Effects of Mirror Aberrations on Laguerre-Gaussian Beams in Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Detectors

A fundamental limit to the sensitivity of optical interferometers is imposed by Brownian thermal fluctuations of the mirrors' surfaces. This thermal noise can be reduced by using larger beams which "average out" the random fluctuations of the surfaces. It has been proposed previously that wider, higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian modes can be used to exploit this effect. In this article, we show that susceptibility to spatial imperfections of the mirrors' surfaces limits the effectiveness of this approach in interferometers used for gravitational-wave detection. Possible methods of reducing this susceptibility are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Relativistic Effect on Low-Energy Nucleon-Deuteron Scattering

The relativistic effect on differential cross sections, nucleon-to-nucleon and nucleon-to-deuteron polarization transfer coefficients, and the spin correlation function, of nucleon-deuteron elastic scattering is investigated employing several three-dimensional relativistic three-body equations and several nucleon-nucleon potentials. The polarization transfer coefficients are found to be sensitive to the details of the nucleon-nucleon potentials and the relativistic dynamics employed, and prefer trinucleon models with the correct triton binding energy. (To appear in Phys. Rev. C)Comment: pages: 21, LaTex text + 7 ps-figures at the en

Effective Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equations for Cigar-Shaped and Disk-Shaped Fermi Superfluids at Unitarity

In the case of tight transverse confinement (cigar-shaped trap) the three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, describing superfluid Fermi atoms at unitarity (infinite scattering length $|a|\to \infty$), is reduced to an effective one-dimensional form by averaging over the transverse coordinates. The resultant effective equation is a 1D nonpolynomial Schrodinger equation, which produces results in good agreement with the original 3D one. In the limit of small and large fermion number $N$ the nonlinearity is of simple power-law type. A similar reduction of the 3D theory to a two-dimensional form is also performed for a tight axial confinement (disk-shaped trap). The resultant effective 2D nonpolynomial equation also produces results in agreement with the original 3D equation and has simple power-law nonlinearity for small and large $N$. For both cigar- and disk-shaped superfluids our nonpolynomial Schr\"odinger equations are quite attractive for phenomenological application.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Quantum Size Effect and Biased Diffusion of Gravitationally Bound Neutrons in a Rough Waveguide

A comprehensive theory of gravitational quantum states of ultracold neutrons in a rough waveguide is presented. The theory covers recent experiments in which the ultracold neutrons were beamed between a mirror and a rough scatterer and absorber. The results are in very good agreement with experimental data. The analysis is based on a recently developed theory of quantum transport in waveguides with rough absorbing and scattering walls. The calculation is done using two methods: an exact transport equation and a simplified model of biased scattering-driven diffusion of neutrons between quantum states. Both sets of results are in excellent agreement with each other. The exit neutron count is sensitive to the amplitude and the correlation radius (lateral size) of surface inhomogeneities and to the overall time of flight (length of the waveguide). The results indicate that it is possible to choose the waveguide parameters in such a way so to observe the quantum size effect in neutron count—the quantum steps that correspond to individual quantum states—even in a weak roughness regime. Away from the obvious limiting cases, the results are not very sensitive to the ratio of the particle energy to the absorption threshold. The main unresolved issue, which is related to a complexity of required calculations for a “real” experimental cell, is the lack of accurate information on the occupation numbers of neutrons entering the waveguide. Our analysis indicates that the initial occupancies of all gravitational states are expected to be the same except for the smallest values of the waveguide width

Frequency noise and intensity noise of next-generation gravitational-wave detectors with RF/DC readout schemes

The sensitivity of next-generation gravitational-wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO and LCGT should be limited mostly by quantum noise with an expected technical progress to reduce seismic noise and thermal noise. Those detectors will employ the optical configuration of resonant-sideband-extraction that can be realized with a signal-recycling mirror added to the Fabry-Perot Michelson interferometer. While this configuration can reduce quantum noise of the detector, it can possibly increase laser frequency noise and intensity noise. The analysis of laser noise in the interferometer with the conventional configuration has been done in several papers, and we shall extend the analysis to the resonant-sideband-extraction configuration with the radiation pressure effect included. We shall also refer to laser noise in the case we employ the so-called DC readout scheme.Comment: An error in Fig. 10 in the published version in PRD has been corrected in this version; an erratum has been submitted to PRD. After correction, this figure reflects a significant difference in the ways RF and DC readout schemes are susceptible to laser noise. In addition, the levels of mirror loss imbalances and input laser amplitude noise have also been updated to be more realistic for Advanced LIG

Dynamics of collapsing and exploding Bose-Einstein condensed vortex state

Using the time-dependent mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation we study the dynamics of small repulsive Bose-Einstein condensed vortex states of ^{85}Rb atoms in a cylindrical trap with low angular momentum hbar L per atom (L <= 6), when the atomic interaction is suddenly turned attractive by manipulating the external magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance. Consequently, the condensate collapses and ejects atoms via explosion and a remnant condensate with a smaller number of atoms emerges that survives for a long time. Detail of this collapse and explosion is compared critically with a similar experiment performed with zero angular momentum (L=0). Suggestion for future experiment with vortex state is made.Comment: 8 REVTEX4 pages, 8 EPS figures, final version accepted in Phys. Rev. A after minor change

On the global well-posedness for the Boussinesq system with horizontal dissipation

In this paper, we investigate the Cauchy problem for the tridimensional Boussinesq equations with horizontal dissipation. Under the assumption that the initial data is an axisymmetric without swirl, we prove the global well-posedness for this system. In the absence of vertical dissipation, there is no smoothing effect on the vertical derivatives. To make up this shortcoming, we first establish a magic relationship between $\frac{u^{r}}{r}$ and $\frac{\omega_\theta}{r}$ by taking full advantage of the structure of the axisymmetric fluid without swirl and some tricks in harmonic analysis. This together with the structure of the coupling of \eqref{eq1.1} entails the desired regularity.Comment: 32page

Numerical study of the coupled time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation: Application to Bose-Einstein condensation

We present a numerical study of the coupled time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which describes the Bose-Einstein condensate of several types of trapped bosons at ultralow temperature with both attractive and repulsive interatomic interactions. The same approach is used to study both stationary and time-evolution problems. We consider up to four types of atoms in the study of stationary problems. We consider the time-evolution problems where the frequencies of the traps or the atomic scattering lengths are suddenly changed in a stable preformed condensate. We also study the effect of periodically varying these frequencies or scattering lengths on a preformed condensate. These changes introduce oscillations in the condensate which are studied in detail. Good convergence is obtained in all cases studied.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted in Physical Review

Injection of hydrogen and vacancy-type defects during dissolution of aluminum

Formation of interfacial nanoscale voids in Al during room-temperature caustic corrosion was characterized by positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and compared with measurements of deuterium absorption using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The hypothesis was investigated that voids are created from vacancy-hydrogen (Vac-H) defects introduced during corrosion. Evidence for both mobile and immobile forms of absorbed hydrogen was obtained, the latter present within distances of 50 nm from the metal-oxide interface, where voids were also found. During corrosion, the immobile hydrogen was found only during discrete 1-2 min intervals of time separated by periods of 1-2 min when it was not present. Model calculations suggested that this transient behavior is consistent with repeated nucleation and dissolution of clusters of Vac-H defects. Only some aspects of the time-dependence of the void concentration from PAS corresponded with that of absorbed hydrogen; the former is believed to be influenced by metallic impurities