9,149 research outputs found
Magnetic flux locking in two weakly coupled superconducting rings
We have analyzed the quantum interference effects in the macroscopic
''superconducting molecule''. The composite system consists of two massive
superconducting rings, each interrupted by a Josephson junction, which are at
the same time weakly coupled with one another. The special case of coupling via
the Josephson four-terminal junction is considered. The structure of the
macroscopic quantum states in an applied magnetic field is calculated. It is
shown, that depending on the values of the magnetic fluxes through each ring,
the system displays two groups of states, the ''orthostates'' with both induced
currents going in the same direction, and the ''parastates'' with the opposite
currents and with the total induced flux locked to zero value. The transition
to the flux locked state with changing of the total applied flux is sudden and
is preserved in a certain interval which is determined by the difference of the
fluxes applied through each ring. It makes the system sensitive to small
gradients of the external magnetic field.Comment: 8 pages in Latex, 3 figures (eps
Motion of a sphere through an aging system
We have investigated the drag on a sphere falling through a clay suspension
that has a yield stress and exhibits rheological aging. The drag force
increases with both speed and the rest time between preparation of the system
and the start of the experiment, but there exists a nonzero minimum speed below
which steady motion is not possible. We find that only a very thin layer of
material around the sphere is fluidized when it moves, while the rest of
suspension is deformed elastically. This is in marked contrast to what is found
for yield-stress fluids that do not age.Comment: latex, 4 figure
Deceleration of Relativistic Radio Components and the morphologies of Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum Sources
A relativistic radio component, which moves in a direction close to the sky
plane, will increase in flux density when it decelerates. This effect is the
basis for the qualitative model for GPS galaxies we present in this paper,
which can explain their low-variability convex spectrum, their compact double
or compact symmetric morphology, and the lack of GPS quasars at similar
redshifts. Components are expelled from the nucleus at relativistic speeds at a
large angle to the line of sight, and are decelerated (eg. by ram-pressure or
entrainment of the external gas) before contributing to a mini-lobe. The young
components are Doppler boosted in the direction of motion but appear fainter
for the observer. The non-relativistic mini-lobes dominate the structure and
are responsible for the low variability in flux density and the convex radio
spectrum as well as the compact double angular morphology. Had the same source
been orientated at a small angle to the line of sight, the young components
would be boosted in the observer's direction resulting in a flat and variable
radio spectrum at high frequencies. Hence the characteristic convex spectrum of
a GPS source would not be seen. These sources at small angles to the line of
sight are probably identified with quasars, and are not recognized as GPS
sources, but are embedded in the large population of flat spectrum variable
quasars and BL Lac objects. This leads to a deficiency in GPS/CSOs identified
with quasars.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, accepted by A&A 26/Jan/199
WSRT 1.4 GHz Observations of the Hubble Deep Field
We present WSRT 1.38 GHz observations of the Hubble Deep Field (and flanking
fields). 72 hours of data were combined to produce the WSRT's deepest image
yet, achieving an r.m.s. noise level of 8 microJy per beam. We detect radio
emission from galaxies both in the HDF and HFF which have not been previously
detected by recent MERLIN or VLA studies of the field.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in "The Universe at Low Radio
Frequencies", IAU Symposium 199. For colour figures, see
http://www.nfra.nl/~mag/hdf_wsrt.htm
Post-correlation radio frequency interference classification methods
We describe and compare several post-correlation radio frequency interference
classification methods. As data sizes of observations grow with new and
improved telescopes, the need for completely automated, robust methods for
radio frequency interference mitigation is pressing. We investigated several
classification methods and find that, for the data sets we used, the most
accurate among them is the SumThreshold method. This is a new method formed
from a combination of existing techniques, including a new way of thresholding.
This iterative method estimates the astronomical signal by carrying out a
surface fit in the time-frequency plane. With a theoretical accuracy of 95%
recognition and an approximately 0.1% false probability rate in simple
simulated cases, the method is in practice as good as the human eye in finding
RFI. In addition it is fast, robust, does not need a data model before it can
be executed and works in almost all configurations with its default parameters.
The method has been compared using simulated data with several other mitigation
techniques, including one based upon the singular value decomposition of the
time-frequency matrix, and has shown better results than the rest.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures (11 in colour). The software that was used in
the article can be downloaded from http://www.astro.rug.nl/rfi-software
Quantum Monte Carlo Algorithm Based on Two-Body Density Functional Theory for Fermionic Many-Body Systems: Application to 3He
We construct a quantum Monte Carlo algorithm for interacting fermions using
the two-body density as the fundamental quantity. The central idea is mapping
the interacting fermionic system onto an auxiliary system of interacting
bosons. The correction term is approximated using correlated wave functions for
the interacting system, resulting in an effective potential that represents the
nodal surface. We calculate the properties of 3He and find good agreement with
experiment and with other theoretical work. In particular, our results for the
total energy agree well with other calculations where the same approximations
were implemented but the standard quantum Monte Carlo algorithm was usedComment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Response of thin-film SQUIDs to applied fields and vortex fields: Linear SQUIDs
In this paper we analyze the properties of a dc SQUID when the London
penetration depth \lambda is larger than the superconducting film thickness d.
We present equations that govern the static behavior for arbitrary values of
\Lambda = \lambda^2/d relative to the linear dimensions of the SQUID. The
SQUID's critical current I_c depends upon the effective flux \Phi, the magnetic
flux through a contour surrounding the central hole plus a term proportional to
the line integral of the current density around this contour. While it is well
known that the SQUID inductance depends upon \Lambda, we show here that the
focusing of magnetic flux from applied fields and vortex-generated fields into
the central hole of the SQUID also depends upon \Lambda. We apply this
formalism to the simplest case of a linear SQUID of width 2w, consisting of a
coplanar pair of long superconducting strips of separation 2a, connected by two
small Josephson junctions to a superconducting current-input lead at one end
and by a superconducting lead at the other end. The central region of this
SQUID shares many properties with a superconducting coplanar stripline. We
calculate magnetic-field and current-density profiles, the inductance
(including both geometric and kinetic inductances), magnetic moments, and the
effective area as a function of \Lambda/w and a/w.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, revised for Phys. Rev. B, the main revisions
being to denote the effective flux by \Phi rather than
CII* Absorption in Damped Lyman Alpha Systems: (II) A New Window on the Star Formation History of the Universe
Starting from the SFR per unit physical area, determined for DLAs using the C
II* method, we obtain the SFR per unit comoving volume at 3, and
find that it agrees with that for the Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs). Though the
mass of produced stars indicated by the SFRs is consistent with the current
densities of known stellar populations, the mass of metals produced by =2.5
is 30 times larger than detected in absorption in DLAs. The most likely
solutions to this ``missing metals'' problem is that star formation occurs in
compact bulge regions. We search for evidence of feedback and find no
correlations between the SFR per unit area and N(H I), but possible
correlations between SFR per unit area and low-ion velocity width and SFR per
unit area and metal abundance. We show that (a) the correlation between cooling
rate and dust-to-gas ratio is positive evidence for grain photoelectric
heating, (b) the CMB does not significantly populate the C II excited
fine-structure states, and (c) the ratio of CII* to resonance-line optical
depths is a sensitive probe of the multi-phase structure of the DLA gas. We
address recent arguments that DLAs are comprised only of WNM gas, and show them
to be inconclusive. Despite the rough agreement between SFR per unit comoving
volume for DLAs and LBGs, current evidence indicates these are distinct
populations
Quantum Monte Carlo simulation of overpressurized liquid 4He
A diffusion Monte Carlo simulation of superfluid He at zero temperature
and pressures up to 275 bar is presented. Increasing the pressure beyond
freezing ( 25 bar), the liquid enters the overpressurized phase in a
metastable state. In this regime, we report results of the equation of state
and the pressure dependence of the static structure factor, the condensate
fraction, and the excited-state energy corresponding to the roton. Along this
large pressure range, both the condensate fraction and the roton energy
decrease but do not become zero. The roton energies obtained are compared with
recent experimental data in the overpressurized regime.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
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