Infinitesimally Nonlocal Lorentz Violation

We introduce a new Lorentz-violating modification to a scalar quantum field theory. This interaction, while super-renormalizable by power counting, is fundamentally different from the interactions previously considered within the Lorentz-violating standard model extension. The Lagrange density is nonlocal, because of the presence of a Hilbert transform term; however, this nonlocality is also very weak. The theory has reasonable stability and causality properties and, although the Lorentz-violating interaction possesses a single vector index, the theory is nonetheless CPT even. As an application, we analyze the possible effects of this new form of Lorentz violation on neutral meson oscillations. We find that under certain circumstances, the interaction may lead to quite peculiar sidereal modulations in the oscillation frequency.Comment: 10 page

Detection of H-alpha emission from the Magellanic Stream: evidence for an extended gaseous Galactic halo

We have detected faint, diffuse H$\alpha emission from several points along the Magellanic Stream, using the Rutgers Fabry--Perot Interferometer at the CTIO 1.5-m telescope. At points on the leading edges of the H I clouds MS II, MS III, and MS IV, we detect H$\alpha emission of surface brightness $0.37 \pm 0.02$ Rayleighs, $0.21 \pm 0.04$ R, and $0.20 \pm 0.02$ R respectively, corresponding to emission measures of 1.0 to 0.5 \cmsixpc. We have observed several positions near the MS IV concentration, and find that the strongest emission is on the sharp leading-edge density gradient. There is less emission at points away from the gradient, and halfway between MS III and MS IV the H$\alpha surface brightness is$< 0.04$R. We attribute the H$\alpha emission at cloud leading edges to heating of the Stream clouds by ram pressure from ionized gas in the halo of the Galaxy. These observations suggest that ram pressure from halo gas plays a large role in stripping the Stream out of the Magellanic Clouds. They also suggest the presence of a relatively large density of gas, $n_{\rm H} \sim 10^{-4} cm^{-3}$, in the Galactic halo at $\sim 50$ kpc radius, and far above the Galactic plane, $b \sim -80\deg$. This implies that the Galaxy has a very large baryonic, gaseous extent, and supports models of Lyman-$\alpha and metal-line QSO absorption lines in which the absorption systems reside in extended galactic halos.Comment: 15 pages, aaspp latex, + 1 table & 3 figures. Accepted in A.J. Also available from http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~bweiner/astro/papers

Androgen Receptor and Vasopressin Receptor (AVPR1a) Genetic Polymorphisms are not associated with Marital Status or Fertility among Ariaal Men of Northern Kenya

A growing body of scholarship implicates testosterone and vasopressin in male reproductive behavior, including in humans. Since hormones exert their effects through their respective receptors, an open question has been whether genetic polymorphisms in the androgen receptor and vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a) impact human male social behavior. Here, we sought to test for associations between polymorphisms in the coding region of the androgen receptor and promoter region of AVPR1a in relation to marital status and fertility among pastoralist Ariaal men of northern Kenya. None of the three polymorphisms were related to marital status (single, monogamously married, polygynously married) or fertility (number of current living children). We discuss these null findings in light of existing data

Fully three dimensional breather solitons can be created using Feshbach resonance

We investigate the stability properties of breather solitons in a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensate with Feshbach Resonance Management of the scattering length and con ned only by a one dimensional optical lattice. We compare regions of stability in parameter space obtained from a fully 3D analysis with those from a quasi two-dimensional treatment. For moderate con nement we discover a new island of stability in the 3D case, not present in the quasi 2D treatment. Stable solutions from this region have nontrivial dynamics in the lattice direction, hence they describe fully 3D breather solitons. We demonstrate these solutions in direct numerical simulations and outline a possible way of creating robust 3D solitons in experiments in a Bose Einstein Condensate in a one-dimensional lattice. We point other possible applications.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; accepted to Physical Review Letter

Superabsorption of light via quantum engineering

Almost 60 years ago Dicke introduced the term superradiance to describe a signature quantum effect: N atoms can collectively emit light at a rate proportional to N^2. Even for moderate N this represents a significant increase over the prediction of classical physics, and the effect has found applications ranging from probing exciton delocalisation in biological systems, to developing a new class of laser, and even in astrophysics. Structures that super-radiate must also have enhanced absorption, but the former always dominates in natural systems. Here we show that modern quantum control techniques can overcome this restriction. Our theory establishes that superabsorption can be achieved and sustained in certain simple nanostructures, by trapping the system in a highly excited state while extracting energy into a non-radiative channel. The effect offers the prospect of a new class of quantum nanotechnology, capable of absorbing light many times faster than is currently possible; potential applications of this effect include light harvesting and photon detection. An array of quantum dots or a porphyrin ring could provide an implementation to demonstrate this effect

Genetic and environmental contributions to strabismus and phoria: Evidence from twins

AbstractThe causes of manifest (strabismus) and latent (phoria) misalignment of the visual axes are incompletely understood. We calculated genetic and environmental contributions to strabismus based upon a critical review and quantitative meta-analysis of previous strabismus twin studies (n=3418 twin pairs) and calculated contributions to phoria based upon a new twin study (n=307 twin pairs). Our results suggest that genetic liability is necessary to develop strabismus, whereas environmental factors are sufficient to cause most phorias. The different etiologies implied by this work suggest that strabismus and phoria should be carefully distinguished in epidemiological work

Multiscale Analysis of Discrete Nonlinear Evolution Equations

The method of multiscale analysis is constructed for dicrete systems of evolution equations for which the problem is that of the far behavior of an input boundary datum. Discrete slow space variables are introduced in a general setting and the related finite differences are constructed. The method is applied to a series of representative examples: the Toda lattice, the nonlinear Klein-Gordon chain, the Takeno system and a discrete version of the Benjamin-Bona-Mahoney equation. Among the resulting limit models we find a discrete nonlinear Schroedinger equation (with reversed space-time), a 3-wave resonant interaction system and a discrete modified Volterra model.Comment: published in J. Phys. A : Math. Gen. 32 (1999) 927-94