arXiv subjects

K. Young

Publications and source records attributed to K. Young.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Antenna Arrays for CRES-based Neutrino Mass Measurement

CRES is a technique for precision measurements of kinetic energies of charged particles, pioneered by the Project 8 experiment to measure the neutrino mass using the tritium endpoint method. It was recently employed for the first time to measure the molecular tritium spectrum and place a limit on the neutrino mass using a cm$^3$-scale detector. Future direct neutrino mass experiments are developing the technique to overcome the systematic and statistical limitations of current detectors. This paper describes one such approach, namely the use of antenna arrays for CRES in free space. Phenomenology, detector design, simulation, and performance estimates are discussed, culminating with an example design with a projected sensitivity of $m_{\beta} < 0.04 \ \mathrm{eV}/c^2$. Prototype antenna array measurements are also shown for a demonstrator-scale setup as a benchmark for the simulation. By consolidating these results, this paper serves as a comprehensive reference for the development and performance of antenna arrays for CRES.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Broadband, millimeter-wave anti-reflective structures on sapphire ablated with femto-second laser

We designed, fabricated, and measured anti-reflection coating (ARC) on sapphire that has 116% fractional bandwidth and transmission of at least 97% in the millimeter wave band. The ARC was based on patterning pyramid-like sub-wavelength structures (SWS) using ablation with a 15 W femto-second laser operating at 1030 nm. One side of each of two discs was fabricated with SWS that had a pitch of 0.54 mm and height of 2 mm. The average ablation volume removal rate was 1.6 mm$^{3}$/min. Measurements of the two-disc sandwich show transmission higher than 97% between 43 and 161 GHz. We characterize instrumental polarization (IP) arising from differential transmission due to asymmetric SWS. We find that with proper alignment of the two disc sandwich RMS IP across the band is predicted to be 0.07% at normal incidence, and less than 0.6% at incidence angles up to 20 degrees. These results indicate that laser ablation of SWS on sapphire and on other hard materials such as alumina is an effective way to fabricate broad-band ARC.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

PICO: Probe of Inflation and Cosmic Origins

The Probe of Inflation and Cosmic Origins (PICO) is a proposed probe-scale space mission consisting of an imaging polarimeter operating in frequency bands between 20 and 800 GHz. We describe the science achievable by PICO, which has sensitivity equivalent to more than 3300 Planck missions, the technical implementation, the schedule and cost.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Exploring Cosmic Origins with CORE: The Instrument

We describe a space-borne, multi-band, multi-beam polarimeter aiming at a precise and accurate measurement of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The instrument is optimized to be compatible with the strict budget requirements of a medium-size space mission within the Cosmic Vision Programme of the European Space Agency. The instrument has no moving parts, and uses arrays of diffraction-limited Kinetic Inductance Detectors to cover the frequency range from 60 GHz to 600 GHz in 19 wide bands, in the focal plane of a 1.2 m aperture telescope cooled at 40 K, allowing for an accurate extraction of the CMB signal from polarized foreground emission. The projected CMB polarization survey sensitivity of this instrument, after foregrounds removal, is 1.7 {\mu}K$\cdot$arcmin. The design is robust enough to allow, if needed, a downscoped version of the instrument covering the 100 GHz to 600 GHz range with a 0.8 m aperture telescope cooled at 85 K, with a projected CMB polarization survey sensitivity of 3.2 {\mu}K$\cdot$arcmin.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

First 230 GHz VLBI Fringes on 3C 279 using the APEX Telescope

We report about a 230 GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) fringe finder observation of blazar 3C 279 with the APEX telescope in Chile, the phased submillimeter array (SMA), and the SMT of the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO). We installed VLBI equipment and measured the APEX station position to 1 cm accuracy (1 sigma). We then observed 3C 279 on 2012 May 7 in a 5 hour 230 GHz VLBI track with baseline lengths of 2800 M$λ$ to 7200 M$λ$ and a finest fringe spacing of 28.6 micro-arcseconds. Fringes were detected on all baselines with SNRs of 12 to 55 in 420 s. The correlated flux density on the longest baseline was ~0.3 Jy/beam, out of a total flux density of 19.8 Jy. Visibility data suggest an emission region <38 uas in size, and at least two components, possibly polarized. We find a lower limit of the brightness temperature of the inner jet region of about 10^10 K. Lastly, we find an upper limit of 20% on the linear polarization fraction at a fringe spacing of ~38 uas. With APEX the angular resolution of 230 GHz VLBI improves to 28.6 uas. This allows one to resolve the last-photon ring around the Galactic Center black hole event horizon, expected to be 40 uas in diameter, and probe radio jet launching at unprecedented resolution, down to a few gravitational radii in galaxies like M 87. To probe the structure in the inner parsecs of 3C 279 in detail, follow-up observations with APEX and five other mm-VLBI stations have been conducted (March 2013) and are being analyzed.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Zooming towards the Event Horizon - mm-VLBI today and tomorrow

Global VLBI imaging at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength overcomes the opacity barrier of synchrotron self-absorption in AGN and opens the direct view into sub-pc scale regions not accessible before. Since AGN variability is more pronounced at short millimeter wavelength, mm-VLBI can reveal structural changes in very early stages after outbursts. When combined with observations at longer wavelength, global 3mm and 1mm VLBI adds very detailed information. This helps to determine fundamental physical properties at the jet base, and in the vicinity of super-massive black holes at the center of AGN. Here we present new results from multi-frequency mm-VLBI imaging of OJ287 during a major outburst. We also report on a successful 1.3mm VLBI experiment with the APEX telescope in Chile. This observation sets a new record in angular resolution. It also opens the path towards future mm-VLBI with ALMA, which aims at the mapping of the black hole event horizon in nearby galaxies, and the study of the roots of jets in AGN.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

The physical conditions in Gomez's Hamburger (IRAS 18059-3211), a pre-MS rotating disk

We aim to study the structure, dynamics and physical conditions of Gomez's Hamburger (IRAS 18059-3211; GoHam). We confirm that GoHam essentially consists of a flaring disk in keplerian rotation around a young, probably pre-MS star. We present high resolution SMA maps of 12CO J=2-1, 13CO J=2-1, 12CO J=3-2, and C17O J=3-2, as well as data on 12CO J=6-5 and the continuum flux at these wavelengths. Spatial resolutions up to 1" are obtained. Except for the C17O data, the dynamical ranges are larger than 10. The maps are compared to a numerical model, which simulates the emission of a rotating disk with the expected general properties of such objects; a very satisfactory fitting of our maps is obtained. The meaning and reliability of our results are thoroughly discussed. Our observations allow measurement of the main properties of GoHam at scales between ~ 1" (~ 5 10^15 cm, for the assumed distance, 300 pc) and the total extent of the nebula, 14". We are able to measure the global structure of the gas-rich disk, which is found to be flaring, and its dynamics, which is clearly dominated by keplerian rotation, with a very small degree of turbulence. The combination of different lines, particularly showing different opacities, allows us to reasonably estimate the distributions of the gas temperature and density. We clearly find a significant and sharp increase in temperature at large distances from the equator, accompanied by a decrease in density of the same order. Finally, we identify and study a condensation in the southern part of the disk that has no counterparts in the rest of the nebula. This condensation is quite extended (about 5 10^15 cm), contains a significant amount of mass (roughly, ~ 6 10^-3 Mo), and seems to be associated with a detectable distortion of the global rotation kinematics.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2008

Gomez's Hamburger (IRAS 18059-3211): A pre main-sequence A-type star

We study the nature of Gomez's Hamburger (IRAS 18059-3211), a nebula that has been proposed to be a post-AGB object. Such a classification is not confirmed; instead, we argue that it will be a key object in the study of disks rotating around young stars. We present high resolution SMA maps of CO J=2--1 in Gomez's Hamburger. The data are analyzed by means of a code that simulates the emission of a nebula showing a variety of physical conditions and kinematics. Our observations clearly show that the CO emitting gas in Gomez's Hamburger forms a spectacular disk in keplerian rotation. Model calculations undoubtly confirm this result. The central (mainly stellar) mass is found to be high, ~ 4 Mo for a distance of 500 pc. The mass and (relatively low) luminosity of the source are, independent of the assumed distance, very different from those possible in evolved stars. Gomez's Hamburger is probably a transitional object between the pre-MS and MS phases, still showing interstellar material around the central star or stellar system.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

