54,556 research outputs found
A model for the time uncertainty measurements in the Auger surface detector array
The precise determination of the arrival direction of cosmic rays is a
fundamental prerequisite for the search for sources or the study of their
anisotropies on the sky. One of the most important aspects to achieve an
optimal measurement of these directions is to properly take into account the
measurement uncertainties in the estimation procedure. In this article we
present a model for the uncertainties associated with the time measurements in
the Auger surface detector array. We show that this model represents well the
measurement uncertainties and therefore provides the basis for an optimal
determination of the arrival direction. With this model and a description of
the shower front geometry it is possible to estimate, on an event by event
basis, the uncertainty associated with the determination of the arrival
directions of the cosmic rays
Analytical BPS Maxwell-Higgs vortices
We have established a prescription for the calculation of analytical vortex
solutions in the context of generalized Maxwell-Higgs models whose overall
dynamics is controlled by two positive functions of the scalar field. We have
also determined a natural constraint between these functions and the Higgs
potential allowing the existence of axially symmetric
Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) solutions possessing finite energy.
Furthermore, when the generalizing functions are chosen suitably, the
nonstandard BPS equations can be solved exactly. We have studied some examples,
comparing them with the usual Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen (ANO) solution. The
overall conclusion is that the analytical self-dual vortices are well-behaved
in all relevant sectors, strongly supporting the generalized models they belong
themselves. In particular, our results mimic well-known properties of the usual
(numerical) configurations, as localized energy density, while contributing to
the understanding of topological solitons and their description by means of
analytical methods.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Response of key stress-related genes of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in the vicinity of submarine volcanic vents
Submarine volcanic vents are being used as natural laboratories to assess the effects of increased ocean acidity and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration on marine organisms and communities. However, in the vicinity of volcanic vents other factors in addition to CO2, which is the main gaseous component of the emissions, may directly or indirectly confound the biota responses to high CO2. Here we used for the first time the expression of antioxidant and stress-related genes of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to assess the stress levels of the species. Our hypothesis is that unknown factors are causing metabolic stress that may confound the putative effects attributed to CO2 enrichment only. We analyzed the expression of 35 antioxidant and stress-related genes of P. oceanica in the vicinity of submerged volcanic vents located in the islands of Ischia and Panarea, Italy, and compared them with those from control sites away from the influence of vents. Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to characterize gene expression patterns. Fifty-one percent of genes analyzed showed significant expression changes. Metal detoxification genes were mostly down-regulated in relation to controls at both Ischia and Panarea, indicating that P. oceanica does not increase the synthesis of heavy metal detoxification proteins in response to the environmental conditions present at the two vents. The up-regulation of genes involved in the free radical detoxification response (e.g., CAPX, SODCP and GR) indicates that, in contrast with Ischia, P. oceanica at the Panarea site faces stressors that result in the production of reactive oxygen species, triggering antioxidant responses. In addition, heat shock proteins were also activated at Panarea and not at Ischia. These proteins are activated to adjust stress-accumulated misfolded proteins and prevent their aggregation as a response to some stressors, not necessarily high temperature. This is the first study analyzing the expression of target genes in marine plants living near natural CO2 vents. Our results call for contention to the general claim of seagrasses as "winners" in a high-CO2 world, based on observations near volcanic vents. Careful consideration of factors that are at play in natural vents sites other than CO2 and acidification is required. This study also constitutes a first step for using stress-related genes as indicators of environmental pressures in a changing ocean.project HighGrass "High-CO2 effects on seagrass photosynthetic ecophysiology" [PTDC/MAREST/3687/2012]; MIUR Italian flagship project RITMARE; ESF COST Action "Seagrass Productivity: from genes to ecosystem management
Coherent State Path Integrals in the Weyl Representation
We construct a representation of the coherent state path integral using the
Weyl symbol of the Hamiltonian operator. This representation is very different
from the usual path integral forms suggested by Klauder and Skagerstan in
\cite{Klau85}, which involve the normal or the antinormal ordering of the
Hamiltonian. These different representations, although equivalent quantum
mechanically, lead to different semiclassical limits. We show that the
semiclassical limit of the coherent state propagator in Weyl representation is
involves classical trajectories that are independent on the coherent states
width. This propagator is also free from the phase corrections found in
\cite{Bar01} for the two Klauder forms and provides an explicit connection
between the Wigner and the Husimi representations of the evolution operator.Comment: 23 page
Observational Constraints on Visser's Cosmological Model
Theories of gravity for which gravitons can be treated as massive particles
have presently been studied as realistic modifications of General Relativity,
and can be tested with cosmological observations. In this work, we study the
ability of a recently proposed theory with massive gravitons, the so-called
Visser theory, to explain the measurements of luminosity distance from the
Union2 compilation, the most recent Type-Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) dataset,
adopting the current ratio of the total density of non-relativistic matter to
the critical density () as a free parameter. We also combine the SNe
Ia data with constraints from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and CMB
measurements. We find that, for the allowed interval of values for ,
a model based on Visser's theory can produce an accelerated expansion period
without any dark energy component, but the combined analysis (SNe Ia + BAO +
CMB) shows that the model is disfavored when compared with CDM model.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Universal and deterministic manipulation of the quantum state of harmonic oscillators: a route to unitary gates for Fock State qubits
We present a simple quantum circuit that allows for the universal and
deterministic manipulation of the quantum state of confined harmonic
oscillators. The scheme is based on the selective interactions of the referred
oscillator with an auxiliary three-level system and a classical external
driving source, and enables any unitary operations on Fock states, two-by-two.
One circuit is equivalent to a single qubit unitary logical gate on Fock states
qubits. Sequences of similar protocols allow for complete, deterministic and
state-independent manipulation of the harmonic oscillator quantum state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Sympathetic cooling of trapped fermions by bosons in the presence of particle losses
We study the sympathetic cooling of a trapped Fermi gas interacting with an
ideal Bose gas below the critical temperature of the Bose-Einstein
condensation. We derive the quantum master equation, which describes the
dynamics of the fermionic component, and postulating the thermal distribution
for both gases we calculate analytically the rate at which fermions are cooled
by the bosonic atoms. The particle losses constitute an important source of
heating of the degenerate Fermi gas. We evaluate the rate of loss-induced
heating and derive analytical results for the final temperature of fermions,
which is limited in the presence of particle losses.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, EPL style; final versio
Natural inflation in 5D warped backgrounds
In light of the five-year data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
(WMAP), we discuss models of inflation based on the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone
potential predicted in five-dimensional gauge theories for different
backgrounds: flat Minkowski, anti-de Sitter, and dilatonic spacetime. In this
framework, the inflaton potential is naturally flat due to shift symmetries and
the mass scales associated with it are related to 5D geometrical quantities.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; matches version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Abrupt Changes in the Dynamics of Quantum Disentanglement
Entanglement evolution in high dimensional bipartite systems under
dissipation is studied. Discontinuities for the time derivative of the lower
bound of entanglement of formation is found depending on the initial conditions
for entangled states. This abrupt changes along the evolution appears as
precursors of entanglement sudden death.Comment: 4 pages and 6 figures, submitted for publicatio
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