4,931 research outputs found
Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory
The results obtained after the first decade of operation of the Pierre Auger
Observatory are reviewed.Comment: Proceedings X SILAFAE Medellin-201
Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory
I describe some of the results on ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays that have been
obtained with the Pierre Auger Observatory. These include measurements of the
spectrum, composition and anisotropies. Possible astrophysical scenarios that
account for these results are discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the 7th Roma International Conference on Astroparticle
Physic
Electron neutrino opacity in magnetised media
We study the effects of strong magnetic fields (~G) in the cross
section for scattering in the presence of a degenerate
electron background. This can be relevant for the propagation in the
proto-neutron star stage after supernovae collapse. We find that for field
strengths ~G MeV the opacity is sizeably
affected by the magnetic field and can lead to a shift in the location of the
electron neutrino sphere towards lower densities.
We discuss the implications that this may have for scenarios proposed to
explain the observed pulsar velocities
Microlensing searches of dark matter
The evolution of the observational results of microlensing towards the
LMC and some of the suggested interpretations to account for them are
discussed. It is emphasized that the results at present are indicative of a
lensing population of white dwarfs, possibly in the spheroid (not dark halo) of
the Galaxy, together with the more standard backgrounds of stellar populations
in the Magellanic Clouds and in the
Galaxy. This is also hinted by dynamical estimates of the spheroid mass and
by recent direct searches of old white dwarfs.Comment: 9 pp., Lecture given at Silafae III Conference (april 2000
Optimal synchronization deep in the quantum regime: resource and fundamental limit
We develop an analytical framework to study the synchronization of a quantum
self-sustained oscillator to an external signal. Our unified description allows
us to identify the resource on which quantum synchronization relies, and to
compare quantitatively the synchronization behavior of different limit cycles
and signals. We focus on the most elementary quantum system that is able to
host a self-sustained oscillation, namely a single spin 1. Despite the spin
having no classical analogue, we first show that it can realize the van der Pol
limit cycle deep in the quantum regime, which allows us to provide an
analytical understanding to recently reported numerical results. Moving on to
the equatorial limit cycle, we then reveal the existence of an
interference-based quantum synchronization blockade and extend the classical
Arnold tongue to a snake-like split tongue. Finally, we derive the maximum
synchronization that can be achieved in the spin-1 system, and construct a
limit cycle that reaches this fundamental limit asymptotically.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, equivalent to published versio
Magnetic diffusion effects on the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray spectrum and composition
We discuss the effects of diffusion of high energy cosmic rays in turbulent
extra-galactic magnetic fields. We find an approximate expression for the low
energy suppression of the spectrum of the different mass components (with
charge ) in the case in which this suppression happens at energies below
EeV, so that energy losses are dominated by the adiabatic ones.
The low energy suppression appears when cosmic rays from the closest sources
take a time comparable to the age of the Universe to reach the Earth. This
occurs for energies in terms of the magnetic field RMS strength , its
coherence length and the typical separation between sources .
We apply this to scenarios in which the sources produce a mixed composition
and have a relatively low maximum rigidity (-- EeV),
finding that diffusion has a significant effect on the resulting spectrum, the
average mass and on its spread, in particular reducing this last one. For
reasonable values of and these effects can help to reproduce the
composition trends observed by the Auger Collaboration for source spectra
compatible with Fermi acceleration
E sub 6 leptoquarks and the solar neutrino problem
The possibility that non-conventional neutrino oscillations take place in the superstring inspired E sub 6 models is considered. In this context, the influence of leptoquark mediated interactions of the neutrinos with nucleons in the resonant flavor conversion is discussed. It is shown that this effect can be significant for v sub e - v sub tau oscillations if these neutrinos have masses required in the ordinary Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect, and may lead to a solution of the solar neutrino problem even in the absence of vacuum mixings. On the other hand, this model cannot lead to a resonant behavior in the sun if the neutrinos are massless
Solving the scattering of N photons on a two-level atom without computation
We propose a novel approach for solving the scattering of light onto a
two-level atom coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide. We first express the
physical quantity of interest in terms of Feynman diagrams and treat the atom
as a non-saturable linear beamsplitter. By using the atomic response to our
advantage, a relevant substitution is then made that captures the nonlinearity
of the atom, and the final result is obtained in terms of simple integrals over
the initial incoming wavepackets. The procedure is not limited to
post-scattering quantities and allows for instance to derive the atomic
excitation during the scattering event.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
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