790 research outputs found
Pitfalls in the theory of carrier dynamics in semiconductor quantum dots: the single-particle basis vs. the many-particle configuration basis
We analyze quantum dot models used in current research for misconceptions
that arise from the choice of basis states for the carriers. The examined
models originate from semiconductor quantum optics, but the illustrated
conceptional problems are not limited to this field. We demonstrate how the
choice of basis states can imply a factorization scheme that leads to an
artificial dependency between two, actually independent, quantities.
Furthermore, we consider an open quantum dot-cavity system and show how the
dephasing, generated by the dissipator in the von Neumann Lindblad equation,
depends on the choice of basis states that are used to construct the collapse
operators. We find that the Rabi oscillations of the s-shell exciton are either
dephased by the dissipative decay of the p-shell exciton or remain unaffected,
depending on the choice of basis states. In a last step we resolve this
discrepancy by taking the full system-reservoir interaction Hamiltonian into
account
Modelling formation and evolution of transverse dune fields
We model formation and evolution of transverse dune fields. In the model,
only the cross section of the dune is simulated. The only physical variable of
relevance is the dune height, from which the dune width and velocity are
determined, as well as phenomenological rules for interaction between two dunes
of different heights. We find that dune fields with no sand on the ground
between dunes are unstable, i.e. small dunes leave the higher ones behind. We
then introduce a saturation length to simulate transverse dunes on a sand bed
and show that this leads to stable dune fields with regular spacing and dune
heights. Finally, we show that our model can be used to simulate coastal dune
fields if a constant sand influx is considered, where the dune height increases
with the distance from the beach, reaching a constant value.Comment: 18 pages including 9 figure
Superthermal photon bunching in terms of simple probability distributions
We analyze the second-order photon autocorrelation function with
respect to the photon probability distribution and discuss the generic features
of a distribution that result in superthermal photon bunching ().
Superthermal photon bunching has been reported for a number of optical
microcavity systems that exhibit processes like superradiance or mode
competition. We show that a superthermal photon number distribution cannot be
constructed from the principle of maximum entropy, if only the intensity and
the second-order autocorrelation are given. However, for bimodal systems an
unbiased superthermal distribution can be constructed from second-order
correlations and the intensities alone. Our findings suggest modeling
superthermal single-mode distributions by a mixture of a thermal and a lasing
like state and thus reveal a generic mechanism in the photon probability
distribution responsible for creating superthermal photon bunching. We relate
our general considerations to a physical system, a (single-emitter) bimodal
laser, and show that its statistics can be approximated and understood within
our proposed model. Furthermore the excellent agreement of the statistics of
the bimodal laser and our model reveal that the bimodal laser is an ideal
source of bunched photons, in the sense that it can generate statistics that
contain no other features but the superthermal bunching
Jump at the onset of saltation
We reveal a discontinuous transition in the saturated flux for aeolian
saltation by simulating explicitly particle motion in turbulent flow. The
discontinuity is followed by a coexistence interval with two metastable
solutions. The modification of the wind profile due to momentum exchange
exhibits a second maximum at high shear strength. The saturated flux depends on
the strength of the wind as
The fluctuation energy balance in non-suspended fluid-mediated particle transport
Here we compare two extreme regimes of non-suspended fluid-mediated particle
transport, transport in light and heavy fluids ("saltation" and "bedload",
respectively), regarding their particle fluctuation energy balance. From direct
numerical simulations, we surprisingly find that the ratio between collisional
and fluid drag dissipation of fluctuation energy is significantly larger in
saltation than in bedload, even though the contribution of interparticle
collisions to transport of momentum and energy is much smaller in saltation due
to the low concentration of particles in the transport layer. We conclude that
the much higher frequency of high-energy particle-bed impacts ("splash") in
saltation is the cause for this counter-intuitive behavior. Moreover, from a
comparison of these simulations to Particle Tracking Velocimetry measurements
which we performed in a wind tunnel under steady transport of fine and coarse
sand, we find that turbulent fluctuations of the flow produce particle
fluctuation energy at an unexpectedly high rate in saltation even under
conditions for which the effects of turbulence are usually believed to be
small
Minimal size of a barchan dune
Barchans are dunes of high mobility which have a crescent shape and propagate
under conditions of unidirectional wind. However, sand dunes only appear above
a critical size, which scales with the saturation distance of the sand flux [P.
Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002);
B. Andreotti, P. Claudin, and S. Douady, Eur. Phys. J. B {\bf{28,}} 321 (2002);
G. Sauermann, K. Kroy, and H. J. Herrmann, Phys. Rev. E {\bf{64,}} 31305
(2001)]. It has been suggested by P. Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys.
Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002) that this flux fetch distance is itself
constant. Indeed, this could not explain the proto size of barchan dunes, which
often occur in coastal areas of high litoral drift, and the scale of dunes on
Mars. In the present work, we show from three dimensional calculations of sand
transport that the size and the shape of the minimal barchan dune depend on the
wind friction speed and the sand flux on the area between dunes in a field. Our
results explain the common appearance of barchans a few tens of centimeter high
which are observed along coasts. Furthermore, we find that the rate at which
grains enter saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on Earth,
and is relevant to correctly obtain the minimal dune size on Mars.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Re-examining the consumption-wealth relationship : the role of model uncertainty
This paper discusses the consumption-wealth relationship. Following the recent influential workof Lettau and Ludvigson [e.g. Lettau and Ludvigson (2001), (2004)], we use data on consumption, assets andlabor income and a vector error correction framework. Key …ndings of their work are that consumption doesrespond to permanent changes in wealth in the expected manner, but that most changes in wealth are transitoryand have no e¤ect on consumption. We investigate the robustness of these results to model uncertainty andargue for the use of Bayesian model averaging. We …nd that there is model uncertainty with regards to thenumber of cointegrating vectors, the form of deterministic components, lag length and whether the cointegratingresiduals a¤ect consumption and income directly. Whether this uncertainty has important empirical implicationsdepends on the researcher's attitude towards the economic theory used by Lettau and Ludvigson. If we workwith their model, our findings are very similar to theirs. However, if we work with a broader set of models andlet the data speak, we obtain somewhat di¤erent results. In the latter case, we …nd that the exact magnitudeof the role of permanent shocks is hard to estimate precisely. Thus, although some support exists for the viewthat their role is small, we cannot rule out the possibility that they have a substantive role to play
Aeolian transport layer
We investigate the airborne transport of particles on a granular surface by
the saltation mechanism through numerical simulation of particle motion coupled
with turbulent flow. We determine the saturated flux and show that its
behavior is consistent with a classical empirical relation obtained from wind
tunnel measurements. Our results also allow to propose a new relation valid for
small fluxes, namely, , where and
are the shear and threshold velocities of the wind, respectively, and
the scaling exponent is . We obtain an expression for the
velocity profile of the wind distorted by the particle motion and present a
dynamical scaling relation. We also find a novel expression for the dependence
of the height of the saltation layer as function of the wind velocity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
- …