8,265 research outputs found
Direct Observation of the Superfluid Phase Transition in Ultracold Fermi Gases
Water freezes into ice, atomic spins spontaneously align in a magnet, liquid
helium becomes superfluid: Phase transitions are dramatic phenomena. However,
despite the drastic change in the system's behaviour, observing the transition
can sometimes be subtle. The hallmark of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and
superfluidity in trapped, weakly interacting Bose gases is the sudden
appearance of a dense central core inside a thermal cloud. In strongly
interacting gases, such as the recently observed fermionic superfluids, this
clear separation between the superfluid and the normal parts of the cloud is no
longer given. Condensates of fermion pairs could be detected only using
magnetic field sweeps into the weakly interacting regime. The quantitative
description of these sweeps presents a major theoretical challenge. Here we
demonstrate that the superfluid phase transition can be directly observed by
sudden changes in the shape of the clouds, in complete analogy to the case of
weakly interacting Bose gases. By preparing unequal mixtures of the two spin
components involved in the pairing, we greatly enhance the contrast between the
superfluid core and the normal component. Furthermore, the non-interacting
wings of excess atoms serve as a direct and reliable thermometer. Even in the
normal state, strong interactions significantly deform the density profile of
the majority spin component. We show that it is these interactions which drive
the normal-to-superfluid transition at the critical population imbalance of
70(5)%.Comment: 16 pages (incl. Supplemental Material), 5 figure
Using Bars As Signposts of Galaxy Evolution at High and Low Redshifts
An analysis of the NICMOS Deep Field shows that there is no evidence of a
decline in the bar fraction beyond z~0.7, as previously claimed; both
bandshifting and spatial resolution must be taken into account when evaluating
the evolution of the bar fraction. Two main caveats of this study were a lack
of a proper comparison sample at low redshifts and a larger number of galaxies
at high redshifts. We address these caveats using two new studies. For a proper
local sample, we have analyzed 134 spirals in the near-infrared using 2MASS
(main results presented by Menendez-Delmestre in this volume) which serves as
an ideal anchor for the low-redshift Universe. In addition to measuring the
mean bar properties, we find that bar size is correlated with galaxy size and
brightness, but the bar ellipticity is not correlated with these galaxy
properties. The bar length is not correlated with the bar ellipticity. For
larger high redshift samples we analyze the bar fraction from the 2-square
degree COSMOS ACS survey. We find that the bar fraction at z~0.7 is ~50%,
consistent with our earlier finding of no decline in bar fraction at high
redshifts.Comment: In the proceedings of "Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust:
The Hubble Tuning Fork strikes a New Note
Phylogeny of Prokaryotes and Chloroplasts Revealed by a Simple Composition Approach on All Protein Sequences from Complete Genomes Without Sequence Alignment
The complete genomes of living organisms have provided much information on their phylogenetic relationships. Similarly, the complete genomes of chloroplasts have helped to resolve the evolution of this organelle in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In this paper we propose an alternative method of phylogenetic analysis using compositional statistics for all protein sequences from complete genomes. This new method is conceptually simpler than and computationally as fast as the one proposed by Qi et al. (2004b) and Chu et al. (2004). The same data sets used in Qi et al. (2004b) and Chu et al. (2004) are analyzed using the new method. Our distance-based phylogenic tree of the 109 prokaryotes and eukaryotes agrees with the biologists tree of life based on 16S rRNA comparison in a predominant majority of basic branching and most lower taxa. Our phylogenetic analysis also shows that the chloroplast genomes are separated to two major clades corresponding to chlorophytes s.l. and rhodophytes s.l. The interrelationships among the chloroplasts are largely in agreement with the current understanding on chloroplast evolution
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In-street wind direction variability in the vicinity of a busy intersection in central London
We present results from fast-response wind measurements within and above a busy intersection between two street canyons (Marylebone Road and Gloucester Place) in Westminster, London taken as part of the DAPPLE (Dispersion of Air Pollution and Penetration into the Local Environment; www.dapple.org.uk) 2007 field campaign. The data reported here were collected using ultrasonic anemometers on the roof-top of a building adjacent to the intersection and at two heights on a pair of lamp-posts on opposite sides of the intersection. Site characteristics, data analysis and the variation of intersection flow with the above-roof wind direction (θref) are discussed. Evidence of both flow channelling and recirculation was identified within the canyon, only a few metres from the intersection for along-street and across-street roof-top winds respectively. Results also indicate that for oblique rooftop flows, the intersection flow is a complex combination of bifurcated channelled flows, recirculation and corner vortices. Asymmetries in local building geometry around the intersection and small changes in the background wind direction (changes in 15-min mean θref of 5–10 degrees) were also observed to have profound influences on the behaviour of intersection flow patterns. Consequently, short time-scale variability in the background flow direction can lead to highly scattered in-street mean flow angles masking the true multi-modal features of the flow and thus further complicating modelling challenges
Representation of Markov chains by random maps: existence and regularity conditions
We systematically investigate the problem of representing Markov chains by
families of random maps, and which regularity of these maps can be achieved
depending on the properties of the probability measures. Our key idea is to use
techniques from optimal transport to select optimal such maps. Optimal
transport theory also tells us how convexity properties of the supports of the
measures translate into regularity properties of the maps via Legendre
transforms. Thus, from this scheme, we cannot only deduce the representation by
measurable random maps, but we can also obtain conditions for the
representation by continuous random maps. Finally, we present conditions for
the representation of Markov chain by random diffeomorphisms.Comment: 22 pages, several changes from the previous version including
extended discussion of many detail
Atomic Physics: Neutral atoms put in charge
An elegant experiment shows that atoms subjected to a pair of laser beams
can behave like electrons in a magnetic field, as demonstrated by the
appearance of quantized vortices in a neutral superfluid
Theoretical Uncertainties in Electroweak Boson Production Cross Sections at 7, 10, and 14 TeV at the LHC
We present an updated study of the systematic errors in the measurements of
the electroweak boson cross-sections at the LHC for various experimental cuts
for a center of mass energy of 7, 10 and 14 TeV. The size of both electroweak
and NNLO QCD contributions are estimated, together with the systematic error
from the parton distributions. The effects of new versions of the MSTW, CTEQ,
and NNPDF PDFs are considered.Comment: PDFLatex with JHEP3.cls. 22 pages, 43 figures. Version 2 adds the
CT10W PDF set to analysis and updates the final systematic error table and
conclusions, plus several citations and minor wording changes. Version 3 adds
some references on electroweak and mixed QED/QCD corrections. Version 4 adds
more references and acknowledgement
Workflow to improve patient recruitment for clinical trials within hospital information systems – a case-study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The identification of suitable patients is a common problem in clinical trials that is especially evident in tertiary care hospitals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed and analysed a workflow, which uses routine data captured during patient care in a hospital information system (HIS), to identify potential trial subjects. Study nurses or physicians are notified automatically by email and verify eligibility.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a case study we implemented the system for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) trials in Münster. During a test period of 50 days 41 patients were identified by the system. 13 could be included as new trial patients, 7 were already included during earlier visits. According to review of paper records no AML trial patient was missed by the system. In addition, the hospital information system further allowed to preselect patients for specific trials based on their disease status and individual characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Routine HIS data can be used to support patient recruitment for clinical trials by means of an automated notification workflow.</p
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