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2024-01-30
Poynting-Robertson damping of laser beam driven lightsails
Lightsails using Earth-based lasers for propulsion require passive stabilization to stay within the beam. This can be achieved through the sail's scattering properties, creating optical restoring forces and torques. Undamped restoring forces produce uncontrolled oscillations, which could jeopardize the mission, but it is not obvious how to achieve damping in the vacuum of space. Using a simple two-dimensional model we show that the Doppler effect and relativistic aberration of the propelling laser beam create damping terms in the optical forces and torques. The effect is similar to the Poynting-Robertson effect causing loss of orbital momentum of dust particles around stars, but can be enhanced by design of the sail's geometry.
2401.16924v1
2024-02-29
The Equation of Motion for Taut-Line Buzzers
Equations of motion are developed for the oscillatory rotation of a disk suspended between twisted strings kept under tension by a hanging mass, to which additional forces may be applied. In the absence of forcing, damped harmonic oscillations are observed to decay with an exponential time envelope for two different string types. This is consistent with damping caused by string viscosity, rather than air turbulence, and may be quantified in terms of a quality factor. To test the proposed equation of motion and model for viscous damping within the string, we measure both the natural oscillation frequency and the quality factor for widely varied values of string length, string radius, disk moment of inertia, and hanging mass. The data are found to scale in good accord with predictions. A variation where rotational kinetic energy is converted back and forth to spring potential energy is also discussed.
2402.19285v1
2024-03-08
A design methodology for nonlinear oscillator chains enabling energy localization tuning and soliton stability enhancement with optimal damping
In this paper, the vibration energy localization in coupled nonlinear oscillators is investigated, based on the creation of standing solitons. The main objective is to establish a design methodology for mechanical lattices using the Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation (NLSE) as a guide strategy, even in the presence of damping. A three-dimensional diagram is used to illustrate stable parameter regions for damped stationary solitons. Moreover, an analysis of the influence of the number of oscillators in the system, and a numerical investigation regarding the stability of solitonic behavior is done. Through numerical analyses, it is observed that the developed algorithm not only has the capability to locate the highest amplitudes in the chain of oscillators, but also to control the intensity at which these amplitudes are located according to design requirements. The outcomes of the proposed methodology elucidate the impact that the coupling stiffness has on the stabilization of the NLSE, as well as the influence of the number of oscillators on the continuity hypothesis. The developed algorithm holds potential for practical applications in mechanical engineering since the NLSE is used as a design line rather than as a consequence of the phenomenon description.
2403.05176v1
2024-03-08
Damping Obliquities of Hot Jupiter Hosts by Resonance Locking
When orbiting hotter stars, hot Jupiters are often highly inclined relative to their host star equator planes. By contrast, hot Jupiters orbiting cooler stars are more aligned. Prior attempts to explain this correlation between stellar obliquity and effective temperature have proven problematic. We show how resonance locking -- the coupling of the planet's orbit to a stellar gravity mode (g mode) -- can solve this mystery. Cooler stars with their radiative cores are more likely to be found with g-mode frequencies increased substantially by core hydrogen burning. Strong frequency evolution in resonance lock drives strong tidal evolution; locking to an axisymmetric g mode damps semi-major axes, eccentricities, and as we show for the first time, obliquities. Around cooler stars, hot Jupiters evolve into spin-orbit alignment and avoid engulfment. Hotter stars lack radiative cores, and therefore preserve congenital spin-orbit misalignments. We focus on resonance locks with axisymmetric modes, supplementing our technical results with simple physical interpretations, and show that non-axisymmetric modes also damp obliquity.
2403.05616v1
1996-05-06
A Keck HIRES Investigation of the Metal Abundances and Kinematics of Three Damped Lya Systems Toward Q2206-199
We present high resolution, high SNR spectra of the QSO Q2206-199 obtained with HIRES on the 10m W.M. Keck Telescope. Our analysis focuses on the two previously identified damped \lya systems found at $z=1.920$ and $z=2.076$. For each system, we measure accurate abundances. The $z=1.920$ system exhibits the highest metallicity we have measured for a damped \lya system. We report the first confident ($>5 \sigma$) detection of Ti in a QSO absorption line system. By contrast the $z=2.076$ system is the most metal poor we have analyzed, showing absorption features for only the strongest transitions. We find no positive evidence for the presence of dust in either system. The two damped systems exhibit significantly different kinematic characteristics, yet we contend the two systems are consistent with one physical description: that of a thick, rotating disk. We investigate a very strong Mg II system at $z=0.752$ which is very likely yet a third damped \lya system. The very weak Mn II and Ti II transitions have been positively measured and imply $\log \N{HI} > 19.0$. We analyze the abundance ratios [Mn/Fe] and [Ti/Fe] and their values are inconsistent with dust depletion, yet consistent with the abundance pattern detected for halo stars in the Galaxy (see Lu et al. 1996a). Finally, we identify a C IV system at $z=2.014$ that shows a very narrow feature in Si IV and C IV absorption. The corresponding $b$ values (5.5 \kms and 8.9 \kms for Si IV and C IV) for this component suggest a temperature of $4.7 \sci{4} \rm K$. Because collisional ionization can explain the observed abundances only for $T > 8 \sci{4} \rm K$, we contend these ions must have formed through a different physical process (e.g. photoionization).
9605021v2
1996-09-09
The Population of Damped Lyman-alpha and Lyman Limit Systems in the Cold Dark Matter Model
Lyman limit and damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems probe the distribution of collapsed, cold gas at high redshift. Numerical simulations that incorporate gravity and gas dynamics can predict the abundance of such absorbers in cosmological models. We develop a semi-analytical method to correct the numerical predictions for the contribution of unresolved low mass halos, and we apply this method to the Katz et al. (1996) simulation of the standard cold dark matter model ($\Omega=1$, $h=0.5$, $\Omega_b=0.05$, $\sigma_8=0.7$). Using this simulation and higher resolution simulations of individual low mass systems, we determine the relation between a halo's circular velocity $v_c$ and its cross section for producing Lyman limit or damped absorption. We combine this relation with the Press-Schechter formula for the abundance of halos to compute the number of absorbers per unit redshift. The resolution correction increases the predicted abundances by about a factor of two at z=2, 3, and 4, bringing the predicted number of damped absorbers into quite good agreement with observations. Roughly half of the systems reside in halos with circular velocities $v_c>100\kms$ and half in halos with $35\kms<v_c<100\kms$. Halos with $v_c>150\kms$ typically harbor two or more systems capable of producing damped absorption. Even with the resolution correction, the predicted abundance of Lyman limit systems is a factor of three below observational estimates, signifying either a failure of standard CDM or a failure of these simulations to resolve the systems responsible for most Lyman limit absorption. By comparing simulations with and without star formation, we find that depletion of the gas supply by star formation affects absorption line statistics at $z>=2$ only for column densities exceeding $N_{HI}=10^{22} cm^{-2}$.
9609072v1
1998-05-22
Protogalactic Disk Models of Damped Lya Kinematics
We present new observational results on the kinematics of the damped lya systems. Our full sample is now comprised of 31 low-ion profiles and exhibits similar characteristics to the sample from Paper I. The primary exception is that the new distribution of velocity widths includes values out to a maximum of nearly 300 km/s, approx 100 km/s greater than the previous maximum. These high velocity width systems will significantly leverage models introduced to explain the damped lya systems. Comparing the characteristics from low-redshift and high-redshift sub-samples, we find no evidence for significant evolution in the kinematic properties of protogalaxies from z = 2.0 - 3.3. The new observations give greater statistical significance to the main conclusions of our first paper. In particular, those models inconsistent with the damped lya observations in Paper I are ruled out at even higher levels of confidence. At the same time, the observations are consistent with a population of rapidly rotating, thick disks (the TRD model) at high redshift. Buoyed by the success of the TRD model, we investigate it more closely by considering more realistic disk properties. Our goal is to demonstrate the statistical power of the damped lya observations by investigating the robustness of the TRD model. In particular, we study the effects of warping, realistic rotation curves, and photoionization on the kinematics of disks in the TRD model. The principal results are: (1) disk warping has only minimal effect on the kinematic results, primarily influencing the effective disk thickness, (2) the TRD model is robust to more realistic rotation curves; (3) the effects of photoionization require thicker disks to give consistent velocity width distributions. [abridged]
9805293v1
2000-05-05
UVES observations of QSO 0000-2620: oxygen and zinc abundances in the Damped Ly-alpha galaxy at z_abs=3.3901
Observations of the QSO 0000-2620 with UVES spectrograph at the 8.2m ESO KUEYEN telescope are used for abundance analysis of the damped Ly-alpha system at z_{abs}=3.3901. Several Oxygen lines are identified in the Ly_alpha forest and a measure for the oxygen abundance is obtained at [O/H]=-1.85 +/- 0.1 by means of the unsaturated OI 925 A and OI 950 A lines. This represents the most accurate O measurement in a damped Ly_alpha galaxy so far. We have also detected ZnII 2026 A and CrII 2056, 2062 A redshifted at about 8900 A and found abundances [Zn/H] = -2.07 +/- 0.1 and [Cr/H]=-1.99 +/- 0.1. Furthermore, previous measurements of Fe, Si, Ni and N have been refined yielding [Fe/H]=-2.04 +/- 0.1, [Si/H]=-1.90 +/- 0.1, [Ni/H]=-2.27 +/- 0.1, and [N/H]=-2.68 +/- 0.1. The abundance of the non-refractory element zinc is the lowest among the damped Ly-alpha systems showing that the associated intervening galaxy is indeed in the early stages of its chemical evolution. The fact that the Zn abundance is identical to that of the refractory elements Fe and Cr suggests that dust grains have not formed yet. In this Damped Ly-alpha system the observed [O,S,Si/Zn,Fe,Cr] ratios, in whatever combination are taken, are close to solar (i.e 0.1-0.2 dex) and do not show the [alpha-element/Fe] enhancement observed in Milky Way stars of comparable metallicity. The observed behavior supports a galaxy evolution model characterized by either episodic or low star formation rate rather than a Milky-Way-type evolutionary model.
0005098v1
2002-02-06
The UCSD HIRES/KeckI Damped Lya Abundance Database III. An Empirical Study of Photoionization in the Damped Lya System Toward GB1759+7539
We investigate the ionization state of the damped Lya system at z=2.62 toward GB1759+7539 through an analysis of ionic ratios sensitive to photoionization: ArI/SII, FeIII/FeII, NII/NI, AlIII/AlII. Approximately half of the metals arise in a mostly neutral velocity component with HI/H > 0.9, based on FeIII/FeII < 0.013. In contrast, the remaining half exhibits FeIII/FeII~0.3 indicative of a partially ionized medium with HI/H~0.5. These conclusions are supported by the observed NII/NI, AlIII/AlII, and ArI/SII ratios. We assess ionization corrections for the observed column densities through photoionization models derived from the CLOUDY software package. In the neutral gas, the ionization corrections are negligible except for ArI. However for the partially ionized gas, element abundance ratios differ from the ionic ratios by 0.1-0.3 dex for (SiII, SII, NiII, AlII)/FeII ratios and more for (NI, ArI)/FeII. Independent of the shape of the photoionizing spectrum and assumptions on the number of ionization phases, these ionization corrections have minimal impact (<0.1dex) on the total metallicity inferred for this damped Lya system. Measurements on the relative elemental abundances of the partially ionized gas, however, have a greater than ~0.15 dex uncertainty which hides the effects of nucleosynthesis and dust depletion. We caution the reader that this damped system is unusual for a number of reasons (e.g. a very low ArI/SII ratio) and we believe its ionization properties are special but not unique. Nevertheless, it clearly shows the value of examining photoionization diagnostics like FeIII/FeII in a larger sample of systems.
0202140v1
2009-09-26
Damped and sub-damped Lyman-? absorbers in z > 4 QSOs
We present the results of a survey for damped (DLA, log N(H I) > 20.3) and sub-damped Lyman-? systems (19.5 < log N(H I) < 20.3) at z > 2.55 along the lines-of-sight to 77 quasars with emission redshifts in the range 4 < zem < 6.3. Intermediate resolution (R ? 4300) spectra have been obtained with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) mounted on the Keck telescope. A total of 100 systems with log N(H I) > 19.5 are detected of which 40 systems are damped Lyman-? systems for an absorption length of ?X = 378. About half of the lines of sight of this homogeneous survey have never been investigated for DLAs. We study the evolution with redshift of the cosmological density of the neutral gas and find, consis- tently with previous studies at similar resolution, that ?DLA,H I decreases at z > 3.5. The overall cosmological evolution of ?HI shows a peak around this redshift. The H I column density distribution for log N(H I) ? 20.3 is ?tted, consistently with previous surveys, with a single power-law of index ? ? -1.8$\pm$0.25. This power-law overpredicts data at the high-end and a second, much steeper, power-law (or a gamma function) is needed. There is a flattening of the function at lower H I column densities with an index of ? ? ?1.4 for the column density range log N(H I) = 19.5?21. The fraction of H I mass in sub-DLAs is of the order of 30%. The H column density distribution does not evolve strongly from z ? 2.5 to z ? 4.5.
0909.4839v2
2011-05-19
Tidal dissipation compared to seismic dissipation: in small bodies, in earths, and in superearths
While the seismic quality factor and phase lag are defined solely by the bulk properties of the mantle, their tidal counterparts are determined both by the bulk properties and self-gravitation of a body as a whole. For a qualitative estimate, we model the body with a homogeneous sphere and express the tidal phase lag through the lag in a sample of material. Although simplistic, our model is sufficient to understand that the lags are not identical. The difference emerges because self-gravitation pulls the tidal bulge down. At low frequencies, this reduces strain and makes tidal damping less efficient in larger bodies. At high frequencies, competition between self-gravitation and rheology becomes more complex, though for sufficiently large superearths the same rule works: the larger the body, the weaker tidal damping in it. Being negligible for small terrestrial planets and moons, the difference between the seismic and tidal lagging (and likewise between the seismic and tidal damping) becomes very considerable for superearths. In those, it is much lower than what one might expect from using a seismic quality factor. The tidal damping rate deviates from the seismic damping rate especially in the zero-frequency limit, and this difference takes place for bodies of any size. So the equal in magnitude but opposite in sign tidal torques, exerted on one another by the primary and the secondary, go smoothly through zero as the secondary crosses the synchronous orbit. We describe the mantle rheology with the Andrade model, allowing it to lean towards the Maxwell model at the lowest frequencies. To implement this additional flexibility, we reformulate the Andrade model by endowing it with a free parameter which is the ratio of the anelastic timescale to the viscoelastic Maxwell time of the mantle. Some uncertainty in this parameter's frequency-dependence does not influence our principal conclusions.
