298 research outputs found
Franck-Condon Effect in Central Spin System
We study the quantum transitions of a central spin surrounded by a
collective-spin environment. It is found that the influence of the
environmental spins on the absorption spectrum of the central spin can be
explained with the analog of the Franck-Condon (FC) effect in conventional
electron-phonon interaction system. Here, the collective spins of the
environment behave as the vibrational mode, which makes the electron to be
transitioned mainly with the so-called "vertical transitions" in the
conventional FC effect. The "vertical transition" for the central spin in the
spin environment manifests as, the certain collective spin states of the
environment is favored, which corresponds to the minimal change in the average
of the total spin angular momentum.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Green functions for generalized point interactions in 1D: A scattering approach
Recently, general point interactions in one dimension has been used to model
a large number of different phenomena in quantum mechanics. Such potentials,
however, requires some sort of regularization to lead to meaningful results.
The usual ways to do so rely on technicalities which may hide important
physical aspects of the problem. In this work we present a new method to
calculate the exact Green functions for general point interactions in 1D. Our
approach differs from previous ones because it is based only on physical
quantities, namely, the scattering coefficients, and , to construct .
Renormalization or particular mathematical prescriptions are not invoked. The
simple formulation of the method makes it easy to extend to more general
contexts, such as for lattices of general point interactions; on a line; on
a half-line; under periodic boundary conditions; and confined in a box.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, 3 EPS figures. To be published in PR
Measuring the Weak Phase gamma in Color Allowed B->DKpi Decays
We present a method to measure the weak phase gamma in the three-body decay
of charged B mesons to the final states D K pi0. These decays are mediated by
interfering amplitudes which are color-allowed and hence relatively large. As a
result, large CP violation effects that could be observed with high statistical
significance are possible. In addition, the three-body decay helps resolve
discrete ambiguities that are usually present in measurements of the weak
phase. The experimental implications of conducting these measurements with
three-body decays are discussed, and the sensitivity of the method is evaluated
using a simulation.Comment: 18 pages, LaTex, 15 eps and ps figure
From thermal rectifiers to thermoelectric devices
We discuss thermal rectification and thermoelectric energy conversion from
the perspective of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and dynamical systems
theory. After preliminary considerations on the dynamical foundations of the
phenomenological Fourier law in classical and quantum mechanics, we illustrate
ways to control the phononic heat flow and design thermal diodes. Finally, we
consider the coupled transport of heat and charge and discuss several general
mechanisms for optimizing the figure of merit of thermoelectric efficiency.Comment: 42 pages, 22 figures, review paper, to appear in the Springer Lecture
Notes in Physics volume "Thermal transport in low dimensions: from
statistical physics to nanoscale heat transfer" (S. Lepri ed.
A look at the other 90 per cent: Investigating British Sign Language vocabulary knowledge in deaf children from different language learning backgrounds
In this study we present new data on deaf children's receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge in British Sign Language (BSL) from a sample consisting of children with deaf parents, children with hearing parents, and children with additional needs. Their performance on three BSL vocabulary tasks was compared with (previously reported findings from) a sample of deaf fluent signers. We use these data to assess the effects of some key demographic/ child variables on deaf signing children's vocabulary and discuss findings in the relation to the meaning of 'normative' data and samples for this heterogeneous population. Findings show no effect of the presence of additional disabilities on participants' scores for any of the three tasks. As expected, chronological age is the most significant factor in performance on all vocabulary tasks while the number of deaf relatives only becomes statistically significant for the form recall task. This study contributes to the field of sign language assessment by seeking to identify key variables in heterogeneity and how these variables affect signed vocabulary acquisition with the long-term objective of informing intervention
Study of the B^0 Semileptonic Decay Spectrum at the Upsilon(4S) Resonance
We have made a first measurement of the lepton momentum spectrum in a sample
of events enriched in neutral B's through a partial reconstruction of B0 -->
D*- l+ nu. This spectrum, measured with 2.38 fb**-1 of data collected at the
Upsilon(4S) resonance by the CLEO II detector, is compared directly to the
inclusive lepton spectrum from all Upsilon(4S) events in the same data set.
These two spectra are consistent with having the same shape above 1.5 GeV/c.
