Mixed symmetry localized modes and breathers in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

We study localized modes in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates embedded in one-dimensional optical lattices. We report a diversity of asymmetric modes and investigate their dynamics. We concentrate on the cases where one of the components is dominant, i.e. has much larger number of atoms than the other one, and where both components have the numbers of atoms of the same order but different symmetries. In the first case we propose a method of systematic obtaining the modes, considering the "small" component as bifurcating from the continuum spectrum. A generalization of this approach combined with the use of the symmetry of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations allows obtaining breather modes, which are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure

Magic mirror on the wall: Selfie-related behavior as mediator of the relationship between narcissism and problematic smartphone use

Objective: Recent research has suggested that problematic smartphone use is associated with several psychological factors and that mobile apps and smartphone-related behavior (i.e. selfi e behavior) may encourage the development of problematic smartphone use. However, little is known about how the interplay between dysfunctional personality characteristics and selfi e-related behavior can infl uence problematic smartphone use. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between narcissism and problematic smartphone use, as well as the mediating role of selfi e-related behavior in this relationship among young men and women. Method: In the current study, a total of 627 undergraduate students (283 males and 344 females) completed a cross-sectional survey. A structural equation model was tested separately for males and females in order to evaluate the associations between narcissism, selfi e-related behavior and problematic smartphone use. Results: The results showed that greater narcissism was related to increased selfi e-related behavior, which in turn were positively associated with problematic smartphone use both for males and females. However, selfi e-related behavior mediated the relationship between narcissism and problematic smartphone use only for females. Conclusions: The study provides fresh insight into our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying problematic smartphone use, which may inform prevention and treatment interventions

Ratchet-like dynamics of fluxons in annular Josephson junctions driven by bi-harmonic microwave fields

Experimental observation of the unidirectional motion of a topological soliton driven by a bi-harmonic ac force of zero mean is reported. The observation is made by measuring the current-voltage characteristics for a fluxon trapped in an annular Josephson junction that was placed into a microwave field. The measured dependence of the fluxon mean velocity (rectified voltage) at zero dc bias versus the phase shift between the first and second harmonic of the driving force is in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations.Comment: 6 figure

Quantum signatures of breather-breather interactions

The spectrum of the Quantum Discrete Nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on a periodic 1D lattice shows some interesting detailed band structure which may be interpreted as the quantum signature of a two-breather interaction in the classical case. We show that this fine structure can be interpreted using degenerate perturbation theory.Comment: 4 pages, 4 fig

Reversible effect of magnetic fields on human lymphocyte activation patterns: different sensitivity of naive and memory lymphocyte subsets.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of 50 Hz magnetic or static magnetic fields of 0.5 mT on subsets of human CD4+ T cells in terms of cytokine release/content, cell proliferation and intracellular free calcium concentration. CD4+ T cells can be divided into different subsets on the basis of surface marker expression, such as CD45, and T cells can be divided into naive (CD45RA+) and memory (CD45RA2) cells. In this study, the effects of magnetic fields after 24 and 48 h of cell culture were analyzed. We found that the CD4+CD45RA2 T subset were more sensitive after 2 h of exposure. Decreases in the release/content of IFN-c, in cell proliferation and in intracellular free calcium concentrations were observed in exposed CD4+CD45RA2 T cells compared to CD4+CD45RA+ T cells. The results suggest that exposure to the magnetic fields induces a delay in the response to stimulants and that modifications are rapidly reversible, at least after a short exposure

Correlated Component Analysis for diffuse component separation with error estimation on simulated Planck polarization data

We present a data analysis pipeline for CMB polarization experiments, running from multi-frequency maps to the power spectra. We focus mainly on component separation and, for the first time, we work out the covariance matrix accounting for errors associated to the separation itself. This allows us to propagate such errors and evaluate their contributions to the uncertainties on the final products.The pipeline is optimized for intermediate and small scales, but could be easily extended to lower multipoles. We exploit realistic simulations of the sky, tailored for the Planck mission. The component separation is achieved by exploiting the Correlated Component Analysis in the harmonic domain, that we demonstrate to be superior to the real-space application (Bonaldi et al. 2006). We present two techniques to estimate the uncertainties on the spectral parameters of the separated components. The component separation errors are then propagated by means of Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the corresponding contributions to uncertainties on the component maps and on the CMB power spectra. For the Planck polarization case they are found to be subdominant compared to noise.Comment: 17 pages, accepted in MNRA

Three dimensional imaging of short pulses

We exploit a slightly noncollinear second-harmonic cross-correlation scheme to map the 3D space-time intensity distribution of an unknown complex-shaped ultrashort optical pulse. We show the capability of the technique to reconstruct both the amplitude and the phase of the field through the coherence of the nonlinear interaction down to a resolution of 10 $\mu$m in space and 200 fs in time. This implies that the concept of second-harmonic holography can be employed down to the sub-ps time scale, and used to discuss the features of the technique in terms of the reconstructed fields.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure