1,472 research outputs found
Secondary Beam Monitors for the NuMI Facility at FNAL
The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility is a conventional neutrino
beam which produces muon neutrinos by focusing a beam of mesons into a long
evacuated decay volume. We have built four arrays of ionization chambers to
monitor the position and intensity of the hadron and muon beams associated with
neutrino production at locations downstream of the decay volume. This article
describes the chambers' construction, calibration, and commissioning in the
beam.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. Meth.
Phenomenology of V_ub from Ratios of Inclusive B Decay Rates
We explore the theoretical feasibility of extracting V_ub from two ratios
built from B meson inclusive partial decays,
R_1 = Gamma(b-> u cbar s)/3Gamma(b -> c l nu), and
R_2 = [Gamma(b -> c X) - Gamma(b -> cbar X)]/Gamma(b -> c ubar d).
We discuss contributions to these quantities from perturbative and
nonperturbative physics, and show that they can be computed with overall
uncertainties at the level of 10%.Comment: 19 pages, 8 embedded EPS figures, uses REVTe
Heightened Vulnerability to MDR-TB Epidemics after Controlling Drug-Susceptible TB
Prior infection with one strain TB has been linked with diminished likelihood of re-infection by a new strain. This paper attempts to determine the role of declining prevalence of drug-susceptible TB in enabling future epidemics of MDR-TB.A computer simulation of MDR-TB epidemics was developed using an agent-based model platform programmed in NetLogo (See http://mdr.tbtools.org/). Eighty-one scenarios were created, varying levels of treatment quality, diagnostic accuracy, microbial fitness cost, and the degree of immunogenicity elicited by drug-susceptible TB. Outcome measures were the number of independent MDR-TB cases per trial and the proportion of trials resulting in MDR-TB epidemics for a 500 year period after drug therapy for TB is introduced.MDR-TB epidemics propagated more extensively after TB prevalence had fallen. At a case detection rate of 75%, improving therapeutic compliance from 50% to 75% can reduce the probability of an epidemic from 45% to 15%. Paradoxically, improving the case-detection rate from 50% to 75% when compliance with DOT is constant at 75% increases the probability of MDR-TB epidemics from 3% to 45%.The ability of MDR-TB to spread depends on the prevalence of drug-susceptible TB. Immunologic protection conferred by exposure to drug-susceptible TB can be a crucial factor that prevents MDR-TB epidemics when TB treatment is poor. Any single population that successfully reduces its burden of drug-susceptible TB will have reduced herd immunity to externally or internally introduced strains of MDR-TB and can experience heightened vulnerability to an epidemic. Since countries with good TB control may be more vulnerable, their self interest dictates greater promotion of case detection and DOTS implementation in countries with poor control to control their risk of MDR-TB
SU(3)_flavor analysis of two-body weak decays of charmed baryons
We study two-body weak decays of charmed baryons \Lambda_c and \Xi_c into an
octet or decuplet baryon and a pseudoscalar meson employing the SU(3) flavor
symmetry. Using certain measured Cabibbo-favored modes, we fix the reduced
amplitudes and predict the branching ratios of various decays of charmed
baryons in the Cabibbo-enhanced, -suppressed and -doubly suppressed modes.Comment: 25 pages, No figure, Phys. Rev. D (to appear
Exclusive Nonleptonic Decays of Bottom and Charm Baryons in a Relativistic Three-Quark Model: Evaluation of Nonfactorizing Diagrams
Exclusive nonleptonic decays of bottom and charm baryons are studied within a
relativistic three-quark model with a Gaussian shape for the momentum
dependence of the baryon-three-quark vertex. We include factorizing as well as
nonfactorizing contributions to the decay amplitudes. For heavy-to-light
transitions Q -> q u d the total contribution of the nonfactorizing diagrams
amount up to approximately 60% of the factorizing contributions in amplitude,
and up to approximately 30% for b -> c u d transitions. We calculate the rates
and the polarization asymmetry parameters for various nonleptonic decays and
compare them to existing data and to the results of other model calculations.Comment: 49 pages, LaTeX-fil
Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a Rural Community, Arkansas, 1945–2000
A cluster of tuberculosis cases in a rural community in Arkansas persisted from 1991 to 1999. The cluster had 13 members, 11 linked epidemiologically. Old records identified 24 additional patients for 40 linked case-patients during a 54-year period. Residents of this neighborhood represent a population at high risk who should be considered for tuberculin testing and treatment for latent tuberculosis infection
Search for CP Violation in the decays D+ -> K_S pi+ and D+ -> K_S K+
A high statistics sample of photo-produced charm from the FOCUS(E831)
experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for direct CP violation in the
decays D+->K_S pi+ and D+ -> K_S K+. We have measured the following asymmetry
parameters relative to D+->K-pi+pi+: A_CP(K_S pi+) = (-1.6 +/- 1.5 +/- 0.9)%,
A_CP(K_S K+) = (+6.9 +/- 6.0 +/- 1.5)% and A_CP(K_S K+) = (+7.1 +/- 6.1 +/-
1.2)% relative to D+->K_S pi+. The first errors quoted are statistical and the
second are systematic. We also measure the relative branching ratios:
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}pi+)/\Gamma(D+->K-pi+pi+) = (30.60 +/- 0.46 +/- 0.32)%,
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}K+)/\Gamma(D+->K-pi+pi+) = (6.04 +/- 0.35 +/- 0.30)% and
\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}K+)/\Gamma(D+->\bar{K0}pi+) = (19.96 +/- 1.19 +/- 0.96)%.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
New measurement of via neutron capture on hydrogen at Daya Bay
This article reports an improved independent measurement of neutrino mixing
angle at the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. Electron
antineutrinos were identified by inverse -decays with the emitted
neutron captured by hydrogen, yielding a data-set with principally distinct
uncertainties from that with neutrons captured by gadolinium. With the final
two of eight antineutrino detectors installed, this study used 621 days of data
including the previously reported 217-day data set with six detectors. The
dominant statistical uncertainty was reduced by 49%. Intensive studies of the
cosmogenic muon-induced Li and fast neutron backgrounds and the
neutron-capture energy selection efficiency, resulted in a reduction of the
systematic uncertainty by 26%. The deficit in the detected number of
antineutrinos at the far detectors relative to the expected number based on the
near detectors yielded in the
three-neutrino-oscillation framework. The combination of this result with the
gadolinium-capture result is also reported.Comment: 26 pages, 23 figure
Evolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay
The Daya Bay experiment has observed correlations between reactor core fuel
evolution and changes in the reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum.
Four antineutrino detectors in two experimental halls were used to identify 2.2
million inverse beta decays (IBDs) over 1230 days spanning multiple fuel cycles
for each of six 2.9 GW reactor cores at the Daya Bay and Ling
Ao nuclear power plants. Using detector data spanning effective Pu
fission fractions, , from 0.25 to 0.35, Daya Bay measures an average
IBD yield, , of
cm/fission and a fuel-dependent variation in the IBD yield,
, of cm/fission.
This observation rejects the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino flux as a
function of the Pu fission fraction at 10 standard deviations. The
variation in IBD yield was found to be energy-dependent, rejecting the
hypothesis of a constant antineutrino energy spectrum at 5.1 standard
deviations. While measurements of the evolution in the IBD spectrum show
general agreement with predictions from recent reactor models, the measured
evolution in total IBD yield disagrees with recent predictions at 3.1.
This discrepancy indicates that an overall deficit in measured flux with
respect to predictions does not result from equal fractional deficits from the
primary fission isotopes U, Pu, U, and Pu.
Based on measured IBD yield variations, yields of and cm/fission have been determined for the two
dominant fission parent isotopes U and Pu. A 7.8% discrepancy
between the observed and predicted U yield suggests that this isotope
may be the primary contributor to the reactor antineutrino anomaly.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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