Post Big Bang Processing of the Primordial Elements

We explore the Gnedin-Ostriker suggestion that a post-Big-Bang photodissociation process may modify the primordial abundances of the light elements. We consider several specific models and discuss the general features that are necessary (but not necessarily sufficient) to make the model work. We find that with any significant processing, the final D and $^3$He abundances, which are independent of their initial standard big bang nucleosynthesis (SBBN) values, rise quickly to a level several orders of magnitude above the observationally inferred primordial values. Solutions for specific models show that the only initial abundances that can be photoprocessed into agreement with observations are those that undergo virtually no processing and are already in agreement with observation. Thus it is unlikely that this model can work for any non-trivial case unless an artificial density and/or photon distribution is invoked.Comment: 12 page Latex file (AASTEX style). Tarred, gzipped, and uuencoded postscript files of seven figures. Also available (with ps file of paper) at ftp://www-physics.mps.ohio-state.edu/pub/nucex/phot

Parametric down-conversion from a wave-equations approach: geometry and absolute brightness

Using the approach of coupled wave equations, we consider spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in the narrow-band regime and its relationship to classical nonlinear processes such as sum-frequency generation. We find simple expressions in terms of mode overlap integrals for the absolute pair production rate into single spatial modes, and simple relationships between the efficiencies of the classical and quantum processes. The results, obtained with Green function techniques, are not specific to any geometry or nonlinear crystal. The theory is applied to both degenerate and non-degenerate SPDC. We also find a time-domain expression for the correlation function between filtered signal and idler fields.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopic Studies of the Effects of Dielectrics and Metallic Substrates on the Local Electronic Characteristics of Graphene

Atomically resolved imaging and spectroscopic characteristics of graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper foils are investigated and compared with those of mechanical exfoliated graphene on SiO_2. For exfoliated graphene, the local spectral deviations from ideal behavior may be attributed to strain induced by the SiO_2 substrate. For CVD grown graphene, the lattice structure appears strongly distorted by the underlying copper, with regions in direct contact with copper showing nearly square lattices whereas suspended regions from thermal relaxation exhibiting nearly honeycomb or hexagonal lattice structures. The electronic density of states (DOS) correlates closely with the atomic arrangements of carbon, showing excess zero-bias tunneling conductance and nearly energy-independent DOS for strongly distorted graphene, in contrast to the linearly dispersive DOS for suspended graphene. These results suggest that graphene can interact strongly with both metallic and dielectric materials in close proximity, leading to non-negligible modifications to the electronic properties

The effect of composition on the mechanism of stress-corrosion cracking of titanium alloys in nitrogen tetroxide, and aqueous and hot- salt environments Annual summary report, 1 May 1967 - 30 Apr. 1968

Stress corrosion data for titanium alloys in aqueous, hot salt, and nitrogen dioxide environment

Time-bin entangled photon holes

The general concept of entangled photon holes is based on a correlated absence of photon pairs in an otherwise constant optical background. Here we consider the specialized case when this background is confined to two well-defined time bins, which allows the formation of time-bin entangled photon holes. We show that when the typical coherent state background is replaced by a true single-photon (Fock state) background, the basic time-bin entangled photon-hole state becomes equivalent to one of the time-bin entangled photon-pair states. We experimentally demonstrate these ideas using a parametric down-conversion photon-pair source, linear optics, and post-selection to violate a Bell inequality with time-bin entangled photon holes.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Cultural selection drives the evolution of human communication systems

Human communication systems evolve culturally, but the evolutionary mechanisms that drive this evolution are not well understood. Against a baseline that communication variants spread in a population following neutral evolutionary dynamics (also known as drift models), we tested the role of two cultural selection models: coordination- and content-biased. We constructed a parametrized mixed probabilistic model of the spread of communicative variants in four 8-person laboratory micro-societies engaged in a simple communication game. We found that selectionist models, working in combination, explain the majority of the empirical data. The best-fitting parameter setting includes an egocentric bias and a content bias, suggesting that participants retained their own previously used communicative variants unless they encountered a superior (content-biased) variant, in which case it was adopted. This novel pattern of results suggests that (i) a theory of the cultural evolution of human communication systems must integrate selectionist models and (ii) human communication systems are functionally adaptive complex systems

Conditional preparation of states containing a definite number of photons

A technique for conditionally creating single- or multimode photon-number states is analyzed using Bayesian theory. We consider the heralded N-photon states created from the photons produced by an unseeded optical parametric amplifier when the heralding detector is the time-multiplexed photon-number-resolving detector recently demonstrated by Fitch, et al. [Phys. Rev. A 68, 043814 (2003).] and simultaneously by Achilles, et al. [Opt. Lett. 28, 2387 (2003).]. We find that even with significant loss in the heralding detector, fields with sub-Poissonian photon-number distributions can be created. We also show that heralded multimode fields created using this technique are more robust against detector loss than are single-mode fields.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, reference added, typos corrected, content update

Search for the second forbidden beta decay of 8B to the ground state of 8Be

A significant decay branch of 8B to the ground state of 8Be would extend the solar neutrino spectrum to higher energies than anticipated in the standard solar models. These high-energy neutrinos would affect current neutrino oscillation results and also would be a background to measurements of the hep process. We have measured the delayed alpha particles from the decay of 8B, with the goal of observing the two 46-keV alpha particles arising from the ground-state decay. The 8B was produced using an in-flight radioactive beam technique. It was implanted in a silicon PIN-diode detector that was capable of identifying the alpha-particles from the 8Be ground state. From this measurement we find an upper limit (at 90% confidence level) of 7.3 x 10^{-5} for the branching ratio to the ground state. In addition to describing this measurement, we present a theoretical calculation for this branching ratio.Comment: One reference corrected. Minor edits in tex

Quantifying the radiation belt seed population in the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event

Abstract We present phase space density (PSD) observations using data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer instrument on the Van Allen Probes for the 17 March 2013 electron acceleration event. We confirm previous results and quantify how PSD gradients depend on the first adiabatic invariant. We find a systematic difference between the lower-energy electrons (1-MeV with a source region within the radiation belts. Our observations show that the source process begins with enhancements to the 10s-100s-keV energy seed population, followed by enhancements to the \u3e1-MeV population and eventually leading to enhancements in the multi-MeV electron population these observations provide the clearest evidence to date of the timing and nature of the radial transport of a 100s keV electron seed population into the heart of the outer belt and subsequent local acceleration of those electrons to higher radiation belt energies. Key Points Quantification of phase space density gradients inside geostationary orbit Clear differences between the source of low energy and relativistic electrons Clear observations of how the acceleration process evolves in energy