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943 records · Page 53

Planck 2018 results

We analyse the Planck full-mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and E -mode polarization maps to obtain constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). We compare estimates obtained from separable template-fitting, binned, and optimal modal bispectrum estimators, finding consistent values for the local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes. Our combined temperature and polarization analysis produces the following final results: f NL local = -0.9 ± 5.1; f NL equil = -26 ± 47; and f NL ortho = -38 ± 24 (68% CL, statistical). These results include low-multipole (4 ≤ ℓ < 40) polarization data that are not included in our previous analysis. The results also pass an extensive battery of tests (with additional tests regarding foreground residuals compared to 2015), and they are stable with respect to our 2015 measurements (with small fluctuations, at the level of a fraction of a standard deviation, which is consistent with changes in data processing). Polarization-only bispectra display a significant improvement in robustness; they can now be used independently to set primordial NG constraints with a sensitivity comparable to WMAP temperature-based results and they give excellent agreement. In addition to the analysis of the standard local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum shapes, we consider a large number of additional cases, such as scale-dependent feature and resonance bispectra, isocurvature primordial NG, and parity-breaking models, where we also place tight constraints but do not detect any signal. The non-primordial lensing bispectrum is, however, detected with an improved significance compared to 2015, excluding the null hypothesis at 3.5 σ . Beyond estimates of individual shape amplitudes, we also present model-independent reconstructions and analyses of the Planck CMB bispectrum. Our final constraint on the local primordial trispectrum shape is g NL local = (-5.8 ± 6.5) × 10 4 (68% CL, statistical), while constraints for other trispectrum shapes are also determined. Exploiting the tight limits on various bispectrum and trispectrum shapes, we constrain the parameter space of different early-Universe scenarios that generate primordial NG, including general single-field models of inflation, multi-field models (e.g. curvaton models), models of inflation with axion fields producing parity-violation bispectra in the tensor sector, and inflationary models involving vector-like fields with directionally-dependent bispectra. Our results provide a high-precision test for structure-formation scenarios, showing complete agreement with the basic picture of the ΛCDM cosmology regarding the statistics of the initial conditions, with cosmic structures arising from adiabatic, passive, Gaussian, and primordial seed perturbations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Large-angle cosmic microwave background anisotropies in an open universe

If the universe is open, scales larger than the curvature scale may be probed by observation of large-angle fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We consider primordial adiabatic perturbations and discuss power spectra that are power laws in volume, wavelength, and eigenvalue of the Laplace operator. Such spectra may have arisen if, for example, the universe underwent a period of `frustated' inflation. The resulting large-angle anisotropies of the CMB are computed. The amplitude generally increases as Omega is decreased but decreases as h is increased. Interestingly enough, for all three Ansaetze, anisotropies on angular scales larger than the curvature scale are suppressed relative to the anisotropies on scales smaller than the curvature scale, but cosmic variance makes discrimination between various models difficult. Models with 0.2 approximately less than Omega h approximately less than 0.3 appear compatible with CMB fluctuations detected by Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) and the Tenerife experiment and with the amplitude and spectrum of fluctuations of galaxy counts in the APM, CfA, and 1.2 Jy IRAS surveys. COBE normalization for these models yields sigma(sub 8) approximately = 0.5 - 0.7. Models with smaller values of Omega h when normalized to COBE require bias factors in excess of 2 to be compatible with the observed galaxy counts on the 8/h Mpc scale. Requiring that the age of the universe exceed 10 Gyr implies that Omega approximately greater than 0.25, while requiring that from the last-scattering term in the Sachs-Wolfe formula, large-angle anisotropies come primarily from the decay of potential fluctuations at z approximately less than 1/Omega. Thus, if the universe is open, COBE has been detecting temperature fluctuations produced at moderate redshift rather than at z approximately 1300.

Kamionkowski, Marc↗

Effects of dilution and pressure on combustion characteristics within externally heated micro-tubes

Here this study investigates the impact of pressure and dilution on combustion behavior of of C 2H6/air/N2 mixtures within an externally heated micro-tube using both experimental and analytical techniques. Experiments are conducted for pressures up to 10 bar at multiple dilution levels and document three flame regimes, i.e. weak flames, FREI and normal flames. Characteristic temperatures for flame stabilization, as well as and ignition and extinction are obtained by applying a novel thin filament pyrometry method (TFP), which uses a thin silicon carbide (SiC) filament that enables temperature measurements for both reacting and non-reacting cases. Results show a decrease of characteristic temperatures with increasing pressure, which can be which can be partially compensated by a decrease of O2 content. Further, regime transitions occur at lower velocity as the pressure increases, whereas weak flame positions are insensitive to dilution at a given pressure. Predictions from the analytical model compare favorably with experimental results. The most prominent finding is that as dilution increases, the transition from weak flame to FREI becomes less abrupt and is completely lost for high dilution levels (i.e. low O2 content). Both experimental and analytical results indicate that the unstable FREI combustion regime does not exist at high dilution levels, i.e. weak flame and normal flame regimes are no longer clearly separated. As FREI are interpreted as a cyclic transition from an ignition zone to a propagating flame, results for highly diluted conditions are interpreted as a combustion regime where classical flame propagation ceases to exist.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Hydrodynamic expansion and near-infrared absorption of x-ray heated aluminum plasmas

We use x-ray pulses from dense argon plasmas at the Z Machine (Sandia National Laboratories) to generate hypersonic aluminum plasmas akin to material ejecta during proposed planetary defense missions, fusion reactor wall excursions, and other high-energy density processes. Near-infrared absorption is used to diagnose the controlled expansion of the plasmas through cylindrical cavities following their generation from x-ray heating of solid aluminum 7075 alloy. The data are compared to multidimensional radiation hydrodynamics simulations utilizing the ALEGRA multiphysics code, accounting for the dynamics of radiation scattering, material phase change, plasma expansion, thermal re-irradiation, and interactions with the cavity and with the infrared beams. To allow for accurate simulation, density functional theory is used to apply the Hagen–Rubens relation for the far-infrared and is adjoined with a detailed configuration accounting model using the Propaceos code, producing opacities spanning 10 −1 –10 4 eV photon energy for aluminum 7075 alloy, and in comparison with pure aluminum. The model is found to agree with experimental data in the higher-fluence regime when the Hagen–Rubens relation is applied. The ejected material, which is observed to travel up to 55 km/s, is comprised of a strongly ionized, non-LTE plasma front at ∼10 eV temperature followed by a weakly ionized LTE gas at higher density. The present findings lend some confidence to the broad-range equation of state and infrared opacity models for weakly ionized aluminum plasmas while demonstrating an approach to their future refinement, with potential application to astrophysical plasmas and other extreme processes.

Adiabatic process↗

Internal low Reynolds number turbulent heat transfer

The results of a semi-analytical and experimental study of adiabatic tube flow and an analytical and experimental investigation of the thermal entrance region for gas flowing through electrically heated circular tubes are presented. Emphasis is placed on the low Reynolds number turbulent flow regime--defined as fully turbulent flow at bulk Reynolds numbers from 3,000 to about 15,000. Adiabatic air velocity and friction data and localized heat transfer measurements for air and helium, at low heating rates, are presented for this range. The adiabatic data were obtained in a 1.61 inch 1D tube for flow at bulk Reynolds numbers from 3,000 to 15,000. A continuous, Reynolds number-dependent, profile is developed from the data by using a modification of Reichardts' wall and middle law eddy diffusivity expressions. The velocity profile satisfies continuity. It is valid for all Reynolds numbers in excess of 3,000 for which the flow is fully turbulent and the Blasius friction factor expression is valid. The thermal entrance problem for a fully developed velocity profile is solved analytically by the method of Sparrow, Hallman, and Siegel. The solution is based on the profile developed from the velocity study. Tabular values of the eigenvalues and normalized Nusselt numbers for gases are presented for it range of Reynolds numbers from 3,000 to 50,000. The axial variation of Nusselt number is found to be correlated by [Nu/Nu_(∞)] = 1 + 0.8 (1+ 70,000 Re^(-3/2)) ((x/D)^(-1)) to within ± 5 per cent for x/D ≥2. The fully developed value agrees with the Dittus - Boelter correlation, Nu_(∞) = 0.021 Re^(0.8) Pr^(0.4) For the eigenvalues, λ^(2)_(n), and the associated constants, A_(n), correlations of the form λ^(2)_(n) =A_(1,n) Re^(-b_(1,n) + C_(1,n) Re^(-d_(1,n)) A_(n) = -A_(2,n) Re^(-b_(2,n) + C_(2,n) Re^(-d_(2,n)) are obtained. The coefficients and powers are presented in tabular form. Heat transfer data are presented, primarily for helium, for the low Reynolds number turbulent range. A one-quarter inch, resistively heated, vertical, circular tube was used for the study. The data cover an axial range from 1.2 to 96 diameters; wall-to-bulk temperature ratios vary from 1 to 1.4. In the low Reynolds number turbulent regime, these data clearly support the present analytical solution rather than the prediction obtained by applying the eddy diffusivity distribution used by Sparrow, Hallman, and Siegel.

Harold C. Reynolds, Jr.↗

Our Sun IV: The Standard Model and Helioseismology: Consequences of Uncertainties in Input Physics and in Observed Solar Parameters

Helioseismic frequency observations provide an extremely accurate window into the solar interior; frequencies from the Michaelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, enable the adiabatic sound speed and adiabatic index to be inferred with an accuracy of a few parts in 10(exp 4) and the density with an accuracy of a few parts in 10(exp 3). This has become a Serious challenge to theoretical models of the Sun. Therefore, we have undertaken a self-consistent, systematic study of the sources of uncertainties in the standard solar models. We found that the largest effect on the interior structure arises from the observational uncertainties in the photospheric abundances of the elements, which affect the sound speed profile at the level of 3 parts in 10(exp 3). The estimated 4% uncertainty in the OPAL opacities could lead to effects of 1 part in 10(exp 3); the approximately 5%, uncertainty in the basic pp nuclear reaction rate would have a similar effect, as would uncertainties of approximately 15% in the diffusion constants for the gravitational settling of helium. The approximately 50% uncertainties in diffusion constants for the heavier elements would have nearly as large an effect. Different observational methods for determining the solar radius yield results differing by as much as 7 parts in 10(exp 4); we found that this leads to uncertainties of a few parts in 10(exp 3) in the sound speed int the solar convective envelope, but has negligible effect on the interior. Our reference standard solar model yielded a convective envelope position of 0.7135 solar radius, in excellent agreement with the observed value of 0.713 +/- 0.001 solar radius and was significantly affected only by Z/X, the pp rate, and the uncertainties in helium diffusion constants. Our reference model also yielded envelope helium abundance of 0.2424, in good agreement with the approximate range of 0.24 to 0.25 inferred from helioseismic observations; only extreme Z/X values yielded envelope helium abundance outside this range. We found that other current uncertainties, namely, in the solar age and luminosity, in nuclear rates other than the pp reaction, in the low-temperature molecular opacities, and in the low-density equation of state, have no significant effect on the quantities that can be inferred from helioseismic observations. The predicted pre-main-sequence lithium depletion is uncertain by a factor of 2. The predicted neutrino capture rate is uncertain by approximately 30% for the Cl-27 experiment and by approximately 3% for Ga-71 experiments, while the B-8 neutrino flux is uncertain by approximately 30%.