1105.3936v12
2014-10-07
The Effect of Nonlinear Landau Damping on Ultrarelativistic Beam Plasma Instabilities
Very-high energy gamma-rays from extragalactic sources pair-produce off of the extragalactic background light, yielding an electron-positron pair beam. This pair beam is unstable to various plasma instabilities, especially the "oblique" instability, which can be the dominant cooling mechanism for the beam. However, recently, it has been claimed that nonlinear Landau damping renders it physically irrelevant by reducing the effective damping rate to a low level. Here, we show with numerical calculations that the effective damping rate is $8\times 10^{-4}$ of the growth rate of the linear instability, which is sufficient for the "oblique" instability to be the dominant cooling mechanism of these pair beams. In particular, we show that previous estimates of this rate ignored the exponential cutoff in the scattering amplitude at large wavenumber and assumed that the damping of scattered waves entirely depends on collisions, ignoring collisionless processes. We find that the total wave energy eventually grows to approximate equipartition with the beam by increasingly depositing energy into long wavelength modes. As we have not included the effect of nonlinear wave-wave interactions on these long wavelength modes, this scenario represents the "worst-case" scenario for the oblique instability. As it continues to drain energy from the beam at a faster rate than other processes, we conclude that the "oblique" instability is sufficiently strong to make it the physically dominant cooling mechanism for high-energy pair beams in the intergalactic medium.
1410.3797v2
2017-01-24
Influence of interlayer coupling on the spin torque driven excitations in a spin torque oscillator
The influence of dynamic interlayer interactions on the spin torque driven and damped excitations are illustrated for a three layer macrospin model system that corresponds to a standard spin-torque oscillator. The free layer and a synthetic antiferromagnetic (SyF) pinned layer of the spin-torque oscillator are in-plane magnetized. In order to understand experimental results, numerical simulations have been performed considering three types of interlayer interactions: exchange interaction between the two magnetic layers of the SyF, mutual spin torque between the top layer of the SyF and the free layer and dipolar interaction between all three magnetic layers. It will be shown that the dynamic dipolar coupling plays a predominant role. First, it leads to a hybridization of the free layer and the SyF linear modes and through this gives rise to a strong field dependence of the critical current. In particular, there is a field range of enhanced damping in which much higher current is required to drive the modes into steady state. This results in a gap in the excitation spectrum. Second, the dynamic dipolar interaction is also responsible for the non-linear interaction between the current driven steady state mode and the damped modes of the system. Here one can distinguish: (i) a resonant interaction that leads to a kink in the frequency-field and frequency-current dispersions accompanied by a small hysteresis and a reduction of the linewidth of the steady state mode and (ii) a non-resonant interaction that leads to a strong frequency redshift of the damped mode. The results underline the strong impact of interlayer coupling on the excitation spectra of spin-torque oscillators and illustrate in a simple three mode model system how in the non-linear regime the steady state and damped modes influence each other.
1701.06787v1
2017-03-21
Using rf voltage induced ferromagnetic resonance to study the spin-wave density of states and the Gilbert damping in perpendicularly magnetized disks
We study how the shape of the spinwave resonance lines in rf-voltage induced FMR can be used to extract the spinwave density of states and the damping within the precessing layer in nanoscale tunnel junctions that possess perpendicular anisotropy. We work with a field applied along the easy axis to preserve the uniaxial symmetry of the system. We describe the set-up to study the susceptibility contributions of the spin waves in the field-frequency space. We then identify the maximum device size above which the spinwaves can no longer be studied in isolation as the linewidths of their responses make them overlap. The rf-voltage induced signal is the sum of two voltages that have comparable magnitudes: a first voltage that originates from the transverse susceptibility and rectification by magnetoresistance and a second voltage that arises from the non-linear longitudinal susceptibility and the resultant time-averaged change of the micromagnetic configuration. The transverse and longitudinal susceptibility signals have different dc bias dependences such that they can be separated by measuring how the device rectifies the rf voltage at different dc bias voltages. The transverse and longitudinal susceptibility signals have different lineshapes; their joint studies can yield the Gilbert damping of the free layer of the device with a degree of confidence that compares well with standard FMR. Our method is illustrated on FeCoB-based free layers in which the individual spin-waves can be sufficiently resolved only for disk diameters below 200 nm. The resonance line shapes on devices with 90 nm diameters are consistent with a Gilbert damping of 0.011. This damping of 0.011 exceeds the value of 0.008 measured on the unpatterned films, which indicates that device-level measurements are needed for a correct evaluation of dissipation.
1703.07310v2
2017-04-07
Global Alfven Eigenmodes in the H-1 heliac
Recent upgrades in H-1 power supplies have enabled the operation of the H-1 experiment at higher heating powers than previously attainable. A heating power scan in mixed hydrogen/helium plasmas reveals a change in mode activity with increasing heating power. At low power (<50 kW) modes with beta-induced Alfven eigenmode (BAE) frequency scaling are observed. At higher power modes consistent with an analysis of nonconventional Global Alfven Eigenmodes (GAEs) are observed, the subject of this work. We have computed the mode continuum, and identified GAE structures using the ideal MHD solver CKA and the gyrokinetic code EUTERPE. An analytic model for ICRH-heated minority ions is used to estimate the fast ion temperature from the hydrogen species. Linear growth rate scans using a local flux surface stability calculation, LGRO, are performed. These studies demonstrate growth from circulating particles whose speed is significantly less than the Alfven speed, and are resonant with the mode through harmonics of the Fourier decomposition of the strongly-shaped heliac magnetic field. They reveal drive is possible with a small, hot energetic tail of the hydrogen species. Local linear growth rate scans are also complemented with global calculations from CKA and EUTERPE. These qualitatively confirm the findings from the LGRO study, and show that the inclusion of finite Larmor radius effects can reduce the growth rate by a factor of three, but do not affect marginal stability. Finally, a study of damping of the global mode with the thermal plasma is conducted, computing continuum, and the damping arising from parallel electric fields. We find that continuum damping is of order 0.1% for the configuration studied. The inclusion of resistivity lifts the damping to 19%. Such large damping is consistent with experimental observations that in absence of drive the mode decays rapidly (~0.1 ms).
1704.02089v1
2017-11-30
Scalar dark matter interpretation of the DAMPE data with U(1) gauge interactions
Recently, DAMPE experiment released the new measurement of the total cosmic $e^+e^-$ flux between 25 GeV and 4.6 TeV which indicates a spectral softening at around 0.9 TeV and a tentative peak at around 1.4 TeV. We utilize the scalar dark matter (DM) annihilation scenario to explain the DAMPE peak by extending $G_{SM}\equiv SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y$ with additional $U(1)$ gauge symmetries while keeping anomaly free to generate $\chi \chi \to Z^\prime Z^\prime \to \ell\bar{\ell}\ell^\prime\overline{\ell^\prime}$, where $\chi, Z^\prime, \ell^{(^\prime)}$ denote the scalar DM, the new gauge boson and $\ell^{(^\prime)}=e,\mu,\tau$, respectively, with $m_\chi \sim m_{Z^\prime} \sim 2 \times 1.5$ (TeV). We first illustrate that the minimal framework $G_{SM} \times U(1)_{Y^\prime}$ with the above mass choices can explain the DAMPE excess but has been excluded by LHC constraints from the $Z^\prime$ searches. Then we study a non-minimal framework $G_{SM} \times U(1)_{Y^\prime} \times U(1)_{Y^{\prime \prime}}$ in which $U(1)_{Y^{\prime \prime}}$ mixes with $U(1)_{Y^\prime}$. We show that such a framework can interpret the DAMPE data while passing other constraints including the DM relic abundance, DM direct detection and collider bounds. We also investigate the predicted $e^+e^-$ spectrum in this framework and find that the mass splitting $\Delta m = m_\chi - m_{Z'}$ should be less than about 17 GeV to produce the peak-like structure.
1711.11452v2
2017-12-14
Scalar dark matter explanation of the DAMPE data in the minimal Left-Right symmetric model
Left-Right symmetric model (LRSM) has been an attractive extension of the Standard Model (SM) which can address the origin of parity violation in the SM electroweak (EW) interactions, generate tiny neutrino masses, accommodate dark matter (DM) candidates and provide a natural framework for baryogenesis through leptogenesis. In this work we utilize the minimal LRSM to study the recently reported DAMPE results of cosmic $e^+e^-$ spectrum which exhibits a tentative peak around 1.4 TeV, while satisfying the current neutrino data. We propose to explain the DAMPE peak with a complex scalar DM $\chi$ in two scenarios: 1) $\chi\chi^* \to H_1^{++}H_1^{--} \to \ell_i^+\ell_i^+\ell_j^-\ell_j^-$; 2) $\chi\chi^* \to H_{k}^{++}H_{k}^{--} \to \ell_i^+\ell_i^+\ell_j^-\ell_j^-$ accompanied by $\chi\chi^* \to H_1^+ H_1^- \to \ell_i^+ \nu_{\ell_i} \ell_j^- \nu_{\ell_j}$ with $\ell_{i,j}=e,\mu,\tau$ and $k=1,2$. We fit the theoretical prediction on $e^+e^-$ spectrum to relevant experimental data to determine the scalar mass spectrum favored by the DAMPE excess. We also consider various constraints from theoretical principles, collider experiments as well as DM relic density and direct search experiments. We find that there are ample parameter space which can interpret the DAMPE data while passing the constraints. Our explanations, on the other hand, usually imply the existence of other new physics at the energy scale ranging from $10^7 {\rm GeV}$ to $10^{11} {\rm GeV}$. Collider tests of our explanations are also discussed.
1712.05351v3
2018-02-20
The chemical connection between damped Lyman-α systems and Local Group dwarf galaxies
Abundances of the volatile elements S and Zn have now been measured in around 80 individual stars in the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy, covering the metallicity range $-2.4\leq\text{[Fe/H]}\leq-0.9$. These two elements are of particular interest as they are not depleted onto dust in gas, and their ratio, [S/Zn], has thus commonly been used as a proxy for [$\alpha$/Fe] in Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems. The S abundances in Sculptor are similar to other $\alpha$-elements in this galaxy, consistent with S being mainly created in core-collapse supernovae, but also having some contribution from supernovae Type Ia. However, our results show that Zn and Fe do not trace all the same nucleosynthetic production channels. In particular, (contrary to Fe) Zn is not significantly produced by supernovae Type Ia. Thus, [S/Zn] cannot be reliably used as a proxy for [$\alpha$/Fe]. We propose [O/S] as a function of [S/H] as a possible alternative. At higher metallicities, the values of [S/Zn] measured in Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems are inconsistent with those in local dwarf galaxies, and are more compatible with the Milky Way disk. Low-metallicity Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems are, however, consistent with the most metal-poor stars in Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Assuming that the dust depletions of S and Zn are negligible, our comparison indicates that the star formation histories of Damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems are on average different from both the Milky Way and the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy.
1802.07325v5
2019-01-12
GW170817 implications on the frequency and damping time of f-mode oscillations of neutron stars
Within a minimum model for neutron stars consisting of nucleons, electrons and muons at $\beta$-equilibrium using about a dozen Equation of States (EOSs) from microscopic nuclear many-body theories and 40,000 EOSs randomly generated using an explicitly isospin-dependent parametric EOS model for high-density neutron-rich nucleonic matter within its currently known uncertainty range, we study correlations among the f-mode frequency, its damping time and the tidal deformability as well as the compactness of neutron stars. Except for quark stars, both the f-mode frequency and damping time of canonical neutron stars are found to scale with the tidal deformability independent of the EOSs used. Applying the constraint on the tidal deformability of canonical neutron stars $\Lambda_{1.4}=190^{+390}_{-120}$ extracted by the LIGO+VIRGO Collaborations from their improved analyses of the GW170817 event, the f-mode frequency and its damping time of canonical neutron stars are limited to 1.67 kHz - 2.18 kHz and 0.155 s - 0.255 s, respectively, providing a useful guidance for the ongoing search for gravitational waves from the f-mode oscillations of isolated neutron stars. Moreover, assuming either or both the f-mode frequency and its damping time will be measured precisely in future observations with advanced gravitational wave detectors, we discuss how information about the mass and/or radius as well as the still rather elusive nuclear symmetry energies at supra-saturation densities may be extracted.
1901.03779v2
2019-01-27
An introductory guide to fluid models with anisotropic temperatures Part 2 -- Kinetic theory, Padé approximants and Landau fluid closures
In Part 2 of our guide to collisionless fluid models, we concentrate on Landau fluid closures. These closures were pioneered by Hammett and Perkins and allow for the rigorous incorporation of collisionless Landau damping into a fluid framework. It is Landau damping that sharply separates traditional fluid models and collisionless kinetic theory, and is the main reason why the usual fluid models do not converge to the kinetic description, even in the long-wavelength low-frequency limit. We start with a brief introduction to kinetic theory, where we discuss in detail the plasma dispersion function $Z(\zeta)$, and the associated plasma response function $R(\zeta)=1+\zeta Z(\zeta)=-Z'(\zeta)/2$. We then consider a 1D (electrostatic) geometry and make a significant effort to map all possible Landau fluid closures that can be constructed at the 4th-order moment level. These closures for parallel moments have general validity from the largest astrophysical scales down to the Debye length, and we verify their validity by considering examples of the (proton and electron) Landau damping of the ion-acoustic mode, and the electron Landau damping of the Langmuir mode. We proceed by considering 1D closures at higher-order moments than the 4th-order, and as was concluded in Part 1, this is not possible without Landau fluid closures. We show that it is possible to reproduce linear Landau damping in the fluid framework to any desired precision, thus showing the convergence of the fluid and collisionless kinetic descriptions. We then consider a 3D (electromagnetic) geometry in the gyrotropic (long-wavelength low-frequency) limit and map all closures that are available at the 4th-order moment level. In the Appendix A, we provide comprehensive tables with Pad\'e approximants of $R(\zeta)$ up to the 8th-pole order, with many given in an analytic form.
1901.09360v2
2019-01-28
Revisit of non-linear Landau damping for electrostatic instability driven by blazar-induced pair beams
We revisit the effect of non-linear Landau (NL) damping on the electrostatic instability of blazar-induced pair beams, using a realistic pair-beam distribution. We employ a simplified 2D model in ${\bf k}$-space to study the evolution of the electric-field spectrum and to calculate the relaxation time of the beam. We demonstrate that the 2D model is an adequate representation of the 3D physics. We find that non-linear Landau damping, once it operates efficiently, transports essentially the entire wave energy to small wavenumbers where wave driving is weak or absent. The relaxation time also strongly depends on the IGM temperature, $T_\mathrm{IGM}$, and for $T_\mathrm{IGM}\ll10$ eV, and in the absence of any other damping mechanism, the relaxation time of the pair beam is longer than the inverse Compton (IC) scattering time. The weak late-time beam energy losses arise from the accumulation of wave energy at small $k$, that non-linearly drains the wave energy at the resonant $\mathbf{k}$ of the pair-beam instability. Any other dissipation process operating at small $k$ would reduce that wave-energy drain and hence lead to stronger pair-beam energy losses. As an example, collisions reduce the relaxation time by an order of magnitude, although their rate is very small. Other non-linear processes, such as the modulation instability, could provide additional damping of the non-resonant waves and dramatically reduce the relaxation time of the pair beam. An accurate description of the spectral evolution of the electrostatic waves is crucial for calculating the relaxation time of the pair beam.
