A precise determination of the Bc mass from dynamical lattice QCD

We perform a precise calculation of the mass of the B_c meson using unquenched configurations from the MILC collaboration including 2+1 flavours of improved staggered quarks. Lattice NRQCD and the Fermilab formalism are used to describe the b and c quarks respectively. We find the mass of the B_c meson to be 6.304(16) GeVComment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy), Fermilab, June 21-26. 3 pages, 2 figure

Flow profoundly influences fibrin network structure: Implications for fibrin formation and clot stability in haemostasis

Dear Sirs, Haemostasis requires fibrinogen conversion to fibrin and formation of a stable fibrin network. Fibrin network properties, including fibre thickness, branchpoint density, fibre density, mechanical stability, porosity, and resistance to lysis can differentiate plasma clots of healthy individuals from those with haemostatic or thrombotic disorders. Plasma from patients with a bleeding history produces thick, minimally-branched fibres in coarse, deformable networks that are highly susceptible to lysis, whereas plasma from patients with a personal or family history of thrombosis produces thin, highly-branched fibres in impermeable, rigid networks that are relatively resistant to fibrinolysi

Quantum Coherence in a Single Ion due to strong Excitation of a metastable Transition

We consider pump-probe spectroscopy of a single ion with a highly metastable (probe) clock transition which is monitored by using the quantum jump technique. For a weak clock laser we obtain the well known Autler-Townes splitting. For stronger powers of the clock laser we demonstrate the transition to a new regime. The two regimes are distinguished by the transition of two complex eigenvalues to purely imaginary ones which can be very different in magnitude. The transition is controlled by the power of the clock laser. For pump on resonance we present simple analytical expressions for various linewidths and line positions.Comment: 6 figures. accepted for publication in PR

A framework for the local information dynamics of distributed computation in complex systems

The nature of distributed computation has often been described in terms of the component operations of universal computation: information storage, transfer and modification. We review the first complete framework that quantifies each of these individual information dynamics on a local scale within a system, and describes the manner in which they interact to create non-trivial computation where "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". We describe the application of the framework to cellular automata, a simple yet powerful model of distributed computation. This is an important application, because the framework is the first to provide quantitative evidence for several important conjectures about distributed computation in cellular automata: that blinkers embody information storage, particles are information transfer agents, and particle collisions are information modification events. The framework is also shown to contrast the computations conducted by several well-known cellular automata, highlighting the importance of information coherence in complex computation. The results reviewed here provide important quantitative insights into the fundamental nature of distributed computation and the dynamics of complex systems, as well as impetus for the framework to be applied to the analysis and design of other systems.Comment: 44 pages, 8 figure