title:
The influence of anesthetics, neurotransmitters and antibiotics on the
  relaxation processes in lipid membranes

abstract:
  In the proximity of melting transitions of artificial and biological
membranes fluctuations in enthalpy, area, volume and concentration are
enhanced. This results in domain formation, changes of the elastic constants,
changes in permeability and slowing down of relaxation processes. In this study
we used pressure perturbation calorimetry to investigate the relaxation time
scale after a jump into the melting transition regime of artificial lipid
membranes. This time corresponds to the characteristic rate of domain growth.
The studies were performed on single-component large unilamellar and
multilamellar vesicle systems with and without the addition of small molecules
such as general anesthetics, neurotransmitters and antibiotics. These drugs
interact with membranes and affect melting points and profiles. In all systems
we found that heat capacity and relaxation times are related to each other in a
simple manner. The maximum relaxation time depends on the cooperativity of the
heat capacity profile and decreases with a broadening of the transition. For
this reason the influence of a drug on the time scale of domain formation
processes can be understood on the basis of their influence on the heat
capacity profile. This allows estimations of the time scale of domain formation
processes in biological membranes.


title: A transactional theory of fluctuations in company size

abstract:
  Detailed empirical studies of publicly traded business firms have established
that the standard deviation of annual sales growth rates decreases with
increasing firm sales as a power law, and that the sales growth distribution is
non-Gaussian with slowly decaying tails. To explain these empirical facts, a
theory is developed that incorporates both the fluctuations of a single firm's
sales and the statistical differences among many firms. The theory reproduces
both the scaling in the standard deviation and the non-Gaussian distribution of
growth rates. Earlier models reproduce the same empirical features by splitting
firms into somewhat ambiguous subunits; by decomposing total sales into
individual transactions, this ambiguity is removed. The theory yields
verifiable predictions and accommodates any form of business organization
within a firm. Furthermore, because transactions are fundamental to economic
activity at all scales, the theory can be extended to all levels of the
economy, from individual products to multinational corporations.


title:
Adaptive mesh refinement with spectral accuracy for magnetohydrodynamics
  in two space dimensions

abstract:
  We examine the effect of accuracy of high-order spectral element methods,
with or without adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), in the context of a classical
configuration of magnetic reconnection in two space dimensions, the so-called
Orszag-Tang vortex made up of a magnetic X-point centered on a stagnation point
of the velocity. A recently developed spectral-element adaptive refinement
incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code is applied to simulate this
problem. The MHD solver is explicit, and uses the Elsasser formulation on
high-order elements. It automatically takes advantage of the adaptive grid
mechanics that have been described elsewhere in the fluid context [Rosenberg,
Fournier, Fischer, Pouquet, J. Comp. Phys. 215, 59-80 (2006)]; the code allows
both statically refined and dynamically refined grids. Tests of the algorithm
using analytic solutions are described, and comparisons of the Orszag-Tang
solutions with pseudo-spectral computations are performed. We demonstrate for
moderate Reynolds numbers that the algorithms using both static and refined
grids reproduce the pseudo--spectral solutions quite well. We show that
low-order truncation--even with a comparable number of global degrees of
freedom--fails to correctly model some strong (sup--norm) quantities in this
problem, even though it satisfies adequately the weak (integrated) balance
diagnostics.


title: A Bright, Guided Molecular Beam With Hydrodynamic Enhancement

abstract:
  We realize a novel high flux source of cold atoms and molecules employing
hydrodynamic enhancement of an effusive aperture at cryogenic temperatures.
Molecular oxygen from the source is coupled to a magnetic guide, delivering a
cold, continuous, guided flux of 3e12 oxygen molecules per second, with a
molecule temperature of a few kelvin. The dynamics of the source are studied by
creating and spectroscopically analyzing high-flux beams of atomic ytterbium.


title:
Continuous macroscopic limit of a discrete stochastic model for
  interaction of living cells

abstract:
  In the development of multiscale biological models it is crucial to establish
a connection between discrete microscopic or mesoscopic stochastic models and
macroscopic continuous descriptions based on cellular density. In this paper a
continuous limit of a two-dimensional Cellular Potts Model (CPM) with excluded
volume is derived, describing cells moving in a medium and reacting to each
other through both direct contact and long range chemotaxis. The continuous
macroscopic model is obtained as a Fokker-Planck equation describing evolution
of the cell probability density function. All coefficients of the general
macroscopic model are derived from parameters of the CPM and a very good
agreement is demonstrated between CPM Monte Carlo simulations and numerical
solution of the macroscopic model. It is also shown that in the absence of
contact cell-cell interactions, the obtained model reduces to the classical
macroscopic Keller-Segel model. General multiscale approach is demonstrated by
simulating spongy bone formation from loosely packed mesenchyme via the
intramembranous route suggesting that self-organizing physical mechanisms can
account for this developmental process.


title:
EPR Study of Radicals in Irradiated Ionic Liquids and Implications for
  the Radiation Stability of Ionic Liquid-Based Extraction Systems

abstract:
  The radiation- and photo- chemistry of room temperature ionic liquids (ILs)
composed of ammonium, phosphonium, pyrrolidinium, and imidazolium cations and
bis(triflyl)amide, dicyanamide, and bis(oxalato)borate anions, have been
studied using low-temperature Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR). Several
classes of radicals have been identified and related to reactions of the
primary radiolytically generated electrons and holes. Large yields of terminal
and penultimate C-centered radicals are observed in the aliphatic chains of the
phosphonium, ammonium and pyrrolidinium cations, but not for imidazolium
cation. This pattern can be accounted for by efficient deprotonation of a hole
trapped on the cation (the radical dication) that competes with rapid charge
transfer to a nearby anion. The latter leads to the formation of stable N- or
O-centered radicals. The electrons either react with the protic impurity (for
nonaromatic cations) yielding H atoms or the aromatic moiety (for imidazolium
cations). Excitation of bis(triflyl)amide anion is shown to yield
trifluoromethyl radical; the yield of this radical in radiolysis, though, is
low (< 10% of the alkyl radical yield). In terms of their radiation chemistry,
neat ILs appear to be intermediate between organic liquids and ionic solids.
Addition of 10-40 wt% of trialkylphoshate (a common extraction agent for
nuclear cycle separations) has relatively little effect on the fragmentation of
the ILs. Radiation induced dealkylation of the phosphate is prominent, but the
yield of the alkyl radical fragments derived from the phosphates is < 4% of the
yield of the radical fragments drived from the solvent. We discuss the
implication of these results for the radiation stability of nuclear cycle
extraction systems based upon the IL diluents.


title:
Generation of Polarization Squeezing with Periodically Poled KTP at 1064
  nm

abstract:
  We report the experimental demonstration of directly produced polarization
squeezing at 1064 nm from a type I optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on
a periodically poled KTP crystal (PPKTP). The orthogonal polarization modes of
the polarization squeezed state are both defined by the OPA cavity mode, and
the birefringence induced by the PPKTP crystal is compensated for by a second,
but inactive, PPKTP crystal. Stokes parameter squeezing of 3.6 dB and anti
squeezing of 9.4 dB is observed.


title:
Velocity contrasts enhancement for shear thinning solutions flowing in a
  rough fracture

abstract:
  Flow and transport are studied in transparent model fractures with rough
complementary self-affine walls with a relative shear displacement $\vec{u}$.
The aperture field is shown to display long range correlations perpendicular to
$\vec{u}$: for flow in that direction, the width and geometry of the front of a
dyed shear-thinning polymer solution displacing a transparent one have been
studied as a function of the fluid rheology and flow rate. The front width
increases linearly with distance indicating a convection of the fluids with a
low transverse mixing between the flow paths. The width also increases with the
flow-rate as the fluid rheology shifts from Newtonian at low shear rates $\dot
\gamma$ towards a shear thinning behaviour at higher $\dot \gamma$ values. The
width also increases with the polymer concentration at high flow-rates. These
results demonstrate the enhancement of the flow velocity contrasts between
different flow channels for shear thinning fluids. The relative widths at low
and high $\dot \gamma$ values for different polymer concentrations are well
predicted by an analytical model considering the fracture as a set of parallel
ducts of constant hydraulic apertures. The overall geometry of the experimental
front geometry is also predicted by the theoretical model from the aperture
map.


title:
Resonance energy transfer from a fluorescent dye molecule to plasmon and
  electron-hole excitations of a metal nanoparticle

abstract:
  We study the distance dependence of the rate of electronic excitation energy
transfer from a dye molecule to a metal nanoparticle. Using the spherical
jellium model, we evaluate the rates corresponding to the excitation of l = 1,
2, and 3 modes of the nanoparticle. Our calculation takes into account both the
electron-hole pair and the plasmon excitations of the nanoparticle. The rate
follows conventional R^-6 dependence at large distances while small deviations
from this behavior are observed at shorter distances. Within the framework of
the jellium model, it is not possible to attribute the experimentally observed
d^-4 dependence of the rate to energy transfer to plasmons or e-h pair
excitations.


title: Omega and the time evolution of the N-body problem

abstract:
  The series solution of the behavior of a finite number of physical bodies and
Chaitin's Omega number share quasi-algorithmic expressions; yet both lack a
computable radius of convergence.


title: Giulio Racah and Theoretical Physics in Jerusalem

abstract:
  Giulio Racah's name is known world wide in physics due to the mathematical
methods he developed that are based on tensor operators and continuous groups.
These methods revolutionized spectroscopy, and they are currently essential
research tools in atomic, nuclear and elementary particle physics. He himself
applied them to modernizing theoretical atomic spectroscopy. Racah laid the
foundations of theoretical physics in Israel. He educated several generations
of Israeli physicists, and put Israel on the world map of physics.


title: Modular networks emerge from multiconstraint optimization

abstract:
  Modular structure is ubiquitous among complex networks. We note that most
such systems are subject to multiple structural and functional constraints,
e.g., minimizing the average path length and the total number of links, while
maximizing robustness against perturbations in node activity. We show that the
optimal networks satisfying these three constraints are characterized by the
existence of multiple subnetworks (modules) sparsely connected to each other.
In addition, these modules have distinct hubs, resulting in an overall
heterogeneous degree distribution.


