421 research outputs found
The Universlity Class of Monopole Condensation in Non-Compact, Quenched Lattice QED
Finite size scaling studies of monopole condensation in noncompact quenched
lattice indicate an authentic second order phase transition lying in the
universality class of four dimensional percolation. Since the upper critical
dimension of percolation is six, the measured critical indices are far from
mean-field values. We propose a simple set of ratios as the exact critical
indices for this transition. The implication of these results for critical
points in Abelian gauge theories are discussed.Comment: ILL-(TH)-92-6, CERN-TH.6515/92, 10 pages, no figures available as PS
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Nature of Sonoluminescence: Noble Gas Radiation Excited by Hot Electrons in "Cold" Water
We show that strong electric fields occurring in water near the surface of
collapsing gas bubbles because of the flexoelectric effect can provoke dynamic
electric breakdown in a micron-size region near the bubble and consider the
scenario of the SBSL. The scenario is: (i) at the last stage of incomplete
collapse of the bubble the gradient of pressure in water near the bubble
surface has such a value and sign that the electric field arising from the
flexoelectric effect exceeds the threshold field of the dynamic electrical
breakdown of water and is directed to the bubble center; (ii) mobile electrons
are generated because of thermal ionization of water molecules near the bubble
surface; (iii) these electrons are accelerated in ''cold'' water by the strong
electric fields; (iv) these hot electrons transfer noble gas atoms dissolved in
water to high-energy excited states and optical transitions between these
states produce SBSL UV flashes in the trasparency window of water; (v) the
breakdown can be repeated several times and the power and duration of the UV
flash are determined by the multiplicity of the breakdowns. The SBSL spectrum
is found to resemble a black-body spectrum where temperature is given by the
effective temperature of the hot electrons. The pulse energy and some other
characteristics of the SBSL are found to be in agreement with the experimental
data when realistic estimations are made.Comment: 11 pages (RevTex), 1 figure (.ps
Robot guided 'pen skill' training in children with motor difficulties
Motor deficits are linked to a range of negative physical, social and academic consequences. Haptic robotic interventions, based on the principles of sensorimotor learning, have been shown previously to help children with motor problems learn new movements. We therefore examined whether the training benefits of a robotic system would generalise to a standardised test of 'pen-skills', assessed using objective kinematic measures [via the Clinical Kinematic Assessment Tool, CKAT]. A counterbalanced, cross-over design was used in a group of 51 children (37 male, aged 5-11 years) with manual control difficulties. Improved performance on a novel task using the robotic device could be attributed to the intervention but there was no evidence of generalisation to any of the CKAT tasks. The robotic system appears to have the potential to support motor learning, with the technology affording numerous advantages. However, the training regime may need to target particular manual skills (e.g. letter formation) in order to obtain clinically significant improvements in specific skills such as handwriting.</p
Thermodynamics of the Anisotropic Spin-1/2 Heisenberg Chain and Related Quantum Chains
The free energy and correlation lengths of the spin-1/2 chain are
studied at finite temperature. We use the quantum transfer matrix approach and
derive non-linear integral equations for all eigenvalues. Analytic results are
presented for the low-temperature asymptotics, in particular for the critical
chain in an external magnetic field. These results are compared to
predictions by conformal field theory. The integral equations are solved
numerically for the non-critical chain and the related spin-1 biquadratic
chain at arbitrary temperature.Comment: 31 pages, LATEX, 5 PostScript figures appended, preprint
cologne-93-471
Totalitarianism and geography: L.S. Berg and the defence of an academic discipline in the age of Stalin
In considering the complex relationship between science and politics, the article focuses upon the career of the eminent Russian scholar, Lev Semenovich Berg (1876–1950), one of the leading geographers of the Stalin period. Already before the Russian Revolution, Berg had developed a naturalistic notion of landscape geography which later appeared to contradict some aspects of Marxist–Leninist ideology. Based partly upon Berg's personal archive, the article discusses the effects of the 1917 revolution, the radical changes which Stalin's cultural revolution (from the late 1920s) brought upon Soviet science, and the attacks made upon Berg and his concept of landscape geography thereafter. The ways in which Berg managed to defend his notion of geography (sometimes in surprisingly bold ways) are considered. It is argued that geography's position under Stalin was different from that of certain other disciplines in that its ideological disputes may have been regarded as of little significance by the party leaders, certainly by comparison with its practical importance, thus providing a degree of ‘freedom’ for some geographers at least analogous to that which has been described by Weiner (1999. A little corner of freedom: Russian nature protection from Stalin to Gorbachev. Berkeley: University of California Press) for conservationists. It is concluded that Berg and others successfully upheld a concept of scientific integrity and limited autonomy even under Stalinism, and that, in an era of ‘Big Science’, no modernizing state could or can afford to emasculate these things entirely