1901.09640v3
2019-08-08
Annihilation of topological solitons in magnetism with spin wave burst finale: The role of nonequilibrium electrons causing nonlocal damping and spin pumping over ultrabroadband frequency range
We not only reproduce burst of short-wavelength spin waves (SWs) observed in recent experiment [S. Woo et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 448 (2017)] on magnetic-field-driven annihilation of two magnetic domain walls (DWs) but, furthermore, we predict that this setup additionally generates highly unusual} pumping of electronic spin currents in the absence of any bias voltage. Prior to the instant of annihilation, their power spectrum is ultrabroadband, so they can be converted into rapidly changing in time charge currents, via the inverse spin Hall effect, as a source of THz radiation of bandwidth $\simeq 27$ THz where the lowest frequency is controlled by the applied magnetic field. The spin pumping stems from time-dependent fields introduced into the quantum Hamiltonian of electrons by the classical dynamics of localized magnetic moments (LMMs) comprising the domains. The pumped currents carry spin-polarized electrons which, in turn, exert backaction on LMMs in the form of nonlocal damping which is more than twice as large as conventional local Gilbert damping. The nonlocal damping can substantially modify the spectrum of emitted SWs when compared to widely-used micromagnetic simulations where conduction electrons are completely absent. Since we use fully microscopic (i.e., Hamiltonian-based) framework, self-consistently combining time-dependent electronic nonequilibrium Green functions with the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation, we also demonstrate that previously derived phenomenological formulas miss ultrabroadband spin pumping while underestimating the magnitude of nonlocal damping due to nonequilibrium electrons.
1908.03194v5
2019-11-22
Role of Element-Specific Damping on the Ultrafast, Helicity-Independent All-Optical Switching Dynamics in Amorphous (Gd,Tb)Co Thin Films
Ultrafast control of the magnetization in ps timescales by fs laser pulses offers an attractive avenue for applications such as fast magnetic devices for logic and memory. However, ultrafast helicity-independent all-optical switching (HI-AOS) of the magnetization has thus far only been observed in Gd-based, ferrimagnetic amorphous (\textit{a}-) rare earth-transition metal (\textit{a}-RE-TM) systems, and a comprehensive understanding of the reversal mechanism remains elusive. Here, we report HI-AOS in ferrimagnetic \textit{a}-Gd$_{22-x}$Tb$_x$Co$_{78}$ thin films, from x = 0 to x = 18, and elucidate the role of Gd in HI-AOS in \textit{a}-RE-TM alloys and multilayers. Increasing Tb content results in increasing perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and coercivity, without modifying magnetization density, and slower remagnetization rates and higher critical fluences for switching but still shows picosecond HI-AOS. Simulations of the atomistic spin dynamics based on the two-temperature model reproduce these results qualitatively and predict that the lower damping on the RE sublattice arising from the small spin-orbit coupling of Gd (with $L = 0$) is instrumental for the faster dynamics and lower critical fluences of the Gd-rich alloys. Annealing \textit{a}-Gd$_{10}$Tb$_{12}$Co$_{78}$ leads to slower dynamics which we argue is due to an increase in damping. These simulations strongly indicate that acounting for element-specific damping is crucial in understanding HI-AOS phenomena. The results suggest that engineering the element specific damping of materials can open up new classes of materials that exhibit low-energy, ultrafast HI-AOS.
1911.09803v3
2020-09-14
Large field-like torque in amorphous Ru2Sn3 originated from the intrinsic spin Hall effect
We investigated temperature dependent current driven spin-orbit torques in magnetron sputtered Ru2Sn3 (4 and 10 nm) /Co20Fe60B20 (5 nm) layered structures with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The room temperature damping-like and field-like spin torque efficiencies of the amorphous Ru2Sn3 films were measured to be 0.14 +- 0.008 (0.07 +- 0.012) and -0.03 +- 0.006 (-0.20 +- 0.009), for the 4 (10 nm) films respectively, by utilizing the second harmonic Hall technique. The large field-like torque in the relatively thicker Ru2Sn3 (10 nm) thin film is unique compared to the traditional spin Hall materials interfaced with thick magnetic layers with in-plane magnetic anisotropy which typically have dominant damping-like and negligible field-like torques. Additionally, the observed room temperature field-like torque efficiency in Ru2Sn3 (10 nm)/CoFeB (5 nm) is up to three times larger than the damping-like torque (-0.20 +- 0.009 and 0.07 +- 0.012, respectively) and thirty times larger at 50 K (-0.29 +- 0.014 and 0.009 +- 0.017, respectively). The temperature dependence of the field-like torques show dominant contributions from the intrinsic spin Hall effect while the damping-like torques show dominate contributions from the extrinsic spin Hall effects, skew scattering and side jump. Through macro-spin calculations, we found that including field-like torques on the order or larger than the damping-like torque can reduce the switching critical current and decrease magnetization procession for a perpendicular ferromagnetic layer.
2009.06711v2
2021-01-12
Phase Retrieval using Expectation Consistent Signal Recovery Algorithm based on Hypernetwork
Phase retrieval (PR) is an important component in modern computational imaging systems. Many algorithms have been developed over the past half-century. Recent advances in deep learning have introduced new possibilities for a robust and fast PR. An emerging technique called deep unfolding provides a systematic connection between conventional model-based iterative algorithms and modern data-based deep learning. Unfolded algorithms, which are powered by data learning, have shown remarkable performance and convergence speed improvement over original algorithms. Despite their potential, most existing unfolded algorithms are strictly confined to a fixed number of iterations when layer-dependent parameters are used. In this study, we develop a novel framework for deep unfolding to overcome existing limitations. Our development is based on an unfolded generalized expectation consistent signal recovery (GEC-SR) algorithm, wherein damping factors are left for data-driven learning. In particular, we introduce a hypernetwork to generate the damping factors for GEC-SR. Instead of learning a set of optimal damping factors directly, the hypernetwork learns how to generate the optimal damping factors according to the clinical settings, thereby ensuring its adaptivity to different scenarios. To enable the hypernetwork to adapt to varying layer numbers, we use a recurrent architecture to develop a dynamic hypernetwork that generates a damping factor that can vary online across layers. We also exploit a self-attention mechanism to enhance the robustness of the hypernetwork. Extensive experiments show that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing ones in terms of convergence speed and accuracy and still works well under very harsh settings, even under which many classical PR algorithms are unstable.
2101.04348v2
2024-03-22
Investigating the Relationship between Simulation Parameters and Flow Variables in Simulating Atmospheric Gravity Waves in Wind Energy Applications
Wind farms, particularly offshore clusters, are becoming larger than ever before. Besides influencing wind farms and local meteorology downstream, large wind farms can trigger atmospheric gravity waves in the inversion layer and the free atmosphere aloft. Wind farm-induced gravity waves can cause adverse pressure gradients upstream of the wind farm, that contribute to the global blockage effect, and favorable pressure gradients above and downstream of the wind farm that enhance wake recovery. Numerical modeling is a powerful means of studying wind farm-induced atmospheric gravity waves, but it comes with the challenge of handling spurious reflections of these waves from domain boundaries. Approaches like radiation boundary conditions and forcing zones are used to avoid the reflections. However, the simulation setup heavily relies on ad-hoc processes. For instance, the widely used Rayleigh damping method requires ad-hoc tuning to acquire a setup only applicable to a particular case. To surmount this hurdle, we conduct a systematic LES study for flow over a 2D hill and through wind farm canopies that explores the dependence of domain size and damping layer setup on parameters driving linearly stratified atmospheric flows. Mainly the internal waves in the free atmosphere reflect from the boundaries, therefore by simulation linearly stratified conditions we focus on internal waves only. The Froude number drives most of the internal wave properties, such as wavelengths, amplitude, and direction. Therefore, the domain sizing and Rayleigh damping layer setup mainly depends on the Froude number. We anticipated the effective wavelengths to be the correct length scale to size the domain and damping layer thickness. Also, the damping coefficient is scaled with Brunt-V\"ais\"al\"a frequency.
2403.18863v1
2012-03-21
On a New Method of Storing a Variable Size Array
This paper introduces a new data structure, log_vector, with the following properties: constant time random access to individual elements; constant time element addition to the end; constant time element removal from the end; constant time empty data structure creation; amortized constant space per individual elements; constant additional space used.
1203.4836v1
2022-10-24
The AFLT $q$-Morris constant term identity
It is well-known that the Selberg integral is equivalent to the Morris constant term identity. More generally, Selberg type integrals can be turned into constant term identities for Laurent polynomials. In this paper, by extending the Gessel--Xin method of the Laurent series proof of constant term identities, we obtain an AFLT type $q$-Morris constant term identity. That is a $q$-Morris type constant term identity for a product of two Macdonald polynomials.
2210.13245v1
2010-01-10
Non-expanding universe: a cosmological system of units
The product of two empirical constants, the dimensionless fine structure constant and the von Klitzing constant (an electrical resistance), turns out to be an exact dimensionless number. Then the accuracy and cosmological time variation (if any) of these two constants are tied. Also this product defines a natural unit of electrical resistance, the inverse of a quantum of conductance. When the speed of light c is taken away from the fine structure constant, as has been shown elsewhere, its constancy implies the constancy of the ratio e2/h (the inverse of the von Klitzing constant), e the charge of the electron and h Planck constant. This forces the charge of the electron e to be constant as long as the action h (an angular momentum) is a true constant too. From the constancy of the Rydberg constant the Compton wavelength, h/mc, is then a true constant and consequently there is no expansion at the quantum mechanical level. The momentum mc is also a true constant and then general relativity predicts that the universe is not expanding, as shown elsewhere. The time variation of the speed of light explains the observed Hubble red shift. And there is a mass-boom effect. From this a coherent cosmological system of constant units can be defined.
1001.1561v1
2010-08-10
Linear Size Optimal q-ary Constant-Weight Codes and Constant-Composition Codes
An optimal constant-composition or constant-weight code of weight $w$ has linear size if and only if its distance $d$ is at least $2w-1$. When $d\geq 2w$, the determination of the exact size of such a constant-composition or constant-weight code is trivial, but the case of $d=2w-1$ has been solved previously only for binary and ternary constant-composition and constant-weight codes, and for some sporadic instances. This paper provides a construction for quasicyclic optimal constant-composition and constant-weight codes of weight $w$ and distance $2w-1$ based on a new generalization of difference triangle sets. As a result, the sizes of optimal constant-composition codes and optimal constant-weight codes of weight $w$ and distance $2w-1$ are determined for all such codes of sufficiently large lengths. This solves an open problem of Etzion. The sizes of optimal constant-composition codes of weight $w$ and distance $2w-1$ are also determined for all $w\leq 6$, except in two cases.
1008.1611v1
2007-02-15
Constant Mean Curvature n-noids with Platonic Symmetries
Constant Mean Curvature n-noids with Platonic Symmetries
0702469v1
2016-07-08
Alternative set of defining constants for redefinition of four SI units
We discuss different sets of defining constants, fixed values of which are considered in connection with the transition to new definitions of four SI units (the kilogram, the mole, the ampere, and the kelvin). The notion of constant's order in a given system of units is suggested. We propose an alternative set of fixed constants applicable for new definitions of the four SI units. We analyse and discuss in detail the set, which consists of the Planck constant, the Avogadro constant, the Boltzmann constant and the magnetic constant.
1607.02280v2
2021-11-16
New geometric constants of isosceles orthogonal type
Based on the parallelogram law and isosceles orthogonality, we define a new orthogonal geometric constant. We first discuss some basic properties of this new constant. Next, we consider the relation between the constant and the uniformly non-square property. Moreover, a generalized constant is also introduced and some basic properties are presented. It is shown that, for a normed space, the constant value is equal to 1 if and only if the norm can be induced by the inner product. Finally, we verify that this constant is closely related to the well-known geometric constants through some inequalities.
2111.08392v2
2021-12-11
Inscribed triangles in the unit sphere and a new class of geometric constants
We will introduce a new geometric constant GL(X) based on the constant H(X) proposed by Gao. We first further survey the constant H(X) and discuss some of the properties of this constant that have not yet been discovered. Next, we focus on a new constant GL(X) along with some of its basic properties. In addition, we show some relations between the well-known geometric constants and GL(X) through some inequalities. Finally, we characterize some generalized forms of the constant GL(X).
2112.05922v1
2004-10-12
Atomic Clocks and Constraints on Variations of Fundamental Constants
We consider an application of precision frequency measurements to searches for possible time variations of the fundamental physical constants. Current laboratory constraints on variations of the fine structure constant alpha and other fundamental constants are presented.
0410074v1
2009-11-04
On the best constant of Hardy-Sobolev Inequalities
We obtain the sharp constant for the Hardy-Sobolev inequality involving the distance to the origin. This inequality is equivalent to a limiting Caffarelli-Kohn-Nirenberg inequality. In three dimensions, in certain cases the sharp constant coincides with the best Sobolev constant.
0911.0948v1
2010-01-01
On Apery's Constant and Catalan's Constant
In this paper, Riemann's Zeta function with odd positive integer argument is represented as an infinite summation of integer powers of $\pi$ with rational coefficients. Specific values for Apery's Constant and Catalan's Constant are then derived.
1001.0248v2
2019-04-23
Two-field constant roll inflation
Starting from the idea of realising constant roll inflation in string theory we develop the constant roll formalism for two scalar fields. We derive the two-field potential which is compatible with a constant roll regime and discuss possible applications to string-models.
1904.10241v1
2023-07-16
When do Fermat constants completely determine Clairaut constants for branching geodesics on a surface of revolution?
We prove that Fermat constants do not completely determine Clairaut constants for three branching geodesics that meet at the weighted Fermat-Torricelli point on a surface of revolution, except the case of a standard sphere in $\mathbb{R}^{3}.$
2310.07717v1
1994-10-06
Damped Lyman Alpha Systems vs. Cold + Hot Dark Matter
Damped Ly$\alpha$ systems provide possibly the most significant evidence for early structure formation, and thus a stringent constraint on the Cold + Hot Dark Matter (CHDM) cosmology. Using the numbers of halos in N-body simulations to normalize Press-Schechter (PS) estimates of the number densities of protogalaxies as a function of redshift, we find that CHDM with $\Omega_c/\Omega_\nu/\Omega_b = 0.6/0.3/0.1$ is compatible with the damped Ly$\alpha$ data only at $z<2.5$, but that it is probably incompatible with data at $z>3$. The predictions of CHDM are quite sensitive to the neutrino fraction. We find that $\Omega_c/\Omega_\nu/\Omega_b = 0.725/0.20/0.075$ is compatible with the $z>3$ data. With one massive neutrino species, this corresponds to lowering the neutrino mass from 7.0 to 4.7 eV, for $H_0=50\kmsMpc$ and $T=2.726$ K. By analysing our numerical simulations with different resolutions and box sizes as well as those of Ma \& Bertchinger (1994), we show that for the CHDM models with $\Omega_\nu$=0.2--0.3 the PS approximation should be used with Gaussian filter with $\delta_c=1.3-1.4$ if one tries to recover the total mass of a collapsed halo and to include nonlinear effects, due to waves both longer and shorter than those within the simulation box.