Boothroyd, Arnold I.↗

Solid State Quantum Refrigeration Superconducting, Absorption and Measurement Based (Final Technical Report)

During this DOE grant, DE-SC0017890, in place for the past six years, all proposed research was carried out and published in peer-reviewed papers, as well as other projects that emerged during the research. In that effort the research team accomplished all proposed research, as well as many closely related research projects discovered and conceived of during the grant. These works included “Efficient Quantum Measurement Engines”, a work published in Physical Review Letters, giving a theory of quantum measurement-based engines, which uses quantum measurement as a resource. These engines are designed to efficiently convert energy from the stochastic quantum measurement process into useful work. Further publications include “Experimental Realization of a Quantum Dot Energy Harvester”, a joint theory and experimental work in collaboration with the group of Charles Smith in Cambridge, UK, as well as long time theoretical collaborators, Rafael Sánchez and Björn Sothmann. This work, featured as an Editor’s Suggestion in Physical Review Letters, realized an earlier theoretical proposal of ours, whereby two resonant tunneling quantum dots are connected to a central electronic cavity that is heated by a hot energy source. We also published “Superconducting Quantum Refrigerator: Breaking and Rejoining Cooper Pairs with Magnetic Field Cycles” a work done in collaboration with experimentalist Francesco Giazotto from ENS Pisa, Italy, which also resulted in a patent. This paper, published in Phys. Rev. Applied, advanced the concept of a cyclic fridge based on the normal/superconducting phase transition together with layered materials separated by tunnel junctions. We also completed the proposed research on a heat transistor, publishing “Thermal transistor and thermometer based on Coulomb-coupled conductors”, carried out as a collaboration between my group and theorists Splettstoesser (Lund U., Sweden), Sothmann (U. Duisburg-Essen, Germany), and Sánchez (U. Autónoma de Madrid, Spain). We carried out an analysis of a quantum coupled to a quantum point contact as a sensitive thermometer and heat transistor. We found the optimal statistical estimator for the temperature and compared it with experiments on the same type of devices. We also investigated autonomous quantum absorption refrigerators using quantum dots to cool by using a very hot thermal reservoir to drive heat between two other reservoirs. In the article “Quantifying the quantum heat contribution from a driven superconducting circuit”, we demonstrated that for a driven superconducting circuit, we showed heat flow provided by a hot source to the qubit can be switched on and off by varying external parameters, the frequency and the intensity of the driving. In the work “Stochastic thermodynamic cycles of a mesoscopic thermoelectric engine”, we reconsidered the autonomous thermoelectric heat engine in terms of underlying cycles. Rather than periodic behavior, the cycles were stochastic in nature. Nevertheless, by undertaking a graph theoretical analysis of the elementary transport processed, great quantitative and qualitative insight could be found. We also considered the quantum measurement process and showed that a quantum version of Maxwell’s demon could be related to the work extraction of a quantum system, closely related to arrow-of-time measures for quantum measurement, as described in our article “Thermodynamics of quantum measurement and Maxwell's demon's arrow of time”. This work was selected in Phys. Rev. A as an Editor’s Suggestion. A recent preprint titled “Cyclic Superconducting Quantum Refrigerators Using Guided Fluxon Propagation” accomplished an important piece of this grant: to propose a new kind of quantum refrigerator using the dynamics of fluxons in a type II superconductor. This invention envisioned a race-track type geometry where fluxons are confined. By applying a gradient of magnetic field together with electric current in a Corbino geometry, the circulating fluxons can actively cool a cold reservoir, realizing a new type of cyclic superconducting refrigerator. We also investigated the possibility of thermal control from different points of view. The application of quantum measurement to the system gives a new kind of control on the system of interest – we have pioneered this approach and shown that measurement can boost the thermal power of quantum engines as described in “Continuous measurement boosted adiabatic quantum thermal machines”. The ability to have heat flows on demand is an outstanding challenge, and we have provided new solutions to this problem in Thermal control across a chain of electronic nanocavities” for a chain of electron cavities using gating voltage control. The control methods using qubit/qubit coupling to create absorption fridges at their most fundamental level have also been developed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