Measurement of excited-state transitions in cold calcium atoms by direct femtosecond frequency-comb spectroscopy

We apply direct frequency-comb spectroscopy, in combination with precision cw spectroscopy, to measure the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1 \to {\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ transition frequency in cold calcium atoms. A 657 nm ultrastable cw laser was used to excite atoms on the narrow ($\gamma \sim 400$ Hz) ${\rm 4s^2} ^1S_0 \to {\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1$ clock transition, and the direct output of the frequency comb was used to excite those atoms from the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1$ state to the ${\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ state. The resonance of this second stage was detected by observing a decrease in population of the ground state as a result of atoms being optically pumped to the metastable ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_{0,2}$ states. The ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_1 \to {\rm 4s5s} ^3S_1$ transition frequency is measured to be $\nu = 489 544 285 713(56)$ kHz; which is an improvement by almost four orders of magnitude over the previously measured value. In addition, we demonstrate spectroscopy on magnetically trapped atoms in the ${\rm 4s4p} ^3P_2$ state.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure

Non-equilibrium raft-like membrane domains under continuous recycling

We present a model for the kinetics of spontaneous membrane domain (raft) assembly that includes the effect of membrane recycling ubiquitous in living cells. We show that the domains have a broad power-law distribution with an average radius that scales with the 1/4 power of the domain lifetime when the line tension at the domain edges is large. For biologically reasonable recycling and diffusion rates the average domain radius is in the tens of nm range, consistent with observations. This represents one possible link between signaling (involving rafts) and traffic (recycling) in cells. Finally, we present evidence that suggests that the average raft size may be the same for all scale-free recycling schemes.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Relativistic recoil, electron-correlation, and QED effects on the 2p_j-2s transition energies in Li-like ions

The relativistic nuclear recoil, higher-order interelectronic-interaction, and screened QED corrections to the transition energies in Li-like ions are evaluated. The calculation of the relativistic recoil effect is performed to all orders in 1/Z. The interelectronic-interaction correction to the transition energies beyond the two-photon exchange level is evaluated to all orders in 1/Z within the Breit approximation. The evaluation is carried out employing the large-scale configuration-interaction Dirac-Fock-Sturm method. The rigorous calculation of the complete gauge invariant sets of the screened self-energy and vacuum-polarization diagrams is performed utilizing a local screening potential as the zeroth-order approximation. The theoretical predictions for the 2p_j-2s transition energies are compiled and compared with available experimental data in the range of the nuclear charge number Z=10-60.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figures, 11 table

Finite Temperature Lattice QCD with Clover Fermions

We report on our simulation of finite temperature lattice QCD with two flavors of ${\cal O}(a)$ Symanzik-improved fermions and ${\cal O}(a^2)$ Symanzik-improved glue. Our thermodynamic simulations were performed on an $8^3 \times 4$ lattice, and we have performed complementary zero temperature simulations on an $8^3 \times 16$ lattice. We compare our results to those from simulations with two flavors of Wilson fermions and discuss the improvement resulting from use of the improved action.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Talk presented at Lattice 9

Exotic hybrid mesons with light quarks

Hybrid mesons, made from a quark, an antiquark and gluons, can have quantum numbers inaccessible to conventional quark-antiquark states. Confirmation of such states would give information on the role of "dynamical" color in low energy QCD. We present preliminary results for hybrid meson masses using light Wilson valence quarks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Talk presented at LATTICE96(spectrum

Update on the hadron spectrum with two flavors of staggered quarks

We present an update on the MILC Collaboration's light hadron spectrum calculation with two flavors of dynamical, staggered quarks. We present extrapolations of the nucleon to rho mass ratio to the continuum limit for fixed values of the pi to rho mass ratio including the physical one.Comment: 3 pages, LaTex with espcrc2 and epsf, 5 postscript figures included, Lattice '97 Proceeding