Publications

We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R0, the distance to the Galactic Center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A* that we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A* with an accuracy as good as 20 micro-arcsec in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km/s, this yields a geometric distance estimate: R0 = 8178 +- 13(stat.) +- 22(sys.) pc. This work updates our previous publication in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20 sigma with f_redshift = 1.04 +- 0.05.

We describe an algorithm to reduce the cost of auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC) calculations for the electronic structure problem. The technique uses a nested low-rank factorization of the electron repulsion integral (ERI). While the cost of conventional AFQMC calculations in Gaussian bases scales as $\mathcal{O}(N^4)$ where $N$ is the size of the basis, we show that ground-state energies can be computed through tensor decomposition with reduced memory requirements and sub-quartic scaling. The algorithm is applied to hydrogen chains and square grids, water clusters, and hexagonal BN. In all cases we observe significant memory savings and, for larger systems, reduced, sub-quartic simulation time.

We present the results of a search for long-duration gravitational-wave transients in the data from the Advanced LIGO second observation run; we search for gravitational-wave transients of 2 -- 500~s duration in the 24−2048\,Hz frequency band with minimal assumptions about signal properties such as waveform morphologies, polarization, sky location or time of occurrence. Targeted signal models include fallback accretion onto neutron stars, broadband chirps from innermost stable circular orbit waves around rotating black holes, eccentric inspiral-merger-ringdown compact binary coalescence waveforms, and other models. The second observation run totals about \otwoduration~days of coincident data between November 2016 and August 2017. We find no significant events within the parameter space that we searched, apart from the already-reported binary neutron star merger GW170817. We thus report sensitivity limits on the root-sum-square strain amplitude hrss at 50% efficiency. These sensitivity estimates are an improvement relative to the first observing run and also done with an enlarged set of gravitational-wave transient waveforms. Overall, the best search sensitivity is h50%rss=2.7×10−22~Hz−1/2 for a millisecond magnetar model. For eccentric compact binary coalescence signals, the search sensitivity reaches h50%rss=9.6×10−22~Hz−1/2.

We have recently developed a post-processing framework to estimate the abundance of atomic and molecular hydrogen (HI and H2, respectively) in galaxies in large-volume cosmological simulations. Here we compare the HI and H2 content of IllustrisTNG galaxies to observations. We mostly restrict this comparison to z≈0 and consider six observational metrics: the overall abundance of HI and H2, their mass functions, gas fractions as a function of stellar mass, the correlation between H2 and star formation rate, the spatial distribution of gas, and the correlation between gas content and morphology. We find generally good agreement between simulations and observations, particularly for the gas fractions and the HI mass-size relation. The H2 mass correlates with star formation rate as expected, revealing an almost constant depletion time that evolves up to z = 2 as observed. However, we also discover a number of tensions with varying degrees of significance, including an overestimate of the total neutral gas abundance at z = 0 by about a factor of two and a possible excess of satellites with no or very little neutral gas. These conclusions are robust to the modelling of the HI/H2 transition. In terms of their neutral gas properties, the IllustrisTNG simulations represent an enormous improvement over the original Illustris run. All data used in this paper are publicly available as part of the IllustrisTNG data release.

The quench dynamics of a system involving two competing orders is investigated using a Ginzburg-Landau theory with relaxational dynamics. Modest differences in relaxation rates of the competing orders are found lead to post quench evolution into the local minimum associated with the faster-relaxing order parameter, even if it is not the global free energy minimum. The probability of evolution into the metastable phase can be close to unity if the Ginzburg parameter of the static theory is small. The theory offers a natural explanation for the widespread experimental observation that metastable states may be induced by laser induced collapse of a dominant equilibrium order parameter.

We propose a robust and efficient way of controlling the optical spectra of two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures by quantum cavity embedding. The cavity light-matter coupling leads to the formation of exciton–polaritons, a superposition of photons and excitons. Our first-principles study demonstrates a reordering and mixing of bright and dark excitons spectral features and in the case of a type II van-der-Waals heterostructure an inversion of intra- and interlayer excitonic resonances. We further show that the cavity light-matter coupling strongly depends on the dielectric environment and can be controlled by encapsulating the active two-dimensional (2D) crystal in another dielectric material. Our theoretical calculations are based on a newly developed nonperturbative many-body framework to solve the coupled electron–photon Schrödinger equation in a quantum-electrodynamical extension of the Bethe-Salpeter approach. This approach enables the ab initio simulations of exciton–polariton states and their dispersion from weak to strong cavity light-matter coupling regimes. Our method is then extended to treat van der Waals heterostructures and encapsulated 2D materials using a simplified Mott-Wannier description of the excitons that can be applied to very large systems beyond reach for fully ab initio approaches.

Halos and galaxies acquire their angular momentum during the collapse of surrounding large-scale structure. This process imprints alignments between galaxy spins and nearby filaments and sheets. Low mass halos grow by accretion onto filaments, aligning their spins with the filaments, whereas high mass halos grow by mergers along filaments, generating spins perpendicular to the filament. We search for this alignment signal using filaments identified with the "Cosmic Web Reconstruction" algorithm applied to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample and galaxy spins from the MaNGA integral-field unit survey. MaNGA produces a map of the galaxy's rotational velocity, allowing direct measurement of the galaxy's spin direction, or unit angular momentum vector projected onto the sky. We find no evidence for alignment between galaxy spins and filament directions. We do find hints of a mass-dependent alignment signal, which is in 2-3σ tension with the mass-dependent alignment signal in the MassiveBlack-II and Illustris hydrodynamical simulations. However, the tension vanishes when galaxy spin is measured using the Hα emission line velocity rather than stellar velocity. Finally, in simulations we find that the mass-dependent transition from aligned to anti-aligned dark matter halo spins is not necessarily present in stellar spins: we find a stellar spin transition in Illustris but not in MassiveBlack-II, highlighting the sensitivity of spin-filament alignments to feedback prescriptions and subgrid physics.

We explore a class of simple non-equilibrium star formation models within the framework of a feedback-regulated model of the ISM, applicable to kiloparsec-scale resolved star formation relations (e.g. Kennicutt-Schmidt). Combining a Toomre-Q-dependent local star formation efficiency per free-fall time with a model for delayed feedback, we are able to match the normalization and scatter of resolved star formation scaling relations. In particular, this simple model suggests that large (∼dex) variations in star formation rates (SFRs) on kiloparsec scales may be due to the fact that supernova feedback is not instantaneous following star formation. The scatter in SFRs at constant gas surface density in a galaxy then depends on the properties of feedback and when we observe its star-forming regions at various points throughout their collapse/star formation "cycles". This has the following important observational consequences: (1) the scatter and normalization of the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation are relatively insensitive to the local (small-scale) star formation efficiency, (2) but gas depletion times and velocity dispersions are; (3) the scatter in and normalization of the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation is a sensitive probe of the feedback timescale and strength; (4) even in a model where Q̃ gas deterministically dictates star formation locally, time evolution, variation in local conditions (e.g., gas fractions and dynamical times), and variations between galaxies can destroy much of the observable correlation between SFR and Q̃ gas in resolved galaxy surveys. Additionally, this model exhibits large scatter in SFRs at low gas surface densities, in agreement with observations of flat outer HI disk velocity dispersion profiles.

First-principles simulations were used to investigate water (H2O) decomposition induced by a femtosecond laser with high flux ∼1×1020photons/(seccm2). One goal of our research is to find metamaterials that locally enhance the laser field to reduce the threshold laser intensity required to decompose H2O molecules. In this work, small-diameter (6.3 Å) single-walled carbon nanotubes were found to reduce the threshold power by 90% compared with the power required to decompose H2O in the gas phase. The present results suggest a strategy for the design of materials with high energy efficiency for H2O decomposition based on polarizability and morphology (curvature) to enhance the local field. We demonstrate that carbon nanotubes enhance the local field resulting in a power enhancement of approximately eight times.

We discuss how astrophysical observations with the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE), a high-multiplexity (about 4300 fibers), wide field-of-view (1.5 square degree), large telescope aperture (11.25 m) facility, can probe the particle nature of dark matter. MSE will conduct a suite of surveys that will provide critical input for determinations of the mass function, phase-space distribution, and internal density profiles of dark matter halos across all mass scales. N-body and hydrodynamical simulations of cold, warm, fuzzy and self-interacting dark matter suggest that non-trivial dynamics in the dark sector could have left an imprint on structure formation. Analysed within these frameworks, the extensive and unprecedented datasets produced by MSE will be used to search for deviations away from cold and collisionless dark matter model. MSE will provide an improved estimate of the local density of dark matter, critical for direct detection experiments, and will improve estimates of the J-factor for indirect searches through self-annihilation or decay into Standard Model particles. MSE will determine the impact of low mass substructures on the dynamics of Milky Way stellar streams in velocity space, and will allow for estimates of the density profiles of the dark matter halos of Milky Way dwarf galaxies using more than an order of magnitude more tracers. In the low redshift Universe, MSE will provide critical redshifts to pin down the luminosity functions of vast numbers of satellite systems, and MSE will be an essential component of future strong lensing measurements to constrain the halo mass function. Across nearly all mass scales, the improvements offered by MSE, in comparison to other facilities, are such that the relevant analyses are limited by systematics rather than statistics.