637 research outputs found
Use of data from space for earth resources exploration and management in Alabama
The University of Alabama, the Geological Survey of Alabama, and the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center are involved in an interagency, interdisciplinary effort to use remotely sensed, multispectral observations to yield improved and timely assessment of earth resources and environmental quality in Alabama. It is the goal of this effort to interpret these data and provide them in a format which is meaningful to and readily usable by agencies, industries, and individuals who are potential users throughout the State
Comment on "Thermal Effects on the Casimir Force in the 0.1-5 micrometer Range"
In a recent paper (M. Bostrom and Bo E. Sernelius, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4757
(2000)) the combined effect of finite conductivity and finite temperature on
the Casimir force is analyzed, and significant deviations from other
theoretical results and a recent experiment are obtained.
In this Comment, I show that the extrapolation to zero frequency is incorrect
because the authors have neglected that the wavenumber and frequency of the
electromagentic mode must simultaneously appraoch zeroComment: Final version (two previous versions, first was partly incorrect)
Rejected by PRL
Stiction, Adhesion Energy and the Casimir Effect in Micromechanical Systems
We measure the adhesion energy of gold using a micromachined doubly-clamped
beam. The stress and stiffness of the beam are characterized by measuring the
spectrum of mechanical vibrations and the deflection due to an external force.
To determine the adhesion energy we induce stiction between the beam and a
nearby surface by capillary forces. Subsequent analysis yields a value J/m that is a factor of approximately six smaller than predicted
by idealized theory. This discrepancy may be resolved with revised models that
include surface roughness and the effect of adsorbed monolayers intervening
between the contacting surfaces in these mesoscopic structures.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 4 eps figure
Neutron-Electron EDM Correlations in Supersymmetry and Prospects for EDM Searches
Motivated by recent progress in experimental techniques of electric dipole
moment (EDM) measurements, we study correlations between the neutron and
electron EDMs in common supersymmetric models. These include minimal
supergravity (mSUGRA) with small CP phases, mSUGRA with a heavy SUSY spectrum,
the decoupling scenario and split SUSY. In most cases, the electron and neutron
EDMs are found to be observable in the next round of EDM experiments. They
exhibit certain correlation patterns. For example, if d_n ~ 10^{-27} e cm is
found, d_e is predicted to lie in the range 10^{-28}-10^{-29} e cm.Comment: 16 pages,12 figures. To appear in JHEP. A note on stability of the
correlations added in Conclusions; refs. and footnotes adde
Observation of the thermal Casimir force
Quantum theory predicts the existence of the Casimir force between
macroscopic bodies, due to the zero-point energy of electromagnetic field modes
around them. This quantum fluctuation-induced force has been experimentally
observed for metallic and semiconducting bodies, although the measurements to
date have been unable to clearly settle the question of the correct
low-frequency form of the dielectric constant dispersion (the Drude model or
the plasma model) to be used for calculating the Casimir forces. At finite
temperature a thermal Casimir force, due to thermal, rather than quantum,
fluctuations of the electromagnetic field, has been theoretically predicted
long ago. Here we report the experimental observation of the thermal Casimir
force between two gold plates. We measured the attractive force between a flat
and a spherical plate for separations between 0.7 m and 7 m. An
electrostatic force caused by potential patches on the plates' surfaces is
included in the analysis. The experimental results are in excellent agreement
(reduced of 1.04) with the Casimir force calculated using the Drude
model, including the T=300 K thermal force, which dominates over the quantum
fluctuation-induced force at separations greater than 3 m. The plasma
model result is excluded in the measured separation range.Comment: 6 page
Template-stripped gold surfaces with 0.4 nm rms roughness suitable for force measurements. Application to the Casimir force in the 20-100 nm range
Using a template-stripping method, macroscopic gold surfaces with
root-mean-square (rms) roughness less than 0.4 nm have been prepared, making
them useful for studies of surface interactions in the nanometer range. The
utility of such substrates is demonstrated by measurements of the Casimir force
at surface separations between 20 and 100 nm, resulting in good agreement with
theory. The significance and quantification of this agreement is addressed, as
well as some methodological aspects regarding the measurement of the Casimir
force with high accuracy.Comment: 7 figure
Higher order conductivity corrections to the Casimir force
The finite conductivity corrections to the Casimir force in two
configurations are calculated in the third and fourth orders in relative
penetration depth of electromagnetic zero oscillations into the metal. The
obtained analytical perturbation results are compared with recent computations.
Applications to the modern experiments are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Energy levels and lifetimes of Nd IV, Pm IV, Sm IV, and Eu IV
To address the shortage of experimental data for electron spectra of
triply-ionized rare earth elements we have calculated energy levels and
lifetimes of 4f{n+1} and 4f{n}5d configurations of Nd IV (n=2), Pm IV (n=3), Sm
IV (n=4), and Eu IV (n=5) using Hartree-Fock and configuration interaction
methods. To control the accuracy of our calculations we also performed similar
calculations for Pr III, Nd III and Sm III, for which experimental data are
available. The results are important, in particular, for physics of magnetic
garnets.Comment: 4 pages 1 tabl
Onset voltage shift due to non-zero Landau ground state level in coherent magnetotransport
Coherent electron transport in double-barrier heterostructures with parallel
electric and magnetic fields is analyzed theoretically and with the aid of a
quantum simulator accounting for 3-dimensional transport effects. The
onset-voltage shift induced by the magnetic field in resonant tunneling diodes,
which was previously attributed to the cyclotron frequency inside the
well is found to arise from an upward shift of the non-zero ground (lowest)
Landau state energy in the entire quantum region where coherent transport takes
place. The spatial dependence of the cyclotron frequency is accounted for and
verified to have a negligible impact on resonant tunneling for the device and
magnetic field strength considered. A correction term for the onset-voltage
shift arising from the magnetic field dependence of the chemical potential is
also derived. The Landau ground state with its nonvanishing finite harmonic
oscillator energy is verified however to be the principal
contributor to the onset voltage shift at low temperatures.Comment: 13 pages, and 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
The Energy Density in the Casimir Effect
We compute the expectations of the squares of the electric and magnetic
fields in the vacuum region outside a half-space filled with a uniform
dispersive dielectric. We find a positive energy density of the electromagnetic
field which diverges at the interface despite the inclusion of dispersion in
the calculation. We also investigate the mean squared fields and the energy
density in the vacuum region between two parallel half-spaces. Of particular
interest is the sign of the energy density. We find that the energy density is
described by two terms: a negative position independent (Casimir) term, and a
positive position dependent term with a minimum value at the center of the
vacuum region. We argue that in some cases, including physically realizable
ones, the negative term can dominate in a given region between the two
half-spaces, so the overall energy density can be negative in this region.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures; 3 references and some new material in Sect. 4.4
adde
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