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At least 739 records · Page 41

TIMING AND SPECTRAL PROPERTIES OF Be/X-RAY PULSAR EXO 2030+375 DURING A TYPE I OUTBURST

We present results from a study of broadband timing and spectral properties of EXO 2030+375 using a Suzaku observation. Pulsations with a period of 41.41 s and strong energy-dependent pulse profiles were clearly detected up to 100 keV. Narrow dips are seen in the profiles up to {approx}70 keV. The presence of prominent dips at several phases in the profiles up to such high energy ranges was not seen before. At higher energies, these dips gradually disappeared and the profile appeared to be single-peaked. The 1.0-200.0 keV broadband spectrum is found to be well described by a partial covering high-energy cutoff power-law model. Several low-energy emission lines are also detected in the pulsar spectrum. We fitted the spectrum using neutral as well as partially ionized absorbers along with the above continuum model yielding similar parameter values. The partial covering with a partially ionized absorber resulted in a marginally better fit. The spectral fitting did not require any cyclotron feature in the best-fit model. To investigate the changes in spectral parameters at dips, we carried out pulse-phase-resolved spectroscopy. During the dips, the value of the additional column density was estimated to be high compared to other pulse phases. While using a partially ionized absorber, the value of the ionization parameter is also higher at the dips. This may be the reason for the presence of dips up to higher energies. No other spectral parameters show any systematic variation with pulse phases of the pulsar.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Discovery of star formation in the extreme outer galaxy possibly induced by a high-velocity cloud impact

We report the discovery of star formation activity in perhaps the most distant molecular cloud in the extreme outer galaxy. We performed deep near-infrared imaging with the Subaru 8.2 m telescope, and found two young embedded clusters at two CO peaks of 'Digel Cloud 1' at the kinematic distance of D = 16 kpc (Galactocentric radius R {sub G} = 22 kpc). We identified 18 and 45 cluster members in the two peaks, and the estimated stellar densities are ∼5 and ∼3 pc{sup –2}, respectively. The observed K-band luminosity function suggests that the age of the clusters is less than 1 Myr and also that the distance to the clusters is consistent with the kinematic distance. On the sky, Cloud 1 is located very close to the H I peak of high-velocity cloud Complex H, and there are some H I intermediate velocity structures between the Complex H and the Galactic disk, which could indicate an interaction between them. We suggest the possibility that Complex H impacting on the Galactic disk has triggered star formation in Cloud 1 as well as the formation of the Cloud 1 molecular cloud.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

REVISITING ULYSSES OBSERVATIONS OF INTERSTELLAR HELIUM

We report the results of a comprehensive reanalysis of Ulysses observations of interstellar He atoms flowing through the solar system, the goal being to reassess the interstellar He flow vector and to search for evidence of variability in this vector. We find no evidence that the He beam seen by Ulysses changes at all from 1994-2007. The direction of flow changes by no more than ∼0.°3 and the speed by no more than ∼0.3 km s{sup –1}. A global fit to all acceptable He beam maps from 1994-2007 yields the following He flow parameters: V {sub ISM} = 26.08 ± 0.21 km s{sup –1}, λ = 75.54 ± 0.°19, β = –5.44 ± 0.°24, and T = 7260 ± 270 K; where λ and β are the ecliptic longitude and latitude direction in J2000 coordinates. The flow vector is consistent with the original analysis of the Ulysses team, but our temperature is significantly higher. The higher temperature somewhat mitigates a discrepancy that exists in the He flow parameters measured by Ulysses and the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, but does not resolve it entirely. Using a novel technique to infer photoionization loss rates directly from Ulysses data, we estimate a density of n {sub He} = 0.0196 ± 0.0033 cm{sup –3} in the interstellar medium.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Exploring the bridge between A3556 and A3558 in the Shapley supercluster

Looking at the region connecting two clusters is a promising way to identify and study the Warm–Hot Intergalactic Medium. Observations show that the spectrum of the bridge between A3556 and A3558 has a stronger soft X-ray emission than the nearby region. Suzaku observations could not discriminate the origin of the extra emission. In this work we analyze a dedicated Chandra observation of the same target to identify point sources and characterize the background emission in the bridge. We find that the count number of the point sources is much higher than average field population (using CDFS 4 Ms as a reference). Moreover, the shape of the cumulative distribution resembles that of galaxy distribution suggesting that the point sources are galaxies in a filament. The Suzaku extra emission is well explained by the high abundance of point sources identified by Chandra. Furthermore, we used optical/IR observations of point sources in the same field to estimate the density of the putative filament as ρ≈150ρ{sub b}, below Suzaku sensitivity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

An implementation of neural simulation-based inference for parameter estimation in ATLAS

Neural simulation-based inference (NSBI) is a powerful class of machine-learning-based methods for statistical inference that naturally handles high-dimensional parameter estimation without the need to bin data into low-dimensional summary histograms. Such methods are promising for a range of measurements, including at the Large Hadron Collider, where no single observable may be optimal to scan over the entire theoretical phase space under consideration, or where binning data into histograms could result in a loss of sensitivity. This work develops a NSBI framework for statistical inference, using neural networks to estimate probability density ratios, which enables the application to a full-scale analysis. It incorporates a large number of systematic uncertainties, quantifies the uncertainty due to the finite number of events in training samples, develops a method to construct confidence intervals, and demonstrates a series of intermediate diagnostic checks that can be performed to validate the robustness of the method. As an example, the power and feasibility of the method are assessed on simulated data for a simplified version of an off-shell Higgs boson couplings measurement in the four-lepton final states. This approach represents an extension to the standard statistical methodology used by the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, and can benefit many physics analyses.

frequentist statistics↗

Axion cosmology with long-lived domain walls

We investigate the cosmological constraints on axion models where the domain wall number is greater than one. In these models, multiple domain walls attached to strings are formed, and they survive for a long time. Their annihilation occurs due to the effects of explicit symmetry breaking term which might be raised by Planck-scale physics. We perform three-dimensional lattice simulations and compute the spectra of axions and gravitational waves produced by long-lived domain walls. Using the numerical results, we estimated relic density of axions and gravitational waves. We find that the existence of long-lived domain walls leads to the overproduction of cold dark matter axions, while the density of gravitational waves is too small to observe at the present time. Combining the results with other observational constraints, we find that the whole parameter region of models are excluded unless an unacceptable fine-tuning exists.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effect of surface attractive strength on structural transitions of a confined HP lattice protein

We investigate the influence of surface attractive strength on structural transitions of a hydrophobic-polar (HP) lattice protein confined in a slit formed by two parallel, attractive walls. We apply Wang-Landau sampling together with efficient Monte Carlo updates to estimate the density of states of the system. The conformational transitions, namely, the debridging process and hydrophobic core formation, can be identified by analyzing the specific heat together with several structural observables, such as the numbers of surface contacts, the number of hydrophobic pairs, and radii of gyration in different directions. As temperature decreases, we find that the occurrence of the debridging process is conditional depending on the surface attractive strength. This, in turn, affects the nature of the hydrophobic core formation that takes place at a lower temperature. We illustrate these observations with the aid of a HP protein chain with 48 monomers.

Pattanasiri, Busara↗

DETECTION OF THE AMMONIUM ION IN SPACE

We report on the detection of a narrow feature at 262816.73 MHz toward Orion and the cold prestellar core B1-bS which we attribute to the 1{sub 0}-0{sub 0} line of the deuterated ammonium ion, NH{sub 3}D{sup +}. The observations were performed with the IRAM 30 m radio telescope. The carrier has to be a light molecular species as it is the only feature detected over 3.6 GHz of bandwidth. The hyperfine structure is not resolved, indicating a very low value for the electric quadrupolar coupling constant of nitrogen which is expected for NH{sub 3}D{sup +} as the electric field over the N nucleus is practically zero. Moreover, the feature is right at the predicted frequency for the 1{sub 0}-0{sub 0} transition of the ammonium ion, 262817 {+-} 6 MHz (3{sigma}), using rotational constants derived from new infrared data obtained in our laboratory in Madrid. The estimated column density is (1.1 {+-} 0.2) Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 12} cm{sup -2}. Assuming a deuterium enhancement similar to that of NH{sub 2}D, we derive N(NH{sub 4}{sup +}) {approx_equal} 2.6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 13} cm{sup -2}, i.e., an abundance for ammonium of a few 10{sup -11}.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

i- flow: High-dimensional integration and sampling with normalizing flows

In many fields of science, high-dimensional integration is required. Numerical methods have been developed to evaluate these complex integrals. We introduce the code i-flow, a python package that performs high-dimensional numerical integration utilizing normalizing flows. Normalizing flows are machine-learned, bijective mappings between two distributions. i-flow can also be used to sample random points according to complicated distributions in high dimensions. We compare i-flow to other algorithms for high-dimensional numerical integration and show that i-flow outperforms them for high dimensional correlated integrals. The i-flow code is publicly available on gitlab at https://gitlab.com/i-flow/i-flow.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Discovery and characterization of five new eclipsing AM CVn systems

ABSTRACT AM CVn systems are ultra-compact, hydrogen-depleted, and helium-rich, accreting binaries with degenerate or semidegenerate donors. We report the discovery of five new eclipsing AM CVn systems with orbital periods of 61.5, 55.5, 53.3, 37.4, and 35.4 min. These systems were discovered by searching for deep eclipses in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) light curves of white dwarfs selected using Gaia parallaxes. We obtained phase-resolved spectroscopy to confirm that all systems are AM CVn binaries, and we obtained high-speed photometry to confirm the eclipse and characterize the systems. The spectra show double-peaked H e lines but also show metals, including K and Zn, elements that have never been detected in AM CVn systems before. By modelling the high-speed photometry, we measured the mass and radius of the donor star, potentially constraining the evolutionary channel that formed these AM CVn systems. We determined that the average mass of the accreting white dwarf is ≈0.8 M⊙, and that the white dwarfs in long-period systems are hotter than predicted by recently updated theoretical models. The donors have a high entropy and are a factor of ≈2 more massive compared to zero-entropy donors at the same orbital period. The large donor radius is most consistent with H e-star progenitors, although the observed spectral features seem to contradict this. The discovery of five new eclipsing AM CVn systems is consistent with the known observed AM CVn space density and estimated ZTF recovery efficiency.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Baryon acoustic oscillations in the projected cross-correlation function between the eBOSS DR16 quasars and photometric galaxies from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

ABSTRACT We search for the baryon acoustic oscillations in the projected cross-correlation function binned into transverse comoving radius between the SDSS-IV DR16 eBOSS quasars and a dense photometric sample of galaxies selected from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. We estimate the density of the photometric sample of galaxies in this redshift range to be about 2900 deg−2, which is deeper than the official DESI emission line galaxy selection, and the density of the spectroscopic sample is about 20 deg−2. In order to mitigate the systematics related to the use of different imaging surveys close to the detection limit, we use a neural network approach that accounts for complex dependences between the imaging attributes and the observed galaxy density. We find that we are limited by the depth of the imaging surveys that affects the density and purity of the photometric sample and its overlap in redshift with the quasar sample, which thus affects the performance of the method. When cross-correlating the photometric galaxies with quasars in the range 0.6 ≤ z ≤ 1.2, the cross-correlation function can provide better constraints on the comoving angular distance DM (6 per cent precision) compared to the constraint on the spherically averaged distance DV (9 per cent precision) obtained from the autocorrelation. Although not yet competitive, this technique will benefit from the arrival of deeper photometric data from upcoming surveys that will enable it to go beyond the current limitations we have identified in this work.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Critical assessment of the recent report on the gigaparsec-scale correlation of the orientations of large quasar groups

ABSTRACT Recently, it was reported that large quasar groups (LQGs) identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release seven catalogue are not randomly oriented but preferentially aligned or orthogonal over scales 1–2 Gpc. To confirm this claim, I reproduced the same LQG sample and performed Sobolev tests of uniformity on the LQG orientation axes in the redshift space. Contrary to the original report based on the bimodal distribution of the LQG position angles in the sky, I found no departure from uniformity in the distribution of the LQG orientation axes. I also examined whether the LQGs are physical structures using a statistically more reliable data set constructed from the SDSS data release 16 (DR16) large-scale structure (LSS) quasar catalogue. Considering the Gaussian primordial density fluctuations and shot noise, I estimated the mass density contrasts of the LQGs from the number counts of the DR16 LSS quasars and found that most of the LQGs do not trace statistically significant high-density regions. I conclude that the LQG sample is a collection of unphysical chance associations and should not be used for any cosmological studies.

Fujii, Hirokazu (ORCID:0000000161473512)↗

Universality of Rényi Entropy in Conformal Field Theory

We use the thermal effective theory to prove that, for the vacuum state in any conformal field theory in 𝑑 dimensions, the 𝑛th Rényi entropy 𝑆$^{(𝑛)}_{𝐴}$ behaves as 𝑆$^{(𝑛)}_{𝐴}$ = [𝑓⁡/(2⁢𝜋⁢𝑛) 𝑑−1 ]⁢[Area⁡(∂𝐴)/(𝑑−2)⁢𝜀 𝑑−2 ]⁢(1+𝑂⁡(𝑛)) in the 𝑛 → 0 limit when the boundary of the entanglement domain 𝐴 is spherical with the UV cutoff 𝜀. The theory dependence is encapsulated in the cosmological constant 𝑓 in the thermal effective action. Using this result, we estimate the density of states for large eigenvalues of the modular Hamiltonian for the domain 𝐴. In two dimensions, we can use the hot spot idea, which describes the effective action in the high-temperature limit when the temperature is position-dependent, to derive more powerful formulas valid for arbitrary positive 𝑛. We discuss the difference between two and higher dimensions and clarify the applicability of the hot spot idea. We also use the thermal effective theory to derive an analog of the Cardy formula for boundary operators in higher dimensions.

