106 research outputs found
Dusty Sources at the Galactic Center: The N- and Q-band view with VISIR
We present mid-infrared N- and Q-band photometry of the Galactic Center from
images obtained with the mid-infrared camera VISIR at the ESO VLT in May 2004.
The high resolution and sensitivity possible with VISIR enables us to
investigate a total of over 60 point-like sources, an unprecedented number for
the Galactic Center at these wavelengths. Combining these data with previous
results at shorter wavelengths (Viehmann et al. 2005) enables us to construct
SEDs covering the H- to Q-band regions of the spectrum, i.e. 1.6 to 19.5
m. We find that the SEDs of certain types of Galactic Center sources show
characteristic features. We can clearly distinguish between luminous Northern
Arm bow-shock sources, lower luminosity bow-shock sources, hot stars, and cool
stars. This characterization may help clarify the status of presently
unclassified sources.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
VLTI observations of IRS~3: The brightest compact MIR source at the Galactic Centre
The dust enshrouded star IRS~3 in the central light year of our galaxy was
partially resolved in a recent VLTI experiment. The presented observation is
the first step in investigating both IRS~3 in particular and the stellar
population of the Galactic Centre in general with the VLTI at highest angular
resolution. We will outline which scientific issues can be addressed by a
complete MIDI dataset on IRS~3 in the mid infrared.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published in: The ESO Messenge
The enigma of GCIRS 3 - Constraining the properties of the mid-infrared reference star of the central parsec of the Milky Way with optical long baseline interferometry
GCIRS3 is the most prominent MIR source in the central pc of the Galaxy. NIR
spectroscopy failed to solve the enigma of its nature. The properties of
extreme individual objects of the central stellar cluster contribute to our
knowledge of star and dust formation close to a supermassive black hole. We
initiated an interferometric experiment to understand IRS3 and investigate its
properties as spectroscopic and interferometric reference star at 10um. VISIR
imaging separates a compact source from diffuse, surrounding emission. The
VLTI/MIDI instrument was used to measure visibilities at 10mas resolution of
that compact 10um source, still unresolved by a single VLT. Photometry data
were added to enable simple SED- and full radiative transfer-models of the
data. The luminosity and size estimates show that IRS3 is probably a cool
carbon star enshrouded by a complex dust distribution. Dust temperatures were
derived. The coinciding interpretation of multiple datasets confirm dust
emission at several spatial scales. The IF data resolve the innermost area of
dust formation. Despite observed deep silicate absorption towards IRS3 we favor
a carbon rich chemistry of the circumstellar dust shell. The silicate
absorption most probably takes place in the outer diffuse dust, which is mostly
ignored by MIDI measurements. This indicates physically and chemically distinct
conditions of the local dust, changing with the distance to IRS3. We have
demonstrated that optical long baseline interferometry at infrared wavelengths
is an indispensable tool to investigate sources at the Galactic Center. Our
findings suggest further studies of the composition of interstellar dust and
the shape of the 10um silicate feature at this outstanding region.Comment: accepted by A&A, now in press; 19 pages, 22 figures, 5 table
Dust Embedded Sources at the Galactic Center. 2 to 4m imaging and spectroscopy in the central parsec
We present the first L-band spectroscopic observations for a dozen stellar
sources in the central 0.5 pc of the GC stellar cluster that are bright in the
2-4 micron wavelength domain. With the aid of additional K-band spectroscopic
data, we derive optical depth spectra of the sources after fitting their
continuum emission with a single reddened blackbody continuum. We also derive
intrinsic source spectra by correcting the line of sight extinction via the
optical depth spectrum of a late type star that is most likely not affected by
local dust emission or extinction at the Galactic Center. The good agreement
between the two approaches shows that the overall variation of the
line-of-sight extinction across the central 0.5 pc is mag. The extinction corrected spectra of the hot
He-stars are in good agreement with pure Rayleigh Jeans continuum spectra. The
intrinsic spectra of all other sources are in agreement with continuum emission
and absorption features due to the dust in which they are embedded. We
interprete both facts as evidence that a significant amount of the absorption
takes place within the central parsec of the Galactic Center and is most likely
associated with the individual sources there. We find absorption features at
3.0 micron, 3.4 micron, and 3.48 micron wavelength. Correlations between all
three features show that they are very likely to arise in the ISM of the
central 0.5 pc. Spectroscopy of high MIR-excess sources 0.5'' north of the IRS
13 complex is largely consistent with them being YSOs. However, a bow-shock
nature of these sources cannot be excluded.Comment: 19 pages. 19 figures. 6 tables. Accepted in A&
L- and M-band imaging observations of the Galactic Center region
We present near-infrared H-, K-, L- and M-band photometry of the Galactic
Center from images obtained at the ESO VLT in May and August 2002, using the
NAOS/CONICA (H and K) and the ISAAC (L and M) instruments. The large field of
view (70" x 70") of the ISAAC instrument and the large number of sources
identified (L-M data for 541 sources) allows us to investigate colors, infrared
excesses and extended dust emission. Our new L-band magnitude calibration
reveals an offset to the traditionally used calibrations, which we attribute to
the use of the variable star IRS7 as a flux calibrator. Together with new
results on the extinction towards the Galactic Center (Scoville et al. 2003;
Raab 2000), our magnitude calibration results in stellar color properties
expected from standard stars and removes any necessity to modify the K-band
extinction. The large number of sources for which we have obtained L-M colors
allows us to measure the M-band extinction to A_M=(0.056+-0.006)A_V
(approximately =A_L), a considerably higher value than what has so far been
assumed. L-M color data has not been investigated previously, due to lack of
useful M-band data. We find that this color is a useful diagnostic tool for the
preliminary identification of stellar types, since hot and cool stars show a
fairly clear L-M color separation. This is especially important if visual
colors are not available, as in the Galactic Center. For one of the most
prominent dust embedded sources, IRS3, we find extended L- and M-band continuum
emission with a characteristic bow-shock shape. An explanation for this
appearance is that IRS3 consists of a massive, hot, young mass-losing star
surrounded by an optically thick, extended dust shell, which is pushed
northwest by wind from the direction of the IRS16 cluster and SgrA*.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysic
Rescaling multipartite entanglement measures for mixed states
A relevant problem regarding entanglement measures is the following: Given an
arbitrary mixed state, how does a measure for multipartite entanglement change
if general local operations are applied to the state? This question is
nontrivial as the normalization of the states has to be taken into account.
Here we answer it for pure-state entanglement measures which are invariant
under determinant 1 local operations and homogeneous in the state coefficients,
and their convex-roof extension which quantifies mixed-state entanglement. Our
analysis allows to enlarge the set of mixed states for which these important
measures can be calculated exactly. In particular, our results hint at a
distinguished role of entanglement measures which have homogeneous degree 2 in
the state coefficients.Comment: Published version plus one important reference (Ref. [39]
Probing the diamagnetic term in lightâmatter interaction
We address the quantum estimation of the diamagnetic, or A 2, term in an effective model of lightâmatter interaction featuring two coupled oscillators. First, we calculate the quantum Fisher information of the diamagnetic parameter in the interacting ground state. Then, we find that typical measurements on the transverse radiation field, such as homodyne detection or photon counting, permit to estimate the diamagnetic coupling constant with near-optimal efficiency in a wide range of model parameters. Should the model admit a critical point, we also find that both measurements would become asymptotically optimal in its vicinity. Finally, we discuss binary discrimination strategies between the two most debated hypotheses involving the diamagnetic term in circuit QED. While we adopt a terminology appropriate to the Coulomb gauge, our results are also relevant for the electric dipole gauge. In that case, our calculations would describe the estimation of the so-called transverse P 2 term. The derived metrological benchmarks are general and relevant to any implementation of the model, cavity and circuit QED being two relevant examples
Quantum Simulation of Spin Chains Coupled to Bosonic Modes with Superconducting Circuits
We propose the implementation of a digital quantum simulation of spin chains
coupled to bosonic field modes in superconducting circuits. Gates with high
fidelities allows one to simulate a variety of Ising magnetic pairing
interactions with transverse field, Tavis-Cummings interaction between spins
and a bosonic mode, and a spin model with three-body terms. We analyze the
feasibility of the implementation in realistic circuit quantum electrodynamics
setups, where the interactions are either realized via capacitive couplings or
mediated by microwave resonators.Comment: Chapter in R. S. Anderssen et al. (eds.), Mathematics for Industry 11
(Springer Japan, 2015
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