438 research outputs found
Black hole boundaries
Classical black holes and event horizons are highly non-local objects,
defined in relation to the causal past of future null infinity. Alternative,
quasilocal characterizations of black holes are often used in mathematical,
quantum, and numerical relativity. These include apparent, killing, trapping,
isolated, dynamical, and slowly evolving horizons. All of these are closely
associated with two-surfaces of zero outward null expansion. This paper reviews
the traditional definition of black holes and provides an overview of some of
the more recent work on alternative horizons.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, invited Einstein Centennial Review Article for
CJP, final version to appear in journal - glossary of terms added, typos
correcte
The Vlasov limit and its fluctuations for a system of particles which interact by means of a wave field
In two recent publications [Commun. PDE, vol.22, p.307--335 (1997), Commun.
Math. Phys., vol.203, p.1--19 (1999)], A. Komech, M. Kunze and H. Spohn studied
the joint dynamics of a classical point particle and a wave type generalization
of the Newtonian gravity potential, coupled in a regularized way. In the
present paper the many-body dynamics of this model is studied. The Vlasov
continuum limit is obtained in form equivalent to a weak law of large numbers.
We also establish a central limit theorem for the fluctuations around this
limit.Comment: 68 pages. Smaller corrections: two inequalities in sections 3 and two
inequalities in section 4, and definition of a Banach space in appendix A1.
Presentation of LLN and CLT in section 4.3 improved. Notation improve
A Validated Risk Prediction Model for Breast Cancer in US Black Women
PURPOSE Breast cancer risk prediction models are used to identify high-risk women for early detection, targeted interventions, and enrollment into prevention trials. We sought to develop and evaluate a risk prediction model for breast cancer in US Black women, suitable for use in primary care settings. METHODS Breast cancer relative risks and attributable risks were estimated using data from Black women in three US population-based case-control studies (3,468 breast cancer cases; 3,578 controls age 30-69 years) and combined with SEER age- and race-specific incidence rates, with incorporation of competing mortality, to develop an absolute risk model. The model was validated in prospective data among 51,798 participants of the Black Women’s Health Study, including 1,515 who developed invasive breast cancer. A second risk prediction model was developed on the basis of estrogen receptor (ER)–specific relative risks and attributable risks. Model performance was assessed by calibration (expected/observed cases) and discriminatory accuracy (C-statistic). RESULTS The expected/observed ratio was 1.01 (95% CI, 0.95 to 1.07). Age-adjusted C-statistics were 0.58 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.59) overall and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.58 to 0.68) among women younger than 40 years. These measures were almost identical in the model based on estrogen receptor–specific relative risks and attributable risks. CONCLUSION Discriminatory accuracy of the new model was similar to that of the most frequently used questionnaire-based breast cancer risk prediction models in White women, suggesting that effective risk stratification for Black women is now possible. This model may be especially valuable for risk stratification of young Black women, who are below the ages at which breast cancer screening is typically begun
Determination of the Strange Quark Content of the Nucleon from a Next-to-Leading-Order QCD Analysis of Neutrino Charm Production
We present the first next-to-leading-order QCD analysis of neutrino charm
production, using a sample of 6090 - and -induced
opposite-sign dimuon events observed in the CCFR detector at the Fermilab
Tevatron. We find that the nucleon strange quark content is suppressed with
respect to the non-strange sea quarks by a factor \kappa = 0.477 \:
^{+\:0.063}_{-\:0.053}, where the error includes statistical, systematic and
QCD scale uncertainties. In contrast to previous leading order analyses, we
find that the strange sea -dependence is similar to that of the non-strange
sea, and that the measured charm quark mass, , is larger and consistent with that determined in other processes.
Further analysis finds that the difference in -distributions between
and is small. A measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa
matrix element is also presented.
uufile containing compressed postscript files of five Figures is appended at
the end of the LaTeX source.Comment: Nevis R#150
Relic Neutrino Absorption Spectroscopy
Resonant annihilation of extremely high-energy cosmic neutrinos on big-bang
relic anti-neutrinos (and vice versa) into Z-bosons leads to sizable absorption
dips in the neutrino flux to be observed at Earth. The high-energy edges of
these dips are fixed, via the resonance energies, by the neutrino masses alone.
