3,015 research outputs found
Redshifted X-rays from the material accreting onto TW Hya: evidence of a low-latitude accretion spot
High resolution spectroscopy, providing constraints on plasma motions and
temperatures, is a powerful means to investigate the structure of accretion
streams in CTTS. In particular, the accretion shock region, where the accreting
material is heated to temperatures of a few MK as it continues its inward bulk
motion, can be probed by X-ray spectroscopy. To attempt to detect for the first
time the motion of this X-ray-emitting post-shock material, we searched for a
Doppler shift in the deep Chandra/HETGS observation of the CTTS TW Hya. This
test should unveil the nature of this X-ray emitting plasma component in CTTS,
and constrain the accretion stream geometry. We searched for a Doppler shift in
the X-ray emission from TW Hya with two different methods, by measuring the
position of a selected sample of emission lines, and by fitting the whole TW
Hya X-ray spectrum, allowing the line-of-sight velocity to vary. We found that
the plasma at T~2-4 MK has a line-of-sight velocity of 38.3+/-5.1 km/s with
respect to the stellar photosphere. This result definitively confirms that this
X-ray-emitting material originates in the post-shock region, at the base of the
accretion stream, and not in coronal structures. The comparison of the observed
velocity along the line of sight, 38.3+/-5.1 km/s, with the inferred intrinsic
velocity of the post shock of TW Hya, v_post~110-120 km/s, indicates that the
footpoints of the accretion streams on TW Hya are located at low latitudes on
the stellar surface. Our results indicate that complex magnetic field
geometries, such as that of TW Hya, permit low-latitude accretion spots.
Moreover, since on TW Hya the redshift of the soft X-ray emission is very
similar to that of the narrow component of the CIV resonance doublet at 1550
Ang, as found by Ardila et al. (2013), then the plasma at 2-4 MK and that at
0.1 MK likely originate in the same post-shock regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; 2nd version
after language editor corrections; 16 pages, 8 figures, 6 table
From Heisenberg to Goedel via Chaitin
In 1927 Heisenberg discovered that the ``more precisely the position is
determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice
versa''. Four years later G\"odel showed that a finitely specified, consistent
formal system which is large enough to include arithmetic is incomplete. As
both results express some kind of impossibility it is natural to ask whether
there is any relation between them, and, indeed, this question has been
repeatedly asked for a long time. The main interest seems to have been in
possible implications of incompleteness to physics. In this note we will take
interest in the {\it converse} implication and will offer a positive answer to
the question: Does uncertainty imply incompleteness? We will show that
algorithmic randomness is equivalent to a ``formal uncertainty principle''
which implies Chaitin's information-theoretic incompleteness. We also show that
the derived uncertainty relation, for many computers, is physical. In fact, the
formal uncertainty principle applies to {\it all} systems governed by the wave
equation, not just quantum waves. This fact supports the conjecture that
uncertainty implies randomness not only in mathematics, but also in physics.Comment: Small change
Influence of detector motion in entanglement measurements with photons
We investigate how the polarization correlations of entangled photons
described by wave packets are modified when measured by moving detectors. For
this purpose, we analyze the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality as a
function of the apparatus velocity. Our analysis is motivated by future
experiments with entangled photons designed to use satellites. This is a first
step towards the implementation of quantum information protocols in a global
scale
A perturbative approach to the polaron shift of excitons in transition metal dichalcogeniedes
In this Letter, we study the effect of phonons on the position of the 1s excitonic resonance of the fundamental absorption transition line in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. We apply our theory to WS2, a two-dimensional material where the shift in the absorption peak position has been measured as a function of temperature. The theory is composed of two ingredients only: (i) the effect of longitudinal optical phonons on the absorption peak position, which we describe with second-order perturbation theory, and (ii) the effect of phonons on the value of the single-particle energy gap, which we describe with the Huang Rhys model. Our results show excellent agreement with the experimentally measured shift of the absorption peak with the temperature.- N.M.R.P. acknowledges support by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020. J.C.G.H. acknowledges the Center of Physics for a grant funded by the UIDB/04650/2020 strategic project. N.M.R.P. acknowledges support from the European Commission through the project Graphene-Driven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond (Ref. No. 881603, CORE 3), COMPETE 2020, PORTUGAL 2020, FEDER, and the FCT through Projects No. POCI-01-0145FEDER-028114 and No. PTDC/NAN-OPT/29265/2017
Pauli's Theorem and Quantum Canonical Pairs: The Consistency Of a Bounded, Self-Adjoint Time Operator Canonically Conjugate to a Hamiltonian with Non-empty Point Spectrum
In single Hilbert space, Pauli's well-known theorem implies that the
existence of a self-adjoint time operator canonically conjugate to a given
Hamiltonian signifies that the time operator and the Hamiltonian possess
completely continuous spectra spanning the entire real line. Thus the
conclusion that there exists no self-adjoint time operator conjugate to a
semibounded or discrete Hamiltonian despite some well-known illustrative
