2,294 research outputs found
Acoustic comfort depends on the psychological state of the individual
Recent studies have shown that comfort can be influenced more by psychological processes than from the characteristics of environmental stimulation. This is relevant for different industrial sectors, where comfort is defined only as a function of the intensity of external stimuli. In the present study, we measured physiological and psychological comfort during the exposure to four levels of acoustic noise [from 45 to 55 dB(A)] corresponding to different comfort classes inside a full-scale mock-up of a cruise ship cabin. We found an increase of psychological and physiological discomfort for higher noise intensities, but not for all the intensities defining the comfort classes. Furthermore, we found that negative psychological states determine a lower physiological sensitivity to acoustic noise variations compared to positive states. Our results show that, at normal/low intensities, psychological processes have a greater role in determining acoustic comfort when compared to the stimulus intensity. Practitioner Summary: This study shows that psychological factors can be more relevant in determining acoustic comfort inside a ship cabin than the intensity of acoustic stimulus itself. This finding suggests that the cruise industry should consider not only the engineering measurements when evaluating comfort on board, but also the passenger\u2019 psychological state. Abbreviations: AIC: akaike information criterion; CCT: colour correlated temperature; cd/m2: candela/square meters; df: degrees of freedom; F-test: Fisher's test; HF: high frequency; HR: heart rate; HRV: heart rate variability; HSV: hue saturation value; K: kelvin; LF: low frequency; LF/HF: low frequency to high frequency ratio; lme: linear mixed effects; ms: milliseconds; nu: normalized unit; p: p value; pNN50: percentage of adjacent pairs of normal to normal RR intervals differing by more than 50 milliseconds; r2: coefficient of determination; rc: concordance correlation coefficient; RMSSD: square root of the mean normal to normal RR interval; SD: standard deviation; SDNN: standard deviation of normal to normal RR intervals; SEM: standard error of the mean; t-test: student's tests; \u3c72: chi-square test
Ultrafast Resonant Polarization Interferometry: Towards the First Direct Detection of Vacuum Polarization
Vacuum polarization, an effect predicted nearly 70 years ago, is still yet to
be directly detected despite significant experimental effort. Previous attempts
have made use of large liquid-helium cooled electromagnets which inadvertently
generate spurious signals that mask the desired signal. We present a novel
approach for the ultra-sensitive detection of optical birefringence that can be
usefully applied to a laboratory detection of vacuum polarization. The new
technique has a predicted birefringence measurement sensitivity of in a 1 second measurement. When combined with the extreme
polarizing fields achievable in this design we predict that a vacuum
polarization signal will be seen in a measurement of just a few days in
duration.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. submitted to PR
Optical production and detection of dark matter candidates
The PVLAS collaboration is at present running, at the Laboratori Nazionali di
Legnaro of I.N.F.N., Padova, Italy, a very sensitive optical ellipsometer
capable of measuring the small rotations or ellipticities which can be acquired
by a linearly polarized laser beam propagating in vacuum through a transverse
magnetic feld (vacuum magnetic birefringence). The apparatus will also be able
to set new limits on mass and coupling constant of light scalar/pseudoscalar
particles coupling to two photons by both producing and detecting the
hypothetical particles. The axion, introduced to explain parity conservation in
strong interactions, is an example of this class of particles, all of which are
considered possible dark matter candidates. The PVLAS apparatus consists of a
very high finesse (> 140000), 6.4 m long, Fabry-Perot cavity immersed in an
intense dipolar magnetic field (~6.5 T). A linearly polarized laser beam is
frequency locked to the cavity and analysed, using a heterodyne technique, for
rotation and/or ellipticity acquired within the magnetic field.Comment: presented at "Frontier Detectors for Frontier Physics - 8th Pisa
Meeting on Advanced Detectors - May 21-27, 2000" to appear in: Nucl.Instr.
and Meth.
Detection of Vacuum Birefringence with Intense Laser Pulses
We propose a novel technique that promises hope of being the first to
directly detect a polarization in the quantum electrodynamic (QED) vacuum. The
technique is based upon the use of ultra-short pulses of light circulating in
low dispersion optical resonators. We show that the technique circumvents the
need for large scale liquid helium cooled magnets, and more importantly avoids
the experimental pitfalls that plague existing experiments that make use of
these magnets. Likely improvements in the performance of optics and lasers
would result in the ability to observe vacuum polarization in an experiment of
only a few hours duration.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Limits on Low Energy Photon-Photon Scattering from an Experiment on Magnetic Vacuum Birefringence
Experimental bounds on induced vacuum magnetic birefringence can be used to
improve present photon-photon scattering limits in the electronvolt energy
range. Measurements with the PVLAS apparatus (E. Zavattini {\it et al.}, Phys.
Rev. D {\bf77} (2008) 032006) at both nm and 532 nm lead to
bounds on the parameter {\it A}, describing non linear effects in QED, of
T @ 1064 nm and T @ 532 nm, respectively, at 95% confidence level,
compared to the predicted value of T. The
total photon-photon scattering cross section may also be expressed in terms of
, setting bounds for unpolarized light of m and m. Compared to the expected QED scattering cross
section these results are a factor of higher and represent
an improvement of a factor about 500 on previous bounds based on ellipticity
measurements and of a factor of about on bounds based on direct
stimulated scattering measurements
The DEAR experiment on DAΦNE
DEAR is one of the first experiments at the new DAΦNE Ø-factory at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell'INFN. The objective of the DEAR experiment is to perform a precision measurement of the strong interaction shifts and widths of the K-series lines in kaonic hydrogen and the first observation of the same quantities in kaonic deuterium. The aim is to obtain a precise determination of the isospin-dependent kaon-nucleon scattering lengths which will represent a breakthrough in KN low-energy phenomenology and will allow us to determine the kaon-nucleon sigma terms. The sigma terms give a direct measurement of chiral symmetry breaking and are connected to the strangeness content of the proton. First results on background measurements with the DEAR NTP setup installed on DAΦNE are reported
Probing For New Physics and Detecting non linear vacuum QED effects using gravitational wave interferometer antennas
Low energy non linear QED effects in vacuum have been predicted since 1936
and have been subject of research for many decades. Two main schemes have been
proposed for such a 'first' detection: measurements of ellipticity acquired by
a linearly polarized beam of light passing through a magnetic field and direct
light-light scattering. The study of the propagation of light through an
external field can also be used to probe for new physics such as the existence
of axion-like particles and millicharged particles. Their existence in nature
would cause the index of refraction of vacuum to be different from unity in the
presence of an external field and dependent of the polarization direction of
the light propagating. The major achievement of reaching the project
sensitivities in gravitational wave interferometers such as LIGO an VIRGO has
opened the possibility of using such instruments for the detection of QED
corrections in electrodynamics and for probing new physics at very low
energies. In this paper we discuss the difference between direct birefringence
measurements and index of refraction measurements. We propose an almost
parasitic implementation of an external magnetic field along the arms of the
VIRGO interferometer and discuss the advantage of this choice in comparison to
a previously proposed configuration based on shorter prototype interferometers
which we believe is inadequate. Considering the design sensitivity in the
strain, for the near future VIRGO+ interferometer, of in the range 40 Hz Hz leads to a variable
dipole magnet configuration at a frequency above 20 Hz such that Tm/ for a `first' vacuum non linear QED detection
Light bosons and photospheric solutions to the solar abundance problem
It is well known that current spectroscopic determinations of the chemical
composition of the Sun are starkly at odds with the metallicity implied by
helioseismology. We investigate whether the discrepancy may be due to
conversion of photons to a new light boson in the solar photosphere. We examine
the impact of particles with axion-like interactions with the photon on the
inferred photospheric abundances, showing that resonant axion-photon conversion
is not possible in the region of the solar atmosphere in which line-formation
occurs. Although non-resonant conversion in the line-forming regions can in
principle impact derived abundances, constraints from axion-photon conversion
experiments rule out the couplings necessary for these effects to be
detectable. We show that this extends to hidden photons and chameleons (which
would exhibit similar phenomenological behaviour), ruling out known theories of
new light bosons as photospheric solutions to the solar abundance problem.Comment: 11 pages, PDFLaTeX. v2: Major revision. Inclusion of refractive index
effect on photon-ALP conversion strengthens our conclusion that such an
effect cannot explain the solar abundance problem with a coupling allowed by
experimental axion-like particle searches. We now include a discussion of
chameleons and hidden photons, with similar conclusion
A study of the proton spectra following the capture of in Li and C with FINUDA
Momenta spectra of protons emitted following the capture of in Li
and C have been measured with 1% resolution. The C spectrum is
smooth whereas for Li a well defined peak appears at about 500 MeV/. The
first observation of a structure in this region was identified as a strange
tribaryon or, possibly, a -nuclear state. The peak is correlated with a
coming from decay in flight, selected by setting momenta
larger than 275 MeV/. The could be produced, together with a 500
MeV/ proton, by the capture of a in a deuteron-cluster substructure of
the Li nucleus. The capture rate for such a reaction is (1.62\pm
0.23_{stat} ^{+0.71}_{-0.44}(sys))%/K^-_{stop}, in agreement with the existing
observations on He targets and with the hypothesis that the Li nucleus
can be interpreted as a cluster.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in NP
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