Classical and Non-Relativistic Limits of a Lorentz-Invariant Bohmian Model for a System of Spinless Particles

A completely Lorentz-invariant Bohmian model has been proposed recently for the case of a system of non-interacting spinless particles, obeying Klein-Gordon equations. It is based on a multi-temporal formalism and on the idea of treating the squared norm of the wave function as a space-time probability density. The particle's configurations evolve in space-time in terms of a parameter {\sigma}, with dimensions of time. In this work this model is further analyzed and extended to the case of an interaction with an external electromagnetic field. The physical meaning of {\sigma} is explored. Two special situations are studied in depth: (1) the classical limit, where the Einsteinian Mechanics of Special Relativity is recovered and the parameter {\sigma} is shown to tend to the particle's proper time; and (2) the non-relativistic limit, where it is obtained a model very similar to the usual non-relativistic Bohmian Mechanics but with the time of the frame of reference replaced by {\sigma} as the dynamical temporal parameter

Out-Of-Focus Holography at the Green Bank Telescope

We describe phase-retrieval holography measurements of the 100-m diameter Green Bank Telescope using astronomical sources and an astronomical receiver operating at a wavelength of 7 mm. We use the technique with parameterization of the aperture in terms of Zernike polynomials and employing a large defocus, as described by Nikolic, Hills & Richer (2006). Individual measurements take around 25 minutes and from the resulting beam maps (which have peak signal to noise ratios of 200:1) we show that it is possible to produce low-resolution maps of the wavefront errors with accuracy around a hundredth of a wavelength. Using such measurements over a wide range of elevations, we have calculated a model for the wavefront-errors due to the uncompensated gravitational deformation of the telescope. This model produces a significant improvement at low elevations, where these errors are expected to be the largest; after applying the model, the aperture efficiency is largely independent of elevation. We have also demonstrated that the technique can be used to measure and largely correct for thermal deformations of the antenna, which often exceed the uncompensated gravitational deformations during daytime observing. We conclude that the aberrations induced by gravity and thermal effects are large-scale and the technique used here is particularly suitable for measuring such deformations in large millimetre wave radio telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures (accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics

Design of generalized Chebyshev lumped element filters by computer optimisation

A numerical method for the optimization of symmetrical lumped element low-pass and band-pass filters with a generalized Chebyshev response is considered. By exploiting the fact that a network based on generalized Chebyshev prototype has a prescribed number of turning points in the insertion loss and an identical number of independent parameters which can be assigned as variables to adjust their levels, the method gives fast convergence

Optimization of Quercetin Extraction from Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) Using Central Composite Design, and the Pharmacological Activity of the Extract

The aim of this paper was to optimize an extraction procedure of quercetin from green tea using central composite design. Extraction time, ethanol concentration, and solid to liquid ratio were selected as the independent variables, while quercetin yield was defined as a response. The impact of factors and their interactions on the quercetin yield was studied based on the results of ANOVA test. The extraction time of 58.5 min, ethanol concentration of 94.7 % (v/v), and solid to liquid ratio of 1:19.4 (m/v) were found as the optimal conditions. The experimental confirmation of the proposed optimal conditions indicated that there was a good agreement between the experimental and predicted values. In addition to quercetin, the presence of 17 bioactive compounds was confirmed in the green tea extract using mass spectrometry method. Antioxidant, antimicrobial and antitumor activity of the optimal extract was determined using DPPH assay, disk diffusion method, and MTT assay, respectively

ALMA Temporal Phase Stability and the Effectiveness of Water Vapor Radiometer

Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will be the world largest mm/submm interferometer, and currently the Early Science is ongoing, together with the commissioning and science verification (CSV). Here we present a study of the temporal phase stability of the entire ALMA system from antennas to the correlator. We verified the temporal phase stability of ALMA using data, taken during the last two years of CSV activities. The data consist of integrations on strong point sources (i.e., bright quasars) at various frequency bands, and at various baseline lengths (up to 600 m). From the observations of strong quasars for a long time (from a few tens of minutes, up to an hour), we derived the 2-point Allan Standard Deviation after the atmospheric phase correction using the 183 GHz Water Vapor Radiometer (WVR) installed in each 12 m antenna, and confirmed that the phase stability of all the baselines reached the ALMA specification. Since we applied the WVR phase correction to all the data mentioned above, we also studied the effectiveness of the WVR phase correction at various frequencies, baseline lengths, and weather conditions. The phase stability often improves a factor of 2 - 3 after the correction, and sometimes a factor of 7 improvement can be obtained. However, the corrected data still displays an increasing phase fluctuation as a function of baseline length, suggesting that the dry component (e.g., N2 and O2) in the atmosphere also contributes the phase fluctuation in the data, although the imperfection of the WVR phase correction cannot be ruled out at this moment.Comment: Proc. SPIE 8444-125, in press (7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

Characterization of a Plasmoid in the Afterglow of a Supersonic Flowing Microwave Discharge

We performed a detailed characterization a plasmoid in the afterglow region of an Ar supersonic microwave cavity discharge. The supersonic flow was generated using a convergent-divergent nozzle upstream of the discharge region. A cylindrical cavity was used to sustain a discharge in the pressure range of 100-600 Pa. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to observe populations of excited and ionic species in the plasmoid region. Plasmoid formation in the supersonic flowing afterglow located downstream from the primary microwave cavity discharge was characterized by measuring the radial and axial distributions of Argon excited states and Argon ions. More experiments are being carried out on the plasmoid to understand the discharge parameters within the region, i.e. rotational temperature, vibrational temperature, electron density, and how the electrodynamic and aerodynamic effects combine to form this plasmoid

Dielectronic Recombination of Argon-Like Ions

We present a theoretical investigation of dielectronic recombination (DR) of Ar-like ions that sheds new light on the behavior of the rate coefficient at low-temperatures where these ions form in photoionized plasmas. We provide results for the total and partial Maxwellian-averaged DR rate coefficients from the initial ground level of K II -- Zn XIII ions. It is expected that these new results will advance the accuracy of the ionization balance for Ar-like M-shell ions and pave the way towards a detailed modeling of astrophysically relevant X-ray absorption features. We utilize the AUTOSTRUCTURE computer code to obtain the accurate core-excitation thresholds in target ions and carry out multiconfiguration Breit-Pauli (MCBP) calculations of the DR cross section in the independent-processes, isolated-resonance, distorted-wave (IPIRDW) approximation. Our results mediate the complete absence of direct DR calculations for certain Ar-like ions and question the reliability of the existing empirical rate formulas, often inferred from renormalized data within this isoelectronic sequence