396 research outputs found
Fluctuations of the Retarded Van der Waals Force
The retarded Van der Waals force between a polarizable particle and a
perfectly conducting plate is re-examined. The expression for this force given
by Casimir and Polder represents a mean force, but there are large fluctuations
around this mean value on short time scales which are of the same order of
magnitude as the mean force itself. However, these fluctuations occur on time
scales which are typically of the order of the light travel time between the
atom and the plate. As a consequence, they will not be observed in an
experiment which measures the force averaged over a much longer time. In the
large time limit, the magnitude of the mean squared velocity of a test particle
due to this fluctuating Van der Waals force approaches a constant, and is
similar to a Brownian motion of a test particle in an thermal bath with an
effective temperature. However the fluctuations are not isotropic in this case,
and the shift in the mean square velocity components can even be negative. We
interpret this negative shift to correspond to a reduction in the velocity
spread of a wavepacket. The force fluctuations discussed in this paper are
special case of the more general problem of stress tensor fluctuations. These
are of interest in a variety of areas fo physics, including gravity theory.
Thus the effects of Van der Waals force fluctuations serve as a useful model
for better understanding quantum effects in gravity theory.Comment: 14 pages, no figure
Interactive effects of ocean acidification and nitrogen limitation on two bloom-forming dinoflagellate species
Global climate change involves an increase in oceanic CO2 concentrations as well as thermal stratification of the water column, thereby reducing nutrient supply from deep to surface waters. Changes in inorganic carbon (C) or nitrogen (N) availability have been shown to affect marine primary production, yet little is known about their interactive effects. To test for these effects, we conducted continuous culture experiments under N limitation and exposed the bloomforming dinoflagellate species Scrippsiella trochoidea and Alexandrium fundyense (formerly A. tamarense) to CO2 partial pressures (pCO(2)) ranging between 250 and 1000 mu atm. Ratios of particulate organic carbon (POC) to organic nitrogen (PON) were elevated under N limitation, but also showed a decreasing trend with increasing pCO(2). PON production rates were highest and affinities for dissolved inorganic N were lowest under elevated pCO(2), and our data thus demonstrate a CO2-dependent trade-off in N assimilation. In A. fundyense, quotas of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins were lowered under N limitation, but the offset to those obtained under N-replete conditions became smaller with increasing pCO(2). Consequently, cellular toxicity under N limitation was highest under elevated pCO(2). All in all, our observations imply reduced N stress under elevated pCO(2), which we attribute to a reallocation of energy from C to N assimilation as a consequence of lowered costs in C acquisition. Such interactive effects of ocean acidification and nutrient limitation may favor species with adjustable carbon concentrating mechanisms and have consequences for their competitive success in a future ocean
Dynamical Casimir effect without boundary conditions
The moving-mirror problem is microscopically formulated without invoking the
external boundary conditions. The moving mirrors are described by the quantized
matter field interacting with the photon field, forming dynamical cavity
polaritons: photons in the cavity are dressed by electrons in the moving
mirrors. The effective Hamiltonian for the polariton is derived, and
corrections to the results based on the external boundary conditions are
discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Setting up a quantitative SPECT imaging network for a European multi-centre dosimetry study of radioiodine treatment for thyroid cancer as part of the MEDIRAD project
Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer has been treated with radioiodine for almost 80 years, although controversial questions regarding radiation-related risks and the optimisation of treatment regimens remain unresolved. Multi-centre clinical studies are required to ensure recruitment of sufficient patients to achieve the statistical significance required to address these issues. Optimisation and standardisation of data acquisition and processing are necessary to ensure quantitative imaging and patient-specific dosimetry.
Material and methods: A European network of centres able to perform standardised quantitative imaging of radioiodine therapy of thyroid cancer patients was set-up within the EU consortium MEDIRAD. This network will support a concurrent series of clinical studies to determine accurately absorbed doses for thyroid cancer patients treated with radioiodine. Five SPECT(/CT) systems at four European centres were characterised with respect to their system volume sensitivity, recovery coefficients and dead time.
Results: System volume sensitivities of the Siemens Intevo systems (crystal thickness 3/8″) ranged from 62.1 to 73.5 cps/MBq. For a GE Discovery 670 (crystal thickness 5/8″) a system volume sensitivity of 92.2 cps/MBq was measured. Recovery coefficients measured on three Siemens Intevo systems show good agreement. For volumes larger than 10 ml, the maximum observed difference between recovery coefficients was found to be ± 0.02. Furthermore, dead-time coefficients measured on two Siemens Intevo systems agreed well with previously published dead-time values.
Conclusions: Results presented here provide additional support for the proposal to use global calibration parameters for cameras of the same make and model. This could potentially facilitate the extension of the imaging network for further dosimetry-based studies
BASEWECS - Influence of the Baltic Sea and its annual ice coverage on the water and energy budget of the Baltic Sea
BASEWECS is a contribution to the German Climate Research Program DEKLIM. The project started in May 2001 and lasted until December 2004. BASEWECS aimed at the investigation of the influence of the Baltic Sea and its annual ice coverage on the water and energy budget of the BALTEX are
Implied volatility of basket options at extreme strikes
In the paper, we characterize the asymptotic behavior of the implied
volatility of a basket call option at large and small strikes in a variety of
settings with increasing generality. First, we obtain an asymptotic formula
with an error bound for the left wing of the implied volatility, under the
assumption that the dynamics of asset prices are described by the
multidimensional Black-Scholes model. Next, we find the leading term of
asymptotics of the implied volatility in the case where the asset prices follow
the multidimensional Black-Scholes model with time change by an independent
increasing stochastic process. Finally, we deal with a general situation in
which the dependence between the assets is described by a given copula
function. In this setting, we obtain a model-free tail-wing formula that links
the implied volatility to a special characteristic of the copula called the
weak lower tail dependence function
EANM position paper on the role of radiobiology in nuclear medicine
Executive Summary With an increasing variety of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic or therapeutic nuclear medicine as valuable diagnostic or treatment option, radiobiology plays an important role in supporting optimizations. This comprises particularly safety and efficacy of radionuclide therapies, specifically tailored to each patient. As absorbed dose rates and absorbed dose distributions in space and time are very different between external irradiation and systemic radionuclide exposure, distinct radiation-induced biological responses are expected in nuclear medicine, which need to be explored. This calls for a dedicated nuclear medicine radiobiology. Radiobiology findings and absorbed dose measurements will enable an improved estimation and prediction of efficacy and adverse effects. Moreover, a better understanding on the fundamental biological mechanisms underlying tumor and normal tissue responses will help to identify predictive and prognostic biomarkers as well as biomarkers for treatment follow-up. In addition, radiobiology can form the basis for the development of radiosensitizing strategies and radioprotectant agents. Thus, EANM believes that, beyond in vitro and preclinical evaluations, radiobiology will bring important added value to clinical studies and to clinical teams. Therefore, EANM strongly supports active collaboration between radiochemists, radiopharmacists, radiobiologists, medical physicists, and physicians to foster research toward precision nuclear medicine.Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas
The `Friction' of Vacuum, and other Fluctuation-Induced Forces
The static Casimir effect describes an attractive force between two
conducting plates, due to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic (EM)
field in the intervening space. {\it Thermal fluctuations} of correlated fluids
(such as critical mixtures, super-fluids, liquid crystals, or electrolytes) are
also modified by the boundaries, resulting in finite-size corrections at
criticality, and additional forces that effect wetting and layering phenomena.
Modified fluctuations of the EM field can also account for the `van der Waals'
interaction between conducting spheres, and have analogs in the
fluctuation--induced interactions between inclusions on a membrane. We employ a
path integral formalism to study these phenomena for boundaries of arbitrary
shape. This allows us to examine the many unexpected phenomena of the dynamic
Casimir effect due to moving boundaries. With the inclusion of quantum
fluctuations, the EM vacuum behaves essentially as a complex fluid, and
modifies the motion of objects through it. In particular, from the mechanical
response function of the EM vacuum, we extract a plethora of interesting
results, the most notable being: (i) The effective mass of a plate depends on
its shape, and becomes anisotropic. (ii) There is dissipation and damping of
the motion, again dependent upon shape and direction of motion, due to emission
of photons. (iii) There is a continuous spectrum of resonant cavity modes that
can be excited by the motion of the (neutral) boundaries.Comment: RevTex, 2 ps figures included. The presentation is completely
revised, and new sections are adde
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