6,591 research outputs found
Perioperative infection prophylaxis and risk factor impact in colon surgery
Background: A prospective observational study was undertaken in 2,481 patients undergoing elective colon resection in 114 German centers to identify optimal drug and dosing modalities and risk factors for postoperative infection. Methods: Patients were pair matched using six risk factors and divided into 672 pairs (ceftriaxone vs, other cephalosporins, group A) and 400 pairs (ceftriaxone vs. penicillins, group B). End points were local and systemic postoperative infection and cost effectiveness. Results: Local infection rates were 6.0 versus 6.5% (group A) and 4.0 versus 10.5% (group B); systemic infection rates in groups A and B were 4.9 versus 6.3% and 3.3 versus 10.5%, respectively. Ceftriaxone was more effective than penicillins overall (6.8 vs. 17.8%, p < 0.001). Length of postoperative hospital stay was 16.2 versus 16.9 days (group A) and 15.8 versus 17.6 days (group B). Of the six risk factors, age and concomitant disease were significant for systemic infection, and blood loss, rectum resection and immunosuppressive therapy were significant for local infection. Penicillin was a risk factor compared to ceftriaxone (p < 0.0001). Ceftriaxone saved Q160.7 versus other cephalosporins and O416.2 versus penicillins. Conclusion: Clinical and microbiological efficacy are responsible for the cost effectiveness of ceftriaxone for perioperative prophylaxis in colorectal surgery. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel
Limitation of entanglement due to spatial qubit separation
We consider spatially separated qubits coupled to a thermal bosonic field
that causes pure dephasing. Our focus is on the entanglement of two Bell states
which for vanishing separation are known as robust and fragile entangled
states. The reduced two-qubit dynamics is solved exactly and explicitly. Our
results allow us to gain information about the robustness of two-qubit
decoherence-free subspaces with respect to physical parameters such as
temperature, qubit-bath coupling strength and spatial separation of the qubits.
Moreover, we clarify the relation between single-qubit coherence and two-qubit
entanglement and identify parameter regimes in which the terms robust and
fragile are no longer appropriate.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; revised version, accepted for publication in
Europhys. Let
Gauging a quantum heat bath with dissipative Landau-Zener transitions
We calculate the exact Landau-Zener transitions probabilities for a qubit
with arbitrary linear coupling to a bath at zero temperature. The final quantum
state exhibits a peculiar entanglement between the qubit and the bath. In the
special case of a diagonal coupling, the bath does not influence the transition
probability, whatever the speed of the Landau-Zener sweep. It is proposed to
use Landau-Zener transitions to determine both the reorganization energy and
the integrated spectral density of the bath. Possible applications include
circuit QED and molecular nanomagnets.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Microcavity polariton splitting of intersubband transitions
The optical response of the intersubband excitation of multiple two-dimensional electron gases within a semiconductor microcavity has been studied through angle-dependent reflectance measurements. Using a resonator based on total internal reflection, a clear splitting of about 14 meV of the coupled intersubband cavity modes is observed from 10 K to room temperature, with resulting polaritonlike dispersion. The experimental findings are in good agreement with theoretical calculations performed in a transfer-matrix formalism
Electric-Field Gradient at Cd Impurities in In2o3. A FLAPW Study
We report an ab initio study of the electric-field gradient tensor (EFG) at
Cd impurities located at both inequivalent cationic sites in the semiconductor
In2O3. Calculations were performed with the FLAPW method, that allows us to
treat the electronic structure of the doped system and the atomic relaxations
introduced by the impurities in the host lattice in a fully self-consistent
way. From our results for the EFG (in excellent agreement with the
experiments), it is clear that the problem of the EFG at impurities in In2O3
cannot be described by the point-charge model and antishielding factors.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, and 2 table
Optical/Near-Infrared Imaging of Infrared-Excess Palomar-Green QSOs
Ground-based high spatial-resolution (FWHM < 0.3-0.8") optical and
near-infrared imaging (0.4-2.2um) is presented for a complete sample of
optically selected Palomar-Green QSOs with far-infrared excesses at least as
great as those of "warm" AGN-like ultraluminous infrared galaxies
(L_ir/L_big-blue-bump > 0.46). In all cases, the host galaxies of the QSOs were
detected and most have discernable two-dimensional structure. The QSO host
galaxies and the QSO nuclei are similar in magnitude at H-band. H-band
luminosities of the hosts range from 0.5-7.5 L* with a mean of 2.3 L*, and are
consistent with those found in ULIGs. Both the QSO nuclei and the host galaxies
have near-infrared excesses, which may be the result of dust associated with
the nucleus and of recent dusty star formation in the host. These results
suggest that some, but not all, optically-selected QSOs may have evolved from
an infrared-active state triggered by the merger of two similarly-sized L*
