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G. Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to G. Zhu.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2017

SDSS-IV MaNGA: What Shapes The Distribution Of Metals In Galaxies? Exploring The Roles Of The Local Gas Fraction And Escape Velocity

We determine the local metallicity of the ionized gas for more than $9.2\times 10^5$ star forming regions (spaxels) located in 1023 nearby galaxies included in the SDSS-IV MaNGA IFU survey. We use the dust extinction derived from the Balmer decrement and stellar template fitting in each spaxel to estimate the local gas and stellar mass densities, respectively. We also use the measured rotation curves to determine the local escape velocity ($\mathrm{V_{esc}}$). We have then analyze the relationships between the local metallicity and both the local gas fraction ($μ$) and $\mathrm{V_{esc}}$. We find that metallicity decreases with both increasing $μ$ and decreasing $\mathrm{V_{esc}}$. By examining the residuals in these relations we show that the gas fraction plays a more primary role in the local chemical enrichment than $\mathrm{V_{esc}}$. We show that the gas-regulator model of chemical evolution provides a reasonable explanation of the metallicity on local scales. The best-fit parameters for this model are consistent with metal loss caused by momentum-driven galactic outflows. We also argue that both the gas fraction and local escape velocity are connected to the local stellar surface density, which in turn is a tracer of the epoch at which the dominant local stellar population formed

astro-ph.GA↗
arXiv2016

The SDSS-IV eBOSS: emission line galaxy catalogues at z=0.8 and study of systematic errors in the angular clustering

We present two wide-field catalogs of photometrically-selected emission line galaxies (ELGs) at z=0.8 covering about 2800 deg^2 over the south galactic cap. The catalogs were obtained using a Fisher discriminant technique described in a companion paper. The two catalogs differ by the imaging used to define the Fisher discriminant: the first catalog includes imaging from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, the second also includes information from the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS). Containing respectively 560,045 and 615,601 objects, they represent the largest ELG catalogs available today and were designed for the ELG programme of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS). We study potential sources of systematic variation in the angular distribution of the selected ELGs due to fluctuations of the observational parameters. We model the influence of the observational parameters using a multivariate regression and implement a weighting scheme that allows effective removal of all of the systematic errors induced by the observational parameters. We show that fluctuations in the imaging zero-points of the photometric bands have minor impact on the angular distribution of objects in our catalogs. We compute the angular clustering of both catalogs and show that our weighting procedure effectively removes spurious clustering on large scales. We fit a model to the small scale angular clustering, showing that the selections have similar biases of 1.35/D_a(z) and 1.28/D_a(z). Both catalogs are publicly available.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2016

SDSS-IV eBOSS emission-line galaxy pilot survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV extended Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (SDSS-IV/eBOSS) will observe 195,000 emission-line galaxies (ELGs) to measure the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation standard ruler (BAO) at redshift 0.9. To test different ELG selection algorithms, 9,000 spectra were observed with the SDSS spectrograph as a pilot survey based on data from several imaging surveys. First, using visual inspection and redshift quality flags, we show that the automated spectroscopic redshifts assigned by the pipeline meet the quality requirements for a reliable BAO measurement. We also show the correlations between sky emission, signal-to-noise ratio in the emission lines, and redshift error. Then we provide a detailed description of each target selection algorithm we tested and compare them with the requirements of the eBOSS experiment. As a result, we provide reliable redshift distributions for the different target selection schemes we tested. Finally, we determine an target selection algorithms that is best suited to be applied on DECam photometry because they fulfill the eBOSS survey efficiency requirements.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2012

An Independent Measurement of the Incidence of MgII Absorbers along Gamma-Ray Burst Sightlines: the End of the Mystery?

In 2006, Prochter et al. reported a statistically significant enhancement of very strong Mg II absorption systems intervening the sightlines to gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) relative to the in- cidence of such absorption along quasar sightlines. This counterintuitive result, has inspired a diverse set of astrophysical explanations (e.g. dust, gravitational lensing) but none of these has obviously resolved the puzzle. Using the largest set of GRB afterglow spectra available, we reexamine the purported enhancement. In an independent sample of GRB spectra with a survey path 3 times larger than Prochter et al., we measure the incidence per unit redshift of $\geq 1$Årest-frame equivalent width Mg II absorbers at $z \approx 1$ to be l(z)= 0.18 $\pm$ 0.06. This is fully consistent with current estimates for the incidence of such absorbers along quasar sightlines. Therefore, we do not confirm the original enhancement and suggest those results suffered from a statistical fluke. Signatures of the original result do remain in our full sample (l(z) shows an $\approx 1.5$ enhancement over l(z)QSO), but the statistical significance now lies at $\approx 90%$ c.l. Restricting our analysis to the subset of high-resolution spectra of GRB afterglows (which overlaps substantially with Prochter et al.), we still reproduce a statistically significant enhancement of Mg II absorption. The reason for this excess, if real, is still unclear since there is no connection between the rapid afterglow follow-up process with echelle (or echellette) spectrographs and the detectability of strong Mg II doublets. Only a larger sample of such high-resolution data will shed some light on this matter.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2011

BCS ansatz for superconductivity in the canonical ensemble and the Pauli exclusion principle

The usual formulation of the BCS ansatz for superconductivity in the grand canonical ensemble makes the handling of the Pauli exclusion principle between paired electrons straightforward. It however tends to mask that many-body effects between Cooper pairs interacting through the reduced BCS potential are entirely controlled by this exclusion. To show it up, one has to work in the canonical ensemble. Pauli blocking between a fixed number of composite bosons is however known to be difficult to handle. To do it, we here develop a commutator formalism for Cooper pairs, along the line we used for excitons. We then rederive, within the $N$-pair subspace, a few results of BCS superconductivity commonly derived in the grand canonical ensemble, to evidence their Pauli blocking origin. We end by discussing what should be called "Cooper pair wave function".

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2009

Experimental Probing of Photonic Density of States in Hyperbolic Metamaterial

In the metamaterial with hyperbolic dispersion (an array of silver nanowires in alumina membrane) we have observed six-fold reduction of the emission life-time of dye deposited onto the metamaterials surface. This serves as the evidence of the earlier predicted high density of photonic states in hyperbolic metamaterials.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2009

Engineering of Low-Loss Metal for Nanoplasmonic and Metamaterials Applications

We have shown that alloying a noble metal (gold) with another metal (cadmium), which can contribute two electrons per atom to a free electron gas, can significantly improve the metals optical properties in certain wavelength ranges and make them worse in the other parts of the spectrum. In particular, in the gold-cadmium alloy we have demonstrated a significant expansion of the spectral range of metallic reflectance to shorter wavelengths. The experimental results and the predictions of the first principles theory demonstrate an opportunity for the improvement and optimization of low-loss metals for nanoplasmonic and metamaterials applications.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2008

Bulk photonic metamaterial with hyperbolic dispersion

In this work, we demonstrate a self-standing bulk three-dimensional metamaterial based on the network of silver nanowires in an alumina membrane. This constitutes an anisotropic effective medium with hyperbolic dispersion, which can be used in sub-diffraction imaging or optical cloaks. Highly anisotropic dielectric constants of the material range from positive to negative, and the transmitted laser beam shifts both toward the normal to the surface, as in regular dielectrics, and off the normal, as in anisotropic dielectrics with the refraction index smaller than one. The designed photonic metamaterial is the thickest reported in the literature, both in terms of its physical size 1cm x 1cm x 51 mm, and the number of vacuum wavelengths, N=61 at l=0.84 mm.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2008

Stimulated emission of surface plasmon polaritons

We have observed laser-like emission of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) decoupled to the glass prism in an attenuated total reflection setup. SPPs were excited by optically pumped molecules in a polymeric film deposited on the top of the silver film. Stimulated emission was characterized by a distinct threshold in the input-output dependence and narrowing of the emission spectrum. The observed stimulated emission and corresponding to it compensation of the metallic absorption loss by gain enables many applications of metamaterials and nanoplasmonic devices.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2007

A New Model of Fringing Capacitance and its Application to the Control of Parallel-Plate Electrostatic Micro Actuators

Fringing field has to be taken into account in the formulation of electrostatic parallel-plate actuators when the gap separating the electrodes is comparable to the geometrical dimensions of the moving plate. Even in this case, the existing formulations often result in complicated mathematical models from which it is difficult to determine the deflection of the moving plate for given voltages and therefore to predict the necessary applied voltages for actuation control. This work presents a new method for the modeling of fringing field, in which the effect of fringing field is modeled as a serial capacitor. Numerical simulation demonstrates the suitability of this formulation. Based on this model, a robust control scheme is constructed using the theory of input-to-state stabilization (ISS) and back-stepping state feedback design. The stability and the performance of the system using this control scheme are demonstrated through both stability analysis and numerical simulation.

cs.OH↗
arXiv2007

Compensation of loss in propagating surface plasmon polariton by gain in adjacent dielectric medium

We report the suppression of loss of surface plasmon polariton propagating at the interface between silver film and optically pumped polymer with dye. Large magnitude of the effect enables a variety of applications of "active" nanoplasmonics. The experimental study is accompanied by the development of the analytical description of the phenomenon and the solution of the controversy regarding the direction of the wavevector of a wave with a strong evanescent component in an active medium.

physics.optics↗
arXiv2005

Enhancement and suppression of surface plasmon resonance in Ag aggregate by optical gain and absorption in surrounding dielectric medium

We have observed the compensation of loss in metal by gain in interfacing dielectric in the mixture of aggregated silver nanoparticles and rhodamine 6G dye. The demonstrated six-fold enhancement of the Rayleigh scattering is the evidence of the increase of the quality factor of the surface plasmon (SP) resonance. The reported experimental observation paves the road to many practical applications of nanoplasmonics. We have also predicted and experimentally observed a suppression of the surface SP resonance in metallic nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric host with absorption.

physics.optics↗