Seguiment del contingut de nitrats al sòl i en planta en parcel·les comercials de panís al Pla d'Urgell

En aquest treball es presenten els resultats parcials del primer any de seguiment de nitrats al sòl i en planta de parcel·les comercials de panís (Zea mays L.) a la zona regable dels canals d'Urgell. Les parcel·les han estat seleccionades a partir del coneixement dels sòls de la zona i com a principal criteri el de la representativitat espaial. L'excés de nitrogen a la zona, present a les capes freàtiques i a la xarxa de reg i de drenatges, ve donat per l'aplicació en excés de nitrogen als cultius, entre els quals el panís és un dels més importants. A les parcel·les seguides s'han aplicat dosis de nitrogen que van dels 250 als 350 kg N/ha. Els primers resultats mostren com les aplicacions que fan els agricultors són independents de les disponibilitats inicials de nitrogen al sòl. També es mostra com la determinació de nitrats a la base de la tija al final del cicle pot servir per conèixer si les disponibilitats de N han estat excessives. Els rendiments més elevats, 13,5 Mg/ha, han coincidit amb les aplicacions de N més baixes, les disponibilitats de nitrogen també més baixes i amb el contingut de nitrats a la base de la tija més baix (0,4 g NNO3/ kg). Tot això demostra que la racionalització de l'ús del nitrogen és possible.En este trabajo se presentan los resultados parciales del primer año de seguimiento de nitratos en el suelo y en planta de parcelas comerciales de maíz (Zea mays L.) en la zona regable de los canales de Urgell. Las parcelas han sido seleccionadas a partir del conocimiento de los suelos de la zona y como criterio principal el de su representatividad espacial. El exceso de nitrógeno en la zona, presente en las capas freáticas y en la red de riego y de drenajes viene dado por la aplicación en exceso de nitróge-no a los cultivos, dentro de los cuales el maíz es uno de los más importantes. En las parcelas seguidas se han aplicado dosis de nitrógeno que van de los 250 a los 350 kg N/ha. Los primeros resultados muestran como las aplicaciones que hacen los agricultores son independientes de las disponibilidades iniciales de nitrógeno en el suelo. También se muestra como la determinación de nitratos en la base del tallo al final del ciclo puede servir para conocer si las disponibilidades de N han sido excesivas. Los rendimientos más elevados 13,5 Mg/ha han coincidido con las aplicaciones de N más bajas, las disponibilidades de nitrógeno también más bajas y con el contenido de nitratos en la base del tallo más bajo (0,4 g N-NO3/kg). Todo esto demuestra que la racionalización del uso del nitrógeno es posible.This paper presents the partial results of the first year monitoring of soil and plant nitrate contents in commercial maize (Zea mays L.) in the Urgell canal irrigated area. The fields have been selected starting from the knowledge of the soils in the area and their spatial representativeness as main criteria. The excess of nitrogen in the area, present in the groundwater as well as in the irrigation water, is due to overfertilisation of the crops, of which maize is one of the most importants. In the monitored fields the applied nitrogen fertiliser ranges from 250 to 350 kg/ha. The first results show that the farmers’ applications are not related to the initially available soil nitrogen. They also show how the determination of nitrates in the lower part of the stem at the end of the cycle may help to show if the N availability has been excessive. The higher yields, 13.5 Mg/ha are the same with the lower fertilizer applications, with the lower soil N availabilities and with the lower contents of nitrates in the lower part of the stem (0.4 g NNO3/ kg). All of this show there is ample room to rationalize the nitrogen use

Using boundary methods to compute the Casimir energy

We discuss new approaches to compute numerically the Casimir interaction energy for waveguides of arbitrary section, based on the boundary methods traditionally used to compute eigenvalues of the 2D Helmholtz equation. These methods are combined with the Cauchy's theorem in order to perform the sum over modes. As an illustration, we describe a point-matching technique to compute the vacuum energy for waveguides containing media with different permittivities. We present explicit numerical evaluations for perfect conducting surfaces in the case of concentric corrugated cylinders and a circular cylinder inside an elliptic one.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of QFEXT09, Norman, OK

The quest for three-color entanglement: experimental investigation of new multipartite quantum correlations

We experimentally investigate quadrature correlations between pump, signal, and idler fields in an above-threshold optical parametric oscillator. We observe new quantum correlations among the pump and signal or idler beams, as well as among the pump and a combined quadrature of signal and idler beams. A further investigation of unforeseen classical noise observed in this system is presented, which hinders the observation of the recently predicted tripartite entanglement. In spite of this noise, current results approach the limit required to demonstrate three-color entanglement.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Opt. Expres

Direct Production of Tripartite Pump-Signal-Idler Entanglement in the Above-Threshold Optical Parametric Oscillator

We calculate the quantum correlations existing among the three output fields (pump, signal, and idler) of a triply resonant non-degenerate Optical Parametric Oscillator operating above threshold. By applying the standard criteria [P. van Loock and A. Furusawa, Phys. Rev. A 67, 052315 (2003)], we show that strong tripartite continuous-variable entanglement is present in this well-known and simple system. Furthermore, since the entanglement is generated directly from a nonlinear process, the three entangled fields can have very different frequencies, opening the way for multicolored quantum information networks.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Dynamical Casimir effect in superconducting circuits: a numerical approach

We present a numerical analysis of the particle creation for a quantum field in the presence of time dependent boundary conditions. Having in mind recent experiments involving superconducting circuits, we consider their description in terms of a scalar field in a one dimensional cavity satisfying generalized boundary conditions that involve a time-dependent linear combination of the field and its spatial and time derivatives. We evaluate numerically the Bogoliubov transformation between {\it in} and {\it out}-states and find that the rate of particle production strongly depends on whether the spectrum of the unperturbed cavity is equidistant or not, and also on the amplitude of the temporal oscillations of the boundary conditions. We provide analytic justifications for the different regimes found numerically.Comment: 20 pages. 11 figure

Dephasing in matter-wave interferometry

We review different attempts to show the decoherence process in double-slit-like experiments both for charged particles (electrons) and neutral particles with permanent dipole moments. Interference is studied when electrons or atomic systems are coupled to classical or quantum electromagnetic fields. The interaction between the particles and time-dependent fields induces a time-varying Aharonov phase. Averaging over the phase generates a suppression of fringe visibility in the interference pattern. We show that, for suitable experimental conditions, the loss of contrast for dipoles can be almost as large as the corresponding one for coherent electrons and therefore, be observed. We analyze different trajectories in order to show the dependence of the decoherence factor with the velocity of the particles.Comment: 9 pages, 1 eps-figure. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge