4,162 research outputs found
Poynting vector, energy density and energy velocity in anomalous dispersion medium
The Poynting vector, energy density and energy velocity of light pulses
propagating in anomalous dispersion medium (used in WKD-like experiments) are
calculated. Results show that a negative energy density in the medium
propagates along opposite of incident direction with such a velocity similar to
the negative group velocity while the direction of the Poynting vector is
positive. In other words, one might say that a positive energy density in the
medium would propagate along the positive direction with a speed having
approximately the absolute valueof the group velocity. We further point out
that neither energy velocity nor group velocity is a good concept to describe
the propagation process of light pulse inside the medium in WKD experiment
owing to the strong accumulation and dissipation effects.Comment: 6 page
Local Current Distribution and "Hot Spots" in the Integer Quantum Hall Regime
In a recent experiment, the local current distribution of a two-dimensional
electron gas in the quantum Hall regime was probed by measuring the variation
of the conductance due to local gating. The main experimental finding was the
existence of "hot spots", i.e. regions with high degree of sensitivity to local
gating, whose density increases as one approaches the quantum Hall transition.
However, the direct connection between these "hot spots" and regions of high
current flow is not clear. Here, based on a recent model for the quantum Hall
transition consisting of a mixture of perfect and quantum links, the relation
between the "hot spots" and the current distribution in the sample has been
investigated. The model reproduces the observed dependence of the number and
sizes of "hot spots" on the filling factor. It is further demonstrated that
these "hot spots" are not located in regions where most of the current flows,
but rather, in places where the currents flow both when injected from the left
or from the right. A quantitative measure, the harmonic mean of these currents
is introduced and correlates very well with the "hot spots" positions
Safety and tolerability of NXY-059 for acute intracerebral hemorrhage: the CHANT trial
<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> NXY-059 is a free radical-trapping neuroprotectant developed for use in acute ischemic stroke. To facilitate prompt administration of treatment, potentially before neuroimaging, we investigated the safety of NXY-059 in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> We randomized 607 patients within 6 hours of acute ICH to receive 2270 mg intravenous NXY-059 over 1 hour and then up to 960 mg/h over 71 hours, or matching placebo, in addition to standard care. The primary outcome was safety: the mortality and the frequency of adverse events, and the change from baseline for a variety of serum, imaging, and electrophysiological measurements. We also studied the overall distribution of disability scores on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and the Barthel index.</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> We treated 300 patients with NXY-059 and 303 with placebo. Treatment groups were well matched for prognostic variables including Glasgow Coma Scale, risk factors, and age. The mean National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score on admission was 14 in both groups. The baseline hemorrhage volume was 22.4±20.1 mL in the NXY-059 group and 23.3±22.8 mL in the placebo group (mean±SD). Most hemorrhages were related to hypertension or anticoagulant use. Mortality was similar in both groups: 20.3% for NXY-059 and 19.8% for placebo-treated patients. The proportion of patients who experienced an adverse event was the same for both groups, whereas for serious adverse events the proportion was slightly higher in the NXY-059 group. However, no pattern emerged to indicate a safety concern. Serum potassium fell transiently in both groups, lower in the NXY-059 group. There were no differences in 3-month function, disability, or neurological deficit scores. The odds ratio for an improved outcome in 3-month mRS scores in the NXY-059 group was 1.01 (95% CI 0.75, 1.35).</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> NXY-059 given within 6 hours of acute ICH has a good safety and tolerability profile, with no adverse effect on important clinical outcomes.</p>
A Quantum Tweezer for Atoms
We propose a quantum tweezer for extracting a desired number of neutral atoms
from a reservoir. A trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is used as the
reservoir, taking advantage of its coherent nature, which can guarantee a
constant outcome. The tweezer is an attractive quantum dot, which may be
generated by red-detuned laser light. By moving with certain speeds, the dot
can extract a desired number of atoms from the BEC through Landau-Zener
tunneling. The feasibility of our quantum tweezer is demonstrated through
realistic and extensive model calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures Revised versio
Superluminal optical pulse propagation in nonlinear coherent media
The propagation of light-pulse with negative group-velocity in a nonlinear
medium is studied theoretically. We show that the necessary conditions for
these effects to be observable are realized in a three-level -system
interacting with a linearly polarized laser beam in the presence of a static
magnetic field. In low power regime, when all other nonlinear processes are
negligible, the light-induced Zeeman coherence cancels the resonant absorption
of the medium almost completely, but preserves the dispersion anomalous and
very high. As a result, a superluminal light pulse propagation can be observed
in the sense that the peak of the transmitted pulse exits the medium before the
peak of the incident pulse enters. There is no violation of causality and
energy conservation. Moreover, the superluminal effects are prominently
manifested in the reshaping of pulse, which is caused by the
intensity-dependent pulse velocity. Unlike the shock wave formation in a
