Energy levels, radiative rates and electron impact excitation rates for transitions in Li-like N V, F VII, Ne VIII and Na IX

In this paper, we report calculations of energy levels, radiative rates and electron impact excitation rates for transitions in Li-like N V, F VII, Ne VIII and Na IX. The general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package (GRASP) is adopted for calculating energy levels and radiative rates, while for determining the collision strengths and subsequently the excitation rates, the Dirac atomic R-matrix code (DARC) and the flexible atomic code (FAC) are used. Oscillator strengths, radiative rates and line strengths are reported for all E1, E2, M1 and M2 transitions among the lowest 24 levels of N V, F VII, Ne VIII and Na IX. Collision strengths have been averaged over a Maxwellian velocity distribution and the effective collision strengths so obtained are reported over a wide temperature range below 10(6.6) K. Additionally, lifetimes are also reported for all calculated levels of the above four ions.

Energy levels and radiative rates for transitions in B-like to F-like Xe ions (Xe L-XLVI)

Energy levels, radiative rates, oscillator strengths, line strengths, and lifetimes have been calculated for transitions in B-like to F-like Xe ions, Xe L–XLVI. For the calculations, a fully relativistic grasp code has been adopted, and results are reported for all electric dipole, electric quadrupole, magnetic dipole, and magnetic quadrupole transitions among the lowest 125, 236, 272, 226, and 113 levels of Xe L, Xe XLIX, Xe XLVIII, Xe XLVII, and Xe XLVI, respectively, belonging to the n ⩽ 3 configurations.

Radiative rates and electron impact excitation rates for transitions in Cr VIII

Aims. In this paper we report on calculations of energy levels, radiative rates, oscillator strengths, line strengths, and effective collision strengths for transitions among the lowest 362 levels of the (1s22s22p6) 3s23p5, 3s3p6, 3s23p43d, 3s3p53d, 3s23p33d2, 3s3p43d2, 3p63d, and 3s23p44 configurations of Cr viii. Methods. The general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package (grasp) and flexible atomic code (fac) are adopted for the calculations. Results. Radiative rates, oscillator strengths, and line strengths are reported for all electric dipole (E1), magnetic dipole (M1), electric quadrupole (E2), and magnetic quadrupole (M2) transitions among the 362 levels. Comparisons are made with earlier available results and the accuracy of the data is assessed. Additionally, lifetimes for all 362 levels are listed, although comparisons with other theoretical results are limited to only a few levels. Our energy levels are estimated to be accurate to better than 3% (within 0.4 Ryd), whereas results for other parameters are probably accurate to better than 20%. Finally, electron impact collision strengths and excitation rates are computed for all transitions over a wide energy (temperature) range. For these calculations, FAC is adopted and results in the form of effective collision strengths are reported over a wide temperature range of 105.0−106.6 K.

Energy levels, radiative rates and electron impact excitation rates for transitions in He-like Cl XVI, K XVIII, Ca XIX and Sc XX.

We report calculations of energy levels, radiative rates and electron impact excitation cross
sections and rates for transitions in He-like Cl XVI, K XVIII, Ca XIX and Sc XX. The grasp
(general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package) is adopted for calculating energy levels
and radiative rates. To determine the collision strengths and subsequently the excitation rates,
the Dirac atomic R-matrix code (darc) is used. Oscillator strengths, radiative rates and line
strengths are reported for all E1, E2, M1 and M2 transitions among the lowest 49 levels of
each ion. Collision strengths are averaged over a Maxwellian velocity distribution and the
effective collision strengths obtained listed over a wide temperature range up to 107.4 K.
Comparisons are made with similar data obtained from the flexible atomic code (fac) to
highlight the importance of resonances, included in calculations with darc, in the
determination of effective collision strengths. Discrepancies between the collision strengths
from darc and fac, particularly for forbidden transitions, are also discussed. Additionally,
theoretical lifetimes are listed for all the 49 levels of the above four ions.

Non-radial pulsation, rotation and outburst in the Be star omega Orionis from the MuSiCoS 1998 campaign

omega Ori (HD37490, HR1934) is a Be star known to have presented variations. In order to investigate the nature and origin of its short-term and mid-term variability, a study is performed of several spectral lines (Halpha, Hdelta, HeI 4471, 4713, 4921, 5876, 6678, CII 4267, 6578, 6583, Mg II 4481, Si III 4553 and Si II 6347), based on 249 high signal-to-noise high-resolution spectra taken with 8 telescopes over 22 consecutive nights during the MuSiCoS (Multi SIte COntinuous Spectroscopy) campaign in November-December 1998. The stellar parameters are revisited and the projected rotational velocity (v sin i = 179 km s(-1)) is redetermined using several methods. With the MuSiCoS 98 dataset, a time series analysis of line-profile variations (LPVs) is performed using the Restricted Local Cleanest (RLC) algorithm and a least squares method. The behaviour of the velocity of the centroid of the lines, the equivalent widths and the apparent vsini for several lines, as well as Violet and Red components of photospheric lines affected by emission (red He i lines, Si II 6347, CII 6578, 6583) are analyzed. The non-radial pulsation (NRP) model is examined using phase diagrams and the Fourier-Doppler Imaging (FDI) method. The LPVs are consistent with a NRP mode with l = 2 or 3, \m\ = 2 with frequency 1.03 cd(-1). It is shown that an emission line outburst occurred in the middle of the campaign. Two scenarios are proposed to explain the behaviour of a dense cloud, temporarily orbiting around the star with a frequency 0.46 c d(-1), in relation to the outburst.

Energy levels, wavefunction compositions and electric dipole transitions in neutral Ca

A configuration-interaction approach, based on the use of B-spline basis sets combined with a model potential including monoelectronic and dielectronic core polarization effects, is employed to calculate term energies and wavefunctions for neutral Ca. Results are reported for singlet and triplet bound states, and some quasi-bound states above the lowest ionization limit, with angular momentum up to L = 4. Comparison with experiment and with other theoretical results shows that this method yields the most accurate energy values for neutral Ca obtained to date. Wavefunction compositions, necessary for labelling the levels, and the effects of semi-empirical polarization potentials on the wavefunctions are discussed, as are some recent identifications of doubly-excited states. It is shown that taking into account dielectronic core polarization changes the energies of the lowest terms in Ca significantly, in general by a few hundred cm(-1), the effect decreasing rapidly for the higher bound states. For Rydberg states with n approximate to 7 the accuracy of the results is often better than a few cm(-1). For series members (or perturbers) with a pronounced 3d character the error can reach 150 cm(-1). The wavefunctions are used to calculate oscillator strengths and lifetimes for a number of terms and these are compared with existing measurements. The agreement is good but points to a need for improved measurements.

On the required shape corrections to the local density and generalized gradient approximations to the Kohn-Sham potentials for molecular response calculations of (hyper)polarizabilities and excitation energies

It is well known that shape corrections have to be applied to the local-density (LDA) and generalized gradient (GGA) approximations to the Kohn-Sham exchange-correlation potential in order to obtain reliable response properties in time dependent density functional theory calculations. Here we demonstrate that it is an oversimplified view that these shape corrections concern primarily the asymptotic part of the potential, and that they affect only Rydberg type transitions. The performance is assessed of two shape-corrected Kohn-Sham potentials, the gradient-regulated asymptotic connection procedure applied to the Becke-Perdew potential (BP-GRAC) and the statistical averaging of (model) orbital potentials (SAOP), versus LDA and GGA potentials, in molecular response calculations of the static average polarizability alpha, the Cauchy coefficient S-4, and the static average hyperpolarizability beta. The nature of the distortions of the LDA/GGA potentials is highlighted and it is shown that they introduce many spurious excited states at too low energy which may mix with valence excited states, resulting in wrong excited state compositions. They also lead to wrong oscillator strengths and thus to a wrong spectral structure of properties like the polarizability. LDA, Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr (BLYP), and Becke-Perdew (BP) characteristically underestimate contributions to alpha and S-4 from bound Rydberg-type states and overestimate those from the continuum. Cancellation of the errors in these contributions occasionally produces fortuitously good results. The distortions of the LDA, BLYP, and BP spectra are related to the deficiencies of the LDA/GGA potentials in both the bulk and outer molecular regions. In contrast, both SAOP and BP-GRAC potentials produce high quality polarizabilities for 21 molecules and also reliable Cauchy moments and hyperpolarizabilities for the selected molecules. The analysis for the N-2 molecule shows, that both SAOP and BP-GRAC yield reliable energies omega(i) and oscillator strengths f(i) of individual excitations, so that they reproduce well the spectral structure of alpha and S-4.(C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

PLL with secondary loop control for self tracking antennas

This paper shows a simple, yet highly effective, tracking phase locked loop circuit which has applications for self steered antenna arrays. The tracking PLL has been demonstrated to accurately phase track signal levels as low as -120 dBm, making it suitable for applications such as SATCOM ground terminals. The implementation is simple requiring a low Q voltage controlled oscillator, a downconverting mixer and a PLL circuit.

Entanglement control in hybrid optomechanical systems

We demonstrate the control of entanglement in a hybrid optomechanical system comprising an optical cavity with a mechanical end-mirror and an intracavity Bose-Einstein condensate. Pulsed laser light (tuned within realistic experimental conditions) is shown to induce an almost sixfold increase of the atom-mirror entanglement and to be responsible for interesting dynamics between such mesoscopic systems. In order to assess the advantages offered by the proposed control technique, we compare the time-dependent dynamics of the system under constant pumping with the evolution due to the modulated laser light.

An Energy Conserving Finite Difference Scheme for Simulation of Collisions

Nonlinear phenomena play an essential role in the sound production process of many musical instruments. A common source of these effects is object collision, the numerical simulation of which is known to give rise to stability
issues. This paper presents a method to construct numerical schemes that conserve the total energy in simulations of one-mass systems involving collisions, with no conditions imposed on any of the physical or numerical parameters.
This facilitates the adaptation of numerical models to experimental data, and allows a more free parameter adjustment in sound synthesis explorations. The energy preservedness of the proposed method is tested and demonstrated though several examples, including a bouncing ball and a non-linear oscillator, and implications regarding the wider applicability are discussed.

Enhancing non-classicality in mechanical systems

We study the effects of post-selection measurements on both the non-classicality of the state of a mechanical oscillator and the entanglement between two mechanical systems that are part of a distributed optomechanical network. We address the cases of both Gaussian and non-Gaussian measurements, identifying in which cases simple photon counting and Geiger-like measurements are effective in distilling a strongly non-classical mechanical state and enhancing the purely mechanical entanglement between two elements of the network.

Simple high sensitivity wireless transceiver

This article describes an extremely simple wireless transceiver, comprising of only a low Q VCO and a phase locked loop IC. It is experimentally shown to, simultaneously, transmit an 8-dBm CW interrogation signal, while concurrently demodulating a phase modulated received signal with sensitivity levels of -120 dBm. This makes the performance similar to conventional transceivers, which require complex superheterodyne type architectures and also require a means to provide a high isolation separate the transmit/receive signals (such as a circulator). 

Thermal bound entanglement in macroscopic systems and area law

Does bound entanglement naturally appear in quantum many-body systems? We address this question by showing the existence of bound-entangled thermal states for harmonic oscillator systems consisting of an arbitrary number of particles. By explicit calculations of the negativity for different partitions, we find a range of temperatures for which no entanglement can be distilled by means of local operations, despite the system being globally entangled. We offer an interpretation of this result in terms of entanglement-area laws, typical of these systems. Finally, we discuss generalizations of this result to other systems, including spin chains.

Generalized Langevin equation: An efficient approach to nonequilibrium molecular dynamics of open systems

The generalized Langevin equation (GLE) has been recently suggested to simulate the time evolution of classical solid and molecular systems when considering general nonequilibrium processes. In this approach, a part of the whole system (an open system), which interacts and exchanges energy with its dissipative environment, is studied. Because the GLE is derived by projecting out exactly the harmonic environment, the coupling to it is realistic, while the equations of motion are non-Markovian. Although the GLE formalism has already found promising applications, e. g., in nanotribology and as a powerful thermostat for equilibration in classical molecular dynamics simulations, efficient algorithms to solve the GLE for realistic memory kernels are highly nontrivial, especially if the memory kernels decay nonexponentially. This is due to the fact that one has to generate a colored noise and take account of the memory effects in a consistent manner. In this paper, we present a simple, yet efficient, algorithm for solving the GLE for practical memory kernels and we demonstrate its capability for the exactly solvable case of a harmonic oscillator coupled to a Debye bath.

More bang for your buck: Super-adiabatic quantum engines

The practical untenability of the quasi-static assumption makes any realistic engine intrinsically irreversible and its operating time finite, thus implying friction effects at short cycle times. An important technological goal is thus the design of maximally efficient engines working at the maximum possible power. We show that, by utilising shortcuts to adiabaticity in a quantum engine cycle, one can engineer a thermodynamic cycle working at finite power and zero friction. Our findings are illustrated using a harmonic oscillator undergoing a quantum Otto cycle.