Collapses and revivals of stored orbital angular momentum of light in a cold atomic ensemble

We report on the storage of orbital angular momentum of light in a cold ensemble of cesium atoms. We employ Bragg diffraction to retrieve the stored optical information impressed into the atomic coherence by the incident light fields. The stored information can be manipulated by an applied magnetic field and we were able to observe collapses and revivals due to the rotation of the stored atomic Zeeman coherence for times longer than 15 $\mu s$.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review

Dynamics of a stored Zeeman coherence grating in an external magnetic field

We investigate the evolution of a Zeeman coherence grating induced in a cold atomic cesium sample in the presence of an external magnetic field. The gratings are created in a three-beam light storage configuration using two quasi-collinear writing laser pulses and reading with a counterpropagating pulse after a variable time delay. The phase conjugated pulse arising from the atomic sample is monitored. Collapses and revivals of the retrieved pulse are observed for different polarizations of the laser beams and for different directions of the applied magnetic field. While magnetic field inhomogeneities are responsible for the decay of the coherent atomic response, a five-fold increase in the coherence decay time, with respect to no applied magnetic field, is obtained for an appropriate choice of the direction of the applied magnetic field. A simplified theoretical model illustrates the role of the magnetic field mean and its inhomogeneity on the collective atomic response.Comment: To appear in J. Phys.

Study of boundary-layer transition using transonic-cone preston tube data

The laminar boundary layer on a 10 degree cone in a transonic wind tunnel was studied. The inviscid flow and boundary layer development were simulated by computer programs. The effects of pitch and yaw angles on the boundary layer were examined. Preston-tube data, taken on the boundary-layer-transition cone in the NASA Ames 11 ft transonic wind tunnel, were used to develope a correlation which relates the measurements to theoretical values of laminar skin friction. The recommended correlation is based on a compressible form of the classical law-of-the-wall. The computer codes successfully simulates the laminar boundary layer for near-zero pitch and yaw angles. However, in cases of significant pitch and/or yaw angles, the flow is three dimensional and the boundary layer computer code used here cannot provide a satisfactory model. The skin-friction correlation is thought to be valid for body geometries other than cones

Double Higgs production at TeV Colliders in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

The reconstruction of the Higgs potential in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) requires the measurement of the trilinear Higgs self-couplings. The `double Higgs production' subgroup has been investigating the possibility of detecting signatures of processes carrying a dependence on these vertices at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and future Linear Colliders (LCs). As reference reactions, we have chosen $gg\to hh$ and $e^+e^-\to h h Z$, respectively, where $h$ is the lightest of the MSSM Higgs bosons. In both cases, the $Hhh$ interaction is involved. For $m_H>2m_h$, the two reactions are resonant in the $H\to hh$ mode, providing cross sections which are detectable at both accelerators and strongly sensitive to the strength of the trilinear coupling involved. We explore this mass regime of the MSSM in the $h\to b\bar b$ decay channel, also accounting for irreducible background effects.Comment: LaTeX, 23 pages, 13 PostScript figures (contribution to the Summary Report of the Higgs WG, Workshop `Physics at TeV Colliders', Les Houches, France, 8-18 June 1999): some modifications to the bibliograph

Multiple Z' -> t-tbar signals in a 4D Composite Higgs Model

We study the production of top-antitop pairs at the Large Hadron Collider as a testbed for discovering heavy Z' bosons belonging to a composite Higgs model, as, in this scenario, such new gauge interaction states are sizeably coupled to the third generation quarks of the Standard Model. We study their possible appearance in cross section as well as (charge and spin) asymmetry distributions. Our calculations are performed in the minimal four-dimensional formulation of such a scenario, namely the 4-Dimensional Composite Higgs Model (4DCHM), which embeds five new $Z'$s. We pay particular attention to the case of nearly degenerate resonances, highlighting the conditions under which these are separable in the aforementioned observables. We also discuss the impact of the intrinsic width of the new resonances onto the event rates and various distributions. We confirm that the 14 TeV stage of the LHC will enable one to detect two such states, assuming standard detector performance and machine luminosity. A mapping of the discovery potential of the LHC of these new gauge bosons is given. Finally, from the latter, several benchmarks are extracted which are amenable to experimental investigation.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures. Text and figures updated to match published versio