217 research outputs found
Lineshape of harmonic generation by metallic nanoparticles and metallic photonic crystal slabs
Variation of the carrier-envelope phase of few-cycle laser pulses owing to the Gouy phase: a solid-state-based measurement
The discrepancy in G-band contrast: Where is the quiet Sun?
We compare the rms contrast in observed speckle reconstructed G-band images
with synthetic filtergrams computed from two magneto-hydrodynamic simulation
snapshots. The observations consist of 103 bursts of 80 frames each taken at
the Dunn Solar Telescope (DST), sampled at twice the diffraction limit of the
telescope. The speckle reconstructions account for the performance of the
Adaptive Optics (AO) system at the DST to supply reliable photometry. We find a
considerable discrepancy in the observed rms contrast of 14.1% for the best
reconstructed images, and the synthetic rms contrast of 21.5% in a simulation
snapshot thought to be representative of the quiet Sun. The areas of features
in the synthetic filtergrams that have positive or negative contrast beyond the
minimum and maximum values in the reconstructed images have spatial scales that
should be resolved. This leads us to conclude that there are fundamental
differences in the rms G-band contrast between observed and computed
filtergrams. On the basis of the substantially reduced granular contrast of
16.3% in the synthetic plage filtergram we speculate that the quiet-Sun may
contain more weak magnetic field than previously thought.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Evidence for Third-Harmonic Generation in Disguise of Second-Harmonic Generation in Extreme Nonlinear Optics
Stratification of sunspot umbral dots from inversion of Stokes profiles recorded by Hinode
This work aims to constrain the physical nature of umbral dots (UDs) using
high-resolution spectropolarimetry. Full Stokes spectra recorded by the
spectropolarimeter on Hinode of 51 UDs in a sunspot close to the disk center
are analyzed. The height dependence of the temperature, magnetic field vector,
and line-of-sight velocity across each UD is obtained from an inversion of the
Stokes vectors of the two FeI lines at 630 nm. No difference is found at higher
altitudes (-3 <= log(tau) <= -2) between the UDs and the diffuse umbral
background. Below that level the difference rapidly increases, so that at the
continuum formation level (log(tau) = 0) we find on average a temperature
enhancement of 570 K, a magnetic field weakening of 510 G, and upflows of 800
m/s for peripheral UDs, whereas central UDs display an excess temperature of on
average 550 K, a field weakening of 480 G, and no significant upflows. The
results for, in particular, the peripheral UDs, including cuts of magnetic
vector and velocity through them, look remarkably similar to the output of
recent radiation MHD simulations. They strongly suggest that UDs are produced
by convective upwellings
Association between computed tomography obstruction index and mortality in elderly patients with acute pulmonary embolism: A prospective validation study.
Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) has not only become the method of choice for diagnosing acute pulmonary embolism (PE), it also allows for risk stratification of patients with PE. To date, no study has specifically examined the predictive value of CTPA findings to assess short-term prognosis in elderly patients with acute PE who are particularly vulnerable to adverse outcomes.
We studied 291 patients aged ≥65 years with acute symptomatic PE in a prospective multicenter cohort. Outcomes were 90-day overall and PE-related mortality, recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), and length of hospital stay (LOS). We examined associations of the computed tomography obstruction index (CTOI) and the right ventricular (RV) to left ventricular (LV) diameter ratio with mortality and VTE recurrence using survival analysis, adjusting for provoked VTE, Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI), and anticoagulation as a time-varying covariate.
Overall, 15 patients died within 90 days. There was no association between the CTOI and 90-day overall mortality (adjusted hazard ratio per 10% CTOI increase 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-1.21; P = 0.54), but between the CTOI and PE-related 90-day mortality (adjusted sub-hazard ratio per 10% CTOI increase 1.36; 95% CI 1.03-1.81; P = 0.03). The RV/LV diameter ratio was neither associated with overall nor PE-related 90-day mortality. The CTOI and the RV/LV diameter ratio were significantly associated with VTE recurrence and LOS.
In elderly patients with acute PE, the CTOI was associated with PE-related 90-day mortality but not with overall 90-day mortality. The RV/LV diameter ratio did not predict mortality. Both measures predicted VTE recurrence and LOS. The evaluated CTPA findings do not appear to offer any advantage over the PESI in terms of mortality prediction
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