1,573 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
Microlensing by Cosmic Strings
We consider the signature and detectability of gravitational microlensing of
distant quasars by cosmic strings. Because of the simple image configuration
such events will have a characteristic light curve, in which a source would
appear to brighten by exactly a factor of two, before reverting to its original
apparent brightness. We calculate the optical depth and event rate, and
conclude that current predictions and limits on the total length of strings on
the sky imply optical depths of \la 10^{-8} and event rates of fewer than one
event per sources per year. Disregarding those predictions but replacing
them with limits on the density of cosmic strings from the CMB fluctuation
spectrum, leaves only a small region of parameter space (in which the sky
contains about strings with deficit angle of order 0.3
milli-arcseconds) for which a microlensing survey of exposure
source-years, spanning a 20--40-year period, might reveal the presence of
cosmic strings.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA
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
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
Chi-square test on candidate events from CW signal coherent searches
In a blind search for continuous gravitational wave signals scanning a wide
frequency band one looks for candidate events with significantly large values
of the detection statistic. Unfortunately, a noise line in the data may also
produce a moderately large detection statistic.
In this paper, we describe how we can distinguish between noise line events
and actual continuous wave (CW) signals, based on the shape of the detection
statistic as a function of the signal's frequency. We will analyze the case of
a particular detection statistic, the F statistic, proposed by Jaranowski,
Krolak, and Schutz.
We will show that for a broad-band 10 hour search, with a false dismissal
rate smaller than 1e-6, our method rejects about 70 % of the large candidate
events found in a typical data set from the second science run of the Hanford
LIGO interferometer.Comment: proceedings of GWDAW8, 2003 conference, 12pages, 6 figure
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
Nucleation of Quark--Gluon Plasma from Hadronic Matter
The energy densities achieved during central collisions of large nuclei at
Brookhaven's AGS may be high enough to allow the formation of quark--gluon
plasma. Calculations based on relativistic nucleation theory suggest that rare
events, perhaps one in every 10 or 10, undergo the phase transition.
Experimental ramifications may include an enhancement in the ratio of pions to
baryons, a reduction in the ratio of deuterons to protons, and a larger source
size as seen by hadron interferometry.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures available upon request, NUC--MINN--94/5--
Inhomogeneous Nucleation of Quark-Gluon Plasma in High Energy Nuclear Collisions
We estimate the probability that a hard nucleon-nucleon collision is able to
nucleate a seed of quark--gluon plasma in the surrounding hot and dense
hadronic matter formed during a central collision of two large nuclei at AGS
energies. The probability of producing at least one such seed is on the order
of 1-100\%. We investigate the influence of quark--gluon plasma formation on
the observed multiplicity distribution and find that it may lead to noticable
structure in the form of a bump or shoulder.Comment: 16 pages, latex and 12 ps figures available on reques
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