14,535 research outputs found
Polyethylene naphthalate film as a wavelength shifter in liquid argon detectors
Liquid argon-based scintillation detectors are important for dark matter
searches and neutrino physics. Argon scintillation light is in the vacuum
ultraviolet region, making it hard to be detected by conventional means.
Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), an optically transparent thermoplastic
polyester commercially available as large area sheets or rolls, is proposed as
an alternative wavelength shifter to the commonly-used tetraphenyl butadiene
(TPB). By combining the existing literature data and spectrometer measurements
relative to TPB, we conclude that the fluorescence yield and timing of both
materials may be very close. The evidence collected suggests that PEN is a
suitable replacement for TPB in liquid argon neutrino detectors, and is also a
promising candidate for dark matter detectors. Advantages of PEN are discussed
in the context of scaling-up existing technologies to the next generation of
very large ktonne-scale detectors. Its simplicity has a potential to facilitate
such scale-ups, revolutionizing the field.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
General CPT-even dimension-five nonminimal couplings between fermions and photons yielding EDM and MDM
In this letter, we examine a new class of CPT-even nonminimal interactions,
between fermions and photons, deprived of higher order derivatives, that yields
electric dipole moment (EDM) and magnetic dipole moment (MDM) in the context of
the Dirac equation. The couplings are dimension-five CPT-even and
Lorentz-violating nonminimal structures, composed of a rank-2 tensor,
, the electromagnetic tensor, and gamma matrices, being addressed
in its axial and non-axial Hermitian versions, and also comprising general
possibilities. We then use the electron's anomalous magnetic dipole moment and
electron electric dipole moment measurements to reach upper bounds of part
in and (eV )
A Comparison of Risk Exposure in Aquaculture and Agricultural Businesses
Agriculture and aquaculture have common features associated with their biological nature affecting risk exposure of the businesses. The aim of this paper is to compare risk exposure in salmon farming and agricultural enterprises in Norway by using an implicit error component model to examine the risk structure of yields, prices and economic returns at the farm level. Results indicate a higher farm-level year-to-year variability in yields, prices and economic returns in salmon farming than in agricultural enterprises. The variability in livestock enterprises was generally lower than for crop enterprises. Return on assets was highest in salmon farming with an average annual return of 9.2%. All of the agricultural farm types exhibited a negative average return on assets on average. Stochastic dominance tests of the distribution of economic returns from aquaculture and agricultural farm types showed salmon farming to be the most risk efficient alternative and salmon farming was most attractive from an investor’s perspective.Risk analysis, variability, Norway, Risk and Uncertainty,
Feynman versus Bakamjian-Thomas in Light Front Dynamics
We compare the Bakamjian-Thomas (BT) formulation of relativistic few-body
systems with light front field theories that maintain closer contact with
Feynman diagrams. We find that Feynman diagrams distinguish Melosh rotations
and other kinematical quantities belonging to various composite subsystem
frames that correspond to different loop integrals. The BT formalism knows only
the rest frame of the whole composite system, where everything is evaluated.Comment: 5 page
Shannon entropy of brain functional complex networks under the influence of the psychedelic Ayahuasca
The entropic brain hypothesis holds that the key facts concerning
psychedelics are partially explained in terms of increased entropy of the
brain's functional connectivity. Ayahuasca is a psychedelic beverage of
Amazonian indigenous origin with legal status in Brazil in religious and
scientific settings. In this context, we use tools and concepts from the theory
of complex networks to analyze resting state fMRI data of the brains of human
subjects under two distinct conditions: (i) under ordinary waking state and
(ii) in an altered state of consciousness induced by ingestion of Ayahuasca. We
report an increase in the Shannon entropy of the degree distribution of the
networks subsequent to Ayahuasca ingestion. We also find increased local and
decreased global network integration. Our results are broadly consistent with
the entropic brain hypothesis. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context
of descriptions of "mind-expansion" frequently seen in self-reports of users of
psychedelic drugs.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure
A Large-Diameter Hollow-Shaft Cryogenic Motor Based on a Superconducting Magnetic Bearing for Millimeter-Wave Polarimetry
In this paper we present the design and measured performance of a novel
cryogenic motor based on a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB). The motor is
tailored for use in millimeter-wave half-wave plate (HWP) polarimeters, where a
HWP is rapidly rotated in front of a polarization analyzer or
polarization-sensitive detector. This polarimetry technique is commonly used in
cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization studies. The SMB we use is
composed of fourteen yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) disks and a contiguous
neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) ring magnet. The motor is a hollow-shaft motor
because the HWP is ultimately installed in the rotor. The motor presented here
has a 100 mm diameter rotor aperture. However, the design can be scaled up to
rotor aperture diameters of approximately 500 mm. Our motor system is composed
of four primary subsystems: (i) the rotor assembly, which includes the NdFeB
ring magnet, (ii) the stator assembly, which includes the YBCO disks, (iii) an
incremental encoder, and (iv) the drive electronics. While the YBCO is cooling
through its superconducting transition, the rotor is held above the stator by a
novel hold and release mechanism (HRM). The encoder subsystem consists of a
custom-built encoder disk read out by two fiber optic readout sensors. For the
demonstration described in this paper, we ran the motor at 50 K and tested
rotation frequencies up to approximately 10 Hz. The feedback system was able to
stabilize the the rotation speed to approximately 0.4%, and the measured rotor
orientation angle uncertainty is less than 0.15 deg. Lower temperature
operation will require additional development activities, which we will
discuss
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