351 research outputs found
Cigarette smoking and adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and esophagogastric junction: a pooled analysis from the International BEACON Consortium
Primordial black holes in braneworld cosmologies: astrophysical constraints
In two recent papers we explored the modifications to primordial black hole
physics when one moves to the simplest braneworld model, Randall--Sundrum type
II. Both the evaporation law and the cosmological evolution of the population
can be modified, and additionally accretion of energy from the background can
be dominant over evaporation at high energies. In this paper we present a
detailed study of how this impacts upon various astrophysical constraints,
analyzing constraints from the present density, from the present high-energy
photon background radiation, from distortion of the microwave background
spectrum, and from processes affecting light element abundances both during and
after nucleosynthesis. Typically, the constraints on the formation rate of
primordial black holes weaken as compared to the standard cosmology if black
hole accretion is unimportant at high energies, but can be strengthened in the
case of efficient accretion.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX4 file with three figures incorporated; final paper in
series astro-ph/0205149 and astro-ph/0208299. Minor changes to match version
accepted by Physical Review
Observation of hard scattering in photoproduction events with a large rapidity gap at HERA
Events with a large rapidity gap and total transverse energy greater than 5
GeV have been observed in quasi-real photoproduction at HERA with the ZEUS
detector. The distribution of these events as a function of the
centre of mass energy is consistent with diffractive scattering. For total
transverse energies above 12 GeV, the hadronic final states show predominantly
a two-jet structure with each jet having a transverse energy greater than 4
GeV. For the two-jet events, little energy flow is found outside the jets. This
observation is consistent with the hard scattering of a quasi-real photon with
a colourless object in the proton.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 4 figures appended as uuencoded fil
Cosmic Microwave Background constraint on residual annihilations of relic particles
Energy injected into the Cosmic Microwave Background at redshifts z<10^6 will
distort its spectrum permanently. In this paper we discuss the distortion
caused by annihilations of relic particles. We use the observational bounds on
deviations from a Planck spectrum to constrain a combination of annihilation
cross section, mass, and abundance. For particles with (s-wave) annihilation
cross section, =\sigma_0, the bound is
f[(\sigma_0/6e-27cm^3/s)(\Omega_{X\bar{X}}h^2)^2]/(m_X/MeV)<0.2, where m_X is
the particle mass, \Omega_{X\bar{X}} is the fraction of the critical density
the particle and its antiparticle contribute if they survive to the present
time, h=H_0/(100km/s/Mpc), H_0 is the Hubble constant, and f is the fraction of
the annihilation energy that interacts electromagnetically. We also compute the
less stringent limits for p-wave annihilation. We update other bounds on
residual annihilations and compare them to our CMB bound.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
The ‘mosaic habitat’ concept in human evolution: past and present
The habitats preferred by hominins and other species are an important theme in palaeoanthropology, and the ‘mosaic habitat’ (also referred to as habitat heterogeneity) has been a central concept in this regard for the last four decades. Here we explore the development of this concept – loosely defined as a range of different habitat types, such as woodlands, riverine forest and savannah within a limited spatial area– in studies of human evolution in the last sixty years or so. We outline the key developments that took place before and around the time when the term ‘mosaic’ came to wider palaeoanthropological attention. To achieve this we used an analysis of the published literature, a study of illustrations of hominin evolution from 1925 onwards and an email survey of senior researchers in palaeoanthropology and related fields. We found that the term mosaic starts to be applied in palaeoanthropological thinking during the 1970’s due to the work of a number of researchers, including Karl Butzer and Glynn Isaac , with the earliest usage we have found of ‘mosaic’ in specific reference to hominin habitats being by Adriaan Kortlandt (1972). While we observe a steady increase in the numbers of publications reporting mosaic palaeohabitats, in keeping with the growing interest and specialisation in various methods of palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, we also note that there is a lack of critical studies that define this habitat, or examine the temporal and spatial scales associated with it. The general consensus within the field is that the concept now requires more detailed definition and study to evaluate its role in human evolution
Precision Measurement of the p(e,e ' p)pi(0) Reaction at Threshold
New results are reported from a measurement of electroproduction near
threshold using the reaction. The experiment was
designed to determine precisely the energy dependence of and wave
electromagnetic multipoles as a stringent test of the predictions of Chiral
Perturbation Theory (ChPT). The data were taken with an electron beam energy of
1192 MeV using a two-spectrometer setup in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. For the
first time, complete coverage of the and angles
in the center-of-mass was obtained for invariant energies above
threshold from 0.5 MeV up to 15 MeV. The 4-momentum transfer coverage
ranges from 0.05 to 0.155 (GeV/c) in fine steps. A simple phenomenological
analysis of our data shows strong disagreement with wave predictions from
ChPT for (GeV/c), while the wave predictions are in
reasonable agreement.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Threshold π<sup>0</sup> photoproduction on transverse polarised protons at MAMI
Polarisation-dependent differential cross sections σTσT associated with the target asymmetry T have been measured for the reaction View the MathML sourceγp→→pπ0 with transverse target polarisation from π0π0 threshold to photon energies of 190 MeV. The data were obtained using a frozen-spin butanol target with the Crystal Ball / TAPS detector set-up and the Glasgow photon tagging system at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. Results for σTσT have been used in combination with our previous measurements of the unpolarised cross section σ0σ0 and the beam asymmetry Σ for a model-independent determination of S- and P -wave multipoles in the π0π0 threshold region, which includes for the first time a direct determination of the imaginary part of the E0+E0+ multipole
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.publishedVersio
- …