The overmassive black hole in NGC 1277: new constraints from molecular gas kinematics

We report the detection of CO(1-0) emission from NGC 1277, a lenticular galaxy in the Perseus Cluster. NGC 1277 has previously been proposed to host an overmassive black hole (BH) compared to the galaxy bulge luminosity (mass), based on stellar-kinematic measurements. The CO(1-0) emission, observed with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) using both, a more compact (2.9-arcsec resolution) and a more extended (1-arcsec resolution) configuration, is likely to originate from the dust lane encompassing the galaxy nucleus at a distance of 0.9 arcsec (~320 pc). The double-horned CO(1-0) profile found at 2.9-arcsec resolution traces $1.5\times 10^8\ M_\odot$ of molecular gas, likely orbiting in the dust lane at $\sim 550\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$, which suggests a total enclosed mass of$\sim 2\times 10^{10}\ M_\odot$. At 1-arcsec resolution, the CO(1-0) emission appears spatially resolved along the dust lane in east-west direction, though at a low signal-to-noise ratio. In agreement with the previous stellar-kinematic measurements, the CO(1-0) kinematics is found to be consistent with an$\sim 1.7\times 10^{10}\ M_\odot$BH for a stellar mass-to-light ratio of$M/L_V=6.3$, while a less massive BH of$\sim 5\times 10^{9}\ M_\odot$is possible when assuming a larger$M/L_V=10$. While the molecular gas reservoir may be associated with a low level of star formation activity, the extended 2.6-mm continuum emission is likely to originate from a weak AGN, possibly characterized by an inverted radio-to-millimetre spectral energy distribution. Literature radio and X-ray data indicate that the BH in NGC 1277 is also overmassive with respect to the Fundamental Plane of BH activity.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS on 20 January 2016; updated version including minor changes and note added in proo

Unchanged thermopower enhancement at the semiconductor-metal transition in correlated FeSb2−x_{2-x}Tex_x

Substitution of Sb in FeSb$_2$ by less than 0.5% of Te induces a transition from a correlated semiconductor to an unconventional metal with large effective charge carrier mass $m^*$. Spanning the entire range of the semiconductor-metal crossover, we observed an almost constant enhancement of the measured thermopower compared to that estimated by the classical theory of electron diffusion. Using the latter for a quantitative description one has to employ an enhancement factor of 10-30. Our observations point to the importance of electron-electron correlations in the thermal transport of FeSb$_2$, and suggest a route to design thermoelectric materials for cryogenic applications.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Appl. Phys. Lett. (2011

High-Order Adiabatic Approximation for Non-Hermitian Quantum System and Complexization of Berry's Phase

In this paper the evolution of a quantum system drived by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian depending on slowly-changing parameters is studied by building an universal high-order adiabatic approximation(HOAA) method with Berry's phase ,which is valid for either the Hermitian or the non-Hermitian cases. This method can be regarded as a non-trivial generalization of the HOAA method for closed quantum system presented by this author before. In a general situation, the probabilities of adiabatic decay and non-adiabatic transitions are explicitly obtained for the evolution of the non-Hermitian quantum system. It is also shown that the non-Hermitian analog of the Berry's phase factor for the non-Hermitian case just enjoys the holonomy structure of the dual linear bundle over the parameter manifold. The non-Hermitian evolution of the generalized forced harmonic oscillator is discussed as an illustrative examples.Comment: ITP.SB-93-22,17 page

Antenna Miniaturization Based on Supperscattering Effect

Antennas are essential components of all existing radio equipments. The miniaturization of antenna is a key issue of antenna technology. Based on supperscattering effect, we found that when a small horn antenna is located inside of a dielectric core and covered with a complementary layer, its far field radiation pattern will be equivalent to a large horn antenna. The complementary layer with only axial parameters varying with radius is obtained using coordinate transformation theory. Besides, the influence of loss and perturbations of parameters on supperscattering effect is also investigated. Results show that the device is robust against the perturbation in the axial material parameters when the refractive index is kept invariant. Full-wave simulations based on finite element method are performed to validate the design

An quantum approach of measurement based on the Zurek's triple model

In a close form without referring the time-dependent Hamiltonian to the total system, a consistent approach for quantum measurement is proposed based on Zurek's triple model of quantum decoherence [W.Zurek, Phys. Rev. D 24, 1516 (1981)]. An exactly-solvable model based on the intracavity system is dealt with in details to demonstrate the central idea in our approach: by peeling off one collective variable of the measuring apparatus from its many degrees of freedom, as the pointer of the apparatus, the collective variable de-couples with the internal environment formed by the effective internal variables, but still interacts with the measured system to form a triple entanglement among the measured system, the pointer and the internal environment. As another mechanism to cause decoherence, the uncertainty of relative phase and its many-particle amplification can be summed up to an ideal entanglement or an Shmidt decomposition with respect to the preferred basis.Comment: 22pages,3figure

The evolution of HI and CIV quasar absorption line systems at 1.9 < z < 3.2

We have investigated the distribution and evolution of ~3100 intergalactic HI absorbers with HI column densities log N(HI) = [12.75, 17.0] at 1.9 < z < 3.2, using 18 high resolution, high S/N quasar spectra obtained from the ESO VLT/UVES archive. We used two sets of Voigt profile fitting analysis, one including all the available high-order Lyman lines to obtain reliable HI column densities of saturated lines, and another using only the Ly-alpha lines. There is no significant difference between the results from the two fits. Combining our results with literature data, the mean number density at 0 < z < 4 is not well described by a single power law and strongly suggests that its evolution slows down at z < 1.5 at the high and low column density ranges. We also divided our entire HI absorbers at 1.9 < z < 3.2 into two samples, the unenriched forest and the CIV-enriched forest, depending on whether HI lines are associated with CIV at log N(CIV) > 12.2 within a given velocity range. The entire HI column density distribution function (CDDF) can be described as the combination of these two well-characterised populations which overlap at log N(HI) ~ 15. At log N(HI) < 15, the unenriched forest dominates, showing a similar power-law distribution to the entire forest. The CIV-enriched forest dominates at log N(HI) > 15, with its distribution function proportional to N(HI)^(-1.45). However, it starts to flatten out at lower N(HI), since the enriched forest fraction decreases with decreasing N(HI). The deviation from the power law at log N(HI) = [14, 17] shown in the CDDF for the entire HI sample is a result of combining two different HI populations with a different CDDF shape. The total HI mass density relative to the critical density is Omega(HI) ~ 1.6 x 10^(-6) h^(-1), where the enriched forest accounts for ~40% of Omega(HI).Comment: 26 pages, 20 figures, accepted for AA, in pres

Use of integrated optical waveguide probes as an alternative to fiber probes for sensing of light backscattered from small volumes

We show that for light collection from thin samples, integrated probes can present a higher efficiency than conventional fiber probes, despite having a smaller collection area. Simulation results are validated by experiments