From the two spectra and two other CLEO measurements, we obtain the B0 and B+
semileptonic branching fractions, b0 and b+, their ratio, and the production
ratio f+-/f00 of B+ and B0 pairs at the Upsilon(4S). We report b+/b0=0.950
(+0.117-0.080) +- 0.091, b0 = (10.78 +- 0.60 +- 0.69)%, and b+ = (10.25 +- 0.57
+- 0.65)%. b+/b0 is equivalent to the ratio of charged to neutral B lifetimes,
tau+/tau0.Comment: 14 page, postscript file also available at
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Measurement of the Mass Splittings between the States
We present new measurements of photon energies and branching fractions for
the radiative transitions: Upsilon(2S)->gamma+chi_b(J=0,1,2). The masses of the
chi_b states are determined from the measured radiative photon energies. The
ratio of mass splittings between the chi_b substates,
r==(M[J=2]-M[J=1])/(M[J=1]-M[J=0]) with M the chi_b mass, provides information
on the nature of the bbbar confining potential. We find
r(1P)=0.54+/-0.02+/-0.02. This value is in conflict with the previous world
average, but more consistent with the theoretical expectation that r(1P)<r(2P);
i.e., that this mass splittings ratio is smaller for the chi_b(1P) triplet than
for the chi_b(2P) triplet.Comment: 11 page postscript file, postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Radiative Decay Modes of the Meson
Using data recorded by the CLEO-II detector at CESR we have searched for four
radiative decay modes of the meson: ,
, , and . We
obtain 90% CL upper limits on the branching ratios of these modes of , , and
respectively.Comment: 15 page postscript file, postscript file also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
I will not go, I cannot go: cultural and social limitations of disaster preparedness in Asia, Africa, and Oceania
While much work has been invested in addressing the economic and technical basis of disaster preparedness, less effort has been directed towards understanding the cultural and social obstacles to and opportunities for disaster risk reduction. This paper presents local insights from five different national settings into the cultural and social contexts of disaster preparedness. In most cases, an early warning system was in place, but it failed to alert people to diverse environmental shocks. The research findings show that despite geographical and typological differences in these locations, the limitations of the systems were fairly similar. In Kenya, people received warnings, but from contradictory systems, whereas in the Philippines and on the island of Saipan, people did not understand the messages or take them seriously. In Bangladesh and Nepal, however, a deeper cultural and religious reasoning serves to explain disasters, and how to prevent them or find safety when they strike
SN 2018bsz: a Type I superluminous supernova with aspherical circumstellar material
We present a spectroscopic analysis of the most nearby Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN-I), SN 2018bsz. The photometric evolution of SN 2018bsz has several surprising features, including an unusual pre-peak plateau and evidence for rapid formation of dust ≳200 d post-peak. We show here that the spectroscopic and polarimetric properties of SN 2018bsz are also unique. While its spectroscopic evolution closely resembles SLSNe-I, with early O II absorption and C II P Cygni profiles followed by Ca, Mg, Fe, and other O features, a multi-component Hα profile appearing at ∼30 d post-maximum is the most atypical. The Hα is at first characterised by two emission components, one at ∼+3000 km s−1 and a second at ∼ − 7500 km s−1, with a third, near-zero-velocity component appearing after a delay. The blue and central components can be described by Gaussian profiles of intermediate width (FWHM ∼ 2000–6000 km s−1), but the red component is significantly broader (FWHM ≳ 10 000 km s−1) and Lorentzian. The blue Hα component evolves towards a lower-velocity offset before abruptly fading at ∼ + 100 d post-maximum brightness, concurrently with a light curve break. Multi-component profiles are observed in other hydrogen lines, including Paβ, and in lines of Ca II and He I. Spectropolarimetry obtained before (10.2 d) and after (38.4 d) the appearance of the H lines shows a large shift on the Stokes Q – U plane consistent with SN 2018bsz undergoing radical changes in its projected geometry. Assuming the supernova is almost unpolarised at 10.2 d, the continuum polarisation at 38.4 d reaches P ∼ 1.8%, implying an aspherical configuration. We propose that the observed evolution of SN 2018bsz can be explained by highly aspherical, possibly disk-like, circumstellar material (CSM) with several emitting regions. After the supernova explosion, the CSM is quickly overtaken by the ejecta, but as the photosphere starts to recede, the different CSM regions re-emerge, producing the peculiar line profiles. Based on the first appearance of Hα, we can constrain the distance of the CSM to be less than ∼6.5 × 1015 cm (430 AU), or even lower (≲87 AU) if the pre-peak plateau is related to an eruption that created the CSM. The presence of CSM has been inferred previously for other SLSNe-I, both directly and indirectly. However, it is not clear whether the rare properties of SN 2018bsz can be generalised for SLSNe-I, for example in the context of pulsational pair instability, or whether they are the result of an uncommon evolutionary path, possibly involving a binary companion
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