title:
A New Limit for the Coupling Constant of the Electron-Nucleus
  Scalar-Pseudoscalar Interaction

abstract:
  We report the results of our calculations of the atomic electric dipole
moments of cesium and thallium arising from the electron-nucleus
scalar-pseudoscalar interaction. The calculations are based on the all order
relativistic coupled-cluster theory. Electron correlation effects, particularly
in the case of thallium are of crucial importance. We obtain a new limit for
the scalar-pseudoscalar interaction by combining the result of our thallium
calculation and the measured value of the electric dipole moment of that atom.


title: Theoretical Errors in Contemporary Physics

abstract:
  Errors pertaining to the following physical theories are discussed: the Dirac
magnetic monopole theory; the Klein-Gordon equation; the Yukawa theory of
nuclear force; the idea of Vector Meson Dominance; the Aharonov-Bohm effects;
the idea of diffraction-free electromagnetic beams; Quantum Chromodynamics.
Implications of the theoretical errors are discussed briefly. In particular,
relations between the Dirac monopole theory, the idea of Vector Meson Dominance
and Quantum Chromodynamics cast doubt on the current interpretation of strong
interactions.


title:
Instantaneous ionization rate of H$_2^+$ in intense laser field;
  Interpretation of the Enhanced Ionization

abstract:
  The fixed-nuclei full dimensional time-dependent Schr \"odinger equation is
directly solved for H$_2^+$ in the linearly polarized laser field of $I \sim
1.0 \times 10^{14}$W cm$^{-2}$ and $\lambda \sim 1064 $nm Instantaneous
ionization rate has been introduced and calculated by evaluating the
instantaneous imaginary energy of the system. It is shown that positive
(negative) values of instantaneous imaginary energy of the system represent the
incoming (outgoing) instantaneous current of electron. This approach allows us
to determine not only the instantaneous intensity but also the instantaneous
direction of the electronic current. The transient behavior of the electron
wavepacket in intense laser field can thus be probed precisely. Details of the
enhanced ionization rates are studied based on the instantaneous ionization
rates. This approach gives direct evidence for existence of the effect of
charge-resonance-enhanced multiphoton resonances of the quasi-energy states
(QES) with excited electronic states at some particular internuclear distances.
Finally, Contributions of the individual time dependent Floquet QES to the
overall ionization rates are evaluated.


title: Evanescent-Wave Bonding Between Optical Waveguides

abstract:
  Forces arising from overlap between the guided waves of parallel,
microphotonic waveguides are calculated. Both attractive and repulsive forces,
determined by the choice of relative input phase, are found. Using realistic
parameters for a silicon-on-insulator material system, we estimate that the
forces are large enough to cause observable displacements. Our results
illustrate the potential for a broader class of optically-tunable microphotonic
devices and microstructured artificial materials.


title:
An interaction model on random networks: from social to airports
  networks

abstract:
  Social movements, neurons in the brain or even industrial suppliers are best
described by agents evolving on networks with basic interaction rules. In these
real systems, the connectivity between agents corresponds to the a critical
state of the system related to the noise of the system. The new idea is that
connectivity adjusts itself because of two opposite tendencies: on the one hand
informations percolation is better when the network connectivity is small but
all agents have rapidely the same state and the dynamics stops.
  On the other hand, when agents have a large connectivity, the state of a node
(opinion of a person, state of a neuron, ...) tends to freeze: agents find
always a minority among their neighbours to support their state. The model
introduced here captures this essential feature showing a clear transition
between the two tendencies at some critical connectivity. Depending on the
noise, the dynamics of the system can only take place at a precise critical
connectivity since, away from this critical point, the system remains in a
static phase. When the noise is very small, the critical connectivity becomes
very large, and highly connected networks are obtained like the airports
network and the Internet. This model may be used as a starting point for
understanding the evolution of agents living on networks.


title: Sharp transition towards shared vocabularies in multi-agent systems

abstract:
  What processes can explain how very large populations are able to converge on
the use of a particular word or grammatical construction without global
coordination? Answering this question helps to understand why new language
constructs usually propagate along an S-shaped curve with a rather sudden
transition towards global agreement. It also helps to analyze and design new
technologies that support or orchestrate self-organizing communication systems,
such as recent social tagging systems for the web. The article introduces and
studies a microscopic model of communicating autonomous agents performing
language games without any central control. We show that the system undergoes a
disorder/order transition, going trough a sharp symmetry breaking process to
reach a shared set of conventions. Before the transition, the system builds up
non-trivial scale-invariant correlations, for instance in the distribution of
competing synonyms, which display a Zipf-like law. These correlations make the
system ready for the transition towards shared conventions, which, observed on
the time-scale of collective behaviors, becomes sharper and sharper with system
size. This surprising result not only explains why human language can scale up
to very large populations but also suggests ways to optimize artificial
semiotic dynamics.

categories: physics.soc-ph cond-mat.stat-mech cs.GT cs.MA


title:
Phenomena from intersecting branes in six-dimensional Anti-de Sitter
  spacetime

abstract:
  We relate four-dimensional mass parameters to the positions of AdS 4-brane
intersections in six-dimensional AdS spacetime. The 4-branes wrap 1-cycles on
the rectangular toroidal orbifold T2/(Z2)3, are situated upon and parallel to
the fixed lines, and intersect orthogonally on four-dimensional Minkowski
junctions. Particles are arranged upon the line equidistant from the two extra
dimensions. In four dimensions, the particles occupy a geometric sequence of
mass levels that descends from the Higgs field vacuum expectation value. Scales
that we identify with the three Standard Model families derive from the
geometry of the orbifold and stand in precise relationship to the GUT scale of
the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.


title: Photosensitive Gaseous Detectors for Cryogenic Temperature Applications

abstract:
  There are several proposals and projects today for building LXe Time
Projection Chambers (TPCs) for dark matter search. An important element of
these TPCs are the photomultipliers operating either inside LXe or in vapors
above the liquid.
  We have recently demonstrated that photosensitive gaseous detectors (wire
type and hole-type) can operate perfectly well until temperatures of LN2. In
this paper results of systematic studies of operation of the photosensitive
version of these detectors (combined with reflective or semi-transparent CsI
photocathodes) in the temperature interval of 300-150 K are presented. In
particular, it was demonstrated that both sealed and flushed by a gas detectors
could operate at a quite stable fashion in a year/time scale. Obtained results,
in particular the long-term stability of photosensitive gaseous detectors,
strongly indicate that they can be cheap and simple alternatives to
photomultipliers or avalanche solid-state detectors in LXe TPC applications.


title: Minority Games with heterogeneous timescales

abstract:
  Minority games where groups of agents remember, react or incorporate
information with different timescales are investigated. We study how their
respective gains depend on their timescales for standard models and games with
no public information, and support our findings by analytical arguments
whenever possible.


title:
New examples of metalloaromatic Al-clusters: (Al4M4)Fe(CO)3 (M=Li, Na
  and K) and (Al4M4)2Ni: Rationalization for possible synthesis

abstract:
  Ab-initio calculations reveal that all-metal antiaromatic molecules like
Al4M4 (M=Li, Na and K) can be stabilized in half-sandwich complex:
(Al4M4)Fe(CO)3 and full-sandwich complexes of the type: (Al4M4)2Ni. The
formation of the full-sandwich complex [(Al4M4)2Ni] from its organometallic
precursor depends on the stability of the organic-inorganic hybrid (C4H4) Ni
(Al4Li4).


title: The Fermi's Bayes Theorem

abstract:
  It is curious to learn that Enrico Fermi knew how to base probabilistic
inference on Bayes theorem, and that some influential notes on statistics for
physicists stem from what the author calls elsewhere, but never in these notes,
{\it the Bayes Theorem of Fermi}. The fact is curious because the large
majority of living physicists, educated in the second half of last century -- a
kind of middle age in the statistical reasoning -- never heard of Bayes theorem
during their studies, though they have been constantly using an intuitive
reasoning quite Bayesian in spirit. This paper is based on recollections and
notes by Jay Orear and on Gauss' ``Theoria motus corporum coelestium'', being
the {\it Princeps mathematicorum} remembered by Orear as source of Fermi's
Bayesian reasoning.


title: Novel FIR Inversion with Only FIRS

abstract:
  The inversion of an FIR data sampling is usually stated to be possible with
the use of a potentially unstable IIR, and in particular circumstances. It is
possible to accomplish the same inversion with the doubling of an FIR sampling
and with only FIRs for the sampling and the inversion. This note presents the
configuration, which appently is not in the literature, for perfect signal
reconstruction.


title: Cellular Automata Models of Road Traffic

abstract:
  In this paper, we give an elaborate and understandable review of traffic
cellular automata (TCA) models, which are a class of computationally efficient
microscopic traffic flow models. TCA models arise from the physics discipline
of statistical mechanics, having the goal of reproducing the correct
macroscopic behaviour based on a minimal description of microscopic
interactions. After giving an overview of cellular automata (CA) models, their
background and physical setup, we introduce the mathematical notations, show
how to perform measurements on a TCA model's lattice of cells, as well as how
to convert these quantities into real-world units and vice versa. The majority
of this paper then relays an extensive account of the behavioural aspects of
several TCA models encountered in literature. Already, several reviews of TCA
models exist, but none of them consider all the models exclusively from the
behavioural point of view. In this respect, our overview fills this void, as it
focusses on the behaviour of the TCA models, by means of time-space and
phase-space diagrams, and histograms showing the distributions of vehicles'
speeds, space, and time gaps. In the report, we subsequently give a concise
overview of TCA models that are employed in a multi-lane setting, and some of
the TCA models used to describe city traffic as a two-dimensional grid of
cells, or as a road network with explicitly modelled intersections. The final
part of the paper illustrates some of the more common analytical approximations
to single-cell TCA models.


