2,932 research outputs found
The ACIGA Data Analysis programme
The Data Analysis programme of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric
Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) was set up in 1998 by the first author to
complement the then existing ACIGA programmes working on suspension systems,
lasers and optics, and detector configurations. The ACIGA Data Analysis
programme continues to contribute significantly in the field; we present an
overview of our activities.Comment: 10 pages, 0 figures, accepted, Classical and Quantum Gravity,
(Proceedings of the 5th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves,
Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 6-11 July 2003
Compensation of Strong Thermal Lensing in High Optical Power Cavities
In an experiment to simulate the conditions in high optical power advanced
gravitational wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO, we show that strong thermal
lenses form in accordance with predictions and that they can be compensated
using an intra-cavity compensation plate heated on its cylindrical surface. We
show that high finesse ~1400 can be achieved in cavities with internal
compensation plates, and that the cavity mode structure can be maintained by
thermal compensation. It is also shown that the measurements allow a direct
measurement of substrate optical absorption in the test mass and the
compensation plate.Comment: 8 page
Pion Excess, Nuclear Correlations, and the Interpretation of () Spin Transfer Experiments
Conventional theories of nuclear interactions predict a net increase in the
distribution of virtual pions in nuclei relative to free nucleons. Analysis of
data from several nuclear experiments has led to claims of evidence against
such a pion excess. These conclusions are usually based on a collective theory
(RPA) of the pions, which may be inadequate. The issue is the energy dependence
of the nuclear response, which differs for theories with strong NN correlations
from the RPA predictions. In the present paper, information about the energy
dependence is extracted from sum rules, which are calculated for such a
correlated, noncollective nuclear theory. The results lead to much reduced
sensitivity of nuclear reactions to the correlations that are responsible for
the pion excess. The primary example is spin transfer, for
which the expected effects are found to be smaller than the experimental
uncertainties. The analysis has consequences for Deep Inelastic Scattering
(DIS) experiments as well.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Doppler-free frequency modulation spectroscopy of atomic erbium in a hollow cathode discharge cell
The erbium atomic system is a promising candidate for an atomic Bose-Einstein
condensate of atoms with a non-vanishing orbital angular momentum ()
of the electronic ground state. In this paper we report on the frequency
stabilization of a blue external cavity diode laser system on the 400.91
laser cooling transition of atomic erbium. Doppler-free saturation spectroscopy
is applied within a hollow cathode discharge tube to the corresponding
electronic transition of several of the erbium isotopes. Using the technique of
frequency modulation spectroscopy, a zero-crossing error signal is produced to
lock the diode laser frequency on the atomic erbium resonance. The latter is
taken as a reference laser to which a second main laser system, used for laser
cooling of atomic erbium, is frequency stabilized
Gravitational wave astronomy
The first decade of the new millenium should see the first direct detections
of gravitational waves. This will be a milestone for fundamental physics and it
will open the new observational science of gravitational wave astronomy. But
gravitational waves already play an important role in the modeling of
astrophysical systems. I review here the present state of gravitational
radiation theory in relativity and astrophysics, and I then look at the
development of detector sensitivity over the next decade, both on the ground
(such as LIGO) and in space (LISA). I review the sources of gravitational waves
that are likely to play an important role in observations by first- and
second-generation interferometers, including the astrophysical information that
will come from these observations. The review covers some 10 decades of
gravitational wave frequency, from the high-frequency normal modes of neutron
stars down to the lowest frequencies observable from space. The discussion of
sources includes recent developments regarding binary black holes, spinning
neutron stars, and the stochastic background.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures, as submitted for special millenium issue of
Classical and Quantum Gravit
Relativistic Treatment of Hypernuclear Decay
We compute for the first time the decay width of lambda-hypernuclei in a
relativistic mean-field approximation to the Walecka model. Due to the small
mass difference between the lambda-hyperon and its decay products---a nucleon
and a pion---the mesonic component of the decay is strongly Pauli blocked in
the nuclear medium. Thus, the in-medium decay becomes dominated by the
non-mesonic, or two-body, component of the decay. For this mode, the
lambda-hyperon decays into a nucleon and a spacelike nuclear excitation. In
this work we concentrate exclusively on the pion-like modes. By relying on the
analytic structure of the nucleon and pion propagators, we express the
non-mesonic component of the decay in terms of the spin-longitudinal response
function. This response has been constrained from precise quasielastic (p,n)
measurements done at LAMPF. We compute the spin-longitudinal response in a
relativistic random-phase-approximation model that reproduces accurately the
quasielastic data. By doing so, we obtain hypernuclear decay widths that are
considerably smaller---by factors of two or three---relative to existing
nonrelativistic calculations.Comment: Revtex: 18 pages and 4 postscript figure
Short GRB and binary black hole standard sirens as a probe of dark energy
Observations of the gravitational radiation from well-localized, inspiraling
compact object binaries can measure absolute source distances with high
accuracy. When coupled with an independent determination of redshift through an
electromagnetic counterpart, these standard sirens can provide an excellent
probe of the expansion history of the Universe and the dark energy. Short
gamma-ray bursts, if produced by merging neutron star binaries, would be
standard sirens with known redshifts detectable by ground-based GW networks
such as LIGO-II, Virgo, and AIGO. Depending upon the collimation of these GRBs,
a single year of observation of their gravitational waves can measure the
Hubble constant to about 2%. When combined with measurement of the absolute
distance to the last scattering surface of the cosmic microwave background,
this determines the dark energy equation of state parameter w to 9%. Similarly,
supermassive binary black hole inspirals will be standard sirens detectable by
LISA. Depending upon the precise redshift distribution, 100 sources could
measure w at the 4% level.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to PR
Reading sentences with a late closure ambiguity: does semantic information help?
Stowe (1989) reported that semantic information eliminates garden paths in sentences with the direct-object vs. subject ambiguity, such as Even before the police stopped the driver was very frightened. Three experiments are presented which addressed some methodological problems in Stowe's study. Experiment 1, using a word-by-word, self-paced reading task with grammaticality judgements, manipulated animacy of the first subject noun while controlling for the plausibility of the transitive action. The results suggest that initial sentence analysis is not guided by animacy. Experiment 2 and 3, using the self-paced task with grammaticality judgements and eye-tracking, varied the plausibility of the direct-object nouns to test revision effects. Plausibility was found to facilitate revision without fully eliminating garden paths, in line with various revision models. The findings support the view of a sentence processing system relying heavily on syntactic information, with semantic information playing a weaker role both in initial analysis and during revision, thus supporting serial, syntax-first models and ranked-parallel models relying on structural criteria
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