Geodetic Measurement of Deformation East of the San Andreas Fault in Central California

Triangulation and trilateration data from two geodetic networks located between the western edge of the Great Valley and the San Andreas fault have been used to calculate shear strain rates in the Diablo Range and to estimate the slip rate along the Calaveras and Paicines faults in Central California. Within the Diablo Range the average shear strain rate was determined for the time period between 1962 and 1982 to be 0.15 + or - 0.08 microrad/yr, with the orientation of the most compressive strain at N 16 deg E + or - 14 deg. The orientation of the principal compressive strain predicted from the azimuth of the major structures in the region is N 25 deg E. It is inferred that the measured strain is due to compression across the folds of this area: the average shear straining corresponds to a relative shortening rate of 4.5 + or - 2.4 mm/yr. From an examination of wellbore breakout orientations and the azimuths of P-axes from earthquake focal mechanisms the inferred orientation of maximum compressive stress was found to be similar to the direction of maximum compressive strain implied by the trend of local fold structures. Results do not support the hypothesis of uniform fault-normal compression within the Coast Ranges. From trilateration measurements made between 1972 and 1987 on lines that are within 10 km of the San Andreas fault, a slip rate of 10 to 12 mm/yr was calculated for the Calaveras-Paicines fault south of Hollister. The slip rate of the Paicines fault decreases to 4 mm/yr near Bitter

Total Cross Sections for Neutron Scattering

Measurements of neutron total cross-sections are both extensive and extremely accurate. Although they place a strong constraint on theoretically constructed models, there are relatively few comparisons of predictions with experiment. The total cross-sections for neutron scattering from $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca are calculated as a function of energy from $50-700$~MeV laboratory energy with a microscopic first order optical potential derived within the framework of the Watson expansion. Although these results are already in qualitative agreement with the data, the inclusion of medium corrections to the propagator is essential to correctly predict the energy dependence given by the experiment.Comment: 10 pages (Revtex 3.0), 6 fig

Evaluation of the ultimate performances of a Ca+ single-ion frequency standard

We numerically evaluate the expected performances of an optical frequency standard at 729 nm based on a single calcium ion. The frequency stability is studied through the Allan deviation and its dependence on the excitation method (single Rabi pulse or two Ramsey pulses schemes) and the laser linewidth are discussed. The minimum Allan deviation that can be expected is estimated to $\sigma_y(\tau) \approx 2.5\times 10^{-15}/\sqrt{\tau}$ with $\tau$ the integration time. The frequency shifts induced by the environmental conditions are evaluated to minimize the uncertainty of the proposed standard by chosing the most suited environment for the ion. If using the odd isotope $^{43}$Ca$^{+}$ and a vessel cooled to 77 K, the expected relative shift is $-2 \times 10^{-16}$ with an uncertainty of $\pm 4\times10^{-16}$, mainly due to the quadrupole shift induced by the unknown static electric field gradient .Comment: soumis le 27/07/04 a Physics Letters

Dark resonances as a probe for the motional state of a single ion

Single, rf-trapped ions find various applications ranging from metrology to quantum computation. High-resolution interrogation of an extremely weak transition under best observation conditions requires an ion almost at rest. To avoid line-broadening effects such as the second order Doppler effect or rf heating in the absence of laser cooling, excess micromotion has to be eliminated as far as possible. In this work the motional state of a confined three-level ion is probed, taking advantage of the high sensitivity of observed dark resonances to the trapped ion's velocity. Excess micromotion is controlled by monitoring the dark resonance contrast with varying laser beam geometry. The influence of different parameters such as the cooling laser intensity has been investigated experimentally and numerically

Generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from three individuals with Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by abnormal glutamine (Q) expansion in the huntingtin protein due to elongated CAG repeats in the gene HTT. We used non-integrative episomal plasmids to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from three individuals affected by HD: CH1 (58Q), and two twin brothers CH3 (44Q) and CH4 (44Q). The iPSC lines exhibited one healthy HTT allele and one with elongated CAG repeats, as confirmed by PCR and sequencing. All iPSC lines expressed pluripotency markers, exhibited a normal karyotype, and generated cells of the three germ layers in vitro

