Measuring charge fluctuations in high-energy nuclear collisions

Various measures of charge fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions are discussed. Advantages of the Phi-measure are demonstrated and its relation to other fluctuation measures is established. To get the relation, Phi is expressed through the moments of multiplicity distribution. We study how the measures act in the case of a `background' model which represents the classical hadron gas in equilibrium. The model assumes statistical particle production constrained by charge conservation. It also takes into account both the effect of incomplete experimental apparatus acceptance and that of tracking inefficiency. The model is shown to approximately agree with the PHENIX and preliminary STAR data on the electric charge fluctuations. Finally, `background-free' measures are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, numerous but minor changes, Phys. Rev. C in prin

Duality properties of indicatrices of knots

The bridge index and superbridge index of a knot are important invariants in knot theory. We define the bridge map of a knot conformation, which is closely related to these two invariants, and interpret it in terms of the tangent indicatrix of the knot conformation. Using the concepts of dual and derivative curves of spherical curves as introduced by Arnold, we show that the graph of the bridge map is the union of the binormal indicatrix, its antipodal curve, and some number of great circles. Similarly, we define the inflection map of a knot conformation, interpret it in terms of the binormal indicatrix, and express its graph in terms of the tangent indicatrix. This duality relationship is also studied for another dual pair of curves, the normal and Darboux indicatrices of a knot conformation. The analogous concepts are defined and results are derived for stick knots.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Longitudinal scaling property of the charge balance function in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV

We present measurements of the charge balance function, from the charged particles, for diverse pseudorapidity and transverse momentum ranges in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We observe that the balance function is boost-invariant within the pseudorapidity coverage [-1.3, 1.3]. The balance function properly scaled by the width of the observed pseudorapidity window does not depend on the position or size of the pseudorapidity window. This scaling property also holds for particles in different transverse momentum ranges. In addition, we find that the width of the balance function decreases monotonically with increasing transverse momentum for all centrality classes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Giant suppression of phononic heat transport in a quantum magnet BiCu2PO6

Thermal transport of quantum magnets has elucidated the nature of low energy elementary excitations and complex interplay between those excited states via strong scattering of thermal carriers. BiCu2PO6 is a unique frustrated spin-ladder compound exhibiting highly anisotropic spin excitations that contain both itinerant and localized dispersion characters along the b-and a-axes respectively. Here, we investigate thermal conductivity κ of BiCu2PO6 under high magnetic fields (H) of up to 30 tesla. A dip-feature in κ, located at ∼15 K at zero-H along all crystallographic directions, moves gradually toward lower temperature (T) with increasing H, thus resulting in giant suppression by a factor of ∼30 near the critical magnetic field of Hc ‰ 23.5 tesla. The giant H-and T-dependent suppression of κ can be explained by the combined result of resonant scattering of phononic heat carriers with magnetic energy levels and increased phonon scattering due to enhanced spin fluctuation at Hc, unequivocally revealing the existence of strong spin-phonon coupling. Moreover, we find an experimental indication that the remaining magnetic heat transport along the b-axis becomes almost gapless at the magnetic quantum critical point realized at Hc. © 2016 The Author(s)1441sciescopu

Facile synthesis of limeonia acidissima shell derived carbon-vanadium pentoxide nanocomposite for sensitive detection of carbofuran

Generating carbonaceous materials from agricultural waste is a sustainable and environmentally friendly method of producing activated carbon. In the current work, carbon is extracted using a tubular furnace from the shell of the wood apple (Limonia acidissima) V2O5 (C/VO) and synthesized carbon were combined to form a nanocomposite. The formation of nanocomposite is confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigations, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and other morphological characterizations. Modification of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was done using synthesized materials (C@GCE, VO@GCE, and C/VO@GCE). The enzyme-free detection of carbofuran (CBF) in 0.1 M phosphate buffer was carried out using fabricated electrodes. Among the various electrode systems, C/VO@GCE demonstrated enhanced electrochemical performance for CBF detection using both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) methods. V/C@GCE demonstrated its capacity to identify CBF within a 0.05–750 μM range, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.06 μM. Using DPV, the effect of several pesticides on CBF detection in the presence of C/V@GCE was assessed, and good anti-interfering properties were discovered. When the DPV approach was used to detect CBF in potatoes, the recovery rate ranged from 98.0 to 99.0 %. According to a stability study, C/V@GCE has an 80.8 % retention capacity and can detect CBF for up to 24 days. The promise of the constructed electrode towards sensor applications is indicated by the large linear range, low LOD, selectivity, and stability of C/V@GCE

Synthesis and paste properties of octenyl succinic anhydride modified early Indica rice starch

Octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) modified early Indica rice starch was prepared in aqueous slurry systems using response surface methodology. The paste properties of the OSA starch were also investigated. Results indicated that the suitable parameters for the preparation of OSA starch from early Indica rice starch were as follows: reaction period 4 h, reaction temperature 33.4 °C, pH of reaction system 8.4, concentration of starch slurry 36.8% (in proportion to water, w/w), amount of OSA 3% (in proportion to starch, w/w). The degree of substitution was 0.0188 and the reaction efficiency was 81.0%. The results of paste properties showed that with increased OSA modification, the starch derivatives had higher paste clarity, decreased retrogradation and better freeze-thaw stability

Functional genomics in the rice blast fungus to unravel the fungal pathogenicity* §

A rapidly growing number of successful genome sequencing projects in plant pathogenic fungi greatly increase the demands for tools and methodologies to study fungal pathogenicity at genomic scale. Magnaporthe oryzae is an economically important plant pathogenic fungus whose genome is fully sequenced. Recently we have reported the development and application of functional genomics platform technologies in M. oryzae. This model approach would have many practical ramifications in design and implementation of upcoming functional genomics studies of filamentous fungi aimed at understanding fungal pathogenicity