Anomalous magneto-oscillations and spin precession

A semiclassical analysis based on concepts developed in quantum chaos reveals that anomalous magneto-oscillations in quasi two-dimensional systems with spin-orbit interaction reflect the non-adiabatic spin precession of a classical spin vector along the cyclotron orbits.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Anomalous Josephson Current in Junctions with Spin-Polarizing Quantum Point Contacts

We consider a ballistic Josephson junction with a quantum point contact in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The point contact acts as a spin filter when embedded in a circuit with normal electrodes. We show that with an in-plane external magnetic field an anomalous supercurrent appears even for zero phase difference between the superconducting electrodes. In addition, the external field induces large critical current asymmetries between the two flow directions, leading to supercurrent rectifying effects.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PR

INTEGRAL spectral variability study of the atoll 4U 1820-30: first detection of hard X-ray emission

We study the 4-200 keV spectral and temporal behaviour of the low mass X-ray binary 4U 1820-30 with INTEGRAL during 2003-2005. This source as been observed in both the soft (banana) and hard (island) spectral states. A high energy tail, above 50 keV, in the hard state has been observed for the first time. This places the source in the category of X-ray bursters showing high-energy emission. The tail can be modeled as a soft power law component, with the photon index of ~2.4, on top of thermal Comptonization emission from a plasma with the electron temperature of kT_e~6 keV and optical depth of \tau~4. Alternatively, but at a lower goodness of the fit, the hard-state broad band spectrum can be accounted for by emission from a hybrid, thermal-nonthermal, plasma. During this monitoring the source spent most of the time in the soft state, usual for this source, and the >~4 keV spectra are represented by thermal Comptonization with kT_e~3 keV and \tau~6-7.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication by Ap

Energetic proton spectra in the 11 June 1991 solar flare

The June 11, 1991 gamma-ray flare seen by the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory (CGRO) displays several features that make it a dynamic and rich event. It is a member of a class of long duration gamma-ray events with both 2.223 MeV and greater than 8 MeV emission for hours after the impulsive phase. It also contains an inter-phase between the impulsive and extended phases that presents a challenge to the standard gamma-ray line (GRL) flare picture. This phase has strong 2.223 MeV emission and relatively weak 4.44 MeV emission indicative of a very hard parent proton spectrum. However, this would indicate emission greater than 8 MeV, which is absent from this period. We present the application of new spectroscopy techniques to this phase of the flare in order to present a reasonable explanation for this seemly inconsistent picture

Manifestly Gauge-Invariant General Relativistic Perturbation Theory: II. FRW Background and First Order

In our companion paper we identified a complete set of manifestly gauge-invariant observables for general relativity. This was possible by coupling the system of gravity and matter to pressureless dust which plays the role of a dynamically coupled observer. The evolution of those observables is governed by a physical Hamiltonian and we derived the corresponding equations of motion. Linear perturbation theory of those equations of motion around a general exact solution in terms of manifestly gauge invariant perturbations was then developed. In this paper we specialise our previous results to an FRW background which is also a solution of our modified equations of motion. We then compare the resulting equations with those derived in standard cosmological perturbation theory (SCPT). We exhibit the precise relation between our manifestly gauge-invariant perturbations and the linearly gauge-invariant variables in SCPT. We find that our equations of motion can be cast into SCPT form plus corrections. These corrections are the trace that the dust leaves on the system in terms of a conserved energy momentum current density. It turns out that these corrections decay, in fact, in the late universe they are negligible whatever the value of the conserved current. We conclude that the addition of dust which serves as a test observer medium, while implying modifications of Einstein's equations without dust, leads to acceptable agreement with known results, while having the advantage that one now talks about manifestly gauge-invariant, that is measurable, quantities, which can be used even in perturbation theory at higher orders.Comment: 51 pages, no figure

SPI Measurements of Galactic 26Al

The precision measurement of the 1809 keV gamma-ray line from Galactic $^{26}$Al is one of the goals of the SPI spectrometer on INTEGRAL with its Ge detector camera. We aim for determination of the detailed shape of this gamma-ray line, and its variation for different source regions along the plane of the Galaxy. Data from the first part of the core program observations of the first mission year have been inspected. A clear detection of the \Al line at about 5--7 $\sigma$ significance demonstrates that SPI will deepen \Al studies. The line intensity is consistent with expectations from previous experiments, and the line appears narrower than the 5.4 keV FWHM reported by GRIS, more consistent with RHESSI's recent value. Only preliminary statements can be made at this time, however, due to the multi-component background underlying the signal at \about 40 times higher intensity than the signal from Galactic $^{26}$Al.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures; accepted for publication in A&A (special INTEGRAL volume

Antibiotic-Impregnated Versus Silver-Bearing External Ventricular Drainage Catheters: Preliminary Results in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Evaluation of antibiotic-impregnated (AI) and ionized silver particle coated external ventricular drainage catheters (EVD) in patients with subarachnoid (SAH) or intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: Between February 2011 and June 2012, 40 patients with acute hydrocephalus due to SAH, ICH or intraventricular hemorrhage were enrolled in a prospective, randomized, mono-center pilot study. Primary endpoints were defined as: number of events of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) infections. Secondary endpoints were defined as: neurosurgical complications following the placement of the EVD, number of revisions of EVD catheters, and cost effectiveness. Results: Sixty-one EVD placements in 40 patients, 32 antibiotic-coated (Bactiseal®), 29 silver-bearing catheters (VentriGuard®), have been performed. Confirmed or high suspicion of CSF infections occurred in 11 out of 61 events (confirmed infection: p=0.71, probable infection: p=0.90). Revisions of EVD were needed in 13 cases (22%) due to CSF infection, dysfunction, impaired healing, or malplacement (p=0.37). Conclusion: Regarding CSF infection rate and dysfunction, no statistical significant differences between the two EVD catheters Bactiseal® versus VentriGuard® were found. The silver-bearing catheter might offer a safe and cost-conscious alternative to the AI cathete

Tight bounds for classical and quantum coin flipping

Coin flipping is a cryptographic primitive for which strictly better protocols exist if the players are not only allowed to exchange classical, but also quantum messages. During the past few years, several results have appeared which give a tight bound on the range of implementable unconditionally secure coin flips, both in the classical as well as in the quantum setting and for both weak as well as strong coin flipping. But the picture is still incomplete: in the quantum setting, all results consider only protocols with perfect correctness, and in the classical setting tight bounds for strong coin flipping are still missing. We give a general definition of coin flipping which unifies the notion of strong and weak coin flipping (it contains both of them as special cases) and allows the honest players to abort with a certain probability. We give tight bounds on the achievable range of parameters both in the classical and in the quantum setting.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v2: published versio