23,833 research outputs found
Bubble Growth in Superfluid 3-He: The Dynamics of the Curved A-B Interface
We study the hydrodynamics of the A-B interface with finite curvature. The
interface tension is shown to enhance both the transition velocity and the
amplitudes of second sound. In addition, the magnetic signals emitted by the
growing bubble are calculated, and the interaction between many growing bubbles
is considered.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX, ITP-UH 11/9
How to identify the youngest protostars
We study the transition from a prestellar core to a Class 0 protostar, using
SPH to simulate the dynamical evolution, and a Monte Carlo radiative transfer
code to generate the SED and isophotal maps. For a prestellar core illuminated
by the standard interstellar radiation field, the luminosity is low and the SED
peaks at ~190 micron. Once a protostar has formed, the luminosity rises (due to
a growing contribution from accretion onto the protostar) and the peak of the
SED shifts to shorter wavelengths (~80-100 micron). However, by the end of the
Class 0 phase, the accretion rate is falling, the luminosity has decreased, and
the peak of the SED shifts back towards longer wavelengths (90-150 micron). In
our simulations, the density of material around the protostar remains
sufficiently high well into the Class 0 phase that the protostar only becomes
visible in the NIR if it is displaced from the centre dynamically. Raw submm/mm
maps of Class 0 protostars tend to be much more centrally condensed than those
of prestellar cores. However, when convolved with a typical telescope beam, the
difference in central concentration is less marked, although the Class 0
protostars appear more circular. Our results suggest that, if a core is deemed
to be prestellar on the basis of having no associated IRAS source, no cm radio
emission, and no outflow, but it has a circular appearance and an SED which
peaks at wavelengths below ~170 micron, it may well contain a very young Class
0 protostar.Comment: Accepted by A&A (avaliable with high-res images at
http://carina.astro.cf.ac.uk/pub/Dimitrios.Stamatellos/publications
Optically mediated nonlinear quantum optomechanics
We consider theoretically the optomechanical interaction of several
mechanical modes with a single quantized cavity field mode for linear and
quadratic coupling. We focus specifically on situations where the optical
dissipation is the dominant source of damping, in which case the optical field
can be adiabatically eliminated, resulting in effective multimode interactions
between the mechanical modes. In the case of linear coupling, the coherent
contribution to the interaction can be exploited e.g. in quantum state swapping
protocols, while the incoherent part leads to significant modifications of cold
damping or amplification from the single-mode situation. Quadratic coupling can
result in a wealth of possible effective interactions including the analogs of
second-harmonic generation and four-wave mixing in nonlinear optics, with
specific forms depending sensitively on the sign of the coupling. The
cavity-mediated mechanical interaction of two modes is investigated in two
limiting cases, the resolved sideband and the Doppler regime. As an
illustrative application of the formal analysis we discuss in some detail a
two-mode system where a Bose-Einstein condensate is optomechanically linearly
coupled to the moving end mirror of a Fabry-P\'erot cavity.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Phase Variation in the Pulse Profile of SMC X-1
We present the results of timing and spectral analysis of X-ray high state
observations of the high-mass X-ray pulsar SMC X-1 with Chandra, XMM-Newton,
and ROSAT, taken between 1991 and 2001. The source has L_X ~ 3-5 x 10^38
ergs/s, and the spectra can be modeled as a power law plus blackbody with kT_BB
\~ 0.18 keV and reprocessed emission radius R_BB ~ 2 x 10^8 cm, assuming a
distance of 60 kpc to the source. Energy-resolved pulse profiles show several
distinct forms, more than half of which include a second pulse in the soft
profile, previously documented only in hard energies. We also detect
significant variation in the phase shift between hard and soft pulses, as has
recently been reported in Her X-1. We suggest an explanation for the observed
characteristics of the soft pulses in terms of precession of the accretion
disk.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL; v2 minor
corrections, as will appear in ApJ
Dissipation of the 3^He A-B Transition
A rigorous hydrodynamic theory of the A-B transition is presented. All
dissipative processes are considered. At low interface velocities, those
occurring on hydrodynamic length scales, not considered hitherto, are most
probably the dominant ones.Comment: 13 pages, REVTeX, 2 figures, ITP-UH 13/9
Polarization squeezing of light by single passage through an atomic vapor
We have studied relative-intensity fluctuations for a variable set of
orthogonal elliptic polarization components of a linearly polarized laser beam
traversing a resonant Rb vapor cell. Significant polarization squeezing
at the threshold level (-3dB) required for the implementation of several
continuous variables quantum protocols was observed. The extreme simplicity of
the setup, based on standard polarization components, makes it particularly
convenient for quantum information applications.Comment: Revised version. Minor changes. four pages, three figure
Bright squeezed vacuum in a nonlinear interferometer: frequency/temporal Schmidt-mode description
Control over the spectral properties of the bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), a
highly multimode non-classical macroscopic state of light that can be generated
through high-gain parametric down conversion, is crucial for many applications.
In particular, in several recent experiments BSV is generated in a strongly
pumped SU(1,1) interferometer to achieve phase supersensitivity, perform
broadband homodyne detection, or tailor the frequency spectrum of squeezed
light. In this work, we present an analytical approach to the theoretical
description of BSV in the frequency domain based on the Bloch-Messiah reduction
and the Schmidt-mode formalism. As a special case we consider a strongly pumped
SU(1,1) interferometer. We show that different moments of the radiation at its
output depend on the phase, dispersion and the parametric gain in a nontrivial
way, thereby providing additional insights on the capabilities of nonlinear
interferometers. In particular, a dramatic change in the spectrum occurs as the
parametric gain increases
Complex light: Dynamic phase transitions of a light beam in a nonlinear non-local disordered medium
The dynamics of several light filaments (spatial optical solitons)
propagating in an optically nonlinear and non-local random medium is
investigated using the paradigms of the physics of complexity. Cluster
formation is interpreted as a dynamic phase transition. A connection with the
random matrices approach for explaining the vibrational spectra of an ensemble
of solitons is pointed out. General arguments based on a Brownian dynamics
model are validated by the numerical simulation of a stochastic partial
differential equation system. The results are also relevant for Bose condensed
gases and plasma physics.Comment: 11 pages, 20 figures. Small revisions, added a referenc
EPR-based ghost imaging using a single-photon-sensitive camera
Correlated photon imaging, popularly known as ghost imaging, is a technique whereby an image is formed from light that has never interacted with the object. In ghost imaging experiments, two correlated light fields are produced. One of these fields illuminates the object, and the other field is measured by a spatially resolving detector. In the quantum regime, these correlated light fields are produced by entangled photons created by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. To date, all correlated photon ghost imaging experiments have scanned a single-pixel detector through the field of view to obtain spatial information. However, scanning leads to poor sampling efficiency, which scales inversely with the number of pixels, N, in the image. In this work, we overcome this limitation by using a time-gated camera to record the single-photon events across the full scene. We obtain high-contrast images, 90%, in either the image plane or the far field of the photon pair source, taking advantage of the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen-like correlations in position and momentum of the photon pairs. Our images contain a large number of modes, >500, creating opportunities in low-light-level imaging and in quantum information processing
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