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A. De

Publications and source records attributed to A. De.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Measurement of the Hoyle State Radiative Transition Width

The radiative decay of the Hoyle state is the doorway to the production of heavier elements in stellar environment. Here we report, an exclusive measurement of electric quadruple (E$_2$) transitions of the Hoyle state to the ground state of $^{12}$C through the $^{12}$C(p, p$^\prime$$\gamma$$\gamma$)$^{12}$C reaction. Triple coincidence measurement yields a value of radiative branching ratio $\Gamma_{rad}$/$\Gamma$ = 4.01 (30) $\times$ 10$^{-4}$. The result has been corroborated by an independent experiment based on the complete kinematical measurement $via.$ $^{12}$C(p, p$^\prime$)$^{12}$C reaction ($\Gamma_{rad}$/$\Gamma$ = 4.04 (30) $\times$ 10$^{-4}$). Using our results together with the currently adopted values of $\Gamma_{\pi}$(E$_0$)/$\Gamma$ and $\Gamma_{\pi}$($E_0$), the radiative width of the Hoyle state is found to be 3.75 (40) $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ eV. We emphasize here that our result is not in agreement with 34 $\%$ increase in the radiative decay width of the Hoyle state measured recently but consistent with the currently adopted value.

nucl-ex

Supersonic flow unsteadiness induced by control surface deflections

Control surface deployment in a supersonic flow has many applications, including flow control, mixing, and body-force regulation. The extent of control surface deflections introduces varying flow unsteadiness. The resulting fluid dynamics influence the downstream flow characteristics and fluid-structure interactions severely. In order to understand the gas dynamics, an axisymmetric cylindrical body with a sharp-tip cone at zero angles of attack ($\alpha=0^\circ$) is examined in a free stream Mach number of $M_\infty=2.0$ and Reynolds number of $Re_{D}=2.16 \times 10^6$ ($D=50$ mm). Four static control surface deflection angles ($\theta = \pi/36,\pi/6,\pi/3,\pi/2$, rad) are considered around the base body. The cases are computationally investigated through a commercial flow solver adopting a two-dimensional detached eddy simulation (DES) strategy. Recirculation bubble length, drag coefficient's variation, wall-static pressure statistics, acoustic loading on the model and the surroundings, $x-t$ trajectory and $x-f$ spectral analysis, pressure fluctuation's correlation coefficient on the model, and modal analysis are obtained to understand the flow unsteadiness. At $\theta = [\pi/36]$, the wall-static pressure fluctuations behind the control surface are minimal and periodic, with a mere acoustic load of about 50 dB. At $\theta = [\pi/2]$, a violent periodic fluctuation erupted everywhere around the control surface, leading to a higher acoustic load of about 150 dB (3 times higher than the previous). For $\theta = [\pi/6]$ and $[\pi/3]$, high-frequency fluctuations with small and large-scale structures continuously shed along the reattaching shear layer, thereby causing a broadened spectra in the control surface wake.

physics.flu-dyn

Engineering dynamically decoupled quantum simulations with trapped ions

An external drive can improve the coherence of a quantum many-body system by averaging out noise sources. It can also be used to realize models that are inaccessible in the static limit, through Floquet Hamiltonian engineering. The full possibilities for combining these tools remain unexplored. We develop the requirements needed for a pulse sequence to decouple a quantum many-body system from an external field without altering the intended dynamics. Demonstrating this technique experimentally in an ion-trap platform, we show that it can provide a large improvement to coherence in real-world applications. Finally, we engineer an approximate quantum simulation of the Haldane-Shastry model, an exactly solvable paradigm for long-range interacting spins. Our results expand and unify the quantum simulation toolbox.

quant-ph

Comprehensive simulation of heavy-ion collisions at non-zero baryon chemical potential

We present results of hydrodynamic modelling of Au-Au collisions from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 to 200 GeV. Our simulations have three novel components. Firstly, we use a Linear EXtrapolation of Ultrarelativistic nucleon-nucleon Scattering to nucleus-nucleus collisions (LEXUS) inspired Monte-Carlo initial state model. Secondly, we use a crossover equation of state at finite baryon densities without a critical point. Finally, we use departure functions derived from the quasiparticle theory of transport coefficients for hadronic matter at non-zero baryon densities.

nucl-th

Effect of Passive flow Control of Bifurcation Phenomenon in Sudden Expansion channel

In this article we describe, a numerical simulation has been performed for a channel flow with sudden expansion. Different geometric expansion ratios are considered in the current study such as 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4. The bifurcation phenomenon has been investigated for the baseline case and the critical Reynolds number is controlled using a passive modification in the channel. The geometry of sudden expansion channel is modified by introducing a two-dimensional plate along the center line of the channel at the expansion plane. This is one of the passive control techniques, which has been explored in the present study. The computations indicate that the critical Reynolds number of the symmetry-breaking bifurcation increases as the length of the plate increases. An empirical relation has been developed amongst the critical Reynolds number, length of control plates and expansion ratio (h/H). The critical Reynolds number predicted by the empirical relation for different plate lengths are in good agreement with computational results.

physics.flu-dyn

On the unsteady dynamics of partially shrouded compressible jets

We experimentally investigate a partially shrouded sonic jet (a sonic free-jet shielded by a solid wall-extension on one side) exiting from a planar nozzle at two different nozzle pressure ratio ($\zeta=4$ and $5$). We experimentally show that the inherent jet unsteadiness from the shock-induced flow separation on the wall and the emitted noise in the far-field is strongly coupled through a series of experiments like high-speed schlieren, wall-static pressure, unsteady pressure spectra, and microphone measurements. The partially shrouded jet's lateral free expansion is also identified to be complicated, three-dimensional, and the produced noise is directional. The emitted acoustic pulses from the flapping-jet, the radiated noise from the shock-induced separation on the wall, and the shock-shear layer interaction on the other side of the wall are responsible for the generated acoustic disturbances. The non-uniform aeroacoustic forcing on the top and bottom portion of the partially wall-bounded jet shear layer leads to a self-sustained jet oscillation and a discrete sound emission. The vital features are identified through the proper orthogonal decomposition of high-speed schlieren images and supplemented by other measurements.

physics.flu-dyn

Extreme sub-wavelength magneto-elastic electromagnetic antenna implemented with multiferroic nanomagnets

Antennas typically have emission/radiation efficiencies bounded by A/(lambda)^2 (A < lambda^2) where A is the emitting area and lambda is the wavelength of the emitted wavelength. That makes it challenging to miniaturize antennas to extreme sub-wavelength dimensions. One way to overcome this challenge is to actuate an antenna not at the resonance of the emitted wave, but at the resonance of a different excitation that has a much shorter wavelength at the same frequency. We have actuated an electromagnetic (EM) antenna with a surface acoustic wave (SAW) whose wavelength is about five orders of magnitude smaller than the EM wavelength at the same frequency. This allowed us to implement an extreme sub-wavelength EM antenna, radiating an EM wave of wavelength lambda = 2 m, whose emitting area is ~10^-8 m2 (A/lambda^2 = 2.5 10^-9), and whose measured radiation efficiency exceeded the A/(lambda)^2 limit by over 10^5. The antenna consisted of magnetostrictive nanomagnets deposited on a piezoelectric substrate. A SAW launched in the substrate with an alternating electrical voltage periodically strained the nanomagnets and rotated their magnetizations owing to the Villari effect. The oscillating magnetizations emitted EM waves at the frequency of the SAW. These extreme sub-wavelength antennas, that radiate with efficiencies a few orders of magnitude larger than the A/(lambda)^2 limit, allow drastic miniaturization of communication systems.

physics.app-ph

On the fluidic behavior of an over-expanded planar plug nozzle under lateral confinement

The present work aims to study the fluidic behavior on lateral confinement by placing side-walls on the planar plug nozzle through experiments. The study involves two cases of nozzle pressure ratio (NPR=3, 6), which correspond to over-expanded nozzle operating conditions. Steady-state pressure measurements, together with schlieren and surface oil flow visualization, reveal the presence of over-expansion shock and subsequent interaction and modification of the flow field on the plug surface. The flow remains attached to the plug surface for NPR=3; whereas, for NPR=6, a separated flow field with a recirculation bubble is observed. Spectral analysis of the unsteady pressure signals illustrates a clear difference between the attached and the separated flow. Besides, other flow features with a distinct temporal mode associated with and without lateral confinement are observed. The absence of lateral confinement reduces the intensity of low-frequency unsteadiness; however, on the contrary, the interaction region is relatively reduced under lateral confinement.

physics.flu-dyn

Efficient ground-state cooling of large trapped-ion chains with an EIT tripod scheme

We report the electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) cooling of a large trapped $^{171}$Yb$^+$ ion chain to the quantum ground state. Unlike conventional EIT cooling, we engage a four-level tripod structure and achieve fast sub-Doppler cooling over all motional modes. We observe simultaneous ground-state cooling across the complete transverse mode spectrum of up to $40$ ions, occupying a bandwidth of over $3$ MHz. The cooling time is observed to be less than $300\,\mu$s, independent of the number of ions. Such efficient cooling across the entire spectrum is essential for high-fidelity quantum operations using trapped ion crystals for quantum simulators or quantum computers.

