1,211 research outputs found
Spectral signatures of the BCS-BEC crossover in the excitonic insulator phase of the extended Falicov-Kimball model
We explore the spontaneous formation of an excitonic insulator state at the
semimetal-semiconductor transition of mixed-valence materials in the framework
of the spinless Falicov-Kimball model with direct - electron hopping.
Adapting the projector-based renormalization method, we obtain a set of
renormalization differential equations for the extended Falicov-Kimball model
parameters and finally derive analytical expressions for the order parameter,
as well as for the renormalized - and -electron dispersions, momentum
distributions, and wave-vector resolved single-particle spectral functions. Our
numerical results proved the valence transition picture, related to the
appearance of the excitonic insulator phase, in the case of overlapping and
bands. Thereby the photoemission spectra show significant differences
between the weak-to-intermediate and intermediate-to-strong Coulomb attraction
regimes, indicating a BCS-BEC transition of the excitonic condensate.Comment: final version, minor corrections in the text, references update
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of UV Oscillations in WZ Sagittae During the Decline from Outburst
We present a time series analysis of Hubble Space Telescope observations of
WZ Sge obtained in 2001 September, October, November and December as WZ Sge
declined from its 2001 July superoutburst. Previous analysis of these data
showed the temperature of the white dwarf decreased from ~29,000 K to ~18,000
K. In this study we binned the spectra over wavelength to yield ultraviolet
light curves at each epoch that were then analyzed for the presence of the
well-known 27.87 s and 28.96 s oscillations. We detect the 29 s periodicity at
all four epochs, but the 28 s periodicity is absent. The origin of these
oscillations has been debated since their discovery in the 1970s and competing
hypotheses are based on either white dwarf non-radial g-mode pulsations or
magnetically-channelled accretion onto a rotating white dwarf. By analogy with
the ZZ Ceti stars, we argue that the non-radial g-mode pulsation model demands
a strong dependence of pulse period on the white dwarf's temperature. However,
these observations show the 29 s oscillation is independent of the white
dwarf's temperature. Thus we reject the white dwarf non-radial g-mode pulsation
hypothesis as the sole origin of the oscillations. It remains unclear if
magnetically-funnelled accretion onto a rapidly rotating white dwarf (or belt
on the white dwarf) is responsible for producing the oscillations. We also
report the detection of a QPO with period ~18 s in the September light curve.
The amplitudes of the 29 s oscillation and the QPO vary erratically on short
timescales and are not correlated with the mean system brightness nor with each
other.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in Ap
Comparative susceptibility of mosquito populations in North Queensland, Australia to oral infection with dengue virus.
Dengue is the most prevalent arthropod-borne virus, with at least 40% of the world's population at risk of infection each year. In Australia, dengue is not endemic, but viremic travelers trigger outbreaks involving hundreds of cases. We compared the susceptibility of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from two geographically isolated populations to two strains of dengue virus serotype 2. We found, interestingly, that mosquitoes from a city with no history of dengue were more susceptible to virus than mosquitoes from an outbreak-prone region, particularly with respect to one dengue strain. These findings suggest recent evolution of population-based differences in vector competence or different historical origins. Future genomic comparisons of these populations could reveal the genetic basis of vector competence and the relative role of selection and stochastic processes in shaping their differences. Lastly, we show the novel finding of a correlation between midgut dengue titer and titer in tissues colonized after dissemination
Inheritance, Biochemical Abnormalities, and Clinical Features of Feline Mucolipidosis II: The First Animal Model of Human I-Cell Disease
Mucolipidosis II (ML II), also called I-cell disease, is a unique lysosomal storage disease caused by deficient activity of the enzyme N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase, which leads to a failure to internalize enzymes into lysosomes. We report on a colony of domestic shorthair cats with ML II that was established from a half-sibling male of an affected cat. Ten male and 9 female kittens out of 89 kittens in 26 litters born to clinically normal parents were affected; this is consistent with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. The activities of three lysosomal enzymes from affected kittens, compared to normal adult control cats, were high in serum (11-73 times normal) but low in cultured fibroblasts (9-56% of normal range) that contained inclusion bodies (I-cells), reflecting the unique enzyme defect in ML II. Serum lysosomal enzyme activities of adult obligate carriers were intermediate between normal and affected values. Clinical features in affected kittens were observed from birth and included failure to thrive, behavioral dullness, facial dysmorphia, and ataxia. Radiographic lesions included metaphyseal flaring, radial bowing, joint laxity, and vertebral fusion. In contrast to human ML II, diffuse retinal degeneration leading to blindness by 4 months of age was seen in affected kittens. All clinical signs were progressive and euthanasia or death invariably occurred within the first few days to 7 months of life, often due to upper respiratory disease or cardiac failure. The clinical and radiographic features, lysosomal enzyme activities, and mode of inheritance are homologous with ML II in humans. Feline ML II is currently the only animal model in which to study the pathogenesis of and therapeutic interventions for this unique storage diseas
Astrometric Microlensing with the GAIA satellite
GAIA is the ``super-Hipparcos'' survey satellite selected as a Cornerstone 6
mission by the European Space Agency. GAIA can measure microlensing by the
small excursions of the light centroid that occur during events. The all-sky
source-averaged astrometric microlensing optical depth is about 10^{-5}. Some
25000 sources will have a significant variation of the centroid shift, together
with a closest approach, during the lifetime of the mission. A covariance
analysis is used to study the propagation of errors and the estimation of
parameters from realistic sampling of the GAIA datastream of transits in the
along-scan direction during microlensing events. Monte Carlo simulations are
used to study the 2500 events for which the mass can be recovered with an error
of less than 50 per cent. These high quality events are dominated by disk
lenses within a few tens of parsecs and source stars within a few hundred
parsecs. We show that the local mass function can be recovered from the high
quality sample to good accuracy. GAIA is the first instrument with the
capabilities of measuring the mass locally in very faint objects like black
holes and very cool white and brown dwarfs. For only 5 per cent of all
astrometric events will GAIA record even one photometric datapoint. There is a
need for a dedicated telescope that densely samples the Galactic Centre and
spiral arms, as this can improve the accuracy of parameter estimation by a
factor of about 10.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, MNRAS, in pres
Consistency of cosmic microwave background temperature measurements in three frequency bands in the 2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey
We present an internal consistency test of South Pole Telescope (SPT)
measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy
using three-band data from the SPT-SZ survey. These measurements are made from
observations of ~2500 deg^2 of sky in three frequency bands centered at 95,
150, and 220 GHz. We combine the information from these three bands into six
semi-independent estimates of the CMB power spectrum (three single-frequency
power spectra and three cross-frequency spectra) over the multipole range 650 <
l < 3000. We subtract an estimate of foreground power from each power spectrum
and evaluate the consistency among the resulting CMB-only spectra. We determine
that the six foreground-cleaned power spectra are consistent with the null
hypothesis, in which the six cleaned spectra contain only CMB power and noise.
A fit of the data to this model results in a chi-squared value of 236.3 for 235
degrees of freedom, and the probability to exceed this chi-squared value is
46%.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, current version matches version published in
JCA
A measurement of secondary cosmic microwave background anisotropies with two years of South Pole Telescope observations
We present the first three-frequency South Pole Telescope (SPT) cosmic
microwave background (CMB) power spectra. The band powers presented here cover
angular scales 2000 < ell < 9400 in frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and
220 GHz. At these frequencies and angular scales, a combination of the primary
CMB anisotropy, thermal and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effects, radio
galaxies, and cosmic infrared background (CIB) contributes to the signal. We
combine Planck and SPT data at 220 GHz to constrain the amplitude and shape of
the CIB power spectrum and find strong evidence for non-linear clustering. We
explore the SZ results using a variety of cosmological models for the CMB and
CIB anisotropies and find them to be robust with one exception: allowing for
spatial correlations between the thermal SZ effect and CIB significantly
degrades the SZ constraints. Neglecting this potential correlation, we find the
thermal SZ power at 150 GHz and ell = 3000 to be 3.65 +/- 0.69 muK^2, and set
an upper limit on the kinetic SZ power to be less than 2.8 muK^2 at 95%
confidence. When a correlation between the thermal SZ and CIB is allowed, we
constrain a linear combination of thermal and kinetic SZ power: D_{3000}^{tSZ}
+ 0.5 D_{3000}^{kSZ} = 4.60 +/- 0.63 muK^2, consistent with earlier
measurements. We use the measured thermal SZ power and an analytic, thermal SZ
model calibrated with simulations to determine sigma8 = 0.807 +/- 0.016.
Modeling uncertainties involving the astrophysics of the intracluster medium
rather than the statistical uncertainty in the measured band powers are the
dominant source of uncertainty on sigma8 . We also place an upper limit on the
kinetic SZ power produced by patchy reionization; a companion paper uses these
limits to constrain the reionization history of the Universe.Comment: 25 pages; 14 figures; Submitted to ApJ (Updated to reflect referee
comments
A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Damping Tail from the 2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey
We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature
power spectrum using data from the recently completed South Pole Telescope
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. This measurement is made from observations
of 2540 deg of sky with arcminute resolution at GHz, and improves
upon previous measurements using the SPT by tripling the sky area. We report
CMB temperature anisotropy power over the multipole range . We
fit the SPT bandpowers, combined with the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) data, with a six-parameter LCDM cosmological model and
find that the two datasets are consistent and well fit by the model. Adding SPT
measurements significantly improves LCDM parameter constraints; in particular,
the constraint on tightens by a factor of 2.7. The impact of
gravitational lensing is detected at , the most significant
detection to date. This sensitivity of the SPT+WMAP7 data to lensing by
large-scale structure at low redshifts allows us to constrain the mean
curvature of the observable universe with CMB data alone to be
. Using the SPT+WMAP7 data, we measure the
spectral index of scalar fluctuations to be in the LCDM
model, a preference for a scale-dependent spectrum with .
The SPT measurement of the CMB damping tail helps break the degeneracy that
exists between the tensor-to-scalar ratio and in large-scale CMB
measurements, leading to an upper limit of (95%,C.L.) in the LCDM+
model. Adding low-redshift measurements of the Hubble constant () and the
baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature to the SPT+WMAP7 data leads to
further improvements. The combination of SPT+WMAP7++BAO constrains
in the LCDM model, a detection of , ... [abridged]Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Replaced with version accepted by ApJ. Data
products are available at http://pole.uchicago.edu/public/data/story12
A Comparison of Cosmological Parameters Determined from CMB Temperature Power Spectra from the South Pole Telescope and the Planck Satellite
The Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature data are best fit
with a LCDM model that is in mild tension with constraints from other
cosmological probes. The South Pole Telescope (SPT) 2540 SPT-SZ
survey offers measurements on sub-degree angular scales (multipoles ) with sufficient precision to use as an independent check of
the Planck data. Here we build on the recent joint analysis of the SPT-SZ and
Planck data in \citet{hou17} by comparing LCDM parameter estimates using the
temperature power spectrum from both data sets in the SPT-SZ survey region. We
also restrict the multipole range used in parameter fitting to focus on modes
measured well by both SPT and Planck, thereby greatly reducing sample variance
as a driver of parameter differences and creating a stringent test for
systematic errors. We find no evidence of systematic errors from such tests.
When we expand the maximum multipole of SPT data used, we see low-significance
shifts in the angular scale of the sound horizon and the physical baryon and
cold dark matter densities, with a resulting trend to higher Hubble constant.
When we compare SPT and Planck data on the SPT-SZ sky patch to Planck full-sky
data but keep the multipole range restricted, we find differences in the
parameters and . We perform further checks, investigating
instrumental effects and modeling assumptions, and we find no evidence that the
effects investigated are responsible for any of the parameter shifts. Taken
together, these tests reveal no evidence for systematic errors in SPT or Planck
data in the overlapping sky coverage and multipole range and, at most, weak
evidence for a breakdown of LCDM or systematic errors influencing either the
Planck data outside the SPT-SZ survey area or the SPT data at .Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Updated 1 figure and expanded on the reasoning
for fixing the affect of lensing on the power spectrum instead of varying
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