502 research outputs found
Metal-rich carbon stars in the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy
âThe definitive version is available at: www3.interscience.wiley.com '. Copyright Blackwell / Royal Astronomical Society. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14736.xWe present spectroscopic observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope of six carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph) and two foreground Galactic carbon stars. The band strengths of the observed C2H2 and SiC features are very similar to those observed in Galactic AGB stars. The metallicities are estimated from an empirical relation between the acetylene optical depth and the strength of the SiC feature. The metallicities are higher than those of the Large Magellanic Cloud, and close to Galactic values. While the high metallicity could imply an age of around 1 Gyr, for the dusty AGB stars, the pulsation periods suggest ages in excess of 2 or 3 Gyr. We fit the spectra of the observed stars using the dusty radiative transfer model and determine their dust mass-loss rates to be in the range 1.0â3.3 Ă 10â8 Mâ yrâ1 . The two Galactic foreground carbon-rich AGB stars are located at the far side of the solar circle, beyond the Galactic Centre. One of these two stars shows the strongest SiC feature in our present Local Group sample.Peer reviewe
Influence of the U(1)_A Anomaly on the QCD Phase Transition
The SU(3)_{r} \times SU(3)_{\ell} linear sigma model is used to study the
chiral symmetry restoring phase transition of QCD at nonzero temperature. The
line of second order phase transitions separating the first order and smooth
crossover regions is located in the plane of the strange and nonstrange quark
masses. It is found that if the U(1)_{A} symmetry is explicitly broken by the
U(1)_{A} anomaly then there is a smooth crossover to the chirally symmetric
phase for physical values of the quark masses. If the U(1)_{A} anomaly is
absent, then there is a phase transition provided that the \sigma meson mass is
at least 600 MeV. In both cases, the region of first order phase transitions in
the quark mass plane is enlarged as the mass of the \sigma meson is increased.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Revtex, discussion extended and references added.
To appear in PR
Fractional moment bounds and disorder relevance for pinning models
We study the critical point of directed pinning/wetting models with quenched
disorder. The distribution K(.) of the location of the first contact of the
(free) polymer with the defect line is assumed to be of the form
K(n)=n^{-\alpha-1}L(n), with L(.) slowly varying. The model undergoes a
(de)-localization phase transition: the free energy (per unit length) is zero
in the delocalized phase and positive in the localized phase. For \alpha<1/2 it
is known that disorder is irrelevant: quenched and annealed critical points
coincide for small disorder, as well as quenched and annealed critical
exponents. The same has been proven also for \alpha=1/2, but under the
assumption that L(.) diverges sufficiently fast at infinity, an hypothesis that
is not satisfied in the (1+1)-dimensional wetting model considered by Forgacs
et al. (1986) and Derrida et al. (1992), where L(.) is asymptotically constant.
Here we prove that, if 1/21, then quenched and annealed
critical points differ whenever disorder is present, and we give the scaling
form of their difference for small disorder. In agreement with the so-called
Harris criterion, disorder is therefore relevant in this case. In the marginal
case \alpha=1/2, under the assumption that L(.) vanishes sufficiently fast at
infinity, we prove that the difference between quenched and annealed critical
points, which is known to be smaller than any power of the disorder strength,
is positive: disorder is marginally relevant. Again, the case considered by
Forgacs et al. (1986) and Derrida et al. (1992) is out of our analysis and
remains open.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; v2: few typos corrected, references revised. To
appear on Commun. Math. Phy
Freezing transitions and the density of states of 2D random Dirac Hamiltonians
Using an exact mapping to disordered Coulomb gases, we introduce a novel
method to study two dimensional Dirac fermions with quenched disorder in two
dimensions which allows to treat non perturbative freezing phenomena. For
purely random gauge disorder it is known that the exact zero energy eigenstate
exhibits a freezing-like transition at a threshold value of disorder
. Here we compute the dynamical exponent which
characterizes the critical behaviour of the density of states around zero
energy, and find that it also exhibits a phase transition. Specifically, we
find that (and ) with for and
for . For a finite system size we find large
sample to sample fluctuations with a typical .
