2005–2010 Multiwavelength Campaing of OJ287

The light curve of quasar OJ287 extends from 1891 up today without major gaps. This is partly due to extensive studies of historical plate archives by Rene Hudec and associates, and partly due to several observing campaigns in recent times. Here we summarize the results of the 2005–2010 observing campaign, in which several hundred scientists and amateur astronomers took part. The main results are the following: (1) The 2005 October optical outburst came at the expected time, thus confirming the General Relativistic precession in the binary black hole system, as was originally proposed bySillanp¨a¨a et al. (1988). At the same time, this result disproved the model of a single black hole system with accretion disk oscillations, as well as several toy models of binaries without relativistic precession. In the latter models the main outburst would have been a year later. No particular activity was seen in OJ287 in 2006 October. (2) The nature of the radiation of the 2005 October outburst was expected to be bremsstrahlung from hot gas at a temperature of 3 × 105 K. The reason for the outburst is a collision of the secondary on the accretion disk of the primary, which heats the gas to this temperature. This was confirmed by combined ground based and ultraviolet observations using the XMM-Newton X-ray telescope. (3) A secondary outburst of the same nature was expected at 2007 September 13. Within the accuracy of the observations (about 6 hours), it started at the correct time. Thus the prediction was accurate at the same level as the prediction of the return of Halley’s comet in 1986. Due to the bremsstrahlung nature of the outburst, the radiation was unpolarised, as expected. (4) Further synchrotron outbursts were expected following the two bremsstrahlung outbursts.They came as scheduled between 2007 October and 2009 December. (5) Due to the effect of the secondary on the overall direction of the jet, the parsec scale jet was expected to rotate in the sky by a large angle around 2009. This rotation has been seen in high frequency radio observations. The OJ287 binary black hole system is currently our best laboratory for testing theories of gravitation. Using OJ287, the correctness of General Relativity has now been demonstrated up to second Post-Newtonian order, higher than has been possible using binary pulsars

Charge sensitivity of the Inductive Single-Electron Transistor

We calculate the charge sensitivity of a recently demonstrated device where the Josephson inductance of a single Cooper-pair transistor is measured. We find that the intrinsic limit to detector performance is set by oscillator quantum noise. Sensitivity better than $10^{-6}$e$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ is possible with a high $Q$-value $\sim 10^3$, or using a SQUID amplifier. The model is compared to experiment, where charge sensitivity $3 \times 10^{-5}$e$/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and bandwidth 100 MHz are achieved.Comment: 3 page

Direct Observation of Josephson Capacitance

The effective capacitance has been measured in the split Cooper pair box (CPB) over its phase-gate bias plane. Our low-frequency reactive measurement scheme allows to probe purely the capacitive susceptibility due to the CPB band structure. The data are quantitatively explained using parameters determined independently by spectroscopic means. In addition, we show in practice that the method offers an efficient way to do non-demolition readout of the CPB quantum state.Comment: 4 page

Squeezing of Quantum Noise of Motion in a Micromechanical Resonator

Peer reviewe

Comparison of the levels of organic, elemental and inorganic carbon in particulate matter in six urban environments in Europe

