arXiv subjects

Shaobo Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Shaobo Zhang.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

In search for infalling clumps in molecular clouds -- A catalogue of CO blue-profiles

We have started a systematic survey of molecular clumps with infall motions to study the very early phase of star formation. Our first step is to utilize the data products by MWISP to make an unbiased survey for blue asymmetric line profiles of CO isotopical molecules. Within a total area of $\sim$ 2400 square degrees nearby the Galactic plane, we have found 3533 candidates showing blue-profiles, in which 3329 are selected from the $^{12}$CO&$^{13}$CO pair and 204 are from the $^{13}$CO&C$^{18}$O pair. Exploration of the parametric spaces suggests our samples are in the cold phase with relatively high column densities ready for star formation. Analysis of the spatial distribution of our samples suggests that they exist virtually in all major components of the Galaxy. The vertical distribution suggest that the sources are located mainly in the thick disk of $\sim$ 85 parsec, but still a small part are located far beyond Galactic midplane. Our follow-up observation indicates that these candidates are a good sample to start a search for infall motions, and to study the condition of very early phase of star formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Search for spin-dependent gravitational interactions at the Earth range

Among the four fundamental forces, only gravity does not couple to particle spins according to the general theory of relativity. We test this principle by searching for an anomalous scalar coupling between the neutron spin and the Earth gravity on the ground. We develop an atomic gas comagnetometer to measure the ratio of nuclear spin-precession frequencies between $^{129}$Xe and $^{131}$Xe, and search for a change of this ratio to the precision of 10$^{-9}$ as the sensor is flipped in the Earth gravitational field. The null results of this search set an upper limit on the coupling energy between the neutron spin and the gravity on the ground at 5.3$\times$10$^{-22}$~eV (95\% confidence level), resulting in a 17-fold improvement over the previous limit. The results can also be used to constrain several other anomalous interactions. In particular, the limit on the coupling strength of axion-mediated monopole-dipole interactions at the range of the Earth radius is improved by a factor of 17.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Magneto hydrodynamic simulations of the supernova remnant G1.9+0.3

The youngest Galactic supernova remnant G1.9+0.3 shows a discrete feature between its radio and X-ray morphologies. The observed radio morphology features a single maximum in the north, while the X-ray observation shows two opposite 'ears' on the east and west sides. Using 3D magneto hydrodynamical simulations, we investigate the formation of the discrete feature of the remnant. We have tested different parameters for better simulation and reproduced similar discrete features under an environment with density gradient and an environment with clump, which provides a possible explanation of the observation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

On the Spatial Distribution of $^{13}$CO Structures within $^{12}$CO Molecular Clouds

We look into the 2851 $^{12}$CO molecular clouds harboring $^{13}$CO structures to reveal the distribution of the projected angular separations and radial velocity separations between their internal $^{13}$CO structures. The projected angular separations are determined using the minimal spanning tree algorithm. We find that $\sim$ 50$\%$ of the angular separations fall in a narrow range of $\sim$ 3 - 7 arcmin with a median of $\sim$ 5 arcmin, and the corresponding radial velocity separations mainly range from $\sim$ 0.3 km s$^{-1}$ to 2.5 km s$^{-1}$. The mean and standard deviation of the angular separations of the internal $^{13}$CO structures within $^{12}$CO clouds appear to be universal, independent of the $^{12}$CO cloud angular areas and the counts of their internal $^{13}$CO structures. We also reveal a scaling relation between the $^{12}$CO cloud angular area and its harbored $^{13}$CO structure count. These results suggest there is a preferred angular separation between $^{13}$CO structures in these $^{12}$CO clouds, considering the distance effects. According to that, we propose an alternative picture for the assembly and destruction of molecular clouds: there is a fundamental separation for the internal structures of molecular clouds, the build-up and destruction of molecular clouds proceeds under this fundamental unit.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

