SIMDET - Version 4 A Parametric Monte Carlo for a TESLA Detector

A new release of the parametric detector Monte Carlo program \verb+SIMDET+ (version 4.01) is now available. We describe the principles of operation and the usage of this program to simulate the response of a detector for the TESLA linear collider. The detector components are implemented according to the TESLA Technical Design Report. All detector component responses are treated in a realistic way using a parametrisation of results from the {\em ab initio} Monte Carlo program \verb+BRAHMS+. Pattern recognition is emulated using a complete cross reference between generated particles and detector response. Also, for charged particles, the covariance matrix and $dE/dx$ information are made available. An idealised energy flow algorithm defines the output of the program, consisting of particles generically classified as electrons, photons, muons, charged and neutral hadrons as well as unresolved clusters. The program parameters adjustable by the user are described in detail. User hooks inside the program and the output data structure are documented.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure

Dynamical Crystallization in the Dipole Blockade of Ultracold Atoms

We describe a method for controlling many-body states in extended ensembles of Rydberg atoms, forming crystalline structures during laser excitation of a frozen atomic gas. Specifically, we predict the existence of an excitation number staircase in laser excitation of atomic ensembles into Rydberg states. Each step corresponds to a crystalline state with a well-defined of regularly spaced Rydberg atoms. We show that such states can be selectively excited by chirped laser pulses. Finally, we demonstarte that, sing quantum state transfer from atoms to light, such crystals can be used to create crystalline photonic states and can be probed via photon correlation measurements

Influence of electron-ion collisions on Coulomb crystallization of ultracold neutral plasmas

While ion heating by elastic electron-ion collisions may be neglected for a description of the evolution of freely expanding ultracold neutral plasmas, the situation is different in scenarios where the ions are laser-cooled during the system evolution. We show that electron-ion collisions in laser-cooled plasmas influence the ionic temperature, decreasing the degree of correlation obtainable in such systems. However, taking into account the collisions increases the ion temperature much less than what would be estimated based on static plasma clouds neglecting the plasma expansion. The latter leads to both adiabatic cooling of the ions as well as, more importantly, a rapid decrease of the collisional heating rate

Relaxation to non-equilibrium in expanding ultracold neutral plasmas

We investigate the strongly correlated ion dynamics and the degree of coupling achievable in the evolution of freely expanding ultracold neutral plasmas. We demonstrate that the ionic Coulomb coupling parameter $\Gamma_{\rm i}$ increases considerably in later stages of the expansion, reaching the strongly coupled regime despite the well-known initial drop of $\Gamma_{\rm i}$ to order unity due to disorder-induced heating. Furthermore, we formulate a suitable measure of correlation and show th at $\Gamma_{\rm i}$ calculated from the ionic temperature and density reflects the degree of order in the system if it is sufficiently close to a quasisteady state. At later times, however, the expansion of the plasma cloud becomes faster than the relaxation of correlations, and the system does not reach thermodynamic equilibrium anymore

Antiblockade in Rydberg excitation of an ultracold lattice gas

It is shown that the two-step excitation scheme typically used to create an ultracold Rydberg gas can be described with an effective two-level rate equation, greatly reducing the complexity of the optical Bloch equations. This allows us to solve the many-body problem of interacting cold atoms with a Monte Carlo technique. Our results reproduce the Rydberg blockade effect. However, we demonstrate that an Autler-Townes double peak structure in the two-step excitation scheme, which occurs for moderate pulse lengths as used in the experiment, can give rise to an antiblockade effect. It is observable in a lattice gas with regularly spaced atoms. Since the antiblockade effect is robust against a large number of lattice defects it should be experimentally realizable with an optical lattice created by CO$_{2}$ lasers.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

No evidence yet for hadronic TeV gamma-ray emission from SNR RX J1713.7-3946

Recent TeV-scale gamma-ray observations with the CANGAROO II telescope have led to the claim that the multi-band spectrum of RX J1713.7-3946 cannot be explained as the composite of a synchrotron and an inverse Compton component emitted by a population of relativistic electrons. It was argued that the spectrum of the high-energy emission is a good match to that predicted by pion decay, thus providing observational evidence that protons are accelerated in SNR to at least TeV energies. In this Letter we discuss the multi-band spectrum of RX J1713.7-3946 under the constraint that the GeV-scale emission observed from the closely associated EGRET source 3EG J1714-3857 is either associated with the SNR or an upper limit to the gamma-ray emission of the SNR. We find that the pion-decay model adopted by Enomoto et al. is in conflict with the existing GeV data. We have examined the possibility of a modified proton spectrum to explain the data, and find that we cannot do so within any existing theoretical framework of shock acceleration models.Comment: in press as Letter to Astronomy & Astrophysic