1,572 research outputs found
Elastic pion-nucleon scattering in chiral perturbation theory: A fresh look
Elastic pion-nucleon scattering is analyzed in the framework of chiral
perturbation theory up to fourth order within the heavy-baryon expansion and a
covariant approach based on an extended on-mass-shell renormalization scheme.
We discuss in detail the renormalization of the various low-energy constants
and provide explicit expressions for the relevant -functions and the
finite subtractions of the power-counting breaking terms within the covariant
formulation. To estimate the theoretical uncertainty from the truncation of the
chiral expansion, we employ an approach which has been successfully applied in
the most recent analysis of the nuclear forces. This allows us to reliably
extract the relevant low-energy constants from the available scattering data at
low energy. The obtained results provide a clear evidence that the breakdown
scale of the chiral expansion for this reaction is related to the
-resonance. The explicit inclusion of the leading contributions of the
-isobar is demonstrated to substantially increase the range of
applicability of the effective field theory. The resulting predictions for the
phase shifts are in an excellent agreement with the ones from the recent
Roy-Steiner-equation analysis of pion-nucleon scattering
Pion-nucleon scattering in covariant baryon chiral perturbation theory with explicit Delta resonances
We present the results of a third order calculation of the pion-nucleon
scattering amplitude in a chiral effective field theory with pions, nucleons
and delta resonances as explicit degrees of freedom. We work in a manifestly
Lorentz invariant formulation of baryon chiral perturbation theory using
dimensional regularization and the extended on-mass-shell renormalization
scheme. In the delta resonance sector, the on mass-shell renormalization is
realized as a complex-mass scheme. By fitting the low-energy constants of the
effective Lagrangian to the - and -partial waves a satisfactory
description of the phase shifts from the analysis of the Roy-Steiner equations
is obtained. We predict the phase shifts for the and waves and compare
them with the results of the analysis of the George Washington University
group. The threshold parameters are calculated both in the delta-less and
delta-full cases. Based on the determined low-energy constants, we discuss the
pion-nucleon sigma term. Additionally, in order to determine the strangeness
content of the nucleon, we calculate the octet baryon masses in the presence of
decuplet resonances up to next-to-next-to-leading order in SU(3) baryon chiral
perturbation theory. The octet baryon sigma terms are predicted as a byproduct
of this calculation.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures, 7 table
GravEn: Software for the simulation of gravitational wave detector network response
Physically motivated gravitational wave signals are needed in order to study
the behaviour and efficacy of different data analysis methods seeking their
detection. GravEn, short for Gravitational-wave Engine, is a MATLAB software
package that simulates the sampled response of a gravitational wave detector to
incident gravitational waves. Incident waves can be specified in a data file or
chosen from among a group of pre-programmed types commonly used for
establishing the detection efficiency of analysis methods used for LIGO data
analysis. Every aspect of a desired signal can be specified, such as start time
of the simulation (including inter-sample start times), wave amplitude, source
orientation to line of sight, location of the source in the sky, etc. Supported
interferometric detectors include LIGO, GEO, Virgo and TAMA.Comment: 10 Pages, 3 Figures, Presented at the 10th Gravitational Wave Data
Analysis Workshop (GWDAW-10), 14-17 December 2005 at the University of Texas,
Brownsvill
Application of “omics” to Prion Biomarker Discovery
The advent of genomics and proteomics has been a catalyst for the discovery of biomarkers able to discriminate biological processes such as the pathogenesis of complex diseases. Prompt detection of prion diseases is particularly desirable given their transmissibility, which is responsible for a number of human health risks stemming from exogenous sources of prion protein. Diagnosis relies on the ability to detect the biomarker PrPSc, a pathological isoform of the host protein PrPC, which is an essential component of the infectious prion. Immunochemical detection of PrPSc is specific and sensitive enough for antemortem testing of brain tissue, however, this is not the case in accessible biological fluids or for the detection of recently identified novel prions with unique biochemical properties. A complementary approach to the detection of PrPSc itself is to identify alternative, “surrogate” gene or protein biomarkers indicative of disease. Biomarkers are also useful to track the progress of disease, especially important in the assessment of therapies, or to identify individuals “at risk”. In this review we provide perspective on current progress and pitfalls in the use of “omics” technologies to screen body fluids and tissues for biomarker discovery in prion diseases
Extracting particle freeze-out phase-space densities and entropies from sources imaged in heavy-ion reactions
The space-averaged phase-space density and entropy per particle are both
fundamental observables which can be extracted from the two-particle
correlation functions measured in heavy-ion collisions. Two techniques have
been proposed to extract the densities from correlation data: either by using
the radius parameters from Gaussian fits to meson correlations or by using
source imaging, which may be applied to any like pair correlation. We show that
the imaging and Gaussian fits give the same result in the case of meson
interferometry. We discuss the concept of an equivalent instantaneous source on
which both techniques rely. We also discuss the phase-space occupancy and
entropy per particle. Finally, we propose an improved formula for the
phase-space occupancy that has a more controlled dependence on the uncertainty
of the experimentally measured source functions.Comment: 14 pages, final version, to appear PRC. Fixed typos, added refs. for
last section, added discussions of imaging and d/p ratio
Non-Markovian large amplitude motion and nuclear fission
The general problem of dissipation in macroscopic large-amplitude collective
motion and its relation to energy diffusion of intrinsic degrees of freedom of
a nucleus is studied. By applying the cranking approach to the nuclear many
body system, a set of coupled dynamical equations for the collective classical
variables and the quantum mechanical occupancies of the intrinsic nuclear
states is derived. Different dynamical regimes of the intrinsic nuclear motion
and its consequences on time properties of collective dissipation are
discussed. The approach is applied to the descant of the nucleus from the
fission barrier.Comment: 9 pages and 3 figure
Phase space density and chiral symmetry restoration in relativistic heavy ion collisions
The effect of altered hadron masses is studied for its effect with regard to
final-state hadronic observables. It is shown that the final phase space
densities of pions and kaons, which can be inferred experimentally, are
sensitive to in-medium properties of the excited matter at earlier stages of
the collision, but that the sensitivity is significantly moderated by
interactions that change the effective numbers of pions and kaons during the
latter part of the collision.Comment: 5 pages, 4 fig.
Continuum corrections to the level density and its dependence on excitation energy, n-p asymmetry, and deformation
In the independent-particle model, the nuclear level density is determined
from the neutron and proton single-particle level densities. The
single-particle level density for the positive-energy continuum levels is
important at high excitation energies for stable nuclei and at all excitation
energies for nuclei near the drip lines. This single-particle level density is
subdivided into compound-nucleus and gas components. Two methods were
considered for this subdivision. First in the subtraction method, the
single-particle level density is determined from the scattering phase shifts.
In the Gamov method, only the narrow Gamov states or resonances are included.
The level densities calculated with these two methods are similar, both can be
approximated by the backshifted Fermi-gas expression with level-density
parameters that are dependent on A, but with very little dependence on the
neutron or proton richness of the nucleus. However, a small decrease in the
level-density parameter was predicted for some nuclei very close to the drip
lines. The largest difference between the calculations using the two methods
was the deformation dependence on the level density. The Gamov method predicts
a very strong peaking of the level density at sphericity for high excitation
energies. This leads to a suppression of deformed configurations and,
consequently, the fission rate predicted by the statistical model is reduced in
the Gamov method.Comment: 18 pages 24 figure
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