109,669 research outputs found
Dynamics of Nanometer-Scale Foil Targets Irradiated with Relativistically Intense Laser Pulses
In this letter we report on an experimental study of high harmonic radiation
generated in nanometer-scale foil targets irradiated under normal incidence.
The experiments constitute the first unambiguous observation of odd-numbered
relativistic harmonics generated by the component of the
Lorentz force verifying a long predicted property of solid target harmonics.
Simultaneously the observed harmonic spectra allow in-situ extraction of the
target density in an experimental scenario which is of utmost interest for
applications such as ion acceleration by the radiation pressure of an
ultraintense laser.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The adsorption structure of furan on Pd(1 1 1)
The structure of molecular furan, C4H4O, on Pd(1 1 1) has been investigated by O K-edge near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and C 1s scanned-energy mode photoelectron diffraction (PhD). NEXAFS shows the molecule to be adsorbed with the molecular plane close to parallel to the surface, a conclusion confirmed by the PhD analysis. Chemical-state specific C 1s PhD data were obtained for the two inequivalent C atoms in the furan, the α-C atoms adjacent to the O atom, and the ÎČ-C atoms bonded only to C atoms, but only the PhD modulations for the α-C emitters were of sufficiently large amplitude for detailed evaluation using multiple scattering calculations. This analysis shows the α-C atoms to be located approximately 0.6 Ă
off-atop surface Pd atoms with an associated CâPd bondlength of 2.13 ± 0.03 Ă
. Two alternative local geometries consistent with the data place the O atom in off-atop or near-hollow locations, and for each of these local structures there are two equally-possible registries relative to the fcc and hcp hollow sites. The results are in good agreement with earlier density functional theory calculations which indicate that the fcc and hcp registries are equally probable, but the PhD results fail to distinguish the two distinct local bonding geometries
Large lianas as hyperdynamic elements of the tropical forest canopy
Lianas (woody vines) are an important component of lowland tropical forests.
We report large liana and tree inventory and dynamics data from Amazonia over periods
of up to 24 years, making this the longest geographically extensive study of liana ecology
to date. We use these results to address basic questions about the ecology of large lianas
in mature forests and their interactions with trees. In one intensively studied site we find
that large lianas (â„10 cm diameter) represent ,5% of liana stems, but 80% of biomass of
well-lit upper canopy lianas. Across sites, large lianas and large trees are both most successful
in terms of structural importance in richer soil forests, but large liana success may
be controlled more by the availability of large tree supports rather than directly by soil
conditions. Long-term annual turnover rates of large lianas are 5â8%, three times those of
trees. Lianas are implicated in large tree mortality: liana-infested large trees are three times
more likely to die than liana-free large trees, and large lianas are involved in the death of
at least 30% of tree basal area. Thus large lianas are a much more dynamic component of
Amazon forests than are canopy trees, and they play a much more significant functional
role than their structural contribution suggests
Observation of Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- using e+e- collisions and a determination of the Bs-Bsbar width difference \Delta\Gamma_s
We have made the first observation of Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- decays using 23.6 fb-1
of data recorded by the Belle experiment running on the Upsilon(5S) resonance.
The branching fractions are measured to be B(B^0_s\ra D^+_s D^-_s) =
(1.0\,^{+0.4}_{-0.3}\,^{+0.3}_{-0.2})%, B(B^0_s\ra D^{*\pm}_s D^{\mp}_s) =
(2.8\,^{+0.8}_{-0.7}\,\pm 0.7)%, and B(B^0_s\ra D^{*+}_s D^{*-}_s) =
(3.1\,^{+1.2}_{-1.0}\,\pm 0.8)%; the sum is B(B^0_s\ra D^{(*)+}_s D^{(*)-}_s) =
(6.9\,^{+1.5}_{-1.3}\,\pm 1.9)%. Assuming Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- saturates decays to
CP-even final states, the branching fraction determines the ratio
\Delta\Gamma_s/cos(\phi), where \Delta\Gamma_s is the difference in widths
between the two Bs-Bsbar mass eigenstates, and \phi is a CP-violating weak
phase. Taking CP violation to be negligibly small, we obtain
\Delta\Gamma_s/\Gamma_s =
0.147^{+0.036}_{-0.030}(stat.)^{+0.044}_{-0.042}(syst.), where \Gamma_s is the
mean decay width.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. v2: text added for clarification,
version published in Phys. Rev. Letter
Synchronous solutions and their stability in nonlocally coupled phase oscillators with propagation delays
We study the existence and stability of synchronous solutions in a continuum
field of non-locally coupled identical phase oscillators with
distance-dependent propagation delays. We present a comprehensive stability
diagram in the parameter space of the system. From the numerical results a
heuristic synchronization condition is suggested, and an analytic relation for
the marginal stability curve is obtained. We also provide an expression in the
form of a scaling relation that closely follows the marginal stability curve
over the complete range of the non-locality parameter.Comment: accepted in Phys. Rev. E (2010
Quantum correlations in the temporal CHSH scenario
We consider a temporal version of the CHSH scenario using projective
measurements on a single quantum system. It is known that quantum correlations
in this scenario are fundamentally more general than correlations obtainable
with the assumptions of macroscopic realism and non-invasive measurements. In
this work, we also educe some fundamental limitations of these quantum
correlations. One result is that a set of correlators can appear in the
temporal CHSH scenario if and only if it can appear in the usual spatial CHSH
scenario. In particular, we derive the validity of the Tsirelson bound and the
impossibility of PR-box behavior. The strength of possible signaling also turns
out to be surprisingly limited, giving a maximal communication capacity of
approximately 0.32 bits. We also find a temporal version of Hardy's nonlocality
paradox with a maximal quantum value of 1/4.Comment: corrected versio
