1,737 research outputs found
Supersymmetric Leptogenesis
We study leptogenesis in the supersymmetric standard model plus the seesaw.
We identify important qualitative differences that characterize supersymmetric
leptogenesis with respect to the non-supersymmetric case. The lepton number
asymmetries in fermions and scalars do not equilibrate, and are related via a
non-vanishing gaugino chemical potential. Due to the presence of new anomalous
symmetries, electroweak sphalerons couple to winos and higgsinos, and QCD
sphalerons couple to gluinos, thus modifying the corresponding chemical
equilibrium conditions. A new constraint on particles chemical potentials
corresponding to an exactly conserved -charge, that also involves the number
density asymmetry of the heavy sneutrinos, appears. These new ingredients
determine the matrices that mix up the density asymmetries of the
lepton flavours and of the heavy sneutrinos. We explain why in all temperature
ranges the particle thermodynamic system is characterized by the same number of
independent quantities. Numerical differences with respect to usual treatment
remain at the level.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. Typos corrected, one reference added. Version
published in JCA
Solvent Effect on Electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction Reaction on Nanostructured Copper Electrodes
The electrochemical reduction of CO2 (CO2RR) is a sustainable alternative for producing fuels and chemicals, although the production of highly desired hydrocarbons is still a challenge due to the higher overpotential requirement in combination with the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Tailoring the electrolyte composition is a possible strategy to favor the CO2RR over the HER. In this work we studied the solvent effect on the CO2RR on a nanostructured Cu electrode in acetonitrile solvent with different amounts of water. Similar to what has been observed for aqueous media, our online gas chromatography results showed that CO2RR in acetonitrile solvent is also structure-dependent, since nanocube-covered copper (CuNC) was the only surface (in comparison to polycrystalline Cu) capable of producing a detectable amount of ethylene (10% FE), provided there is enough water present in the electrolyte (>500 mM). In situ Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that in acetonitrile solvent the presence of CO2 strongly inhibits HER by driving away water from the interface. CO is by far the main product of CO2RR in acetonitrile (>85% Faradaic efficiency), but adsorbed CO is not detected. This suggests that in acetonitrile media CO adsorption is inhibited compared to aqueous media. Remarkably, the addition of water to acetonitrile has little quantitative and almost no qualitative effect on the activity and selectivity of the CO2RR. This indicates that water is not strongly involved in the rate-determining step of the CO2RR in acetonitrile. Only at the highest water concentrations and at the CuNC surface, the CO coverage becomes high enough that a small amount of C2+ product is formed
What do asthmatic patients think about telemedicine visits?
Introduction. Due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and the national emergency state, virtual visits were implemented as an alternative to in-person visits. With this study we aimed to establish asthma patients' general satisfaction with the quality of health care provided by virtual visits (phone or video calls). Materials and methods. A questionnaire (9 questions) was published on the Facebook page of the Portuguese Association of Asthmatics. It was available online for general self-reported asthmatic patients to answer during one month, starting on 11st May 2020. The survey only allowed one answer per registered user. Results. Fifty-five responses were obtained. Patients were satisfied with communication with providers (> 88%); nevertheless, one-half evaluated the virtual visit as inferior when compared to in-person visits. About one third attributed a classification of 6 or less (0-10 scale, 0 being the worst and 10 the best consultation possible), but still most of the patients would either recommend it or use this kind of medical visits in the future, even outside the actual pandemic context. Patients also referred some important limitations, as lack of physical examination and the fact that the medical visit was more impersonal. Only 27% had technical issues accessing virtual visits. Positive aspects were also named, such as virtual visits being practical and avoiding the need to move to the hospital. Discussion and conclusions. Our survey revealed that small changes could further increase patients' satisfaction, adherence and confidence in telemedicine. Although presenting some limitations, virtual visits seem to be generally well accepted by asthmatic patients and it might be a good alternative for in-person visits, at leastin such difficult times when social distancing is recommended.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Ultra-fast Rotors for Molecular Machines and Functional Materials via Halogen Bonding: Crystals of 1,4-Bis(iodoethynyl)bicyclo 2.2.2 octane with Distinct Gigahertz Rotation at Two Sites
As a point of entry to investigate the potential of halogen-bonding interactions in the construction of functional materials and crystalline molecular machines, samples of 1,4-bis(iodoethynyl)bicyclo[2.2.2] octane (BIBCO) were synthesized and crystallized. Knowing that halogen-bonding interactions are common between electron-rich acetylenic carbons and electron-deficient iodines, it was expected that the BIBCO rotors would be an ideal platform to investigate the formation of a crystalline array of molecular rotors. Variable temperature single crystal X-ray crystallography established the presence of a halogen-bonded network, characterized by lamellarly ordered layers of crystallographically unique BIBCO rotors, which undergo a reversible monoclinic-to-triclinic phase transition at 110 K. In order to elucidate the rotational frequencies and the activation parameters of the BIBCO molecular rotors, variable-temperature H-1 wide-line and C-13 cross-polarization/magic-angle spinning solid-state NMR experiments were performed at temperatures between 27 and 290 K. Analysis of the H-1 spin-lattice relaxation and second moment as a function of temperature revealed two dynamic processes simultaneously present over the entire temperature range studied, with temperature-dependent rotational rates of k(rot) = 5.21 x 10(10) s(-1).exp(-1.48 kcal.mol(-1)/RT) and k(rot) = 8.00 x 10(10) s(-1).exp(-2.75 kcal.mol(-1)/RT). Impressively, these correspond to room temperature rotational rates of 4.3 and 0.8 GHz, respectively. Notably, the high-temperature plastic crystalline phase I of bicyclo[2.2.2]octane has a reported activation energy of 1.84 kcal.mol(-1) for rotation about the 1,4 axis, which is 24% larger than E-a = 1.48 kcal.mol(-1) for the same rotational motion of the fastest BIBCO rotor; yet, the BIBCO rotor has three fewer degrees of translational freedom and two fewer degrees of rotational freedom! Even more so, these rates represent some of the fastest engineered molecular machines, to date. The results of this study highlight the potential of halogen bonding as a valuable construction tool for the design and the synthesis of amphidynamic artificial molecular machines and suggest the potential of modulating properties that depend on the dielectric behavior of crystalline media
