538 research outputs found
Resonance Fluorescence of a Single Artificial Atom
An atom in open space can be detected by means of resonant absorption and
reemission of electromagnetic waves, known as resonance fluorescence, which is
a fundamental phenomenon of quantum optics. We report on the observation of
scattering of propagating waves by a single artificial atom. The behavior of
the artificial atom, a superconducting macroscopic two-level system, is in a
quantitative agreement with the predictions of quantum optics for a pointlike
scatterer interacting with the electromagnetic field in one-dimensional open
space. The strong atom-field interaction as revealed in a high degree of
extinction of propagating waves will allow applications of controllable
artificial atoms in quantum optics and photonics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Evidence of a Curved Synchrotron Spectrum in the Supernova Remnant SN 1006
A joint spectral analysis of some Chandra ACIS X-ray data and Molonglo
Observatory Synthesis Telescope radio data was performed for 13 small regions
along the bright northeastern rim of the supernova remnant SN 1006. These data
were fitted with a synchrotron radiation model. The nonthermal electron
spectrum used to compute the photon emission spectra is the traditional
exponentially cut off power law, with one notable difference: The power-law
index is not a constant. It is a linear function of the logarithm of the
momentum. This functional form enables us to show, for the first time, that the
synchrotron spectrum of SN 1006 seems to flatten with increasing energy. The
effective power-law index of the electron spectrum is 2.2 at 1 GeV (i.e., radio
synchrotron-emitting momenta) and 2.0 at about 10 TeV (i.e., X-ray
synchrotron-emitting momenta). This amount of change in the index is
qualitatively consistent with theoretical models of the amount of curvature in
the proton spectrum of the remnant. The evidence of spectral curvature implies
that cosmic rays are dynamically important instead of being "test" particles.
The spectral analysis also provides a means of determining the critical
frequency of the synchrotron spectrum associated with the highest-energy
electrons. The critical frequency seems to vary along the northeastern rim,
with a maximum value of 1.1e17 (0.6e17 - 2.1e17) Hz. This value implies that
the electron diffusion coefficient can be no larger than a factor of ~4.5-21
times the Bohm diffusion coefficient if the velocity of the forward shock is in
the range 2300-5000 km/s. Since the coefficient is close to the Bohm limit,
electrons are accelerated nearly as fast as possible in the regions where the
critical frequency is about 1.0e17 Hz.Comment: 41 pages, 8 figures, accepted by Ap
The Power of Action Plots: Unveiling Reaction Selectivity of Light‐Stabilized Dynamic Covalent Chemistry
Exploiting the optimum wavelength of reactivity for efficient photochemical reactions has been well-established based on the development of photochemical action plots. We herein demonstrate the power of such action plots by a remarkable example of the wavelength-resolved photochemistry of two triazolinedione (TAD) substrates, i.e., aliphatic and aromatic substituted, that exhibit near identical absorption spectra yet possess vastly disparate photoreactivity. We present our findings in carefully recorded action plots, from which reaction selectivity is identified. The profound difference in photoreactivity is exploited by designing a ‘hybrid’ bisfunctional TAD molecule, enabling the formation of a dual-gated reaction manifold that demonstrates the exceptional and site-selective (photo)chemical behavior of both TAD substrates within a single small molecule
Optimal generation of Fock states in a weakly nonlinear oscillator
We apply optimal control theory to determine the shortest time in which an
energy eigenstate of a weakly anharmonic oscillator can be created under the
practical constraint of linear driving. We show that the optimal pulses are
beatings of mostly the transition frequencies for the transitions up to the
desired state and the next leakage level. The time of a shortest possible pulse
for a given nonlinearity scale with the nonlinearity parameter delta as a power
law of alpha with alpha=-0.73 +/-0.029. This is a qualitative improvement
relative to the value alpha=1 suggested by a simple Landau-Zener argument.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Incorporating Uncertainty in Watershed Management Decision-Making: A Mercury TMDL Case Study
Decomposing Dusty Galaxies. I. Multi-Component Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting
We present a new multi-component spectral energy distribution (SED)
decomposition method and use it to analyze the ultraviolet to millimeter
wavelength SEDs of a sample of dusty infrared-luminous galaxies. SEDs are
constructed from spectroscopic and photometric data obtained with the Spitzer
Space Telescope, in conjunction with photometry from the literature. Each SED
is decomposed into emission from populations of stars, an AGN accretion disk,
PAHs, atomic and molecular lines, and distributions of graphite and silicate
grains. Decompositions of the SEDs of the template starburst galaxies NGC7714
and NGC2623 and the template AGNs PG0804+761 and Mrk463 provide baseline
properties to aid in quantifying the strength of star-formation and accretion
in the composite systems NGC6240 and Mrk1014. We find that obscured radiation
from stars is capable of powering the total dust emission from NGC6240,
although we cannot rule out a contribution from a deeply embedded AGN visible
only in X-rays. The decomposition of Mrk1014 is consistent with ~65% of its
power emerging from an AGN and ~35% from star-formation. We suggest that many
of the variations in our template starburst SEDs may be explained in terms of
the different mean optical depths through the clouds of dust surrounding the
young stars within each galaxy. Prompted by the divergent far-IR properties of
our template AGNs, we suggest that variations in the relative orientation of
their AGN accretion disks with respect to the disks of the galaxies hosting
them may result in different amounts of AGN-heated cold dust emission emerging
from their host galaxies. We estimate that 30-50% of the far-IR and PAH
emission from Mrk1014 may originate from such AGN-heated material in its host
