scholarly journals New sensitivity curves for gravitational-wave signals from cosmological phase transitions

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Schmitz

Abstract Gravitational waves (GWs) from strong first-order phase transitions (SFOPTs) in the early Universe are a prime target for upcoming GW experiments. In this paper, I construct novel peak-integrated sensitivity curves (PISCs) for these experiments, which faithfully represent their projected sensitivities to the GW signal from a cosmological SFOPT by explicitly taking into account the expected shape of the signal. Designed to be a handy tool for phenomenologists and model builders, PISCs allow for a quick and systematic comparison of theoretical predictions with experimental sensitivities, as I illustrate by a large range of examples. PISCs also offer several advantages over the conventional power-law-integrated sensitivity curves (PLISCs); in particular, they directly encode information on the expected signal-to-noise ratio for the GW signal from a SFOPT. I provide semianalytical fit functions for the exact numerical PISCs of LISA, DECIGO, and BBO. In an appendix, I moreover present a detailed review of the strain noise power spectra of a large number of GW experiments. The numerical results for all PISCs, PLISCs, and strain noise power spectra presented in this paper can be downloaded from the Zenodo online repository [1]. In a companion paper [2], the concept of PISCs is used to perform an in-depth study of the GW signal from the cosmological phase transition in the real-scalar-singlet extension of the standard model. The PISCs presented in this paper will need to be updated whenever new theoretical results on the expected shape of the signal become available. The PISC approach is therefore suited to be used as a bookkeeping tool to keep track of the theoretical progress in the field.

Author(s):  
Feng Bao ◽  
Waleed H. Abdulla

In computational auditory scene analysis, the accurate estimation of binary mask or ratio mask plays a key role in noise masking. An inaccurate estimation often leads to some artifacts and temporal discontinuity in the synthesized speech. To overcome this problem, we propose a new ratio mask estimation method in terms of Wiener filtering in each Gammatone channel. In the reconstruction of Wiener filter, we utilize the relationship of the speech and noise power spectra in each Gammatone channel to build the objective function for the convex optimization of speech power. To improve the accuracy of estimation, the estimated ratio mask is further modified based on its adjacent time–frequency units, and then smoothed by interpolating with the estimated binary masks. The objective tests including the signal-to-noise ratio improvement, spectral distortion and intelligibility, and subjective listening test demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method compared with the reference methods.


2013 ◽  
Vol 419 ◽  
pp. 517-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Ying ◽  
Lei Wang ◽  
Wen Yuan Zhao

The solid-state nanopore sensor offers a versatile platform for the rapid, label-free electrical detection and analysis of single molecules, especially on DNA sequencing. However, the overall signal-to-noise ratio (SNA) is a major challenge in sequencing applications. In our work, two different fluid systems made by metal and plexiglass have been designed to improve the signal to noise ratio of the solid-state nanopore sensor. From the measurements on the noise power spectra with a variety of conditions, it is found that plexiglass fluid system coupled with shielding box produces a good quality of electric signals on nanopore sensors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Bigazzi ◽  
Alessio Caddeo ◽  
Aldo L. Cotrone ◽  
Angel Paredes

Abstract Spectra of stochastic gravitational waves (GW) generated in cosmological first-order phase transitions are computed within strongly correlated theories with a dual holographic description. The theories are mostly used as models of dark sectors. In particular, we consider the so-called Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, a SU(N) gauge theory coupled to different matter fields in both the fundamental and the adjoint representations. The model has a well-known top-down holographic dual description which allows us to perform reliable calculations in the strongly coupled regime. We consider the GW spectra from bubble collisions and sound waves arising from two different kinds of first-order phase transitions: a confinement/deconfinement one and a chiral symmetry breaking/restoration one. Depending on the model parameters, we find that the GW spectra may fall within the sensibility region of ground-based and space-based interferometers, as well as of Pulsar Timing Arrays. In the latter case, the signal could be compatible with the recent potential observation by NANOGrav. When the two phase transitions happen at different critical temperatures, characteristic spectra with double frequency peaks show up. Moreover, in this case we explicitly show how to correct the redshift factors appearing in the formulae for the GW power spectra to account for the fact that adiabatic expansion from the first transition to the present times cannot be assumed anymore.


2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 477-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. BABUSCI ◽  
M. GIOVANNINI

The sensitivity achievable by a pair of VIRGO detectors to stochastic and isotropic gravitational wave backgrounds produced in pre-big-bang models is discussed in view of the development of a second VIRGO interferometer. We describe a semi-analytical technique allowing to compute the signal-to-noise ratio for (monotonic or non-monotonic) logarithmic energy spectra of relic gravitons of arbitrary slope. We apply our results to the case of two correlated and coaligned VIRGO detectors and we compute their achievable sensitivities. We perform our calculations both for the usual case of minimal string cosmological scenario and in the case of a non-minimal scenario (originally suggested by Gasperini) where a long dilaton dominated phase is present prior to the onset of the ordinary radiation dominated phase. In this framework, we investigate possible improvements of the achievable sensitivities by selective reduction of the thermal contributions (pendulum and pendulum's internal modes) to the noise power spectra of the detectors. Since a reduction of the shot noise does not increase significantly the expected sensitivity of a VIRGO pair (in spite of the relative spatial location of the two detectors) our findings support the experimental efforts directed towards a substantial reduction of thermal noise.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Yuhara ◽  
Tomokazu Numano