Customized WO3 nanoplatelets as visible-light photoelectrocatalyst for the degradation of a recalcitrant model organic compound (methyl orange)
WO3 nanoplatelets have been synthesized by electrochemical anodization in acidic electrolytes containing two different complexing agents: fluorides and hydrogen peroxide. The influence of the morphology and size of these nanoplatelets on their photoelectrocatalytic performance has been studied following the degradation of a model organic recalcitrant compound, such as methyl orange (MO). The effect of several supporting electrolytes on this photodegradation process has also been checked. The best MO decoloration was observed for nanoplatelets fabricated in the presence of low H2O2 concentrations, whose distribution and small size made them expose a very high surface area to the problem solution. With this nanostructure, decoloration efficiencies of ca. 100% were obtained after just 60 min. This result is considerably better than others reported in similar works, indicating the excellent behavior of these WO3 nanoplatelets as photoelectrocatalysts
On fast CP violating interactions in leptogenesis
We show that when the relevant CP violating interactions in leptogenesis are
fast, the different matter density asymmetries are determined at each instant
by a balance condition between the amount of asymmetry being created and
destroyed. This fact allows to understand in a simple way many features of
leptogenesis in the strong washout regime. In particular, we find some
non-trivial effects of flavour changing interactions that conserve lepton
number, which are specially relevant in models for leptogenesis that rely
heavily on flavour effects.Comment: V2: To match published version in JCAP. Minor changes, including one
figure, with respect to V1. 17 pages, 4 figure
Light and Life: Exotic Photosynthesis in Binary Star Systems
The potential for hosting photosynthetic life on Earth-like planets within
binary/multiple stellar systems was evaluated by modelling the levels of
photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) such planets receive. Combinations of
M and G stars in: (i) close-binary systems; (ii) wide-binary systems and (iii)
three-star systems were investigated and a range of stable radiation
environments found to be possible. These environmental conditions allow for the
possibility of familiar, but also more exotic forms of photosynthetic life,
such as infrared photosynthesisers and organisms specialised for specific
spectral niches.Comment: Accepted for publication in: Astrobiolog
Supersymmetric effects in top quark decay into polarized W-boson
We investigate the one-loop supersymmetric QCD (SUSY-QCD) and electroweak
(SUSY-EW) corrections to the top quark decay into a b-quark and a longitudinal
or transverse W-boson. The corrections are presented in terms of the
longitudinal ratio \Gamma(t-->W_L b)/\Gamma(t--> W b) and the transverse ratio
\Gamma(t-->W_- b)/\Gamma(t--> W b). In most of the parameter space, both
SUSY-QCD and SUSY-EW corrections to these ratios are found to be less than 1%
in magnitude and they tend to have opposite signs. The corrections to the total
width \Gamma(t-->W b) are also presented for comparison with the existing
results in the literature. We find that our SUSY-EW corrections to the total
width differ significantly from previous studies: the previous studies give a
large correction of more than 10% in magnitude for a large part of the
parameter space while our results reach only few percent at most.Comment: Version in PRD (explanation and refs added
Minimal SUSY SO(10) model and predictions for neutrino mixings and leptonic CP violation
We discuss a minimal Supersymmetric SO(10) model where B-L symmetry is broken
by a {\bf 126} dimensional Higgs multiplet which also contributes to fermion
masses in conjunction with a {\bf 10} dimensional superfield. This minimal
Higgs choice provides a partial unification of neutrino flavor structure with
that of quarks and has been shown to predict all three neutrino mixing angles
and the solar mass splitting in agreement with observations, provided one uses
the type II seesaw formula for neutrino masses. In this paper we generalize
this analysis to include arbitrary CP phases in couplings and vevs. We find
that (i) the predictions for neutrino mixings are similar with as before and other parameters in a somewhat bigger range and (ii) that
to first order in the quark mixing parameter (the Cabibbo angle), the
leptonic mixing matrix is CP conserving. We also find that in the absence of
any higher dimensional contributions to fermion masses, the CKM phase is
different from that of the standard model implying that there must be new
contributions to quark CP violation from the supersymmetry breaking sector.
Inclusion of higher dimensional terms however allows the standard model CKM
phase to be maintained.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Large Mixing Induced by the Strong Coupling with a Single Bulk Neutrinos
Neutrino is a good probe of extra dimensions. Large mixing and the apparent
lack of very complicated oscillation patterns may be an indication of large
couplings between the brane and a single bulk neutrino. A simple and realistic
five-dimensional model of this kind is discussed. It requires a sterile in
addition to three active neutrinos on the brane, all coupled strongly to one
common bulk neutrino, but not directly among themselves. Mindful that sterile
neutrinos are disfavored in the atmospheric and solar data, we demand induced
mixing to occur among the active neutrinos, but not between the active and the
sterile. The size of the extra dimension is arbitrary in this model,
otherwise it contains six parameters which can be used to fit the three
neutrino masses and the three mixing angles. However, in the model those six
parameters must be suitably ordered, so a successful fit is not guaranteed. It
turns out that not only the data can be fitted, but as a result of the
ordering, a natural connection between the smallness of the reactor angle
and the smallness of the mass-gap ratio can be derived.Comment: Misprints above eq. (22) corrected. To appear in PR
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