9410022v1
1995-12-05
Small Scale Structure and High Redshift HI
Cosmological simulations with gas dynamics suggest that the Lyman-alpha forest is produced mainly by "small scale structure" --- filaments and sheets that are the high redshift analog of today's galaxy superclusters. There is no sharp distinction between Lyman-alpha clouds and "Gunn-Peterson" absorption produced by the fluctuating IGM -- the Lyman-alpha forest {\it is} the Gunn-Peterson effect. Lyman limit and damped Lyman-alpha absorption arises in the radiatively cooled gas of forming galaxies. At $z~2-3$, most of the gas is in the photoionized, diffuse medium associated with the Lyman-alpha forest, but most of the {\it neutral} gas is in damped Lyman-alpha systems. We discuss generic evolution of cosmic gas in a hierarchical scenario of structure formation, with particular attention to the prospects for detecting 21cm emission from high redshift HI. A scaling argument based on the present-day cluster mass function suggests that objects with $M_{HI} >~ 5e11 h^{-1} \msun$ should be extremely rare at $z~3$, so detections with existing instruments will be difficult. An instrument like the proposed Square Kilometer Array could detect individual damped Lyman-alpha systems at high redshift, making it possible to map structure in the high redshift universe in much the same way that today's galaxy redshift surveys map the local large scale structure.
9512016v1
1996-04-03
APM z>4 QSO Survey: Spectra and Intervening Absorption Systems
The APM multicolor survey for bright z > 4 objects, covering 2500 deg^2 of sky to m(R)~19, resulted in the discovery of thirty-one quasars with z > 4. High signal-to-noise optical spectrophotometry at 5A resolution has been obtained for the twenty-eight quasars easily accessible from the northern hemisphere. These spectra have been surveyed to create new samples of high redshift Lyman-limit systems, damped Lyman-alpha absorbers, and metal absorption systems (e.g. CIV and MgII). In this paper we present the spectra, together with line lists of the detected absorption systems. The QSOs display a wide variety of emission and absorption line characteristics, with 5 exhibiting broad absorption lines and one with extremely strong emission lines (BR2248-1242). Eleven candidate damped Ly-alpha absorption systems have been identified covering the redshift range 2.8<z<4.4 (8 with z>3.5). An analysis of the measured redshifts of the high ionization emission lines with the low ionization lines shows them to be blueshifted by 430+/-60 km/s. In a previous paper (Storrie-Lombardi et. al. 1994) we discussed the redshift evolution of the Lyman limit systems catalogued here. In subsequent papers we will discuss the properties of the Ly-alpha forest absorbers and the redshift and column density evolution of the damped Ly-alpha absorbers.
9604021v1
1996-06-13
Damping of Cosmic Magnetic Fields
We examine the evolution of magnetic fields in an expanding fluid composed of matter and radiation with particular interest in the evolution of cosmic magnetic fields. We derive the propagation velocities and damping rates for relativistic and non-relativistic fast and slow magnetosonic, and Alfv\'en waves in the presence of viscous and heat conducting processes. The analysis covers all MHD modes in the radiation diffusion and the free-streaming regimes. When our results are applied to the evolution of magnetic fields in the early universe, we find that cosmic magnetic fields are damped from prior to the epoch of neutrino decoupling up to recombination. Our findings have multifold implications for cosmology. The dissipation of magnetic field energy into heat during the epoch of neutrino decoupling ensures that most magnetic field configurations generated in the very early universe satisfy big bang nucleosynthesis constraints. Further dissipation before recombination constrains models in which primordial magnetic fields give rise to galactic magnetic fields or density perturbations. Finally, the survival of Alfv\'en and slow magnetosonic modes on scales well below the Silk mass may be of significance for the formation of structure on small scales (abridged).
9606080v2
1997-01-09
Molecular Hydrogen Absorption in the z= 1.97 Damped Lyman alpha Absorption system toward QSO 0013-004
We present a new ultra-violet spectrum of the QSO 0013-004 with 0.9 \AA resolution obtained with the MMT Blue spectrograph. The \upsilon = 0 - 0, 1 - 0, 2 - 0 and 3 - 0 Lyman bands of H_2 associated with the z = 1.9731 damped Ly alpah absorption line system have been detected. The H_2 column density is N(H_2) = 6.9 (\pm 1.6)\times 10^{19} cm^{-2}, and the Doppler parameter b = 15\pm 2 km/s. The populations of different rotational levels are measured and used to derive the excitation temperatures. The estimated kinetic temperature T_K\sim 70 K, and the total particle number density n(H) \sim 300 cm^{-3}. The UV photoabsorption rate $\beta_0 \sim 6.7\times 10^{-9}$ s^{-1}, about a factor of few times greater than that in a typical diffuse Milky Way interstellar cloud. The total hydrogen column density is $N(H) = 6.4(\pm 0.5)\times 10^{20} cm^{-2}$. The fractional H_2 abundance f = 2N(H_2)/(2N(H_2) + N(H I)) \sim 0.22 \pm 0.05 is the highest among all observed damped Ly\al absorbers. The high fractional H_2 abundance is consistent with the inferred presence of dust and strong C I absorption in this absorber.
9701041v1
1997-02-06
Abundance Patterns of Heavy Elements in Damped Lyman-Alpha Galaxies
We present a quantitative analysis of the abundances of heavy elements in damped Ly-alpha galaxies in the sample of Lu et al. (1996). In particular, we compare the observed gas-phase abundances with those expected when the intrinsic (i.e., nucleosynthetic) pattern is the same as that in either the Sun or in Galactic halo stars and when the depletion pattern is the same as that in the warm Galactic interstellar medium, but with various values of the dust-to-metals ratio. We find that the observations are equally consistent with the solar and halo-star intrinsic patterns and that they favor some depletion, the typical dust-to-metals ratio being 40%-90% of that in the Milky Way today. However, neither intrinsic pattern matches the observations perfectly. For the solar pattern, the discrepancy is mainly with [Mn/Fe], while for the halo-star pattern, the discrepancy is with [Zn/Fe], [Ni/Fe], and possibly [Al/Fe]. Our analysis does not support the claim by Lu et al. that the damped Ly-alpha galaxies have halo-star abundance patterns and no dust depletion.
9702066v2
1997-07-15
Linear Response, Dynamical Friction and the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem in Stellar Dynamics
We apply linear response theory to a general, inhomogeneous, stationary stellar system, with particular emphasis on dissipative processes analogous to Landau damping. Assuming only that the response is causal, we show that the irreversible work done by an external perturber is described by the anti-Hermitian part of a linear response operator, and damping of collective modes is described by the anti-Hermitian part of a related polarization operator. We derive an exact formal expression for the response operator, which is the classical analog of a well-known result in quantum statistical physics. When the self-gravity of the response can be ignored, and the ensemble-averaged gravitational potential is integrable, the expressions for the mode energy, damping rate, and polarization operator reduce to well-known formulae derived from perturbation theory in action-angle variables. In this approximation, dissipation occurs only via resonant interaction with stellar orbits or collective modes. For stellar systems in thermal equilibrium, the anti-Hermitian part of the response operator is directly related to the correlation function of the fluctuations. Thus dissipative properties of the system are completely determined by the spectrum of density fluctuations---the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. In particular, we express the coefficient of dynamical friction for an orbiting test particle in terms of the fluctuation spectrum; this reduces to the known Chandrasekhar formula in the restrictive case of an infinite homogeneous system with a Maxwellian velocity distribution.
9707161v1
1997-08-04
Violent Relaxation, Phase Mixing, and Gravitational Landau Damping
This paper proposes a geometric interpretation of flows generated by the collisionless Boltzmann equation (CBE), focusing on the coarse-grained approach towards equilibrium. The CBE is a noncanonical Hamiltonian system with the distribution function f the fundamental dynamical variable, the mean field energy H[f] playing the role of the Hamiltonian and the natural arena of physics being the infinite-dimensional phase space of distribution functions. Every time-independent equilibrium f_0 is an energy extremal with respect to all perturbations that preserve the constraints associated with Liouville's Theorem, local energy minima corresponding to linearly stable equilibria. If an initial f(t=0) is sufficiently close to some linearly stable lower energy f_0, its evolution involves linear phase space oscillations about f_0 which, in many cases, would be expected to exhibit linear Landau damping. If f(t=0) is far from any stable extremal, the flow will be more complicated but, in general, one would anticipate that the evolution involves nonlinear oscillations about some lower energy f_0. In this picture, the coarse-grained approach towards equilibrium usually termed violent relaxation is interpreted as nonlinear Landau damping. The evolution of a generic initial f(t=0) involves a coherent initial excitation, not necessarily small, being converted into incoherent motion associated with nonlinear oscillations about some equilibrium f_0 which, in general, will exhibit destructive interference.
9708026v1
1998-11-23
The Physical Nature of the Lyman Limit Systems
We analyze Keck HIRES observations of a Lyman limit system at z=2.652 toward Q2231-00. These observations afford the most comprehensive study of the physical properties of a LL system to date. By comparing the ionic column densities for Fe^+, Fe^{++}, Si^+, and Si^{3+} against calculations derived from the CLOUDY software package, we have strictly constrained the ionization state of this system. This has enabled us to calculate accurate abundances of a Lyman limit system for the first time at z > 2, e.g., [Fe/H] = -0.5 \pm 0.1. We also derive a total hydrogen column density, log N(H) = 20.73 \pm 0.2, which is comparable to values observed for the damped lya systems. The system is special for exhibiting CII* 1335 absorption, allowing an estimate of the electron density, n_e = 6.5 \pm 1.3 x 10^{-2} cm^{-3}. Coupling this measurement with our knowledge of the ionization state, we derive the following physical properties: (1) hydrogen volume density, n_H = 5.9 \pm 1.2 x 10^{-2} cm^{-3}, (2) path length, l = 3 \pm 1.6 kpc, and (3) ionizing intensity, log J_{912} = -20.22 \pm 0.21. We point out that a number of the physical properties (e.g. [Fe/H], N(H), n_H) resemble those observed for the damped lya systems, which suggests this system may be the photoionized analog of a damped system. The techniques introduced in this Letter should be applicable to a number of Lyman limit systems and therefore enable a survey of their chemical abundances and other physical properties.
9811357v1
1998-12-03
Gravity-Modes in ZZ Ceti Stars III. Eigenvalues and Eigenfuctions
We report on numerical calculations of nonadiabatic eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for g-modes in ZZ Ceti variables. The spectrum of overstable $l=1$ modes delineates the instability strip. Its blue edge occurs where $\omega \tau_c \approx 1$ for the $n=1$ mode. Here $\omega$ is radian frequency and $\tau_c$ is about four times the thermal timescale at the bottom of the surface convection zone. As a ZZ Ceti cools, its convection zone deepens, longer period modes become overstable, but the critical value of $\omega\tau_c$ separating overstable and damped modes rises. The latter is a consequence of enhanced radiative damping for modes which propagate immediately below the convection zone. The critical value of $\omega\tau_c$ is of observational significance because modes with the smallest value of $\omega\tau_c$ are most observable photometrically. Maximum periods for overstable modes predicted for our cooler model envelopes are about a factor two longer than the observational upper limit of $1,200\s$. We assess a number of plausible resolutions for this discrepancy among which convective overshoot and nonlinear saturation look promising. The nonadiabatic eigenfunctions enable us to predict relative amplitudes and phases of photospheric variations of flux and velocity, quantities made accessible by recent observations. We also present asymptotic formula for damping rates of high order modes, a result of consequence for future investigations of nonlinear saturation of the amplidues of overstable modes.
9812085v1
1999-01-19
Collisionless Dissipative Nonlinear Alfven Waves: Nonlinear Steepening, Compressible Turbulence, and Particle Trapping
The magnetic energy of nonlinear Alfven waves in compressible plasmas may be ponderomotively coupled only to ion-acoustic quasi-modes which modulate the wave phase velocity and cause wave-front steepening. In the collisionless plasma with $\beta\not=0$, the dynamics of nonlinear Alfven wave is also affected by the resonant particle-wave interactions. Upon relatively rapid evolution (compared to the particle bounce time), the quasi-stationary wave structures, identical to the so called (Alfvenic) Rotational Discontinuities, form, the emergence and dynamics of which has not been previously understood. Collisionless (Landau) dissipation of nonlinear Alfven waves is also a plausible and natural mechanism of the solar wind heating. Considering a strong, compressible, Alfvenic turbulence as an ensemble of randomly interacting Alfvenic discontinuities and nonlinear waves, it is shown that there exist two distinct phases of turbulence. What phase realizes depends on whether this collisionless damping is strong enough to provide adequate energy sink at all scales and, thus, to support a steady-state cascade of the wave energy. In long-time asymptotics, however, the particle distribution function is affected by the wave magnetic fields. In this regime of nonlinear Landau damping, resonant particles are trapped in the quasi-stationary Alfvenic discontinuities, giving rise to a formation of a plateau on the distribution function and quenching collisionless damping. Using the virial theorem for trapped particles, it is analytically demonstrated that their effect on the nonlinear dynamics of such discontinuities is non-trivial and forces a significant departure of the theory from the conventional paradigm.
9901257v1
2000-06-06
A Model of Metallicity Evolution in the Early Universe
We apply the phenomenological model used to explain the abundances of Fe and r-process elements in very metal-poor stars in the Galaxy to [Fe/H] of damped Ly alpha systems. It is assumed that the first stars formed after the Big Bang were very massive and promptly enriched the interstellar medium to [Fe/H] ~ -3, at which metallicity formation of normal stars took over. Subsequent Fe enrichment was provided by Type II supernovae. The range of [Fe/H] at a given redshift z for damped Ly alpha systems is explained by the time t* after the Big Bang at which normal star formation started in an individual protogalactic system. The average t* is approx 80% the age of the universe for damped Ly alpha systems at z approx 1.5 to 4.5, indicating a long delay between the Big Bang and the turn-on of protogalaxies. It is inferred that a substantial fraction of the total baryonic matter may not have been aggregated into protogalaxies where normal star formation had occurred down to z ~ 1.5. The data near z = 2.2 suggest that the rate of turn-on of protogalaxies was initially very low and slowly reached a maximum at ~ 3 Gyr after the Big Bang. This may be important in understanding the rate of formation of quasars.
