11,732 research outputs found
Fourier spectra from exoplanets with polar caps and ocean glint
The weak orbital-phase dependent reflection signal of an exoplanet contains
information on the planet surface, such as the distribution of continents and
oceans on terrestrial planets. This light curve is usually studied in the time
domain, but because the signal from a stationary surface is (quasi)periodic,
analysis of the Fourier series may provide an alternative, complementary
approach.
We study Fourier spectra from reflected light curves for geometrically simple
configurations. Depending on its atmospheric properties, a rotating planet in
the habitable zone could have circular polar ice caps. Tidally locked planets,
on the other hand, may have symmetric circular oceans facing the star. These
cases are interesting because the high-albedo contrast at the sharp edges of
the ice-sheets and the glint from the host star in the ocean may produce
recognizable light curves with orbital periodicity, which could also be
interpreted in the Fourier domain.
We derive a simple general expression for the Fourier coefficients of a
quasiperiodic light curve in terms of the albedo map of a Lambertian planet
surface. Analytic expressions for light curves and their spectra are calculated
for idealized situations, and dependence of spectral peaks on the key
parameters inclination, obliquity, and cap size is studied.Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 13 figure
Closed timelike curves in general relativity
Many solutions of Einstein's field equations contain closed timelike curves
(CTC). Some of these solutions refer to ordinary materials in situations which
might occur in the laboratory, or in astrophysics. It is argued that, in
default of a reasonable interpretation of CTC, general relativity does not give
a satisfactory account of all phenomena within its terms of reference.Comment: 3 pages, PACS: 042
Angular spectrum of quantized light beams
We introduce a generalized angular spectrum representation for quantized
light beams. By using our formalism, we are able to derive simple expressions
for the electromagnetic vector potential operator in the case of: {a)}
time-independent paraxial fields, {b)} time-dependent paraxial fields, and {c)}
non-paraxial fields. For the first case, the well known paraxial results are
fully recovered.Comment: 3 pages, no figure
Fluctuations in the electron system of a superconductor exposed to a photon flux
We report on fluctuations in the electron system, Cooper pairs and
quasiparticles, of a superconducting aluminium film. The superconductor is
exposed to pair-breaking photons (1.54 THz), which are coupled through an
antenna. The change in the complex conductivity of the superconductor upon a
change in the quasiparticle number is read out by a microwave resonator. A
large range in radiation power can be chosen by carefully filtering the
radiation from a blackbody source. We identify two regimes. At high radiation
power, fluctuations in the electron system caused by the random arrival rate of
the photons are resolved, giving a straightforward measure of the optical
efficiency (48%). At low radiation power fluctuations are dominated by excess
quasiparticles, the number of which is measured through their recombination
lifetime
Microwave-induced excess quasiparticles in superconducting resonators measured through correlated conductivity fluctuations
We have measured the number of quasiparticles and their lifetime in aluminium
superconducting microwave resonators. The number of excess quasiparticles below
160 mK decreases from 72 to 17 m with a 6 dB decrease of the
microwave power. The quasiparticle lifetime increases accordingly from 1.4 to
3.5 ms. These properties of the superconductor were measured through the
spectrum of correlated fluctuations in the quasiparticle system and condensate
of the superconductor, which show up in the resonator amplitude and phase
respectively. Because uncorrelated noise sources vanish, fluctuations in the
superconductor can be studied with a sensitivity close to the vacuum noise
of the quantized fields in the Unruh state in the Schwarzschild spacetime
The renormalized expectation value of the stress energy tensor of the
conformally invariant massless fields in the Unruh state in the Schwarzschild
spacetime is constructed. It is achieved through solving the conservation
equation in conformal space and utilizing the regularity conditions in the
physical metric. The relations of obtained results to the existing
approximations are analysed.Comment: 17 pages, REVTE
Is Quantum Spacetime Foam Unstable?
A very simple wormhole geometry is considered as a model of a mode of
topological fluctutation in Planck-scale spacetime foam. Quantum dynamics of
the hole reduces to quantum mechanics of one variable, throat radius, and
admits a WKB analysis. The hole is quantum-mechanically unstable: It has no
bound states. Wormhole wave functions must eventually leak to large radii. This
suggests that stability considerations along these lines may place strong
constraints on the nature and even the existence of spacetime foam.Comment: 15 page
Number fluctuations of sparse quasiparticles in a superconductor
We have directly measured quasiparticle number fluctuations in a thin film
superconducting Al resonator in thermal equilibrium. The spectrum of these
fluctuations provides a measure of both the density and the lifetime of the
quasiparticles. We observe that the quasiparticle density decreases
exponentially with decreasing temperature, as theoretically predicted, but
saturates below 160 mK to 25-55 per cubic micron. We show that this saturation
is consistent with the measured saturation in the quasiparticle lifetime, which
also explains similar observations in qubit decoherence times
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