Progress towards a lattice determination of (moments of) nucleon structure functions

Using unimproved and non-perturbatively O(a) improved Wilson fermions, results are given for the three lowest moments of unpolarised nucleon structure functions. Renormalisation, chiral extrapolation and the continuum limit of the matrix elements are briefly discussed. The simulations are performed for both quenched and two flavours of unquenched fermions. No obvious sign of deviation from linearity in the chiral extrapolations are found. (This is most clearly seen in our quenched unimproved data, which extends to lighter quark mass.) Possible quenching effects also seem to be small. The lowest moment thus remains too large, so it seems to be necessary to reach smaller quark masses in numerical simulations.Comment: 3 pages, Latex, 4 figures, Talk presented at Lattice2001(matrixelement

Perturbative Renormalization of Improved Lattice Operators

We derive bases of improved operators for all bilinear quark currents up to spin two (including the operators measuring the first moment of DIS Structure Functions), and compute their one-loop renormalization constants for arbitrary coefficients of the improvement terms. We have thus control over O(a) corrections, and for a suitable choice of improvement coefficients we are only left with errors of O(a^2).Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX + 1 eps file + epscrc2.sty (included). Talk given to the Lattice 97 International Symposium, 22-26 July 1997, Edinburgh, UK. Minor changes in notatio

Optical study of the vibrational and dielectric properties of BiMnO3

BiMnO3 (BMO), ferromagnetic (FM) below Tc = 100 K, was believed to be also ferroelectric (FE) due to a non-centro-symmetric C2 structure, until diffraction data indicated that its space group is the centro-symmetric C2/c. Here we present infrared phonon spectra of BMO, taken on a mosaic of single crystals, which are consistent with C2/c at any T > 10 K, as well as room-temperature Raman data which strongly support this conclusion. We also find that the infrared intensity of several phonons increases steadily for decreasing T, causing the relative permittivity of BMO to vary from 18.5 at 300 K to 45 at 10 K. At variance with FE materials of displacive type, no appreciable softening has been found in the infrared phonons. Both their frequencies and intensities, moreover, appear insensitive to the FM transition at Tc

Coexistence of pressure-induced structural phases in bulk black phosphorus: a combined x-ray diffraction and Raman study up to 18 GPa

We report a study of the structural phase transitions induced by pressure in bulk black phosphorus by using both synchrotron x-ray diffraction for pressures up to 12.2 GPa and Raman spectroscopy up to 18.2 GPa. Very recently black phosphorus attracted large attention because of the unique properties of fewlayers samples (phosphorene), but some basic questions are still open in the case of the bulk system. As concerning the presence of a Raman spectrum above 10 GPa, which should not be observed in an elemental simple cubic system, we propose a new explanation by attributing a key role to the non-hydrostatic conditions occurring in Raman experiments. Finally, a combined analysis of Raman and XRD data allowed us to obtain quantitative information on presence and extent of coexistences between different structural phases from ~5 up to ~15 GPa. This information can have an important role in theoretical studies on pressure-induced structural and electronic phase transitions in black phosphorus

Cerebellar Atrophy Related To Chronic Exposure To Toluene. Case Report.

A 31-year-old woman presented slowly progressing ataxia and neurasthenic symptoms after 14-year occupational exposure to low concentration toluene vapour. Examination disclosed only cerebellar signs. Cognitive functions were normal except moderate visuo-spatial and constructive deficit. CT imaging showed severe pancerebellar atrophy without pathological signs in other brain structures. Two years after she was removed from workplace, CT imaging and ataxia showed no worsening, while visuo-constructive function improved. The authors warn against possible neurotoxic risk associated with this kind of exposure.5290-

Higher-twist contributions to the Structure Functions coming from 4-fermion operators

We evaluate the contribution of a class of higher-twist operators to the lowest moment of the Structure Functions, by computing appropriate matrix elements of six four-fermion operators in the quenched approximation. Their perturbative renormalization constants and mixing coefficients are calculated in the 't Hooft-Veltman scheme of dimensional regularization, using codes written in the algebraic manipulation computer language FORM.Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE99(matrix elements), Pisa (Italy), June 29 - July 3; 3 pages; to be published in Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.

Non-perturbative renormalisation of left-left four-fermion operators with Neuberger fermions

We outline a general strategy for the non-perturbative renormalisation of composite operators in discretisations based on Neuberger fermions, via a matching to results obtained with Wilson-type fermions. As an application, we consider the renormalisation of the four-quark operators entering the Delta S=1 and Delta S=2 effective Hamiltonians. Our results are an essential ingredient for the determination of the low-energy constants governing non-leptonic kaon decays.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure