1,127 research outputs found
Efficient loading of a He* magneto-optic trap using a liquid He cooled source
We report loading large numbers (up to 3×10⁹) of metastable triplet helium atoms into a magneto-optical trap using an atomic beam derived from a liquid He (LHe) cooled dc discharge source. Moreover, we compare the effect of liquidN₂ cooling to LHe cooling the source and demonstrate that LHe cooling offers a significant increase in performance
Paired atom laser beams created via four-wave mixing
A method to create paired atom laser beams from a metastable helium atom
laser via four-wave mixing is demonstrated. Radio frequency outcoupling is used
to extract atoms from a Bose Einstein condensate near the center of the
condensate and initiate scattering between trapped and untrapped atoms. The
unequal strengths of the interactions for different internal states allows an
energy-momentum resonance which leads to the creation of pairs of atoms
scattered from the zero-velocity condensate. The resulting scattered beams are
well separated from the main atom laser in the 2-dimensional transverse atom
laser profile. Numerical simulations of the system are in good agreement with
the observed atom laser spatial profiles, and indicate that the scattered beams
are generated by a four-wave mixing process, suggesting that the beams are
correlated.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
The amplitude of solar oscillations using stellar techniques
The amplitudes of solar-like oscillations depend on the excitation and
damping, both of which are controlled by convection. Comparing observations
with theory should therefore improve our understanding of the underlying
physics. However, theoretical models invariably compute oscillation amplitudes
relative to the Sun, and it is therefore vital to have a good calibration of
the solar amplitude using stellar techniques. We have used daytime spectra of
the Sun, obtained with HARPS and UCLES, to measure the solar oscillations and
made a detailed comparison with observations using the BiSON helioseismology
instrument. We find that the mean solar amplitude measured using stellar
techniques, averaged over one full solar cycle, is 18.7 +/- 0.7 cm/s for the
strongest radial modes (l=0) and 25.2 +/- 0.9 cm/s for l=1. In addition, we use
simulations to establish an equation that estimates the uncertainty of
amplitude measurements that are made of other stars, given that the mode
lifetime is known. Finally, we also give amplitudes of solar-like oscillations
for three stars that we measured from a series of short observations with HARPS
(gamma Ser, beta Aql and alpha For), together with revised amplitudes for five
other stars for which we have previously published results (alpha Cen A, alpha
Cen B, beta Hyi, nu Ind and delta Pav).Comment: 8 pages, accepted by ApJ. Minor wording changes and added a referenc
Putting evolutionary biology back in the ecological theatre: a demographic framework mapping genes to communities
Question: How can we link genotypic, phenotypic, individual, population, and community levels of organization so as to illuminate general ecological and evolutionary processes and provide a framework for a quantitative, integrative evolutionary biology? Framework: We introduce an evolutionary framework that maps different levels of biological diversity onto one another. We provide (1) an overview of maps linking levels of biological organization and (2) a guideline of how to analyse the complexity of relationships from genes to population growth. Method: We specify the appropriate levels of biological organization for responses to selection, for opportunities for selection, and for selection itself. We map between them and embed these maps into an ecological setting
Bisectors of the HARPS Cross-Correlation-Function. The dependence on stellar atmospheric parameters
Bisectors of the HARPS cross-correlation function (CCF) can discern between
planetary radial-velocity (RV) signals and spurious RV signals from stellar
magnetic activity variations. However, little is known about the effects of the
stellar atmosphere on CCF bisectors or how these effects vary with spectral
type and luminosity class. Here we investigate the variations in the shapes of
HARPS CCF bisectors across the HR diagram in order to relate these to the basic
stellar parameters, surface gravity and temperature. We use archive spectra of
67 well studied stars observed with HARPS and extract mean CCF bisectors. We
derive previously defined bisector measures (BIS, v_bot, c_b) and we define and
derive a new measure called the CCF Bisector Span (CBS) from the minimum radius
of curvature on direct fits to the CCF bisector. We show that the bisector
