427 research outputs found
Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometry and second-order correlations of inflaton quanta
The quantum theory of optical coherence is applied to the scrutiny of the
statistical properties of the relic inflaton quanta. After adapting the
description of the quantized scalar and tensor modes of the geometry to the
analysis of intensity correlations, the normalized degrees of first-order and
second-order coherence are computed in the concordance paradigm and are shown
to encode faithfully the statistical properties of the initial quantum state.
The strongly bunched curvature phonons are not only super-Poissonian but also
super-chaotic. Testable inequalities are derived in the limit of large angular
scales and can be physically interpreted in the light of the tenets of Hanbury
Brown-Twiss interferometry. The quantum mechanical results are compared and
contrasted with different situations including the one where intensity
correlations are the result of a classical stochastic process. The survival of
second-order correlations (not necessarily related to the purity of the initial
quantum state) is addressed by defining a generalized ensemble where
super-Poissonian statistics is an intrinsic property of the density matrix and
turns out to be associated with finite volume effects which are expected to
vanish in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 42 pages, 3 included figures; corrected typos; to appear in Physical
Review
Imaging Three Dimensional Two-particle Correlations for Heavy-Ion Reaction Studies
We report an extension of the source imaging method for analyzing
three-dimensional sources from three-dimensional correlations. Our technique
consists of expanding the correlation data and the underlying source function
in spherical harmonics and inverting the resulting system of one-dimensional
integral equations. With this strategy, we can image the source function
quickly, even with the finely binned data sets common in three-dimensional
analyses.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Nernst effect in semi-metals: the meritorious heaviness of electrons
We present a study of electric, thermal and thermoelectric transport in
elemental Bismuth, which presents a Nernst coefficient much larger than what
was found in correlated metals. We argue that this is due to the combination of
an exceptionally low carrier density with a very long electronic
mean-free-path. The low thermomagnetic figure of merit is traced to the
lightness of electrons. Heavy-electron semi-metals, which keep a metallic
behavior in presence of a magnetic field, emerge as promising candidates for
thermomagnetic cooling at low temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 figure
The KHOLOD Experiment: A Search for a New Population of Radio Sources
Published data from long-term observations of a strip of sky at declination
+5 degrees carried out at 7.6 cm on the RATAN-600 radio telescope are used to
estimate some statistical properties of radio sources. Limits on the
sensitivity of the survey due to noise imposed by background sources, which
dominates the radiometer sensitivity, are refined. The vast majority of noise
due to background sources is associated with known radio sources (for example,
from the NVSS with a detection threshold of 2.3 mJy) with normal steep spectra
({\alpha} = 0.7-0.8, S \propto {\nu}^{- \alpha}), which have also been detected
in new deep surveys at decimeter wavelengths. When all such objects are removed
from the observational data, this leaves another noise component that is
observed to be roughly identical in independent groups of observations. We
suggest this represents a new population of radio sources that are not present
in known catalogs at the 0.6 mJy level at 7.6 cm. The studied redshift
dependence of the number of steep-spectrum objects shows that the sensitivity
of our survey is sufficient to detect powerful FRII radio sources at any
redshift, right to the epoch of formation of the first galaxies. The inferred
new population is most likely associated with low-luminosity objects at
redshifts z < 1. In spite of the appearance of new means of carrying out direct
studies of distant galaxies, searches for objects with very high redshifts
among steep and ultra-steep spectrum radio sources remains an effective method
for studying the early Universe.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure
Polarized triplet production by circularly polarized photons
A process of the pair production by a circularly polarized photon in the
field of unpolarized atomic electron has been considered in the
Weizaecker-Williams approximation. The degree of longitudinal polarization of
positron and electron has been calculated. An exclusive cross-section as well
as a spectral distribution are obtained. We estimate the accuracy of our
calculations at the level of a few percent. We show the identity of the
positron polarization for considered process and for process of pair production
in the screened Coulomb field of nucleus.Comment: 9 pages, 3 picture
Theory of plastic vortex creep
We develop a theory for plastic flux creep in a topologically disordered
vortex solid phase in type-II superconductors. We propose a detailed
description of the plastic vortex creep of the dislocated, amorphous vortex
glass in terms of motion of dislocations driven by a transport current . The
