Erratum: Bright Solitonic Matter-Wave Interferometer [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 013002 (2014)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.013002.

Simultaneous Precision Gravimetry and Magnetic Gradiometry with a Bose-Einstein Condensate: A High Precision, Quantum Sensor.

A Bose-Einstein condensate is used as an atomic source for a high precision sensor. A 5×10^{6} atom F=1 spinor condensate of ^{87}Rb is released into free fall for up to 750 ms and probed with a T=130 ms Mach-Zehnder atom interferometer based on Bragg transitions. The Bragg interferometer simultaneously addresses the three magnetic states |m_{f}=1,0,-1⟩, facilitating a simultaneous measurement of the acceleration due to gravity with a 1000 run precision of Δg/g=1.45×10^{-9} and the magnetic field gradient to a precision of 120 pT/m.

Fast machine-learning online optimization of ultra-cold-atom experiments.

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observations our 'learner' discovers an optimal evaporation ramp for BEC production. In contrast to previous work, our learner uses a Gaussian process to develop a statistical model of the relationship between the parameters it controls and the quality of the BEC produced. We demonstrate that the Gaussian process machine learner is able to discover a ramp that produces high quality BECs in 10 times fewer iterations than a previously used online optimization technique. Furthermore, we show the internal model developed can be used to determine which parameters are essential in BEC creation and which are unimportant, providing insight into the optimization process of the system.

Bright solitonic matter-wave interferometer.

We present the first realization of a solitonic atom interferometer. A Bose-Einstein condensate of 1×10(4) atoms of rubidium-85 is loaded into a horizontal optical waveguide. Through the use of a Feshbach resonance, the s-wave scattering length of the 85Rb atoms is tuned to a small negative value. This attractive atomic interaction then balances the inherent matter-wave dispersion, creating a bright solitonic matter wave. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is constructed by driving Bragg transitions with the use of an optical lattice colinear with the waveguide. Matter-wave propagation and interferometric fringe visibility are compared across a range of s-wave scattering values including repulsive, attractive and noninteracting values. The solitonic matter wave is found to significantly increase fringe visibility even compared with a noninteracting cloud.

11 W narrow linewidth laser source at 780 nm for laser cooling and manipulation of Rubidium.

We present a narrow linewidth continuous laser source with over 11 W output power at 780 nm, based on single-pass frequency doubling of an amplified 1560 nm fibre laser with 36% efficiency. This source offers a combination of high power, simplicity, mode quality and stability. Without any active stabilization, the linewidth is measured to be below 10 kHz. The fibre seed is tunable over 60 GHz, which allows access to the D2 transitions in 87Rb and 85Rb, providing a viable high-power source for laser cooling as well as for large-momentum-transfer beamsplitters in atom interferometry. Sources of this type will pave the way for a new generation of high flux, high duty-cycle degenerate quantum gas experiments.

Amino acids in the Martian meteorite Nakhla.

A suite of protein and nonprotein amino acids were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography in the water- and acid-soluble components of an interior fragment of the Martian meteorite Nakhla, which fell in Egypt in 1911. Aspartic and glutamic acids, glycine, alanine, beta-alanine, and gamma-amino-n-butyric acid (gamma-ABA) were the most abundant amino acids detected and were found primarily in the 6 M HCl-hydrolyzed, hot water extract. The concentrations ranged from 20 to 330 parts per billion of bulk meteorite. The amino acid distribution in Nakhla, including the D/L ratios (values range from <0.1 to 0.5), is similar to what is found in bacterially degraded organic matter. The amino acids in Nakhla appear to be derived from terrestrial organic matter that infiltrated the meteorite soon after its fall to Earth, although it is possible that some of the amino acids are endogenous to the meteorite. The rapid amino acid contamination of Martian meteorites after direct exposure to the terrestrial environment has important implications for Mars sample-return missions and the curation of the samples from the time of their delivery to Earth.

