8,720 research outputs found
Achieving a BCS transition in an atomic Fermi gas
We consider a gas of cold fermionic atoms having two spin components with
interactions characterized by their s-wave scattering length . At positive
scattering length the atoms form weakly bound bosonic molecules which can be
evaporatively cooled to undergo Bose-Einstein condensation, whereas at negative
scattering length BCS pairing can take place. It is shown that, by
adiabatically tuning the scattering length from positive to negative
values, one may transform the molecular Bose-Einstein condensate into a highly
degenerate atomic Fermi gas, with the ratio of temperature to Fermi temperature
. The corresponding critical final value of
which leads to the BCS transition is found to be about one half, where is
the Fermi momentum.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Phys. Rev. Lett. in pres
Quantum Entangled Dark Solitons Formed by Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices
Inspired by experiments on Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices, we
study the quantum evolution of dark soliton initial conditions in the context
of the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. An extensive set of quantum measures is
utilized in our analysis, including von Neumann and generalized quantum
entropies, quantum depletion, and the pair correlation function. We find that
quantum effects cause the soliton to fill in. Moreover, soliton-soliton
collisions become inelastic, in strong contrast to the predictions of
mean-field theory. These features show that the lifetime and collision
properties of dark solitons in optical lattices provide clear signals of
quantum effects.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; version appearing in PRL, only minor changes from
v
An overview of tea research in Tanzania - with special reference to the Southern Highlands.
The history of tea development in Tanzania from the early part of this century
to the present is summarised. Average yields of made tea from well managed
estates in the Mufindi district have increased from around 600 kg ha-1 in the
late 1950s to 3000 kg ha-1 at the present time: by comparison, yields from
smallholder farms have remained much lower, averaging only 400-500 kg ha-1.
There have been a large number of technical, economic and other changes over the
last 30 to 40 years. The removal of shade trees, the use of herbicides, the
application of NPK compound fertilisers, the introduction of irrigation (on some
estates) and changes in harvesting policy have all contributed to the increases
in yield. Financial and infrastructural problems have contributed to the low
yields from many smallholders and others, and have limited the uptake of new
technology. The contribution of research is reviewed, from the start of the Tea
Research Institute of East Africa in Kenya in 1951, through to the development
of the Marikitanda Tea Research Centre in Amani in 1967; the Ngwazi Tea Research
Unit in Mufindi (1967 to 1970, and from 1986), and lastly the Kifyulilo Tea
Research Station, also in Mufindi in 1986. The yield potential of well
fertilized and irrigated clonal tea, grown at an altitude of 1800 m, is around
6000 kg ha-1. This potential is reduced by drought, lack of fertilizer, bush
vacancies and inefficient harvesting practices. The corresponding potential
yields at high (2200 m) and low (1200 m) altitude sites range from 3000-3500 kg
ha-1 up to 9000-10000 kg ha-1 and are largely a function of temperature. The
opportunities for increasing yields of existing tea, smallholder and estate, are
enormous. Tea production in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania is about to
expand rapidly. Good, appropriate research is needed to sustain this development
over the long term, and suggestions on how best this is done in order to assist
the large scale producers as well as the smallholders, are discussed
Quantum Many-Body Dynamics of Dark Solitons in Optical Lattices
We present a fully quantum many-body treatment of dark solitons formed by
ultracold bosonic atoms in one-dimensional optical lattices. Using
time-evolving block decimation to simulate the single-band Bose-Hubbard
Hamiltonian, we consider the quantum dynamics of density and phase engineered
dark solitons as well as the quantum evolution of mean-field dark solitons
injected into the quantum model. The former approach directly models how one
may create quantum entangled dark solitons in experiment. While we have already
presented results regarding the latter approach elsewhere [Phys. Rev. Lett.
