463 research outputs found
Dynamics of a tunable superfluid junction
We study the population dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a
double-well potential throughout the crossover from Josephson dynamics to
hydrodynamics. At barriers higher than the chemical potential, we observe slow
oscillations well described by a Josephson model. In the limit of low barriers,
the fundamental frequency agrees with a simple hydrodynamic model, but we also
observe a second, higher frequency. A full numerical simulation of the
Gross-Pitaevskii equation giving the frequencies and amplitudes of the observed
modes between these two limits is compared to the data and is used to
understand the origin of the higher mode. Implications for trapped matter-wave
interferometers are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; v3: Journal reference added, minor changes to
tex
Transverse Demagnetization Dynamics of a Unitary Fermi Gas
Understanding the quantum dynamics of strongly interacting fermions is a
problem relevant to diverse forms of matter, including high-temperature
superconductors, neutron stars, and quark-gluon plasma. An appealing benchmark
is offered by cold atomic gases in the unitary limit of strong interactions.
Here we study the dynamics of a transversely magnetized unitary Fermi gas in an
inhomogeneous magnetic field. We observe the demagnetization of the gas, caused
by diffusive spin transport. At low temperatures, the diffusion constant
saturates to the conjectured quantum-mechanical lower bound ,
where is the particle mass. The development of pair correlations,
indicating the transformation of the initially non-interacting gas towards a
unitary spin mixture, is observed by measuring Tan's contact parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Accepted versio
Testing the skill of a species distribution model using a 21st century virtual ecosystem
Plankton communities play an important role in marine food webs, in biogeochemical cycling, and in Earth's climate; yet observations are sparse, and predictions of how they might respond to climate change vary. Correlative species distribution models (SDM's) have been applied to predicting biogeography based on relationships to observed environmental variables. To investigate sources of uncertainty, we use a correlative SDM to predict the plankton biogeography of a 21st century marine ecosystem model (Darwin). Darwin output is sampled to mimic historical ocean observations, and the SDM is trained using generalized additive models. We find that predictive skill varies across test cases, and between functional groups, with errors that are more attributable to spatiotemporal sampling bias than sample size. End-of-century predictions are poor, limited by changes in target-predictor relationships over time. Our findings illustrate the fundamental challenges faced by empirical models in using limited observational data to predict complex, dynamic systems
Observation of the Leggett-Rice effect in a unitary Fermi gas
We observe that the diffusive spin current in a strongly interacting
degenerate Fermi gas of K precesses about the local magnetization. As
predicted by Leggett and Rice, precession is observed both in the Ramsey phase
of a spin-echo sequence, and in the nonlinearity of the magnetization decay. At
unitarity, we measure a Leggett-Rice parameter and a bare
transverse spin diffusivity for a normal-state
gas initialized with full polarization and at one fifth of the Fermi
temperature, where is the atomic mass. One might expect at
unitarity, where two-body scattering is purely dissipative. We observe as temperature is increased towards the Fermi temperature,
consistent with calculations that show the degenerate Fermi sea restores a
non-zero . Tuning the scattering length , we find that a sign change
in occurs in the range , where is
the Fermi momentum. We discuss how reveals the effective interaction
strength of the gas, such that the sign change in indicates a
switching of branch, between a repulsive and an attractive Fermi gas.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; Changed to the more conventional kF=(3 pi^2
n)^1/3, instead of the polarized definition we used in v
Levosimendan increases brain tissue oxygen levels after cardiopulmonary resuscitation independent of cardiac function and cerebral perfusion
