492 research outputs found
Effects of tunnelling and asymmetry for system-bath models of electron transfer
We apply the newly derived nonadiabatic golden-rule instanton theory to
asymmetric models describing electron-transfer in solution. The models go
beyond the usual spin-boson description and have anharmonic free-energy
surfaces with different values for the reactant and product reorganization
energies. The instanton method gives an excellent description of the behaviour
of the rate constant with respect to asymmetry for the whole range studied. We
derive a general formula for an asymmetric version of Marcus theory based on
the classical limit of the instanton and find that this gives significant
corrections to the standard Marcus theory. A scheme is given to compute this
rate based only on equilibrium simulations. We also compare the rate constants
obtained by the instanton method with its classical limit to study the effect
of tunnelling and other quantum nuclear effects. These quantum effects can
increase the rate constant by orders of magnitude.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
NEOShield kinetic impactor demonstration mission
This paper outlines a near-term mission concept developed under the NEOShield Project, for the demonstration of deflection capability of Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs). Potentially Hazardous Objects are a subclass of NEOs consisting mostly of asteroids (Potentially Hazardous Asteroids) that have the potential to make close approaches to the Earth whilst featuring a size large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of an impact. It is currently (as of 2012) expected that only 20 - 30 percent of all existing PHOs are already known. This gives an indication that NEOs, in particular PHOs, are likely to pose a real threat to earth on a long time scale. Among the possible mitigation and deflection options, the mission outlined here seeks to demonstrate NEO deflection by means of a kinetic impactor. The main objectives of the mission are technology demonstration, deflection validation and beta-factor determination. This requires a mission that impacts a NEO in a representative velocity regime, allows measurement of the deflection sufficiently accurately to clearly demonstrate the momentum transfer by the impactor. The beta-factor quantifies the additional momentum transfer achieved through ejecta from the asteroid, which can be achieved both through accurate deflection measurement or ejecta observation, ideally through both. For the development of a fitting mission concept the NEOShield project performed a wide range of trade-offs while taking into consideration a variety of previously developed mission concepts such as Don Quijote
LTP interferometer - noise sources and performance
The LISA Technology Package (LTP) uses laser interferometry to measure the changes in relative displacement between two inertial test masses. The goals of the mission require a displacement measuring precision of 10 pm Hz-1/2 at frequencies in the 3–30 mHz band. We report on progress with a prototype LTP interferometer optical bench in which fused silica mirrors and beamsplitters are fixed to a ZERODUR® substrate using hydroxide catalysis bonding to form a rigid interferometer. The couplings to displacement noise of this interferometer of two expected noise sources—laser frequency noise and ambient temperature fluctuations—have been investigated, and an additional, unexpected, noise source has been identified. The additional noise is due to small amounts of signal at the heterodyne frequency arriving at the photodiode preamplifiers with a phase that quasistatically changes with respect to the optical signal. The phase shift is caused by differential changes in the external optical paths the beams travel before they reach the rigid interferometer. Two different external path length stabilization systems have been demonstrated and these allowed the performance of the overall system to meet the LTP displacement noise requirement
The Kondo Box: A Magnetic Impurity in an Ultrasmall Metallic Grain
We study the Kondo effect generated by a single magnetic impurity embedded in
an ultrasmall metallic grain, to be called a ``Kondo box''. We find that the
Kondo resonance is strongly affected when the mean level spacing in the grain
becomes larger than the Kondo temperature, in a way that depends on the parity
of the number of electrons on the grain. We show that the single-electron
tunneling conductance through such a grain features Kondo-induced Fano-type
resonances of measurable size, with an anomalous dependence on temperature and
level spacing.Comment: 4 Latex pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Observing Quark-Gluon Plasma with Strange Hadrons
We review the methods and results obtained in an analysis of the experimental
heavy ion collision research program at nuclear beam energy of 160-200A GeV. We
study strange, and more generally, hadronic particle production experimental
data. We discuss present expectations concerning how these observables will
perform at other collision energies. We also present the dynamical theory of
strangeness production and apply it to show that it agrees with available
experimental results. We describe strange hadron production from the
baryon-poor quark-gluon phase formed at much higher reaction energies, where
the abundance of strange baryons and antibaryons exceeds that of nonstrange
baryons and antibaryons.Comment: 39 journal pages (155kb text), 8 postscript figures, 8 table
Spatial variability of the physical attributes and the productivity in a distrophic Latosolo of Cascavel - PR, region
Through geostatistics techniques, contour maps, were produced by interpolation using ordinary kriging, representing the spatial variability of the physical attributes; soil density [kg dm-3], soil water [g g-1] and penetration resistance [MPa] in the 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm of depth, besides the soy bean productivity [t ha-1]. Soil attributes and yield data, derived from an unaligned stratified systematic sampling scheme, subdivided in portions with localized management (CML) and without localized management (SML) for the agricultural year 1998/99. The productivity maps in general presented a similar variability standard for the distribution in the non responding area as well as in the area with different chemical treatments applied in the CML plots. Where as the physical attributes presented a similar behavior for the two methods of management. Amongst the physical attributes studied, the penetration resistance in the 0-10 cm of depth was the variable which was best correlated with the productivity.Através de técnicas de geoestatística foram confeccionados mapas de contorno, produzidos por interpolação através da krigagem ordinária representando, desta forma, a variabilidade espacial dos atributos físicos densidade do solo [kg dm-3], teor de água do solo [g g-1] e resistência mecânica a penetração [MPa] nas camadas de 0-10,10-20 e 20-30 cm de profundidade, além da produtividade de soja [t ha-1]. Os atributos do solo e a produtividade se derivaram de um plano de amostragem estratificada sistemática desalinhada, do ano agrícola 1998/99, subdividido em parcelas sem manejo localizado (SML) e parcelas com manejo localizado (CML). De maneira geral, os mapas de produtividade apresentaram um padrão de variabilidade semelhante quanto à distribuição na área não respondendo, assim, ao tratamento químico diferenciado aplicado nas parcelas CML; já os atributos físicos mostraram comportamento semelhante para os dois métodos de cultivo. Dentre os atributos físicos estudados, a resistência à penetração na camada 0-10 cm de profundidade foi a variável que melhor se correlacionou com a produtividade.21221
Pinning quantum phase transition for a Luttinger liquid of strongly interacting bosons
One of the most remarkable results of quantum mechanics is the fact that
many-body quantum systems may exhibit phase transitions even at zero
temperature. Quantum fluctuations, deeply rooted in Heisenberg's uncertainty
principle, and not thermal fluctuations, drive the system from one phase to
another. Typically, the relative strength of two competing terms in the
system's Hamiltonian is changed across a finite critical value. A well-known
example is the Mott-Hubbard quantum phase transition from a superfluid to an
insulating phase, which has been observed for weakly interacting bosonic atomic
gases. However, for strongly interacting quantum systems confined to
lower-dimensional geometry a novel type of quantum phase transition may be
induced for which an arbitrarily weak perturbation to the Hamiltonian is
sufficient to drive the transition. Here, for a one-dimensional (1D) quantum
gas of bosonic caesium atoms with tunable interactions, we observe the
commensurate-incommensurate quantum phase transition from a superfluid
Luttinger liquid to a Mott-insulator. For sufficiently strong interactions, the
transition is induced by adding an arbitrarily weak optical lattice
commensurate with the atomic granularity, which leads to immediate pinning of
the atoms. We map out the phase diagram and find that our measurements in the
strongly interacting regime agree well with a quantum field description based
on the exactly solvable sine-Gordon model. We trace the phase boundary all the
way to the weakly interacting regime where we find good agreement with the
predictions of the 1D Bose-Hubbard model. Our results open up the experimental
study of quantum phase transitions, criticality, and transport phenomena beyond
Hubbard-type models in the context of ultracold gases
A Mission to Explore the Pioneer Anomaly
The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft yielded the most precise navigation in deep
space to date. These spacecraft had exceptional acceleration sensitivity.