title: Kant's Copernican Revolution

abstract:
  A number of philosophers and scientists have discussed the possibility of
inseparability between the subject (i.e., the observer) and the object (i.e.,
the observed universe). In particular, it has recently been proposed that this
inseparability may be obtained through the discrete physical universe being
filled with the observer's continuous consciousness through quantum evolution
with time going backwards. The proposal of a universe view with interwoven
matter and mind through cyclical time bears a resemblance to Immanuel Kant's
discussion of the Copernican Revolution in philosophy, where the priority
shifted from the object to the subject.


title: On accuracy assessment of celestial reference frame VLBI realizations

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose to use the scatter of celestial pole offset (CPO)
series obtained from VLBI observations as a measure of the accuracy of the
celestial reference frame (CRF) realizations. Several scatter indices (SIs)
including those proposed for the first time are investigated. The first SI is
based on analysis of residuals of CPO series w.r.t. Free Core Nutation (FCN)
model. The second group of SIs includes Allan deviation and its extensions,
which allow one to treat unequal and multidimensional observations. Application
of these criteria to several radio source catalogues showed their ability to
perform a preliminary assessment of the quality of radio source catalogues, and
2D Allan deviation estimate seems to be a most sensitive measure. However, in
common case, the sensitivity of tested criteria is yet not sufficient to
distinguish between radio source catalogues of the highest quality. Proposed
extensions of Allan deviation, weighted and multidimensional, can be
effectively used also for statistical analysis of astro-geodetic and other time
series.


title:
Numerical optimization of a grating coupler for the efficient excitation
  of surface plasmons at an Ag-SiO2 interface

abstract:
  The efficient generation of surface plasmons from free space optical waves is
still an open problem in the field. Here we present a methodology and optimized
design for a grating coupler. The photo-excitation of surface plasmons at an
Ag-SiO2 interface is numerically demonstrated to yield greater than 50%
coupling from a Gaussian beam into surface plasmon voltages and currents.


title: Irving Kaplansky and Supersymmetry

abstract:
  Remarks at the Irving Kaplansky Memorial about a collaboration during the
early period of the renewal of contacts between mathematicians and theoretical
physicists.


title: Ortho and Para Molecules of Water in Electric Field

abstract:
  Stark effect is calculated by the perturbation theory method separately for
the ortho and para water molecules. At room temperature, a 30%-difference in
the energy change is found for the two species put in electric field. This
implies a sorting of the ortho and para water molecules in non-uniform electric
fields. The ortho/para water separation is suggested to occur in the course of
steam sorption on a solid surface and of large-scale atmospheric processes.


title: TMVA - Toolkit for Multivariate Data Analysis

abstract:
  In high-energy physics, with the search for ever smaller signals in ever
larger data sets, it has become essential to extract a maximum of the available
information from the data. Multivariate classification methods based on machine
learning techniques have become a fundamental ingredient to most analyses. Also
the multivariate classifiers themselves have significantly evolved in recent
years. Statisticians have found new ways to tune and to combine classifiers to
further gain in performance. Integrated into the analysis framework ROOT, TMVA
is a toolkit which hosts a large variety of multivariate classification
algorithms. Training, testing, performance evaluation and application of all
available classifiers is carried out simultaneously via user-friendly
interfaces. With version 4, TMVA has been extended to multivariate regression
of a real-valued target vector. Regression is invoked through the same user
interfaces as classification. TMVA 4 also features more flexible data handling
allowing one to arbitrarily form combined MVA methods. A generalised boosting
method is the first realisation benefiting from the new framework.


title: Diffusive capture processes for information search

abstract:
  We show how effectively the diffusive capture processes (DCP) on complex
networks can be applied to information search in the networks. Numerical
simulations show that our method generates only 2% of traffic compared with the
most popular flooding-based query-packet-forwarding (FB) algorithm. We find
that the average searching time, $<T>$, of the our model is more scalable than
another well known $n$-random walker model and comparable to the FB algorithm
both on real Gnutella network and scale-free networks with $\gamma =2.4$. We
also discuss the possible relationship between $<T>$ and $<k^2>$, the second
moment of the degree distribution of the networks.


title:
A Hardware Implementation of Artificial Neural Network Using Field
  Programmable Gate Arrays

abstract:
  An artificial neural network algorithm is implemented using a field
programmable gate array hardware. One hidden layer is used in the feed-forward
neural network structure in order to discriminate one class of patterns from
the other class in real time. With five 8-bit input patterns, six hidden nodes,
and one 8-bit output, the implemented hardware neural network makes decision on
a set of input patterns in 11 clocks and the result is identical to what to
expect from off-line computation. This implementation may be used in level 1
hardware triggers in high energy physics experiments


title:
Terahertz and Infrared Uncooled Detector Based on a Microcantilever as a
  Radiation Pressure Sensor

abstract:
  We consider a far infrared (terahertz), room-temperature detector based on a
microcantilever sensor of the radiation pressure. This system has a
significantly higher sensitivity than existing uncooled detectors in the far
infrared (terahertz) spectral region. The significant enhancement of
sensitivity is due the combination non-absorption detection method and high
quality optical microcavity. Our theoretical analysis of the detector
sensitivity and numerical simulations demonstrate that the narrowband
heterodyne detector with the band width 30 MHz has a minimal measurable
intensity by three orders of magnitude less than conventional uncooled
detectors. In the case of the broadband detector, the noise equivalent
temperature difference (NETD) is 7.6 mK, which is significantly smaller than
for conventional uncooled thermal detectors.


title: The Information and the Matter

abstract:
  In this article a revised, to some extent, version of the Information concept
as utmost fundamental essence ("The Information and the Matter",v1) is
presented - a little more logical grounds and may be of a philosophy, the
correction and the development of the gravity force concept, etc...


title: The current progress of the ALICE Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector

abstract:
  Recently, the last two modules (out of seven) of the ALICE High Momentum
Particle Identification detector (HMPID) were assembled and tested. The full
detector, after a pre-commissioning phase, has been installed in the
experimental area, inside the ALICE solenoid, at the end of September 2006. In
this paper we review the status of the ALICE/HMPID project and we present a
summary of the series production of the CsI photo-cathodes. We describe the key
features of the production procedure which ensures high quality photo-cathodes
as well as the results of the quality assessment performed by means of a
specially developed 2D scanner system able to produce a detailed map of the CsI
photo-current over the entire photo-cathode surface.
  Finally we present our recent R&D efforts toward the development of a novel
generation of imaging Cherenkov detectors with the aim to identify, in heavy
ions collisions, hadrons up to 30 GeV/c.


title: Relaxation oscillations in long-pulsed random lasers

abstract:
  We have measured the evolution of the light intensity of a random laser
during a nanosecond pump pulse. Relaxation oscillations in a titania random
laser were observed in the time trace of the total emitted intensity. We
compare our experimental results with a simple model, based on the four-level
rate equations for a single mode laser.


title:
Spontaneous emission of an atom placed near a nanobelt of elliptical
  cross-section

abstract:
  Spontaneous emission of an atom (molecule) placed near a nanocylinder of
elliptical cross-section of an arbitrary composition is studied. The analytical
expressions have been obtained for the radiative and nonradiative channels of
spontaneous decay and investigated in details.


title:
Plasma wake inhibition at the collision of two laser pulses in an
  underdense plasma

abstract:
  An electron injector concept for laser-plasma accelerator was developed in
ref [1] and [2] ; it relies on the use of counter-propagating ultrashort laser
pulses. In [2], the scheme is as follows: the pump laser pulse generates a
large amplitude laser wakefield (plasma wave). The counter-propagating
injection pulse interferes with the pump laser pulse to generate a beatwave
pattern. The ponderomotive force of the beatwave is able to inject plasma
electrons into the wakefield. We have studied this injection scheme using 1D
Particle in Cell (PIC) simulations. The simulations reveal phenomena and
important physical processes that were not taken into account in previous
models. In particular, at the collision of the laser pulses, most plasma
electrons are trapped in the beatwave pattern and cannot contribute to the
collective oscillation supporting the plasma wave. At this point, the fluid
approximation fails and the plasma wake is strongly inhibited. Consequently,
the injected charge is reduced by one order of magnitude compared to the
predictions from previous models.


title: Illusion of Control in a Brownian Game

abstract:
  Both single-player Parrondo games (SPPG) and multi-player Parrondo games
(MPPG) display the Parrondo Effect (PE) wherein two or more individually fair
(or Llosing) games yield a net winning outcome if alternated periodically or
randomly. (There is a more formal, less restrictive definition of the PE.) We
illustrate that, when subject to an elementary optimization rule, the PG
displays degraded rather than enhanced returns. Optimization provides only the
illusion of control, when low-entropy strategies (i.e. which use more
information) under-perform random strategies (with maximal entropy). This
illusion is unfortuntately widespread in many human attempts to manage or
predict complex systems. For the PG, the illusion is especially striking in
that the optimization rule reverses an already paradoxical-seeming positive
gain - the Parrondo effect proper - and turns it negative. While this
phenomenon has been previously demonstrated using somewhat artificial
conditions in the MPPG (L. Dinios and J.M.R. Parrondo. Europhysics Letters 63,
319 (2003); J.M.R. Parrondo et al. Advances in Condensed Matter and Statistical
Mechanics, eds. E. Korutcheva and R. Cuerno, Nova Science Publishers, 2003), we
demonstrate it in the natural setting of a history-dependent SPPG.


title: Undulator Radiation in a Waveguide

abstract:
  We propose an analytical approach to characterize undulator radiation near
resonance, when the presence of the vacuum-pipe considerably affects radiation
properties. This is the case of the far-infrared undulator beamline at the
Free-electron LASer (FEL) in Hamburg (FLASH), that will be capable of
delivering pulses in the TeraHertz (THz) range. This undulator will allow
pump-probe experiments where THz pulses are naturally synchronized to the VUV
pulse from the FEL, as well as the development of novel electron-beam
diagnostics techniques. Since the THz radiation diffraction-size exceeds the
vacuum-chamber dimensions, characterization of infrared radiation must be
performed accounting for the presence of a waveguide. We developed a theory of
undulator radiation in a waveguide based on paraxial and resonance
approximation. We solved the field equation with a tensor Green's function
technique, and extracted figure of merits describing in a simple way the
influence of the vacuum-pipe on the radiation pulse as a function of the
problem parameters. Our theory, that makes consistent use of dimensionless
analysis, allows treatment and physical understanding of many asymptotes of the
parameter space, together with their region of applicability.


title:
Excitation of zonal flow by the modulational instability in electron
  temperature gradient driven turbulence

abstract:
  The generation of large-scale zonal flows by small-scale electrostatic drift
waves in electron temperature gradient(ETG) driven turbulence model is
considered. The generation mechanism is based on the modulational instability
of a finite amplitude monochromatic drift wave. The threshold and growth rate
of the instability as well as the optimal spatial scale of zonal flow are
obtained.


title: Negative refraction by quantum vacuum

abstract:
  The phase velocity of light is co-parallel to the direction of energy flow in
classical vacuum. However, in certain uncommon materials, these two vectors can
be oppositely directed, in which case the phase velocity is termed `negative'.
This negative phase velocity (NPV) gives rise to many exotic phenomenons, such
as negative refraction, inverse Doppler shift and inverse Cerenkov radiation,
and has technological allure. According to quantum electrodynamics, the
presence of a magnetostatic field makes vacuum an anisotropic medium for the
passage of light. Under the influence of a sufficiently strong magnetostatic
field, vacuum supports NPV. Such ultrastrong magnetic fields are believed to
arise due to dynamo action in newborn neutron stars and in binary neutron star
mergers, for examples. In view of the possible occurrence of negative
refraction, the influence of ultrastrong magnetostatic fields must be carefully
taken into account in astronomical observations relating to neutron stars and
associated gamma-ray bursts.


title:
The Relative Angle Distribution Function in the Langevin Theory of
  Dilute Dipoles

abstract:
  The Langevin theory of the polarization of a dilute collection of dipoles by
an external field is often included in introductory solid state physics and
physical chemistry curricula. The average polarization is calculated assuming
the dipoles are in thermal equilibrium with a heat bath. The heart of the
polarization calculation is a derivation of the average dipole-field
projection, whose dependence on the external field is given by the Langevin
function. The Langevin problem is revisited, here, and the average projection
of any given dipole onto any other dipole from the collection is derived in
terms of the Langevin function. A simple expression is obtained for the
underlying dipole-dipole angular distribution function.


title:
Three-dimensional electromagnetic metamaterials with non-Maxwellian
  effective fields

abstract:
  It is commonly assumed that the long-wavelength limit of a metamaterial can
always be described in terms of effective permeability and permittivity
tensors. This assumption holds true in all metamaterials considered up to now.
Here we report that this assumption is false--there exist an entirely new class
of metamaterials consisting of multiple interlocking disconnected metal
networks, for which the effective long-wavelength theory is local, but the
effective field is non-Maxwellian, and possesses much more internal degrees of
freedom than effective Maxwellian fields in a homogeneous medium.


title: An Easily Constructed, Tuning Free, Ultra-broadband Probe for NMR

abstract:
  We have developed an easy to construct, non-resonant wideband NMR probe. The
probe is of the saddle coil geometry and is designed such that the coil itself
forms a transmission line. The probe thus requires no tuning or matching
elements. We use the probe with a spectrometer whose duplexer circuitry employs
a simple RF switch instead of the more common lambda/4 lines, so the entire
probe and spectrometer perform in an essentially frequency-independent manner.
Despite being designed with electro- and magnetostatic formulas, the probe
performs well at frequencies up to 150 MHz and beyond. We expect that with
additional design effort, the probe could be modified for use at significantly
higher frequencies. Because our construction method relies on commercial
circuit fabrication techniques, identical probes can be easily and accurately
produced.


title: Compounding Fields and Their Quantum Equations in the Sedenion Space

abstract:
  The sedenion compounding fields and their quantum interplays can be presented
by analogy with the octonionic electromagnetic, gravitational, strong and weak
interactions. In sedenion fields which are associated with electromagnetic,
gravitational, strong and weak interactions, the study deduces some conclusions
of field source particles and intermediate particles which are consistent with
current electro-weak theory. In the sedenion fields which are associated with
the hyper-strong and strong-weak fields, the paper draws some predicts and
conclusions of the field source particles and intermediate particles. The
researches results show that there may exist some new field source particles in
the sedenion compounding fields.


title: Stochastic Thermodynamics and Dynamics: A Tail of Unexpected

abstract:
  The problem of the insensitivity of the macroscopic behavior of any
thermodynamical system to partitioning generates a bias between the
reproducibility of its macroscopic behavior viewed as the simplest form of
causality and its long-term stability. The overcoming of this controversy goes
through certain modification of the dynamics that involves self-assembling of
the boundary conditions. Subsequently the proposed approach justifies parity
between the increase and the decrease of the entropy which provides the ground
for holistic understanding of the thermodynamical systems through launching
their ability to transmit and create information that is sensitive to coherent
functioning of self-assembled logical landscapes. The obtained sensitivity
gives the advantage of this new approach compared to that of Shannon. According
to his definition, the information depends only on the overall probability for
realization of a given state(s) and thus it does not distinguish between
functionally different states provided the overall probability for the
realization of each of them is equal.


title:
Laboratory experiments for intense vortical structures in turbulence
  velocity fields

abstract:
  Vortical structures of turbulence, i.e., vortex tubes and sheets, are studied
using one-dimensional velocity data obtained in laboratory experiments for duct
flows and boundary layers at microscale Reynolds numbers from 332 to 1934. We
study the mean velocity profile of intense vortical structures. The
contribution from vortex tubes is dominant. The radius scales with the
Kolmogorov length. The circulation velocity scales with the rms velocity
fluctuation. We also study the spatial distribution of intense vortical
structures. The distribution is self-similar over small scales and is random
over large scales. Since these features are independent of the microscale
Reynolds number and of the configuration for turbulence production, they appear
to be universal.


title: EUDET Telescope Geometry and Resolution Studies

abstract:
  Construction of EUDET pixel telescope will significantly improve the test
beam infrastructure for the ILC vertex detector studies. The telescope, based
on the Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS), will consist of up to six
readout planes and will be initially installed at an electron beam line at
DESY. A dedicated study was performed to understand the position measurement in
the telescope and optimize its performance by suggesting the best plane setup.
The approach based on the analytical track fitting method allows for
determination of the expected measurement uncertainty and for comparison of
different telescope setups without time consuming event simulation. The
proposed method also turns out to be little sensitive to the possible telescope
misalignment.


title: Slow-light enhancement of Beer-Lambert-Bouguer absorption

abstract:
  We theoretically show how slow light in an optofluidic environment
facilitates enhanced light-matter interactions, by orders of magnitude. The
proposed concept provides strong opportunities for improving existing
miniaturized chemical absorbance cells for Beer-Lambert-Bouguer absorption
measurements widely employed in analytical chemistry.


title:
Fast and Precise 3D Computation of Capacitance of Parallel Narrow Beam
  MEMS Structures

abstract:
  Efficient design and performance of electrically actuated MEMS devices
necessitate accurate estimation of electrostatic forces on the MEMS structures.
This in turn requires thorough study of the capacitance of the structures and
finally the charge density distribution on the various surfaces of a device. In
this work, nearly exact BEM solutions have been provided in order to estimate
these properties of a parallel narrow beam structure found in MEMS devices. The
effect of three-dimensionality, which is an important aspect for these
structures, and associated fringe fields have been studied in detail. A
reasonably large parameter space has been covered in order to follow the
variation of capacitance with various geometric factors. The present results
have been compared with those obtained using empirical parametrized expressions
keeping in view the requirement of the speed of computation. The limitations of
the empirical expressions have been pointed out and possible approaches of
their improvement have been discussed.


title:
Spectral and network methods in the analysis of correlation matrices of
  stock returns

abstract:
  Correlation matrices inferred from stock return time series contain
information on the behaviour of the market, especially on clusters of highly
correlating stocks. Here we study a subset of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
traded stocks and compare three different methods of analysis: i) spectral
analysis, i.e. investigation of the eigenvalue-eigenvector pairs of the
correlation matrix, ii) asset trees, obtained by constructing the maximal
spanning tree of the correlation matrix, and iii) asset graphs, which are
networks in which the strongest correlations are depicted as edges. We
illustrate and discuss the localisation of the most significant modes of
fluctuation, i.e. eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues, on the
asset trees and graphs.


title: How to Create Black Holes on Earth?

abstract:
  We present a short overview on the ideas of large extra-dimensions and their
implications for the possible production of micro black holes in the next
generation particle accelerator at CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) from this year
on. In fact, the possibility of black hole production on earth is currently one
of the most exciting predictions for the LHC accelerator and would change our
current understanding of physics radically. While it is impossible to discuss
the models and implications in full detail here, this article is thought to
serve as a starting point for the interested physics students with some basic
knowledge about general relativity and particle physics.


title:
Proposal of highly sensitive optofluidic sensors based on dispersive
  photonic crystal waveguides

abstract:
  Optofluidic sensors based on highly dispersive two-dimensional photonic
crystal waveguides are theoretically studied. Results show that these
structures are strongly sensitive to the refractive index of the infiltrated
liquid (nl), which is used to tune dispersion of the photonic crystal
waveguide. Waveguide mode-gap edge shifts about 1.2 nm for dnl=0.002. The
shifts can be explained well by band structure theory combined with first-order
perturbation theory. These devices are potentially interesting for chemical
sensing applications.


title:
The gravitational analogue to the hydrogen atom (A summer study at the
  borders of quantum mechanics and general relativity)

abstract:
  This article reports on a student summer project performed in 2006 at the
University of Frankfurt. It is addressed to undergraduate students familiar
with the basic principles of relativistic quantum mechanics and general
relativity. The aim of the project was to study the Dirac equation in curved
space time. To obtain the general relativistic Dirac equation we use the
formulation of gravity as a gauge theory in the first part. After these general
considerations we restrict the further discussion to the special case of the
Schwarzschild metric. This setting corresponds to the hydrogen atom, with the
electromagnetic field replaced by gravity. Although there is a singularity at
the event horizon it turns out that a regular solution of the time independent
Dirac equation exists. Finally the Dirac equation is solved numerically using
suitable boundary conditions.


