4,747 research outputs found
Diffusion of Ultra High Energy Protons in Galaxy Clusters and Secondary X and Gamma Ray Emissions
In this work we simulate the propagation of Ultra High Energy (UHE) protons
in the magnetised intergalactic medium of Galaxy Clusters (GCs). Differently
from previous works on the subject, we trace proton trajectories in
configurations of the Intra Cluster Magnetic Field (ICMF) which have been
extracted from a constrained Magnetic-SPH simulation of the local universe.
Such an approach allows us to take into account the effects of several features
of the ICMFs, e.g. irregular geometrical structure and field fluctuations due
to merger shocks,which cannot be investigated analitically or with usual
numerical simulations. Furthermore, we are able to simulate a set of clusters
which have properties quite similar to those of GCs observed in the nearby
universe. We estimate the time that UHE protons take to get out of the clusters
and found that in the energy range 5\times 10^{18} \simleq E \simleq 3 \times
10^{19} \eV proton propagation takes place in the Bohm scattering diffusion
regime passing smoothly to a small pitch angle diffusion regime at larger
energies.
We apply our results to estimate the secondary gamma and Hard X Ray (HXR)
emissions produced by UHE protons in a rich GC. We show that the main emission
channel is due to the synchrotron HXR radiation of secondary electrons
originated by proton photo-pair production scattering onto the CMB. This
process may give rise to a detectable signal if a relatively powerful AGN, or a
dead quasar, accelerating protons at UHEs is harboured by a rich GC in the
local universe.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figure
A Lee-Yang--inspired functional with a density--dependent neutron-neutron scattering length
Inspired by the low--density Lee-Yang expansion for the energy of a dilute
Fermi gas of density and momentum , we introduce here a
Skyrme--type functional that contains only -wave terms and provides, at the
mean--field level, (i) a satisfactory equation of state for neutron matter from
extremely low densities up to densities close to the equilibrium point, and
(ii) a good--quality equation of state for symmetric matter at density scales
around the saturation point. This is achieved by using a density--dependent
neutron-neutron scattering length ) which satisfies the low--density
limit (for Fermi momenta going to zero) and has a density dependence tuned in
such a way that the low--density constraint is satisfied
at all density scales.Comment: 5 figure
From dilute matter to the equilibrium point in the energy--density--functional theory
Due to the large value of the scattering length in nuclear systems, standard
density--functional theories based on effective interactions usually fail to
reproduce the nuclear Fermi liquid behavior both at very low densities and
close to equilibrium. Guided on one side by the success of the Skyrme density
functional and, on the other side, by resummation techniques used in Effective
Field Theories for systems with large scattering lengths, a new energy--density
functional is proposed. This functional, adjusted on microscopic calculations,
reproduces the nuclear equations of state of neutron and symmetric matter at
various densities. Furthermore, it provides reasonable saturation properties as
well as an appropriate density dependence for the symmetry energy.Comment: 4 figures, 2 table
From bare interactions, low--energy constants and unitary gas to nuclear density functionals without free parameters: application to neutron matter
We further progress along the line of Ref. [Phys. Rev. {\bf A 94}, 043614
(2016)] where a functional for Fermi systems with anomalously large -wave
scattering length was proposed that has no free parameters. The
functional is designed to correctly reproduce the unitary limit in Fermi gases
together with the leading-order contributions in the s- and p-wave channels at
low density. The functional is shown to be predictive up to densities
fm that is much higher densities compared to the Lee-Yang
functional, valid for fm. The form of the functional
retained in this work is further motivated. It is shown that the new functional
corresponds to an expansion of the energy in and to all
orders, where is the effective range and is the Fermi momentum. One
conclusion from the present work is that, except in the extremely low--density
regime, nuclear systems can be treated perturbatively in with
respect to the unitary limit. Starting from the functional, we introduce
density--dependent scales and show that scales associated to the bare
interaction are strongly renormalized by medium effects. As a consequence, some
of the scales at play around saturation are dominated by the unitary gas
properties and not directly to low-energy constants. For instance, we show that
the scale in the s-wave channel around saturation is proportional to the
so-called Bertsch parameter and becomes independent of . We also
point out that these scales are of the same order of magnitude than those
empirically obtained in the Skyrme energy density functional. We finally
propose a slight modification of the functional such that it becomes accurate
up to the saturation density fm
Renormalizability of the nuclear many-body problem with the Skyrme interaction beyond mean field
Phenomenological effective interactions like Skyrme forces are currently used
in mean--field calculations in nuclear physics. Mean--field models have strong
