Flux Bias Research Articles

Understanding Bias in the Evaporative Damping of El Niño–Southern Oscillation Events in CMIP5 Models

This study examines the extent of the Pacific double–intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) bias in an ensemble of CMIP5 coupled general circulation models and the relationship between this common bias and equatorial Pacific evaporative heat flux feedbacks involved in El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). A feedback decomposition method, based on the latent heat flux bulk formula, is implemented to enable identification of underlying causes of feedback bias and diversity from dynamical and thermodynamical processes. The magnitude of mean precipitation south of the equator in the east Pacific (an indicator of the extent of the double-ITCZ bias in a model) is linked to the mean meridional surface wind speed and direction in the region and is consequently linked to diversity in the strength of the wind speed response during the ENSO cycle. The ENSO latent heat flux damping is weak in almost all models and shows a relatively large range in strength in the CMIP5 ensemble. While both humidity gradient and wind speed feedbacks are important drivers of the damping, the wind speed feedback is an underlying cause of the overall damping bias for many models and is ultimately more dominant in driving interensemble variation. Feedback biases can also persist in atmosphere-only (AMIP) runs, suggesting that the atmosphere model plays an important role in latent heat flux damping and double-ITCZ bias and variation. Improvements to coupled model simulation of both mean precipitation and ENSO may be accelerated by focusing on the atmosphere component.

Superconducting qubit-resonator-atom hybrid system

We propose a hybrid quantum system where an LC resonator inductively interacts with a flux qubit and is capacitively coupled to a Rydberg atom. Varying the external magnetic flux bias controls the flux qubit flipping and the flux qubit-resonator interface. The atomic spectrum is tuned via an electrostatic field, manipulating the qubit-state transition of atom and the atom-resonator coupling. Different types of entanglement of superconducting, photonic and atomic qubits can be prepared via simply tuning the flux bias and electrostatic field, leading to the implementation of three-qubit Toffoli logic gate.

Calibration of Magnetometers with GNSS Receivers and Magnetometer-Aided GNSS Ambiguity Fixing.

Magnetometers provide compass information, and are widely used for navigation, orientation and alignment of objects. As magnetometers are affected by sensor biases and eventually by systematic distortions of the Earth magnetic field, a calibration is needed. In this paper, a method for calibration of magnetometers with three Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers is presented. We perform a least-squares estimation of the magnetic flux and sensor biases using GNSS-based attitude information. The attitude is obtained from the relative positions between the GNSS receivers in the North-East-Down coordinate frame and prior knowledge of these relative positions in the platform’s coordinate frame. The relative positions and integer ambiguities of the periodic carrier phase measurements are determined with an integer least-squares estimation using an integer decorrelation and sequential tree search. Prior knowledge on the relative positions is used to increase the success rate of ambiguity fixing. We have validated the proposed method with low-cost magnetometers and GNSS receivers on a vehicle in a test drive. The calibration enabled a consistent heading determination with an accuracy of five degrees. This precise magnetometer-based attitude information allows an instantaneous GNSS integer ambiguity fixing.

A Novel Design Method for the Electrical Machines With Biased DC Excitation Flux Linkage

A novel design method for electrical machines with biased dc excitation flux linkage, named biased flux machines (BFMs) is proposed in this paper. The biased current including dc and ac components is applied to drive these machines, in which dc current is used to generate or modulate the exciting magnetic field and ac current is used to generate armature field. To demonstrate this design and control method, a new double salient BFM is proposed. The feasibility of this design is verified by simulations and experiments. The major advantages for this design method could be summarized as: 1) for permanent magnet exciting BFMs, the biased current can be combined with negative d-axis current to realize flexible flux weakening or strengthening control; 2) for hybrid exciting or electrical exciting machines, the biased current can function as the dc windings, which helps to save more space for armature windings and further reduce cost and improve efficiency; and 3) this method is universal, which can be used in all BFMs.

Superconductivity Provides Access to the Chiral Magnetic Effect of an Unpaired Weyl Cone.

