Towards absolute calibration of optical tweezers

Aiming at absolute force calibration of optical tweezers, following a critical review of proposed theoretical models, we present and test the results of MDSA (Mie-Debye-Spherical Aberration) theory, an extension of a previous (MD) model, taking account of spherical aberration at the glass/water interface. This first-principles theory is formulated entirely in terms of experimentally accessible parameters (none adjustable). Careful experimental tests of the MDSA theory, undertaken at two laboratories, with very different setups, are described. A detailed description is given of the procedures employed to measure laser beam waist, local beam power at the transparent microspheres trapped by the tweezers, microsphere radius and the trap transverse stiffness, as a function of radius and height in the (inverted microscope) sample chamber. We find generally very good agreement with MDSA theory predictions, for a wide size range, from the Rayleigh domain to large radii, including the values most often employed in practice, and at different chamber heights, both with objective overfilling and underfilling. The results asymptotically approach geometrical optics in the mean over size intervals, as they should, and this already happens for size parameters not much larger than unity. MDSA predictions for the trapping threshold, position of stiffness peak, stiffness variation with height, multiple equilibrium points and `hopping' effects among them are verified. Remaining discrepancies are ascribed to focus degradation, possibly arising from objective aberrations in the infrared, not yet included in MDSA theory.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figure

Entropy and Poincar\'e recurrence from a geometrical viewpoint

We study Poincar\'e recurrence from a purely geometrical viewpoint. We prove that the metric entropy is given by the exponential growth rate of return times to dynamical balls. This is the geometrical counterpart of Ornstein-Weiss theorem. Moreover, we show that minimal return times to dynamical balls grow linearly with respect to its length. Finally, some interesting relations between recurrence, dimension, entropy and Lyapunov exponents of ergodic measures are given.Comment: 11 pages, revised versio

Next Generation Cosmology: Constraints from the Euclid Galaxy Cluster Survey

We study the characteristics of the galaxy cluster samples expected from the European Space Agency's Euclid satellite and forecast constraints on cosmological parameters describing a variety of cosmological models. The method used in this paper, based on the Fisher Matrix approach, is the same one used to provide the constraints presented in the Euclid Red Book (Laureijs et al.2011). We describe the analytical approach to compute the selection function of the photometric and spectroscopic cluster surveys. Based on the photometric selection function, we forecast the constraints on a number of cosmological parameter sets corresponding to different extensions of the standard LambdaCDM model. The dynamical evolution of dark energy will be constrained to Delta w_0=0.03 and Delta w_a=0.2 with free curvature Omega_k, resulting in a (w_0,w_a) Figure of Merit (FoM) of 291. Including the Planck CMB covariance matrix improves the constraints to Delta w_0=0.02, Delta w_a=0.07 and a FoM=802. The amplitude of primordial non-Gaussianity, parametrised by f_NL, will be constrained to \Delta f_NL ~ 6.6 for the local shape scenario, from Euclid clusters alone. Using only Euclid clusters, the growth factor parameter \gamma, which signals deviations from GR, will be constrained to Delta \gamma=0.02, and the neutrino density parameter to Delta Omega_\nu=0.0013 (or Delta \sum m_\nu=0.01). We emphasise that knowledge of the observable--mass scaling relation will be crucial to constrain cosmological parameters from a cluster catalogue. The Euclid mission will have a clear advantage in this respect, thanks to its imaging and spectroscopic capabilities that will enable internal mass calibration from weak lensing and the dynamics of cluster galaxies. This information will be further complemented by wide-area multi-wavelength external cluster surveys that will already be available when Euclid flies. [Abridged]Comment: submitted to MNRA

Hysteretic Optimization For Spin Glasses

The recently proposed Hysteretic Optimization (HO) procedure is applied to the 1D Ising spin chain with long range interactions. To study its effectiveness, the quality of ground state energies found as a function of the distance dependence exponent, $\sigma$, is assessed. It is found that the transition from an infinite-range to a long-range interaction at $\sigma=0.5$ is accompanied by a sharp decrease in the performance . The transition is signaled by a change in the scaling behavior of the average avalanche size observed during the hysteresis process. This indicates that HO requires the system to be infinite-range, with a high degree of interconnectivity between variables leading to large avalanches, in order to function properly. An analysis of the way auto-correlations evolve during the optimization procedure confirm that the search of phase space is less efficient, with the system becoming effectively stuck in suboptimal configurations much earlier. These observations explain the poor performance that HO obtained for the Edwards-Anderson spin glass on finite-dimensional lattices, and suggest that its usefulness might be limited in many combinatorial optimization problems.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures. To appear in JSTAT. Author website: http://www.bgoncalves.co

Produção de biogás a partir do glicerol oriundo do biodiesel.

bitstream/item/55346/1/COT11018.pd

Sparse random matrices: the eigenvalue spectrum revisited

We revisit the derivation of the density of states of sparse random matrices. We derive a recursion relation that allows one to compute the spectrum of the matrix of incidence for finite trees that determines completely the low concentration limit. Using the iterative scheme introduced by Biroli and Monasson [J. Phys. A 32, L255 (1999)] we find an approximate expression for the density of states expected to hold exactly in the opposite limit of large but finite concentration. The combination of the two methods yields a very simple simple geometric interpretation of the tails of the spectrum. We test the analytic results with numerical simulations and we suggest an indirect numerical method to explore the tails of the spectrum.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Accepted version, minor corrections, references adde

Brazilian embryo industry in context: pitfalls, lessons, and expectations for the future.

Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Embryo Technology Society (SBTE); Cabo de Santo Agostinho, PE, Brazil, August 17th to 19th, 2017. Abstract

Avaliação no campo de feromônio sexual sintético de Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Lepidoptera: pyralidae).

Foram avaliadas, no campo a eficiencia de tres formulacoes do feromonio de Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller, 1848) na captura de machos da especie. Destas, duas foram importadas dos E.U.A., sendo uma comercial do tipo laminado plastico da "Hercon Divison Health Chem. Corporation:, e a outra do tipo septo de borracha, cedida pelo USDA-ARS. A terceira formulacao foi produzida na Universidade Federal de Vicosa com componentes sintetizados no Departamento de Quimica da Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (Sao Paulo). Os resultados demonstraram que estas formulacoes, que continham as principais componentes de feromonio sexual de E. lignosellus, sintetizados com base na identificacao do feromonio de femeas que ocorrem no estado de Georgia (E.U.A.), foram ineficientes para atrair machos das especies na regiao do CNPMS-EMBRAPA, Sete Lagoas (MG), onde foram conduzidos estes experimentos. Acredita-se, com isto, que haja diferenca na composicao ou na proporcao dos diferentes componentes do feromonio sexual das populacoes de E. lignosellus destas duas diferentes localidades