3,036 research outputs found
Circuit QED and sudden phase switching in a superconducting qubit array
Superconducting qubits connected in an array can form quantum many-body
systems such as the quantum Ising model. By coupling the qubits to a
superconducting resonator, the combined system forms a circuit QED system.
Here, we study the nonlinear behavior in the many-body state of the qubit array
using a semiclassical approach. We show that sudden switchings as well as a
bistable regime between the ferromagnetic phase and the paramagnetic phase can
be observed in the qubit array. A superconducting circuit to implement this
system is presented with realistic parameters .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publication
Environmental Quenching of Low-Mass Field Galaxies
In the local Universe, there is a strong division in the star-forming
properties of low-mass galaxies, with star formation largely ubiquitous amongst
the field population while satellite systems are predominantly quenched. This
dichotomy implies that environmental processes play the dominant role in
suppressing star formation within this low-mass regime (). As shown by observations of the Local Volume,
however, there is a non-negligible population of passive systems in the field,
which challenges our understanding of quenching at low masses. By applying the
satellite quenching models of Fillingham et al. (2015) to subhalo populations
in the Exploring the Local Volume In Simulations (ELVIS) suite, we investigate
the role of environmental processes in quenching star formation within the
nearby field. Using model parameters that reproduce the satellite quenched
fraction in the Local Group, we predict a quenched fraction -- due solely to
environmental effects -- of within
of the Milky Way and M31. This is in good agreement with current observations
of the Local Volume and suggests that the majority of the passive field systems
observed at these distances are quenched via environmental mechanisms. Beyond
, however, dwarf galaxy quenching becomes difficult to explain
through an interaction with either the Milky Way or M31, such that more
isolated, field dwarfs may be self-quenched as a result of star-formation
feedback.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS accepted version, comments welcome - RIP
Ducky...gone but never forgotte
Taking Care of Business in a Flash: Constraining the Timescale for Low-Mass Satellite Quenching with ELVIS
The vast majority of dwarf satellites orbiting the Milky Way and M31 are
quenched, while comparable galaxies in the field are gas-rich and star-forming.
Assuming that this dichotomy is driven by environmental quenching, we use the
ELVIS suite of N-body simulations to constrain the characteristic timescale
upon which satellites must quench following infall into the virial volumes of
their hosts. The high satellite quenched fraction observed in the Local Group
demands an extremely short quenching timescale (~ 2 Gyr) for dwarf satellites
in the mass range Mstar ~ 10^6-10^8 Msun. This quenching timescale is
significantly shorter than that required to explain the quenched fraction of
more massive satellites (~ 8 Gyr), both in the Local Group and in more massive
host halos, suggesting a dramatic change in the dominant satellite quenching
mechanism at Mstar < 10^8 Msun. Combining our work with the results of
complementary analyses in the literature, we conclude that the suppression of
star formation in massive satellites (Mstar ~ 10^8 - 10^11 Msun) is broadly
consistent with being driven by starvation, such that the satellite quenching
timescale corresponds to the cold gas depletion time. Below a critical stellar
mass scale of ~ 10^8 Msun, however, the required quenching times are much
shorter than the expected cold gas depletion times. Instead, quenching must act
on a timescale comparable to the dynamical time of the host halo. We posit that
ram-pressure stripping can naturally explain this behavior, with the critical
mass (of Mstar ~ 10^8 Msun) corresponding to halos with gravitational restoring
forces that are too weak to overcome the drag force encountered when moving
through an extended, hot circumgalactic medium.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; resubmitted to MNRAS after referee report
(August 25, 2015
Under Pressure: Quenching Star Formation in Low-Mass Satellite Galaxies via Stripping
Recent studies of galaxies in the local Universe, including those in the
Local Group, find that the efficiency of environmental (or satellite) quenching
increases dramatically at satellite stellar masses below ~ . This suggests a physical scale where quenching transitions from a
slow "starvation" mode to a rapid "stripping" mode at low masses. We
investigate the plausibility of this scenario using observed HI surface density
profiles for a sample of 66 nearby galaxies as inputs to analytic calculations
of ram-pressure and viscous stripping. Across a broad range of host properties,
we find that stripping becomes increasingly effective at $M_{*} < 10^{8-9}\
{\rm M}_{\odot}n_{\rm halo} <
10^{-3.5}{\rm cm}^{-3}$), we find that stripping is not fully effective;
infalling satellites are, on average, stripped of < 40 - 70% of their cold gas
reservoir, which is insufficient to match observations. By including a host
halo gas distribution that is clumpy and therefore contains regions of higher
density, we are able to reproduce the observed HI gas fractions (and thus the
high quenched fraction and short quenching timescale) of Local Group