Adding a scalar random potential of small variance , as in the
corresponding quantum Hall system, yields a finite noncritical whose scaling exponent exhibits two transitions, one
at and the other at . These transitions are shown
to be related to the one of a directed polymer on a Cayley tree with random
signs (or complex) Boltzmann weights. Some observations are made for the strong
disorder regime relevant to describe transport in the quantum Hall system
Quantum Vacuum Experiments Using High Intensity Lasers
The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular
since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature
of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the
low-energy, high intensity regime of quantum electrodynamics (QED) where the
nonlinear aspects of the electromagnetic vacuum comes into play, and we will
here give a short description of some of these. Such studies can shed light,
not only on the validity of QED, but also on certain aspects of nonperturbative
effects, and thus also give insights for quantum field theories in general.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figur
Quantum and classical localisation, the spin quantum Hall effect and generalisations
We consider network models for localisation problems belonging to symmetry
class C. This symmetry class arises in a description of the dynamics of
quasiparticles for disordered spin-singlet superconductors which have a
Bogoliubov - de Gennes Hamiltonian that is invariant under spin rotations but
not under time-reversal. Our models include but also generalise the one studied
previously in the context of the spin quantum Hall effect. For these systems we
express the disorder-averaged conductance and density of states in terms of
sums over certain classical random walks, which are self-avoiding and have
attractive interactions. A transition between localised and extended phases of
the quantum system maps in this way to a similar transition for the classical
walks. In the case of the spin quantum Hall effect, the classical walks are the
hulls of percolation clusters, and our approach provides an alternative
derivation of a mapping first established by Gruzberg, Read and Ludwig, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 82, 4254 (1999).Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Precision Pion-Proton Elastic Differential Cross Sections at Energies Spanning the Delta Resonance
A precision measurement of absolute pi+p and pi-p elastic differential cross
sections at incident pion laboratory kinetic energies from T_pi= 141.15 to
267.3 MeV is described. Data were obtained detecting the scattered pion and
recoil proton in coincidence at 12 laboratory pion angles from 55 to 155
degrees for pi+p, and six angles from 60 to 155 degrees for pi-p. Single arm
measurements were also obtained for pi+p energies up to 218.1 MeV, with the
scattered pi+ detected at six angles from 20 to 70 degrees. A flat-walled,
super-cooled liquid hydrogen target as well as solid CH2 targets were used. The
data are characterized by small uncertainties, ~1-2% statistical and ~1-1.5%
normalization. The reliability of the cross section results was ensured by
carrying out the measurements under a variety of experimental conditions to
identify and quantify the sources of instrumental uncertainty. Our lowest and
highest energy data are consistent with overlapping results from TRIUMF and
LAMPF. In general, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute SM95 partial wave
analysis solution describes our data well, but the older Karlsruhe-Helsinki PWA
solution KH80 does not.Comment: 39 pages, 22 figures (some with quality reduced to satisfy ArXiv
requirements. Contact M.M. Pavan for originals). Submitted to Physical Review
Planck intermediate results. XVIII. The millimetre and sub-millimetre emission from planetary nebulae
The future of sovereignty in multilevel governance Europe: a constructivist reading
Multilevel governance presents a depiction of contemporary structures in EU Europe as consisting of overlapping authorities and competing competencies. By focusing on emerging non-anarchical structures in the international system, hence moving beyond the conventional hierarchy/anarchy dichotomy to distinguish domestic and international arenas, this seems a radical transformation of the familiar Westphalian system and to undermine state sovereignty. Paradoxically, however, the principle of sovereignty proves to be resilient despite its alleged empirical decline. This article argues that social constructivism can explain the paradox, by considering sovereign statehood as a process-dependent institutional fact, and by showing that multilevel governance can feed into this process
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