Observation of Andreev Surface Bound States in the 3-K phase Region of Sr_2RuO_4

The tunneling spectrum of the superconducting phase with T_c ~ 3.0 K has been measured in the Ru-embedded region of Sr_2RuO_4 using cleaved junctions. A sharp zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) has been observed below 3 K. All characteristics of this ZBCP suggest that it originates from Andreev surface bound states, indicating that the pairing in the 3-K phase is also non-s-wave. Below the bulk T_c of Sr_2RuO_4 (~1.5 K), a bell-shaped ZBCP was found. This supports that there is a phase transition in the 3-K phase region near the bulk T_c.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (2001

A 1.3 cm line survey toward IRC +10216

IRC +10216 is the prototypical carbon star exhibiting an extended molecular circumstellar envelope. Its spectral properties are therefore the template for an entire class of objects. The main goal is to systematically study the $\lambda$ $\sim$1.3 cm spectral line characteristics of IRC +10216. We carried out a spectral line survey with the Effelsberg-100 m telescope toward IRC +10216. It covers the frequency range between 17.8 GHz and 26.3 GHz (K-band). In the circumstellar shell of IRC +10216, we find 78 spectral lines, among which 12 remain unidentified. The identified lines are assigned to 18 different molecules and radicals. A total of 23 lines from species known to exist in this envelope are detected for the first time outside the Solar System and there are additional 20 lines first detected in IRC +10216. The potential orgin of "U" lines is also discussed. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), we then determine rotational temperatures and column densities of 17 detected molecules. Molecular abundances relative to H$_{2}$ are also estimated. A non-LTE analysis of NH$_{3}$ shows that the bulk of its emission arises from the inner envelope with a kinetic temperature of 70$\pm$20 K. Evidence for NH$_{3}$ emitting gas with higher kinetic temperature is also obtained, and potential abundance differences between various $^{13}$C-bearing isotopologues of HC$_{5}$N are evaluated. Overall, the isotopic $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratio is estimated to be 49$\pm$9. Finally, a comparison of detected molecules in the $\lambda$ $\sim$1.3 cm range with the dark cloud TMC-1 indicates that silicate-bearing molecules are more predominant in IRC +10216.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by A&

SiS in the circumstellar envelope of IRC +10126: maser and quasi-thermal emission

We present new Effelsberg-100 m, ATCA, and VLA observations of rotational SiS transitions in the circumstellar envelope (CSE) of IRC +10216. Thanks to the high angular resolution achieved by the ATCA observations, we unambiguously confirm that the molecule's J=1-0 transition exhibits maser action in this CSE, as first suggested more than thirty years ago. The maser emission's radial velocity peaking at a local standard of rest velocity of -39.862$\pm$0.065 km/s indicates that it arises from an almost fully accelerated shell. Monitoring observations show time variability of the SiS (1-0) maser. The two lowest-$J$ SiS quasi-thermal emission lines trace a much more extended emitting region than previous high-J SiS observations. Their distributions show that the SiS quasi-thermal emission consists of two components: one is very compact (radius<1.5", corresponding to <3$\times 10^{15}$ cm), and the other extends out to a radius >11". An incomplete shell-like structure is found in the north-east, which is indicative of existing SiS shells. Clumpy structures are also revealed in this CSE. The gain of the SiS (1-0) maser (optical depths of about -5 at the blue-shifted side and, assuming inversion throughout the entire line's velocity range, about -2 at the red-shifted side) suggests that it is unsaturated. The SiS (1-0) maser can be explained in terms of ro-vibrational excitation caused by infrared pumping, and we propose that infrared continuum emission is the main pumping source.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. A high-resolution version can be found at https://gongyan2444.github.io/pdf/cw-leo-sis.pdf 3D movies of SiS cubes can be found at https://gongyan2444.github.io/movie/sis10-3d.avi and https://gongyan2444.github.io/movie/sis21-3d.av

Quasi-classical determination of the in-plane magnetic field phase diagram of superconducting Sr_2RuO_4

We have carried out a determination of the magnetic-field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram for realistic models of the high field superconducting state of tetragonal Sr_2RuO_4 with fields oriented in the basal plane. This is done by a variational solution of the Eilenberger equations.This has been carried for spin-triplet gap functions with a {\bf d}-vector along the c-axis (the chiral p-wave state) and with a {\bf d}-vector that can rotate easily in the basal plane. We find that, using gap functions that arise from a combination of nearest and next nearest neighbor interactions, the upper critical field can be approximately isotropic as the field is rotated in the basal plane. For the chiral {\bf d}-vector, we find that this theory generically predicts an additional phase transition in the vortex state. For a narrow range of parameters, the chiral {\bf d}-vector gives rise to a tetracritical point in the H-T phase diagram. When this tetracritical point exists, the resulting phase diagram closely resembles the experimentally measured phase diagram for which two transitions are only observed in the high field regime. For the freely rotating in-plane {\bf d}-vector, we also find that additional phase transition exists in the vortex phase. However, this phase transition disappears as the in-plane {\bf d}-vector becomes weakly pinned along certain directions in the basal plane.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Multi-view urban scene reconstruction in non-uniform volume

This paper presents a new fully automatic approach for multi-view urban scene reconstruction. Our algorithm is based on the Manhattan-World assumption, which can provide compact models while preserving fidelity of synthetic architectures. Starting from a dense point cloud, we extract its main axes by global optimization, and construct a nonuniform volume based on them. A graph model is created from volume facets rather than voxels. Appropriate edge weights are defined to ensure the validity and quality of the surface reconstruction. Compared with the common pointcloud- to-model methods, the proposed methodology exploits image information to unveil the real structures of holes in the point cloud. Experiments demonstrate the encouraging performance of the algorithm. © 2013 SPIE

The Serpens filament: at the onset of slightly supercritical collapse

The Serpens filament, as one of the nearest infrared dark clouds, is regarded as a pristine filament at a very early evolutionary stage of star formation. In order to study its molecular content and dynamical state, we mapped this filament in seven species. Among them, HCO$^{+}$, HNC, HCN, and CS show self-absorption, while C$^{18}$O is most sensitive to the filamentary structure. A kinematic analysis demonstrates that this filament forms a velocity-coherent (trans-)sonic structure, a large part of which is one of the most quiescent regions in the Serpens cloud. Widespread C$^{18}$O depletion is found throughout the Serpens filament. Based on the Herschel dust-derived H$_{2}$ column density map, the line mass of the filament is 36--41~M$_{\odot}$~pc$^{-1}$, and its full width at half maximum is 0.17$\pm$0.01~pc, while its length is ~1.6~pc. The inner radial column density profile of this filament can be well fitted with a Plummer profile with an exponent of 2.2$\pm$0.1, a scale radius of $0.018\pm 0.003$ pc, and a central density of $(4.0\pm 0.8)\times 10^{4}$~cm$^{-3}$. The Serpens filament appears to be slightly supercritical. The widespread blue-skewed HNC and CS line profiles and HCN hyperfine line anomalies across this filament indicate radial infall in parts of the Serpens filament. C$^{18}$O velocity gradients also indicate accretion flows along the filament. The velocity and density structures suggest that such accretion flows are likely due to a longitudinal collapse parallel to the filament's long axis. Both the radial infall rate and the longitudinal accretion rate along the Serpens filament are lower than all previously reported values in other filaments. This indicates that the Serpens filament lies at an early evolutionary stage when collapse has just begun, or that thermal and non-thermal support are effective in providing support against gravity.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A; for the draft showing figures with full resolution, see http://gongyan2444.github.io/pdf/absfil.pd