title: Mismatch management for optical and matter-wave quadratic solitons

abstract:
  We propose a way to control solitons in $\chi ^{(2)}$
(quadratically-nonlinear) systems by means of periodic modulation imposed on
the phase-mismatch parameter ("mismatch management", MM). It may be realized in
the co-transmission of fundamental-frequency (FF) and second-harmonic (SH)
waves in a planar optical waveguide via a long-period modulation of the usual
quasi-phase-matching pattern of ferroelectric domains. The MM may also be
implemented by dint of the Feshbach resonance in a harmonically-modulated
magnetic field in a hybrid atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC),
with the atomic and molecular mean fields (MFs) playing the roles of the FF and
SH, respectively. The problem is analyzed by two methods. First, we identify
stability regions for spatial solitons in the MM system, in terms of the MM
amplitude and period, using the MF equations for spatially-inhomogeneous
configurations. In particular, an instability enclave is found inside the
stability area.The robustness of the solitons is also tested against variation
of the shape of the input pulse, and a threshold for the formation of stable
solitons is found in terms of its power. Interactions between solitons are
virtually unaffected by the MM. The second method (\textit{parametric
approximation}), going beyond the MF description, is developed for
spatially-homogeneous states. It demonstrates that the MF description is valid
for large modulation periods, while at smaller periods the non-MF component
acquires gain, which implies destruction of MF under the action of the
high-frequency MM.

categories: physics.optics cond-mat.soft nlin.PS physics.atom-ph


title:
Spatial resolution of a GEM readout TPC using the charge dispersion
  signal

abstract:
  A large volume Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is being considered for the
central charged particle tracker for the detector for the proposed
International Linear Collider (ILC). To meet the ILC-TPC spatial resolution
challenge of ~100 microns with a manageable number of readout pads and channels
of electronics, Micro Pattern Gas Detectors (MPGD) are being developed which
could use pads comparable in width to the proportional-wire/cathode-pad TPC. We
have built a prototype GEM readout TPC with 2 mm x 6 mm pads using the new
concept of charge dispersion in MPGDs with a resistive anode. The dependence of
transverse resolution on the drift distance has been measured for small angle
tracks in cosmic ray tests without a magnetic field for Ar/CO2 (90:10). The
GEM-TPC resolution with charge dispersion readout is significantly better than
previous measurements carried out with conventional direct charge readout
techniques.


title: Burstiness and Memory in Complex Systems

abstract:
  The dynamics of a wide range of real systems, from email patterns to
earthquakes, display a bursty, intermittent nature, characterized by short
timeframes of intensive activity followed by long times of no or reduced
activity. The understanding of the origin of such bursty patterns is hindered
by the lack of tools to compare different systems using a common framework. We
introduce two measures to distinguish the mechanisms responsible for the bursty
nature of real signals, changes in the interevent times and memory. We find
that while the burstiness of natural phenomena is rooted in both the interevent
time distribution and memory, for human dynamics memory is weak, and the bursty
character is due to changes in the interevent time distribution. Finally, we
show that current models lack in their ability to reproduce the activity
pattern observed in real systems, opening up new avenues for future work.


title:
Quantum mechanical transformation between reference frames - a
  discursive spacetime diagram approach

abstract:
  Heisenberg's uncertainty relation means that one observer cannot know an
exact position and velocity for another (finite mass) observer. By contrast,
the Poincare transformation of classical special relativity assumes that one
observer knows the other's position and velocity exactly. The present paper
describes a simple-minded way to consider the issue using a semiclassical
discussion of spacetime diagrams, and draws out some possible implications.
Uncertainties arise in transformations. A consideration is raised regarding the
use of light-cone coordinates.


title:
The Absolutism of Space and Time with Variable Scalars and Gravitational
  Theory as well as Cosmology Established in Flat Reference Frame (2)

abstract:
  The Einstein theories of space-time and gravity as well the stander cosmology
are reconstructed thoroughly in this paper based on flat reference frame. The
rational parts of the Einstein theories are reserved while the irrational parts
including space-time paradoxes and singularities and so on are eliminated
completely. A more rational the theory of space-time, gravitation and cosmology
is established. By transforming the geodesic equation described by the
Schwarzschild solution of the Einsteins equation of gravitational field into
flat reference frame for of gravitational field, it is provdescription, the
revised formulas of the Newtonian gravitation is obtained. Based on the
formulas, all experiments which support general relativity can also be
explained well, but the theory has no any space-time singularity and other
strange characters which exist in general relativity. It is pointed that there
exists logical difficulties to use the equivalent principle to explain spectrum
gravitational redshift actually. The new formula of gravitational redshift and
the revised Doppler formula of redshift when light source moves in
gravitational field are deduced. Based on the Schwarzschild solution of the
Einstein equation field, it is proved that the speed of light would change and
the isotropy of light speed would be violated in gravitational field with
spherical symmetry. It is suggested to use the method of the Michelson Morley
interference to verify the change of light speed and the violation of isotropy
in the gravitational field of the earth. This experiment can be considered as a
new verification for general relativity in the weak gravitational field with
spherical symmetry. The theory may also be used to explain so-called the
Pioneer Anomaly which the Einstein theory of gravitation can not do.


title:
Rigorous FEM-Simulation of EUV-Masks: Influence of Shape and Material
  Parameters

abstract:
  We present rigorous simulations of EUV masks with technological imperfections
like side-wall angles and corner roundings. We perform an optimization of two
different geometrical parameters in order to fit the numerical results to
results obtained from experimental scatterometry measurements. For the
numerical simulations we use an adaptive finite element approach on irregular
meshes. This gives us the opportunity to model geometrical structures
accurately. Moreover we comment on the use of domain decomposition techniques
for EUV mask simulations. Geometric mask parameters have a great influence on
the diffraction pattern. We show that using accurate simulation tools it is
possible to deduce the relevant geometrical parameters of EUV masks from
scatterometry measurements.
  This work results from a collaboration between Advanced Mask Technology
Center (AMTC, mask fabrication), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB,
scatterometry), Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB), and JCMwave (numerical
simulation).


title:
On the rational relationship between Heisenberg principle and general
  relativity

abstract:
  The research shows that the Heisenberg principle is the logic results of
general relativity principle. If inertia coordinator system is used, the
general relativity will logically be derived from the Heisenberg principle. The
intrinsic relation between the quantum mechanics and general relativity is
broken by introducing pure-imaginary time to explain the Lorentz
transformation. Therefore, this research shows a way to establish an unified
field theory of physics


title: Resonances of the helium atom in a strong magnetic field

abstract:
  We present an investigation on the resonances of a doubly excited helium atom
in a strong magnetic field covering the regime B = 0-100 a.u. A
full-interaction approach which is based on an anisotropic Gaussian basis set
of one-particle functions being nonlinearly optimized for each field strength
is employed. Accurate results for a total of 17 resonances below the threshold
of consisting of He+ in the N=2 state are reported in this work. This includes
states with total magnetic quantum numbers M=0,-1,-2 and even z-parity. The
corresponding binding energies are compared to approximate energies of
two-particle configurations consisting of two hydrogen-like electrons in the
strong field regime, thereby providing an understanding of the behavior of the
energies of the resonances with varying field strength.


title:
Modification of streaming potential by precipitation of calcite in a
  sand-water system: laboratory measurements pH range from 4 to 12

abstract:
  Spontaneous Potentials associated with volcanic activity are often
interpreted by means of the electrokinetic potential, which is usually positive
in the flow direction (i.e. Zeta potential of the rock is negative). The
water-rock interactions in hydrothermal zones alter the primary minerals
leading to the formation of secondary minerals. This work addresses the study
of calcite precipitation in a sand composed of 98% quartz and 2% calcite using
streaming potential measurements. The precipitation of calcite as a secondary
mineral phase, inferred by high calcite saturation indices and by a fall in
permeability, has a significant effect on the electrokinetic behaviour, leading
to a significant reduction in the Zeta potential (in absolute value) and even a
change in sign. The measured decrease in Zeta potential from -16 mV to
-27±4 mV takes place as the pH rises from 4 to 7, while it remains
constant at -25±1 mV as the pH increases from 8 to 10.5. For pH higher
than 10.5, calcite precipitates and is expected to coat the quartz surface. The
measured Zeta potential vary from -17 to +8 mV for pH ranging from 10.6 to 11.7
depending on the amount of precipitated calcite indicated by the decrease in
permeability. The observed change in sign of the electrical surface potential
rules out the usual qualitative interpretation of SP anomalies in order to
determine fluid circulations, even at pH lower than 9 if calcite is widely
present as a secondary mineral phase, since the electrical surface potential of
calcite depends also on CO2 partial pressure and [Ca2+]. Therefore SP anomalies
as measured in hydrothermal field, without mineralogical analyses of
hydrothermal deposits, and without geochemical fluid survey, should be
interpreted with caution.


title: Machian Universe

abstract:
  We give arguments from the point of view of Gravitation as well as
Electromagnetism which indicate a Machian view for the universe.


title:
Experimental Study of the Acoustic Field Generated by a 50 MeV Electron
  Beam in Water

abstract:
  At the MSU SINP electron accelerator, a space-time dependence of the acoustic
pressure generated in water by an electron beam of 50 MeV energy was obtained.
Measurements were carried out in 100 points located along the line parallel to
the beam axis at the distance of 6.5 cm from the axis. At a two-dimensional
diagram (distance-time) two signal tracks were observed from two sound sources:
a cylindrical acoustic antenna generated by the electron beam, and an area of
the beam entrance cap which divides the water medium from the air.


title:
New multi-channel electron energy analyzer with cylindrically
  symmetrical electrostatic field

abstract:
  This paper discusses an electron energy analyzer with a cylindrically
symmetrical electrostatic field, designed for rapid Auger analysis. The device
was designed and built. The best parameters of the analyzer were estimated and
then experimentally verified.


