Large density amplification measured on jets ejected from a magnetized plasma gun

Observation of a large density amplification in the collimating plasma jet ejected from a coplanar coaxial plasma gun is reported. The jet velocity is ~30 km s^-1 and the electron density increases from ~10^20 to 10^(22–23) m^-3. In previous spheromak experiments, electron density of the order 10^(19–21) m^-3 had been measured in the flux conserver region, but no density measurement had been reported for the source gun region. The coplanar geometry of our electrodes permits direct observation of the entire plasma dynamics including the source region. Analysis of Stark broadened spectral lines shows that the electron density increases by a factor of 100 as the jet collimates, with a peak density of up to 10^(22–23) m^-3. The observed density amplification is interpreted according to an MHD theory that explains collimation of current-carrying plasma-filled magnetic flux tubes. Issues affecting interpretation of Stark broadened line profiles and the possibility of using the high-density plasma jet for tokamak fuel injection are discussed

Household Fast Food Expenditures and Children's Television Viewing: Can They Really Significantly Influence Children's Dietary Quality?

Previous studies have found a strong relationship between food-away-from-home expenditures and television viewing, and children's diet. This study revisits this issue by examining the impact of household fast food expenditures and children's television viewing on children's dietary quality. Results indicate that both factors have statistically significant and negative effects. However, the elasticities of children's diet quality with respect to both factors are quite inelastic. Results also suggest that the effects of these two factors differ between children younger than 11 years old and children at least 11 years old. Relevant policy implications are discussed.children's diet and health, fast food expenditures, healthy eating index, obesity, television viewing, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Quantum phase transitions in a generalized compass chain with three-site interactions

We consider a class of one-dimensional compass models with XYZ$-$YZX-type of three-site exchange interaction in an external magnetic field. We present the exact solution derived by means of Jordan-Wigner transformation, and study the excitation gap, spin correlations, and establish the phase diagram. Besides the canted antiferromagnetic and polarized phases, the three-site interactions induce two distinct chiral phases, corresponding to gapless spinless-fermion systems having two or four Fermi points. We find that the $z$ component of scalar chirality operator can act as an order parameter for these chiral phases. We also find that the thermodynamic quantities including the Wilson ratio can characterize the liquid phases. Finally, a nontrivial magnetoelectric effect is explored, and we show that the polarization can be manipulated by the magnetic field in the absence of electric field.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Collocating Interface Objects: Zooming into Maps

May, Dean and Barnard [10] used a theoretically based model to argue that objects in a wide range of interfaces should be collocated following screen changes such as a zoom-in to detail. Many existing online maps do not follow this principle, but move a clicked point to the centre of the subsequent display, leaving the user looking at an unrelated location. This paper presents three experiments showing that collocating the point clicked on a map so that the detailed location appears in the place previously occupied by the overview location makes the map easier to use, reducing eye movements and interaction duration. We discuss the benefit of basing design principles on theoretical models so that they can be applied to novel situations, and so designers can infer when to use and not use them

Creating maximally entangled atomic states in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We propose a protocol to create maximally entangled pairs, triplets, quartiles, and other clusters of Bose condensed atoms starting from a condensate in the Mott insulator state. The essential element is to drive single atom Raman transitions using laser pulses. Our scheme is simple, efficient, and can be readily applied to the recent experimental system as reported by Greiner {\it et al.} [ Nature {\bf 413}, 44 (2002)].Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. revised version as to be publishe

Quantum correlated light pulses from sequential superradiance of a condensate

We discover an inherent mechanism for entanglement swap associated with sequential superradiance from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Based on careful examinations with both analytical and numerical approaches, we conclude that as a result of the swap mechanism, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR)-type quantum correlations can be detected among the scattered light pulses.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Numerical and Monte Carlo Bethe ansatz method: 1D Heisenberg model

In this paper we present two new numerical methods for studying thermodynamic quantities of integrable models. As an example of the effectiveness of these two approaches, results from numerical solutions of all sets of Bethe ansatz equations, for small Heisenberg chains, and Monte Carlo simulations in quasi-momentum space, for a relatively larger chains, are presented. Our results agree with those obtained by thermodynamics Bethe ansatz (TBA) and Quantum Transfer Matrix (QTM).Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Optical selection rules and phase-dependent adiabatic state control in a superconducting quantum circuit

We analyze the optical selection rules of the microwave-assisted transitions in a flux qubit superconducting quantum circuit (SQC). We show that the parities of the states relevant to the superconducting phase in the SQC are well-defined when the external magnetic flux $\Phi_{e}=\Phi_{0}/2$, then the selection rules are same as the ones for the electric-dipole transitions in usual atoms. When $\Phi_{e}\neq \Phi_{0}/2$, the symmetry of the potential of the artificial "atom'' is broken, a so-called $\Delta$-type "cyclic" three-level atom is formed, where one- and two-photon processes can coexist. We study how the population of these three states can be selectively transferred by adiabatically controlling the electromagnetic field pulses. Different from $\Lambda$-type atoms, the adiabatic population transfer in our three-level $\Delta$-atom can be controlled not only by the amplitudes but also by the phases of the pulses