494 research outputs found
Ultra-heavy cosmic rays: Theoretical implications of recent observations
Extreme ultraheavy cosmic ray observations (Z greater or equal 70) are compared with r-process models. A detailed cosmic ray propagation calculation is used to transform the calculated source distributions to those observed at the earth. The r-process production abundances are calculated using different mass formulae and beta-rate formulae; an empirical estimate based on the observed solar system abundances is used also. There is the continued strong indication of an r-process dominance in the extreme ultra-heavy cosmic rays. However it is shown that the observed high actinide/Pt ratio in the cosmic rays cannot be fit with the same r-process calculation which also fits the solar system material. This result suggests that the cosmic rays probably undergo some preferential acceleration in addition to the apparent general enrichment in heavy (r-process) material. As estimate also is made of the expected relative abundance of superheavy elements in the cosmic rays if the anomalous heavy xenon in carbonaceous chondrites is due to a fissioning superheavy element
Vortex mass in a superfluid at low frequencies
An inertial mass of a vortex can be calculated by driving it round in a
circle with a steadily revolving pinning potential. We show that in the low
frequency limit this gives precisely the same formula that was used by Baym and
Chandler, but find that the result is not unique and depends on the force field
used to cause the acceleration. We apply this method to the Gross-Pitaevskii
model, and derive a simple formula for the vortex mass. We study both the long
range and short range properties of the solution. We agree with earlier results
that the non-zero compressibility leads to a divergent mass. From the
short-range behavior of the solution we find that the mass is sensitive to the
form of the pinning potential, and diverges logarithmically when the radius of
this potential tends to zero.Comment: 4 page
Interpolating between the Bose-Einstein and the Fermi-Dirac distributions in odd dimensions
We consider the response of a uniformly accelerated monopole detector that is
coupled to a superposition of an odd and an even power of a quantized, massless
scalar field in flat spacetime in arbitrary dimensions. We show that, when the
field is assumed to be in the Minkowski vacuum, the response of the detector is
characterized by a Bose-Einstein factor in even spacetime dimensions, whereas a
Bose-Einstein as well as a Fermi-Dirac factor appear in the detector response
when the dimension of spacetime is odd. Moreover, we find that, it is possible
to interpolate between the Bose-Einstein and the Fermi-Dirac distributions in
odd spacetime dimensions by suitably adjusting the relative strengths of the
detector's coupling to the odd and the even powers of the scalar field. We
point out that the response of the detector is always thermal and we, finally,
close by stressing the apparent nature of the appearance of the Fermi-Dirac
factor in the detector response.Comment: RevTeX, 7 page
Atom Lasers, Coherent States, and Coherence:II. Maximally Robust Ensembles of Pure States
As discussed in Wiseman and Vaccaro [quant-ph/9906125], the stationary state
of an optical or atom laser far above threshold is a mixture of coherent field
states with random phase, or, equivalently, a Poissonian mixture of number
states. We are interested in which, if either, of these descriptions of
, is more natural. In the preceding paper we concentrated upon
whether descriptions such as these are physically realizable (PR). In this
paper we investigate another relevant aspect of these ensembles, their
robustness. A robust ensemble is one for which the pure states that comprise it
survive relatively unchanged for a long time under the system evolution. We
determine numerically the most robust ensembles as a function of the parameters
in the laser model: the self-energy of the bosons in the laser mode, and
the excess phase noise . We find that these most robust ensembles are PR
ensembles, or similar to PR ensembles, for all values of these parameters. In
the ideal laser limit (), the most robust states are coherent
states. As the phase noise or phase dispersion is increased, the
most robust states become increasingly amplitude-squeezed. We find scaling laws
for these states. As the phase diffusion or dispersion becomes so large that
the laser output is no longer quantum coherent, the most robust states become
so squeezed that they cease to have a well-defined coherent amplitude. That is,
the quantum coherence of the laser output is manifest in the most robust PR
states having a well-defined coherent amplitude. This lends support to the idea
that robust PR ensembles are the most natural description of the state of the
laser mode. It also has interesting implications for atom lasers in particular,
for which phase dispersion due to self-interactions is expected to be large.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures included. To be published in Phys. Rev. A, as
Part II of a two-part paper. The original version of quant-ph/9906125 is
shortly to be replaced by a new version which is Part I of the two-part
paper. This paper (Part II) also contains some material from the original
version of quant-ph/990612
The Josephson plasmon as a Bogoliubov quasiparticle
We study the Josephson effect in alkali atomic gases within the two-mode
approximation and show that there is a correspondence between the Bogoliubov
description and the harmonic limit of the phase representation. We demonstrate
that the quanta of the Josephson plasmon can be identified with the Bogoliubov
excitations of the two-site Bose fluid. We thus establish a mapping between the
Bogoliubov approximation for the many-body theory and the linearized pendulum
Hamiltonian.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, submitted to J. Phys.
