Direct evaporative cooling of 39K atoms to Bose-Einstein condensation

We report the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms without the aid of an additional atomic coolant. Our route to Bose-Einstein condensation comprises Sub Doppler laser cooling of large atomic clouds with more than 10^10 atoms and evaporative cooling in optical dipole traps where the collisional cross section can be increased using magnetic Feshbach resonances. Large condensates with almost 10^6 atoms can be produced in less than 15 seconds. Our achievements eliminate the need for sympathetic cooling with Rb atoms which was the usual route implemented till date due to the unfavourable collisional property of 39K. Our findings simplify the experimental set-up for producing Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms with tunable interactions, which have a wide variety of promising applications including atom-interferometry to studies on the interplay of disorder and interactions in quantum gases.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Axion quality from the (anti)symmetric of SU(N)

We propose two models where a U(1) Peccei-Quinn global symmetry arises accidentally and is respected up to high-dimensional operators, so that the axion solution to the strong CP problem is successful even in the presence of Planck-suppressed operators. One model is SU$(N)$ gauge interactions with fermions in the fundamental and a scalar in the symmetric. The axion arises from spontaneous symmetry breaking to SO$(N)$, that confines at a lower energy scale. Axion quality in the model needs $N \gtrsim 10$. SO bound states and possibly monopoles provide extra Dark Matter candidates beyond the axion. In the second model the scalar is in the anti-symmetric: SU$(N)$ broken to Sp$(N)$ needs even $N \gtrsim 20$. The cosmological DM abundance, consisting of axions and/or super-heavy relics, can be reproduced if the PQ symmetry is broken before inflation (Boltzmann-suppressed production of super-heavy relics) or after (super-heavy relics in thermal equilibrium get partially diluted by dark glue-ball decays).Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures. v3: extra application mentioned; dilution factor in eq. (27) corrected, qualitative conclusions unchange

Universality of the three-body Efimov parameter at narrow Feshbach resonances

We measure the critical scattering length for the appearance of the first three-body bound state, or Efimov three-body parameter, at seven different Feshbach resonances in ultracold 39K atoms. We study both intermediate and narrow resonances, where the three-body spectrum is expected to be determined by the non-universal coupling of two scattering channels. We observe instead approximately the same universal relation of the three-body parameter with the two-body van der Waals radius already found for broader resonances, which can be modeled with a single channel. This unexpected observation suggests the presence of a new regime for three-body scattering at narrow resonances

780 Appearing and disappearing right-heart thrombus: a case reporto in COVID-19 patient

Abstract Aims Venous thromboembolism represents frequent complication of patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Several reports about atypical thrombosis are described, rarely it has been described a right venticular thrombus during the course of infection. We report a case of right endoventricular thrombosis in a patient with SARS-Cov-2 pneumonia. Methods and results A 58-year-old man was admitted to our ward for severe respiratory failure in interstitial pneumonia. The nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19 resulted positive. Steroids and prophylaxis with LMWH were started, associated to CPAP to maintain good gas exchange. During hospitalization a venous ECD was performed with evidence of left popliteal thrombosis despite the therapy. d-Dimer was 4463  ng/ml. A new onset AF was documented at the telemetry, without troponin elevation. A cardiac ultrasound was performed showing a right endoventricular lesion of 1.8  cm adhering to the free wall of the right ventricle. A CT-pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) resulted negative for pulmonary embolism and confirmed suspected right ventricular thrombus. Treatment with fondaparinux 7.5 mg was started. After 10 days, cardiac ultrasound shown complete resolution of thrombosis, and CT confirmed the disappearing of the mass. Dabigatran 150  mg twice/day was started. Patient clinically improved and he was discharged after 20 days of hospitalization. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 infection may cause inflammation with cytokine storm and hypercoagulability leading to venous thromboembolism. Atypical thrombus formation was reported, including right-ventricle free wall. Early caridac ultrasound was critical to make diagnosis and starting prompt treatment, therefore routine cardiac ultrasound is mandatory in severe COVID-19 patients

Detection of 3D Cardiac metabolism after injection of hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate

Introduction MRI with hyperpolarised 13C represents a promising modality for in-vivo spectroscopy and provides a unique opportunity for non-invasive assessment of cardiac regional metabolism. Purpose We present a method based on a volumetric IDEAL spiral CSI acquisition for obtaining spatial information on the metabolism of the whole heart after intravenous injection of hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate in a large animal model with a clinical 3T scanner. Methods Three healthy male mini-pigs (38±2 kg) were maintained under deep sedation; a dose of 20 mL of 230 mM [1-13C]pyruvate was administered over about 10 s by manual injection. Animal experiments were performed on a 3T GE Signa HDx scanner with a 13C quadrature birdcage coil. [1-13C]pyruvate was polarized using a HyperSense DNP polariser with subsequent dissolution. The final injection solution contained 230 mM sodium [1-13C]pyruvate, 100 mM TRIS buffer, 0.27 mM Na2EDTA and 20 μM Dotarem with T≈37°C and pH ≈ 7.6. Anatomical reference images were acquired in the axial plane with standard FIESTA sequence (body coil FOV=30x30 cm2, FA=20°, TE/TR=3.8ms/7.52ms, matrix 224x160, slice thickness 5 mm, 20 slices). Metabolic information covering the heart were obtained using a 3D IDEAL spiral CSI prescribed on the same region imaged by the reference anatomical sequence (FOV= 30x30 cm, slab thickness=100mm) starting 20 seconds after the beginning of the hyperpolarized [113C]-pyruvate injection. The IDEAL spiral CSI concept was implemented into a multi-slice, pulse-and-acquire sequence with a 2D spiral readout and phase encoding along the third dimension. A constant echo time shift of TE=0.9ms, 11 encoding steps and FA=7° were used to optimize the study for the considered frequencies. The data was reconstructed using spectrally-preconditioned, minimum-norm CS inversion followed by gridding reconstruction implemented in Matlab. The reconstruction on cardiac short axis (SA) and image fusion was performed by PMOD software. Results Pyruvate and its metabolic products lactate and bicarbonate were detected in the heart. Metabolic maps overlaid on anatomical images are shown in Figure 1. On SA sections the metabolites signal resulted correctly localized in cardiac structures: pyruvate more evident in ventricular cavity, bicarbonate in myocardial wall