456 research outputs found
Adiabatic elimination in quantum stochastic models
We consider a physical system with a coupling to bosonic reservoirs via a
quantum stochastic differential equation. We study the limit of this model as
the coupling strength tends to infinity. We show that in this limit the
solution to the quantum stochastic differential equation converges strongly to
the solution of a limit quantum stochastic differential equation. In the
limiting dynamics the excited states are removed and the ground states couple
directly to the reservoirs.Comment: 17 pages, no figures, corrected mistake
Mid- And Late-Life Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Global Brain Amyloid Burden- And Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC)-PET Study
Background: Physical activity (PA) may slow the development of dementia by reducing the accumulation of amyloid. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that higher levels of leisure-time PA in mid- or late-life were associated with lower brain amyloid burden in late-life among 326 non-demented participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study of brain florbetapir positron emission tomography (ARIC-PET) ancillary. Methods: Self-reported PA was quantified using a past-year recall, interviewer-administered questionnaire in mid-life (1987-1989, aged 45-64 years) and late-life (2011-2013, aged 67-89 years). Continuous PA estimates were classified as 1) any leisure-time PA participation (yes/no); 2) meeting the 2018 United States' PA guidelines (yes/no); and 3) per 1 standard deviation (SD) higher metabolic equivalent of task (MET) minutes per week (MET min wk-1). A brain magnetic resonance imaging scan with Florbetapir PET was performed in late-life. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) of elevated amyloid burden, defined as a global cortical standardized uptake value ratio (>1.2), compared to no elevated amyloid burden were estimated according to PA measures. Results: Among the 326 participants (mean age: 76 years, 42% male, 41% Black), 52% had elevated brain amyloid burden. Mid-life leisure-time PA did not show a statistically significant lower odds of elevated late-life amyloid burden (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.43-1.18). A 1 SD (970 MET. min. wk-1) higher PA level in mid-life was also not significantly associated with elevated amyloid burden (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.69-1.15). Similar estimates were observed for meeting versus not meeting PA guidelines in both mid- and late-life. Conclusion: Self-reported higher mid- and late-life leisure-time PA were not significantly associated with lower amyloid burden. Data show a trend of an association, which is, however, imprecise, suggesting replication in larger studies
Real-time nonequilibrium dynamics in hot QED plasmas: dynamical renormalization group approach
We study the real-time nonequilibrium dynamics in hot QED plasmas
implementing a dynamical renormalization group and using the hard thermal loop
(HTL) approximation. The focus is on the study of the relaxation of gauge and
fermionic mean fields and on the quantum kinetics of the photon and fermion
distribution functions. For semihard photons of momentum eT << k << T we find
to leading order in the HTL that the gauge mean field relaxes in time with a
power law as a result of infrared enhancement of the spectral density near the
Landau damping threshold. The dynamical renormalization group reveals the
emergence of detailed balance for microscopic time scales larger than 1/k while
the rates are still varying with time. The quantum kinetic equation for the
photon distribution function allows us to study photon production from a
thermalized quark-gluon plasma (QGP) by off-shell effects. We find that for a
QGP at temperature T ~ 200 MeV and of lifetime 10 < t < 50 fm/c the hard (k ~
T) photon production from off-shell bremsstrahlung (q -> q \gamma and \bar{q}
-> \bar{q}\gamma) at O(\alpha) grows logarithmically in time and is comparable
to that produced from on-shell Compton scattering and pair annihilation at
O(\alpha \alpha_s). Fermion mean fields relax as e^{-\alpha T t ln(\omega_P t)}
with \omega_P=eT/3 the plasma frequency, as a consequence of the emission and
absorption of soft magnetic photons. A quantum kinetic equation for hard
fermions is obtained directly in real time from a field theoretical approach
improved by the dynamical renormalization group. The collision kernel is
time-dependent and infrared finite.Comment: RevTeX, 46 pages, including 5 EPS figures, published versio
Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths
We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows:
pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe
interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered
outflows. We describe radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of PWNe,
focusing first on integrated spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) and global
spectral properties. High-resolution X-ray imaging of PWNe shows a bewildering
array of morphologies, with jets, trails, and other structures. Several of the
23 so far identified magnetars show evidence for continuous or sporadic
emission of material, sometimes associated with giant flares, and a few
possible "magnetar-wind nebulae" have been recently identified.Comment: 61 pages, 44 figures (reduced in quality for size reasons). Published
in Space Science Reviews, "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray
Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release
Nucleon charge exchange on the deuteron: A critical review
The existing experimental data on the d(n,p)nn and d(p,n)pp cross sections in
the forward direction are reviewed in terms of the Dean sum rule. It is shown
that the measurement of the ratio of the charge exchange on the deuteron to
that on the proton might, if taken together with other experimental data, allow
a direct construction of the np -> np scattering amplitude in the backward
direction with few ambiguities.Comment: 7 pages with 3 figure
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