{\bf 103}, 140403 (2009)], we expand upon those results in this work. In both
cases, quantum fluctuations cause the dark soliton to fill in and may induce an
inelasticity in soliton-soliton collisions. Comparisons are made to the
Bogoliubov theory which predicts depletion into an anomalous mode that fills in
the soliton. Our many-body treatment allows us to go beyond the Bogoliubov
approximation and calculate explicitly the dynamics of the system's natural
orbitals.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures -- v3 has only minor changes from v2 -- this is
the print versio
Discrete soliton mobility in two-dimensional waveguide arrays with saturable nonlinearity
We address the issue of mobility of localized modes in two-dimensional
nonlinear Schr\"odinger lattices with saturable nonlinearity. This describes
e.g. discrete spatial solitons in a tight-binding approximation of
two-dimensional optical waveguide arrays made from photorefractive crystals. We
discuss numerically obtained exact stationary solutions and their stability,
focussing on three different solution families with peaks at one, two, and four
neighboring sites, respectively. When varying the power, there is a repeated
exchange of stability between these three solutions, with symmetry-broken
families of connecting intermediate stationary solutions appearing at the
bifurcation points. When the nonlinearity parameter is not too large, we
observe good mobility, and a well defined Peierls-Nabarro barrier measuring the
minimum energy necessary for rendering a stable stationary solution mobile.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
Deep subcutaneous application of poly-L-lactic acid as a filler for facial lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients
Introduction: Facial lipoatrophy is a crucial problem of HIV-infected patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Poly-L-lactic acid (PLA), provided as New-Fill(R)/Sculptra(TM), is known as one possible treatment option. In 2004 PLA was approved by the FDA as Sculptra(TM) for the treatment of lipoatrophy of the face in HIV-infected patients. While the first trials demonstrated relevant efficacy, this was to some extent linked to unwanted effects. As the depth of injection was considered relevant in this context, the application modalities of the preparation were changed. The preparation was to be injected more deeply into subcutaneous tissue, after increased dilution. Material and Methods: To test this approach we performed a pilot study following the new recommendations in 14 patients. Results: While the efficacy turned out to be about the same, tolerability was markedly improved. The increase in facial dermal thickness was particularly obvious in those patients who had suffered from lipoatrophy for a comparatively small period of time. Conclusion: With the new recommendations to dilute PLA powder and to inject it into the deeper subcutaneous tissue nodule formation is a minor problem. However, good treatment results can only be achieved if lipoatrophy is not too intense; treatment intervals should be about 2 - 3 weeks. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
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Water reuse for irrigated agriculture in Jordan: challenges of soil sustainability and the role of management strategies
Reclaimed water provides an important contribution to the water balance in water-scarce Jordan, but the quality of this water presents both benefits and challenges. Careful management of reclaimed water is required to maximize the nutrient benefits while minimizing the salinity risks. This work uses a multi-disciplinary research approach to show that soil response to irrigation with reclaimed water is a function of the management strategies adopted on the farm by the water user. The adoption of management methods to maintain soil productivity can be seen to be a result of farmers’ awareness to potentially plant-toxic ions in the irrigation water (70% of Jordan Valley farmers identified salinization as a hazard from irrigation with reclaimed water). However, the work also suggests that farmers’ management capacity is affected by the institutional management of water. About a third (35%) of farmers in the Jordan Valley claimed that their ability to manage salinization was limited by water shortages. Organizational interviews revealed that institutional awareness of soil management challenges was quite high (34% of interviewees described salinization as a risk from water reuse), but strategies to address this challenge at the institutional level require greater development
A pulsed atomic soliton laser
It is shown that simultaneously changing the scattering length of an
elongated, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate from positive to
negative and inverting the axial portion of the trap, so that it becomes
expulsive, results in a train of self-coherent solitonic pulses. Each pulse is
itself a non-dispersive attractive Bose-Einstein condensate that rapidly
self-cools. The axial trap functions as a waveguide. The solitons can be made
robustly stable with the right choice of trap geometry, number of atoms, and
interaction strength. Theoretical and numerical evidence suggests that such a
pulsed atomic soliton laser can be made in present experiments.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Signatures of superconducting gap inhomogeneities in optical properties
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy applied to the high- cuprates has
revealed significant spatial inhomogeneity on the nanoscale. Regions on the
order of a coherence length in size show variations of the magnitude of the
superconducting gap of order or more. An important unresolved question
is whether or not these variations are also present in the bulk, and how they
influence superconducting properties. As many theories and data analyses for
high- superconductivity assume spatial homogeneity of the gap magnitude,
this is a pressing question. We consider the far-infrared optical conductivity
and evaluate, within an effective medium approximation, what signatures of
spatial variations in gap magnitude are present in various optical quantities.
In addition to the case of d-wave superconductivity, relevant to the high-
cuprates, we have also considered s-wave gap symmetry in order to provide
expected signatures of inhomogeneities for superconductors in general. While
signatures of gap inhomogeneities can be strongly manifested in s-wave
superconductors, we find that the far-infrared optical conductivity in d-wave
is robust against such inhomogeneity.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Investigation of infrared phonon modes in multiferroic single-crystal FeTeOBr
Reflection and transmission as a function of temperature (5--300 K) have been
measured on single crystals of the multiferroic compound FeTeOBr
utilizing light spanning the far infrared to the visible portions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. The complex dielectric function and optical
properties were obtained via Kramers-Kronig analysis and by fits to a
Drude-Lortentz model. Analysis of the anisotropic excitation spectra via
Drude-Lorentz fitting and lattice dynamical calculations have lead to the
observation of all 52 IR-active modes predicted in the plane and 43 or the
53 modes predicted along the b axis of the monoclinic cell. Assignments to
groups (clusters) of phonons have been made and trends within them are
discussed in light of our calculated displacement patterns.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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