analogies with the first order of the perturbative many--body problem and the
currently used effective interactions are adjusted at the mean--field level. In
this work, we analyze the renormalizability of the nuclear many--body problem
in the case where the effective Skyrme interaction is employed in its standard
form and the perturbative problem is solved up to second order. We focus on
symmetric nuclear matter and its equation of state, which can be calculated
analytically at this order. It is shown that only by applying specific density
dependence and constraints to the interaction parameters could
renormalizability be guaranteed in principle. This indicates that the standard
Skyrme interaction does not in general lead to a renormalizable theory. For
achieving renormalizability, other terms should be added to the interaction and
employed perturbatively only at first order.Comment: Revised versio
Influence of space allowance on the welfare of weaned buffalo (Bubalus Bubalis) calves
Twenty weaned female buffalo calves were used to evaluate the effect of space allowance in relation to their body surface area on a range of behavioural and physiological parameters. Body surface area in m2 was calculated as 0.12 body weight0.60. Ten calves received 50% of body surface as space allocation (Group 50), 10 others received 90% of body surface area (Group 90). Animals in Group 50 lay with a lower number of outstretched legs than calves in Group 90. Buffaloes from Group 50 were observed standing more frequently than animals from Group 90 ( P < 0.001). The proportions of idling ( P < 0.01) and lying idle observations ( P < 0.001) were higher for Group 90 than for Group 50. Group 90 performed a higher number of non-agonistic interactions than Group 50 ( P < 0.01), whereas the opposite was observed for the number of agonistic interactions ( P < 0.01). When exposed to open field testing, Group 50 animals displayed an increased duration of movement, number of galloping events and more vocalisation. Neither immune responses to phytohemagglutinin and ovalbumin nor the cortisol response to exogenous ACTH were affected by treatment. It was concluded that 50% of body surface area may be an inadequate space allowance for weaned calves
Housing system and welfare of buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) cows
Twenty-eight buffalo cows were used to evaluate the effect of housing system on a range of behavioural and physiological variables. Fourteen cows were group-housed in a loose open-sided barn with a concrete floor and 10 m2 per head as space allowance (group IS). Fourteen others were group-housed in a similar barn but they could also benefit from an outdoor yard with 500 m2 per head as space allowance, free access to potholes for wallowing and spontaneous vegetation (group TS). Animals were subjected to six sessions of instantaneous scan sampling at 10-day intervals. Behavioural variables were expressed as proportions of subjects observed in each category of posture and activity. Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was used to perform a skin test based on non-specific delayed type hypersensitivity, whereas 20 mg of ovalbumin were injected subcutaneously to evaluate humoral immune response. Blood samples for evaluation of cortisol concentration were collected immediately prior to exogenous porcine ACTH injection and 1, 2 and 4 h after. The metabolic status of the animals and milk production were also monitored. The proportion of idling animals was higher in group IS than in group TS (P< 0·001). More IS buffalo cows were observed eating at the manger than TS animals (P< 0·001). A higher proportion of TS animals were observed in the sun (P< 0·001). Grazing and bathing activities were recorded only for TS animals. Our findings suggest that buffalo cows kept in intensive conditions and having no access to ample yards and potholes may extend their periods of idling with negative effects on the state of welfare. Immune responses, metabolite concentrations and milk production were not affected by treatment, whereas cortisol levels were higher in IS animals (P< 0·05). The provision of a housing system similar to natural conditions was able to improve the welfare of buffalo cows as indicated by the expression of some species-specific natural behaviours. Such conditions were also associated with lower adrenal cortex response to ACTH injection, possibly as a consequence of the higher degree of initiative allowed to TS cows
Second--order equation of state with the Skyrme interaction. Cutoff and dimensional regularization with the inclusion of rearrangement terms
We evaluate the second--order (beyond--mean--field) contribution to the
equation of state of nuclear matter with the effective Skyrme force and use
cutoff and dimensional regularizations to treat the ultraviolet divergence
produced by the zero--range character of this interaction. An adjustment of the
force parameters is then performed in both cases to remove any double counting
generated by the explicit computation of beyond--mean--field corrections with
the Skyrme force. In addition, we include at second order the rearrangement
terms associated to the density--dependent part of the Skyrme force and discuss
their effect. Sets of parameters are proposed to define new effective forces
which are specially designed for second--order calculations in nuclear matter.Comment: 29 figures, 9 table
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