Restricting quark matter models by gravitational wave observation

We consider the possibilities for obtaining information about the equation of state for quark matter by using future direct observational data on gravitational waves. We study the nonradial oscillations of both fluid and spacetime modes of pure quark stars. If we observe the $f$ and the lowest $w_{\rm II}$ modes from quark stars, by using the simultaneously obtained radiation radius we can constrain the bag constant $B$ with reasonable accuracy, independently of the $s$ quark mass.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

Small, Dense Quark Stars from Perturbative QCD

As a model for nonideal behavior in the equation of state of QCD at high density, we consider cold quark matter in perturbation theory. To second order in the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s$, the results depend sensitively on the choice of the renormalization mass scale. Certain choices of this scale correspond to a strongly first order chiral transition, and generate quark stars with maximum masses and radii approximately half that of ordinary neutron stars. At the center of these stars, quarks are essentially massless.Comment: ReVTeX, 5 pages, 3 figure

Self-consistent description of nuclear compressional modes

Isoscalar monopole and dipole compressional modes are computed for a variety of closed-shell nuclei in a relativistic random-phase approximation to three different parametrizations of the Walecka model with scalar self-interactions. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of self-consistency which by itself, and with little else, guarantees the decoupling of the spurious isoscalar-dipole strength from the physical response and the conservation of the vector current. A powerful new relation is introduced to quantify the violation of the vector current in terms of various ground-state form-factors. For the isoscalar-dipole mode two distinct regions are clearly identified: (i) a high-energy component that is sensitive to the size of the nucleus and scales with the compressibility of the model and (ii) a low-energy component that is insensitivity to the nuclear compressibility. A fairly good description of both compressional modes is obtained by using a ``soft'' parametrization having a compression modulus of K=224 MeV.Comment: 28 pages and 10 figures; submitted to PR

Soft lepton-flavor violation in a multi-Higgs-doublet seesaw model

We consider the Standard Model with an arbitrary number n_H of Higgs doublets and enlarge the lepton sector by adding to each lepton family \ell a right-handed neutrino singlet \nu_{\ell R}. We assume that all Yukawa-coupling matrices are diagonal, but the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the right-handed neutrino singlets is an arbitrary symmetric matrix, thereby introducing an explicit but soft violation of all lepton numbers. We investigate lepton-flavor-violating processes within this model. We pay particular attention to the large-m_R behavior of the amplitudes for these processes, where m_R is the order of magnitude of the matrix elements of M_R. While the amplitudes for processes like tau^- --> mu^- gamma and Z --> tau^+ mu^- drop as 1/m_R^2 for arbitrary n_H, processes like tau^- --> mu^- e^+ e^- and mu^- --> e^- e^+ e^- obey this power law only for n_H = 1. For n_H \geq 2, on the contrary, those amplitudes do not fall off when m_R increases, rather they converge towards constants. This non-decoupling of the right-handed scale occurs because of the sub-process ell^- --> ell'^- {S_b^0}^*, where S_b^0 is a neutral scalar which subsequently decays to e^+ e^-. That sub-process has a contribution from charged-scalar exchange which, for n_H \geq 2, does not decrease when m_R tends to infinity. We also perform a general study of the non-decoupling and argue that, after performing the limit m_R --> \infty and removing the \nu_R from the Lagrangian, our model becomes a multi-Higgs-doublet Standard Model with suppressed flavor-changing Yukawa couplings. Finally, we show that, with the usual assumptions about the mass scales in the seesaw mechanism, the branching ratios of all lepton-flavor-changing processes are several orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental limits.Comment: 46 pages, 2 figures, Revte

Determination of capture barrier energy of the e-center in palladium Schottky barrier diodes of antimony-doped germanium by varying the pulse width

Please read abstract in the article.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africahttp://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2053-1591am2020Physic

Assessing the authority of political office-holders: the leadership capital index

This article argues that the extent to which political office-holders can effectively attain and wield authority is a function of the stock of ‘leadership capital.’ Drawing on the concept of political capital, we define leadership capital as aggregate authority composed of three dimensions: skills; relations; and reputation of a leader. Leadership capital ebbs and flows over time within a trajectory of acquisition, expenditure and inevitable depreciation. We present a Leadership Capital Index (LCI) that systematically maps out the three broad areas combining concrete measures with interpretive aspects. This can be used as a tool for systematically tracking and comparing the political fortunes of leaders in a way that is both more nuanced and robust than exclusive reliance on the latest approval ratings. We offer an illustrative case study of Tony Blair demonstrating the LCI. We conclude by discerning several promising paths for future development of the LCI

