26,654 research outputs found
100 MHz Amplitude and Polarization Modulated Optical Source for Free-Space Quantum Key Distribution at 850 nm
We report on an integrated photonic transmitter of up to 100 MHz repetition
rate, which emits pulses centered at 850 nm with arbitrary amplitude and
polarization. The source is suitable for free space quantum key distribution
applications. The whole transmitter, with the optical and electronic components
integrated, has reduced size and power consumption. In addition, the
optoelectronic components forming the transmitter can be space-qualified,
making it suitable for satellite and future space missions.Comment: 6 figures, 2 table
Instability of toroidal magnetic field in jets and plerions
Jets and pulsar-fed supernova remnants (plerions) tend to develop highly
organized toroidal magnetic field. Such a field structure could explain the
polarization properties of some jets, and contribute to their lateral
confinement. A toroidal field geometry is also central to models for the Crab
Nebula - the archetypal plerion - and leads to the deduction that the Crab
pulsar's wind must have a weak magnetic field. Yet this `Z-pinch' field
configuration is well known to be locally unstable, even when the magnetic
field is weak and/or boundary conditions slow or suppress global modes. Thus,
the magnetic field structures imputed to the interiors of jets and plerions are
unlikely to persist.
To demonstrate this, I present a local analysis of Z-pinch instabilities for
relativistic fluids in the ideal MHD limit. Kink instabilities dominate,
destroying the concentric field structure and probably driving the system
toward a more chaotic state in which the mean field strength is independent of
radius (and in which resistive dissipation of the field may be enhanced). I
estimate the timescales over which the field structure is likely to be
rearranged and relate these to distances along relativistic jets and radii from
the central pulsar in a plerion.
I conclude that a concentric toroidal field is unlikely to exist well outside
the Crab pulsar's wind termination shock. There is thus no dynamical reason to
conclude that the magnetic energy flux carried by the pulsar wind is much
weaker than the kinetic energy flux. Abandoning this inference would resolve a
long-standing puzzle in pulsar wind theory.Comment: 28 pages, plain TeX. Accepted for publication in Ap
Spatially generalizable representations of facial expressions: Decoding across partial face samples
A network of cortical and sub-cortical regions is known to be important in the processing of facial expression. However, to date no study has investigated whether representations of facial expressions present in this network permit generalization across independent samples of face information (e.g. eye region Vs mouth region). We presented participants with partial face samples of five expression categories in a rapid event-related fMRI experiment. We reveal a network of face sensitive regions that contain information about facial expression categories regardless of which part of the face is presented. We further reveal that the neural information present in a subset of these regions: dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), lateral occipital and ventral temporal cortex, and even early visual cortex, enables reliable generalization across independent visual inputs (faces depicting the 'eyes only' versus 'eyes removed'). Furthermore, classification performance was correlated to behavioral performance in STS and dPFC. Our results demonstrate that both higher (e.g. STS, dPFC) and lower level cortical regions contain information useful for facial expression decoding that go beyond the visual information presented, and implicate a key role for contextual mechanisms such as cortical feedback in facial expression perception under challenging conditions of visual occlusion
Nematic-Isotropic Transition with Quenched Disorder
Nematic elastomers do not show the discontinuous, first-order, phase
transition that the Landau-De Gennes mean field theory predicts for a
quadrupolar ordering in 3D. We attribute this behavior to the presence of
network crosslinks, which act as sources of quenched orientational disorder. We
show that the addition of weak random anisotropy results in a singular
renormalization of the Landau-De Gennes expression, adding an energy term
proportional to the inverse quartic power of order parameter Q. This reduces
the first-order discontinuity in Q. For sufficiently high disorder strength the
jump disappears altogether and the phase transition becomes continuous, in some
ways resembling the supercritical transitions in external field.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published on PR
Multiple mechanisms of consciousness: the neural correlates of emotional awareness.
Emotional stimuli, including facial expressions, are thought to gain rapid and privileged access to processing resources in the brain. Despite this access, we are conscious of only a fraction of the myriad of emotion-related cues we face everyday. It remains unclear, therefore, what the relationship is between activity in neural regions associated with emotional representation and the phenomenological experience of emotional awareness. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and binocular rivalry to delineate the neural correlates of awareness of conflicting emotional expressions in humans. Behaviorally, fearful faces were significantly more likely to be perceived than disgusted or neutral faces. Functionally, increased activity was observed in regions associated with facial expression processing, including the amygdala and fusiform gyrus during emotional awareness. In contrast, awareness of neutral faces and suppression of fearful faces were associated with increased activity in dorsolateral prefrontal and inferior parietal cortices. The amygdala showed increased functional connectivity with ventral visual system regions during fear awareness and increased connectivity with perigenual prefrontal cortex (pgPFC; Brodmann\u27s area 32/10) when fear was suppressed. Despite being prioritized for awareness, emotional items were associated with reduced activity in areas considered critical for consciousness. Contributions to consciousness from bottom-up and top-down neural regions may be additive, such that increased activity in specialized regions within the extended ventral visual system may reduce demands on a frontoparietal system important for awareness. The possibility is raised that interactions between pgPFC and the amygdala, previously implicated in extinction, may also influence whether or not an emotional stimulus is accessible to consciousness
Exact soliton solutions, shape changing collisions and partially coherent solitons in coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations
We present the exact bright one-soliton and two-soliton solutions of the
integrable three coupled nonlinear Schroedinger equations (3-CNLS) by using the
Hirota method, and then obtain them for the general -coupled nonlinear
Schroedinger equations (N-CNLS). It is pointed out that the underlying solitons
undergo inelastic (shape changing) collisions due to intensity redistribution
among the modes. We also analyse the various possibilities and conditions for
such collisions to occur. Further, we report the significant fact that the
various partial coherent solitons (PCS) discussed in the literature are special
cases of the higher order bright soliton solutions of the N-CNLS equations.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 1 EPS figure To appear in Physical Review Letter
A Charge and Spin Readout Scheme For Single Self-Assembled Quantum Dots
We propose an all optical spin initialization and readout concept for single
self assembled quantum dots and demonstrate its feasibility. Our approach is
based on a gateable single dot photodiode structure that can be switched
between charge and readout mode. After optical electron generation and storage,
we propose to employ a spin-conditional absorption of a circularly polarized
light pulse tuned to the single negatively charged exciton transition to
convert the spin information of the resident electron to charge occupancy.