title:
An elasticity theory for self-assembled protein lattices with
  application to the martensitic phase transition in bacteriophage T4 tail
  sheath

abstract:
  We propose an elasticity theory for one and two dimensional arrays of
globular proteins for which the free energy is affected by relative position
and relative rotation between neighboring molecules. The kinematics of such
assemblies is described, the conditions of compatibility are found, a form of
the free energy is given, and formulas for applied forces and moments are
developed. It is shown that fully relaxed states of sheets consist of helically
deformed sheets which themselves are composed of helical chains of molecules in
rational directions.
  We apply the theory to the fascinating contractile deformation that occurs in
the tail sheath of the virus bacteriophage T4, which aids its invasion of its
bacterial host. Using electron density maps of extended and contracted sheath,
we approximate the domains of each molecule by ellipsoids and then evaluate our
formulas for the position and orientation of each molecule. We show that, with
the resulting kinematic description, the configurations of extended and
contracted tail sheath are generated by a simple formula. We proposed a
constrained version of the theory based on measurements on extended and
contracted sheath. Following a suggestion of Pauling [{\em Discussions of the
Faraday Society} {\bf 13}, 170-6 (1953)], we develop a simple model of the
molecular interaction. The resulting free energy is found to have a double-well
structure. Certain simple deformations are studied (tension, torsion
inflation); the theory predicts a first-order Poynting effect and some
unexpected relations among moduli. Finally, the force of penetration is given,
and a possibly interesting program of epitaxial growth and patterning of such
sheets is suggested.


title: Stark shift of the $A^2\Pi_{1/2}$ state in $^{174}$YbF

abstract:
  We have measured the Stark shift of the $A^2\Pi_{1/2} - X^2\Sigma^+$
transition in YbF. We use a molecular beam triple resonance method, with two
laser transitions acting as pump and probe, assisted by an rf transition that
tags a single hyperfine transition of the X state. After subtracting the known
ground state Stark shift, we obtain a value of $70.3(1.5) $Hz/(V/cm)$^2$ for
the static electric polarizability of the state $A^2\Pi_{1/2}(J=1/2,f)$. From
this we calculate a value $\mu_e=2.46(3)$D for the electric dipole moment of
the $A^2\Pi_{1/2}(v=0)$ state.


title: Self-energy values for P states in hydrogen and low-Z hydrogenlike ions

abstract:
  We describe a nonperturbative (in Zalpha) numerical evaluation of the
one-photon electron self energy for 3P_{1/2}, 3P_{3/2}, 4P_{1/2} and 4P_{3/2}
states in hydrogenlike atomic systems with charge numbers Z=1 to 5. The
numerical results are found to be in agreement with known terms in the
expansion of the self energy in powers of Zalpha and lead to improved
theoretical predictions for the self-energy shift of these states.


title:
Revisiting the Local Scaling Hypothesis in Stably Stratified Atmospheric
  Boundary Layer Turbulence: an Integration of Field and Laboratory
  Measurements with Large-eddy Simulations

abstract:
  The `local scaling' hypothesis, first introduced by Nieuwstadt two decades
ago, describes the turbulence structure of stable boundary layers in a very
succinct way and is an integral part of numerous local closure-based numerical
weather prediction models. However, the validity of this hypothesis under very
stable conditions is a subject of on-going debate. In this work, we attempt to
address this controversial issue by performing extensive analyses of turbulence
data from several field campaigns, wind-tunnel experiments and large-eddy
simulations. Wide range of stabilities, diverse field conditions and a
comprehensive set of turbulence statistics make this study distinct.


title:
Forcing function control of Faraday wave instabilities in viscous
  shallow fluids

abstract:
  We investigate the relationship between the linear surface wave instabilities
of a shallow viscous fluid layer and the shape of the periodic,
parametric-forcing function (describing the vertical acceleration of the fluid
container) that excites them. We find numerically that the envelope of the
resonance tongues can only develop multiple minima when the forcing function
has more than two local extrema per cycle. With this insight, we construct a
multi-frequency forcing function that generates at onset a non-trivial harmonic
instability which is distinct from a subharmonic response to any of its
frequency components. We measure the corresponding surface patterns
experimentally and verify that small changes in the forcing waveform cause a
transition, through a bicritical point, from the predicted harmonic
short-wavelength pattern to a much larger standard subharmonic pattern. Using a
formulation valid in the lubrication regime (thin viscous fluid layer) and a
WKB method to find its analytic solutions, we explore the origin of the
observed relation between the forcing function shape and the resonance tongue
structure. In particular, we show that for square and triangular forcing
functions the envelope of these tongues has only one minimum, as in the usual
sinusoidal case.


title:
On the Role of Global Warming on the Statistics of Record-Breaking
  Temperatures

abstract:
  We theoretically study long-term trends in the statistics of record-breaking
daily temperatures and validate these predictions using Monte Carlo simulations
and data from the city of Philadelphia, for which 126 years of daily
temperature data is available. Using extreme statistics, we derive the number
and the magnitude of record temperature events, based on the observed Gaussian
daily temperatures distribution in Philadelphia, as a function of the number of
elapsed years from the start of the data. We further consider the case of
global warming, where the mean temperature systematically increases with time.
We argue that the current warming rate is insufficient to measurably influence
the frequency of record temperature events over the time range of the
observations, a conclusion that is supported by numerical simulations and the
Philadelphia temperature data.


title: Electrophilicity as a Possible Descriptor of the Kinetic Behaviour

abstract:
  An understanding of the precise nature of a chemical reactivity descriptor is
of utmost interest to quantum chemists. In the present investigation an attempt
has been made to analyze whether the electrophilicity index is a reliable
descriptor of the kinetic behaviour. Relative experimental rates of Friedel-
Crafts benzylation, acetylation and benzoylation reactions correlate well with
the corresponding calculated electrophilicity values. Chlorination of various
substituted ethylenes and nitration of toluene and chlorobenzene are studied as
representative examples of electrophilic addition and substitution reactions
respectively. The correlation is not very good to assess that which, however,
improves drastically by removing a few data points to show that the
electrophilicity is a kinetic quantity with inherent thermodynamic information.
The correlation between the experimental and the calculated activation energies
is studied for some Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov addition reactions and is
turned out to be reasonably well. Reaction electrophilicity, local
electrophilicity and activation hardness are used together to provide a
transparent picture of reaction rates as well as the orientation of aromatic
electrophilic substitution reactions. Ambiguity in the definition of the
electrophilicity is highlighted.


title: Effects of the globalization in the Korean financial markets

abstract:
  We study the effect of globalization on the Korean market, one of the
emerging markets. Some characteristics of the Korean market are different from
those of the mature market according to the latest market data, and this is due
to the influence of foreign markets or investors. We concentrate on the market
network structures over the past two decades with knowledge of the history of
the market, and determine the globalization effect and market integration as a
function of time.


title: A Landau fluid model for warm collisionless plasmas

abstract:
  A Landau fluid model for a collisionless electron-proton magnetized plasma,
that accurately reproduces the dispersion relation and the Landau damping rate
of all the magnetohydrodynamic waves, is presented. It is obtained by an
accurate closure of the hydrodynamic hierarchy at the level of the fourth order
moments, based on linear kinetic theory. It retains non-gyrotropic corrections
to the pressure and heat flux tensors up to the second order in the ratio
between the considered frequencies and the ion cyclotron frequency.


title:
Time-evolving distribution of time lags between commercial airline
  disasters

abstract:
  We have studied the time lags between commercial line airplane disasters and
their occurrence frequency till 2002, as obtained from a freely available
website. We show that the time lags seem to be well described by Poisson random
events, where the average events rate is itself a function of time, i.e.
time-dependent Poisson events. This is likely due to the unsteady growth of the
industry. The time lag distribution is compared with a truncated Tsallis
distribution, thereby showing that the ''phenomenon'' has similarities with a
Brownian particle with time dependent mass. We distinguish between ''other
causes'' (or natural causes) and ''terrorism acts", the latter amounts to about
5 percents, but we find no drastic difference nor impact due to the latter on
the overall distribution.


title:
Equilibrium properties of a hysteresis dimer molecule from MD
  simulations using two-body potentials

abstract:
  Recent experiments indicate that electromagnetic hysteresis behavior can be
exhibited at the molecular level.A MD simulation using 2-body potentials and
switches to form and break bonds is implemented to determine whether chemical
reaction pathways might also exhibit analogous behavior whilst preserving
conventional thermodynamical outcomes. The results of various common
thermodynamical and kinetic properties are presented, where no unusual
thermodynamics is observed. A potential switching technique circumvents the
problem of computer intensive three-body calculations which makes this model
particularly suitable for numerical investigations in both equilibrium and
nonequilibrium states . A new algorithm for the conservation of energy and
momentum is incorporated. The thermodynamical parameters determined include the
standard free energy, enthalpy and entropy, the activity coefficient ratios,
the equilibrium constant and the many energy distribution functions of the
molecule, all of which are compared to the Maxwell distribution function. The
results do not support recent MNET theories nor the principle of local
equilibrium as fundamental principles. A non-cosine dependent rotational
variable is suggested for first order relaxation processes. A revision of time
reversibility concepts is suggested.


title:
Electron gas polarization effect induced by heavy H-like ions of
  moderate velocities channeled in a silicon crystal

abstract:
  We report on the observation of a strong perturbation of the electron gas
induced by 20 MeV/u U$^{91+}$ ions and 13 MeV/u Pb$^{81+}$ ions channeled in
silicon crystals. This collective response (wake effect) in-duces a shift of
the continuum energy level by more than 100 eV, which is observed by means of
Radiative Electron Capture into the K and L-shells of the projectiles. We also
observe an increase of the REC probability by 20-50% relative to the
probability in a non-perturbed electron gas. The energy shift is in agreement
with calculations using the linear response theory, whereas the local electron
density enhancement is much smaller than predicted by the same model. This
shows that, for the small values of the adiabaticity parameter achieved in our
experiments, the density fluctuations are not strongly localized at the
vicinity of the heavy ions.


title: Rescue Model for the Bystanders' Intervention in Emergencies

abstract:
  To investigate an effect of social interaction on the bystanders'
intervention in emergency situations we introduce a rescue model which includes
the effects of the victim's acquaintance with bystanders and those among
bystanders. This model reproduces the surprising experimental result that the
helping rate tends to decrease although the number of bystanders $k$ increases.
The model also shows that given the coupling effect among bystanders, for a
certain range of small $k$ the helping rate increases according to $k$ and that
coupling effect plays both positive and negative roles in emergencies. Finally
we find a broad range of coupling strength to maximize the helping rate.