title: Success and Persistence in Science: The Influence of Classroom Climate

abstract:
  To better understand how student and faculty perceptions of the learning
climate in science/mathematics classes influence success and persistence, we
followed a cohort of 1425 academically able students who entered CEGEP in the
fall of 2003. Students completed surveys in their first, second and fourth
semesters. In the second semester 84 faculty members completed a similar
survey. Faculty conceptions of teaching were identified using a framework
developed by Scardamalia and Bereiter (1989). No significant gender differences
in achievement were found. Self-efficacy declined over students first semester
as did affect towards science. Classes that students perceived as fostering
their development had a positive impact on persistence and success while
classes characterized as transmitting had a negative impact. Females were more
likely than males to characterize a class as transmitting and to abandon
science. Faculty members who had pedagogical training were more likely to
create a fostering atmosphere in their classes.


title:
Comment on ``Theory of nonlinear ac responses of inhomogeneous
  two-component composite films'' [Phys. Lett. A 357, 475 (2006)]

abstract:
  In this comment, I point out to several mathematical mistakes in the
above-referenced letter.


title:
Lattice Parameters Modification of Para-Dichlorbenzol Nanodimension
  Films

abstract:
  Influence of decrease of the sizes of crystallites of para-dichlorbenzol on
Raman spectrums is studied. Lattice oscillations frequencies are calculated. On
this basis the modification of lattice parameters for particles smaller than
5$\mu $ and an incremented modification of nanodimension sized particles are
studied. Magnification of lines intensities are related to transmitting
oscillations and orientation oscillations frequency decrease is found.


title:
Examination of the Allocations of Building Molecules in the Single
  Crystal of the Para-Dichlorbenzol with the P-Dibromobenzene Solid Solution by
  the Method of the Raman Effect of Light Depending on Requirements of
  Selection

abstract:
  Allocation of molecules of para-dichlorbenzol in equimolar single crystals of
para-dichlorbenzol with p-dibromobenzene solid solutions grown by the
Bridgmen's method is studied. It is shown, that the mutual concentration of
builders longwise an exemplar depends on requirements of selection. Probably as
a uniform modification of concentration of builders along an exemplar, and a
wavy modification of concentration. Critical speed at a modification of
character of allocation made 15.0 $\cdot $10-6 cm/s at a lapse rate of
temperature dT/dl=7.7 grad/cm.


title:
How a Randall-Sundrum Brane-World Effective Potential Influences
  Inflation Physics

abstract:
  In string theory, even when there are ten to the thousand power vacuum
states, does inflation produce overwhelmingly one preferred type of vacuum
state? We respond affirmatively to questions whether existence of graviton
production is confirmable using present detector methodology. We use an
explcity Randall-Sundrum brane world effective potential as congruent with an
inflationary quadratic potential start. This occurs after the Bogomolnyi
inequality eliminates the need for the ad hoc assumption of axion wall mass
high temperature related dissapearance. Graviton production has explicit links
with a five-dimensional brane-world negavit cosmological constant and a four
dimensional positive valued cosmological constant, whose temperature dependence
permits an early universe graviton production activyt burst. We show how di
quarks, wave functions, and various geometrical forms tien into the WHeeler-De
Witt equation. This permits investigating a discrete quantum bounce and a
possible link to the initial phase of the present universe's evolution as a
converse to a prior universe's collapse to the bounce point-the initial
starting point to inflationary expansion. This opens a possibility of
realstically investigating gravitons as part of a space propusion systme and
deal iwth problems resulting from a beam of gravity waves, which would create a
g-force because the geodestic structure is near field. It can be applied to
existing and to new space propulsion concepts.


title: Mirror potentials in classical mechanics

abstract:
  It is shown that for a central potential that is an injective function of the
radial coordinate, a second central potential can be found that leads to
trajectories in the configuration space and the momentum space coinciding,
respectively, with the trajectories in the momentum space and the configuration
space produced by the original potential.


title:
Contribution of high energy physics techniques to the medical imaging
  field

abstract:
  The purpose of this study was to show how advanced concepts of compact,
lossless and "Time Of Flight" (TOF) capable electronics similar to those
foreseen for the LHC and ILC experiments could be fairly and easily transferred
to the medical imaging field through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). As a
wish of explanation, the two overriding weaknesses of PET camera readout
electronics, namely dead-time and timing resolution, were investigated
analytically and with a Monte-Carlo simulator presently dedicated to this task.
Results have shown there was room left for count rate enhancement through a
huge decrease of the timing resolution well below the nanosecond. The novel
electronics scheme suggested for PET in this paper has been partly inspired by
the long experience led in High Energy Physics where the latter requirement is
compulsory. Its structure entirely pipelined combined to a pixelation of the
whole detector should allow dead-times to be suppressed, while the absence of
devoted timing channel would remove the preponderant contributions to the
timing resolution. To the common solution for timing would substitute an
optimal filtering method witch clearly appears as a good candidate as timing
resolution of a few tens of picoseconds may be achieved provided the shape of
the signal is known and sufficient samples are available with enough accuracy.
First investigations have yield encouraging results as a sampling frequency of
50 MHz with a 7 bits precision appears sufficient to ensure the 500ps
coincidence timing resolution planed. At this point, there will be a baby step
ahead to draw benefice from a TOF implementation to the design and the enormous
noise variance enhancement that would come with.


title:
A note on projections of Gibbs measures from a class arising in economic
  modeling

abstract:
  A result about projections of Gibbs measures from a particular class arising
in economic modeling is proved.


title: On Computation of Combined IVS EOP Series

abstract:
  Three topics related to computation of the combined IVS EOP series are
discussed. The first one is the consistency of the VLBI EOP series with the
IERS reference frames ITRF and ICRF. Not all IVS analysis centers use ITRF/ICRF
as reference system for EOP solutions. Some of them realize global solution for
simultaneous determination of CRF, TRF and EOP with no-net-rotation constrains
w.r.t. ITRF/ICRF. Analysis shows that such a method can hardly provide
consistency of computed EOP series with the IERS reference frames with
sufficient accuracy. Direct use of ITRF and ICRF for computation of EOP series
submitted to the IERS seems preferable. Second problem is the long-time
stability of the IVS EOP series. Analysis of yearly biases w.r.t. C04 and NEOS
is presented. A possible ways are proposed to save long time stability of the
combined IVS EOP series. At last, various strategies of computation of weighted
mean value are considered. It's shown that usual methods used for this purpose
do not provide satisfactory result for the error of the mean. A new method is
proposed.


title:
Sub two-cycle soliton-effect pulse compression at 800 nm in Photonic
  Crystal Fibers

abstract:
  The possibility of soliton self-compression of ultrashort laser pulses down
to the few-cycle regime in photonic crystal fibers is numerically investigated.
We show that efficient sub-two-cycle temporal compression of nanojoule-level
800 nm pulses can be achieved by employing short (typically 5-mm-long)
commercially available photonic crystal fibers and pulse durations of around
100 fs, regardless of initial linear chirp, and without the need of additional
dispersion compensation techniques. We envisage applications in a new
generation of compact and efficient sub-two cycle laser pulse sources.


title:
All-optical atomic magnetometers based on nonlinear magneto-optical
  rotation with amplitude modulated light

abstract:
  We demonstrate a magnetometric technique based on nonlinear magneto-optical
rotation using amplitude modulated light. The magnetometers can be operated in
either open-loop (typical nonlinear magneto-optical rotation with
amplitude-modulated light) or closed-loop (self-oscillating) modes. The latter
mode is particularly well suited for conditions where the magnetic field is
changing by large amounts over a relatively short timescale.


title:
High-order harmonic generation with a strong laser field and an
  attosecond-pulse train: the Dirac Delta comb and monochromatic limits

abstract:
  In recent publications, it has been shown that high-order harmonic generation
can be manipulated by employing a time-delayed attosecond pulse train
superposed to a strong, near-infrared laser field. It is an open question,
however, which is the most adequate way to approximate the attosecond pulse
train in a semi-analytic framework. Employing the Strong-Field Approximation
and saddle-point methods, we make a detailed assessment of the spectra obtained
by modeling the attosecond pulse train by either a monochromatic wave or a
Dirac-Delta comb. These are the two extreme limits of a real train, which is
composed by a finite set of harmonics. Specifically, in the monochromatic
limit, we find the downhill and uphill sets of orbits reported in the
literature, and analyze their influence on the high-harmonic spectra. We show
that, in principle, the downhill trajectories lead to stronger harmonics, and
pronounced enhancements in the low-plateau region. These features are analyzed
in terms of quantum interference effects between pairs of quantum orbits, and
compared to those obtained in the Dirac-Delta limit.


title:
Scattering of a few-cycle laser pulse by a plasma layer: the role of the
  carrier-envelope phase difference at relativistic intensities

abstract:
  The reflection and transmission of a few-cycle Ti:Sa laser pulse iminging on
a thin plasma layer have been analysed on the basis of classical
electrodynamics. An approximate analytic solution has been given for the
coupled Maxwell-Lorentz equations describing the dynamics of the surface
current and the composite radiation field. The nonlinearities stemming from the
relativistics kinematics of free electrons lead to the appearance of
higher-harmonics in the scattered spectra. In our analysis particular attention
has been paid to the effect of the carrier-envelope phase difference of the
incoming laser pulse. For the fourth harmonic peak we calculated almost 25
percent modulation. In general, the harmonic peaks are down-shifted due to
presence of the intensity-dependent factors by an order of 15-65 percent in
case of an incoming field of intensity we have discussed. The spectrum of the
high-harmonics has a long tail where the heights of the peaks vary within one
order of magnitude forming a quasi-continuum. By Fourier synthetising the field
components of this plateau region attosecond pulses have been obtained.


title: Refractive Index of Humid Air in the Infrared: Model Fits

abstract:
  The theory of summation of electromagnetic line transitions is used to
tabulate the Taylor expansion of the refractive index of humid air over the
basic independent parameters (temperature, pressure, humidity, wavelength) in
five separate infrared regions from the H to the Q band at a fixed percentage
of Carbon Dioxide. These are least-squares fits to raw, highly resolved spectra
for a set of temperatures from 10 to 25 C, a set of pressures from 500 to 1023
hPa, and a set of relative humidities from 5 to 60%. These choices reflect the
prospective application to characterize ambient air at mountain altitudes of
astronomical telescopes.


