16,628 research outputs found
Spatially resolving the thermally inhomogeneous outer atmosphere of the red giant Arcturus in the 2.3 micron CO lines
The outer atmosphere of K giants shows thermally inhomogeneous structures
consisting of the hot chromospheric gas and the cool molecular gas. We present
spectro-interferometric observations of the multicomponent outer atmosphere of
the well-studied K1.5 giant Arcturus (alpha Boo) in the CO first overtone lines
near 2.3 micron. We observed Arcturus with the AMBER instrument at the Very
Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at 2.28--2.31 micron with a spectral
resolution of 12000 and at projected baselines of 7.3, 14.6, and 21.8 m. The
high spectral resolution of the VLTI/AMBER instrument allowed us to spatially
resolve Arcturus in the individual CO lines. Comparison of the observed
interferometric data with the MARCS photospheric model shows that the star
appears to be significantly larger than predicted by the model. It indicates
the presence of an extended component that is not accounted for by the current
photospheric models for this well-studied star. We found out that the observed
AMBER data can be explained by a model with two additional CO layers above the
photosphere. The inner CO layer is located just above the photosphere, at 1.04
+/- 0.02 stellar radii, with a temperature of 1600 +/- 400 K and a CO column
density of 10^{20 +/- 0.3} cm^-2. On the other hand, the outer CO layer is
found to be as extended as to 2.6 +/- 0.2 stellar radii with a temperature of
1800 +/- 100 K and a CO column density of 10^{19 +/- 0.15} cm^-2. The
properties of the inner CO layer are in broad agreement with those previously
inferred from the spatially unresolved spectroscopic analyses. However, our
AMBER observations have revealed that the quasi-static cool molecular component
extends out to 2--3 stellar radii, within which region the chromospheric wind
steeply accelerates.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Evidence for unidimensional low-energy excitations as the origin of persistent spin dynamics in geometrically frustrated magnets
We report specific heat, magnetic, and muon spin relaxation measurements
performed on a polycrystalline sample of the normal spinel CdHo2S4. The
rare-earth ions sit on a lattice of corner-sharing regular tetrahedra as in
pyrochlore compounds. Magnetic ordering is detected at Tc ~ 0.87 K. From
spin-lattice relaxation rate measurements on both sides of Tc we uncover
similar magnetic excitation modes driving the so-called persistent spin
dynamics at T < Tc. Unidimensional excitations are argued to be at its origin.
Often observed spin loop structures are suggested to support these excitations.
The possibility of a generic mechanism for their existence is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Magnetic order, spin waves and fluctuations in the triangular antiferromagnet La2Ca2MnO7
We report magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and muon spin relaxation
(muSR) experiments on the triangular antiferromagnet La2Ca2MnO7 which develops
a genuine two-dimensional, three-sublattice \sqrt{3} \times \sqrt{3} magnetic
order below T_N = 2.8 K. From the susceptibility and specific heat data an
estimate of the exchange interaction is derived. A value for the spin-wave gap
is obtained from the latter data. The analysis of a previously reported
inelastic neutron scattering study yields values for the exchange and spin-wave
gap compatible with the results obtained from macroscopic measurements. An
appreciable entropy is still missing at 10 K that may be ascribed to intense
short-range correlations. The critical paramagnetic fluctuations extend far
above T_N, and can be partly understood in terms of two-dimensional spin-wave
excitations. While no spontaneous muSR field is observed below T_N, persistent
spin dynamics is found. Short-range correlations are detected in this
temperature range. Their relation to a possible molecular spin substructure and
the observed exotic spin fluctuations is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Convergence of adaptive mixtures of importance sampling schemes
In the design of efficient simulation algorithms, one is often beset with a
poor choice of proposal distributions. Although the performance of a given
simulation kernel can clarify a posteriori how adequate this kernel is for the
problem at hand, a permanent on-line modification of kernels causes concerns
about the validity of the resulting algorithm. While the issue is most often
intractable for MCMC algorithms, the equivalent version for importance sampling
algorithms can be validated quite precisely. We derive sufficient convergence
conditions for adaptive mixtures of population Monte Carlo algorithms and show
that Rao--Blackwellized versions asymptotically achieve an optimum in terms of
a Kullback divergence criterion, while more rudimentary versions do not benefit
from repeated updating.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000001154 in the
Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Surface Impedance Determination via Numerical Resolution of the Inverse Helmholtz Problem
Assigning boundary conditions, such as acoustic impedance, to the frequency
domain thermoviscous wave equations (TWE), derived from the linearized
Navier-Stokes equations (LNSE) poses a Helmholtz problem, solution to which
yields a discrete set of complex eigenfunctions and eigenvalue pairs. The
proposed method -- the inverse Helmholtz solver (iHS) -- reverses such
procedure by returning the value of acoustic impedance at one or more unknown
impedance boundaries (IBs) of a given domain, via spatial integration of the
TWE for a given real-valued frequency with assigned conditions on other
boundaries. The iHS procedure is applied to a second-order spatial
discretization of the TWEs on an unstructured staggered grid arrangement. Only
the momentum equation is extended to the center of each IB face where pressure
and velocity components are co-located and treated as unknowns. The iHS is
finally closed via assignment of the surface gradient of pressure phase over
the IBs, corresponding to assigning the shape of the acoustic waveform at the
IB. The iHS procedure can be carried out independently for different
frequencies, making it embarrassingly parallel, and able to return the complete
broadband complex impedance distribution at the IBs in any desired frequency
range to arbitrary numerical precision. The iHS approach is first validated
against Rott's theory for viscous rectangular and circular ducts. The impedance
of a toy porous cavity with a complex geometry is then reconstructed and
validated with companion fully compressible unstructured Navier-Stokes
simulations resolving the cavity geometry. Verification against one-dimensional
impedance test tube calculations based on time-domain impedance boundary
conditions (TDIBC) is also carried out. Finally, results from a preliminary
analysis of a thermoacoustically unstable cavity are presented.Comment: As submitted to AIAA Aviation 201
Recursion relations for generalized Fresnel coefficients: Casimir force in a planar cavity
We emphasize and demonstrate that, besides using the usual recursion
relations involving successive layers, generalized Fresnel coefficients of a
multilayer can equivalently be calculated using the recursion relations
involving stacks of layers, as introduced some time ago [M. S. Tomas, Phys.
Rev. A 51, 2545 (1995)]. Moreover, since the definition of the generalized
Fresnel coefficients employed does not imply properties of the stacks, these
nonstandard recursion relations can be used to calculate Fresnel coefficients
not only for local systems but also for a general multilayer consisting of
various types (local, nonlocal, inhomogeneous etc.) of layers. Their utility is
illustrated by deriving a few simple algorithms for calculating the
reflectivity of a Bragg mirror and extending the formula for the Casimir force
in a planar cavity to arbitrary media.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, slightly expande
Low-temperature magnetization in geometrically frustrated Tb2Ti2O7
The nature of the low temperature ground state of the pyrochlore compound
Tb2Ti2O7 remains a puzzling issue. Dynamic fluctuations and short-range
correlations persist down to 50 mK, as evidenced by microscopic probes. In
parallel, magnetization measurements show irreversibilities and glassy behavior
below 200 mK. We have performed magnetization and AC susceptibility
measurements on four single crystals down to 57 mK. We did not observe a clear
plateau in the magnetization as a function of field along the [111] direction,
as suggested by the quantum spin ice model. In addition to a freezing around
200 mK, slow dynamics are observed in the AC susceptibility up to 4 K. The
overall frequency dependence cannot be described by a canonical spin-glass
behavior.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures + Supp. Mat (3 pages, 5 figures
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