Neutron and muon-induced background studies for the AMoRE double-beta decay experiment

AMoRE (Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment) is an experiment to search a neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{100}$Mo in molybdate crystals. The neutron and muon-induced backgrounds are crucial to obtain the zero-background level (<$10^{-5}$ counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$yr)) for the AMoRE-II experiment, which is the second phase of the AMoRE project, planned to run at YEMI underground laboratory. To evaluate the effects of neutron and muon-induced backgrounds, we performed Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations and studied a shielding strategy for the AMORE-II experiment. Neutron-induced backgrounds were also included in the study. In this paper, we estimated the background level in the presence of possible shielding structures, which meet the background requirement for the AMoRE-II experiment

Applicability valuation for evaluation of surface deflection in automotive outer panels

Upon unloading in a forming process there is elastic recovery, which is the release of the elastic strains and the redistribution of the residual stresses through the thickness direction, thus producing surface deflection. It causes changes in shape and dimensions that can create major problem in the external appearance of outer panels. Thus surface deflection prediction is an important issue in sheet metal forming industry. Many factors could affect surface deflection in the process, such as material variations in mechanical properties, sheet thickness, tool geometry, processing parameters and lubricant condition. The shape and dimension problem in press forming is defined as a trouble mainly caused by the elastic recovery of materials during the forming. The use of high strength steel sheets in the manufacturing of automobile outer panels has increased in the automotive industry over the years because of its lightweight and fuel-efficient improvement. But one of the major concerns of stamping is surface deflection in the formed outer panels. Hence, to be cost effective, accurate prediction must be made of its formability. The automotive industry places rigi

Secrecy content of two-qubit states

We analyze the set of two-qubit states from which a secret key can be extracted by single-copy measurements plus classical processing of the outcomes. We introduce a key distillation protocol and give the corresponding necessary and sufficient condition for positive key extraction. Our results imply that the critical error rate derived by Chau, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 66}, 060302 (2002), for a secure key distribution using the six-state scheme is tight. Remarkably, an optimal eavesdropping attack against this protocol does not require any coherent quantum operation.Comment: 5 pages, RevTe

Effects of 3D-printed polycaprolactone/��-tricalcium phosphate membranes on guided bone regeneration

This study was conducted to compare 3D-printed polycaprolactone (PCL) and polycaprolactone/��-tricalcium phosphate (PCL/��-TCP) membranes with a conventional commercial collagen membrane in terms of their abilities to facilitate guided bone regeneration (GBR). Fabricated membranes were tested for dry and wet mechanical properties. Fibroblasts and preosteoblasts were seeded into the membranes and rates and patterns of proliferation were analyzed using a kit-8 assay and by scanning electron microscopy. Osteogenic differentiation was verified by alizarin red S and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining. An in vivo experiment was performed using an alveolar bone defect beagle model, in which defects in three dogs were covered with different membranes. CT and histological analyses at eight weeks after surgery revealed that 3D-printed PCL/��-TCP membranes were more effective than 3D-printed PCL, and substantially better than conventional collagen membranes in terms of biocompatibility and bone regeneration and, thus, at facilitating GBR. ? 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.118Ysciescopu

Einstein-aether theory, violation of Lorentz invariance, and metric-affine gravity

We show that the Einstein-aether theory of Jacobson and Mattingly (J&M) can be understood in the framework of the metric-affine (gauge theory of) gravity (MAG). We achieve this by relating the aether vector field of J&M to certain post-Riemannian nonmetricity pieces contained in an independent linear connection of spacetime. Then, for the aether, a corresponding geometrical curvature-square Lagrangian with a massive piece can be formulated straightforwardly. We find an exact spherically symmetric solution of our model.Comment: Revtex4, 38 pages, 1 figur

Radion effects on unitarity in gauge-boson scattering

The scalar field associated with fluctuations in the positions of the two branes, the ``radion'', plays an important role determining the cosmology and collider phenomenology of the Randall-Sundrum solution to the hierarchy problem. It is now well known that the radion mass is of order the weak scale, and that its couplings to standard model fields are order 1/TeV to the trace of the energy momentum tensor. We calculate longitudinal vector boson scattering amplitudes to explore the constraints on the radion mass and its coupling from perturbative unitarity. The scattering cross section can indeed become non-perturbative at energies prior to reaching the TeV brane cutoff scale, but only when some curvature-Higgs mixing on the TeV brane is present. We show that the coefficient of the curvature-Higgs mixing operator must be less than about 3 for the 4-d effective theory to respect perturbative unitarity up to the TeV brane cutoff scale. Mass bounds on the Higgs boson and the radion are also discussed.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures, uses epsf.sty and axodraw.st

Quantum mechanics emerges from information theory applied to causal horizons

It is suggested that quantum mechanics is not fundamental but emerges from classical information theory applied to causal horizons. The path integral quantization and quantum randomness can be derived by considering information loss of fields or particles crossing Rindler horizons for accelerating observers. This implies that information is one of the fundamental roots of all physical phenomena. The connection between this theory and Verlinde's entropic gravity theory is also investigated.Comment: REvtex4-1, 6pages, 2 figures, final versio