A cross impact methodology for the assessment of US telecommunications system with application to fiber optics development, volume 2

The appendices for the cross impact methodology are presented. These include: user's guide, telecommunication events, cross impacts, projection of historical trends, and projection of trends in satellite communications

A cross impact methodology for the assessment of US telecommunications system with application to fiber optics development, volume 1

A cross impact model of the U.S. telecommunications system was developed. It was necessary to prepare forecasts of the major segments of the telecommunications system, such as satellites, telephone, TV, CATV, radio broadcasting, etc. In addition, forecasts were prepared of the traffic generated by a variety of new or expanded services, such as electronic check clearing and point of sale electronic funds transfer. Finally, the interactions among the forecasts were estimated (the cross impact). Both the forecasts and the cross impacts were used as inputs to the cross impact model, which could then be used to stimulate the future growth of the entire U.S. telecommunications system. By varying the inputs, technology changes or policy decisions with regard to any segment of the system could be evaluated in the context of the remainder of the system. To illustrate the operation of the model, a specific study was made of the deployment of fiber optics throughout the telecommunications system

Phonon-Assisted Incoherent Excitation of a Quantum Dot and its Emission Properties

We present a detailed study of a phonon-assisted incoherent excitation mechanism of single quantum dots. A spectrally-detuned laser couples to a quantum dot transition by mediation of acoustic phonons, whereby excitation efficiencies up to 20 % with respect to strictly resonant excitation can be achieved at T = 9 K. Laser frequency-dependent analysis of the quantum dot intensity distinctly maps the underlying acoustic phonon bath and shows good agreement with our polaron master equation theory. An analytical solution for the photoluminescence is introduced which predicts a broadband incoherent coupling process when electron-phonon scattering is in the strong phonon coupling (polaronic) regime. Additionally, we investigate the coherence properties of the emitted light and study the impact of the relevant pump and phonon bath parameters

Can the United States Afford a “No-Fault” System of Compensation for Medical Injury?

One of the key issues separating US critics of a no-fault alternative to the tort system for compensating victims of medical injury from supporters is its anticipated cost. Results from a study are presented that estimate the costs of a no-fault system, one that is similar to the system now in operation in Sweden, within the context of the US health care system

Physics with Cosmic Neutrinos, PeV to ZeV

We begin with a brief overview of highest-energy cosmic ray data, and the experiments which will perform neutrino astronomy. We then discuss two particle physics aspects of neutrinos. They are possible long-lifetime decay of the neutrino, and a measurement of the neutrino-nucleon cross-section at a CMS energy orders of magnitude beyond what can be achieved with terrestrial accelerators. Measurement of an anomalously large neutrino cross-section would indicate new physics (e.g. low string-scale, extra dimensions, precocious unification), while a smaller than expected cross-section would reveal an aspect of QCD evolution. We then discuss aspects of neutrino-primary models for the extreme-energy (EE) cosmic ray data. Primary neutrinos in extant data are motivated by the directional clustering at EE reported by the AGASA experiment. We discuss the impact of the strongly-interacting neutrino hypothesis on lower-energy physics via dispersion relations, the statistical significance of AGASA directional clustering, and the possible relevance of the Z-burst mechanism for existing EE cosmic ray data.Comment: 19 pages including 6 figures, Proc. YITP "Neutrinos" Oct. 200

Creation and characterization of vortex clusters in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

We show that a moving obstacle, in the form of an elongated paddle, can create vortices that are dispersed, or induce clusters of like-signed vortices in 2D Bose-Einstein condensates. We propose new statistical measures of clustering based on Ripley's K-function which are suitable to the small size and small number of vortices in atomic condensates, which lack the huge number of length scales excited in larger classical and quantum turbulent fluid systems. The evolution and decay of clustering is analyzed using these measures. Experimentally it should prove possible to create such an obstacle by a laser beam and a moving optical mask. The theoretical techniques we present are accessible to experimentalists and extend the current methods available to induce 2D quantum turbulence in Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