measures correlate differently, and non-linearly with log g and T_eff. The
resulting correlations allow for the estimation of log g and T_eff from the
bisector measures. We compare our results with 3D stellar atmosphere models and
show that we can reproduce the shape of the CCF bisector for the Sun.Comment: 13 pages, 20 figures. Accepted by A&
Gold nanoparticles approach to detect chondroitin sulphate and hyaluronic acid urothelial coating
This study investigated the location of hyaluronic acid (HA)-and chondroitin sulphate (CS)-coated gold nanoparticles in rabbit bladder and evaluated gene expression of CD44, RHAMM and ICAM-1 receptors involved in HA and CS transport into the cell. Gold nanoparticles were synthesised by reduction of gold salts with HA or CS to form HA-AuNPs and CS-AuNPs. Bladder samples were incubated with CS-AuNPs and HA-AuNPs or without glycosaminoglycans. Transmission electron microscopy, optic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to determine the location of the synthesised AuNPs. Real-time PCR was used to analyse expression of urothelial cell receptors CD44, RHAMM, ICAM-1, after ex vivo administration of CS-AuNPs and HA-AuNPs. We showed that HA-AuNPs and CS-AuNPs were located in the cytoplasm and tight junctions of urothelial umbrella cells; this appearance was absent in untreated bladders. There were no significant differences in gene expression levels for CD44, RHAMM and ICAM-1 receptors in treated versus control bladder tissues. In conclusion, we clearly showed the presence of exogenous GAGs in the bladder surface and the tight junctions between umbrella cells, which is important in the regeneration pathway of the urothelium. The GAGs-AuNPs offer a promising approach to understanding the biophysical properties and imaging of urothelial tissue
Efficient Guiding of Cold Atoms though a Photonic Band Gap Fiber
We demonstrate the first guiding of cold atoms through a 88 mm long piece of
photonic band gap fiber. The guiding potential is created by a far-off
resonance dipole trap propagating inside the fiber with a hollow core of 12 mu
m. We load the fiber from a dark spot 85-Rb magneto optical trap and observe a
peak flux of more than 10^5 atoms/s at a velocity of 1.5 m/s. With an
additional reservoir optical dipole trap, a constant atomic flux of 1.5 10^4
atoms/s is sustained for more than 150\,ms. These results open up interesting
possibilities to study nonlinear light-matter interaction in a nearly
one-dimensional geometry and pave the way for guided matter wave
interferometry.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
Discourse markers activate their, <i>like</i>, cohort competitors
Speech in everyday conversations is riddled with discourse markers (DMs), such as well, you know, and like. However, in many lab-based studies of speech comprehension, such DMs are typically absent from the carefully articulated and highly controlled speech stimuli. As such, little is known about how these DMs influence online word recognition. The present study specifically investigated the online processing of DM like and how it influences the activation of words in the mental lexicon. We specifically targeted the cohort competitor (CC) effect in the Visual World Paradigm: Upon hearing spoken instructions to “pick up the beaker,” human listeners also typically fixate—next to the target object—referents that overlap phonologically with the target word (cohort competitors such as beetle; CCs). However, several studies have argued that CC effects are constrained by syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and discourse constraints. Therefore, the present study investigated whether DM like influences online word recognition by activating its cohort competitors (e.g., lightbulb). In an eye-tracking experiment using the Visual World Paradigm, we demonstrate that when participants heard spoken instructions such as “Now press the button for the, like … unicycle,” they showed anticipatory looks to the CC referent (lightbulb)well before hearing the target. This CC effect was sustained for a relatively long period of time, even despite hearing disambiguating information (i.e., the /k/ in like). Analysis of the reaction times also showed that participants were significantly faster to select CC targets (lightbulb) when preceded by DM like. These findings suggest that seemingly trivial DMs, such as like, activate their CCs, impacting online word recognition. Thus, we advocate a more holistic perspective on spoken language comprehension in naturalistic communication, including the processing of DMs
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