21,690 research outputs found
Vacuum field energy and spontaneous emission in anomalously dispersive cavities
Anomalously dispersive cavities, particularly white light cavities, may have
larger bandwidth to finesse ratios than their normally dispersive counterparts.
Partly for this reason, their use has been proposed for use in LIGO-like
gravity wave detectors and in ring-laser gyroscopes. In this paper we analyze
the quantum noise associated with anomalously dispersive cavity modes. The
vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode is proportional to
the cavity-averaged group velocity of that mode. For anomalously dispersive
cavities with group index values between 1 and 0, this means that the total
vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode must exceed . For white light cavities in particular, the group index approaches
zero and the vacuum field energy of a particular spatial mode may be
significantly enhanced. We predict enhanced spontaneous emission rates into
anomalously dispersive cavity modes and broadened laser linewidths when the
linewidth of intracavity emitters is broader than the cavity linewidth.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Sub-au imaging of water vapour clouds around four Asymptotic Giant Branch stars
We present MERLIN maps of the 22-GHz H2O masers around four low-mass
late-type stars (IK Tau U Ori, RT Vir and U Her), made with an angular
resolution of ~ 15 milliarcsec and a velocity resolution of 0.1 km s-1. The H2O
masers are found in thick expanding shells with inner radii ~ 6 to 16 au and
outer radii four times larger. The expansion velocity increases radially
through the H2O maser regions, with logarithmic velocity gradients of 0.5--0.9.
IK Tau and RT Vir have well-filled H2O maser shells with a spatial offset
between the near and far sides of the shell, which suggests that the masers are
distributed in oblate spheroids inclined to the line of sight. U Ori and U Her
have elongated poorly-filled shells with indications that the masers at the
inner edge have been compressed by shocks; these stars also show OH maser
flares. MERLIN resolves individual maser clouds, which have diameters of 2 -- 4
au and filling factors of only ~ 0.01 with respect to the whole H2O maser
shells. The CSE velocity structure gives additional evidence the maser clouds
are density bounded. Masing clouds can be identified over a similar timescale
to their sound crossing time (~2 yr) but not longer. The sizes and observed
lifetimes of these clouds are an order of magnitude smaller than those around
red supergiants, similar to the ratio of low-mass:high-mass stellar masses and
sizes. This suggests that cloud size is determined by stellar properties, not
local physical phenomena in the wind.Comment: 21 pages, including 14 figures and 8 tables. Accepted for publication
in MNRA
Cotunneling drag effect in Coulomb-coupled quantum dots
In Coulomb drag, a current flowing in one conductor can induce a voltage
across an adjacent conductor via the Coulomb interaction. The mechanisms
yielding drag effects are not always understood, even though drag effects are
sufficiently general to be seen in many low-dimensional systems. In this
Letter, we observe Coulomb drag in a Coulomb-coupled double quantum dot
(CC-DQD) and, through both experimental and theoretical arguments, identify
cotunneling as essential to obtaining a correct qualitative understanding of
the drag behavior.Comment: Main text: 5 pages, 5 figures; SM: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Unconventional and conventional quantum criticalities in CeRhIrIn
An appropriate description of the state of matter that appears as a second
order phase transition is tuned toward zero temperature, {\it viz.}
quantum-critical point (QCP), poses fundamental and still not fully answered
questions. Experiments are needed both to test basic conclusions and to guide
further refinement of theoretical models. Here, charge and entropy transport
properties as well as AC specific heat of the heavy-fermion compound
CeRhIrIn, measured as a function of pressure, reveal two
qualitatively different QCPs in a {\it single} material driven by a {\it
single} non-symmetry-breaking tuning parameter. A discontinuous sign-change
jump in thermopower suggests an unconventional QCP at accompanied by
an abrupt Fermi-surface reconstruction that is followed by a conventional
spin-density-wave critical point at across which the Fermi surface
evolves smoothly to a heavy Fermi-liquid state. These experiments are
consistent with some theoretical predictions, including the sequence of
critical points and the temperature dependence of the thermopower in their
vicinity.Comment: 21+3 pages, 4+2 figures. Change the title, figures et a
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