Noneruptive Unrest at the Caldera of Alcedo Volcano (Galápagos Islands) Revealed by InSAR Data and Geodetic Modeling

Understanding volcanic unrest is crucial to forecasting eruptions. At active mafic calderas unrest culminates in eruption more frequently than at felsic calderas. However, the mafic caldera of Alcedo Volcano (Ecuador) has experienced repeated episodes of unrest without erupting, since at least 1992, when geodetic monitoring began. Here we investigate the unrest that occurred between 2007 and 2011 using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data and geodetic modeling. We observe an initial asymmetric uplift of the southern caldera floor (~30 cm of vertical motion) from 2007 to 2009, followed by subsidence of the uplifted area and contemporary uplift of the northwestern caldera rim between January and June 2010. Finally, from June 2010 through March 2011, caldera uplift resumed. The first uplift episode is best explained by inflation of a sill and the activation of an inner ring fault. Successive caldera subsidence and rim uplift are compatible with the withdrawal of magma from the previously inflated sill and its northwestern migration. The resumption of uplift is consistent with the repressurization of the sill. This evolution suggests episodic magma emplacement in a shallow reservoir beneath the caldera, with aborted lateral magma migration, probably due to the discontinuous supply from depth. This short‐term deformation pattern matches well geological observations showing a longer‐term (hundreds of years at least) asymmetric uplift of the caldera floor, culminating in a weak resurgence of ~30 m. We propose that the monitored episodes of uplift represent short‐term stages of the rarely observed incremental growth of a resurgent basaltic caldera

Operational Performance of MOSFIRE with Its Cryogenic Configurable Slitmask Unit at the W. M. Keck Observatory

The Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration (MOSFIRE) achieved first light on the W. M. Keck Observatory’s Keck I telescope on 4 April 2012 and quickly became the most popular Keck I instrument. One of the primary reasons for the instrument’s popularity is that it uses a configurable slitmask unit developed by the Centre Suisse d’Electronique et Microtechnique (CSEM SA) to isolate the light from up to 46 objects simultaneously. In collaboration with the instrument development team and CSEM engineers, the Keck observatory staff present how MOSFIRE is successfully used, and we identify what contributed to routine and trouble free nighttime operations

Tuning ultrafast electron thermalization pathways in a van der Waals heterostructure

Ultrafast electron thermalization - the process leading to Auger recombination, carrier multiplication via impact ionization and hot carrier luminescence - occurs when optically excited electrons in a material undergo rapid electron-electron scattering to redistribute excess energy and reach electronic thermal equilibrium. Due to extremely short time and length scales, the measurement and manipulation of electron thermalization in nanoscale devices remains challenging even with the most advanced ultrafast laser techniques. Here, we overcome this challenge by leveraging the atomic thinness of two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials in order to introduce a highly tunable electron transfer pathway that directly competes with electron thermalization. We realize this scheme in a graphene-boron nitride-graphene (G-BN-G) vdW heterostructure, through which optically excited carriers are transported from one graphene layer to the other. By applying an interlayer bias voltage or varying the excitation photon energy, interlayer carrier transport can be controlled to occur faster or slower than the intralayer scattering events, thus effectively tuning the electron thermalization pathways in graphene. Our findings, which demonstrate a novel means to probe and directly modulate electron energy transport in nanoscale materials, represent an important step toward designing and implementing novel optoelectronic and energy-harvesting devices with tailored microscopic properties.Comment: Accepted to Nature Physic

High-accuracy determination of the U 238 / U 235 fission cross section ratio up to ≈1 GeV at n-TOF at CERN

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOIThe U238 to U235 fission cross section ratio has been determined at n-TOF up to ≈1 GeV, with two different detection systems, in different geometrical configurations. A total of four datasets has been collected and compared. They are all consistent to each other within the relative systematic uncertainty of 3-4%. The data collected at n-TOF have been suitably combined to yield a unique fission cross section ratio as a function of neutron energy. The result confirms current evaluations up to 200 MeV. Good agreement is also observed with theoretical calculations based on the INCL++/Gemini++ combination up to the highest measured energy. The n-TOF results may help solve a long-standing discrepancy between the two most important experimental datasets available so far above 20 MeV, while extending the neutron energy range for the first time up to ≈1 GeV.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio