Lasercooled RaF as a promising candidate to measure molecular parity violation

The parameter $W_\mathrm{a}$, which characterizes nuclear spin-dependent parity violation effects within the effective molecular spin-rotational Hamiltonian, was computed for the electronic ground state of radium fluoride (RaF) and found to be one of the largest absolute values predicted so far. These calculations were performed with the complex generalised Hartree-Fock method within a two-component (quasi-relativistic) zeroth-order regular approximation framework. Peculiarities of the molecular electronic structure of RaF lead to highly diagonal Franck-Condon matrices between vibrational states of the electronic ground and first excited states, which renders the molecule in principle suitable for direct laser cooling. As a trapped gas of cold molecules offers a superior coherence time, RaF can be considered a promising candidate for high-precision spectroscopic experiments aimed at the search of molecular parity-violation effects.Comment: 4.5 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables. Supplementary material can be requested from the authors. Minor changes to version

Scaling relations for galaxy clusters: properties and evolution

Well-calibrated scaling relations between the observable properties and the total masses of clusters of galaxies are important for understanding the physical processes that give rise to these relations. They are also a critical ingredient for studies that aim to constrain cosmological parameters using galaxy clusters. For this reason much effort has been spent during the last decade to better understand and interpret relations of the properties of the intra-cluster medium. Improved X-ray data have expanded the mass range down to galaxy groups, whereas SZ surveys have openened a new observational window on the intracluster medium. In addition,continued progress in the performance of cosmological simulations has allowed a better understanding of the physical processes and selection effects affecting the observed scaling relations. Here we review the recent literature on various scaling relations, focussing on the latest observational measurements and the progress in our understanding of the deviations from self similarity.Comment: 38 pages. Review paper. Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (eds: S. Ettori, M. Meneghetti). This is a product of the work done by an international team at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern on "Astrophysics and Cosmology with Galaxy Clusters: the X-ray and Lensing View

Double resonant absorption measurement of acetylene symmetric vibrational states probed with cavity ring down spectroscopy

A novel mid-infrared/near-infrared double resonant absorption setup for studying infrared-inactive vibrational states is presented. A strong vibrational transition in the mid-infrared region is excited using an idler beam from a singly resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator, to populate an intermediate vibrational state. High output power of the optical parametric oscillator and the strength of the mid-infrared transition result in efficient population transfer to the intermediate state, which allows measuring secondary transitions from this state with a high signal-to-noise ratio. A secondary, near-infrared transition from the intermediate state is probed using cavity ring down spectroscopy, which provides high sensitivity in this wavelength region. Due to the narrow linewidths of the excitation sources, the rovibrational lines of the secondary transition are measured with sub-Doppler resolution. The setup is used to access a previously unreported symmetric vibrational state of acetylene, $\nu_1+\nu_2+\nu_3+\nu_4^1+\nu_5^{-1}$ in the normal mode notation. Single-photon transitions to this state from the vibrational ground state are forbidden. Ten lines of the newly measured state are observed and fitted with the linear least-squares method to extract the band parameters. The vibrational term value was measured to be at 9775.0018(45) $\text{cm}^{-1}$, the rotational parameter $B$ was 1.162222 $\text{cm}^{-1}$, and the quartic centrifugal distortion parameter $D$ was 3.998(62)$\times 10^{-6} \text{cm}^{-1}$, where the numbers in the parenthesis are one-standard errors in the least significant digits

Gravitational Lensing in the metric theory proposed by Sobouti

Recently, Y. Sobouti (2007) has provided a metric theory f(R) that can account for certain dynamical anomalies observed in spiral galaxies. Mendoza & Rosas-Guevara (2007) have shown that in this theory there is an extra-bending as compared to standard general relativity. In the present work we have developed in more specific detail this additional lensing effect and we have made evaluations of the alpha parameter used in the model adjusting the theory to observations in X-rays of 13 clusters of galaxies with gravitational lensing (Hoekstra (2007)).Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure