Simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters of a subwavelength structure based on the weak value formalism

A mathematical extension of the weak value formalism to the simultaneous measurement of multiple parameters is presented in the context of an optical focused vector beam scatterometry experiment. In this example, preselection and postselection are achieved via spatially-varying polarization control, which can be tailored to optimize the sensitivity to parameter variations. Initial experiments for the two-parameter case demonstrate that this method can be used to measure physical parameters with resolutions at least 1000 times smaller than the wavelength of illumination

Affine transformations and analytic capacities

Analytic capacities are set functions defined on the plane which may be used in the study of removable singularities, boundary smoothness and approximation of analytic functions belonging to some function space. The symmetric concrete Banach spaces form a class of function spaces that include most spaces usually studied. The Beurling transform is a certain singular integral operator that has proved useful in analytic function theory. It is shown that the analytic capacity associated to each Beurling–invariant symmetric concrete Banach space behaves reasonably under affine transformation of the plane. It is not known how general analytic capacities behave under affine maps

Comparison of Nucleon Form Factors from Lattice QCD Against the Light Front Cloudy Bag Model and Extrapolation to the Physical Mass Regime

We explore the possibility of extrapolating state of the art lattice QCD calculations of nucleon form factors to the physical regime. We find that the lattice results can be reproduced using the Light Front Cloudy Bag Model by letting its parameters be analytic functions of the quark mass. We then use the model to extend the lattice calculations to large values of Q^{2} of interest to current and planned experiments. These functions are also used to define extrapolations to the physical value of the pion mass, thereby allowing us to study how the predicted zero in G_{E}(Q^{2})/G_{M}(Q^{2}) varies as a function of quark mass.Comment: 31 pages, 22 figure

Gluon polarization in the proton

We combine heavy-quark renormalization group arguments with our understanding of the nucleon's wavefunction to deduce a bound on the gluon polarization Delta g in the proton. The bound is consistent with the values extracted from spin experiments at COMPASS and RHIC.Comment: 4 page

Wide-field weak lensing by RXJ1347-1145

We present an analysis of weak lensing observations for RXJ1347-1145 over a 43' X 43' field taken in B and R filters on the Blanco 4m telescope at CTIO. RXJ1347-1145 is a massive cluster at redshift z=0.45. Using a population of galaxies with 20<R<26, we detect a weak lensing signal at the p<0.0005 level, finding best-fit parameters of \sigma_v=1400^{+130}_{-140} km s^{-1} for a singular isothermal sphere model and r_{200} = 3.5^{+0.8}_{-0.2} Mpc with c = 15^{+64}_{-10} for a NFW model in an \Omega_m = 0.3, \Omega_\Lambda = 0.7 cosmology. In addition, a mass to light ratio M/L_R =90 \pm 20 M_\odot / L_{R\odot} was determined. These values are consistent with the previous weak lensing study of RXJ1347--1145 by Fischer and Tyson, 1997, giving strong evidence that systemic bias was not introduced by the relatively small field of view in that study. Our best-fit parameter values are also consistent with recent X-ray studies by Allen et al, 2002 and Ettori et al, 2001, but are not consistent with recent optical velocity dispersion measurements by Cohen and Kneib, 2002.Comment: accepted to ApJ, tentative publication 10 May 2005, v624

Towards tactile sensing applied to underwater autonomous vehicles for near shore survey and de-mining

Artificial tactile whisker sensors demonstrate an approach to localisation [1] that is robust to harsh environmental disturbances, endowing autonomous systems with the ability to operate effectively in confined, noisy and visually occluded spaces, such as collapsed buildings or mine shafts, where conventional sensors become unreliable [2]. Marine engineering applications could benefit from such tactile sensors due to the lack of robust underwater close proximity sensing techniques. Animals such as walruses, seals and manatees all have exquisitely sensitive whiskers, which they use for hunting and foraging. Building upon a recent pilot study in underwater tactile sensing [3], we present the motivation for further research and our work plans toward a demonstrator platform for near shore survey and demining. © 2012 Springer-Verlag