nonlinear medium with normal dispersion, here, the self-steepening of the pulse
trailing edge takes place due to the fact that the more intense parts of the
pulse travel slower. The predicted effect can be easily observed in the well
known schemes employed for studying of nonlinear magneto-optical rotation. The
upper bound of sample length is found from the criterion that the pulse
self-steepening and group-advance time are observable without pulse distortion
caused by the group-velocity dispersion.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Electroweak higher-order effects and theoretical uncertainties in deep-inelastic neutrino scattering
A previous calculation of electroweak O(alpha) corrections to deep-inelastic
neutrino scattering, as e.g. measured by NuTeV and NOMAD, is supplemented by
higher-order effects. In detail, we take into account universal two-loop
effects from \Delta\alpha and \Delta\rho as well as higher-order final-state
photon radiation off muons in the structure function approach. Moreover, we
make use of the recently released O(alpha)-improved parton distributions
MRST2004QED and identify the relevant QED factorization scheme, which is DIS
like. As a technical byproduct, we describe slicing and subtraction techniques
for an efficient calculation of a new type of real corrections that are induced
by the generated photon distribution. A numerical discussion of the
higher-order effects suggests that the remaining theoretical uncertainty from
unknown electroweak corrections is dominated by non-universal two-loop effects
and is of the order 0.0003 when translated into a shift in
sin^2\theta_W=1-MW^2/MZ^2. The O(alpha) corrections implicitly included in the
parton distributions lead to a shift of about 0.0004.Comment: 25 pages, latex, 8 postscript figure
A new model of a tidally disrupted star
A new semi-analytical model of a star evolving in a tidal field is proposed.
The model is a generalization of the so-called 'affine' stellar model. In our
model the star is composed of elliptical shells with different parameters and
different orientations, depending on time and on the radial Lagrangian
coordinate of the shell. The evolution equations of this model are derived from
the virial relations under certain assumptions, and the integrals of motion are
identified. It is shown that the evolution equations can be deduced from a
variational principle. The evolution equations are solved numerically and
compared quantitatively with the results of 3D numerical computations of the
tidal interaction of a star with a supermassive black hole. The comparison
shows very good agreement between the main ``integral'' characteristics
describing the tidal interaction event in our model and in the 3D computations.
Our model is effectively a one-dimensional Lagrangian model from the point of
view of numerical computations, and therefore it can be evolved numerically
times faster than the 3D approach allows. This makes our model
well suited for intensive calculations covering the whole parameter space of
the problem.Comment: This version is accepted for publication in ApJ. Stylistic and
grammatical changes, new Appendix adde
A phenomenological approach to normal form modeling: a case study in laser induced nematodynamics
An experimental setting for the polarimetric study of optically induced
dynamical behavior in nematic liquid crystal films has allowed to identify most
notably some behavior which was recognized as gluing bifurcations leading to
chaos. This analysis of the data used a comparison with a model for the
transition to chaos via gluing bifurcations in optically excited nematic liquid
crystals previously proposed by G. Demeter and L. Kramer. The model of these
last authors, proposed about twenty years before, does not have the central
symmetry which one would expect for minimal dimensional models for chaos in
nematics in view of the time series. What we show here is that the simplest
truncated normal forms for gluing, with the appropriate symmetry and minimal
dimension, do exhibit time signals that are embarrassingly similar to the ones
found using the above mentioned experimental settings. The gluing bifurcation
scenario itself is only visible in limited parameter ranges and substantial
aspect of the chaos that can be observed is due to other factors. First, out of
the immediate neighborhood of the homoclinic curve, nonlinearity can produce
expansion leading to chaos when combined with the recurrence induced by the
homoclinic behavior. Also, pairs of symmetric homoclinic orbits create extreme
sensitivity to noise, so that when the noiseless approach contains a rich
behavior, minute noise can transform the complex damping into sustained chaos.
Leonid Shil'nikov taught us that combining global considerations and local
spectral analysis near critical points is crucial to understand the
phenomenology associated to homoclinic bifurcations. Here this helps us
construct a phenomenological approach to modeling experiments in nonlinear
dissipative contexts.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figure
Transparent Anomalous Dispersion and Superluminal Light Pulse Propagation at a Negative Group Velocity
Anomalous dispersion cannot occur in a transparent passive medium where
electromagnetic radiation is being absorbed at all frequencies, as pointed out
by Landau and Lifshitz. Here we show, both theoretically and experimentally,
that transparent linear anomalous dispersion can occur when a gain doublet is
present. Therefore, a superluminal light pulse propagation can be observed even
at a negative group velocity through a transparent medium with almost no pulse
distortion. Consequently, a {\it negative transit time} is experimentally
observed resulting in the peak of the incident light pulse to exit the medium
even before entering it. This counterintuitive effect is a direct result of the
{\it rephasing} process owing to the wave nature of light and is not at odds
with either causality or Einstein's theory of special relativity.Comment: 12 journal pages, 9 figure
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