2,670 research outputs found
Ion-Neutral Collisions in the Interstellar Medium: Wave Damping and Elimination of Collisionless Processes
Most phases of the interstellar medium contain neutral atoms in addition to
ions and electrons. This introduces differences in plasma physics processes in
those media relative to the solar corona and the solar wind at a heliocentric
distance of 1 astronomical unit. In this paper, we consider two well-diagnosed,
partially-ionized interstellar plasmas. The first is the Diffuse Ionized Gas
(DIG) which is probably the extensive phase in terms of volume. The second is
the gas that makes up the Local Clouds of the Very Local Interstellar Medium
(VLISM). Ion-neutral interactions seem to be important in both media. In the
DIG, ion-neutral collisions are relatively rare, but sufficiently frequent to
damp magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves (as well as propagating MHD eddies) within
less than a parsec of the site of generation. This result raises interesting
questions about the sources of turbulence in the DIG. In the case of the VLISM,
the ion-neutral collision frequency is higher than that in the DIG, because the
hydrogen is partially neutral rather than fully ionized. We present results
showing that prominent features of coronal and solar wind turbulence seem to be
absent in VLISM turbulence. For example, ion temperature does not depend on ion
mass. This difference may be attributable to ion-neutral collisions, which
distribute power from more effectively heated massive ions such as iron to
other ion species and neutral atoms.Comment: Submitted to American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings for
conference "Partially Ionized Plasmas Throughout the Cosmos", Dastgeer
Shaikh, edito
Ultraviolet C II and Si III Transit Spectroscopy and Modeling of the Evaporating Atmosphere of GJ436b
Hydrogen gas evaporating from the atmosphere of the hot-Neptune GJ436b
absorbs over 50% of the stellar Ly emission during transit. Given the
planet's atmospheric composition and energy-limited escape rate, this hydrogen
outflow is expected to entrain heavier atoms such as C and O. We searched for C
and Si in the escaping atmosphere of GJ436b using far-ultraviolet HST COS G130M
observations made during the planet's extended H I transit. These observations
show no transit absorption in the C II 1334,1335 \AA\ and Si III 1206 \AA\
lines integrated over [-100, 100] km s, imposing 95% (2) upper
limits of 14% (C II) and 60% (Si III) depth on the transit of an opaque disk
and 22% (C II) and 49% (Si III) depth on an extended, highly asymmetric transit
similar to that of H I Ly. C is likely present in the outflow
according to a simulation we carried out using a spherically-symmetric,
photochemical-hydrodynamical model. This simulation predicts a 2% transit
over the integrated bandpass, consistent with the data. At line center, we
predict the C II transit depth to be as high as 19%. Our model predicts a
neutral hydrogen escape rate of g s (
g s for all species) for an upper atmosphere composed of hydrogen and
helium.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; accepted to ApJ Letter
Decoherence in a superconducting flux qubit with a pi-junction
We consider the use of a pi-junction for flux qubits to realize degenerate
quantum levels without external magnetic field. On the basis of the
Caldeira-Leggett model, we derive an effective spin-Boson model, and study
decoherece of this type of qubits. We estimate the dephasing time by using
parameters from recent experiments of SIFS junctions, and show that high
critical current and large subgap resistance are required for the pi-junction
to realize a long coherent time.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Low frequency Rabi spectroscopy for a dissipative two-level system
We have analyzed the interaction of a dissipative two level quantum system
with high and low frequency excitation. The system is continuously and
simultaneously irradiated by these two waves. If the frequency of the first
signal is close to the level separation the response of the system exhibits
undamped low frequency oscillations whose amplitude has a clear resonance at
the Rabi frequency with the width being dependent on the damping rates of the
system. The method can be useful for low frequency Rabi spectroscopy in various
physical systems which are described by a two level Hamiltonian, such as nuclei
spins in NMR, double well quantum dots, superconducting flux and charge qubits,
etc. As the examples, the application of the method to a nuclear spin and to
the readout of a flux qubit are briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, the figures are modifie
Far-Ultraviolet Activity Levels of F, G, K, and M dwarf Exoplanet Host Stars
We present a survey of far-ultraviolet (FUV; 1150 - 1450 Ang) emission line
spectra from 71 planet-hosting and 33 non-planet-hosting F, G, K, and M dwarfs
with the goals of characterizing their range of FUV activity levels,
calibrating the FUV activity level to the 90 - 360 Ang extreme-ultraviolet
(EUV) stellar flux, and investigating the potential for FUV emission lines to
probe star-planet interactions (SPIs). We build this emission line sample from
a combination of new and archival observations with the Hubble Space
Telescope-COS and -STIS instruments, targeting the chromospheric and transition
region emission lines of Si III, N V, C II, and Si IV.
We find that the exoplanet host stars, on average, display factors of 5 - 10
lower UV activity levels compared with the non-planet hosting sample; this is
explained by a combination of observational and astrophysical biases in the
selection of stars for radial-velocity planet searches. We demonstrate that UV
activity-rotation relation in the full F - M star sample is characterized by a
power-law decline (with index ~ -1.1), starting at rotation periods
>~3.5 days. Using N V or Si IV spectra and a knowledge of the star's bolometric
flux, we present a new analytic relationship to estimate the intrinsic stellar
EUV irradiance in the 90 - 360 Ang band with an accuracy of roughly a factor of
~2. Finally, we study the correlation between SPI strength and UV activity in
the context of a principal component analysis that controls for the sample
biases. We find that SPIs are not a statistically significant contributor to
the observed UV activity levels.Comment: ApJS, accepted. 33 pages in emulateapj, 13 figures, 10 table
Long range targeting for space based rendezvous
The work performed under this grant supported the Dexterous Flight Experiment one STS-62 The project required developing hardware and software for automating a TRAC sensor on orbit. The hardware developed by for the flight has been documented through standard NASA channels since it has to pass safety, environmental, and other issues. The software has not been documented previously, therefore, this report provides a software manual for the TRAC code developed for the grant
Dynamics of quantum dissipation systems interacting with bosonic canonical bath: Hierarchical equations of motion approach
A nonperturbative theory is developed, aiming at an exact and efficient
evaluation of a general quantum system interacting with arbitrary bath
environment at any temperature and in the presence of arbitrary time-dependent
external fields. An exact hierarchical equations of motion formalism is
constructed on the basis of calculus-on-path-integral algorithm, via the
auxiliary influence generating functionals related to the interaction bath
correlation functions in a parametrization expansion form. The corresponding
continued-fraction Green's functions formalism for quantum dissipation is also
presented. Proposed further is the principle of residue correction, not just
for truncating the infinite hierarchy, but also for incorporating the small
residue dissipation that may arise from the practical difference between the
true and the parametrized bath correlation functions. The final
residue-corrected hierarchical equations of motion can therefore be used
practically for the evaluation of arbitrary dissipative quantum systems.Comment: 12 pages, submitted to PR
Exact quantum master equation for a molecular aggregate coupled to a harmonic bath
We consider a molecular aggregate consisting of identical monomers. Each
monomer comprises two electronic levels and a single harmonic mode. The
monomers interact with each other via dipole-dipole forces. The monomer
vibrational modes are bilinearly coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators.
This is a prototypical model for the description of coherent exciton transport,
from quantum dots to photosynthetic antennae. We derive an exact quantum master
equation for such systems. Computationally, the master equation may be useful
for the testing of various approximations employed in theories of quantum
transport. Physically, it offers a plausible explanation of the origins of
long-lived coherent optical responses of molecular aggregates in dissipative
environments
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