title:
Enabling pulse compression and proton acceleration in a modular ICF
  driver for nuclear and particle physics applications

abstract:
  The existence of efficient ion acceleration regimes in collective
laser-plasma interactions opens up the possibility to develop high-energy
physics facilities in conjunction with projects for inertial confinement
nuclear fusion (ICF) and neutron spallation sources. In this paper, we show
that the pulse compression requests to make operative these acceleration
mechanisms do not fall in contradiction with current technologies for high
repetition rate ICF drivers. In particular, we discuss explicitly a solution
that exploits optical parametric chirped pulse amplification and the intrinsic
modularity of the lasers aimed at ICF.

categories: physics.acc-ph hep-ex physics.optics physics.plasm-ph


title: A fundamental test for physics: the galactic supermassive obscure bodies

abstract:
  The problem of the enormous gravitational effects observed by the astronomers
in several galactic nuclei with obscure bodies appears puzzling. These bodies
are too large to be neutron stars generated by supernovae of primeval stars and
are too small to be considered a new kind of obscure galaxies. This
contradiction represents a fundamental test which might destroy the established
gravitational theories. We present a new physical paradigm which substitutes
the old "gravitational mass" guessed by Newton more than tree centuries ago.


title:
First-Passage Time: A Conception Leading to Superstatistics. I.
  Superstatistics with Discrete Distributions

abstract:
  To describe the nonequilibrium states of a system we introduce a new
thermodynamic parameter - the lifetime (the first passage time) of a system.
The statistical distributions that can be obtained out of the mesoscopic
description characterizing the behaviour of a system by specifying the
stochastic processes are written. Superstatistics, introduced in [1] as
fluctuating quantities of intensive thermodynamical parameters, are obtained
from statistical distribution with lifetime (random time to system degeneracy)
as thermodynamical parameter (and also generalization of superstatistics).
Necessary for this realization condition with expression for average lifetime
of stationary statistical system obtained from stochastical storage model [32]
is consisting. The obtained distribution passes in Gibbs distribution depending
on a measure of deviation from equilibrium related to fluxes and dissipativity
in the system.


title:
First-Passage Time: A Conception Leading to Superstatistics. II.
  Continuous Distributions and their Applications

abstract:
  A continuous approximation for the results of [1] is obtained. In this
approximation the energy distribution is represented in the form of the product
of the Gibbs factor and superstatistics factor. The mutual weights of the
factors are defined by the control parameter of the problem. Various
approximations for the superstatistics factor are written. The resulting
distribution is compared to a number of known results (multiplicative noise,
Van der Pol generator etc). It is applied to the description of self-organized
criticality, statistics of cosmic rays etc as well.


title:
Constitutive Laws and Failure Models for Compact Bones Subjected to
  Dynamic Loading

abstract:
  Many biological tissues, such as bones and ligaments, are fibrous. The
geometrical structure of these tissues shows that they exhibit a similar
hierarchy in their ultra-structure and macro-structure. The aim of this work is
to develop a model to study the failure of fibrous structures subjected to
dynamic loading. The important feature of this model is that it describes
failure in terms of the loss of cohesion between fibres. We have developed a
model based on the lamellar structure of compact bone with fibres oriented at 0
degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the bone, and
have studied the influence of the model parameters on the failure process. Bone
porosity and joint stress force at failure were found to be the most
significant parameters. Using least square resolution, we deduced a
phenomenological model of the lamellar structure. Finally, experimental results
were found to be comparable with our numerical model.


title:
Leakage Tests for Am-241 Solid Sources Used for Liquid Xenon Detector
  Monitoring

abstract:
  Experimental tests are described to check solid Am-241 radioactive sources
used to monitor operation of liquid xenon detectors. In particular, radioactive
leakage was tested in extreme temperature conditions following immersion in
liquid nitrogen for different time periods. No radioactivity loss was detected
from the sources considered. The paper describes the source characteristics,
test methods and results obtained.


title: Firm Projects, NPV and Risk

abstract:
  An investor is estimating net present value of a firm project and performs
risk analysis. Usually it is created portfolio hierarchies and make comparison
of variants of project based on these hierarchies. Then one finds that
portfolio which corresponds to the particular needs of individual groups within
the firm. We have formulated a new type of NPV analysis based on the fact that
normal distribution of NPV is observed for some projects in some industries.
The expected risk of the project is given by variance, in which there is the
standard deviation of the year n cash flow, the standard deviation of the
investment I in the time zero, the correlation coefficient of the year n cash
flow deviation from the average and of the investment I at time zero deviation
from the mean investment at time zero, the correlation coefficient of the year
n cash flow deviation from the average and of the year n' cash flow deviation
from the average. The aim function of the investor into the project was found.
The investor is characterized by the constant A. The larger constant A the
larger preference is given to the project NPV and the larger acceptable risk of
the project, and vice versa. We have found that there are contributions in
which we have the aim-function-like contribution to the aim function, which is
discounted and in which the risk of the n-th year risk is discounted in the
second order. Further there is aim-function-like contribution to the
aim-function which comes from the initial investment I and its risk.


title: Hurricanes and Earth Hum

abstract:
  A modernized conventional pendulum has been used to show that hurricanes
Katrina and Ophelia excited eigenmode oscillations of the Earth as well as
microseisms.


title: Cancellation of light-shifts in an N-resonance clock

abstract:
  We demonstrate that first-order light-shifts can be cancelled for an
all-optical, three-photon-absorption resonance ("N-resonance") on the D1
transition of Rb87. This light-shift cancellation enables improved frequency
stability for an N-resonance clock. For example, using a table-top apparatus
designed for N-resonance spectroscopy, we measured a short-term fractional
frequency stability (Allan deviation) 1.5e-11 tau^(-1/2) for observation times
1s< tau < 50s. Further improvements in frequency stability should be possible
with an apparatus designed as a dedicated N-resonance clock.


title: Pyramidal micro-mirrors for microsystems and atom chips

abstract:
  Concave pyramids are created in the (100) surface of a silicon wafer by
anisotropic etching in potassium hydroxide. High quality micro-mirrors are then
formed by sputtering gold onto the smooth silicon (111) faces of the pyramids.
These mirrors show great promise as high quality optical devices suitable for
integration into MOEMS and atom chips. We have shown that structures of this
shape can be used to laser-cool and hold atoms in a magneto-optical trap.


title: Measurement of the electron electric dipole moment using GdIG

abstract:
  A new method for the detection of the electron edm using a solid is
described. The method involves the measurement of a voltage induced across the
solid by the alignment of the samples magnetic dipoles in an applied magnetic
field, H. A first application of the method to GdIG has resulted in a limit on
the electron edm of 5E-24 e-cm, which is a factor of 40 below the limit
obtained from the only previous solid-state edm experiment. The result is
limited by the imperfect discrimination of an unexpectedly large voltage that
is even upon the reversal of the sample magnetization.


title:
Endo- vs. Exo-genous shocks and relaxation rates in book and music
  "sales"

abstract:
  In this paper, we analyze the response of music and book sales to an external
field and to buyer herding. We distinguish endogenous and exogenous shocks. We
focus on some case studies, whose data have been collected from ranking on
amazon.com. We show that an ensemble of equivalent systems quantitatively
respond in a similar way to a similar ''external shock'', indicating roads to
universality features. In contrast to Sornette et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {93},
228701 (2004)] who seemed to find power law behaviors, in particular at long
times, - a law interpreted in terms of an epidemic activity, we observe that
the relaxation process can be as well seen as an exponential one that saturates
toward an asymptotic state, itself different from the pre-shock state. By
studying an ensemble of 111 shocks, on books or records, we show that exogenous
and endogenous shocks are discriminated by their short-time behaviour: the
relaxation time seems to be twice shorter in endogenous shocks than in
exogenous ones. We interpret the finding through a simple thermodynamic model
with a dissipative force.


title: A tool for teaching General Relativity

abstract:
  GRTensorJ - Books is an active interface to a small part of the computer
algebra systems GRTensorII (for Maple) and GRTensorM (for Mathematica) with the
specific intent of providing students of General Relativity with an advanced
programmable calculator-style tool. All standard functions associated with a
classical tensor approach to the subject are available thus reducing these to
"elementary functions". This is not a traditional database. The database
entries are spacetimes and calculations are done in real time. All spacetimes
are referenced directly by equation number in ten current (and classic) texts
in notation as close as possible to the original text. The tool is now
available free of charge from \texttt{grtensor.org/teaching} .

categories: physics.ed-ph astro-ph gr-qc hep-th physics.comp-ph


title:
Coherent control of ultracold molecule dynamics in a magneto-optical
  trap using chirped femtosecond laser pulses

abstract:
  We have studied the effects of chirped femtosecond laser pulses on the
formation of ultracold molecules in a Rb magneto-optical trap. We have found
that application of chirped femtosecond pulses suppressed the formation of
85Rb-2 and 87Rb-2 lowest triplet state molecules in contrast to comparable
non-chirped pulses, cw illumination, and background formation rates. Variation
of the amount of chirp indicated that this suppression is coherent in nature,
suggesting that coherent control is likely to be useful for manipulating the
dynamics of ultracold quantum molecular gases.


title:
Coupling hydrophobic, dispersion, and electrostatic contributions in
  continuum solvent models

abstract:
  Recent studies of the hydration of micro- and nanoscale solutes have
demonstrated a strong {\it coupling} between hydrophobic, dispersion and
electrostatic contributions, a fact not accounted for in current implicit
solvent models. We present a theoretical formalism which accounts for coupling
by minimizing the Gibbs free energy with respect to a solvent volume exclusion
function. The solvent accessible surface is output of our theory. Our method is
illustrated with the hydration of alkane-assembled solutes on different length
scales, and captures the strong sensitivity to the particular form of the
solute-solvent interactions in agreement with recent computer simulations.


title: Another Way To Realize Maxwell's Demon

abstract:
  This is another approach to realize Maxwell's "demon" hypothesis. Two Ag-O-Cs
thermal electron ejectors, A and B, are settled in a vacuum tube. A non-uniform
magnetic field exerted on the tube provides a one-way channel for the thermal
electrons. Ejector A, losing electrons, charges positively, while ejector B,
getting electrons, charges negatively, resulting in an electric voltage. In
flying from A to B, the speed of the electrons decreases, and part of their
thermal kinetic energy converts into electric potential energy. Thus, the
temperature of the whole electron tube drops down slightly, and that can be
compensated by the heat attracted from the ambient air. The device can provide
a small but macroscopic power to an external load, violating Kelvin's statement
of the second law.


