17,042 research outputs found
Superluminous supernovae: No threat from Eta Carinae
Recently Supernova 2006gy was noted as the most luminous ever recorded, with
a total radiated energy of ~10^44 Joules. It was proposed that the progenitor
may have been a massive evolved star similar to eta Carinae, which resides in
our own galaxy at a distance of about 2.3 kpc. eta Carinae appears ready to
detonate. Although it is too distant to pose a serious threat as a normal
supernova, and given its rotation axis is unlikely to produce a Gamma-Ray Burst
oriented toward the Earth, eta Carinae is about 30,000 times nearer than
2006gy, and we re-evaluate it as a potential superluminous supernova. We find
that given the large ratio of emission in the optical to the X-ray, atmospheric
effects are negligible. Ionization of the atmosphere and concomitant ozone
depletion are unlikely to be important. Any cosmic ray effects should be spread
out over ~10^4 y, and similarly unlikely to produce any serious perturbation to
the biosphere. We also discuss a new possible effect of supernovae, endocrine
disruption induced by blue light near the peak of the optical spectrum. This is
a possibility for nearby supernovae at distances too large to be considered
"dangerous" for other reasons. However, due to reddening and extinction by the
interstellar medium, eta Carinae is unlikely to trigger such effects to any
significant degree.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures; Revised version as accepted for publication in
Astrobiolog
Observation of Parity Nonconservation in Møller Scattering
We report a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in fixed target electron-electron (Møller) scattering: A_(PV) = [-175 ± 30(stat)± 20(syst)] X 10^(-9). This first direct observation of parity nonconservation in Møller scattering leads to a measurement of the electron’s weak charge at low energy Q^e_W = -0:053 ± 0:011. This is consistent with the standard model expectation at the current level of precision: sin^2θ_W = (M_Z)_(MS) = 0:2293 ± 0:0024(stat) ± 0:0016(syst) ± 0:0006(theory)
Novel Quark Fragmentation Functions and the Nucleon's Transversity Distribution
We define twist-two and twist-three quark fragmentation functions in Quantum
Chromodynamics (QCD) and study their physical implications. Using this
formalism we show how the nucleon's transversity distribution can be measured
in single pion inclusive electroproduction.Comment: 10 pages, uses PHYZZX macro package, 2 PostScript figures (added
using FIGURES). MIT-CTP-215
Measurement of Dielectric Suppression of Bremsstrahlung
In 1953, Ter-Mikaelian predicted that the bremsstrahlung of low energy
photons in a medium is suppressed because of interactions between the produced
photon and the electrons in the medium. This suppression occurs because the
emission takes place over on a long distance scale, allowing for destructive
interference between different instantaneous photon emission amplitudes. We
present here measurements of bremsstrahlung cross sections of 200 keV to 20 MeV
photons produced by 8 and 25 GeV electrons in carbon and gold targets. Our data
shows that dielectric suppression occurs at the predicted level, reducing the
cross section up to 75 percent in our data.Comment: 11 pages, format is postscript file, gzip-ed, uuencode-e
vbyCaHbeta CCD Photometry of Clusters. VI. The Metal-Deficient Open Cluster NGC 2420
CCD photometry on the intermediate-band vbyCaHbeta system is presented for
the metal-deficient open cluster, NGC 2420. Restricting the data to probable
single members of the cluster using the CMD and the photometric indices alone
generates a sample of 106 stars at the cluster turnoff. The average E(b-y) =
0.03 +/- 0.003 (s.e.m.) or E(B-V) = 0.050 +/- 0.004 (s.e.m.), where the errors
refer to internal errors alone. With this reddening, [Fe/H] is derived from
both m1 and hk, using b-y and Hbeta as the temperature index. The agreement
among the four approaches is reasonable, leading to a final weighted average of
[Fe/H] = -0.37 +/- 0.05 (s.e.m.) for the cluster, on a scale where the Hyades
has [Fe/H] = +0.12. When combined with the abundances from DDO photometry and
from recalibrated low-resolution spectroscopy, the mean metallicity becomes
[Fe/H] = -0.32 +/- 0.03. It is also demonstrated that the average cluster
abundances based upon either DDO data or low-resolution spectroscopy are
consistently reliable to 0.05 dex or better, contrary to published attempts to
establish an open cluster metallicity scale using simplistic offset corrections
among different surveys.Comment: scheduled for Jan. 2006 AJ; 33 pages, latex, includes 7 figures and 2
table
Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interaction
A Bose-Einstein condensate with attractive interaction can be metastable if
it is spatially confined and if the number of condensate bosons is below
a certain critical value . By applying a variational method and the
instanton techinique to the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional, we find
analytically the frequency of the collective excitation and the rate of
macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT). We show that near the critical point the
tunneling exponent vanishes according to and that MQT
can be a dominant decay mechanism of the condensate for very close to
.Comment: RevTex 4 pages with 1 postscript figure. Accepted for publication in
Physical Review Letter
Probing the Relation Between X-ray-Derived and Weak-Lensing-Derived Masses for Shear-Selected Galaxy Clusters: I. A781
We compare X-ray and weak-lensing masses for four galaxy clusters that
comprise the top-ranked shear-selected cluster system in the Deep Lens Survey.
The weak-lensing observations of this system, which is associated with A781,
are from the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m telescope, and the X-ray observations are
from both Chandra and XMM-Newton. For a faithful comparison of masses, we adopt
the same matter density profile for each method, which we choose to be an NFW
profile. Since neither the X-ray nor weak-lensing data are deep enough to well
constrain both the NFW scale radius and central density, we estimate the scale
radius using a fitting function for the concentration derived from cosmological
hydrodynamic simulations and an X-ray estimate of the mass assuming
isothermality. We keep this scale radius in common for both X-ray and
weak-lensing profiles, and fit for the central density, which scales linearly
with mass. We find that for three of these clusters, there is agreement between
X-ray and weak-lensing NFW central densities, and thus masses. For the other
cluster, the X-ray central density is higher than that from weak-lensing by 2
sigma. X-ray images suggest that this cluster may be undergoing a merger with a
smaller cluster. This work serves as an additional step towards understanding
the possible biases in X-ray and weak-lensing cluster mass estimation methods.
Such understanding is vital to efforts to constrain cosmology using X-ray or
weak-lensing cluster surveys to trace the growth of structure over cosmic time.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, matches version in Ap
Dissipative dynamics of superfluid vortices at non-zero temperatures
We consider the evolution and dissipation of vortex rings in a condensate at
non-zero temperature, in the context of the classical field approximation,
based on the defocusing nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. The temperature in
such a system is fully determined by the total number density and the number
density of the condensate. A vortex ring is introduced into a condensate in a
state of thermal equilibrium, and interacts with non-condensed particles. These
interactions lead to a gradual decrease in the vortex line density, until the
vortex ring completely disappears. We show that the square of the vortex line
length changes linearly with time, and obtain the corresponding universal decay
law. We relate this to mutual friction coefficients in the fundamental equation
of vortex motion in superfluids.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Female Reproductive Traits in Selected Arkansas Snakes
Female reproductive characteristics of 17 genera of Arkansas snakes (27 species and subspecies) were examined. Most of the snakes (n= 495) were collected over a 10-year span (1984-1993). Methods used to estimate clutch and/or litter size were as follows: 1) counts of previtellogenic ovarian follicles,2) counts of vitellogenic ovarian follicles,3) counts of oviductal eggs or embryos, 4) counts of corpora luteal scars, and 5) counts of neonates from egg clutches or litters. In several species, Method 1 tended to overestimate clutch size as determined by Method 2 by as much as 100% (e.g., in Diadophis punctatus, Elaphe obsoleta, and Lampropeltis getula), whereas these methods produced similar counts in Virginia striatula and Thamnophis proximus. The largest clutch size as estimated by Method 1 was 79 ova in a 744 mm in snout-vent length (SVL) individual of Thamnophis sirtalis; the smallest clutch size as recorded by this method was in Carphophis vermis (2 ova; 182 mm in SVL). Method 2 reduces the total egg count by one third over Method 1 in most species, and this count was very similar to the estimates obtained by Method 3, the most reliable way to estimate clutch or litter size (without actually having counts from egg clutches or litters). The presence of atretic ovarian follicles accounts for discrepancies found between clutch size estimates using Methods 1 and 2 as compared to Method 3. Comparisons of clutch sizes in Arkansas specimens to those recorded for snake species in neighboring states revealed similar sizes in 13 species; counts were larger in 8 species from Arkansas and smaller in only one species
The Impact Of A Collegiate Course In Bargaining And Negotiation On Students Perceptions Of Their Own And Others Attitudes And Behaviors: An Exploratory Study
This article presents a discussion of the importance of a course in bargaining and negotiation to university-level students in an accredited business school environment. In addition to discussing recommended content, pedagogy, and assessment methods, the results of a study that examines the impact of the course on students perceptions of skills, attitudes, and behaviors associated with effective negotiation is presented. The results of the study clearly demonstrate significant shifts in students perceptions regarding power, constructive dialogue, and the appropriate role and definition of winning in such bargaining and negotiation encounters
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