5,193 research outputs found
Searches for massive neutrinos with mechanical quantum sensors
The development of quantum optomechanics now allows mechanical sensors with
femtogram masses to be controlled and measured in the quantum regime. If the
mechanical element contains isotopes that undergo nuclear decay, measuring the
recoil of the sensor following the decay allows reconstruction of the total
momentum of all emitted particles, including any neutral particles that may
escape detection in traditional detectors. As an example, for weak nuclear
decays the momentum of the emitted neutrino can be reconstructed on an
event-by-event basis. We present the concept that a single nanometer-scale,
optically levitated sensor operated with sensitivity near the standard quantum
limit can search for heavy sterile neutrinos in the keV-MeV mass range with
sensitivity significantly beyond existing constraints. We also comment on the
possibility that mechanical sensors operated well into the quantum regime might
ultimately reach the sensitivities required to provide an absolute measurement
of the mass of the light neutrino states.Comment: 11 pages + refs, 7 figures. v2: published version (+ an appendix
containing a quantum model of the 3-body decay in a nanosphere
Synthetic Mudscapes: Human Interventions in Deltaic Land Building
In order to defend infrastructure, economy, and settlement in Southeast Louisiana, we must construct new land to
mitigate increasing risk. Links between urban environments and economic drivers have constrained the dynamic delta
landscape for generations, now threatening to undermine the ecological fitness of the entire region. Static methods of
measuring, controlling, and valuing land fail in an environment that is constantly in flux; change and indeterminacy are
denied by traditional inhabitation.
Multiple land building practices reintroduce deltaic fluctuation and strategic deposition of fertile material to form the
foundations of a multi-layered defence strategy. Manufactured marshlands reduce exposure to storm surge further
inland. Virtual monitoring and communication networks inform design decisions and land use becomes determined
by its ecological health. Mudscapes at the threshold of land and water place new value on former wastelands. The
social, economic, and ecological evolution of the region are defended by an expanded web of growing land
Convergence and Stability of the Inverse Scattering Series for Diffuse Waves
We analyze the inverse scattering series for diffuse waves in random media.
In previous work the inverse series was used to develop fast, direct image
reconstruction algorithms in optical tomography. Here we characterize the
convergence, stability and approximation error of the serie
Critical Velocity in 3He-B Vibrating Wire Experiments as Analog of Vacuum Instability in a Slowly Oscillating Electric Field
The Lancaster experiments with a cylindrical wire moving in superfluid 3He-B
are discussed, where the measured critical velocity of pair creation is much
below the Landau critical velocity. The phenomenon is shown to be analogous to
the instability of the electron-positron vacuum in an adiabatically alternating
strong electric potential of both signs, where the positive- and negative-root
levels cross and thus the instability treshold is twice less than in the
conventional case of a single static potential well.Comment: RevTex file, 6 pages, 4 figure
Fermion zero modes at the boundary of superfluid 3He-B
Superfluid 3He-B belongs to the important special class of time-reversal
invariant topological superfluids. It has Majorana fermions as edge states on
the surface of bulk 3He-B. On the rough wall these fermion zero modes have
finite density of states at E=0. It is possible that Lancaster experiments with
a wire vibrating in 3He-B have already probed Majorana fermions living on the
surface of the wire.Comment: 4 pages, no Figures, JETP Letters style, version to be published in
JETP Letter
A multi-color and Fourier study of RR Lyrae variables in the globular cluster NGC 5272 (M3)
We have performed a detailed study of the pulsational and evolutionary
characteristics of 133 RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster NGC5272 (M3)
using highly accurate BVI data taken on 5 separate epochs. M3 seems to contain
no less than ~32% of Blazhko stars, and the occurrence and characteristics of
the Blazhko effect have been analyzed in detail. We have identified a good
number (~ 14%) of overluminous RR Lyrae stars that are likely in a more
advanced evolutionary stage off the Zero Age Horizontal Branch (ZAHB). Physical
parameters (i.e. temperature, luminosity, mass) have been derived from (B--V)
colors and accurate color-temperature calibration, and compared with Horizontal
Branch evolutionary models and with the requirements of stellar pulsation
theory. Additional analysis by means of Fourier decomposition of the V light
curves confirms, as expected, that no metallicity spread is present in M3.
Evolution off the ZAHB does not affect [Fe/H] determinations, whereas Blazhko
stars at low amplitude phase do affect [Fe/H] distributions as they appear more
metal-rich. Absolute magnitudes derived from Fourier coefficients might provide
useful average estimates for groups of stars, if applicable, but do not give
reliable {\em individual} values. Intrinsic colors derived from Fourier
coefficients show significant discrepancies with the observed ones, hence the
resulting temperatures and temperature-related parameters are unreliable.Comment: 86 pages, 19 figures, 13 tables, in press A
Halothane hepatitis with renal failure treated with hemodialysis and exchange transfusion
A 38-year-old white female, hepatitis B antigen negative, developed fluminating hepatic failure associated with oliguria and severe azotemia after two halothane anesthesia and without exposure to other hepatotoxic drugs or blood transfusions. She was treated with multiple hemodialysis and exchange blood transfusion. The combined treatment corrected the uremic abnormalities and improved her level of consciousness. The liver and kidney function gradually improved, and she made a complete recovery, the first recorded with hepatic and renal failure under these post-anesthetic conditions. Further evaluation of this combined treatment used for this patient is warranted. © 1974 The Japan Surgical Society
How to humiliate and shame: A reporter's guide to the power of the mugshot
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Social Semiotics, 24(1), 56-87, 2014, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/The judicial photograph â the âmugshotâ â is a ubiquitous and instantly recognisable form, appearing in the news media, on the internet, on book covers, law enforcement noticeboards and in many other mediums. This essay attempts to situate the mugshot in a historical and theoretical context to explain the explicit and implicit meaning of the genre as it has developed, focussing in particular on their use in the UK media in late modernity. The analysis is based on the author's reflexive practice as a journalist covering crime in the national news media for 30 years and who has used mugshots to illustrate stories for their explicit and specific content. The author argues that the visual limitations of the standardised âhead and shouldersâ format of the mugshot make it a robust subject for analysing the changing meaning of images over time. With little variation in the image format, arguments for certain accreted layers of signification are easier to make. Within a few years of the first appearance of the mugshot form in the mid-19th century, it was adopted and adapted as a research tool by scientists and criminologists. While the positivist scientists claimed empirical objectivity we can now see that mugshots played a part in the construction of subjective notions of âthe otherâ, âthe lesserâ or âsub-humanâ on the grounds of class, race and religion. These dehumanising ideas later informed the theorists and bureaucrats of National Socialist ideology from the 1920s to 1940s. The author concludes that once again the mugshot has become, in certain parts of the media, a signifier widely used to exclude or deride certain groups. In late modernity, the part of the media that most use mugshots â the tabloid press and increasingly tabloid TV â is part of a neo-liberal process that, in a conscious commercial appeal to the paying audience, seeks to separate rather than unify wider society
A Comparison of the Chemical Evolutionary Histories of the Galactic Thin Disk and Thick Disk Stellar Populations
We have studied 23 long-lived G dwarfs that belong to the thin disk and thick
disk stellar populations. Abundances have been derived for 24 elements: O, Na,
Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce,
Nd, and Eu. We find that the behavior of [alpha/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] are
quite different for the two populations. As has long been known, the thin disk
O, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti ratios are enhanced relative to iron at the lowest
metallicities, and decline toward solar values as [Fe/H] rises above -1.0. For
the thick disk, the decline in [alpha/Fe] and [Eu/Fe] does not begin at [Fe/H]
= -1.0, but at -0.4. Other elements share this behavior, including Sc, Co, and
Zn, suggesting that at least in the chemical enrichment history of the thick
disk, these elements were manufactured in similar-mass stars. Combining our
results for the oldest and longest-lived stars with prior work, we find clear
signs for an independent origin for the Galactic thick disk. (Abridged)Comment: 48 pages and 20 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
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