992 research outputs found
Optical production and detection of dark matter candidates
The PVLAS collaboration is at present running, at the Laboratori Nazionali di
Legnaro of I.N.F.N., Padova, Italy, a very sensitive optical ellipsometer
capable of measuring the small rotations or ellipticities which can be acquired
by a linearly polarized laser beam propagating in vacuum through a transverse
magnetic feld (vacuum magnetic birefringence). The apparatus will also be able
to set new limits on mass and coupling constant of light scalar/pseudoscalar
particles coupling to two photons by both producing and detecting the
hypothetical particles. The axion, introduced to explain parity conservation in
strong interactions, is an example of this class of particles, all of which are
considered possible dark matter candidates. The PVLAS apparatus consists of a
very high finesse (> 140000), 6.4 m long, Fabry-Perot cavity immersed in an
intense dipolar magnetic field (~6.5 T). A linearly polarized laser beam is
frequency locked to the cavity and analysed, using a heterodyne technique, for
rotation and/or ellipticity acquired within the magnetic field.Comment: presented at "Frontier Detectors for Frontier Physics - 8th Pisa
Meeting on Advanced Detectors - May 21-27, 2000" to appear in: Nucl.Instr.
and Meth.
Confocal laser scanning microscope, raman microscopy and western blotting to evaluate inflammatory response after myocardial infarction
Cardiac muscle necrosis is associated with inflammatory cascade that clears the infarct from dead
cells and matrix debris, and then replaces the damaged tissue with scar, through three overlapping phases: the
inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase and the maturation phase.
Western blotting, laser confocal microscopy, Raman microscopy are valuable tools for studying the inflammatory
response following myocardial infarction both humoral and cellular phase, allowing the identification and
semiquantitative analysis of proteins produced during the inflammatory cascade activation and the topographical distribution
and expression of proteins and cells involved in myocardial inflammation. Confocal laser scanning microscopy
(CLSM) is a relatively new technique for microscopic imaging, that allows greater resolution, optical sectioning of the
sample and three-dimensional reconstruction of the same sample. Western blotting used to detect the presence of a specific
protein with antibody-antigen interaction in the midst of a complex protein mixture extracted from cells, produced
semi-quantitative data quite easy to interpret. Confocal Raman microscopy combines the three-dimensional optical resolution
of confocal microscopy and the sensitivity to molecular vibrations, which characterizes Raman spectroscopy.
The combined use of western blotting and confocal microscope allows detecting the presence of proteins in the sample
and trying to observe the exact location within the tissue, or the topographical distribution of the same. Once demonstrated
the presence of proteins (cytokines, chemokines, etc.) is important to know the topographical distribution, obtaining in this
way additional information regarding the extension of the inflammatory process in function of the time stayed from the
time of myocardial infarction. These methods may be useful to study and define the expression of a wide range of inflammatory
mediators at several different timepoints providing a more detailed analysis of the time course of the infarct
Detecting solar chameleons through radiation pressure
Light scalar fields can drive the accelerated expansion of the universe.
Hence, they are obvious dark energy candidates. To make such models compatible
with tests of General Relativity in the solar system and "fifth force" searches
on Earth, one needs to screen them. One possibility is the so-called
"chameleon" mechanism, which renders an effective mass depending on the local
matter density. If chameleon particles exist, they can be produced in the sun
and detected on Earth exploiting the equivalent of a radiation pressure. Since
their effective mass scales with the local matter density, chameleons can be
reflected by a dense medium if their effective mass becomes greater than their
total energy. Thus, under appropriate conditions, a flux of solar chameleons
may be sensed by detecting the total instantaneous momentum transferred to a
suitable opto-mechanical force/pressure sensor. We calculate the solar
chameleon spectrum and the reach in the chameleon parameter space of an
experiment using the preliminary results from a force/pressure sensor,
currently under development at INFN Trieste, to be mounted in the focal plane
of one of the X-Ray telescopes of the CAST experiment at CERN. We show, that
such an experiment signifies a pioneering effort probing uncharted chameleon
parameter space.Comment: revised versio
Ellipsometry noise spectrum, suspension transfer function measurement and closed-loop control of the suspension system in the Q & A experiment
The Q & A experiment, aiming at the detection of vacuum birefringence
predicted by quantum electrodynamics, consists mainly of a suspended 3.5 m
Fabry-Perot cavity, a rotating permanent dipole magnet and an ellipsometer. The
2.3 T magnet can rotate up to 10 rev/s, introducing an ellipticity signal at
twice the rotation frequency. The X-pendulum gives a good isolation ratio for
seismic noise above its main resonant frequency 0.3 Hz. At present, the
ellipsometry noise decreases with frequency, from 1*10^{-5} rad Hz^{-1/2} at 5
Hz, 2*10^{-6} rad Hz^{-1/2} at 20 Hz to 5*10^{-7} rad Hz^{-1/2} at 40 Hz. The
shape of the noise spectrum indicates possible improvement can be made by
further reducing the movement between the cavity mirrors. From the preliminary
result of yaw motion alignment control, it can be seen that some peaks due to
