Single-Event Handbury-Brown-Twiss Interferometry

Large spatial density fluctuations in high-energy heavy-ion collisions can come from many sources: initial transverse density fluctuations, non-central collisions, phase transitions, surface tension, and fragmentations. The common presence of some of these sources in high-energy heavy-ion collisions suggests that large scale density fluctuations may often occur. The detection of large density fluctuations by single-event Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometry in heavy-ion collisions will provide useful information on density fluctuations and the dynamics of heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, invited talk presented at the XI International Workshop on Correlation and Fluctuation in Multiparticle Production, Nov. 21-24, 2006, Hangzhou, Chin

Adversarial Sparse-View CBCT Artifact Reduction

We present an effective post-processing method to reduce the artifacts from sparsely reconstructed cone-beam CT (CBCT) images. The proposed method is based on the state-of-the-art, image-to-image generative models with a perceptual loss as regulation. Unlike the traditional CT artifact-reduction approaches, our method is trained in an adversarial fashion that yields more perceptually realistic outputs while preserving the anatomical structures. To address the streak artifacts that are inherently local and appear across various scales, we further propose a novel discriminator architecture based on feature pyramid networks and a differentially modulated focus map to induce the adversarial training. Our experimental results show that the proposed method can greatly correct the cone-beam artifacts from clinical CBCT images reconstructed using 1/3 projections, and outperforms strong baseline methods both quantitatively and qualitatively

Gate Tunable Dissipation and "Superconductor-Insulator" Transition in Carbon Nanotube Josephson Transistors

Dissipation is ubiquitous in quantum systems, and its interplay with fluctuations is critical to maintaining quantum coherence. We experimentally investigate the dissipation dynamics in single-walled carbon nanotubes coupled to superconductors. The voltage-current characteristics display gate-tunable hysteresis, with sizes that perfectly correlate with the normal state resistance RN, indicating the junction undergoes a periodic modulation between underdamped and overdamped regimes. Surprisingly, when a device's Fermi-level is tuned through a local conductance minimum, we observe a gate-controlled transition from superconducting-like to insulating-like states, with a "critical" R_N value of about 8-20 kohm.Comment: Figures revised to improve clarity. Accepted for publication by Physical Review Letter

Which Strategy Maximizes the Innovation Output of Firms in China: Using a Control or an Entrepreneurial Sphere?

Innovation is a key stimulus for firms’ survival and growth. However, many of Chinese firms fail to make it due to the lack of adequate financial resources. Previous studies have been deeply investigated the relationships between financial resources and firms’ innovation performance. This paper extends such stream of the literature by focusing on a vital question for entrepreneurs: how to maximize innovation output under resource constraints. Based on an extensive dataset collected at Zhongguancun Science Park (ZSP), Beijing, China, over the period 2011-2014, this paper discusses whether entrepreneurs should pursue extra public funding (control sphere). Besides, this paper also provides empirical evidence for entrepreneurs to make proper choices about resource allocation (entrepreneurial sphere). This paper hypothesizes that enterprises allocating resources by using the entrepreneurial sphere, rather than the control sphere, can advance innovation output. To test our hypothesis, this paper adopts a dynamic panel model estimated by a bootstrap-based bias correction procedure. We find that, in advancing innovative performance, the entrepreneurial sphere is more effective than control. Indeed, at the overall level, the crowding out effect merely offsets the additionality effect when enterprises pursue extra public funding. Therefore, the control sphere does not play an essential role in advancing innovation performance. Thus, extra efforts in that direction will turn out to be in vain. Consequently, as a policy implication we claim that entrepreneurs should spend more time and energy on productive activities rather than lobbying and rent-seeking. In addition, managers should allocate resources properly for internal knowledge creation, external knowledge absorption and S&T activities

Non-damping oscillations at flaring loops

Context. QPPs are usually detected as spatial displacements of coronal loops in imaging observations or as periodic shifts of line properties in spectroscopic observations. They are often applied for remote diagnostics of magnetic fields and plasma properties on the Sun. Aims. We combine imaging and spectroscopic measurements of available space missions, and investigate the properties of non-damping oscillations at flaring loops. Methods. We used the IRIS to measure the spectrum over a narrow slit. The double-component Gaussian fitting method was used to extract the line profile of Fe XXI 1354.08 A at "O I" window. The quasi-periodicity of loop oscillations were identified in the Fourier and wavelet spectra. Results. A periodicity at about 40 s is detected in the line properties of Fe XXI, HXR emissions in GOES 1-8 A derivative, and Fermi 26-50 keV. The Doppler velocity and line width oscillate in phase, while a phase shift of about Pi/2 is detected between the Doppler velocity and peak intensity. The amplitudes of Doppler velocity and line width oscillation are about 2.2 km/s and 1.9 km/s, respectively, while peak intensity oscillate with amplitude at about 3.6% of the background emission. Meanwhile, a quasi-period of about 155 s is identified in the Doppler velocity and peak intensity of Fe XXI, and AIA 131 A intensity. Conclusions. The oscillations at about 40 s are not damped significantly during the observation, it might be linked to the global kink modes of flaring loops. The periodicity at about 155 s is most likely a signature of recurring downflows after chromospheric evaporation along flaring loops. The magnetic field strengths of the flaring loops are estimated to be about 120-170 G using the MHD seismology diagnostics, which are consistent with the magnetic field modeling results using the flux rope insertion method.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted by A&

Transfer Printing of Photonic Nanostructures to Silicon Integrated Circuits

Optical systems require the integration of technologies fabricated on different materials. We use a transfer printing technique to integrate pre-processed III-V, polymer and silicon membrane devices onto passive optical circuits with nano-metric positional accuracy