59 research outputs found
Atmospheric noise on the bispectrum in optical speckle interferometry
Based on a simple picture of speckle phenomena in optical interferometry it is shown that the recent signal-to-noise ratio estimate for the so called bispectrum, due to Wirnitzer (1985), does not possess the right limit when photon statistics is unimportant. In this wave-limit, which is true for bright sources, his calculations over-estimate the signal-to-noise ratio for the bispectrum by a factor of the order of the square root of the number of speckles
Translational diffusion of fluorescent probes on a sphere: monte carlo simulations, theory, and fluorescence anisotropy experiment
Translational diffusion of fluorescent molecules on curved surfaces (micelles, vesicles, and proteins) depolarizes the fluorescence. A Monte Carlo simulation method was developed to obtain the fluorescence anisotropy decays for the general case of molecular dipoles tilted at an angle a to the surface normal. The method is used to obtain fluorescence anisotropy decay due to diffusion of tilted dipoles on a spherical surface, which matched well with the exact solution for the sphere. The anisotropy decay is a single exponential for α = 0° , a double exponential for α = 90° , and three exponentials for intermediate angles. The slower decay component(s) for α ≠ 0 arise due to the geometric phase factor. Although the anisotropy decay equation contains three exponentials, there are only two parameters, namely a and the rate constant, Dtr/R2, where Dtr is the translational diffusion coefficient and R is the radius of the sphere. It is therefore possible to determine the orientation angle and translational diffusion coefficient from the experimental fluorescence anisotropy data. This method was applied in interpreting the fluorescence anisotropy decay of Nile red in SDS micelles. It is necessary, however, to include two other independent mechanisms of fluorescence depolarization for molecules intercalated in micelles. These are the wobbling dynamics of the molecule about the molecular long axis, and the rotation of the spherical micelle as a whole. The fitting of the fluorescence anisotropy decay to the full equation gave the tilt angle of the molecular dipoles to be 1± 2° and the translational diffusion coefficient to be 1.3± 0.1×10-10 m2/s
Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Inside Carbon Nanoreactors for Selective Allylic Oxidation of Cyclohexene
The confinement of cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles within hollow carbon nanostructures has been achieved and harnessed to control the oxidation of cyclohexene. Graphitized carbon nanofibers (GNF) have been used as the nanoscale tubular host and filled by sublimation of the Ce(tmhd)4 complex (where tmhd = tetrakis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)) into the internal cavity, followed by a subsequent thermal decomposition to yield the hybrid nanostructure CeO2@GNF, where nanoparticles are preferentially immobilized at the internal graphitic step-edges of the GNF. Control over the size of the CeO2 nanoparticles has been demonstrated within the range of about 4–9 nm by varying the mass ratio of the Ce(tmhd)4 precursor to GNF during the synthesis. CeO2@GNF was effective in promoting the allylic oxidation of cyclohexene in high yield with time-dependent control of product selectivity at a comparatively low loading of CeO2 of 0.13 mol %. Unlike many of the reports to date where ceria catalyzes such organic transformations, we found the encapsulated CeO2 to play the key role of radical initiator due to the presence of Ce3+ included in the structure, with the nanotube acting as both a host, preserving the high performance of the CeO2 nanoparticles anchored at the GNF step-edges over multiple uses, and an electron reservoir, maintaining the balance of Ce3+ and Ce4+ centers. Spatial confinement effects ensure excellent stability and recyclability of CeO2@GNF nanoreactors
Resolving the Inner Structure of QSO Discs by Fold Caustic Crossing Events
Though the bulk of the observed optical flux from the discs of
intermediate-redshift lensed quasars is formed well outside the region of
strong relativistic boosting and light-bending, relativistic effects have
important influence on microlensing curves. The reason is in the divergent
nature of amplification factors near fold caustics increasingly sensitive to
small spatial size details. Higher-order disc images produced by strong light
bending around the black hole may affect the amplification curves, making a
contribution of up to several percent near maximum amplification. In accordance
with theoretical predictions, some of the observed high-amplification events
possess fine structure. Here we consider three putative caustic crossing
events, one by SBS1520+530 and two events for individual images of the
Einstein's cross (QSO J2237+0305). Using relativistic disc models allows to
improve the fits, but the required inclinations are high, about 70deg or
larger. Such high inclinations apparently contradict the absence of any strong
absorption that is likely to arise if a disc is observed edge-on through a dust
torus. Still, the high inclinations are required only for the central parts of
the disc, that allows the disc itself to be initially tilted by 60-90deg with
respect to the black hole and aligned toward the black hole equatorial plane
near the last stable orbit radius. For SBS1520+530, an alternative explanation
for the observed amplification curve is a superposition of two subsequent fold
caustic crossings. While relativistic disc models favour black hole masses
~10^10 solar (several times higher than the virial estimates) or small
Eddington ratios, this model is consistent with the observed distribution of
galaxies over peculiar velocities only if the black hole mass is about 3 10^8
solar.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables; accepted to MNRAS; small proof
corrections mad
Cosmological N-Body Simulations
In this review we discuss Cosmological N-Body codes with a special emphasis
on Particle Mesh codes. We present the mathematical model for each component of
N-Body codes. We compare alternative methods for computing each quantity by
calculating errors for each of the components. We suggest an optimum set of
components that can be combined reduce overall errors in N-Body codes.Comment: This article, published in 1997 is somewhat inaccessible; the present
posting is the original versio
Mathematics of Gravitational Lensing: Multiple Imaging and Magnification
The mathematical theory of gravitational lensing has revealed many generic
and global properties. Beginning with multiple imaging, we review
Morse-theoretic image counting formulas and lower bound results, and
complex-algebraic upper bounds in the case of single and multiple lens planes.
We discuss recent advances in the mathematics of stochastic lensing, discussing
a general formula for the global expected number of minimum lensed images as
well as asymptotic formulas for the probability densities of the microlensing
random time delay functions, random lensing maps, and random shear, and an
asymptotic expression for the global expected number of micro-minima. Multiple
imaging in optical geometry and a spacetime setting are treated. We review
global magnification relation results for model-dependent scenarios and cover
recent developments on universal local magnification relations for higher order
caustics.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures. Invited review submitted for special issue of
General Relativity and Gravitatio
The Spin of the Near-Extreme Kerr Black Hole GRS 1915+105
Based on a spectral analysis of the X-ray continuum that employs a fully
relativistic accretion-disk model, we conclude that the compact primary of the
binary X-ray source GRS 1915+105 is a rapidly-rotating Kerr black hole. We find
a lower limit on the dimensionless spin parameter of a* greater than 0.98. Our
result is robust in the sense that it is independent of the details of the data
analysis and insensitive to the uncertainties in the mass and distance of the
black hole. Furthermore, our accretion-disk model includes an advanced
treatment of spectral hardening. Our data selection relies on a rigorous and
quantitative definition of the thermal state of black hole binaries, which we
used to screen all of the available RXTE and ASCA data for the thermal state of
GRS 1915+105. In addition, we focus on those data for which the accretion disk
luminosity is less than 30% of the Eddington luminosity. We argue that these
low-luminosity data are most appropriate for the thin alpha-disk model that we
employ. We assume that there is zero torque at the inner edge of the disk, as
is likely when the disk is thin, although we show that the presence of a
significant torque does not affect our results. Our model and the model of the
relativistic jets observed for this source constrain the distance and black
hole mass and could thus be tested by determining a VLBA parallax distance and
improving the measurement of the mass function. Finally, we comment on the
significance of our results for relativistic-jet and core-collapse models, and
for the detection of gravitational waves.Comment: 58 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. New in this
version is a proposed observational test of our spin model and the kinematic
model of the radio jet
Dark Energy and Gravity
I review the problem of dark energy focusing on the cosmological constant as
the candidate and discuss its implications for the nature of gravity. Part 1
briefly overviews the currently popular `concordance cosmology' and summarises
the evidence for dark energy. It also provides the observational and
theoretical arguments in favour of the cosmological constant as the candidate
and emphasises why no other approach really solves the conceptual problems
usually attributed to the cosmological constant. Part 2 describes some of the
approaches to understand the nature of the cosmological constant and attempts
to extract the key ingredients which must be present in any viable solution. I
argue that (i)the cosmological constant problem cannot be satisfactorily solved
until gravitational action is made invariant under the shift of the matter
lagrangian by a constant and (ii) this cannot happen if the metric is the
dynamical variable. Hence the cosmological constant problem essentially has to
do with our (mis)understanding of the nature of gravity. Part 3 discusses an
alternative perspective on gravity in which the action is explicitly invariant
under the above transformation. Extremizing this action leads to an equation
determining the background geometry which gives Einstein's theory at the lowest
order with Lanczos-Lovelock type corrections. (Condensed abstract).Comment: Invited Review for a special Gen.Rel.Grav. issue on Dark Energy,
edited by G.F.R.Ellis, R.Maartens and H.Nicolai; revtex; 22 pages; 2 figure
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