SCExAO/MEC and CHARIS Discovery of a Low Mass, 6 AU-Separation Companion to HIP 109427 using Stochastic Speckle Discrimination and High-Contrast Spectroscopy

We report the direct imaging discovery of a low-mass companion to the nearby accelerating A star, HIP 109427, with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument coupled with the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC) and CHARIS integral field spectrograph. CHARIS data reduced with reference star PSF subtraction yield 1.1-2.4 $\mu$m spectra. MEC reveals the companion in $Y$ and $J$ band at a comparable signal-to-noise ratio using stochastic speckle discrimination, with no PSF subtraction techniques. Combined with complementary follow-up $L_{\rm p}$ photometry from Keck/NIRC2, the SCExAO data favors a spectral type, effective temperature, and luminosity of M4-M5.5, 3000-3200 $K$, and $\log_{10}(L/L_{\rm \odot}) = -2.28^{+0.04}_{-0.04}$, respectively. Relative astrometry of HIP 109427 B from SCExAO/CHARIS and Keck/NIRC2, and complementary Gaia-Hipparcos absolute astrometry of the primary favor a semimajor axis of $6.55^{+3.0}_{-0.48}$ au, an eccentricity of $0.54^{+0.28}_{-0.15}$, an inclination of $66.7^{+8.5}_{-14}$ degrees, and a dynamical mass of $0.280^{+0.18}_{-0.059}$ $M_{\odot}$. This work shows the potential for extreme AO systems to utilize speckle statistics in addition to widely-used post-processing methods to directly image faint companions to nearby stars near the telescope diffraction limit.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

Stomatal responses of Eucalyptus species to elevated CO2 concentration and drought stress

Five species of Eucalyptus (E. grandis, E. urophylla, E. camaldulensis, E. torelliana, and E. phaeotrica), among the ten species most commonly used in large scale plantations, were selected for studies on the effects of elevated CO2 concentration [CO2] and drought stress on stomatal responses of 2.5-month old seedlings. The first three species belong to the subgenus Smphyomyrtus, whereas the fourth species belongs to the subgenus Corymbia and E. phaeotrica is from the subgenus Monocalyptus. Seedlings were grown in four pairs of open-top chambers, arranged to have 2 plants of each species in each chamber, with four replications in each of two CO2 concentrations: 350 ± 30 mumol mol-1 and 700 ± 30 mumol mol-1. After 100 days in the chambers, a series of gas exchange measurements were made. Half the plants in each chamber, one plant per species per chamber, were drought-stressed by withholding irrigation, while the remaining plants continued to be watered daily. Drought stress decreased stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and transpiration rates in all the species. The effect of drought stress on stomatal closure was similar in both [CO2]. The positive effects of elevated [CO2] on photosynthesis and water use efficiency were maintained longer during the stress period than under well-watered conditions. The photosynthetic rate of E. phaeotrica was higher even in the fourth day of the drought stress. Drought stress increased photoinhibition of photosynthesis, as measured by chlorophyll fluorescence, which varied among the species, as well as in relation to [CO2]. The results are in agreement with observed differences in stomatal responses between some eucalyptus species of the subgenera Symphyomyrtus and Monocalyptus

Tides in colliding galaxies

Long tails and streams of stars are the most noticeable upshots of galaxy collisions. Their origin as gravitational, tidal, disturbances has however been recognized only less than fifty years ago and more than ten years after their first observations. This Review describes how the idea of galactic tides emerged, in particular thanks to the advances in numerical simulations, from the first ones that included tens of particles to the most sophisticated ones with tens of millions of them and state-of-the-art hydrodynamical prescriptions. Theoretical aspects pertaining to the formation of tidal tails are then presented. The third part of the review turns to observations and underlines the need for collecting deep multi-wavelength data to tackle the variety of physical processes exhibited by collisional debris. Tidal tails are not just stellar structures, but turn out to contain all the components usually found in galactic disks, in particular atomic / molecular gas and dust. They host star-forming complexes and are able to form star-clusters or even second-generation dwarf galaxies. The final part of the review discusses what tidal tails can tell us (or not) about the structure and content of present-day galaxies, including their dark components, and explains how tidal tails may be used to probe the past evolution of galaxies and their mass assembly history. On-going deep wide-field surveys disclose many new low-surface brightness structures in the nearby Universe, offering great opportunities for attempting galactic archeology with tidal tails.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, Review to be published in "Tidal effects in Astronomy and Astrophysics", Lecture Notes in Physics. Comments are most welcom