0006082v2
2000-09-27
Lensing properties of 7 damped Lyman-alpha absorbing galaxy-QSO pairs
Le Brun et al. (1997) presented the first identifications of the galaxies giving rise to 7 intermediate redshift damped Ly-alpha (DLA) absorption systems. Here, we study the gravitational lensing properties of these foreground galaxies based on their observed optical appearance and on the absence of any secondary lensed quasar image. We consider the possibility that any secondary image be hidden due to extinction by dust, but find it unlikely. We derive upper limits on the amplification factor affecting the luminosity of the background quasars; in each case, this factor is found to be less than 0.3 mag. We also obtain upper limits on the total mass of the damped Ly-alpha galaxies, within radii equal to the quasar impact parameters. Mass-to-light ratios are found to be consistent with existing estimates based on X-ray emission or on motion of dwarf satellites. Although we show that lensing is not important in this sample, we note that existing DLA surveys used to determine the cosmological density of gas at z<1 are based on samples of quasars brighter than the ones considered here and for which the amplification bias is likely to be stronger.
0009433v1
2000-11-14
Sharp HI edges at high z: the gas distribution from Damped Lyman-alpha to Lyman-limit absorption systems
We derive the distribution of neutral and ionized gas in high redshift clouds which are optically thick to hydrogen ionizing radiation, using published data on Lyman-limit and Damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems in the redshift range 1.75 < z < 3.25. We assume that the distribution of the hydrogen total (HI+HII) column density in the absorbers follows a power law K N_H^{-alpha}, whereas the observed HI column density distribution deviates from a pure power law as a result of ionization from a background radiation field. Comparison of the models and observations give Maximum Likelihood solutions for the exponent alpha and for X, the value of log(N_H/N_HI) when the Lyman-limit optical depth is unity: alpha=2.7^{+1.0}_{-0.7} and X=2.75\pm0.35. X is much lower than what would be obtained for a gaseous distribution in equilibrium under its own gravity but the ratio of dark matter to gas density is not well constrained being log(eta_0)=1.1\pm 0.8. An extrapolation of our derived power law distribution towards systems of lower column density, the Lyman-alpha forest, favours models with log(eta_0) < 1.1 and alpha=2.7-3.3. With alpha appreciably larger than 2, Lyman-limit systems contain more gas than Damped Lyman-alpha systems and Lyman-alpha forest clouds even more. Estimates of the cosmological gas and dark matter density due to absorbers of different column density around z=2.5 are also given.
0011268v1
2000-11-29
Implications of 21cm observations for damped Ly-$α$ systems
We present Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope HI 21cm absorption observations, of candidate and confirmed damped Lyman-$\alpha$ systems (DLAS). The derived spin temperatures (T_s) are in all cases $\sim 1000$ K or higher. We have also collated from the literature a list of DLAS for which 21cm observations exist, and discuss their implications for the nature of the absorbers. A cross-comparison of the 21cm profiles with low ionization metal profiles shows that the 21cm absorption coincides in velocity with the deepest metal line feature. This is consistent with models in which the deep metal line features arise from discrete clouds but not with models where the deepest features are the result of velocity crowding. We also find that the typical derived spin temperatures of DLAS are considerably higher than those in the Galaxy or nearby spirals. The only exceptions are DLAS which are known to be associated with the disks of spirals; these do, in fact, show low spin temperatures. In a multi-phase medium,the derived T_s is a weighted average of the temperatures of the individual phases. High derived T_s values are hence to be expected from small, low metallicity objects, since these objects should have a lower fraction of the cold phase in their ISM as compared to large galaxies. The high T_s in DLAS is hence consistent with their observed low metallicities as well as with recent observations that DLAS are also associated with dwarf/LSB galaxies. Finally, we suggest that the following trend may be identified: at low redshift, damped absorption arises from a range of systems, including spiral galaxy disks, while, at high redshift, absorption occurs predominantly in smaller systems. (Abridged)
0011540v1
2001-01-18
A Comprehensive Statistical Analysis of the Gas Distribution in Lyman-limit and Damped Lyman-alpha Absorption Systems
In this paper we show how to use data on Lyman-limit and Damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems to derive the hydrogen ionization fractions and the distribution of the face-on total gas column density. We consider axially symmetric, randomly oriented absorbers, ionized by an external background radiation field in order to relate the face-on total gas distribution to that of the neutral hydrogen observed along the line of sight. We devise a statistical procedure based on the Maximum Likelihood criterion, that is able to treat simultaneously data coming from different surveys and statistically recovers the "true" column densities in the presence of large uncertainties: this is especially important for Lyman-limit systems which leave an unmeasurable residual flux at wavelengths shorter than the Lyman break. We make use of simulated data to look for possible observational biases and extensively test our procedure. For a large statistical sample of real data in the redshift range [1.75,3.25] (collected from all published surveys) our Maximum Likelihood procedure gives a power-law slope for the total hydrogen distribution of -2.7. All together Lyman-limit systems therefore contain more gas than Damped Lyman-alpha systems. Analysis of data at other redshifts shows that more observations are needed to reach a compelling evidence for a cosmological evolution of the slope of the gas distribution.
0101335v1
2001-04-29
The First Detection of Co in a Damped Lyman Alpha System
The study of elemental abundances in Damped Lyman Alpha systems (DLAs) at high redshift represents one of our best opportunities to probe galaxy formation and chemical evolution at early times. By coupling measurements made in high z DLAs with our knowledge of abundances determined locally and with nucleosynthetic models, we can start to piece together the star formation histories of these galaxies. Here, we discuss the clues to galactic chemical evolution that may be gleaned from studying the abundance of Co in DLAs. We present high resolution echelle spectra of two QSOs, Q2206-199 and Q1223+17, both already known to exhibit intervening damped systems. These observations have resulted in the first ever detection of Co at high redshift, associated with the z= 1.92 DLA in the sightline towards Q2206-199. We find that the abundance of Co is approximately 1/4 solar and that there is a clear overabundance relative to iron, [Co/Fe] = +0.31 +/- 0.05. From the abundance of Zn, we determine that this is a relatively metal-rich DLA, with a metallicity approximately 1/3 solar. Therefore, this first detection of Co is similar to the marked overabundance relative to Fe seen in Galactic bulge and thick disk stars.
0104466v1
2001-06-22
Self-Absorption of Ionizing Radiation and Extended Lyman Alpha Emission in High- Redshift QSOs
We calculate the neutral hydrogen column density of self-absorption in QSOs predicted in a model where the QSOs are located in the same halos that contain the gas in damped Lya absorption systems. The model is parameterized by the probability P_0 that any halo has an active QSO. We assume that the QSOs ionize the gas, but do not expel or heat it. The derived HI column densities produce negligible Lyman limit absorption, even in the lowest luminosity QSOs, with an optical depth of only ~ 10% for luminosity L=0.01 L_*, when P_0=10^{-2}. We also compute the HeII Lyman limit self-absorption, which is slightly higher but still negligible. The self-absorption can be higher if the gas is highly clumped; only in this case the overall emissivity from QSOs could be significantly reduced due to absorption by the known damped Lya systems, to affect the predicted intensity of the ionizing background or the epoch of HeII reionization. The presence of the gas associated with damped absorption systems around QSOs could also be detected from the narrow Lya emission line, which should have and angular extent of 0.1 to 1'' in typical high-redshift QSOs.
0106424v2
2001-06-22
Compressible MHD Turbulence in Interstellar Plasmas
Radio-wave scintillation observations reveal a nearly Kolmogorov spectrum of density fluctuations in the ionized interstellar medium. Although this density spectrum is suggestive of turbulence, no theory relevant to its interpretation exists. We calculate the density spectrum in turbulent magnetized plasmas by extending the theory of incompressible MHD turbulence given by Goldreich & Sridhar to include the effects of compressibility and particle transport. Our most important results are as follows. (1) Density fluctuations are due to the slow mode and the entropy mode. Both modes are passively mixed by the cascade of shear Alfven waves. Since the shear Alfven waves have a Kolmogorov spectrum, so do the density fluctuations. (2) Observed density fluctuation amplitudes imply either that the magnetic and gas pressures are comparable, or that the outer scale of the turbulence is very small. (3) A high degree of ionization is required for the cascade to survive damping by neutrals and thereby to extend to small lengthscales. Regions that are insufficiently ionized produce density fluctuations only on lengthscales larger than the neutral damping scale. These regions may account for the excess of power that is found on large scales. (4) Both the entropy mode and the slow mode are damped on lengthscales below that at which protons can diffuse across an eddy during the eddy's turnover time. Consequently, eddies whose extents along the magnetic field are smaller than the proton collisional mean free path do not contribute to the density spectrum. However, in MHD turbulence eddies are highly elongated along the magnetic field. From an observational perspective, the relevant lengthscale is that transverse to the magnetic field. Thus the cut-off lengthscale for density fluctuations is significantly smaller than the proton mean free path.
0106425v1
2001-11-20
Collisional Cascades in Planetesimal Disks I. Stellar Flybys
We use a new multiannulus planetesimal accretion code to investigate the evolution of a planetesimal disk following a moderately close encounter with a passing star. The calculations include fragmentation, gas and Poynting-Robertson drag, and velocity evolution from dynamical friction and viscous stirring. We assume that the stellar encounter increases planetesimal velocities to the shattering velocity, initiating a collisional cascade in the disk. During the early stages of our calculations, erosive collisions damp particle velocities and produce substantial amounts of dust. For a wide range of initial conditions and input parameters, the time evolution of the dust luminosity follows a simple relation, L_d/L_{\star} = L_0 / [alpha + (t/t_d)^{beta}]. The maximum dust luminosity L_0 and the damping time t_d depend on the disk mass, with L_0 proportional to M_d and t_d proportional to M_d^{-1}. For disks with dust masses of 1% to 100% of the `minimum mass solar nebula' (1--100 earth masses at 30--150 AU), our calculations yield t_d approx 1--10 Myr, alpha approx 1--2, beta = 1, and dust luminosities similar to the range observed in known `debris disk' systems, L_0 approx 10^{-3} to 10^{-5}. Less massive disks produce smaller dust luminosities and damp on longer timescales. Because encounters with field stars are rare, these results imply that moderately close stellar flybys cannot explain collisional cascades in debris disk systems with stellar ages of 100 Myr or longer.
0111384v1
2002-02-11
The Contribution of HI-rich Galaxies to the Damped Lyman-alpha Absorber Population at z=0
We present a study of the expected properties of the low redshift damped Lyman-alpha absorber population determined from a sample of HI-selected galaxies in the local universe. Because of a tight correlation between the HI mass and HI cross-section, which we demonstrate spans all galaxy types, we can use our HI-selected sample to predict the properties of the absorption line systems. We use measurements of the number density and HI cross-section of galaxies to show that the total HI cross-section at column densities sufficient to produce damped Lyman-alpha absorption is consistent with no evolution of the absorber population. We also find that the dN/dz distribution is dominated by galaxies with HI masses near 10^9 Msolar. However, because of the large dispersion in the correlation between HI mass and stellar luminosity, we find that the distribution of dN/dz as a function of L_J is fairly flat. Additionally, we examine the line widths of the HI-selected galaxies and show that there may be evolution in the kinematics of HI-rich galaxies, but it is not necessary for the higher redshift population to contain a greater proportion of high mass galaxies than we find locally.
0202216v2
2002-03-18
Monte Carlo Simulation of Lyman Alpha Scattering and Application to Damped Lyman Alpha Systems
A Monte Carlo code to solve the transfer of Lyman alpha (Lya) photons is developed, which can predict the Lya image and two-dimensional Lya spectra of a hydrogen cloud with any given geometry, Lya emissivity, neutral hydrogen density distribution, and bulk velocity field. We apply the code to several simple cases of a uniform cloud to show how the Lya image and emitted line spectrum are affected by the column density, internal velocity gradients, and emissivity distribution. We then apply the code to two models for damped Lya absorption systems: a spherical, static, isothermal cloud, and a flattened, axially symmetric, rotating cloud. If the emission is due to fluorescence of the external background radiation, the Lya image should have a core corresponding to the region where hydrogen is self-shielded. The emission line profile has the characteristic double peak with a deep central trough. We show how rotation of the cloud causes the two peaks to shift in wavelength as the slit is perpendicular to the rotation axis, and how the relative amplitude of the two peaks is changed. In reality, damped Lya systems are likely to have a clumpy gas distribution with turbulent velocity fields, which should smooth the line emission profile, but should still leave the rotation signature of the wavelength shift across the system.
0203287v2
2002-04-09
The Non-Damped Nature of Twelve Low-Redshift Damped Lyman Alpha Candidate Systems
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV spectroscopy of 12 candidate low-redshift damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems in 11 QSOs (z=0.103 in Q0054+144, z=0.969 and z=0.987 in Q0302-223, z=0.478 in Q0454-220, z=1.476 in Q1047+550, z=1.070 in Q1206+459, z=1.228 in Q1247+267, z=0.399 in Q1318+290B, z=0.519 in Q1329+412, z=0.276 in Q1451-375, z=0.204 in Q2112+059, z=0.263 in Q2251+113) are presented; the observations demonstrate that they are not DLAs with $N(HI)\ge2\times10^{20}$ atoms cm$^{-2}$. In all cases except two the systems either do not exist or are well below the DLA threshold column density; the exceptions are a z=0.474 system in Q0454-220 which has $N(HI)=3\times10^{19}$ atoms cm$^{-2}$ and a z=1.223 system in Q1247+267 which has $N(HI)=8\times10^{19}$ atoms cm$^{-2}$. Despite the availability of data in the HST archives demonstrating that these are not suitable targets, many have unfortunately been approved for observation with Chandra, Gemini, and/or HST with the intent of doing followup work on low-redshift DLAs. Furthermore, these results indicate that the low-redshift DLA statistics derived from IUE spectra and presented by Lanzetta, Wolfe, & Turnshek (1995) and Wolfe et al. (1995) are invalid.
0204155v1
2002-05-17
High matter density peaks from UVES observations of QSO pairs: correlation properties and chemical abundances
We study the transverse clustering properties of high matter density peaks as traced by high column density absorption systems (either Lyman limit systems characterized by N(HI)> 2 x 10^{17} cm^{-2} or CIV systems with W_{r}> 0.5 A) at redshifts between 2 and 3 with UVES spectra of two QSO pairs (UM680/UM681 at 56 arcsec angular separation and Q2344+1228/Q2343+1232 at 5 arcmin angular separation) and a QSO triplet (Q2139-4433/Q2139-4434/Q2138-4427 at 1, 7 and 8 arcmin angular separation). We find 3 damped Ly-alpha systems (N(HI)> 2 x 10^{20} cm^{-2}): 2 coinciding with strong metal systems in the nearby line of sight and 1 matching the emission redshift of the paired QSO; plus 7 Lyman limit systems: 4 forming two matching couples and 3 without a corresponding metal system within ~3000 km/s in the coupled line of sight. In summary, we detect five out of ten matching systems within 1000 km/s, indicating a highly significant overdensity of strong absorption systems over separation lengths from ~1 to 8 h^{-1} Mpc. The observed coincidences could arise in gas due to starburst-driven superwinds associated with a quasar or a galaxy, or gas belonging to large scale structures like filaments or sheets. We also determine chemical abundance ratios for three damped Ly-alpha systems. In particular, for the damped system at z ~ 2.53788 in the spectrum of Q2344+1228, new estimates of the ratios O/Fe, C/Fe are obtained: [C/Fe]<0.06, [O/Fe]<0.2. They indicate that O and C are not over-solar in this system.
0205299v1
2002-08-28
Complex rotation with internal dissipation. Applications to cosmic-dust alignment and to wobbling comets and asteroids
Neutron stars, asteroids, comets, cosmic-dust granules, spacecraft, as well as whatever other freely spinning body dissipate energy when they rotate about any axis different from principal. We discuss the internal-dissipation-caused relaxation of a freely precessing rotator towards its minimal-energy mode (mode that corresponds to the spin about the maximal-inertia axis). While the body nutates at some rate, the internal stresses and strains within the body oscillate at frequencies both higher and lower than this rate. The internal dissipation takes place mostly the second and higher harmonics. We discuss the application of our findings to asteroids. Regarding the comets, estimates show that the currently available angular resolution of spacecraft-based instruments makes it possible to observe wobble damping within year- or maybe even month-long spans of time. We also discuss cosmic-dust astrophysics; in particular, the role played by precession damping in the dust alignment. We show that this damping provides coupling of the grain's rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom; this entails occasional flipping of dust grains due to thermal fluctuations. During such a flip, grain preserves its angular momentum, but the direction of torques arising from H2 formation reverses. As a result, flipping grain will not rotate fast in spite of the action of uncompensated H2 formation torques. The grains get ``thermally trapped,'' and their alignment is marginal.
0208489v1
2003-06-16
Damping of Tensor Modes in Cosmology
An analytic formula is given for the traceless transverse part of the anisotropic stress tensor due to free streaming neutrinos, and used to derive an integro-differential equation for the propagation of cosmological gravitational waves. The solution shows that anisotropic stress reduces the squared amplitude by 35.6 % for wavelengths that enter the horizon during the radiation-dominated phase, independent of any cosmological parameters. This decreases the tensor temperature and polarization correlation functions for these wavelengths by the same amount. The effect is less for wavelengths that enter the horizon at later times. At the longest wavelengths the decrease in the tensor correlation functions due to neutrino free streaming ranges from 10.7% for $\Omega_Mh^2=0.1$ to 9.0% for $\Omega_Mh^2=0.15$. An Appendix gives a general proof that tensor as well as scalar modes satisfy a conservation law for perturbations outside the horizon, even when the anisotropic stress tensor is not negligible.
0306304v2
2003-12-30
Nonlinear Pulsations in Differentially Rotating Neutron Stars: Mass-Shedding-Induced Damping and Splitting of the Fundamental Mode
We study small-amplitude, nonlinear pulsations of uniformly and differentially rotating neutron stars employing a two-dimensional evolution code for general-relativistic hydrodynamics. Using Fourier transforms at several points inside the star, both the eigenfrequencies and two-dimensional eigenfunctions of pulsations are extracted. The centrifugal forces and the degree of differential rotation have significant effects on the mode-eigenfunction. We find that near the mass-shedding limit, the pulsations are damped due to shocks forming at the surface of the star. This new damping mechanism may set a small saturation amplitude for modes that are unstable to the emission of gravitational waves. After correcting for the assumption of the Cowling approximation (used in our numerical code), we construct empirical relations that predict the range of gravitational-wave frequencies from quasi-periodic post-bounce oscillations in the core collapse of massive stars. We also find that the fundamental quasi-radial mode is split, at least in the Cowling approximation and mainly in differentially rotating stars, into two different sequences.
0312648v2
2004-01-16
Simulating stochastically excited oscillations. The mode lifetime of xi Hya
The discovery of solar-like oscillations in the giant star xy Hya (G7III) was reported by Frandsen et al. (2002). Their frequency analysis was very limited due to alias problems in the data set (caused by single-site observations). The extent to which the aliasing affected their analysis was unclear due to the unknown damping time of the stellar oscillation modes. In this paper we describe a simulator created to generate time series of stochastically excited oscillations, which takes as input an arbitrary window function and includes both white and non-white noise. We also outline a new method to compare a large number of simulated time series with an observed time series to determine the damping time, amplitude, and limited information on the degree of the stochastically excited modes. For xi Hya we find the most likely amplitude to be ~ 2 m/s, in good agreement with theory (Houdek & Gough, 2002), and the most likely damping time to be ~ 2 days, which is much shorter than the theoretical value of 15-20 days calculated by Houdek & Gough (2002).
0401331v1
2004-10-13
On the Importance of Local Sources of Radiation in Cosmological Absorption Systems
An upper limit to the importance of local sources of radiation compared to the cosmic background in cosmological absorption systems is derived, as a simple consequence of the conservation of surface brightness. The limit depends only on the rate of incidence of the absorbers and the mean free path of the radiation. It is found that, on average, the ionizing radiation intensity from local sources in Lyman limit systems at z>2 must be less than half of the intensity of the cosmic background. In absorbers with column densities much lower than Lyman limit systems, the local source contribution must be negligible. The limit on the ratio of local source to background intensities is then applied to the class of damped Lya absorption systems with detectable excited CII lines. A cooling rate of the gas in these systems has been measured by Wolfe et al., who assumed that the balancing heating source is photoelectric heating on dust by light at ~ 1500 A . The intensity from local star formation at this wavelength in this class of damped Lya systems is found to be at most ~ 3 times the background intensity. If the heating source is indeed photoelectric heating of dust, the background created by sources associated with damped Lya systems can then be estimated from the average cooling rates measured in the absorbers. Current results yield a background intensity higher than previous estimates based on observed galaxy and quasar luminosity functions, although with a large uncertainty. The possibility of other sources of heating, such as shock-heating in a turbulent medium, should be explored.
0410315v1
2005-04-04
Relativistic r-modes and Shear viscosity: regularizing the continuous spectrum
Within a fully relativistic framework, we derive and solve numerically the perturbation equations of relativistic stars, including the stresses produced by a non-vanishing shear viscosity in the stress-energy tensor. With this approach, the real and imaginary parts of the frequency of the modes are consistently obtained. We find that, approaching the inviscid limit from the finite viscosity case, the continuous spectrum is regularized and we can calculate the quasi-normal modes for stellar models that do not admit solutions at first order in perturbation theory when the coupling between the polar and axial perturbations is neglected. The viscous damping time is found to agree within factor 2 with the usual estimate obtained by using the eigenfunctions of the inviscid limit and some approximation for the energy dissipation integrals. We find that the frequencies and viscous damping times for relativistic $r-$modes lie between the Newtonian and Cowling results. We compare the results obtained with homogeneous, polytropic and realistic equations of state and find that the frequencies depend only on the rotation rate and on the compactness parameter (M/R), being almost independent of the equation of state. Our numerical results for realistic neutron stars give viscous damping times with the same dependence on mass and radius as previously estimated, but systematically larger of about 60%.
0504062v1
2005-04-29
Evidence for a magnitude-dependent bias in the Hamburg/ESO Survey for Damped Lyman-alpha Systems
We present preliminary results from the Hamburg/ESO survey for Damped Ly-alpha (hereafter, DLA) Systems. This survey is characterized by (i) the good knowledge of the biases affecting the parent QSO survey, (ii) the brightness and (iii) the relatively wide magnitude distribution of the background QSOs. Therefore, it is well-suited to study possible magnitude-dependent biases in DLA surveys, such as the one expected from dust obscuration. We have systematically searched for damped Lyman-alpha line candidates in 5 A resolution spectra of the 188 QSOs that constitute our statistical sample. These candidates have later been reobserved with UVES at the ESO--Very Large Telescope (VLT) for confirmation and accurate N(HI) measurements. In the redshift range covered by the survey, 19 DLA systems have been discovered. Over the whole survey, we find that the number density, n(z), and cosmological density of gas, Omega_gas, have comparable values to the ones obtained by CORALS (Ellison et al. 2001). However, the number densities of DLA systems n(z) in two sub-samples of equal absorption distance path defined by the magnitude of the background QSOs differ by a factor of about 5. We estimate that the probability that n(z) is equal in the two sub-samples is < 0.003. A similar, only slightly less significant difference is found for Omega_gas.
0504657v1
2005-10-12
Ly-alpha Radiative Transfer in Cosmological Simulations and Application to a z~8 Emitter
We develop a Ly-alpha radiative transfer (RT) Monte Carlo code for cosmological simulations.High resolution,along with appropriately treated cooling can result in simulated environments with very high optical depths.Thus,solving the Ly-alpha RT problem in cosmological simulations can take an unrealistically long time.For this reason,we develop methods to speed up the Ly-alpha RT.With these accelerating methods,along with the parallelization of the code,we make the problem of Ly-alpha RT in the complex environments of cosmological simulations tractable.We test the RT code against simple Ly-alpha emitter models,and then we apply it to the brightest Ly-alpha emitter of a gasdynamics+N-body Adaptive Refinement Tree (ART) simulation at z~8.We find that recombination rather than cooling radiation Ly-alpha photons is the dominant contribution to the intrinsic Ly-alpha luminosity of the emitter,which is ~4.8x10e43 ergs/s.The size of the emitter is pretty small,making it unresolved for currently available instruments.Its spectrum before adding the Ly-alpha Gunn-Peterson absorption (GP) resembles that of static media,despite some net inward radial peculiar motion.This is because for such high optical depths as those in ART simulations,velocities of order some hundreds km/s are not important.We add the GP in two ways.First we assume no damping wing,corresponding to the situation where the emitter lies within the HII region of a very bright quasar,and second we allow for the damping wing.Including the damping wing leads to a maximum line brightness suppression by roughly a factor of ~62.The line fluxes,even though quite faint for current ground-based telescopes,should be within reach for JWST.
0510347v2
2005-12-05
Kinematics and star formation activity in the z=2.03954 damped Lyman-alpha system towards PKS 0458-020
We present UVES observations of the log N(HI)= 21.7 damped Lyman-alpha system at z=2.03954 towards the quasar PKS 0458-020. HI Lyman-alpha emission is detected in the center of the damped Lyman-alpha absorption trough. Metallicities are derived for MgII, SiII, PII, CrII, MnII, FeII and ZnII and are found to be -1.21\pm0.12, -1.28\pm0.20, -1.54\pm0.11, -1.66\pm0.10, -2.05\pm0.11, -1.87\pm0.11, -1.22\pm0.10, respectively, relative to solar. The depletion factor is therefore of the order of [Zn/Fe]=0.65. We observe metal absorption lines to be blueshifted compared to the Lyman-alpha emission up to a maximum of 100 and 200 km/s for low and high-ionization species respectively. This can be interpreted either as the consequence of rotation in a large (~7kpc) disk or as the imprint of a galactic wind. The star formation rate (SFR) derived from the Lyman-alpha emission, 1.6 solar masses/yr, is compared with that estimated from the observed CII* absorption. No molecular hydrogen is detected in our data, yielding a molecular fraction f<-6.52. This absence of H2 can be explained as the consequence of a high ambient UV flux which is one order of magnitude larger than the radiation field in the ISM of our Galaxy and originates in the observed emitting region.
0512118v1
2006-02-14
On the magnetic structure and wind parameter profiles of Alfven wave driven winds in late-type supergiant stars
Cool stars at giant and supergiant evolutionary phases present low velocity and high density winds, responsible for the observed high mass-loss rates. Although presenting high luminosities, radiation pressure on dust particles is not sufficient to explain the wind acceleration process. Among the possible solutions to this still unsolved problem, Alfven waves are, probably, the most interesting for their high efficiency in transfering energy and momentum to the wind. Typically, models of Alfven wave driven winds result in high velocity winds if they are not highly damped. In this work we determine self-consistently the magnetic field geometry and solve the momentum, energy and mass conservation equations, to demonstrate that even a low damped Alfven wave flux is able to reproduce the low velocity wind. We show that the magnetic fluxtubes expand with a super-radial factor S>30 near the stellar surface, larger than that used in previous semi-empirical models. The rapid expansion results in a strong spatial dilution of the wave flux. We obtained the wind parameter profiles for a typical supergiant star of 16 M_sun. The wind is accelerated in a narrow region, coincident with the region of high divergence of the magnetic field lines, up to 100 km/s. For the temperature, we obtained a slight decrease near the surface for low damped waves, because the wave heating mechanism is less effective than the radiative losses. The peak temperature occurs at 1.5 r_0 reaching 6000 K. Propagating outwards, the wind cools down mainly due to adiabatic expansion.
0602305v1
2006-03-17
Electron impact excitation of Helium-like ions up to n=4 levels including radiation damping
Helium-like ions provide the most important X-ray spectral diagnostics in high temperature fusion and astrophysical plasmas. We previously presented computed collision strengths for O~VII including relativistic fine structure, levels up to the $n=4$ complex and radiation damping of autoionizing resonances. We have extended this work to other He-like ions (N, Ne, Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca). The calculations are carried out using the Breit-Pauli R-matrix (BPRM) method with a 31-level eigenfunction expansion. Collision strengths for the principal lines important in X-ray plasma diagnostics, w, x, y and z, corresponding to the 4 transitions to the ground level 1s^2(^1S_0) <- 1s2p(^1P^o_1), 1s2p(^3P^o_2), 1s2p(^3P^o_1), 1s2s(^3S_1), are explicitly shown. We find the effect of radiation damping to be significant for the forbidden transitions in heavier He-like ions, which should affect the diagnostic line ratios. We extrapolated the collision strengths to their values at infinite energy using the Burgess-Tully extrapolation technique. This is required to calculate the Maxwellian average collision strengths at high temperature. We show that the coupling between dipole allowed and inter-combination transitions affects increasingly the effective collision strengths for the n ^1S_0 - n' ^3P_1 transition as the charge of the ion increases. This clearly affects the treatment of the extrapolation toward the infinite energy point of the collision strength. This work is carried out as part of the Iron Project-RmaX Network.
0603482v1
2006-07-25
Metal-rich Damped/sub-Damped Lyman-alpha Quasar Absorbers at z<1
Damped Lyman-alpha absorbers (DLAs), seen in absorption against a background quasar, provide the most detailed probes available of element abundances in the Universe over > 90 % of its age. DLAs can be used to observationally measure the global mean metallicity in the Universe and its evolution with time. Paradoxically, these observations are more difficult at lower redshifts, where the absorber rest-frame UV spectra are cut-off due to the atmospheric absorption. We present here high-resolution VLT/UVES observations of several elements contained in three DLAs and one sub-DLA with 0.6<z_abs<0.9. We detect Mg I, Mg II, Fe II, Zn II, Cr II, Mn II, Ti II and Ca II. Our observations more than double the high-resolution sample of [Zn/H] at z<1. We also report the discovery of three metal-rich systems, whereas most previous measurements show low N(HI)-weighted mean metallicity projecting to about 1/6th solar level at z=0. We derive [Zn/H]=-0.11+/-0.04 at z_abs=0.725, [Zn/H]=-0.54+/-0.20 at z_abs=0.740 and [Zn/H]=-0.49+/-0.22 at z_abs=0.652, plus one additional upper limit ([Zn/H]<-0.36 at z_abs=0.842). These measurements confirm the existence of quasar absorbers with relatively high metallicities based on abundance estimates free from the effect of dust depletion. Possible implications of these results for the metallicity of neutral gas phase in the past ~ 8 Gyr are presented and compared with models.
0607561v1
1998-06-21
Collective intersubband transitions in quantum wells: a comparative density-functional study
We use time-dependent (current) density functional theory to study collective transitions between the two lowest subbands in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. We focus on two systems where experimental results are available: a wide single and a narrow asymmetric double well. The aim is to calculate frequency and linewidth of collective electronic modes damped via electron-electron interaction only. Since Landau damping is not effective here, the dominant damping mechanism involves dynamical exchange-correlation effects such as multipair production. To capture these effects, one has to go beyond the widely used adiabatic local density approximation (ALDA) and include retardation. We perform a comparative study of two approaches which fall in this category: the dynamical extension of the ALDA by Gross and Kohn, and a more recent method which treats exchange and correlation beyond the ALDA as viscoelastic stresses in the electron liquid. We find that the former method is more robust: it performs similarly for strongly different degrees of collectivity of the electronic motion. Results for quantum wells compare reasonably to experiment, with a tendency towards overdamping. By contrast, the viscoelastic approach is superior for systems where the electron dynamics is predominantly collective, but breaks down if the local velocity field is too rapidly varying, as in the case of a single-electron-like behavior such as tunneling through a potential barrier.
9806252v1
1998-11-27
Renormalization group analysis of the quantum non-linear sigma model with a damping term
We investigate the behavior of the zero-temperature quantum non-linear sigma model in d dimensions in the presence of a damping term of the form f(w)~ |w|^alpha, with 1 \le alpha <2. We find two fixed points: a spin-wave fixed point FP1 showing a dynamic scaling exponent z=1 and a dissipative fixed point FP2 with z>1. In the framework of the \epsilon-expansion it is seen that there is a range of values alpha_*(d) \le alpha \le 2 where the point FP1 is stable with respect to FP2, so that the system realizes a z=1 quantum critical behavior even in the presence of a dissipative term. However, reasonable arguments suggest that in d=2 this range is very narrow. In the broken symmetry phase we discuss a phenomenological scaling approach, treating damping as a perturbation of the ordered ground state. The relation of these results with the pseudogap effect observed in underdoped layered cuprates is discussed.
9811392v2
1999-12-14
Spinwave damping in the two-dimensional ferromagnetic XY model
The effect of damping of spinwaves in a two-dimensional classical ferromagnetic XY model is considered. The damping rate $\Gamma_{q}$ is calculated using the leading diagrams due to the quartic-order deviations from the harmonic spin Hamiltonian. The resulting four-dimensional integrals are evaluated by extending the techniques developed by Gilat and others for spectral density types of integrals. $\Gamma_{q}$ is included into the memory function formalism due to Reiter and Solander, and Menezes, to determine the dynamic structure function $S(q,\omega)$. For the infinite sized system, the memory function approach is found to give non-divergent spinwave peaks, and a smooth nonzero background intensity (``plateau'' or distributed intensity) for the whole range of frequencies below the spinwave peak. The background amplitude relative to the spinwave peak rises with temperature, and eventually becomes higher than the spinwave peak, where it appears as a central peak. For finite-sized systems, there are multiple sequences of weak peaks on both sides of the spinwave peaks whose number and positions depend on the system size and wavevector in integer units of $2\pi/L$. These dynamical finite size effects are explained in the memory function analysis as due to either spinwave difference processes below the spinwave peak or sum processes above the spinwave peak. These features are also found in classical Monte Carlo -- Spin-Dynamics simulations.
9912241v1
2002-01-25
Time-dependent current density functional theory for the linear response of weakly disordered systems
This paper develops a quantitatively accurate first-principles description for the frequency and the linewidth of collective electronic excitations in inhomogeneous weakly disordered systems. A finite linewidth in general has intrinsic and extrinsic sources. At low temperatures and outside the region where electron-phonon interaction occurs, the only intrinsic damping mechanism is provided by electron-electron interaction. This kind of intrinsic damping can be described within time-dependent density-functional theory (TDFT), but one needs to go beyond the adiabatic approximation and include retardation effects. It was shown previously that a density-functional response theory that is local in space but nonlocal in time has to be constructed in terms of the currents, rather than the density. This theory will be reviewed in the first part of this paper. For quantitatively accurate linewidths, extrinsic dissipation mechanisms, such as impurities or disorder, have to be included. In the second part of this paper, we discuss how extrinsic dissipation can be described within the memory function formalism. We first review this formalism for homogeneous systems, and then present a synthesis of TDFT with the memory function formalism for inhomogeneous systems, to account simultaneously for intrinsic and extrinsic damping of collective excitations. As example, we calculate frequencies and linewidths of intersubband plasmons in a 40 nm wide GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well.
0201483v1
2003-06-10
Oscillations of Bose-Einstein condensates with vortex lattices. II. Finite temperatures
We derive the finite temperature oscillation modes of a harmonically confined Bose-Einstein condensed gas undergoing rigid body rotation supported by a vortex lattice in the condensate. The hydrodynamic modes separate into two classes corresponding to in-phase (center-of-mass) and counter-phase (relative) oscillations of the thermal cloud and the condensate. The in- and counter-phase oscillations are independent of each other in the case where the thermal cloud is inviscid for all modes studied, except the radial pulsations which couple them because the pressure perturbations of the condensate and the thermal cloud are governed by different adiabatic indices. If the thermal cloud is viscous, the two classes of oscillations are coupled, i.e. each type of motion involves simultaneously mass and entropy currents. The counter-phase oscillations are damped by the mutual friction between the condensate and the thermal cloud mediated by the vortex lattice. The damping is large for the values of the drag-to-lift ratio of the order of unity and becomes increasingly ineffective in either limit of small or large friction. An experimental measurement of a subset of these oscillation modes and their damping rates can provide information on the values of the phenomenological mutual friction coefficients, and hence the quasiparticle-vortex scattering processes in dilute atomic Bose gases.
0306245v2
2004-05-14
Thermoelastic relaxation in elastic structures with applications to thin plates
A new result enables direct calculation of thermoelastic damping in vibrating elastic solids. The mechanism for energy loss is thermal diffusion caused by inhomogeneous deformation, flexure in thin plates. The general result is combined with the Kirchhoff assumption to obtain a new equation for the flexural vibration of thin plates incorporating thermoelastic loss as a damping term. The thermal relaxation loss is inhomogeneous and depends upon the local state of vibrating flexure, specifically, the principal curvatures at a given point on the plate. Thermal loss is zero at points where the principal curvatures are equal and opposite, that is, saddle shaped or pure anticlastic deformation. Conversely, loss is maximum at points where the curvatures are equal, that is, synclastic or spherical flexure. The influence of modal urvature on the thermoelastic damping is described through a modal pparticipation factor. The effect of transverse thermal diffusion on plane wave propagation is also examined. It is shown that transverse diffusion effects are always small provided the plate thickness is far greater than the thermal phonon mean free path, a requirement for the validity of the classical theory of heat transport. These results generalize Zener's theory of thermoelastic loss in beams and are useful in predicting mode widths in MEMS and NEMS oscillators.
0405323v2
2005-04-21
Ultrafast dynamics of coherent optical phonons and nonequilibrium electrons in transition metals
The femtosecond optical pump-probe technique was used to study dynamics of photoexcited electrons and coherent optical phonons in transition metals Zn and Cd as a function of temperature and excitation level. The optical response in time domain is well fitted by linear combination of a damped harmonic oscillation because of excitation of coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon and a subpicosecond transient response due to electron-phonon thermalization. The electron-phonon thermalization time monotonically increases with temperature, consistent with the thermomodulation scenario, where at high temperatures the system can be well explained by the two-temperature model, while below $\approx$ 50 K the nonthermal electron model needs to be applied. As the lattice temperature increases, the damping of the coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon increases, while the amplitudes of both fast electronic response and the coherent $E_{2g}$ phonon decrease. The temperature dependence of the damping of the $E_{2g}$ phonon indicates that population decay of the coherent optical phonon due to anharmonic phonon-phonon coupling dominates the decay process. We present a model that accounts for the observed temperature dependence of the amplitude assuming the photoinduced absorption mechanism, where the signal amplitude is proportional to the photoinduced change in the quasiparticle density. The result that the amplitude of the $E_{2g}$ phonon follows the temperature dependence of the amplitude of the fast electronic transient indicates that under the resonant condition both electronic and phononic responses are proportional to the change in the dielectric function.
0504540v1
2005-10-10
Quantum master equation descriptions of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to a single-electron transistor
We analyse the quantum dynamics of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to a normal-state single-electron transistor (SET). Starting from a microscopic description of the system, we derive a master equation for the SET island charge and resonator which is valid in the limit of weak electro-mechanical coupling. Using this master equation we show that, apart from brief transients, the resonator always behaves like a damped harmonic oscillator with a shifted frequency and relaxes into a thermal-like steady state. Although the behaviour remains qualitatively the same, we find that the magnitude of the resonator damping rate and frequency shift depend very sensitively on the relative magnitudes of the resonator period and the electron tunnelling time. Maximum damping occurs when the electrical and mechanical time-scales are the same, but the frequency shift is greatest when the resonator moves much more slowly than the island charge. We then derive reduced master equations which describe just the resonator dynamics. By making slightly different approximations, we obtain two different reduced master equations for the resonator. Apart from minor differences, the two reduced master equations give rise to a consistent picture of the resonator dynamics which matches that obtained from the master equation including the SET island charge.
0510236v1
2005-10-16
Magnetic vortex dynamics in a 2D easy plane ferromagnet
In this thesis, we consider the dynamics of vortices in the easy plane insulating ferromagnet in two dimensions. In addition to the quasiparticle excitations, here spin waves or magnons, this magnetic system admits a family of vortex solutions carrying two topological invariants, the winding number or vorticity, and the polarization. A vortex is approximately described as a particle moving about the system, endowed with an effective mass and acted upon by a variety of forces. Classically, the vortex has an inter-vortex potential energy giving a Coulomb-like force (attractive or repulsive depending on the relative vortex vorticity), and a gyrotropic force, behaving as a self-induced Lorentz force, whose direction depends on both topological indices. Expanding semiclassically about a many-vortex solution, the vortices are quantized by considering the scattered magnon states, giving a zero point energy correction and a many-vortex mass tensor. The vortices cannot be described as independent particles--that is, there are off-diagonal mass terms, such as 1/2 Mij vi vj, that are non-negligible. This thesis examines the full vortex dynamics in further detail by evaluating the Feynman-Vernon influence functional, which describes the evolution of the vortex density matrix after the magnon modes have been traced out. In addition to the set of forces already known, we find new damping forces acting both longitudinally and transversely to the vortex motion. The vortex motion within a collective cannot be entirely separated: there are damping forces acting on one vortex due to the motion of another. The effective damping forces have memory effects: they depend not only on the current motion of the vortex collection but also on the motion history.
0510414v1
2006-05-19
Enhancement of noncontact friction between closely spaced bodies by two-dimensional systems
. We consider the effect of an external bias voltage and the spatial variation of the surface potential, on the damping of cantilever vibrations. The electrostatic friction is due to energy losses in the sample created by the electromagnetic field from the oscillating charges induced on the surface of the tip by the bias voltage and spatial variation of the surface potential. A similar effect arises when the tip is oscillating in the electrostatic field created by charged defects in a dielectric substrate. The electrostatic friction is compared with the van der Waals friction originating from the fluctuating electromagnetic field due to quantum and thermal fluctuation of the current density inside the bodies. We show that the electrostatic and van der Waals friction can be greatly enhanced if on the surfaces of the sample and the tip there are two-dimension (2D) systems, e.g. a 2D-electron system or incommensurate layers of adsorbed ions exhibiting acoustic vibrations. We show that the damping of the cantilever vibrations due to the electrostatic friction may be of similar magnitude as the damping observed in recent experiments of Stipe \textit{et al} [B.C.Stipe, H.J.Mamin, T.D.Stowe, T.W.Kenny, and D.Rugar, Phys.Rev. Lett.% \textbf{87}, 0982001]. We also show that at short separation the van der Waals friction may be large enough to be measured experimentally.
0605480v1
2006-09-12
Slowing down Josephson vortex lattice in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+d} with pancake vortices
We study theoretically and experimentally influence of pancake vortices on motion of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered high-temperature superconductors. Mobility of the Josephson vortices in layered superconductors is strongly suppressed by small amount of pancake-vortex stacks. Moving Josephson vortex lattice forces oscillating zigzag deformation of the pancake-vortex stacks contributing to damping. The salient feature of this contribution is its nonmonotonic dependence on the lattice velocity and the corresponding voltage. Maximum pancake effect is realized when the Josephson frequency matches the relaxation frequency of the stacks. The pancake-vortex damping is strongly suppressed by thermal fluctuations of the pancake vortices. This theoretical picture was qualitatively confirmed by experiments on two mesas prepared out of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+d} whiskers. We found that the Josephson-vortex flux-flow voltage is very sensitive to small c-axis magnetic field. The pancake-vortex contribution to the current indeed nonmonotonically depends on voltage and decreases with increasing temperature and in-plane magnetic field. We also found that irradiation with heavy ions has no noticeable direct influence on motion of the Josephson vortices but dramatically reduces the pancake-vortex contribution to the damping of the Josephson vortex lattice at low temperatures.
0609262v2
2006-02-01
Radiation Damping in Einstein-Aether Theory
This work concerns the loss of energy of a material system due to gravitational radiation in Einstein-aether theory-an alternative theory of gravity in which the metric couples to a dynamical, timelike, unit-norm vector field. Derived to lowest post-Newtonian order are waveforms for the metric and vector fields far from a nearly Newtonian system and the rate of energy radiated by the system. The expressions depend on the quadrupole moment of the source, as in standard general relativity, but also contain monopolar and dipolar terms. There exists a one-parameter family of Einstein-aether theories for which only the quadrupolar contribution is present, and for which the expression for the damping rate is identical to that of general relativity to the order worked to here. This family cannot yet be declared observationally viable, since effects due to the strong internal fields of bodies in the actual systems used to test the damping rate are not included.
