Integration of Action and Language Knowledge: A Roadmap for Developmental Robotics

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Switching Propulsion Mechanisms of Tubular Catalytic Micromotors

Different propulsion mechanisms have been suggested for describing the motion of a variety of chemical micromotors, which have attracted great attention in the last decades due to their high efficiency and thrust force, enabling several applications in the fields of environmental remediation and biomedicine. Bubble-recoil based motion, in particular, has been modeled by three different phenomena: capillary forces, bubble growth, and bubble expulsion. However, these models have been suggested independently based on a single influencing factor (i.e., viscosity), limiting the understanding of the overall micromotor performance. Therefore, the combined effect of medium viscosity, surface tension, and fuel concentration is analyzed on the micromotor swimming ability, and the dominant propulsion mechanisms that describe its motion more accurately are identified. Using statistically relevant experimental data, a holistic theoretical model is proposed for bubble-propelled tubular catalytic micromotors that includes all three above-mentioned phenomena and provides deeper insights into their propulsion physics toward optimized geometries and experimental conditions

The Free Will Theorem

On the basis of three physical axioms, we prove that if the choice of a particular type of spin 1 experiment is not a function of the information accessible to the experimenters, then its outcome is equally not a function of the information accessible to the particles. We show that this result is robust, and deduce that neither hidden variable theories nor mechanisms of the GRW type for wave function collapse can be made relativistic. We also establish the consistency of our axioms and discuss the philosophical implications.Comment: 31 pages, 6figure

Absolute fluorescence and absorption measurements over a dynamic range of 106 with cavity-enhanced laser-induced fluorescence

We present a novel spectroscopic technique that exhibits high sensitivity and a large dynamic range for the measurement of absolute absorption coefficients. We perform a simultaneous and correlated laser-induced fluorescence and cavity ring-down measurement of the same sample in a single pulsed laser beam. The combined measurement offers a large dynamic range and a lower limit of detection than either technique on its own. The methodology, dubbed cavity-enhanced laser-induced fluorescence, is developed and rigorously tested against the electronic spectroscopy of 1,4-bis(phenylethynyl)benzene in a molecular beam and density measurements in a cell. We outline how the method can be used to determine absolute quantities, such as sample densities, absorption cross sections, and fluorescence quantum yields, particularly in spatially confined samples

Production of 26Al in stellar hydrogen-burning environments: spectroscopic properties of states in 27Si

Model predictions of the amount of the radioisotope 26Al produced in hydrogen-burning environments require reliable estimates of the thermonuclear rates for the 26gAl(p,{\gamma})27Si and 26mAl(p,{\gamma})27Si reactions. These rates depend upon the spectroscopic properties of states in 27Si within about 1 MeV of the 26gAl+p threshold (Sp = 7463 keV). We have studied the 28Si(3He,{\alpha})27Si reaction at 25 MeV using a high-resolution quadrupole-dipole-dipole-dipole magnetic spectrograph. For the first time with a transfer reaction, we have constrained J{\pi} values for states in 27Si over Ex = 7.0 - 8.1 MeV through angular distribution measurements. Aside from a few important cases, we generally confirm the energies and spin-parity assignments reported in a recent {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy study. The magnitudes of neutron spectroscopic factors determined from shell-model calculations are in reasonable agreement with our experimental values extracted using this reaction.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Precision Measurement of the 6He Half-Life and the Weak Axial Current in Nuclei

Background: The β decays of 3H and 6He can play an important role in testing nuclear wave-function calculations and fixing low-energy constants in effective-field theory approaches. However, there exists a large discrepancy between previous measurements of the 6He half-life. Purpose: Our measurement aims at resolving this long-standing discrepancy in the 6He half-life and providing a reliable ft value and Gamow-Teller matrix element for comparison with theoretical ab initio calculations. Method: We measured the 6He half-life by counting the β-decay electrons with two scintillator detectors operating in coincidence. Results: The measured 6He half-life is 806.89±0.11 stat-0.19+0.23syst ms corresponding to a relative precision of 3×10-4. Calculating the statistical rate function we determined the ft value to be 803.04-0.23+0.26 s. Conclusions: Our result resolves the previous discrepancy by providing a higher-precision result with careful analysis of potential systematic uncertainties. The result provides a reliable basis for future precision comparisons with ab initio calculations. © 2012 American Physical Society

A recoil separator for nuclear astrophysics SECAR

A recoil separator SECAR has been designed to study radiative capture reactions relevant for the astrophysical rp-process in inverse kinematics for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). We describe the design, layout, and ion optics of the recoil separator and present the status of the project