509 research outputs found
Fermi condensates for dynamic imaging of electro-magnetic fields
Ultracold gases provide micrometer size atomic samples whose sensitivity to
external fields may be exploited in sensor applications. Bose-Einstein
condensates of atomic gases have been demonstrated to perform excellently as
magnetic field sensors \cite{Wildermuth2005a} in atom chip
\cite{Folman2002a,Fortagh2007a} experiments. As such, they offer a combination
of resolution and sensitivity presently unattainable by other methods
\cite{Wildermuth2006a}. Here we propose that condensates of Fermionic atoms can
be used for non-invasive sensing of time-dependent and static magnetic and
electric fields, by utilizing the tunable energy gap in the excitation spectrum
as a frequency filter. Perturbations of the gas by the field create both
collective excitations and quasiparticles. Excitation of quasiparticles
requires the frequency of the perturbation to exceed the energy gap. Thus, by
tuning the gap, the frequencies of the field may be selectively monitored from
the amount of quasiparticles which is measurable for instance by
RF-spectroscopy. We analyse the proposed method by calculating the
density-density susceptibility, i.e. the dynamic structure factor, of the gas.
We discuss the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the method which may, with
advanced techniques for quasiparticle observation \cite{Schirotzek2008a}, be in
the half a micron scale.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Winter Time Concentrations and Size Distribution of Bioaerosols in Different Residential Settings in the UK
The total concentration and size distribution of bioaerosols in three different types of housing (single room in shared accommodation [type I], single bedroom flat in three-storey building [type II] and two- or threebedroom detached houses [type III]) was assessed during the winter. This research was an extension of a previous study carried out in the summer. The measurement campaign was undertaken in winter 2008 and 30 houses were sampled. Samples were taken from kitchens, living rooms, corridors (only in housing type I) and outdoors with an Anderson 6 stage viable impactor. In housing type I, the total geometric mean concentration was highest in the corridor for both bacteria and fungi (3,171 and 1,281 CFU/m3, respectively). In type II residences, both culturable bacteria and fungi were greatest in the living rooms (3,487 and 833 CFU/m3, respectively). The living rooms in type III residences had largest number of culturable bacteria (1,361 CFU/m3) while fungi were highest in kitchens (280 CFU/m3). The concentrations of culturable bacteria and fungi were greater in mouldy houses than non-mouldy houses. A considerable variation was seen in the size distribution of culturable bacteria in type I residences compared to types II and III. For all housing types more than half of culturable bacterial and fungal aerosol were respirable (<4.7 μm) and so have the potential to penetrate into lower respiratory system. Considerable variation in concentration and size distribution within different housing types in the same geographical region highlights the impact of differences in design, construction, use and management of residential built environment on bioaerosols levels and consequent varied risk of population exposure to airborne biological agents. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
The effectiveness of neuromuscular warm-up strategies, that require no additional equipment, for preventing lower limb injuries during sports participation: a systematic review
PMCID: PMC3408383The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/75.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
INTEGRAL observations of the field of the BL Lacertae object S5~0716+714
We have performed observations of the blazar S5 0716+714 with INTEGRAL on 2-6
April 2004. In the first months of 2004, the source had increased steadily in
optical brightness and had undergone two outbursts. During the latter, occurred
in March, it reached the extreme level of R = 12.1 mag, which triggered our
INTEGRAL program. The target has been detected with IBIS/ISGRI up to 60 keV,
with a flux of ~3 x 10e-11 erg/s/cm2 in the 30-60 keV interval, a factor of ~2
higher than observed by the BeppoSAX PDS in October 2000. In the field of S5
0716+714 we have also detected the Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar S5 0836+710 and
the two Seyfert galaxies Mkn 3 and Mkn 6. Their IBIS/ISGRI spectra are rather
flat, albeit consistent with those measured by BeppoSAX. In the spectrum of Mkn
3 we find some evidence of a break between ~60 and ~100 keV, reminiscent of the
high energy cut-offs observed in other Seyfert galaxies. This is the first
report of INTEGRAL spectra of weak Active Galactic Nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, in press in A&
Symmetries of topological field theories in the BV-framework
Topological field theories of Schwarz-type generally admit symmetries whose
algebra does not close off-shell, e.g. the basic symmetries of BF models or
vector supersymmetry of the gauge-fixed action for Chern-Simons theory (this
symmetry being at the origin of the perturbative finiteness of the theory). We
present a detailed discussion of all these symmetries within the algebraic
approach to the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism. Moreover, we discuss the general
algebraic construction of topological models of both Schwarz- and Witten-type.Comment: 30 page
Radio-to-UV monitoring of AO 0235+164 by the WEBT and Swift during the 2006--2007 outburst
The blazar AO 0235+164 was claimed to show a quasi-periodic behaviour in the
radio and optical bands. Moreover, an extra emission component contributing to
the UV and soft X-ray flux was detected, whose nature is not yet clear. A
predicted optical outburst was observed in late 2006/early 2007. We here
present the radio-to-optical WEBT light curves during the outburst, together
with UV data acquired by Swift in the same period. We found the optical
outburst to be as strong as the big outbursts of the past: starting from late
September 2006, a brightness increase of 5 mag led to the outburst peak in
February 19-21, 2007. We also observed an outburst at mm and then at cm
wavelengths, with an increasing time delay going toward lower frequencies
during the rising phase. Cross-correlation analysis indicates that the 1 mm and
37 GHz flux variations lagged behind the R-band ones by about 3 weeks and 2
months, respectively. These short time delays suggest that the corresponding
jet emitting regions are only slightly separated and/or misaligned. In
contrast, during the outburst decreasing phase the flux faded contemporaneously
at all cm wavelengths. This abrupt change in the emission behaviour may suggest
the presence of some shutdown mechanism of intrinsic or geometric nature. The
behaviour of the UV flux closely follows the optical and near-IR one. By
separating the synchrotron and extra component contributions to the UV flux, we
found that they correlate, which suggests that the two emissions have a common
origin.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, in press for Astronomy and Astrophysic
- …