title: Fresnel equations and the refractive index of active media

abstract:
  There exists a class of realizable, active media for which the refractive
index cannot be defined as an analytic function in the upper half-plane of
complex frequency. The conventional definition of the refractive index based on
analyticity is modified such that it is valid for active media in general, and
associated Fresnel equations are proved. In certain active media, the presence
of a ``backward'' wave, for which both phase velocity and Poynting's vector
point towards the excitation source, is demonstrated.


title:
An alternative ultrasonic method for measuring the elastic properties of
  cortical bone

abstract:
  We studied the elastic properties of bone to analyze its mechanical behavior.
The basic principles of ultrasonic methods are now well established for varying
isotropic media, particularly in the field of biomedical engineering. However,
little progress has been made in its application to anisotropic materials. This
is largely due to the complex nature of wave propagation in these media. In the
present study, the theory of elastic waves is essential because it relates the
elastic moduli of a material to the velocity of propagation of these waves
along arbitrary directions in a solid. Transducers are generally placed in
contact with the samples which are often cubes with parallel faces that are
difficult to prepare. The ultrasonic method used here is original, a rough
preparation of the bone is sufficient and the sample is in rotation. Moreover,
to analyze heterogeneity of the structure we measure velocities in different
points on the sample. The aim of the present study was to determine in vitro
the anisotropic elastic properties of cortical bones. For this purpose, our
method allowed measuring longitudinal and transversal velocities (CL and CT) in
longitudinal (fiber direction) and radial directions (orthogonal to the fiber
direction) of compact bones. Young's modulus E and Poisson's ratio ,
were then deduced from the velocities measured considering the compact bone as
transversely isotropic or orthotropic. The results are in line with those of
other methods.


title:
Comparison of compact bone failure under two different loadings rates:
  experimental and modelling approaches

abstract:
  Understanding the mechanical behaviour of bones up to failure is necesary for
diagnosis and prevention of accident and trauma. As far as we know, no authors
have yet studied the tensile behaviour of compact bone including failure under
dynamic loadings (1m/s). The originality of this study comes from not only the
analysis of compact bone failure under dynamic loadings, the results of which
are compared to those obtained under quasi static loadings but also the
development of a statistical model. We developed a protocol using three
different devices. Firstly, an X-ray scanner to analyse bone density, secondly,
a common tensile device to perform quasi static experiments and thirdly, a
special device based upon a hydraulic cylinder to perform dynamic tests. For
all the tests, we used the same sample shape which took into account the
brittleness of the compact bone. We first performed relaxation and hysteresis
tests followed by tensile tests up to failure. Viscous and plastic effects were
not relevant to the compact bone behaviour so its behaviour was considered
elastic and brittle. The bovine compact bone was three to four times more
brittle under a dynamic load than under a quasi static one. Numerically, a
statistical model, based upon the Weibull theory is used to predict the failure
stress in compact bone.


title:
Study of transmission properties for waveguide bends by use of a
  circular photonic crystal

abstract:
  We study the transmission properties for the waveguide bends composed by a
circular photonic crystal. Two types (Y and U type) of the waveguide bends
utilizing the circular photonic crystal are studied. It has been shown,
compared with the conventional photonic crystal waveguide bends, transmission
properties for these bends can be significantly improved. Over a 6.4%
bandwidth, less than 1-dB loss/bend are observed. U bent waveguide, i.e.,
$180^o$ bend, can be easily realized with low loss using the circular photonic
crystal.


title: Role of proton irradiation and relative air humidity on iron corrosion

abstract:
  This paper presents a study of the effects of proton irradiation on iron
corrosion. Since it is known that in humid atmospheres, iron corrosion is
enhanced by the double influence of air and humidity, we studied the iron
corrosion under irradiation with a 45% relative humidity. Three proton beam
intensities (5, 10 and 20 nA) were used. To characterise the corrosion layer,
we used ion beam methods (Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), Elastic
Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA)) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The
corrosion kinetics are plotted for each proton flux. A diffusion model of the
oxidant species is proposed, taking into account the fact that the flux through
the surface is dependent on the kinetic factor K. This model provides evidence
for the dependence of the diffusion coefficient, D, and the kinetic factor, K,
on the proton beam intensity. Comparison of the values for D with the diffusion
coefficients for thermal oxygen diffusion in iron at 300 K suggests an
enhancement due to irradiation of 6 orders of magnitude.


title: Origin of the hydrogen involved in iron corrosion under irradiation

abstract:
  In the perspective of long term geological storage, high level nuclear wastes
will be overpacked in low carbon steel containers. In that context, we have
studied the influence of oxygen dissolved in water on iron corrosion.
Therefore, leaching experiments were performed in desaerated D$\_2$O and in
aerated H$\_2$O and a kinetic study of iron corrosion under proton irradiation
was lead in aqueous media with two different dissolved oxygen concentrations.
The leaching experiments underline the major role of dissolved oxygen in
oxydoreduction reactions which take place as far as iron is in contact with
water. But the kinetic study of iron corrosion under irradiation put in
evidence the balance between the oxydoreduction reactions and the corrosion
rate induced by radicals species generated by water radiolysis. In addition, to
check if, in the atomic % concentration range, hydrogen diffuse from the air/Fe
interface through the foil an irradiation experiment was performed in argon. It
proved that no hydrogen permeation occurs at a concentration level of the
atomic percent.


title: Why dynamos are prone to reversals

abstract:
  In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005), 184506; physics/0411050) it
was shown that a simple mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric
helical turbulence parameter alpha can exhibit a number of features which are
typical for Earth's magnetic field reversals. In particular, the model produces
asymmetric reversals, a positive correlation of field strength and interval
length, and a bimodal field distribution. All these features are attributable
to the magnetic field dynamics in the vicinity of an exceptional point of the
spectrum of the non-selfadjoint dynamo operator. The negative slope of the
growth rate curve between the nearby local maximum and the exceptional point
makes the system unstable and drives it to the exceptional point and beyond
into the oscillatory branch where the sign change happens. A weakness of this
reversal model is the apparent necessity to fine-tune the magnetic Reynolds
number and/or the radial profile of alpha. In the present paper, it is shown
that this fine-tuning is not necessary in the case of higher supercriticality
of the dynamo. Numerical examples and physical arguments are compiled to show
that, with increasing magnetic Reynolds number, there is strong tendency for
the exceptional point and the associated local maximum to move close to the
zero growth rate line. Although exemplified again by the spherically symmetric
alpha^2 dynamo model, the main idea of this ''self-tuning'' mechanism of
saturated dynamos into a reversal-prone state seems well transferable to other
dynamos. As a consequence, reversing dynamos might be much more typical and may
occur much more frequently in nature than what could be expected from a purely
kinematic perspective.


title: The Network of EU-Funded Collaborative R&D Projects

abstract:
  We describe collaboration networks consisting of research projects funded by
the European Union and the organizations involved in those projects. The
networks are of substantial size and complexity, but are important to
understand due to the significant impact they could have on research policies
and national economies in the EU. In empirical determinations of the network
properties, we observe characteristics similar to other collaboration networks,
including scale-free degree distributions, small diameter, and high clustering.
We present some plausible models for the formation and structure of networks
with the observed properties.


title:
Use ion beam techniques to study the coupling between air and its
  relative humidity on iron corrosion under irradiation

abstract:
  In this paper, the role of air humidity on the iron corrosion under
irradiation is studied in the context of geological disposal of nuclear wastes.
The irradiation experiments are performed at room temperature using a 3 MeV
extracted proton beam with a 10 nA intensity. Different atmospheres are
studied: Humid air with a relative humidity (RH) fixed at 45 %, dry air and a
$^{15}N\_2$ atmosphere (45% RH). The hydrogen and oxygen distribution profiles
at the iron surface in contact with atmosphere are measured by using
respectively ERDA (Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis) and RBS (Rutherford
Backscattering Spectrometry) analysis. From these experiments it is clearly
demonstrated that the coupling of O$\_2$+H$\_2$O enhances iron oxidation
whereas for iron hydrogenation, humidity is sufficient whatever the atmosphere.
An interpretation is given, which is based on the reaction mechanisms and the
species formed by air ionisation.


title:
Geometry- and diffraction-independent ionization probabilities in
  intense laser fields: probing atomic ionization mechanisms with effective
  intensity matching

abstract:
  We report a novel experimental technique for the comparison of ionization
processes in ultrafast laser pulses irrespective of pulse ellipticity. Multiple
ionization of xenon by 50 fs 790 nm, linearly and circularly polarized laser
pulses is observed over the intensity range 10 TW/cm^2 to 10 PW/cm^2 using
Effective Intensity Matching (EIM), which is coupled with Intensity Selective
Scanning (ISS) to recover the geometry-independent probability of ionization.
Such measurements, made possible by quantifying diffraction effects in the
laser focus, are compared directly to theoretical predictions of multiphoton,
tunnel and field ionization, and a remarkable agreement demonstrated. EIM-ISS
allows the straightforward quantification of the probability of recollision
ionization in a linearly polarized laser pulse. Furthermore, probability of
ionization is discussed in terms of the Keldysh adiabaticity parameter, gamma,
and the influence of the precursor ionic states present in recollision
ionization is observed for the first time.


title: Multipole Radiation in Lorentz Gauge

abstract:
  The multipole expansion for electromagnetic radiation, valid for all
wave-lengths and all distances from bounded sources, is presented in Lorentz
gauge, rather than the usual Coulomb gauge. This gauge is likely to be
preferred in applications where one wishes to maintain manifest Lorentz
invariance. The presentation also serves as a useful exercise in the use of
vector spherical harmonics.