title:
A Comparison of the Performance of Compact Neutrino Detector Designs for
  Nuclear Reactor Safeguards and Monitoring

abstract:
  There has been an increasing interest in the monitoring of nuclear fuel for
power reactors by detecting the anti-neutrinos produced during operation. Small
liquid scintillator detectors have already demonstrated sensitivity to
operational power levels, but more sensitive monitoring requires improvements
in the efficiency and uniformity of these detectors. In this work, we use a
montecarlo simulation to investigate the detector performance of four different
detector configurations. Based on the analysis of neutron detection efficiency
and positron energy response, we find that the optimal detector design will
depend on the goals and restrictions of the specific installation or
application. We have attempted to present the relevant information so that
future detector development can proceed in a profitable direction.


title: Marginally unstable Holmboe modes

abstract:
  Marginally unstable Holmboe modes for smooth density and velocity profiles
are studied. For a large family of flows and stratification that exhibit
Holmboe instability, we show that the modes with phase velocity equal to the
maximum or the minimum velocity of the shear are marginally unstable. This
allows us to determine the critical value of the control parameter R
(expressing the ratio of the velocity variation length scale to the density
variation length scale) that Holmboe instability appears R=2. We then examine
systems for which the parameter R is very close to this critical value. For
this case we derive an analytical expression for the dispersion relation of the
complex phase speed c(k) in the unstable region. The growth rate and the width
of the region of unstable wave numbers has a very strong (exponential)
dependence on the deviation of R from the critical value. Two specific examples
are examined and the implications of the results are discussed.


title: The CMS Silicon Strip Tracker - Overview and Status

abstract:
  With an active silicon area of more than 200 squaremetres, the silicon strip
tracker of the CMS experiment, one of the experiments currently under
construction for the future Large Hadron Collider at CERN, will be by far the
largest silicon tracker in the world. Efficient mass production and rigid
quality control are crucial to finish the detector, comprising of more than
15000 silicon strip modules, in time with optimal quality. After excellent
performance of substructures has been proven in various test beam experiments,
integration of the active detector elements into the mechanical support
structures as well as cabling and testing of these integrated structures has
now started.
  In this article the CMS silicon strip tracker is described. Production,
quality control and integration procedures are outlined and the detector status
is reviewed. The detector performance in a recent test beam experiment is
summarized.


title: Focusing of opinions in the Deffuant model: First impression counts

abstract:
  The paper treats opinion dynamics of an unequal distribution as the initial
opinion distribution. Simulated is the Deffuant model on a directed
Barabasi-Albert network with discrete opinions and several subjects. Noticed is
a focusing of the the resulting opinion distribution during the simulation
towards the average value of the initial opinion distribution. A small change
of the focusing is seen. A dependency of this change on the number of subjects
and opinions is detected and indicates the change as a consequence of
discretization the opinions. Hereby the average value of the initial opinion
distribution can be identified as the guide of opinion forming.


title: Low-energy three-body dynamics in binary quantum gases

abstract:
  The universal three-body dynamics in ultra-cold binary Fermi and Fermi-Bose
mixtures is studied. Two identical fermions of the mass $m$ and a particle of
the mass $m_1$ with the zero-range two-body interaction in the states of the
total angular momentum L=1 are considered. Using the boundary condition model
for the s-wave interaction of different particles, both eigenvalue and
scattering problems are treated by solving hyper-radial equations, whose terms
are derived analytically. The dependencies of the three-body binding energies
on the mass ratio $m/m_1$ for the positive two-body scattering length are
calculated; it is shown that the ground and excited states arise at $m/m_1 \ge
\lambda_1 \approx 8.17260$ and $m/m_1 \ge \lambda_2 \approx 12.91743$,
respectively. For $m/m_1 \alt \lambda_1$ and $m/m_1 \alt \lambda_2$, the
relevant bound states turn to narrow resonances, whose positions and widths are
calculated. The 2 + 1 elastic scattering and the three-body recombination near
the three-body threshold are studied and it is shown that a two-hump structure
in the mass-ratio dependencies of the cross sections is connected with arising
of the bound states.


title:
Optical properties and one-particle spectral function in non-ideal
  plasmas

abstract:
  A basic concept to calculate physical features of non-ideal plasmas, such as
optical properties, is the spectral function which is linked to the
self-energy. We calculate the spectral function for a non-relativistic hydrogen
plasma in $GW$-approximation. In order to go beyond $GW$ approximation, we
include self-energy and vertex correction to the polarization function in
lowest order. Partial compensation is observed. The relation of our approach to
$GW$ and $GW\Gamma$ calculations in other fields, such as the band-structure
calculations in semiconductor physics, is discussed. From the spectral function
we derive the absorption coefficient due to inverse bremsstrahlung via the
polarization function. As a result, a significant reduction of the absorption
as compared to the Bethe-Heitler formula for bremsstrahlung is obtained.


title: Neutrino and/or etherino?

abstract:
  We review the insufficiencies of the hypothesis that neutrinos and quarks are
physical particles in our spacetime; we introduce the hypothesis that the
energy and spin needed for the synthesis of the neutron inside stars originate
either from the environment or from the ether conceived as a universal medium
with very high energy density via an entity here called {\it etherino,} denoted
with the letter "$a$" (from the Latin aether), carrying mass and charge 0, spin
1/2 and $0.78 MeV$ energy according to the synthesis $p^+ + a + e^-\to n$; we
identifies compatibility and incompatibility of the neutrino and etherino
hypotheses; we review the new structure model of the neutron and hadrons at
large with massive physical constituents produced free in the spontaneous
decays as permitted by the covering hadronic mechanics; and we conclude with
the proposal of new resolutory experiments.


title: Highly charged ion X-rays from Electron-Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources

abstract:
  Radiation from the highly-charged ions contained in the plasma of
Electron-Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources constitutes a very bright source of
X-rays. Because the ions have a relatively low kinetic energy ($\approx 1$ eV)
transitions can be very narrow, containing only small Doppler broadening. We
describe preliminary accurate measurements of two and three-electron ions with
Z=16--18. We show how these measurement can test sensitively many-body
relativistic calculations or can be used as X-ray standards for precise
measurements of X-ray transitions in exotic atoms.


title: On non-linear excitation of voids in dusty plasmas

abstract:
  The void, which is a dust-free region inside the dust cloud in the plasma,
results from a balance of the electrostatic force and the ion drag force on a
dust particulate. The ion drag force having numerous forms, some of which are
based on models whereas others are driven from first principles. To explain the
generation of voids, Avinash et al.[K. Avinash, A. Bhattacharjee, and S. Hu,
AIP.CP649, III ICPDP, (2002)p121]proposed a time-dependent nonlinear model that
describes the void as a result of an instability. We augment this model by
incorporating the grain drift and by replacing the ion-drag force by that
derived by Khrapak et al., in a spherical configuration. It has been revealed
that the void formation is a threshold phenomenon, i.e., it depends on the
grain size. Furthermore, the void possesses a sharp boundary beyond which the
dust density goes down and may present a corrugated aspect. For higher values
of the grain size, the use of both ion drag forces leads to voids of a same
dimension, though for grains of small sizes the Avinash force drives voids of a
higher dimension.


title:
Linear and nonlinear absolute phase effects in interactions of
  ultrashort laser pulses with a metal nano-layer or with a plasma layer

abstract:
  It has been shown that in the scattered radiation, generated by an ultrashort
laser pulse impinging on a metal nano-layer, non-oscillatory wake-fields appear
with a definite sign. The magnitude of these wake-fields is proportional with
the incoming field strength, and a sign of them is governed by the cosine of
the carrier-envelope phase difference of the incoming pulse. At relativistic
laser intensities the target is considered as a plasma layer in vacuum,
produced from a thin foil by a pre-pulse, which is followed by the main
high-intensity laser pulse. The nonlinearities stemming from the relativistic
kinematics of the surface current density (representing the plasma electrons)
lead to the appearance of higher-harmonics in the scattered spectra. In
general, the harmonic peaks are down-shited due to the presence of an
intensity-dependent factor. Certain regions of these spectra are very sensitive
to the variation of the carrier-envelope phase difference. The spectra has a
long tail where the heigths of the peaks vary practically within one order of
magnitude forming a quasi-continuum. By Fourier synthetising the components
from this plateau region attosecond pulses have been obtained.


title: Scaling law in thermal phenomena

abstract:
  In this paper the scaling law for the relaxation times in thermal phenomena
is investigated. It is shown that dependent on the value of the parameter
K=E/m(c\alpha)^2,where E is the energy which is delivered to the system, m is
the parton mass and \alpha=1/137 for electromagnetic interaction and
\alpha=0.16 for strong interaction respectively, heat transport is diffusive,
for K<1, or contains the wave component for K>1. For the system with N partons
the relaxation time is scaled as \tau^N\to N (\hbar/(mc\alpha)^2).
  Key words: Thermal phenomena, scaling


title: Mistery of Real Scalar Klein-Gordon Field

abstract:
  The mystery that the real scalar Klein-Gordon field has vanishing current
densities is resolved. The scalar field is shown to be a complex field due to
the condition of possessing a proper non-relativistic limit. Like the
Schr\"odinger field, one component complex Klein-Gordon field corresponds to a
boson with one flavor, and therefore there exists no physical real scalar
field. As a good example, we present the Schwinger model Hamiltonian which is
naturally described by the complex scalar field with one flavor. The
non-existence of the real scalar field indicates that the Higgs mechanism
should be reconsidered.


title:
Plasmonic modes in periodic metal nanoparticle chains: A direct dynamic
  eigenmode analysis

abstract:
  We demonstrate an efficient eigen-decomposition method for analyzing the
guided modes in metal nanoparticle chains. The proposed method has the
advantage of showing the dispersion relation and mode quality simultaneously.
It can also separate the material and geometrical properties, so its efficiency
does not depend on the complexity of the material polarizability. The method is
applied to analyze the guided modes of a single and a pair of metal chains. The
more accurate dynamic dipole polarizability typically gives a red-shift
compared with the results obtained with the broadly used quasistatic dipole
polarizability with radiation correction.


title:
New Insights? Heisenberg's visit to Copenhagen in 1941 and the Bohr
  letters

abstract:
  It is shown that, in contrast to many interpretations in the press, the
drafts of Bohr's unsent letters to Heisenberg are not contradicting
Heisenberg's description of his famous trip in 1941 to Copenhagen, but are
complementary to it.