Switching the device to the charge readout mode then allows us to probe the
charge state of the quantum dot (1e, 2e) using non-resonant luminescence. The
spin orientation of the resident electron is then reflected by the
photoluminescence yield of doubly and singly charged transitions in the quantum
dot. To verify the feasibility of this spin readout concept, we have applied
time gated photoluminescence to confirm that selective optical charging and
efficient non perturbative measurement of the charge state can be performed on
the same dot. The results show that, by switching the electric field in the
vicinity of the quantum dot, the charging rate can be switched between a regime
of efficient electron generation and a readout regime, where the charge
occupancy and, therefore, the spin state of the dot can be tested via PL over
millisecond timescales, without altering it.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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Roles of Candida albicans Mig1 and Mig2 in glucose repression, pathogenicity traits, and SNF1 essentiality.
Metabolic adaptation is linked to the ability of the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans to colonize and cause infection in diverse host tissues. One way that C. albicans controls its metabolism is through the glucose repression pathway, where expression of alternative carbon source utilization genes is repressed in the presence of its preferred carbon source, glucose. Here we carry out genetic and gene expression studies that identify transcription factors Mig1 and Mig2 as mediators of glucose repression in C. albicans. The well-studied Mig1/2 orthologs ScMig1/2 mediate glucose repression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae; our data argue that C. albicans Mig1/2 function similarly as repressors of alternative carbon source utilization genes. However, Mig1/2 functions have several distinctive features in C. albicans. First, Mig1 and Mig2 have more co-equal roles in gene regulation than their S. cerevisiae orthologs. Second, Mig1 is regulated at the level of protein accumulation, more akin to ScMig2 than ScMig1. Third, Mig1 and Mig2 are together required for a unique aspect of C. albicans biology, the expression of several pathogenicity traits. Such Mig1/2-dependent traits include the abilities to form hyphae and biofilm, tolerance of cell wall inhibitors, and ability to damage macrophage-like cells and human endothelial cells. Finally, Mig1 is required for a puzzling feature of C. albicans biology that is not shared with S. cerevisiae: the essentiality of the Snf1 protein kinase, a central eukaryotic carbon metabolism regulator. Our results integrate Mig1 and Mig2 into the C. albicans glucose repression pathway and illuminate connections among carbon control, pathogenicity, and Snf1 essentiality
Ecología de Dickinsonia en llanuras mareales
Specimens of Dickinsonia from the Central Urals are characterised by clear bilateral symmetry. Taking into account observations from Australian specimens, we consider that the so called ‘glide reflection symmetry’ in these fossils is a taphonomic phenomenon. The size frequency distribution plot shows the predominance of smaller individuals in the studied population of Dickinsonia from the Central Urals. Assuming that the age of an individual is manifested in the body size, there is a significant predominance of juvenile individuals in the population. Three possible scenarios can be envisaged: (i) the population has a large number of juvenile individuals as the result of high survivorship rate in the intertidal zone; (ii) the population teems with juvenile forms because it is buried immediately after hatching; (iii) assuming that Dickinsonia was an actively motile organisms, that abundance of juvenile individuals could be explained by their inability to escape burial (although it is difficult to imagine that some of the mature individuals are buried with signs of escape behaviour); and (iv) the population could be interpreted as a fossilised ‘nesting ground’ for Dickinsonia in the intertidal zone where juvenile forms underwent maturation before migrating back to the subtidal zone. The study population can be characterised as expanding or stable; therefore, the intertidal setting can be described as favourable for these organisms.Los ejemplares de Dickinsonia de los Urales Centrales se caracterizan por una clara simetría bilateral. Tomando en cuenta las observaciones de especímenes australianos, consideramos que la llamada’simetría de reflexión por deslizamiento’ en estos fósiles es un fenómeno tafonómico. El gráfico de distribución de frecuencias de tamaño muestra el predominio de individuos juveniles en la población estudiada de Dickinsonia de los Urales Centrales. Asumiendo que la edad de un individuo se manifiesta por su tamaño, existe un predominio significativo de individuos juveniles en la población. Se pueden prever tres escenarios posibles: (1) la población tiene un gran número de individuos juveniles como resultado de la alta tasa de supervivencia en la zona intermareal; (2) la población está dominada por formas juveniles porque está enterrada inmediatamente después de la eclosión; (3) suponiendo que Dickinsonia fuera un organismo móvil activo, la abundancia de individuos juveniles podría explicarse por su incapacidad para escapar del entierramiento (aunque es difícil imaginar que algunos de los individuos maduros estén enterrados con signos de comportamiento de escape); y (4) la población podría interpretarse como un “lugar de nidificación” fosilizado para Dickinsonia en la zona intermareal, donde las formas juveniles maduraron antes de migrar a la zona submareal. La población de estudio puede caracterizarse como en expansión o estable; por lo tanto, el entorno intermareal puede describirse como favorable para estos organismo
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