Association of pulmonary function testing abnormalities and severe veno-occlusive disease of the liver after marrow transplantation.

We investigated an association between pulmonary function testing (PFT) before bone marrow transplantation and the development of severe veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver. We previously noted that reductions in diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (corrected for hemoglobin) (D(L)COc) were associated with mortality after transplantation, but this was not caused by respiratory failure. We performed a case-series review of prospectively collected data from 307 marrow recipients who underwent PFT within 2 weeks of transplantation. Of these, 170 (56%) developed VOD; 39 (13%) mild, 81 (26%) moderate, and 50 (16%) severe or fatal. Both total lung capacity (TLC) and D(L)COc were associated with severe VOD in univariate analysis (P = 0.006 for each). However, D(L)COc entered logistic regression models that contained variables for all known risk factors for severe VOD, while TLC did not contribute additional predictive information. The odds ratio (OR) associated with a D(L)COc below the lower limits of normal (70% of predicted) was 2.4 (95 % CI, 1.0 to 5.4; P = 0.04). We conclude that reduced diffusion capacity of the lung measured before marrow transplantation is an independent risk for severe hepatic VOD. We speculate that the decreased D(l)COc indicates pre-existing systemic endothelial cell damage and a susceptibility to severe hepatic injury from chemotherapy.

A search for endogenous amino acids in martian meteorite ALH84001.

Trace amounts of glycine, serine, and alanine were detected in the carbonate component of the martian meteorite ALH84001 by high-performance liquid chromatography. The detected amino acids were not uniformly distributed in the carbonate component and ranged in concentration from 0.1 to 7 parts per million. Although the detected alanine consists primarily of the L enantiomer, low concentrations (<0.1 parts per million) of endogenous D-alanine may be present in the ALH84001 carbonates. The amino acids present in this sample of ALH84001 appear to be terrestrial in origin and similar to those in Allan Hills ice, although the possibility cannot be ruled out that minute amounts of some amino acids such as D-alanine are preserved in the meteorite.

A search for endogenous amino acids in the Martian meteorite EETA79001.

The Antarctic shergottite EETA79001 is believed to be an impact-ejected fragment of the planet Mars. Samples of the carbonate (white druse) and the basaltic (lithology A) components from this meteorite have been found to contain amino acids at a level of approximately 1 ppm and 0.4 ppm, respectively. The detected amino acids consist almost exclusively of the L-enantiomers of the amino acids commonly found in proteins, and are thus terrestrial contaminants. There is no indication of the presence of alpha-aminoisobutyric acid, one of the most abundant amino acids in several carbonaceous chondrites. The relative abundances of amino acids in the druse material resemble those in Antarctic ice, suggesting that the source of the amino acids may be ice meltwater. The level of amino acids in EETA79001 druse is not by itself sufficient to account for the 600-700 ppm of volatile C reported in druse samples and suggested to be from endogenous martian organic material. However, estimates of total terrestrial organic C present in the druse material based on our amino acid analyses and the organic C content of polar ice can account for most of the reported putative organic C in EETA79001 druse.

Amino acid racemization on Mars: implications for the preservation of biomolecules from an extinct martian biota.

Using kinetic data, we have estimated the racemization half-lives and times for total racemization of amino acids under conditions relevant to the surface of Mars. Amino acids from an extinct martian biota maintained in a dry, cold (<250 K) environment would not have racemized significantly over the lifetime of the planet. Racemization would have taken place in environments where liquid water was present even for time periods of only a few million years following biotic extinction. The best preservation of both amino acid homochirality and nucleic acid genetic information associated with extinct martian life would be in the polar regions.

The origin of life in the solar system: current issues.

NASA: The authors review current issues in the study of biogenesis and exobiology research. Topics include definitions of life; exobiological environments in the solar system, including the planets and their satellites, comets, and asteroids; energy sources for prebiotic chemistry, and the concept of the RNA world.^ieng

The Titan haze revisited: magnetospheric energy sources and quantitative tholin yields.