The Cassiopeia Filament: A Blown Spur of the Local Arm

We present wide-field and high-sensitivity CO(1-0) molecular line observations toward the Cassiopeia region, using the 13.7m millimeter telescope of the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO). The CO observations reveal a large-scale highly filamentary molecular cloud within the Galactic region of 132\fdg0\,$\geq$\,$l$\,$\geq$\,122\fdg0 and -1\fdg0\,$\leq$\,$b$\,$\leq$\,3\fdg0 and the velocity range from approximately +1 to +4 km/s. The measured length of the large-scale filament, referred to as the Cassiopeia Filament, is about 390 pc. The observed properties of the Cassiopeia Filament, such as length, column density, and velocity gradient, are consistent with those synthetic large-scale filaments in the inter-arm regions. Based on its observed properties and location on the Galactic plane, we suggest that the Cassiopeia Filament is a spur of the Local arm, which is formed due to the galactic shear. The western end of the Cassiopeia Filament shows a giant arc-like molecular gas shell, which is extending in the velocity range from roughly -1 to +7 km/s. Finger-like structures, with systematic velocity gradients, are detected in the shell. The CO kinematics suggest that the large shell is expanding at a velocity of ~6.5 km/s. Both the shell and finger-like structures outline a giant bubble with a radius of ~16 pc, which is likely produced by stellar wind from the progenitor star of a supernova remnant. The observed spectral linewidths suggest that the whole Cassiopeia Filament was quiescent initially until its west part was blown by stellar wind and became supersonically turbulent.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

On optimal zero-padding of kernel truncation method

The kernel truncation method (KTM) is a commonly-used algorithm to compute the convolution-type nonlocal potential $Φ(x)=(U\ast ρ)(x), ~x \in {\mathbb R^d}$, where the convolution kernel $U(x)$ might be singular at the origin and/or far-field and the density $ρ(x)$ is smooth and fast-decaying. In KTM, in order to capture the Fourier integrand's oscillations that is brought by the kernel truncation, one needs to carry out a zero-padding of the density, which means a larger physical computation domain and a finer mesh in the Fourier space by duality. The empirical fourfold zero-padding [ Vico et al J. Comput. Phys. (2016) ] puts a heavy burden on memory requirement especially for higher dimension problems. In this paper, we derive the optimal zero-padding factor, that is, $\sqrt{d}+1$, for the first time together with a rigorous proof. The memory cost is greatly reduced to a small fraction, i.e., $(\frac{\sqrt{d}+1}{4})^d$, of what is needed in the original fourfold algorithm. For example, in the precomputation step, a double-precision computation on a $256^3$ grid requires a minimum $3.4$ Gb memory with the optimal threefold zero-padding, while the fourfold algorithm requires around $8$ Gb where the reduction factor is $\frac{37}{64}\approx \frac{3}{5}$. Then, we present the error estimates of the potential and density in $d$ dimension. Next, we re-investigate the optimal zero-padding factor for the anisotropic density. Finally, extensive numerical results are provided to confirm the accuracy, efficiency, optimal zero-padding factor for the anisotropic density, together with some applications to different types of nonlocal potential, including the 1D/2D/3D Poisson, 2D Coulomb, quasi-2D/3D Dipole-Dipole Interaction and 3D quadrupolar potential.

math.NA↗

arXiv2022

CO(J = 1-0) Observations toward the Filamentary Cloud in the Galactic Region of $153.60^{\circ} \leqslant l \leqslant 156.50^{\circ}$ and $1.85^{\circ} \leqslant b \leqslant 3.50^{\circ}$

