509 research outputs found
A theory of electromagnetism with uniquely defined potential and covariant conserved spin
A theory of electromagnetism is proposed that is based on the Fermi
Lagrangian, which is symmetric under electromagnetic spin rotation. Its
features are: - the four-potential is unambiguously determined by the
inhomogeneous wave equation and boundary conditions at infinity. - the Lorenz
condition and minimal coupling then follow from charge conservation. -
electromagnetic spin is conserved and spin operators can be defined without
sacrificing covariance. - quantisation is fully covariant, without redefining
the metric. - all experimental predictions are the same as in the standard
theory. This result proves that electromagnetic gauge invariance is redundant
as a fundamental principle of physics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 20 equation
Inelastic light scattering from a Mott insulator
We propose to use Bragg spectroscopy to measure the excitation spectrum of
the Mott insulator state of an atomic Bose gas in an optical lattice. We
calculate the structure factor of the Mott insulator taking into account both
the selfenergy corrections of the atoms and the corresponding dressing of the
atom-photon interaction. We determine the scattering rate of photons in the
stimulated Raman transition and show that by measuring this scattering rate in
an experiment, in particular the excitation gap of the Mott insulator can be
determined.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX, submitted to PR
Ultracold atoms in optical lattices
Bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice at very low temperatures, can be
modeled by the Bose-Hubbard model. In this paper, we propose a slave-boson
approach for dealing with the Bose-Hubbard model, which enables us to
analytically describe the physics of this model at nonzero temperatures. With
our approach the phase diagram for this model at nonzero temperatures can be
quantified.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figure
Quantum phases in a resonantly-interacting Bose-Fermi mixture
We consider a resonantly-interacting Bose-Fermi mixture of K and
Rb atoms in an optical lattice. We show that by using a red-detuned
optical lattice the mixture can be accurately described by a generalized
Hubbard model for K and Rb atoms, and K-Rb
molecules. The microscopic parameters of this model are fully determined by the
details of the optical lattice and the interspecies Feshbach resonance in the
absence of the lattice. We predict a quantum phase transition to occur in this
system already at low atomic filling fraction, and present the phase diagram as
a function of the temperature and the applied magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Mean-field theory for Bose-Hubbard Model under a magnetic field
We consider the superfluid-insulator transition for cold bosons under an
effective magnetic field. We investigate how the applied magnetic field affects
the Mott transition within mean field theory and find that the critical hopping
strength , increases with the applied field. The increase in the
critical hopping follows the bandwidth of the Hofstadter butterfly at the given
value of the magnetic field. We also calculate the magnetization and superfluid
density within mean field theory.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, published versio
Free fermion antibunching in a degenerate atomic Fermi gas released from an optical lattice
Noise in a quantum system is fundamentally governed by the statistics and the
many-body state of the underlying particles. Whereas for bosonic particles the
correlated noise observed for e.g. photons or bosonic neutral atoms can still
be explained within a classical field description with fluctuating phases, the
anticorrelations in the detection of fermionic particles have no classical
analogue. The observation of such fermionic antibunching is so far scarce and
has been confined to electrons and neutrons. Here we report on the first direct
observation of antibunching of neutral fermionic atoms. Through an analysis of
the atomic shot noise in a set of standard absorption images, of a gas of
fermionic 40K atoms released from an optical lattice, we find reduced
correlations for distances related to the original spacing of the trapped
atoms. The detection of such quantum statistical correlations has allowed us to
characterise the ordering and temperature of the Fermi gas in the lattice.
Moreover, our findings are an important step towards revealing fundamental
fermionic many-body quantum phases in periodic potentials, which are at the
focus of current research.Comment: (Nature, in press
Image-guided in situ detection of bacterial biofilms in a human prosthetic knee infection model:a feasibility study for clinical diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections
Purpose Due to an increased human life expectancy, the need to replace arthritic or dysfunctional joints by prosthetics is higher than ever before. Prosthetic joints are unfortunately inherently susceptible to bacterial infection accompanied by biofilm formation. Accurate and rapid diagnosis is vital to increase therapeutic success. Yet, established diagnostic modalities cannot directly detect bacterial biofilms on prostheses. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating whether arthroscopic optical imaging can accurately detect bacterial biofilms on prosthetic joints. Methods Here, we applied a conjugate of the antibiotic vancomycin and the near-infrared fluorophore IRDye800CW, in short vanco-800CW, in combination with arthroscopic optical imaging to target and visualize biofilms on infected prostheses. Results We show in a human post-mortem prosthetic knee infection model that a staphylococcal biofilm is accurately detected in real time and distinguished from sterile sections in high resolution. In addition, we demonstrate that biofilms associated with the clinically most relevant bacterial species can be detected using vanco-800CW. Conclusion The presented image-guided arthroscopic approach provides direct visual diagnostic information and facilitates immediate appropriate treatment selection
Time is vision in recurrent optic neuritis
In optic neuritis (ON) inflammation precedes onset of demyelination and axonal loss. The anti-inflammatory properties of corticosteroids may be most effective in the early inflammatory phase, but rapid patient recruitment remains a logistic challenge. The aim of the study was to review the effect of time to initiation of treatment on visual outcome in recurrent ON. A retrospective case note review of patients known to our centre with recurrent ON. The primary clinical outcome was change of best corrected high contrast visual acuity (BCVA). The secondary outcome was the change of optical coherence tomography (OCT) thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) and macular ganglion cell layer (mGCL) from baseline and after a minimum of 3months following the episode of recurrent ON. Of 269 patients with a previous episode of ON, 54 experienced recurrent ON. In total 40 OCT documented episodes of relapsing ON were captured in 19 patients. Treatment within <2days led to better recovery of the BCVA (+0.02) and mGCL (-2.4µm) if compared to delayed treatment (BCVA -0.2, p=0.036, mGCL -25.6µm, p=0.019) or no corticosteroids treatment (BCVA -0.2, p=0.045, GCL -5.0µm, p=0.836). These data suggest a beneficial effect of hyperacute corticosteroid treatment. A pragmatic approach for a prospective treatment trial should consider patients with recurrent ON for logistic reasons
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