galaxy disk.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Ap
The Neon Abundance of Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars
The fast, dense winds which characterize Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars obscure
their underlying cores, and complicate the verification of evolving
core and nucleosynthesis models. Core evolution can be probed by
measuring abundances of wind-borne nuclear processed elements,
partially overcoming this limitation. Using ground-based mid-infrared
spectroscopy and the 12.81um [NeII] emission line measured in
four Galactic WR stars, we estimate neon abundances and compare to
long-standing predictions from evolved-core models. For the WC star
WR121, this abundance is found to be >~11x the cosmic
value, in good agreement with predictions. For the three less-evolved
WN stars, little neon enhancement above cosmic values is measured, as
expected. We discuss the impact of clumping in WR winds on this
measurement, and the promise of using metal abundance ratios to
eliminate sensitivity to wind density and ionization structure.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 9 pages, 2 color figures, 4 table
PAH Emission from Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
We explore the relationships between the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon
(PAH) feature strengths, mid-infrared continuum luminosities, far-infrared
spectral slopes, optical spectroscopic classifications, and silicate optical
depths within a sample of 107 ULIRGs observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on
the Spitzer Space Telescope. The detected 6.2 micron PAH equivalent widths
(EQWs) in the sample span more than two orders of magnitude (0.006-0.8 micron),
and ULIRGs with HII-like optical spectra or steep far-infrared spectral slopes
(S_{25} / S_{60} < 0.2) typically have 6.2 micron PAH EQWs that are half that
of lower-luminosity starbursts. A significant fraction (~40-60%) of HII-like,
LINER-like, and cold ULIRGs have very weak PAH EQWs. Many of these ULIRGs also
have large (tau_{9.7} > 2.3) silicate optical depths. The far-infrared spectral
slope is strongly correlated with PAH EQW, but not with silicate optical depth.
In addition, the PAH EQW decreases with increasing rest-frame 24 micron
luminosity. We argue that this trend results primarily from dilution of the PAH
EQW by continuum emission from dust heated by a compact central source,
probably an AGN. High luminosity, high-redshift sources studied with Spitzer
appear to have a much larger range in PAH EQW than seen in local ULIRGs, which
is consistent with extremely luminous starburst systems being absent at low
redshift, but present at early epochs.Comment: 15 pages, 9 Figures; Accepted for publication in Ap
The Spatial Extent of (U)LIRGs in the mid-Infrared I: The Continuum Emission
We present an analysis of the extended mid-infrared (MIR) emission of the
Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS) sample based on 5-15um low
resolution spectra obtained with the IRS on Spitzer. We calculate the fraction
of extended emission as a function of wavelength for the galaxies in the
sample, FEE_lambda. We can identify 3 general types of FEE_lambda: one where it
is constant, one where features due to emission lines and PAHs appear more
extended than the continuum, and a third which is characteristic of sources
with deep silicate absorption at 9.7um. More than 30% of the galaxies have a
median FEE_lambda larger than 0.5 implying that at least half of their MIR
emission is extended. Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) display a wide range
of FEE in their warm dust continuum (0<=FEE_13.2um<=0.85). The large values of
FEE_13.2um that we find in many LIRGs suggest that their extended MIR continuum
emission originates in scales up to 10kpc. The mean size of the LIRG cores at
13.2um is 2.6kpc. However, once the LIR of the systems reaches the threshold of
~10^11.8Lsun, all sources become clearly more compact, with FEE_13.2um<=0.2,
and their cores are unresolved. Our estimated upper limit for the core size of
ULIRGs is less than 1.5kpc. The analysis indicates that the compactness of
systems with LIR>~10^11.25Lsun strongly increases in those classified as
mergers in their final stage of interaction. The FEE_13.2um is also related to
the contribution of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) to the MIR. Galaxies which
are more AGN-dominated are less extended, independently of their LIR. We
finally find that the extent of the MIR continuum emission is correlated with
the far-IR IRAS log(f_60um/f_100um) color. This enables us to place a lower
limit to the area in a galaxy from where the cold dust emission may originate,
a prediction which can be tested soon with the Herschel Space Telescope.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Detection of Crystalline Silicates in Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies
Silicates are an important component of interstellar dust and the structure
of these grains -- amorphous versus crystalline -- is sensitive to the local
physical conditions. We have studied the infrared spectra of a sample of
ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. Here, we report the discovery of weak, narrow
absorption features at 11, 16, 19, 23, and 28 microns, characteristic of
crystalline silicates, superimposed on the broad absorption bands at 10 and 18
microns due to amorphous silicates in a subset of this sample. These features
betray the presence of forsterite (Mg_2SiO_4), the magnesium-rich end member of
the olivines. Previously, crystalline silicates have only been observed in
circumstellar environments. The derived fraction of forsterite to amorphous
silicates is typically 0.1 in these ULIRGs. This is much larger than the upper
limit for this ratio in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way, 0.01. These
results suggest that the timescale for injection of crystalline silicates into
the ISM is short in a merger-driven starburst environment (e.g., as compared to
the total time to dissipate the gas), pointing towards massive stars as a
prominent source of crystalline silicates. Furthermore, amorphization due to
cosmic rays, which is thought to be of prime importance for the local ISM, lags
in vigorous starburst environments.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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