分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS) aims to detect fast-evolving transients in the Universe, which has led to the discovery of thousands of short-period variables and eclipsing binaries since 2020. In this paper, we present the observed properties of 125 flare stars identified by the TMTS within the first two years, with an attempt to constrain their eruption physics. As expected, most of these flares were recorded in late-type red stars with $G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP}$ > 2.0 mag, however, the flares associated with bluer stars tend to be on average more energetic and have broader profiles. The peak flux (F_peak) of the flare is found to depend strongly on the equivalent duration (ED) of the energy release, i.e., $F_{{\rm peak}} \propto {\rm ED}^{0.72\pm0.04}$, which is consistent with results derived from the Kepler and Evryscope samples. This relation is likely related to the magnetic loop emission, while -- for the more popular non-thermal electron heating model -- a specific time evolution may be required to generate this relation. We notice that flares produced by hotter stars have a flatter $F_{{\rm peak}} \propto {\rm ED}$ relation compared to that from cooler stars. This is related to the statistical discrepancy in light-curve shape of flare events with different colors. In spectra from LAMOST, we find that flare stars have apparently stronger H alpha emission than inactive stars, especially at the low temperature end, suggesting that chromospheric activity plays an important role in producing flares. On the other hand, the subclass having frequent flares are found to show H alpha emission of similar strength in their spectra to that recorded with only a single flare but similar effective temperature, implying that the chromospheric activity may not be the only trigger for eruptions.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Blue large-amplitude pulsators (BLAPs) represent a new and rare class of hot pulsating stars with unusually large amplitudes and short periods. Up to now, only 24 confirmed BLAPs have been identified from more than one billion monitored stars, including a group with pulsation period longer than $\sim 20$ min (classical BLAPs, hereafter) and the other group with pulsation period below $\sim 8$ min. The evolutionary path that could give rise to such kinds of stellar configurations is unclear. Here we report on a comprehensive study of the peculiar BLAP discovered by the Tsinghua University - Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS), TMTS J035143.63+584504.2 (TMTS-BLAP-1). This new BLAP has an 18.9 min pulsation period and is similar to the BLAPs with a low surface gravity and an extended helium-enriched envelope, suggesting that it is a low-gravity BLAP at the shortest-period end. In particular, the long-term monitoring data reveal that this pulsating star has an unusually large rate of period change, P_dot/P=2.2e-6/yr. Such a significant and positive value challenges its origins from both helium-core pre-white-dwarfs and core helium-burning subdwarfs, but is consistent with that derived from shell helium-burning subdwarfs. The particular pulsation period and unusual rate of period change indicate that TMTS-BLAP-1 is at a short-lived (~10^6 yr) phase of shell-helium ignition before the stable shell-helium burning; in other words, TMTS-BLAP-1 is going through a "Hertzsprung gap" of hot subdwarfs.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS) aims to detect fast-evolving transients in the Universe, which has led to the discovery of thousands of short-period variables and eclipsing binaries since 2020. In this paper, we present the observed properties of 125 flare stars identified by the TMTS within the first two years, with an attempt to constrain their eruption physics. As expected, most of these flares were recorded in late-type red stars with $G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP}$ > 2.0 mag, however, the flares associated with bluer stars tend to be on average more energetic and have broader profiles. The peak flux (F_peak) of the flare is found to depend strongly on the equivalent duration (ED) of the energy release, i.e., $F_{{\rm peak}} \propto {\rm ED}^{0.72\pm0.04}$, which is consistent with results derived from the Kepler and Evryscope samples. This relation is likely related to the magnetic loop emission, while -- for the more popular non-thermal electron heating model -- a specific time evolution may be required to generate this relation. We notice that flares produced by hotter stars have a flatter $F_{{\rm peak}} \propto {\rm ED}$ relation compared to that from cooler stars. This is related to the statistical discrepancy in light-curve shape of flare events with different colors. In spectra from LAMOST, we find that flare stars have apparently stronger H alpha emission than inactive stars, especially at the low temperature end, suggesting that chromospheric activity plays an important role in producing flares. On the other hand, the subclass having frequent flares are found to show H alpha emission of similar strength in their spectra to that recorded with only a single flare but similar effective temperature, implying that the chromospheric activity may not be the only trigger for eruptions.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Blue large-amplitude pulsators (BLAPs) represent a new and rare class of hot pulsating stars with unusually large amplitudes and short periods. Up to now, only 24 confirmed BLAPs have been identified from more than one billion monitored stars, including a group with pulsation period longer than $\sim 20$ min (classical BLAPs, hereafter) and the other group with pulsation period below $\sim 8$ min. The evolutionary path that could give rise to such kinds of stellar configurations is unclear. Here we report on a comprehensive study of the peculiar BLAP discovered by the Tsinghua University - Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS), TMTS J035143.63+584504.2 (TMTS-BLAP-1). This new BLAP has an 18.9 min pulsation period and is similar to the BLAPs with a low surface gravity and an extended helium-enriched envelope, suggesting that it is a low-gravity BLAP at the shortest-period end. In particular, the long-term monitoring data reveal that this pulsating star has an unusually large rate of period change, P_dot/P=2.2e-6/yr. Such a significant and positive value challenges its origins from both helium-core pre-white-dwarfs and core helium-burning subdwarfs, but is consistent with that derived from shell helium-burning subdwarfs. The particular pulsation period and unusual rate of period change indicate that TMTS-BLAP-1 is at a short-lived (~10^6 yr) phase of shell-helium ignition before the stable shell-helium burning; in other words, TMTS-BLAP-1 is going through a "Hertzsprung gap" of hot subdwarfs.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescopes for Survey (TMTS), located at Xinglong Station of NAOC, has a field of view upto 18 deg^2. The TMTS has started to monitor the LAMOST sky areas since 2020, with the uninterrupted observations lasting for about 6 hours on average for each sky area and a cadence of about 1 minute. Here we introduce the data analysis and preliminary scientific results for the first-year observations, which covered 188 LAMOST plates ( about 1970 deg^2). These observations have generated over 4.9 million uninterrupted light curves, with at least 100 epochs for each of them. These light curves correspond to 4.26 million Gaia-DR2 sources, among which 285 thousand sources are found to have multi-epoch spectra from the LAMOST. By analysing these light curves with the Lomb-Scargle periodograms, we identify more than 3700 periodic variable star candidates with periods below 7.5 hours, primarily consisting of eclipsing binaries and Delta Scuti stars. Those short-period binaries will provide important constraints on theories of binary evolution and possible sources for space gravitational wave experiments in the future. Moreover, we also identified 42 flare stars by searching rapidly-evolving signals in the light curves. The densely-sampled light curves from the TMTS allow us to better quantify the shapes and durations for these flares.
