Noise generation in the solid Earth, oceans, and atmosphere, from non-linear interacting surface gravity waves in finite depth

Oceanic pressure measurements, even in very deep water, and atmospheric pressure or seismic records, from anywhere on Earth, contain noise with dominant periods between 3 and 10 seconds, that is believed to be excited by ocean surface gravity waves. Most of this noise is explained by a nonlinear wave-wave interaction mechanism, and takes the form of surface gravity waves, acoustic or seismic waves. Previous theoretical works on seismic noise focused on surface (Rayleigh) waves, and did not consider finite depth effects on the generating wave kinematics. These finite depth effects are introduced here, which requires the consideration of the direct wave-induced pressure at the ocean bottom, a contribution previously overlooked in the context of seismic noise. That contribution can lead to a considerable reduction of the seismic noise source, which is particularly relevant for noise periods larger than 10 s. The theory is applied to acoustic waves in the atmosphere, extending previous theories that were limited to vertical propagation only. Finally, the noise generation theory is also extended beyond the domain of Rayleigh waves, giving the first quantitative expression for sources of seismic body waves. In the limit of slow phase speeds in the ocean wave forcing, the known and well-verified gravity wave result is obtained, which was previously derived for an incompressible ocean. The noise source of acoustic, acoustic-gravity and seismic modes are given by a mode-specific amplification of the same wave-induced pressure field near the zero wavenumber.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Fluid Mechanic

Heating rates for an atom in a far-detuned optical lattice

We calculate single atom heating rates in a far detuned optical lattice, in connection with recent experiments. We first derive a master equation, including a realistic atomic internal structure and a quantum treatment of the atomic motion in the lattice. The experimental feature that optical lattices are obtained by superimposing laser standing waves of different frequencies is also included, which leads to a micromotional correction to the light shift that we evaluate. We then calculate, and compare to experimental results, two heating rates, the "total" heating rate (corresponding to the increase of the total mechanical energy of the atom in the lattice), and the ground bande heating rate (corresponding to the increase of energy within the ground energy band of the lattice).Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Resonant control of spin dynamics in ultracold quantum gases by microwave dressing

We study experimentally interaction-driven spin oscillations in optical lattices in the presence of an off-resonant microwave field. We show that the energy shift induced by this microwave field can be used to control the spin oscillations by tuning the system either into resonance to achieve near-unity contrast or far away from resonance to suppress the oscillations. Finally, we propose a scheme based on this technique to create a flat sample with either singly- or doubly-occupied sites, starting from an inhomogeneous Mott insulator, where singly- and doubly-occupied sites coexist.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Surface oxide on thin films of yttrium hydride studied by neutron reflectometry

The applicability of standard methods for compositional analysis is limited for H-containing films. Neutron reflectometry is a powerful, non-destructive method that is especially suitable for these systems due to the large negative scattering length of H. In this work we demonstrate how neutron reflectometry can be used to investigate thin films of yttrium hydride. Neutron reflectometry gives a strong contrast between the film and the surface oxide layer, enabling us to estimate the oxide thickness and oxygen penetration depths. A surface oxide layer of 5-10 nm thickness was found for unprotected yttrium hydride films

Statistics of eigenfunctions in open chaotic systems: a perturbative approach

We investigate the statistical properties of the complexness parameter which characterizes uniquely complexness (biorthogonality) of resonance eigenstates of open chaotic systems. Specifying to the regime of isolated resonances, we apply the random matrix theory to the effective Hamiltonian formalism and derive analytically the probability distribution of the complexness parameter for two statistical ensembles describing the systems invariant under time reversal. For those with rigid spectra, we consider a Hamiltonian characterized by a picket-fence spectrum without spectral fluctuations. Then, in the more realistic case of a Hamiltonian described by the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble, we reveal and discuss the r\^ole of spectral fluctuations