We present laboratory measurements of the radiation yields of complex organic solids produced from N2/CH4 gas mixtures containing 10 or 0.1% CH4. These tholins are thought to resemble organic aerosols produced in the atmospheres of Titan, Pluto, and Triton. The tholin yields are large compared to the total yield of gaseous products: nominally, 13 (C + N)/100 eV for Titan tholin and 2.1 (C + N)/100 eV for Triton tholin. High-energy magnetospheric electrons responsible for tholin production represent a class distinct from the plasma electrons considered in models of Titan's airglow. Electrons with E > 20 keV provide an energy flux approximately 1 x 10(-2) erg cm-2 sec-1, implying from our measured tholin yields a mass flux of 0.5 to 4.0 x 10(-14) g cm-2 sec-1 of tholin. (The corresponding thickness of the tholin sedimentary column accumulated over 4 Gyr on Titan's surface is 4 to 30 m.) This figure is in agreement with required mass fluxes computed from recent radiative transfer and sedimentation models. If, however, these results, derived from experiments at approximately 2 mb, are applied to lower pressure levels toward peak auroral electron energy deposition and scaled with pressure as the gas-phase organic yields, the derived tholin mass flux is at least an order of magnitude less. We attribute this difference to the fact that tholin synthesis occurs well below the level of maximum electron energy deposition and to possible contributions to tholins from UV-derived C2-hydrocarbons. We conclude that Titan tholin, produced by magnetospheric electrons, is alone sufficient to supply at least a significant fraction of Titan's haze--a result consistent with the fact that the optical properties of Titan tholin, among all proposed materials, are best at reproducing Titan's geometric albedo spectrum from near UV to mid-IR in light-scattering models.

Chemical investigation of Titan and Triton tholins.

We report chromatographic and spectroscopic analyses of both Titan and Triton tholins, organic solids made from the plasma irradiation of 0.9:0.1 and 0.999:0.001 N2/CH4 gas mixtures, respectively. The lower CH4 mixing ratio leads to a nitrogen-richer tholin (N/C > 1), probably including nitrogen heterocyclic compounds. Unlike Titan tholin, bulk Triton tholin is poor in nitriles. From high-pressure liquid chromatography, ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy, and molecular weight estimation by gel filtration chromatography, we conclude that (1) several H2O-soluble fractions, each with distinct UV and IR spectral signatures, are present, (2) these fractions are not identical in the two tholins, (3) the H2O-soluble fractions of Titan tholins do not contain significant amounts of nitriles, despite the major role of nitriles in bulk Titan tholin, and (4) the H2O-soluble fractions of both tholins are mainly molecules containing about 10 to 50 (C + N) atoms. We report yields of amino acids upon hydrolysis of Titan and Triton tholins. Titan tholin is largely insoluble in the putative hydrocarbon lakes or oceans on Titan, but can yield the H2O-soluble species investigated here upon contact with transient (e.g., impact-generated) liquid water.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the atmospheres of Titan and Jupiter.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are important components of the interstellar medium and carbonaceous chondrites, but have never been identified in the reducing atmospheres of the outer solar system. Incompletely characterized complex organic solids (tholins) produced by irradiating simulated Titan atmospheres reproduce well the observed UV/visible/IR optical constants of the Titan stratospheric haze. Titan tholin and a tholin generated in a crude simulation of the atmosphere of Jupiter are examined by two-step laser desorption/multiphoton ionization mass spectrometry. A range of two- to four-ring PAHs, some with one to four alkylation sites are identified, with net abundance approximately 10(-4) g g-1 (grams per gram) of tholins produced. Synchronous fluorescence techniques confirm this detection. Titan tholins have proportionately more one- and two-ring PAHs than do Jupiter tholins, which in turn have more four-ring and larger PAHs. The four-ringed PAH chrysene, prominent in some discussions of interstellar grains, is found in Jupiter tholins. Solid state 13C NMR spectroscopy suggests approximately equal to 25% of the total C in both tholins is tied up in aromatic and/or aliphatic alkenes. IR spectra indicate an upper limit in both tholins of approximately equal to 6% by mass in benzenes, heterocyclics, and PAHs with more than four rings. Condensed PAHs may contribute at most approximately 10% to the observed detached limb haze layers on Titan. As with interstellar PAHs, the synthesis route of planetary PAHs is likely to be via acetylene addition reactions.

Radiation chemistry in the Jovian stratosphere: laboratory simulations.

Low-pressure continuous-flow laboratory simulations of plasma induced chemistry in H2/He/CH4/NH3 atmospheres show radiation yields of hydrocarbons and nitrogen-containing organic compounds that increase with decreasing pressure in the range 2-200 mbar. Major products of these experiments that have been observed in the Jovian atmosphere are acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), ethane (C2H6), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), propane (C3H8), and propyne (C3H4). Major products that have not yet been observed on Jupiter include acetonitrile (CH3CN), methylamine (CH3NH2), propene (C3H6), butane (C4H10), and butene (C4H8). Various other saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, as well as other amines and nitriles, are present in these experiments as minor products. We place upper limits of 10(6)-10(9) molecules cm-2 sec-1 on production rates of the major species from auroral chemistry in the Jovian stratosphere, and calculate stratospheric mole fraction contributions. This work shows that auroral processes may account for 10-100% of the total abundances of most observed organic species in the polar regions. Our experiments are consistent with models of Jovian polar stratospheric aerosol haze formation from polymerization of acetylene by secondary ultraviolet processing.

Amino acid sequence of the coelomic C globin from the sea cucumber Caudina (Molpadia) arenicola.

The sequence of a globin from a marine invertebrate, the sea cucumber Caudina (Molpadia) arenicola (Echinodermata), is reported. This globin, chain C, is one of four major globins found in coelomic red cells in this organism and is the second to be sequenced. Chain C consists of 157 residues, is amino-terminally acetylated, and has an extended amino-terminal region. This globin shares a 60% sequence identity with the other sequenced C. arenicola globin, D chain (Mauri et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1078, 63-67, 1991), but has a 93.6% identity with a globin from another sea cucumber, Paracaudina chilensis (Suzuki, Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 998, 292-296, 1989).

CH4/NH3/H2O spark tholin: chemical analysis and interaction with Jovian aqueous clouds.

The organic solid (tholin) produced by spark discharge in a CH4 + NH3 + H2O atmosphere is investigated, along with the separable components of its water-soluble fraction. The chemistry of this material serves as a provisional model for the interaction of Jovian organic heteropolymers with the deep aqueous clouds of Jupiter. Intact (unhydrolyzed) tholin is resolved into four chemically distinct fractions by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Gel filtration chromatography reveals abundant components at molecular weights approximately or equal to 600-700 and 200-300 Da. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of derivatized hydrolysis products of unfractionated tholin shows about 10% by mass protein and nonprotein amino acids, chiefly glycine, alanine, aspartic acid, beta-alanine, and beta-aminobutyric acid, and 12% by mass other organic acids and hydroxy acids. The stereospecificity of alanine is investigated and shown to be racemic. The four principal HPLC fractions yield distinctly different proportions of amino acids. Chemical tests show that small peptides or organic molecules containing multiple amino acid precursors are a possibility in the intact tholins, but substantial quantities of large peptides are not indicated. Candidate 700-Da molecules have a central unsaturated, hydrocarbon- and nitrile-rich core, linked by acid-labile (ester or amide) bonds to amino acid and carboxylic acid side groups. The core is probably not HCN "polymer." The concentration of amino acids from tholin hydrolysis in the lower aqueous clouds of Jupiter, about 0.1 micromole, is enough to maintain small populations of terrestrial microorganisms even if the amino acids must serve as the sole carbon source.