Collision-Dependent Atom Tunnelling Rate in Bose-Einstein Condensates

We show that the interaction (cross-collision) between atoms trapped in distinct sites of a double-well potential can significantly increase the atom tunneling rate for special trap configurations leading to an effective linear Rabi regime of population oscillation between the trap wells. The inclusion of cross-collisional effects significantly extends the validity of the two-mode model approach allowing it to be alternatively employed to explain the recently observed increase of tunneling rates due to nonlinear interactions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Replaced with improved versio

Optimal Conditions for Atomic Homodyne Detection on Bose-Einstein Condensates

The dynamics of a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a double-well potential results approximately in an effective Rabi oscillation regime of exchange of population between both wells for sufficiently strong overlap between the modes functions. Facing this system as a temporal atomic beam splitter we show that this regime is optimal for a nondestructive atom-number measurement allowing an atomic homodyne detection, thus yielding indirect relative phase information about one of the two-mode condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

The Origin of Fluorine: Abundances in AGB Carbon Stars Revisited

Revised spectroscopic parameters for the HF molecule and a new CN line list in the 2.3 mu region have been recently available, allowing a revision of the F content in AGB stars. AGB carbon stars are the only observationally confirmed sources of fluorine. Nowadays there is not a consensus on the relevance of AGB stars in its Galactic chemical evolution. The aim of this article is to better constrain the contribution of these stars with a more accurate estimate of their fluorine abundances. Using new spectroscopic tools and LTE spectral synthesis, we redetermine fluorine abundances from several HF lines in the K-band in a sample of Galactic and extragalactic AGB carbon stars of spectral types N, J and SC spanning a wide range of metallicities. On average, the new derived fluorine abundances are systematically lower by 0.33 dex with respect to previous determinations. This may derive from a combination of the lower excitation energies of the HF lines and the larger macroturbulence parameters used here as well as from the new adopted CN line list. Yet, theoretical nucleosynthesis models in AGB stars agree with the new fluorine determinations at solar metallicities. At low metallicities, an agreement between theory and observations can be found by handling in a different way the radiative/convective interface at the base of the convective envelope. New fluorine spectroscopic measurements agree with theoretical models at low and at solar metallicity. Despite this, complementary sources are needed to explain its observed abundance in the solar neighbourhood.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted in A&

A semiquantitative approach to the impurity-band-related transport properties of GaMnAs nanolayers

We investigate the spin-polarized transport of GaMnAs nanolayers in which a ferromagnetic order exists below a certain transition temperature. Our calculation for the self-averaged resistivity takes into account the existence of an impurity band determining the extended ("metallic" transport) or localized (hopping by thermal excitation) nature of the states at and near the Fermi level. Magnetic order and resistivity are inter-related due to the influence of the spin polarization of the impurity band and the effect of the Zeeman splitting on the mobility edge. We obtain, for a given range of Mn concentration and carrier density, a "metallic" behavior in which the transport by extended carriers dominates at low temperature, and is dominated by the thermally excited localized carriers near and above the transition temperature. This gives rise to a conspicuous hump of the resistivity which has been experimentally observed and brings light onto the relationship between transport and magnetic properties of this material