25,415 research outputs found
Single Cooper-pair pumping in the adiabatic limit and beyond
We demonstrate controlled pumping of Cooper pairs down to the level of a
single pair per cycle, using an rf-driven Cooper-pair sluice. We also
investigate the breakdown of the adiabatic dynamics in two different ways. By
transferring many Cooper pairs at a time, we observe a crossover between pure
Cooper-pair and mixed Cooper-pair-quasiparticle transport. By tuning the
Josephson coupling that governs Cooper-pair tunneling, we characterize
Landau-Zener transitions in our device. Our data are quantitatively accounted
for by a simple model including decoherence effects.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
The Evolution of Helium Star Plus Carbon-Oxygen White Dwarf Binary Systems and Implications for Diverse Stellar Transients and Hypervelocity Stars
Helium accretion induced explosions in CO white dwarfs (WDs) are considered
promising candidates for a number of observed types of stellar transients,
including supernovae (SNe) of Type Ia and Type Iax. However, a clear favorite
outcome has not yet emerged. We explore the conditions of helium ignition in
the white dwarf and the final fates of helium star-WD binaries as function of
their initial orbital periods and component masses. We compute 274 model binary
systems with the Binary Evolution Code (BEC), where both components are fully
resolved. Stellar and orbital evolution is computed simultaneously, including
mass and angular momentum transfer, tides, and gravitational wave emission, as
well as differential rotation and internal hydrodynamic and magnetic angular
momentum transport. We find that helium detonations are expected only in
systems with the shortest initial orbital periods, and for initially massive
white dwarfs (MWD > 1.0 MSun ) and lower mass donors (Mdonor < 0.8 MSun), with
accumulated helium layers mostly exceeding 0.1 MSun. Upon detonation, these
systems would release the donor as a hypervelocity pre-WD runaway star, for
which we predict the expected range of kinematic and stellar properties.
Systems with more massive donors or initial periods exceeding 1.5 h will likely
undergo helium deflagrations after accumulating 0.1 - 0.001 MSun of helium.
Helium ignition in the white dwarf is avoided in systems with helium donor
stars below - 0.6 MSun, and lead to three distinctly different groups of double
white dwarf systems. The size of the parameter space open to helium detonation
corresponds to only about 3 % of the galactic SN Ia rate, and to 10 % of the SN
Iax rate, while the predicted large amounts of helium (>0.1 MSun) in
progenitors cannot easily be reconciled with observations of archetypical SN
Ia. ...Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 28 pages, 16 figures, 6 table
Quasilinear approach of the cumulative whistler instability in fast solar winds: Constraints of electron temperature anisotropy
Context. Solar outflows are a considerable source of free energy which
accumulates in multiple forms like beaming (or drifting) components and/or
temperature anisotropies. However, kinetic anisotropies of plasma particles do
not grow indefinitely and particle-particle collisions are not efficient enough
to explain the observed limits of these anisotropies. Instead, the
self-generated wave instabilities can efficiently act to constrain kinetic
anisotropies, but the existing approaches are simplified and do not provide
satisfactory explanations. Thus, small deviations from isotropy shown by the
electron temperature () in fast solar winds are not explained yet.
Aims. This paper provides an advanced quasilinear description of the whistler
instability driven by the anisotropic electrons in conditions typical for the
fast solar winds. The enhanced whistler-like fluctuations may constrain the
upper limits of temperature anisotropy ,
where are defined with respect to the magnetic field
direction.
Methods. Studied are the self-generated whistler instabilities, cumulatively
driven by the temperature anisotropy and the relative (counter)drift of the
electron populations, e.g., core and halo electrons. Recent studies have shown
that quasi-stable states are not bounded by the linear instability thresholds
but an extended quasilinear approach is necessary to describe them in this
case.
Results. Marginal conditions of stability are obtained from a quasilinear
theory of the cumulative whistler instability, and approach the quasi-stable
states of electron populations reported by the observations.The instability
saturation is determined by the relaxation of both the temperature anisotropy
and the relative drift of electron populations.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Long Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors: Boundary Conditions and Binary Models
The observed association of Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (LGRBs) with peculiar Type
Ic supernovae gives support to Woosley`s collapsar/hypernova model, in which
the GRB is produced by the collapse of the rapidly rotating core of a massive
star to a black hole. The association of LGRBs with small star-forming galaxies
suggests low-metallicity to be a condition for a massive star to evolve to the
collapsar stage. Both completely-mixed single star models and binary star
models are possible. In binary models the progenitor of the GRB is a massive
helium star with a close companion. We find that tidal synchronization during
core-helium burning is reached on a short timescale (less than a few
millennia). However, the strong core-envelope coupling in the subsequent
evolutionary stages is likely to rule out helium stars with main-sequence
companions as progenitors of hypernovae/GRBs. On the other hand, helium stars
in close binaries with a neutron-star or black-hole companion can, despite the
strong core-envelope coupling in the post-helium burning phase, retain
sufficient core angular momentum to produce a hypernova/GRB.Comment: 8 pp., 2 figs, Proceedings of 5th Stromlo Symposiu
Renormalization analysis of intermittency in two coupled maps
The critical behavior for intermittency is studied in two coupled
one-dimensional (1D) maps. We find two fixed maps of an approximate
renormalization operator in the space of coupled maps. Each fixed map has a
common relavant eigenvaule associated with the scaling of the control parameter
of the uncoupled one-dimensional map. However, the relevant ``coupling
eigenvalue'' associated with coupling perturbation varies depending on the
fixed maps. These renormalization results are also confirmed for a
linearly-coupled case.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 2 eps figure
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