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Single-shot optical conductivity measurement of dense aluminum plasmas
The optical conductivity of a dense femtosecond laser-heated aluminum plasma heated to 0.1-1.5 eV was measured using frequency-domain interferometry with chirped pulses, permitting simultaneous observation of optical probe reflectivity and probe pulse phase shift. Coupled with published models of bound-electron contributions to the conductivity, these two independent experimental data yielded a direct measurement of both real and imaginary components of the plasma conductivity.DOE National Nuclear Security Administration DE-FC52-03NA00156Physic
Baseline chest radiographic features of HIV-infected children eligible for antiretroviral therapy
Background. South Africa’s HIV mortality is primarily due to pulmonary disease. No evidence exists regarding a correlation between specific chest radiographic patterns and CD4 levels of immunity in HIV-infected children.Objectives. We aimed to determine the prevalence of specific radiographic features in HIV-infected children initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) to develop a guideline of expected baseline radiographic appearances, and the radiographic features that predominate at specific levels of immune suppression (defined by CD4 percentage ranges), which would narrow the radiological differential diagnosis.Method. Retrospective review of the baseline chest radiographs of 92 consecutive paediatric outpatients initiating ART.Results. Normal radiographs were reported in 54% of patients. Those with radiographic abnormalities had parenchymal disease (34%), mediastinal disease (22%) and pleural disease (1%). Parenchymal disease was predominantly air space (28%), and mediastinal disease was predominantly cardiomegaly (21%); lymphadenopathy was rare (1%). Radiological appearances of TB were seen in 9% of patients. A statistically significant association was shown between immune suppression and air space disease (p=0.049) with a relative risk of 0.46 (95% CI 0.24 - 0.88) for air space disease in immune-suppressed children. This association was independent of age.Conclusion. Baseline chest radiographs in paediatric outpatients presenting for initiation of ART are predominantly normal, but also demonstrate a significant number of pathological radiological features – primarily air space disease and cardiomegaly. The only statistically significant association between radiographic features and immune suppression was air space disease, which correlated with a higher level of immunity.S Afr Med J 2011;101:829-834
The Signs of Life Detector (SOLID): An Instrument to Detect Molecular Biosignatures on Mars
The case for life on Mars grows stronger. Investigations at Gale Crater by Curiosity have revealed fine-grained sedimentary rocks inferred to represent an ancient lake environment suited to support life. In addition, Curiosity tentatively found a heterogeneous distribution of organic carbon within these sediments, consistent with the detection of native organic C in Mars meteorites. Furthermore, modern potentially habitable environments have been recognized on Mars including the N. Polar region visited by Phoenix, gully features suggesting modern water flows, and RSLs that occur seasonally suggest liquid processes. The time is ripe for missions to Mars incorporating a search for biochemical evidence of life
The Icebreaker Mission to Search for Life on Mars
The search for evidence of life on Mars is the ultimate motivation for its scientific exploration. The results from the Phoenix mission indicate that the high N. latitude ice-rich regolith at low elevations is likely to be a recently habitable place on Mars [Stoker et al., 2010]. The near-surface ice likely provided adequate water activity during periods of high obliquity, 3 to 10 Myr ago. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen are present in the atmosphere, and nitrates may be present in the soil. Together with iron in basaltic rocks and perchlorate in the soil they provide carbon and energy sources, and oxidative power to drive metabolism. Furthermore, the presence of organics is possible, as thermally reactive perchlorate would have prevented their detection by Viking and Phoenix. The Mars Icebreaker Life mission [McKay et al., 2013] focuses on the following science goals: (1) Search for biomolecular evidence of life; (2) Search for organic matter from either exogeneous or endogeneous sources using methods that are not effected by the presence of perchlorate; (3) Characterize oxidative species that produced reactivity of soils seen by Viking; and 4) Assess the habitability of the ice bearing soils. The Icebreaker Life payload (Figure 1) includes a 1-m rotary percussive drill that brings cuttings samples to the surface where they are delivered to three instruments (Fig. 1), the Signs of Life Detector (SOLID) [Parro et al., 2011] for biomolecular analysis, Laser Desorption Mass Spectrometer (LDMS) [??? 2015]) for broad spectrum organic analysis, and Wet Chemistry Laboratory (WCL) [Hecht et al., 2009] for detecting soluble species of nutrients and reactive oxidants. The Icebreaker payload fits on the Phoenix spacecraft and can land at the well-characterized Phoe-nix landing site in 2020 in a Discovery-class mission
Nanostratification of optical excitation in self-interacting 1D arrays
The major assumption of the Lorentz-Lorenz theory about uniformity of local
fields and atomic polarization in dense material does not hold in finite groups
of atoms, as we reported earlier [A. E. Kaplan and S. N. Volkov, Phys. Rev.
Lett., v. 101, 133902 (2008)]. The uniformity is broken at sub-wavelength
scale, where the system may exhibit strong stratification of local field and
dipole polarization, with the strata period being much shorter than the
incident wavelength. In this paper, we further develop and advance that theory
for the most fundamental case of one-dimensional arrays, and study nanoscale
excitation of so called "locsitons" and their standing waves (strata) that
result in size-related resonances and related large field enhancement in finite
arrays of atoms. The locsitons may have a whole spectrum of spatial
frequencies, ranging from long waves, to an extent reminiscent of ferromagnetic
domains, -- to super-short waves, with neighboring atoms alternating their
polarizations, which are reminiscent of antiferromagnetic spin patterns. Of
great interest is the new kind of "hybrid" modes of excitation, greatly
departing from any magnetic analogies. We also study differences between
Ising-like near-neighbor approximation and the case where each atom interacts
with all other atoms in the array. We find an infinite number of "exponential
eigenmodes" in the lossless system in the latter case. At certain "magic"
numbers of atoms in the array, the system may exhibit self-induced (but linear
in the field) cancellation of resonant local-field suppression. We also studied
nonlinear modes of locsitons and found optical bistability and hysteresis in an
infinite array for the simplest modes.Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures; v2: Added the Conclusions section, corrected a
typo in Eq. (5.3), corrected minor stylistic and grammatical imperfection
On Dispersive and Classical Shock Waves in Bose-Einstein Condensates and Gas Dynamics
A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a quantum fluid that gives rise to
interesting shock wave nonlinear dynamics. Experiments depict a BEC that
exhibits behavior similar to that of a shock wave in a compressible gas, eg.
traveling fronts with steep gradients. However, the governing Gross-Pitaevskii
(GP) equation that describes the mean field of a BEC admits no dissipation
hence classical dissipative shock solutions do not explain the phenomena.
Instead, wave dynamics with small dispersion is considered and it is shown that
this provides a mechanism for the generation of a dispersive shock wave (DSW).
Computations with the GP equation are compared to experiment with excellent
agreement. A comparison between a canonical 1D dissipative and dispersive shock
problem shows significant differences in shock structure and shock front speed.
Numerical results associated with the three dimensional experiment show that
three and two dimensional approximations are in excellent agreement and one
dimensional approximations are in good qualitative agreement. Using one
dimensional DSW theory it is argued that the experimentally observed blast
waves may be viewed as dispersive shock waves.Comment: 24 pages, 28 figures, submitted to Phys Rev
Floquet theory of neutrino oscillations in the earth
We review the Floquet theory of linear differential equations with periodic
coefficients and discuss its applications to neutrino oscillations in matter of
periodically varying density. In particular, we consider parametric resonance
in neutrino oscillations which can occur in such media, and discuss
implications for oscillations of neutrinos traversing the earth and passing
through the earth's core.Comment: LaTeX, 28 pages, 8 eps figures. Contribution to the special issue of
Yad. Fiz. dedicated to the memory of A.B. Migda
Nonlinear Dynamics of Moving Curves and Surfaces: Applications to Physical Systems
The subject of moving curves (and surfaces) in three dimensional space (3-D)
is a fascinating topic not only because it represents typical nonlinear
dynamical systems in classical mechanics, but also finds important applications
in a variety of physical problems in different disciplines. Making use of the
underlying geometry, one can very often relate the associated evolution
equations to many interesting nonlinear evolution equations, including soliton
possessing nonlinear dynamical systems. Typical examples include dynamics of
filament vortices in ordinary and superfluids, spin systems, phases in
classical optics, various systems encountered in physics of soft matter, etc.
Such interrelations between geometric evolution and physical systems have
yielded considerable insight into the underlying dynamics. We present a
succinct tutorial analysis of these developments in this article, and indicate
further directions. We also point out how evolution equations for moving
surfaces are often intimately related to soliton equations in higher
dimensions.Comment: Review article, 38 pages, 7 figs. To appear in Int. Jour. of Bif. and
Chao
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