arXiv subjects

Hui Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Hui Zhang.

At least 469 records · Page 26Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Measurements of Radon Concentrations Using CR-39 Detectors in China JinPing Underground Laboratory (2015-2016)

Radon background is one of the most critical influences on the ultra-low background and rare-event physical experiments in underground laboratories. To conduct a comprehensive investigation of the radon concentrations in China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL), long-term cumulative measurements were carried out using time-integrated passive radon dosimeters containing CR-39 solid-state nuclear track detectors at four sites of CJPL-I. The measurements lasted from May 30,2015 to March 16,2016, a total of 290 days, and the total effective measurement time is 6,953 hours. In the main experiment hall equipped with the ventilation system, the average annual radon concentrations were (55+/-7) Bq m^-3, (58+/-10) Bq^m-3and (53+/-9) Bq m^-3 in three locations respectively. In the storage tunnel without any radon reduction facility, the average annual radon concentrations increased to (345+/-15) Bq m^-3, reflecting the original average annual radon concentration levels in the underground laboratory. Compared with the measured results in the period from 2010 to 2011, the average radon concentration in the main experimental hall was reduced from (86+/-25) Bq m^-3 to (58+/-10) Bq m^-3 due to the well-running ventilation system. Compared with other international underground laboratories, radon concentrations in CJPL-I were at an intermediate level and can meet the demand for low background and rare-event physical experiments.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Triple condensate halo from water droplets impacting on cold surfaces

Understanding the dynamics in the deposition of water droplets onto solid surfaces is of importance from both fundamental and practical viewpoints. While the deposition of a water droplet onto a heated surface is extensively studied, the characteristics of depositing a droplet onto a cold surface and the phenomena leading to such behavior remain elusive. Here we report the formation of a triple condensate halo observed during the deposition of a water droplet onto a cold surface, due to the interplay between droplet impact dynamics and vapor diffusion. Two subsequent condensation stages occur during the droplet spreading and cooling processes, engendering this unique condensate halo with three distinctive bands. We further proposed a scaling model to interpret the size of each band, and the model is validated by the experiments of droplets with different impact velocity and varying substrate temperature. Our experimental and theoretical investigation of the droplet impact dynamics and the associated condensation unravels the mass and heat transfer among droplet, vapor and substrate, offer a new sight for designing of heat exchange devices.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2018

Planet Formation in Highly Inclined Binary Systems. II. Orbital Alignment or Anti-alignment and Planet Growth Boost in Intermediate Separation Binaries

Stars are commonly formed in binary systems, which provide a natural laboratory for studying planet formation in extreme conditions. In our first paper (Paper I) of a series Xie et al. (2011), we have shown that the intermediate stage - from planetesimals to planetary embryos/cores - of planet formation can proceed even in highly inclined binaries. Following Paper I, here we numerically study the late stage of terrestrial planet formation, i.e., from embryos to full planets, in binary systems of various orbital configurations. We identify an orbital alignment or anti-alignment effect; namely, although an inclined binary generally misaligns the planetary orbits with respect to the spin axis of the primary host star (i.e., causing large obliquity), it could align or anti-align the planetary orbits with respect to the binary orbit. Such an orbital (anti-)alignment effect is caused by the combination of orbital differential precession and self-damping, and it is mostly significant in cases of intermediate binary separations, i.e., a_B~40-200 AU for terrestrial planet formation around 1 AU from the primary stars. In such intermediate separation binaries, somewhat contrary to intuition, the binary companion can aid planet growth by having increased the rate of collisions, forming significantly more massive but fewer planets. In the other two ends, the companion is ether too close thus plays a violently disruptive role or too wide to have significant effect on planet formation. Future observations, which can discover more planet-bearing binary star systems and constrain their masses and 3-D orbital motions will test our numerical findings.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2018

New Analysis of Linear Convergence of Gradient-type Methods via Unifying Error Bound Conditions

This paper reveals that a common and central role, played in many error bound (EB) conditions and a variety of gradient-type methods, is a residual measure operator. On one hand, by linking this operator with other optimality measures, we define a group of abstract EB conditions, and then analyze the interplay between them; on the other hand, by using this operator as an ascent direction, we propose an abstract gradient-type method, and then derive EB conditions that are necessary and sufficient for its linear convergence. The former provides a unified framework that not only allows us to find new connections between many existing EB conditions, but also paves a way to construct new EB conditions. The latter allows us to claim the weakest conditions guaranteeing linear convergence for a number of fundamental algorithms, including the gradient method, the proximal point algorithm, and the forward-backward splitting algorithm. In addition, we show linear convergence for the proximal alternating linearized minimization algorithm under a group of equivalent EB conditions, which are strictly weaker than the traditional strongly convex condition. Moreover, by defining a new EB condition, we show Q-linear convergence of Nesterov's accelerated forward-backward algorithm without strong convexity. Finally, we verify EB conditions for a class of dual objective functions.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

