262 research outputs found
Correction Factors for Reactions involving Quark-Antiquark Annihilation or Production
In reactions with production or annihilation, initial-
and final-state interactions give rise to large corrections to the lowest-order
cross sections. We evaluate the correction factor first for low relative
kinetic energies by studying the distortion of the relative wave function. We
then follow the procedure of Schwinger to interpolate this result with the
well-known perturbative QCD vertex correction factors at high energies, to
obtain an explicit semi-empirical correction factor applicable to the whole
range of energies. The correction factor predicts an enhancement for
in color-singlet states and a suppression for color-octet states, the effect
increasing as the relative velocity decreases. Consequences on dilepton
production in the quark-gluon plasma, the Drell-Yan process, and heavy quark
production processes are discussed.Comment: 25 pages (REVTeX), includes 2 uuencoded compressed postscript figure
Particle creation, renormalizability conditions and the mass-energy spectrum in gravity theories of quadratic Lagrangians
Massive scalar particle production, due to the anisotropic evolution of a
five-dimensional spacetime, is considered in the context of a quadratic
Lagrangian theory of gravity. Those particles, corresponding to field modes
with non-vanishing momentum component along the fifth dimension, are created
mostly in the neighbourhood of a singular epoch where only their high-frequency
behaviour is of considerable importance. At the 1-loop approximation level,
general renormalizability conditions on the physical quantities relevant to
particle production are derived and discussed. Exact solutions of the resulting
Klein-Gordon field equation are obtained and the mass-energy spectrum
attributed to the scalar field due to the cosmological evolution is being
investigated further. Finally, analytic expressions regarding the number and
the energy density of the created particles at late times, are also derived and
discussed.Comment: LaTeX file, 23 page
Ratio of Hadronic Decay Rates of J\psi and \psi(2S) and the \rho\pi Puzzle
The so-called \rho\pi puzzle of J\psi and \psi(2S) decays is examined using
the experimental data available to date. Two different approaches were taken to
estimate the ratio of J\psi and \psi(2S) hadronic decay rates. While one of the
estimates could not yield the exact ratio of \psi(2S) to J\psi inclusive
hadronic decay rates, the other, based on a computation of the inclusive ggg
decay rate for
\psi(2S) (J\psi) by subtracting other decay rates from the total decay rate,
differs by two standard deviations from the naive prediction of perturbative
QCD, even though its central value is nearly twice as large as what was naively
expected. A comparison between this ratio, upon making corrections for specific
exclusive two-body decay modes, and the corresponding experimental data
confirms the puzzles in
J\psi and \psi(2S) decays. We find from our analysis that the exclusively
reconstructed hadronic decays of the \psi(2S) account for only a small fraction
of its total decays, and a ratio exceeding the above estimate should be
expected to occur for a considerable number of the remaining decay channels. We
also show that the recent new results from the BES experiment provide crucial
tests of various theoretical models proposed to explain the puzzle.Comment: 8 pages, no figure, 4 table
Neutron Star Constraints on the H Dibaryon
We study the influence of a possible H dibaryon condensate on the equation of
state and the overall properties of neutron stars whose population otherwise
contains nucleons and hyperons. In particular, we are interested in the
question of whether neutron stars and their masses can be used to say anything
about the existence and properties of the H dibaryon. We find that the equation
of state is softened by the appearance of a dibaryon condensate and can result
in a mass plateau for neutron stars. If the limiting neutron star mass is about
that of the Hulse-Taylor pulsar a condensate of H dibaryons of vacuum mass 2.2
GeV and a moderately attractive potential in the medium could not be ruled out.
On the other hand, if the medium potential were even moderately repulsive, the
H, would not likely exist in neutron stars. If neutron stars of about 1.6 solar
mass were known to exist, attractive medium effects for the H could be ruled
out. Certain ranges of dibaryon mass and potential can be excluded by the mass
of the Hulse-Taylor pulsar which we illustrate graphically.Comment: Revised by the addition of a figure showing the region of dibaryon
mass and potential excluded by the Hulse-Taylor pulsar. 18 pages, 11 figures,
latex (submitted to Phys. Rev. C
Quarkonia and the Pole Mass
The pole mass of a heavy quark is ambiguous by an amount of order
. We show that the heavy-quark potential, , is similarly
ambiguous, but that the total static energy, , is unambiguous
when expressed in terms of a short-distance mass. This implies that the
extraction of a short-distance mass from the quarkonium spectrum is free of an
ambiguity of order , in contrast with the pole mass.Comment: 6 pages, LateX. Minor revisions for publicatio
Inhomogeneous cosmologies, the Copernican principle and the cosmic microwave background: More on the EGS theorem
We discuss inhomogeneous cosmological models which satisfy the Copernican
principle. We construct some inhomogeneous cosmological models starting from
the ansatz that the all the observers in the models view an isotropic cosmic
microwave background. We discuss multi-fluid models, and illustrate how more
general inhomogeneous models may be derived, both in General Relativity and in
scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Thus we illustrate that the cosmological
principle, the assumption that the Universe we live in is spatially
homogeneous, does not necessarily follow from the Copernican principle and the
high isotropy of the cosmic microwave background.Comment: 17 pages; to appear in GR
Stable isotope food-web analysis and mercury biomagnification in polar bears ( Ursus maritimus )
Mercury (Hg) biomagnification occurs in many ecosystems, resulting in a greater potential for toxicological effects in higher-level trophic feeders. However, Hg transport pathways through different food-web channels are not well known, particularly in high-latitude systems affected by the atmospheric Hg deposition associated with snow and ice. Here, we report on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, and Hg concentrations, determined for 26, late 19th and early 20th century, polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) hair specimens, collected from catalogued museum collections. These data elucidate relationships between the high-latitude marine food-web structure and Hg concentrations in polar bears. The carbon isotope compositions of polar bear hairs suggest that polar bears derive nutrition from coupled food-web channels, based in pelagic and sympagic primary producers, whereas the nitrogen isotope compositions indicate that polar bears occupy > fourth-level trophic positions. Our results show a positive correlation between polar bear hair Hg concentrations and ÎŽ 15 N. Interpretation of the stable isotope data in combination with Hg concentrations tentatively suggests that polar bears participating in predominantly pelagic food webs exhibit higher mercury concentrations than polar bears participating in predominantly sympagic food webs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73930/1/j.1751-8369.2009.00114.x.pd
Calibrating ensemble reliability whilst preserving spatial structure
Ensemble forecasts aim to improve decision-making by predicting a set of possible outcomes. Ideally, these would provide probabilities which are both sharp and reliable. In practice, the models, data assimilation and ensemble perturbation systems are all imperfect, leading to deficiencies in the predicted probabilities. This paper presents an ensemble post-processing scheme which directly targets local reliability, calibrating both climatology and ensemble dispersion in one coherent operation. It makes minimal assumptions about the underlying statistical distributions, aiming to extract as much information as possible from the original dynamic forecasts and support statistically awkward variables such as precipitation. The output is a set of ensemble members preserving the spatial, temporal and inter-variable structure from the raw forecasts, which should be beneficial to downstream applications such as hydrological models. The calibration is tested on three leading 15-d ensemble systems, and their aggregation into a simple multimodel ensemble. Results are presented for 12 h, 1° scale over Europe for a range of surface variables, including precipitation. The scheme is very effective at removing unreliability from the raw forecasts, whilst generally preserving or improving statistical resolution. In most cases, these benefits extend to the rarest events at each location within the 2-yr verification period. The reliability and resolution are generally equivalent or superior to those achieved using a Local Quantile-Quantile Transform, an established calibration method which generalises bias correction. The value of preserving spatial structure is demonstrated by the fact that 3Ă3 averages derived from grid-scale precipitation calibration perform almost as well as direct calibration at 3Ă3 scale, and much better than a similar test neglecting the spatial relationships. Some remaining issues are discussed regarding the finite size of the output ensemble, variables such as sea-level pressure which are very reliable to start with, and the best way to handle derived variables such as dewpoint depression
Computational genes: a tool for molecular diagnosis and therapy of aberrant mutational phenotype
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A finite state machine manipulating information-carrying DNA strands can be used to perform autonomous molecular-scale computations at the cellular level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose a new finite state machine able to detect and correct aberrant molecular phenotype given by mutated genetic transcripts. The aberrant mutations trigger a cascade reaction: specific molecular markers as input are released and induce a spontaneous self-assembly of a wild type protein or peptide, while the mutational disease phenotype is silenced. We experimentally demostrated in <it>in vitro </it>translation system that a viable protein can be autonomously assembled.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our work demostrates the basic principles of computational genes and particularly, their potential to detect mutations, and as a response thereafter administer an output that suppresses the aberrant disease phenotype and/or restores the lost physiological function.</p
Improved measurement of the branching ratio of J/psi-->K_S K_L
The branching ratio of J/psi-->K_S K_L is measured with improved precision to
be B(J/psi-->K_S K_L) = (1.82\pm 0.04\pm 0.13)\times 10^{-4}. using J/psi data
collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing
Electron-Positron Collider. This result is used to test the perturbative QCD
``12%'' rule between psi(2S) and J/psi decays and to investigate the relative
phase between the three-gluon and one-photon annihilation amplitudes in J/psi
decays.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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