Quantitative rescattering theory for laser-induced high-energy plateau photoelectron spectra

A comprehensive quantitative rescattering (QRS) theory for describing the production of high-energy photoelectrons generated by intense laser pulses is presented. According to the QRS, the momentum distributions of these electrons can be expressed as the product of a returning electron wave packet with the elastic differential cross sections (DCS) between free electrons with the target ion. We show that the returning electron wave packets are determined mostly by the lasers only, and can be obtained from the strong field approximation. The validity of the QRS model is carefully examined by checking against accurate results from the solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for atomic targets within the single active electron approximation. We further show that experimental photoelectron spectra for a wide range of laser intensity and wavelength can be explained by the QRS theory, and that the DCS between electrons and target ions can be extracted from experimental photoelectron spectra. By generalizing the QRS theory to molecular targets, we discuss how few-cycle infrared lasers offer a promising tool for dynamic chemical imaging with temporal resolution of a few femtoseconds.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figure

Vacuum polarization for neutral particles in 2+1 dimensions

In 2+1 dimensions there exists a duality between a charged Dirac particle coupled minimally to a background vector potential and a neutral one coupled nonminimally to a background electromagnetic field strength. A constant uniform background electric current induces in the vacuum of the neutral particle a fermion current which is proportional to the background one. A background electromagnetic plane wave induces no current in the vacuum. For constant but nonuniform background electric charge, known results for charged particles can be translated to give the induced fermion number. Some new examples with infinite background electric charge are presented. The induced spin and total angular momentum are also discussed.Comment: REVTeX, 7 pages, no figur

c(2x2) Interface Alloys in Co/Cu Multilayers - Influence on Interlayer Exchange Coupling and GMR

The influence of a c(2x2) ordered interface alloy of 3d transition metals at the ferromagnet/nonmagnet interface on interlayer exchange coupling (IXC), the formation of quantum well states (QWS) and the phenomenon of Giant MagnetoResistance is investigated. We obtained a strong dependence of IXC on interface alloy formation. The GMR ratio is also strongly influenced. We found that Fe, Ni and Cu alloys at the interface enhance the GMR ratio for in-plane geometry by nearly a factor of 2.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, subm. to PR

From Physical to Cyber: Escalating Protection for Personalized Auto Insurance

Nowadays, auto insurance companies set personalized insurance rate based on data gathered directly from their customers' cars. In this paper, we show such a personalized insurance mechanism -- wildly adopted by many auto insurance companies -- is vulnerable to exploit. In particular, we demonstrate that an adversary can leverage off-the-shelf hardware to manipulate the data to the device that collects drivers' habits for insurance rate customization and obtain a fraudulent insurance discount. In response to this type of attack, we also propose a defense mechanism that escalates the protection for insurers' data collection. The main idea of this mechanism is to augment the insurer's data collection device with the ability to gather unforgeable data acquired from the physical world, and then leverage these data to identify manipulated data points. Our defense mechanism leveraged a statistical model built on unmanipulated data and is robust to manipulation methods that are not foreseen previously. We have implemented this defense mechanism as a proof-of-concept prototype and tested its effectiveness in the real world. Our evaluation shows that our defense mechanism exhibits a false positive rate of 0.032 and a false negative rate of 0.013.Comment: Appeared in Sensys 201

Using survey participants to estimate the impact of nonparticipation

The authors evaluate the effectiveness of two models often used to measure the extent of nonparticipation bias in survey estimates. The first model establishes a "continuum of resistance" to being surveyed, placing people who were interviewed after one phone call on one end and nonparticipants on the other. The second assumes that there are "classes" of nonparticipants and that similar classes can be found among participants; it identifies groups of participants thought to be like nonparticipants and uses them as "proxies" to estimate the characteristics of nonparticipants. The authors use these models to examine how accurately they estimate the characteristics of nonparticipants and the impact of nonparticipation on survey estimates of means of child support awards and payments in Wisconsin. They find that neither model detects the true extent of nonparticipation bias.

Mass Spectrum and Bounds on the Couplings in Yukawa Models With Mirror-Fermions

The $\rm SU(2)_L\otimes SU(2)_R$ symmetric Yukawa model with mirror-fermions in the limit where the mirror-fermion is decoupled is studied both analytically and numerically. The bare scalar self-coupling $\lambda$ is fixed at zero and infinity. The phase structure is explored and the relevant phase transition is found to be consistent with a second order one. The fermionic mass spectrum close to that transition is discussed and a first non-perturbative estimate of the influence of fermions on the upper and lower bounds on the renormalized scalar self-coupling is given. Numerical results are confronted with perturbative predictions.Comment: 7 (Latex) page

Numerical simulation of heavy fermions in an SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R symmetric Yukawa model

An exploratory numerical study of the influence of heavy fermion doublets on the mass of the Higgs boson is performed in the decoupling limit of a chiral $\rm SU(2)_L \otimes SU(2)_R$ symmetric Yukawa model with mirror fermions. The behaviour of fermion and boson masses is investigated at infinite bare quartic coupling on $4^3 \cdot 8$, $6^3 \cdot 12$ and $8^3 \cdot 16$ lattices. A first estimate of the upper bound on the renormalized quartic coupling as a function of the renormalized Yukawa-coupling is given.Comment: 15 pp + 11 Figures appended as Postscript file

The spectrum of phenotypes associated with mutations in steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1, NR5A1, Ad4BP) includes severe penoscrotal hypospadias in 46,XY males without adrenal insufficiency

OBJECTIVE. Hypospadias is a frequent congenital anomaly but in most cases an underlying cause is not found. Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1, NR5A1, Ad4BP) is a key regulator of human sex development and an increasing number of SF-1 (NR5A1) mutations are reported in 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD). We hypothesized that NR5A1 mutations could be identified in boys with hypospadias. DESIGN AND METHODS. Mutational analysis of NR5A1 in 60 individuals with varying degrees of hypospadias from the German DSD network. RESULTS. Heterozygous NR5A1 mutations were found in three out of 60 cases. These three individuals represented the most severe end of the spectrum studied as they presented with penoscrotal hypospadias, variable androgenization of the phallus and undescended testes (three out of 20 cases (15%) with this phenotype). Testosterone was low in all three patients and inhibin B/anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) were low in two patients. Two patients had a clear male gender assignment. Gender re-assignment to male occurred in the third case. Two patients harbored heterozygous nonsense mutations (p.Q107X/WT, p.E11X/WT). One patient had a heterozygous splice site mutation in intron 2 (c.103-3A/WT) predicted to disrupt the main DNA-binding motif. Functional studies of the nonsense mutants showed impaired transcriptional activation of an SF-1-responsive promoter (Cyp11a). To date, adrenal insufficiency has not occurred in any of the patients. CONCLUSIONS. SF-1 (NR5A1) mutations should be considered in 46,XY individuals with severe (penoscrotal) hypospadias, especially if undescended testes, low testosterone, or low inhibin B/AMH levels are present. SF-1 mutations in milder forms of idiopathic hypospadias are unlikely to be common