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T. Lu

Publications and source records attributed to T. Lu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Refined parameters, formation, and dynamical stability of the wild exoplanet system K2-312=HD 80653

The architecture of planetary systems hosting ultra-short-period (USP) planets is a key diagnostic for understanding formation and migration scenarios. The presence of outer giant companions in these systems is of particular interest to test theories regarding dynamical effects and pebble accretion. We present an extended radial velocity (RV) monitoring of the bright star K2-312=HD80653, known to host a rocky USP super-Earth ($P_b=0.720$d). Previous studies identified a long-term trend and subsequently a Keplerian signal due to an outer highly eccentric giant planet, K2-312c. We aim to refine the orbital parameters of K2-312c by precisely monitoring its periastron passage and to model the formation and dynamical evolution of the system. We analyzed a set of 237 HARPS-N high-resolution spectra, extending the observation baseline of previous literature by almost 4 years. We performed a joint analysis of the RVs together with K2 and TESS photometry to refine the ephemerides and properties of the two planets. To account for stellar activity, we coupled the Keplerian models with a Gaussian processes regression. K2-312c is a cold Jupiter on a wide orbit (orbital period refined to $P_c=871.32$d), with a minimum mass of Msin(i)$\sim5 M_{Jup}$ and a refined eccentricity of $e_c \sim 0.85$. It is among the most eccentric cold Jupiters known in multi-planet systems, and the only one that is highly eccentric and has a USP planet companion. Our simulations suggest that planet-planet scattering between two giant planets could have driven K2-312c to its current high eccentricity, ejected the other giant, and still allowed for the survival of K2-312b. The extended observation baseline further allowed us to identify the stellar rotation period and a long activity cycle, while a new K2 reduction improved the significance of the secondary eclipse detection for K2-312b.

astro-ph.EP

Well-posedness of a non-local abstract Cauchy problem with a singular integral

A non-local abstract Cauchy problem with a singular integral is studied, which is a closed system of two evolution equations for a real-valued function and a function-valued function. By proposing an appropriate Banach space, the well-posedness of the evolution system is proved under some boundedness and smoothness conditions on the coefficient functions. Furthermore, an isomorphism is established to extend the result to a partial integro-differential equation with singular convolution kernel, which is a generalized form of the stationary Wigner equation. Our investigation considerably improves the understanding of the open problem concerning the well-posedness of the stationary Wigner equation with inflow boundary conditions.

math-ph

The MARS15-based FermiCORD code system for calculation of the accelerator-induced residual dose

The FermiCORD code system, a set of codes based on MARS15 that calculates the accelerator-induced residual doses at experimental facilities of arbitrary configurations, has been developed. FermiCORD is written in C++ as an add-on to Fortran-based MARS15. The FermiCORD algorithm consists of two stages: 1) simulation of residual doses on contact with the surfaces surrounding the studied location and of radionuclide inventories in the structures surrounding those locations using MARS15, and 2) simulation of the emission of the nuclear decay $\gamma$-quanta by the residuals in the activated structures and scoring the prompt doses of these $\gamma$-quanta at arbitrary distances from those structures. The FermiCORD code system has been benchmarked against similar algorithms based on other code systems and against experimental data from the CERF facility at CERN, and FermiCORD showed reasonable agreement with these. The code system has been applied for calculation of the residual dose of the target station for the Mu2e experiment and the results have been compared to approximate dosimetric approaches.

physics.comp-ph

Coalescence of Strange-Quark Planets with Strange Stars: a New Kind of Sources for Gravitational Wave Bursts

Strange quark matter (SQM) may be the true ground state of hadronic matter, indicating that the observed pulsars may actually be strange stars, but not neutron stars. According to this SQM hypothesis, the existence of a hydrostatically stable sequence of strange quark matter stars has been predicted, ranging from 1 --- 2 solar mass strange stars, to smaller strange dwarfs and even strange planets. While gravitational wave (GW) astronomy is expected to open a new window to the universe, it will shed light on the searching for SQM stars. Here we show that due to their extreme compactness, strange planets can spiral very close to their host strange stars, without being tidally disrupted. Like inspiraling neutron stars or black holes, these systems would serve as a new kind of sources for GW bursts, producing strong gravitational waves at the final stage. The events occurring in our local Universe can be detected by the upcoming gravitational wave detectors, such as Advanced LIGO and the Einstein Telescope. This effect provides a unique probe to SQM objects and is hopefully a powerful tool for testing the SQM hypothesis.

astro-ph.HE

Casimir forces on a silicon micromechanical chip

Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical effects are expected to play an important role in micro- and nano-mechanical devices. Nevertheless, utilization of Casimir forces on the chip level remains a major challenge because all experiments so far require an external object to be manually positioned close to the mechanical element. Here, by integrating a force-sensing micromechanical beam and an electrostatic actuator on a single chip, we demonstrate the Casimir effect between two micromachined silicon components on the same substrate. A high degree of parallelism between the two near-planar interacting surfaces can be achieved because they are defined in a single lithographic step. Apart from providing a compact platform for Casimir force measurements, this scheme also opens the possibility of tailoring the Casimir force using lithographically defined components of non-conventional shapes.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Constraining dark energy using observational growth rate data

