A reliable liquid helium detector

Detector and indicator system, utilizing commercial perforated germanium cryogenic thermometer as level sensor containing adjustable level discriminator with indicators, operates reliably over pressure range from 50 to 900 mm Hg without electronic adjustments

Neutrino clustering and the Z-burst model

The possibility that the observed Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays are generated by high energy neutrinos creating "Z-bursts" in resonant interactions with the background neutrinos has been proposed, but there are difficulties in generating enough events with reasonable incident neutrino fluxes. We point out that this difficulty is overcome if the background neutrinos have coalesced into "neutrino clouds" --- a possibility previously suggested by some of us in another context. The limitations that this mechanism for the generation of UHECRs places on the high energy neutrino flux, on the masses of the background neutrinos and the characteristics of the neutrino clouds are spelled out.Comment: 13 pages and 3 figures. Contributed to the XX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, July 2001, and to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Budapest, July 2001. Preprint numbers added, misprints correcte

Epoch Dependent Dark Energy

We present a model in which the equation of state parameter w approaches -1 near a particular value of z, and has significant negative values in a restricted range of z. For example, one can have w ~ -1 near z = 1, and w > -0.2 from z = 0 to z = 0.3, and for z > 9. The ingredients of the model are neutral fermions (which may be neutrinos, neutralinos, etc) which are very weakly coupled to a light scalar field. This model emphasises the importance of the proposed studies of the properties of dark energy into the region z > 1.Comment: 7pp., 2 figs. Invited talk at the 5th Int'l. Wkshp. on the Dark Side of the Universe, 1-5 June 2009 Melbourne, DSU09; to appear in the proceeding

Neutrino masses or new interactions

Recent proposals to study the mass of the "electron" neutrino at a sensitivity of 0.3 eV can be used to place limits on the right handed and scalar charged currents at a level which improves on the present experimental limits. Indeed the neglect of the possibility of such interactions can lead to the inference of an incorrect value for the mass, as we illustrate.Comment: 12 pages and 3 figures. Contributed to the XX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, July 2001, and to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Budapest, July 2001. Preprint numbers added, misprints correcte

Irrelevant operators in the two-dimensional Ising model

By using conformal-field theory, we classify the possible irrelevant operators for the Ising model on the square and triangular lattices. We analyze the existing results for the free energy and its derivatives and for the correlation length, showing that they are in agreement with the conformal-field theory predictions. Moreover, these results imply that the nonlinear scaling field of the energy-momentum tensor vanishes at the critical point. Several other peculiar cancellations are explained in terms of a number of general conjectures. We show that all existing results on the square and triangular lattice are consistent with the assumption that only nonzero spin operators are present.Comment: 32 pages. Added comments and reference

Multichannel oscillations and relations between LSND, KARMEN and MiniBooNE, with and without CP violation

We show by examples that multichannel mixing can affect both the parameters extracted from neutrino oscillation experiments, and that more general conclusions derived by fitting the experimental data under the assumption that only two channels are involved in the mixing. Implications for MiniBooNE are noted and an example based on maximal CP violation displays profound implications for the two data sets (muon-neutrino and muon-antineutrino) of that experiment.Comment: 5 pages 4 figure

Independent circuits in the basal ganglia for the evaluation and selection of actions

The basal ganglia are critical for selecting actions and evaluating their outcome. Although the circuitry for selection is well understood, how these nuclei evaluate the outcome of actions is unknown. Here, we show in lamprey that a separate evaluation circuit, which regulates the habenula-projecting globus pallidus (GPh) neurons, exists within the basal ganglia. The GPh neurons are glutamatergic and can drive the activity of the lateral habenula, which, in turn, provides an indirect inhibitory influence on midbrain dopamine neurons. We show that GPh neurons receive inhibitory input from the striosomal compartment of the striatum. The striosomal input can reduce the excitatory drive to the lateral habenula and, consequently, decrease the inhibition onto the dopaminergic system. Dopaminergic neurons, in turn, provide feedback that inhibits the GPh. In addition, GPh neurons receive direct projections from the pallium (cortex in mammals), which can increase the GPh activity to drive the lateral habenula to increase the inhibition of the neuromodulatory systems. This circuitry, thus, differs markedly from the "direct" and "indirect" pathways that regulate the pallidal (e.g., globus pallidus) output nuclei involved in the control of motion. Our results show that a distinct reward-evaluation circuit exists within the basal ganglia, in parallel to the direct and indirect pathways, which select actions. Our results suggest that these circuits are part of the fundamental blueprint that all vertebrates use to select actions and evaluate their outcome

Brood patch and sex-ratio observations indicate breeding provenance and timing in New Zealand storm petrel (Fregetta maoriana)

We used measurements of brood patch and moult status to estimate the breeding phenology of New Zealand Storm-Petrel, using birds caught at sea within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park near Auckland, New Zealand. Birds caught October–January had completely downy brood patches, whereas birds caught February–April had bare brood patches with an observed male bias in the February sex-ratio, consistent with a female pre-laying exodus typical of petrels and with the existence of an unknown colony in the region. No birds captured exhibited primary moult, which is known to occur in storm-petrels during their non-breeding season. Our data support the conclusion that the New Zealand storm-petrel breeds during January–June in northern New Zealand and that field surveys for the species on offshore islands in this region during this period are warrante

Gas of self-avoiding loops on the brickwork lattice

An exact calculation of the phase diagram for a loop gas model on the brickwork lattice is presented. The model includes a bending energy. In the dense limit, where all the lattice sites are occupied, a phase transition occuring at an asymmetric Lifshitz tricritical point is observed as the temperature associated with the bending energy is varied. Various critical exponents are calculated. At lower densities, two lines of transitions (in the Ising universality class) are observed, terminated by a tricritical point, where there is a change in the modulation of the correlation function. To each tricritical point an associated disorder line is found.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. to appear in J. Phys. A : Math. & Ge