354 research outputs found
Ultracold atoms in radio-frequency-dressed potentials beyond the rotating wave approximation
We study dressed Bose-Einstein condensates in an atom chip radio-frequency
trap. We show that in this system sufficiently strong dressing can be achieved
to cause the widely used rotating wave approximation (RWA) to break down. We
present a full calculation of the atom - field coupling which shows that the
non-RWA contributions quantitatively alter the shape of the emerging dressed
adiabatic potentials. The non-RWA contributions furthermore lead to additional
allowed transitions between dressed levels. We use RF spectroscopy of
Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in the dressed state potentials to directly
observe the transition from the RWA to the beyond-RWA regime.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Occurrence of gas phase ammonia in the area of Beijing (China)
The atmospheric concentrations of gaseous ammonia have been measured during two field campaigns in the winter and in the summer of 2007 at Beijing (China). These measurements were carried out by means of diffusion annular denuders coated with phosphorous acid. The results were discussed from the standpoint of temporal and diurnal variations and meteorological effects. The daily average NH<sub>3</sub> concentrations were in the range of 0.20–44.38 μg/m<sup>3</sup> and showed regular temporal variations with higher concentrations during summer and with lower during winter. The temporal trends seemed to be largely affected by air temperature because of agricultural sources. No diurnal variability was observed for gaseous NH<sub>3</sub> levels in both winter and summer seasons. The highest ammonia value of 105.67 μg/m<sup>3</sup> was measured in the early morning during the summer period when stable atmospheric conditions occurred. The diurnal winter and summer trends of ammonia showed a weak dependence on the air temperature and they were affected nearly by wind direction suggesting regional and local source influences. Ammonia was also correlated with the atmospheric mixing in the boundary layer, and, with NO<sub>x</sub>, CO and PM<sub>2.5</sub> air concentrations supporting the hypothesis that the traffic may be also an important source of ammonia in Beijing
Local mechanical properties of electrospun fibers correlate to their internal nanostructure.
This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The properties of polymeric nanofibers can be tailored and enhanced by properly managing the structure of the polymer molecules at the nanoscale. Although electrospun polymer fibers are increasingly exploited in many technological applications, their internal nanostructure, determining their improved physical properties, is still poorly investigated and understood. Here, we unravel the internal structure of electrospun functional nanofibers made by prototype conjugated polymers. The unique features of near-field optical measurements are exploited to investigate the nanoscale spatial variation of the polymer density, evidencing the presence of a dense internal core embedded in a less dense polymeric shell. Interestingly, nanoscale mapping the fiber Young's modulus demonstrates that the dense core is stiffer than the polymeric, less dense shell. These findings are rationalized by developing a theoretical model and simulations of the polymer molecular structural evolution during the electrospinning process. This model predicts that the stretching of the polymer network induces a contraction of the network toward the jet center with a local increase of the polymer density, as observed in the solid structure. The found complex internal structure opens an interesting perspective for improving and tailoring the molecular morphology and multifunctional electronic and optical properties of polymer fibers.V. Fasano and G. Potente are acknowledged for confocal and
SEM images, respectively. The authors also gratefully thank S.
Girardo for high-speed imaging of the polymer jet and E. Caldi
for assistance in the SNOM measurements. We gratefully
acknowledge the financial support of the United States-Israel
Binational Science Foundation (BSF Grant 2006061), the
RBNI-Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, and the Israel
Science Foundation (ISF Grant 770/11). The research leading
to these results has received funding from the European
Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh
Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement
306357 (ERC Starting Grant “NANO-JETS”)
Solid solution decomposition and Guinier-Preston zone formation in Al-Cu alloys: A kinetic theory with anisotropic interactions
Using methods of statistical kinetic theory parametrized with
first-principles interatomic interactions that include chemical and strain
contributions, we investigated the kinetics of decomposition and microstructure
formation in Al-Cu alloys as a function of temperature and alloy concentration.
We show that the decomposition of the solid solution forming platelets of
copper, known as Guinier-Preston (GP) zones, includes several stages and that
the transition from GP1 to GP2 zones is determined mainly by kinetic factors.