Observational growth rate data had been derived from observations of redshift distortions in galaxy redshift surveys. Here we use the growth rate data to place constraints on the dark energy model parameters. By performing a joint analysis with the Type Ia supernova, baryon acoustic oscillation and cosmic microwave background data, it is found that the growth rate data are useful for improving the constraints. The joint constraints show that the $\Lambda$CDM model is still in good agreement with current observations, although a time-variant dark energy still cannot be ruled out. It is argued that the growth rate data are helpful for understanding the dark energy. With more accurate data available in the future, we will have a powerful tool for constraining the cosmological and dark energy parameters.

astro-ph.CO

Structure and spatial distribution of Ge nanocrystals subjected to fast neutron irradiation

The influence of fast neutron irradiation on the structure and spatial distribution of Ge nanocrystals (NC) embedded in an amorphous SiO2 matrix has been studied. The investigation was conducted by means of laser Raman Scattering (RS), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The irradiation of NC-Ge samples by a high dose of fast neutrons lead to a partial destruction of the nanocrystals. Full reconstruction of crystallinity was achieved after annealing the radiation damage at 800 deg. C, which resulted in full restoration of the RS spectrum. HR-TEM images show, however, that the spatial distributions of NC-Ge changed as a result of irradiation and annealing. A sharp decrease in NC distribution towards the SiO2 surface has been observed. This was accompanied by XPS detection of Ge oxides and elemental Ge within both the surface and subsurface region.

cond-mat.mes-hall

Breaking the Degeneracy: Optimal Use of Three-point Weak Lensing Statistics

We study the optimal use of third order statistics in the analysis of weak lensing by large-scale structure. These higher order statistics have long been advocated as a powerful tool to break measured degeneracies between cosmological parameters. Using ray-tracing simulations, incorporating important survey features such as a realistic depth-dependent redshift distribution, we find that a joint two- and three-point correlation function analysis is a much stronger probe of cosmology than the skewness statistic. We compare different observing strategies, showing that for a limited survey time there is an optimal depth for the measurement of third-order statistics, which balances statistical noise and cosmic variance against signal amplitude. We find that the chosen CFHTLS observing strategy was optimal and forecast that a joint two- and three-point analysis of the completed CFHTLS-Wide will constrain the amplitude of the matter power spectrum $σ_8$ to 10% and the matter density parameter $Ω_m$ to 17%, a factor of ~2.5 improvement on the two-point analysis alone. Our error analysis includes all non-Gaussian terms, finding that the coupling between cosmic variance and shot noise is a non-negligible contribution which should be included in any future analytical error calculations.

astro-ph.CO

Modeling the radio and optical/NIR afterglows of GRB 980703: a numerical study

Extensive multi-band afterglow data are available for GRB 980703. Especially, its radio afterglow was very bright and was monitored until more than 1000 days after the trigger time. Additionally, there is no obvious special feature, i.e., no rebrightenings, no plateau, and no special steep decay or slow decay in the multi-band afterglow light curves. All these conditions make GRB 980703 a precious sample in gamma-ray burst research. Here we use the observational data of GRB 980703 to test the standard fireball model in depth. It is found that the model can give a satisfactory explanation to the multi-band and overall afterglow light curves. The beaming angle of GRB 980703 is derived as ~0.23 radian, and the circum-burst medium density is ~ 27 cm-3. The total isotropic equivalent kinetic energy of the ejecta is ~ 3.8E52 ergs. A rest-frame extinction of Av ~ 2.5 mag in the host galaxy is also derived.

astro-ph.HE

Weak Gravitational Lensing of CMB - Revisit

In this paper, we revisit the weak gravitational lensing of CMB. The key point is that the deflection angle of CMB photon varies with the redshift. From this we obtain a set of modified power spectra. Compared with the ones calculated before, the temperature, the polarization E mode and the cross power spectra correction are of the order $0.01 %$, while the polarization B mode correction is about $0.4 %$ (to $l=2000$).

astro-ph.CO

CMB Angular Power Spectrum from Correlated Primordial Fluctuation

The usual inflationary scenario predicts a Gaussian random primordial density fluctuation, different Fourier modes of which do not correlate with each other. In this paper we propose a correlation between these different modes. A simple case is that these different Fourier modes correlate with each other following a Gaussian function. For such a primordial density fluctuation we calculate the CMB angular power spectrum and find that its amplitude decreases but the decrease is different for different $l$. This feature can be used to constrain the the correlation strength from the real data.

astro-ph.CO

GRB 060206: hints of precession of the central engine?

