874 research outputs found
Visco-elastic Cosmology for a Sparkling Universe?
We show the analogy between a generalization of the Rayleigh-Plesset equation of bubble dynamics including surface tension, elasticity and viscosity effects with a reformulation of the Friedmann-Lemaître set of equations describing the expansion of space in cosmology assuming a homogeneous and isotropic universe. By comparing both fluid and cosmic equations, we propose a bold generalization of the newly-derived cosmic equation mapping three continuum mechanics contributions. Conversely, the addition of a cosmological constant-like term in the fluid equation would lead also to a new phenomenology. Our work is purely speculative and does not rely on any observations or theoretical derivations from first principles
The Effects of Climate Variability on Phytoplankton Composition in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean using a Model and a Satellite-Derived Approach
Compared the interannual variation in diatoms, cyanobacteria, coccolithophores and chlorophytes from the NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model with those derived from satellite data (Hirata et al. 2011) between 1998 and 2006 in the Equatorial Pacific. Using NOBM, La Ni a events were characterized by an increase in diatoms (correlation with MEI, r=-0.81, P<0.05), while cyanobacteria concentrations decreased significantly (r=0.61; P<0.05). El Nino produced the reverse pattern, with cyanobacteria populations increasing while diatoms plummeted. This represented a radical shift in the phytoplankton community in response to climate variability. However, satellite-derived phytoplankton groups were all negatively correlated with climate variability (r ranged from -0.39 for diatoms to -0.64 for coccolithophores, P<0.05). Spatially, the satellite-derived approach was closer to an independent in situ dataset for all phytoplankton groups except diatoms than NOBM. However, the different responses of phytoplankton to intense interannual events in the Equatorial Pacific raises questions about the representation of phytoplankton dynamics in models and algorithms: is a phytoplankton community shift as in the model or an across-the-board change in abundances of all phytoplankton as in the satellite-derived approach
Mode-selective quantization and multimodal effective models for spherically layered systems
We propose a geometry-specific, mode-selective quantization scheme in coupled
field-emitter systems which makes it easy to include material and geometrical
properties, intrinsic losses as well as the positions of an arbitrary number of
quantum emitters. The method is presented through the example of a spherically
symmetric, non-magnetic, arbitrarily layered system. We follow it up by a
framework to project the system on simpler, effective cavity QED models.
Maintaining a well-defined connection to the original quantization, we derive
the emerging effective quantities from the full, mode-selective model in a
mathematically consistent way. We discuss the uses and limitations of these
effective models
Quantum Plasmonics with multi-emitters: Application to adiabatic control
We construct mode-selective effective models describing the interaction of N
quantum emitters (QEs) with the localised surface plasmon polaritons (LSPs)
supported by a spherical metal nanoparticle (MNP) in an arbitrary geometric
arrangement of the QEs. We develop a general formulation in which the field
response in the presence of the nanosystem can be decomposed into orthogonal
modes with the spherical symmetry as an example. We apply the model in the
context of quantum information, investigating on the possibility of using the
LSPs as mediators of an efficient control of population transfer between two
QEs. We show that a Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage configuration allows
such a transfer via a decoherence-free dark state when the QEs are located on
the same side of the MNP and very closed to it, whereas the transfer is blocked
when the emitters are positioned at the opposite sides of the MNP. We explain
this blockade by the destructive superposition of all the interacting plasmonic
modes
Forecasting Ocean Chlorophyll in the Equatorial Pacific
Using a global ocean biogeochemical model combined with a forecast of physical oceanic and atmospheric variables from the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, we assess the skill of a chlorophyll concentrations forecast in the Equatorial Pacific for the period 2012-2015 with a focus on the forecast of the onset of the 2015 El Nio event. Using a series of retrospective 9-month hindcasts, we assess the uncertainties of the forecasted chlorophyll by comparing the monthly total chlorophyll concentration from the forecast with the corresponding monthly ocean chlorophyll data from the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (S-NPP VIIRS) satellite. The forecast was able to reproduce the phasing of the variability in chlorophyll concentration in the Equatorial Pacific, including the beginning of the 2015-2016 El Nio. The anomaly correlation coefficient (ACC) was significant (p less than 0.05) for forecast at 1-month (R=0.33), 8-month (R=0.42) and 9-month (R=0.41) lead times. The root mean square error (RMSE) increased from 0.0399 microgram ch1 L(exp -1) for the 1-month lead forecast to a maximum of 0.0472 microgram ch1 L(exp -1) for the 9-month lead forecast indicating that the forecast of the amplitude of chlorophyll concentration variability was getting worse. Forecasts with a 3-month lead time were on average the closest to the S-NPP VIIRS data (23% or 0.033 microgram ch1 L(exp -1)) while the forecast with a 9-month lead time were the furthest (31% or 0.042 microgram ch1 L(exp -1)). These results indicate the potential for forecasting chlorophyll concentration in this region but also highlights various deficiencies and suggestions for improvements to the current biogeochemical forecasting system. This system provides an initial basis for future applications including the effects of El Nio events on fisheries and other ocean resources given improvements identified in the analysis of these results
Production of photon states from Λ-atoms in a cavity
We analyse the system of Λ-atoms in a cavity QED of semi-transparent mirror and driven by laser fields. We derive effective models and connect concepts (photonic flux, input-output operators, photonic state) characterizing the propagation of the resulting leaking photons. We propose an atom-cavity non-resonant scheme for single-and 2-photons generation. The pulse shapes of outgoing single photons are tailored using a specifically designed driving field envelope. For the production of 2-photon states, two trapped atoms are used with two driving pulses. Their pulse shapes are characterized and it is shown that the multiphoton outgoing photonic states cannot be Fock states, since the photons are not generated strictly simultaneously
Identity crisis in pulmonary arterial hypertension
International audiencePulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) shares many hallmarks with cancer. Cancer cells acquire their hallmarks by a pathological Darwinian evolution process built on the so-called cancer cell ''identity crisis.'' Here we demonstrate that PAH shares the most striking features of the cancer identity crisis: the ectopic expression of normally silent tissue-specific genes
Classical aspects of Hawking radiation verified in analogue gravity experiment
There is an analogy between the propagation of fields on a curved spacetime
and shallow water waves in an open channel flow. By placing a streamlined
obstacle into an open channel flow we create a region of high velocity over the
obstacle that can include wave horizons. Long (shallow water) waves propagating
upstream towards this region are blocked and converted into short (deep water)
waves. This is the analogue of the stimulated Hawking emission by a white hole
(the time inverse of a black hole). The measurements of amplitudes of the
converted waves demonstrate that they appear in pairs and are classically
correlated; the spectra of the conversion process is described by a
Boltzmann-distribution; and the Boltzmann-distribution is determined by the
determined by the change in flow across the white hole horizon.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; draft of a chapter submitted to the proceedings
of the IX'th SIGRAV graduate school: Analogue Gravity, Lake Como, Italy, May
201
Sensitivity of Simulated Global Ocean Carbon Flux Estimates to Forcing by Reanalysis Products
Reanalysis products from MERRA, NCEP2, NCEP1, and ECMWF were used to force an established ocean biogeochemical model to estimate air-sea carbon fluxes (FCO2) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in the global oceans. Global air-sea carbon fluxes and pCO2 were relatively insensitive to the choice of forcing reanalysis. All global FCO2 estimates from the model forced by the four different reanalyses were within 20% of in situ estimates (MERRA and NCEP1 were within 7%), and all models exhibited statistically significant positive correlations with in situ estimates across the 12 major oceanographic basins. Global pCO2 estimates were within 1% of in situ estimates with ECMWF being the outlier at 0.6%. Basin correlations were similar to FCO2. There were, however, substantial departures among basin estimates from the different reanalysis forcings. The high latitudes and tropics had the largest ranges in estimated fluxes among the reanalyses. Regional pCO2 differences among the reanalysis forcings were muted relative to the FCO2 results. No individual reanalysis was uniformly better or worse in the major oceanographic basins. The results provide information on the characterization of uncertainty in ocean carbon models due to choice of reanalysis forcing
Horizon effects with surface waves on moving water
Surface waves on a stationary flow of water are considered, in a linear model
that includes the surface tension of the fluid. The resulting gravity-capillary
waves experience a rich array of horizon effects when propagating against the
flow. In some cases three horizons (points where the group velocity of the wave
reverses) exist for waves with a single laboratory frequency. Some of these
effects are familiar in fluid mechanics under the name of wave blocking, but
other aspects, in particular waves with negative co-moving frequency and the
Hawking effect, were overlooked until surface waves were investigated as
examples of analogue gravity [Sch\"utzhold R and Unruh W G 2002 Phys. Rev. D 66
044019]. A comprehensive presentation of the various horizon effects for
gravity-capillary waves is given, with emphasis on the deep water/short
wavelength case kh>>1 where many analytical results can be derived. A
similarity of the state space of the waves to that of a thermodynamic system is
pointed out.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figures. Minor change
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