Long-range sound-mediated dark soliton interactions in trapped atomic condensates

A long-range soliton interaction is discussed whereby two or more dark solitons interact in an inhomogeneous atomic condensate, modifying their respective dynamics via the exchange of sound waves without ever coming into direct contact. An idealized double well geometry is shown to yield perfect energy transfer and complete periodic identity reversal of the two solitons. Two experimentally relevant geometries are analyzed which should enable the observation of this long-range interaction

PIFA-mediated ethoxyiodination of enamides with potassium iodide

International audienc

An analytical study of resonant transport of Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the stationary nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, or Gross-Pitaevskii equation, for a one--dimensional finite square well potential. By neglecting the mean--field interaction outside the potential well it is possible to discuss the transport properties of the system analytically in terms of ingoing and outgoing waves. Resonances and bound states are obtained analytically. The transmitted flux shows a bistable behaviour. Novel crossing scenarios of eigenstates similar to beak--to--beak structures are observed for a repulsive mean-field interaction. It is proven that resonances transform to bound states due to an attractive nonlinearity and vice versa for a repulsive nonlinearity, and the critical nonlinearity for the transformation is calculated analytically. The bound state wavefunctions of the system satisfy an oscillation theorem as in the case of linear quantum mechanics. Furthermore, the implications of the eigenstates on the dymamics of the system are discussed.Comment: RevTeX4, 16 pages, 19 figure

I see happy people: Attention bias towards happy but not angry facial expressions in Williams syndrome

Introduction: Observations of behaviour and research using eye-tracking technology have shown that individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) pay an unusual amount of attention to other people’s faces. The present research examines whether this attention to faces is moderated by the valence of emotional expression. Method: Sixteen participants with WS aged between 13 and 29 years (Mean=19 years 9 months) completed a dot-probe task in which pairs of faces displaying happy, angry and neutral expressions were presented. The performance of the WS group was compared to two groups of typically developing control participants, individually matched to the participants in the WS group on either chronological age or mental age. General mental age was assessed in the WS group using the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Ability Revised (WJ-COG-R; Woodcock & Johnson, 1989; 1990). Results: Compared to both control groups, the WS group exhibited a greater attention bias for happy faces. In contrast, no between-group differences in bias for angry faces were obtained. Conclusions: The results are discussed in relation to recent neuroimaging findings and the hypersocial behaviour that is characteristic of the WS population

The asymptotic quasi-stationary states of the two-dimensional magnetically confined plasma and of the planetary atmosphere

We derive the differential equation governing the asymptotic quasi-stationary states of the two dimensional plasma immersed in a strong confining magnetic field and of the planetary atmosphere. These two systems are related by the property that there is an intrinsic constant length: the Larmor radius and respectively the Rossby radius and a condensate of the vorticity field in the unperturbed state related to the cyclotronic gyration and respectively to the Coriolis frequency. Although the closest physical model is the Charney-Hasegawa-Mima (CHM) equation, our model is more general and is related to the system consisting of a discrete set of point-like vortices interacting in plane by a short range potential. A field-theoretical formalism is developed for describing the continuous version of this system. The action functional can be written in the Bogomolnyi form (emphasizing the role of Self-Duality of the asymptotic states) but the minimum energy is no more topological and the asymptotic structures appear to be non-stationary, which is a major difference with respect to traditional topological vortex solutions. Versions of this field theory are discussed and we find arguments in favor of a particular form of the equation. We comment upon the significant difference between the CHM fluid/plasma and the Euler fluid and respectively the Abelian-Higgs vortex models.Comment: Latex 126 pages, 7 eps figures included. Discussion on various forms of the equatio

Slow 4He^{4}He Quenches Produce Fuzzy, Transient Vortices

We examine the Zurek scenario for the production of vortices in quenches of liquid $^{4}He$ in the light of recent experiments. Extending our previous results to later times, we argue that short wavelength thermal fluctuations make vortices poorly defined until after the transition has occurred. Further, if and when vortices appear, it is plausible that that they will decay faster than anticipated from turbulence experiments, irrespective of quench rates.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex file, no figures Apart from a more appropriate title, this paper differs from its predecessor by including temperature, as well as pressure, quenche

Stabilization of high-order solutions of the cubic Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation

In this paper we consider the stabilization of non-fundamental unstable stationary solutions of the cubic nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Specifically we study the stabilization of radially symmetric solutions with nodes and asymmetric complex stationary solutions. For the first ones we find partial stabilization similar to that recently found for vortex solutions while for the later ones stabilization does not seem possible

Nonlinear Lattice Dynamics of Bose-Einstein Condensates

The Fermi-Pasta-Ulam (FPU) model, which was proposed 50 years ago to examine thermalization in non-metallic solids and develop ``experimental'' techniques for studying nonlinear problems, continues to yield a wealth of results in the theory and applications of nonlinear Hamiltonian systems with many degrees of freedom. Inspired by the studies of this seminal model, solitary-wave dynamics in lattice dynamical systems have proven vitally important in a diverse range of physical problems--including energy relaxation in solids, denaturation of the DNA double strand, self-trapping of light in arrays of optical waveguides, and Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in optical lattices. BECS, in particular, due to their widely ranging and easily manipulated dynamical apparatuses--with one to three spatial dimensions, positive-to-negative tuning of the nonlinearity, one to multiple components, and numerous experimentally accessible external trapping potentials--provide one of the most fertile grounds for the analysis of solitary waves and their interactions. In this paper, we review recent research on BECs in the presence of deep periodic potentials, which can be reduced to nonlinear chains in appropriate circumstances. These reductions, in turn, exhibit many of the remarkable nonlinear structures (including solitons, intrinsic localized modes, and vortices) that lie at the heart of the nonlinear science research seeded by the FPU paradigm.Comment: 10 pages, revtex, two-columns, 3 figs, accepted fpr publication in Chaos's focus issue on the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam problem; minor clarifications (and a couple corrected typos) from previous versio