254 research outputs found
Pure dephasing in flux qubits due to flux noise with spectral density scaling as
For many types of superconducting qubits, magnetic flux noise is a source of
pure dephasing. Measurements on a representative dc superconducting quantum
interference device (SQUID) over a range of temperatures show that , where is the flux noise spectral density,
is of the order of 1 and ; is the flux quantum. For a qubit with an energy level
splitting linearly coupled to the applied flux, calculations of the dependence
of the pure dephasing time of Ramsey and echo pulse sequences on
for fixed show that decreases rapidly as is
reduced. We find that is relatively insensitive to the noise
bandwidth, , for all provided the ultraviolet
cutoff frequency . We calculate the ratio of the echo () and Ramsey () sequences, and the dependence
of the decay function on and . We investigate the case in which
is fixed at the "pivot frequency" Hz while
is varied, and find that the choice of can greatly influence the
sensitivity of and to the value of .
Finally, we present calculated values of in a qubit corresponding
to the values of and measured in our SQUID.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Deuteron Photodissociation in Ultraperipheral Relativistic Heavy-Ion on Deuteron Collisions
In ultraperipheral relativistic deuteron on heavy-ion collisions, a photon
emitted from the heavy nucleus may dissociate the deuterium ion. We find
deuterium breakup cross sections of 1.38 barns for deuterium-gold collisions at
a center of mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon, as studied at the Relativistic
Heavy Ion Collider, and 2.49 barns for deuterium-lead collisions at a center of
mass energy of 6.2 TeV, as proposed for the Large Hadron Collider. This cross
section includes an energy-independent 140 mb contribution from hadronic
diffractive dissociation. At the LHC, the cross section is as large as that of
hadronic interactions. The estimated error is 5%. Deuteron dissociation could
be used as a luminosity monitor and a `tag' for moderate impact parameter
collisions.Comment: Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev. C. Diffractive dissociation
included 10 pages with 3 figure
The significance of motivation in student-centred learning : a reflective case study
The theoretical underpinnings of student-centred learning suggest motivation to be an integral component. However, lack of clarification of what is involved in motivation in education often results in unchallenged assumptions that fail to recognise that what motivates some students may alienate others. This case study, using socio-cognitive motivational theory to analyse previously collected data, derives three fuzzy propositions which, collectively, suggest that motivation interacts with the whole cycle of episodes in the teachinglearning process. It argues that the development of the higherlevel cognitive competencies that are implied by the term, student-centred learning, must integrate motivational constructs such as goal orientation, volition, interest and attributions into pedagogical practices
Photon data shed new light upon the GDR spreading width in heavy nuclei
A global study of the electric dipole strength in and below the isovector
giant dipole resonance (GDR) is presented for mass numbers A>80. It relies on
the recently established remarkably good match between data for the nuclear
photo effect to novel photon scattering data covering the region below the
neutron emission threshold as well as by average resonance neutron capture
(ARC). From the wide energy coverage of these data the correlation of the GDR
spreading width with energy can be studied with remarkable accuracy. A clear
sensitivity to details of the nuclear shape, i.e. the beta- and
gamma-deformations, is demonstrated. Based hereon a new parameterization of the
energy dependence of the nuclear electric-dipole strength is proposed which -
with only two new parameters - allows to describe the dipole strength in all
heavy nuclei with A>80. Although it differs significantly from previous
parameterizations it holds for spherical, transitional, triaxial and well
deformed nuclei. The GDR spreading width depends in a regular way on the
respective resonance energy, but it is independent of the photon energy.Comment: accepted by Phys. Lett. B after minor modification
Sensory percepts elicited by chronic macro-sieve electrode stimulation of the rat sciatic nerve
Objective: Intuitive control of conventional prostheses is hampered by their inability to provide the real-time tactile and proprioceptive feedback of natural sensory pathways. The macro-sieve electrode (MSE) is a candidate interface to amputees’ truncated peripheral nerves for introducing sensory feedback from external sensors to facilitate prosthetic control. Its unique geometry enables selective control of the complete nerve cross-section by current steering. Unlike previously studied interfaces that target intact nerve, the MSE’s implantation requires transection and subsequent regeneration of the target nerve. Therefore, a key determinant of the MSE’s suitability for this task is whether it can elicit sensory percepts at low current levels in the face of altered morphology and caliber distribution inherent to axon regeneration. The present in vivo study describes a combined rat sciatic nerve and behavioral model developed to answer this question.Approach: Rats learned a go/no-go detection task using auditory stimuli and then underwent surgery to implant the MSE in the sciatic nerve. After healing, they were trained with monopolar electrical stimuli with one multi-channel and eight single-channel stimulus configurations. Psychometric curves derived by the method of constant stimuli (MCS) were used to calculate 50% detection thresholds and associated psychometric slopes. Thresholds and slopes were calculated at two time points 3 weeks apart.Main Results: For the multi-channel stimulus configuration, the average current required for stimulus detection was 19.37 μA (3.87 nC) per channel. Single-channel thresholds for leads located near the nerve’s center were, on average, half those of leads located near the periphery (54.92 μA vs. 110.71 μA, or 10.98 nC vs. 22.14 nC). Longitudinally, 3 of 5 leads’ thresholds decreased or remained stable over the 3-week span. The remaining two leads’ thresholds increased by 70–74%, possibly due to scarring or device failure.Significance: This work represents an important first step in establishing the MSE’s viability as a sensory feedback interface. It further lays the groundwork for future experiments that will extend this model to the study of other devices, stimulus parameters, and task paradigms
Photodisintegration of three- and four- nucleon systems
Three- and four-nucleon photodisintegration processes are quite efficiently
treated by means of effective two-body integral equations in momentum space. We
recall some aspects of their derivation, present previous and most recent
results obtained within this framework, and discuss general features, trends
and effects observed in these investigations: At low energies final-state
interaction plays an important role. Even more pronounced is the effect of
meson exchange currents. A considerable potential dependence shows up in the
low-energy peak region. The different peak heights are found to be closely
correlated with the corresponding binding energies. Above the peak region only
the difference between potentials with or without p-wave contributions remains
relevant. In the differential cross sections the electric quadrupole
contributions have to be taken into account. The remarkable agreement between
theory and experiment in - radiative capture is achieved only when
incorporating this contribution, together with most of the above-mentioned
effects. In the final part of this report we briefly review also methods
developed, and results achieved in three- and four- nucleon
electrodisintegration. We, in particular, compare them with a recent access to
this problem, based on the construction of nucleon-nucleus potentials via
Marchenko inversion theory.Comment: 20 pages LaTeX and 22 postscript figures included, uses epsfig.sty
and espcrc1.sty. Invited talk at the XVth International Conference on
Few-Body Problems in Physics (22-26 July, 1997, Groningen, The Netherlands).
To be published in the conference proceedings in Nucl. Phys.
Nucleon Polarizabilities from Deuteron Compton Scattering within a Green's-Function Hybrid Approach
We examine elastic Compton scattering from the deuteron for photon energies
ranging from zero to 100 MeV, using state-of-the-art deuteron wave functions
and NN-potentials. Nucleon-nucleon rescattering between emission and absorption
of the two photons is treated by Green's functions in order to ensure gauge
invariance and the correct Thomson limit. With this Green's-function hybrid
approach, we fulfill the low-energy theorem of deuteron Compton scattering and
there is no significant dependence on the deuteron wave function used.
Concerning the nucleon structure, we use Chiral Effective Field Theory with
explicit \Delta(1232) degrees of freedom within the Small Scale Expansion up to
leading-one-loop order. Agreement with available data is good at all energies.
Our 2-parameter fit to all elastic data leads to values for the
static isoscalar dipole polarizabilities which are in excellent agreement with
the isoscalar Baldin sum rule. Taking this value as additional input, we find
\alpha_E^s= (11.3+-0.7(stat)+-0.6(Baldin)) x 10^{-4} fm^3 and \beta_M^s =
(3.2-+0.7(stat)+-0.6(Baldin)) x 10^{-4} fm^3 and conclude by comparison to the
proton numbers that neutron and proton polarizabilities are essentially the
same.Comment: 47 pages LaTeX2e with 20 figures in 59 .eps files, using graphicx.
Minor modifications; extended discussion of theoretical uncertainties of
polarisabilities extraction. Version accepted for publication in EPJ
Influence of Gamma-Ray Emission on the Isotopic Composition of Clouds in the Interstellar Medium
We investigate one mechanism of the change in the isotopic composition of
cosmologically distant clouds of interstellar gas whose matter was subjected
only slightly to star formation processes. According to the standard
cosmological model, the isotopic composition of the gas in such clouds was
formed at the epoch of Big Bang nucleosynthesis and is determined only by the
baryon density in the Universe. The dispersion in the available cloud
composition observations exceeds the errors of individual measurements. This
may indicate that there are mechanisms of the change in the composition of
matter in the Universe after the completion of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We
have calculated the destruction and production rates of light isotopes (D, 3He,
4He) under the influence of photonuclear reactions triggered by the gamma-ray
emission from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We investigate the destruction and
production of light elements depending on the spectral characteristics of the
gamma-ray emission. We show that in comparison with previous works, taking into
account the influence of spectral hardness on the photonuclear reaction rates
can increase the characteristic radii of influence of the gamma-ray emission
from AGNs by a factor of 2-8. The high gamma-ray luminosities of AGNs observed
in recent years increase the previous estimates of the characteristic radii by
two orders of magnitude. This may suggest that the influence of the emission
from AGNs on the change in the composition of the medium in the immediate
neighborhood (the host galaxy) has been underestimated.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, 3 table
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