882 research outputs found
Gyrotropic impact upon negatively refracting surfaces
Surface wave propagation at the interface between different types of gyrotropic materials and an isotropic negatively refracting medium, in which the relative permittivity and relative permeability are, simultaneously, negative is investigated. A general approach is taken that embraces both gyroelectric and gyromagnetic materials, permitting the possibility of operating in either the low GHz, THz or the optical frequency regimes. The classical transverse Voigt configuration is adopted and a complete analysis of non-reciprocal surface wave dispersion is presented. The impact of the surface polariton modes upon the reflection of both plane waves and beams is discussed in terms of resonances and an example of the influence upon the GoosâHĂ€nchen shift is given
The potential for gamma-emitting radionuclides to contribute to an understanding of erosion processes in South Africa
Several research projects undertaken by the authors and others over the last 14 years have used fallout and geogenic radionuclides for understanding erosion processes and sediment yield dynamics in South Africa over the last 100â200 years as European settlers colonised the interior plains and plateaux of the country and imported new livestock and farming techniques to the region. These projects have used two fallout radionuclides (210Pb and 137Cs) to date sediments accumulating in reservoirs, farm dams, wetlands, alluvial fans and floodouts and have used other fallout nuclides (7Be) and long-lived geogenic radionuclides (e.g. 40K, 235U) as part of a composite fingerprint exploring contemporary sediment sources and changes to sources through time. While successful in many parts of the world, applying these techniques in Southern Africa has posed a number of challenges often not encountered elsewhere. Here we explore some of the benefits and challenges in using gamma-emitting radionuclides, especially 137Cs, in these landscapes. Benefits include the potential for discriminating gully sidewall from topsoil sources, which has helped to identify contemporary gully systems as sediment conduits, rather than sources, and for providing a time-synchronous marker horizon in a range of sedimentary environments that has helped to develop robust chronologies. Challenges include the spatial variability in soil cover on steep rocky hillslopes, which is likely to challenge assumptions about the uniformity of initial fallout nuclide distribution, the paucity of stable (non-eroding) sites in order to estimate atmospheric fallout inventories, and the limited success of 210Pb dating in some rapidly accumulating high altitude catchments where sediments often comprise significant amounts of sand and gravel. Despite these challenges we present evidence suggesting that the use of gamma-emitting radionuclides can make a significant contribution to our understanding of erosion processes and sediment yield dynamics. Future research highlighted in the conclusion will try to address current challenges and outline new projects established to address them more fully
Negative Refraction in Perspective
The concept of negative refraction is attracting a lot of attention. The
initial ideas and the misconceptions that have arisen are discussed in
sufficient detail to understand the conceptual structure that binds negative
refraction to the existence of backward wave and forward wave phenomena. A
presentation of the properties of isotropic media supporting backward waves is
followed by a discussion of negative phase velocity media, causality,
anisotropic crystals and some connections to photonic crystals. The historical
background is always coupled to a detailed presentation of all the issues. The
paper is driven numerically and is illustrated with the outcomes of original
FDTD simulations
Observation of surface gap solitons in semi-infinite waveguide arrays
We report on the first observation of surface gap solitons, recently
predicted to exist at the interface between uniform and periodic dielectric
media with defocusing nonlinearity [Ya.V. Kartashov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.
96, 073901 (2006). We demonstrate strong self-trapping at the edge of a LiNbO_3
waveguide array and the formation of staggered surface solitons with
propagation constant inside the first photonic band gap. We study the crossover
between linear repulsion and nonlinear attraction at the surface, revealing the
mechanism of nonlinearity-mediated stabilization of the surface gap modes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
What makes re-finding information difficult? A study of email re-finding
Re-nding information that has been seen or accessed before is a task which can be relatively straight-forward, but often it can be extremely challenging, time-consuming and frustrating. Little is known, however, about what makes one re-finding task harder or easier than another. We performed a user study to learn about the contextual factors that influence users' perception of task diculty in the context of re-finding email messages. 21 participants were issued re-nding tasks to perform on their own personal collections. The participants' responses to questions about the tasks combined with demographic data and collection statistics for the experimental population provide a rich basis to investigate the variables that can influence the perception of diculty. A logistic regression model was developed to examine the relationships be- tween variables and determine whether any factors were associated with perceived task diculty. The model reveals strong relationships between diculty and the time lapsed since a message was read, remembering when the sought-after email was sent, remembering other recipients of the email, the experience of the user and the user's ling strategy. We discuss what these findings mean for the design of re-nding interfaces and future re-finding research
Soliton Interactions in Perturbed Nonlinear Schroedinger Equations
We use multiscale perturbation theory in conjunction with the inverse
scattering transform to study the interaction of a number of solitons of the
cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation under the influence of a small correction
to the nonlinear potential. We assume that the solitons are all moving with the
same velocity at the initial instant; this maximizes the effect each soliton
has on the others as a consequence of the perturbation. Over the long time
scales that we consider, the amplitudes of the solitons remain fixed, while
their center of mass coordinates obey Newton's equations with a force law for
which we present an integral formula. For the interaction of two solitons with
a quintic perturbation term we present more details since symmetries -- one
related to the form of the perturbation and one related to the small number of
particles involved -- allow the problem to be reduced to a one-dimensional one
with a single parameter, an effective mass. The main results include
calculations of the binding energy and oscillation frequency of nearby solitons
in the stable case when the perturbation is an attractive correction to the
potential and of the asymptotic "ejection" velocity in the unstable case.
Numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy of the perturbative calculations
and indicate their range of validity.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Phys Rev E Revised: 21 pages, 6
figures, To appear in Phys Rev E (many displayed equations moved inline to
shorten manuscript
The homotopy theory of simplicial props
The category of (colored) props is an enhancement of the category of colored
operads, and thus of the category of small categories. In this paper, the
second in a series on "higher props," we show that the category of all small
colored simplicial props admits a cofibrantly generated model category
structure. With this model structure, the forgetful functor from props to
operads is a right Quillen functor.Comment: Final version, to appear in Israel J. Mat
Brain development in fetuses of mothers with diabetes: a case-control magnetic resonance imaging study
Stability of narrow beams in bulk Kerr-type nonlinear media
We consider (2+1)-dimensional beams, whose transverse size may be comparable
to or smaller than the carrier wavelength, on the basis of an extended version
of the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation derived from the Maxwell`s equations.
As this equation is very cumbersome, we also study, in parallel to it, its
simplified version which keeps the most essential term: the term which accounts
for the {\it nonlinear diffraction}. The full equation additionally includes
terms generated by a deviation from the paraxial approximation and by a
longitudinal electric-field component in the beam. Solitary-wave stationary
solutions to both the full and simplified equations are found, treating the
terms which modify the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation as perturbations.
Within the framework of the perturbative approach, a conserved power of the
beam is obtained in an explicit form. It is found that the nonlinear
diffraction affects stationary beams much stronger than nonparaxiality and
longitudinal field. Stability of the beams is directly tested by simulating the
simplified equation, with initial configurations taken as predicted by the
perturbation theory. The numerically generated solitary beams are always stable
and never start to collapse, although they display periodic internal
vibrations, whose amplitude decreases with the increase of the beam power.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures Accepted for publication in PR
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