8,688 research outputs found
Atom lithography without laser cooling
Using direct-write atom lithography, Fe nanolines are deposited with a pitch
of 186 nm, a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 50 nm, and a height of up to
6 nm. These values are achieved by relying on geometrical collimation of the
atomic beam, thus without using laser collimation techniques. This opens the
way for applying direct-write atom lithography to a wide variety of elements.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
Helium 2 3S - 2 1S metrology at 1557 nm
An experiment is proposed to excite the 'forbidden' 1s2s 3S1 - 1s2s 1S0
magnetic dipole (M1) transition at 1557 nm in a collimated and slow atomic beam
of metastable helium atoms. It is demonstrated that an excitation rate of 5000
/s can be realised with the beam of a 2W narrowband telecom fiber laser
intersecting the atomic beam perpendicularly. A Doppler-limited sub-MHz
spectroscopic linewidth is anticipated. Doppler-free excitation of 2% of
trapped and cooled atoms may be realised in a one-dimensional optical lattice
geometry, using the 2W laser both for trapping and spectroscopy. The very small
(8 Hz) natural linewidth of this transition presents an opportunity for
accurate tests of atomic structure calculations of the helium atom. A
measurement of the 3He - 4He isotope shift allows for accurate determination of
the difference in nuclear charge radius of both isotopes.Comment: accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
A charged particle in a magnetic field - Jarzynski Equality
We describe some solvable models which illustrate the Jarzynski theorem and
related fluctuation theorems. We consider a charged particle in the presence of
magnetic field in a two dimensional harmonic well. In the first case the centre
of the harmonic potential is translated with a uniform velocity, while in the
other case the particle is subjected to an ac force. We show that Jarzynski
identity complements Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem on the absence of diamagnetism in
equilibrium classical system.Comment: 5 pages, minor corrections made and journal reference adde
Time correlations in a confined magnetized free-electron gas
The time-dependent pair correlation functions for a degenerate ideal quantum
gas of charged particles in a uniform magnetic field are studied on the basis
of equilibrium statistics. In particular, the influence of a flat hard wall on
the correlations is investigated, both for a perpendicular and a parallel
orientation of the wall with respect to the field. The coherent and incoherent
parts of the time-dependent structure function in position space are determined
from an expansion in terms of the eigenfunctions of the one-particle
Hamiltonian. For the bulk of the system, the intermediate scattering function
and the dynamical structure factor are derived by taking successive Fourier
transforms. In the vicinity of the wall the time-dependent coherent structure
function is found to decay faster than in the bulk. For coinciding positions
near the wall the form of the structure function turns out to be independent of
the orientation of the wall. Numerical results are shown to corroborate these
findings.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics
Global fixed point proof of time-dependent density-functional theory
We reformulate and generalize the uniqueness and existence proofs of
time-dependent density-functional theory. The central idea is to restate the
fundamental one-to-one correspondence between densities and potentials as a
global fixed point question for potentials on a given time-interval. We show
that the unique fixed point, i.e. the unique potential generating a given
density, is reached as the limiting point of an iterative procedure. The
one-to-one correspondence between densities and potentials is a straightforward
result provided that the response function of the divergence of the internal
forces is bounded. The existence, i.e. the v-representability of a density, can
be proven as well provided that the operator norms of the response functions of
the members of the iterative sequence of potentials have an upper bound. The
densities under consideration have second time-derivatives that are required to
satisfy a condition slightly weaker than being square-integrable. This approach
avoids the usual restrictions of Taylor-expandability in time of the uniqueness
theorem by Runge and Gross [Phys.Rev.Lett.52, 997 (1984)] and of the existence
theorem by van Leeuwen [Phys.Rev.Lett. 82, 3863 (1999)]. Owing to its
generality, the proof not only answers basic questions in density-functional
theory but also has potential implications in other fields of physics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Behavioral changes in male Diaptomus leptopus (Copepoda: Calanoida) in response to female conditioned water
Why do herbivorous mites suppress plant defenses?
