Will It Take a Crisis to Fix Fiscal Policy?

Explains how federal spending growth is driven by Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, and other health costs, driven by the aging of the population; challenges for fiscal policy, including congressional dysfunction; and possible reactions to a crisis

Probing short-range correlations in asymmetric nuclei with quasi-free pair knockout reactions

Short-range correlations (SRC) in asymmetric nuclei with an unusual neutron-to-proton ratio can be studied with quasi-free two-nucleon knockout processes following the collision between accelerated ions and a proton target. We derive an approximate factorized cross section for those SRC-driven $p(A,p^{\prime} N_1 N_2)$ reactions. Our reaction model hinges on the factorization properties of SRC-driven $A(e, e^\prime N_1 N_2)$ reactions for which strong indications are found in theory-experiment comparisons. In order to put our model to the test we compare its predictions with results of $^{12}\text{C}(p,p^{\prime} pn)$ measurements conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and find a fair agreement. The model can also reproduce characteristic features of SRC-driven two-nucleon knockout reactions, like back-to-back emission of the correlated nucleons. We study the asymmetry dependence of nuclear SRC by providing predictions for the ratio of proton-proton to proton-neutron knockout cross sections for the carbon isotopes $^{9-15}$C thereby covering neutron excess values $(N-Z)/Z$ between -0.5 and +0.5.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Final version published in Physics Letters B, minor changes in the tex

Invariant Manifolds and Rate Constants in Driven Chemical Reactions

Reaction rates of chemical reactions under nonequilibrium conditions can be determined through the construction of the normally hyperbolic invariant manifold (NHIM) [and moving dividing surface (DS)] associated with the transition state trajectory. Here, we extend our recent methods by constructing points on the NHIM accurately even for multidimensional cases. We also advance the implementation of machine learning approaches to construct smooth versions of the NHIM from a known high-accuracy set of its points. That is, we expand on our earlier use of neural nets, and introduce the use of Gaussian process regression for the determination of the NHIM. Finally, we compare and contrast all of these methods for a challenging two-dimensional model barrier case so as to illustrate their accuracy and general applicability.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, table of contents figur

Gamow peak approximation near strong resonances

We discuss the most effective energy range for charged particle induced reactions in a plasma environment at a given plasma temperature. The correspondence between the plasma temperature and the most effective energy should be modified from the one given by the Gamow peak energy, in the presence of a significant incident-energy dependence in the astrophysical S-factor as in the case of resonant reactions. The suggested modification of the effective energy range is important not only in thermonuclear reactions at high temperature in the stellar environment, e.g., in advanced burning stages of massive stars and in explosive stellar environment, as it has been already claimed, but also in the application of the nuclear reactions driven by ultra-intense laser pulse irradiations

A plasmon-driven selective surface catalytic reaction revealed by surface-enhanced Raman scattering in an electrochemical environment

Plasmonic catalytic reactions of molecules with single amine or nitro groups have been investigated in recent years. However, plasmonic catalysis of molecules with multiple amine and/or nitro groups is still unknown. In this paper, plasmon-driven catalytic reactions of 4,4'-dinitroazobenzene (DNAB), 4,4'-diaminoazobenzene (DAAB) and 4-nitro-4'-aminoazobenzene (NAAB) are investigated using electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The results reveal that a plasmon-driven reduction reaction occurred for DNAB and NAAB in which the NO 2 group was reduced to NH 2, while the plasmon-driven oxidation reaction of NH 2 did not occur. This result demonstrates that plasmon-driven reduction reactions are much easier than plasmon-driven oxidization reactions in electrochemical environments. The molecular resonance may also play an important role in plasmon-driven catalytic reactions. These findings provide us with a deeper understanding of plasmon-driven catalytic reactions

Inclusive Nucleon Emission Induced by Quasi--Elastic Neutrino--Nucleus Interactions

We study the quasi--elastic contribution to the inclusive $(\nu_l,\nu_l N)$, $(\nu_l,l^- N)$, $({\bar \nu}_l,{\bar \nu}_l N)$ and $({\bar \nu}_l,l^+ N)$ reactions in nuclei using a Monte Carlo simulation method to account for the rescattering of the outgoing nucleon. As input, we take the reaction probability from the microscopical many body framework developed in Phys. Rev. {\bf C70} (2004) 055503 for charged-current induced reactions, while for neutral currents we use results from a natural extension of the model described in that reference. The nucleon emission process studied here is a clear signal for neutral--current neutrino driven reactions, that can be used in the analysis of future neutrino experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures; Version 2: few typos correcte