Detection of CO in Triton's atmosphere and the nature of surface-atmosphere interactions

Triton possesses a thin atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen, sustained by the sublimation of surface ices. The goal is to determine the composition of Triton's atmosphere and to constrain the nature of surface-atmosphere interactions. We perform high-resolution spectroscopic observations in the 2.32-2.37 $\mu$m range, using CRIRES at the VLT. From this first spectroscopic detection of Triton's atmosphere in the infrared, we report (i) the first observation of gaseous methane since its discovery in the ultraviolet by Voyager in 1989 and (ii) the first ever detection of gaseous CO in the satellite. The CO atmospheric abundance is remarkably similar to its surface abundance, and appears to be controlled by a thin, CO-enriched, surface veneer resulting from seasonal transport and/or atmospheric escape. The CH$_4$ partial pressure is several times larger than inferred from Voyager. This confirms that Triton's atmosphere is seasonally variable and is best interpreted by the warming of CH$_4$-rich icy grains as Triton passed southern summer solstice in 2000. The presence of CO in Triton's atmosphere also affects its temperature, photochemistry and ionospheric composition. An improved upper limit on CO in Pluto's atmosphere is also reported.Comment: 11 pages, including 4 figures and 2 on-line figures Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press (accepted March 13, 2010

Geometry versus Entanglement in Resonating Valence Bond Liquids

We investigate the behavior of bipartite as well as genuine multipartite entanglement of a resonating valence bond state on a ladder. We show that the system possesses significant amounts of bipartite entanglement in the steps of the ladder while no substantial bipartite entanglement is present in the rails. Genuine multipartite entanglement present in the system is negligible. The results are in stark contrast with the entanglement properties of the same state on isotropic lattices in two and higher dimensions, indicating that the geometry of the lattice can have important implications on the quality of quantum information and other tasks that can be performed by using multiparty states on that lattice.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX

Clear and Compress: Computing Persistent Homology in Chunks

We present a parallelizable algorithm for computing the persistent homology of a filtered chain complex. Our approach differs from the commonly used reduction algorithm by first computing persistence pairs within local chunks, then simplifying the unpaired columns, and finally applying standard reduction on the simplified matrix. The approach generalizes a technique by G\"unther et al., which uses discrete Morse Theory to compute persistence; we derive the same worst-case complexity bound in a more general context. The algorithm employs several practical optimization techniques which are of independent interest. Our sequential implementation of the algorithm is competitive with state-of-the-art methods, and we improve the performance through parallelized computation.Comment: This result was presented at TopoInVis 2013 (http://www.sci.utah.edu/topoinvis13.html

BCS-BEC crossover of neutron pairs in symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter

We propose new types of density dependent contact pairing interaction which reproduce the pairing gaps in symmetric and neutron matter obtained by a microscopic treatment based on the nucleon-nucleon interaction. These interactions are able to simulate the pairing gaps of either the bare interaction or the interaction screened by the medium polarization effects. It is shown that the medium polarization effects cannot be cast into the density power law function usually introduced together with the contact interaction and require the introduction of another isoscalar term. The BCS-BEC crossover of neutrons pairs in symmetric and symmetric nuclear matter is studied by using these contact interactions. It is shown that the bare and screened pairing interactions lead to different features of the BCS-BEC crossover in symmetric nuclear matter. For the screened pairing interaction, a two-neutron BEC state is formed in symmetric matter at $k_{Fn}\sim 0.2$ fm$^{-1}$ (neutron density $\rho_n/\rho_0\sim 10^{-3}$). Contrary the bare interaction does not form the BEC state at any neutron density

Exploring the spatial, temporal, and vertical distribution of methane in Pluto's atmosphere

High-resolution spectra of Pluto in the 1.66 um region, recorded with the VLT/CRIRES instrument in 2008 (2 spectra) and 2012 (5 spectra), are analyzed to constrain the spatial and vertical distribution of methane in Pluto's atmosphere and to search for mid-term (4 year) variability. A sensitivity study to model assumptions (temperature structure, surface pressure, Pluto's radius) is performed. Results indicate that (i) no variation of the CH4 atmospheric content (column-density or mixing ratio) with Pluto rotational phase is present in excess of 20 % (ii) CH4 column densities show at most marginal variations between 2008 and 2012, with a best guess estimate of a ~20 % decrease over this time frame. As stellar occultations indicate that Pluto's surface pressure has continued to increase over this period, this implies a concomitant decrease of the methane mixing ratio (iii) the data do not show evidence for an altitude-varying methane distribution; in particular, they imply a roughly uniform mixing ratio in at least the first 22-27 km of the atmosphere, and high concentrations of low-temperature methane near the surface can be ruled out. Our results are also best consistent with a relatively large (> 1180 km) Pluto radius. Comparison with predictions from a recently developed global climate model GCM indicates that these features are best explained if the source of methane occurs in regional-scale CH4 ice deposits, including both low latitudes and high Northern latitudes, evidence for which is present from the rotational and secular evolution of the near-IR features due to CH4 ice. Our "best guess" predictions for the New Horizons encounter in 2015 are: a 1184 km radius, a 17 ubar surface pressure, and a 0.44 % CH4 mixing ratio with negligible longitudinal variations.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

Effect of Poisson ratio on cellular structure formation

Mechanically active cells in soft media act as force dipoles. The resulting elastic interactions are long-ranged and favor the formation of strings. We show analytically that due to screening, the effective interaction between strings decays exponentially, with a decay length determined only by geometry. Both for disordered and ordered arrangements of cells, we predict novel phase transitions from paraelastic to ferroelastic and anti-ferroelastic phases as a function of Poisson ratio.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 Postscript figures include

Nuclear Pairing in the T=0 channel revisited

Recent published data on the isoscalar gap in symmetric nuclear matter using the Paris force and the corresponding BHF single particle dispersion are corrected leading to an extremely high proton-neutron gap of $\Delta \sim 8$ MeV at $\rho \sim 0.5\rho_0$. Arguments whether this value can be reduced due to screening effects are discussed. A density dependent delta interaction with cut off is adjusted so as to approximately reproduce the nuclear matter values with the Paris force.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Floquet analysis of excitations in materials

Controlled excitation of materials can transiently induce changed or novel properties with many fundamental and technological implications. Especially, the concept of Floquet engineering and the manipulation of the electronic structure via dressing with external lasers have attracted some recent interest. Here we review the progress made in defining Floquet material properties and give a special focus on their signatures in experimental observables as well as considering recent experiments realizing Floquet phases in solid state materials. We discuss how a wide range of experiments with non-equilibrium electronic structure can be viewed by employing Floquet theory as an analysis tool providing a different view of excitations in solids