Plants have evolved numerous defensive traits that enable them to resist herbivores. In turn, this resistance has selected for herbivores that can cope with defenses by either avoiding, resisting or suppressing them. Several species of herbivorous mites, such as the spider mites Tetranychus urticae and Tetranychus evansi, were found to maximize their performance by suppressing inducible plant defenses. At first glimpse it seems obvious why such a trait will be favored by natural selection. However, defense suppression appeared to readily backfire since mites that do so also make their host plant more suitable for competitors and their offspring more attractive for natural enemies. This, together with the fact that spider mites are infamous for their ability to resist (plant) toxins directly, justifies the question as to why traits that allow mites to suppress defenses nonetheless seem to be relatively common? We argue that this trait may facilitate generalist herbivores, like T. urticae, to colonize new host species. While specific detoxification mechanisms may, on average, be suitable only on a narrow range of similar hosts, defense suppression may be more broadly effective, provided it operates by targeting conserved plant signaling components. If so, resistance and suppression may be under frequency-dependent selection and be maintained as a polymorphism in generalist mite populations. In that case, the defense suppression trait may be under rapid positive selection in subpopulations that have recently colonized a new host but may erode in relatively isolated populations in which host-specific detoxification mechanisms emerge. Although there is empirical evidence to support these scenarios, it contradicts the observation that several of the mite species found to suppress plant defenses actually are relatively specialized. We argue that in these cases buffering traits may enable such mites to mitigate the negative side effects of suppression in natural communities and thus shield this trait from natural selection
A search for pulsars in subdwarf B binary systems and discovery of giant-pulse emitting PSR J0533-4524
Binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) provide several opportunities for research
of fundamental physics. However, finding them can be challenging. Several
subdwarf B (sdB) binary systems with possible neutron star companions have been
identified, allowing us to perform a targeted search for MSPs within these
systems. Six sdBs with companions in the neutron star mass range, as determined
from their optical light curves, were observed with the Green Bank and
Westerbork radio telescopes. The data were searched for periodic signals as
well as single pulses. No radio pulsations from sdB systems were detected, down
to an average sensitivity limit of 0.11 mJy. We did, however, discover a pulsar
in the field of sdB HE0532-4503. Follow-up observations with the Giant
Metrewave Radio Telescope showed that this pulsar, J0533-4524, is not spatially
coincident with the sdB system. The pulsar has a relatively low magnetic field
but still emits giant pulses. We place an upper limit of three to the number of
radio pulsars in the six sdB systems. The non-detections may be explained by a
combination of the MSP beaming fraction, luminosity, and a recycling fraction
<0.5. Alternatively, the assumption of co-rotation between the MSP and sdB may
break down, which implies the systems are more edge-on than previously thought.
This would shift the predicted companion masses into the white dwarf range. It
would also explain the relative lack of edge-on sdB systems with massive
companions.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Correlated errors in Hipparcos parallaxes towards the Pleiades and the Hyades
We show that the errors in the Hipparcos parallaxes towards the Pleiades and
the Hyades open clusters are spatially correlated over angular scales of 2 to 3
deg, with an amplitude of up to 2 mas. This correlation is stronger than
expected based on the analysis of the Hipparcos catalog. We predict the
parallaxes of individual cluster members, pi_pm, from their Hipparcos proper
motions, assuming that all cluster members have the same space velocity. We
compare pi_pm with their Hipparcos parallaxes, pi_Hip, and find that there are
significant spatial correlations in pi_Hip. We derive a distance modulus to the
Pleiades of 5.58 +- 0.18 mag using the radial-velocity gradient method. This
value, agrees very well with the distance modulus of 5.60 +- 0.04 mag
determined using the main-sequence fitting technique, compared with the value
of 5.33 +- 0.06 inferred from the average of the Hipparcos parallaxes of the
Pleiades members. We show that the difference between the main-sequence fitting
distance and the Hipparcos parallax distance can arise from spatially
correlated errors in the Hipparcos parallaxes of individual Pleiades members.
Although the Hipparcos parallax errors towards the Hyades are spatially
correlated in a manner similar to those of the Pleiades, the center of the
Hyades is located on a node of this spatial structure. Therefore, the parallax
errors cancel out when the average distance is estimated, leading to a mean
Hyades distance modulus that agrees with the pre-Hipparcos value. We speculate
that these spatial correlations are also responsible for the discrepant
distances that are inferred using the mean Hipparcos parallaxes to some open
clusters. Finally, we note that our conclusions are based on a purely geometric
method and do not rely on any models of stellar isochrones.Comment: 33 pages including 10 Figures, revised version accepted for
publication in Ap
Density-potential mappings in quantum dynamics
In a recent letter [Europhys. Lett. 95, 13001 (2011)] the question of whether
the density of a time-dependent quantum system determines its external
potential was reformulated as a fixed point problem. This idea was used to
generalize the existence and uniqueness theorems underlying time-dependent
density functional theory. In this work we extend this proof to allow for more
general norms and provide a numerical implementation of the fixed-point
iteration scheme. We focus on the one-dimensional case as it allows for a more
in-depth analysis using singular Sturm-Liouville theory and at the same time
provides an easy visualization of the numerical applications in space and time.
We give an explicit relation between the boundary conditions on the density and
the convergence properties of the fixed-point procedure via the spectral
properties of the associated Sturm-Liouville operator. We show precisely under
which conditions discrete and continuous spectra arise and give explicit
examples. These conditions are then used to show that in the most physically
relevant cases the fixed point procedure converges. This is further
demonstrated with an example.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 table
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