Decay of Quasi-Particle in a Quantum Dot: the role of Energy Resolution

The disintegration of quasiparticle in a quantum dot due to the electron interaction is considered. It was predicted recently that above the energy \eps^{*} = \Delta(g/\ln g)^{1/2} each one particle peak in the spectrum is split into many components ($\Delta$ and $g$ are the one particle level spacing and conductance). We show that the observed value of \eps^{*} should depend on the experimental resolution \delta \eps. In the broad region of variation of \delta \eps the $\ln g$ should be replaced by \ln(\Delta/ g\delta \eps). We also give the arguments against the delocalization transition in the Fock space. Most likely the number of satellite peaks grows continuously with energy, being $\sim 1$ at \eps \sim \eps^{*}, but remains finite at \eps > \eps^{*}. The predicted logarithmic distribution of inter-peak spacings may be used for experimental confirmation of the below-Golden-Rule decay.Comment: 5 pages, REVTEX, 2 eps figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Very-wide-field camera. Proposal of Space Astronomy Laboratory for second Spacelab mission

A proposal is made for inclusion of a very wide field camera onboard Spacelab. Its scientific program is outlined: detection and photometry, spectrography, and star and starlike object photography. The optics, receptor, and mechanical structure are described. Scientific and technical constraints are discussed, and a development plan is detailed. The dust contamination of Spacelab using the camera was also studied

Properties of low-lying states in a diffusive quantum dot and Fock-space localization

Motivated by an experiment by Sivan et al. (Europhys. Lett. 25, 605 (1994)) and by subsequent theoretical work on localization in Fock space, we study numerically a hierarchical model for a finite many-body system of Fermions moving in a disordered potential and coupled by a two-body interaction. We focus attention on the low-lying states close to the Fermi energy. Both the spreading width and the participation number depend smoothly on excitation energy. This behavior is in keeping with naive expectations and does not display Anderson localization. We show that the model reproduces essential features of the experiment by Sivan et al.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Movement ecology and sex are linked to barn owl microbial community composition.

The behavioural ecology of host species is likely to affect their microbial communities, because host sex, diet, physiology, and movement behaviour could all potentially influence their microbiota. We studied a wild population of barn owls (Tyto alba) and collected data on their microbiota, movement, diet, size, coloration, and reproduction. The composition of bacterial species differed by the sex of the host and female owls had more diverse bacterial communities than their male counterparts. The abundance of two families of bacteria, Actinomycetaceae and Lactobacillaceae, also varied between the sexes, potentially as a result of sex differences in hormones and immunological function, as has previously been found with Lactobacillaceae in the microbiota of mice. Male and female owls did not differ in the prey they brought to the nest, which suggests that dietary differences are unlikely to underlie the differences in their microbiota. The movement behaviour of the owls was associated with the host microbiota in both males and females because owls that moved further from their nest each day had more diverse bacterial communities than owls that stayed closer to their nests. This novel result suggests that the movement ecology of hosts can impact their microbiota, potentially on the basis of their differential encounters with new bacterial species as the hosts move and forage across the landscape. Overall, we found that many aspects of the microbial community are correlated with the behavioural ecology of the host and that data on the microbiota can aid in generating new hypotheses about host behaviour