Evaluating some computer enhancement algorithms that improve the visibility of cometary morphology

The observed morphology of cometary comae is determined by ejection circumstances and the interaction of the ejected material with the local environment. Anisotropic emission can provide useful information on such things as orientation of the nucleus, location of active areas on the nucleus, and the formation of ion structure near the nucleus. However, discrete coma features are usually diffuse, of low amplitude, and superimposed on a steep intensity gradient radial to the nucleus. To improve the visibility of these features, a variety of digital enhancement algorithms were employed with varying degrees of success. They usually produce some degree of spatial filtering, and are chosen to optimize visibility of certain detail. Since information in the image is altered, it is important to understand the effects of parameter selection and processing artifacts can have on subsequent interpretation. Using the criteria that the ideal algorithm must enhance low contrast features while not introducing misleading artifacts (or features that cannot be seen in the stretched, unprocessed image), the suitability of various algorithms that aid cometary studies were assessed. The strong and weak points of each are identified in the context of maintaining positional integrity of features at the expense of photometric information

Validity of adiabaticity in Cavity QED

This paper deals with the concept of adiabaticity for fully quantum mechanically cavity QED models. The physically interesting cases of Gaussian and standing wave shapes of the cavity mode are considered. An analytical approximate measure for adiabaticity is given and compared with numerical wave packet simulations. Good agreement is obtained where the approximations are expected to be valid. Usually for cavity QED systems, the large atom-field detuning case is considered as the adiabatic limit. We, however, show that adiabaticity is also valid, for the Gaussian mode shape, in the opposite limit. Effective semiclassical time dependent models, which do not take into account the shape of the wave packet, are derived. Corrections to such an effective theory, which are purely quantum mechanical, are discussed. It is shown that many of the results presented can be applied to time dependent two-level systems.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Duality in Shearing Rheology Near the Athermal Jamming Transition

We consider the rheology of soft-core frictionless disks in two dimensions in the neighborhood of the athermal jamming transition. From numerical simulations of bidisperse, overdamped, particles, we argue that the divergence of the viscosity below jamming is characteristic of the hard-core limit, independent of the particular soft-core interaction. We develop a mapping from soft-core to hard-core particles that recovers all the critical behavior found in earlier scaling analyses. Using this mapping we derive a duality relation that gives the exponent of the non-linear Herschel-Bulkley rheology above jamming in terms of the exponent of the diverging viscosity below jamming.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Manuscript revisions: new title, additional text concerning connections to experiment, revised Fig. 4, other minor changes and clarifications in text. Conclusions remain essentially unchanged. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Dynamical quantum phase transition of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice

We study dynamics of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate where the two components are coupled via an optical lattice. In particular, we focus on the dynamics as one drives the system through a critical point of a first order phase transition characterized by a jump in the internal populations. Solving the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we analyze; breakdown of adiabaticity, impact of non-linear atom-atom scattering, and the role of a harmonic trapping potential. Our findings demonstrate that the phase transition is resilient to both contact interaction between atoms and external trapping confinement.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Suprathermal electron isotropy in high-beta solar wind and its role in heat flux dropouts

[1] Time variations in plasma beta and a parameter which measures isotropy in suprathermal electron pitch angle distributions show a remarkably close correspondence throughout the solar wind. The finding implies that high-beta plasma, with its multiple magnetic holes and sharp field and plasma gradients, is conducive to electron pitch-angle scattering, which reduces heat flux from the Sun without field-line disconnection. Thus the finding impacts our understanding of signatures we use to determine magnetic topology in the heliosphere

The Jovian atmospheric window at 2.7 microns: A search for H2S

The atmospheric transmission window at 2.7 microns in Jupiter's atmosphere was observed at a spectral resolution of 0.1/cm from the Kuiiper Airborne Observatory. From an analysis of the CH4 abundance (80 m-am) and the H2O abundance ( 0.0125 cm-am) it was determined that the penetration depth of solar flux at 2.7 microns is near the base of the NH3 cloud layer. The upper limit to H2O at 2.7 microns and other results suggest that photolytic reactions in Jupiter's lower troposphere may not be as significant as was previously thought. A search for H2S in Jupiter's atmosphere yielded an upper limit of 0.1 cm-am. The corresponding limit to the element abundance ratio S/H was approx. 1.7x10(-8), about 10(-3) times the solar value. Upon modeling the abundance and distribution of H2S in Jupiter's atmosphere it was concluded that, contrary to expectations, sulfur-bearing chromophores are not present in significant amounts in Jupiter's visible clouds. Rather, it appears that most of Jupiter's sulfur is locked up as NH4SH in a lower cloud layer. Alternatively, the global abundance of sulfur in Jupiter may be significantly depleted

Constraints on Stirring and Dissipation of MHD Turbulence in Molecular Clouds

We discuss constraints on the rates of stirring and dissipation of MHD turbulence in molecular clouds. Recent MHD simulations suggest that turbulence in clouds decays rapidly, thus providing a significant source of energy input, particularly if driven at small scales by, for example, bipolar outflows. We quantify the heating rates by combining the linewidth-size relations, which describe global cloud properties, with numerically determined dissipation rates. We argue that, if cloud turbulence is driven on small internal scales, the $^{12}$CO flux (enhanced by emission from weakly supersonic shocks) will be much larger than observed; this, in turn, would imply excitation temperatures significantly above observed values. We reach two conclusions: (1) small-scale driving by bipolar outflows cannot possibly account for cloud support and yield long-lived clouds, unless the published MHD dissipation rates are seriously overestimated; (2) driving on large scales (comparable to the cloud size) is much more viable from an energetic standpoint, and if the actual net dissipation rate is only slightly lower than what current MHD simulations estimate, then the observationally inferred lifetimes and apparent virial equilibrium of molecular clouds can be explained.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. To appear in ApJ (2001 April 10