Matter--wave emission in optical lattices: Single particle and collective effects

We introduce a simple set--up corresponding to the matter-wave analogue of impurity atoms embedded in an infinite photonic crystal and interacting with the radiation field. Atoms in a given internal level are trapped in an optical lattice, and play the role of the impurities. Atoms in an untrapped level play the role of the radiation field. The interaction is mediated by means of lasers that couple those levels. By tuning the lasers parameters, it is possible to drive the system through different regimes, and observe phenomena like matter wave superradiance, non-Markovian atom emission, and the appearance of bound atomic states.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Nonlinear vortex light beams supported and stabilized by dissipation

We describe nonlinear Bessel vortex beams as localized and stationary solutions with embedded vorticity to the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with a dissipative term that accounts for the multi-photon absorption processes taking place at high enough powers in common optical media. In these beams, power and orbital angular momentum are permanently transferred to matter in the inner, nonlinear rings, at the same time that they are refueled by spiral inward currents of energy and angular momentum coming from the outer linear rings, acting as an intrinsic reservoir. Unlike vortex solitons and dissipative vortex solitons, the existence of these vortex beams does not critically depend on the precise form of the dispersive nonlinearities, as Kerr self-focusing or self-defocusing, and do not require a balancing gain. They have been shown to play a prominent role in "tubular" filamentation experiments with powerful, vortex-carrying Bessel beams, where they act as attractors in the beam propagation dynamics. Nonlinear Bessel vortex beams provide indeed a new solution to the problem of the stable propagation of ring-shaped vortex light beams in homogeneous self-focusing Kerr media. A stability analysis demonstrates that there exist nonlinear Bessel vortex beams with single or multiple vorticity that are stable against azimuthal breakup and collapse, and that the mechanism that renders these vortexes stable is dissipation. The stability properties of nonlinear Bessel vortex beams explain the experimental observations in the tubular filamentation experiments.Comment: Chapter of boo

Discovery of New Milky Way Star Cluster Candidates in the 2MASS Point Source Catalog II. Physical Properties of the Star Cluster CC01

Three new obscured Milky Way clusters were detected as surface density peaks in the 2MASS point source catalog during our on-going search for hidden globular clusters and massive Arches-like star clusters. One more cluster was discovered serendipitously during a visual inspection of the candidates. The first deep J, H, and Ks imaging of the cluster [IBP2002] CC01 is presented. We estimated a cluster age of ~1-3 Myr, distance modulus of (m-M)0=12.56+-0.08 mag (D=3.5 Kpc), and extinction of AV~7.7 mag. We also derived the initial mass function slope for the cluster: Gamma=-2.23+-0.16. The integration over the initial mass function yielded a total cluster mass M_{total}<=1800+-200Msol. CC01 appears to be a regular, not very massive star cluster, whose formation has probably been induced by the shock front from the nearby HII region Sh2-228.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted in A&

Cosmic Dynamics of Bose-Einstein Condensates

A dynamical correspondence is established between positively curved, isotropic, perfect fluid cosmologies and quasi-two-dimensional, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates by mapping the equations of motion for both systems onto the one-dimensional Ermakov system. Parameters that characterize the physical properties of the condensate wavepacket, such as its width, momentum and energy, may be identified with the scale factor, Hubble expansion parameter and energy density of the universe, respectively. Different forms of cosmic matter correspond to different choices for the time-dependent trapping frequency of the condensate. The trapping frequency that mimics a radiation-dominated universe is determined.Comment: 12 pages, no figures. Extended discussion. In Press, Classical and Quantum Gravit

