638 research outputs found
Properties of excitations in systems with a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate
General theory in case of homogenous Bose-Einstein condensed systems with
spinor condensate is presented for the correlation functions of density and
spin fluctuations and for the one-particle propagators as well. The random
phase approximation is investigated and the damping of the modes is given in
the intermediate temperature region. It is shown that the collective and the
one-particle excitation spectra do not coincide fully.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
Dielectric formalism and damping of collective modes in trapped Bose-Einstein condensed gases
We present the general dielectric formalism for Bose-Einstein condensed
systems in external potential at finite temperatures. On the basis of a model
arising within this framework as a first approximation in an intermediate
temperature region for large condensate we calculate the damping of low-energy
excitations in the collisionless regime.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, RevTe
Properties of the Volume Operator in Loop Quantum Gravity I: Results
We analyze the spectral properties of the volume operator of Ashtekar and
Lewandowski in Loop Quantum Gravity, which is the quantum analogue of the
classical volume expression for regions in three dimensional Riemannian space.
Our analysis considers for the first time generic graph vertices of valence
greater than four. Here we find that the geometry of the underlying vertex
characterizes the spectral properties of the volume operator, in particular the
presence of a `volume gap' (a smallest non-zero eigenvalue in the spectrum) is
found to depend on the vertex embedding. We compute the set of all
non-spatially diffeomorphic non-coplanar vertex embeddings for vertices of
valence 5--7, and argue that these sets can be used to label spatial
diffeomorphism invariant states. We observe how gauge invariance connects
vertex geometry and representation properties of the underlying gauge group in
a natural way. Analytical results on the spectrum on 4-valent vertices are
included, for which the presence of a volume gap is proved. This paper presents
our main results; details are provided by a companion paper arXiv:0706.0382v1.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX. See also companion paper
arXiv:0706.0382v1. Version as published in CQG in 2008. See arXiv:1003.2348
for important remarks regarding the sigma configurations. Subsequent
computations have revealed some minor errors, which do not change the
qualitative results but modify some of the numbers presented her
Shifts and widths of collective excitations in trapped Bose gases by the dielectric formalism
We present predictions for the temperature dependent shifts and damping
rates. They are obtained by applying the dielectric formalism to a simple model
of a trapped Bose gas. Within the framework of the model we use lowest order
perturbation theory to determine the first order correction to the results of
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-Popov theory for the complex collective excitation
frequencies, and present numerical results for the temperature dependence of
the damping rates and the frequency shifts. Good agreement with the
experimental values measured at JILA are found for the m=2 mode, while we find
disagreements in the shifts for m=0. The latter point to the necessity of a
non-perturbative treatment for an explanation of the temperature-dependence of
the m=0 shifts.Comment: 10 pages revtex, 3 figures in postscrip
Collisionless dynamics of dilute Bose gases: Role of quantum and thermal fluctuations
We study the low-energy collective oscillations of a dilute Bose gas at
finite temperature in the collisionless regime. By using a time-dependent
mean-field scheme we derive for the dynamics of the condensate and
noncondensate components a set of coupled equations, which we solve
perturbatively to second order in the interaction coupling constant. This
approach is equivalent to the finite-temperature extension of the Beliaev
approximation and includes corrections to the Gross-Pitaevskii theory due both
to quantum and thermal fluctuations. For a homogeneous system we explicitly
calculate the temperature dependence of the velocity of propagation and damping
rate of zero sound. In the case of harmonically trapped systems in the
thermodynamic limit, we calculate, as a function of temperature, the frequency
shift of the low-energy compressional and surface modes.Comment: 26 pages, RevTex, 8 ps figure
Energies and damping rates of elementary excitations in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensed gases
Finite temperature Green's function technique is used to calculate the
energies and damping rates of elementary excitations of the homogeneous,
dilute, spin-1 Bose gases below the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature both
in the density and spin channels. For this purpose the self-consistent
dynamical Hartree-Fock model is formulated, which takes into account the direct
and exchange processes on equal footing by summing up certain classes of
Feynman diagrams. The model is shown to fulfil the Goldstone theorem and to
exhibit the hybridization of one-particle and collective excitations correctly.
