9,180 research outputs found
Spin-torque switching: Fokker-Planck rate calculation
We describe a new approach to understanding and calculating magnetization
switching rates and noise in the recently observed phenomenon of "spin-torque
switching". In this phenomenon, which has possible applications to information
storage, a large current passing from a pinned ferromagnetic (FM) layer to a
free FM layer switches the free layer. Our main result is that the spin-torque
effect increases the Arrhenius factor in the switching rate, not
by lowering the barrier , but by raising the effective spin temperature .
To calculate this effect quantitatively, we extend Kramers' 1940 treatment of
reaction rates, deriving and solving a Fokker-Planck equation for the energy
distribution including a current-induced spin torque of the Slonczewski type.
This method can be used to calculate slow switching rates without long-time
simulations; in this Letter we calculate rates for telegraph noise that are in
good qualitative agreement with recent experiments. The method also allows the
calculation of current-induced magnetic noise in CPP (current perpendicular to
plane) spin valve read heads.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 appendix Original version in Nature format,
replaced by Phys. Rev. Letters format. No substantive change
Unveiling Sources of Heating in the Vicinity of the Orion BN/KL Hot Core as Traced by Highly Excited Inversion Transitions of Ammonia
Using the Expanded Very Large Array, we have mapped the vicinity of the Orion
BN/KL Hot Core with sub-arcsecond angular resolution in seven metastable
inversion transitions of ammonia: (J,K)=(6,6) to (12,12). This emission comes
from levels up to 1500 K above the ground state, enabling identification of
source(s) responsible for heating the region. We used this multi-transition
dataset to produce images of the rotational/kinetic temperature and the column
density of ammonia for ortho and para species separately and on a
position-by-position basis. We find rotational temperature and column density
in the range 160-490 K and (1-4)x10^17 cm^-2, respectively. Our
spatially-resolved images show that the highest (column) density and hottest
gas is found in a northeast-southwest elongated ridge to the southeast of
Source I. We have also measured the ortho-para ratio of ammonia, estimated to
vary in the range 0.9-1.6. Enhancement of ortho with respect to para and the
offset of hot ammonia emission peaks from known (proto)stellar sources provide
evidence that the ammonia molecules have been released from dust grains into
the gas-phase through the passage of shocks and not by stellar radiation. We
propose that the combined effect of Source I's proper motion and its
low-velocity outflow impinging on a pre-existing dense medium is responsible
for the excitation of ammonia and the Orion Hot Core. Finally, we found for the
first time evidence of a slow (5 km/s) and compact (1000 AU) outflow towards
IRc7.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters Special Issue on the EVLA.
8 pages, 4 figure
Dynamical Exchanges in Facilitated Models of Supercooled liquids
We investigate statistics of dynamical exchange events in coarse--grained
models of supercooled liquids in spatial dimensions , 2, and 3. The
models, based upon the concept of dynamical facilitation, capture generic
features of statistics of exchange times and persistence times. Here,
distributions for both times are related, and calculated for cases of strong
and fragile glass formers over a range of temperatures. Exchange time
distributions are shown to be particularly sensitive to the model parameters
and dimensions, and exhibit more structured and richer behavior than
persistence time distributions. Mean exchange times are shown to be Arrhenius,
regardless of models and spatial dimensions. Specifically, , with being the excitation concentration. Different dynamical
exchange processes are identified and characterized from the underlying
trajectories. We discuss experimental possibilities to test some of our
theoretical findings.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, minor corrections made, paper published in
Journal of Chemical Physic
Solar system constraints on the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati braneworld theory of gravity
A number of proposals have been put forward to account for the observed
accelerating expansion of the Universe through modifications of gravity. One
specific scenario, Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) gravity, gives rise to a
potentially observable anomaly in the solar system: all planets would exhibit a
common anomalous precession, dw/dt, in excess of the prediction of General
Relativity. We have used the Planetary Ephemeris Program (PEP) along with
planetary radar and radio tracking data to set a constraint of |dw/dt| < 0.02
arcseconds per century on the presence of any such common precession. This
sensitivity falls short of that needed to detect the estimated universal
precession of |dw/dt| = 5e-4 arcseconds per century expected in the DGP
scenario. We discuss the fact that ranging data between objects that orbit in a
common plane cannot constrain the DGP scenario. It is only through the relative
inclinations of the planetary orbital planes that solar system ranging data
have sensitivity to the DGP-like effect of universal precession. In addition,
we illustrate the importance of performing a numerical evaluation of the
sensitivity of the data set and model to any perturbative precession.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
A Documentary of High-Mass Star Formation: Probing the Dynamical Evolution of Orion Source I on 10-100 AU Scales using SiO Masers
A comprehensive picture of high-mass star formation has remained elusive, in
part because examples of high-mass YSOs tend to be relatively distant, deeply
embedded, and confused with other emission sources. These factors have impeded
dynamical investigations within tens of AU of high-mass YSOs--scales that are
critical for probing the interfaces where outflows from accretion disks are
launched and collimated. Using observations of SiO masers obtained with the VLA
and the VLBA, the KaLYPSO project is overcoming these limitations by mapping
the structure and dynamical/temporal evolution of the material 10-1000 AU from
the nearest high-mass YSO: Radio Source I in the Orion BN/KL region. Our data
include ~40 epochs of VLBA observations over a several-year period, allowing us
to track the proper motions of individual SiO maser spots and to monitor
changes in the physical conditions of the emitting material with time.
Ultimately these data will provide 3-D maps of the outflow structure over
approximately 30% of the outflow crossing time. Here we summarize recent
results from the KaLYPSO project, including evidence that high-mass star
formation is occurring via disk-mediated accretion.Comment: 5 pages; to appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 242,
Astrophysical Masers and their Environments, ed. J. Chapman & W. Baa
Analytical solution of thermal magnetization on memory stabilizer structures
We return to the question of how the choice of stabilizer generators affects
the preservation of information on structures whose degenerate ground state
encodes a classical redundancy code. Controlled-not gates are used to transform
the stabilizer Hamiltonian into a Hamiltonian consisting of uncoupled single
spins and/or pairs of spins. This transformation allows us to obtain an
analytical partition function and derive closed form equations for the relative
magnetization and susceptibility. These equations are in agreement with the
numerical results presented in [arXiv:0907.0394v1] for finite size systems.
Analytical solutions show that there is no finite critical temperature, Tc=0,
for all of the memory structures in the thermodynamic limit. This is in
contrast to the previously predicted finite critical temperatures based on
extrapolation. The mismatch is a result of the infinite system being a poor
approximation even for astronomically large finite size systems, where
spontaneous magnetization still arises below an apparent finite critical
temperature. We extend our analysis to the canonical stabilizer Hamiltonian.
Interestingly, Hamiltonians with two-body interactions have a higher apparent
critical temperature than the many-body Hamiltonian.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, analytical solutions of problems studied
numerically in arXiv:0907.0394v1 [quant-ph
VLBA imaging of the 3mm SiO maser emission in the disk-wind from the massive protostellar system Orion Source I
We present the first images of the 28SiO v=1, J=2-1 maser emission around the
closest known massive young stellar object Orion Source I observed at 86 GHz
(3mm) with the VLBA. These images have high spatial (~0.3 mas) and spectral
(~0.054 km/s) resolutions. We find that the 3mm masers lie in an X-shaped locus
consisting of four arms, with blue-shifted emission in the south and east arms
and red-shifted emission in the north and west arms. Comparisons with previous
images of the 28SiO v=1,2, J=1-0 transitions at 7mm (observed in 2001-2002)
show that the bulk of the J=2-1 transition emission follows the streamlines of
the J=1-0 emission and exhibits an overall velocity gradient consistent with
the gradient at 7mm. While there is spatial overlap between the 3mm and 7mm
transitions, the 3mm emission, on average, lies at larger projected distances
from Source I (~44 AU compared with ~35 AU for 7mm). The spatial overlap
between the v=1, J=1-0 and J=2-1 transitions is suggestive of a range of
temperatures and densities where physical conditions are favorable for both
transitions of a same vibrational state. However, the observed spatial offset
between the bulk of emission at 3mm and 7mm possibly indicates different ranges
of temperatures and densities for optimal excitation of the masers. We discuss
different maser pumping models that may explain the observed offset. We
interpret the 3mm and 7mm masers as being part of a single wide-angle outflow
arising from the surface of an edge-on disk rotating about a
northeast-southwest axis, with a continuous velocity gradient indicative of
differential rotation consistent with a Keplerian profile in a high-mass
proto-binary.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in A&
Space-time thermodynamics and subsystem observables in a kinetically constrained model of glassy systems
In a recent article [M. Merolle et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 10837
(2005)] it was argued that dynamic heterogeneity in -dimensional glass
formers is a manifestation of an order-disorder phenomenon in the
dimensions of spacetime. By considering a dynamical analogue of the free
energy, evidence was found for phase coexistence between active and inactive
regions of spacetime, and it was suggested that this phenomenon underlies the
glass transition. Here we develop these ideas further by investigating in
detail the one-dimensional Fredrickson-Andersen (FA) model in which the active
and inactive phases originate in the reducibility of the dynamics. We
illustrate the phase coexistence by considering the distributions of mesoscopic
spacetime observables. We show how the analogy with phase coexistence can be
strengthened by breaking microscopic reversibility in the FA model, leading to
a non-equilibrium theory in the directed percolation universality class.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, final version with minor change
Out-Of-Focus Holography at the Green Bank Telescope
We describe phase-retrieval holography measurements of the 100-m diameter
Green Bank Telescope using astronomical sources and an astronomical receiver
operating at a wavelength of 7 mm. We use the technique with parameterization
of the aperture in terms of Zernike polynomials and employing a large defocus,
as described by Nikolic, Hills & Richer (2006). Individual measurements take
around 25 minutes and from the resulting beam maps (which have peak signal to
noise ratios of 200:1) we show that it is possible to produce low-resolution
maps of the wavefront errors with accuracy around a hundredth of a wavelength.
Using such measurements over a wide range of elevations, we have calculated a
model for the wavefront-errors due to the uncompensated gravitational
deformation of the telescope. This model produces a significant improvement at
low elevations, where these errors are expected to be the largest; after
applying the model, the aperture efficiency is largely independent of
elevation. We have also demonstrated that the technique can be used to measure
and largely correct for thermal deformations of the antenna, which often exceed
the uncompensated gravitational deformations during daytime observing.
We conclude that the aberrations induced by gravity and thermal effects are
large-scale and the technique used here is particularly suitable for measuring
such deformations in large millimetre wave radio telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures (accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics
- …