Rabi oscillations and macroscopic quantum superposition states

A two-level atom interacting with a single radiation mode is considered, without the rotating-wave approximation, in the strong coupling regime. It is shown that, in agreement with the recent results on Rabi oscillations in a Josephson junction (Y. Nakamura, Yu. A. Pashkin and J. S. Tsai, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 87}, 246601 (2001)), the Rabi frequency is indeed proportional to first kind integer order Bessel functions in the limit of a large number of photons and the dressed states are macroscopic quantum superposition states. To approach this problem analytically use is made of the dual Dyson series and the rotating-wave approximation.Comment: 7 pages, revtex, no figures. I have to thank Kazuyuki Fujii for pointing me out some corrections to introduce into the paper. Besides, the title and the nomenclature has been changed in agreement to editorial requirements. Finally, the correct citation for the paper by Nakamura et al. has been introduce

Synthesis and tomographic characterization of the displaced Fock state of light

Displaced Fock states of the electromagnetic field have been synthesized by overlapping the pulsed optical single-photon Fock state |1> with coherent states on a high-reflection beamsplitter and completely characterized by means of quantum homodyne tomography. The reconstruction reveals highly non-classical properties of displaced Fock states, such as negativity of the Wigner function and photon number oscillations. This is the first time complete tomographic reconstruction has been performed on a highly non-classical optical state

Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson decaying into bb¯ produced in association with top quarks decaying hadronically in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for Higgs boson production in association with a pair of top quarks (tt¯ H) is performed, where the Higgs boson decays to bb¯, and both top quarks decay hadronically. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search selects events with at least six energetic jets and uses a boosted decision tree algorithm to discriminate between signal and Standard Model background. The dominant multijet background is estimated using a dedicated data-driven technique. For a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV, an upper limit of 6.4 (5.4) times the Standard Model cross section is observed (expected) at 95% confidence level. The best-fit value for the signal strength is μ = 1.6 ± 2.6 times the Standard Model expectation for mH = 125 GeV. Combining all tt¯ H searches carried out by ATLAS at √s = 8 and 7 TeV, an observed (expected) upper limit of 3.1 (1.4) times the Standard Model expectation is obtained at 95% confidence level, with a signal strength μ = 1.7 ± 0.8

Search for the Higgs boson produced in association with a W boson and decaying to four b-quarks via two spin-zero particles in pp collisions at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a dedicated search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of new spin-zero particles, H → aa, where the particle a decays to b-quarks and has a mass in the range of 20–60 GeV. The search is performed in events where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a W boson, giving rise to a signature of a lepton (electron or muon), missing transverse momentum, and multiple jets from b-quark decays. The analysis is based on the full dataset of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. No significant excess of events above the Standard Model prediction is observed, and a 95% confidence-level upper limit is derived for the product of the production cross section for pp → W H times the branching ratio for the decay H → aa → 4b. The upper limit ranges from 6.2 pb for an a-boson mass ma = 20 GeV to 1.5 pb for ma = 60 GeV

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

Anacardic Acid Derivatives From Brazilian Propolis And Their Antibacterial Activity

Propolis is a sticky, gummy, resinous substance collected by honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) from various plant sources, which has excellent medicinal properties. This paper describes the isolation and identification of triterpenoids and anacardic acid derivatives from Brazilian propolis and their antibacterial activity. Their structures were elucidated by 1H and 13C NMR, including uni- and bidimensional techniques; in addition, comparisons were made with data from academic literature. These compounds were identified as: cardanols (1a + 1b), cardols (2a + 2b), monoene anacardic acid (3), α-amirine (4), β-amirine (5), cycloartenol (6), 24-methylene- cycloartenol (7) and lupeol (8). The determination of the position of the double bond after a reaction with Dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) is described for the phenol derivatives. The ethanolic extract was tested in vitro for antimicrobial activity by using the disc diffusion method and it showed significant results against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Shigella spp.3335358Ghisalbert, E.L., (1979) Bee World, 60, p. 59Garcia-Viguera, C., Greenaway, W., Watley, F.R., (1992) Z. Naturforsch, 47 c, p. 634. , TubigenUsia, T., Banskota, A.H., Tezuka, Y., Midorikawa, K., Matsushige, K., Kadota, S., (2002) J. Nat. Prod, 65, p. 673Marcucci, M.C., (1995) Apidologie, 26, p. 83Burdock, G.A., (1998) Food Chem. Toxicol, 36, p. 347Banskota, A.H., Nagaoka, T., Sumioka, L.Y., Tezuka, Y., Awale, S., Midorikawa, K., Matsushige, K., Kadota, S.J., (2002) Ethnopharmacology, 80, p. 67Bankova, V.S., Diulgerov, A., Popov, S.S.S., Evstatieva, L., Kuleva, L., Pureb, O., Zamjasan, Z., (1992) Apidologie, 23, p. 79Bankova, V., Castro, S.L., Marcucci, M.C., (2000) Apidologie, 31, p. 3Pereira, A.S., Nascimento, E.A., Aquino Neto, F.R., (2002) Z. Naturforsch, 57 c, p. 721Silva, M.S.S., Citó, A.M.G.L., Chaves, M.H., Lopes, J.A.D., (2005) Quím. Nova, 28, p. 801De Lima, S.G., (2005) Síntese e Identificação de Biomarcadores em Óleos da Bacia de Campos e Bacia Potiguar: Identificação de 3-alquil-esteranos, , Tese de Doutorado. Unicamp, Instituto de Química, Campinas-SP, Brasil, 350pWang, C., (1998) The role of lipids in disease resistance and fruit ripening tomato, , Ph.D. Thesis. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.JFRANCIS, G.W., VELAND, K., (1981) J. Chromatogr, 219, pp. 379-384Lizhi Zhu. Investigating The Biosynthesis Of Polyacetylenes: Synthesis of Deuterated Linoleic Acids & Mechanism Studies of DMDS Addition to 1,4-Enynes. Ph.D. Thesis. Miami University-The Graduate School, Usa. Oxford, Ohio, 2003, 104pMurray, P.R., Drew, W.L., Kobayasai, G.S., Thompson, J.R., (1990) Microbiologia Médica, , Guanabara Koogan, Rio de JaneiroRoque, N.F., Olea, R.S.G., (1990) Quim. Nova, 13, p. 278Mahato, S.B., Kundu, A.P., (1994) Phytochemistry, 37, p. 1517F. W. Wehrli, T. Nishida, The Use of Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Natural Product Chemistry, in Zechmeister, L. et al. Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products. Wi Springer-Verlag, New York, 1979. p.93Radics, L., Kajtarperedy, M.C., Corsano, S., Standoli, L., (1975) Tetrahedron. Lett, 48, p. 4287Gedam, P.H., Sampathkumaran, P.S., Sivasamban, M.A., (1972) Indian J. Chem, 10, p. 388Pretsch, E., Clerc, T., Seibl, J., Simon, W., (1989) Tables of spectral data for structure determination of organic compounds, , 2nd ed, Springer-Verlag, New YorkCarballeira, N.M., Shalabi, F., Cruz, C., (1994) Tetrahedron Lett, 35, p. 5575Christie, W.W., (1997) Lipid Technol, 9, p. 17Tyman, J.H.P., Jacobs, N., (1971) J. Chromatogr, 54, p. 83Christov, R., Trusheva, B., Papova, M., Bankova, V., Bertrand, M., (2005) Nat. Prod. Res, 19, p. 673Kubo, I., Komatsu, S., Ochi, M.J., (1986) Agric. Food Chem, 34, p. 970Itokawa, H., Totsuka, N., Nakahara, K., Takeya, K., Lepoittevin, J.P., Asakawa, Y., (1987) Chem. Pharm. Bull, 35, p. 3016Itokawa, H., Totsuka, N., Nakahara, K., Maezuru, M., Takeya, K., Kondo, M., Inamatsu, M., Morita, H., (1989) Chem. Pharm. Bull, 37, p. 1619Himejima, M., Kubo, I., (1991) J. Agric. Food Chem, 39, p. 418Kubo, I., Muroi, H., Himejima, M., Yamagiwa, Y., Mera, H., Tokushima, K., Ohta, S., Kamikawa, T., (1993) J. Agric. Food Chem, 41, p. 1016Kubo, I., Ochi, M., Vieira, P.C., Komatsu, S., (1993) J. Agric. Food Chem, 41, p. 1012Muroi, H., Kubo, I., (1993) J. Agric. Food Chem, 41, p. 1780Amorati, R., Pe dulli, G.F., Valgimgli, L., Attanasi, O.A., Filippone, P., Fiorucci, C., Saladino, R., (2001) J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans., 2, p. 2142Masuoka, N., Kubo, I., (2004) Biochimi. Biophysi. Acta, 1688, p. 245Siegers, C.P., (1999) Phytomedicine, 6, p. 281Westendorf, J., Regan, J., (2000) Pharmazie, 55, p. 864Hecker, H., Johannisson, R., Koch, E., Siegers, C.P., (2002) Toxicology, 177, p. 167Trevisan, M.T.S., Pfundstein, B., Haubner, R., Wurtele, G., Spiegelhalder, B., Bartsch, H., Owen, R.W., (2006) Food Chem. Toxicol, 44, p. 18