740 research outputs found
Testing Scalar-Tensor Gravity Using Space Gravitational-Wave Interferometers
We calculate the bounds which could be placed on scalar-tensor theories of
gravity of the Jordan, Fierz, Brans and Dicke type by measurements of
gravitational waveforms from neutron stars (NS) spiralling into massive black
holes (MBH) using LISA, the proposed space laser interferometric observatory.
Such observations may yield significantly more stringent bounds on the
Brans-Dicke coupling parameter \omega than are achievable from solar system or
binary pulsar measurements. For NS-MBH inspirals, dipole gravitational
radiation modifies the inspiral and generates an additional contribution to the
phase evolution of the emitted gravitational waveform. Bounds on \omega can
therefore be found by using the technique of matched filtering. We compute the
Fisher information matrix for a waveform accurate to second post-Newtonian
order, including the effect of dipole radiation, filtered using a currently
modeled noise curve for LISA, and determine the bounds on \omega for several
different NS-MBH canonical systems. For example, observations of a 1.4 solar
mass NS inspiralling to a 1000 solar mass MBH with a signal-to-noise ratio of
10 could yield a bound of \omega > 240,000, substantially greater than the
current experimental bound of \omega > 3000.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; to be submitted to Phys. Rev.
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Characterizing Sleep Spindles in Sheep.
Sleep spindles are distinctive transient patterns of brain activity that typically occur during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in humans and other mammals. Thought to be important for the consolidation of learning, they may also be useful for indicating the progression of aging and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to characterize sleep spindles in sheep (Ovis aries). We recorded electroencephalographs wirelessly from six sheep over a continuous period containing 2 nights and a day. We detected and characterized spindles using an automated algorithm. We found that sheep sleep spindles fell within the classical range seen in humans (10-16 Hz), but we did not see a further separation into fast and slow bands. Spindles were detected predominantly during NREM sleep. Spindle characteristics (frequency, duration, density, topography) varied between individuals, but were similar within individuals between nights. Spindles that occurred during NREM sleep in daytime were indistinguishable from those found during NREM sleep at night. Surprisingly, we also detected numerous spindle-like events during unequivocal periods of wake during the day. These events were mainly local (detected at single sites), and their characteristics differed from spindles detected during sleep. These "wake spindles" are likely to be events that are commonly categorized as "spontaneous alpha activity" during wake. We speculate that wake and sleep spindles are generated via different mechanisms, and that wake spindles play a role in cognitive processes that occur during the daytime
Anomalous Expansion of Attractively Interacting Fermionic Atoms in an Optical Lattice
Strong correlations can dramatically modify the thermodynamics of a quantum
many-particle system. Especially intriguing behaviour can appear when the
system adiabatically enters a strongly correlated regime, for the interplay
between entropy and strong interactions can lead to counterintuitive effects. A
well known example is the so-called Pomeranchuk effect, occurring when liquid
3He is adiabatically compressed towards its crystalline phase. Here, we report
on a novel anomalous, isentropic effect in a spin mixture of attractively
interacting fermionic atoms in an optical lattice. As we adiabatically increase
the attraction between the atoms we observe that the gas, instead of
contracting, anomalously expands. This expansion results from the combination
of two effects induced by pair formation in a lattice potential: the
suppression of quantum fluctuations as the attraction increases, which leads to
a dominant role of entropy, and the progressive loss of the spin degree of
freedom, which forces the gas to excite additional orbital degrees of freedom
and expand to outer regions of the trap in order to maintain the entropy. The
unexpected thermodynamics we observe reveal fundamentally distinctive features
of pairing in the fermionic Hubbard model.Comment: 6 pages (plus appendix), 6 figure
Metallic and Insulating Phases of Repulsively Interacting Fermions in a 3D Optical Lattice
The fermionic Hubbard model plays a fundamental role in the description of
strongly correlated materials. Here we report on the realization of this
Hamiltonian using a repulsively interacting spin mixture of ultracold K
atoms in a 3D optical lattice. We have implemented a new method to directly
measure the compressibility of the quantum gas in the trap using in-situ
imaging and independent control of external confinement and lattice depth.
Together with a comparison to ab-initio Dynamical Mean Field Theory
calculations, we show how the system evolves for increasing confinement from a
compressible dilute metal over a strongly-interacting Fermi liquid into a band
insulating state. For strong interactions, we find evidence for an emergent
incompressible Mott insulating phase.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures and additional supporting materia
The human 18S U11/U12 snRNP contains a set of novel proteins not found in the U2-dependent spliceosome
Quantum phase transition to unconventional multi-orbital superfluidity in optical lattices
Orbital physics plays a significant role for a vast number of important
phenomena in complex condensed matter systems such as high-T
superconductivity and unconventional magnetism. In contrast, phenomena in
superfluids -- especially in ultracold quantum gases -- are commonly well
described by the lowest orbital and a real order parameter. Here, we report on
the observation of a novel multi-orbital superfluid phase with a {\it complex}
order parameter in binary spin mixtures. In this unconventional superfluid, the
local phase angle of the complex order parameter is continuously twisted
between neighboring lattice sites. The nature of this twisted superfluid
quantum phase is an interaction-induced admixture of the p-orbital favored by
the graphene-like band structure of the hexagonal optical lattice used in the
experiment. We observe a second-order quantum phase transition between the
normal superfluid (NSF) and the twisted superfluid phase (TSF) which is
accompanied by a symmetry breaking in momentum space. The experimental results
are consistent with calculated phase diagrams and reveal fundamentally new
aspects of orbital superfluidity in quantum gas mixtures. Our studies might
bridge the gap between conventional superfluidity and complex phenomena of
orbital physics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The gravitational interaction of light: from weak to strong fields
An explanation is proposed for the fact that pp-waves superpose linearly when
they propagate parallely, while they interact nonlinearly, scatter and form
singularities or Cauchy horizons if they are antiparallel. Parallel pp-waves do
interact, but a generalized gravitoelectric force is exactly cancelled by a
gravitomagnetic force. In an analogy, the interaction of light beams in
linearized general relativity is also revisited and clarified, a new result is
obtained for photon to photon attraction, and a conjecture is proved. Given
equal energy density in the beams, the light-to-light attraction is twice the
matter-to-light attraction and four times the matter-to-matter attraction.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, no figures. To appear in General Relativity and
Gravitatio
Bose-Hubbard model with occupation dependent parameters
We study the ground-state properties of ultracold bosons in an optical
lattice in the regime of strong interactions. The system is described by a
non-standard Bose-Hubbard model with both occupation-dependent tunneling and
on-site interaction. We find that for sufficiently strong coupling the system
features a phase-transition from a Mott insulator with one particle per site to
a superfluid of spatially extended particle pairs living on top of the Mott
background -- instead of the usual transition to a superfluid of single
particles/holes. Increasing the interaction further, a superfluid of particle
pairs localized on a single site (rather than being extended) on top of the
Mott background appears. This happens at the same interaction strength where
the Mott-insulator phase with 2 particles per site is destroyed completely by
particle-hole fluctuations for arbitrarily small tunneling. In another regime,
characterized by weak interaction, but high occupation numbers, we observe a
dynamical instability in the superfluid excitation spectrum. The new ground
state is a superfluid, forming a 2D slab, localized along one spatial direction
that is spontaneously chosen.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
Vestigial singing behaviour persists after the evolutionary loss of song in crickets
This researchwas supported by Natural Environment Research Council grants to N.W.B. (NE/L011255/1 and NE/I027800/1).The evolutionary loss of sexual traits is widely predicted. Because sexual signals can arise from the coupling of specialized motor activity with morphological structures, disruption to a single component could lead to overall loss of function. Opportunities to observe this process and characterize any remaining signal components are rare, but could provide insight into the mechanisms, indirect costs and evolutionary consequences of signal loss. We investigated the recent evolutionary loss of a long-range acoustic sexual signal in the Hawaiian field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus. Flatwing males carry mutations that remove sound-producing wing structures, eliminating all acoustic signalling and affording protection against an acoustically-orientating parasitoid fly. We show that flatwing males produce wing movement patterns indistinguishable from those that generate sonorous calling song in normal-wing males. Evolutionary song loss caused by the disappearance of structural components of the sound-producing apparatus has left behind the energetically costly motor behaviour underlying normal singing. These results provide a rare example of a vestigial behaviour and raise the possibility that such traits could be co-opted for novel functions.PostprintPeer reviewe
Report on the development of a radio-frequency photo electron source with superconducting niobium cavity (SRF gun realization)
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