988 research outputs found
Looking through drumlins: testing the application of ground penetrating radar
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank the editor, Bernd Kulessa, for his review and support, and John Hiemstra and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions. This work was supported by an equipment loan from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Geophysical Equipment Facility (Loan 990) and a University of Aberdeen, College of Physical Sciencesâ Research and Teaching Enhancement Fund. All authors are indebted to the NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility staff for training in the use of the antennas and GPS. J.C.E. thanks the Denisons for funding his PhD. We also thank Wharton Hall and Shaw Paddock farms for access to the field sites.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Two-Loop Bhabha Scattering in QED
In the context of pure QED, we obtain analytic expressions for the
contributions to the Bhabha scattering differential cross section at order
alpha^4 which originate from the interference of two-loop photonic vertices
with tree-level diagrams and from the interference of one-loop photonic
diagrams amongst themselves. The ultraviolet renormalization is carried out.
The IR-divergent soft-photon emission corrections are evaluated and added to
the virtual cross section. The cross section obtained in this manner is valid
for on-shell electrons and positrons of finite mass, and for arbitrary values
of the center of mass energy and momentum transfer. We provide the expansion of
our results in powers of the electron mass, and we compare them with the
corresponding expansion of the complete order alpha^4 photonic cross section,
recently obtained in hep-ph/0501120. As a by-product, we obtain the
contribution to the Bhabha scattering differential cross section of the
interference of the two-loop photonic boxes with the tree-level diagrams, up to
terms suppressed by positive powers of the electron mass. We evaluate
numerically the various contributions to the cross section, paying particular
attention to the comparison between exact and expanded results.Comment: 35 pages, 18 figure
Decays of Scalar and Pseudoscalar Higgs Bosons into Fermions: Two-loop QCD Corrections to the Higgs-Quark-Antiquark Amplitude
As a first step in the aim of arriving at a differential description of
neutral Higgs boson decays into heavy quarks, , to second
order in the QCD coupling , we have computed the
amplitude at the two-loop level in QCD for a general neutral Higgs boson which
has both scalar and pseudoscalar couplings to quarks. This amplitude is given
in terms of a scalar and a pseudoscalar vertex form factor, for which we
present closed analytic expressions in terms of one-dimensional harmonic
polylogarithms of maximum weight 4. The results hold for arbitrary
four-momentum squared, , of the Higgs boson and of the heavy quark mass,
. Moreover we derive the approximate expressions of these form factors near
threshold and in the asymptotic regime .Comment: 56 pages, 2 figure
Maternal outcomes in subsequent delivery after previous obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI): a multi-centre retrospective cohort study.
INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Women with a history of obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI) are at increased risk of recurrence (rOASI) at subsequent delivery; however, evidence regarding the factors influencing this risk is limited. Furthermore, little is known about what factors influence the decision to alternatively deliver by elective caesarean section (ELLSCS). METHODS: Retrospective univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis of prospectively collected data from four NHS electronic maternity databases including primiparous women sustaining OASIS during a singleton, term, cephalic, vaginal delivery between 2004 and 2015, who had a subsequent delivery. RESULTS: Two thousand two hundred seventy-two women met the criteria; 10.2% delivering vaginally had a repeat OASI and 59.4% had a second-degree tear. Women having an ELLSCS were more likely to be Caucasian, older, have previously had an operative vaginal delivery (OVD) and have a more severe degree of OASI. Positive predictors for rOASI were increased birth weight and maternal age at both index and subsequent deliveries, a more severe degree of initial OASI and Asian ethnicity. The overall mediolateral episiotomy (MLE) rate was 15.6%; 77.2% of those who had an episiotomy sustained no spontaneous perineal trauma. Only 4.4% of women with a rOASI had an MLE, whilst the MLE rate was 16.9% in those without a recurrence (pâ 4 kg increased the risk 2.5 fold. CONCLUSIONS: Women with previous OASIS are at an increased risk of recurrence. A more liberal use of MLE during subsequent vaginal delivery could significantly reduce the risk of recurrence
Anomalous Commutator Algebra for Conformal Quantum Mechanics
The structure of the commutator algebra for conformal quantum mechanics is
considered. Specifically, it is shown that the emergence of a dimensional scale
by renormalization implies the existence of an anomaly or quantum-mechanical
symmetry breaking, which is explicitly displayed at the level of the generators
of the SO(2,1) conformal group. Correspondingly, the associated breakdown of
the conservation of the dilation and special conformal charges is derived.Comment: 23 pages. A few typos corrected in the final version (which agrees
with the published Phys. Rev. D article
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Updated global estimates of respiratory mortality in adults â„ 30 years of age attributable to long-term ozone exposure
BACKGROUND: Relative risk estimates for long-term ozone (O3) exposure and respiratory mortality from the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II (ACS CPS-II) cohort have been used to estimate global O3-attributable mortality in adults. Updated relative risk estimates are now available for the same cohort based on an expanded study population with longer follow-up. OBJECTIVES: We estimated the global burden and spatial distribution of respiratory mortality attributable to long-term O3 exposure in adults â„30 y of age using updated effect estimates from the ACS CPS-II cohort. METHODS: We used GEOS-Chem simulations (2Ă2.5Âș grid resolution) to estimate annual O3 exposures, and estimated total respiratory deaths in 2010 that were attributable to long-term annual O3 exposure based on the updated relative risk estimates and minimum risk thresholds set at the minimum or fifth percentile of O3 exposure in the most recent CPS-II analysis. These estimates were compared with attributable mortality based on the earlier CPS-II analysis, using 6-mo average exposures and risk thresholds corresponding to the minimum or fifth percentile of O3 exposure in the earlier study population. RESULTS: We estimated 1.04â1.23 million respiratory deaths in adults attributable to O3 exposures using the updated relative risk estimate and exposure parameters, compared with 0.40â0.55 million respiratory deaths attributable to O3 exposures based on the earlier CPS-II risk estimate and parameters. Increases in estimated attributable mortality were larger in northern India, southeast China, and Pakistan than in Europe, eastern United States, and northeast China. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the potential magnitude of health benefits of air quality policies targeting O3, health co-benefits of climate mitigation policies, and health implications of climate change-driven changes in O3 concentrations, are larger than previously thought
Renormalization of the Inverse Square Potential
The quantum-mechanical D-dimensional inverse square potential is analyzed
using field-theoretic renormalization techniques. A solution is presented for
both the bound-state and scattering sectors of the theory using cutoff and
dimensional regularization. In the renormalized version of the theory, there is
a strong-coupling regime where quantum-mechanical breaking of scale symmetry
takes place through dimensional transmutation, with the creation of a single
bound state and of an energy-dependent s-wave scattering matrix element.Comment: 5 page
From arbitrariness to ambiguities in the evaluation of perturbative physical amplitudes and their symmetry relations
A very general calculational strategy is applied to the evaluation of the
divergent physical amplitudes which are typical of perturbative calculations.
With this approach in the final results all the intrinsic arbitrariness of the
calculations due to the divergent character is still present. We show that by
using the symmetry properties as a guide to search for the (compulsory) choices
in such a way as to avoid ambiguities, a deep and clear understanding of the
role of regularization methods emerges. Requiring then an universal point of
view for the problem, as allowed by our approach, very interesting conclusions
can be stated about the possible justifications of most intriguing aspect of
the perturbative calculations in quantum field theory: the triangle anomalies.Comment: 16 pages, no figure
Lorentz and CPT symmetries in commutative and noncommutative spacetime
We investigate the fermionic sector of a given theory, in which massive and
charged Dirac fermions interact with an Abelian gauge field, including a non
standard contribution that violates both Lorentz and CPT symmetries. We offer
an explicit calculation in which the radiative corrections due to the fermions
seem to generate a Chern-Simons-like effective action. Our results are obtained
under the general guidance of dimensional regularization, and they show that
there is no room for Lorentz and CPT violation in both commutative and
noncommutative spacetime.Comment: RevTex4, 7 pages, to be published in J. Phys.
Gauge and parametrization dependencies of the one-loop counterterms in the Einstein gravity.
The parametrization and gauge dependencies of the one-loop counterterms on
the mass-shell in the Einstein gravity are investigated. The physical meaning
of the loop calculation results on the mass shell and the parametrization
dependence of the renormgroup functions in the nonrenormalizable theories are
discussed.Comment: 14 pages in LATEX (Some references added
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