22,276 research outputs found
Search for the Invisible Decay of Neutrons with KamLAND
The Kamioka Liquid scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector is used in a search for single neutron or two-neutron intranuclear disappearance that would produce holes in the s-shell energy level of ^(12)C nuclei. Such holes could be created as a result of nucleon decay into invisible modes (inv), e.g., n→3ν or nn→2ν. The deexcitation of the corresponding daughter nucleus results in a sequence of space and time-correlated events observable in the liquid scintillator detector. We report on new limits for one- and two-neutron disappearance: τ(n→inv) > 5.8 × 10^(29) years and τ(nn→inv) > 1.4 × 10^(30) years at 90% C.L. These results represent an improvement of factors of ~3 and > 10^4 over previous experiments
Measurement of neutrino oscillation with KamLAND: Evidence of spectral distortion
We present results of a study of neutrino oscillation based on a 766 ton/year exposure of KamLAND to reactor antineutrinos. We observe 258 v_e candidate events with energies above 3.4 MeV compared to 365.2±23.7 events expected in the absence of neutrino oscillation. Accounting for 17.8±7.3 expected background events, the statistical significance for reactor v_e over bar (e) disappearance is 99.998%. The observed energy spectrum disagrees with the expected spectral shape in the absence of neutrino oscillation at 99.6% significance and prefers the distortion expected from v_e oscillation effects. A two-neutrino oscillation analysis of the KamLAND data gives Δm^2=7.9_(-0.5)^(+0.6)x10^(-5) eV^2. A global analysis of data from KamLAND and solar-neutrino experiments yields
Δm^2=7.9_(-0.5)^(+0.6)x10^(-5) eV^2 and tan^2θ=0.40_(-0.07)^(+0.10), the most precise determination to date
Direct Sampling of Negative Quasiprobabilities of a Squeezed State
Although squeezed states are nonclassical states, so far, their
nonclassicality could not be demonstrated by negative quasiprobabilities. In
this work we derive pattern functions for the direct experimental determination
of so-called nonclassicality quasiprobabilities. The negativities of these
quantities turn out to be necessary and sufficient for the nonclassicality of
an arbitrary quantum state and are therefore suitable for a direct and general
test of nonclassicality. We apply the method to a squeezed vacuum state of
light that was generated by parametric down-conversion in a second-order
nonlinear crystal.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, supplementary material adde
Entangled Qubits in a non-Gaussian Quantum State
We experimentally generate and tomographically characterize a mixed, genuinely non-Gaussian bipartite continuous-variable entangled state. By testing entanglement in 22-dimensional two-qubit subspaces, entangled qubits are localized within the density matrix, which, firstly, proves the distillability of the state and, secondly, is useful to estimate the efficiency and test the applicability of distillation protocols. In our example, the entangled qubits are arranged in the density matrix in an asymmetric way, i.e. entanglement is found between diverse qubits composed of different photon number states, although the entangled state is symmetric under exchanging the modes
The comprehensive model system COSMO-ART - Radiative impact of aerosol on the state of the atmosphere on the regional scale
A new fully online coupled model system developed for the evaluation of the interaction of aerosol particles with the atmosphere on the regional scale is described. The model system is based on the operational weather forecast model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst. Physical processes like transport, turbulent diffusion, and dry and wet deposition are treated together with photochemistry and aerosol dynamics using the modal approach. Based on detailed calculations we have developed parameterisations to examine the impact of aerosol particles on photolysis and on radiation. Currently the model allows feedback between natural and anthropogenic aerosol particles and the atmospheric variables that are initialized by the modification of the radiative fluxes. The model system is applied to two summer episodes, each lasting five days, with a model domain covering Western Europe and adjacent regions. The first episode is characterised by almost cloud free conditions and the second one by cloudy conditions. The simulated aerosol concentrations are compared to observations made at 700 stations distributed over Western Europe. <br><br> For each episode two model runs are performed; one where the feedback between the aerosol particles and the atmosphere is taken into account and a second one where the feedback is neglected. Comparing these two sets of model runs, the radiative feedback on temperature and other variables is evaluated. <br><br> In the cloud free case a clear correlation between the aerosol optical depth and changes in global radiation and temperature is found. In the case of cloudy conditions the pure radiative effects are superposed by changes in the liquid water content of the clouds due to changes in the thermodynamics of the atmosphere. In this case the correlation between the aerosol optical depth and its effects on temperature is low. However, on average a decrease in the 2 m temperature is still found. <br><br> For the area of Germany we found on average for both cases a reduction in the global radiation of about 6 W m<sup>2</sup>, a decrease of the 2 m temperature of 0.1 K, and a reduction in the daily temperature range of &minus;0.13 K
Thickness-dependent secondary structure formation of tubelike polymers
By means of sophisticated Monte Carlo methods, we investigate the
conformational phase diagram of a simple model for flexible polymers with
explicit thickness. The thickness constraint, which is introduced geometrically
via the global radius of curvature of a polymer conformation, accounts for the
excluded volume of the polymer and induces cooperative effects supporting the
formation of secondary structures. In our detailed analysis of the temperature
and thickness dependence of the conformational behavior for classes of short
tubelike polymers, we find that known secondary-structure segments like helices
and turns, but also ringlike conformations and stiff rods are dominant
intrinsic topologies governing the phase behavior of such cooperative tubelike
objects. This shows that the thickness constraint is indeed a fundamental
physical parameter that allows for a classification of generic polymer
structures
Ground-state properties of tubelike flexible polymers
In this work we investigate structural properties of native states of a
simple model for short flexible homopolymers, where the steric influence of
monomeric side chains is effectively introduced by a thickness constraint. This
geometric constraint is implemented through the concept of the global radius of
curvature and affects the conformational topology of ground-state structures. A
systematic analysis allows for a thickness-dependent classification of the
dominant ground-state topologies. It turns out that helical structures,
strands, rings, and coils are natural, intrinsic geometries of such tubelike
objects
Joint Optical Flow and Temporally Consistent Semantic Segmentation
The importance and demands of visual scene understanding have been steadily
increasing along with the active development of autonomous systems.
Consequently, there has been a large amount of research dedicated to semantic
segmentation and dense motion estimation. In this paper, we propose a method
for jointly estimating optical flow and temporally consistent semantic
segmentation, which closely connects these two problem domains and leverages
each other. Semantic segmentation provides information on plausible physical
motion to its associated pixels, and accurate pixel-level temporal
correspondences enhance the accuracy of semantic segmentation in the temporal
domain. We demonstrate the benefits of our approach on the KITTI benchmark,
where we observe performance gains for flow and segmentation. We achieve
state-of-the-art optical flow results, and outperform all published algorithms
by a large margin on challenging, but crucial dynamic objects.Comment: 14 pages, Accepted for CVRSUAD workshop at ECCV 201
- …