quant-ph

Mathematical Modeling of Flash Boiling Phenomena in Superheated Sprays at low Degree of Superheat using Dirichlet Hyperboloids

The depressurization of the surrounding chamber or superheating of the injected liquid is responsible for the flashing of the sprays, which promotes micro-explosion of many bubbles near free-surface and thereby leading to primary atomization of sprays. In this work, we propose a mathematical model, and the Dirichlet hyperboloids are used to explain the micro-explosion process while the external flashing phenomenon is observed in superheated liquid jets. The developed mathematical model is implemented in the Lagrangian framework to study the spray structure, and the results of numerical simulations are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results from the literature. In the onset region of a fully flashing regime, the bell-shaped spray structure becomes eminent due to increased drag on the high radial-velocity ejected droplets. However, at a lower degree of superheat, the droplet size is found to increase with a decrease in ambient pressure. Whereas the opposite trend is observed at a higher degree of superheat.

physics.flu-dyn

Observation of Domain Wall Confinement and Dynamics in a Quantum Simulator

Confinement is a ubiquitous mechanism in nature, whereby particles feel an attractive force that increases without bound as they separate. A prominent example is color confinement in particle physics, in which baryons and mesons are produced by quark confinement. Analogously, confinement can also occur in low-energy quantum many-body systems when elementary excitations are confined into bound quasiparticles. Here, we report the first observation of magnetic domain wall confinement in interacting spin chains with a trapped-ion quantum simulator. By measuring how correlations spread, we show that confinement can dramatically suppress information propagation and thermalization in such many-body systems. We are able to quantitatively determine the excitation energy of domain wall bound states from non-equilibrium quench dynamics. Furthermore, we study the number of domain wall excitations created for different quench parameters, in a regime that is difficult to model with classical computers. This work demonstrates the capability of quantum simulators for investigating exotic high-energy physics phenomena, such as quark collision and string breaking.

quant-ph

Quantum Approximate Optimization of the Long-Range Ising Model with a Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator

Quantum computers and simulators may offer significant advantages over their classical counterparts, providing insights into quantum many-body systems and possibly improving performance for solving exponentially hard problems, such as optimization and satisfiability. Here we report the implementation of a low-depth Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) using an analog quantum simulator. We estimate the ground state energy of the Transverse Field Ising Model with long-range interactions with tunable range and we optimize the corresponding combinatorial classical problem by sampling the QAOA output with high-fidelity, single-shot individual qubit measurements. We execute the algorithm with both an exhaustive search and closed-loop optimization of the variational parameters, approximating the ground state energy with up to 40 trapped-ion qubits. We benchmark the experiment with bootstrapping heuristic methods scaling polynomially with the system size. We observe, in agreement with numerics, that the QAOA performance does not degrade significantly as we scale up the system size, and that the runtime is approximately independent from the number of qubits. We finally give a comprehensive analysis of the errors occurring in our system, a crucial step in the path forward towards the application of the QAOA to more general problem instances.

quant-ph

Experimental signature of collective enhancement in nuclear level density

We present a probable experimental signature of collective enhancement in the nuclear level density (NLD) by measuring the neutron and the giant dipole resonance (GDR) $\gamma$ rays emitted from the rare earth $^{169}$Tm compound nucleus populated at 26.1 MeV excitation energy. An enhanced yield is observed in both neutron and $\gamma$ ray spectra corresponding to the same excitation energy in the daughter nuclei. The enhancement could only be reproduced by including a collective enhancement factor in the Fermi gas model of NLD to explain the neutron and GDR spectra simultaneously. The experimental results show that the relative enhancement factor is of the order of 10 and the fadeout occurs at $\sim$ 14 MeV excitation energy, much before the commonly accepted transition from deformed to spherical shape. We also explain how the collective enhancement contribution changes the inverse level density parameter ($k$) from 8 to 9.5 MeV observed recently in several deformed nuclei.

nucl-ex

Experimental Determination of $\eta$/$s$ for Finite Nuclear Matter

We present, for the first time, simultaneous determination of shear viscosity ($\eta$) and entropy density ($s$) and thus, $\eta/s$ for equilibrated nuclear systems from $A$ $\sim$ 30 to $A$ $\sim$ 208 at different temperatures. At finite temperature, $\eta$ is estimated by utilizing the $\gamma$ decay of the isovector giant dipole resonance populated via fusion evaporation reaction, while $s$ is evaluated from the nuclear level density parameter (${a}$) and nuclear temperature ($T$), determined precisely by the simultaneous measurements of the evaporated neutron energy spectra and the compound nuclear angular momenta. The transport parameter $\eta$ and the thermodynamic parameter $s$ both increase with temperature resulting in a mild decrease of $\eta$/$s$ with temperature. The extracted $\eta$/$s$ is also found to be independent of the neutron-proton asymmetry at a given temperature. Interestingly, the measured $\eta$/$s$ values are comparable to that of the high-temperature quark-gluon plasma, pointing towards the fact that strong fluidity may be the universal feature of the strong interaction of many-body quantum systems.

nucl-ex

Signature of clustering in quantum many body systems probed by the giant dipole resonance

The present experimental study illustrates how large deformations attained by nuclei due to cluster formation are perceived through the giant dipole resonance (GDR) strength function. The high energy GDR $\gamma$-rays have been measured from $^{32}$S at different angular momenta ($J$) but similar temperatures in the reactions $^{4}$He(E$_{lab}$=45MeV) + $^{28}$Si and $^{20}$Ne(E$_{lab}$=145MeV) + $^{12}$C. The experimental data at lower J ($\sim$ 10$\hbar$) suggests a normal deformation, similar to the ground state value, showing no potential signature of clustering. However, it is found that the GDR lineshape is fragmented into two prominent peaks at high J ($\sim$ 20$\hbar$) providing a direct measurement of the large deformation developed in the nucleus. The observed lineshape is also completely different from the ones seen for Jacobi shape transition at high $J$ pointing towards the formation of cluster structure in super-deformed states of $^{32}$S at such high spin. Thus, the GDR can be regarded as a unique tool to study cluster formation at high excitation energies and angular momenta.

nucl-ex

Steps towards the hyperfine splitting measurement of the muonic hydrogen ground state: pulsed muon beam and detection system characterization

The high precision measurement of the hyperfine splitting of the muonic-hydrogen atom ground state with pulsed and intense muon beam requires careful technological choices both in the construction of a gas target and of the detectors. In June 2014, the pressurized gas target of the FAMU experiment was exposed to the low energy pulsed muon beam at the RIKEN RAL muon facility. The objectives of the test were the characterization of the target, the hodoscope and the X-ray detectors. The apparatus consisted of a beam hodoscope and X-rays detectors made with high purity Germanium and Lanthanum Bromide crystals. In this paper the experimental setup is described and the results of the detector characterization are presented.

physics.ins-det

Experimental investigation on the temperature dependence of the nuclear level density parameter

The effect of temperature (T) and angular momentum (J) on the inverse level density parameter (k) has been studied by populating the compound nucleus $^{97}$Tc in the reaction $^{4}$He + $^{93}$Nb at four incident beam energies of 28, 35, 42 and 50 MeV. For all the four energies, the value of k decreases with increasing J. The T dependence of k has been compared for two angular momentum windows with different theoretical predictions as well as with FTBCS1 calculation which takes into account the quasiparticle-number fluctuations in the pairing field. Interestingly, the experimental data are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations at higher J but deviate from all the calculations at lower J.

nucl-ex

Examination of level density prescriptions in the interpretation of high energy gamma-ray spectra

High energy $\gamma$-ray spectra measured by our group involving the compound nuclei (CN) $^{63}$Cu at excitation energy ($E^*$) $\sim$ 36 MeV with average angular momentum ($J$) = 12 - 17 $\hbar$, $^{97}$Tc at $E^* \sim$ 29 - 50 MeV with $J$ = 12 - 14 $\hbar$, $^{113}$Sb at $E^*$ = 109 MeV and 121 MeV with $J$ = 49 - 59 $\hbar$ and $^{201}$Tl at $E^*$ = 39.5, 47.5 MeV with $J$ = 18 - 24 $\hbar$ have been analyzed utilizing the level density prescriptions of (i)Ignatyuk, Smirenkin and Tishin (IST), (ii)Budtz-Jorgensen and Knitter (BJK), and (iii) Kataria, Ramamurthy and Kapoor (KRK). These three prescriptions have been tested for correct statistical model description of high energy $\gamma$-rays in the light of extracting the giant dipole resonance (GDR) parameters at low excitation energy and spin where shell effects might play an important role as well as at high excitation energy where shell effects have melted. Interestingly, only the IST level density prescription could explain the high energy $\gamma$-ray spectra with reasonable GDR parameters for all the four nuclei.

nucl-ex