title: The convolution theorem for nonlinear optics

abstract:
  We have expressed the nonlinear optical absorption of a semiconductor in
terms of its linear spectrum. We determined that the two-photon absorption
coefficient in a strong DC-electric field of a direct gap semiconductor can be
expressed as the product of a differential operator times the convolution
integral of the linear absorption without a DC-electric field and an Airy
function. We have applied this formalism to calculate the two-photon absorption
coefficient and nonlinear refraction for GaAs and ZnSe using their linear
absorption and have found excellent agreement with available experimental data.


title:
Comparison between Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter and PSAS in
  the NASA finite volume GCM: perfect model experiments

abstract:
  This paper explores the potential of Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter
(LETKF) by comparing the performance of LETKF with an operational 3D-Var
assimilation system, Physical-Space Statistical Analysis System (PSAS), under a
perfect model scenario. The comparison is carried out on the finite volume
Global Circulation Model (fvGCM) with 72 grid points zonally, 46 grid points
meridionally and 55 vertical levels. With only forty ensemble members, LETKF
obtains an analysis and forecasts with lower RMS errors than those from PSAS.
The performance of LETKF is further improved, especially over the oceans, by
assimilating simulated temperature observations from rawinsondes and
conventional surface pressure observations instead of geopotential heights. An
initial decrease of the forecast errors in the NH observed in PSAS but not in
LETKF suggests that the PSAS analysis is less balanced. The observed advantage
of LETKF over PSAS is due to the ability of the forty-member ensemble from
LETKF to capture flow-dependent errors and thus create a good estimate of the
true background uncertainty. Furthermore, localization makes LETKF highly
parallel and efficient, requiring only 5 minutes per analysis in a cluster of
20 PCs with forty ensemble members.


title: Observation of the 1S0 - 3P0 clock transition in 27Al+

abstract:
  We report for the first time, laser spectroscopy of the 1S0 - 3P0 clock
transition in 27Al+. A single aluminum ion and a single beryllium ion are
simultaneously confined in a linear Paul trap, coupled by their mutual Coulomb
repulsion. This coupling allows the beryllium ion to sympathetically cool the
aluminum ion, and also enables transfer of the aluminum's electronic state to
the beryllium's hyperfine state, which can be measured with high fidelity.
These techniques are applied to a measurement of the clock transition
frequency, \nu = 1 121 015 393 207 851(8) Hz. They are also used to measure the
lifetime of the metastable clock state, \tau = 20.6 +/- 1.4 s, the ground state
1S0 g-factor, g_S = -0.00079248(14), and the excited state 3P0 g-factor, g_P =
-0.00197686(21), in units of the Bohr magneton.


title: Fast automated scanning of OPERA emulsion films

abstract:
  The use of nuclear emulsions to record tracks of charged particles with an
accuracy of better than 1 micron is possible in large physics experiments
thanks to the recent improvements in the industrial production of emulsions and
to the development of fast automated microscopes.
  The European Scanning System (ESS) is a fast automatic system developed for
the mass scanning of the emulsions of the OPERA experiment, which requires
microscopes with scanning speeds of about 20 cm$^2$/h. Recent improvements in
the technique and measurements with ESS are reported.


title: Coherence properties of light propagated through a scattering medium

abstract:
  Partially-coherent, quasi-monochromatic optical fields are fully described by
their Mutual Optical Intensity (MOI) or the phase-space equivalent, the
Generalised Radiance (GR). This paper reports on the application of a
propagation-based phase-space tomographic technique for determining both the
MOI and the GR of wavefields. This method is applied to the reconstruction of
the MOI and the GR of an optical wavefield propagated through a suspension of
\~10micrometre diameter polystyrene spheres.


title: Refractometry of organosilica microspheres

abstract:
  The refractive index of novel organosilica (nano/micro)material is determined
using two methods. The first method is based on analysis of optical extinction
efficiency of organosilica beads versus wavelength, which is obtained by a
standard laboratory spectrometer. The second method relies on the measurable
trapping potential of these beads in the focused light beam (laser tweezers).
Polystyrene beads were used to test these methods, and the determined
dispersion curves of refractive index values have been found accurate. The
refractive index of organosilica beads has been determined to range from
1.60-1.51 over the wavelength range of 300-1100 nm.


title:
About the Constant of Motion, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian of the
  Gravitational Attraction of Two Bodies with Variable Mass
  (Gylden-Meshcherskii problem)

abstract:
  The Lagrangian, the Hamiltonian and the constant of motion of the
gravitational attraction of two bodies when one of them has variable mass is
considered. This is done by choosing the reference system in one of the bodies
which allows to reduce the system of equations to 1-D problem. The trajectories
found in the space position-velocity,(x,v), are qualitatively different from
those on the space position-momentum,(x,p).


title: Lower branch coherent states in shear flows: transition and control

abstract:
  Lower branch coherent states in plane Couette flow have an asymptotic
structure that consists of O(1) streaks, $O(R^{-1})$ streamwise rolls and a
weak sinusoidal wave that develops a critical layer, for large Reynolds number
$R$. Higher harmonics become negligible. These unstable lower branch states
appear to have a single unstable eigenvalue at all Reynolds numbers. These
results suggests that the lower branch coherent states control transition to
turbulence and that they may be promising targets for new turbulence prevention
strategies.


title: Slow periodic oscillations in time domain dynamics of NO2

abstract:
  We investigated the time domain nonadiabatic dynamics of NO2 on the coupled
X2A1 and A2B2 electronic states by launching wave packets on the excited
electronic state and focused on the evolution at long times (t>200 fs), which
has received little attention up to now. We showed that the initial fast
spreading of the wave packets is followed at all energies by slow periodic
intramolecular vibronic energy redistribution (IVER) with periods in the range
0.3 to several tens of ps. These energy transfers lead to oscillations with the
same periods in the population of each electronic state. Propagation of wave
packets indicates that IVER frequencies also dominate the fluctuations of the
squared modulus of the autocorrelation function, |A(t)|^2, at energies not too
high above the bottom of the conical intersection, but that this is no longer
the case at higher energies. For example, for initial wave packets prepared by
almost vertical excitation of the vibrational ground state of the ground
electronic surface, the oscillations of |A(t)|^2 essentially reflect the
detuning from 1:2 resonance between the frequency of the bend and that of the
symmetric stretch in the excited electronic state. These theoretical results
were used to discuss the possible origin of the low frequency oscillations
which were recently observed in time domain experimental spectra of NO2.


title: 1/f fluctuations of DNA temperature at thermal denaturation

abstract:
  We theoretically investigated the temperature fluctuations of DNA close to
denaturation and observed a strong enhancement of these fluctuations at the
critical temperature. Although in a much lower frequency range, such a sharp
increase was also reported in the recent experimental work of Nagapriya et al
[Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 038102 (2006)]. We showed that there is instead no
enhancement of temperature fluctuations when the dissipation coefficient in
Langevin equations is assumed to be larger than a few tens of ps-1, and pointed
out the possible role of the solvent in real experiments. We sought for a
possible correlation between the growth of large bubbles and the enhancement of
temperature fluctuations but found no direct evidence thereof. Finally, we
showed that neither the enhancement of fluctuations nor the 1/f dependence are
observed at the scale of a single base pair, while these properties show up
when summing the contributions of a large number of base pairs. We therefore
conclude that both effects result from collective motions that are facilitated
by the divergence of the correlation length at denaturation.


title: Absolute Frequency Measurement of the 378 nm Transition in Thallium

abstract:
  The absolute frequency measurement for all of the hyperfine transitions of
6P1/2 -> 7S1/2 using a self-referencing frequency comb is reported. This
transition can be used as a bench marker for the accurate atomic wave function,
and then improve the calculation of the atomic parity- non-conservation (PNC).
The frequency center is precisely determined by saturation spectroscopy
utilizing a pair of the counter-propagating laser beams intersecting with
atomic beam. Such a Doppler-free profile has been improved to 350 kHz in the
absolute frequency measurement. The 7S1/2 state hyperfine splittings have also
been deduced from our results.


title: Subwave length light focusing by surface plasmons on a silver film

abstract:
  Two devices for subwave length focusing of light are explored. The first one
is a thin film of a well reflecting metal which the converging beam of surface
plasmons with a wave number $h>>\omega_0/c$ is excited on. The waist of this
beam has a cross section that is much smaller than $\lambda_0^2$. The second
device is a linear nanoantenna with a gap in the middle. A resonance plasmon is
excited in the antenna. The field in the gap concentrates on the spot that is
much smaller than $\lambda_0^2$. In both cases the effect of field enhancement
in the spot of subwave length focusing is greatly decreased because of
propagation losses in the first case and because of a small excitation cross
section in the second case. It is suggested to improve on the effect of
excitation of the film and the nanoantenna by means of interaction with an
adjacent atom or quantum dot.


title:
Emulsion Cloud Chamber technique to measure the fragmentation of a
  high-energy carbon beam

abstract:
  Beams of Carbon nuclei are used or planned to be used in various centers for
cancer treatment around the world because of their therapeutic advantages over
proton beams. The knowledge of the fragmentation of Carbon nuclei when they
interact with the human body is important to evaluate the spatial profile of
their energy deposition in the tissues, hence the damage to the tissues
neighboring the tumor. In this respect, the identification of the fragmentation
products is a key element. We present in this paper the charge measurement of
about 3000 fragments produced by the interaction of $^{12}$C nuclei with an
energy of 400 MeV/nucleon in a detector simulating the density of the human
body. The nuclear emulsion technique is used, by means of the so-called
Emulsion Cloud Chamber. In order to achieve the large dynamical range required
for the charge measurement, the recently developed techniques of the emulsion
controlled fading are used. The nuclear emulsions are inspected using fast
automated microscopes recently developed. A charge assignment efficiency of
more than 99% is achieved. The separation of Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium,
Berillium, Boron and Carbon can be achieved at two standard deviations or
considerably more, according to the track length available for the measurement.


title:
2W/nm Peak-power All-Fiber Supercontinuum Source and its Application to
  the Characterization of Periodically Poled Nonlinear Crystals

abstract:
  We demonstrate a uniform high spectral brightness and peak power density
all-fiber supercontinuum source. The source consists of a nanosecond Ytterbium
fiber laser and an optimal length PCF producing a continuum with a peak power
density of 2 W/nm and less than 5 dB of spectral variation between 590 to 1500
nm. The Watt level per nm peak power density enables the use of such sources
for the characterization of nonlinear materials. Application of the source is
demonstrated with the characterization of several periodically poled crystals.


title:
Efficient extraction of a collimated ultra-cold neutron beam using
  diffusive channels

abstract:
  We present a first experimental demonstration of a new method to extract a
well-collimated beam of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) from a storage vessel.
Neutrons with too large divergence are not removed from the beam by an
absorbing collimation, but a diffuse or semidiffuse channel with high Fermi
potential reflects them back into the vessel. This avoids unnecessary losses
and keeps the storage time high, which may be beneficial when the vessel is
part of a UCN source with long buildup time of a high UCN density.


title:
Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves in Linear Media and
  Pseudo-Hermiticity

abstract:
  We express the electromagnetic field propagating in an arbitrary
time-independent non-dispersive medium in terms of an operator that turns out
to be pseudo-Hermitian for Hermitian dielectric and magnetic permeability
tensors Epsilon and Mu. We exploit this property to determine the propagating
field. In particular, we obtain an explicit expression for a planar field in an
isotropic medium with Epsilon and Mu varying along the direction of the
propagation. We also study the scattering of plane waves due to a localized
inhomogeneity.


title: Stability of leadership in bottom-up hierarchical organizations

abstract:
  The stability of a leadership against a growing internal opposition is
studied in bottom-up hierarchical organizations. Using a very simple model with
bottom-up majority rule voting, the dynamics of power distribution at the
various hierarchical levels is calculated within a probabilistic framework.
Given a leadership at the top, the opposition weight from the hierarchy bottom
is shown to fall off quickly while climbing up the hierarchy. It reaches zero
after only a few hierarchical levels. Indeed the voting process is found to
obey a threshold dynamics with a deterministic top outcome. Accordingly the
leadership may stay stable against very large amplitude increases in the
opposition at the bottom level. An opposition can thus grow steadily from few
percent up to seventy seven percent with not one a single change at the elected
top level. However and in contrast, from one election to another, in the
vicinity of the threshold, less than a one percent additional shift at the
bottom level can drive a drastic and brutal change at the top. The opposition
topples the current leadership at once. In addition to analytical formulas,
results from a large scale simulation are presented. The results may shed a new
light on management architectures as well as on alert systems. They could also
provide some different insight on last century's Eastern European communist
collapse.


title: Theoretical investigation of finite size effects at DNA melting

abstract:
  We investigated how the finiteness of the length of the sequence affects the
phase transition that takes place at DNA melting temperature. For this purpose,
we modified the Transfer Integral method to adapt it to the calculation of both
extensive (partition function, entropy, specific heat, etc) and non-extensive
(order parameter and correlation length) thermodynamic quantities of finite
sequences with open boundary conditions, and applied the modified procedure to
two different dynamical models. We showed that rounding of the transition
clearly takes place when the length of the sequence is decreased. We also
performed a finite-size scaling analysis of the two models and showed that the
singular part of the free energy can indeed be expressed in terms of an
homogeneous function. However, both the correlation length and the average
separation between paired bases diverge at the melting transition, so that it
is no longer clear to which of these two quantities the length of the system
should be compared. Moreover, Josephson's identity is satisfied for none of the
investigated models, so that the derivation of the characteristic exponents
which appear, for example, in the expression of the specific heat, requires
some care.


title: 2.1 um CW Raman Laser in GeO2 Fiber

abstract:
  We report on 33 % efficient generation of the first Stokes in a high
concentration GeO2 fiber Raman laser pumped by a 22 W Thulium doped fiber
laser. An output power of 4.6 W at 2.105 um is demonstrated.


title:
Automatic Reconstruction of Fault Networks from Seismicity Catalogs: 3D
  Optimal Anisotropic Dynamic Clustering

abstract:
  We propose a new pattern recognition method that is able to reconstruct the
3D structure of the active part of a fault network using the spatial location
of earthquakes. The method is a generalization of the so-called dynamic
clustering method, that originally partitions a set of datapoints into
clusters, using a global minimization criterion over the spatial inertia of
those clusters. The new method improves on it by taking into account the full
spatial inertia tensor of each cluster, in order to partition the dataset into
fault-like, anisotropic clusters. Given a catalog of seismic events, the output
is the optimal set of plane segments that fits the spatial structure of the
data. Each plane segment is fully characterized by its location, size and
orientation. The main tunable parameter is the accuracy of the earthquake
localizations, which fixes the resolution, i.e. the residual variance of the
fit. The resolution determines the number of fault segments needed to describe
the earthquake catalog, the better the resolution, the finer the structure of
the reconstructed fault segments. The algorithm reconstructs successfully the
fault segments of synthetic earthquake catalogs. Applied to the real catalog
constituted of a subset of the aftershocks sequence of the 28th June 1992
Landers earthquake in Southern California, the reconstructed plane segments
fully agree with faults already known on geological maps, or with blind faults
that appear quite obvious on longer-term catalogs. Future improvements of the
method are discussed, as well as its potential use in the multi-scale study of
the inner structure of fault zones.


title:
A narrow plane cut near the crystal surface increases the probability of
  capture into the stable channeling motion up to 99 percent

abstract:
  It is shown that a narrow plane cut near the crystal surface considerably
increases the probability of capture into the stable channeling motion of
positively charged particles entering a crystal at angles smaller than a
quarter of the critical channeling angle with respect to the crystal planes. At
smallest incidence angles the capture probability reaches 99 percent. A pair of
crystals with cuts bent in orthogonal planes allows to reach a 99.9 percent
efficiency of single-pass deflection of a proton beam with an ultra small
divergence. Conditions necessary for efficient single-pass deflection of
protons from the LHC beam halo are discussed.


title: Multiscale modeling of biopolymer translocation through a nanopore

abstract:
  We employ a multiscale approach to model the translocation of biopolymers
through nanometer size pores. Our computational scheme combines microscopic
Langevin molecular dynamics (MD) with a mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB)
method for the solvent dynamics, explicitly taking into account the
interactions of the molecule with the surrounding fluid. Both dynamical and
statistical aspects of the translocation process were investigated, by
simulating polymers of various initial configurations and lengths. For a
representative molecule size, we explore the effects of important parameters
that enter in the simulation, paying particular attention to the strength of
the molecule-solvent coupling and of the external electric field which drives
the translocation process. Finally, we explore the connection between the
generic polymers modeled in the simulation and DNA, for which interesting
recent experimental results are available.


title: Unveiling community structures in weighted networks

abstract:
  Random walks on simple graphs in connection with electrical resistor networks
lead to the definition of Markov chains with transition probability matrix in
terms of electrical conductances. We extend this definition to an effective
transition matrix $P_{ij}$ to account for the probability of going from vertex
$i$ to any vertex $j$ of the original connected graph $G$. Also, we present an
algorithm based on the definition of this effective transition matrix among
vertices in the network to extract a topological feature related to the manner
graph $G$ has been organized. This topological feature corresponds to the
communities in the graph.


title: Optical scatter imaging using digital Fourier microscopy

abstract:
  An approach reported recently by Alexandrov et al. on optical scatter
imaging, termed digital Fourier microscopy (DFM), represents an adaptation of
digital Fourier holography to selective imaging of biological matter.
Holographic mode of recording of the sample optical scatter enables
reconstruction of the sample image. Form-factor of the sample constituents
provides a basis for discrimination of these constituents implemented via
flexible digital Fourier filtering at the post processing stage. Like in the
dark-field microscopy, the DFM image contrast appears to improve due to the
suppressed optical scatter from extended sample structures. In this paper, we
present theoretical and experimental study of DFM using biological phantom that
contains polymorphic scatterers.


title: A non-equilibrium dynamic mechanism for the allosteric effect

abstract:
  Allosteric regulation is often viewed as thermodynamic in nature. However
protein internal motions during an enzymatic reaction cycle can be slow hopping
processes over numerous potential barriers. We propose that regulating
molecules may function by modifying the nonequilibrium protein dynamics. The
theory predicts that an enzyme under the new mechanism has different
temperature dependence, waiting time distribution of the turnover cycle, and
dynamic fluctuation patterns with and without effector. Experimental tests of
the theory are proposed.


title: The $HeH^+$ molecular ion in a magnetic field

abstract:
  A detailed study of the low-lying electronic states
${}^1\Si,{}^3\Si,{}^3\Pi,{}^3\De$ of the $\rm{HeH}^+$ molecular ion in parallel
to a magnetic field configuration (when $\al$-particle and proton are situated
on the same magnetic line) is carried out for $B=0-4.414\times 10^{13}$ G in
the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The variational method is employed using a
physically adequate trial function. It is shown that the parallel configuration
is stable with respect to small deviations for $\Si$-states. The quantum
numbers of the ground state depend on the magnetic field strength. The ground
state evolves from the spin-singlet ${}^1\Si$ state for small magnetic fields
$B\lesssim 0.5 $ a.u. to the spin-triplet ${}^3\Si$ unbound state for
intermediate fields and to the spin-triplet strongly bound $^3\Pi$ state for $B
\gtrsim 15 $ a.u. When the $\rm{HeH}^+$ molecular ion exists, it is stable with
respect to a dissociation.


title: A scientific inquiry into modern art

abstract:
  I report the results of the test, where the takers had to tell true
masterpieces of abstract art from the fakes, produced by me. I describe each
picture by the fraction of the test takers, who selected it as a masterpiece.
When I compare the pictures using this metric, they show no stratification
between masterpieces and fakes. This suggests that they are of about the same
quality.


title:
Enhanced transmission through arrays of subwavelength holes in gold
  films coated by a finite dielectric layer

abstract:
  Enhanced transmissions through a gold film with arrays of subwavelength holes
are theoretically studied, employing the rigid full vectorial three dimensional
finite difference time domain method. Influence of air-holes shape to the
transmission is firstly studied, which confirms two different resonances
attributing to the enhanced transmission: the localized waveguide resonance and
periodic surface plasmon resonances. For the film coated with dielectric
layers, calculated results show that in the wavelength region of interest the
localized waveguide resonant mode attributes to sensing rather than the
periodic gold-glass surface plasmon mode. Although the detected peak is fairly
broad and the shift is not too pronounced, we emphasize the contribution for
sensing from the localized waveguide resonant mode, which may opens up new ways
to design surface plasmon based sensors.


