Collective Dynamics of Bose--Einstein Condensates in Optical Cavities

Recent experiments on Bose--Einstein condensates in optical cavities have reported a quantum phase transition to a coherent state of the matter-light system -- superradiance. The time dependent nature of these experiments demands consideration of collective dynamics. Here we establish a rich phase diagram, accessible by quench experiments, with distinct regimes of dynamics separated by non-equilibrium phase transitions. We include the key effects of cavity leakage and the back-reaction of the cavity field on the condensate. Proximity to some of these phase boundaries results in critical slowing down of the decay of many-body oscillations. Notably, this slow decay can be assisted by large cavity losses. Predictions include the frequency of collective oscillations, a variety of multi-phase co-existence regions, and persistent optomechanical oscillations described by a damped driven pendulum. These findings open new directions to study collective dynamics and non-equilibrium phase transitions in matter-light systems.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Fluctuating epidemics on adaptive networks

A model for epidemics on an adaptive network is considered. Nodes follow an SIRS (susceptible-infective-recovered-susceptible) pattern. Connections are rewired to break links from non-infected nodes to infected nodes and are reformed to connect to other non-infected nodes, as the nodes that are not infected try to avoid the infection. Monte Carlo simulation and numerical solution of a mean field model are employed. The introduction of rewiring affects both the network structure and the epidemic dynamics. Degree distributions are altered, and the average distance from a node to the nearest infective increases. The rewiring leads to regions of bistability where either an endemic or a disease-free steady state can exist. Fluctuations around the endemic state and the lifetime of the endemic state are considered. The fluctuations are found to exhibit power law behavior.Comment: Submitted to Phys Rev

Performance of an environmental test to detect Mycobacterium bovis infection in badger social groups

A study by Courtenay and others (2006) demonstrated that the probability of detecting Mycobacterium bovis by PCR in soil samples from the spoil heaps of main badger setts correlated with the prevalence of excretion (infectiousness) of captured badgers belonging to the social group. It has been proposed that such a test could be used to target badger culling to setts containing infectious animals (Anon 2007). This short communication discusses the issues surrounding this concept, with the intention of dispelling any misconceptions among relevant stakeholders (farmers, policy makers and conservationists)

Phase lag in epidemics on a network of cities

We study the synchronisation and phase-lag of fluctuations in the number of infected individuals in a network of cities between which individuals commute. The frequency and amplitude of these oscillations is known to be very well captured by the van Kampen system-size expansion, and we use this approximation to compute the complex coherence function that describes their correlation. We find that, if the infection rate differs from city to city and the coupling between them is not too strong, these oscillations are synchronised with a well defined phase lag between cities. The analytic description of the effect is shown to be in good agreement with the results of stochastic simulations for realistic population sizes.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Polarized polariton condensates and coupled XY models

Microcavity polaritons, which at low temperatures can condense to a macroscopic coherent state, possess a polarization degree of freedom. This article discusses the phase diagram of such a system, showing the boundaries between differently polarized condensates. The Bogoliubov approximation is shown to have problems in describing the transition between differently polarized phases; the Hartree-Fock-Popov approximation performs better, and compares well to exact results that can be used in the limit where the left- and right-circular polarization states decouple. The effect on the phase boundary of various symmetry breaking terms present in real microcavities are also considered.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Extended versio

Anthropogenic Threats to Wild Cetacean Welfare and a Tool to Inform Policy in This Area

Human activities and anthropogenic environmental changes are having a profound effect on biodiversity and the sustainability and health of many populations and species of wild mammals. There has been less attention devoted to the impact of human activities on the welfare of individual wild mammals, although ethical reasoning suggests that the welfare of an individual is important regardless of species abundance or population health. There is growing interest in developing methodologies and frameworks that could be used to obtain an overview of anthropogenic threats to animal welfare. This paper shows the steps taken to develop a functional welfare assessment tool for wild cetaceans (WATWC) via an iterative process involving input from a wide range of experts and stakeholders. Animal welfare is a multidimensional concept, and the WATWC presented made use of the Five Domains model of animal welfare to ensure that all areas of potential welfare impact were considered. A pilot version of the tool was tested and then refined to improve functionality. We demonstrated that the refined version of the WATWC was useful to assess real-world impacts of human activity on Southern Resident killer whales. There was close within-scenario agreement between assessors as well as between-scenario differentiation of overall welfare impact. The current article discusses the challenges raised by assessing welfare in scenarios where objective data on cetacean behavioral and physiological responses are sparse and proposes that the WATWC approach has value in identifying important information gaps and in contributing to policy decisions relating to human impacts on whales, dolphins, and porpoises