493 research outputs found
Collapses and revivals in the interference between two Bose-Einstein condensates formed in small atomic samples
We investigate the quantum interference between two Bose-Einstein condensates
formed in small atomic samples composed of a few thousand atoms both by
imposing Bose broken gauge symmetry from the outset and also using an explicit
model of atomic detection. In the former case we show that the macroscopic wave
function collapses and revives in time, and we calculate the characteristic
times for current experiments. Collapses and revivals are also predicted in the
interference between two Bose-Einstein condensates which are initially in Fock
states, a relative phase between the condensates being established via atomic
detections corresponding to uncertainty in the number difference between them.Comment: 17 pages, 3 PostScript figure, submitted to PR
Multimodal influences on learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis)
Ants are excellent navigators using multimodal information for navigation. To accurately localise the nest at the end of a foraging journey, visual cues, wind direction and also olfactory cues need to be learnt. Learning walks are performed at the start of an ant’s foraging career or when the appearance of the nest surrounding has changed. We investigated here whether the structure of such learning walks in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis takes into account wind direction in conjunction with the learning of new visual information. Ants learnt to travel back and forth between their nest and a feeder, and we then introduced a black cylinder near their nest to induce learning walks in regular foragers. By doing this across days with different wind directions, we were able to probe how ants balance different sensory modalities. We found that (1) the ants’ outwards headings are influenced by the wind direction with their routes deflected such that they will arrive downwind of their target, (2) a novel object along the route induces learning walks in experienced ants and (3) the structure of learning walks is shaped by the wind direction rather than the position of the visual cue
Macroscopic superpositions of Bose-Einstein condensates
We consider two dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensates with opposite velocities
from which a monochromatic light field detuned far from the resonance of the
optical transition is coherently scattered. In the thermodynamic limit, when
the relative fluctuations of the atom number difference between the two
condensates vanish, the relative phase between the Bose-Einstein condensates
may be established in a superposition state by detections of spontaneously
scattered photons, even though the condensates have initially well-defined atom
numbers. For a finite system, stochastic simulations show that the measurements
of the scattered photons lead to a randomly drifting relative phase and drive
the condensates into entangled superpositions of number states. This is because
according to Bose-Einstein statistics the scattering to an already occupied
state is enhanced.Comment: 18 pages, RevTex, 5 postscript figures, 1 MacBinary eps-figur
Input-output theory for fermions in an atom cavity
We generalize the quantum optical input-output theory developed for optical
cavities to ultracold fermionic atoms confined in a trapping potential, which
forms an "atom cavity". In order to account for the Pauli exclusion principle,
quantum Langevin equations for all cavity modes are derived. The dissipative
part of these multi-mode Langevin equations includes a coupling between cavity
modes. We also derive a set of boundary conditions for the Fermi field that
relate the output fields to the input fields and the field radiated by the
cavity. Starting from a constant uniform current of fermions incident on one
side of the cavity, we use the boundary conditions to calculate the occupation
numbers and current density for the fermions that are reflected and transmitted
by the cavity
Non-Markovian quantum trajectories for spectral detection
We present a formulation of non-Markovian quantum trajectories for open
systems from a measurement theory perspective. In our treatment there are three
distinct ways in which non-Markovian behavior can arise; a mode dependent
coupling between bath (reservoir) and system, a dispersive bath, and by
spectral detection of the output into the bath. In the first two cases the
non-Markovian behavior is intrinsic to the interaction, in the third case the
non-Markovian behavior arises from the method of detection. We focus in detail
on the trajectories which simulate real-time spectral detection of the light
emitted from a localized system. In this case, the non-Markovian behavior
arises from the uncertainty in the time of emission of particles that are later
detected. The results of computer simulations of the spectral detection of the
spontaneous emission from a strongly driven two-level atom are presented
Dynamical quantum noise in Bose-Einstein condensates
We introduce the study of dynamical quantum noise in Bose-Einstein
condensates through numerical simulation of stochastic partial differential
equations obtained using phase space representations. We derive evolution
equations for a single trapped condensate in both the positive- and Wigner
representations, and perform simulations to compare the predictions of the two
