Quantum Noise Limits for Nonlinear, Phase-Invariant Amplifiers

Any quantum device that amplifies coherent states of a field while preserving their phase generates noise. A nonlinear, phase-invariant amplifier may generate less noise, over a range of input field strengths, than any linear amplifier with the same amplification. We present explicit examples of such nonlinear amplifiers, and derive lower bounds on the noise generated by a nonlinear, phase-invariant quantum amplifier.Comment: RevTeX, 6 pages + 4 figures (included in file; hard copy sent on request

A Rational Approach to the Ecological Transition in the Cruise Market: Technologies and Design Compromises for the Fuel Switch

Supporting policies to achieve a green revolution and ecological transition is a global trend. Although the maritime transport of goods and people can rightly be counted among the least polluting sectors, much can be done to further reduce its environmental footprint. Moreover, to boost the ecological transition of vessels, a whole series of international regulations and national laws have been promulgated. Among these, the most impactful on both design and operational management of ships concern the containment of air-polluting emissions in terms of GHG, NOx, SOx and PM. To address this challenge, it might seem that many technologies already successfully used in other transport sectors could be applied. However, the peculiar characteristics of ships make this statement not entirely true. In fact, technological solutions recently adopted, for example, in the automotive sector must deal with the large size of vessels and the consequent large amount of energy necessary for their operation. In this paper, with reference to the case study of a medium/large-sized passenger cruise ship, the use of different fuels (LNG, ammonia, hydrogen) and technologies (internal combustion engines, fuel cells) for propulsion and energy generation on board will be compared. By imposing the design constraint of not modifying the payload and the speed of the ship, the criticalities linked to the use of one fuel rather than another will be highlighted. The current limits of application of some fuels will be made evident, with reference to the state of maturity of the relevant technologies. Furthermore, the operational consequences in terms of autonomy reduction will be presented. The obtained results underline the necessity for shipowners and shipbuilders to reflect on the compromises required by the challenges of the ecological transition, which will force them to choose between reducing payload or reducing performance

Possibility to study eta-mesic nuclei and photoproduction of slow eta-mesons at the GRAAL facility

A new experiment is proposed with the aim to study eta-mesic nuclei and low-energy interactions of eta with nuclei. Two decay modes of eta produced by a photon beam inside a nucleus will be observed, namely a collisional decay \eta N \to \pi N inside the nucleus and the radiative decay \eta \to \gamma \gamma outside. In addition, a collisional decay of stopped S_{11}(1535) resonance inside the nucleus, S_{11}(1535) N \to N N, will be studied. The experiment can be performed using the tagged photon beam at ESRF with the end-point energy 1000 MeV and the GRAAL detector which includes a high-resolution BGO calorimeter and a large acceptance lead-scintillator time-of-flight wall. Some results of simulation and estimates of yields are given.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figure

State vs. religions historically represented in the state: points of concurrence and planes of distinction

The article is devoted to the study of the impelling imperatives and determinants of interactions of the secular state and religious organizations (especially - historically represented in the state), the limits and modes of such interactions. The authors address the issue of the limits of intervention and, on the contrary, non-interference of the state in the affairs of religious association

Half-Periodic Josephson Effect in an s-Wave Superconductor - Normal Metal -d-Wave Superconductor Junction

We predict that the Josephson current in a clean s-wave superconductor-normal metal-d-wave superconductor junction is periodic in superconducting phase difference $\phi$ with period $\pi$ instead of $2\pi$. The frequency of non-stationary Josephson effect is correspondingly $2\omega_J = 4eV.$ The effect is due to coexistence in the normal layer of current carrying Andreev levels with phase differences $\phi$ and $\phi+\pi.$Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX, 3 figure

Upturn observed in heavy nuclei to iron ratios by the ATIC-2 experiment

The ratios of fluxes of heavy nuclei from sulfur (Z=16) to chromium (Z=24) to the flux of iron were measured by the ATIC-2 experiment. The ratios are decreasing functions of energy from 5 GeV/n to approximately 80 GeV/n, as expected. However, an unexpected sharp upturn in the ratios are observed for energies above 100 GeV/n for all elements from Z=16 to Z=24. Similar upturn but with lower amplitude was also discovered in the ATIC-2 data for the ratio of fluxes of abundant even nuclei (C, O, Ne, Mg, Si) to the flux of iron. Therefore the spectrum of iron is significantly different from the spectra of other abundant even nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX2e, a paper for 23rd European Cosmic Ray Symposium (2012

On the Velocity Gradient in Stably Stratified Sheared Flows. Part 1: Asymptotic Analysis and Applications

Peer reviewe

Possible structure in the cosmic ray electron spectrum measured by the ATIC-2 and ATIC-4 experiments

A strong excess in a form of a wide peak in the energy range of 300-800 GeV was discovered in the first measurements of the electron spectrum in the energy range from 20 GeV to 3 TeV by the balloon-borne experiment ATIC (J. Chang et al. Nature, 2008). The experimental data processing and analysis of the electron spectrum with different criteria for selection of electrons, completely independent of the results reported in (J. Chang et al. Nature, 2008) is employed in the present paper. The new independent analysis generally confirms the results of (J. Chang et al. Nature, 2008), but shows that the spectrum in the region of the excess is represented by a number of narrow peaks. The measured spectrum is compared to the spectrum of (J. Chang et al. Nature, 2008) and to the spectrum of the Fermi/LAT experiment.Comment: LaTeX2e, 10 pages, 4 figures, a paper for ECRS 2010 (Turku, Finland); http://www.astrophys-space-sci-trans.net/7/119/2011