The massless fermions of a Weyl semimetal come in two species of opposite chirality, in two cones of the band structure. As a consequence, the current j induced in one Weyl cone by a magnetic field B [the chiral magnetic effect (CME)] is canceled in equilibrium by an opposite current in the other cone. Here, we show that superconductivity offers a way to avoid this cancellation, by means of a flux bias that gaps out a Weyl cone jointly with its particle-hole conjugate. The remaining gapless Weyl cone and its particle-hole conjugate represent a single fermionic species, with renormalized charge e^{*} and a single chirality ± set by the sign of the flux bias. As a consequence, the CME is no longer canceled in equilibrium but appears as a supercurrent response ∂j/∂B=±(e^{*}e/h^{2})μ along the magnetic field at chemical potential μ.

Superconducting phase qubits with shadow-evaporated Josephson junctions**Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2014CB921202, 2015CB921104, and 2016YFA0300601) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91321208 and 11674380).

We develop a fabrication process for the superconducting phase qubits in which Josephson junctions for both the qubit and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) detector are prepared by shadow evaporation with a suspended bridge. Al junctions with areas as small as are fabricated for the qubit, in which the number of the decoherence-causing two-level systems (TLS) residing in the tunnel barrier and proportional to the junction area are greatly reduced. The measured energy spectrum shows no avoided crossing arising from coherent TLS in the experimentally reachable flux bias range of the phase qubit, which demonstrates the energy relaxation time T1 and dephasing time on the order of 100 ns and 50 ns, respectively. We discuss several possible origins of decoherence from incoherent or weakly-coupled coherent TLS and further improvements of the qubit performance.

Representation of Arctic Moist Intrusions in CMIP5 Models and Implications for Winter Climate Biases

Abstract This paper examines the wintertime northward moisture flux at 70°N from 1981–2005 in 31 of the CMIP5 models compared with the ERA-Interim reanalysis product. The models’ total zonally integrated northward moisture flux is found to agree reasonably well with the reanalysis, but with large compensating regional biases. Specifically, the models systematically underpredict the moisture flux in the Atlantic sector and overpredict it in the Pacific sector. The biases are predominantly due to misrepresentation of extreme moisture flux events, which are known to exert a significant control on Arctic climate. Biases in these high-intensity fluxes are almost entirely contributed by biases in the meridional velocity, suggesting a link with biases in storm-track activity at lower latitudes. The extent to which the deficit of moisture intrusions in the Atlantic sector and excess in the Pacific sector may account for biases in the climate of the respective sectors is assessed. Biases in the frequency of moisture intrusions explain roughly 17% of surface temperature and 24% of surface downward longwave radiation biases in the Atlantic sector, and about 14% and 16% of the gradient in these respective biases between the two sectors. The predicted bias gradients, while small in amplitude, are very highly correlated with the true bias gradients in the models, suggesting that the temperature bias directly induced by misrepresented intrusion statistics may be strongly amplified by sea ice feedback.

Superconducting quantum simulator for topological order and the toric code

Topological order is now being established as a central criterion for characterizing and classifying ground states of condensed matter systems and complements categorizations based on symmetries. Fractional quantum Hall systems and quantum spin liquids are receiving substantial interest because of their intriguing quantum correlations, their exotic excitations and prospects for protecting stored quantum information against errors. Here we show that the Hamiltonian of the central model of this class of systems, the Toric Code, can be directly implemented as an analog quantum simulator in lattices of superconducting circuits. The four-body interactions, which lie at its heart, are in our concept realized via Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) that are driven by a suitably oscillating flux bias. All physical qubits and coupling SQUIDs can be individually controlled with high precision. Topologically ordered states can be prepared via an adiabatic ramp of the stabilizer interactions. Strings of qubit operators, including the stabilizers and correlations along non-contractible loops, can be read out via a capacitive coupling to read-out resonators. Moreover, the available single qubit operations allow to create and propagate elementary excitations of the Toric Code and to verify their fractional statistics. The architecture we propose allows to implement a large variety of many-body interactions and thus provides a versatile analog quantum simulator for topological order and lattice gauge theories.