title: Experimental investigation of ultracold atom-molecule collisions

abstract:
  Ultracold collisions between Cs atoms and Cs2 dimers in the electronic ground
state are observed in an optically trapped gas of atoms and molecules. The Cs2
molecules are formed in the triplet ground state by cw-photoassociation through
the outer well of the 0g-(P3/2) excited electronic state. Inelastic
atom-molecule collisions converting internal excitation into kinetic energy
lead to a loss of Cs2 molecules from the dipole trap. Rate coefficients are
determined for collisions involving Cs atoms in either the F=3 or F=4 hyperfine
ground state and Cs2 molecules in either highly vibrationally excited states
(v'=32-47) or in low vibrational states (v'=4-6) of the a ^3 Sigma_u^+ triplet
ground state. The rate coefficients beta ~10^{-10} cm^3/s are found to be
largely independent of the vibrational and rotational excitation indicating
unitary limited cross sections.


title: Synchronized flow and wide moving jams from balanced vehicular traffic

abstract:
  Recently we proposed an extension to the traffic model of Aw, Rascle and
Greenberg. The extended traffic model can be written as a hyperbolic system of
balance laws and numerically reproduces the reverse $\lambda$ shape of the
fundamental diagram of traffic flow. In the current work we analyze the steady
state solutions of the new model and their stability properties. In addition to
the equilibrium flow curve the trivial steady state solutions form two
additional branches in the flow-density diagram. We show that the
characteristic structure excludes parts of these branches resulting in the
reverse $\lambda$ shape of the flow-density relation. The upper branch is
metastable against the formation of synchronized flow for intermediate
densities and unstable for high densities, whereas the lower branch is unstable
for intermediate densities and metastable for high densities. Moreover, the
model can reproduce the typical speed of the downstream front of wide moving
jams. It further reproduces a constant outflow from wide moving jams, which is
far below the maximum free flow. Applying the model to simulate traffic flow at
a bottleneck we observe a general pattern with wide moving jams traveling
through the bottleneck.


title: Electron and ion transport in dense rare gases

abstract:
  A review of the research on electron and ion transport in dense rare gases is
presented. The investigation of the transport properties of electrons in dense
rare gases aims at understanding the dynamics and energetics of electron states
in a dense medium and at elucidating how changes of the environment influence
their nature and scattering properties. The quantum nature of electrons couples
them to the environment is such a way to produce a density-dependent shift of
their energy that is the key to rationalize the observed phenomena.


title:
A Central Partition of Molecular Conformational Space.III. Combinatorial
  Determination of the Volume Spanned by a Molecular System

abstract:
  In the first work of this series [physics/0204035] it was shown that the
conformational space of a molecule could be described to a fair degree of
accuracy by means of a central hyperplane arrangement. The hyperplanes divide
the espace into a hierarchical set of cells that can be encoded by the face
lattice poset of the arrangement. The model however, lacked explicit rotational
symmetry which made impossible to distinguish rotated structures in
conformational space. This problem was solved in a second work
[physics/0404052] by sorting the elementary 3D components of the molecular
system into a set of morphological classes that can be properly oriented in a
standard 3D reference frame. This also made possible to find a solution to the
problem that is being adressed in the present work: for a molecular system
immersed in a heat bath we want to enumerate the subset of cells in
conformational space that are visited by the molecule in its thermal wandering.
If each visited cell is a vertex on a graph with edges to the adjacent cells,
here it is explained how such graph can be built.


title:
Evidence of Catalytic Production of Hot Atomic Hydrogen in RF Generated
  Hydrogen/Helium Plasmas

abstract:
  A study of the line shapes of hydrogen Balmer series lines in RF generated
low pressure H2/He plasmas produced results suggesting a catalytic process
between helium and hydrogen species results in the generation of 'hot' (ca. 28
eV) atomic hydrogen. Even far from the electrodes 'hot' atomic hydrogen was
predominant in H2/He plasmas. Line shapes, relative line areas of cold and hot
atomic hydrogen (hot/cold>2.5), were very similar for areas between the
electrodes and far from the electrodes for these plasmas. In contrast, in H2/Xe
only 'warm' (<5 eV) hydrogen (warm/cold<1.0) was found between the electrodes,
and only cold hydrogen away from the electrodes. Earlier postulates that
preferential hydrogen line broadening in plasmas results from the acceleration
of ionic hydrogen in the vicinity of electrodes, and the special charge
exchange characteristics of Ar/H2+ are clearly belied by the present results
that show atomic hydrogen line shape are similar for H2/He plasmas throughout
the relatively large cylindrical (14 cm ID x 36 cm length) cavity.


title:
Optical trapping, manipulation, and 3D imaging of disclinations in
  liquid crystals and measurement of their line tension

abstract:
  We demonstrate optical trapping and manipulation of defects and transparent
microspheres in nematic liquid crystals (LCs). The three-dimensional director
fields and positions of the particles are visualized using the Fluorescence
Confocal Polarizing Microscopy. We show that the disclinations can be
manipulated by either using optically trapped colloidal particles or directly
by tightly-focused laser beams. We employ this effect to measure the line
tensions of disclinations.


title: Tomography of random social networks

abstract:
  We study the statistical properties of large random networks with specified
degree distributions. New techniques are presented for analyzing the structure
of social networks. Specifically, we address the question of how many nodes
exist at a distance from a given node. We also explore the degree distribution
of for nodes at some distance from a given node. Implications for network
sampling and diffusion on social networks are described.


title:
Relativistic Coupled-Cluster Theory of Atomic Parity Nonconservation:
  Application to $^{137}$Ba$^+$

abstract:
  We report the result of our {\it ab initio} calculation of the $6s ^2S_{1/2}
\to 5d ^2D_{3/2}$ parity nonconserving electric dipole transition amplitude in
$^{137}\text{Ba}^+$ based on relativistic coupled-cluster theory. Considering
single, double and partial triple excitations, we have achieved an accuracy of
less than one percent. If the accuracy of our calculation can be matched by the
proposed parity nonconservation experiment in Ba$^+$ for the above
transition,then the combination of the two results would provide an independent
non accelerator test of the Standard Model of particle physics.


title: Kinematical formalism of elementary spinning particles

abstract:
  The concept of elementary particle rests on the idea that it is a physical
system with no excited states, so that all possible kinematical states of the
particle are just kinematical modifications of any one of them. The way of
describing the particle attributes is equivalent to describe the collection of
consecutive inertial observers who describe the particle in the same
kinematical state. The kinematical state space of an elementary particle is a
homogeneous space of the kinematical group. By considering the largest
homogeneous spaces of both, Galilei and Poincar\'e groups, it is shown how the
spin structure is related to the different degrees of freedom. The formalism is
quantized by means of Feynman's path integral approach and special attention is
paid to the classical model which satisfies Dirac's equation. Dirac's algebra
is related to the classical observables, in particular to the orientation
variables. Several spin effects are also analyzed.


title: Guidelines for the Calculation of Bound Molecular Spectra

abstract:
  Line-by-line calculations are becoming the standard procedure for carrying
spectral simulations. However, it is important to insure the accuracy of such
spectral simulations through the choice of adapted models for the simulation of
key parameters such as line position, intensity, and shape. Moreover, it is
necessary to rely on accurate spectral data to guaranty the accuracy of the
simulated spectra. A discussion on the most accurate models available for such
calculations is presented for diatomic and linear polyatomic discrete
radiation, and possible reductions on the number of calculated lines are
discussed in order to reduce memory and computational overheads. Examples of
different approaches for the simulation of experimentally determined
low-pressure molecular spectra are presented. The accuracy of different
simulation approaches is discussed and it is verified that a careful choice of
applied computational models and spectroscopic datasets yields precise
approximations of the measured spectra.


title: Retraction dynamics of aquous drops upon impact on nonwetting surfaces

abstract:
  We study the impact and subsequent retraction dynamics of liquid droplets
upon high-speed impact on hydrophobic surfaces. Performing extensive
experiments, we show that the drop retraction rate is a material constant and
does not depend on the impact velocity. We show that when increasing the
Ohnesorge number, $\Oh=\eta/\sqrt{\rho R_{\rm I} \gamma}$, the retraction, i.e.
dewetting, dynamics crosses over from a capillaro-inertial regime to a
capillaro-viscous regime. We rationalize the experimental observations by a
simple but robust semi-quantitative model for the solid-liquid contact line
dynamics inspired by the standard theories for thin film dewetting.


title: On the genre-fication of Music: a percolation approach (long version)

abstract:
  In this paper, we analyze web-downloaded data on people sharing their music
library. By attributing to each music group usual music genres (Rock, Pop...),
and analysing correlations between music groups of different genres with
percolation-idea based methods, we probe the reality of these subdivisions and
construct a music genre cartography, with a tree representation. We also show
the diversity of music genres with Shannon entropy arguments, and discuss an
alternative objective way to classify music, that is based on the complex
structure of the groups audience. Finally, a link is drawn with the theory of
hidden variables in complex networks.


title: Personal computer realizations for two classics of quantum chemistry

abstract:
  Hylleraas in 1929 carried out a variational computation on the Schrodinger
equation for the helium atom which gave, for the first time, a ground-state
energy in essential agreement with experimental results. Coolidge and James in
1933, likewise did the first accurate computation for the hydrogen molecule.
These are considered epoch-making contributions in the development of ab initio
quantum chemistry, since they provided definitive evidence for the validity of
the multiple-particle Schrodinger equation for atoms and molecules. Before
then, exact solutions had been obtained only for one-electron hydrogenlike
atoms. The helium and hydrogen work was done long before the advent of
electronic computers and required many months of drudgery, using hand-cranked
calculating machines. Nowadays, students of chemistry and physics can carry out
these same computations in a matter of hours, or even minutes, using relatively
straightforward Mathematica routines. Moreover, the results can be easily
improved far beyond the capabilities of the original workers.


title:
Totally Secure Classical Communication Utilizing Johnson (-like) Noise
  and Kirchoff's Law

abstract:
  An absolutely secure, fast, inexpensive, robust, maintenance-free and
low-power- consumption communication is proposed. The states of the information
bit are represented by two resistance values. The sender and the receiver have
such resistors available and they randomly select and connect one of them to
the channel at the beginning of each clock period. The thermal noise voltage
and current can be observed but Kirchoff's law provides only a second-order
equation. A secure bit is communicated when the actual resistance values at the
sender's side and the receiver's side differ. Then the second order equation
yields the two resistance values but the eavesdropper is unable to determine
the actual locations of the resistors and to find out the state of the sender's
bit. The receiver knows that the sender has the inverse of his bit, similarly
to quantum entanglement. The eavesdropper can decode the message if, for each
bits, she inject current in the wire and measures the voltage change and the
current changes in the two directions. However, in this way she gets discovered
by the very first bit she decodes. Instead of thermal noise, proper external
noise generators should be used when the communication is not aimed to be
stealth.

categories: physics.class-ph cs.CR physics.gen-ph quant-ph


title: Ammoniated electron as a solvent stabilized multimer radical anion

abstract:
  The excess electron in liquid ammonia ("ammoniated electron") is commonly
viewed as a cavity electron in which the s-type wave function fills the
interstitial void between 6-9 ammonia molecules. Here we examine an alternative
model in which the ammoniated electron is regarded as a solvent stabilized
multimer radical anion, as was originally suggested by Symons [Chem. Soc. Rev.
1976, 5, 337]. In this model, most of the excess electron density resides in
the frontier orbitals of N atoms in the ammonia molecules forming the solvation
cavity; a fraction of this spin density is transferred to the molecules in the
second solvation shell. The cavity is formed due to the repulsion between
negatively charged solvent molecules. Using density functional theory
calculations for small ammonia cluster anions in the gas phase, it is
demonstrated that such core anions would semi-quantitatively account for the
observed pattern of Knight shifts for 1-H and 14-N nuclei observed by NMR
spectroscopy and the downshifted stretching and bending modes observed by
infrared spectroscopy. It is speculated that the excess electrons in other
aprotic solvents (but not in water and alcohols) might be, in this respect,
analogous to the ammoniated electron, with substantial transfer of the spin
density into the frontier N and C orbitals of methyl, amino, and amide groups
forming the solvation cavity.


title:
Velocity and processivity of helicase unwinding of double-stranded
  nucleic acids

abstract:
  Helicases are molecular motors which unwind double-stranded nucleic acids
(dsNA) in cells. Many helicases move with directional bias on single-stranded
(ss) nucleic acids, and couple their directional translocation to strand
separation. A model of the coupling between translocation and unwinding uses an
interaction potential to represent passive and active helicase mechanisms. A
passive helicase must wait for thermal fluctuations to open dsNA base pairs
before it can advance and inhibit NA closing. An active helicase directly
destabilizes dsNA base pairs, accelerating the opening rate. Here we extend
this model to include helicase unbinding from the nucleic-acid strand. The
helicase processivity depends on the form of the interaction potential. A
passive helicase has a mean attachment time which does not change between ss
translocation and ds unwinding, while an active helicase in general shows a
decrease in attachment time during unwinding relative to ss translocation. In
addition, we describe how helicase unwinding velocity and processivity vary if
the base-pair binding free energy is changed.


title:
On Artificial Magneto-Dielectric Loading for Improving the Impedance
  Bandwidth Properties of Microstrip Antennas

abstract:
  In the present paper we discuss the effect of artificial magneto-dielectric
substrates on the impedance bandwidth properties of microstrip antennas. The
results found in the literature for antenna miniaturization using magnetic or
magneto-dielectric substrates are revised, and discussion is addressed to the
practically realizable artificial magnetic media operating in the microwave
regime. Using a transmission-line model we, first, reproduce the known results
for antenna miniaturization with non-dispersive material fillings. Next, a
realistic dispersive behavior of a practically realizable artificial substrate
is embedded into the model, and we show that frequency dispersion of the
substrate plays a very important role in the impedance bandwidth
characteristics of the loaded antenna. The impedance bandwidths of reduced size
patch antennas loaded with dispersive magneto-dielectric substrates and
high-permittivity substrates are compared. It is shown that unlike substrates
with dispersion-free permeability, practically realizable artificial substrates
with dispersive magnetic permeability are not advantageous in antenna
miniaturization. This conclusion is experimentally validated.


title: Vibron-polaron in alpha-helices. II. Two-vibron bound states

abstract:
  The two-vibron dynamics associated to amide-I vibrations in a 3D
$\alpha$-helix is described according to a generalized Davydov model. The helix
is modeled by three spines of hydrogen-bonded peptide units linked via covalent
bonds. It is shown that the two-vibron energy spectrum supports both a
two-vibron free states continuum and two kinds of bound states, called TVBS-I
and TVBS-II, connected to the trapping of two vibrons onto the same amide-I
mode and onto two nearest neighbor amide-I modes belonging to the same spine,
respectively. At low temperature, non vanishing interspine hopping constants
yield a three dimensional nature of both TVBS-I and TVBS-II which the wave
functions extend over the three spines of the helix. At biological temperature,
the pairs are confined in a given spine and exhibit the same features as the
bound states described within a one-dimensional model. The interplay between
the temperature and the 3D nature of the helix is also responsible for the
occurrence of a third bound state called TVBS-III which refers to the trapping
of two vibrons onto two different spines. The experimental signature of the
existence of bound states is discussed through the simulation of their infrared
pump-probe spectroscopic response. Finally, the fundamental question of the
breather-like behavior of two-vibron bound states is addressed.


title:
Determination of the lowest energy structure of Ag$_8$ from
  first-principles calculations

abstract:
  The ground-state electronic and structural properties, and the electronic
excitations of the lowest energy isomers of the Ag$_8$ cluster are calculated
using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) in real
time and real space scheme, respectively. The optical spectra provided by TDDFT
predict that the D$_{2d}$ dodecahedron isomer is the structural minimum of
Ag$_8$ cluster. Indeed, it is borne out by the experimental findings.


title: A characteristic time scale of tick quotes on foreign currency markets

abstract:
  This study investigates that a characteristic time scale on an exchange rate
market (USD/JPY) is examined for the period of 1998 to 2000. Calculating power
spectrum densities for the number of tick quotes per minute and averaging them
over the year yield that the mean power spectrum density has a peak at high
frequencies. Consequently it means that there exist the characteristic scales
which dealers act in the market. A simple agent model to explain this
phenomenon is proposed. This phenomena may be a result of stochastic resonance
with exogenous periodic information and physiological fluctuations of the
agents. This may be attributed to the traders' behavior on the market. The
potential application is both quantitative characterization and classification
of foreign currency markets.


title: Techniques in Analytic Lamb Shift Calculations

abstract:
  Quantum electrodynamics has been the first theory to emerge from the ideas of
regularization and renormalization, and the coupling of the fermions to the
virtual excitations of the electromagnetic field. Today, bound-state quantum
electrodynamics provides us with accurate theoretical predictions for the
transition energies relevant to simple atomic systems, and steady theoretical
progress relies on advances in calculational techniques, as well as numerical
algorithms. In this brief review, we discuss one particular aspect connected
with the recent progress: the evaluation of relativistic corrections to the
one-loop bound-state self-energy in a hydrogenlike ion of low nuclear charge
number, for excited non-S states, up to the order of alpha (Zalpha)^6 in units
of the electron mass. A few details of calculations formerly reported in the
literature are discussed, and results for 6F, 7F, 6G and 7G states are given.


title:
Spiral Galaxies as Enantiomers: Chirality, an Underlying Feature in
  Chemistry and Astrophysics

abstract:
  Spiral galaxies are axi-symmetric objects showing 2D-chirality when projected
onto a plane. Features in common with tetrahedral molecules are pointed out, in
particular the existence of a preferred chiral modality for genetic galaxies as
in aminoacids and sugars. Environmental effects can influence the intrinsic
chirality of originally isolated stellar systems so that a progressive loss of
chirality is recognised in the Hubble morphological sequence of galaxies.


title:
Discrepancies in Southern Hemisphere Mid-latitude Atmospheric
  Variability of the NCEP-NCAR and ECMWF Reanalyses

abstract:
  In this study we compare the representation of the southern hemisphere
midlatitude winter variability in the NCEP-NCAR and ERA40 reanalyses. We use
the classical Hayashi spectral technique, recently applied to compare the
description of the atmospheric variability in the northern hemisphere on
different spectral sub-domains. We test the agreement of the two reanalysis
systems in the representation of the atmospheric activity. In the southern
hemisphere, even in the satellite period, the assimilated data are relatively
scarce, predominately over the oceans, and they provide a weaker constraint to
the model dynamics. We find relevant discrepancies in the description of the
variability at different spatial and temporal scales. ERA40 is generally
characterised by a larger variance, especially in the high frequency spectral
region. In the pre-satellite period the discrepancies between the two
reanalyses are large and randomly distributed while after the 1979 the
discrepancies are systematic. Moreover, a sudden jump in the VTPR period
(1973-1978) is observed, mostly in the ERA40 reanalysis. Our results suggest
that today we do not have a well-defined picture of the properties of the
winter mid-latitude variability in the southern hemisphere to be used in the
evaluation of the realism of climate models and demand for an intercomparison
study for the assessment of the self-consistency of the IPCC models in the
representation of the analysed properties.

categories: physics.ao-ph physics.data-an physics.flu-dyn physics.geo-ph


title:
Scattering parameters for cold-Li-Rb and Na-Rb collisions derived from
  variable phase theory

abstract:
  We show how the scattering phase shift, the s-wave scattering length and the
p-wave scattering volume can be obtained from Riccati equations derived in
variable phase theory. We find general expressions that provide upper and lower
bounds for the scattering length and the scattering volume. We show how, in the
framework of the variable phase method, Levinson's theorem yields the number of
bound states supported by a potential. We report new results from a study of
the heteronuclear alkali dimers NaRb and LiRb. We consider $ab$ $initio$
molecular potentials for the X${}^1\Sigma^+$ and $a{}^3\Sigma^+$ states of both
dimers and compare and discuss results obtained from experimentally based
X${}^1\Sigma^+$ and $a{}^3\Sigma^+$ potentials of NaRb. We explore the mass
dependence of the scattering data by considering all isotopomers and we
calculate the numbers of bound states supported by the molecular potentials for
each isotopomer.


title: A note on the calculation of the effective range

abstract:
  The closed form of the first order non-linear differential equation that is
satisfied by the effective range within the variable phase formulation of
scattering theory is discussed. It is shown that the conventional method of
determining the effective range, by fitting a numerical solution of the
Schr\"odinger equation to known asymptotic boundary conditions, can be modified
to include the first order contribution of a long range interaction.


