Visual function: How spiders find the right rock to crawl under

Animals that go on hunting expeditions face the problem of finding the way home at the end of the day. A group of hunting spiders has now been added to the list of animals that use the celestial pattern of polarized light as a compass for navigation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling the optical properties of AlSb, GaSb, and InSb

Optical constants of AlSb, GaSb, and InSb are modeled in the 1-6 eV spectral range. We employ an extension of Adachi's model of the optical constants of semiconductors. The model takes into account transitions at E-0, E-0 + Delta(0), E-1, and E-1 + Delta(1) critical points, as well as higher-lying transitions which are modeled with three damped harmonic oscillators. We do not consider indirect transitions contribution, since it represents a second-order perturbation and its strength should be low. Also, we do not take into account excitonic effects at E-1, E-1 + Delta(1) critical points, since we model the room temperature data. In spite of fewer contributions to the dielectric function compared to previous calculations involving Adachi's model, our calculations show significantly improved agreement with the experimental data. This is due to the two main distinguishing features of calculations presented here: use of adjustable line broadening instead of the conventional Lorentzian one, and employment of a global optimization routine for model parameter determination.

What the evolution of the amyloid protein precursor supergene family tells us about its function

The Alzheimer's disease amyloid protein precursor (APP) gene is part of a multi-gene super-family from which sixteen homologous amyloid precursor-like proteins (APLP) and APP species homologues have been isolated and characterised. Comparison of exon structure (including the uncharacterised APL-1 gene), construction of phylogenetic trees, and analysis of the protein sequence alignment of known homologues of the APP super-family were performed to reconstruct the evolution of the family and to assess the functional significance of conserved protein sequences between homologues. This analysis supports an adhesion function for all members of the APP super family, with specificity determined by those sequences which are not conserved between APLP lineages, and provides evidence for an increasingly complex APP superfamily during evolution. The analysis also suggests that Drosophila APPL and Caenorhabdotids elegans APL-1 may be a fourth APLP lineage indicating that these proteins, while not functional homologues of human APP, are similarly likely to regulate cell adhesion. Furthermore, the beta A4 sequence is highly conserved only in APP orthologues, strongly suggesting this sequence is of significant functional importance in this lineage. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the Jager-Kaul theorem concerning harmonic maps

In 1983, Jager and Kaul proved that the equator map u*(x) = (x/\x\,0) : B-n --> S-n is unstable for 3 less than or equal to n less than or equal to 6 and a minimizer for the energy functional E(u, B-n) = integral B-n \del u\(2) dx in the class H-1,H-2(B-n, S-n) with u = u* on partial derivative B-n when n greater than or equal to 7. In this paper, we give a new and elementary proof of this Jager-Kaul result. We also generalize the Jager-Kaul result to the case of p-harmonic maps.

Multidimensional quantum solitons with nondegenerate parametric interactions: Photonic and Bose-Einstein condensate environments

We consider the quantum theory of three fields interacting via parametric and repulsive quartic couplings. This can be applied to treat photonic chi((2)) and chi((3)) interactions, and interactions in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates or quantum Fermi gases, describing coherent molecule formation together with a-wave scattering. The simplest two-particle quantum solitons or bound-state solutions of the idealized Hamiltonian, without a momentum cutoff, are obtained exactly. They have a pointlike structure in two and three dimensions-even though the corresponding classical theory is nonsingular. We show that the solutions can be regularized with a momentum cutoff. The parametric quantum solitons have much more realistic length scales and binding energies than chi((3)) quantum solitons, and the resulting effects could potentially be experimentally tested in highly nonlinear optical parametric media or interacting matter-wave systems. N-particle quantum solitons and the ground state energy are analyzed using a variational approach. Applications to atomic/molecular Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC's) are given, where we predict the possibility of forming coupled BEC solitons in three space dimensions, and analyze superchemistry dynamics.

