Solid state image sensor research

Solid state image sensing devices developed for meteorological satellite application

Thermodynamics of a three-flavor nonlocal Polyakov--Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

The present work generalizes a nonlocal version of the Polyakov loop-extended Nambu and Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model to the case of three active quark flavors, with inclusion of the axial U(1) anomaly. Gluon dynamics is incorporated through a gluonic background field, expressed in terms of the Polyakov loop. The thermodynamics of the nonlocal PNJL model accounts for both chiral and deconfinement transitions. Our results obtained in mean-field approximation are compared to lattice QCD results for $N_\text{f}=2+1$ quark flavors. Additional pionic and kaonic contributions to the pressure are calculated in random phase approximation. Finally, this nonlocal 3-flavor PNJL model is applied to the finite density region of the QCD phase diagram. It is confirmed that the existence and location of a critical point in this phase diagram depends sensitively on the strength of the axial U(1) breaking interaction.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, minor changes compared to v

Thermodynamics and quark susceptibilities: a Monte-Carlo approach to the PNJL model

The Monte-Carlo method is applied to the Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model. This leads beyond the saddle-point approximation in a mean-field calculation and introduces fluctuations around the mean fields. We study the impact of fluctuations on the thermodynamics of the model, both in the case of pure gauge theory and including two quark flavors. In the two-flavor case, we calculate the second-order Taylor expansion coefficients of the thermodynamic grand canonical partition function with respect to the quark chemical potential and present a comparison with extrapolations from lattice QCD. We show that the introduction of fluctuations produces only small changes in the behavior of the order parameters for chiral symmetry restoration and the deconfinement transition. On the other hand, we find that fluctuations are necessary in order to reproduce lattice data for the flavor non-diagonal quark susceptibilities. Of particular importance are pion fields, the contribution of which is strictly zero in the saddle point approximation

Extensions and further applications of the nonlocal Polyakov--Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

The nonlocal Polyakov-loop-extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model is further improved by including momentum-dependent wave-function renormalization in the quark quasiparticle propagator. Both two- and three-flavor versions of this improved PNJL model are discussed, the latter with inclusion of the (nonlocal) 't Hooft-Kobayashi-Maskawa determinant interaction in order to account for the axial U(1) anomaly. Thermodynamics and phases are investigated and compared with recent lattice-QCD results.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables; minor changes compared to v1; extended conclusion

CaMKII: Claiming Center Stage in Postsynaptic Function and Organization

While CaMKII has long been known to be essential for synaptic plasticity and learning, recent work points to new dimensions of CaMKII function in the nervous system, revealing that CaMKII also plays an important role in synaptic organization. Ca2+-triggered autophosphorylation of CaMKII not only provides molecular memory by prolonging CaMKII activity during long-term plasticity (LTP) and learning but also represents a mechanism for autoactivation of CaMKII’s multifaceted protein-docking functions. New details are also emerging about the distinct roles of CaMKIIα and CaMKIIβ in synaptic homeostasis, further illustrating the multilayered and complex nature of CaMKII’s involvement in synaptic regulation. Here, I review novel molecular and functional insight into how CaMKII supports synaptic function

Monte-Carlo simulations of QCD Thermodynamics in the PNJL model

We apply a Monte-Carlo method to the two flavor Polyakov loop extended Nambu and Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model. In such a way we can go beyond mean field calculations introducing fluctuations of the fields. We study the impact of fluctuations on the thermodynamics of the model. We calculate the second derivatives of the thermodynamic grand canonical partition function with respect to the chemical potential and present a comparison with lattice data also for flavor non-diagonal susceptibilities.Comment: Contribution to Cortona 2008, Theoretical nuclear physics in Ital

Measurement of focusing properties for high numerical aperture optics using an automated submicron beamprofiler

The focusing properties of three aspheric lenses with numerical aperture (NA) between 0.53 and 0.68 were directly measured using an interferometrically referenced scanning knife-edge beam profiler with sub-micron resolution. The results obtained for two of the three lenses tested were in agreement with paraxial gaussian beam theory. It was also found that the highest NA aspheric lens which was designed for 830nm was not diffraction limited at 633nm. This process was automated using motorized translation stages and provides a direct method for testing the design specifications of high numerical aperture optics.Comment: 6 pages 4 figure

Development of a breadboard multielement star detector Final report, Mar. 1967 - Sep. 1968

Breadboard model of star detector device consisting of thin film photosensitive and high dielectric material