1,639 research outputs found
Instability of insulating states in optical lattices due to collective phonon excitations
The role of collective phonon excitations on the properties of cold atoms in
optical lattices is investigated. These phonon excitations are collective
excitations, whose appearance is caused by intersite atomic interactions
correlating the atoms, and they do not arise without such interactions. These
collective excitations should not be confused with lattice vibrations produced
by an external force. No such a force is assumed. But the considered phonons
are purely self-organized collective excitations, characterizing atomic
oscillations around lattice sites, due to intersite atomic interactions. It is
shown that these excitations can essentially influence the possibility of atoms
to be localized. The states that would be insulating in the absence of phonon
excitations can become delocalized when these excitations are taken into
account. This concerns long-range as well as local atomic interactions. To
characterize the region of stability, the Lindemann criterion is used.Comment: Latex file, 27 pages, 1 figur
Effect of types and anatomical arrangement of painful stimuli on conditioned pain modulation
Reduced pain perception during painful stimulation to another body region (ie, conditioned pain modulation [CPM]) is considered important for pain modulation and development of pain disorders. The various methods used to study CPM limit comparison of findings. We investigated the influence of key methodologic variations on CPM and the properties of CPM when the back is used for the test stimulus or the conditioning stimulus (CS). Two different test stimuli (pressure pain threshold and pain response to suprathreshold heat [Pain-45, ie, pain rated at 45 on a 0â100 numeric rating scale]) were assessed before and during application of a noxious or non-noxious (sham) CS. Eight blocks of trials varied the anatomic location (back and forearms) and arrangement (body side) of the stimuli. Pressure pain threshold (as the test stimulus) increased during application of noxious, but not non-noxious, CS when stimuli were applied to opposite body sides or heterotopic sites on one body side. Inconsistent with pain-induced CPM, Pain-45 decreased during both noxious and non-noxious CS. These findings indicate that 1) pressure pain threshold can be more confidently interpreted with respect to CPM evoked by a painful stimulus than Pain-45, 2) the back and forearm are equally effective as sites for stimuli, and 3) stimuli arrangement does not influence CPM, except for identical anatomic regions on the same body side
Perceptual Inference in Chronic Pain:An Investigation into the Economy of Action Hypothesis
Objective: The experience of chronic pain critically alters one's ability to interact with their environment. One fundamental issue that has received little attention, however, is whether chronic pain disrupts how one perceives their environment in the first place. The Economy of Action hypothesis purports that the environment is spatially scaled according to the ability of the observer. Under this hypothesis it has been proposed that the perception of the world is different between those with and without chronic pain. Such a possibility has profound implications for the investigation and treatment of pain. The present investigation tested the application of this hypothesis to a heterogenous chronic pain population. Methods: Individuals with chronic pain (36; 27F) and matched pain-free controls were recruited. Each participant was required to judge the distance to a series of target cones, to which they were to subsequently walk. In addition, at each distance, participants used Numerical Rating Scales to indicate their perceived effort and perceived pain associated with the distance presented. Results: Our findings do not support the Economy of Action hypothesis: there were no significant differences in distance estimates between the chronic pain and pain-free groups (F 1,60 =0.927; P=0.340). In addition, we found no predictive relationship in the chronic pain group between anticipated pain and estimated distance (F 1,154 =0.122, P=0.727), nor anticipated effort (1.171, P=0.281) and estimated distance (F 1,154 =1.171, P=0.281). Discussion: The application of the Economy of Action hypothesis and the notion of spatial perceptual scaling as a means to assess and treat the experience of chronic pain are not supported by the results of this study
An equation for the replacement value of agroforestry
This article examines some of the existing analytical tools which quantify both the ecological and economic aspects of intercropping decisions. The characteristics of tree crops are evaluated to determine how a specific tool, the replacement value of intercropping (RVI), could be modified to better interpret agroforestry improvements to bush fallow farming systems. The modified equation captures some of the potential production improvements associated with agroforestry by accounting for the fraction of time that a field is actually in production over the long run. The result is an improved estimate of the average annual difference between a tree/crop polyculture and a monoculture system which employs fallows.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41763/1/10457_2004_Article_BF00705151.pd
Implications of a High Angular Resolution Image of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in RXJ1347-1145
The most X-ray luminous cluster known, RXJ1347-1145 (z=0.45), has been the
object of extensive study across the electromagnetic spectrum. We have imaged
the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) at 90 GHz (3.3 mm) in RXJ1347-1145 at 10"
resolution with the 64-pixel MUSTANG bolometer array on the Green Bank
Telescope (GBT), confirming a previously reported strong, localized enhancement
of the SZE 20" to the South-East of the center of X-ray emission. This
enhancement of the SZE has been interpreted as shock-heated (> 20 keV) gas
caused by an ongoing major (low mass-ratio) merger event. Our data support this
interpretation. We also detect a pronounced asymmetry in the projected cluster
pressure profile, with the pressure just east of the cluster core ~1.6 times
higher than just to the west. This is the highest resolution image of the SZE
made to date.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
New Measurements of the Motion of the Zodiacal Dust
Using the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM), we have measured at high spectral
resolution and high signal-to-noise the profile of the scattered solar Mg I
5184 absorption line in the zodiacal light. The observations were carried out
toward 49 directions that sampled the ecliptic equator from solar elongations
of 48\dg (evening sky) to 334\dg (morning sky) plus observations near +47\dg
and +90\dg ecliptic latitude. The spectra show a clear prograde kinematic
signature that is inconsistent with dust confined to the ecliptic plane and in
circular orbits influenced only by the sun's gravity. In particular, the
broadened widths of the profiles, together with large amplitude variations in
the centroid velocity with elongation angle, indicate that a significant
population of dust is on eccentric orbits. In addition, the wide, flat-bottomed
line profile toward the ecliptic pole indicates a broad distribution of orbital
inclinations extending up to about 30\dg - 40\dg with respect to the ecliptic
plane. The absence of pronounced asymmetries in the shape of the profiles
limits the retrograde population to less than 10% of the prograde population
and also places constraints on the scattering phase function of the particles.
These results do not show the radial outflow or evening--morning velocity
amplitude asymmetry reported in some earlier investigations. The reduction of
the spectra included the discovery and removal of extremely faint, unidentified
terrestrial emission lines that contaminate and distort the underlying Mg I
profile. This atmospheric emission is too weak to have been seen in earlier,
lower signal-to-noise observations, but it probably affected the line centroid
measurements of previous investigations.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, to appear in ApJ v612; figures appear
low-res only on scree
Differential geometry, Palatini gravity and reduction
The present article deals with a formulation of the so called (vacuum)
Palatini gravity as a general variational principle. In order to accomplish
this goal, some geometrical tools related to the geometry of the bundle of
connections of the frame bundle are used. A generalization of
Lagrange-Poincar\'e reduction scheme to these types of variational problems
allows us to relate it with the Einstein-Hilbert variational problem. Relations
with some other variational problems for gravity found in the literature are
discussed.Comment: 28 pages, no figures. (v3) Remarks, discussion and references adde
Observations of M87 and Hydra A at 90 GHz
This paper presents new observations of the AGNs M87 and Hydra A at 90 GHz
made with the MUSTANG bolometer array on the Green Bank Telescope at 8.5"
resolution. A spectral analysis is performed combining this new data and
archival VLA data on these objects at longer wavelengths. This analysis can
detect variations in spectral index and curvature expected from energy losses
in the radiating particles. M87 shows only weak evidence for steepening of the
spectrum along the jet suggesting either re-acceleration of the relativistic
particles in the jet or insufficient losses to affect the spectrum at 90 GHz.
The jets in Hydra A show strong steepening as they move from the nucleus
suggesting unbalanced losses of the higher energy relativistic particles. The
difference between these two sources may be accounted for by the different
lengths over which the jets are observable, 2 kpc for M87 and 45 kpc for Hydra
A.Comment: 11 pages, submitted to Ap
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