Age Dating of a High-Redshift QSO B1422+231 at Z=3.62 and its Cosmological Implications

The observed Fe II(UV+optical)/Mg II lambda lambda 2796,2804 flux ratio from a gravitationally lensed quasar B1422+231 at z=3.62 is interpreted in terms of detailed modeling of photoionization and chemical enrichment in the broad-line region (BLR) of the host galaxy. The delayed iron enrichment by Type Ia supernovae is used as a cosmic clock. Our standard model, which matches the Fe II/Mg II ratio, requires the age of 1.5 Gyr for B1422+231 with a lower bound of 1.3 Gyr, which exceeds the expansion age of the Einstein-de Sitter Omega_0=1 universe at a redshift of 3.62 for any value of the Hubble constant in the currently accepted range, H_0=60-80 km,s^{-1},Mpc^{-1}. This problem of an age discrepancy at z=3.62 can be unraveled in a low-density Omega_0<0.2 universe, either with or without a cosmological constant, depending on the allowable redshift range of galaxy formation. However, whether the cosmological constant is a required option in modern cosmology awaits a thorough understanding of line transfer processes in the BLRs.Comment: 7 pages including 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letter

Cold Molecular Gas Along the Merger Sequence in Local Luminous Infrared Galaxies

We present an initial result from the 12CO (J=1-0) survey of 79 galaxies in 62 local luminous and ultra-luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG and ULIRG) systems obtained using the 45 m telescope at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory. This is the systematic 12CO (J=1-0) survey of the Great Observatories All-sky LIRGs Survey (GOALS) sample. The molecular gas mass of the sample ranges 2.2 x 10^8 - 7.0 x 10^9 Msun within the central several kiloparsecs subtending 15" beam. A method to estimate a size of a CO gas distribution is introduced, which is combined with the total CO flux in the literature. The method is applied to a part of our sample and we find that the median CO radius is 1-4 kpc. From the early stage to the late stage of mergers, we find that the CO size decreases while the median value of the molecular gas mass in the central several kpc region is constant. Our results statistically support a scenario where molecular gas inflows towards the central region from the outer disk, to replenish gas consumed by starburst, and that such a process is common in merging LIRGs.Comment: 25 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Directional Soliton and Breather Beams

Solitons and breathers are nonlinear modes that exist in a wide range of physical systems. They are fundamental solutions of a number of nonlinear wave evolution equations, including the uni-directional nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (NLSE). We report the observation of slanted solitons and breathers propagating at an angle with respect to the direction of propagation of the wave field. As the coherence is diagonal, the scale in the crest direction becomes finite, consequently, a beam dynamics forms. Spatio-temporal measurements of the water surface elevation are obtained by stereo-reconstructing the positions of the floating markers placed on a regular lattice and recorded with two synchronized high-speed cameras. Experimental results, based on the predictions obtained from the (2D+1) hyperbolic NLSE equation, are in excellent agreement with the theory. Our study proves the existence of such unique and coherent wave packets and has serious implications for practical applications in optical sciences and physical oceanography. Moreover, unstable wave fields in this geometry may explain the formation of directional large amplitude rogue waves with a finite crest length within a wide range of nonlinear dispersive media, such as Bose-Einstein condensates, plasma, hydrodynamics and optics

Spatially-resolved Radio-to-Far-infrared SED of the Luminous Merger Remnant NGC 1614 with ALMA and VLA

We present the results of Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) 108, 233, 352, and 691 GHz continuum observations and Very Large Array (VLA) 4.81 and 8.36 GHz observations of the nearby luminous merger remnant NGC 1614. By analyzing the beam (1".0 * 1".0) and uv (> 45 k{\lambda}) matched ALMA and VLA maps, we find that the deconvolved source size of lower frequency emission (< 108 GHz) is more compact (420 pc * 380 pc) compared to the higher frequency emission (> 233 GHz) (560 pc * 390 pc), suggesting different physical origins for the continuum emission. Based on an SED model for a dusty starburst galaxy, it is found that the SED can be explained by three components, (1) non-thermal synchrotron emission (traced in the 4.81 and 8.36 GHz continuum), (2) thermal free-free emission (traced in the 108 GHz continuum), and (3) thermal dust emission (traced in the 352 and 691 GHz continuum). We also present the spatially-resolved (sub-kpc scale) Kennicutt-Schmidt relation of NGC 1614. The result suggests a systematically shorter molecular gas depletion time in NGC 1614 (average {\tau}_gas of 49 - 77 Myr and 70 - 226 Myr at the starburst ring and the outer region, respectively) than that of normal disk galaxies (~ 2 Gyr) and a mid-stage merger VV 114 (= 0.1 - 1 Gyr). This implies that the star formation activities in U/LIRGs are efficiently enhanced as the merger stage proceeds, which is consistent with the results from high-resolution numerical merger simulations.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Experimental demonstration of quantum teleportation of a squeezed state

Quantum teleportation of a squeezed state is demonstrated experimentally. Due to some inevitable losses in experiments, a squeezed vacuum necessarily becomes a mixed state which is no longer a minimum uncertainty state. We establish an operational method of evaluation for quantum teleportation of such a state using fidelity, and discuss the classical limit for the state. The measured fidelity for the input state is 0.85$\pm$ 0.05 which is higher than the classical case of 0.73$\pm$0.04. We also verify that the teleportation process operates properly for the nonclassical state input and its squeezed variance is certainly transferred through the process. We observe the smaller variance of the teleported squeezed state than that for the vacuum state input.Comment: 7 pages, 1 new figure, comments adde

