String Effects on Fermi--Dirac Correlation Measurements

We investigate some recent measurements of Fermi--Dirac correlations by the LEP collaborations indicating surprisingly small source radii for the production of baryons in $e^+e^-$-annihilation at the $Z^0$ peak. In the hadronization models there are besides the Fermi--Dirac correlation effect also a strong dynamical (anti-)correlation. We demonstrate that the extraction of the pure FD effect is highly dependent on a realistic Monte Carlo event generator, both for separation of those dynamical correlations which are not related to Fermi--Dirac statistics, and for corrections of the data and background subtractions. Although the model can be tuned to well reproduce single particle distributions, there are large model-uncertainties when it comes to correlations between identical baryons. We therefore, unfortunately, have to conclude that it is at present not possible to make any firm conclusion about the source radii relevant for baryon production at LEP

Advective collisions

Small particles advected in a fluid can collide (and therefore aggregate) due to the stretching or shearing of fluid elements. This effect is usually discussed in terms of a theory due to Saffman and Turner [J. Fluid Mech., 1, 16-30, (1956)]. We show that in complex or random flows the Saffman-Turner theory for the collision rate describes only an initial transient (which we evaluate exactly). We obtain precise expressions for the steady-state collision rate for flows with small Kubo number, including the influence of fractal clustering on the collision rate for compressible flows. For incompressible turbulent flows, where the Kubo number is of order unity, the Saffman-Turner theory is an upper bound.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

BRUCE: a program for the detection of transfer-messenger RNA genes in nucleotide sequences

A computer program, BRUCE, was developed for the identification of transfer‐messenger RNA (tmRNA) genes. The program employs heuristic algorithms to search for a tRNAAla‐like secondary structure surrounding a short sequence encoding the tag peptide. In the 57 completely sequenced bacterial genomes where tmRNA genes have been reported previously, BRUCE identified all with no false positives. In addition, BRUCE found 99 of the 100 tmRNAs identified previously in other bacteria, red chloroplasts and cyanelles. The output of the program reports the proposed tRNA secondary structure, the tmRNA gene sequence and the tag peptide

Lagrangian perturbation theory for a superfluid immersed in an elastic neutron star crust

The inner crust of mature neutron stars, where an elastic lattice of neutron-rich nuclei coexists with a neutron superfluid, impacts on a range of astrophysical phenomena. The presence of the superfluid is key to our understanding of pulsar glitches, and is expected to affect the thermal conductivity and hence the evolution of the surface temperature. The coupling between crust and superfluid must also be accounted for in studies of neutron star dynamics, discussions of global oscillations and associated instabilities. In this paper we develop Lagrangian perturbation theory for this problem, paying attention to key issues like superfluid entrainment, potential vortex pinning, dissipative mutual friction and the star's magnetic field. We also discuss the nature of the core-crust interface. The results provide a theoretical foundation for a range of interesting astrophysical applications.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, to appear in MNRA

Investigations into the BFKL Mechanism with a Running QCD Coupling

We present approximations of varying degree of sophistication to the integral equations for the (gluon) structure functions of a hadron (``the partonic flux factor'') in a model valid in the Leading Log Approximation with a running coupling constant. The results are all of the BFKL-type, i.e. a power in the Bjorken variable x_B^{-\lambda} with the parameter \lambda determined from the size \alpha_0 of the ``effective'' running coupling \bar{\alpha}\equiv 3\alpha_s/\pi= \alpha_0/\log(k_{\perp}^2) and varying depending upon the treatment of the transverse momentum pole. We also consider the implications for the transverse momentum (k_{\perp}) fluctuations along the emission chains and we obtain an exponential falloff in the relevant \kappa\equiv \log(k_{\perp}^2)-variable, i.e. an inverse power (k_{\perp}^2)^{-(2+\lambda)} with the same parameter \lambda. This is different from the BFKL-result for a fixed coupling, where the distributions are Gaussian in the \kappa-variable with a width as in a Brownian motion determined by ``the length'' of the emission chains, i.e. \log(1/x_B). The results are verified by a realistic Monte Carlo simulation and we provide a simple physics motivation for the change.Comment: 24 pages, 10 supplementary files, submitted to Physical Review

The Spin Distribution of Fast Spinning Neutron Stars in Low Mass X-Ray Binaries: Evidence for Two Sub-Populations

We study the current sample of rapidly rotating neutron stars in both accreting and non-accreting binaries in order to determine whether the spin distribution of accreting neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries can be reconciled with current accretion torque models. We perform a statistical analysis of the spin distributions and show that there is evidence for two sub-populations among low-mass X-ray binaries, one at relatively low spin frequency, with an average of ~300 Hz and a broad spread, and a peaked population at higher frequency with average spin frequency of ~575 Hz. We show that the two sub-populations are separated by a cut-point at a frequency of ~540 Hz. We also show that the spin frequency of radio millisecond pulsars does not follow a log-normal distribution and shows no evidence for the existence of distinct sub-populations. We discuss the uncertainties of different accretion models and speculate that either the accreting neutron star cut-point marks the onset of gravitational waves as an efficient mechanism to remove angular momentum or some of the neutron stars in the fast sub-population do not evolve into radio millisecond pulsars.Comment: Submitted to Ap

The dynamics of dissipative multi-fluid neutron star cores

We present a Newtonian multi-fluid formalism for superfluid neutron star cores, focussing on the additional dissipative terms that arise when one takes into account the individual dynamical degrees of freedom associated with the coupled "fluids". The problem is of direct astrophysical interest as the nature of the dissipative terms can have significant impact on the damping of the various oscillation modes of the star and the associated gravitational-wave signatures. A particularly interesting application concerns the gravitational-wave driven instability of f- and r-modes. We apply the developed formalism to two specific three-fluid systems: (i) a hyperon core in which both Lambda and Sigma^- hyperons are present, and (ii) a core of deconfined quarks in the colour-flavour-locked phase in which a population of neutral K^0 kaons is present. The formalism is, however, general and can be applied to other problems in neutron-star dynamics (such as the effect of thermal excitations close to the superfluid transition temperature) as well as laboratory multi-fluid systems.Comment: RevTex, no figure