123 research outputs found
Investigation of iterative image reconstruction in three-dimensional optoacoustic tomography
Iterative image reconstruction algorithms for optoacoustic tomography (OAT),
also known as photoacoustic tomography, have the ability to improve image
quality over analytic algorithms due to their ability to incorporate accurate
models of the imaging physics, instrument response, and measurement noise.
However, to date, there have been few reported attempts to employ advanced
iterative image reconstruction algorithms for improving image quality in
three-dimensional (3D) OAT. In this work, we implement and investigate two
iterative image reconstruction methods for use with a 3D OAT small animal
imager: namely, a penalized least-squares (PLS) method employing a quadratic
smoothness penalty and a PLS method employing a total variation norm penalty.
The reconstruction algorithms employ accurate models of the ultrasonic
transducer impulse responses. Experimental data sets are employed to compare
the performances of the iterative reconstruction algorithms to that of a 3D
filtered backprojection (FBP) algorithm. By use of quantitative measures of
image quality, we demonstrate that the iterative reconstruction algorithms can
mitigate image artifacts and preserve spatial resolution more effectively than
FBP algorithms. These features suggest that the use of advanced image
reconstruction algorithms can improve the effectiveness of 3D OAT while
reducing the amount of data required for biomedical applications
Resonances in Mie scattering by an inhomogeneous atomic cloud
Despite the quantum nature of the process, collective scattering by dense
cold samples of two-level atoms can be interpreted classically describing the
sample as a macroscopic object with a complex refractive index. We demonstrate
that resonances in Mie theory can be easily observable in the cooperative
scattering by tuning the frequency of the incident laser field or the atomic
number. The solution of the scattering problem is obtained for spherical atomic
clouds who have the parabolic density characteristic of BECs, and the
cooperative radiation pressure force calculated exhibits resonances in the
cloud displacement for dense clouds. At odds from uniform clouds which show a
complex structure including narrow peaks, these densities show resonances, yet
only under the form of quite regular and contrasted oscillations
Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in matter
We consider the matter effects on neutrinos moving in background on the basis
of the corresponding quantum wave equations. Both Dirac and Majorana neutrino
cases are discussed. The effects for Dirac neutrino reflection and trapping as
well as neutrino-antineutrino annihilation and pair
creation in matter at the interface between two media with different densities
are considered. The spin light of neutrino in matter is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, in: Proceedings of the 5th International
Conference on Non-Accelerator New Physics (Dubna, Russia, June 20-25, 2005).
V2: typos correcte
Electromagnetic properties of a neutrino stream
In a medium that contains a neutrino background in addition to the matter
particles, the neutrinos contribute to the photon self-energy as a result of
the effective electromagnetic vertex that they acquire in the presence of
matter. We calculate the contribution to the photon self-energy in a dense
plasma, due to the presence of a gas of charged particles, or neutrinos, that
moves as a whole relative to the plasma. General formulas for the transverse
and longitudinal components of the photon polarization tensor are obtained in
terms of the momentum distribution functions of the particles in the medium,
and explicit results are given for various limiting cases of practical
interest. The formulas are used to study the electromagnetic properties of a
plasma that contains a beam of neutrinos. The transverse and longitudinal
photon dispersion relations are studied in some detail. Our results do not
support the idea that neutrino streaming instabilities can develop in such a
system. We also indicate how the phenomenon of optical activity of the neutrino
gas is modified due to the velocity of the neutrino background relative to the
plasma. The general approach and results can be adapted to similar problems
involving relativistic plasmas and high-temperature gauge theories in other
environments.Comment: Revtex, 19 pages and 3 included ps file
Radiative Neutrino Decay in Media
In this letter we introduce a new method to determine the radiative neutrino
decay rate in the presence of a medium. Our approach is based on the
generalisation of the optical theorem at finite temperature and density.
Differently from previous works on this subject, our method allows to account
for dispersive and dissipative electromagnetic properties of the medium. Some
inconsistencies that are present in the literature are pointed-out and
corrected here. We shortly discuss the relevance of our results for neutrino
evolution in the early universe.Comment: 11 pages, 3 encapsulated figure
Cerenkov radiation of longitudinal photons by neutrinos
In a relativistic plasma neutrino can emit plasmons by the Cerenkov process
which is kinematically allowed for a range of frequencies for which refractive
index is greater than one. We have calculated the rate of energy emission by
this process. We compute the energy deposited in a stalled supernova shock wave
by the Cerenkov process and find that it is much smaller than the Bethe-Wilson
mechanism.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures available on reques
Thermal Background Corrections to the Neutrino Electromagnetic Vertex in Models with Charged Scalar Bosons
We calculate the correction to the neutrino electromagnetic vertex due to
background of electrons in a large class of models, as the supersymmetric model
with explicit breaking of R-parity, where charged scalar bosons couple to
leptons and which are able to provide an astrophysically interesting value for
the neutrino magnetic (electric) moment, . We show
that the medium contribution to the chirality flipping magnetic (electric)
dipole moment is not significant, however a new chirality flipping, but
helicity conserving, term arises. It signals the presence of and
asymmetries in the medium and is associated to the longitudinal
photon and therefore disappears in the vacuum. We estimate the contribution of
this new term to the rate of the plasmon decay process in the core of degenerate stars, showing that it can be comparable with
the contribution coming from the vacuum magnetic (dipole) moment. We also
calculate the correction to the effective potential of a propagating neutrino
in presence of a magnetic field due to a chirality preserving contribution to
the diagonal magnetic moment from the medium. This contribution is identical
for particles and antiparticles and so need not to vanish for Majorana
neutrinos.Comment: DFPD 93/TH/75, SISSA 93/183/A preprint, 25 pages + 4 figures
available by e-mail reques
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