galaxies, in a manner similar to that of the ultraluminous infrared galaxies.Comment: Aastex format, 38 pages, 4 tables, 10 figures. Higher quality figures
are available in JPG forma
Accretion Disk Instabilities, CDM models and their role in Quasar Evolution
We have developed a consistent analytical model to describe the observed
evolution of the quasar luminosity function. Our model combines black hole mass
distributions based on the Press - Schechter theory of the structure formation
in the Universe with quasar luminosity functions resulting from a physics-based
emission model that takes into account the time-dependent phenomena occurring
in the accretion disks. Quasar evolution and CDM models are mutually
constraining, therefore our model gives an estimation of the exponent, n, of
the power spectrum, P(k), which is found to be -1.8 < n < -1.6. We were able to
reject a generally assumed hypothesis of a constant ratio between Dark Matter
Halo and the Black Hole mass, since the observed data could not be fitted under
this assumption. We found that the relation between the Dark Matter Halos and
Black Hole masses is better described by M_{BH}=M_{DMH}^{0.668}. This model
provides a reasonable fit to the observed quasar luminosity function at
redshifts higher than ~2.0. We suggest that the disagreement at lower redshift
is due to mergers. Based on the agreement at high redshift, we estimated the
merger rate at lower redshift, and argue that this rate should depend on the
redshift, like (1+z)^3.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for Publication in Ap
Ray splitting in paraxial optical cavities
We present a numerical investigation of the ray dynamics in a paraxial
optical cavity when a ray splitting mechanism is present. The cavity is a
conventional two-mirror stable resonator and the ray splitting is achieved by
inserting an optical beam splitter perpendicular to the cavity axis. We show
that depending on the position of the beam splitter the optical resonator can
become unstable and the ray dynamics displays a positive Lyapunov exponent.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Exact Coupling Coefficient Distribution in the Doorway Mechanism
In many--body and other systems, the physics situation often allows one to
interpret certain, distinct states by means of a simple picture. In this
interpretation, the distinct states are not eigenstates of the full
Hamiltonian. Hence, there is an interaction which makes the distinct states act
as doorways into background states which are modeled statistically. The crucial
quantities are the overlaps between the eigenstates of the full Hamiltonian and
the doorway states, that is, the coupling coefficients occuring in the
expansion of true eigenstates in the simple model basis. Recently, the
distribution of the maximum coupling coefficients was introduced as a new,
highly sensitive statistical observable. In the particularly important regime
of weak interactions, this distribution is very well approximated by the
fidelity distribution, defined as the distribution of the overlap between the
doorway states with interaction and without interaction. Using a random matrix
model, we calculate the latter distribution exactly for regular and chaotic
background states in the cases of preserved and fully broken time--reversal
invariance. We also perform numerical simulations and find excellent agreement
with our analytical results.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure
Multiplicity and Optical Excess Across the Substellar Boundary in Taurus
We present the results of a high-resolution imaging survey of 22 brown dwarfs
and very low mass stars in the nearby (~145 pc) young (~1-2 Myr) low-density
star-forming region Taurus-Auriga. We obtained images with the Advanced Camera
for Surveys/High Resolution Channel on HST through the F555W (V), F775W (i'),
and F850LP (z') filters. This survey confirmed the binarity of MHO-Tau-8 and
discovered a new candidate binary system, V410-Xray3, resulting in a binary
fraction of 9+/-5% at separations >4 AU. Both binary systems are tight (<10 AU)
and they possess mass ratios of 0.75 and 0.46, respectively. The binary
frequency and separations are consistent with low-mass binary properties in the
field, but the mass ratio of V410-Xray3 is among the lowest known. We find that
the binary frequency is higher for very low mass stars and high-mass brown
dwarfs than for lower-mass brown dwarfs, implying either a decline in frequency
or a shift to smaller separations for the lowest mass binaries. Combining these
results with multiplicity statistics for higher-mass Taurus members suggests a
gradual decline in binary frequency and separation toward low masses. The
implication is that the distinct binary properties of very low-mass systems are
set during formation and that the formation process is similar to the process
which creates higher-mass stellar binaries, but occurs on a smaller scale. We
show that there are no planets or very low-mass brown dwarfs with mass >3 M_J
at projected separation >40 AU orbiting any of the Taurus members in our
sample. We identify several BDs with significant (>1 mag) V-band excesses. The
excesses appear to be correlated with signatures of accretion, and if
attributed to accretion luminosity, may imply mass accretion rates several
orders of magnitude above those inferred from line-profile analyses. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 15 pages, 8 figures in emulateapj
forma
- …