One- and many-body effects on mirages in quantum corrals

Recent interesting experiments used scanning tunneling microscopy to study systems involving Kondo impurities in quantum corrals assembled on Cu or noble metal surfaces. The solution of the two-dimensional one-particle Schrodinger equation in a hard wall corral without impurity is useful to predict the conditions under which the Kondo effect can be projected to a remote location (the quantum mirage). To model a soft circular corral, we solve this equation under the potential W*delta(r-r0), where r is the distance to the center of the corral and r0 its radius. We expand the Green's function of electron surface states Gs0 for r<r0 as a discrete sum of contributions from single poles at energies epsilon_i-I*delta_i. The imaginary part delta_i is the half-width of the resonance produced by the soft confining potential, and turns out to be a simple increasing function of epsilon_i. In presence of an impurity, we solve the Anderson model at arbitrary temperatures using the resulting expression for Gs0 and perturbation theory up to second order in the Coulomb repulsion U. We calculate the resulting change in the differential conductance Delta dI/dV as a function of voltage and space, in circular and elliptical corrals, for different conditions, including those corresponding to recent experiments. The main features are reproduced. The role of the direct hybridization between impurity and bulk, the confinement potential, the size of the corral and temperature on the intensity of the mirage are analyzed. We also calculate spin-spin correlation functions.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B. Calculations of spin correlations within an additional approximation adde

Creation and manipulation of entanglement in spin chains far from equilibrium

We investigate creation, manipulation, and steering of entanglement in spin chains from the viewpoint of quantum communication between distant parties. We demonstrate how global parametric driving of the spin-spin coupling and/or local time-dependent Zeeman fields produce a large amount of entanglement between the first and the last spin of the chain. This occurs whenever the driving frequency meets a resonance condition, identified as "entanglement resonance". Our approach marks a promising step towards an efficient quantum state transfer or teleportation in solid state system. Following the reasoning of Zueco et al. [1], we propose generation and routing of multipartite entangled states by use of symmetric tree-like structures of spin chains. Furthermore, we study the effect of decoherence on the resulting spin entanglement between the corresponding terminal spins.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Extended parametric resonances in nonlinear Schrodinger systems

We study an example of exact parametric resonance in a extended system ruled by nonlinear partial differential equations of nonlinear Schr\"odinger type. It is also conjectured how related models not exactly solvable should behave in the same way. The results have applicability in recent experiments in Bose-Einstein condensation and to classical problems in Nonlinear Optics.Comment: 1 figur

Coupling early warning services, crowdsourcing, and modelling for improved decision support and wildfire emergency management

The threat of a forest fire disaster increases around the globe as the human footprint continues to encroach on natural areas and climate change effects increase the potential of extreme weather. It is essential that the tools to educate, prepare, monitor, react, and fight natural fire disasters are available to emergency managers and responders and reduce the overall disaster effects. In the context of the I-REACT project, such a big crisis data system is being developed and is based on the integration of information from different sources, automated data processing chains and decision support systems. This paper presents the wildfire monitoring for emergency management system for those involved and affected by wildfire disasters developed for European forest fire disasters

Measurement of the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section at the CERN n-TOF facility : First results from experimental area II (EAR-2)

The accurate knowledge of the neutron-induced fission cross-sections of actinides and other isotopes involved in the nuclear fuel cycle is essential for the design of advanced nuclear systems, such as Generation-IV nuclear reactors. Such experimental data can also provide the necessary feedback for the adjustment of nuclear model parameters used in the evaluation process, resulting in the further development of nuclear fission models. In the present work, the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section was measured at CERN's n-TOF facility relative to the well-known 235U(n,f) cross section, over a wide range of neutron energies, from meV to almost MeV, using the time-of-flight technique and a set-up based on Micromegas detectors. This measurement was the first experiment to be performed at n-TOF's new experimental area (EAR-2), which offers a significantly higher neutron flux compared to the already existing experimental area (EAR-1). Preliminary results as well as the experimental procedure, including a description of the facility and the data handling and analysis, are presented

The 33S(n,α)30Si cross section measurement at n-TOF-EAR2 (CERN) : From 0.01 eV to the resonance region

The 33S(n,α)30Si cross section measurement, using 10B(n,α) as reference, at the n-TOF Experimental Area 2 (EAR2) facility at CERN is presented. Data from 0.01 eV to 100 keV are provided and, for the first time, the cross section is measured in the range from 0.01 eV to 10 keV. These data may be used for a future evaluation of the cross section because present evaluations exhibit large discrepancies. The 33S(n,α)30Si reaction is of interest in medical physics because of its possible use as a cooperative target to boron in Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT)