A simulation method for determining the optical response of highly complex photonic structures of biological origin

We present a method based on a time domain simulation of wave propagation that allows studying the optical response of a broad range of dielectric photonic structures. This method is particularly suitable for dealing with complex biological structures. One of the main features of the proposed approach is the simple and intuitive way of defining the setup and the photonic structure to be simulated, which can be done by feeding the simulation with a digital image of the structure. We also develop a set of techniques to process the behavior of the evolving waves within the simulation. These techniques include a direction filter, that permits decoupling of waves travelling simultaneously in different directions, a dynamic differential absorber, to cancel the waves reflected at the edges of the simulation space, a multi-frequency excitation scheme based on a filter that allows decoupling waves of different wavelengths travelling simultaneously, and a near-to-far-field approach to evaluate the resulting wavefield outside the simulation domain. We validate the code and, as an example, apply it to the complex structure found in a microorganism called Diachea leucopoda, which exhibits a multicolor iridescent appearance.Comment: 43 pages, 19 figure

Biomechanical analysis of a cranial Patient Specific Implant on the interface with the bone using the Finite Element Method

- New advance technologies based on reverse engineering , design and additive manufacturing, have expanded design capabilities for biomedical applications to include Patient Specific Implants (PSI). This change in design paradigms needs advanced tools to assess the mechanical performance of the product, and simulate the impact on the patient. In this work, we perform a structural analysis on the interface of a cranial PSI under static loading conditions. Based on those simulations, we have identified the regions with high stress and strain and checked the failure criteria both in the implant and the skull. We evaluate the quality of the design of the implant and determine their response given different materials, in order to ensure optimality of the final product to be manufactured

Nondiagonal CPmCP_m Coset Models and their Poincar\'E Polynomials

$N=2$ coset models of the type $SU(m+1)/SU(m)\times U(1)$ with nondiagonal modular invariants for both $SU(m+1)$ and $SU(m)$ are considered. Poincar\'e polynomials of the corresponding chiral rings of these algebras are constructed. They are used to compute the number of chiral generations of the associated string compactifications. Moddings by discrete symmetries are also discussed.Comment: 22 pages, (RevTex), preprint GTCRG-92-1 and CNEA-CAB-039/92. % Minor changes in the result

A note on bigravity and dark matter

We show that a class of bi-gravity theories contain solutions describing dark matter. A particular member of this class is also shown to be equivalent to the Eddington-Born-Infeld gravity, recently proposed as a candidate for dark matter. Bigravity theories also have cosmological de Sitter backgrounds and we find solutions interpolating between matter and acceleration eras.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor corrections and reference additions, published in Phys. Rev.

Beautiful mirrors for a pNGB Higgs

We consider one of the most significant deviations from the Standard Model: the forward-backward asymmetry of the b-quark measured at leptonic colliders. We investigate the possibility to solve this discrepancy by introducing new physics at the TeV scale. We focus on models where the Higgs is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of a new strongly coupled sector with a global SO(5) symmetry broken spontaneously to SO(4). Besides the usual top partners, we introduce bottom partners in the representations 16 and 4 of SO(5) and show that they can improve significantly the fit by correcting the Zbb couplings. We also estimate the corrections to the couplings at one-loop and obtain that the tree-level ones dominate and can give a reliable estimation. We find that the large shift required for Zb_Rb_R leads to light custodians associated to the b-quark, similar to the top partners, as well as a rich phenomenology involving neutral interactions in the bottom-sector.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figure

Universal geometrical scaling of the elliptic flow

The presence of scaling variables in experimental observables provide very valuable indications of the dynamics underlying a given physical process. In the last years, the search for geometric scaling, that is the presence of a scaling variable which encodes all geometrical information of the collision as well as other external quantities as the total energy, has been very active. This is motivated, in part, for being one of the genuine predictions of the Color Glass Condensate formalism for saturation of partonic densities. Here we extend these previous findings to the case of experimental data on elliptic flow. We find an excellent scaling for all centralities and energies, from RHIC to LHC, with a simple generalization of the scaling previously found for other observables and systems. Interestingly the case of the photons, difficult to reconcile in most formalisms, nicely fit the scaling curve. We discuss the possible interpretations of this finding in terms of initial or final state effects.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys Rev