Shear viscosity of the Quark–Gluon Plasma from a virial expansion

We calculate the shear viscosity η in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) phase within a virial expansion approach with particular interest in the ratio of η to the entropy density s, i.e. η/s. The virial expansion approach allows us to include the interactions between the partons in the deconfined phase and to evaluate the corrections to a single-particle partition function. In the latter approach we start with an effective interaction with parameters fixed to reproduce thermodynamical quantities of QCD such as energy and/or entropy density. We also directly extract the effective coupling α _V for the determination of η. Our numerical results give a ratio η/s≈0.097 at the critical temperature T _c, which is very close to the theoretical bound of 1/(4π). Furthermore, for temperatures T≤1.8T _c the ratio η/s is in the range of the present experimental estimates 0.1–0.3 at RHIC. When combining our results for η/s in the deconfined phase with those from chiral perturbation theory or the resonance-gas model in the confined phase we observe a pronounced minimum of η/s close to the critical temperature T _c.     

Entangling macroscopic oscillators exploiting radiation pressure

It is shown that radiation pressure can be profitably used to entangle macroscopic oscillators like movable mirrors, using present technology. We prove a new sufficient criterion for entanglement and show that the achievable entanglement is robust against thermal noise. Its signature can be revealed using common optomechanical readout apparatus.     

Interchange-turbulence-based radial transport model for SOLPS-ITER: A COMPASS case study

Mean-field plasma edge transport codes such as SOLPS-ITER heavily rely on ad-hoc radial diffusion coefficients to approximately model anomalous transport. Such coefficients are experimentally determined and vary between different machines, and also depend on the operational regime and plasma location within the same device. Therefore, to match experimental data the modeller is required to manually tune several free parameters in expensive simulations, and the code's predictive capabilities are significantly downgraded. As a solution, a new model has been developed for SOLPS-ITER, solving an additional transport equation for the turbulent kinetic energy k, derived by consistently time-averaging the Braginskii equations, and including a diffusive closure for the anomalous particle flux. This closure model relates the anomalous diffusion coefficient to the local k value. The resulting equation structure and its closure are inspired by TOKAM2D isothermal interchange turbulence simulation results. Within this model, fewer and hopefully more universal free parameters are retained, thus improving the code's predictive capabilities. The new model has been tested on a COMPASS case for which upstream plasma profiles were available. Experimental data and a reference solution, obtained by matching the profiles through manual tuning of radial diffusivities, have been used to estimate the parameters of our new transport model. A ballooned particle diffusivity profile is retrieved by the new radial transport model, thanks to the proposed interchange drive. The obtained upstream profiles qualitatively agree with the experiment and prove the new model is a promising first attempt to be further refined.     

From Si nanowires to porous silicon: the role of excitonic effects

We show that the electronic and optical properties of silicon nanowires, with different size and orientation, are dominated by important many-body effects. The electronic and excitonic gaps, calculated within first principles, agree with the available experimental data. Huge excitonic effects, which depend strongly on wire orientation and size, characterize the optical spectra. Modeling porous silicon as a collection of interacting nanowires, we find an absorption spectrum which is in very good agreement with experimental measurements only when the electron-hole interaction is included.     

Detecting and localizing the foci in human epileptic seizures

We consider the electrical signals recorded from a subdural array of electrodes placed on the pial surface of the brain for chronic evaluation of epileptic patients before surgical resection. A simple and computationally fast method to analyze the interictal phase synchrony between such electrodes is introduced and developed with the aim of detecting and localizing the foci of the epileptic seizures. We evaluate the method by comparing the results of surgery to the localization predicted here. We find an indication of good correspondence between the success or failure in the surgery and the agreement between our identification and the regions actually operated on.     

Effect of Tomato Peel Extract Grown under Drought Stress Condition in a Sarcopenia Model

Tomatoes and their derivates represent an important source of natural biologically active components. The present study aims to investigate the protective effect of tomato peel extracts, grown in normal (RED-Ctr) or in drought stress (RED-Ds) conditions, on an experimental model of sarcopenia. The phenolic profile and total polyphenols content (TPC) of RED-Ctr and RED-Ds were determined by Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) analyses coupled to electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-HR-MS). Human skeletal muscle myoblasts (HSMM) were differentiated in myotubes, and sarcopenia was induced by dexamethasone (DEXA) treatment. Differentiation and sarcopenia were evaluated by both real-time PCR and immunofluorescent techniques. Data show that myosin heavy chain 2 (MYH2), troponin T (TNNT1), and miogenin (MYOG) were expressed in differentiated myotubes. 5 μg Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE/mL) of TPC from RED-Ds extract significantly reduced muscle atrophy induced by DEXA. Moreover, Forkhead BoxO1 (FOXO1) expression, involved in cell atrophy, was significantly decreased by RED-Ds extract. The protective effect of tomato peel extracts depended on their qualitative polyphenolic composition, resulting effectively in the in vitro model of sarcopenia.     

Dependence of calibration sensitivity of a polysulfone/Ru(II)-tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)-based oxygen optical sensor on its structural parameters

The optimum performance of an optical oxygen sensor based on polysulfone (PSF)/[Ru(II)-Tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)] octylsulfonate (Ru(dpp)OS) was checked by carefully tuning the parameters affecting the membrane preparation. In particular, membranes having thickness ranging between 0.2 and 8.0 μm with various luminophore concentrations were prepared by dip-coating and tested. The membrane thickness was controlled by tuning the solution viscosity, and was measured both by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and by visible spectroscopy (Vis). Luminescence-quenching-based calibration was a single value of the Stern-Volmer constant (K^′SV) for membranes containing up to 20 mmol Ru(dpp) g⁻¹ PSF (1.35 μm average thickness). The K^′SV value decreased for larger concentration. The highest sensitivity was obtained with membrane thickness around 1.6 μm, having a response time close to 1 s. Thicker membranes exhibited an emission saturation effect and were characterized by longer response time. The K^′SV behavior was interpreted on the basis of a mathematical approach accounting for the contribution of luminescence lifetime (τ₀), oxygen diffusion coefficient (DO₂) and oxygen solubility inside the membrane (sO₂) establishing the role of all of them and allowing their experimental determination. Moreover, a simple experimental way to estimate K^′SV without needing calibration was proposed. It was based either on the light emission asymmetry or on the percent variation of light emission on passing from pure nitrogen to pure oxygen.     

Noise robustness of the nonlocality of entangled quantum states

We study the nonlocal properties of states resulting from the mixture of an arbitrary entangled state rho of two d-dimensional systems and completely depolarized noise, with respective weights p and 1-p. We first construct a local model for the case in which rho is maximally entangled and p at or below a certain bound. We then extend the model to arbitrary rho. Our results provide bounds on the resistance to noise of the nonlocal correlations of entangled states. For projective measurements, the critical value of the noise parameter p for which the state becomes local is at least asymptotically log(d) larger than the critical value for separability.