Quenching Effects in the Hadron Spectrum

Lattice QCD has generated a wealth of data in hadronic physics over the last two decades. Until relatively recently, most of this information has been within the "quenched approximation" where virtual quark--anti-quark pairs are neglected. This review presents a descriptive discussion of the effects of removing this approximation in the calculation of hadronic masses.Comment: To appear in "Lattice Hadron Physics", ed. A.C. Kalloniatis, D.B. Leinweber and A.G. William

Scattering in a Simple 2-d Lattice Model

L\"uscher has suggested a method to determine phase shifts from the finite volume dependence of the two-particle energy spectrum. We apply this to two models in d=2: (a) the Ising model, (b) a system of two Ising fields with different mass and coupled through a 3-point term, both considered in the symmetric phase. The Monte Carlo simulation makes use of the cluster updating and reduced variance operator techniques. For the Ising system we study in particular O($a^2$) effects in the phase shift of the 2-particle scattering process.Comment: 4 p + 2 PS-figures, UNIGRAZ-UTP-21-10-9

Effects of land use change on streamflow and stream water quality of a coastal catchment

This study aimed to link land cover/use change to water quality in an important water supply coastal catchment. The approach followed a spatial and temporal analysis of historical catchment land use change to assess how changes influenced water quality and river flow in the Touws and Duiwe Rivers, southwestern Cape, South Africa. Each sub-catchment has unique characteristics which influence land use and water quality and the purpose was to analyse each one separately. Historical water quality and flow analysis were based on the records available (Duiwe River: 1998-2013; Touws River: 1980-2013) together with rainfall data. Records were analysed to detect trends over time, which were linked to changes in land use activities. Agriculture intensified rapidly in the Duiwe River catchment with most arable land cultivated by 1960 and water storage as farm dams escalating. Concentrations of nutrients and electrical conductivity were higher in the Duiwe River than in the more natural Touws River, and were positively correlated to river flows. Mean values for total nitrogen and electrical conductivity were 0.03 mg/L and 16.7 mg/L, respectively, in the Touws River and 0.25 mg/L and 127 mg/L, respectively, in the Duiwe River. Nutrient concentrations decreased in the Duiwe River after 2006 as fertilizer applications to pastures were reduced. The South African Target Water Quality Ranges were exceeded at times and in the Touws catchment this appears to have been due to extensive fires. For instance, sodium concentrations reached a maximum of 1 874.5 mg/L in 1996 compared to a usual average concentration of 20.8 mg/L where the guidelines are between 0 and100 mg/L. The link between land cover/use and water quality was demonstrated and when spatial heterogeneity of the catchments was altered by human or natural events, this was reflected in changes in the water quality.IS

Excited B mesons from the lattice

We determine the energies of the excited states of a heavy-light meson $Q\bar{q}$, with a static heavy quark and light quark with mass approximately that of the strange quark from both quenched lattices and with dynamical fermions. We are able to explore the energies of orbital excitations up to L=3, the spin-orbit splitting up to L=2 and the first radial excitation. These $b \bar{s}$ mesons will be very narrow if their mass is less than 5775 MeV -- the $BK$ threshold. We investigate this in detail and present evidence that the scalar meson (L=1) will be very narrow and that as many as 6 $b \bar{s}$ excited states will have energies close to the $BK$ threshold and should also be relatively narrow.Comment: 17 pages, 6 ps figure

The electrolysis of water: An actuation principle for MEMS with a big opportunity

In this paper the theory of water electrolysis in a closed electrochemical cell, that contains two electrodes, an electrolyte and a pressure sensor is described. From the leakage and electrochemical experiments done with this macrocell it is possible to obtain information about the applicability of the electrochemical principle in a closed cavity, the choice of the electrodes and electrolyte, and different types of leakage. To control the pressure of the electrochemical actuator automatically, an electronic feedback system was connected to the cell. A value of the pressure is set and the regulator will actuate the electrochemical cell in such a way to get the desired pressure

Resonance Scattering Phase Shifts in a 2-d Lattice Model

We study a simple 2-d model representing two fields with different mass and a 3-point coupling term. The phase shift in the resonating 2-particle channel is determined from the energy spectrum obtained in Monte Carlo simulations on finite lattices. Masses and wave function renormalization constants of the fields as well as mass and width of the resonance are determined and discussed. The representation of scattering states in terms of the considered operators is analysed.Comment: 24 p + 8 PS-figures, UNIGRAZ-UTP-04-05-9

Hybrid meson decay from the lattice

We discuss the allowed decays of a hybrid meson in the heavy quark limit. We deduce that an important decay will be into a heavy quark non-hybrid state and a light quark meson, in other words, the de-excitation of an excited gluonic string by emission of a light quark-antiquark pair. We discuss the study of hadronic decays from the lattice in the heavy quark limit and apply this approach to explore the transitions from a spin-exotic hybrid to $\chi_b \eta$ and $\chi_b S$ where $S$ is a scalar meson. We obtain a signal for the transition emitting a scalar meson and we discuss the phenomenological implications.Comment: 18 pages, LATEX, 3 ps figure

The flavour singlet mesons in QCD

We study the flavour singlet mesons from first principles using lattice QCD. We explore the splitting between flavour singlet and non-singlet for vector and axial mesons as well as the more commonly studied cases of the scalar and pseudoscalar mesons.Comment: 12 pages, LATEX, 4 ps figure