Fabrication and Characterization of Metal Carbide-graphite Composites

Hot press fabrication effects on phase equilibrium and physical properties of refractory metal carbide-graphite composite

Helium Recombination Lines as a Probe of Abundance and Temperature Problems

The paper presents a simplified formula to determine an electron temperature, Te(He I), for planetary nebulae (PNe) using the He I 7281/6678 line flux ratio. In our previous studies of Te(He I) (Zhang et al. 2005), we used the He I line emission coefficients given by Benjamin et al. (1999). Here we examine the results of using more recent atomic data presented by Porter et al. (2005). A good agreement is shown, suggesting that the effect of uncertainties of atomic data on the resultant Te(He I) is negligible. We also present an analytical formula to derive electron temperature using the He I discontinuity at 3421 A. Our analysis shows that Te(He I) values are significantly lower than electron temperatures deduced from the Balmer jump of H I recombination spectra, Te(H I), and that inferred from the collisionally excited [O III] nebular-to-auroral forbidden line flux ratio, Te([O III]). In addition, Te(H I) covers a wider range of values than either Te(He I) or Te([O III]). This supports the two-abundance nebular model with hydrogen-deficient material embedded in diffuse gas of a ``normal'' chemical composition (i.e. ~solar).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the RevMexAA proceedings of "The Ninth Texas-Mexico Conference on Astrophysics

EPR experiment and 2-photon interferometry: Report of a 2-photon interference experiment

After a very brief review of the historical Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) experiments, a new two-photon interference type EPR experiment is reported. A two-photon state was generated by optical parametric down conversion. Pairs of light quanta with degenerate frequency but divergent directions of propagation were sent to two independent Michelson interferometers. First and second order interference effectors were studied. Different than other reports, we observed that the second order interference visibility vanished when the optical path difference of the interferometers were much less than the coherence length of the pumping laser beam. However, we also observed that the second order interference behaved differently depending on whether the interferometers were set at equal or different optical path differences

Comment on ``Dispersion-Independent High-Visibility Quantum Interference ... "

We show in this Comment that the interpretation of experimental data as well as the theory presented in Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)] are incorrect and discuss why such a scheme cannot be used to "recover" high-visibility quantum interference.Comment: Comment on Atat\"ure et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 618 (2000)], 2nd revision, To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. April, (2001

Spitzer reveals what's behind Orion's Bar

We present Spitzer Space Telescope observations of 11 regions SE of the Bright Bar in the Orion Nebula, along a radial from the exciting star theta1OriC, extending from 2.6 to 12.1'. Our Cycle 5 programme obtained deep spectra with matching IRS short-high (SH) and long-high (LH) aperture grid patterns. Most previous IR missions observed only the inner few arcmin. Orion is the benchmark for studies of the ISM particularly for elemental abundances. Spitzer observations provide a unique perspective on the Ne and S abundances by virtue of observing the dominant ionization states of Ne (Ne+, Ne++) and S (S++, S3+) in Orion and H II regions in general. The Ne/H abundance ratio is especially well determined, with a value of (1.01+/-0.08)E-4. We obtained corresponding new ground-based spectra at CTIO. These optical data are used to estimate the electron temperature, electron density, optical extinction, and the S+/S++ ratio at each of our Spitzer positions. That permits an adjustment for the total gas-phase S abundance because no S+ line is observed by Spitzer. The gas-phase S/H abundance ratio is (7.68+/-0.30)E-6. The Ne/S abundance ratio may be determined even when the weaker hydrogen line, H(7-6) here, is not measured. The mean value, adjusted for the optical S+/S++ ratio, is Ne/S = 13.0+/-0.6. We derive the electron density versus distance from theta1OriC for [S III] and [S II]. Both distributions are for the most part decreasing with increasing distance. A dramatic find is the presence of high-ionization Ne++ all the way to the outer optical boundary ~12' from theta1OriC. This IR result is robust, whereas the optical evidence from observations of high-ionization species (e.g. O++) at the outer optical boundary suffers uncertainty because of scattering of emission from the much brighter inner Huygens Region.Comment: 60 pages, 16 figures, 10 tables. MNRAS accepte

Correlation transfer from basal ganglia to thalamus in Parkinson’s disease

There is much experimental evidence that neurons located in the basal ganglia of parkinsonian primates show increased pairwise correlations, oscillatory activity, and burst rate compared to normal brain activity. Past computational work has suggested that such changes in the firing pattern of neurons in the globus pallidus internus (GPi), the main output nucleus of the basal ganglia, may compromise thalamocortical relay capabilities. To understand how changes in the patterns of basal ganglia activity affect correlation transfer, we study pairs of realistic models of thalamocortical (TC) relay neurons receiving correlated inhibitory input from the GPi, as well as uncorrelated excitatory signals from cortex. We observe that bursty firing patterns such as those seen in the parkinsonian GPi allow for stronger transfer of correlations and higher correlation susceptibility than do firing patterns found under normal conditions. We also show that removing the T-current in the TC neurons does not significantly affect the correlation transfer, despite its pronounced effects on the spiking of the neurons. Oscillatory firing patterns in GPi are shown to affect the time scale at which correlations are best transferred through the system. We obtain the same results using an integrate-and-fire-or-burst (IFB) model of TC neurons as we do with a more realistic conductance-based model of the TC neurons, suggesting that the IFB model is a good reduced model for studying correlation transfer. In a reduced point process model, we derive analytic calculations of the spike count correlation coefficient for the time-inhomogeneous case. The analysis indicates that the rhythms seen in the transfer of correlations at varying time scales are very robust to different levels of spike correlations and rate correlations between the neurons. It also points to the fact that these rhythms can be seen because of differences in instantaneous spike correlations, even when the long time scale rhythmic modulation of the neurons in identical. Overall, these results show that parkinsonian firing patterns in GPi do indeed affect the way that correlations are transferred to the thalamus

Testing MONDian Dark Matter with Galactic Rotation Curves

MONDian dark matter (MDM) is a new form of dark matter quantum that naturally accounts for Milgrom's scaling, usually associated with modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND), and theoretically behaves like cold dark matter (CDM) at cluster and cosmic scales. In this paper, we provide the first observational test of MDM by fitting rotation curves to a sample of 30 local spiral galaxies (z approximately 0.003). For comparison, we also fit the galactic rotation curves using MOND, and CDM. We find that all three models fit the data well. The rotation curves predicted by MDM and MOND are virtually indistinguishable over the range of observed radii (~1 to 30 kpc). The best-fit MDM and CDM density profiles are compared. We also compare with MDM the dark matter density profiles arising from MOND if Milgrom's formula is interpreted as Newtonian gravity with an extra source term instead of as a modification of inertia. We find that discrepancies between MDM and MOND will occur near the center of a typical spiral galaxy. In these regions, instead of continuing to rise sharply, the MDM mass density turns over and drops as we approach the center of the galaxy. Our results show that MDM, which restricts the nature of the dark matter quantum by accounting for Milgrom's scaling, accurately reproduces observed rotation curves.Comment: Preprint number IPMU13-0147. Accepted for publication in Ap

Dark Energy and Extending the Geodesic Equations of Motion: Connecting the Galactic and Cosmological Length Scales

Recently, an extension of the geodesic equations of motion using the Dark Energy length scale was proposed. Here, we apply this extension to the analyzing the motion of test particles at the galactic scale and longer. A cosmological check of the extension is made using the observed rotational velocity curves and core sizes of 1393 spiral galaxies. We derive the density profile of a model galaxy using this extension, and with it, we calculate $\sigma_8$ to be $0.73_{\pm 0.12}$; this is within experimental error of the WMAP value of $0.761_{-0.048}^{+0.049}$. We then calculate $R_{200}$ to be $206_{\pm 53}$ kpc, which is in reasonable agreement with observations.Comment: 25 pages. Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitation. Paper contains the published version of the second half of arXiv:0711.3124v2 with corrections include

Gravitational Wave Bursts from Collisions of Primordial Black Holes in Clusters

The rate of gravitational wave bursts from the mergers of massive primordial black holes in clusters is calculated. Such clusters of black holes can be formed through phase transitions in the early Universe. The central black holes in clusters can serve as the seeds of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. The expected burst detection rate by the LISA gravitational wave detector is estimated.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure