788 research outputs found
Increase in Skin Surface Lipids During Nutritional Rehabilitation of Male Alcoholics**From the Division of Dermatology, Case-Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.
Skin surface lipid production was studied in a group of chronic alcoholics during a period when alcohol was replaced by a balanced diet. All subjects studied had abnormal liver function tests at the start and these returned to normal during the study. A statistically significant increase in skin surface lipid production occurred during the period of observation. Although several explanations are available, the reason for this increase is unknown
Fundamental Behavior of Electric Field Enhancements in the Gaps Between Closely Spaced Nanostructures
We demonstrate that the electric field enhancement that occurs in a gap
between two closely spaced nanostructures, such as metallic nanoparticles, is
the result of a transverse electromagnetic waveguide mode. We derive an
explicit semianalytic equation for the enhancement as a function of gap size,
which we show has a universal qualitative behavior in that it applies
irrespective of the material or geometry of the nanostructures and even in the
presence of surface plasmons. Examples of perfect electrically conducting and
Ag thin-wire antennas and a dimer of Ag spheres are presented and discussed.Comment: 9 pages and 4 figure
Approaches and concepts of modelling denitrification: increased process understanding using observational data can reduce uncertainties
Denitrification is a key but poorly quantified component of the Ncycle. Because it is difficult to measure the gaseous (NO, NO, N)and soluble (NO) components of denitrification with sufficientintensity, models of varying scope and complexity have beendeveloped and applied to estimate how vegetation cover, landmanagement and environmental factors such as soil type andweather interact to control these variables. In this paper we assessthe strengths and limitations of different modeling approaches,highlight major uncertainties, and suggest how differentobservational methods and process-based understanding can becombined to better quantify N cycling. Representation of howbiogeochemical (e.g. org. C., pH) and physical (e.g. soil structure)factors influence denitrification rates and product ratios combinedwith ensemble approaches may increase accuracy withoutrequiring additional site level model inputs
Quantum statistics and locality
It is shown that two observers have mutually commuting observables if they
are able to prepare in each subsector of their common state space some state
exhibiting no mutual correlations. This result establishes a heretofore missing
link between statistical and locality (commensurability) properties of the
observables of spacelike separated observers in relativistic quantum physics,
envisaged four decades ago by Haag and Kastler. It is based on a discussion of
coincidence experiments and suggests a physically meaningful quantitative
measure of possible violations of Einstein causality.Comment: 3 pages, no figure
Direct and Simultaneous Observation of Ultrafast Electron and Hole Dynamics in Germanium
Understanding excited carrier dynamics in semiconductors is crucial for the
development of photovoltaics and efficient photonic devices. However,
overlapping spectral features in optical/NIR pump-probe spectroscopy often
render assignments of separate electron and hole carrier dynamics ambiguous.
Here, ultrafast electron and hole dynamics in germanium nanocrystalline thin
films are directly and simultaneously observed by attosecond transient
absorption spectroscopy (ATAS) in the extreme ultraviolet at the germanium
M_{4,5}-edge (~30 eV). We decompose the ATAS spectra into contributions of
electronic state blocking and photo-induced band shifts at a carrier density of
8*10^{20}cm^{-3}. Separate electron and hole relaxation times are observed as a
function of hot carrier energies. A first order electron and hole decay of ~1
ps suggests a Shockley-Read-Hall recombination mechanism. The simultaneous
observation of electrons and holes with ATAS paves the way for investigating
few to sub-femtosecond dynamics of both holes and electrons in complex
semiconductor materials and across junctions.Comment: Includes Supplementary Informatio
Efficient Classical Simulation of Optical Quantum Circuits
We identify a broad class of physical processes in an optical quantum circuit
that can be efficiently simulated on a classical computer: this class includes
unitary transformations, amplification, noise, and measurements. This
simulatability result places powerful constraints on the capability to realize
exponential quantum speedups as well as on inducing an optical nonlinear
transformation via linear optics, photodetection-based measurement and
classical feedforward of measurement results, optimal cloning, and a wide range
of other processes.Comment: 4 pages, published versio
Attosecond Time-Domain Measurement of Core-Level-Exciton Decay in Magnesium Oxide.
Excitation of ionic solids with extreme ultraviolet pulses creates localized core-level excitons, which in some cases couple strongly to the lattice. Here, core-level-exciton states of magnesium oxide are studied in the time domain at the Mg L_{2,3} edge with attosecond transient reflectivity spectroscopy. Attosecond pulses trigger the excitation of these short-lived quasiparticles, whose decay is perturbed by time-delayed near-infrared pulses. Combined with a few-state theoretical model, this reveals that the infrared pulse shifts the energy of bright (dipole-allowed) core-level-exciton states as well as induces features arising from dark core-level excitons. We report coherence lifetimes for the two lowest core-level excitons of 2.3±0.2 and 1.6±0.5  fs and show that these are primarily a consequence of strong exciton-phonon coupling, disclosing the drastic influence of structural effects in this ultrafast relaxation process
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