0602004v5
1998-02-20
Real-time Relaxation and Kinetics in Hot Scalar QED: Landau Damping
The real time evolution of field condensates with soft length scales k^{-1}>(eT)^{-1} is solved in hot scalar electrodynamics, with a view towards understanding relaxational phenomena in the QGP and the electroweak plasma. We find that transverse gauge invariant non-equilibrium expectation values of fields relax via {\em power laws} to asymptotic amplitudes that are determined by the quasiparticle poles. The long time relaxational dynamics and relevant time scales are determined by the behaviour of the retarded self-energy not at the small frequencies, but at the Landau damping thresholds. This explains the presence of power laws and not of exponential decay. Furthermore, we derive the influence functional, the Langevin equation and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem for the soft modes, identifying the correlation functions that emerge in the classical limit. We show that a Markovian approximation fails to describe the dynamics {\em both} at short and long times. We also introduce a novel kinetic approach that goes beyond the standard Boltzmann equation and incorporates off-shell processes and find that the distribution function for soft quasiparticles relaxes with a power law through Landau damping. We also find an unusual dressing dynamics of bare particles and anomalous (logarithmic) relaxation of hard quasiparticles.
9802370v2
2003-03-04
Asymptotic quasinormal modes of Reissner-Nordström and Kerr black holes
According to a recent proposal, the so-called Barbero-Immirzi parameter of Loop Quantum Gravity can be fixed, using Bohr's correspondence principle, from a knowledge of highly-damped black hole oscillation frequencies. Such frequencies are rather difficult to compute, even for Schwarzschild black holes. However, it is now quite likely that they may provide a fundamental link between classical general relativity and quantum theories of gravity. Here we carry out the first numerical computation of very highly damped quasinormal modes (QNM's) for charged and rotating black holes. In the Reissner-Nordstr\"om case QNM frequencies and damping times show an oscillatory behaviour as a function of charge. The oscillations become faster as the mode order increases. At fixed mode order, QNM's describe spirals in the complex plane as the charge is increased, tending towards a well defined limit as the hole becomes extremal. Kerr QNM's have a similar oscillatory behaviour when the angular index $m=0$. For $l=m=2$ the real part of Kerr QNM frequencies tends to $2\Omega$, $\Omega$ being the angular velocity of the black hole horizon, while the asymptotic spacing of the imaginary parts is given by $2\pi T_H$.
0303029v3
2005-01-28
Summation of divergent series and Borel summability for strongly dissipative equations with periodic or quasi-periodic forcing terms
We consider a class of second order ordinary differential equations describing one-dimensional systems with a quasi-periodic analytic forcing term and in the presence of damping. As a physical application one can think of a resistor-inductor-varactor circuit with a periodic (or quasi-periodic) forcing function, even if the range of applicability of the theory is much wider. In the limit of large damping we look for quasi-periodic solutions which have the same frequency vector of the forcing term, and we study their analyticity properties in the inverse of the damping coefficient. We find that already the case of periodic forcing terms is non-trivial, as the solution is not analytic in a neighbourhood of the origin: it turns out to be Borel-summable. In the case of quasi-periodic forcing terms we need Renormalization Group techniques in order to control the small divisors arising in the perturbation series. We show the existence of a summation criterion of the series in this case also, but, however, this can not be interpreted as Borel summability.
0501500v1
1997-11-17
Fusion and Binary-Decay Mechanisms in the $^{35}$Cl+$^{24}$Mg System at E/A $\approx$ 8 MeV/Nucleon
Compound-nucleus fusion and binary-reaction mechanisms have been investigated for the $^{35}$Cl+$^{24}$Mg system at an incident beam energy of E$_{Lab}$= 282 MeV. Charge distributions, inclusive energy spectra, and angular distributions have been obtained for the evaporation residues and the binary fragments. Angle-integrated cross sections have been determined for evaporation residues from both the complete and incomplete fusion mechanisms. Energy spectra for binary fragment channels near to the entrance-channel mass partition are characterized by an inelastic contribution that is in addition to a fully energy damped component. The fully damped component which is observed in all the binary mass channels can be associated with decay times that are comparable to, or longer than the rotation period. The observed mass-dependent cross sections for the fully damped component are well reproduced by the fission transition-state model, suggesting a fusion followed by fission origin. The present data cannot, however, rule out the possibility that a long-lived orbiting mechanism accounts for part or all of this yield.
9711005v1
1996-12-31
Fluid Models for Kinetic Effects on Coherent Nonlinear Alfven Waves. II. Numerical Solutions
The influence of various kinetic effects (e.g. Landau damping, diffusive and collisional dissipation, and finite Larmor radius terms) on the nonlinear evolution of finite amplitude Alfvenic wave trains in a finite-beta environment is systematically investigated using a novel, kinetic nonlinear Schrodinger (KNLS) equation. The dynamics of Alfven waves is sensitive to the sense of polarization as well as the angle of propagation with respect to the ambient magnetic field. Numerical solution for the case with Landau damping reveals the formation of dissipative structures, which are quasi-stationary, S-polarized directional (and rotational) discontinuities which self-organize from parallel propagating, linearly polarized waves. Parallel propagating circularly polarized packets evolve to a few circularly polarized Alfven harmonics on large scales. Stationary arc-polarized rotational discontinuities form from obliquely propagating waves. Collisional dissipation, even if weak, introduces enhanced wave damping when beta is very close to unity. Cyclotron motion effects on resonant particle interactions introduce cyclotron resonance into the nonlinear Alfven wave dynamics.
9612018v1
2000-09-06
Design, fabrication and measurement of the first rounded damped detuned accelerator structure (RDDS1)
As a joint effort in the JLC/NLC research program, we have developed a new type of damped detuned accelerator structure with optimized round-shaped cavities (RDDS). This paper discusses some important R&D aspects of the first structure in this series (RDDS1). The design aspects covered are the cell design with sub-MHz precision, HOM detuning, coupling and damping technique and wakefield simulation. The fabrication issues covered are ultra-precision cell machining with micron accuracy, assembly and diffusion bonding technologies to satisfactorily meet bookshelf, straightness and cell rotational alignment requirements. The measurements described are the RF properties of single cavities and complete accelerator section, as well as wakefields from the ASSET tests at SLAC. Finally, future improvements are also discussed.
0009025v1
2001-07-19
Dipole Wakefield Suppression In High Phase Advance Detuned Linear Accelerators For The JLC/NLC Designed To Minimise Electrical Breakdown And Cumulative BBU
Recent experiments at SLAC [1,2] and CERN [3] have revealed evidence of significant deformation in the form of "pitting" of the cells of the 1.8m series of structures DDS/RDDS (Damped Detuned Structure/Rounded Damped Detuned Structure). This pitting occurs in the high group velocity (vg /c = 0.012) end of the accelerating structure and little evidence of breakdown has been found in the lower group velocity end of the structure. Additional, albeit preliminary experimental evidence, suggests that shorter and lower group velocity structures have reduced breakdown events with increasing accelerating field strengths. Two designs are presented here, firstly a 90cm structure consisting of 83 cells with an initial vg/c = 0.0506 (known as H90VG5) and secondly, an even shorter structure of length 60cm consisting of 55 cells with an initial vg /c = 0.03 (known as H60VG3). The feasibility of using these structures to accelerate a charged beam over 10km is investigated. The particular issue focussed upon is suppression of the dipole wakefields via detuning of the cell frequencies and by locally damping individual cells in order to avoid BBU (Beam Break Up). Results are presented on beam-induced dipole wakefields and on the beam dynamics encountered on tracking the progress of the beam through several thousand accelerating structures. [1] C. Adolphsen, ROAA003, this conf. [2] R.H. Miller et al, FPAH062, this conf. [3] L. Groening et al, MPPH039, this conf
0107049v1
2000-12-10
Chaotic atomic population oscillations between two coupled Bose-Einstein condensates with time-dependent asymmetric trap potential
We have investigated the chaotic atomic population oscillations between two coupled Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) with time-dependent asymmetric trap potential. In the perturbative regime, the population oscillations can be described by the Duffing equation, and the chaotic oscillations near the separatrix solution are analyzed. The sufficient-necessary conditions for stable oscillations depend on the physical parameters and initial conditions sensitively. The first-order necessary condition indicates that the Melnikov function is equal to zero, so the stable oscillations are Melnikov chaotic. For the ordinary parameters and initial conditions, the chaotic dynamics is simulated with numerical calculation. If the damping is absent, with the increasing of the trap asymmetry, the regular oscillations become chaotic gradually, the corresponding stroboscopic Poincare sections (SPS) vary from a single island to more islands, and then the chaotic sea. For the completely chaotic oscillations, the long-term localization disappears and the short-term localization can be changed from one of the BECs to the other through the route of Rabi oscillation. When there exists damping, the stationary chaos disappears, the transient chaos is a common phenomenon before regular stable frequency locked oscillations. And proper damping can keep localization long-lived.
0012043v1
2003-01-23
Revivals and entanglement from initially entangled mixed states of a damped Jaynes-Cummings model
An exact density matrix of a phase-damped Jaynes - Cummings model (JCM) with entangled Bell-like initial states formed from a model two-state atom and sets of adjacent photon number states of a single mode radiation field is presented. The entanglement of the initial states and the subsequent time evolution is assured by finding a positive lower bound on the concurrence of local 2x2 projections of the full 2xinfinity JCM density matrix. It is found that the time evolution of the lower bound of the concurrence systematically captures the corresponding collapse and revival features in atomic inversion, relative entropies of atomic and radiation, mutual entropy, and quantum deficit. The atom and radiation subsystems exhibit alternating sets of collapses and revivals in a complementary fashion due to the initially mixed states of the atom and radiation employed here. This is in contrast with the result obtained when the initial state of the dissipationless system is a factored pure state of atom and radiation, where the atomic and radiation entropies are necessarily the same. The magnitudes of the entanglement lower bound and the atomic and radiation revivals become larger as both magnitude and phase of the Bell-like initial state contribution increases. The time evolution of the entropy difference of the total system and that of the radiation subsystem exhibits negative regions called "supercorrelated" states which do not appear in the atomic subsystem. Entangled initial states are found to enhance this supercorrelated feature. Finally, the effect of phase damping is to randomize both the subsystems for asymptotically long times .
0301126v1
2003-03-18
A Method for Modeling Decoherence on a Quantum Information Processor
We develop and implement a method for modeling decoherence processes on an N-dimensional quantum system that requires only an $N^2$-dimensional quantum environment and random classical fields. This model offers the advantage that it may be implemented on small quantum information processors in order to explore the intermediate regime between semiclassical and fully quantum models. We consider in particular $\sigma_z\sigma_z$ system-environment couplings which induce coherence (phase) damping, though the model is directly extendable to other coupling Hamiltonians. Effective, irreversible phase-damping of the system is obtained by applying an additional stochastic Hamiltonian on the environment alone, periodically redressing it and thereby irreversibliy randomizing the system phase information that has leaked into the environment as a result of the coupling. This model is exactly solvable in the case of phase-damping, and we use this solution to describe the model's behavior in some limiting cases. In the limit of small stochastic phase kicks the system's coherence decays exponentially at a rate which increases linearly with the kick frequency. In the case of strong kicks we observe an effective decoupling of the system from the environment. We present a detailed implementation of the method on an nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor.
0303115v1
2005-11-25
The electrodynamic 2-body problem and the origin of quantum mechanics
We numerically solve the functional differential equations (FDE's) of 2-particle electrodynamics, using the full electrodynamic force obtained from the retarded Lienard-Wiechert potentials and the Lorentz force law. In contrast, the usual formulation uses only the Coulomb force (scalar potential), reducing the electrodynamic 2-body problem to a system of ordinary differential equations (ODE's). The ODE formulation is mathematically suspect since FDE's and ODE's are known to be incompatible; however, the Coulomb approximation to the full electrodynamic force has been believed to be adequate for physics. We can now test this long-standing belief by comparing the FDE solution with the ODE solution, in the historically interesting case of the classical hydrogen atom. The solutions differ. A key qualitative difference is that the full force involves a `delay' torque. Our existing code is inadequate to calculate the detailed interaction of the delay torque with radiative damping. However, a symbolic calculation provides conditions under which the delay torque approximately balances (3rd order) radiative damping. Thus, further investigations are required, and it was prematurely concluded that radiative damping makes the classical hydrogen atom unstable. Solutions of FDE's naturally exhibit an_infinite_ spectrum of _discrete_ frequencies. The conclusion is that (a) the Coulomb force is_not_ a valid approximation to the full electrodynamic force, so that (b) the n-body interaction needs to be reformulated in various current contexts such as molecular dynamics.
0511235v1
2007-05-11
Ground-state cooling of a micromechanical oscillator: generalized framework for cold damping and cavity-assisted cooling schemes
We provide a general framework to describe cooling of a micromechanical oscillator to its quantum ground state by means of radiation-pressure coupling with a driven optical cavity. We apply it to two experimentally realized schemes, back-action cooling via a detuned cavity and cold-damping quantum-feedback cooling, and we determine the ultimate quantum limits of both schemes for the full parameter range of a stable cavity. While both allow to reach the oscillator's quantum ground state, we find that back-action cooling is more efficient in the good cavity limit, i.e. when the cavity bandwidth is smaller than the mechanical frequency, while cold damping is more suitable for the bad cavity limit. The results of previous treatments are recovered as limiting cases of specific parameter regimes.
0705.1728v6
2007-11-08
Solving non-linear equations of longitudinal and transverse electron waves in collisionless Maxwellian plasma
We have considered an expansion of solutions of the non-linear equations for both longitudinal and transverse waves in collisionless Maxwellian plasma in series of non-damping overtones of the field E(x,t) and electron velocity distribution function f=f(0) +f(1) where f(0) is background Maxwellian electron distribution function and f(1) is perturbation. The electrical field and perturbation f(1) are presented as a series of non-damping harmonics with increasing frequencies of the order n and the same propagation speed. It is shown presence of recurrent relations for arising overtones. Convergence of the series is provided by a power law parameter series convergence. There are proposed also successive procedures of cutting off the distribution function f(1) to the condition of positivity f near the singularity points where kinetic equation becomes inapplicable. In this case, at poles absence the solution reduces to non-damping Vlasov waves (oscillations). In the case of transverse waves, dispersion equation has two roots, corresponding to the branches of fast electromagnetic and slow electron waves. There is noted a possibility of experimental testing appearing exotic results with detecting frequencies and amplitudes of n-order overtones.
0711.1321v8