Magnetic flux biasing of magnetostrictive sensors

The performance of magnetostrictive materials, especially those with high initial magnetic permeability and associated low magnetic reluctance, is sensitive to not just the amount of magnetic bias but also how the bias is applied. Terfenol-D and Galfenol have been characterized under constant magnetic field and constant magnetomotive force, which require active control. The application of a magnetic flux bias utilizing permanent magnets allows for robust magnetostrictive systems that require no active control. However, this biasing configuration has not been thoroughly investigated. This study presents flux density versus stress major loops of Terfenol-D and Galfenol at various magnetic flux biases. A new piezomagnetic coefficient is defined as the locally-averaged slope of flux density versus stress. Considering the materials alone, the maximum is 18.42 T GPa−1 and 19.53 T GPa−1 for Terfenol-D and Galfenol, respectively. Compared with the peak piezomagnetic coefficient measured under controlled magnetic fields, the piezomagnetic coefficient is 26% and 74% smaller for Terfenol-D and Galfenol, respectively. This study shows that adding parallel magnetic flux paths to low-reluctance magnetostrictive components can partially compensate for the performance loss. With a low carbon steel flux path in parallel to the Galfenol specimen, the maximum increased to 28.33 T GPa−1 corresponding to a 45% improvement compared with the case without a flux path. Due to its low magnetic permeability, Terfenol-D does not benefit from the addition of a parallel flux path.

Impact of urban canopy models and external parameters on the modelled urban energy balance in a tropical city

To date, existing urban land surface models (ULSMs) have been mostly evaluated and optimized for mid‐ and high‐latitude cities. For the first time, we provide a comparative evaluation of four ULSMs for a tropical residential neighbourhood in Singapore using directly measured energy balance components. The simulations are performed offline, for an 11 month period, using the bulk scheme TERRA_URB and three models of intermediate complexity (CLM, SURFEX and SUEWS). In addition, information from three different parameter lists are used to quantify the impact (interaction) of (between) external parameter settings and model formulations on the modelled urban energy balance components. Encouragingly, overall results indicate good model performance for most energy balance components and align well with previous findings for midlatitude regions, suggesting the transferability of these models to (sub)tropical regions. Similar to results from midlatitude regions, the outgoing long‐wave radiation and latent heat flux remain the most problematic fluxes. In addition, the various combinations of models and different parameter values suggest that error statistics tend to be dominated more by the choice of the latter than the choice of model. Finally, our intercomparison framework enabled the attribution of common deficiencies in the different model approaches found previously in midlatitude regions: the simple representation of water intercepted by impervious surfaces leading to a positive bias in the latent heat flux directly after a precipitation event; and the positive bias in modelled outgoing long‐wave radiation that is partly due to neglecting the radiative interactions of water vapour between the surface and the tower sensor. These findings suggest that future developments in urban climate research should continue the integration of more physically based processes in urban canopy models, ensure the consistency between the observed and modelled atmospheric properties and focus on the correct representation of urban morphology, water storage and thermal and radiative characteristics.

Time-multiplexed amplification in a hybrid-less and coil-less Josephson parametric converter

Josephson parametric converters (JPCs) are superconducting devices capable of performing nondegenerate, three-wave mixing in the microwave domain without losses. One drawback limiting their use in scalable quantum architectures is the large footprint of the auxiliary circuit needed for their operation, in particular, the use of off-chip, bulky, broadband hybrids and magnetic coils. Here, we realize a JPC that eliminates the need for these bulky components. The pump drive and flux bias are applied in the Hybrid-Less, Coil-Less (HLCL) device through an on-chip, lossless, three-port power divider and an on-chip flux line, respectively. We show that the HLCL design considerably simplifies the circuit and reduces the footprint of the device while maintaining a comparable performance to state-of-the-art JPCs. Furthermore, we exploit the tunable bandwidth property of the JPC and the added capability of applying alternating currents to the flux line in order to switch the resonance frequencies of the device, hence demonstrating time-multiplexed amplification of microwave tones that are separated by more than the dynamical bandwidth of the amplifier. Such a measurement technique can potentially serve to perform a time-multiplexed, high-fidelity readout of superconducting qubits.

