IBEX Ribbon Separation Using Spherical Harmonic Decomposition of the Globally Distributed Flux

Remote imaging of plasmas in the heliosphere and very local interstellar medium is possible with energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), created through the charge exchange of protons with interstellar neutral atoms. ENA observations collected by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) revealed two distinctive sources. One source is the globally distributed flux (GDF), which extends over the entire sky and varies over large spatial scales. The other source encompasses only a narrow circular band in the sky and is called the IBEX ribbon. Here, we utilize the observed difference in spatial scales of these two ENA sources to separate them. We find that linear combinations of spherical harmonics up to degree ℓ max = 3 can reproduce most of the ENA fluxes observed outside the ribbon region. We use these combinations to model the GDF and the difference between the observed fluxes and the GDF yields estimation of the ribbon emission. The separated ribbon responds with a longer time delay to the solar wind changes than the GDF, suggesting a more distant source of the ribbon ENAs. Moreover, we locate the direction of the maximum plasma pressure based on the GDF. This direction is 17°.2 ± 0°.5 away from the upwind direction within the plane containing the interstellar flow and interstellar magnetic field vectors. This deflection is consistent with the expected position of the maximum external pressure at the heliopause. The maps with separated ribbon and GDF are posted concurrently with this paper and can be used to further study these two sources.

Hyperentanglement teleportation through external momenta states

The conventional teleportation protocol requires a state entangled in only one degree of freedom, while hyperteleportation requires more than single degree of freedom to complete the task. The hyperteleportation schematics are demonstrated only for the photonic systems, where in the present paper we extend the idea to a hyperteleportation protocol involving the atomic internal and external states. The protocol is deterministically engineered through resonant and off-resonant Atomic Bragg Diffraction (ABD) involving two-level neutral atoms under standard cavity-QED working environment. Moreover, the longer interaction time Bragg's regime with well separated transverse momenta states as an output of the neutral atoms guarantees the high enough engineering fidelities with reduced decoherence rates. The experimental parameters for the demonstration of the proposed scheme are also elucidated briefly describing the optimistic feasibility for the experimental execution of the proposed schematics.

Electron scattering cross-sections for particle transport modeling in a weakly ionized air plasma

Data on processes of electron scattering on ions and neutral atoms are required in fundamental studies and in applied research in such fields as astro- and laser physics, low density plasma simulations, kinetic modeling etc. Experimental and computational data on elastic and inelastic electron scattering in a wide range of electron energies is available mostly for the electron interaction with neutral atoms, but are very limited for the scattering on ions, notably for elastic processes. In present work the calculational approaches for the cross-section computation of electron elastic and inelastic scattering on neutral atoms and ions are considered. The atomic and ion properties obtained in quantum-statistical Hartree-Fock-Slater model are used in the direct computation of electron elastic scattering and ionization cross-sections by a partial waves method, semiclassical and distorted-wave approximations. Calculated cross-sections for elastic scattering on nitrogen and oxygen atoms and ions, and electron ionisation cross-sections are compared with the available experimental data and widely used approximations and propose consistent results. Considering applicability of Hartree-Fock-Slater model in wide scope of temperatures and densities, such approach to the cross-section calculation can be used in a broad range of energies and ion charges.

Interactions of Ions and Ultracold Neutral Atom Ensembles in Composite Optical Dipole Traps: Developments and Perspectives

Ion–atom interactions are a comparatively recent field of research that has drawn considerable attention due to its applications in areas including quantum chemistry and quantum simulations. In first experiments, atomic ions and neutral atoms have been successfully overlapped by devising hybrid apparatuses combining established trapping methods, Paul traps for ions and optical or magneto-optical traps for neutral atoms, respectively. Since then, the field has seen considerable progress, but the inherent presence of radiofrequency (rf) fields in such hybrid traps was found to have a limiting impact on the achievable collision energies. Recently, it was shown that suitable combinations of optical dipole traps (ODTs) can be used for trapping both atoms and atomic ions alike, allowing to carry out experiments in absence of any rf fields. Here, we show that the expected cooling in such bichromatic traps is highly sensitive to relative position fluctuations between the two optical trapping beams, suggesting that this is the dominant mechanism limiting the currently observed cooling performance. We discuss strategies for mitigating these effects by using optimized setups featuring adapted ODT configurations. This includes proposed schemes that may mitigate three-body losses expected at very low temperatures, allowing to access the quantum dominated regime of interaction.