title:
Evidence for coeval Late Triassic terrestrial impacts from the
  Rochechouart (France) meteorite crater

abstract:
  High temperature impact melt breccias from the Rochechouart (France)
meteorite crater record magnetization component with antipodal, normal and
reverse polarities. The corresponding paleomagnetic pole for this component
lies between the 220 Ma and 210 Ma reference poles on the Eurasian apparent
polar wander path, consistent with the 214 $\pm$ 8 Ma 40Ar/39Ar age of the
crater. Late Triassic tectonic reconstructions of the Eurasian and North
American plates place this pole within 95% confidence limits of the
paleomagnetic pole from the Manicouagan (Canada) meteorite impact crater, which
is dated at 214 $\pm$ 1 Ma. Together, these observations reinforce the
hypothesis of a Late Triassic, multiple meteorite impact event on Earth.


title: A new kind of boundary layer flow due to Lorentz forces

abstract:
  In this paper we present a new kind of boundary layer flow produced by an
electromagnetic Lorentz force which acts parallel to the plate in an
electrically conductive fluid. The plate is motionless and the ambient fluid
stagnant. This flow is equivalent to the classical free convective flow along a
vertical plate. The boundary layer equations are transformed to non-dimensional
form and a new dimensionless number is introduced which is equivalent to the
Grashof number. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved with the
finite difference method and the presented results include values of the
friction coefficient and velocity profiles.


title:
From 2000 Bush-Gore to 2006 Italian elections: Voting at fifty-fifty and
  the Contrarian Effect

abstract:
  A sociophysical model for opinion dynamics is shown to embody a series of
recent western hung national votes all set at the unexpected and very
improbable edge of a fifty-fifty score. It started with the Bush-Gore 2000
American presidential election, followed by the 2002 Stoiber-Schr\H{o}der, then
the 2005 Schr\H{o}der-Merkel German elections, and finally the 2006
Prodi-Berlusconi Italian elections. In each case, the country was facing
drastic choices, the running competing parties were advocating very different
programs and millions of voters were involved. Moreover, polls were given a
substantial margin for the predicted winner. While all these events were
perceived as accidental and isolated, our model suggests that indeed they are
deterministic and obey to one single universal phenomena associated to the
effect of contrarian behavior on the dynamics of opinion forming. The not hung
Bush-Kerry 2005 presidential election is shown to belong to the same universal
frame. To conclude, the existence of contrarians hints at the repetition of
hung elections in the near future.


title: Computational Vision in Nature and Technology

abstract:
  It is hard for us humans to recognize things in nature until we have invented
them ourselves. For image-forming optics, nature has made virtually every kind
of lens humans have devised. But what about lensless "imaging"? Recently, we
showed that a bare array of sensors on a curved substrate could achieve
resolution not limited by diffraction- without any lens at all provided that
the objects imaged conform to our a priori assumptions. Is it possible that
somewhere in nature we will find this kind of vision system? We think so and
provide examples that seem to make no sense whatever unless they are using
something like our lensless imaging work.


title: Particle Identification Studies with an ALICE Test TPC

abstract:
  Using a test TPC, consisting of the ALICE TPC field cage prototype in
combination with the final ALICE TPC readout and electronics, the energy loss
distribution and resolution were measured for identified protons. The
measurements were compared to theoretical calculations and good quantitative
agreement was found when detector effects were taken into account. The
implications for particle identification are discussed.


title: The basics of line moire patterns and optical speedup

abstract:
  We are addressing the optical speedup of movements of layers in moire
patterns. We introduce a set of equations for computing curved patterns, where
the formulas of optical speedup and moire periods are kept in their simplest
form. We consider linear movements and rotations. In the presented notation,
all periods are relative to the axis of movements of layers and moire bands.
  KEYWORDS: moire patterns, line moire, superposition images, optical speedup,
moire speedup, moire magnification, periodic moire


title: Brainy light sensors with no diffraction limitations

abstract:
  In total ignorance of what a scene contains, imaging systems are extremely
useful. But if we know the scene will be comprised of no more than a few
distant point sources, nonimaging systems may achieve better accuracy in a
smaller, more rugged, and less expensive manner. We show here that those
advantages can be realized in a wide variety of designs. All can beat the
diffraction limit under the proper circumstances. We call these sensors
"brainy" in analogy to anima; vision which uses poor optics processed by a
wonderful computer - a brain.


title:
Microbubbly drag reduction in Taylor-Couette flow in the wavy vortex
  regime

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of microbubbles on Taylor-Couette flow by means of
direct numerical simulations. We employ an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach with a
gas-fluid coupling based on the point-force approximation. Added mass, drag,
lift, and gravity are taken into account in the modeling of the motion of the
individual bubble. We find that very dilute suspensions of small non-deformable
bubbles (volume void fraction below 1%, zero Weber number and bubble Reynolds
number <10) induce a robust statistically steady drag reduction (up to 20%) in
the so called wavy vortex flow regime (Re = 600-2500). The Reynolds number
dependence of the normalized torque (the so-called Torque Reduction Ratio (TRR)
which corresponds to the drag reduction) is consistent with a recent series of
experimental measurements performed by Murai et al. (J. Phys. 14, 143 (2005)).
Our analysis suggests that the physical mechanism for the torque reduction in
this regime is due to the local axial forcing, induced by rising bubbles, that
is able to break the highly dissipative Taylor wavy vortices in the system. We
finally show that the lift force acting on the bubble is crucial in this
process. When neglecting it, the bubbles preferentially accumulate near the
inner cylinder and the bulk flow is less efficiently modified.


title:
Large parallel and perpendicular electric fields on electron spatial
  scales in the terrestrial bow shock

abstract:
  Large parallel ($\leq$ 100 mV/m) and perpendicular ($\leq$ 600 mV/m) electric
fields were measured in the Earth's bow shock by the vector electric field
experiment on the Polar satellite. These are the first reported direct
measurements of parallel electric fields in a collisionless shock. These fields
exist on spatial scales comparable to or less than the electron skin depth (a
few kilometers) and correspond to magnetic field-aligned potentials of tens of
volts and perpendicular potentials up to a kilovolt. The perpendicular fields
are amongst the largest ever measured in space, with energy densities of
$\epsilon_0 E^2/ n k_b T_e$ of order 10%. The measured parallel electric field
implies that the electrons can be demagnetized, which may result in stochastic
(rather than coherent) electron heating.


title: Electric-field induced dipole blockade with Rydberg atoms

abstract:
  High resolution laser Stark excitation of np (60 < n < 85) Rydberg states of
ultra-cold cesium atoms shows an efficient blockade of the excitation
attributed to long-range dipole-dipole interaction. The dipole blockade effect
is observed as a quenching of the Rydberg excitation depending on the value of
the dipole moment induced by the external electric field. Effects of eventual
ions which could match the dipole blockade effect are discussed in detail but
are ruled out for our experimental conditions. Analytic and Monte-Carlo
simulations of the excitation of an ensemble of interacting Rydberg atoms agree
with the experiments indicates a major role of the nearest neighboring Rydberg
atom.


title:
Towards a physics of evolution: Existence of gales of creative
  deconstruction in evolving technological networks

abstract:
  Systems evolving according to the standard concept of biological or
technological evolution are often described by catalytic evolution equations.
We study the structure of these equations and find a deep relationship to
classical thermodynamics. In particular we can demonstrate the existence of
several distinct phases of evolutionary dynamics: a phase of fast growing
diversity, one of stationary, finite diversity, and one of rapidly decaying
diversity. While the first two phases have been subject to previous work, here
we focus on the destructive aspects - in particular the phase diagram - of
evolutionary dynamics. We further propose a dynamical model of diversity which
captures spontaneous creation and destruction processes fully respecting the
phase diagrams of evolutionary systems. The emergent timeseries show a Zipf law
in the diversity dynamics, which is e.g. observable in actual economical data,
e.g. in firm bankruptcy data. We believe the present model is a way to cast the
famous qualitative picture of Schumpeterian economic evolution, into a
quantifiable and testable framework.


title:
Relativistic scattering with spatially-dependent effective mass in the
  Dirac equation

abstract:
  We formulate an algebraic relativistic method of scattering for systems with
spatially dependent mass based on the J-matrix method. The reference
Hamiltonian is the three-dimensional Dirac Hamiltonian but with a mass that is
position-dependent and having a constant asymptotic limit. Additionally, this
effective mass distribution is locally represented in a finite dimensional
function subspace. The spinor couples to spherically symmetric vector and
pseudo scalar potentials that are short-range such that they are accurately
represented by their matrix elements in the same finite dimensional subspace.
We calculate the relativistic phase shift as a function of energy for a given
configuration and study the effect of spatial variation of the mass on the
energy resonance structure.


title:
Classical and quantum anomalous diffusion in a system of
  2$\delta$-kicked Quantum Rotors

abstract:
  We study the dynamics of cold atoms subjected to {\em pairs} of closely
time-spaced $\delta$-kicks from standing waves of light. The classical phase
space of this system is partitioned into momentum cells separated by trapping
regions. In a certain range of parameters it is shown that the classical motion
is well described by a process of anomalous diffusion. We investigate in detail
the impact of the underlying classical anomalous diffusion on the quantum
dynamics with special emphasis on the phenomenon of dynamical localization.
Based on the study of the quantum density of probability, its second moment and
the return probability we identify a region of weak dynamical localization
where the quantum diffusion is still anomalous but the diffusion rate is slower
than in the classical case. Moreover we examine how other relevant time scales
such as the quantum-classical breaking time or the one related to the beginning
of full dynamical localization are modified by the classical anomalous
diffusion. Finally we discuss the relevance of our results for the
understanding of the role of classical cantori in quantum mechanics.


