6,516 research outputs found
Near-infrared and Millimeter Constraints on the Nuclear Energy Source of the Infrared Luminous Galaxy NGC 4418
We present near-infrared and millimeter investigations of the nucleus of the
infrared luminous galaxy NGC 4418, which previous observations suggest
possesses a powerful buried AGN. We found the following main results: (1) The
infrared K-band spectrum shows CO absorption features at 2.3-2.4 micron owing
to stars and very strong H2 emission lines. The luminosity ratios of H2
emission lines are suggestive of a thermal origin, and the equivalent width of
the H2 1-0 S(1) line is the second largest observed to date in an external
galaxy, after the well-studied strong H2-emitting galaxy NGC 6240. (2) The
infrared L-band spectrum shows a clear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)
emission feature at 3.3 micron, which is usually found in star-forming
galaxies. The estimated star-formation luminosity from the observed PAH
emission can account for only a small fraction of the infrared luminosity. (3)
Millimeter interferometric observations of the nucleus reveal a high HCN (1-0)
to HCO+ (1-0) luminosity ratio of 1.8, as has been previously found in pure
AGNs. (4) The measurements of HCN (1-0) luminosity using a single-dish
millimeter telescope show that the HCN (1-0) to infrared luminosity ratio is
slightly larger than the average, but within the scattered range, for other
infrared luminous galaxies. All of these results can be explained by the
scenario in which, in addition to energetically-insignificant, weakly-obscured
star-formation at the surface of the nucleus, a powerful X-ray emitting AGN
deeply buried in dust and high density molecular gas is present.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal
(2004 November issue
The silicate absorption profile in the ISM towards the heavily obscured nucleus of NGC 4418
The 9.7-micron silicate absorption profile in the interstellar medium
provides important information on the physical and chemical composition of
interstellar dust grains. Measurements in the Milky Way have shown that the
profile in the diffuse interstellar medium is very similar to the amorphous
silicate profiles found in circumstellar dust shells around late M stars, and
narrower than the silicate profile in denser star-forming regions. Here, we
investigate the silicate absorption profile towards the very heavily obscured
nucleus of NGC 4418, the galaxy with the deepest known silicate absorption
feature, and compare it to the profiles seen in the Milky Way. Comparison
between the 8-13 micron spectrum obtained with TReCS on Gemini and the larger
aperture spectrum obtained from the Spitzer archive indicates that the former
isolates the nuclear emission, while Spitzer detects low surface brightness
circumnuclear diffuse emission in addition. The silicate absorption profile
towards the nucleus is very similar to that in the diffuse ISM in the Milky Way
with no evidence of spectral structure from crystalline silicates or silicon
carbide grains.Comment: 7 Pages, 3 figures. MNRAS in pres
Vortex spectrum in superfluid turbulence: interpretation of a recent experiment
We discuss a recent experiment in which the spectrum of the vortex line
density fluctuations has been measured in superfluid turbulence. The observed
frequency dependence of the spectrum, , disagrees with classical
vorticity spectra if, following the literature, the vortex line density is
interpreted as a measure of the vorticity or enstrophy. We argue that the
disagrement is solved if the vortex line density field is decomposed into a
polarised field (which carries most of the energy) and an isotropic field
(which is responsible for the spectrum).Comment: Submitted for publication
http://crtbt.grenoble.cnrs.fr/helio/GROUP/infa.html
http://www.mas.ncl.ac.uk/~ncfb
Potential impacts of advanced technologies on the ATC capacity of high-density terminal areas
Advanced technologies for airborne systems (automatic flight control, flight displays, navigation) and for ground ATC systems (digital communications, improved surveillance and tracking, automated decision-making) create the possibility of advanced ATC operations and procedures which can bring increased capacity for runway systems. A systematic analysis is carried out to identify certain such advanced ATC operations, and then to evaluate the potential benefits occurring over time at typical US high-density airports (Denver and Boston). The study is divided into three parts: (1) A Critical Examination of Factors Which Determine Operational Capacity of Runway Systems at Major Airports, is an intensive review of current US separation criteria and terminal area ATC operations. It identifies 11 new methods to increase the capacity of landings and takeoffs for runway systems; (2) Development of Risk Based Separation Criteria is the development of a rational structure for establishing reduced ATC separation criteria which meet a consistent Target Level of Safety using advanced technology and operational procedures; and (3) Estimation of Capacity Benefits from Advanced Terminal Area Operations - Denver and Boston, provides an estimate of the overall annual improvement in runway capacity which might be expected at Denver and Boston from using some of the advanced ATC procedures developed in Part 1. Whereas Boston achieved a substantial 37% increase, Denver only achieved a 4.7% increase in its overall annual capacity
Noise dephasing in the edge states of the Integer Quantum Hall regime
An electronic Mach Zehnder interferometer is used in the integer quantum hall
regime at filling factor 2, to study the dephasing of the interferences. This
is found to be induced by the electrical noise existing in the edge states
capacitively coupled to each others. Electrical shot noise created in one
channel leads to phase randomization in the other, which destroys the
interference pattern. These findings are extended to the dephasing induced by
thermal noise instead of shot noise: it explains the underlying mechanism
responsible for the finite temperature coherence time of the
edge states at filling factor 2, measured in a recent experiment. Finally, we
present here a theory of the dephasing based on Gaussian noise, which is found
in excellent agreement with our experimental results.Comment: ~4 pages, 4 figure
Competition between magnetic field dependent band structure and coherent backscattering in multiwall carbon nanotubes
Magnetotransport measurements in large diameter multiwall carbon nanotubes
(20-40 nm) demonstrate the competition of a magnetic-field dependent
bandstructure and Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillations. By means of an
efficient capacitive coupling to a backgate electrode, the magnetoconductance
oscillations are explored as a function of Fermi level shift. Changing the
magnetic field orientation with respect to the tube axis and by ensemble
averaging, allows to identify the contributions of different Aharonov-Bohm
phases. The results are in qualitative agreement with numerical calculations of
the band structure and the conductance.Comment: 4 figures, 5 page
Adaptive optics imaging of P Cygni in Halpha
We obtained Halpha diffraction limited data of the LBV star P Cyg using the
ONERA Adaptive Optics (AO) facility BOA at the OHP 1.52m telescope on October
1997. Taking P Cyg and the reference star 59 Cyg AO long exposures we find that
P Cyg clearly exhibits a large and diffuse intensity distribution compared to
the 59 Cyg's point-like source. A deconvolution of P Cyg using 59 Cyg as the
Point Spread Function was performed by means of the Richardson-Lucy algorithm.
P Cyg clearly appears as an unresolved star surrounded by a clumped envelope.
The reconstructed image of P Cyg is compared to similar spatial resolution maps
obtained from radio aperture synthesis imaging. We put independent constraints
on the physics of P Cyg which agree well with radio results. We discuss future
possibilities to constrain the wind structure of P Cyg by using
multi-resolution imaging, coronagraphy and long baseline interferometry to
trace back its evolutionary status.Comment: 10 pages, 19 Encapsulated Postscript figure
Robust quantum coherence above the Fermi sea
In this paper we present an experiment where we measured the quantum
coherence of a quasiparticle injected at a well-defined energy above the Fermi
sea into the edge states of the integer quantum Hall regime. Electrons are
introduced in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer after passing through a
quantum dot that plays the role of an energy filter. Measurements show that
above a threshold injection energy, the visibility of the quantum interferences
is almost independent of the energy. This is true even for high energies, up to
130~eV, well above the thermal energy of the measured sample. This result
is in strong contradiction with our theoretical predictions, which instead
predict a continuous decrease of the interference visibility with increasing
energy. This experiment raises serious questions concerning the understanding
of excitations in the integer quantum Hall regime
Tuning decoherence with a voltage probe
We present an experiment where we tune the decoherence in a quantum
interferometer using one of the simplest object available in the physic of
quantum conductors : an ohmic contact. For that purpose, we designed an
electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer which has one of its two arms connected
to an ohmic contact through a quantum point contact. At low temperature, we
observe quantum interference patterns with a visibility up to 57%. Increasing
the connection between one arm of the interferometer to the floating ohmic
contact, the voltage probe, reduces quantum interferences as it probes the
electron trajectory. This unique experimental realization of a voltage probe
works as a trivial which-path detector whose efficiency can be simply tuned by
a gate voltage
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