958 research outputs found
First Long-Term Application of Squeezed States of Light in a Gravitational-Wave Observatory
We report on the first long-term application of squeezed vacuum states of
light to improve the shot-noise-limited sensitivity of a gravitational-wave
observatory. In particular, squeezed vacuum was applied to the German/British
detector GEO600 during a period of three months from June to August 2011, when
GEO600 was performing an observational run together with the French/Italian
Virgo detector. In a second period squeezing application continued for about 11
months from November 2011 to October 2012. During this time, squeezed vacuum
was applied for 90.2% (205.2 days total) of the time that science-quality data
was acquired with GEO600. Sensitivity increase from squeezed vacuum application
was observed broad-band above 400Hz. The time average of gain in sensitivity
was 26% (2.0dB), determined in the frequency band from 3.7kHz to 4.0kHz. This
corresponds to a factor of two increase in observed volume of the universe, for
sources in the kHz region (e.g. supernovae, magnetars). We introduce three new
techniques to enable stable long-term application of squeezed light, and show
that the glitch-rate of the detector did not increase from squeezing
application. Squeezed vacuum states of light have arrived as a permanent
application, capable of increasing the astrophysical reach of
gravitational-wave detectors.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Apex Exponents for Polymer--Probe Interactions
We consider self-avoiding polymers attached to the tip of an impenetrable
probe. The scaling exponents and , characterizing the
number of configurations for the attachment of the polymer by one end, or at
its midpoint, vary continuously with the tip's angle. These apex exponents are
calculated analytically by -expansion, and numerically by simulations
in three dimensions. We find that when the polymer can move through the
attachment point, it typically slides to one end; the apex exponents quantify
the entropic barrier to threading the eye of the probe
Estimates for practical quantum cryptography
In this article I present a protocol for quantum cryptography which is secure
against attacks on individual signals. It is based on the Bennett-Brassard
protocol of 1984 (BB84). The security proof is complete as far as the use of
single photons as signal states is concerned. Emphasis is given to the
practicability of the resulting protocol. For each run of the quantum key
distribution the security statement gives the probability of a successful key
generation and the probability for an eavesdropper's knowledge, measured as
change in Shannon entropy, to be below a specified maximal value.Comment: Authentication scheme corrected. Other improvements of presentatio
Cost-benefit analysis for commissioning decisions in GEO600
Gravitational wave interferometers are complex instruments, requiring years
of commissioning to achieve the required sensitivities for the detection of
gravitational waves, of order 10^-21 in dimensionless detector strain, in the
tens of Hz to several kHz frequency band. Investigations carried out by the
GEO600 detector characterisation group have shown that detector
characterisation techniques are useful when planning for commissioning work. At
the time of writing, GEO600 is the only large scale laser interferometer
currently in operation running with a high duty factor, 70%, limited chiefly by
the time spent commissioning the detector. The number of observable
gravitational wave sources scales as the product of the volume of space to
which the detector is sensitive and the observation time, so the goal of
commissioning is to improve the detector sensitivity with the least possible
detector down time. We demonstrate a method for increasing the number of
sources observable by such a detector, by assessing the severity of
non-astrophysical noise contaminations to efficiently guide commissioning. This
method will be particularly useful in the early stages and during the initial
science runs of the aLIGO and adVirgo detectors, as they are brought up to
design performance.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures, 2 table
Mechanical ventilation: lessons from the ARDSNet trial
The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an inflammatory disease of the lungs characterized clinically by bilateral pulmonary infiltrates, decreased pulmonary compliance and hypoxemia. Although supportive care for ARDS seems to have improved over the past few decades, few studies have shown that any treatment can decrease mortality for this deadly syndrome. In the 4 May 2000 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, the results of an NIH-sponsored trial were presented; they demonstrated that the use of a ventilatory strategy that minimizes ventilator-induced lung injury leads to a 22% decrease in mortality. The implications of this study with respect to clinical practice, further ARDS studies and clinical research in the critical care setting are discussed
GEO 600 and the GEO-HF upgrade program: successes and challenges
The German-British laser-interferometric gravitational wave detector GEO 600
is in its 14th year of operation since its first lock in 2001. After GEO 600
participated in science runs with other first-generation detectors, a program
known as GEO-HF began in 2009. The goal was to improve the detector sensitivity
at high frequencies, around 1 kHz and above, with technologically advanced yet
minimally invasive upgrades. Simultaneously, the detector would record science
quality data in between commissioning activities. As of early 2014, all of the
planned upgrades have been carried out and sensitivity improvements of up to a
factor of four at the high-frequency end of the observation band have been
achieved. Besides science data collection, an experimental program is ongoing
with the goal to further improve the sensitivity and evaluate future detector
technologies. We summarize the results of the GEO-HF program to date and
discuss its successes and challenges
Interplay between geometry and flow distribution in an airway tree
Uniform fluid flow distribution in a symmetric volume can be realized through
a symmetric branched tree. It is shown here, however, that the flow
partitioning can be highly sensitive to deviations from exact symmetry if
inertial effects are present. This is found by direct numerical simulation of
the Navier-Stokes equations in a 3D tree geometry. The flow asymmetry is
quantified and found to depend on the Reynolds number. Moreover, for a given
Reynolds number, we show that the flow distribution depends on the aspect ratio
of the branching elements as well as their angular arrangement. Our results
indicate that physiological variability should be severely restricted in order
to ensure uniform fluid distribution in a tree. This study suggests that any
non-uniformity in the air flow distribution in human lungs should be influenced
by the respiratory conditions, rest or hard exercise
The influence of attentional focus on balance control over seven days of training
This study examined the training effect of attentional focus (external focus, internal focus, or no focus instructions) on a dynamic balance task. Participants completed baseline balance testing, seven consecutive days of dynamic balance board training, and retention testing 24 hours after the last session. The novel finding of this study was the presence of a training effect on balance control when adopting an external focus relative to an internal focus or no focus instructions. Further, we report the unique observation that more patterned behavior was adopted regardless of the focus instructions. These findings provide insight into how instructions can be altered to enhance human balance control and complement the constrained-action hypothesis
A simple radionuclide-driven single-ion source
We describe a source capable of producing single barium ions through nuclear
recoils in radioactive decay. The source is fabricated by electroplating 148Gd
onto a silicon {\alpha}-particle detector and vapor depositing a layer of BaF2
over it. 144Sm recoils from the alpha decay of 148Gd are used to dislodge Ba+
ions from the BaF2 layer and emit them in the surrounding environment. The
simultaneous detection of an {\alpha} particle in the substrate detector allows
for tagging of the nuclear decay and of the Ba+ emission. The source is simple,
durable, and can be manipulated and used in different environments. We discuss
the fabrication process, which can be easily adapted to emit most other
chemical species, and the performance of the source
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