1,656 research outputs found
Evidence of kaon nuclear and Coulomb potential effects on soft K+ production from nuclei
The ratio of forward K+ production on copper, silver and gold targets to that
on carbon has been measured at proton beam energies between 1.5 and 2.3 GeV as
a function of the kaon momentum p_K using the ANKE spectrometer at
COSY-Juelich. The strong suppression in the ratios observed for p_K<200-250
MeV/c can be ascribed to a combination of Coulomb and nuclear repulsion in the
K+A system. This opens a new way to investigate the interaction of K+-mesons in
the nuclear medium. Our data are consistent with a K+A nuclear potential of
V_K~20 MeV at low kaon momenta and normal nuclear density. Given the
sensitivity of the data to the kaon potential, the current experimental
precision might allow one to determine V_K to better than 3 MeV.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; changed conten
Search for the eta-mesic 4He with WASA-at-COSY detector
An exclusive measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3Heppi-
reaction was performed at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY-Juelich with the
WASA-at-COSY detection system. The data were taken during a slow acceleration
of the beam from 2.185 GeV/c to 2.400 GeV/c crossing the kinematic threshold
for the eta meson production in the dd->4He-eta reaction at 2.336 GeV/c. The
corresponding excess energy with respect to the 4He-eta system varied from
-51.4MeV to 22MeV. The integrated luminosity in the experiment was determined
using the dd->3Hen reaction. The shape of the excitation function for the
dd->3Heppi- was examined. No signal of the 4He-eta bound state was observed. An
upper limit for the cross-section for the bound state formation and decay in
the process dd->(4He-eta)bound->3Heppi- was determined on the 90% confidence
level and it varies from 20nb to 27nb for the bound state width ranging from
5MeV to 35MeV, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
Search for eta-mesic 4He in the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- reactions with the WASA-at-COSY facility
The search for 4He-eta bound states was performed with the WASA-at-COSY
facility via the measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3He n pi0
and dd->3He p pi- processes. The beam momentum was varied continuously between
2.127 GeV/c and 2.422 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy for the dd->4He
eta reaction ranging from Q=-70 MeV to Q=30 MeV. The luminosity was determined
based on the dd->3He n reaction and quasi-free proton-proton scattering via
dd->pp n_spectator n_spectator reactions. The excitation functions determined
independently for the measured reactions do not reveal a structure which could
be interpreted as a narrow mesic nucleus. Therefore, the upper limits of the
total cross sections for the bound state production and decay in
dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He n pi0 and dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He p pi- processes
were determined taking into account the isospin relation between both the
channels considered. The results of the analysis depend on the assumptions of
the N* momentum distribution in the anticipated mesic-4He. Assuming as in the
previous works, that this is identical with the distribution of nucleons bound
with 20 MeV in 4He, we determined that (for the mesic bound state width in the
range from 5 MeV to 50 MeV) the upper limits at 90% confidence level are about
3 nb and about 6 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels, respectively. However, based on
the recent theoretical findings of the N*(1535) momentum distribution in the
N*-3He nucleus bound by 3.6 MeV, we find that the WASA-at-COSY detector
acceptance decreases and hence the corresponding upper limits are 5 nb and 10
nb for npi0 and ppi- channels respectively.Comment: This article will be submitted to JHE
Forward K+ production in subthreshold pA collisions at 1.0 GeV
K+ meson production in pA (A = C, Cu, Au) collisions has been studied using
the ANKE spectrometer at an internal target position of the COSY-Juelich
accelerator. The complete momentum spectrum of kaons emitted at forward angles,
theta < 12 degrees, has been measured for a beam energy of T(p)=1.0 GeV, far
below the free NN threshold of 1.58 GeV. The spectrum does not follow a thermal
distribution at low kaon momenta and the larger momenta reflect a high degree
of collectivity in the target nucleus.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Dark Matter in the MSSM
We have recently examined a large number of points in the parameter space of
the phenomenological MSSM, the 19-dimensional parameter space of the
CP-conserving MSSM with Minimal Flavor Violation. We determined whether each of
these points satisfied existing experimental and theoretical constraints. This
analysis provides insight into general features of the MSSM without reference
to a particular SUSY breaking scenario or any other assumptions at the GUT
scale. This study opens up new possibilities for SUSY phenomenology both in
colliders and in astrophysical experiments. Here we shall discuss the
implications of this analysis relevant to the study of dark matter.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figs; Journal version in NJP issue "Focus on Dark Matter
and Particle Physics". Previous version had 26 pages, 19 figures. Text and
some figures have been update
The Escherichia coli transcriptome mostly consists of independently regulated modules
Underlying cellular responses is a transcriptional regulatory network (TRN) that modulates gene expression. A useful description of the TRN would decompose the transcriptome into targeted effects of individual transcriptional regulators. Here, we apply unsupervised machine learning to a diverse compendium of over 250 high-quality Escherichia coli RNA-seq datasets to identify 92 statistically independent signals that modulate the expression of specific gene sets. We show that 61 of these transcriptomic signals represent the effects of currently characterized transcriptional regulators. Condition-specific activation of signals is validated by exposure of E. coli to new environmental conditions. The resulting decomposition of the transcriptome provides: a mechanistic, systems-level, network-based explanation of responses to environmental and genetic perturbations; a guide to gene and regulator function discovery; and a basis for characterizing transcriptomic differences in multiple strains. Taken together, our results show that signal summation describes the composition of a model prokaryotic transcriptome
Bioelectric Effects of Intense Nanosecond Pulses
Electrical models for biological cells predict that reducing the duration of applied electrical pulses to values below the charging time of the outer cell membrane (which is on the order of 100 ns for mammalian cells) causes a strong increase in the probability of electric field interactions with intracellular structures due to displacement currents. For electric field amplitudes exceeding MV/m, such pulses are also expected to allow access to the cell interior through conduction currents flowing through the permeabilized plasma membrane. In both cases, limiting the duration of the electrical pulses to nanoseconds ensures only nonthermal interactions of the electric field with subcellular structures. This intracellular access allows the manipulation of cell functions. Experimental studies, in which human cells were exposed to pulsed electric fields of up to 300 kY/cm amplitude with durations as short as 3 ns, have confirmed this hypothesis and have shown that it is possible to selectively alter the behavior and/or survival of cells. Observed nanosecond pulsed effects at moderate electric fields include intracellular release of calcium and enhanced gene expression, which could have long term implications on cell behavior and function. At increased electric fields, the application of nanosecond pulses induces a type of programmed cell death, apoptosis, in biological cells. Cell survival studies with 10 ns pulses have shown that the viability of the cells scales inversely with the electrical energy density, which is similar to the ‘dose’ effect caused by ionizing radiation. On the other hand, there is experimental evidence that, for pulses of varying durations, the onset of a range of observed biological effects is determined by the electrical charge that is transferred to the cell membrane during pulsing. This leads to an empirical similarity law for nanosecond pulse effects, with the product of electric field intensity, pulse duration, and the square root of the number of pulses as the similarity parameter. The similarity law allows one not only to predict cell viability based on pulse parameters, but has also been shown to be applicable for inducing platelet aggregation, an effect which is triggered by internal calcium release. Applications for nanosecond pulse effects cover a wide range: from a rather simple use as preventing biofouling in cooling water systems, to advanced medical applications, such as gene therapy and tumor treatment. Results of this continuing research are leading to the development of wound healing and skin cancer treatments, which are discussed in some detail
Search for R-parity Violating Supersymmetry in Dimuon and Four-Jets Channel
We present results of a search for R-parity-violating decay of the neutralino
chi_1^0, taken to be the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle. It is assumed that
this decay proceeds through one of the lepton-number violating couplings
lambda-prime_2jk (j=1,2; k=1,2,3). This search is based on 77.5 pb-1 of data,
collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron in ppbar collisions at
a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV in 1992-1995.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
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