分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: We have obtained optical spectroscopy and photometry data during four years after the event. The long-term photometric light-curve and the equivalent widths of the Halpha and He I 6678 lines were used to monitor the state of the Be star disk. The Halpha line profiles show evidence for V/R variability that was accounted for by fitting the Halpha spectral line profile with two Gaussian functions. We divided our data into three phases according to the intensity of the X-ray, optical, and infrared emission. Phase I covers the rise and decay of the giant X-ray outburst that took place in October to November 2017. We interpret phase II as the dissipation of the Be star equatorial disk and phase III as its recovery. The timescale of a complete formation and dissipation process is about 1250 days. The epoch when the dissipation process stopped and the reformation period began is estimated to be around MJD 58530. We find a delay of about 100 to 200 days between the minimum of the optical or infrared intensity and the strength of the Halpha line after the X-ray outburst, which may indicate that the dissipation of the disk begins from the inner parts. The motion of the density perturbation inside the disk is prograde, with a V/R quasi-period of about four years. The source shows a positive correlation in the (B-V) color index versus V-band magnitude diagram, which implies that the system is seen at a small or moderate inclination angle.
分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Ultra-compact topological ring-resonators with chirality are important devices for quantum optics. However, there are limited demonstrations of chiral resonators, especially in the visible region. We proposed a topological photonic ring-resonator based on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) valley photonic crystal (VPC). The spin-valley locking effect in VPC allows achieving robust unidirectional transmission of edge states in the visible region (600 nm-650 nm). As a result, a high quality factor (679.3) with a free spectral range of 15.2 nm in the visible region can be achieved in a hBN all-pass filter with a compact size. In addition, we investigated the transmission properties of hBN ring-resonators with different shapes and combinations, confirming the flexibility of designing topological ring-resonators based on this principle. This design can be readily integrated with quantum photonic chips for broad applications.
分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: For all-optical communication and information processing, it is necessary to develop all-optical logic gates based on photonic structures that can directly perform logic operations. All-optical logic gates have been demonstrated based on conventional waveguides and interferometry, as well as photonic crystal structures. Nonetheless, any defects in those structures will introduce high scattering loss, which compromises the fidelity and contrast ratio of the information process. Based on the spin-valley locking effect that can achieve defect-immune unidirectional transmission of topological edge states in valley photonic crystals (VPCs), we propose a high-performance all-optical logic OR gate based on a VPC structure. By tuning the working bandwidth of the two input channels, we prevent interference between the two channels to achieve a stable and high-fidelity output. The transmittance of both channels is higher than 0.8, and a high contrast ratio of 28.8 dB is achieved. Moreover, the chirality of the logic gate originated from the spin-valley locking effect allows using different circularly polarized light as inputs, representing "1" or "0", which is highly desired in quantum computing. The device's footprint is small, allowing high-density on-chip integration. In addition, this design can be experimentally fabricated using current nanofabrication techniques and will have potential applications in optical communication, information processing, and quantum computing.
分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Branched flow can be observed when a laser beam is coupled into a soap film. This research theoretically explored the phenomenon through analogy between light wave and particles in form of Hamilton-Jacobian equation, further discussed the shape and statistics of the branched flow with Fokker-Plank equation and experimentally adopted the methods of interference imaging, computer image processing and so on to obtain the experiment data that could prove previously deduced scaling law concerning the statistical properties of the branched flow.
分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19
摘要: Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) devices are key elements of Photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Conventional WDM devices based on silicon waveguides and photonic crystals have limited transmittance due to high loss introduced by the strong backward scattering from defects. In addition, it is challenging to reduce the footprint of those devices. Here we theoretically demonstrate a WDM device in the telecommunication range based on all-dielectric silicon topological valley photonic crystal (VPC) structures. We tune its effective refractive index by tuning the physical parameters of the lattice in the silicon substrate, which can continuously tune the working wavelength range of the topological edge states, which allows designing WDM devices with different channels. The WDM device has two channels (1470 nm-1523 nm and 1548 nm-1609 nm), with contrast ratios of 22.4 dB and 24.9 dB, respectively. The principle of manipulating the working bandwidth of the topological edge states can be generally applied in designing different integratable photonic devices, thus it will find broad applications.