We present observations of $J$=1-0 transition lines of ${ }^{12} \mathrm{CO}$, ${ }^{13} \mathrm{CO}$, and $\mathrm{C}^{18} \mathrm{O}$ towards the Galactic region of $153.60^{\circ} \leqslant l \leqslant 156.50^{\circ}$ and $1.85^{\circ} \leqslant b \leqslant 3.50^{\circ}$, using the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7 m millimeter telescope. Based on the \tht data, one main filament and five sub-filaments are found together as a network structure in the velocity interval of $[-42.5, -30.0] \,\mathrm{km} \mathrm{\,s}^{-1}$. The kinematic distance of this molecular cloud (MC) is estimated to be $\sim4.5 \mathrm{\,kpc}$. The median length, width, excitation temperature, line mass of these filaments are $\sim49 \mathrm{\,pc}$, $\sim2.9 \mathrm{\,pc}$, $\sim8.9 \mathrm{\,K}$, and $\sim39 \,M_{\odot} \mathrm{pc}^{-1}$, respectively. The velocity structures along these filaments exhibit oscillatory patterns, which are likely caused by the fragmentation or accretion process along these filaments. The maximum accretion rate is estimated to be as high as $\sim700 \,M_{\odot} \mathrm{pc}^{-1}$. A total of $\sim162$ \tht clumps and $\sim 103$ young stellar objects (YSOs) are identified in this region. Most of the clumps are in gravitationally bound states. Three \hii regions (G154.359+2.606, SH2-211, SH2-212) are found to be located in the apexes of the filaments. Intense star forming activities are found along the entire filamentary cloud. The observed results may help us to better understand the link between filaments and massive star formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Molecular Gas Structures traced by $^{13}$CO Emission in the 18,190 $^{12}$CO Molecular Clouds from the MWISP Survey

After the morphological classification of the 18,190 $^{12}$CO molecular clouds, we further investigate the properties of their internal molecular gas structures traced by the $^{13}$CO($J=$ 1$-$0) line emissions. Using three different methods to extract the $^{13}$CO gas structures within each $^{12}$CO cloud, we find that $\sim$ 15$\%$ of $^{12}$CO clouds (2851) have $^{13}$CO gas structures and these $^{12}$CO clouds contribute about 93$\%$ of the total integrated flux of $^{12}$CO emission. In each of 2851 $^{12}$CO clouds with $^{13}$CO gas structures, the $^{13}$CO emission area generally does not exceed 70$\%$ of the $^{12}$CO emission area, and the $^{13}$CO integrated flux does not exceed 20$\%$ of the $^{12}$CO integrated flux. We reveal a strong correlation between the velocity-integrated intensities of $^{12}$CO lines and those of $^{13}$CO lines in both $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO emission regions. This indicates the H$_{2}$ column densities of molecular clouds are crucial for the $^{13}$CO lines emission. After linking the $^{13}$CO structure detection rates of the 18,190 $^{12}$CO molecular clouds to their morphologies, i.e. nonfilaments and filaments, we find that the $^{13}$CO gas structures are primarily detected in the $^{12}$CO clouds with filamentary morphologies. Moreover, these filaments tend to harbor more than one $^{13}$CO structure. That demonstrates filaments not only have larger spatial scales, but also have more molecular gas structures traced by $^{13}$CO lines, i.e. the local gas density enhancements. Our results favor the turbulent compression scenario for filament formation, in which dynamical compression of turbulent flows induces the local density enhancements. The nonfilaments tend to be in the low-pressure and quiescent turbulent environments of the diffuse interstellar medium.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Comparative analysis of error mitigation techniques for variational quantum eigensolver implementations on IBM quantum system

Quantum computers are anticipated to transcend classical supercomputers for computationally intensive tasks by exploiting the principles of quantum mechanics. However, the capabilities of the current generation of quantum devices are limited due to noise or errors, and therefore implementation of error mitigation and/or correction techniques is pivotal to reliably process quantum algorithms. In this work, we have performed a comparative analysis of the error mitigation capability of the [[4,2,2]] quantum error-detecting code (QEC method), duplicate circuit technique, and the Bayesian read-out error mitigation (BREM) approach in the context of proof-of-concept implementations of variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm for determining the ground state energy of H$_2$ molecule. Based on experiments on IBM quantum device, our results show that the duplicate circuit approach performs superior to the QEC method in the presence of the hardware noise. A significant impact of cross-talk noise was observed when multiple mappings of the duplicate circuit and the QEC method were implemented simultaneously $-$ again the duplicate circuit approach overall performed better than the QEC method. To gain further insights into the performance of the studied error mitigation techniques, we also performed quantum simulations on IBM system with varying strengths of depolarising circuit noise and read-out errors which further supported the main finding of our work that the duplicate circuit offer superior performance towards mitigating of errors when compared to the QEC method. Our work reports a first assessment of the duplicate circuit approach for a quantum algorithm implementation and the documented evidence will pave the way for future scalable implementations of the duplicated circuit techniques for the error-mitigated practical applications of near-term quantum computers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Dependence of Molecular Cloud Samples on Angular Resolution, Sensitivity, and Algorithms

