15,074 research outputs found
Relative intensity squeezing by four-wave mixing with loss: an analytic model and experimental diagnostic
Four-wave mixing near resonance in an atomic vapor can produce relative
intensity squeezed light suitable for precision measurements beyond the
shot-noise limit. We develop an analytic distributed gain/loss model to
describe the competition of mixing and absorption through the non-linear
medium. Using a novel matrix calculus, we present closed-form expressions for
the degree of relative intensity squeezing produced by this system. We use
these theoretical results to analyze experimentally measured squeezing from a
Rb vapor and demonstrate the analytic model's utility as an experimental
diagnostic.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Derivation of the Blackbody Radiation Spectrum from a Natural Maximum-Entropy Principle Involving Casimir Energies and Zero-Point Radiation
By numerical calculation, the Planck spectrum with zero-point radiation is
shown to satisfy a natural maximum-entropy principle whereas alternative
choices of spectra do not. Specifically, if we consider a set of
conducting-walled boxes, each with a partition placed at a different location
in the box, so that across the collection of boxes the partitions are uniformly
spaced across the volume, then the Planck spectrum correspond to that spectrum
of random radiation (having constant energy kT per normal mode at low
frequencies and zero-point energy (1/2)hw per normal mode at high frequencies)
which gives maximum uniformity across the collection of boxes for the radiation
energy per box. The analysis involves Casimir energies and zero-point radiation
which do not usually appear in thermodynamic analyses. For simplicity, the
analysis is presented for waves in one space dimension.Comment: 11 page
Darwin-Lagrangian Analysis for the Interaction of a Point Charge and a Magnet: Considerations Related to the Controversy Regarding the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher Phase Shifts
The classical electromagnetic interaction of a point charge and a magnet is
discussed by first calculating the interaction of point charge with a simple
model magnetic moment and then suggesting a multiparticle limit. The Darwin
Lagrangian is used to analyze the electromagnetic behavior of the model
magnetic moment (composed of two oppositely charged particles of different mass
in an initially circular orbit) interacting with a passing point charge. The
changing mangetic moment is found to put a force back on a passing charge; this
force is of order 1/c^2 and depends upon the magnitude of the magnetic moment.
It is suggested that in the limit of a multiparticle magnetic toroid, the
electric fields of the passing charge are screened out of the body of the
magnet while the magnetic fields penetrate into the magnet. This is consistent
with our understanding of the penetration of electromagnetic velocity fields
into ohmic conductors. Conservation laws are discussed. The work corresponds to
a classical electromagnetic analysis of the interaction which is basic to
understanding the controversy over the Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher phase
shifts and represents a refutation of the suggestions of Aharonov, Pearle, and
Vaidman.Comment: 33 page
Evolved stars in the Local Group galaxies. I. AGB evolution and dust production in IC 1613
We used models of thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, that
also describe the dust-formation process in the wind, to interpret the
combination of near- and mid-infrared photometric data of the dwarf galaxy IC
1613. This is the first time that this approach is extended to an environment
different from the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). Our analysis,
based on synthetic population techniques, shows a nice agreement between the
observations and the expected distribution of stars in the colour-magnitude
diagrams obtained with JHK and Spitzer bands. This allows a characterization of
the individual stars in the AGB sample in terms of mass, chemical composition,
and formation epoch of the progenitors. We identify the stars exhibiting the
largest degree of obscuration as carbon stars evolving through the final AGB
phases, descending from 1-1.25Msun objects of metallicity Z=0.001 and from
1.5-2.5Msun stars with Z=0.002. Oxygen-rich stars constitute the majority of
the sample (65%), mainly low mass stars (<2Msun) that produce a negligible
amount of dust (<10^{-7}Msun/yr). We predict the overall dust-production rate
from IC 1613, mostly determined by carbon stars, to be 6x10^{-7}Msun/yr with an
uncertainty of 30%. The capability of the current generation of models to
interpret the AGB population in an environment different from the MCs opens the
possibility to extend this kind of analysis to other Local Group galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication on MNRA
Strong low-frequency quantum correlations from a four-wave mixing amplifier
We show that a simple scheme based on nondegenerate four-wave mixing in a hot
atomic vapor behaves like a near-perfect phase-insensitive optical amplifier,
which can generate bright twin beams with a measured quantum noise reduction in
the intensity difference of more than 8 dB, close to the best optical
parametric amplifiers and oscillators. The absence of a cavity makes the system
immune to external perturbations, and the strong quantum noise reduction is
observed over a large frequency range.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Major rewrite of the previous version. New
experimental results and further analysi
Squeezed Light and Entangled Images from Four-Wave-Mixing in Hot Rubidium Vapor
Entangled multi-spatial-mode fields have interesting applications in quantum
information, such as parallel quantum information protocols, quantum computing,
and quantum imaging. We study the use of a nondegenerate four-wave mixing
process in rubidium vapor at 795 nm to demonstrate generation of
quantum-entangled images. Owing to the lack of an optical resonator cavity, the
four-wave mixing scheme generates inherently multi-spatial-mode output fields.
We have verified the presence of entanglement between the multi-mode beams by
analyzing the amplitude difference and the phase sum noise using a dual
homodyne detection scheme, measuring more than 4 dB of squeezing in both cases.
This paper will discuss the quantum properties of amplifiers based on
four-wave-mixing, along with the multi mode properties of such devices.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. SPIE Optics and Photonics 2008 proceeding (San
Diego, CA
Modeling the mobility of living organisms in heterogeneous landscapes: Does memory improve foraging success?
Thanks to recent technological advances, it is now possible to track with an
unprecedented precision and for long periods of time the movement patterns of
many living organisms in their habitat. The increasing amount of data available
on single trajectories offers the possibility of understanding how animals move
and of testing basic movement models. Random walks have long represented the
main description for micro-organisms and have also been useful to understand
the foraging behaviour of large animals. Nevertheless, most vertebrates, in
particular humans and other primates, rely on sophisticated cognitive tools
such as spatial maps, episodic memory and travel cost discounting. These
properties call for other modeling approaches of mobility patterns. We propose
a foraging framework where a learning mobile agent uses a combination of
memory-based and random steps. We investigate how advantageous it is to use
memory for exploiting resources in heterogeneous and changing environments. An
adequate balance of determinism and random exploration is found to maximize the
foraging efficiency and to generate trajectories with an intricate
spatio-temporal order. Based on this approach, we propose some tools for
analysing the non-random nature of mobility patterns in general.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, improved discussio
L\'evy-like behavior in deterministic models of intelligent agents exploring heterogeneous environments
Many studies on animal and human movement patterns report the existence of
scaling laws and power-law distributions. Whereas a number of random walk
models have been proposed to explain observations, in many situations
individuals actually rely on mental maps to explore strongly heterogeneous
environments. In this work we study a model of a deterministic walker, visiting
sites randomly distributed on the plane and with varying weight or
attractiveness. At each step, the walker minimizes a function that depends on
the distance to the next unvisited target (cost) and on the weight of that
target (gain). If the target weight distribution is a power-law, , in some range of the exponent , the foraging medium induces
movements that are similar to L\'evy flights and are characterized by
non-trivial exponents. We explore variations of the choice rule in order to
test the robustness of the model and argue that the addition of noise has a
limited impact on the dynamics in strongly disordered media.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. One section adde
Energy properness and Sasakian-Einstein metrics
In this paper, we show that the existence of Sasakian-Einstein metrics is
closely related to the properness of corresponding energy functionals. Under
the condition that admitting no nontrivial Hamiltonian holomorphic vector
field, we prove that the existence of Sasakian-Einstein metric implies a
Moser-Trudinger type inequality. At the end of this paper, we also obtain a
Miyaoka-Yau type inequality in Sasakian geometry.Comment: 27 page
Coarsening in potential and nonpotential models of oblique stripe patterns
We study the coarsening of two-dimensional oblique stripe patterns by
numerically solving potential and nonpotential anisotropic Swift-Hohenberg
equations. Close to onset, all models exhibit isotropic coarsening with a
single characteristic length scale growing in time as . Further from
onset, the characteristic lengths along the preferred directions and
grow with different exponents, close to 1/3 and 1/2, respectively. In
this regime, one-dimensional dynamical scaling relations hold. We draw an
analogy between this problem and Model A in a stationary, modulated external
field. For deep quenches, nonpotential effects produce a complicated
dislocation dynamics that can lead to either arrested or faster-than-power-law
growth, depending on the model considered. In the arrested case, small isolated
domains shrink down to a finite size and fail to disappear. A comparison with
available experimental results of electroconvection in nematics is presented.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
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