5,318 research outputs found
Astrophysical and Cosmological Tests of Quantum Theory
We discuss several proposals for astrophysical and cosmological tests of
quantum theory. The tests are motivated by deterministic hidden-variables
theories, and in particular by the view that quantum physics is merely an
effective theory of an equilibrium state. The proposed tests involve searching
for nonequilibrium violations of quantum theory in: primordial inflaton
fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background, relic cosmological
particles, Hawking radiation, photons with entangled partners inside black
holes, neutrino oscillations, and particles from very distant sources.Comment: 25 pages. Amendment to section 7. Contribution to: "The Quantum
Universe", special issue of Journal of Physics A, dedicated to Prof. G.-C.
Ghirardi on the occasion of his seventieth birthda
A first experimental test of de Broglie-Bohm theory against standard quantum mechanics
De Broglie - Bohm (dBB) theory is a deterministic theory, built for
reproducing almost all Quantum Mechanics (QM) predictions, where position plays
the role of a hidden variable. It was recently shown that different coincidence
patterns are predicted by QM and dBB when a double slit experiment is realised
under specific conditions and, therefore, an experiment can test the two
theories. In this letter we present the first realisation of such a double slit
experiment by using correlated photons produced in type I Parametric Down
Conversion. Our results confirm QM contradicting dBB predictions
Vlasov simulations of Kinetic Alfv\'en Waves at proton kinetic scales
Kinetic Alfv\'en waves represent an important subject in space plasma
physics, since they are thought to play a crucial role in the development of
the turbulent energy cascade in the solar wind plasma at short wavelengths (of
the order of the proton inertial length and beyond). A full understanding
of the physical mechanisms which govern the kinetic plasma dynamics at these
scales can provide important clues on the problem of the turbulent dissipation
and heating in collisionless systems. In this paper, hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell
simulations are employed to analyze in detail the features of the kinetic
Alfv\'en waves at proton kinetic scales, in typical conditions of the solar
wind environment. In particular, linear and nonlinear regimes of propagation of
these fluctuations have been investigated in a single-wave situation, focusing
on the physical processes of collisionless Landau damping and wave-particle
resonant interaction. Interestingly, since for wavelengths close to and
proton plasma beta of order unity the kinetic Alfv\'en waves have small
phase speed compared to the proton thermal velocity, wave-particle interaction
processes produce significant deformations in the core of the particle velocity
distribution, appearing as phase space vortices and resulting in flat-top
velocity profiles. Moreover, as the Eulerian hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell algorithm
allows for a clean almost noise-free description of the velocity space,
three-dimensional plots of the proton velocity distribution help to emphasize
how the plasma departs from the Maxwellian configuration of thermodynamic
equilibrium due to nonlinear kinetic effects
Definitional skills as a bridge towards school achievement
none4noThe general aim of the current study was to investigate the role of definitional skills in promoting primary school achievement (third- to fifth-graders) and how school learning may shape defini-tional skills. Marks from four school-subjects, linguistic (Italian and English) and scientific (Math and Science) were collected as well as scores in a Definitional Task. These two domains were cho-sen as they clearly entail the two different definition types, that is lexicographic and scientific. Re-sults indicated that scientific school-subject marks are more predictive of definitional skills than linguistic school-marks are. The opposite direction (i.e., how definitional skills are predictive of school achievement) appears less clear. In sum, results, yet preliminary, suggests that definitional skills represent a bridge towards school achievement as they promote good marks in all disci-plines. Moreover, definitional skills are predicted from levels of competence acquired especially in scientific school-subjects that request a higher degree of formal/organized learning. It is then of primary importance to promote interaction-integration between these two kind of concepts via formal schooling.openArtuso C., Palladino P.,Valentini P., Belacchi C.Artuso, C.; Palladino, P.; Valentini, P.; Belacchi, C
Response to Comment on `Undamped electrostatic plasma waves' [Phys. Plasmas 19, 092103 (2012)]
Numerical and experimental evidence is given for the occurrence of the
plateau states and concomitant corner modes proposed in \cite{valentini12}. It
is argued that these states provide a better description of reality for small
amplitude off-dispersion disturbances than the conventional
Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal or cnoidal states such as those proposed in
\cite{comment
Radiation reaction and quantum damped harmonic oscillator
By taking a Klein-Gordon field as the environment of an harmonic oscillator
and using a new method for dealing with quantum dissipative systems (minimal
coupling method), the quantum dynamics and radiation reaction for a quantum
damped harmonic oscillator investigated. Applying perturbation method, some
transition probabilities indicating the way energy flows between oscillator,
reservoir and quantum vacuum, obtainedComment: 12 pages. Accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.
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