BACKGROUND: Digital radiography (DR) is grayscale adjustable and it can be unclear whether an acquired DR image is captured with the minimum radiation dose required. It is necessary to make an image of the amount of noise when taken at a lower dose than the acquired image, without increased exposure. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether an image of unacquired dose can be created from two types of dose DR images acquired using a phantom. METHODS: To create an additive image from two images of different doses, the pixel value of one image is multiplied by a coefficient and added to the other. The normalized noise power spectra (NNPS) of the normal image and the additive image with the same signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are compared. The image noise of the unacquired doses is estimated from the graph changes of the pixel values and standard deviations of two images. The error between the SNR of the image obtained by changing the dose and the estimated SNR is measured. We propose a multiplication coefficient calculation formula that theoretically adjusts the additive image to the target SNR. The SNR error of the image created based on this formula is measured. RESULTS: The NNPS curves of the additive and normal images show a difference on the high frequency side. According to the statistics considering the preset of mAs value, there is no significant difference at 85%. The SNR estimation error is approximately 1%. The SNR error of the additive image created based on the formula is approximately 5%. CONCLUSION: The noise of the image of unacquired dose can be estimated, and the additive image adjusted to this value can be considered equivalent to the image taken at the actual dose.


Author(s):  
L. T. Pawlicki ◽  
R. M. Siegoczyński ◽  
S. Ptasznik ◽  
K. Marszałek

AbstractThe main purpose of the experiment was a thermodynamic research with use of the electric methods chosen. The substance examined was olive oil. The paper presents the resistance, capacitive reactance, relative permittivity and resistivity of olive. Compression was applied with two mean velocities up to 450 MPa. The results were shown as functions of pressure and time and depicted on the impedance phase diagram. The three first order phase transitions have been detected. All the changes in material parameters were observed during phase transitions. The material parameters measured turned out to be the much more sensitive long-time phase transition factors than temperature. The values of material parameters and their dependence on pressure and time were compared with the molecular structure, arrangement of molecules and interactions between them. Knowledge about olive oil parameters change with pressure and its phase transitions is very important for olive oil production and conservation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Bigazzi ◽  
Alessio Caddeo ◽  
Aldo L. Cotrone ◽  
Angel Paredes

Abstract Using the holographic correspondence as a tool, we study the dynamics of first-order phase transitions in strongly coupled gauge theories at finite temperature. Considering an evolution from the large to the small temperature phase, we compute the nucleation rate of bubbles of true vacuum in the metastable phase. For this purpose, we find the relevant configurations (bounces) interpolating between the vacua and we compute the related effective actions. We start by revisiting the compact Randall-Sundrum model at high temperature. Using holographic renormalization, we compute the derivative term in the effective bounce action, that was missing in the literature. Then, we address the full problem within the top-down Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model. It displays both a confinement/deconfinement and a chiral symmetry breaking/restoration phase transition which, depending on the model parameters, can happen at different critical temperatures. For the confinement/deconfinement case we perform the numerical analysis of an effective description of the transition and also provide analytic expressions using thick and thin wall approximations. For the chiral symmetry transition, we implement a variational approach that allows us to address the challenging non-linear problem stemming from the Dirac-Born-Infeld action.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1509
Author(s):  
Anbang Zhao ◽  
Caigao Zeng ◽  
Juan Hui ◽  
Keren Wang ◽  
Kaiyu Tang

Time reversal (TR) can achieve temporal and spatial focusing by exploiting spatial diversity in complex underwater environments with significant multipath. This property makes TR useful for underwater acoustic (UWA) communications. Conventional TR is realized by performing equal gain combining (EGC) on the single element TR output signals of each element of the vertical receive array (VRA). However, in the actual environment, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the received noise power of each element are different, which leads to the reduction of the focusing gain. This paper proposes a time reversal maximum ratio combining (TR-MRC) method to process the received signals of the VRA, so that a higher output SNR can be obtained. The theoretical derivation of the TR-MRC weight coefficients indicates that the weight coefficients are only related to the input noise power of each element, and are not affected by the multipath structure. The correctness of the derivation is demonstrated with the experimental data of the long-range UWA communications conducted in the South China Sea. In addition, the experimental results illustrate that compared to the conventional TR, TR-MRC can provide better performance in terms of output SNR and bit error rate (BER) in UWA communications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchi He ◽  
Kang Yang ◽  
Mark Oliver Goerbig ◽  
Roger S. K. Mong

AbstractIn recent experiments, external anisotropy has been a useful tool to tune different phases and study their competitions. In this paper, we look at the quantum Hall charge density wave states in the N = 2 Landau level. Without anisotropy, there are two first-order phase transitions between the Wigner crystal, the 2-electron bubble phase, and the stripe phase. By adding mass anisotropy, our analytical and numerical studies show that the 2-electron bubble phase disappears and the stripe phase significantly enlarges its domain in the phase diagram. Meanwhile, a regime of stripe crystals that may be observed experimentally is unveiled after the bubble phase gets out. Upon increase of the anisotropy, the energy of the phases at the transitions becomes progressively smooth as a function of the filling. We conclude that all first-order phase transitions are replaced by continuous phase transitions, providing a possible realisation of continuous quantum crystalline phase transitions.


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