"Half a proton" in the Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield Skyrme model

The BPS Skyrme model is a model containing an $SU(2)$-valued scalar field, in which a Bogomol'nyi-type inequality can be satisfied by soliton solutions. In this model, the energy density of static configurations is the sum of the square of the topological charge density plus a potential. The topological charge density is nothing else but the pull-back of the Haar measure of the group $SU(2)$ on the physical space by the field configuration. As a consequence, this energy expression has a high degree of symmetry: it is invariant to volume preserving diffeomorphisms both on physical space and on the target space. We demonstrate here, that in the BPS Skyrme model such solutions exists, that a fraction of their charge and energy densities are localised, and the remaining part can be any far away, not interacting with the localised part.Comment: 5 pages, no figures; updated to final versio

Plane waves as tractor beams

It is shown that in a large class of systems plane waves can act as tractor beams: i.e., an incident plane wave can exert a pulling force on the scatterer. The underlying physical mechanism for the pulling force is due to the sufficiently strong scattering of the incoming wave into another mode having a larger wave number, in which case excess momentum is created behind the scatterer. Such a tractor beam or negative radiation pressure effect arises naturally in systems where the coupling between the scattering channels is due to Aharonov-Bohm (AB) gauge potentials. It is demonstrated that this effect is also present if the AB potential is an induced, ("artificial") gauge potential such as the one found in J. March-Russell, J. Preskill, F. Wilczek, Phys. Rev. Lett. 58 2567 (1992).Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Negative radiation pressure in Bose-Einstein condensates.

In two-component nonlinear Schrödinger equations, the force exerted by incident monochromatic plane waves on an embedded dark soliton and on dark-bright-type solitons is investigated, both perturbatively and by numerical simulations. When the incoming wave is nonvanishing only in the orthogonal component to that of the embedded dark soliton, its acceleration is in the opposite direction to that of the incoming wave. This somewhat surprising phenomenon can be attributed to the well-known negative effective mass of the dark soliton. When a dark-bright soliton, whose effective mass is also negative, is hit by an incoming wave nonvanishing in the component corresponding to the dark soliton, the direction of its acceleration coincides with that of the incoming wave. This implies that the net force acting on it is in the opposite direction to that of the incoming wave. This rather counterintuitive effect is a yet another manifestation of negative radiation pressure exerted by the incident wave, observed in other systems. When a dark-bright soliton interacts with an incoming wave in the component of the bright soliton, it accelerates in the opposite direction; hence the force is pushing it now. We expect that these remarkable effects, in particular the negative radiation pressure, can be experimentally verified in Bose-Einstein condensates

Negative radiation pressure in Bose-Einstein condensates

In two-component non-linear Schr\"odinger equations, the force exerted by incident monochromatic plane waves on an embedded dark soliton and on dark-bright-type solitons is investigated, both perturbatively and by numerical simulations. When the incoming wave is non-vanishing only in the orthogonal component to that of the embedded dark soliton, its acceleration is in the opposite direction to that of the incoming wave. This somewhat surprising phenomenon can be attributed to the well known "negative effective mass" of the dark soliton. When a dark-bright soliton, whose effective mass is also negative, is hit by an incoming wave non-vanishing in the component corresponding to the dark soliton, the direction of its acceleration coincides with that of the incoming wave. This implies that the net force acting on it is in the opposite direction to that of the incoming wave. This rather counter-intuitive effect is a yet another manifestation of negative radiation pressure exerted by the incident wave, observed in other systems. When a dark-bright soliton interacts with an incoming wave in the component of the bright soliton, it accelerates in the opposite direction, hence the force is "pushing" it now. We expect that these remarkable effects, in particular the negative radiation pressure, can be experimentally verified in Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 31 pages, 16 figure

Covariant Linear Perturbations in a Concordance Model

We present the complete solution of the first order metric and density perturbation equations in a spatially flat (K=0), Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe filled with pressureless ideal fluid, in the presence of cosmological constant. We use covariant linear perturbation formalism and the comoving gauge condition to obtain the field and conservation equations. The solution contains all modes of the perturbations, i.e. scalar, vector and tensor modes, and we show that our results are in agreement with the Sachs & Wolfe metric perturbation formalism.Comment: 8 page

