970 research outputs found
Three-dimensional vestibular eye and head reflexes of the chameleon: characteristics of gain and phase and effects of eye position on orientation of ocular rotation axes during stimulation in yaw direction
We investigated gaze-stabilizing reflexes in the chameleon using the three-dimensional search-coil technique. Animals were rotated sinusoidally around an earth-vertical axis under head-fixed and head-free conditions, in the dark and in the light. Gain, phase and the influence of eye position on vestibulo-ocular reflex rotation axes were studied. During head-restrained stimulation in the dark, vestibulo-ocular reflex gaze gains were low (0.1-0.3) and phase lead decreased with increasing frequencies (from 100° at 0.04Hz to <30° at 1Hz). Gaze gains were larger during stimulation in the light (0.1-0.8) with a smaller phase lead (<30°) and were close to unity during the head-free conditions (around 0.6 in the dark, around 0.8 in the light) with small phase leads. These results confirm earlier findings that chameleons have a low vestibulo-ocular reflex gain during head-fixed conditions and stimulation in the dark and higher gains during head-free stimulation in the light. Vestibulo-ocular reflex eye rotation axes were roughly aligned with the head's rotation axis and did not systematically tilt when the animals were looking eccentrically, up- or downward (as predicted by Listing's Law). Therefore, vestibulo-ocular reflex responses in the chameleon follow a strategy, which optimally stabilizes the entire retinal images, a result previously found in non-human primate
The anomaly of the oxygen bond-bending mode at 320 cm and the additional absorption peak in the c-axis infrared conductivity of underdoped YBaCuO single crystals revisited by ellipsometricmeasurements
We have performed ellipsometric measurements of the far-infrared c-axis
dielectric response of underdoped YBaCuO single
crystals. Here we report a detailed analysis of the temperature-dependent
renormalization of the oxygen bending phonon mode at 320 cm and the
formation of the additional absorption peak around 400-500 cm. For a
strongly underdoped YBaCuO crystal with T=52 K we
find that, in agreement with previous reports based on conventional reflection
measurements, the gradual onset of both features occurs well above T at
T*150 K. Contrary to some of these reports, however, our data establish
that the phonon anomaly and the formation of the additional peak exhibit very
pronounced and steep changes right at T. For a less underdoped
YBaCuO crystal with T=80 K, the onset temperature of
the phonon anomaly almost coincides with T. Also in contrast to some
previous reports, we find for both crystals that a sizeable fraction of the
spectral weight of the additional absorption peak cannot be accounted for by
the spectral-weight loss of the phonon modes but instead arises from a
redistribution of the electronic continuum. Our ellipsometric data are
consistent with a model where the bilayer cuprate compounds are treated as a
superlattice of intra- and inter-bilayer Josephson-junctions
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Observation of playa salts as nuclei in orographic wave clouds
During the Ice in Clouds Experiment-Layer Clouds (ICE-L), dry lakebed, or playa, salts from the Great Basin region of the United States were observed as cloud nuclei in orographic wave clouds over Wyoming. Using a counterflow virtual impactor in series with a single-particle mass spectrometer, sodium-potassium-magnesium-calcium-chloride salts were identified as residues of cloud droplets. Importantly, these salts produced similar mass spectral signatures to playa salts with elevated cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) efficiencies close to sea salt. Using a suite of chemical characterization instrumentation, the playa salts were observed to be internally mixed with oxidized organics, presumably produced by cloud processing, as well as carbonate. These salt particles were enriched as residues of large droplets (>19 μm) compared to smaller droplets (>7 μm). In addition, a small fraction of silicate-containing playa salts were hypothesized to be important in the observed heterogeneous ice nucleation processes. While the high CCN activity of sea salt has been demonstrated to play an important role in cloud formation in marine environments, this study provides direct evidence of the importance of playa salts in cloud formation in continental North America has not been shown previously. Studies are needed to model and quantify the impact of playas on climate globally, particularly because of the abundance of playas and expected increases in the frequency and intensity of dust storms in the future due to climate and land use changes
Three-vortex configurations in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
We report on the creation of three-vortex clusters in a
Bose-Einstein condensate by oscillatory excitation of the condensate. This
procedure can create vortices of both circulation, so that we are able to
create several types of vortex clusters using the same mechanism. The
three-vortex configurations are dominated by two types, namely, an
equilateral-triangle arrangement and a linear arrangement. We interpret these
most stable configurations respectively as three vortices with the same
circulation, and as a vortex-antivortex-vortex cluster. The linear
configurations are very likely the first experimental signatures of predicted
stationary vortex clusters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
An exact formula for the radiation of a moving quark in N=4 super Yang Mills
We derive an exact formula for the cusp anomalous dimension at small angles.
This is done by relating the latter to the computation of certain 1/8 BPS
Wilson loops which was performed by supersymmetric localization. This function
of the coupling also determines the power emitted by a moving quark in N=4
super Yang Mills, as well as the coefficient of the two point function of the
displacement operator on the Wilson loop. By a similar method we compute the
near BPS expansion of the generalized cusp anomalous dimension.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. v2: references added, typos correcte
Notes on Conformal Invisibility Devices
As a consequence of the wave nature of light, invisibility devices based on
isotropic media cannot be perfect. The principal distortions of invisibility
are due to reflections and time delays. Reflections can be made exponentially
small for devices that are large in comparison with the wavelength of light.
Time delays are unavoidable and will result in wave-front dislocations. This
paper considers invisibility devices based on optical conformal mapping. The
paper shows that the time delays do not depend on the directions and impact
parameters of incident light rays, although the refractive-index profile of any
conformal invisibility device is necessarily asymmetric. The distortions of
images are thus uniform, which reduces the risk of detection. The paper also
shows how the ideas of invisibility devices are connected to the transmutation
of force, the stereographic projection and Escheresque tilings of the plane
Massive amplitudes on the Coulomb branch of N=4 SYM
We initiate a systematic study of amplitudes with massive external particles
on the Coulomb-branch of N=4 super Yang Mills theory: 1) We propose that
(multi-)soft-scalar limits of massless amplitudes at the origin of moduli space
can be used to determine Coulomb-branch amplitudes to leading order in the
mass. This is demonstrated in numerous examples. 2) We find compact explicit
expressions for several towers of tree-level amplitudes, including scattering
of two massive W-bosons with any number of positive helicity gluons, valid for
all values of the mass. 3) We present the general structure of superamplitudes
on the Coulomb branch. For example, the n-point "MHV-band" superamplitude is
proportional to a Grassmann polynomial of mixed degree 4 to 12, which is
uniquely determined by supersymmetry. We find explicit tree-level
superamplitudes for this MHV band and for other simple sectors of the theory.
4) Dual conformal generators are constructed, and we explore the dual conformal
properties of the simplest massive amplitudes. Our compact expressions for
amplitudes and superamplitudes should be of both theoretical and
phenomenological interest; in particular the tree-level results carry over to
truncations of the theory with less supersymmetry.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figur
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