Velocity fields of blood flow in microchannels using a confocal micro-PIV system

The in vitro experimental investigations provide an excellent approach to understand complex blood flow phenomena involved at a microscopic level. This paper emphasizes an emerging experimental technique capable to quantify the flow patterns inside microchannels with high spatial and temporal resolution. This technique, known as confocal micro-PIV, consists of a spinning disk confocal microscope, high speed camera and a diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) laser. Velocity profiles of pure water (PW), physiological saline (PS) and in vitro blood were measured in a 100mm glass square and rectangular polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) microchannel. The good agreement obtained between measured and estimated results suggests that this system is a very promising technique to obtain detail information about micro-scale effects in microchannels by using both homogeneous and non-homogeneous fluids such as blood flow.This study was supported in part by the following grants: 21st Century COE Program for Future Medical Engineering based on Bio-nanotechnology, International Doctoral Program in Engineering from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), “Revolutionary Simulation Software (RSS21)” next-generation IT program of MEXT; Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from MEXT and JSPS Scientific Research in Priority Areas (768) “Biomechanics at Micro- and Nanoscale Levels,” Scientific Research (A) No.16200031 “Mechanism of the formation, destruction, and movement of thrombi responsible for ischemia of vital organs.” The authors also thank all members of Esashi, Ono and Tanaka Lab. for their assistance in fabricating the PDMS microchannel

Diffuse galactic light in the field of the translucent high galactic latitude cloud MBM32

We have conducted B-, g-, V-, and R-band imaging in a 45′ × 40′ field containing part of the high Galactic latitude translucent cloud MBM32, and correlated the intensity of diffuse optical light S ν(λ) with that of 100 μm emission S ν(100 μm).

Velocity measurements of blood flow in a rectangular PDMS microchannel assessed by confocal micro-PIV system

This paper examines the ability to measure the velocity of both physiological saline (PS) and in vitro blood in a rectangular polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) microchannel by means of the confocal micro-PIV system. The PDMS microchannel, was fabricated by conventional soft lithography, had a microchannel near to a perfect rectangular shape (300μm wide, 45μm deep) and was optically transparent, which is suitable to measure both PS and in vitro blood using the confocal system. By using this latter combination, the measurements of trace particles seeded in the flow were performed for both fluids at a constant flow rate (Re=0.021). Generally, all the velocity profiles were found to be markedly blunt in the central region mainly due to the low aspect ratio (h/w=0.15) of the rectangular microchannel. Predictions by a theoretical model for the rectangular microchannel have showed fairly good correspondence with the experimental micro-PIV results for the PS fluid. Conversely, for the in vitro blood with 20% haematocrit, small fluctuations were found on velocity profiles.This study was supported in part by the following grants: International Doctoral Program in Engineering from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), “Revolutionary Simulation Software (RSS21)” next-generation IT program of MEXT; Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from MEXT and JSPS Scientific Research in Priority Areas (768) “Biomechanics at Micro- and Nanoscale Levels,” Scientific Research (A) No.16200031 “Mechanism of the formation, destruction, and movement of thrombi responsible for ischemia of vital organs.” The authors also thank all members of Esashi, Ono and Tanaka Lab. for their assistance in fabricating the PDMS microchannel

Spatially resolved CO SLED of the Luminous Merger Remnant NGC 1614 with ALMA

We present high-resolution (1".0) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of CO (1-0) and CO (2- 1) rotational transitions toward the nearby IR-luminous merger NGC 1614 supplemented with ALMA archival data of CO (3-2), and CO (6-5) transitions. The CO (6-5) emission arises from the starburst ring (central 590 pc in radius), while the lower-$J$ CO lines are distributed over the outer disk ($\sim$ 3.3 kpc in radius). Radiative transfer and photon dominated region (PDR) modeling reveal that the starburst ring has a single warmer gas component with more intense far-ultraviolet radiation field ($n_{\rm{H_2}}$ $\sim$ 10$^{4.6}$ cm$^{-3}$, $T_{\rm{kin}}$ $\sim$ 42 K, and $G_{\rm{0}}$ $\sim$ 10$^{2.7}$) relative to the outer disk ($n_{\rm{H_2}}$ $\sim$ 10$^{5.1}$ cm$^{-3}$, $T_{\rm{kin}}$ $\sim$ 22 K, and $G_{\rm{0}}$ $\sim$ 10$^{0.9}$). A two-phase molecular interstellar medium with a warm and cold ($>$ 70 K and $\sim$ 19 K) component is also an applicable model for the starburst ring. A possible source for heating the warm gas component is mechanical heating due to stellar feedback rather than PDR. Furthermore, we find evidence for non-circular motions along the north-south optical bar in the lower-$J$ CO images, suggesting a cold gas inflow. We suggest that star formation in the starburst ring is sustained by the bar-driven cold gas inflow, and starburst activities radiatively and mechanically power the CO excitation. The absence of a bright active galactic nucleus can be explained by a scenario that cold gas accumulating on the starburst ring is exhausted as the fuel for star formation, or is launched as an outflow before being able to feed to the nucleus.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap