31,977 research outputs found
Evidence for Environmental Changes in the Submillimeter Dust Opacity
The submillimeter opacity of dust in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) in the Galactic plane has been quantified using a pixel-by-pixel correlation of images of continuum emission with a proxy for column density. We used multi-wavelength continuum data: three Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope bands at 250, 350, and 500 Îźm and one IRAS band at 100 Îźm. The proxy is the near-infrared color excess, E(J â K_s), obtained from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. Based on observations of stars, we show how well this color excess is correlated with the total hydrogen column density for regions of moderate extinction. The ratio of emission to column density, the emissivity, is then known from the correlations, as a function of frequency. The spectral distribution of this emissivity can be fit by a modified blackbody, whence the characteristic dust temperature T and the desired opacity Ď_e(1200) at 1200 GHz or 250 Îźm can be obtained. We have analyzed 14 regions near the Galactic plane toward the Vela molecular cloud, mostly selected to avoid regions of high column density (N_H > 10^(22) cm^(â2)) and small enough to ensure a uniform dust temperature. We find Ď_e(1200) is typically (2-4) Ă 10^(â25) cm^2 H^(â1) and thus about 2-4 times larger than the average value in the local high Galactic latitude diffuse atomic ISM. This is strong evidence for grain evolution. There is a range in total power per H nucleon absorbed (and re-radiated) by the dust, reflecting changes in the strength of the interstellar radiation field and/or the dust absorption opacity. These changes in emission opacity and power affect the equilibrium T, which is typically 15 K, colder than at high latitudes. Our analysis extends, to higher opacity and lower temperature, the trend of increasing Ď_e(1200) with decreasing T that was found at high latitudes. The recognition of changes in the emission opacity raises a cautionary flag because all column densities deduced from dust emission maps, and the masses of compact structures within them, depend inversely on the value adopted
Local density of states in metal - topological superconductor hybrid systems
We study by means of the recursive Green's function technique the local
density-of-states of (finite and semi-infinite) multi-band spin-orbit coupled
semiconducting nanowires in proximity to an s-wave superconductor and attached
to normal-metal electrodes. When the nanowire is coupled to a normal electrode,
the zero-energy peak, corresponding to the Majorana state in the topological
phase, broadens with increasing transmission between the wire and the leads,
eventually disappearing for ideal interfaces. Interestingly, for a finite
transmission a peak is present also in the normal electrode, even though it has
a smaller amplitude and broadens more rapidly with the strength of the
coupling. Unpaired Majorana states can survive close to a topological phase
transition even when the number of open channels (defined in the absence of
superconductivity) is even. We finally study the Andreev-bound-state spectrum
in superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junctions and find that in
multi-band nanowires the distinction between topologically trivial and
non-trivial systems based on the number of zero-energy crossings is preserved.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, published versio
Coherence in parametric fluorescence
We investigate spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM) in a single-channel
side-coupled integrated spaced sequence of resonators (SCISSOR). Analytic
expressions for the number of photon pairs generated, as well as the biphoton
wave function (joint spectral amplitude) describing the pairs, are derived and
numerically computed for different pump pulse durations and numbers of ring
resonators. In the limit of a long input pump pulse, we show a strong analogy
between super-linear scaling of generation efficiency with respect to the
number of rings in the structure and Dicke superradiance. More generally, we
discuss in detail the factors that influence the shape of the biphoton wave
function, as well as the conditions for observing super-SFWM
Complex networks in brain electrical activity
We analyze the complex networks associated with brain electrical activity.
Multichannel EEG measurements are first processed to obtain 3D voxel
activations using the tomographic algorithm LORETA. Then, the correlation of
the current intensity activation between voxel pairs is computed to produce a
voxel cross-correlation coefficient matrix. Using several correlation
thresholds, the cross-correlation matrix is then transformed into a network
connectivity matrix and analyzed. To study a specific example, we selected data
from an earlier experiment focusing on the MMN brain wave. The resulting
analysis highlights significant differences between the spatial activations
associated with Standard and Deviant tones, with interesting physiological
implications. When compared to random data networks, physiological networks are
more connected, with longer links and shorter path lengths. Furthermore, as
compared to the Deviant case, Standard data networks are more connected, with
longer links and shorter path lengths--i.e., with a stronger ``small worlds''
character. The comparison between both networks shows that areas known to be
activated in the MMN wave are connected. In particular, the analysis supports
the idea that supra-temporal and inferior frontal data work together in the
processing of the differences between sounds by highlighting an increased
connectivity in the response to a novel sound.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Starlab preprint. This version is an attempt to
include better figures (no content change
Surface acoustic waves for acousto-optic modulation in buried silicon nitride waveguides
We theoretically investigate the use of Rayleigh surface acoustic waves
(SAWs) for refractive index modulation in optical waveguides consisting of
amorphous dielectrics. Considering low-loss SiN waveguides with a
standard core cross section of 4.40.03 m size, buried 8 m
deep in a SiO cladding we compare surface acoustic wave generation in
various different geometries via a piezo-active, lead zirconate titanate film
placed on top of the surface and driven via an interdigitized transducer (IDT).