VLA Observations of the "Eye of the Tornado"- the High Velocity \HII Region G357.63-0.06

The unusual supernova remnant candidate G357.7-0.1 and the compact source G357.63-0.06 have been observed with the Very Large Array at 1.4 and 8.3 GHz. The H92$\alpha$ line (8.3 GHz) was detected from the compact source with a surprising velocity of about -210 km/s indicating that this source is an \HII region, is most likely located at the Galactic center, and is unrelated to the SNR. The \HI absorption line (1.4 GHz) data toward these sources supports this picture and suggests that G357.7-0.1 lies farther away than the Galactic center.Comment: Latex, 14 pages including 4 figures. Accepted to A

All-Optical Switching Demonstration using Two-Photon Absorption and the Classical Zeno Effect

Low-contrast all-optical Zeno switching has been demonstrated in a silicon nitride microdisk resonator coupled to a hot atomic vapor. The device is based on the suppression of the field build-up within a microcavity due to non-degenerate two-photon absorption. This experiment used one beam in a resonator and one in free-space due to limitations related to device physics. These results suggest that a similar scheme with both beams resonant in the cavity would correspond to input power levels near 20 nW.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Multi-Wavelength Properties of the Type IIb SN 2008ax

We present the UV, optical, X-ray, and radio properties of the Type IIb SN 2008ax discovered in NGC 4490. The observations in the UV are one of the earliest of a Type IIb supernova (SN). On approximately day four after the explosion, a dramatic upturn in the u and uvw1 (lambda_c = 2600 Angstroms) light curves occurred after an initial rapid decline which is attributed to adiabatic cooling after the initial shock breakout. This rapid decline and upturn is reminiscent of the Type IIb SN 1993J on day six after the explosion. Optical/near-IR spectra taken around the peak reveal prominent H-alpha, HeI, and CaII absorption lines. A fading X-ray source is also located at the position of SN 2008ax, implying an interaction of the SN shock with the surrounding circumstellar material and a mass-loss rate of the progenitor of M_dot = (9+/-3)x10^-6 solar masses per year. The unusual time evolution (14 days) of the 6 cm peak radio luminosity provides further evidence that the mass-loss rate is low. Combining the UV, optical, X-ray, and radio data with models of helium exploding stars implies the progenitor of SN 2008ax was an unmixed star in an interacting-binary. Modeling of the SN light curve suggests a kinetic energy (E_k) of 0.5x10^51 ergs, an ejecta mass (M_ej) of 2.9 solar masses, and a nickel mass (M_Ni) of 0.06 solar masses.Comment: Accepted to ApJ Letters, 14 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

OH Zeeman Magnetic Field Detections Toward Five Supernova Remnants Using the VLA

We have observed the OH (1720 MHz) line in five galactic SNRs with the VLA to measure their magnetic field strengths using the Zeeman effect. We detected all 12 of the bright ($S_{\nu} > 200$ mJy) OH (1720 MHz) masers previously detected by Frail et al. (1996) and Green et al. (1997) and measured significant magnetic fields (i.e. $> 3\sigma$) in ten of them. Assuming that the ``thermal'' Zeeman equation can be used to estimate $\mid\vec{B}\mid$ for OH masers, our estimated fields range from 0.2 to 2 mG. These magnetic field strengths are consistent with the hypothesis that ambient molecular cloud magnetic fields are compressed via the SNR shock to the observed values. Magnetic fields of this magnitude exert a considerable influence on the properties of the cloud with the magnetic pressures ($10^{-7} - 10^{-9}$ erg cm$^{-3}$) exceeding the pressure in the ISM or even the thermal pressure of the hot gas interior to the remnant. This study brings the number of galactic SNRs with OH (1720 MHz) Zeeman detections to ten.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, accepted to ApJ, for higher resolution images of Figs 4,11, and 12 see http://www.pa.uky.edu/~brogan/brog_publ.htm