However, analysis of their radio-metric tracking data has consistently
indicated that at heliocentric distances of astronomical units,
the orbit determinations indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, Doppler
frequency drift. The drift is a blue-shift, uniformly changing with a rate of
Hz/s, which can be interpreted as a
constant sunward acceleration of each particular spacecraft of . This signal has become known as the Pioneer
anomaly. The inability to explain the anomalous behavior of the Pioneers with
conventional physics has contributed to growing discussion about its origin.
There is now an increasing number of proposals that attempt to explain the
anomaly outside conventional physics. This progress emphasizes the need for a
new experiment to explore the detected signal. Furthermore, the recent
extensive efforts led to the conclusion that only a dedicated experiment could
ultimately determine the nature of the found signal. We discuss the Pioneer
anomaly and present the next steps towards an understanding of its origin. We
specifically focus on the development of a mission to explore the Pioneer
Anomaly in a dedicated experiment conducted in deep space.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures; invited talk given at the 2005 ESLAB Symposium
"Trends in Space Science and Cosmic Vision 2020", 19-21 April 2005, ESTEC,
Noordwijk, The Netherland
Fundamental Physics with the Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity
The Laser Astrometric Test Of Relativity (LATOR) is a joint European-U.S.
Michelson-Morley-type experiment designed to test the pure tensor metric nature
of gravitation - a fundamental postulate of Einstein's theory of general
relativity. By using a combination of independent time-series of highly
accurate gravitational deflection of light in the immediate proximity to the
Sun, along with measurements of the Shapiro time delay on interplanetary scales
(to a precision respectively better than 0.1 picoradians and 1 cm), LATOR will
significantly improve our knowledge of relativistic gravity. The primary
mission objective is to i) measure the key post-Newtonian Eddington parameter
\gamma with accuracy of a part in 10^9. (1-\gamma) is a direct measure for
presence of a new interaction in gravitational theory, and, in its search,
LATOR goes a factor 30,000 beyond the present best result, Cassini's 2003 test.
The mission will also provide: ii) first measurement of gravity's non-linear
effects on light to ~0.01% accuracy; including both the Eddington \beta
parameter and also the spatial metric's 2nd order potential contribution (never
measured before); iii) direct measurement of the solar quadrupole moment J2
(currently unavailable) to accuracy of a part in 200 of its expected size; iv)
direct measurement of the "frame-dragging" effect on light by the Sun's
gravitomagnetic field, to 1% accuracy. LATOR's primary measurement pushes to
unprecedented accuracy the search for cosmologically relevant scalar-tensor
theories of gravity by looking for a remnant scalar field in today's solar
system. We discuss the mission design of this proposed experiment.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures; invited talk given at the 2005 ESLAB Symposium
"Trends in Space Science and Cosmic Vision 2020," 19-21 April 2005, ESTEC,
Noodrwijk, The Netherland
LISA pathfinder optical interferometry
The LISA Technology Package (LTP) aboard of LISA pathfinder mission is dedicated to demonstrate and verify key technologies for LISA, in particular drag free control, ultra-precise laser interferometry and gravitational sensor. Two inertial sensor, the optical interferometry in between combined with the dimensional stable Glass ceramic Zerodur structure are setting up the LTP. The validation of drag free operation of the spacecraft is planned by measuring laser interferometrically the relative displacement and tilt between two test masses (and the optical bench) with a noise levels of 10pm/[square root of]Hz and 10 nrad/[square root of]Hz between 3mHz and 30mHz. This performance and additionally overall environmental tests was currently verified on EM level. The OB structure is able to support two inertial sensors ([approximate]17kg each) and to withstand 25 g design loads as well as 0...40°C temperature range. Optical functionality was verified successfully after environmental tests. The engineering model development and manufacturing of the optical bench and interferometry hardware and their verification tests will be presented
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