Search

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) conventionally operates within high-performance magnetic shields due to the extremely weak magnetic field signals from the measured objects and the narrow dynamic range of the magnetic sensors employed for detection. This limitation results in elevated equipment costs and restricted usage. Additionally, the information obtained from MEG is functional images, and to analyze from which part of the brain the signals are coming, it is necessary to capture morphological images separately. When MEG and morphological imaging devices are separate, despite their individual high measurement accuracies, discrepancies in positional information may arise. In response, we have developed a low-field magnetic resonance imaging system that incorporates scalar-mode optically pumped magnetometers with a wide dynamic range and exceptionally high measurement sensitivity as sensors for MEG. Operating at low magnetic fields eliminates the need for superconducting coils in magnetic resonance imaging and the high-performance magnetic shields essential for MEG, promising a substantial cost reduction compared to traditional approaches. We achieved a noise level of about $16\,\rm{pT/Hz}^{1/2}$ with a single channel magnetometer, and reached a noise level of $367\,\rm{fT/cm/Hz}^{1/2}$ through differential measurements. The system successfully conducted MR imaging on a phantom, demonstrating the potential of MEG and MRI fusion., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures

Let $W$ be an irreducible finite complex reflection group acting on a complex vector space $V$. For a positive integer $k$, we consider a class function $\varphi_k$ given by $\varphi_k(w) = k^{\dim V^w}$ for $w \in W$, where $V^w$ is the fixed-point subspace of $w$. If $W$ is the symmetric group of $n$ letters and $k=n+1$, then $\varphi_{n+1}$ is the permutation character on (classical) parking functions. In this paper, we give a complete answer to the question when $\varphi_k$ (resp. its $q$-analogue) is the character of a representation (resp. the graded character of a graded representation) of $W$. As a key to the proof in the symmetric group case, we find the greatest common divisors of specialized Schur functions. And we propose a unimodality conjecture of the coefficients of certain quotients of principally specialized Schur functions.