Hydrodynamic modes of a 1D trapped Bose gas
We consider two regimes where a trapped Bose gas behaves as a one-dimensional
system. In the first one the Bose gas is microscopically described by 3D mean
field theory, but the trap is so elongated that it behaves as a 1D gas with
respect to low frequency collective modes. In the second regime we assume that
the 1D gas is truly 1D and that it is properly described by the Lieb-Liniger
model. In both regimes we find the frequency of the lowest compressional mode
by solving the hydrodynamic equations. This is done by making use of a method
which allows to find analytical or quasi-analytical solutions of these
equations for a large class of models approaching very closely the actual
equation of state of the Bose gas. We find an excellent agreement with the
recent results of Menotti and Stringari obtained from a sum rule approach.Comment: 15 pages, revtex, 1 figure
Entropy and Uncertainty of Squeezed Quantum Open Systems
We define the entropy S and uncertainty function of a squeezed system
interacting with a thermal bath, and study how they change in time by following
the evolution of the reduced density matrix in the influence functional
formalism. As examples, we calculate the entropy of two exactly solvable
squeezed systems: an inverted harmonic oscillator and a scalar field mode
evolving in an inflationary universe. For the inverted oscillator with weak
coupling to the bath, at both high and low temperatures, , where r is
the squeeze parameter. In the de Sitter case, at high temperatures, where , being the coupling to the bath and H
the Hubble constant. These three cases confirm previous results based on more
ad hoc prescriptions for calculating entropy. But at low temperatures, the de
Sitter entropy is noticeably different. This result, obtained
from a more rigorous approach, shows that factors usually ignored by the
conventional approaches, i.e., the nature of the environment and the coupling
strength betwen the system and the environment, are important.Comment: 36 pages, epsfig, 2 in-text figures include
Coupling of alpha(1)-Adrenoceptors to ERK1/2 in the Human Prostate
Introduction: alpha(1)-Adrenoceptors are considered critical for the regulation of prostatic smooth muscle tone. However, previous studies suggested further alpha(1)-adrenoceptor functions besides contraction. Here, we investigated whether alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in the human prostate may activate extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2). Methods: Prostate tissues from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy were stimulated in vitro. Activation of ERK1/2 was assessed by Western blot analysis. Expression of ERK1/2 was studied by immunohistochemistry. The effect of ERK1/2 inhibition by U0126 on phenylephrine-induced contraction was studied in organ-bath experiments. Results: Stimulation of human prostate tissue with noradrenaline (30 mu M) or phenylephrine (10 mu M) resulted in ERK activation. This was reflected by increased levels of phosphorylated ERK1/2. Expression of ERK1/2 in the prostate was observed in smooth muscle cells. Incubation of prostate tissue with U0126 (30 mu M) resulted in ERK1/2 inhibition. Dose-dependent phenylephrine-induced contraction of prostate tissue was not modulated by U0126. Conclusions: alpha(1)-Adrenoceptors in the human prostate are coupled to ERK1/2. This may partially explain previous observations suggesting a role of alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in the regulation of prostate growth. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base
Thermal Particle Creation in Cosmological Spacetimes: A Stochastic Approach
The stochastic method based on the influence functional formalism introduced
in an earlier paper to treat particle creation in near-uniformly accelerated
detectors and collapsing masses is applied here to treat thermal and
near-thermal radiance in certain types of cosmological expansions. It is
indicated how the appearance of thermal radiance in different cosmological
spacetimes and in the two apparently distinct classes of black hole and
cosmological spacetimes can be understood under a unifying conceptual and
methodological framework.Comment: 17 pages, revtex (aps, eqsecnum), submitted to PRD, April 199
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