counterexamples. In this paper we evaluate Pauli's theorem against the single
Hilbert space formulation of quantum mechanics, and consequently show the
consistency of assuming a bounded, self-adjoint time operator canonically
conjugate to a Hamiltonian with an unbounded, or semibounded, or finite point
spectrum. We point out Pauli's implicit assumptions and show that they are not
consistent in a single Hilbert space. We demonstrate our analysis by giving two
explicit examples. Moreover, we clarify issues sorrounding the different
solutions to the canonical commutation relations, and, consequently, expand the
class of acceptable canonical pairs beyond the solutions required by Pauli's
theorem.Comment: contains corrections to minor typographical errors of the published
versio
Excitons in phosphorene: A semi-analytical perturbative approach
In this paper we develop a semi-analytical perturbation-theory approach to the calculation of the energy levels (binding energies) and wave functions of excitons in phosphorene. Our method gives the exciton wave function in both real and reciprocal spaces with the same ease. This latter aspect is important for the calculation of the nonlinear optical properties of phosphorene. We find that our results are in agreement with calculations based both on the Bethe-Salpeter equation and on Monte Carlo simulations, which are computationally much more demanding. Our approach thus introduces a simple, viable, and accurate method to address the problem of excitons in anisotropic two-dimensional materials.N.M.R.P. acknowledges support from the European Commission through the project "Graphene-Driven Revolutions in ICT and Beyond" (Reference No. 785219) and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Financing UID/FIS/04650/2019. In addition, N.M.R.P. acknowledges COMPETE2020, PORTUGAL2020, FEDER, and the FCT through Projects No. PTDC/FIS-NAN/3668/2013, No. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028114, No. POCI-01-0145FEDER-029265, No. PTDC/NAN-OPT/29265/2017, and No. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-02888. The authors acknowledge P. A. Goncalves and R. Ribeiro for a critical reading of the manuscript
Classical interventions in quantum systems. I. The measuring process
The measuring process is an external intervention in the dynamics of a
quantum system. It involves a unitary interaction of that system with a
measuring apparatus, a further interaction of both with an unknown environment
causing decoherence, and then the deletion of a subsystem. This description of
the measuring process is a substantial generalization of current models in
quantum measurement theory. In particular, no ancilla is needed. The final
result is represented by a completely positive map of the quantum state
(possibly with a change of the dimensions of ). A continuous limit of the
above process leads to Lindblad's equation for the quantum dynamical semigroup.Comment: Final version, 14 pages LaTe
A review of the decoherent histories approach to the arrival time problem in quantum theory
We review recent progress in understanding the arrival time problem in
quantum mechanics, from the point of view of the decoherent histories approach
to quantum theory. We begin by discussing the arrival time problem, focussing
in particular on the role of the probability current in the expected classical
solution. After a brief introduction to decoherent histories we review the use
of complex potentials in the construction of appropriate class operators. We
then discuss the arrival time problem for a particle coupled to an environment,
and review how the arrival time probability can be expressed in terms of a POVM
in this case. We turn finally to the question of decoherence of the
corresponding histories, and we show that this can be achieved for simple
states in the case of a free particle, and for general states for a particle
coupled to an environment.Comment: 10 pages. To appear in DICE 2010 conference proceeding
Optimal copying of entangled two-qubit states
We investigate the problem of copying pure two-qubit states of a given degree
of entanglement in an optimal way. Completely positive covariant quantum
operations are constructed which maximize the fidelity of the output states
with respect to two separable copies. These optimal copying processes hint at
the intricate relationship between fundamental laws of quantum theory and
entanglement.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Ionisation rate and Stark shift of a one-dimensional model of the Hydrogen molecular ion
In this paper we study the ionization rate and the Stark shift of a
one-dimensional model of the H ion. The finding of these two
quantities is reduced to the solutions of a complex eigenvalue problem. We
solve this problem both numerically and analytically. In the latter case we
consider the regime of small external electrostatic fields and small
internuclear distances. We find an excellent agreement between the ionization
rate computed with the two approaches, even when the approximate result is
pushed beyond its expected validity. The ionization rate is very sensitive to
small changes of the external electrostatic field, spanning many orders of
magnitude for small changes of the intensity of the external field. The
dependence of the ionization on the internuclear distance is also studied, as
this has a direct connection with experimental methods in molecular physics. It
is shown that for large distances the ionization rate saturates, which is a
direct consequence of the behavior of the energy eigenvalue with the
internuclear distance. The Stark shift is computed and from it we extract the
static polarizability of H and compare our results with those found
by other authors using more sophisticated methods.Comment: 14 page
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