Relevant parameter space and stability of spherical tokamaks with a plasma center column

A spherical tokamak (ST) with a plasma center column (PCC) can be formed inside a simply connected chamber via driven magnetic relaxation. From a practical perspective, the ST-PCC could overcome many difficulties associated with the material center column of the standard ST reactor design. Besides, the ST-PCC concept can be regarded as an advanced helicity injected device that would enable novel experiments on the key physics of magnetic relaxation and reconnection. This is because the concept includes not only a PCC but also a coaxial helicity injector (CHI). This combination implies an improved level of flexibility in the helicity injection scheme required for the formation and sustainment phases. In this work, the parameter space determining the magnetic structure of the ST-PCC equilibria is studied under the assumption of fully relaxed plasmas. In particular, it is shown that the effect of the external bias field of the PCC and the CHI essentially depends on a single parameter that measures the relative amount of flux of these two entities. The effect of plasma elongation on the safety factor profile and the stability to the tilt mode are also analyzed. In the first part of this work, the stability of the system is explained in terms of the minimum energy principle, and relevant stability maps are constructed. While this picture provides an adequate insight into the underlying physics of the instability, it does not include the stabilizing effect of line-tying at the electrodes. In the second part, a dynamical stability analysis of the ST-PCC configurations, including the effect of line-tying, is performed by numerically solving the magnetohydrodynamic equations. A significant stability enhancement is observed when the PCC contains more than the 70% of the total external bias flux, and the elongation is not higher than two.

High Frequency Cluster Radio Galaxies: Luminosity Functions and Implications for SZE Selected Cluster Samples

We study the overdensity of point sources in the direction of X-ray-selected galaxy clusters from the Meta-Catalog of X-ray detected Clusters of galaxies (MCXC; $\langle z \rangle = 0.14$) at South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) frequencies. Flux densities at 95, 150 and 220 GHz are extracted from the 2500 deg$^2$ SPT-SZ survey maps at the locations of SUMSS sources, producing a multi-frequency catalog of radio galaxies. In the direction of massive galaxy clusters, the radio galaxy flux densities at 95 and 150 GHz are biased low by the cluster Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) signal, which is negative at these frequencies. We employ a cluster SZE model to remove the expected flux bias and then study these corrected source catalogs. We find that the high frequency radio galaxies are centrally concentrated within the clusters and that their luminosity functions (LFs) exhibit amplitudes that are characteristically an order of magnitude lower than the cluster LF at 843 MHz. We use the 150 GHz LF to estimate the impact of cluster radio galaxies on an SPT-SZ like survey. The radio galaxy flux typically produces a small bias on the SZE signal and has negligible impact on the observed scatter in the SZE mass-observable relation. If we assume there is no redshift evolution in the radio galaxy LF then $1.8\pm0.7$ percent of the clusters would be lost from the sample. Allowing for redshift evolution of the form $(1+z)^{2.5}$ increases the incompleteness to $5.6\pm1.0$ percent. Improved constraints on the evolution of the cluster radio galaxy LF require a larger cluster sample extending to higher redshift.

A comprehensive assessment of land surface-atmosphere interactions in a WRF/Urban modeling system for Indianapolis, IN

As part of the Indianapolis Flux (INFLUX) experiment, the accuracy and biases of simulated meteorological fields were assessed for the city of Indianapolis, IN. The INFLUX project allows for a unique opportunity to conduct an extensive observation-to-model comparison in order to assess model errors for the following meteorological variables: latent heat and sensible heat fluxes, air temperature near the surface and in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), wind speed and direction, and PBL height. In order to test the sensitivity of meteorological simulations to different model packages, a set of simulations was performed by implementing different PBL schemes, urban canopy models (UCMs), and a model subroutine that was created in order to reduce an inherent model overestimation of urban land cover. It was found that accurately representing the amount of urban cover in the simulations reduced the biases in most cases during the summertime (SUMMER) simulations. The simulations that used the BEP urban canopy model and the Bougeault & Lacarrere (BouLac) PBL scheme had the smallest biases in the wintertime (WINTER) simulations for most meteorological variables, with the exception being wind direction. The model configuration chosen had a larger impact on model errors during the WINTER simulations, whereas the differences between most of the model configurations during the SUMMER simulations were not statistically significant. By learning the behaviors of different PBL schemes and urban canopy models, researchers can start to understand the expected biases in certain model configurations for their own simulations and have a hypothesis as to the potential errors and biases that might occur when using a multi-physics ensemble based modeling approach.

영구자석 바이어스 자기부상 구동기 설계 및 해석

A new hybrid permanent magnet biased magnetic levitation actuator (maglev) is developed. This new maglev actuator is composed of two C-core electromagnetic cores separated with two permanent magnets. Compared to the conventional hybrid maglev actuators, the new actuator has unique flux paths such that bias flux paths are separated with control flux paths. The control flux paths have minimum reluctances only developed by air gaps, so the currents to produce control fluxes can be minimized. The gravity load can be compensated with the permanent magnet bias fluxes developed at off-centered air gap positions while external disturbances are controlled with control fluxes by currents. The consumed power to operate this levitation system can be minimized. 1-D magnetic circuit model is developed for this model such that the flux densities and magnetic forces are extensively analyzed. 3-D finite element model is also developed to analyze the performances of the maglev actuator.

Photomultiplier tube calibration based on Na lidar observation and its effect on heat flux bias.

Na lidar can measure vertical wind and temperature at high temporal and vertical resolutions, enough to resolve gravity wave perturbations. Heat flux due to dissipating gravity waves is an important quantity that can be derived from such perturbations. When lidar signals are high, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) used to count incoming photons may suffer from the saturation effect, and its output count is not linearly related to incoming photon counts. Corrections to this effect can be measured in a laboratory setting but may have large errors at high count rates. We show that the errors in the PMT correction can cause significant bias in the heat flux calculation due to the inherent correlation between wind and temperature errors. Using the measurements made by Na lidar at the Andes Lidar Observatory with Hamamatsu PMTs, we developed a calibration procedure to remove such PMT correction errors from laboratory measurements. By applying the revised PMT correction curve we demonstrated that the heat flux bias can be removed through this procedure.

Extra-tropical origin of equatorial Pacific cold bias in climate models with links to cloud albedo

General circulation models frequently suffer from a substantial cold bias in equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs). For instance, the majority of the climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) have this particular problem (17 out of the 26 models evaluated in the present study). Here, we investigate the extent to which these equatorial cold biases are related to mean climate biases generated in the extra-tropics and then communicated to the equator via the oceanic subtropical cells (STCs). With an evident relationship across the CMIP5 models between equatorial SSTs and upper ocean temperatures in the extra-tropical subduction regions, our analysis suggests that cold SST biases within the extra-tropical Pacific indeed translate into a cold equatorial bias via the STCs. An assessment of the relationship between these extra-tropical SST biases and local surface heat flux components indicates a link to biases in the simulated shortwave fluxes. Further sensitivity studies with a climate model (CESM) in which extra-tropical cloud albedo is systematically varied illustrate the influence of cloud albedo perturbations, not only directly above the oceanic subduction regions but across the extra-tropics, on the equatorial bias. The CESM experiments reveal a quadratic relationship between extra-tropical Pacific albedo and the root-mean-square-error in equatorial SSTs—a relationship with which the CMIP5 models generally agree. Thus, our study suggests that one way to improve the equatorial cold bias in the models is to improve the representation of subtropical and mid-latitude cloud albedo.

