The strong Bell inequalities: A proposed experimental test

All previous experimental tests of Bell inequalities have required additional assumptions. The strong Bell inequalities (i.e. those requiring no additional assumptions) have never been tested. An experiment has been designed that can, for the first time, provide a definitive test of the strong Bell inequalities. Not only will the detector efficiency loophole be closed; but the locality condition will also be rigorously enforced. The experiment involves producing two Hg-199 atoms by a resonant Raman dissociation of a mercury dimer ((199)Hg2) that is in an electronic and nuclear spin singlet state. Bell inequalities can be tested by measuring angular momentum correlations between the spin one-half nuclei of the two Hg-199 atoms. The method used to make these latter measurements will be described

Proposal for a Loophole-Free Test of the Bell Inequalities

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/A proposal for an experimental realization of Bohm's spin-1/2 particle version of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment is described. Two Hg-199 atoms, each with nuclear spin 1/2, are produced in an entangled state with total nuclear spin zero. Such a state is obtained by dissociation of dimers of the Hg-199(2) isotopomer using a spectroscopically selective stimulated Raman process. The measurement of nuclear spin correlations between the two atoms in this entangled state is achieved by detection of the atoms using a spin state selective two-photon excitation-ionization scheme. The experiment will not only close the detector efficiency loophole, but in addition will permit enforcement of the locality condition

Observation of interference fringes in Autler-Townes line shapes

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/We observe Ramsey fringes in the absorption line shape for a weak optical field probing the transition between an unperturbed quantum state and one that is dynamically Stark shifted by a strong pump field

Ultra-Slow Light and Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Effects in a Coherently Driven Hot Atomic Gas

We report the observation of small group velocities of order 90 meters per second, and large group delays of greater than 0.26 ms, in an optically dense hot rubidium gas (~360 K). Media of this kind yield strong nonlinear interactions between very weak optical fields, and very sharp spectral features. The result is in agreement with previous studies on nonlinear spectroscopy of dense coherent media

Enhancing Acceleration Radiation from Ground-State Atoms via Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

When ground state atoms are accelerated through a high Q microwave cavity, radiation is produced with an intensity which can exceed the intensity of Unruh acceleration radiation in free space by many orders of magnitude. The cavity field at steady state is described by a thermal density matrix under most conditions. However, under some conditions gain is possible, and when the atoms are injected in a regular fashion, the radiation can be produced in a squeezed state

Analysis of Neptune's 2017 Bright Equatorial Storm

We report the discovery of a large ($\sim$8500 km diameter) infrared-bright storm at Neptune's equator in June 2017. We tracked the storm over a period of 7 months with high-cadence infrared snapshot imaging, carried out on 14 nights at the 10 meter Keck II telescope and 17 nights at the Shane 120 inch reflector at Lick Observatory. The cloud feature was larger and more persistent than any equatorial clouds seen before on Neptune, remaining intermittently active from at least 10 June to 31 December 2017. Our Keck and Lick observations were augmented by very high-cadence images from the amateur community, which permitted the determination of accurate drift rates for the cloud feature. Its zonal drift speed was variable from 10 June to at least 25 July, but remained a constant $237.4 \pm 0.2$ m s$^{-1}$ from 30 September until at least 15 November. The pressure of the cloud top was determined from radiative transfer calculations to be 0.3-0.6 bar; this value remained constant over the course of the observations. Multiple cloud break-up events, in which a bright cloud band wrapped around Neptune's equator, were observed over the course of our observations. No "dark spot" vortices were seen near the equator in HST imaging on 6 and 7 October. The size and pressure of the storm are consistent with moist convection or a planetary-scale wave as the energy source of convective upwelling, but more modeling is required to determine the driver of this equatorial disturbance as well as the triggers for and dynamics of the observed cloud break-up events.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables; Accepted to Icaru

Ultrasensitive detection of waste products in water using fluorescence emission cavity-enhanced spectroscopy

Clean water is paramount to human health. In this article, we present a technique for detection of trace amounts of human or animal waste products in water using fluorescence emission cavity-enhanced spectroscopy. The detection of femtomolar concentrations of urobilin, a metabolic byproduct of heme metabolism that is excreted in both human and animal waste in water, was achieved through the use of an integrating cavity. This technique could allow for real-time assessment of water quality without the need for expensive laboratory equipment

GUT Baryogenesis after Preheating

At the end of inflation the universe is frozen in a near zero-entropy state with energy density in a coherent scalar field and must be ``defrosted'' to produce the observed entropy and baryon number. We propose that the baryon asymmetry is generated by the decay of supermassive Grand Unified Theory (GUT) bosons produced non-thermally in a preheating phase after inflation. We show that baryogenesis is possible for an inflaton masses of order 10^{13} GeV and a GUT Higgs boson mass of order 10^{14} GeV, thus solving many drawbacks facing GUT baryogenesis in the old reheating scenario.Comment: 4 pages, version to be published in Phys. Rev. Let