Point Absorber Limits to Future Gravitational-Wave Detectors.

High-quality optical resonant cavities require low optical loss, typically on the scale of parts per million. However, unintended micron-scale contaminants on the resonator mirrors that absorb the light circulating in the cavity can deform the surface thermoelastically and thus increase losses by scattering light out of the resonant mode. The point absorber effect is a limiting factor in some high-power cavity experiments, for example, the Advanced LIGO gravitational-wave detector. In this Letter, we present a general approach to the point absorber effect from first principles and simulate its contribution to the increased scattering. The achievable circulating power in current and future gravitational-wave detectors is calculated statistically given different point absorber configurations. Our formulation is further confirmed experimentally in comparison with the scattered power in the arm cavity of Advanced LIGO measured by in situ photodiodes. The understanding presented here provides an important tool in the global effort to design future gravitational-wave detectors that support high optical power and thus reduce quantum noise.

Approaching the motional ground state of a 10-kg object.

The motion of a mechanical object, even a human-sized object, should be governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. Coaxing them into a quantum state is, however, difficult because the thermal environment masks any quantum signature of the object's motion. The thermal environment also masks the effects of proposed modifications of quantum mechanics at large mass scales. We prepared the center-of-mass motion of a 10-kilogram mechanical oscillator in a state with an average phonon occupation of 10.8. The reduction in temperature, from room temperature to 77 nanokelvin, is commensurate with an 11 orders-of-magnitude suppression of quantum back-action by feedback and a 13 orders-of-magnitude increase in the mass of an object prepared close to its motional ground state. Our approach will enable the possibility of probing gravity on massive quantum systems.

Hepatitis C virus therapy is associated with lower health care costs not only in noncirrhotic patients but also in patients with end-stage liver disease.

BACKGROUND: The effect of anti-viral treatment on downstream costs for hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients is unknown. AIM: To evaluate follow-up costs in patients with chronic HCV, stratified by liver disease severity. METHODS: Using a US private insurance database, mean all-cause per-patient-per-month (PPPM) US (2010) medical costs were calculated for HCV-infected persons who did and did not receive anti-HCV treatment between January 2002 and August 2010. Analysis was stratified by liver disease severity [noncirrhotic disease (NCD), compensated cirrhosis (CC) or end-stage liver disease (ESLD)] defined by ICD-9 and CPT codes. RESULTS: A total of 33 309 patients were included (78% NCD, 7% CC and 15% ESLD); 4111 individuals (12%) received anti-HCV treatment during the 2-year baseline period. Mean PPPM follow-up health care costs were significantly lower among treated patients with NCD ($900 vs. $1378 in untreated patients, P < 0.001) and ESLD ($3634 vs. $5071, P < 0.001) groups but not in the CC group ($1404 vs. $1795, P < 0.071; t-test). In a multivariable model adjusted for demographic characteristics, comorbidities, index date and geographical region, incremental cost ratios for total health care costs differed significantly (P < 0.001) between treated and untreated patients in the NCD and ESLD groups but not in the CC group. From this model, mean PPPM total health care costs between treated and untreated patients were $885 and $1370 in the NCD, $1369 and $1802 in the CC, and $3547 and $5137 in the ESLD groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-HCV therapy was associated with lower follow-up US health care costs, and these savings were independent of baseline patient comorbidities and stage of disease.

The effects of a simulated refinery effluent and its components on the estuarine crustacean, Mysidopsis bahia.

The acute and chronic toxicities of a simulated refinery effluent and its components to Mysidopsis bahia were examined. The 96 hr LC50 for M. bahia was 4.7% of the Artificial Refinery Mixture (ARM). The mysid was more sensitive than an estuarine fish and grass shrimp, as well as 17 freshwater organisms previously tested. Fuel oil was the most toxic component of the ARM (96 hr LC50 0.73 mg/l) and contributed disproportionately to the toxicity of the mixture. Chronic exposure to 2.7% of the ARM formulation resulted in growth inhibition by day 8 and reproductive impairment. Long-term exposure to the 96 hr LC10 had deleterious effects on growth and/or reproduction for each component tested.

Evaluating promulgated refinery effluent standards using artificial streams.

Two-week tests on an Artificial Refinery MIxture (ARM) were conducted on periphyton communities on glass slides in laboratory streams. ARM components, which are present in "typical" refinery effluents, approximate maximum allowable concentrations as promulgated by the 1977 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) guidelines for refinery effluents. ARM concentrations tested ranged from approximately 0.25 to 5 times full strength. The nontaxonomic structural parameters--ash-free dry weight, chlorophyll a, and ATP--indicated that ARM concentrations of 1 to 5X stimulated periphyton colonization rates. ARM concentrations of 0.25 to 5X caused a shift in dominant periphytic algae from diatoms in reference streams to green algae in dosed streams; this resulted in higher pH levels in reference streams, apparently related to photosynthetic activity. Changes in nontaxonomic structural parameters of slides precolonized with periphyton were not sensitive water quality indicators. Dry weight was not a useful biomass indicator due to high levels of suspended solids in ARM. The promulgated 1977 guidelines may be adequate to maintain nontaxonomic structural integrity of periphyton communities, while the 1983 guidelines appear to be adequate to maintain taxonomic integrity.

The effects of a simulated refinery effluent on the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio.

Duplicate static bioassays were conducted using a simulated refinery effluent on the grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio, Hippolyte sp.) with the LC-50 values recorded at 4-, 8-, 24-, 48-, and 96-hr intervals. The stimulated refinery effluent contained phenol (0.10 mg/L), sulfide (0.17 mg/L), chromium (0.25 mg/L), ammonia (10 mg/L), No. 2 fuel oil (10 mg/L), and kaolinite (20 mg/L). This arbitrary reference mixture (ARM) contains approximately the concentration of compounds recommended by EPA for 1977. Of the six ARM components, No. 2 fuel oil was the most toxic followed in decreasing order by sulfide, ammonia, phenol, chromium, and kaolinite. Temperature was the most important environmental variable affecting short term toxicity of the ARM to the grass shrimp. Light intensity, photo-period, and salinity had no significant effect. There was no difference in sensitivity of grass shrimp collected from five locations along the gulf and eastern coasts of the United States. Similarly, there was no difference in the response of two grass shrimp genera, Palaemonetes and Hippolyte to the ARM and there was no differences among the three species of Palaemonetes tested. In comparing the sensitivities of the two genera of grass shrimp and the pinfish (Lagodon rhombroides) to the ARM, the grass shrimp were more sensitive.