Using numerical solutions of the acoustic and optical wave equations, we
determine the strain distribution of the SAW under resonant excitation. From
the overlap of the acoustic strain field with the optical mode field we
calculate and maximize the attainable amplitude of index modulation in the
waveguide. For the example of a near-infrared wavelength of 840 nm, a maximum
shift in relative effective refractive index of 0.7x10 was obtained for
TE polarized light, using an IDT period of 30 - 35 m, a film thickness of
2.5 - 3.5 m, and an IDT voltage of 10 V. For these parameters, the
resonant frequency is in the range 70 - 85 MHz. The maximum shift increases to
1.2x10, with a corresponding resonant frequency of 87 MHz, when the
height of the cladding above the core is reduced to 3 m. The relative
index change is about 300-times higher than in previous work based on
non-resonant proximity piezo-actuation, and the modulation frequency is about
200-times higher. Exploiting the maximum relative index change of
1.210 in a low-loss balanced Mach-Zehnder modulator should allow
full-contrast modulation in devices as short as 120 m (half-wave voltage
length product = 0.24 Vcm).Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Effects of TMD evolution and partonic flavor on annihilation into hadrons
We calculate the transverse momentum dependence in the production of two
back-to-back hadrons in electron-positron annihilations at the medium/large
energy scales of BES-III and BELLE experiments. We use the parameters of the
transverse-momentum-dependent (TMD) fragmentation functions that were recently
extracted from the semi-inclusive deep-inelastic-scattering multiplicities at
low energy from HERMES. TMD evolution is applied according to different
approaches and using different parameters for the nonperturbative part of the
evolution kernel, thus exploring the sensitivity of our results to these
different choices and to the flavor dependence of parton fragmentation
functions. We discuss how experimental measurements could discriminate among
the various scenarios.Comment: 33 pages, 10 composite figures, JHEP style fil
Progressive Transient Photon Beams
In this work we introduce a novel algorithm for transient rendering in
participating media. Our method is consistent, robust, and is able to generate
animations of time-resolved light transport featuring complex caustic light
paths in media. We base our method on the observation that the spatial
continuity provides an increased coverage of the temporal domain, and
generalize photon beams to transient-state. We extend the beam steady-state
radiance estimates to include the temporal domain. Then, we develop a
progressive version of spatio-temporal density estimations, that converges to
the correct solution with finite memory requirements by iteratively averaging
several realizations of independent renders with a progressively reduced kernel
bandwidth. We derive the optimal convergence rates accounting for space and
time kernels, and demonstrate our method against previous consistent transient
rendering methods for participating media
Cosmological implications of an evolutionary quantum gravity
The cosmological implications of an evolutionary quantum gravity are analyzed
in the context of a generic inhomogeneous model. The Schr\"{o}dinger problem is
formulated and solved in the presence of a scalar field, an ultrarelativistic
matter and a perfect gas regarded as the dust-clock. Considering the actual
phenomenology, it is shown how the evolutionary approach overlaps the
Wheeler-DeWitt one.Comment: 4 pages; to appear in the proceedings of the II Stueckelberg
Workshop, Int.J.Mod.Phys.A, references adde
Scalable Layer-2/Layer-3 Multistage Switching Architectures for Software Routers
Software routers are becoming an important alternative to proprietary and expensive network devices, because they exploit the economy of scale of the PC market and open-source software. When considering maximum performance in terms of throughput, PC-based routers suffer from limitations stemming from the single PC architecture, e.g., limited bus bandwidth, and high memory access latency. To overcome these limitations, in this paper we present a multistage architecture that combines a layer-2 load-balancer front-end and a layer-3 routing back-end, interconnected by standard Ethernet switches. Both the front-end and the back-end are implemented using standard PCs and open- source software. After describing the architecture, evaluation is performed on a lab test-bed, to show its scalability. While the proposed solution allows to increase performance of PC- based routers, it also allows to distribute packet manipulation functionalities, and to automatically recover from component failures
Measuring orbital angular momentum superpositions of light by mode transformation
We recently reported on a method for measuring orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light based on the transformation of helically phased beams to tilted plane waves [Phys. Rev. Lett.105, 153601 (2010)]. Here we consider the performance of such a system for superpositions of OAM states by measuring the modal content of noninteger OAM states and beams produced by a Heaviside phase plate
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