Disagreement between correlations of quantum mechanics and stochastic electrodynamics in the damped parametric oscillator

Intracavity and external third order correlations in the damped nondegenerate parametric oscillator are calculated for quantum mechanics and stochastic electrodynamics (SED), a semiclassical theory. The two theories yield greatly different results, with the correlations of quantum mechanics being cubic in the system's nonlinear coupling constant and those of SED being linear in the same constant. In particular, differences between the two theories are present in at least a mesoscopic regime. They also exist when realistic damping is included. Such differences illustrate distinctions between quantum mechanics and a hidden variable theory for continuous variables.

Water wave-driven seepage in marine sediments

The action of water waves moving over a porous seabed drives a seepage flux into and out of the marine sediments. The volume of fluid exchange per wave cycle may affect the rate of contaminant transport in the sediments. In this paper, the dynamic response of the seabed to ocean waves is treated analytically on the basis of pore-elastic theory applied to a porous seabed. The seabed is modelled as a semi-infinite, isotropic, homogeneous material. Most previous investigations on the wave-seabed interaction problem have assumed quasi-static conditions within the seabed, although dynamic behaviour often occurs in natural environments. Furthermore, wave pressures used in the previous approaches were obtained from conventional ocean wave theories: which are based on the assumption of an impermeable rigid seabed. By introducing a complex wave number, we derive a new wave dispersion equation, which includes the seabed characteristics (such as soil permeability, shear modulus, etc.). Based on the new closed-form analytical solution, the relative differences of the wave-induced seabed response under dynamic and quasi-static conditions are examined. The effects of wave and soil parameters on the seepage flux per wave cycle are also discussed in detail. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Atoms in an amplitude-modulated standing wave - dynamics and pathways to quantum chaos

Cold rubidium atoms are subjected to an amplitude-modulated far-detuned standing wave of light to form a quantum-driven pendulum. Here we discuss the dynamics of these atoms. Phase space resonances and chaotic transients of the system exhibit dynamics which can be useful in many atom optics applications as they can be utilized as means for phase space state preparation. We explain the occurrence of distinct peaks in the atomic momentum distribution, analyse them in detail and give evidence for the importance of the system for quantum chaos and decoherence studies.

Vortices and solitons in Bose-condensates

The new science of nonlinear atom optics and atom lasers is evolving rapidly. There are similarities between many related areas in modern photonic and atom optics, particularly at the mean-field level. In both cases we can often use classical nonlinear wave equations to describe classical solitons, vortices, and other nonlinear structure. Atom-molecular coupling can be used to play the role of second-harmonic generation. This leads to novel types of soliton. In addition, quantum effects at low densities are likely to be readily observable.

Quantum chaos in atom optics

I shall discuss the quantum and classical dynamics of a class of nonlinear Hamiltonian systems. The discussion will be restricted to systems with one degree of freedom. Such systems cannot exhibit chaos, unless the Hamiltonians are time dependent. Thus we shall consider systems with a potential function that has a higher than quadratic dependence on the position and, furthermore, we shall allow the potential function to be a periodic function of time. This is the simplest class of Hamiltonian system that can exhibit chaotic dynamics. I shall show how such systems can be realized in atom optics, where very cord atoms interact with optical dipole potentials of a far-off resonance laser. Such systems are ideal for quantum chaos studies as (i) the energy of the atom is small and action scales are of the order of Planck's constant, (ii) the systems are almost perfectly isolated from the decohering effects of the environment and (iii) optical methods enable exquisite time dependent control of the mechanical potentials seen by the atoms.

Wave-induced seepage flux into anisotropic seabeds

Considerable effort has been devoted to quantifying the wave-induced soil response in a porous seabed in the last few decades. Most previous investigations have focused on the analysis of pore pressure and effective stresses within isotropic sediments, despite strong evidence of anisotropic soil behaviour reported in the literature. Furthermore, the seepage flux, which is important in the context of contaminant transport, has not been examined. In this paper, we focus on water wave-driven seepage in anisotropic marine sediments of finite thickness. The numerical results predict that the effects of hydraulic anisotropy and anisotropic soil behaviour on the wave-driven seepage in marine sediment are significant. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.