12,542 research outputs found
Massive field contributions to the QCD vacuum tunneling amplitude
For the one-loop contribution to the QCD vacuum tunneling amplitude by quarks
of generic mass value, we make use of a calculational scheme exploiting a large
mass expansion together with a small mass expansion. The large mass expansion
for the effective action is given by a series involving higher-order
Seeley-DeWitt coefficients, and we carry this expansion up to order
, where denotes mass of the quark and the instanton
size parameter. For the small mass expansion, we use the known exact expression
for the particle propagation functions in an instanton background and evaluate
explicitly the effective action to order . A smooth interpolation of
the results from both expansions suggests that the quark contribution to the
instanton tunneling amplitude have a relatively simple -dependent
behavior.Comment: revtex, 4figures, 33page
Thresholdless dressed-atom laser in a photonic band-gap material
We demonstrate the capability of complete thresholdless lasing operation
between dressed states of a two-level atom located inside a microscopic cavity
engineered in a photonic band-gap material. We distinguish between threshold
and thresholdless behaves by analyzing the Mandel's Q parameter for the cavity
field. We find that the threshold behave depends on whether the spontaneous
emission is or is not present on the lasing transition. In the presence of the
spontaneous emission, the mean photon number of the cavity field exhibits
threshold behavior indicating that the system may operate as an ordinary laser.
When the spontaneous emission is eliminated on the lasing transition, no
threshold is observed for all values of the pumping rate indicating the system
becomes a thresholdless laser. Moreover, we find that under a thresholdless
operation, the mean photon number can increase nonlinearly with the pumping
rate, and this process is accompanied by a sub-Poisson statistics of the field.
This suggests that the nonclassical statistics can be used to distinguish a
nonlinear operation of the dressed-atom laser.Comment: 6 pages 4 figure
Effects of disc midplane evolution on CO snowline location
Temperature changes in the planet forming disc midplanes carry important physico-chemical consequences, such as the effect on the locations of the condensation fronts of molecules - the snowlines. Snowlines impose major chemical gradients and possibly foster grain growth. The aim of this paper is to understand how disc midplane temperature changes with gas and dust evolution, and identify trends that may influence planet formation or allow to constrain disc evolution observationally. We calculate disc temperature, hydrostatic equilibrium and dust settling in a mutually consistent way from a grid of disc models at different stages of gas loss, grain growth and hole opening. We find that the CO snowline location depends very strongly on disc properties. The CO snowline location migrates closer to the star for increasing degrees of gas dispersal and dust growth. Around a typical A type star, the snowline can be anywhere between several tens and a few hundred au, depending on the disc properties such as gas mass and grain size. In fact, gas loss is as efficient as dust evolution in settling discs, and flat discs may be gas-poor counterparts of flared discs. Our results, in the context of different pre-main sequence evolution of the luminosity in low- and intermediate-mass stars suggests very different thermal (and hence chemical) histories in these two types of discs. Discs of T Tauri stars settle and cool down while discs of Herbig Ae stars may remain rather warm throughout the pre-main sequence
Experimental phase functions of mm-sized cosmic dust grains
We present experimental phase functions of three types of millimeter-sized
dust grains consisting of enstatite, quartz and volcanic material from Mount
Etna, respectively. The three grains present similar sizes but different
absorbing properties. The measurements are performed at 527 nm covering the
scattering angle range from 3 to 170 degrees. The measured phase functions show
two well defined regions i) soft forward peaks and ii) a continuous increase
with the scattering angle at side- and back-scattering regions. This behavior
at side- and back-scattering regions are in agreement with the observed phase
functions for the Fomalhaut and HR 4796A dust rings. Further computations and
measurements (including polarization) for millimeter sized-grains are needed to
draw some conclusions about the fluffy or compact structure of the dust grains
Resolving HD 100546 disc in the mid-infrared: Small inner disc and asymmetry near the gap
A region of roughly half of the solar system scale around the star HD 100546
is largely cleared of gas and dust, in contrast to the bright outer disc.
However, some material is observed in the immediate vicinity of the star. We
investigate how the dust is distributed within and outside the gap, and
constrain the disc geometry with mid-infrared interferometric observations
using VLTI/MIDI. With baseline lengths of 40m, our long baseline observations
are sensitive to the inner few AU from the star, and we combined them with
observations at shorter, 15m baselines, to probe emission beyond the gap at up
to 20AU from the star. We modelled the mid-infrared emission using radial
temperature profiles. Our model is composed of infinitesimal concentric annuli
emitting as black bodies, and it has distinct inner and outer disc components.
We derived an upper limit of 0.7AU for the radial size of the inner disc, from
our longest baseline data. This small dusty disc is separated from the edge of
the outer disc by a large, roughly 10AU wide gap. Our short baseline data place
a bright ring of emission at 11+-1AU, consistent with prior observations of the
transition region between the gap and the outer disc, known as the disc wall.
The inclination and position angle are constrained by our data to i=53+-8deg
and PA=145+-5deg. Compared to the rim and outer disc geometry this suggests
co-planarity. Brightness asymmetry is evident in both short and long baseline
data, and it is unequivocally discernible from any atmospheric or instrumental
effects. The origin of the asymmetry is consistent with the bright disc wall,
which we find to be 1-2AU wide. The gap is cleared of micron-sized dust, but we
cannot rule out the presence of larger particles and/or perturbing bodies.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Transient quantum transport in double-dot Aharonov-Bohm interferometers
Real-time nonequilibrium quantum dynamics of electrons in double-dot
Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometers is studied using an exact solution of the
master equation. The building of the coherence between the two electronic paths
shows up via the time-dependent amplitude of the AB oscillations in the
transient transport current, and can be enhanced by varying the applied bias on
the leads, the on-site energy difference between the dots and the asymmetry of
the coupling of the dots to the leads. The transient oscillations of the
transport current do not obey phase rigidity. The circulating current has an
anti-symmetric AB oscillation in the flux. The non-degeneracy of the on-site
energies and the finite bias cause the occupation in each dot to have an
arbitrary flux dependence as the coupling asymmetry is varied.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Entangling two distant nanocavities via a waveguide
In this paper, we investigate the generation of continuous variable
entanglement between two spatially-separate nanocavities mediated by a coupled
resonator optical waveguide in photonic crystals. By solving the exact dynamics
of the cavity system coupled to the waveguide, the entanglement and purity of
the two-mode cavity state are discussed in detail for the initially separated
squeezing inputs. It is found that the stable and pure entangled state of the
two distant nanocavities can be achieved with the requirement of only a weak
cavity-waveguide coupling when the cavities are resonant with the band center
of the waveguide. The strong couplings between the cavities and the waveguide
lead to the entanglement sudden death and sudden birth. When the frequencies of
the cavities lie outside the band of the waveguide, the waveguide-induced cross
frequency shift between the cavities can optimize the achievable entanglement.
It is also shown that the entanglement can be easily manipulated through the
changes of the cavity frequencies within the waveguide band.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
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