24,078 research outputs found
KWISP: an ultra-sensitive force sensor for the Dark Energy sector
An ultra-sensitive opto-mechanical force sensor has been built and tested in
the optics laboratory at INFN Trieste. Its application to experiments in the
Dark Energy sector, such as those for Chameleon-type WISPs, is particularly
attractive, as it enables a search for their direct coupling to matter. We
present here the main characteristics and the absolute force calibration of the
KWISP (Kinetic WISP detection) sensor. It is based on a thin Si3N4
micro-membrane placed inside a Fabry-Perot optical cavity. By monitoring the
cavity characteristic frequencies it is possible to detect the tiny membrane
displacements caused by an applied force. Far from the mechanical resonant
frequency of the membrane, the measured force sensitivity is 5.0e-14
N/sqrt(Hz), corresponding to a displacement sensitivity of 2.5e-15 m/sqrt(Hz),
while near resonance the sensitivity is 1.5e-14 N/sqrt(Hz), reaching the
estimated thermal limit, or, in terms of displacement, 7.5e-16 N/sqrt(Hz).
These displacement sensitivities are comparable to those that can be achieved
by large interferometric gravitational wave detectors.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures in colo
Detecting solar chameleons through radiation pressure
Light scalar fields can drive the accelerated expansion of the universe.
Hence, they are obvious dark energy candidates. To make such models compatible
with tests of General Relativity in the solar system and "fifth force" searches
on Earth, one needs to screen them. One possibility is the so-called
"chameleon" mechanism, which renders an effective mass depending on the local
matter density. If chameleon particles exist, they can be produced in the sun
and detected on Earth exploiting the equivalent of a radiation pressure. Since
their effective mass scales with the local matter density, chameleons can be
reflected by a dense medium if their effective mass becomes greater than their
total energy. Thus, under appropriate conditions, a flux of solar chameleons
may be sensed by detecting the total instantaneous momentum transferred to a
suitable opto-mechanical force/pressure sensor. We calculate the solar
chameleon spectrum and the reach in the chameleon parameter space of an
experiment using the preliminary results from a force/pressure sensor,
currently under development at INFN Trieste, to be mounted in the focal plane
of one of the X-Ray telescopes of the CAST experiment at CERN. We show, that
such an experiment signifies a pioneering effort probing uncharted chameleon
parameter space.Comment: revised versio
Indications for rootstock related ecological preferences of grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch)
By parasitizing the roots of Vitis species, grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch, Phylloxeridae) is one of the most devastating pests in viticulture. Grafting susceptible scions (Vitis vinifera) to tolerant Vitis rootstocks is a common practice to control grape phylloxera in wine growing regions worldwide. However, grape phylloxera populations still develop on the roots of most grafting combinations. Questions remain as to whether or not the impact of environmental factors on grape phylloxera population dynamics is related to Vitis rootstock cultivars. In the presented field study, we investigated the influence of two closely related mature Vitis berlandieri x Vitis riparia rootstock varieties on the relations between the dynamics of root feeding grape phylloxera populations, root morphology and abiotic factors. The investigation took place on a commercial vineyard in Geisenheim/Germany on Teleki 5C/V. vinifera 'Weisser Riesling' and Kober 125AA/V. vinifera 'Weisser Riesling'. Samples of roots, attached grape phylloxera populations and soil were taken in the field 19 times between August 2007 and August 2009. Grape phylloxera population structure was recorded by the occurrence of root-feeding wingless females, fundatrices and nymphs and the pigmentation and position of root galls were assessed. Root morphological parameters were assessed using WinRhizo Pro. Soil abiotic parameters were assessed in the laboratory. Results of a principal component analysis showed rootstock related differences considering the impact of abiotic factors on grape phylloxera population structure. Especially soil temperature and soil organic matter were indicated to have a lower impact on grape phylloxera population structure on roots of 5C than on roots of 125AA. Our data indicate that ecological factors have a lower impact on the development of grape phylloxera on more supportive rootstocks
Measuring forest floor interception in a beech forest in Luxembourg
International audienceIn hydrological models evaporation from interception is often disregarded, combined with transpiration, or taken as a fixed percentage of rainfall. In general interception is not considered to be a significant process in rainfall-runoff modelling. However, it appears that on average interception can amount to 20?50% of the precipitation. Therefore, knowledge about the process of interception is important. Traditional research on interception mainly focuses on canopy interception and almost completely denies forest floor interception, although this is an important mechanism that precedes infiltration or runoff. Forest floor interception consists partly of interception by dry soil, partly of interception by short vegetation (mosses, grasses and creeping vegetation) and partly of interception by litter. This research concentrates on litter interception: to measure its quantities at point scale and subsequently to upscale it to the scale of a hydrotope. A special measuring device has been developed, which consists of a permeable upper basin filled with forest floor and a watertight lower basin. Both are weighed continuously. The device has been tested in the Huewelerbach catchment (Luxembourg). The preliminary measuring results show that the device is working properly. For November 2004, evaporation from interception is calculated to be 34% of the throughfall in the Huewelerbach catchment
Binding of Polarons and Atoms at Threshold
If the polaron coupling constant is large enough, bipolarons or
multi-polarons will form. When passing through the critical from
above, does the radius of the system simply get arbitrarily large or does it
reach a maximum and then explodes? We prove that it is always the latter. We
also prove the analogous statement for the Pekar-Tomasevich (PT) approximation
to the energy, in which case there is a solution to the PT equation at
. Similarly, we show that the same phenomenon occurs for atoms, e.g.,
helium, at the critical value of the nuclear charge. Our proofs rely only on
energy estimates, not on a detailed analysis of the Schr\"odinger equation, and
are very general. They use the fact that the Coulomb repulsion decays like
, while `uncertainty principle' localization energies decay more rapidly,
as .Comment: 19 page
Quark condensate in one-flavor QCD
We compute the condensate in QCD with a single quark flavor using numerical
simulations with the overlap formulation of lattice fermions. The condensate is
extracted by fitting the distribution of low lying eigenvalues of the Dirac
operator in sectors of fixed topological charge to the predictions of Random
Matrix Theory. Our results are in excellent agreement with estimates from the
orientifold large-N_c expansion.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX4, v2: Small changes, extended
introduction, published versio
Search for axions in streaming dark matter
A new search strategy for the detection of the elusive dark matter (DM) axion
is proposed. The idea is based on streaming DM axions, whose flux might get
temporally enormously enhanced due to gravitational lensing. This can happen if
the Sun or some planet (including the Moon) is found along the direction of a
DM stream propagating towards the Earth location. The experimental requirements
to the axion haloscope are a wide-band performance combined with a fast axion
rest mass scanning mode, which are feasible. Once both conditions have been
implemented in a haloscope, the axion search can continue parasitically almost
as before. Interestingly, some new DM axion detectors are operating wide-band
by default. In order not to miss the actually unpredictable timing of a
potential short duration signal, a network of co-ordinated axion antennae is
required, preferentially distributed world-wide. The reasoning presented here
for the axions applies to some degree also to any other DM candidates like the
WIMPs.Comment: 5 page
Rigorous conditions for the existence of bound states at the threshold in the two-particle case
In the framework of non-relativistic quantum mechanics and with the help of
the Greens functions formalism we study the behavior of weakly bound states as
they approach the continuum threshold. Through estimating the Green's function
for positive potentials we derive rigorously the upper bound on the wave
function, which helps to control its falloff. In particular, we prove that for
potentials whose repulsive part decays slower than the bound states
approaching the threshold do not spread and eventually become bound states at
the threshold. This means that such systems never reach supersizes, which would
extend far beyond the effective range of attraction. The method presented here
is applicable in the many--body case
Relativistic electronic dressing in laser-assisted ionization of atomic hydrogen by electron impact
Within the framework of the coplanar binary geometry where it is justified to
use plane wave solutions for the study of the reaction and in the
presence of a circularly polarized laser field, we introduce as a first step
the DVRPWBA1 (Dirac-Volkov Plane Wave Born Approximation1) where we take into
account only the relativistic dressing of the incident and scattered electrons.
Then, we introduce the DVRPWBA2 (Dirac-Volkov Plane Wave Born Approximation2)
where we take totally into account the relativistic dressing of the incident,
scattered and ejected electrons. We then compare the corresponding triple
differential cross sections for laser-assisted ionization of atomic hydrogen by
electron impact both for the non relativistic and the relativistic regime.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, 7 figure
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