Atmospheric muon background in the ANTARES detector

An evaluation of the background due to atmospheric muons in the ANTARES high energy neutrino telescope is presented. Two different codes for atmospheric shower simulation have been used. Results from comparisons between these codes at sea level and detector level are presented. The first results on the capability of ANTARES to reject this class of background are given.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To appear in Proceedings of the 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2005), Pune, India, 3 - 10 Aug 200

Effect of dose rate on ion beam mixing in Nb-Si

The influence of dose rate, i.e., ion flux, on ion beam mixing in Nb‐Si bilayer samples was measured at room temperature and 325 °C. At the higher temperature, an increase in dose rate of a factor of 20 caused a decrease in the thickness of the mixed layer by a factor of 1.6 for equal total doses. At room temperature, the same change in flux had no effect on mixing. These results are consistent with radiation‐enhanced diffusion theory in the recombination‐limited regime

Compressibility of CeMIn5Ce M In_5 and Ce2MIn8Ce_2 M In_8 (M = Rh, Ir and Co) Compounds

The lattice parameters of the tetragonal compounds Ce$M$In$_{5}$ and Ce$_{2}M$In$_{8}$($M=$Rh, Ir and Co) have been studied as a function of pressure up to 15 GPa using a diamond anvil cell under both hydrostatic and quasihydrostatic conditions at room temperature. The addition of $M$In$_{2}$ layers to the parent CeIn$_{3}$ compound is found to stiffen the lattice as the 2-layer systems (average of bulk modulus values $B_{0}$ is 70.4 GPa) have a larger $B_{0}$ than CeIn$_{3}$ (67 GPa), while the 1-layer systems with the are even stiffer (average of $B_{0}$ is 81.4 GPa). Estimating the hybridization using parameters from tight binding calculations shows that the dominant hybridization is $fp$ in nature between the Ce and In atoms. The values of $V_{pf}$ at the pressure where the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ reaches a maximum is the same for all Ce$M$In$_{5}$ compounds. By plotting the maximum values of the superconducting transition temperature $T_{c}$ versus $c/a$ for the studied compounds and Pu-based superconductors, we find a universal $T_{c}$ versus $c/a$ behavior when these quantities are normalized appropriately. These results are consistent with magnetically mediated superconductivity.Comment: Updated version resubmitted to Phys. Rev.

Direct frequency comb spectroscopy of trapped ions

Direct frequency comb spectroscopy of trapped ions is demonstated for the first time. It is shown that the 4s^2S_(1/2)-4p^2P_(3/2) transition in calcium ions can be excited directly with a frequency comb laser that is upconverted to 393 nm. Detection of the transition is performed using a shelving scheme to suppress background signal from non-resonant comb modes. The measured transition frequency of f=761 905 012.7(0.5) MHz presents an improvement in accuracy of more than two orders of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figur

Two Modes of Magnetization Switching in a Simulated Iron Nanopillar in an Obliquely Oriented Field

Finite-temperature micromagnetics simulations are employed to study the magnetization-switching dynamics driven by a field applied at an angle to the long axis of an iron nanopillar. A bi-modal distribution in the switching times is observed, and evidence for two competing modes of magnetization-switching dynamics is presented. For the conditions studied here, temperature $T = 20$ K and the reversal field 3160 Oe at an angle of 75$^\circ$ to the long axis, approximately 70% of the switches involve unstable decay (no free-energy barrier) and 30% involve metastable decay (a free-energy barrier is crossed). The latter are indistinguishable from switches which are constrained to start at a metastable free-energy minimum. Competition between unstable and metastable decay could greatly complicate applications involving magnetization switches near the coercive field.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

Radiative acceleration and transient, radiation-induced electric fields

The radiative acceleration of particles and the electrostatic potential fields that arise in low density plasmas hit by radiation produced by a transient, compact source are investigated. We calculate the dynamical evolution and asymptotic energy of the charged particles accelerated by the photons and the radiation-induced electric double layer in the full relativistic, Klein-Nishina regime. For fluxes in excess of $10^{27}$ ${\rm erg} {\rm cm}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}$, the radiative force on a diluted plasma (n\la 10^{11} cm$^{-3}$) is so strong that electrons are accelerated rapidly to relativistic speeds while ions lag behind owing to their larger inertia. The ions are later effectively accelerated by the strong radiation-induced double layer electric field up to Lorentz factors $\approx 100$, attainable in the case of negligible Compton drag. The asymptotic energies achieved by both ions and electrons are larger by a factor 2--4 with respect to what one could naively expect assuming that the electron-ion assembly is a rigidly coupled system. The regime we investigate may be relevant within the framework of giant flares from soft gamma-repeaters.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, ApJ, in press (tentatively scheduled for the v. 592, 2003 issue