Prompt reperfusion is important to rescue ischemic tissue; however, the process itself presents a key pathomechanism that contributes to a poor outcome following cardiac arrest. Experimental data have suggested the use of levosimendan to limit ischemia–reperfusion injury by improving cerebral microcirculation. However, recent studies have questioned this effect. The present study aimed to investigate the influence on hemodynamic parameters, cerebral perfusion and oxygenation following cardiac arrest by ventricular fibrillation in juvenile male pigs. Following the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), animals were randomly assigned to levosimendan (12 µg/kg, followed by 0.3 µg/kg/min) or vehicle treatment for 6 h. Levosimendan-treated animals showed significantly higher brain PbtO(2) levels. This effect was not accompanied by changes in cardiac output, preload and afterload, arterial blood pressure, or cerebral microcirculation indicating a local effect. Cerebral oxygenation is key to minimizing damage, and thus, current concepts are aimed at improving impaired cardiac output or cerebral perfusion. In the present study, we showed that NIRS does not reliably detect low PbtO(2) levels and that levosimendan increases brain oxygen content. Thus, levosimendan may present a promising therapeutic approach to rescue brain tissue at risk following cardiac arrest or ischemic events such as stroke or traumatic brain injury
Kinetics of Anchoring of Polymer Chains on Substrates with Chemically Active Sites
We consider dynamics of an isolated polymer chain with a chemically active
end-bead on a 2D solid substrate containing immobile, randomly placed
chemically active sites (traps). For a particular situation when the end-bead
can be irreversibly trapped by any of these sites, which results in a complete
anchoring of the whole chain, we calculate the time evolution of the
probability that the initially non-anchored chain remains mobile
until time . We find that for relatively short chains follows at
intermediate times a standard-form 2D Smoluchowski-type decay law , which crosses over at very large times to the
fluctuation-induced dependence , associated with
fluctuations in the spatial distribution of traps. We show next that for long
chains the kinetic behavior is quite different; here the intermediate-time
decay is of the form , which is the
Smoluchowski-type law associated with subdiffusive motion of the end-bead,
while the long-time fluctuation-induced decay is described by the dependence
, stemming out of the interplay between
fluctuations in traps distribution and internal relaxations of the chain.Comment: Latex file, 19 pages, one ps figure, to appear in PR
Theory and applications of atomic and ionic polarizabilities
Atomic polarization phenomena impinge upon a number of areas and processes in
physics. The dielectric constant and refractive index of any gas are examples
of macroscopic properties that are largely determined by the dipole
polarizability. When it comes to microscopic phenomena, the existence of
alkaline-earth anions and the recently discovered ability of positrons to bind
to many atoms are predominantly due to the polarization interaction. An
imperfect knowledge of atomic polarizabilities is presently looming as the
largest source of uncertainty in the new generation of optical frequency
standards. Accurate polarizabilities for the group I and II atoms and ions of
the periodic table have recently become available by a variety of techniques.
These include refined many-body perturbation theory and coupled-cluster
calculations sometimes combined with precise experimental data for selected
transitions, microwave spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms and ions, refractive index
measurements in microwave cavities, ab initio calculations of atomic structures
using explicitly correlated wave functions, interferometry with atom beams, and
velocity changes of laser cooled atoms induced by an electric field. This
review examines existing theoretical methods of determining atomic and ionic
polarizabilities, and discusses their relevance to various applications with
particular emphasis on cold-atom physics and the metrology of atomic frequency
standards.Comment: Review paper, 44 page
Quantum transport in ultracold atoms
Ultracold atoms confined by engineered magnetic or optical potentials are
ideal systems for studying phenomena otherwise difficult to realize or probe in
the solid state because their atomic interaction strength, number of species,
density, and geometry can be independently controlled. This review focuses on
quantum transport phenomena in atomic gases that mirror and oftentimes either
better elucidate or show fundamental differences with those observed in
mesoscopic and nanoscopic systems. We discuss significant progress in
performing transport experiments in atomic gases, contrast similarities and
differences between transport in cold atoms and in condensed matter systems,
and survey inspiring theoretical predictions that are difficult to verify in
conventional setups. These results further demonstrate the versatility offered
by atomic systems in the study of nonequilibrium phenomena and their promise
for novel applications.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. A revie
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