Dynamical Entropy Production in Spiking Neuron Networks in the Balanced State
We demonstrate deterministic extensive chaos in the dynamics of large sparse
networks of theta neurons in the balanced state. The analysis is based on
numerically exact calculations of the full spectrum of Lyapunov exponents, the
entropy production rate and the attractor dimension. Extensive chaos is found
in inhibitory networks and becomes more intense when an excitatory population
is included. We find a strikingly high rate of entropy production that would
limit information representation in cortical spike patterns to the immediate
stimulus response.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Large quantum fluctuations in the strongly coupled spin-1/2 chains of green dioptase: a hidden message from birds and trees
The green mineral dioptase Cu6Si6O18(H2O)6 has been known since centuries and
plays an important role in esoteric doctrines. In particular, the green
dioptase is supposed to grant the skill to speak with trees and to understand
the language of birds. Armed with natural samples of dioptase, we were able to
unravel the magnetic nature of the mineral (presumably with hidden support from
birds and trees) and show that strong quantum fluctuations can be realized in
an essentially framework-type spin lattice of coupled chains, thus neither
frustration nor low-dimensionality are prerequisites. We present a microscopic
magnetic model for the green dioptase. Based on full-potential DFT
calculations, we find two relevant couplings in this system: an
antiferromagnetic coupling J_c, forming spiral chains along the hexagonal c
axis, and an inter-chain ferromagnetic coupling J_d within structural Cu2O6
dimers. To refine the J_c and J_d values and to confirm the proposed spin
model, we perform quantum Monte-Carlo simulations for the dioptase spin
lattice. The derived magnetic susceptibility, the magnetic ground state, and
the sublattice magnetization are in remarkably good agreement with the
experimental data. The refined model parameters are J_c = 78 K and J_d = -37 K
with J_d/J_c ~ -0.5. Despite the apparent three-dimensional features of the
spin lattice and the lack of frustration, strong quantum fluctuations in the
system are evidenced by a broad maximum in the magnetic susceptibility, a
reduced value of the Neel temperature T_N ~ 15 K >> J_c, and a low value of the
sublattice magnetization m = 0.55 Bohr magneton. All these features should be
ascribed to the low coordination number of 3 that outbalances the
three-dimensional nature of the spin lattice.Comment: Dedicated to Stefan-Ludwig Drechsler on the occasion of his 60th
birthday (9 pages, 6 figures
Understanding Spatial and Spectral Morphologies of Ultracompact H II Regions
The spatial morphology, spectral characteristics, and time variability of
ultracompact H II regions provide strong constraints on the process of massive
star formation. We have performed simulations of the gravitational collapse of
rotating molecular cloud cores, including treatments of the propagation of
ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. We here present synthetic radio continuum
observations of H II regions from our collapse simulations, to investigate how
well they agree with observation, and what we can learn about how massive star
formation proceeds. We find that intermittent shielding by dense filaments in
the gravitationally unstable accretion flow around the massive star leads to
highly variable H II regions that do not grow monotonically, but rather
flicker, growing and shrinking repeatedly. This behavior appears able to
resolve the well-known lifetime problem. We find that multiple ionizing sources
generally form, resulting in groups of ultracompact H II regions, consistent
with observations. We confirm that our model reproduces the qualitative H II
region morphologies found in surveys, with generally consistent relative
frequencies. We also find that simulated spectral energy distributions (SEDs)
from our model are consistent with the range of observed H II region SEDs,
including both regions showing a normal transition from optically thick to
optically thin emission, and those with intermediate spectral slopes. In our
models, anomalous slopes are solely produced by inhomogeneities in the H II
region, with no contribution from dust emission at millimeter or submillimeter
wavelengths. We conclude that many observed characteristics of ultracompact H
II regions appear consistent with massive star formation in fast,
gravitationally unstable, accretion flows.Comment: ApJ in pres
From interstellar abundances to grain composition: the major dust constituents Mg, Si and Fe
We analyse observational correlations for three elements entering into the
composition of interstellar silicate and oxide grains. Using current solar
abundances (Asplund et al. 2009), we convert the gas-phase abundances into
dust-phase abundances for 196 sightlines. We deduce a sharp difference in
abundances for sightlines located at low (|b|<30\degr) and high
(|b|>30\degr) galactic latitudes. For high-latitude stars the ratios Mg/Si
and Fe/Si in dust are close to 1.5. For disk stars they are reduced to and . The derived numbers indicate that
1) the dust grains cannot be the mixture of silicates with olivine and pyroxene
composition only and some amount of magnesium or iron (or both) should be in
another population and 2) the destruction of Mg-rich grains in the warm medium
is more effective than of Fe-rich grains. We reveal a decrease of dust-phase
abundances and correspondingly an increase of gas-phase abundances with
distance for stars with D\ga 400\,pc. We attribute this fact to an
observational selection effect: a systematic trend toward smaller observed
hydrogen column density for distant stars. We find differences in abundances
for disk stars with low (E({\rm B-V}) \la 0.2) and high (E({\rm B-V}) \ga
0.2) reddenings which reflect the distinction between the sightlines passing
through diffuse and translucent interstellar clouds. For Scorpius-Ophiuchus we
detect an uniform increase of dust-phase abundances of Mg and Si with an
increase of the ratio of total to selective extinction and a
decrease of the strength of the far-UV extinction. This is the first evidence
for a growth of Mg-Si grains due to accretion in the interstellar medium.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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