Characteristics of critical amplitude of a sinusoidal stimulus in a model neuron

The characteristics of the critical amplitude of a sinusoidal stimulus in a model neuron, Morris－Lecar model, are investigated numerically. It is important in the study of stochastic resonance to determine whether a periodic stimulus is subthreshold or not. The critical amplitude as a function of the stimulus frequency is not a constant, but a curve, which is the boundary between subthreshold and suprathreshold stimulation. It has been considered that this curve is U-shaped in the previous investigations, and this has been accepted as a universal phenomenon. Nevertheless, we think that it is only true for a type of neuron: namely, resonators. Actually, there exists another type of neuron, integrators, which can undergo a saddle-node on invariant circle bifurcation from the rest state to the firing state. For the latter we find that the critical amplitude increases monotonically as the frequency of sinusoidal stimulus is increased. This is shown by way of the Morris－Lecar model. As a consequence, the critical amplitude curve is studied further, and the dynamical mechanisms underlying the change in critical amplitude curve are uncovered. The results of this paper can provide a reference to choose the subthreshold periodic stimulus.     

Stability of Motion of a Nonholonomic System

Perturbation differential equations of motion of a general nonholonomic system subjected to the ideal nonholonomic constraints of Chetaev＇s type are established, and the equation of variation of energy is deduced by using the perturbation equations of the system. A criterion of the stability is obtained and an example is given to illustrate the application of the result.     

Decay of an electronic vortex of a collisionless shock wave as a possible mechanism of a “Coulomb explosion”

A new mechanism of a “Coulomb explosion,” where ions are accelerated by the electric field separating charges at the magnetic Debye radius r _B∼B/4πen _e, is proposed on the basis of a nonquasineutral model of electronic vortices in a magnetic field. It is shown by means of numerical calculations that in the process of acceleration of the ions a collisionless shock wave, whose front has an effective width of the order of δ∼r _B, determined by the breakdown of quasineutrality, is formed in a time of the order of ω _pi ⁻¹ , where ω_pi is the ion plasma frequency. The origin of such explosive dynamics is the formation of “holes” in the electron density at characteristic times of the order of ω _pe ⁻¹ (ω_pe is the electronic plasma frequency) as a result of the generation of electronic vorticity by the Weibel instability of an electromagnetic wave. Calculations for a laser pulse with intensity J∼6×10¹⁸ W/cm² show that the ions expand in the radial direction with velocities up to 3.5×10⁸ cm/s. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 10, 669–674 (25 November 1999)     

Study of a Long Range Perturbation of a One-Dimensional Kac Model

We consider a one dimensional ferromagnetic Ising spin system with interactions that correspond to a 1/r ² long range perturbation of the usual Kac model. We apply a coarse graining procedure widely used for higher-dimensional finite range Kac potentials to describe the basic properties of the system and the relation with the mean field theory.     

Phase Dependence of Fluorescence Spectrum of a Two-Level Atom in a Trichromatic Field

We examine the phase-dependent effects in resonance fluorescence of a two-level atom driven by a trichromatic modulated field. It is shown that the fluorescence spectrum depends crucially on the sum of relative phases of the sideband components compared to the central component, not simply on the respective phases. The appearance or disappearance of the central peak and the selective elimination of the sideband peaks are achieved simply by varying the sum phase. Once the sum phase is fixed, the spectrum keeps its features unchanged regardless of the respective relative phases.     

A closed form of a kurtosis parameter of a hypergeometric-Gaussian type-Ⅱ beam

Based on the irradiance moment definition and the analytical expression of waveform propagation for hypergeometricGaussian type-Ⅱ beams passing through an ABCD system, the kurtosis parameter is derived analytically and illustrated numerically. The kurtosis parameters of the Gaussian beam, modified Bessel modulated Gaussian beam with quadrature radial and elegant Laguerre–Gaussian beams are obtained by treating them as special cases of the present treatment. The obtained results show that the kurtosis parameter depends on the change of the beam order m and the hollowness parameter p, such as its decrease with increasing m and increase with increasing p.     

Generation of a Dark Hollow Beam inside a Cavity

A new method is introduced to generate a hollow beam inside a cavity.Using a matrix eigenvalue method,the laser resonator with optical diffraction elements is theoretically analysed and simulated.The hollow beam can be obtained theoretically by controlling the parameters of the diffraction functions.After designed the diffraction components in the cavity,a hollow beam of good quality is realized experimentally using a YAG solid state laser.     

Spectral properties of a ■-configuration atom driven by a pair of bichromatic fields

The absorption spectrum and the incoherent fluorescence spectrum of the lower transition in an ■-configuration threelevel atomic system driven by a pair of bichromatic fields is investigated. The transmission of the absorption profile from a multipeaked feature to a single-peak feature is identified. Adjusting the relative phase between the two driving fields, the splitting effects of the spectral peaks occur both in the fluorescence and the absorption spectra. Furthermore, phase modulating can dramatically lead to a great suppression of the amplitudes of the whole absorption spectrum. Physically, this effect is attributed to the phase-sensitive nature of the populations and coherence between the atomic states of the system.     

Spectra of spin-wave excitations of a 71° domain boundary in a cubic ferromagnet

Features of the long-wavelength part of the spectrum of spin waves localized on a 71° domain boundary of a cubic ferromagnet are examined on the basis of a qualitative analysis and simultaneous numerical solution of the Landau-Lifshitz equations and the equation of magnetostatics. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 2183–2186 (December 1999)     

Products of distributions and collision of a δ-wave with a δ′-wave in a turbulent model

We study the possibility of collision of a δ-wave with a stationary δ′-wave in a model ruled by equation f (t)u _t+[u²?β(x?γ(t))u]_x = 0, where f, β and γ are given real functions and u = u(x, t) is the state variable. We adopt a solution concept which is a consistent extension of the classical solution concept. This concept is defined in the setting of a distributional product, which is not constructed by approximation processes. By a convenient choice of f, β and γ, we are able to distinguish three distinct dynamics for that collision, to which correspond phenomena of solitonic behaviour, scattering, and merging. Also, as a particular case, taking f = 2 and β = 0 we prove that the referred collision is impossible to arise in the setting of the inviscid Burgers equation. To show how this framework can be applied to other physical models, we included several results already obtained.     

Intrinsic decoherence of entanglement of a single quantized field interacting with a two-level atom

How the mean photon number, the probability of excited state and intrinsic decoherenee coefficient in-fluence the time evolution of entanglement is unknown, when a single-mode quantized optic field and a two-levelatom coupling system is governed by Milburn equation. The Jaynes-Cummings model is considered. A lowerhound of concurrence is proposed to calculate the entanglement. Simulation results indicate that the entanglementof system increases following the increasing of intrinsic decoherence coefficient or the decreasing of the mean photon number. Besides that, the entanglement of system decreases, while the probability of exited state increasesfrom 0 to 0.1, and increases, while the probability of exited state increases from 0.1 to 1.     

Mössbauer studies of a martensitic transformation and of cryogenic treatments of a D2 tool steel

A D2 tool steel X153CrVMo12 with composition C1.53 Cr12 V0.95 Mo0.80 Mn0.40(wt% Fe balanced) was studied by use of Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was observed that the study of carbides by X-ray diffraction was difficult while Mössbauer spectroscopy gives some light on the process occurring during cryogenic treatment. With the increase of the martensitic phase the carbides decrease and are dissolved in solid solution of martensite as well as the chromium element.     

Radiation Rate of a Two-Level Atom in a Spacetime with a Reflecting Boundary

We study a two-level atom in interaction with a real massless scalar quantum field in a spacetime with a reflecting boundary. We calculate the rate of change of the atomic energy for the atom. The presence of the boundary modifies the quantum fluctuations of the scalar field, which in turn modifies the rate of change of the atomic energy. It is found that the modifications induced by the presence of a boundary make the spontaneous radiation rate of an excited atom to oscillate near the boundary and this oscillatory behaviour may offer a possible opportunity for experimental tests for geometrical （boundary） effects in flat spacetime.     

Determination of Thermal Diffusivity of a Manganite Thin Film

Thermal diffusivity has been investigated in a manganite thin film La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 by means of transient grating （TG） technique at room temperature. A new method, which is generalized to two-layered samples of the thin film deposited on a semi-infinite substrate, is established to fit the TG signals. The thermal diffusivity of the Lao.6Sro.4MnO3 thin film with a thickness of 200nm on an MgO （100） substrate is determined to be 0.92mm^2/s, which is slightly smaller than that of the single crystal sample （1 mm^2/s）.     

Swarm Dynamics of a Group of Mobile Autonomous Agents

We propose a simple swarm model to study collective behaviour of a group of mobile autonomous agents interacting through a long range attraction and short range repulsion function. It is shown that the individuals (agents) will aggregate and eventually form a cohesive cluster of finite size around the swarm centre in a finite time, and the size depends only on the parameters of the swarm model. Furthermore, it is also shown that all the individuals will converge to equilibrium positions of the swarm model, and thus the configuration of the swarm converges to a constant constellation. Numerical simulations are also worked out to illustrate the analytical results.     

Relative Entropy of Entanglement of a Kind of Two-Qubit Entangled States

We strictly prove that some block diagonalizable two-qubit entangled state with six non-zero elements reaches its quantum relative entropy entanglement by a separable state having the same matrix structure. The entangled state comprises local filtering result state as a special case.     

Generation of a hollow laser beam by a multimode fiber

A simple method to generate a hollow laser beam by multimode fiber is reported.A dark hollow laser beam is generated from a multimode fiber and the dependence of the output beam profile on the incident angle of laser beam is analyzed.The results show that this hollow laser beam can be used to trap and guide cold atoms.     

Nonlinear Dynamics of a Sliding Chain in a Periodic Potential

Nonlinear dynamics of the sliding process of a chain driven with a constant velocity at one end in a periodic substrate potential is investigated. The driven chain exhibits distinctly different dynamical characteristics at different velocities. In the low velocity region, the chain moves in a stick-slip manner. When the driving velocity is increased, the stick-slip behaviour is replaced by complicated and regular oscillatory motions. The dependence of the dynamics on the coupling strength is studied and the step-like behaviour is found, where different steps correspond to different dynamical phases.