Conformal field theory↗

Quasiparticle Spectroscopy, Transport, and Magnetic Properties of Nb Films Used in Superconducting Qubits

Niobium thin films on silicon substrate used in the fabrication of superconducting qubits have been characterized using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, electrical transport, magnetization, the London penetration depth - based quasiparticle spectroscopy, and real-space real-time magneto-optical imaging. Here we study niobium films to provide an example of a comprehensive analytical set that may benefit superconducting circuits such as those used in quantum computers. The films have a superconducting transition temperature of T c = 9.35 K and a fairly clean superconducting gap. The estimated superfluid density is enhanced at intermediate temperatures. These observations are consistent with the recent theory of anisotropic strong-coupling superconductivity in Nb and indicate outstanding quality. However, the response to the magnetic field is complicated, exhibiting significantly irreversible behavior and insufficient heat dissipation (to a substrate), leading to thermomagnetic instabilities. This may present a challenge for further improvement of transmon quantum coherence. Possible mitigation strategies are discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Superconductivity and charge order of confined Fermi systems

The low-temperature properties of the two-dimensional attractive Hubbard model are strongly influenced by the fermion density. Away from half-filling, there is a finite-temperature transition to a phase with s-wave pairing order. However, T c is suppressed to zero at half-filling, where long-range charge-density-wave order also appears, degenerate with superconductivity. This paper presents determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the attractive Hubbard model in the presence of a confining potential V trap which makes the fermion density ρ inhomogeneous across the lattice. Pair correlations are shown to be large at low temperatures in regions of the trapped system with incommensurate filling, and to exhibit a minimum as the local density ρ(i) passes through one fermion per site. In this ring of ρ(i)=1, charge order is enhanced. A comparison is made between treating V trap within the local-density approximation (LDA) and in an ab initio manner. It is argued that certain sharp features of the LDA result at integer filling do not survive the proximity of doped sites. Lastly, the critical temperature of confined systems of fixed characteristic density is estimated.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Resolving the Extragalactic γ -Ray Background above 50 GeV with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) Collaboration has recently released a catalog of 360 sources detected above 50 GeV (2FHL). This catalog was obtained using 80 months of data re-processed with Pass 8, the newest event-level analysis, which significantly improves the acceptance and angular resolution of the instrument. Most of the 2FHL sources at high Galactic latitude are blazars. In this paper, using detailed Monte Carlo simulations, we measure, for the first time, the source count distribution, dN/dS, of extragalactic γ-ray sources at E > 50 GeV and find that it is compatible with a Euclidean distribution down to the lowest measured source flux in the 2FHL (~8 x 10 -12 ph cm -2 s -1 ). We employ a one-point photon fluctuation analysis to constrain the behavior of dN/dS below the source detection threshold. Overall, the source count distribution is constrained over three decades in flux and found compatible with a broken power law with a break flux, S b , in the range [8 x 10 -12 , 1.5 x 10 -11 ] ph cm -2 s -1 and power-law indices below and above the break of α 2 ϵ [1.60, 1.75] and α 1 = 2.49 ± 0.12, respectively. Integration of dN/dS shows that point sources account for at least 86$+16\atop{-14}$ % of the total extragalactic γ-ray background. The simple form of the derived source count distribution is consistent with a single population (i.e., blazars) dominating the source counts to the minimum flux explored by this analysis. Finally, we estimate the density of sources detectable in blind surveys that will be performed in the coming years by the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Mixed-State Entanglement from Local Randomized Measurements

In this work, we propose a method for detecting bipartite entanglement in a many-body mixed state based on estimating moments of the partially transposed density matrix. The estimates are obtained by performing local random measurements on the state, followed by postprocessing using the classical shadows framework. Our method can be applied to any quantum system with single-qubit control. We provide a detailed analysis of the required number of experimental runs, and demonstrate the protocol using existing experimental data [Brydges et al., Science 364, 260 (2019)].

1-dimensional spin chains↗