title: Penrose voting system and optimal quota

abstract:
  Systems of indirect voting based on the principle of qualified majority can
be analysed using the methods of game theory. In particular, this applies to
the voting system in the Council of the European Union, which was recently a
subject of a vivid political discussion. The a priori voting power of a voter
measures his potential influence over the decisions of the voting body under a
given decision rule. We investigate a system based on the law of Penrose, in
which each representative in the voting body receives the number of votes (the
voting weight) proportional to the square root of the population he or she
represents. Here we demonstrate that for a generic distribution of the
population there exists an optimal quota for which the voting power of any
state is proportional to its weight. The optimal quota is shown to decrease
with the number of voting countries.


title: Coherent Quantum Engineering of Free-Space Laser Cooling

abstract:
  We perform a quantitative analysis of the cooling dynamics of three-level
atomic systems interacting with two distinct lasers. Employing sparse-matrix
techniques, we find numerical solutions to the fully quantized master equation
in steady state. Our method allows straightforward determination of
laser-cooling temperatures without the ambiguity often accompanied by
semiclassical calculations, and more quickly than non-sparse techniques. Our
calculations allow us to develop an understanding of the regimes of cooling, as
well as a qualitative picture of the mechanism, related to the phenomenon of
electromagnetically induced transparency. Effects of the induced asymmetric
Fano-type lineshapes affect the detunings required for optimum cooling, as well
as the predicted minimum temperatures which can be lower than the Doppler limit
for either transition.


title: On the Roles of the Secondary Circulation in the Formation of Hurricanes

abstract:
  Secondary circulations (SC) associated with hurricanes are traditionally
regarded as small perturbations superimposed on the primary circulations (PC).
The reason behind this treatment roots in an observation that the magnitude of
the SC is about 10 orders of magnitude smaller than that of the PC. This
approximation underlines all of the hurricane theories up until now. Recently,
Kieu (2004) proposes a revitalizing theory for the development of hurricanes
for which a class of exact solutions of the primitive equations is obtained
explicitly without appealing to scaling approximation. The solutions share some
of the most important dynamical aspects with observations. According to this
theory, the SC turns out to be particular important in determining the
three-dimensional structure and temporal evolution of axisymmetric hurricanes.
Like all theories for the hurricane development, Kieu's theory however contains
an infinite growth of the SC with time. In this study, it will be shown that
the infinite growth does not occur. In fact, the solution becomes stationary
after a period of time and the SC is able to maintain itself without blowing
exponentially if the nonlinear terms in the vertical momentum equation are
included. In addition, the SC tends to force the peripheral convection to
converge toward the center and builds up a more concentric vortex with a
typical hurricane-eye structure. Some potential roles of the SC in the
formation of hurricane eyes are discussed.


title:
Compact, thermal-noise-limited optical cavity for diode laser
  stabilization at 1 x 10-15

abstract:
  We demonstrate phase and frequency stabilization of a diode laser at the
thermal noise limit of a passive optical cavity. The system is compact and
exploits a cavity design that reduces vibration sensitivity. The sub-Hz laser
is characterized by comparison to a second independent system with similar
fractional frequency stability (1 x 10-15 at 1 s). The laser is further
characterized by resolving a 2 Hz wide, ultranarrow optical clock transition in
ultracold strontium.


title: Infectious Default Model with Recovery and Continuous Limit

abstract:
  We introduce an infectious default and recovery model for N obligors.
Obligors are assumed to be exchangeable and their states are described by N
Bernoulli random variables S_{i} (i=1,...,N). They are expressed by multiplying
independent Bernoulli variables X_{i},Y_{ij},Y'_{ij}, and default and recovery
infections are described by Y_{ij} and Y'_{ij}. We obtain the default
probability function P(k) for k defaults. Taking its continuous limit, we find
two nontrivial probability distributions with the reflection symmetry of S_{i}
\leftrightarrow 1-S_{i}. Their profiles are singular and oscillating and we
understand it theoretically. We also compare P(k) with an implied default
distribution function inferred from the quotes of iTraxx-CJ. In order to
explain the behavior of the implied distribution, the recovery effect may be
necessary.


title:
Studies of Stability and Robustness for Artificial Neural Networks and
  Boosted Decision Trees

abstract:
  In this paper, we compare the performance, stability and robustness of
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Boosted Decision Trees (BDT) using
MiniBooNE Monte Carlo samples. These methods attempt to classify events given a
number of identification variables. The BDT algorithm has been discussed by us
in previous publications. Testing is done in this paper by smearing and
shifting the input variables of testing samples. Based on these studies, BDT
has better particle identification performance than ANN. The degradation of the
classifications obtained by shifting or smearing variables of testing results
is smaller for BDT than for ANN.


title:
Seismic motion in urban sites consisting of blocks in welded contact
  with a soft layer overlying a hard half space: II. large and infinite number
  of identical equispaced blocks

abstract:
  We address the problem of the response to a seismic wave of an urban site
consisting of a large and infinite number ($N\_{b}$) of identical, equispaced
blocks overlying a soft layer underlain by a hard substratum. The results of
the theoretical analysis, appealing to a space-frequency mode-matching (MM)
technique, are compared to those obtained by a space-time finite element (FE)
method. The two methods are shown to give rise to much the same prediction of
seismic response for $N\_{b}=10$. The MM technique is also applied to the case
$N\_{b}=\infty$, notably to reveal the structure and natural frequencies of the
vibration modes of the urban site. The mechanism of the interaction between
blocks and the ground, as well as that of the collective effects of the blocks,
are studied. It is shown that the presence of a large number of blocks modifies
the seismic disturbance in a manner which evokes, and may partially account
for, what was observed during many earthquakes in Mexico City. Disturbances at
a much smaller level, induced by a small number of blocks are studied in the
companion paper.


title: Analyses of femtosecond laser ablation of Ti, Zr, Hf

abstract:
  Femtosecond laser ablation of Ti, Zr and Hf has been investigated by means of
in-situ plasma diagnostics. Fast plasma imaging with the aid of an intensified
charged coupled device (ICCD) camera was used to characterise the plasma plume
expansion on a nanosecond time scale. Time- and spaceresolved optical emission
spectroscopy was employed to perform time-of-flight measurements of ions and
neutral atoms. It is shown that two plasma components with different expansion
velocities are generated by the ultra-short laser ablation process. The
expansion behaviour of these two components has been analysed as a function of
laser fluence and target material. The results are discussed in terms of
mechanisms responsible for ultra-short laser ablation.


title: Micro-fabricated electromagnetic filters for millikelvin experiments

abstract:
  In this article we report on the design, fabrication and tests of
micro-fabricated broadband filters suitable for proper electromagnetic
thermalization of electrical lines connected to sensitive quantum electronics
experiments performed at dilution fridge temperatures. Compared to previous
such miniature filters, the new design improves on performance and reliability.
These filters can be packed in space-saving cases with either single or
multi-contact connectors. Measured performance in the accessible range compares
well to simulations. We use these simulations to discuss the effectiveness of
these filters for electromagnetic thermalization at 30 mK.


title:
Room-temperature tunnel current amplifier and experimental setup for
  high resolution electronic spectroscopy in millikelvin STM experiments

abstract:
  The spectroscopic resolution of tunneling measurements performed with a
scanning tunneling microscope is ultimately limited by the temperature at which
the experiment is performed. To take advantage of the potential high
spectroscopic resolution associated with operating an STM in a dilution
refrigerator we have designed a room temperature tunnel current amplifier
having very small back-action on the tunnel contact and allowing to nearly
reach the predicted energy resolution. This design is a modification of the
standard op-amp based tip-biasing current-voltage converter which implements
differential voltage sensing and whose back action on the tip voltage is only
~2 $\mu$V rms for a 14 MV/A transimpedance and 22 kHz bandwidth.


title: Vertex labeling and routing in expanded Apollonian networks

abstract:
  We present a family of networks, expanded deterministic Apollonian networks,
which are a generalization of the Apollonian networks and are simultaneously
scale-free, small-world, and highly clustered. We introduce a labeling of their
vertices that allows to determine a shortest path routing between any two
vertices of the network based only on the labels.


title:
On Possible Causes of Divergencies in Experimental Values of
  Gravitational Constant

abstract:
  It is shown that discrepancies in the experimental values of the
gravitational constant might be caused by the temperature dependence of the
gravitational force and inequality of the absolute temperatures of sample
masses used in various gravitational experiments.


title: Exploring an opinion network for taste prediction: an empirical study

abstract:
  We develop a simple statistical method to find affinity relations in a large
opinion network which is represented by a very sparse matrix. These relations
allow us to predict missing matrix elements. We test our method on the
Eachmovie data of thousands of movies and viewers. We found that significant
prediction precision can be achieved and it is rather stable. There is an
intrinsic limit to further improve the prediction precision by collecting more
data, implying perfect prediction can never obtain via statistical means.


title: Nonlinear wave interactions in quantum magnetoplasmas

abstract:
  Nonlinear interactions involving electrostatic upper-hybrid (UH),
ion-cyclotron (IC), lower-hybrid (LH), and Alfven waves in quantum
magnetoplasmas are considered. For this purpose, the quantum hydrodynamical
equations are used to derive the governing equations for nonlinearly coupled
UH, IC, LH, and Alfven waves. The equations are then Fourier analyzed to obtain
nonlinear dispersion relations, which admit both decay and modulational
instabilities of the UH waves at quantum scales. The growth rates of the
instabilities are presented. They can be useful in applications of our work to
diagnostics in laboratory and astrophysical settings.


title: Ultimate parameters of the photon collider at the ILC

abstract:
  At linear colliders, the e+e- luminosity is limited by beam-collision
effects, which determine the required emittances of beams in damping rings
(DRs). While in gamma-gamma collisions at the photon collider, these effects
are absent, and so smaller emittances are desirable. In present damping rings
designs, nominal DR parameters correspond to those required for e+e-
collisions. In this note, I would like to stress once again that as soon as we
plan the photon-collider mode of ILC operation, the damping-ring emittances are
dictated by the photon-collider requirements--namely, they should be as small
as possible. This can be achieved by adding more wigglers to the DRs; the
incremental cost is easily justified by a considerable potential improvement of
the gamma-gamma luminosity. No expert analysis exists as of yet, but it seems
realistic to obtain a factor five increase of the gamma-gamma luminosity
compared to the ``nominal'' DR design.