Their depths are determined by the cosmic neutrino background density, by the
cosmological parameters determining the expansion rate of the universe, and by
the large redshift history of the cosmic neutrino sources. We investigate the
possibility of determining the existence of the cosmic neutrino background
within the next decade from a measurement of these absorption dips in the
neutrino flux. As a by-product, we study the prospects to infer the absolute
neutrino mass scale. We find that, with the presently planned neutrino
detectors (ANITA, Auger, EUSO, OWL, RICE, and SalSA) operating in the relevant
energy regime above 10^{21} eV, relic neutrino absorption spectroscopy becomes
a realistic possibility. It requires, however, the existence of extremely
powerful neutrino sources, which should be opaque to nucleons and high-energy
photons to evade present constraints. Furthermore, the neutrino mass spectrum
must be quasi-degenerate to optimize the dip, which implies m_{nu} >~ 0.1 eV
for the lightest neutrino. With a second generation of neutrino detectors,
these demanding requirements can be relaxed considerably.Comment: 19 pages, 26 figures, REVTeX
Effective Lagrangian Approach to the Theory of Eta Photoproduction in the Region
We investigate eta photoproduction in the resonance region
within the effective Lagrangian approach (ELA), wherein leading contributions
to the amplitude at the tree level are taken into account. These include the
nucleon Born terms and the leading -channel vector meson exchanges as the
non-resonant pieces. In addition, we consider five resonance contributions in
the - and - channel; besides the dominant , these are:
and . The amplitudes for the
and the photoproduction near threshold have significant
differences, even as they share common contributions, such as those of the
nucleon Born terms. Among these differences, the contribution to the
photoproduction of the -channel excitation of the is the most
significant. We find the off-shell properties of the spin-3/2 resonances to be
important in determining the background contributions. Fitting our effective
amplitude to the available data base allows us to extract the quantity
, characteristic of the
photoexcitation of the resonance and its decay into the
-nucleon channel, of interest to precise tests of hadron models. At the
photon point, we determine it to be from
the old data base, and from a
combination of old data base and new Bates data. We obtain the helicity
amplitude for to be from the old data base, and from the combination of the old data base and new Bates
data, compared with the results of the analysis of pion photoproduction
yielding , in the same units.Comment: 43 pages, RevTeX, 9 figures available upon request, to appear in
Phys. Rev.
Crystallographic structure reveals phosphorylated pilin from Neisseria : phosphoserine sites modify type IV pilus surface chemistry and fibre morphology
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72468/1/j.1365-2958.1999.01184.x.pd
Weak lensing generated by vector perturbations and detectability of cosmic strings
We study the observational signature of vector metric perturbations through
the effect of weak gravitational lensing. In the presence of vector
perturbations, the non-vanishing signals for B-mode cosmic shear and curl-mode
deflection angle, which have never appeared in the case of scalar metric
perturbations, naturally arise. Solving the geodesic and geodesic deviation
equations, we drive the full-sky formulas for angular power spectra of weak
lensing signals, and give the explicit expressions for E-/B-mode cosmic shear
and gradient-/curl-mode deflection angle. As a possible source for seeding
vector perturbations, we then consider a cosmic string network, and discuss its
detectability from upcoming weak lensing and CMB measurements. Based on the
formulas and a simple model for cosmic string network, we calculate the angular
power spectra and expected signal-to-noise ratios for the B-mode cosmic shear
and curl-mode deflection angle. We find that the weak lensing signals are
enhanced for a smaller intercommuting probability of the string network, ,
and they are potentially detectable from the upcoming cosmic shear and CMB
lensing observations. For , the minimum detectable tension of
the cosmic string will be down to . With a
theoretically inferred smallest value , we could even detect the
string with .Comment: 39 pages, 5 figures, v2: references added, minor corrections, v3:
matches version published in JCA
Governing Boards and Profound Organizational Change in Hospitals
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69047/2/10.1177_107755878904600204.pd
New results on fission cross sections in actinide nuclei using the surrogate ratio method and on conversion coefficients in triaxial strongly deformed bands in167Lu from ice ball and gammasphere
The surrogate ratio technique is described. New results for neutron induced fission cross sections on actinide nuclei, obtained using this technique are presented. The results benchmark the surrogate ratio technique and indicate that the method is accurate to within 5% over a wide energy range. New results for internal conversion coefficients in triaxial strongly deformed bands in 167Lu are also presented
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