arXiv subjects

D. Henderson

Publications and source records attributed to D. Henderson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) at Gemini-South: Instrument performance and integration, first science, and next steps

The Gemini South telescope is now equipped with a new high-resolution spectrograph called GHOST (the Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph). This instrument provides high-efficiency, high-resolution spectra covering 347-1060 nm in a single exposure of either one or two targets simultaneously, along with precision radial velocity spectroscopy utilizing an internal calibration source. It can operate at a spectral element resolving power of either 76000 or 56000, and can reach a SNR$\sim$5 in a 1hr exposure on a V$\sim$20.8 mag target in median site seeing, and dark skies (per resolution element). GHOST was installed on-site in June 2022, and we report performance after full integration to queue operations in November 2023, in addition to scientific results enabled by the integration observing runs. These results demonstrate the ability to observe a wide variety of bright and faint targets with high efficiency and precision. With GHOST, new avenues to explore high-resolution spectroscopy have opened up to the astronomical community. These are described, along with the planned and potential upgrades to the instrument.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Charge storage in nanotubes: the case of a 2-1 electrolyte

We consider a 2-1 electrolyte in contact with a narrow nanotube, which only allows one-dimensional storage along the axis. The asymmetry does not allow an a priori definition of the potential of zero charge; instead, the natural reference is the electrode potential at which both ions have the same electrochemical potential; the value of the latter can serve as a measure of ionophilicity. Near this potential, ionophobic tubes are filled with a dilute gas, ionophilic tubes are filled with a one-dimensional solid containing about the same number of the divalent ions and the monovalent counterions, a structure that is stabilized by a strong screening of the Coulomb interaction by an induced counter charge on the walls of the tube. The filling of the tube by the application of an electrode potential exhibits a complicated pattern of interactions between the two kinds of ions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Frustration of freezing in a two dimensional hard-core fluid due to particle shape anisotropy

The freezing mechanism suggested for a fluid composed of hard disks [Huerta et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2006, 74, 061106] is used here to probe the fluid-to-solid transition in a hard-dumbbell fluid composed of overlapping hard disks with a variable length between disk centers. Analyzing the trends in the shape of second maximum of the radial distribution function of the planar hard-dumbbell fluid it has been found that the type of transition could be sensitive to the length of hard-dumbbell molecules. From the ${NpT}$ Monte Carlo simulations data we show that if a hard-dumbbell length does not exceed 15% of the disk diameter, the fluid-to-solid transition scenario follows the case of a hard-disk fluid, i.e., the isotropic hard-dumbbell fluid experiences freezing. However, for a hard-dumbbell length larger than 15% of disk diameter, there is evidence that fluid-to-solid transition may change to continuous transition, i.e., such an isotropic hard-dumbbell fluid will avoid freezing.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Influence of anisotropic ion shape, asymmetric valency, and electrolyte concentration on structural and thermodynamic properties of an electric double layer

Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation results are reported for an electric double layer modelled by a planar charged hard wall, anisotropic shape cations, and spherical anions at different electrolyte concentrations and asymmetric valencies. The cations consist of two tangentially tethered hard spheres of the same diameter, $d$. One sphere is charged while the other is neutral. Spherical anions are charged hard spheres of diameter $d$. The ion valency asymmetry 1:2 and 2:1 is considered, with the ions being immersed in a solvent mimicked by a continuum dielectric medium at standard temperature. The simulations are carried out for the following electrolyte concentrations: 0.1, 1.0 and 2.0 M. Profiles of the electrode-ion, electrode-neutral sphere singlet distributions, the average orientation of dimers, and the mean electrostatic potential are calculated for a given electrode surface charge, $σ$, while the contact electrode potential and the differential capacitance are presented for varying electrode charge. With an increasing electrolyte concentration, the shape of differential capacitance curve changes from that with a minimum surrounded by maxima into that of a distorted single maximum. For a 2:1 electrolyte, the maximum is located at a small negative $σ$ value while for 1:2, at a small positive value.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2016

Double layer for hard spheres with an off-center charge

Simulations for the density and potential profiles of the ions in the planar electrical double layer of a model electrolyte or an ionic liquid are reported. The ions of a real electrolyte or an ionic liquid are usually not spheres; in ionic liquids, the cations are molecular ions. In the past, this asymmetry has been modelled by considering spheres that are asymmetric in size and/or valence (viz., the primitive model) or by dimer cations that are formed by tangentially touching spheres. In this paper we consider spherical ions that are asymmetric in size and mimic the asymmetrical shape through an off-center charge that is located away from the center of the cation spheres, while the anion charge is at the center of anion spheres. The various singlet density and potential profiles are compared to (i) the dimer situation, that is, the constituent spheres of the dimer cation are tangentially tethered, and (ii) the standard primitive model. The results reveal the double layer structure to be substantially impacted especially when the cation is the counterion. As well as being of intrinsic interest, this off-center charge model may be useful for theories that consider spherical models and introduce the off-center charge as a perturbation.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

Gone but not forgotten

In this reminiscence I discuss the influence of Henry Eyring and John Barker upon my life and work. Others, especially my family, have been of even greater personal influence. However, these two great and grand men were of tremendous scientific influence. Of course, others who came before Eyring and Barker, especially Boltzmann and van der Waals and later Onsager and Eyring's contemporary, Kirkwood, have been influential, but only indirectly as I never met them. Eyring and Barker are not the only scientists who have inspired me. Many who influenced me have contributed articles to this special issue or have worked with me. I single out Eyring and Barker because I met them early in my career and because they have passed away and are now present only in spirit. They are gone but should not be forgotten; I take this occasion to remind the readers about these two outstanding scientists and fine men and offer this reminiscence as thanks to them.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2015

Bubble Chambers for Experiments in Nuclear Astrophysics

A bubble chamber has been developed to be used as an active target system for low energy nuclear astrophysics experiments. Adopting ideas from dark matter detection with superheated liquids, a detector system compatible with gamma-ray beams has been developed. This detector alleviates some of the limitations encountered in standard measurements of the minute cross sections of interest to stellar environments. While the astrophysically relevant nuclear reaction processes at hydrostatic burning temperatures are dominated by radiative captures, in this experimental scheme we measure the time-reversed processes. Such photodisintegrations allow us to compute the radiative capture cross sections when transitions to excited states of the reaction products are negligible. Due to the transformation of phase space, the photodisintegration cross sections are up to two orders of magnitude higher. The main advantage of the new target-detector system is a density several orders of magnitude higher than conventional gas targets. Also, the detector is virtually insensitive to the gamma-ray beam itself, thus allowing us to detect only the products of the nuclear reaction of interest. The development and the operation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the bubble chamber are discussed.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2013

Selective adsorption of ions in charged slit-systems

We study the selective adsorption of various cations into a layered slit system using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The slit system is formed by a series of negatively charged membranes. The electrolyte contains two kinds of cations with different sizes and valences modelled by charged hard spheres immersed in a continuum dielectric solvent. We present the results for various cases depending on the combinations of the properties of the competing cations. We concentrate on the case when the divalent cations are larger than the monovalent cations. In this case, size and charge have counterbalancing effects, which results in interesting selectivity phenomena.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2013

Nonmonotonous pressure as a function of the density in a fluid without attractive forces

A simple result for the pressure of a hard sphere fluid that was developed many years ago by Rennert is extended in a straightforward manner by adding the terms that are of the same form as the Rennert's formula. The resulting expression is moderately accurate but its accuracy does not necessarily improve as additional terms are included. This expression has the interesting consequence that the pressure can have a maximum, as the density increases, which is consistent with the freezing of hard spheres. This occurs solely as a consequence of repulsive interactions. Only the Born-Green-Yvon and Kirkwood theories show such a behavior for hard spheres and they require a numerical solution of an integral equation. The procedure outlined here is ad hoc but is, perhaps, useful just as the popular Carnahan-Starling equation for the hard sphere pressure is also ad hoc but useful.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2012

First determination of an astrophysical cross section with a bubble chamber: the 15N(α,γ)19F reaction

We have devised a technique for measuring some of the most important nuclear reactions in stars which we expect to provide considerable improvement over previous experiments. Adapting ideas from dark matter search experiments with bubble chambers, we have found that a superheated liquid is sensitive to recoils produced from γ-rays photodisintegrating the nuclei of the liquid. The main advantage of the new target-detector system is a gain in yield of six orders of magnitude over conventional gas targets due to the higher mass density of liquids. Also, the detector is practically insensitive to the γ-ray beam itself, thus allowing it to detect only the products of the nuclear reaction of interest. The first set of tests of a superheated target with a narrow bandwidth γ-ray beam was completed and the results demonstrate the feasibility of the scheme. The new data are successfully described by an R-matrix model using published resonance parameters. With the increase in luminosity of the next generation γ-ray beam facilities, the measurement of thermonuclear rates in the stellar Gamow window would become possible.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2012

On the contact values of the density profiles in an electric double layer using density functional theory

A recently proposed local second contact value theorem [Henderson D., Boda D., J. Electroanal. Chem., 2005, 582, 16] for the charge profile of an electric double layer is used in conjunction with the existing Monte Carlo data from the literature to assess the contact behavior of the electrode-ion distributions predicted by the density functional theory. The results for the contact values of the co- and counterion distributions and their product are obtained for the symmetric valency, restricted primitive model planar double layer for a range of electrolyte concentrations and temperatures. Overall, the theoretical results satisfy the second contact value theorem reasonably well, the agreement with the simulations being semi-quantitative or better. The product of the co- and counterion contact values as a function of the electrode surface charge density is qualitative with the simulations with increasing deviations at higher concentrations.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2012

Application of the SRISM approach to the study of the capacitance of the double layer of a high density primitive model electrolyte

In this study the Singlet Reference Interaction Site Model (SRISM) is employed to the study of the electrode charge dependence of the capacitance of a planar electric double layer using the primitive model of the double layer for a high density electrolyte that mimics an ionic liquid. The ions are represented by charged hard spheres and the electrode is a uniformly charged flat surface. The capacitance of this model fluid is calculated with the SRISM approach with closures based on the hypernetted chain (HNC) and Kovalenko-Hirata (KH) closures and compared with simulations. As long as the magnitude of the electrode charge is not too great, the HNC closure shows the most promise. The KH results are reasonably good for a high density electrolyte but are poor when applied at low densities.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2012

Some simple results for the properties of polar fluids

The author's lecture notes concerning the correlation functions and the thermodynamics of a simple polar fluid are summarized. The emphasis is on the dipolar hard sphere fluid and the mean spherical approximation and on the relation of these results to the Clausius-Mossotti and Onsager formulae for the dielectric constant. Previous excerpts from these lecture notes, Condens. Matter Phys., 2009, 12, 127; ibid., 2010, 13, 13002, have contained results that were not widely known. It is hoped that this third, and likely final, excerpt will prove equally helpful by gathering several results together and making these more widely available and recording a few new results.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2009

Contact values for disparate-size hard-sphere mixtures

A universality ansatz for the contact values of a multicomponent mixture of additive hard spheres is used to propose new formulae for the case of disparate-size binary mixtures. A comparison with simulation data and with a recent proposal by Alawneh and Henderson for binary mixtures shows reasonably good agreement with the predictions for the contact values of the large-large radial distribution functions. A discussion on the usefulness and limitations of the new proposals is also presented.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Absolute Calibration and Characterization of the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer. III. An Asteroid-based Calibration of MIPS at 160 microns

We describe the absolute calibration of the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) 160 micron channel. After the on-orbit discovery of a near-IR ghost image that dominates the signal for sources hotter than about 2000 K, we adopted a strategy utilizing asteroids to transfer the absolute calibrations of the MIPS 24 and 70 micron channels to the 160 micron channel. Near-simultaneous observations at all three wavelengths are taken, and photometry at the two shorter wavelengths is fit using the Standard Thermal Model. The 160 micron flux density is predicted from those fits and compared with the observed 160 micron signal to derive the conversion from instrumental units to surface brightness. The calibration factor we derive is 41.7 MJy/sr/MIPS160 (MIPS160 being the instrumental units). The scatter in the individual measurements of the calibration factor, as well as an assesment of the external uncertainties inherent in the calibration, lead us to adopt an uncertainty of 5.0 MJy/sr/MIPS160 (12%) for the absolute uncertainty on the 160 micron flux density of a particular source as determined from a single measurement. For sources brighter than about 2 Jy, non-linearity in the response of the 160 micron detectors produces an under-estimate of the flux density: for objects as bright as 4 Jy, measured flux densities are likely to be ~20% too low. This calibration has been checked against that of ISO (using ULIRGS) and IRAS (using IRAS-derived diameters), and is consistent with those at the 5% level.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Spitzer 70 and 160-micron Observations of the Extragalactic First Look Survey

We present Spitzer 70um and 160um observations of the Spitzer extragalactic First Look Survey (xFLS). The data reduction techniques and the methods for producing co-added mosaics and source catalogs are discussed. Currently, 26% of the 70um sample and 49% of the 160um-selected sources have redshifts. The majority of sources with redshifts are star-forming galaxies at z<0.5, while about 5% have infrared colors consistent with AGN. The observed infrared colors agree with the spectral energy distribution (SEDs) of local galaxies previously determined from IRAS and ISO data. The average 160um/70um color temperature for the dust is Td~= 30+/-5 K, and the average 70um/24um spectral index is alpha~= 2.4+/-0.4. The observed infrared to radio correlation varies with redshift as expected out to z~1 based on the SEDs of local galaxies. The xFLS number counts at 70um and 160um are consistent within uncertainties with the models of galaxy evolution, but there are indications that the current models may require slight modifications. Deeper 70um observations are needed to constrain the models, and redshifts for the faint sources are required to measure the evolution of the infrared luminosity function.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Laser Spectroscopic Determination of the 6He Nuclear Charge Radius

We have performed precision laser spectroscopy on individual 6He (t1/2 = 0.8 s) atoms confined and cooled in a magneto-optical trap, and measured the isotope shift between 6He and 4He to be 43,194.772 +/- 0.056 MHz for the 2 3S1 - 3 3P2 transition. Based on this measurement and atomic theory, the nuclear charge radius of 6He is determined, for the first time in a method independent of nuclear models, to be 2.054 +/- 0.014 fm. The result is compared with the values predicted by a number of nuclear structure calculations, and tests their ability to characterize this loosely bound, halo nucleus.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2003

High-precision measurement of the half-life of $^{62}$Ga

The beta-decay half-life of 62Ga has been studied with high precision using on-line mass separated samples. The decay of 62Ga which is dominated by a 0+ to 0+ transition to the ground state of 62Zn yields a half-life of T_{1/2} = 116.19(4) ms. This result is more precise than any previous measurement by about a factor of four or more. The present value is in agreement with older literature values, but slightly disagrees with a recent measurement. We determine an error weighted average value of all experimental half-lives of 116.18(4) ms.

nucl-ex↗