Reduced-Order Modelling of the Bending of an Array of Torsional Micromirrors

Reduced-Order Modelling of the Bending of an Array of An array of micromirrors for beam steering optical switching has been designed in a thick polysilicon technology. A novel semi-analytical method to calculate the static characteristics of the micromirrors by taking into account the flexural deformation of the structure is presented. The results are compared with 3D coupled-field FEM simulation.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Extracting the condensate density from projection experiments with Fermi gases

A debated issue in the physics of the BCS-BEC crossover with trapped Fermi atoms is to identify characteristic properties of the superfluid phase. Recently, a condensate fraction was measured on the BCS side of the crossover by sweeping the system in a fast (nonadiabatic) way from the BCS to the BEC sides, thus ``projecting'' the initial many-body state onto a molecular condensate. We analyze here the theoretical implications of these projection experiments, by identifying the appropriate quantum-mechanical operator associated with the measured quantities and relating them to the many-body correlations occurring in the BCS-BEC crossover. Calculations are presented over wide temperature and coupling ranges, by including pairing fluctuations on top of mean field.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Bose-Fermi mixtures in the molecular limit

We consider a Bose-Fermi mixture in the molecular limit of the attractive interaction between fermions and bosons. For a boson density smaller or equal to the fermion density, we show analytically how a T-matrix approach for the constituent bosons and fermions recovers the expected physical limit of a Fermi-Fermi mixture of molecules and atoms. In this limit, we derive simple expressions for the self-energies, the momentum distribution function, and the chemical potentials. By extending these equations to a trapped system, we determine how to tailor the experimental parameters of a Bose-Fermi mixture in order to enhance the 'indirect Pauli exclusion effect' on the boson momentum distribution function. For the homogeneous system, we present finally a Diffusion Monte Carlo simulation which confirms the occurrence of such a peculiar effect.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures; final versio

Entanglement between pairing and screening in the Gorkov-Melik-Barkhudarov correction to the critical temperature throughout the BCS-BEC crossover

The theoretical description of the critical temperature Tc of a Fermi superfluid dates back to the work by Gor'kov and Melik-Barkhudarov (GMB), who addressed it for a weakly-coupled (dilute) superfluid in the BCS (weak-coupling) limit of the BCS-BEC crossover. The point made by GMB was that particle-particle (pairing) excitations, which are responsible for superfluidity to occur below Tc, and particle-hole excitations, which give rise to screening also in a normal system, get effectively disentangled from each other in the BCS limit, thus yielding a reduction by a factor 2.2 of the value of Tc obtained when neglecting screening effects. Subsequent work on this topic, aimed at extending the original GMB argument away from the BCS limit with diagrammatic methods, has kept this disentangling between pairing and screening throughout the BCS-BEC crossover, without realising that the conditions for it to be valid are soon violated away from the BCS limit. Here, we reconsider this problem from a more general perspective and argue that pairing and screening are intrinsically entangled with each other along the whole BCS-BEC crossover but for the BCS limit considered by GMB. We perform a detailed numerical calculation of the GMB diagrammatic contribution extended to the whole BCS-BEC crossover, where the full wave-vector and frequency dependence occurring in the repeated in-medium two-particle scattering is duly taken into account. Our numerical calculations are tested against analytic results available in both the BCS and BEC limits, and the contribution of the GMB diagrammatic term to the scattering length of composite bosons in the BEC limit is highlighted. We calculate Tc throughout the BCS-BEC crossover and find that it agrees quite well with Quantum Monte Carlo calculations and experimental data available in the unitarity regime.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure

Mass imbalance effect in resonant Bose-Fermi mixtures

We consider a homogeneous Bose-Fermi mixture, with the boson-fermion interaction tuned by a Fano-Feshbach resonance, in the presence of mass and density imbalance between the two species. By using many-body diagrammatic methods, we first study the finite-temperature phase diagram for the specific case of the mass-imbalanced mixture $^{87}$Rb $-^{40}$K for different values of the density imbalance. We then analyse the quantum phase transition associated with the disappearance at zero temperature of the boson condensate above a critical boson-fermion coupling. We find a pronounced dependence of the critical coupling on the mass ratio and a weak dependence on the density imbalance. For a vanishingly small boson density, we derive, within our approximation, the asymptotic expressions for the critical coupling in the limits of small and large mass ratios. These expressions are relevant also for the polaron-molecule transition in a Fermi mixture at small and large mass ratios. The analysis of the momentum distribution functions at sufficiently large density imbalances shows an interesting effect in the bosonic momentum distribution due to the simultaneous presence of composite fermions and unpaired fermions.Comment: Final versio

Temperature and coupling dependence of the universal contact intensity for an ultracold Fermi gas

Physical properties of an ultracold Fermi gas in the temperature-coupling phase diagram can be characterized by the contact intensity C, which enters the pair-correlation function at short distances and describes how the two-body problem merges into its surrounding. We show that the local order established by pairing fluctuations about the critical temperature Tc of the superfluid transition considerably enhances the contact C in a temperature range where pseudogap phenomena are maximal. Our ab initio results for C in a trap compare well with recently available experimental data over a wide coupling range. An analysis is also provided for the effects of trap averaging on C.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

On consistent solutions for strategic games

Nash equilibrium;game theory

Pairing effects in the normal phase of a two-dimensional Fermi gas

In a recent experiment [M. Feld et al., Nature 480, 75 (2011); B. Froehlich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109,130403 (2012)], a pairing gap was detected in a two-dimensional (2D) Fermi gas with attractive interaction at temperatures where superfluidity does not occur. The question remains open as to whether this gap is a pseudogap phenomenon or is due to a molecular state. In this paper, by using a t-matrix approach, we reproduce quite well the experimental data for a 2D Fermi gas, and set the boundary between the pseudogap and molecular regimes. We also show that pseudogap phenomena occurring in 2D and 3D can be related through a variable spanning the BCS-BEC crossover in a universal way.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; final versio

The Effect of Background Baroque Music on Work Accomplishment and Student Concentration on Days of Rapid Weather Changes.

This study used Baroque background music to mitigate the effects of weather variables on 12 students of a Montessori elementary classroom. The weather forecast data were gathered from the National Weather Service. Two student feedback forms gauged attitudes towards the music and academic activities, focus, and accomplished work. A teacher tally chart marked daily observations of behavior. The study utilized Microsoft Excel with methods of descriptive data analyses, t-tests, and regression analysis. Student appreciation of music varied, but the children’s affinity for music remained high. It is unclear whether the music created a positive mindset. The Baroque background music contributed to higher work accomplishments on days of greater barometric pressure, sky cover changes, and lower changes in precipitation potential. The results of background music on concentration are inconclusive, however, over time, student focus increased with the intervention. A longer duration of study may confirm the findings presented here