Including Systematic Uncertainties in Confidence Interval Construction for Poisson Statistics

One way to incorporate systematic uncertainties into the calculation of confidence intervals is by integrating over probability density functions parametrizing the uncertainties. In this note we present a development of this method which takes into account uncertainties in the prediction of background processes, uncertainties in the signal detection efficiency and background efficiency and allows for a correlation between the signal and background detection efficiencies. We implement this method with the Feldman & Cousins unified approach with and without conditioning. We present studies of coverage for the Feldman & Cousins and Neyman ordering schemes. In particular, we present two different types of coverage tests for the case where systematic uncertainties are included. To illustrate the method we show the relative effect of including systematic uncertainties the case of dark matter search as performed by modern neutrino tel escopes.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, replaced to match published versio

Acoustic Identification of Liquefaction Potential

The interparticle arrangement, or fabric, of sands is a key determinant of sample rigidity. This rigidity, in large part, determines the velocity and attenuation of acoustic transmissions in a test specimen, as well as its resistance to liquefaction. Utilizing high frequency small-amplitude compressional wave transmissions, different fabric arrangements of standard triaxial samples of the same sand have been reliably identified from their acoustic response. Both the compressional wave velocity and attenuation were used to determine the acoustic signature of a sample. Cyclic triaxial testing of the same laboratory-prepared samples revealed that there is direct relationship between the acoustic response of a sample prepared by a particular method and its resistance to liquefaction. The effect of stress history, induced by pre-shaking, on the resistance to liquefaction of a test sample was also detected by changes in the acoustic signature

Raman signatures of classical and quantum phases in coupled dots: A theoretical prediction

We study electron molecules in realistic vertically coupled quantum dots in a strong magnetic field. Computing the energy spectrum, pair correlation functions, and dynamical form factor as a function of inter-dot coupling via diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian, we identify structural transitions between different phases, some of which do not have a classical counterpart. The calculated Raman cross section shows how such phases can be experimentally singled out.Comment: 9 pages, 2 postscript figures, 1 colour postscript figure, Latex 2e, Europhysics Letters style and epsfig macros. Submitted to Europhysics Letter

Improved Probability Method for Estimating Signal in the Presence of Background

A suggestion is made for improving the Feldman Cousins method of estimating signal counts in the presence of background. The method concentrates on finding essential information about the signal and ignoring extraneous information about background. An appropriate method is found which uses the condition that the number of background events obtained does not exceed the total number of events obtained. Several alternative approaches are explored.Comment: Modified 12/21 for singlespace to save trees, 9 pages, 1 figure. Modified 8/11/99 to add small modifications made for the Phys. Rev. articl

High Order Upwind Schemes for Multidimensional Magnetohydrodynamics

A general method for constructing high order upwind schemes for multidimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), having as a main built-in condition the divergence-free constraint \divb=0 for the magnetic field vector \bb, is proposed. The suggested procedure is based on {\em consistency} arguments, by taking into account the specific operator structure of MHD equations with respect to the reference Euler equations of gas-dynamics. This approach leads in a natural way to a staggered representation of the \bb field numerical data where the divergence-free condition in the cell-averaged form, corresponding to second order accurate numerical derivatives, is exactly fulfilled. To extend this property to higher order schemes, we then give general prescriptions to satisfy a $(r+1)^{th}$ order accurate \divb=0 relation for any numerical \bb field having a $r^{th}$ order interpolation accuracy. Consistency arguments lead also to a proper formulation of the upwind procedures needed to integrate the induction equations, assuring the exact conservation in time of the divergence-free condition and the related continuity properties for the \bb vector components. As an application, a third order code to simulate multidimensional MHD flows of astrophysical interest is developed using ENO-based reconstruction algorithms. Several test problems to illustrate and validate the proposed approach are finally presented.Comment: 34 pages, including 14 figure

An Euler Solver Based on Locally Adaptive Discrete Velocities

A new discrete-velocity model is presented to solve the three-dimensional Euler equations. The velocities in the model are of an adaptive nature---both the origin of the discrete-velocity space and the magnitudes of the discrete-velocities are dependent on the local flow--- and are used in a finite volume context. The numerical implementation of the model follows the near-equilibrium flow method of Nadiga and Pullin [1] and results in a scheme which is second order in space (in the smooth regions and between first and second order at discontinuities) and second order in time. (The three-dimensional code is included.) For one choice of the scaling between the magnitude of the discrete-velocities and the local internal energy of the flow, the method reduces to a flux-splitting scheme based on characteristics. As a preliminary exercise, the result of the Sod shock-tube simulation is compared to the exact solution.Comment: 17 pages including 2 figures and CMFortran code listing. All in one postscript file (adv.ps) compressed and uuencoded (adv.uu). Name mail file `adv.uu'. Edit so that `#!/bin/csh -f' is the first line of adv.uu On a unix machine say `csh adv.uu'. On a non-unix machine: uudecode adv.uu; uncompress adv.tar.Z; tar -xvf adv.ta

Paramaterizations of inclusive cross sections for pion production in proton-proton collisions. II. Comparison to new data

A set of new, precise data have recently been made available by the NA49 collaboration for charged pion production in proton-proton and proton-Carbon reactions at 158 GeV. The current paper compares this new data to five currently available arithmetic parameterizations. Although a precise fit is not expected, two of the parameterizations do not work very well but the other three are able to provide a moderately good, but not precise fit to the proton-proton data. The best two of these three parameterizations are scaled to the proton-Carbon data and again provide a moderately good, but not precise fit.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for publication in Physical Review