The results are applied to the gases of ^{23}Na and ^{87}Rb atoms.Comment: 26 pages, 21 figures. Added 2 new figures, detailed discussio
Meat production and maintaining biodiversity: Grazing by traditional breeds and crossbred beef cattle in marshes and grasslands
Questions: Sustainable rangeland utilization considering traditions and economic reasons is compulsory for harmonising the needs of the agricultural and nature conservation sectors. For proper rangeland management it is crucial to compare the grazing
effects of traditional breeds and crossbred animals of the same species that might have
different effects on the rangelands. To fill this knowledge gap, in a grazing experiment,
we investigated the effect of cattle breeds on the vegetation to test the effects on
nature conservation value and agricultural production value. We hypothesized that the
effects of cattle grazing on habitat conservation values and forage quality depend on
the grazing breed, because breeds differ in selectivity, body size and trampling effect.
Location: Marshes and alkaline wet grasslands in Hortobágy National Park, Hungary.
Methods: We recorded the percentage cover of vascular plants in three consecutive
years in a total of 60 plots in 12 areas grazed by traditional (0.61 AU/ha) and largesized crossbred beef cattle (0.68 AU/ha).
Results: We found that the effect of cattle breed on the habitat conservation values
and forage quality is dependent on the habitat type. The traditional breed maintained
a significantly higher species number and Shannon diversity in marshes than the
crossbred beef cattle. Grazing of crossbred cattle led to decreasing moisture indicator values in marsh habitats.
Conclusions: Our findings revealed that traditional breeds should be prioritized in the
management of wet alkaline grasslands and marshes. Crossbred beef cattle might be
a substitute but only in case traditional breeds are not available for the management
of alkaline wet grasslands. In marshes, however, we recommend prioritizing the traditional breeds as they maintain higher diversity compared to crossbred beef cattle
Neurodegeneration and Epilepsy in a Zebrafish Model of CLN3 Disease (Batten Disease)
The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses are a group of lysosomal storage disorders that comprise the most common, genetically heterogeneous, fatal neurodegenerative disorders of children. They are characterised by childhood onset, visual failure, epileptic seizures, psychomotor retardation and dementia. CLN3 disease, also known as Batten disease, is caused by autosomal recessive mutations in the CLN3 gene, 80–85% of which are a ~1 kb deletion. Currently no treatments exist, and after much suffering, the disease inevitably results in premature death. The aim of this study was to generate a zebrafish model of CLN3 disease using antisense morpholino injection, and characterise the pathological and functional consequences of Cln3 deficiency, thereby providing a tool for future drug discovery. The model was shown to faithfully recapitulate the pathological signs of CLN3 disease, including reduced survival, neuronal loss, retinopathy, axonopathy, loss of motor function, lysosomal storage of subunit c of mitochondrial ATP synthase, and epileptic seizures, albeit with an earlier onset and faster progression than the human disease. Our study provides proof of principle that the advantages of the zebrafish over other model systems can be utilised to further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CLN3 disease and accelerate drug discovery
Quantum Cosmology of Generalized Two--Dimensional Dilaton Gravity Models
The quantum cosmology of two-dimensional dilaton-gravity models is
investigated. A class of models is mapped onto the constrained
oscillator-ghost-oscillator model. A number of exact and approximate solutions
to the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt equation are presented. A wider class of
minisuperspace models that can be solved in this fashion is identified.
Supersymmetric extensions to the induced gravity theory and the bosonic string
theory are then considered and closed-form solutions to the associated quantum
constraints are derived. The possibility of applying the third-quantization
procedure to two-dimensional dilaton-gravity is briefly discussed.Comment: 28 pages, late
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