In this work, we investigate the observational and algorithmic effects on molecular cloud samples identified from position-position-velocity (PPV) space. By smoothing and cutting off the high quality data of the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting (MWISP) survey, we extract various molecular cloud samples from those altered data with the DBSCAN (density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise) algorithm. Those molecular cloud samples are subsequently used to gauge the significance of sensitivity, angular/velocity resolution, and DBSCAN parameters. Two additional surveys, the FCRAO Outer Galaxy Survey (OGS) and the CfA-Chile 1.2 m complete CO (CfA-Chile) survey, are used to verify the MWISP results. We found that molecular cloud catalogs are not unique and the boundary and therefore the number shows strong variation with angular resolution and sensitivity. At low angular resolution (large beam sizes), molecular clouds merge together in PPV space, while low sensitivity (high cutoffs) misses small faint molecular clouds and takes bright parts of large molecular clouds as single ones. At high angular resolution and sensitivity, giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are resolved into individual clouds, and their diffuse components are also revealed. Consequently, GMCs are more appropriately interpreted as clusters or aggregates of molecular clouds, i.e., GMCs represent molecular cloud samples themselves.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Gas Column Density Distribution of Molecular Clouds in the Third Quadrant of the Milky Way

We have obtained column density maps for an unbiased sample of 120 molecular clouds in the third quadrant of the Milky Way mid-plane (b$\le |5|^{\circ}$) within the galactic longitude range from 195$^{\circ}$ to 225$^{\circ}$, using the high sensitivity $^{12}$CO and $^{13}$CO ($J=1-0$) data from the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting (MWISP) project. The probability density functions of the molecular hydrogen column density of the clouds, N-PDFs, are fitted with both log-normal (LN) function and log-normal plus power-law (LN+PL) function. The molecular clouds are classified into three categories according to their shapes of N-PDFs, i.e., LN, LN+PL, and UN (unclear), respectively. About 72\% of the molecular clouds fall into the LN category, while 18\% and 10\% into the LN+PL and UN categories, respectively. A power-law scaling relation, $σ_s\propto N_{H_2}^{0.44}$, exists between the width of the N-PDF, $σ_s$, and the average column density, $N_{H_2}$, of the molecular clouds. However, $σ_s$ shows no correlation with the mass of the clouds. A correlation is found between the dispersion of normalized column density, $σ_{N/\rm }$, and the sonic Mach number, $\mathcal{M}$, of molecular clouds. Overall, as predicted by numerical simulations, the N-PDFs of the molecular clouds with active star formation activity tend to have N-PDFs with power-law high-density tails.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Search for monopole-dipole interactions at the sub-millimeter range with a $^{129}$Xe-$^{131}$Xe-Rb comagnetometer

Monopole-dipole interactions involving scalar couplings between a spin and a massive particle violate both P- and T-symmetry, and can be mediated by axions. We use a $^{129}$Xe-$^{131}$Xe-Rb atomic cell comagnetometer to measure the ratio of precession frequencies between the two xenon isotopes, and search for changes of the ratio correlated with the distance between the atomic cell and a non-magnetic bismuth germanate (BGO) crystal. A modulated Rb polarization scheme is used to suppress systematic effects by two orders of magnitude. The null results of this search improve the upper limit on the coupling strength $g_{s}^Ng_{p}^{n}$ over the interaction range 0.11 - 0.55 mm, and by a maximum improvement factor of 30 at 0.24 mm. The corresponding propagator mass range of this new excluded region covers 0.36 - 1.80 meV.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

CO Emission Delineating the Interface between the Milky Way Nuclear Wind Cavity and the Gaseous Disk