Negative radiation pressure exerted on kinks

The interaction of a kink and a monochromatic plane wave in one dimensional scalar field theories is studied. It is shown that in a large class of models the radiation pressure exerted on the kink is negative, i.e. the kink is {\sl pulled} towards the source of the radiation. This effect has been observed by numerical simulations in the $\phi^4$ model, and it is explained by a perturbative calculation assuming that the amplitude of the incoming wave is small. Quite importantly the effect is shown to be robust against small perturbations of the $\phi^4$ model. In the sine-Gordon (sG) model the time averaged radiation pressure acting on the kink turns out to be zero. The results of the perturbative computations in the sG model are shown to be in full agreement with an analytical solution corresponding to the superposition of a sG kink with a cnoidal wave. It is also demonstrated that the acceleration of the kink satisfies Newton's law.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX/RevTe

Hogyan kommunikál felelősen egy márka a Covid-19 járvány idején? Az IKEA esete

A pandémia idején nehéz helyzetbe kerültek a márkamenedzserek, hiszen a lezárások kezdetekor nem tudták biztosan, hogy a fogyasztók elégedettsége szempontjából a marketingkampányok leállítása, változtatás nélküli folytatása vagy az adott helyzethez való igazítása jelenti-e a legoptimálisabb megoldást. A fogyasztói kutatásokból azóta már jól látszik, hogy leginkább arra volt szükségük az embereknek, hogy a mindennapi életüket körülvevő márkák továbbra is kiszámíthatóságot, biztonságot sugározzanak – sokszor akár a lassan reagáló kormányzatok helyét is átvéve a tájékoztatásban. Tanulmányunkban a témával kapcsolatos fogyasztói kutatások főbb megállapításait foglaljuk össze, illetve bemutatjuk azokat a jó gyakorlatokat az IKEA példáján, amelyek bizonyították kreativitásukat, hitelességüket, válság-állóságukat és társadalmi felelősségüket fogyasztóik szemében

Instabilities of Twisted Strings

A linear stability analysis of twisted flux-tubes (strings) in an SU(2) semilocal theory -- an Abelian-Higgs model with two charged scalar fields with a global SU(2) symmetry -- is carried out. Here the twist refers to a relative phase between the two complex scalars (with linear dependence on, say, the $z$ coordinate), and importantly it leads to a global current flowing along the the string. Such twisted strings bifurcate with the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) solution embedded in the semilocal theory. Our numerical investigations of the small fluctuation spectrum confirm previous results that twisted strings exhibit instabilities whose amplitudes grow exponentially in time. More precisely twisted strings with a single magnetic flux quantum admit a continuous family of unstable eigenmodes with harmonic $z$ dependence, indexed by a wavenumber $k\in[-k_{\rm m},k_{\rm m}]$. Carrying out a perturbative semi-analytic analysis of the bifurcation, it is found that the purely numerical results are very well reproduced. This way one obtains not only a good qualitative description of the twisted solutions themselves as well as of their instabilities, but also a quantitative description of the numerical results. Our semi-analytic results indicate that in close analogy to the known instability of the embedded ANO vortex a twisted string is also likely to expand in size caused by the spreading out of its magnetic flux.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures. Typos corrected, references adde

Type I like behavior of the type II alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor positive allosteric modulator A-867744

Cognitive impairment often involves the decreased expression or hypofunction of alpha 7-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (alpha 7 nAChRs). Agonists or positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of alpha 7 nAChRs are known to be potential treatments for dementias, different neurodegenerative disorders, pain syndromes and conditions involving inflammation. In some of these conditions, it is desirable to maintain the temporal precision of fast cholinergic events, while in others, this temporal precision is unnecessary. For this reason, the optimal therapeutic effect for distinct indications may require PAMs with different mechanisms of action. The two major mechanisms are called "type I", which are compounds that augment alpha 7 nAChR-mediated currents but maintain their characteristic fast kinetics; and "type II", which are compounds that produce augmented and prolonged currents. In this study, we performed a kinetic analysis of two type II PAMs of the alpha 7 nAChR: PNU-120596 and A-867744, using a fast perfusion method that allowed high temporal resolution. We characterized the type of modulation produced by the two compounds, the state-dependence of the modulatory action, and the interaction between the two compounds. We found fundamental differences between the modulation mechanisms by PNU-120596 and A-867744. Most importantly, during brief agonist pulses, A-867744 caused a strikingly type I-like modulation, while PNU-120596 caused a type II-like prolonged activation. Our results demonstrate that specific compounds, even though all labeled as type II PAMs, can behave in completely different ways, including their onset and offset kinetics, state preference, and single channel open time. Our results emphasize that subtle details of the mechanism of action may be significant in assessing the therapeutic applicability of alpha 7 nAChR PAM compounds