methods. The positive- approach is found to be highly susceptible to the
stability problems that have been observed in other strongly nonlinear, weakly
damped systems. Using the Wigner representation, we examine the evolution of
several quantities of interest using from a variety of choices of initial state
for the condensate, and compare results to those for single-mode models.Comment: 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Quantum noise in the position measurement of a cavity mirror undergoing Brownian motion
We perform a quantum theoretical calculation of the noise power spectrum for
a phase measurement of the light output from a coherently driven optical cavity
with a freely moving rear mirror. We examine how the noise resulting from the
quantum back action appears among the various contributions from other noise
sources. We do not assume an ideal (homodyne) phase measurement, but rather
consider phase modulation detection, which we show has a different shot noise
level. We also take into account the effects of thermal damping of the mirror,
losses within the cavity, and classical laser noise. We relate our theoretical
results to experimental parameters, so as to make direct comparisons with
current experiments simple. We also show that in this situation, the standard
Brownian motion master equation is inadequate for describing the thermal
damping of the mirror, as it produces a spurious term in the steady-state phase
fluctuation spectrum. The corrected Brownian motion master equation [L. Diosi,
Europhys. Lett. {\bf 22}, 1 (1993)] rectifies this inadequacy.Comment: 12 pages revtex, 2 figure
Combining estimates of interest in prognostic modelling studies after multiple imputation: current practice and guidelines
Background: Multiple imputation (MI) provides an effective approach to handle missing covariate
data within prognostic modelling studies, as it can properly account for the missing data
uncertainty. The multiply imputed datasets are each analysed using standard prognostic modelling
techniques to obtain the estimates of interest. The estimates from each imputed dataset are then
combined into one overall estimate and variance, incorporating both the within and between
imputation variability. Rubin's rules for combining these multiply imputed estimates are based on
asymptotic theory. The resulting combined estimates may be more accurate if the posterior
distribution of the population parameter of interest is better approximated by the normal
distribution. However, the normality assumption may not be appropriate for all the parameters of
interest when analysing prognostic modelling studies, such as predicted survival probabilities and
model performance measures.
Methods: Guidelines for combining the estimates of interest when analysing prognostic modelling
studies are provided. A literature review is performed to identify current practice for combining
such estimates in prognostic modelling studies.
Results: Methods for combining all reported estimates after MI were not well reported in the
current literature. Rubin's rules without applying any transformations were the standard approach
used, when any method was stated.
Conclusion: The proposed simple guidelines for combining estimates after MI may lead to a wider
and more appropriate use of MI in future prognostic modelling studies
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H0LiCOW X: Spectroscopic/imaging survey and galaxy-group identification around the strong gravitational lens system WFI2033-4723
Galaxies and galaxy groups located along the line of sight towards
gravitationally lensed quasars produce high-order perturbations of the
gravitational potential at the lens position. When these perturbation are too
large, they can induce a systematic error on of a few-percent if the lens
system is used for cosmological inference and the perturbers are not explicitly
accounted for in the lens model. In this work, we present a detailed
characterization of the environment of the lens system WFI2033-4723 (, = 0.6575), one of the core targets of the H0LICOW
project for which we present cosmological inferences in a companion paper (Rusu
et al. 2019). We use the Gemini and ESO-Very Large telescopes to measure the
spectroscopic redshifts of the brightest galaxies towards the lens, and use the
ESO-MUSE integral field spectrograph to measure the velocity-dispersion of the
lens ( km/s) and of several nearby
galaxies. In addition, we measure photometric redshifts and stellar masses of
all galaxies down to mag, mainly based on Dark Energy Survey imaging
(DR1). Our new catalog, complemented with literature data, more than doubles
the number of known galaxy spectroscopic redshifts in the direct vicinity of
the lens, expanding to 116 (64) the number of spectroscopic redshifts for
galaxies separated by less than 3 arcmin (2 arcmin) from the lens. Using the
flexion-shift as a measure of the amplitude of the gravitational perturbation,
we identify 2 galaxy groups and 3 galaxies that require specific attention in
the lens models. The ESO MUSE data enable us to measure the
velocity-dispersions of three of these galaxies. These results are essential
for the cosmological inference analysis presented in Rusu et al. (2019).Comment: Matches the version accepted for publication by MNRAS. Note that this
paper previously appeared as H0LICOW X
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