations for UO2 fail to account for the PDOS spectrum
determined from the measurements of Dolling et al. These results demonstrate
PDOS measurements to be stringent tests for ab initio simulations of phonon
physics in UO2 and they indicate further the need for advances in theory to
address lattice dynamics of UO2.Comment: Text slightly modified, results unchange
Large Scale Traces of Solar System Cold Dust on CMB Anisotropies
We explore the microwave anisotropies at large angular scales produced by the
emission from cold and large dust grains, expected to exist in the outer parts
of the Solar System, using a simple toy model for this diuse emission. Its
amplitude is constrained in the Far-IR by the COBE data and is compatible with
simulations found in the literature. We analyze the templates derived after
subtracting our model from the WMAP ILC 7 yr maps and investigate on the
cosmological implications of such a possible foreground. The anomalies related
to the low quadrupole of the angular power spectrum, the two-point correlation
function, the parity and the excess of signal found in the ecliptic plane are
significantly alleviated. An impact of this foreground for some cosmological
parameters characterizing the spectrum of primordial density perturbations,
relevant for on-going and future CMB anisotropy experiments, is found.Comment: Issue 2.0, Accepted for pub. in MNRAS, Apr 8th, 2011, (sub. Oct 4th,
2010); 10 pages, 6 Figures, 1 table; pdflatex with mn2e, AMS, natbib,
txfonts, graphic
Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Power Spectra and WMAP-Derived Parameters
(Abridged) We present the angular power spectra derived from the 7-year maps
and discuss the cosmological conclusions that can be inferred from WMAP data
alone. The third acoustic peak in the TT spectrum is now well measured by WMAP.
In the context of a flat LambdaCDM model, this improvement allows us to place
tighter constraints on the matter density from WMAP data alone, and on the
epoch of matter-radiation equality, The temperature-polarization (TE) spectrum
is detected in the 7-year data with a significance of 20 sigma, compared to 13
sigma with the 5-year data. The low-l EE spectrum, a measure of the optical
depth due to reionization, is detected at 5.5 sigma significance when averaged
over l = 2-7. The BB spectrum, an important probe of gravitational waves from
inflation, remains consistent with zero. The upper limit on tensor modes from
polarization data alone is a factor of 2 lower with the 7-year data than it was
using the 5-year data (Komatsu et al. 2010). We test the parameter recovery
process for bias and find that the scalar spectral index, ns, is biased high,
but only by 0.09 sigma, while the remaining parameters are biased by < 0.15
sigma. The improvement in the third peak measurement leads to tighter lower
limits from WMAP on the number of relativistic degrees of freedom (e.g.,
neutrinos) in the early universe: Neff > 2.7 (95% CL). Also, using WMAP data
alone, the primordial helium mass fraction is found to be YHe = 0.28+0.14-0.15,
and with data from higher-resolution CMB experiments included, we now establish
the existence of pre-stellar helium at > 3 sigma (Komatsu et al. 2010).Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, version accepted to Astrophysical Journal
Supplement Series, added high-l EE detection, consolidated parameter recovery
simulation
Phonon Lifetime Investigation of Anharmonicity and Thermal Conductivity of UOâ‚‚ by Neutron Scattering and Theory
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements of individual phonon lifetimes and dispersion at 295 and 1200 K have been used to probe anharmonicity and thermal conductivity in UO2. They show that longitudinal optic phonon modes carry the largest amount of heat, in contrast to past simulations and that the total conductivity demonstrates a quantitative correspondence between microscopic and macroscopic phonon physics. We have further performed first-principles simulations for UO2 showing semiquantitative agreement with phonon lifetimes at 295 K, but larger anharmonicity than measured at 1200 K
Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Are There Cosmic Microwave Background Anomalies?
(Abridged) A simple six-parameter LCDM model provides a successful fit to
WMAP data, both when the data are analyzed alone and in combination with other
cosmological data. Even so, it is appropriate to search for any hints of
deviations from the now standard model of cosmology, which includes inflation,
dark energy, dark matter, baryons, and neutrinos. The cosmological community
has subjected the WMAP data to extensive and varied analyses. While there is
widespread agreement as to the overall success of the six-parameter LCDM model,
various "anomalies" have been reported relative to that model. In this paper we
examine potential anomalies and present analyses and assessments of their
significance. In most cases we find that claimed anomalies depend on posterior
selection of some aspect or subset of the data. Compared with sky simulations
based on the best fit model, one can select for low probability features of the
WMAP data. Low probability features are expected, but it is not usually
straightforward to determine whether any particular low probability feature is
the result of the a posteriori selection or of non-standard cosmology. We
examine in detail the properties of the power spectrum with respect to the LCDM
model. We examine several potential or previously claimed anomalies in the sky
maps and power spectra, including cold spots, low quadrupole power,
quadropole-octupole alignment, hemispherical or dipole power asymmetry, and
quadrupole power asymmetry. We conclude that there is no compelling evidence
for deviations from the LCDM model, which is generally an acceptable
statistical fit to WMAP and other cosmological data.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, also available with higher-res figures on
http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov; accepted by ApJS; (v2) text as accepte
`Standard' Cosmological model & beyond with CMB
Observational Cosmology has indeed made very rapid progress in the past
decade. The ability to quantify the universe has largely improved due to
observational constraints coming from structure formation Measurements of CMB
anisotropy and, more recently, polarization have played a very important role.
Besides precise determination of various parameters of the `standard'
cosmological model, observations have also established some important basic
tenets that underlie models of cosmology and structure formation in the
universe -- `acausally' correlated initial perturbations in a flat,
statistically isotropic universe, adiabatic nature of primordial density
perturbations. These are consistent with the expectation of the paradigm of
inflation and the generic prediction of the simplest realization of
inflationary scenario in the early universe. Further, gravitational instability
is the established mechanism for structure formation from these initial
perturbations. The signature of primordial perturbations observed as the CMB
anisotropy and polarization is the most compelling evidence for new, possibly
fundamental, physics in the early universe. The community is now looking beyond
the estimation of parameters of a working `standard' model of cosmology for
subtle, characteristic signatures from early universe physics.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, Plenary talk, Proc. of GR-19, Mexico City,
Mexico (Jul 5-9, 2010). To appear in a special issue in Class. Q. Gra
Seven-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Sky Maps, Systematic Errors, and Basic Results
(Abridged) New full sky temperature and polarization maps based on seven
years of data from WMAP are presented. The new results are consistent with
previous results, but have improved due to reduced noise from the additional
integration time, improved knowledge of the instrument performance, and
improved data analysis procedures. The improvements are described in detail.
The seven year data set is well fit by a minimal six-parameter flat Lambda-CDM
model. The parameters for this model, using the WMAP data in conjunction with
baryon acoustic oscillation data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and priors
on H_0 from Hubble Space Telescope observations, are: Omega_bh^2 = 0.02260
+-0.00053, Omega_ch^2 = 0.1123 +-0.0035, Omega_Lambda = 0.728 +0.015 -0.016,
n_s = 0.963 +-0.012, tau = 0.087 +-0.014 and sigma_8 = 0.809 +-0.024 (68 % CL
uncertainties). The temperature power spectrum signal-to-noise ratio per
multipole is greater that unity for multipoles < 919, allowing a robust
measurement of the third acoustic peak. This measurement results in improved
constraints on the matter density, Omega_mh^2 = 0.1334 +0.0056 -0.0055, and the
epoch of matter- radiation equality, z_eq = 3196 +134 -133, using WMAP data
alone. The new WMAP data, when combined with smaller angular scale microwave
background anisotropy data, results in a 3 sigma detection of the abundance of
primordial Helium, Y_He = 0.326 +-0.075.The power-law index of the primordial
power spectrum is now determined to be n_s = 0.963 +-0.012, excluding the
Harrison-Zel'dovich-Peebles spectrum by >3 sigma. These new WMAP measurements
provide important tests of Big Bang cosmology.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Supplement
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