satellites, suggesting that a host halo with clumpy gas may be crucial for
quenching low-mass systems in Local Group-like (and more massive) host halos.Comment: updated version after review, now accepted to MNRAS; Accepted 2016
August 22. Received 2016 August 18; in original form 2016 June 2
The origin of ultra diffuse galaxies: stellar feedback and quenching
We test if the cosmological zoom-in simulations of isolated galaxies from the
FIRE project reproduce the properties of ultra diffuse galaxies. We show that
stellar feedback-generated outflows that dynamically heat galactic stars,
together with a passively aging stellar population after imposed quenching
(from e.g. infall into a galaxy cluster), naturally reproduce the observed
population of red UDGs, without the need for high spin halos or dynamical
influence from their host cluster. We reproduce the range of surface
brightness, radius and absolute magnitude of the observed z=0 red UDGs by
quenching simulated galaxies at a range of different times. They represent a
mostly uniform population of dark matter-dominated galaxies with M_star ~1e8
Msun, low metallicity and a broad range of ages. The most massive simulated
UDGs require earliest quenching and are therefore the oldest. Our simulations
provide a good match to the central enclosed masses and the velocity
dispersions of the observed UDGs (20-50 km/s). The enclosed masses of the
simulated UDGs remain largely fixed across a broad range of quenching times
because the central regions of their dark matter halos complete their growth
early. A typical UDG forms in a dwarf halo mass range of Mh~4e10-1e11 Msun. The
most massive red UDG in our sample requires quenching at z~3 when its halo
reached Mh ~ 1e11 Msun. If it, instead, continues growing in the field, by z=0
its halo mass reaches > 5e11 Msun, comparable to the halo of an L* galaxy. If
our simulated dwarfs are not quenched, they evolve into bluer low-surface
brightness galaxies with mass-to-light ratios similar to observed field dwarfs.
While our simulation sample covers a limited range of formation histories and
halo masses, we predict that UDG is a common, and perhaps even dominant, galaxy
type around Ms~1e8 Msun, both in the field and in clusters.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures; match the MNRAS accepted versio
A dilemma in representing observables in quantum mechanics
There are self-adjoint operators which determine both spectral and
semispectral measures. These measures have very different commutativity and
covariance properties. This fact poses a serious question on the physical
meaning of such a self-adjoint operator and its associated operator measures.Comment: 10 page
Physical aspects of oracles for randomness, and Hadamard's conjecture
We analyze the physical aspects and origins of currently proposed oracles for
(absolute) randomness.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1405.140
Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs: The Northern Sample I
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars (NStars)/
Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program to obtain spectra,
spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physical parameters for the 3600
dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs of the sun. In this
paper we report on the results of this project for the first 664 stars in the
northern hemisphere. These results include precise, homogeneous spectral types,
basic physical parameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity
and the overall metallicity, [M/H]) and measures of the chromospheric activity
of our program stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper are
also available on the project's website at http://stellar.phys.appstate.edu/
Polarimetric variations of binary stars. III Periodic polarimetric variations of the Herbig Ae/Be star MWC 1080
We present polarimetric observations of a massive pre-main sequence
short-period binary star of the Herbig Ae/Be type, MWC 1080. The mean
polarization at 7660 A is 1.60% at 81.6 deg, or 0.6% at 139 deg if an estimate
of the interstellar polarization is subtracted. The intrinsic polarization
points to an asymmetric geometry of the circumstellar or circumbinary
environment while the 139 deg intrinsic position angle traces the axis of
symmetry of the system and is perpendicular to the position angle of the
outflow cavity. The polarization and its position angle are clearly variable,
at all wavelengths, and on time scales of hours, days, months, and years.
Stochastic variability is accompanied by periodic variations caused by the
orbital motion of the stars in their dusty environment. These periodic
polarimetric variations are the first phased-locked ones detected for a
pre-main sequence binary. The variations are not simply double-periodic (seen
twice per orbit) but include single-periodic (seen once per orbit) and
higher-order variations. The presence of single-periodic variations could be
due to non equal mass stars, the presence of dust grains, an asymmetric
configuration of the circumstellar or circumbinary material, or the
eccentricity of the orbit. MWC 1080 is an eclipsing binary with primary and
secondary eclipses occurring at phases 0.0 and 0.55. The signatures of the
eclipses are seen in the polarimetric observations.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the Astronomical Journa
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