With increasing temperature, the model predicts a gradual transition from
platelet-like precipitates to equiaxial ones and at intermediate temperatures
both precipitate morphologies may coexist.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Developmental co-occurrence of psychopathology dimensions in childhood
Background:
Comorbidity between psychopathologies may be attributed to genetic and environmental differences between people as well as causal processes within individuals, where one pathology increases risk for another. Disentangling between-person (co)variance from within-person processes of psychopathology dimensions across childhood may shed light on developmental causes of comorbid mental health problems. Here, we aim to determine whether and to what extent directional relationships between psychopathology dimensions within-person, and between individuals within families, play a role in comorbidity.//
Methods:
We conducted random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) analyses to unravel the longitudinal co-occurrence of child psychopathology dimensions, jointly estimating between-person and within-person processes from childhood to early adolescence (age 7–12). We further developed an extension of the model to estimate sibling effects within-family (wf-RI-CLPM). Analyses were separately conducted in two large population-based cohorts, TEDS and NTR, including parent-rated measures of child problem behaviours based on the SDQ and CBCL scales respectively.//
Results:
We found evidence for strong between-person effects underlying the positive intercorrelation between problem behaviours across time. Beyond these time-varying within-person processes accounted for an increasing amount of trait variance, within- and cross-trait, overtime in both cohorts. Lastly, by accommodating family level data, we found evidence for reciprocal directional influences within sib-pairs longitudinally.//
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that within-person processes partly explain the co-occurrence of psychopathology dimensions across childhood, and within sib-pairs. Analyses provided substantive results on developmental processes underlying comorbidity in behavioural problems. Future studies should consider different developmental timeframes to shed more light on the processes contributing to developmental comorbidity./
Zipf's law, 1/f noise, and fractal hierarchy
Fractals, 1/f noise, Zipf's law, and the occurrence of large catastrophic
events are typical ubiquitous general empirical observations across the
individual sciences which cannot be understood within the set of references
developed within the specific scientific domains. All these observations are
associated with scaling laws and have caused a broad research interest in the
scientific circle. However, the inherent relationships between these scaling
phenomena are still pending questions remaining to be researched. In this
paper, theoretical derivation and mathematical experiments are employed to
reveal the analogy between fractal patterns, 1/f noise, and the Zipf
distribution. First, the multifractal process follows the generalized Zipf's
law empirically. Second, a 1/f spectrum is identical in mathematical form to
Zipf's law. Third, both 1/f spectra and Zipf's law can be converted into a
self-similar hierarchy. Fourth, fractals, 1/f spectra, Zipf's law, and the
occurrence of large catastrophic events can be described with similar
exponential laws and power laws. The self-similar hierarchy is a more general
framework or structure which can be used to encompass or unify different
scaling phenomena and rules in both physical and social systems such as cities,
rivers, earthquakes, fractals, 1/f noise, and rank-size distributions. The
mathematical laws on the hierarchical structure can provide us with a holistic
perspective of looking at complexity such as self-organized criticality (SOC).Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 3 table
Collisional and thermal ionization of sodium Rydberg atoms I. Experiment for nS and nD atoms with n=8-20
Collisional and thermal ionization of sodium nS and nD Rydberg atoms with
n=8-20 has been studied. The experiments were performed using a two-step pulsed
laser excitation in an effusive atomic beam at atom density of about 2 10^{10}
cm^{-3}. Molecular and atomic ions from associative, Penning, and thermal
ionization processes were detected. It has been found that the atomic ions were
created mainly due to photoionization of Rydberg atoms by photons of blackbody
radiation at the ambient temperature of 300K. Blackbody ionization rates and
effective lifetimes of Rydberg states of interest were determined. The
molecular ions were found to be from associative ionization in Na(nL)+Na(3S)
collisions. Rate constants of associative ionization have been measured using
an original method based on relative measurements of Na_{2}^{+} and Na^{+} ion
signals.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure
Renewal processes and fluctuation analysis of molecular motor stepping
We model the dynamics of a processive or rotary molecular motor using a
renewal processes, in line with the work initiated by Svoboda, Mitra and Block.
We apply a functional technique to compute different types of multiple-time
correlation functions of the renewal process, which have applications to
bead-assay experiments performed both with processive molecular motors, such as
myosin V and kinesin, and rotary motors, such as F1-ATPase
Relationship between dynamical heterogeneities and stretched exponential relaxation
We identify the dynamical heterogeneities as an essential prerequisite for
stretched exponential relaxation in dynamically frustrated systems. This
heterogeneity takes the form of ordered domains of finite but diverging
lifetime for particles in atomic or molecular systems, or spin states in
magnetic materials. At the onset of the dynamical heterogeneity, the
distribution of time intervals spent in such domains or traps becomes stretched
exponential at long time. We rigorously show that once this is the case, the
autocorrelation function of the renewal process formed by these time intervals
is also stretched exponential at long time.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Measuring Gravito-magnetic Effects by Multi Ring-Laser Gyroscope
We propose an under-ground experiment to detect the general relativistic
effects due to the curvature of space-time around the Earth (de Sitter effect)
and to rotation of the planet (dragging of the inertial frames or
Lense-Thirring effect). It is based on the comparison between the IERS value of
the Earth rotation vector and corresponding measurements obtained by a
tri-axial laser detector of rotation. The proposed detector consists of six
large ring-lasers arranged along three orthogonal axes.
In about two years of data taking, the 1% sensitivity required for the
measurement of the Lense-Thirring drag can be reached with square rings of 6
side, assuming a shot noise limited sensitivity ().
The multi-gyros system, composed of rings whose planes are perpendicular to one
or the other of three orthogonal axes, can be built in several ways. Here, we
consider cubic and octahedron structures. The symmetries of the proposed
configurations provide mathematical relations that can be used to study the
stability of the scale factors, the relative orientations or the ring-laser
planes, very important to get rid of systematics in long-term measurements,
which are required in order to determine the relativistic effects.Comment: 24 pages, 26 Postscript figure
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