The First Release of the AST3-1 Point Source Catalogue from Dome A, Antarctica

The three Antarctic Survey Telescopes (AST3) aim to carry out time domain imaging survey at Dome A, Antarctica. The first of the three telescopes (AST3-1) was successfully deployed on January 2012. AST3-1 is a 500\,mm aperture modified Schmidt telescope with a 680\,mm diameter primary mirror. AST3-1 is equipped with a SDSS $i$ filter and a 10k $\times$ 10k frame transfer CCD camera, reduced to 5k $\times$ 10k by electronic shuttering, resulting in a 4.3 deg$^2$ field-of-view. To verify the capability of AST3-1 for a variety of science goals, extensive commissioning was carried out between March and May 2012. The commissioning included a survey covering 2000 deg$^2$ as well as the entire Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Frequent repeated images were made of the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a selected exoplanet transit field, and fields including some Wolf-Rayet stars. Here we present the data reduction and photometric measurements of the point sources observed by AST3-1. We have achieved a survey depth of 19.3\,mag in 60 s exposures with 5\,mmag precision in the light curves of bright stars. The facility achieves sub-mmag photometric precision under stable survey conditions, approaching its photon noise limit. These results demonstrate that AST3-1 at Dome A is extraordinarily competitive in time-domain astronomy, including both quick searches for faint transients and the detection of tiny transit signals.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Transiting Exoplanet Monitoring Project (TEMP). IV. Refined System Parameters, Transit Timing Variations and Orbital Stability of the Transiting Planetary System HAT-P-25

We present eight new light curves of the transiting extra-solar planet HAT-P-25b obtained from 2013 to 2016 with three telescopes at two observatories. We use the new light curves, along with recent literature material, to estimate the physical and orbital parameters of the transiting planet. Specifically, we determine the mid-transit times (T$_{C}$) and update the linear ephemeris, T$_{C[0]}$=2456418.80996$\pm$0.00025 [$\mathrm{BJD}_\mathrm{TDB}$] and P=3.65281572$\pm$0.00000095 days. We carry out a search for transit timing variations (TTVs), and find no significant TTV signal at the $ΔT=$80 s-level, placing a limit on the possible strength of planet-planet interactions ($\mathrm{TTV_{G}}$). In the course of our analysis, we calculate the upper mass-limits of the potential nearby perturbers. Near the 1:2, 2:1, and 3:1 resonances with HAT-P-25b, perturbers with masses greater than 0.5, 0.3, and 0.5 $\mathrm{M_{\oplus}}$ respectively, can be excluded. Furthermore, based on the analysis of TTVs caused by light travel time effect (LTTE) we also eliminate the possibility that a long-period perturber exists with $M_{\rm p}> 3000 \,\mathrm{M_{J}}$ within $a=11.2\,{\rm AU}$ of the parent star.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2018

Nonconvex Proximal Incremental Aggregated Gradient Method with Linear Convergence

In this paper, we study the proximal incremental aggregated gradient(PIAG) algorithm for minimizing the sum of L-smooth nonconvex component functions and a proper closed convex function. By exploiting the L-smooth property and with the help of an error bound condition, we can show that the PIAG method still enjoys some nice linear convergence properties even for nonconvex minimization. To illustrate this, we first demonstrate that the generated sequence globally converges to the stationary point set. Then, there exists a threshold such that the objective function value sequence and the iterate point sequence are R-linearly convergent when the stepsize is chosen below this threshold.

math.OC↗

arXiv2018

Dayside magnetospheric and ionospheric responses to a foreshock transient on June 25, 2008: 2. 2-D evolution based on dayside auroral imaging

The foreshock region involves localized and transient structures such as foreshock cavities and hot flow anomalies due to solar wind-bow shock interactions, and foreshock transients have been shown to lead to magnetospheric and ionospheric responses. In this paper, the interaction between a foreshock transient and the magnetosphere-ionosphere system is investigated using dayside aurora imagers revealing structures and propagation in greater detail than previously possible. A foreshock transient was detected by THEMIS-B and C during 1535-1545 UT on June 25, 2008. THEMIS-A, D and E observed magnetopause compression, cold plasma enhancement and ULF waves in the dayside magnetosphere. The all-sky imager (ASI) at South Pole observed that both diffuse and discrete aurora brightened locally soon after the appearance of this foreshock transient. The diffuse aurora brightening, which corresponded to a region a few Re size in GSM-Y in the equatorial plane, propagated duskward with an average speed of ~100 km/s. Soon after the diffuse aurora brightened, discrete aurora also brightened and extended duskward, which was consistent with the motion of the foreshock transient as it swept through the magnetosheath while impacting the magnetopause. Equivalent horizontal currents measured by magnetometers revealed a pair of field-aligned currents (FACs) moving duskward consistent with motion of the discrete aurora patterns. We conclude that the high-resolution and two-dimensional observation of auroral responses by ground-based ASI can help to estimate the evolution and propagation of upstream foreshock transients and their substantial impacts on the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling system, including magnetospheric compression and currents in the ionosphere.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2018

