42,280 research outputs found
Quantized form factor shift in the presence of free electron laser radiation
In electron scattering, the target form factors contribute significantly to
the diffraction pattern and carry information on the target electromagnetic
charge distribution. Here we show that the presence of electromagnetic
radiation, as intense as currently available in Free Electron Lasers, shifts
the dependence of the target form factors by a quantity that depends on the
number of photons absorbed or emitted by the electron as well as on the
parameters of the electromagnetic radiation. As example, we show the impact of
intense ultraviolet and soft X-ray radiation on elastic electron scattering by
Ne-like Argon ion and by Xenon atom. We find that the shift brought by the
radiation to the form factor is in the order of some percent. Our results may
open up a new avenue to explore matter with the assistance of laser
Cavity-aided quantum parameter estimation in a bosonic double-well Josephson junction
We describe an apparatus designed to make non-demolition measurements on a
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped in a double-well optical cavity. This
apparatus contains, as well as the bosonic gas and the trap, an optical cavity.
We show how the interaction between the light and the atoms, under appropriate
conditions, can allow for a weakly disturbing yet highly precise measurement of
the population imbalance between the two wells and its variance. We show that
the setting is well suited for the implementation of quantum-limited estimation
strategies for the inference of the key parameters defining the evolution of
the atomic system and based on measurements performed on the cavity field. This
would enable {\it de facto} Hamiltonian diagnosis via a highly controllable
quantum probe.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4; Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
A thorough analysis of the short- and mid-term activity-related variations in the solar acoustic frequencies
The frequencies of the solar acoustic oscillations vary over the activity
cycle. The variations in other activity proxies are found to be well correlated
with the variations in the acoustic frequencies. However, each proxy has a
slightly different time behaviour. Our goal is to characterize the differences
between the time behaviour of the frequency shifts and of two other activity
proxies, namely, the area covered by sunspots and the 10.7cm flux. We define a
new observable that is particularly sensitive to the short-term frequency
variations. We then compare the observable when computed from model frequency
shifts and from observed frequency shifts obtained with the Global Oscillation
Network Group (GONG) for cycle 23. Our analysis shows that on the shortest
time-scales the variations in the frequency shifts seen in the GONG
observations are strongly correlated with the variations in the area covered by
sunspots. However, a significant loss of correlation is still found. We verify
that the times when the frequency shifts and the sunspot area do not vary in a
similar way tend to coincide with the times of the maxima of the quasi-biennial
variations seen in the solar seismic data. A similar analysis of the relation
between the 10.7cm flux and the frequency shifts reveals that the short-time
variations in the frequency shifts follow even more closely those of the 10.7cm
flux than those of the sunspot area. However, a loss of correlation between
frequency shifts and 10.7cm flux variations is still found around the same
times.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Landau levels of cold atoms in non-Abelian gauge fields
The Landau levels of cold atomic gases in non-Abelian gauge fields are
analyzed. In particular we identify effects on the energy spectrum and density
distribution which are purely due to the non-Abelian character of the fields.
We investigate in detail non-Abelian generalizations of both the Landau and the
symmetric gauge. Finally, we discuss how these non-Abelian Landau and symmetric
gauges may be generated by means of realistically feasible lasers in a tripod
scheme.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
On the relation between activity-related frequency shifts and the sunspot distribution over the solar cycle 23
The activity-related variations in the solar acoustic frequencies have been
known for 30 years. However, the importance of the different contributions is
still not well established. With this in mind, we developed an empirical model
to estimate the spot-induced frequency shifts, which takes into account the
sunspot properties, such as area and latitude. The comparison between the model
frequency shifts obtained from the daily sunspot records and those observed
suggests that the contribution from a stochastic component to the total
frequency shifts is about 30%. The remaining 70% is related to a global,
long-term variation. We also propose a new observable to investigate the short-
and mid-term variations of the frequency shifts, which is insensitive to the
long-term variations contained in the data. On the shortest time scales the
variations in the frequency shifts are strongly correlated with the variations
in the total area covered by sunspots. However, a significant loss of
correlation is still found, which cannot be fully explained by ignoring the
invisible side of the Sun when accounting for the total sunspot area. We also
verify that the times when the frequency shifts and the sunspot areas do not
vary in a similar way tend to coincide with the times of the maximum amplitude
of the quasi-biennial variations found in the seismic data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the Joint TASC2 - KASC9 Workshop -
SPACEINN - HELAS8 Conference "Seismology of the Sun and the Distant Stars
2016: Using Today's Successes to Prepare the Future". To be published by the
EPJ Web of Conference
Field-induced phase transitions of repulsive spin-1 bosons in optical lattices
We study the phase diagram of repulsively interacting spin-1 bosons in
optical lattices at unit filling, showing that an externally induced quadratic
Zeeman effect may lead to a rich physics characterized by various phases and
phase transitions. We find that the main properties of the system may be
described by an effective field model, which provides the precise location of
the phase boundaries for any dimension, being in excellent agreement with our
numerical calculations for one-dimensional systems. Our work provides a
quantitative guide for the experimental analysis of various types of
field-induced quantum phase transitions in spin-1 lattice bosons. These
transitions, which are precluded in spin-1/2 systems, may be realized using an
externally modified quadratic Zeeman coupling, similar to recent experiments
with spinor condensates in the continuum.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Mott-insulator phase of coupled 1D atomic gases in a 2D optical lattice
We discuss the 2D Mott insulator (MI) state of a 2D array of coupled finite
size 1D Bose gases. It is shown that the momentum distribution in the lattice
plane is very sensitive to the interaction regime in the 1D tubes. In
particular, we find that the disappearance of the interference pattern in time
of flight experiments will not be a signature of the MI phase, but a clear
consequence of the strongly interacting Tonks-Girardeau regime along the tubes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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