The distribution of H13CN in the circumstellar envelope around IRC+10216

H13CN J=8-7 sub-millimetre line emission produced in the circumstellar envelope around the extreme carbon star IRC+10216 has been imaged at sub-arcsecond angular resolution using the SMA. Supplemented by a detailed excitation analysis the average fractional abundance of H13CN in the inner wind (< 5E15 cm) is estimated to be about 4E-7, translating into a total HCN fractional abundance of 2E-5 using the isotopic ratio 12C/13C=50. Multi-transitional single-dish observations further requires the H13CN fractional abundance to remain more or less constant in the envelope out to a radius of about 4E16 cm, where the HCN molecules are effectively destroyed, most probably, by photodissociation. The large amount of HCN present in the inner wind provides effective line cooling that can dominate over that generated from CO line emission. It is also shown that great care needs to be taken in the radiative transfer modelling where non-local, and non-LTE, effects are important and where the radiation field from thermal dust grains plays a major role in exciting the HCN molecules. The amount of HCN present in the circumstellar envelope around IRC+10216 is consistent with predicted photospheric values based on equilibrium chemical models and indicates that any non-equilibrium chemistry occurring in the extended pulsating atmosphere has no drastic net effect on the fractional abundance of HCN molecules that enters the outer envelope. It further suggests that few HCN molecules are incorporated into dust grains.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

A Massive Bipolar Outflow and a Dusty Torus with Large Grains in the Pre-Planetary Nebula IRAS 22036+5306

We report high angular-resolution (~1") CO J=3--2 interferometric mapping, using the Submillimeter Array (SMA), of IRAS22036+5306 (I22036), a bipolar pre-planetary nebula (PPN) with knotty jets discovered in our HST SNAPshot survey of young PPNs. In addition, we have obtained supporting lower-resolution (~10") CO and 13CO J=1-0 observations with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) interferometer, as well as optical long-slit echelle spectra at the Palomar Observatory. The CO J=3-2 observations show the presence of a very fast (~220 km/s), highly collimated, massive (0.03 Msun) bipolar outflow with a very large scalar momentum (about 10^{39} g cm s^{-1}), and the characteristic spatio-kinematic structure of bow-shocks at the tips of this outflow. The Halpha line shows an absorption feature blue-shifted from the systemic velocity by ~100 km/s, which most likely arises in neutral interface material between the fast outflow and the dense walls of the bipolar lobes at low latitudes. The fast outflow in I22036, as in most PPNs, cannot be driven by radiation pressure. We find an unresolved source of submillimeter (and millimeter-wave) continuum emission in I22036, implying a very substantial mass (0.02-0.04 Msun) of large (radius >~1 mm), cold (< ~50 K) dust grains associated with I22036's toroidal waist. We also find that the 13C/12C ratio in I22036 is very high (0.16), close to the maximum value achieved in equilibrium CNO-nucleosynthesis (0.33). The combination of the high circumstellar mass (i.e., in the extended dust shell and the torus) and the high 13C/12C ratio in I22036 provides strong support for this object having evolved from a massive (>~4 Msun) progenitor in which hot-bottom-burning has occurred.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2006

Eigenvector Expansion and Petermann Factor for Ohmically Damped Oscillators

Correlation functions $C(t) \sim <ϕ(t)ϕ(0)>$ in ohmically damped systems such as coupled harmonic oscillators or optical resonators can be expressed as a single sum over modes $j$ (which are not power-orthogonal), with each term multiplied by the Petermann factor (PF) $C_j$, leading to "excess noise" when $|C_j| > 1$. It is shown that $|C_j| > 1$ is common rather than exceptional, that $|C_j|$ can be large even for weak damping, and that the PF appears in other processes as well: for example, a time-independent perturbation $\sim\ep$ leads to a frequency shift $\sim \ep C_j$. The coalescence of $J$ ($>1$) eigenvectors gives rise to a critical point, which exhibits "giant excess noise" ($C_j \to \infty$). At critical points, the divergent parts of $J$ contributions to $C(t)$ cancel, while time-independent perturbations lead to non-analytic shifts $\sim \ep^{1/J}$.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2004

Hamiltonian and Linear-Space Structure for Damped Oscillators: I. General Theory

The phase space of $N$ damped linear oscillators is endowed with a bilinear map under which the evolution operator is symmetric. This analog of self-adjointness allows properties familiar from conservative systems to be recovered, e.g., eigenvectors are "orthogonal" under the bilinear map and obey sum rules, initial-value problems are readily solved and perturbation theory applies to the_complex_ eigenvalues. These concepts are conveniently represented in a biorthogonal basis.

math-ph↗

arXiv2004

Hamiltonian and Linear-Space Structure for Damped Oscillators: II. Critical Points

The eigenvector expansion developed in the preceding paper for a system of damped linear oscillators is extended to critical points, where eigenvectors merge and the time-evolution operator $H$ assumes a Jordan-block structure. The representation of the bilinear map is obtained in this basis. Perturbations $εΔH$ around an $M$-th order critical point generically lead to eigenvalue shifts $\simε^{1/M}$ dependent on only_one_ matrix element, with the $M$ eigenvalues splitting in equiangular directions in the complex plane. Small denominators near criticality are shown to cancel.

math-ph↗

arXiv2003

Linearized Perturbations of a Black Hole: Continuum Spectrum

Linearized perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole are described, for each angular momentum $\ell$, by the well-studied discrete quasinormal modes (QNMs), and in addition a continuum. The latter is characterized by a cut strength $q(γ>0)$ for frequencies $ω= -iγ$. We show that: (a) $q(γ\downarrow0) \propto γ$, (b) $q(Γ) = 0$ at $Γ= (\ell+2)!/[6(\ell-2)!]$, and (c) $q(γ)$ oscillates with period $\sim 1$ ($2M\equiv1$). For $\ell=2$, a pair of QNMs are found beyond the cut on the unphysical sheet very close to $Γ$, leading to a large dipole in the Green's function_near_ $Γ$. For a source near the horizon and a distant observer, the continuum contribution relative to that of the QNMs is small.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2003

Unconventional Gravitational Excitation of a Schwarzschild Black Hole

Besides the well-known quasinormal modes, the gravitational spectrum of a Schwarzschild black hole also has a continuum part on the negative imaginary frequency axis. The latter is studied numerically for quadrupole waves. The results show unexpected striking behavior near the algebraically special frequency $Ω=-4i$. This reveals a pair of unconventional damped modes very near $Ω$, confirmed analytically.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2002

Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Balloon Flight Data Handling Overview

The GLAST Balloon Flight Engineering Model (BFEM) represents one of 16 towers that constitute the Large Area Telescope (LAT), a high-energy (>20 MeV) gamma-ray pair-production telescope being built by an international partnership of astrophysicists and particle physicists for a satellite launch in 2006. The prototype tower consists of a Pb/Si pair-conversion tracker (TKR), a CsI hodoscopic calorimeter (CAL), an anti-coincidence detector (ACD) and an autonomous data acquisition system (DAQ). The self-triggering capabilities and performance of the detector elements have been previously characterized using positron, photon and hadron beams. External target scintillators were placed above the instrument to act as sources of hadronic showers. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the BFEM data-reduction process, from receipt of the flight data from telemetry through event reconstruction and background rejection cuts. The goals of the ground analysis presented here are to verify the functioning of the instrument and to validate the reconstruction software and the background-rejection scheme.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

SUSY Transformations for Quasinormal Modes of Open Systems

Supersymmetry (SUSY) in quantum mechanics is extended from square-integrable states to those satisfying the outgoing-wave boundary condition, in a Klein-Gordon formulation. This boundary condition allows both the usual normal modes and quasinormal modes with complex eigenvalues. The simple generalization leads to three features: the counting of eigenstates under SUSY becomes more systematic; the linear-space structure of outgoing waves (nontrivially different from the usual Hilbert space of square-integrable states) is preserved by SUSY; and multiple states at the same frequency (not allowed for normal modes) are also preserved. The existence or otherwise of SUSY partners is furthermore relevant to the question of inversion: are open systems uniquely determined by their complex outgoing-wave spectra?

math-ph↗

arXiv1999

Atomic Carbon in the Envelopes of Carbon-Rich Post-AGB Stars

Atomic carbon has been detected in the envelopes of three carbon-rich evolved stars: HD 44179 (=AFGL 915, the `Red Rectangle'); HD 56126; and, tentatively, the carbon star V Hya. This brings to seven the number of evolved star envelopes in which CI has been detected. Upper limits were found for several other stars, including R CrB. CI was not detected in several oxygen rich post asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars (OH231.8+4.2, for example), although it is detected in their carbon-rich analogues. Two trends are evident in the data. First, circumstellar envelopes with detectable CI are overwhelmingly carbon rich, suggesting that much of the CI is produced by the dissociation of molecules other than CO. Second, the more evolved the envelope away from the AGB, the higher is the CI/CO ratio. The oxygen-rich supergiant star Alpha Ori remains the only oxygen rich star with a wind containing detectable CI. These data suggest an evolutionary sequence for the CI/CO ratio in cool circumstellar envelopes. This ratio is small (a few %) while the star is on the AGB, and the CI is located in the outer envelope and produced by photodissociation. The ratio increases to about 0.5 as the star evolves away from the AGB because of the dissociation of CO and other carbon-bearing molecules by shocks caused by the fast winds which appear at the end of evolution on the AGB. Finally, the ratio becomes >> 1 as the central star becomes hot enough to photodissociate CO.

astro-ph↗