Aims. The high-redshift (z = 4:048) gamma-ray burst GRB 060206 showed unusual behavior, with a significant rebrightening by a factor of ~ 4 at about 3000 s after the burst. We argue that this rebrightening implies that the central engine became active again after the main burst produced by the first ejecta, then drove another more collimated jet-like ejecta with a larger viewing angle. The two ejecta both interacted with the ambient medium, giving rise to forward shocks that propagated into the ambient medium and reverse shocks that penetrated into the ejecta. The total emission was a combination of the emissions from the reverse- and forward- shocked regions. We discuss how this combined emission accounts for the observed rebrightening. Methods. We apply numerical models to calculate the light curves from the shocked regions, which include a forward shock originating in the first ejecta and a forward-reverse shock for the second ejecta. Results. We find evidence that the central engine became active again 2000 s after the main burst. The combined emission produced by interactions of these two ejecta with the ambient medium can describe the properties of the afterglow of this burst. We argue that the rapid rise in brightness at ~ 3000 s in the afterglow is due to the off-axis emission from the second ejecta. The precession of the torus or accretion disk of the central engine is a natural explanation for the departure of the second ejecta from the line of sight.

astro-ph

Primordial non-Gaussianity estimator: the inhomogeneous noise effect

Since the inhomogeneous instrument noise can produce extra non-Gaussianity in the CMB anisotropy, its effect should be carefully subtracted in the primordial non-Gaussianity estimation. We calculate the probability distribution function of the CMB anisotropy for local type of non-Gaussianity, from which the optimal estimator in the general case (inhomogeneous noise and cut sky) is obtained. The new estimator obtained here is different from the popular one, since the inhomogeneous noise and cut sky effects are completely accounted. The CMB anisotropy in the new estimator is noise weighted. The noise weight is different from that used by WMAP Group in their 5-year data analysis. Although it is still difficult to calculate the new estimator rigorously, for the case of the slightly inhomogeneous noise, there exists a series expansion method to compute the new estimator. Each order in the series is suppressed by two factors, $(\frac{σ^2}{σ^2_{i}}-1)$ and $\frac{C_l}{C^{tot}_{l}}$, which make the method feasible. Through the Edgeworth expansion we can generalize our discussion to other types of non-Gaussianity.

astro-ph

Nonrelativistic phase in gamma-ray burst afterglows

The discovery of multiband afterglows definitely shows that most $γ$-ray bursts are of cosmological origin. $γ$-ray bursts are found to be one of the most violent explosive phenomena in the Universe, in which astonishing ultra-relativistic motions are involved. In this article, the multiband observational characteristics of $γ$-ray bursts and their afterglows are briefly reviewed. The standard model of $γ$-ray bursts, i.e. the fireball model, is described. Emphasis is then put on the importance of the nonrelativistic phase of afterglows. The concept of deep Newtonian phase is elaborated. A generic dynamical model that is applicable in both the relativistic and nonrelativistic phases is introduced. Based on these elaborations, the overall afterglow behaviors, from the very early stages to the very late stages, can be conveniently calculated.

astro-ph

X-ray flares: late internal and late external shocks

We analyze several recently detected gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with late X-ray flares in the context of late internal shock and late external shock models. We find that the X-ray flares in GRB 050421 and GRB 050502B originate from late internal shocks, while the main X-ray flares in GRB 050406 and GRB 050607 may arise from late external shocks. Under the assumption that the central engine has two periods of activities, we get four basic types of X-ray light curves. The classification of these types depends on which period of activities produces the prompt gamma-ray emission (Type 1 and Type 2: the earlier period; Type 3 and Type 4: the late period), and on whether the late ejecta catching up with the early ejecta happens earlier than the deceleration of the early ejecta (Type 1 and Type 3) or not (Type 2 and Type 4). We find that the X-ray flare caused by a late external shock is a special case of Type 1. Our analysis reveals that the X-ray light curves of GRBs 050406, 050421, and 050607 can be classified as Type 1, while the X-ray light curve of GRB 050502B is classified as Type 2. However, the X-ray light curve of GRB 050406 is also likely to be Type 2. We also predict a long-lag short-lived X-ray flare caused by the inner external shock, which forms when a low baryon-loading long-lag late ejecta decelerates in the non-relativistic tail of an outer external shock driven by an early ejecta.

astro-ph

GRB afterglows: deep Newtonian phase and its application

Gamma-ray burst afterglows have been observed for months or even years in a few cases. It deserves noting that at such late stages, the remnants should have entered the deep Newtonian phase, during which the majority of shock-accelerated electrons will no longer be highly relativistic. To calculate the afterglows, we must assume that the electrons obey a power-law distribution according to their kinetic energy, not simply the Lorentz factor.

astro-ph

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Polarization of Afterglows from Two-Component Jets

Polarization behaviors of optical afterglows from two-component gamma-ray burst jets are investigated, assuming various configurations for the two components. In most cases, the observed polarization is dominated by the inner narrow component for a long period. Interestingly, it is revealed that different assumptions about the lateral expansion of the jet can lead to different evolutions of the position angle of polarization. The observed afterglow light curve and polarization behaviors of GRB 020813 can be well explained by the two-component jet model. Particularly, the model is able to explain the constancy of the observed position angle in this event, given that the line of sight is slightly outside the narrow component.

astro-ph