379 research outputs found
Absorption line series and autoionization resonance structure analysis in the ultraviolet spectrum of Sr I
Photoelectric spectrometer to measure absorption line series and autoionization resonance in ultraviolet spectrum of strontium vapo
Correlation dynamics between electrons and ions in the fragmentation of D molecules by short laser pulses
We studied the recollision dynamics between the electrons and D ions
following the tunneling ionization of D molecules in an intense short pulse
laser field. The returning electron collisionally excites the D ion to
excited electronic states from there D can dissociate or be further
ionized by the laser field, resulting in D + D or D + D,
respectively. We modeled the fragmentation dynamics and calculated the
resulting kinetic energy spectrum of D to compare with recent experiments.
Since the recollision time is locked to the tunneling ionization time which
occurs only within fraction of an optical cycle, the peaks in the D kinetic
energy spectra provides a measure of the time when the recollision occurs. This
collision dynamics forms the basis of the molecular clock where the clock can
be read with attosecond precision, as first proposed by Corkum and coworkers.
By analyzing each of the elementary processes leading to the fragmentation
quantitatively, we identified how the molecular clock is to be read from the
measured kinetic energy spectra of D and what laser parameters be used in
order to measure the clock more accurately.Comment: 13 pages with 14 figure
Accuracy, rationality and specialisation in a generalised model of collective navigation
Animal navigation is a key behavioural process, from localised foraging to global migration. Within
groups individuals may improve their navigational accuracy by following those with more experience
or knowledge, by pooling information from many directional estimates ("many wrongs"), or some
combination of these strategies. Previous agent-based simulations have highlighted that homogeneous
leaderless groups can improve their collective navigation accuracy when individuals preferentially
copy the movement directions of their neighbours while giving a low weighting to their own navigational knowledge. Meanwhile, other studies have demonstrated how specialised leaders may
emerge, and that a small number of such individuals can improve group-level navigation performance.
However, in general, these earlier results either lack a full mathematical grounding or do not fully
consider the effect of individual self-interest. Here we derive and analyse a mathematically tractable
model of collective navigation. We demonstrate that collective navigation is compromised when
individuals seek to optimise their own accuracy in both homogeneous groups and those with differing
navigational abilities. We further demonstrate how heterogeneous navigational strategies (specialised
leaders and followers) may evolve within the model. Our results thus unify different lines of research
in collective navigation and highlight the importance of individual selection in determining group
composition and performance
Constructing a Stochastic Model of Bumblebee Flights from Experimental Data
PMCID: PMC3592844This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
High temporal resolution sampling reveals reef fish settlement is highly clustered
Coral reef fish larvae settle on reefs predominantly at night around the new-moon phase, after an early developmental period spent in the pelagic environment. Most sampling is conducted across whole nights, and any studies that have examined the frequency of arrival within nights have typically been limited to coarse sampling time scales of 1–5 h. Here, we present results for arrival numbers of fish caught between dusk and midnight from light traps sampled every 15 min at an Indonesian coral reef, providing the finest temporal resolution for this type of study to date. A spatial analysis by distance indices analysis, adapted to temporal data, revealed clustering of reef arrival times for many species, with an increase in catches immediately after dusk dropping off towards midnight. Importantly, the timing of clusters differed among species, indicating that different factors determine the timing of arrival among taxa. Our results support the hypothesis that larval behaviour influences the timing of arrival at a coral reef for different fish species
Copycat dynamics in leaderless animal group navigation
Background: Many animals are known to have improved navigational efficiency when moving together as a social group. One potential mechanism for social group navigation is known as the 'many wrongs principle', where information from many inaccurate compasses is pooled across the group. In order to understand how animal groups may use the many wrongs principle to navigate, it is important to consider how directional information is transferred and shared within the group. Methods: Here we use an individual-based model to explore the information-sharing and copying dynamics of a leaderless animal group navigating towards a target in a virtual environment. We assume that communication and information-sharing is indirect and arises through individuals partially copying the movement direction of their neighbours and weighting this information relative to their individual navigational knowledge. Results: We find that the best group navigation performance occurs when individuals directly copy the direction of movement of a subset of their neighbours while only giving a small (6%) weighting to their individual navigational knowledge. Surprisingly, such a strategy is shown to be highly efficient regardless of the level of individual navigational error. We find there is little relative improvement in navigational efficiency when individuals copy from more than 7 influential neighbours. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that we would expect navigating group-living animals to predominantly copy the movement of others rather than relying on their own navigational knowledge. We discuss our results in the context of individual and group navigation behaviour in animals
Neutron skin of Pb from Coherent Pion Photoproduction
Information on the size and shape of the neutron skin on Pb has been
extracted from coherent pion photoproduction cross sections measured using the
Crystal Ball together with the Glasgow tagger at the MAMI electron beam
facility. On exploitation of an interpolated fit of a theoretical model to the
measured cross sections the half-height radius and diffuseness of the neutron
distribution are found to be 6.70 fm and 0.55 fm respectively, corresponding to a neutron
skin thickness =0.15 fm.
The results give the first successful extraction of a neutron skin with an
electromagnetic probe and indicate the skin of Pb has a halo character.
The measurement provides valuable new constraints on both the structure of
nuclei and the equation of state for neutron-rich matter.Comment: 4 figures 5 pages. Version submitted to journal. Includes additional
studies of systematic effects in the extracted diffuseness, which led to a
small increase in the quoted systematic error. These additional studies are
discussed in the revised manuscript. Also includes minor editorial
improvements to the tex
Determination of the Dalitz plot parameter alpha for the decay eta->3pi^0 with the Crystal Ball at MAMI-B
A precise measurement of the Dalitz plot parameter, alpha, for the eta->3pi^0
decay is presented. The experiment was performed with the Crystal Ball and TAPS
large acceptance photon detectors at the tagged photon beam facility of the
MAMI-B electron accelerator in Mainz. High statistics of 1.8*10^6 eta->3pi^0
events were obtained, giving the result alpha = -0.032 +/- 0.002(stat) +/-
0.002(syst).Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, published in the online-first section of EPJ A,
included changes referees asked for, added DO
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