8,294 research outputs found
Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetohydrodynamic Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
We study the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability
using three-dimensional MHD simulations. We consider the idealized case of two
inviscid, perfectly conducting fluids of constant density separated by a
contact discontinuity perpendicular to the effective gravity g, with a uniform
magnetic field B parallel to the interface. Modes parallel to the field with
wavelengths smaller than l_c = [B B/(d_h - d_l) g] are suppressed (where d_h
and d_l are the densities of the heavy and light fluids respectively), whereas
modes perpendicular to B are unaffected. We study strong fields with l_c
varying between 0.01 and 0.36 of the horizontal extent of the computational
domain. Even a weak field produces tension forces on small scales that are
significant enough to reduce shear (as measured by the distribution of the
amplitude of vorticity), which in turn reduces the mixing between fluids, and
increases the rate at which bubbles and finger are displaced from the interface
compared to the purely hydrodynamic case. For strong fields, the highly
anisotropic nature of unstable modes produces ropes and filaments. However, at
late time flow along field lines produces large scale bubbles. The kinetic and
magnetic energies transverse to gravity remain in rough equipartition and
increase as t^4 at early times. The growth deviates from this form once the
magnetic energy in the vertical field becomes larger than the energy in the
initial field. We comment on the implications of our results to Z-pinch
experiments, and a variety of astrophysical systems.Comment: 25 pages, accepted by Physics of Fluids, online version of journal
has high resolution figure
Lower limit on the achievable temperature in resonator-based sideband cooling
A resonator can be effectively used as a cooler for another linear oscillator
with a much smaller frequency. A huge cooling effect, which could be used to
cool a mechanical oscillator below the energy of quantum fluctuations, has been
predicted by several authors. However, here we show that there is a lower limit
T* on the achievable temperature that was not considered in previous works and
can be higher than the quantum limit in realistic experimental realizations. We
also point out that the decay rate of the resonator, which previous studies
stress should be small, must be larger than the decay rate of the cooled
oscillator for effective cooling.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, uses psfra
Occurrence of a Gynandromorphic Bombus bimaculatus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Southeastern Ohio
Herein, we introduce the first reported case of gynandromorphy in the bumblebee Bombus bimaculatus (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), a relatively common North American species found east of the Mississippi River. The specimen was collected in Marietta, Ohio as part of a bee diversity assessment project for Washington County. Gynanders exhibit discrete male and female characters in a single individual. We discuss the potential causes of gynandromorphy exhibited by this specimen, which has differing antennal segments (12 and 13), facial maculation, abdominal hair coloration, and the presence of a corbicula – secondary sex characters that are characteristic for the genus Bombus
Theory of the Ramsey spectroscopy and anomalous segregation in ultra-cold rubidium
The recent anomalous segregation experiment of Lewandowski et al. (PRL, 88,
070403, 2002) shows dramatic, rapid internal state segregation for two
hyperfine levels of rubidium. We simulate an effective one dimensional model of
the system for experimental parameters and find reasonable agreement with the
data. The Ramsey frequency is found to be insensitive to the decoherence of the
superposition, and is only equivalent to the interaction energy shift for a
pure superposition. A Quantum Boltzmann equation describing collisions is
derived using Quantum Kinetic Theory, taking into account the different
scattering lengths of the internal states. As spin-wave experiments are likely
to be attempted at lower temperatures we examine the effect of degeneracy on
decoherence by considering the recent experiment of Lewandowski et al. where
degeneracy is around 10%. We also find that the segregation effect is only
possible when transport terms are included in the equations of motion, and that
the interactions only directly alter the momentum distributions of the states.
The segregation or spin wave effect is thus entirely due to coherent atomic
motion as foreseen in the experimental reportComment: 26 pages, 4 figures, to be published in J. Phys.
Quadripartite continuous-variable entanglement via quadruply concurrent downconversion
We investigate an intra-cavity coupled down-conversion scheme to generate
quadripartite entanglement using concurrently resonant nonlinearities. We
verify that quadripartite entanglement is present in this system by calculating
the output fluctuation spectra and then considering violations of optimized
inequalities of the van Loock-Furusawa type. The entanglement characteristics
both above and below the oscillation threshold are considered. We also present
analytic solutions for the quadrature operators and the van Loock-Furusawa
correlations in the undepleted pump approximation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Decoherence and the conditions for the classical control of quantum systems
We find the conditions for one quantum system to function as a classical
controller of another quantum system: the controller must be an open system and
rapidly diagonalised in the basis of the controller variable that is coupled to
the controlled system. This causes decoherence in the controlled system that
can be made small if the rate of diagonalisation is fast. We give a detailed
example based on the quantum optomechanical control of a mechanical resonator.
The resulting equations are similar in structure to recently proposed models
for consistently combining quantum and classical stochastic dynamics
Tripartite entanglement and threshold properties of coupled intracavity downconversion and sum-frequency generation
The process of cascaded downconversion and sum-frequency generation inside an
optical cavity has been predicted to be a potential source of three-mode
continuous-variable entanglement. When the cavity is pumped by two fields, the
threshold properties have been analysed, showing that these are more
complicated than in well-known processes such as optical parametric
oscillation. When there is only a single pumping field, the entanglement
properties have been calculated using a linearised fluctuation analysis, but
without any consideration of the threshold properties or critical operating
points of the system. In this work we extend this analysis to demonstrate that
the singly pumped system demonstrates a rich range of threshold behaviour when
quantisation of the pump field is taken into account and that asymmetric
polychromatic entanglement is available over a wide range of operational
parameters.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figure
Analysis of a continuous-variable quadripartite cluster state from a single optical parametric oscillator
We examine the feasibility of generating continuous-variable multipartite
entanglement in an intra-cavity quadruply concurrent downconversion scheme that
has been proposed for the generation of cluster states by Menicucci \textit{et
al.} [Physical Review Letters \textbf{101}, 130501 (2008)]. By calculating
optimized versions of the van Loock-Furusawa correlations we demonstrate
genuine quadripartite entanglement and investigate the degree of entanglement
present. Above the oscillation threshold the basic cluster state geometry under
consideration suffers from phase diffusion. We alleviate this problem by
incorporating a small injected signal into our analysis. Finally, we
investigate squeezed joint operators. While the squeezed joint operators
approach zero in the undepleted regime, we find that this is not the case when
we consider the full interaction Hamiltonian and the presence of a cavity. In
fact, we find that the decay of these operators is minimal in a cavity, and
even depletion alone inhibits cluster state formation.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figure
Helix or Coil? Fate of a Melting Heteropolymer
We determine the probability that a partially melted heteropolymer at the
melting temperature will either melt completely or return to a helix state.
This system is equivalent to the splitting probability for a diffusing particle
on a finite interval that moves according to the Sinai model. When the initial
fraction of melted polymer is f, the melting probability fluctuates between
different realizations of monomer sequences on the polymer. For a fixed value
of f, the melting probability distribution changes from unimodal to a bimodal
as the strength of the disorder is increased.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
- …