Assessing Impacts of PBL and Surface Layer Schemes in Simulating the Surface–Atmosphere Interactions and Precipitation over the Tropical Ocean Using Observations from AMIE/DYNAMO

Abstract Accuracy of turbulence parameterization in representing planetary boundary layer (PBL) processes and surface–atmosphere interactions in climate models is critical for predicting the initiation and development of clouds. This study 1) evaluates WRF Model–simulated spatial patterns and vertical profiles of atmospheric variables at various spatial resolutions and with different PBL, surface layer, and shallow convection schemes against measurements; 2) identifies model biases by examining the moisture tendency terms contributed by PBL and convection processes through nudging experiments; and 3) investigates the main causes of these biases by analyzing the dependence of modeled surface fluxes on PBL and surface layer schemes over the tropical ocean. The results show that PBL and surface parameterizations have surprisingly large impacts on precipitation and surface moisture fluxes over tropical oceans. All of the parameterizations tested tend to overpredict moisture in the PBL and free atmosphere and consequently result in larger moist static energy and precipitation. Moisture nudging tends to suppress the initiation of convection and reduces the excess precipitation. The reduction in precipitation bias in turn reduces the surface wind and latent heat (LH) flux biases, which suggests the positive feedback between precipitation and surface fluxes is responsible, at least in part, for the model drifts. The updated Kain–Fritsch cumulus potential (KF-CuP) shallow convection scheme tends to suppress the deep convection, consequently decreasing precipitation. The Eta Model surface layer scheme predicts more reasonable LH fluxes and LH–wind speed relationship than those for the MM5 scheme. The results help us identify sources of biases of current parameterization schemes in reproducing PBL processes, the initiation of convection, and intraseasonal variability of precipitation.

Novel Synchronous Machine With Permanent Magnet in Stator Yoke

One novel 6/7 (the pole number of stator/rotor) biased flux permanent magnet machine with auxiliary teeth (AT-BFPMM) is proposed in this paper. The stator of new machine is composed by modular T-shaped lamination segments sandwiched with circumferentially magnetized permanent magnets (PMs) and the rotor is similar with that of switched reluctance machines. The magnetization direction of PMs on both sides of auxiliary teeth is kept the same, while it is not for the PMs on both sides of teeth with armature windings. Then, the proposed machine is optimized by using two-dimension finite element algorithm based on given specifications and optimization strategy. Finally, comparative study between the proposed machine and the original biased flux permanent magnet machine (ORI-BFPMM) with the same outside radius and axial length is presented. It demonstrates that the proposed AT-BFPMM has much higher power factor, lower torque ripple, higher efficiency, and stronger overload capability than those of ORI-BFPMM.

The seasonal cycle as a mode to diagnose biases in modelled CO2 fluxes in the Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean forms a key component of the global carbon budget, taking up about 1.0 Pg C yr−1 of anthropogenic CO2 emitted annually (∼10.7±0.5 Pg C yr−1 for 2012). However, despite its importance, it still remains undersampled with respect to surface ocean carbon flux variability, resulting in weak constraints for ocean carbon and carbon – climate models. As a result, atmospheric inversion and coupled physics-biogeochemical ocean models still play a central role in constraining the air-sea CO2 fluxes in the Southern Ocean. A recent synthesis study (Lenton et al., 2013a), however, showed that although ocean biogeochemical models (OBGMs) agree on the mean annual flux of CO2 in the Southern Ocean, they disagree on both amplitude and phasing of the seasonal cycle and compare poorly to observations. In this study, we develop and present a methodological framework to diagnose the controls on the seasonal variability of sea-air CO2 fluxes in model outputs relative to observations. We test this framework by comparing the NEMO-PISCES ocean model ORCA2-LIM2-PISCES to the Takahashi 2009 (T09) CO2 dataset. Here we demonstrate that the seasonal cycle anomaly for CO2 fluxes in ORCA2LP is linked to an underestimation of winter convective CO2 entrainment as well as the impact of biological CO2 uptake during the spring-summer season, relative to T09 observations. This resulted in sea surface temperature (SST) becoming the dominant driver of seasonal scale of the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) variability and hence of the differences in the seasonality of CO2 sea-air flux between the model and observations.