Overview of Plasma Lens Experiments and Recent Results at SPARC_LAB
Beam injection and extraction from a plasma module is still one of the
crucial aspects to solve in order to produce high quality electron beams with a
plasma accelerator. Proper matching conditions require to focus the incoming
high brightness beam down to few microns size and to capture a high divergent
beam at the exit without loss of beam quality. Plasma-based lenses have proven
to provide focusing gradients of the order of kT/m with radially symmetric
focusing thus promising compact and affordable alternative to permanent magnets
in the design of transport lines. In this paper an overview of recent
experiments and future perspectives of plasma lenses is reported
Growing up in Bradford:Protocol for the age 7-11 follow up of the Born in Bradford birth cohort
Background: Born in Bradford (BiB) is a prospective multi-ethnic pregnancy and birth cohort study that was established to examine determinants of health and development during childhood and, subsequently, adult life in a deprived multi-ethnic population in the north of England. Between 2007 and 2010, the BiB cohort recruited 12,453 women who experienced 13,776 pregnancies and 13,858 births, along with 3353 of their partners. Forty five percent of the cohort are of Pakistani origin. Now that children are at primary school, the first full follow-up of the cohort is taking place. The aims of the follow-up are to investigate the determinants of children's pre-pubertal health and development, including through understanding parents' health and wellbeing, and to obtain data on exposures in childhood that might influence future health. Methods: We are employing a multi-method approach across three data collection arms (community-based family visits, school based physical assessment, and whole classroom cognitive, motor function and wellbeing measures) to follow-up over 9000 BiB children aged 7-11 years and their families between 2017 and 2021. We are collecting detailed parent and child questionnaires, cognitive and sensorimotor assessments, blood pressure, anthropometry and blood samples from parents and children. Dual x-ray absorptiometry body scans, accelerometry and urine samples are collected on subsamples. Informed consent is collected for continued routine data linkage to health, social care and education records. A range of engagement activities are being used to raise the profile of BiB and to disseminate findings. Discussion: Our multi-method approach to recruitment and assessment provides an efficient method of collecting rich data on all family members. Data collected will enhance BiB as a resource for the international research community to study the interplay between ethnicity, socioeconomic circumstances and biology in relation to cardiometabolic health, mental health, education, cognitive and sensorimotor development and wellbeing.</p
Color Transparency versus Quantum Coherence in Electroproduction of Vector Mesons off Nuclei
So far no theoretical tool for the comprehensive description of exclusive
electroproduction of vector mesons off nuclei at medium energies has been
developed. We suggest a light-cone QCD formalism which is valid at any energy
and incorporates formation effects (color transparency), the coherence length
and the gluon shadowing. At medium energies color transparency (CT) and the
onset of coherence length (CL) effects are not easily separated. Indeed,
although nuclear transparency measured by the HERMES experiment rises with Q^2,
it agrees with predictions of the vector dominance model (VDM) without any CT
effects. Our new results and observations are: (i) the good agreement with the
VDM found earlier is accidental and related to the specific correlation between
Q^2 and CL for HERMES kinematics; (ii) CT effects are much larger than have
been estimated earlier within the two channel approximation. They are even
stronger at low than at high energies and can be easily identified by HERMES or
at JLab; (iii) gluon shadowing which is important at high energies is
calculated and included; (iv) our parameter-free calculations explain well
available data for variation of nuclear transparency with virtuality and energy
of the photon; (v) predictions for electroproduction of \rho and \phi are
provided for future measurements at HERMES and JLab.Comment: Latex 57 pages and 17 figure
Theory of Two-Dimensional Quantum Heisenberg Antiferromagnets with a Nearly Critical Ground State
We present the general theory of clean, two-dimensional, quantum Heisenberg
antiferromagnets which are close to the zero-temperature quantum transition
between ground states with and without long-range N\'{e}el order. For
N\'{e}el-ordered states, `nearly-critical' means that the ground state
spin-stiffness, , satisfies , where is the
nearest-neighbor exchange constant, while `nearly-critical' quantum-disordered
ground states have a energy-gap, , towards excitations with spin-1,
which satisfies . Under these circumstances, we show that the
wavevector/frequency-dependent uniform and staggered spin susceptibilities, and
the specific heat, are completely universal functions of just three
thermodynamic parameters. Explicit results for the universal scaling functions
are obtained by a expansion on the quantum non-linear sigma model,
and by Monte Carlo simulations. These calculations lead to a variety of
testable predictions for neutron scattering, NMR, and magnetization
measurements. Our results are in good agreement with a number of numerical
simulations and experiments on undoped and lightly-doped .Comment: 81 pages, REVTEX 3.0, smaller updated version, YCTP-xxx
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