title: Influence of fluctuations in actin structure on myosin V step size

abstract:
  We study the influence of disorder in the helical actin structure on the
myosin V step size, predicted from the elastic lever arm model. We show that
fluctuations of +-5 degrees per actin subunit, as proposed by Egelman et al.,
significantly alter the distribution of step sizes and improve the agreement
with experimental data.


title:
Three-dimensional isotropic perfect lens based on LC-loaded transmission
  lines

abstract:
  An isotropic three-dimentional perfect lens based on cubic meshes of
interconnected transmission lines and bulk loads is proposed. The lens is
formed by a slab of a loaded mesh placed in between two similar unloaded
meshes. The dispersion equations and the characteristic impedances of the
eigenwaves in the meshes are derived analytically, with an emphasis on
generality. This allows designing of transmission-line meshes with desired
dispersion properties. The required backward-wave mode of operation in the lens
is realized with simple inductive and capacitive loads. An analytical
expression for the transmission through the lens is derived and the
amplification of evanescent waves is demonstrated. Factors that influence
enhancement of evanescent waves in the lens are studied and the corresponding
design criteria are established. A possible realization of the structure is
outlined.


title: Optimal hedging of Derivatives with transaction costs

abstract:
  We investigate the optimal strategy over a finite time horizon for a
portfolio of stock and bond and a derivative in an multiplicative Markovian
market model with transaction costs (friction). The optimization problem is
solved by a Hamilton-Bellman-Jacobi equation, which by the verification theorem
has well-behaved solutions if certain conditions on a potential are satisfied.
In the case at hand, these conditions simply imply arbitrage-free
("Black-Scholes") pricing of the derivative. While pricing is hence not changed
by friction allow a portfolio to fluctuate around a delta hedge. In the limit
of weak friction, we determine the optimal control to essentially be of two
parts: a strong control, which tries to bring the stock-and-derivative
portfolio towards a Black-Scholes delta hedge; and a weak control, which moves
the portfolio by adding or subtracting a Black-Scholes hedge. For simplicity we
assume growth-optimal investment criteria and quadratic friction.


title:
Fractal Dimensions in Perceptual Color Space: A Comparison Study Using
  Jackson Pollock's Art

abstract:
  The fractal dimensions of color-specific paint patterns in various Jackson
Pollock paintings are calculated using a filtering process which models
perceptual response to color differences ($\Lab$ color space). The advantage of
the $\Lab$ space filtering method over traditional RGB spaces is that the
former is a perceptually-uniform (metric) space, leading to a more consistent
definition of ``perceptually different'' colors. It is determined that the RGB
filtering method underestimates the perceived fractal dimension of lighter
colored patterns but not of darker ones, if the same selection criteria is
applied to each. Implications of the findings to Fechner's 'Principle of the
Aesthetic Middle' and Berlyne's work on perception of complexity are discussed.


title:
Bi-Analyte Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering for unambiguous evidence of
  single molecule detection

abstract:
  A method is proposed to pin down an unambiguous proof for single molecule
surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The simultaneous use of two analyte
molecules enables a clear confirmation of the single (or few) molecule nature
of the signals. This method eliminates most of the uncertainties associated
with low dye concentrations in previous experiments. It further shows that
single-molecule signals are very common in SERS, both in liquids and on dry
substrates.


title:
Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and Surface-Enhanced
  Fluorescence (SEF) in the context of modified spontaneous emission

abstract:
  Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and Surface-Enhanced Fluorescence
(SEF) are studied within the framework of modified Spontaneous Emission (SE),
and similarities and differences are highlighted. This description sheds new
light into several aspects of the SERS electromagnetic enhancement. In
addition, combined with the optical reciprocity theorem it also provides a
rigorous justification of a generalized version of the widely used SERS
enhancement factor proportional to the fourth power of the field ($|E|^4$). We
show, in addition, that this approach also applies to the calculation of
Surface-Enhanced Fluorescence cross-sections thus presenting both phenomena
SERS and SEF within a unified framework.


title:
The variable phase method used to calculate and correct scattering
  lengths

abstract:
  It is shown that the scattering length can be obtained by solving a Riccati
equation derived from variable phase theory. Two methods of solving it are
presented. The equation is used to predict how long-range interactions
influence the scattering length, and upper and lower bounds on the scattering
length are determined. The predictions are compared with others and it is shown
how they may be obtained from secular perturbation theory.


title: Subcritical turbulent transition in rotating and curved shear flows

abstract:
  The effects of global flow rotation and curvature on the subcritical
transition to turbulence in shear flows are examined. The relevant time-scales
of the problem are identified by a decomposition of the flow into a laminar and
a deviation from laminar parts, which is performed for rotating plane Couette
and Taylor-Couette flows. The usefulness and relevance of this procedure are
discussed at the same time. By comparing the self-sustaining process time-scale
to the time-scales previously identified, an interpretation is brought to light
for the behavior of the transition Reynolds number with the rotation number and
relative gap width in the whole neighborhood (in parameter space) of the
non-rotating plane Couette flow covered by the available data.


title: Polarization spectroscopy in rubidium and cesium

abstract:
  We develop a theoretical treatment of polarization spectroscopy and use it to
make predictions about the general form of polarization spectra in the alkali
atoms. Using our model, we generate theoretical spectra for the D2 transitions
in 87Rb, 85Rb, and 133Cs. Experiments demonstrate that the model accurately
reproduces spectra of transitions from the upper hyperfine level of the ground
state only. Among these, the closed transition F -> F' = F + 1 dominates, with
a steep gradient through line center ideally suited for use as a reference in
laser locking.


title:
Time Reversal of Broadband Signals in a Strongly Fluctuating MIMO
  Channel: Stability and Resolution

abstract:
  We analyze the time reversal of a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)
system in a space-frequency-selective multi-path fading channel described by
the stochastic Schr\"odinger equation with a random potential in the
strong-fluctuation regime. We prove that in a broadband limit the conditions
for stable super-resolution are the {\em packing} condition that the spacing
among the $N$ transmitters and $M$ receivers be more than the coherence length
$\ell_c$ and the consecutive symbols in the data-streams are separated by more
than the inverse of the bandwidth $B^{-1}$ and the {\em multiplexing} condition
that the number of the degrees of freedom per unit time at the transmitters
($\sim NB$) be much larger than the number of the degrees of freedom ($\sim
MC$) per unit time in the ensemble of intended messages. Here $C$ is the number
of symbols per unit time in the data-streams intended for each receiver. When
the two conditions are met, all receivers receive simultaneously streams of
statistically stable, sharply focused signals intended for them, free of fading
and interference. This indicates the rough multiplexing gain of $NB$ in channel
capacity, with the maximal gain per unit {\em angular} cross section given by
$BL^d \ell_c^{-d}$ where $L$ is the distance from the transmitters to the
receivers. We show that under the ideal packing condition time reversal can
result in a high signal-to-interference ratio and low probability of intercept,
and hence is an effective means for achieving the information capacity of
multi-path channels in the presence of multiple users (receivers).


title:
A neglected topic in relativistic electrodynamics: transformation of
  electromagnetic integrals

abstract:
  Although relativistic electrodynamics is more than 100 year old, there is one
neglected topic in its presentation and application: relativistic
transformations of electromagnetic integrals. Whereas in theoretical and
applied electrodynamics electric and magnetic fields are mainly expressed in
terms of integrals over charge and current distributions, relativistic
transformations are traditionally applied to point charges and elementary
currents. The purpose of this paper is to show that relativistic
transformations can be easily applied to electromagnetic integrals and that
relativistic transformation of such integrals constitutes a valuable method for
solving a variety of electromagnetic problems involving moving electromagnetic
system. Six illustrative examples on relativistic transformation of
electromagnetic integrals, including transformation of Maxwell's equations in
their integral form, are presented in this paper.


title: Many-body Hamiltonians in implicitly defined frames

abstract:
  We study the quantization of three-dimensional many-body systems in rotating
coordinate frames defined implicitly by frame conditions. We carry out the
elimination of orientational degrees of freedom in general, giving the
Hamiltonian for the $N$-particle system in a broad class of body frames in
terms of frame conditions and internal coordinates. We obtain several forms for
the kinetic energy operator and compare them to related expressions in the
literature.


title:
Space-time trigonometry and formalization of the "Twin Paradox" for
  uniform and accelerated motions

abstract:
  The formal structure of the early Einstein's Special Relativity follows the
axiomatic deductive method of Euclidean geometry. In this paper we show the
deep-rooted relation between Euclidean and space-time geometries that are both
linked to a two-dimensional number system: the complex and hyperbolic numbers,
respectively. By studying the properties of these numbers together,
pseudo-Euclidean trigonometry has been formalized with an axiomatic deductive
method and this allows us to give a complete quantitative formalization of the
twin paradox in a familiar "Euclidean" way for uniform motions as well as for
accelerated ones.


title:
Configuration interaction study of single and double dipole plasmon
  excitations in Na_8

abstract:
  We carry out a microscopic analysis of the ground and excited states of the
Na_8 metal cluster within the jellium model. We perform a series of
configuration interaction calculations on a Hartree-Fock basis and construct
eigenstates of the Hamiltonian which carry up to 4-particle 4-hole components.
Based on the analysis of the dipole transition strengths, we single out those
states which can be interpreted as the collective dipole plasmon and its double
excitations. These modes are found to possess a high degree of harmonicity,
deviations from the harmonic limit remaining, however, of the order of 10%.


title: Einstein's relativistic Doppler formula

abstract:
  We note that Einstein's relativistic Doppler formula presents a strange
aspect. For incident light received under a fixed non zero angle, the Doppler
shift will change from blueshift to redshift (or vice-versa) for some critical
relative velocity of the observer and the source.


title:
Properties of the odd harmonics of the radiation from SASE FEL with a
  planar undulator

abstract:
  Recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown that Self-Amplified
Spontaneous Emission Free Electron Laser (SASE FEL) with a planar undulator
holds a potential for generation of relatively strong coherent radiation at the
third harmonic of the fundamental frequency. Here we present detailed study of
the nonlinear harmonic generation in the SASE FEL obtained with time-dependent
FEL simulation code. Using similarity techniques we present universal
dependencies for temporal, spectral, and statistical properties of the odd
harmonics of the radiation from SASE FEL. In particular, we derived universal
formulae for radiation power of the odd harmonics at saturation. It was also
found that coherence time at saturation falls inversely proportional to
harmonic number, and relative spectrum bandwidth remains constant with harmonic
number.


title:
An attempt to observe economy globalization: the cross correlation
  distance evolution of the top 19 GDP's

abstract:
  Economy correlations between the 19 richest countries are investigated
through their Gross Domestic Product increments. A distance is defined between
increment correlation matrix elements and their evolution studied as a function
of time and time window size. Unidirectional and Bidirectional Minimal Length
Paths are generated and analyzed for different time windows. A sort of critical
correlation time window is found indicating a transition for best observations.
The mean length path decreases with time, indicating stronger correlations. A
new method for estimating a realistic minimal time window to observe
correlations and deduce macroeconomy conclusions from such features is thus
suggested.


title:
Climate Forcing by the Volcanic Eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Revised
  edition

abstract:
  We determine the volcano climate sensitivity and response time for the Mount
Pinatubo eruption. This is achieved using observational measurements of the
temperature anomalies of the lower troposphere and the aerosol optical density
(AOD) in combination with a radiative forcing proxy for AOD. Using standard
linear response theory we find sensitivity = 0.18 +- 0.04 K/(W/m2), which
implies a negative feedback of -1.0 +- 0.4. The intrinsic response time is
5.8+-1.0 months. Both results are contrary to the conventional paradigm that
includes long response times and positive feedback. In addition, we analyze the
outgoing longwave radiation during the Pinatubo eruption and find that its time
dependence follows the forcing much more closely than the temperature, and even
has an amplitude equal to that of the AOD proxy. This finding is independent of
the response time and feedback results.


title:
How the alteration of a thin wall for soliton-anti soliton di quark
  pairs signifies an Einstein constant dominated cosmology and a role for Extra
  dimensions in initial nucleation of a new universe

abstract:
  We use as a model of how nucleation of a new universe occurs, assuming a di
quark identification for soliton-anti soliton constituent parts of a scalar
field. We construct a model showing evolutin from a dark matter dark energy mix
to a pure cosmological constant cosmology due to changes in the slope of a
graph of the resulting scalar field. The initial potential system employed is
semi classical in nature, becoming non classical at the end of chaotic
inflation at the same time cosmological expansion is dominated by the Einstein
cosmological constant. We use Scherrer's derivation of a sound speed being zero
during initial inflationary cosmology and change it afterwards as the slope of
the scalar field moves away from a thin wall approximation. Furthermore, the
results in Bo Qin's article about extra dimensions from dark matter, permit us
to show the impact of dimensionality upon the rule of semi classical
approximations to inflation models. We conclude that the new force law
specified by Bo Qin and additional dimensions would play a role in the early
universe and be extremely important to the onset of inflationary expansion due
to nucleation of di quark pairs in a soliton-anti soliton configuration.


title: dE/dx to Subleading Order in the Plasma Density

abstract:
  Dimensional continuation is employed to compute the energy loss rate for a
non-relativistic particle moving through a highly ionized plasma. No
restriction is made on the charge, mass, or speed of this particle, but it is
assumed that the plasma is not strongly coupled in that the dimensionless
plasma coupling parameter g= e^2 \kappa_D/4\pi T is small, where \kappa_D is
the Debye wave number. To leading order in this coupling, dE/dx is of the
generic form g^2 \ln[g^2 C]. The prefactor of the logarithm is well known. We
compute the constant C under the logarithm exactly. Our result differs from
approximations given in the literature, with differences in the range of about
20% for cases relevant to inertial confinement fusion experiments.


title: Towards a new measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment

abstract:
  We present our progress towards a new measurement of the electron electric
dipole moment using a beam of YbF molecules. Data are currently being taken
with a sensitivity of 10^{-27} e.cm / \sqrt{day}.


title:
Resolving Small-scale Structures in Two-dimensional Boussinesq
  Convection by Spectral Methods with High Resolutions

abstract:
  Two-dimensional Boussinesq convection is studied numerically with very fine
spatial resolutions up to 4096^2. Our numerical study starts with a smooth
asymmetric initial condition, which is chosen to make the flow field well
confined in the computational domain until the blow-up time (T_c). Our study
shows that the vorticity will blow up at a finite time with |\omega|_{max}
\~{(T_c-t)}^{-1.61} and |\nabla \theta|_{max} ~ {(T_c - t)}^{-3.58}.


title: A cosmic hall of mirrors

abstract:
  Conventional thinking says the universe is infinite. But it could be finite
and relatively small, merely giving the illusion of a greater one, like a hall
of mirrors. Recent astronomical measurements add support to a finite space with
a dodecahedral topology.


title: Role of Selective Interaction in Wealth Distribution

abstract:
  In our simplified description `wealth' is money ($m$). A kinetic theory of
gas like model of money is investigated where two agents interact (trade)
selectively and exchange some amount of money between them so that sum of their
money is unchanged and thus total money of all the agents remains conserved.
The probability distributions of individual money ($P(m)$ vs. $m$) is seen to
be influenced by certain ways of selective interactions. The distributions
shift away from Boltzmann-Gibbs like exponential distribution and in some cases
distributions emerge with power law tails known as Pareto's law ($P(m) \propto
m^{-(1+\alpha)}$). Power law is also observed in some other closely related
conserved and discrete models. A discussion is provided with numerical support
to have a dig into the emergence of power laws in such models.


title: Does The Pioneer Anomalous Acceleration Really Exist?

abstract:
  The analysis of the Pioneer 10 and 11 data demonstrated the presence of an
anomalous Doppler frequency blue-shift drift which is interpreted as an
anomalous acceleration. The Doppler frequency dirft follows by considering the
motions of the Pioneers in the universe, i.e. it is of cosmological origin.
There is no anomalous acceleration.


title:
Significance Calculation and a New Analysis Method in Searching for New
  Physics at the LHC

abstract:
  The LHC experiments have great potential in discovering many possible new
particles up to the TeV scale. The significance calculation of an observation
of a physics signal with known location and shape is no longer valid when
either the location or the shape of the signal is unknown. We find the current
LHC significance calculation of new physics is over-estimated and strongly
depends on the specifics of the method and the situation it applies to. We
describe general procedures for significance calculation and comparing
different search schemes. A new method uses maximum likelihood fits with
floating parameters and scans the parameter space for the best fit to the
entire sample. We find that the new method is significantly more sensitive than
current method and is insensitive to the exact location of the new physics
signal we search.


title:
Coherent instabilities of intense high-energy "white" charged-particle
  beams in the presence of nonlocal effects within the context of the Madelung
  fluid description

abstract:
  A hydrodynamical description of coherent instabilities that take place in the
longitudinal dynamics of a charged-particle coasting beam in a high-energy
accelerating machine is presented. This is done in the framework of the
Madelung fluid picture provided by the Thermal Wave Model. The well known
coherent instability charts in the complex plane of the longitudinal coupling
impedance for monochromatic beams are recovered. The results are also
interpreted in terms of the deterministic approach to modulational instability
analysis usually given for monochromatic large amplitude wave train propagation
governed by the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. The instability analysis is
then extended to a non-monochromatic coasting beam with a given thermal
equilibrium distribution, thought as a statistical ensemble of monochromatic
incoherent coasting beams ("white" beam). In this hydrodynamical framework, the
phenomenon of Landau damping is predicted without using any kinetic equation
governing the phase space evolution of the system.


title: Stark-modulation spectroscopy of the B(1)$[^3\Pi]$ state of PbO

abstract:
  We report detailed spectroscopic measurements of the X(0)$[^3\Sigma^+]$(v=0)
to B(1)$[^3\Pi]$ (v=5) transition in PbO. Using a Stark-modulated laser
absorption technique, we have measured the hyperfine constant of $^{207}$PbO in
the B(1) state, as well as B(1)(v=5) rotational constant, X-B isotope shifts,
etc. The hyperfine structure of the B(1) state is of interest as a benchmark
for calculations of PbO electronic structure, related to experiments to search
for the electric dipole moment of the electron.


title: Anomalous Gulf Heating and Hurricane Katrinas Rapid Intensification

abstract:
  Global warming due to the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases has
become a great concern and has been linked to increased hurricane activity
associated with higher sea surface temperatures with conflicting views. Our
observational results based on long term trends of sea surface temperatures
reveal that the anomaly reached a record 0.8 C in the Gulf of Mexico in August
2005 as compared to previous years and may have been responsible for the
intensification of the devastating Hurricane Katrina into a category 5
hurricane that hit the Southern coast of United States severely impacting the
low lying city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. In most intensifying
storms, air-sea interaction is the major contributing factor and here we show
how air-sea interactions might have affected Katrinas rapid intensification in
the Gulf.


title: Two-dimensional porous silicon photonic crystal light emitters

abstract:
  We present the design, fabrication and preliminary experiments of
two-dimensional photonic crystal cavities made in nanoporous silicon
luminescent at 700-800 nm. Enhancement in photoluminescence extraction
efficiency at the resonant wavelength is expected due to Purcell effect and
directed radiation pattern defined by the cavity. Such cavities should also
enhance nonlinearities exhibited by porous Si beyond what is observed in
one-dimensional distributed Bragg reflection cavities due to their small mode
volumes and modest quality factors. This design aligns itself well to
integration with conventional silicon based electronics on a single chip.


title:
Simple acoustical technique for automated measurement of drift tube
  anode wire tension

abstract:
  We describe a simple and inexpensive acoustical technique that permits rapid,
accurate and in-situ measurement of drift tube anode wire tensions even if the
anode wire is electrically discontinuous.


title:
Laboratory observation of a nonlinear interaction between shear
  Alfv\'{e}n waves

abstract:
  An experimental investigation of nonlinear interactions between shear
Alfv\'{e}n waves in a laboratory plasma is presented. Two Alfv\'{e}n waves,
generated by a resonant cavity, are observed to beat together, driving a low
frequency nonlinear psuedo-mode at the beat frequency. The psuedo-mode then
scatters the Alfv\'{e}n waves, generating a series of sidebands. The observed
interaction is very strong, with the normalized amplitude of the driven
psuedo-mode comparable to the normalized magnetic field amplitude ($\delta
B/B$) of the interacting Alfv\'{e}n waves.