title:
A survey of energy loss calculations for heavy ions between 1 and 100
  keV

abstract:
  The original Lindhard-Scharff-Schi{\o}tt (LSS) theory and the more recent
Tilinin theory for calculating the nuclear and electronic stopping powers of
slow heavy ions are compared with predictions from the SRIM code by Ziegler.
While little discrepancies are present for the nuclear contribution to the
energy loss, large differences are found in the electronic one. When full ion
recoil cascade simulations are tested against the elastic neutron scattering
data available in the literature, it can be concluded that the LSS theory is
the more accurate.


title: The Layout of the photon collider at the ILC

abstract:
  One of the interaction regions at the linear colliders should be compatible
both with e+e- and gamma-gamma, gamma-electron modes of operation. In this
paper, the differences in requirements and possible design solutions are
discussed.


title:
An approximate method for calculating transfer integrals based on the
  ZINDO Hamiltonian

abstract:
  In this paper we discuss a method for calculating transfer integrals based on
the ZINDO Hamiltonian which requires only a single self consistent field on an
isolated molecule to be performed in order to determine the transfer integral
for a pair of molecules. This method is compared to results obtained by
projection of the pair of molecules' molecular orbitals onto the vector space
defined by the molecular orbitals of each isolated molecule. The two methods
are found to be in good agreement using three compounds as model systems:
pentacene, ethylene and hexabenzocoronene.


title:
New Evaluation of Proton Structure Corrections to Hydrogen Hyperfine
  Splitting

abstract:
  We consider the proton structure corrections to hydrogen ground-state
hyperfine structure, focusing on a state-of-the-art evaluation of the inelastic
nucleon corrections--the polarizability corrections--using analytic fits to the
most recent data. We find a value for the fractional correction Delta_{pol} of
1.3 \pm 0.3 ppm. This is 1--2 ppm smaller than the value of Delta_{pol}$ one
would deduce using hyperfine splitting data and elastic proton structure
corrections obtained from modern form factor fits. In addition, we discuss the
derivations of the relevant formulas, paying attention to lepton mass effects
and to questions surrounding the use of unsubtracted dispersion relations.


title:
Leray-alpha model and transition to turbulence in rough-wall boundary
  layers

abstract:
  In the present study, we use a fifth-order ordinary differential equation, a
generalization of the Blasius equation derived from the Leray-alpha model, to
examine the transition to turbulence in rough-wall boundary-layer flows. This
equation, combined with a weaker formulation of the von Karman log law modified
to include the effects of surface roughness, provides a family of turbulent
velocity profiles with two free parameters: the momentum thickness based
Reynolds number and the roughness function. As a result, a skin-friction
correlation is obtained and predictions of the transitional Reynolds numbers
and maximal skin-friction values are made based on the roughness function.


title:
Deriving the General Relativity Formalism: Understanding its Successes
  and Failures

abstract:
  There are now at least eight experiments extending over more than 100 years
that have detected the anisotropy of the speed of light, implying the absolute
motion of the detecting apparatus through a dynamical space. This light-speed
anisotropy is consistent with relativistic effects and Lorentz symmetry,
contrary to prevailing beliefs in physics. The theoretical and experimental
evidence implies that physics has failed to realise the existence of a
dynamical 3-space, and that motion relative to that space is the cause of
various relativistic effects, as proposed by Lorentz in 1899. This has resulted
in a necessary generalisation of the Maxwell, Schrodinger and Dirac equations,
which then provide an explanation for gravity as an emergent phenomenon within
the new physics. From the generalised Dirac equation we show that the spacetime
formalism is derivable, but as merely a mathematical construct whose geodesics
arise from the trajectories of quantum wavepackets in the 3-space. However the
metric of this spacetime is shown not to satisfy the Hilbert-Einstein
equations, except in the special case of the Schwarzschild metric. Hence we
demonstrate that the successes of the General Relativity formalism have been
more illusory than real, that its successes are in fact quite limited, which
explains why it failed to account for the bore hole anomaly, the so-called
`dark matter' spiral galaxy rotation anomaly, the systematics of black hole
masses and so on. It also failed in that the dynamics of the 3-space is
determined by two fundamental constants, namely G and the fine structure
constant alpha.


title: Probing Ultracold Collisional Dynamics with Frequency-Chirped Pulses

abstract:
  We report on the dynamics of ultracold collisions induced by near-resonant
frequency-chirped light. A series of identical chirped pulses, separated by a
variable delay, is applied to an ultracold sample of 85Rb, and the rate of
inelastic trap-loss collisions is measured. For small detunings of the chirped
light below the atomic resonance, we observe that the rate of collisions
induced by a given pulse can be increased by the presence of an earlier pulse.
We attribute this to the enhancement of short-range collisional flux by the
long-range excitation of atom pairs to an attractive molecular potential. For
larger detunings and short delays, we find that a leading pulse can suppress
the rate of collisions caused by a following pulse. This is due to a depletion
of short-range atom pairs by the earlier pulse. Comparison of our data to
classical Monte-Carlo simulations of the collisions yields reasonable
agreement.


title:
Sharp Lower Bounds for the Dimension of the Global Attractor of the
  Sabra Shell Model of Turbulence

abstract:
  In this work we derive a lower bounds for the Hausdorff and fractal
dimensions of the global attractor of the Sabra shell model of turbulence in
different regimes of parameters. We show that for a particular choice of the
forcing and for sufficiently small viscosity term $\nu$, the Sabra shell model
has a global attractor of large Hausdorff and fractal dimensions proportional
to $\log_\lambda \nu^{-1}$ for all values of the governing parameter
$\epsilon$, except for $\epsilon=1$. The obtained lower bounds are sharp,
matching the upper bounds for the dimension of the global attractor obtained in
our previous work. Moreover, we show different scenarios of the transition to
chaos for different parameters regime and for specific forcing. In the
``three-dimensional'' regime of parameters this scenario changes when the
parameter $\epsilon$ becomes sufficiently close to 0 or to 1. We also show that
in the ``two-dimensional'' regime of parameters for a certain non-zero forcing
term the long-time dynamics of the model becomes trivial for any value of the
viscosity.


title: Hydrothermal coupling in a rough fracture

abstract:
  Heat exchange during laminar flow is studied at the fracture scale on the
basis of the Stokes equation. We used a synthetic aperture model (a self-affine
model) that has been shown to be a realistic geometrical description of the
fracture morphology. We developed a numerical modelling using a finite
difference scheme of the hydrodynamic flow and its coupling with an
advection/conduction description of the fluid heat. As a first step,
temperature within the surrounding rock is supposed to be constant. Influence
of the fracture roughness on the heat flux through the wall, is estimated and a
thermalization length is shown to emerge. Implications for the
Soultz-sous-For\^{e}ts geothermal project are discussed.


title:
Comparing classical and Bayesian methods for predicting hurricane
  landfall rates

abstract:
  We compare classical and Bayesian methods for fitting the poisson
distribution to the number of hurricanes making landfall on sections of the US
coastline.


title: On the Magnetic Field, and Entropy Increase, in a Machian Universe

abstract:
  By means of the experimental result on the present equipartition between
background microwave radiation energy and that of the interstellar magnetic
field, and by advancing a Machian relation for the magnetic field, which,
differently than in other authors' papers, is valid for the entire spanlife of
the Universe, implying that the magnetic field depends on the inverse radius of
the Universe, we obtain a general formula such that B depends on the inverse of
R . Our estimate for Planck's magnetic field is (1/1000) times the Sabbata and
Sivaram's one. It is shown that the energy densities involved in the above
problem are dependent on the inverse square of R . For radiation, this implies,
as we show, that the total entropy of the Universe is increasing with
expansion. In particular we show that R depends on the inverse square of T,
where T is the absolute temperature, and the entropy is proportional to the 3/2
power of R .


title:
Spreading and localization of information in scale-free networks with
  communication constraints

abstract:
  We study localization of information on scale free networks with
communication constraints when, for some reason, information can propagate only
between ``mutually trusted nodes'' (MTN). We propose an algorithm to construct
the MTN network and show that there is a critical value of trusted nodes below
which information localizes. This critical value increases drastically if a
fraction p of nodes does not transfer information at all. We study the fraction
of initial messangers needed to inform a desired fraction of the network as a
function of the average number of trusted nodes and discuss possible
applications of the model to marketing, to the spreading of risky information
and to the spreading of a disease with very short incubation time.


title: Recurrence of Travelling Waves in Transitional Pipe Flow

abstract:
  The recent theoretical discovery of families of travelling wave solutions in
pipe flow at Reynolds numbers lower than the transitional range naturally
raises the question of their relevance to the turbulent transition process.
Here a series of numerical experiments are conducted in which we look for the
spatial signature of these travelling waves in transitionary flows. Working
within a periodic pipe of 5D (diameters) length, we find that travelling waves
with low wall shear stresses (lower branch solutions) are on a surface which
separates initial conditions which uneventfully relaminarise and those which
lead to a turbulent evolution. Evidence for recurrent travelling wave visits is
found in both 5D and 10D long periodic pipes but only for those travelling
waves with low-to-intermediate wall shear stress and for less than about 10% of
the time in turbulent flow. Given this, it seems unlikely that the mean
turbulent properties such as wall shear stress can be predicted as an expansion
over the travelling waves in which their individual properties are
appropriately weighted. Rather, further dynamical structures such as periodic
orbits need to be isolated and included in any such expansion.


title: Comment on "Classical and Quantum Interaction of the Dipole"

abstract:
  In this paper I have presented Comment on Anandan's paper (J. Anandan, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 85, 1354 (2000)) [hep-th/9910018].


title: Depth of Interaction Enhanced Gamma-Ray Imaging for Medical Applications

abstract:
  A novel design for an inexpensive depth of interaction capable detector for
gamma rays, suitable for nuclear medical applications, especially Positron
Emission Tomography, has been developed. The design takes advantage of the
strong correlation between the width of the scintillation light distribution in
continuous crystals and the depth of interaction of the gamma-ray. For
measuring the distribution width, an inexpensive modification of the commonly
used charge dividing circuits that allows analogue and instantaneous
computation of the 2nd moment has been developed and is presented in this work.
The method has been tested with a detector made of a continuous
LSO-scintillator of dimensions 42x42x10 cubic mm and optically coupled to the
compact large area position sensitive photomultiplier H8500 from Hamamatsu. The
mean resolution in all non-trivial moments was found to be smaller than 5% but
their direct use as estimates for the three-dimensional photoconversion
position turned out to be unsuitable. Standard polynomial interpolation in
higher dimensions has been adopted to reconstruct the impact positions of the
gamma-rays from the measured moments. When using the reconstructed impact
positions, the intrinsic mean spatial resolution of the detector was found to
be 1.9 mm for the transverse components and 3.9 mm for the depth of
interaction. Using directly the bare moments as position estimate, the
intrinsic mean spatial resolution of the detector was found to be 3.4 mm and
4.9 mm, respectively. The cost for the required detector improvements are
essentially negligible.


title: Feasibility of an electron-based crystalline undulator

abstract:
  The feasibility to generate powerful monochromatic radiation of the undulator
type in the gamma region of the spectrum by means of planar channeling of
ultra-relativistic electrons in a periodically bent crystal is proven. It is
shown that an electron-based crystalline undulator operates in the regime of
higher beam energies than a positron-based one does. A numerical analysis is
performed for a 50 GeV electron channeling in Si along the (111)
crystallographic planes.


title: Size of Memory Objects

abstract:
  I consider model for flares proposed by P.-G de Gennes (PNAS, 101 (44),
15778-15781, 2004) and suggest a range for amplification factor (I) for
inhibitory neurons for the time evolution of non-divergent generations of
excitatory neurons which eventually die out. The exact numerical solution of
the model for the suggested range of the factor (I) then provides minimum
number of neurons describing size (M) for memory objects. The obtained size is
M = 8 to 12.75 and which is larger than the size M = 2 to 4 as obtained
theoretically by de Gennes.


title:
Synchronous Optical Pumping of Quantum Revival Beats for Atomic
  Magnetometery

abstract:
  We observe quantum beats with periodic revivals due to non-linear spacing of
Zeeman levels in the ground state of potassium atoms and demonstrate their
synchronous optical pumping by double modulation of the pumping light at the
Larmor frequency and the revival frequency. We show that synchronous pumping
increases the degree of spin polarization by a factor of 4. As a practical
example, we explore the application of this double-modulation technique to
atomic magnetometers operating in the geomagnetic field range and find that it
can increase the sensitivity and reduce magnetic field orientation-dependent
measurement errors endemic to alkali-metal magnetometers.


title:
Theory of electrically controlled exhibition of circular Bragg
  phenomenon by an obliquely excited structurally chiral material. Part 2:
  arbitrary dc electric field

abstract:
  Numerical examination of the solution of the boundary--value problem of the
reflection and transmission of a plane wave due to a slab of an electro--optic
structurally chiral material (SCM) indicates that the exhibition of the
circular Bragg phenomenon by the SCM can be controlled not only by the sign and
the magnitude of a dc electric field but also by its orientation in relation to
axis of helicoidal nonhomogeneity of the SCM. Thereby, the possibility of
electrical control of circular--polarization filters has been extended.


title:
Three-Dimensional Multi-Relaxation Time (MRT) Lattice-Boltzmann Models
  for Multiphase Flow

abstract:
  In this paper, three-dimensional (3D) multi-relaxation time (MRT)
lattice-Boltzmann (LB) models for multiphase flow are presented. In contrast to
the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK) model, a widely employed kinetic model, in MRT
models the rates of relaxation processes owing to collisions of particle
populations may be independently adjusted. As a result, the MRT models offer a
significant improvement in numerical stability of the LB method for simulating
fluids with lower viscosities. We show through the Chapman-Enskog multiscale
analysis that the continuum limit behavior of 3D MRT LB models corresponds to
that of the macroscopic dynamical equations for multiphase flow. We extend the
3D MRT LB models developed to represent multiphase flow with reduced
compressibility effects. The multiphase models are evaluated by verifying the
Laplace-Young relation for static drops and the frequency of oscillations of
drops. The results show satisfactory agreement with available data and
significant gains in numerical stability.


title:
Self consistent determination of plasmonic resonances in ternary
  nanocomposites

abstract:
  We have developed a self consistent technique to predict the behavior of
plasmon resonances in multi-component systems as a function of wavelength. This
approach, based on the tight lower bounds of the Bergman-Milton formulation, is
able to predict experimental optical data, including the positions, shifts and
shapes of plasmonic peaks in ternary nanocomposites without using any ftting
parameters. Our approach is based on viewing the mixing of 3 components as the
mixing of 2 binary mixtures, each in the same host. We obtained excellent
predictions of the experimental optical behavior for mixtures of Ag:Cu:SiO2 and
alloys of Au-Cu:SiO2 and Ag-Au:H2 O, suggesting that the essential physics of
plasmonic behavior is captured by this approach.


title:
Hamiltonians and Lagrangians of non-autonomous one-dimensional
  mechanical systems

abstract:
  It is shown that a given non-autonomous system of two first-order ordinary
differential equations can be expressed in Hamiltonian form. The derivation
presented here allow us to obtain previously known results such as the infinite
number of Hamiltonians in the autonomous case and the Helmholtz condition for
the existence of a Lagrangian.


title:
Statistical Description for Assumption-free Single-shot Measurement of
  Femtosecond Laser Pulse Parameters via Two-photon-induced Photocurrents

abstract:
  Through examining the product of the mathematical variance of intensity with
respect to time and frequency, we arrive at a temporal characterization of
laser pulses through parameters for pulse duration, group delay dispersion and
temporal form. These statistics, which are sufficient to predict subsequent
pulse behavior, are recoverable in a simple experiment, measuring the
two-photon-induced photocurrents in three nonlinear diodes. With only two
photodiodes, we demonstrate that pulse durations as low as several tens of
femtoseconds can be easily measured in a single shot if the usual assumptions
of pulse form and dispersion are made as in the more difficult autocorrelation
setup.


title: Statistical analysis of coherent structures in transitional pipe flow

abstract:
  Numerical and experimental studies of transitional pipe flow have shown the
prevalence of coherent flow structures that are dominated by downstream
vortices. They attract special attention because they contribute predominantly
to the increase of the Reynolds stresses in turbulent flow. In the present
study we introduce a convenient detector for these coherent states, calculate
the fraction of time the structures appear in the flow, and present a Markov
model for the transition between the structures. The fraction of states that
show vortical structures exceeds 24% for a Reynolds number of about Re=2200,
and it decreases to about 20% for Re=2500. The Markov model for the transition
between these states is in good agreement with the observed fraction of states,
and in reasonable agreement with the prediction for their persistence. It
provides insight into dominant qualitative changes of the flow when increasing
the Reynolds number.


title:
HoloTrap: Interactive hologram design for multiple dynamic optical
  trapping

abstract:
  This work presents an application that generates real-time holograms to be
displayed on a holographic optical tweezers setup; a technique that allows the
manipulation of particles in the range from micrometres to nanometres. The
software is written in Java, and uses random binary masks to generate the
holograms. It allows customization of several parameters that are dependent on
the experimental setup, such as the specific characteristics of the device
displaying the hologram, or the presence of aberrations. We evaluate the
software's performance and conclude that real-time interaction is achieved. We
give our experimental results from manipulating 5 micron-diametre microspheres
using the program.


title: Bending Wavelet for Flexural Impulse Response

abstract:
  The work addresses the definition of a wavelet that is adapted to analyse a
flexural impulse response. The wavelet gives the opportunity to directly
analyse the dispersion characteristics of a pulse. The aim is to localize a
source or to measure material parameters. An overview of the mathematical
properties of the wavelet is presented. An algorithm to extract the dispersion
characteristics with the use of genetic algorithms is outlined. The application
of the wavelet is shown in an example and experiment.


title: Trading strategies in the Italian interbank market

abstract:
  Using a data set which includes all transactions among banks in the Italian
money market, we study their trading strategies and the dependence among them.
We use the Fourier method to compute the variance-covariance matrix of trading
strategies. Our results indicate that well defined patterns arise. Two main
communities of banks, which can be coarsely identified as small and large
banks, emerge.


title: Quantum mechanical description of waveguides

abstract:
  In this paper, applying the spinor representation of the electromagnetic
field, we present a quantum-mechanical description of waveguides. As an example
of application, a potential qubit generated via photon tunneling is discussed.


title: Collapse-driven spatiotemporal dynamics of filament formation

abstract:
  The transition from spatial to spatiotemporal dynamics in Kerr-driven beam
collapse is modelled as the instability of the Townes profile. Coupled axial
and conical radiation, temporal splitting and X waves appear as the effect of
Y-shaped unstable modes, whose growth is experimentally detected.


title:
Temperature Effects on Mechanical Properties of Zinc Dithiophosphate
  Tribofilms

abstract:
  Nanoindentation tests were performed at several temperatures (24 to 80degC)
on one antiwear zinc dialkyl-dithiophosphate (ZDTP) tribofilm using a
Nanoindenter XP (R) entirely set into a climatic chamber. Mechanical properties
of the tribofilm were determined using a simple model. AFM observations were
conducted to estimate the order of magnitude of the film's thickness. The
effect of applied pressure on the elastic properties was demonstrated and taken
into account in the present analysis. The use of the F/S^2 parameter,
independent of contact geometry, revealed a hardness dependency upon
temperature. Furthermore, careful AFM observations of the residual pile-up
produced by plastic flow around the indents pointed out the evolution of the
film deformation process with temperature.


title: Noise sensitivity of portfolio selection under various risk measures

abstract:
  We study the sensitivity to estimation error of portfolios optimized under
various risk measures, including variance, absolute deviation, expected
shortfall and maximal loss. We introduce a measure of portfolio sensitivity and
test the various risk measures by considering simulated portfolios of varying
sizes N and for different lengths T of the time series. We find that the effect
of noise is very strong in all the investigated cases, asymptotically it only
depends on the ratio N/T, and diverges at a critical value of N/T, that depends
on the risk measure in question. This divergence is the manifestation of a
phase transition, analogous to the algorithmic phase transitions recently
discovered in a number of hard computational problems. The transition is
accompanied by a number of critical phenomena, including the divergent sample
to sample fluctuations of portfolio weights. While the optimization under
variance and mean absolute deviation is always feasible below the critical
value of N/T, expected shortfall and maximal loss display a probabilistic
feasibility problem, in that they can become unbounded from below already for
small values of the ratio N/T, and then no solution exists to the optimization
problem under these risk measures. Although powerful filtering techniques exist
for the mitigation of the above instability in the case of variance, our
findings point to the necessity of developing similar filtering procedures
adapted to the other risk measures where they are much less developed or
nonexistent. Another important message of this study is that the requirement of
robustness (noise-tolerance) should be given special attention when considering
the theoretical and practical criteria to be imposed on a risk measure.


title:
A stochastical model for periodic domain structuring in ferroelectric
  crystals

abstract:
  A stochastical description is applied in order to understand how
ferroelectric structures can be formed. The predictions are compared with
experimental data of the so-called electrical fixing: Domains are patterned in
photorefractive lithium niobate crystals by the combination of light-induced
space-charge fields with externally applied electrical fields. In terms of our
stochastical model the probability for domain nucleation is modulated according
to the sum of external and internal fields. The model describes the shape of
the domain pattern as well as the effective degree of modulation.


title:
Polarization, transverse shifts, and angular momentum conservation laws
  in partial reflection and refraction of an electromagnetic wave packet

abstract:
  We present a solution to the problem of partial reflection and refraction of
a polarized paraxial Gaussian beam at the interface between two transparent
media. The Fedorov--Imbert transverse shift of the centers of gravity of the
reflected and refracted beams are calculated. Our results differ in general
case from ones derived previously by other authors. In particular, they obey
general conservation law for the beams' total angular momentum but do not obey
one-particle conservation laws for individual photons, which have been proposed
by Onoda et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 083901 (2004)]. We ascertain that these
circumstances relate to the accepted in the literature artificial model for the
polarized beam which does not fit to real beams. The present paper resolves the
recent controversy and confirms results of our previous paper [Bliokh et al.,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 073903 (2006)]. Besides, a diffraction effect of angular
transverse shift of the reflected and refracted beams is predicted.


title:
Steric effects in the dynamics of electrolytes at large applied
  voltages: I. Double-layer charging

abstract:
  The classical Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) theory of electrolytes assumes a dilute
solution of point charges with mean-field electrostatic forces. Even for very
dilute solutions, however, it predicts absurdly large ion concentrations
(exceeding close packing) for surface potentials of only a few tenths of a
volt, which are often exceeded, e.g. in microfluidic pumps and electrochemical
sensors. Since the 1950s, several modifications of the PB equation have been
proposed to account for the finite size of ions in equilibrium, but in this
two-part series, we consider steric effects on diffuse charge dynamics (in the
absence of electro-osmotic flow). In this first part, we review the literature
and analyze two simple models for the charging of a thin double layer, which
must form a condensed layer of close-packed ions near the surface at high
voltage. A surprising prediction is that the differential capacitance typically
varies non-monotonically with the applied voltage, and thus so does the
response time of an electrolytic system. In PB theory, the capacitance blows up
exponentially with voltage, but steric effects actually cause it to decrease
above a threshold voltage where ions become crowded near the surface. Other
nonlinear effects in PB theory are also strongly suppressed by steric effects:
The net salt adsorption by the double layers in response to the applied voltage
is greatly reduced, and so is the tangential "surface conduction" in the
diffuse layer, to the point that it can often be neglected compared to bulk
conduction (small Dukhin number).


title: Pulse tube cryocooler with self-cancellation of cold stage vibration

abstract:
  We experimentally demonstrated a new method for reducing the vibration of the
cold stage of a cryocooler. Comparing the RMS amplitude with the case of no
phase shift of the driving gas pressure between the two pairs, the longitudinal
vibration of the cold stage was reduced by 96.1% at 126 K by supplying gas
pressure with 180 degrees of phase shift.


title:
Parametric investigation of nonlinear fluctuations in a dc glow
  discharge plasma

abstract:
  Glow discharge plasmas exhibit various types of self excited oscillations for
different initial conditions like discharge voltages and filling pressures. The
behavior of such oscillations associated with the anode glow have been
investigated using nonlinear techniques like correlation dimension, largest
Lyapunov exponent etc. It is seen that these oscillations go to an ordered
state from a chaotic state with increase in input energy i.e. with discharge
voltages implying occurrence of inverse bifurcations. These results are
different from the other observations wherein the fluctuations have been
observed to go from ordered to chaotic state.


title: Penrose-Carter diagram for an uniformly accelerated observer

abstract:
  An uniformly accelerated observer can build his proper system of coordinates
in a delimited sector of the flat Minkowski spacetime. The properties of the
position and time coordinate lines for such an observer are studied and
compared with the coordinate lines for an inertial observer in a Penrose-Carter
diagram for this spacetime.


title:
Effects of ion drift on time-over-threshold charge estimates using
  first-order integrators in thermal neutron MWPC

abstract:
  Time-over-threshold measurements of the output of a first order integration
amplifier can be used as a cheap way to estimate the charge deposited on a wire
in an MWPC. Even if the time scale of the first order system is seemingly much
larger than the signal development time, we noticed experimentally a
significant deviation from the relationship of time-over-threshold and the
charge, as would be naively expected from the exponential response of the
amplifier. We strongly suspect the current induced by the residual ion movement
to be at least partially responsible for this observation. It is of course
well-known that the ion movement is responsible for the bulk of the signal
generation in a wire chamber, this is not the point ; however, the surprise is
rather that this movement has influences on time scales which are so long that
the finite ion movement could be thought negligible. In this paper we will
treat theoretically the influence of ion movement and of AC coupling on the
expected time-over-threshold relationship and confront this to the measurements
on a small test MWPC in thermal neutron detection.


title:
An {\it ab initio} relativistic coupled-cluster theory of dipole and
  quadrupole polarizabilities: Applications to a few alkali atoms and alkaline
  earth ions

abstract:
  We present a general approach within the relativistic coupled-cluster theory
framework to calculate exactly the first order wave functions due to any rank
perturbation operators. Using this method, we calculate the static dipole and
quadrupole polarizabilities in some alkali atoms and alkaline earth-metal ions.
This may be a good test of the present theory for different rank and parity
interaction operators. This shows a wide range of applications including
precise calculations of both parity and CP violating amplitudes due to rank
zero and rank one weak interaction Hamiltonians. We also give contributions
from correlation effects and discuss them in terms of lower order many-body
perturbation theory.


title:
A linear Stark shift in dressed atoms as a signal to measure a nuclear
  anapole moment with a cold atom fountain or interferometer

abstract:
  We demonstrate theoretically the existence of a linear dc Stark shift of the
individual substates of an alkali atom in its ground state, dressed by a
circularly polarized laser field. It arises from the electroweak nuclear
anapole moment violating P but not T. It is characterized by the pseudoscalar
equal to the mixed product formed with the photon angular momentum and static
electric and magnetic fields. We derive the relevant left-right asymmetry with
its complete signature in a field configuration selected for a precision
measurement with cold atom beams. The 3,3 to 4,3 Cs hyperfine-transition
frequency shift amounts to 7 $\mu$Hz for a laser power of about 1 kW at 877 nm,
E=100 kV/cm and B larger than 0.5 G.


title: Computer-Simulation des Wettbewerbs zwischen Sprachen

abstract:
  Recent computer simulations of the competition between thousands of languages
are reviewed, and some new results on language families and language
similarities are presented.


title: Muon Cooling and Future Muon Facilities

abstract:
  Muon colliders and neutrino factories are attractive options for achieving
the highest lepton-antilepton collision energies and the most precise
measurements of the parameters of the neutrino mixing matrix. The performance
and cost of these future facilities depends sensitively on how well a beam of
muons can be cooled. The recent progress of muon-cooling prototype tests and
design studies nourishes the hope that such facilities can be built during the
next decade.


title: Efficient numerical method of the fiber Bragg grating synthesis

abstract:
  A new numerical method is developed for solution of the Gel'fand - Levitan -
Marchenko inverse scattering integral equations. The method is based on the
fast inversion procedure of a Toeplitz Hermitian matrix and special bordering
technique. The method is highly competitive with the known discrete layer
peeling method in speed and exceeds it noticeably in accuracy at high
reflectance.


title:
Dynamics of the internal gravity waves in the heterogeneous and
  nonstationary stratified mediums

abstract:
  In the present paper in the assumption of the slowness of variation of the
vertically stratified medium parameters in the horizontal direction within the
time we have analyzed the evolution of the non-harmonic wave trains of the
internal gravity waves. The particular form of the wave train can be expressed
through some special functions, for example, Airy functions, Fresnel integrals,
Pearsy integrals, etc., and is determined by the local behavior of the
dispersion curves of the separate modes near to the corresponding singular
points. The solution of this problem is possible using the modified version of
the space-time ray-tracing method offered by the authors (the method of the ray
optics), the fundamental difference of which consists, that the asymptotic
notation of such a solution should be searched for in the form of the series
using the non-integral degrees of some small parameter, the asymptotic forms of
the solution at analysis of evolution of the non-harmonic wave trains present
in the stratified non-stationary horizontally-non-uniform mediums is searched
in the form of the series using the non-integral degrees of some small
parameter, at that the exponent depends on the concrete type of the wave train
notation. The particular form of the notation is determined from the
asymptotical behavior of the solution in the stationary
horizontally-homogeneous event. The phase of the wave train will be determined
from the corresponding eikonal equation, which can be solved numerically using
the characteristics (rays). The amplitude of the wave train is determined from
some law of preservation along the characteristics (rays).


title:
Pore scale mixing and macroscopic solute dispersion regimes in polymer
  flows inside 2D model networks

abstract:
  A change of solute dispersion regime with the flow velocity has been studied
both at the macroscopic and pore scales in a transparent array of capillary
channels using an optical technique allowing for simultaneous local and global
concentration mappings. Two solutions of different polymer concentrations (500
and 1000 ppm) have been used at different P\'eclet numbers. At the macroscopic
scale, the displacement front displays a diffusive spreading: for $Pe \leq 10$,
the dispersivity $l\_d$ is constant with $Pe$ and increases with the polymer
concentration; for $Pe > 10$, $l\_d$ increases as $Pe^{1.35}$ and is similar
for the two concentrations. At the local scale, a time lag between the
saturations of channels parallel and perpendicular to the mean flow has been
observed and studied as a function of the flow rate. These local measurements
suggest that the change of dispersion regime is related to variations of the
degree of mixing at the junctions. For $Pe \leq 10$, complete mixing leads to
pure geometrical dispersion enhanced for shear thinning fluids; for $Pe >10$
weaker mixing results in higher correlation lengths along flow paths parallel
to the mean flow and in a combination of geometrical and Taylor dispersion.


title:
A note on the effective slip properties for microchannel flows with
  ultra-hydrophobic surfaces

abstract:
  A type of super-hydrophobic surface consists of a solid plane boundary with
an array of grooves which, due to the effect of surface tension, prevent a
complete wetting of the wall. The effect is greatest when the grooves are
aligned with the flow. The pressure difference between the liquid and the gas
in the grooves causes a curvature of the liquid surface resisted by surface
tension. The effects of this surface deformation are studied in this paper. The
corrections to the effective slip length produced by the curvature are analyzed
theoretically and a comparison with available data and related mathematical
models is presented.


title:
Interpreting Negative Probabilities in the Context of Double-Slit
  Interferometry

abstract:
  Negative probabilities emerged at intermediate steps in various attempts to
predict the distributions of quantum interference. There is no consensus on
their meaning yet. It has been suggested (Khrennikov, 1998) that negative
probabilities require the existence of unsuspected correlations between
detection events.We evaluate this claim in light of several representative
experiments. In our assessment, some of its implications are in good agreement
with the data.


title:
The Clausius inequality does not follow from the second law of
  thermodynamics

abstract:
  The example of macroscopic thermodynamical system violating the Clausius
inequality is presented.


title: Model of photon emission from luminescent center

abstract:
  Luminescence is the phenomenon investigated and applied in many disciplines
of science and technique. Spectral and kinetic measurements of luminescence
provide much information concerning the mechanism of luminescent devices.
Better understanding of the mechanism allows to improve the devices. It has
been known for a long time that the spectral and kinetic properties of
luminescence depend on the temperature. It is assumed that fluorescence does
not depend on temperature but practically lifetime of fluorescence changes
insignificantly with temperature. Until now, to our knowledge, nobody describes
mathematically the dependence. Here is reported the model of photon emission
permitting a description of the dependence. It is found that lifetime of
fluorescence decreases with increasing the square root of temperature. The
dependence is weaker than temperature dependence of phosphorescence. It agrees
with experimental observations. In the model presented, the new application of
Maxwell distribution is shown. This idea can be used in other investigations.
Also the presented model can be applied, for example, in nuclear physics.


title: Life on Both Sides of the Fence: Mentoring Versus Being Mentored

abstract:
  I have the rare experience of being on both sides of the
mentor--undergraduate student relationship in the same program (Caltech's
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or SURF, program). In this essay, I
will discuss how this background, coupled with my interdisciplinary education,
has fundamentally shaped my mentoring style.


title: Unified theory for Goos-H\"{a}nchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects

abstract:
  A unified theory is advanced to describe both the lateral Goos-H\"{a}nchen
(GH) effect and the transverse Imbert-Fedorov (IF) effect, through representing
the vector angular spectrum of a 3-dimensional light beam in terms of a 2-form
angular spectrum consisting of its 2 orthogonal polarized components. From this
theory, the quantization characteristics of the GH and IF displacements are
obtained, and the Artmann formula for the GH displacement is derived. It is
found that the eigenstates of the GH displacement are the 2 orthogonal linear
polarizations in this 2-form representation, and the eigenstates of the IF
displacement are the 2 orthogonal circular polarizations. The theoretical
predictions are found to be in agreement with recent experimental results.


title: Multiple time scales and the empirical models for stochastic volatility

abstract:
  The most common stochastic volatility models such as the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck
(OU), the Heston, the exponential OU (ExpOU) and Hull-White models define
volatility as a Markovian process. In this work we check of the applicability
of the Markovian approximation at separate times scales and will try to answer
the question which of the stochastic volatility models indicated above is the
most realistic. To this end we consider the volatility at both short (a few
days) and long (a few months)time scales as a Markovian process and estimate
for it the coefficients of the Kramers-Moyal expansion using the data for
Dow-Jones Index. It has been found that the empirical data allow to take only
the first two coefficients of expansion to be non zero that define form of the
volatility stochastic differential equation of Ito. It proved to be that for
the long time scale the empirical data support the ExpOU model. At the short
time scale the empirical model coincides with ExpOU model for the small
volatility quantities only.


title: Statistical variances in traffic data

abstract:
  We perform statistical analysis of the single-vehicle data measured on the
Dutch freeway A9 and discussed in Ref. [2]. Using tools originating from the
Random Matrix Theory we show that the significant changes in the statistics of
the traffic data can be explained applying equilibrium statistical physics of
interacting particles.


title: On the similarity solutions for a steady MHD equation

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate the similarity solutions for a steady laminar
incompressible boundary layer equations governing the Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)
flow near the forward stagnation point of two-dimensional and axisymmetric
bodies. This leads to the study of a boundary value problem involving a third
order autonomous ordinary differential equation. Our main results are the
existence, uniqueness and nonexistence for concave or convex solutions.


title:
FWM in One-dimensional Nonlinear Photonic Crystal and Theoretical
  Investigation of Parametric Down Conversion Efficiency (Steady State
  Analysis)

abstract:
  We study the light propagation in one-dimensional photonic crystal via
nonlinear Four Wave Mixing (FWM) process. The linear and nonlinear refractive
indexes are approximated with the first Fourier harmonic term. A system of the
nonlinear coupled mode equations (NLCMEs), including pump fields depletion is
derived for FWM process and steady state analysis is presented numerically.
Also some of important system parameters' effects on FWM process are
investigated. It has been shown that, although we have considered pump
depletion and used a medium with 3rd order succeptibility which is small
compared to the 2nd order succeptibility, conversion efficiency is enhanced at
least 100 times to the previous works which had used undepleted pump
approximation and amedium with 2nd order succeptibility.


title: Electron Trapping by Electric Field Reversals in Glow Discharges

abstract:
  The phenomena of electric field reversal in glow discharges is discussed.
Several models are described and the link between the electric field reversal,
electron's trapping and the discharge structure is analyzed.


title:
Spatial Correlation Functions of Random Electromagnetic Fields in the
  Presence of a Semi-Infinite Isotropic Medium

abstract:
  We extend a previous analysis of spatial correlation functions for classical
electromagnetic vector fields near a perfectly conducting boundary [PRE, vol.
73, 036604 (2006)] to the case of an isotropic semi-infinite medium with planar
interface and characterized by a first-order impedance boundary condition. The
analytical results are illustrated with calculations for the case of point
separations in the direction perpendicular to the interface. For the incident
plus reflected field, the dependence of the complex-valued and inhomogeneous
spatial correlation function on the permittivity, permeability and conductivity
of the medium is determined. For the refracted field, the spatial correlation
is again complex-valued but homogeneous and highly sensitive to the value of
the refractive index. Based on the derived dependencies, novel nonlocal
measurement methods for precision characterization of electromagnetic material
properties are suggested. The influence of the directionality of incidence for
electromagnetic beams is investigated. Narrowing the beam width results in a
slower decrease of the amplitude of the correlation function as a function of
point separation. Previously obtained asymptotic results for statistically
homogeneous random free fields are retrieved as special cases.


title: Unbalanced instabilities of rapidly rotating stratified shear flows

abstract:
  The linear stability of a rotating, stratified, inviscid horizontal plane
Couette flow in a channel is studied in the limit of strong rotation and
stratification. An energy argument is used to show that unstable perturbations
must have large wavenumbers. This motivates the use of a WKB-approach which, in
the first instance, provides an approximation for the dispersion relation of
the various waves that can propagate in the flow. These are Kelvin waves,
trapped near the channel walls, and inertia-gravity waves with or without
turning points.
  Although, the wave phase speeds are found to be real to all algebraic orders
in the Rossby number, we establish that the flow, whether cyclonic or
anticyclonic, is unconditionally unstable. This is the result of linear
resonances between waves with oppositely signed wave momenta. We derive
asymptotic estimates for the instability growth rates, which are exponentially
small in the Rossby number, and confirm them by numerical computations. Our
results, which extend those of Kushner et al (1998) and Yavneh et al (2001),
highlight the limitations of the so-called balanced models, widely used in
geophysical fluid dynamics, which filter out Kelvin and inertia-gravity waves
and hence predict the stability of the Couette flow. They are also relevant to
the stability of Taylor-Couette flows and of astrophysical accretion discs.


title: Fundamental neutrino experiments

abstract:
  We review fundamental open problems in neutrino physics and propose two basic
experiments for their possible resolution.


title: Focusing of Light by a Nano-Hole Array

abstract:
  We demonstrate a conceptually new mechanism for sub-wavelength focusing at
optical frequencies based upon the use of nano-hole quasi-periodic arrays in
metal screens. Using coherent illumination at 660 nm and scanning near-field
optical microscopy, ~290 nm "hot spots", were observed at a distance of ~12.5
mkm from the array. Even smaller hot-spots of about 200 nm in waist were
observed closer to the plane of the array.


title:
Homodyne detection for quantum key distribution: an alternative to
  photon counting in BB84 protocol

abstract:
  This paper presents the principles and experimental results of an optical
fiber QKD system operating at 1550 nm, and using the BB84 protocol with QPSK
signals. Our experimental setup consists of a time-multiplexed super-homodyne
configuration using P.I.N detectors in a differential scheme as an alternative
to avalanche photon counting. Transmission over 11km of optical fiber has been
done using this detection scheme and major relevant characteristics such as
noise, quantum efficiency and bit error rate (BER) are reported.