International audienceA series of 7-week sampling campaigns were conducted in urban background sites in the six European cities as follows: Duisburg 4 October?21 November 2002 (autumn), Prague 29 November 2002?16 January 2003 (winter), Amsterdam 24 January?13 March 2003 (winter), Helsinki 21 March?12 May 2003 (spring), Barcelona 28 March?19 May 2003 (spring) and Athens 2 June?21 July 2003 (summer). The campaigns were scheduled to include seasons of local public health concern due to high PM concentrations or findings in previously conducted epidemiological studies. Aerosol samples were collected in parallel with two identical virtual impactors (VI), which divide air PM into two size fractions, PM2.5 and PM2.5-10. The filter samples were analysed with a microbalance, an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), an ion chromatograph (IC) and a thermo-optical carbon analyser (TOA). The PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 campaign means ranged 8.3?29.6 µg m-3 and 5.4?28.7 µg m-3, respectively. The ''wet and cool'' seasons favoured low coarse PM concentration and high fine PM concentration, whereas the spring and summer led to low fine and high coarse PM concentrations. The contribution of particulate organic matter (POM) to PM2.5-10 was highest (27%) in Prague and the lowest (10%) in Barcelona, while those to PM2.5 were generally higher, ranging from 21% in Barcelona to 54% in Prague. The contribution of elemental carbon (EC) to PM2.5-10 were relatively low (1?6%) in all the six European cities but it contributed somewhat higher (5?9%) to PM2.5. The differences are most likely due to variable contributions of local emission sources and seasonal factors such as domestic heating, vehicle exhausts and photochemical reactions. Carbonate, which interferes with carbon analysis by evolving stage at 900°C, was detected in the coarse particles of Athens and Barcelona and it could be separated reliably from OC by a simple integrating method. The calcium carbonate in Athens and Barcelona accounted for 56% and 11% of coarse PM masses, respectively. Carbonate was not found in other cities or in PM2.5. The mean PM2.5 mass portions of five OC thermal fractions (OC1, OC2, OC3, OC4 and OCP) varied in the range 26?33%, 6?10%, 7?10%, 9?22% and 29?50%, respectively, in six cities. The differences in the mass portion profiles were relatively small between the cities

Organic, elemental and inorganic carbon in particulate matter of six urban environments in Europe

International audienceA series of 7-week sampling campaigns were conducted in urban background sites of six European cities as follows: Duisburg (autumn), Prague (winter), Amsterdam (winter), Helsinki (spring), Barcelona (spring) and Athens (summer). The campaigns were scheduled to include seasons of local public health concern due to high particulate concentrations or findings in previously conducted epidemiological studies. Aerosol samples were collected in parallel with two identical virtual impactors that divide air particles into fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) size ranges. From the collected filter samples, elemental (EC) and organic (OC) carbon contents were analysed with a thermal-optical carbon analyser (TOA); total Ca, Ti, Fe, Si, Al and K by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF); As, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS); Ca2+, succinate, malonate and oxalate by ion chromatography (IC); and the sum of levoglucosan+galactosan+mannosan (?MA) by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The campaign means of PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 were 8.3-29.6 µg m-3 and 5.4-28.7 µg m-3, respectively. The contribution of particulate organic matter (POM) to PM2.5 ranged from 21% in Barcelona to 54% in Prague, while that to PM2.5-10 ranged from 10% in Barcelona to 27% in Prague. The contribution of EC was higher to PM2.5 (5-9%) than to PM2.5-10 (1-6%) in all the six campaigns. Carbonate (C(CO3), that interferes with the TOA analysis, was detected in PM2.5-10 of Athens and Barcelona but not elsewhere. It was subtracted from the OC by a simple integration method that was validated. The CaCO3 accounted for 55% and 11% of PM2.5-10 in Athens and Barcelona, respectively. It was anticipated that combustion emissions from vehicle engines affected the POM content in PM2.5 of all the six sampling campaigns, but a comparison of mass concentration ratios of the selected inorganic and organic tracers of common sources of organic material to POM suggested also interesting differences in source dominance during the campaign periods: Prague (biomass and coal combustion), Barcelona (fuel oil combustion, secondary photochemical organics) and Athens (secondary photochemical organics). The on-going toxicological studies will clarify the health significance of these findings

Inverse proximity effect in superconductors near ferromagnetic material

We study the electronic density of states in a mesoscopic superconductor near a transparent interface with a ferromagnetic metal. In our tunnel spectroscopy experiment, a substantial density of states is observed at sub-gap energies close to a ferromagnet. We compare our data with detailed calculations based on the Usadel equation, where the effect of the ferromagnet is treated as an effective boundary condition. We achieve an excellent agreement with theory when non-ideal quality of the interface is taken into account.Comment: revised, 7 pages, 3 figure