Intermetallic Nanocrystals: Syntheses and Catalytic Applications

At the forefront of nanochemistry, there exists a research endeavor centered around intermetallic nanocrystals, which are unique in terms of long-range atomic ordering, well-defined stoichiometry, and controlled crystal structure. In contrast to alloy nanocrystals with no atomic ordering, it has been challenging to synthesize intermetallic nanocrystals with a tight control over their size and shape. This review article highlights recent progress in the synthesis of intermetallic nanocrystals with controllable sizes and well-defined shapes. We begin with a simple analysis and some insights key to the selection of experimental conditions for generating intermetallic nanocrystals. We then present examples to highlight the viable use of intermetallic nanocrystals as electrocatalysts or catalysts for various reactions, with a focus on the enhanced performance relative to their alloy counterparts that lack atomic ordering. We conclude with perspectives on future developments in the context of synthetic control, structure-property relationship, and application.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2018

Nonperturbative Renormalization Group for the Landau-de Gennes Model

We studied the nematic isotropic phase transition by applying the functional renormalization group to the Landau-de Gennes model. We derived the flow equations for the effective potential as well as the cubic and quartic "couplings" and the anomalous dimension. We then solved the coupled flow equations on a grid using Newton Raphson method. A first order phase transition is observed. We also investigated the nematic isotropic puzzle (the NI puzzle) in this paper. We obtained the NI transition temperature difference ${T_c-T^*}=5.85K$ with sizable improvement over previous results.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

A Class of Iterative Solvers for the Helmholtz Equation: Factorizations, Sweeping Preconditioners, Source Transfer, Single Layer Potentials, Polarized Traces, and Optimized Schwarz Methods

Solving time-harmonic wave propagation problems by iterative methods is a difficult task, and over the last two decades, an important research effort has gone into developing preconditioners for the simplest representative of such wave propagation problems, the Helmholtz equation. A specific class of these new preconditioners are considered here. They were developed by researchers with various backgrounds using formulations and notations that are very different, and all are among the most promising preconditioners for the Helmholtz equation. The goal of the present manuscript is to show that this class of preconditioners are based on a common mathematical principle, and they can all be formulated in the context of domain decomposition methods called optimized Schwarz methods. This common formulation allows us to explain in detail how and why all these methods work. The domain decomposition formulation also allows us to avoid technicalities in the implementation description we give of these recent methods. The equivalence of these methods with optimized Schwarz methods translates at the discrete level into equivalence with approximate block LU decomposition preconditioners, and we give in each case the algebraic version, including a detailed description of the approximations used. While we chose to use the Helmholtz equation for which these methods were developed, our notation is completely general and the algorithms we give are written for an arbitrary second order elliptic operator. The algebraic versions are even more general, assuming only a connectivity pattern in the discretization matrix.

math.NA↗

arXiv2018

The Profiles of Fe Kα Line From the Inhomogeneous Accretion Flow

The clumpy disc, or inhomogeneous accretion flow, has been proposed to explain the properties of accreting black hole systems. However, the observational evidences remain to be explored. In this work, we calculate the profiles of Fe Kα lines emitted from the inhomogeneous accretion flow through the ray-tracing technique, in order to find possible observable signals of the clumps. Compared with the skewed doublepeaked profile of the continuous standard accretion disc, the lines show a multi-peak structure when the emissivity index is not very steep. The peaks and wings are affected by the position and size of the cold clumps. When the clump is small and is located in the innermost region, due to the significant gravitational redshift, the blue wing can overlap with the red wing of the outer cold disc/clump, forming a fake peak or greatly enhancing the red peak. Given high enough resolution, it is easier to constrain the clumps around the supermassive black holes than the clumps in stellar mass black holes due to the thermal Doppler effect.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2017

Structure Re-determination and Superconductivity Observation of Bulk 1T MoS2

2H MoS2 has been intensively studied because of layer-dependent electronic structures and novel physical properties. Though the metastable 1T MoS2 with the [MoS6] octahedron was observed from the microscopic area, the true crystal structure of 1T phase has not been determined strictly. Moreover, the true physical properties have not been demonstrated from experiments due to the challenge for the preparation of pure 1T MoS2 crystals. Here, we successfully synthesized the 1T MoS2 single crystals and re-determined the crystal structure of 1T MoS2 from single-crystal X-ray diffraction. 1T MoS2 crystalizes in space group P-3m1 with a cell of a = b = 3.190(3) Å and c = 5.945(6) Å. The individual MoS2 layer consists of MoS6 octahedron sharing edge with each other. More surprisingly, the bulk 1T MoS2 crystals undergo a superconducting transition of Tc = 4 K, which is the first observation of superconductivity in pure 1T MoS2 phase.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Functional renormalization group study of the Quark-Meson model with $ω$ meson

We study the phase diagram of two-flavor massless QCD at finite baryon density by applying the functional renormalization group (FRG) for a quark-meson model with $σ, π$, and $ω$ mesons. The dynamical fluctuations of quarks, $σ$, and $π$ are included into the flow equations, while the amplitudes of $ω$-fields are also allowed to fluctuate. At high temperature the effects of the $ω$-field on the phase boundary are qualitatively similar to the mean-field calculations; the phase boundary is shifted to the higher chemical potential region. As the temperature is lowered, however, the transition line bends back to the lower chemical potential region, irrespective to the strength of the vector coupling. In our FRG calculations, the driving force of the low temperature first order line is the fluctuations rather the quark density, and the effects of $ω$-fields have little impact. At low temperature, the effective potential at small $σ$ field is very sensitive to the infrared cutoff scale, and this significantly affects our determination of the phase boundaries. The critical chemical potential at the tricritical point is affected by the $ω$-field effects but its critical temperature stays around the similar value. Some caveats are given in interpreting our model results.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Inertial Proximal Incremental Aggregated Gradient Method

In this paper, we introduce an inertial version of the Proximal Incremental Aggregated Gradient method (PIAG) for minimizing the sum of smooth convex component functions and a possibly nonsmooth convex regularization function. Theoretically, we show that the inertial Proximal Incremental Aggregated Gradiend (iPIAG) method enjoys a global linear convergence under a quadratic growth condition, which is strictly weaker than strong convexity, provided that the stepsize is not larger than a constant. Moreover, we present two numerical expreiments which demonstrate that iPIAG outperforms the original PIAG.

math.OC↗

arXiv2017

Transiting Exoplanet Monitoring Project (TEMP). III. On the Relocation of the Kepler-9~b Transit

The Kepler-9 system harbors three known transiting planets. The system holds significant interest for several reasons. First, the outer two planets exhibit a period ratio that is close to a 2:1 orbital commensurability, with attendant dynamical consequences. Second, both planets lie in the planetary mass "desert" that is generally associated with the rapid gas agglomeration phase of the core accretion process. Third, there exist attractive prospects for accurately measuring both the sky-projected stellar spin-orbit angles as well as the mutual orbital inclination between the planets in the system. Following the original \textit{Kepler} detection announcement in 2010, the initially reported orbital ephemerides for Kepler-9~b and c have degraded significantly, due to the limited time base-line of observations on which the discovery of the system rested. Here, we report new ground-based photometric observations and extensive dynamical modeling of the system. These efforts allow us to photometrically recover the transit of Kepler-9~b, and thereby greatly improve the predictions for upcoming transit mid-times. Accurate ephemerides of this system are important in order to confidently schedule follow-up observations of this system, for both in-transit Doppler measurements as well as for atmospheric transmission spectra taken during transit.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2017

In situ annealing effects on the iron-based ladder material BaFe_2S_3: A route to improve the crystal quality

We have grown single crystals of the iron-based ladder material BaFe_2S_3, which is superconductive under high pressure, adopting different conditions. By comparing the behaviors of these samples, it is found that the in situ annealing process can affect the crystal structure and the electrical transport, enhance the antiferromagnetic transition temperature, and reduce the extrinsic ferromagnetic component of the system. An in-depth analysis indicates that the crystal quality is improved by the in situ annealing in terms of reducing both the Fe deficiency and the Fe impurity in the samples. The improvement of the sample quality will facilitate the investigations on the intrinsic properties of this material.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Chiral phase transition in linear sigma model with non-extensive statistical mechanics

From the non-extensive statistical mechanics, we investigate the chiral phase transition at finite temperature $T$ and baryon chemical potential $μ_B$ in the framework of the linear sigma model. The corresponding non-extensive distribution, based on Tsallis' statistics, is characterized by a dimensionless non-extensive parameter, $q$, and the results in the usual Boltzmann-Gibbs case are recovered when $q\to 1$. The thermodynamics of the linear sigma model and its correspodning phase diagram are analysed. At high temperature region, the critical temperature $T_c$ is shown to decrease with increasing $q$ from the phase diagram in the $(T,~μ)$ plane. However, larger values of $q$ causes the rise of $T_c$ at low temperature but high chemical potential. Moreover, it is found that $μ$ different from zero corresponds to a first-order phase transition while $μ=0$ to a crossover one. The critical endpoint (CEP) carries higher chemical potential but lower temperature with $q$ increasing due to the non-extensive effects.

nucl-th↗