Letter from S. C. Grun to P. M. Colson

Letter from S. C. Grun to P. M. Colson. The one-page handwritten note is dated 18 May 1907

Measurement of air and nitrogen fluorescence light yields induced by electron beam for UHECR experiments

Most of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) experiments and projects (HiRes, AUGER, TA, EUSO, TUS,...) use air fluorescence to detect and measure extensive air showers (EAS). The precise knowledge of the Fluorescence Light Yield (FLY) is of paramount importance for the reconstruction of UHECR. The MACFLY - Measurement of Air Cherenkov and Fluorescence Light Yield - experiment has been designed to perform such FLY measurements. In this paper we will present the results of FLY in the 290-440 nm wavelength range for dry air and pure nitrogen, both excited by electrons with energy of 1.5 MeV, 20 GeV and 50 GeV. The experiment uses a 90Sr radioactive source for low energy measurement and a CERN SPS electron beam for high energy. We find that the FLY is proportional to the deposited energy (E_d) in the gas and we show that the air fluorescence properties remain constant independently of the electron energy. At the reference point: atmospheric dry air at 1013 hPa and 23C, the ratio FLY/E_d=17.6 photon/MeV with a systematic error of 13.2%.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Integrable atomtronic interferometry

High sensitivity quantum interferometry requires more than just access to entangled states. It is achieved through deep understanding of quantum correlations in a system. Integrable models offer the framework to develop this understanding. We communicate the design of interferometric protocols for an integrable model that describes the interaction of bosons in a four-site configuration. Analytic formulae for the quantum dynamics of certain observables are computed. These expose the system's functionality as both an interferometric identifier, and producer, of NOON states. Being equivalent to a controlled-phase gate acting on two hybrid qudits, this system also highlights an equivalence between Heisenberg-limited interferometry and quantum information. These results are expected to open new avenues for integrability-enhanced atomtronic technologies.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Athermal annealing of Si-implanted GaAs and InP

GaAs and InP crystals ion implanted with Si were athermally annealed by exposing each crystal at a spot of ~2 mm diameter to a high-intensity 1.06 μm wavelength pulsed laser radiation with ~4 J pulse energy for 35 ns in a vacuum chamber. As a result a crater is formed at the irradiated spot. The crater is surrounded by a dark-colored ring-shaped region which is annealed by mechanical energy generated by rapidly expanding hot plasma that formed on the exposed spot. The electrical characteristics of this annealed region are comparable to those of a halogen-lamp annealed sample. No redistribution of impurities due to transient diffusion is observed in the implant tail region. In x-ray diffraction measurements, a high angle side satellite peak due to lattice strain was observed in the crater and near crater regions of the athermally annealed sample in addition to the main Bragg peak that corresponds to the pristine sample. This high angle side satellite peak is not observed in regions away from the crater (≥5 mm from the center of the crater in GaAs)

Perspectives on Interstellar Dust Inside and Outside of the Heliosphere

Measurements by dust detectors on interplanetary spacecraft appear to indicate a substantial flux of interstellar particles with masses exceeding 10^{-12}gram. The reported abundance of these massive grains cannot be typical of interstellar gas: it is incompatible with both interstellar elemental abundances and the observed extinction properties of the interstellar dust population. We discuss the likelihood that the Solar System is by chance located near an unusual concentration of massive grains and conclude that this is unlikely, unless dynamical processes in the ISM are responsible for such concentrations. Radiation pressure might conceivably drive large grains into "magnetic valleys". If the influx direction of interstellar gas and dust is varying on a ~10 yr timescale, as suggested by some observations, this would have dramatic implications for the small-scale structure of the interstellar medium.Comment: 13 pages. To appear in Space Science Review

The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background: IV. Cosmological Implications

In this paper we examine the cosmological constraints of the recent DIRBE and FIRAS detection of the extragalactic background light between 125-5000 microns on the metal and star formation histories of the universe.Comment: 38 pages and 9 figures. Accepted for publications in The Astrophysical Journa

Free induction signal from biexcitons and bound excitons

A theory of the free induction signal from biexcitons and bound excitons is presented. The simultaneous existence of the exciton continuum and a bound state is shown to result in a new type of time dependence of the free induction. The optically detected signal increases in time and oscillates with increasing amplitude until damped by radiative or dephasing processes. Radiative decay is anomalously fast and can result in strong picosecond pulses. The expanding area of a coherent exciton polarization (inflating antenna), produced by the exciting pulse, is the underlying physical mechanism. The developed formalism can be applied to different biexciton transients.Comment: RevTeX, 20 p. + 2 ps fig. To appear in Phys. Rev. B1

Gr1+IL-4-producing innate cells are induced in response to Th2 stimuli and suppress Th1-dependent antibody responses

Alum is used as a vaccine adjuvant and induces T<sub>h</sub>2 responses and T<sub>h</sub>2-driven antibody isotype production against co-injected antigens. Alum also promotes the appearance in the spleen of Gr1+IL-4+ innate cells that, via IL-4 production, induce MHC II-mediated signaling in B cells. To investigate whether these Gr1+ cells accumulate in the spleen in response to other T<sub>h</sub>2-inducing stimuli and to understand some of their functions, the effects of injection of alum and eggs from the helminth, Schistosoma mansoni, were compared. Like alum, schistosome eggs induced the appearance of Gr1+IL-4+ cells in spleen and promoted MHC II-mediated signaling in B cells. Unlike alum, however, schistosome eggs did not promote CD4 T cell responses against co-injected antigens, suggesting that the effects of alum or schistosome eggs on splenic B cells cannot by themselves explain the T cell adjuvant properties of alum. Accordingly, depletion of IL-4 or Gr1+ cells in alum-injected mice had no effect on the ability of alum to improve expansion of primary CD4 T cells. However, Gr1+ cells and IL-4 played some role in the effects of alum, since depletion of either resulted in antibody responses to antigen that included not only the normal T<sub>h</sub>2-driven isotypes, like IgG1, but also a T<sub>h</sub>1-driven isotype, IgG2c. These data suggest that alum affects the immune response in at least two ways: one, independent of Gr1+ cells and IL-4, that promotes CD4 T cell proliferation and another, via Gr1+IL-4+ cells, that participates in the polarization of the response

Experimental Limit to Interstellar 244Pu Abundance

Short-lived nuclides, now extinct in the solar system, are expected to be present in the interstellar medium (ISM). Grains of ISM origin were recently discovered in the inner solar system and at Earth orbit and may accrete onto Earth after ablation in the atmosphere. A favorable matrix for detection of such extraterrestrial material is presented by deep open-sea sediments with very low sedimentation rates (0.8-3 mm/kyr). We report here on the measurement of Pu isotopic abundances in a 1-kg deep-sea dry sediment collected in 1992 in the North Pacific. Our measured value of (3+-3)x10^5 244Pu atoms in the Pu-separated fraction of the sample shows no excess over the expected stratospheric nuclear fallout content and under reasonable assumptions we derive a limit of 2x10^-11 g-244Pu/g-ISM for the abundance of 244Pu in ISM.Comment: 10 p, 1 fig, LateX(AASTeX) Accepted for publication in ApJL, aug 2, 200

Wolf-Rayet and LBV Nebulae as the Result of Variable and Non-Spherical Stellar Winds

The physical basis for interpreting observations of nebular morphology around massive stars in terms of the evolution of the central stars is reviewed, and examples are discussed, including NGC 6888, OMC-1, and eta Carinae.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 169 on Variable and Non-Spherical Stellar Winds in Luminous Hot Stars, ed. B. Wolf (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg). 7 pages, including 5 figures. A full-resolution version of fig 4 is available in the version at http://www.mpia-hd.mpg.de/theory/preprints.html#maclo