yaw motion of the cavity mirror was suppressed. In this paper, we first give a
schematic view of the Q & A experiment, and then present the measurement of
transfer function of the compound X-pendulum-double pendulum suspension. A
closed-loop control was carried out to verify the validity of the measured
transfer functions. The ellipsometry noise spectra with and without yaw
alignment control and the newest improvement is presented.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, presented in 6th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on
Gravitational Waves, June 2005, Okinawa Japan and submitted to Journal of
Physics: Conference Series. Some modifications are made according to the
referee's comments: mainly to explain the relation between the displacement
of cavity mirror and the ellipticity noise spectru
Verification of a CT scanner using a miniature step gauge
The work deals with performance verification of a CT scanner using a 42mm miniature replica step gauge developed for optical scanner verification. Errors quantification and optimization of CT system set-up in terms of resolution and measurement accuracy are fundamental for use of CT scanning in dimensional metrology. Influence of workpiece orientation, magnification, source-object-detector distances and surface extraction method on metrological performances of a CT scanner was evaluated. Results show that the position of the workpiece in the CT cabinet is fundamental to get reliable measurements, while the highest magnification (best resolution) does not assure the best accuracy
Search for axions in streaming dark matter
A new search strategy for the detection of the elusive dark matter (DM) axion
is proposed. The idea is based on streaming DM axions, whose flux might get
temporally enormously enhanced due to gravitational lensing. This can happen if
the Sun or some planet (including the Moon) is found along the direction of a
DM stream propagating towards the Earth location. The experimental requirements
to the axion haloscope are a wide-band performance combined with a fast axion
rest mass scanning mode, which are feasible. Once both conditions have been
implemented in a haloscope, the axion search can continue parasitically almost
as before. Interestingly, some new DM axion detectors are operating wide-band
by default. In order not to miss the actually unpredictable timing of a
potential short duration signal, a network of co-ordinated axion antennae is
required, preferentially distributed world-wide. The reasoning presented here
for the axions applies to some degree also to any other DM candidates like the
WIMPs.Comment: 5 page
Anti-cyclic-citrullinated-protein-antibodies in psoriatic arthritis patients: how autoimmune dysregulation could affect clinical characteristics, retention rate of methotrexate monotherapy and first line biotechnological drug survival. A single center retrospective study
Aim: Occasional findings of anti-cyclic-citrullinated-protein-antibodies (anti-CCP) were rarely observed in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The aim of our study is to evaluate whether the presence of anti-CCP can determine different clinical subsets and influence methotrexate monotherapy survival, and biotechnological drug retention rate. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on PsA patients. All patients were required to fulfill the CASPAR criteria for PsA, and to present juxta-articular osteo-proliferative signs at X-ray. The exclusion criteria were age less than 18 years old, satisfaction of rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria, and seropositivity for rheumatoid factor. Clinical characteristics, anti-CCP titer, drug survival and comorbidities information were recorded for each patient. Statistical signiïŹcance was set at p â©œ 0.05. Results: Of 407 patients with PsA screened 113 were recruited. Twelve patients were anti-CCP positive. Methotrexate monotherapy survival was shorter in patients with anti-CCP (150 ± 48.3 weeks versus 535.3 ± 65.3 weeks; p = 0.026) [discontinuation risk hazard ratio (HR) = 2.389, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.043, 5.473; p = 0.039] than those without. Significant shorter survival of first-line biotechnological drugs (b-DMARDs) was observed in the anti-CCP positive group than in that without (102.05 ± 24.4 weeks versus 271.6 ± 41.7 weeks; p = 0.005) with higher discontinuation risk (HR = 3.230, 95% CI 1.299, 8.028; p = 0.012). A significant higher rate of multi-failure (more than second-line b-DMARDs) was found in anti-CCP positive patients than in those without (50% versus 14%, p = 0.035). Conclusion: Anti-CCP in PsA could be suggestive of more severe disease, with worse drug survival of both methotrexate monotherapy and first-line b-DMARDs, and higher chance to be b-DMARDs multi-failure. So, they can be considered for more intensive clinical management of these patients
An innovative digital imaging set-up allowing a low-dose approach to phase contrast applications in the medical field
Experimental observation of optical rotation generated in vacuum by a magnetic field
We report the experimental observation of a light polarization rotation in
vacuum in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Assuming that data
distribution is Gaussian, the average measured rotation is (3.9+/-0.5)e-12
rad/pass, at 5 T with 44000 passes through a 1m long magnet, with lambda = 1064
nm. The relevance of this result in terms of the existence of a light, neutral,
spin-zero particle is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters Comment to
version 2: minor changes to abstract and final discussion. Added 2 references
Comment to version 3: corrected minor typographical errors, eliminated the
distinction between scalar and pseudoscalar in the particle interpretation of
the resul
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