Based on the MWISP survey, we study high-z CO emission toward the tangent points, in which the distances of the molecular clouds (MCs) are well determined. In the region of l=12-26 deg and |b|<5.1 deg, a total of 321 MCs with |z|> 110 pc are identified, of which nearly 30 extreme high-z MCs (EHMCs at |z|> 260 pc) are concentrated in a narrow region of R_GC=2.6-3.1 kpc. The EHMC concentrations, together with other high-z MCs at R_GC=2.3-2.6 kpc, constitute molecular crater-wall structures surrounding the edges of the HI voids that are physically associated with the Fermi bubbles. Intriguingly, some large high-z MCs, which lie in the crater walls above and below the Galactic plane, show cometary structures with the head toward the plane, favouring the scenario that the entrained molecular gas moves with the multi-phase flows from the plane to the high-z regions. We suggest that the Milky Way nuclear wind has a significant impact on the Galactic gaseous disk. The powerful nuclear wind at ~3-6 Myr ago is likely responsible for the observational features, (1) the enhanced CO gas lying in the edges of the HI voids, (2) the deficiency of atomic and molecular gas within R_GC<3 kpc, (3) the possible connection between the EHMC concentrations and the 3-kpc arm, and (4) the elongated high-z MCs with the tail pointing away from the Galactic plane.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Preliminary analysis on the noise characteristics of MWISP data

Noise is a significant part within a millimeter-wave molecular line datacube. Analyzing the noise improves our understanding of noise characteristics, and further contributes to scientific discoveries. We measure the noise level of a single datacube from MWISP and perform statistical analyses. We identified major factors which increase the noise level of a single datacube, including bad channels, edge effects, baseline distortion and line contamination. Cleaning algorithms are applied to remove or reduce these noise components. As a result, we obtained the cleaned datacube in which noise follows a positively skewed normal distribution. We further analyzed the noise structure distribution of a 3D mosaicked datacube in the range l = 40°.7 to 43°.3 and b = -2°.3 to 0°.3 and found that noise in the final mosaicked datacube is mainly characterized by noise fluctuation among the cells.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

Feedback from $γ$~Cassiopeiae: Large Expanding Cavity, Accelerating Cometary Globules, and Peculiar X-ray Emission

We present wide-field multi-wavelength observations of $γ$ Cassiopeiae (or $γ$~Cas for short) in order to study its feedback toward the interstellar environment. A large expanding cavity is discovered toward $γ$~Cas in the neutral hydrogen (HI) images at a systemic velocity of about -10 km/s. The measured dimension of the cavity is roughly 2.0 deg $\times$ 1.4 deg (or 6.0 pc $\times$ 4.2 pc at a distance of 168 pc), while the expansion velocity is about 5.0$\pm$0.5 km/s. The CO observations reveal systematic velocity gradients in IC63 (about 20 km/s/pc) and IC59 (about 30 km/s/pc), two cometary globules illuminated by $γ$~Cas, proving fast acceleration of the globules under stellar radiation pressure. The gas kinematics indicate that the cavity is opened by strong stellar wind, which has high potential to lead to the peculiar X-ray emission observed in $γ$~Cas. Our result favors a recent new scenario that emphasizes the roles of stellar wind and binarity in the X-ray emission of the $γ$~Cas stars.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

A Morphological Classification of 18190 Molecular Clouds Identified in $^{12}$CO Data from the MWISP Survey

We attempt to visually classify the morphologies of 18190 molecular clouds, which are identified in the $^{12}$CO(1-0) spectral line data over $\sim$ 450 deg$^{2}$ of the second Galactic quadrant from the Milky Way Imaging Scroll Painting project (MWISP). Using the velocity-integrated intensity maps of the $^{12}$CO(1-0) emission, molecular clouds are first divided into unresolved and resolved ones. The resolved clouds are further classified as non-filaments or filaments. Among the 18190 molecular clouds, $\sim$ 25 $\%$ are unresolved, $\sim$ 64$\%$ are non-filaments, and $\sim$ 11$\%$ are filaments. In the terms of the integrated flux of $^{12}$CO(1-0) spectra of the whole 18190 molecular clouds, $\sim$ 90$\%$ are from filaments, $\sim$ 9$\%$ are from non-filaments, and the rest $\sim$ 1$\%$ are from unresolved sources. Although non-filaments are dominant in the number of the discrete molecular clouds, filaments are the main contributor of $^{12}$CO emission flux. We also present the number distributions of physical parameters of the molecular clouds in our catalog, including their angular sizes, velocity spans, peak intensities of $^{12}$CO(1-0) emission, and $^{12}$CO(1-0) total fluxes. We find that there is a systematic difference between the angular sizes of the non-filaments and filaments, with the filaments tending to have larger angular scales. The H$_{2}$ column densities of them are not significantly different. We also discuss the observational effects, such as those induced by the finite spatial resolution, beam dilution and line-of-sight projection, on the morphological classification of molecular clouds in our sample.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

A wide-field CO survey towards the California Molecular Filament

We present the survey of $^{12}$CO/$^{13}$CO/C$^{18}$O (J=1-0) toward the California Molecular Cloud (CMC) within the region of 161.75$^{\circ} \leqslant l \leqslant$ 167.75$^{\circ}$,-9.5$^{\circ} \leqslant b \leqslant $-7.5$^{\circ}$, using the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7 m millimeter telescope. Adopting a distance of 470 pc, the mass of the observed molecular cloud estimated from $^{12}$CO, $^{13}$CO, and C$^{18}$O is about 2.59$\times$10$^{4}$ M$_\odot$, 0.85$\times$10$^{4}$ M$_\odot$, and 0.09$\times$10$^{4}$ M$_\odot$, respectively. A large-scale continuous filament extending about 72 pc is revealed from the $^{13}$CO images. A systematic velocity gradient perpendicular to the major axis appears and is measured to be $\sim$ 0.82 km s$^{-1}$ pc$^{-1}$. The kinematics along the filament shows an oscillation pattern with a fragmentation wavelength of $\sim$ 2.3 pc and velocity amplitude of $\sim$ 0.92 km s$^{-1}$, which may be related with core-forming flows. Furthermore, assuming an inclination angle to the plane of the sky of 45$^{\circ}$, the estimated average accretion rate is $\sim$ 101 M$_\odot$ Myr$^{-1}$ for the cluster LkH$α$ 101 and $\sim$ 21 M$_\odot$ Myr$^{-1}$ for the other regions. In the C$^{18}$O observations, the large-scale filament could be resolved into multiple substructures and their dynamics are consistent with the scenario of filament formation from converging flows. Approximately 225 C$^{18}$O cores are extracted, of which 181 are starless cores. Roughly 37$\%$ (67/181) of the starless cores have $α_{\text{vir}}$ less than 1. Twenty outflow candidates are identified along the filament. Our results indicate active early-phase star formation along the large-scale filament in the CMC region.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

CPNet: Cycle Prototype Network for Weakly-supervised 3D Renal Compartments Segmentation on CT Images

Renal compartment segmentation on CT images targets on extracting the 3D structure of renal compartments from abdominal CTA images and is of great significance to the diagnosis and treatment for kidney diseases. However, due to the unclear compartment boundary, thin compartment structure and large anatomy variation of 3D kidney CT images, deep-learning based renal compartment segmentation is a challenging task. We propose a novel weakly supervised learning framework, Cycle Prototype Network, for 3D renal compartment segmentation. It has three innovations: 1) A Cycle Prototype Learning (CPL) is proposed to learn consistency for generalization. It learns from pseudo labels through the forward process and learns consistency regularization through the reverse process. The two processes make the model robust to noise and label-efficient. 2) We propose a Bayes Weakly Supervised Module (BWSM) based on cross-period prior knowledge. It learns prior knowledge from cross-period unlabeled data and perform error correction automatically, thus generates accurate pseudo labels. 3) We present a Fine Decoding Feature Extractor (FDFE) for fine-grained feature extraction. It combines global morphology information and local detail information to obtain feature maps with sharp detail, so the model will achieve fine segmentation on thin structures. Our model achieves Dice of 79.1% and 78.7% with only four labeled images, achieving a significant improvement by about 20% than typical prototype model PANet.

eess.IV↗