title: Refracting profiles and generalized holodiagrams

abstract:
  The recently developed concept of refracting profiles and that of refraction
holodiagrams are combined so that the classical Abramson holodiagrams can be
generalized taking into account a wider class of wave fronts and refraction at
an interface, whenever regions of caustics are avoided. These holodiagrams are
obtained as envelopes of specific families of Cartesian Ovals with an
appropriate parametrization. Classical and reflecting holodiagrams are
particular cases of this class. Several of the properties of the classical
holodiagrams are shared by their richer generalized versions


title:
Subwavelength resolution with three-dimensional isotropic
  transmission-line lenses

abstract:
  Dispersion, impedance matching and resolution characteristics of an isotropic
three-dimensional flat lens ("superlens") are studied. The lens is based on
cubic meshes of interconnected transmission lines and bulk loads. We study a
practical realization of the lens, based on the microstrip technology. The
dispersion equations that have been previously derived, are verified with
full-wave simulations. The isotropy of the structure is verified with
analytical as well as simulation results. The resolution characteristics of a
practically realizable, lossy lens are studied analytically.


title:
From E=mc^2 to the Lorentz transformations via the law of addition of
  relativistic velocities

abstract:
  In this paper we show how to get the Lorentz transformations from E=mc^2, the
laws of conservation of energy and momentum, and the special relativity
principle. To this end we first deduce the law of addition of relativistic
velocities


title: A Conceptual DFT Approach Towards Developing New QSTR Models

abstract:
  Quantitative-structure-toxicity-relationship (QSTR) models are developed for
predicting the toxicity (pIGC50) of 252 aliphatic compounds on Tetrahymena
pyriformis. The single parameter models with a simple molecular descriptor, the
number of atoms in the molecule, provide unbelievable results. Better QSTR
models with two parameters result when global electrophilicity is used as the
second descriptor. In order to tackle both charge- and frontier-controlled
reactions the importance of the local electro (nucleo) philicities and atomic
charges is also analyzed. Best possible three parameter QSTR models are
prescribed.


title:
Continuous-wave 1.55 $\mu$m diode-pumped surface emitting semiconductor
  laser for broadband multiplex spectroscopy

abstract:
  A room temperature operating Vertical External Cavity Surface Emitting Laser
is applied around 1550 nm to intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy analyzed
by time-resolved Fourier transform interferometry. At an equivalent pathlength
of 15 km, the high resolution spectrum of the semiconductor disk laser emission
covers 17 nm simultaneously. A noise equivalent absorption coefficient at one
second averaging equal to 1.5 10^{-10} cm^{-1}.Hz^{-1/2} per spectral element
is reported for the 65 km longest path length employed.


title: Towards magnetic slowing of atoms and molecules

abstract:
  We outline a method to slow paramagnetic atoms or molecules using pulsed
magnetic fields. We also discuss the possibility of producing trapped particles
by adiabatic deceleration of a magnetic trap. We present numerical simulation
results for the slowing and trapping of molecular oxygen.


title:
Low- and high-density features of IR luminescence of Xe$_{2}$ excimers
  produced by electron impact

abstract:
  Electron--impact excitation of Xe atoms in pure Xe gas and in a Xe(10
%)--Ar(90 %) mixture has led to the discovery of infrared (IR) luminescence of
Xe$_{2}$ excimers. The investigation of the emission spectrum at low gas
density has allowed the identification of the molecular states involved in the
transition. When the gas density is increased to values up to 40 times larger
than the density of the ideal gas at standard temperature and pressure, the
interaction of the excimer with the dense environment produces a strong
red--shift of the spectrum that is interpreted in terms of many--body effects.


title: Scaling behavior in Spiral Defect Chaos

abstract:
  We find the evolution toward power-law scaling in the distribution of roll
lengths and nearest-neighbor distributions in a weakly turbulent regime of
Rayleigh-Benard convection, known as spiral defect chaos. The state has a
bounded domain of wave vectors in Fourier space attributed to the flow being
highly confined to two dimensions. Our results indicates the existence of
power-law scaling in the unconstrained horizontal dimension. The techniques
described are broadly applicable to other pattern forming systems as well.


title:
Rovibronic energy levels for triplet electronic states of molecular
  deuterium

abstract:
  An optimal set of 1050 rovibronic energy levels for 35 triplet electronic
states of $D_2$ has been obtained by means of a statistical analysis of all
available wavenumbers of triplet-triplet rovibronic transitions studied in
emission, absorption, laser and anticrossing spectroscopic experiments of
various authors. We used a new method of the analysis (Lavrov, Ryazanov, JETP
Letters, 2005), which does not need any \it a priori \rm assumptions concerning
the molecular structure being based on only two fundamental principles: maximum
likelihood and Rydberg-Ritz. The method provides the opportunity to obtain the
estimation of uncertainties of experimental wavenumbers independent from those
presented in the original papers. 234 from 3822 published wavenumber values
were found to be spurious, while the remaining set of the data may be divided
into 19 subsets of uniformly precise data having close to normal distributions
of random errors within the subsets. New wavenumber values of 125 questionable
lines were measured in the present work (20-th subset). Optimal values of the
rovibronic levels were obtained from the experimental data set consisting of
3713 wavenumber values (3588 old and 125 new). The unknown shift between levels
of ortho- and para- deuterium was found by least squares analysis of the
$a^3\Sigma_g^+$, $v = 0$, $N = 0 \div 18$ rovibronic levels with odd and even
values of N. All the energy levels were obtained relative to the lowest
vibro-rotational level ($v = 0$, N=0) of the $a^3\Sigma_g^+$ electronic state
and presented in tabular form together with standard deviations (SD) of the
semi-empirical determination. New energy level values differ significantly from
those available in literature.


title: A low-noise ferrite magnetic shield

abstract:
  Ferrite materials provide magnetic shielding performance similar to commonly
used high permeability metals but have lower intrinsic magnetic noise generated
by thermal Johnson currents due to their high electrical resistivity.
Measurements inside a ferrite shield with a spin-exchange relaxation-free
atomic magnetometer reveal a noise level of 0.75 fT Hz^(-1/2), 25 times lower
than what would be expected in a comparable mu-metal shield. The authors
identify a 1/f component of the magnetic noise due to magnetization
fluctuations and derive general relationships for the Johnson current noise and
magnetization noise in cylindrical ferromagnetic shields in terms of their
conductivity and complex magnetic permeability.


title: An assessment of Evans' unified field theory I

abstract:
  Evans developed a classical unified field theory of gravitation and
electromagnetism on the background of a spacetime obeying a Riemann-Cartan
geometry. This geometry can be characterized by an orthonormal coframe theta
and a (metric compatible) Lorentz connection Gamma. These two potentials yield
the field strengths torsion T and curvature R. Evans tried to infuse
electromagnetic properties into this geometrical framework by putting the
coframe theta to be proportional to four extended electromagnetic potentials A;
these are assumed to encompass the conventional Maxwellian potential in a
suitable limit. The viable Einstein-Cartan(-Sciama-Kibble) theory of gravity
was adopted by Evans to describe the gravitational sector of his theory.
Including also the results of an accompanying paper by Obukhov and the author,
we show that Evans' ansatz for electromagnetism is untenable beyond repair both
from a geometrical as well as from a physical point of view. As a consequence,
his unified theory is obsolete.


title: An assessment of Evans' unified field theory II

abstract:
  Evans developed a classical unified field theory of gravitation and
electromagnetism on the background of a spacetime obeying a Riemann-Cartan
geometry. In an accompanying paper I, we analyzed this theory and summarized it
in nine equations. We now propose a variational principle for Evans' theory and
show that it yields two field equations. The second field equation is algebraic
in the torsion and we can resolve it with respect to the torsion. It turns out
that for all physical cases the torsion vanishes and the first field equation,
together with Evans' unified field theory, collapses to an ordinary Einstein
equation.


title: Single-Scattering Optical Tomography

abstract:
  We consider the problem of optical tomographic imaging in the mesoscopic
regime where the photon mean free path is of order of the system size. Within
the accuracy of the single-scattering approximation to the radiative transport
equation, we show that it is possible to recover the extinction coefficient of
an inhomogeneous medium from angularly-resolved measurements. Applications to
biomedical imaging are described and illustrated with numerical simulations.


title:
On the Definition of Effective Permittivity and Permeability For Thin
  Composite Layers

abstract:
  The problem of definition of effective material parameters (permittivity and
permeability) for composite layers containing only one-two parallel arrays of
complex-shaped inclusions is discussed. Such structures are of high importance
for the design of novel metamaterials, where the realizable layers quite often
have only one or two layers of particles across the sample thickness. Effective
parameters which describe the averaged induced polarizations are introduced. As
an explicit example, we develop an analytical model suitable for calculation of
the effective material parameters $\epsilon_{\rm{eff}}$ and $\mu_{\rm{eff}}$
for double arrays of electrically small electrically polarizable scatterers.
Electric and magnetic dipole moments induced in the structure and the
corresponding reflection and transmission coefficients are calculated using the
local field approach for the normal plane-wave incidence, and effective
parameters are introduced through the averaged fields and polarizations. In the
absence of losses both material parameters are purely real and satisfy the
Kramers-Kronig relations and the second law of thermodynamics. We compare the
analytical results to the simulated and experimental results available in the
literature. The physical meaning of the introduced parameters is discussed in
detail.


title: The modified Klein Gordon equation for neolithic population migration

abstract:
  In this paper the model for the neolithic migration in Europe is developed.
The new migration equation, the modified Klein Gordon equation is formulated
and solved. It is shown that the migration process can be described as the
hyperbolic diffusion with constant speed. In comparison to the existing models
based on the generalization of the Fisher approach the present model describes
the migration as the transport process with memory and offers the possibility
to recover the initial state of migration which is the wave motion with finite
velocity.


title: Core-valence correlations for atoms with open shells

abstract:
  We present an efficient method of inclusion of the core-valence correlations
into the configuration interaction (CI) calculations. These correlations take
place in the core area where the potential of external electrons is
approximately constant. A constant potential does not change the core electron
wave functions and Green's functions. Therefore, all operators describing
interaction of $M$ valence electrons and $N-M$ core electrons (the core part of
the Hartree-Fock Hamiltonian
  $V^{N-M}$, the correlation potential $\hat\Sigma_1({\bf r},{\bf r'},E)$ and
the screening of interaction between valence electrons by the core electrons
$\hat\Sigma_2$) may be calculated with all
  $M$ valence electrons removed. This allows one to avoid subtraction diagrams
which make accurate inclusion of the core-valence correlations for $M>2$
prohibitively complicated. Then the CI Hamiltonian for $M$ valence electrons is
calculated using orbitals in complete $V^{N}$ potential (the mean field
produced by all electrons); $\hat\Sigma_1$ + $\hat\Sigma_2$ are added to the CI
Hamiltonian to account for the core-valence correlations. We calculate
$\hat\Sigma_1$ and $\hat\Sigma_2$ using many-body perturbation theory in which
dominating classes of diagrams are included in all orders.
  We use neutral Xe I and all positive ions up to Xe VIII as a testing ground.
We found that the core electron density for all these systems is practically
the same. Therefore, we use the same $\hat\Sigma_1$ and $\hat\Sigma_2$ to build
the CI Hamiltonian in all these systems ($M=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8$). Good agreement
with experiment for energy levels and Land\'{e} factors is demonstrated for all
cases from Xe I to Xe VIII.


title: Universal statistical properties of poker tournaments

abstract:
  We present a simple model of Texas hold'em poker tournaments which retains
the two main aspects of the game: i. the minimal bet grows exponentially with
time; ii. players have a finite probability to bet all their money. The
distribution of the fortunes of players not yet eliminated is found to be
independent of time during most of the tournament, and reproduces accurately
data obtained from Internet tournaments and world championship events. This
model also makes the connection between poker and the persistence problem
widely studied in physics, as well as some recent physical models of biological
evolution, and extreme value statistics.


title:
Incompatibility between the principle of the constancy of the speed of
  light and the Lorentz contraction in the GPS Experiment

abstract:
  Incompatibility between the principle of the constancy of the speed of light
and the Lorentz contraction in the global positioning system (GPS) is
discussed. The GPS works precisely in the earth-centered locally inertial (ECI)
coordinate system on the condition that the speed of light c is assumed to be
constant regardless of the inertial motion of the GPS satellites and the earth.
The inertial system of the earth travels not only in the solar system at the
velocity 30 km/s but also in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at the
velocity 700 km/s. The deviation on the car navigation system by the Lorentz
contraction of 700 km/s is maximally estimated as 54 m. However, such a large
deviation is not observed: that is, the Lorentz contraction is not observed in
the gravitational field of the earth. If there is a Lorentz contraction, the
GPS cannot work so precisely. The GPS satellites are in the gravitational field
of the earth, therefore the system should be interpreted by the theory of
general relativity as well as special relativity.


title:
Passive Exposure to Mobile Phones: Enhancement of Intensity by
  Reflection

abstract:
  In a recent Letter [J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 71, 432 (2002)], we reported a
preliminary calculation and concluded that public exposure to mobile phones can
be enhanced by microwave reflection in public spaces. In this paper, we confirm
the significance of microwave reflection reported in our previous Letter by
experimental and numerical studies. Furthermore, we show that "hot spots" often
emerge in reflective areas, where the local exposure level is much higher than
average. Such places include elevators, and we discuss other possible
environments including trains, buses, cars, and airplanes. Our results indicate
the risk of "passive exposure" to microwaves.


title:
Miniaturised Spotter-Compatible Multicapillary Stamping Tool for
  Microarray Printing

abstract:
  Novel microstamping tool for microarray printing is proposed. The tool is
capable to spot up to 127 droplets of different solutions in single touch. It
is easily compatible with commercially available microarray spotters. The tool
is based on multichannel funnel with polypropylene capillaries inserted into
its channels. Superior flexibility is achieved by ability to replace any
printing capillary of the tool. As a practical implementation, hydrogel-based
microarrays were stamped and successfully applied to identify the Mycobacterium
tuberculosis drug resistance.


title: The Laplace-Jaynes approach to induction

abstract:
  An approach to induction is presented, based on the idea of analysing the
context of a given problem into `circumstances'. This approach, fully Bayesian
in form and meaning, provides a complement or in some cases an alternative to
that based on de Finetti's representation theorem and on the notion of infinite
exchangeability. In particular, it gives an alternative interpretation of those
formulae that apparently involve `unknown probabilities' or `propensities'.
Various advantages and applications of the presented approach are discussed,
especially in comparison to that based on exchangeability. Generalisations are
also discussed.


title: Precision spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium

abstract:
  Antiprotonic helium, a neutral exotic three-body system consisting of a
helium nucleus, an electron and an antiproton, is being studied at the
Antiproton Decelerator of CERN by the ASAUCSA collaboration. Using laser
spectroscopy of the energy levels of the antiproton in this system and
comparison to theory, a value of the antiproton-to-electron mass ratio with an
error of 3 ppb could be obtained. This result agrees with the most precise
measurement of the value of the proton and allows us to extract a limit of the
equality of the proton and antiproton charge and mass of 2 ppb. Using microwave
spectroscopy, the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic helium has been measured
to 30 ppm. Experimental improvements are expected to soon provide a new value
for the magnetic moment of the antiproton.


title: Fluctuation scaling versus gap scaling

abstract:
  Fluctuation scaling is observed phenomenon from complex networks through
finance to ecology. It means that the variance and the mean of a specific
quantity are related as $\ev{\sigma^2|n}\propto \ev{n|A}^{2\alpha}$ with
$1/2\geq \alpha \geq 1$ when a parameter $A$ (usually the system size) is
varied. $A$ can be the strength of the node, the capitalization of the firm or
the area of the habitat. On the other hand, quantities often obey gap scaling
meaning that their density function depends on, say, the system size $A$ as
$P(n|A) = n^{-1}F(n/A^{\Phi})$. This note describes that these two notions
cannot coexist except when $\alpha = 1$. In this way one can empirically
exclude the possibility of gap scaling in many complex systems including
population dynamics, stock market fluctuations and Internet router traffic,
where $\alpha < 1$.

categories: physics.soc-ph physics.bio-ph q-bio.QM q-fin.ST


title: Scale-invariance of human EEG signals in sleep

abstract:
  We investigate the dynamical properties of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals
of human in sleep. By using a modified random walk method, We demonstrate that
the scale-invariance is embedded in EEG signals after a detrending procedure.
Further more, we study the dynamical evolution of probability density function
(PDF) of the detrended EEG signals by nonextensive statistical modeling. It
displays scale-independent property, which is markedly different from the
turbulent-like scale-dependent PDF evolution.


title:
Q-based design equations for resonant metamaterials and experimental
  validation

abstract:
  Practical design parameters of resonant metamaterials, such as loss tangent,
are derived in terms of the quality factor $Q$ of the resonant effective medium
permeability or permittivity. Through electromagnetic simulations of loop-based
resonant particles, it is also shown that the $Q$ of the effective medium
response is essentially equal to the $Q$ of an individual resonant particle.
Thus, by measuring the $Q$ of a single fabricated metamaterial particle, the
effective permeability or permittivity of a metamaterial can be calculated
simply and accurately without requiring complex simulations, fabrication, or
measurements. Experimental validation shows that the complex permeability
analytically estimated from the measured $Q$ of a single fabricated
self-resonant loop agrees with the complex permeability extracted from $S$
parameter measurements of a metamaterial slab to better than 20%. This $Q$
equivalence reduces the design of a metamaterial to meet a given loss
constraint to the simpler problem of the design of a resonant particle to meet
a specific $Q$ constraint. This analysis also yields simple analytical
expressions for estimating the loss tangent of a planar loop magnetic
metamaterial due to ohmic losses. It is shown that $\tan \delta \approx 0.001$
is a strong lower bound for magnetic loss tangents for frequencies not too far
from 1 GHz. The ohmic loss of the metamaterial varies inversely with the
electrical size of the metamaterial particle, indicating that there is a loss
penalty for reducing the particle size at a fixed frequency.


title:
Testing the distance-dependence of the van der Waals interaction between
  an atom and a surface through spectroscopy in a vapor nanocell

abstract:
  This paper presents our current measurements in a vapor nanocell aiming at a
test of the distance-dependence of the atom-surface interaction, when simple
asymptotic descriptions may turn to be not valid. A state-of-the-art of
atom-surface interaction measurements is provided as an introduction, along
with the comparison with the theory of the van der Waals (or Casimir-Polder)
interaction; it is followed by a presentation of the most salient features of
nanocell spectroscopy


title:
Observation of femto-joule optical bistability involving Fano resonances
  in high-Q/Vm silicon photonic crystal nanocavities

abstract:
  We observe experimentally optical bistability enhanced through Fano
interferences in high-Q localized silicon photonic crystal resonances (Q ~
30,000 and modal volume ~ 0.98 cubic wavelengths). This phenomenon is analyzed
through nonlinear coupled-mode formalism, including the interplay of chi(3)
effects such as two-photon absorption and related free-carrier dynamics, and
optical Kerr as well as thermal effects and linear losses. Our experimental and
theoretical results demonstrate for the first time Fano-resonance based
bistable states with switching thresholds of 185 micro-Watt and 4.5 fJ
internally stored cavity energy (~ 540 fJ consumed energy) in silicon for
scalable optical buffering and logic.


title: Dynamical Effects and Phase Separation in Thin Films

abstract:
  We study phase separation in thin films using the Navier--Stokes
Cahn--Hilliard equations in the lubrication approximation, modeling
substrate-film interactions with a van der Waals potential. We investigate the
thin-film equations numerically and compare them with experimental results. We
find that the model captures the qualitative features of real phase-separating
fluids, in particular the tendency of concentration gradients to produce film
thinning and surface roughening. The ultimate outcome of the phase separation
depends strongly on the dynamical backreaction of concentration gradients on
the flow, as we demonstrate when a shear stress is applied at the film's
surface. When the backreaction is small, the phase domain boundaries align with
the direction of the imposed stress, while as the backreaction is made larger,
the domains begin to align in the perpendicular direction.


title:
Some Unrecorded Science History. My Brush with Einstein's Relativistic
  Length Contraction

abstract:
  This paper is a short historical note about the origin of the Pole-Barn and
the Fat Man Paradoxes