{\em plastic barriers} show power-law divergence at
small drives with exponents for single dislocation creep and for creep of dislocation bundles. The suppression of the creep rate is a
hallmark of the transition from the topologically ordered vortex lattice to an
amorphous vortex glass, reflecting a jump in from ,
characterizing creep in the topologically ordered vortex lattice near the
transition, to its plastic values. The lower creep rates explain the observed
increase in apparent critical currents in the dislocated vortex glass.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Investigation of the New Local Group Galaxy VV 124
We present the results of our stellar photometry and spectroscopy for the new
Local Group galaxy VV 124 (UGC 4879) obtained with the 6-m BTA telescope. The
presence of a few bright supergiants in the galaxy indicates that the current
star formation process is weak. The apparent distribution of stars with
different ages in VV 124 does not differ from the analogous distributions of
stars in irregular galaxies, but the ratio of the numbers of young and old
stars indicates that VV 124 belongs to the rare Irr/Sph type of galaxies. The
old stars (red giants) form the most extended structure, a thick disk with an
exponential decrease in the star number density to the edge. Definitely, the
young population unresolvable in images makes a great contribution to the
background emission from the central galactic regions. The presence of young
stars is also confirmed by the [O III] emission line visible in the spectra
that belongs to extensive diffuse galactic regions. The mean radial velocity of
several components (two bright supergiants, the unresolvable stellar
population, and the diffuse gas) is v_h = -70+/-15 km/s and the velocity with
which VV 124 falls into the Local Group is v_LG = -12+/-15 km/s. We confirm the
distance to the galaxy D = 1.1+/-0.1 Mpc and the metallicity of red giants
([Fe/H] = -1.37) found by Kopylov et al. (2008).VV 124 is located on the
periphery of the Local Group approximately at the same distance from M 31 and
our Galaxy and is isolated from other galaxies. The galaxy LeoA nearest to it
is 0.5 Mpc away.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy Letters
(2010, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 309-318
Lower critical field H_c1 and barriers for vortex entry in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+delta} crystals
The penetration field H_p of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+delta} crystals is determined
from magnetization curves for different field sweep rates dH/dt and
temperatures. The obtained results are consistent with theoretical reports in
the literature about vortex creep over surface and geometrical barriers. The
frequently observed low-temperature upturn of H_p is shown to be related to
metastable configurations due to barriers for vortex entry. Data of the true
lower critical field H_c1 are presented. The low-temperature dependence of H_c1
is consistent with a superconducting state with nodes in the gap function.
[PACS numbers: 74.25.Bt, 74.60.Ec, 74.60.Ge, 74.72.Hs
Suppression of surface barrier in superconductors by columnar defects
We investigate the influence of columnar defects in layered superconductors
on the thermally activated penetration of pancake vortices through the surface
barrier. Columnar defects, located near the surface, facilitate penetration of
vortices through the surface barrier, by creating ``weak spots'', through which
pancakes can penetrate into the superconductor. Penetration of a pancake
mediated by an isolated column, located near the surface, is a two-stage
process involving hopping from the surface to the column and the detachment
from the column into the bulk; each stage is controlled by its own activation
barrier. The resulting effective energy is equal to the maximum of those two
barriers. For a given external field there exists an optimum location of the
column for which the barriers for the both processes are equal and the
reduction of the effective penetration barrier is maximal. At high fields the
effective penetration field is approximately two times smaller than in
unirradiated samples. We also estimate the suppression of the effective
penetration field by column clusters. This mechanism provides further reduction
of the penetration field at low temperatures.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
A 120-Mpc Periodicity in the Three-Dimensional Distribution of Galaxy Superclusters
Using a new compilation of available data on galaxy clusters and
superclusters we present evidence for a quasiregular three-dimensional network
of rich superclusters and voids, with the regions of high density separated by
about 120 Mpc. We calculate the power spectrum for clusters of galaxies; it has
a peak on the wavelength equal to the step of the network; the excess in the
amplitude of the spectrum over that of the cold dark matter model is by a
factor of 1.4. The probability that the spectrum can be formed within the
framework of the standard cosmogony is very small. If the cluster distribution
reflects the distribution of all matter (luminous and dark), then there must
exists some hithero unknown process that produces regular structure on large
scales.Comment: Tex, 6 pages, 2 PostScript figures embedded, accepted by Nature on
November 19, 199
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