Optical characteristics of Nd:YAG optics and distortions at high power

The intensity profile and beam caustics of a fiber coupled high power Nd:YAG laser beam through a lens system are studied. The thermal lensing effect and its influence on the beam profile and focal position are discussed. Asymmetry of the intensity profile in planes above and below the focal plane is demonstrated. Also the influence of small pollutions on the protective window is explained. Three different methods are used to measure the occurrence\ud of thermal lensing and quantify these effects

The Heidelberg Catechism: elements for a theology of care

This article proposes a fresh reading of the Heidelberg Catechism from the perspective of an ethics of care, a new paradigm of doing ethics, strongly influenced by feminist philosophy. In its anthropology, this approach in ethics emphasizes human relationality, mutual dependency and vulnerability. Though there are strong affinities with theological anthropology, the ethics of care still lacks a theological framework. The thesis argued here, is that the Heidelberg Catechism offers essential elements for a “theology of care”. It describes 1. God as a caring, ‘mothering” God; 2. human beings as having care as their essence and divine vocation; and 3. the relationship between God and human beings as a relationship of mutual care. The care perspective in the Heidelberg Catechism is limited, however, because it does not give a full account of the open endedness of the relationship between God and humanity

Supersymmetric analysis for the Dirac equation with spin-symmetric and pseudo-spin-symmetric interactions

A supersymmetric analysis is presented for the d-dimensional Dirac equation with central potentials under spin-symmetric (S(r) = V(r)) and pseudo-spin-symmetric (S(r) = - V(r)) regimes. We construct the explicit shift operators that are required to factorize the Dirac Hamiltonian with the Kratzer potential. Exact solutions are provided for both the Coulomb and Kratzer potentials.Comment: 12 page

Word contexts enhance the neural representation of individual letters in early visual cortex

Visual context facilitates perception, but how this is neurally implemented remains unclear. One example of contextual facilitation is found in reading, where letters are more easily identified when embedded in a word. Bottom-up models explain this word advantage as a post-perceptual decision bias, while top-down models propose that word contexts enhance perception itself. Here, we arbitrate between these accounts by presenting words and nonwords and probing the representational fidelity of individual letters using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In line with top-down models, we find that word contexts enhance letter representations in early visual cortex. Moreover, we observe increased coupling between letter information in visual cortex and brain activity in key areas of the reading network, suggesting these areas may be the source of the enhancement. Our results provide evidence for top-down representational enhancement in word recognition, demonstrating that word contexts can modulate perceptual processing already at the earliest visual regions

A two-loop relation between inclusive radiative and semileptonic B-decay spectra

A shape-function independent relation is derived between the partial B->X_u+l+nu decay rate with a cut on P_+=E_X-P_X<Delta and a weighted integral over the normalized B->X_s+gamma photon-energy spectrum. The leading-power contribution to the weight function is calculated at next-to-next-to-leading order in renormalization-group improved perturbation theory, including exact two-loop matching corrections at the scale mu_i^2 ~ m_b*Lambda_{QCD}. The overall normalization of the weight function is obtained up to yet unknown corrections of order [alpha_s(m_b)]^2. Power corrections from phase-space factors are included exactly, while the remaining subleading contributions are included at first order in 1/m_b. At this level unavoidable hadronic uncertainties enter, which are estimated in a conservative way. The combined theoretical accuracy in the extraction of |V_{ub}| is at the level of 5% if a value of Delta near the charm threshold can be achieved experimentally.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures; few comments and one reference added; version to appear in JHE

Proposal for a Precision Measurement of |Vub|

A new method for a precision measurement of the CKM matrix element |Vub| is discussed, which combines good theoretical control with high efficiency and a powerful discrimination against charm background. The resulting combined theoretical uncertainty on |Vub| is estimated to be 10%.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTe

Updating contextual sensory expectations for adaptive behaviour

The brain has the extraordinary capacity to construct predictive models of the environment by internalizing statistical regularities in the sensory inputs. The resulting sensory expectations shape how we perceive and react to the world; at the neural level, this relates to decreased neural responses to expected than unexpected stimuli (‘expectation suppression’). Crucially, expectations may need revision as context changes. However, existing research has often neglected this issue. Further, it is unclear whether contextual revisions apply selectively to expectations relevant to the task at hand, hence serving adaptive behaviour. The present fMRI study examined how contextual visual expectations spread throughout the cortical hierarchy as participants update their beliefs. We created a volatile environment with two state spaces presented over separate contexts and controlled by an independent contextualizing signal. Participants attended a training session before scanning to learn contextual temporal associations among pairs of object images. The fMRI experiment then tested for the emergence of contextual expectation suppression in two separate tasks, respectively with task-relevant and task-irrelevant expectations. Behavioural and neural effects of contextual expectation emerged progressively across the cortical hierarchy as participants attuned themselves to the context: expectation suppression appeared first in the insula, inferior frontal gyrus and posterior parietal cortex, followed by the ventral visual stream, up to early visual cortex. This applied selectively to task-relevant expectations. Taken together, the present results suggest that an insular and frontoparietal executive control network may guide the flexible deployment of contextual sensory expectations for adaptive behaviour in our complex and dynamic world.<br