On the apparent permeability of porous media in rarefied gas flows

The apparent gas permeability of the porous medium is an important parameter in the prediction of unconventional gas production, which was first investigated systematically by Klinkenberg in 1941 and found to increase with the reciprocal mean gas pressure (or equivalently, the Knudsen number). Although the underlying rarefaction effects are well-known, the reason that the correction factor in Klinkenberg's famous equation decreases when the Knudsen number increases has not been fully understood. Most of the studies idealize the porous medium as a bundle of straight cylindrical tubes, however, according to the gas kinetic theory, this only results in an increase of the correction factor with the Knudsen number, which clearly contradicts Klinkenberg's experimental observations. Here, by solving the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook equation in simplified (but not simple) porous media, we identify, for the first time, two key factors that can explain Klinkenberg's experimental results: the tortuous flow path and the non-unitary tangential momentum accommodation coefficient for the gas-surface interaction. Moreover, we find that Klinkenberg's results can only be observed when the ratio between the apparent and intrinsic permeabilities is $\lesssim30$; at large ratios (or Knudsen numbers) the correction factor increases with the Knudsen number. Our numerical results could also serve as benchmarking cases to assess the accuracy of macroscopic models and/or numerical schemes for the modeling/simulation of rarefied gas flows in complex geometries over a wide range of gas rarefaction. Specifically, we point out that the Navier-Stokes equations with the first-order velocity-slip boundary condition are often misused to predict the apparent gas permeability of the porous media; that is, any nonlinear dependence of the apparent gas permeability with the Knudsen number, predicted from the Navier-Stokes equations, is not reliable. Worse still, for some type of gas-surface interactions, even the ``filtered'' linear dependence of the apparent gas permeability with the Knudsen number is of no practical use since, compared to the numerical solution of the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook equation, it is only accurate when the ratio between the apparent and intrinsic permeabilities is $\lesssim1.5$

Patients with refractory cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at high risk for CMV disease and non-relapse mortality

AbstractPre-emptive therapy is an effective approach for cytomegalovirus (CMV) control; however, refractory CMV still occurs in a considerable group of recipients after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Until now, hardly any data have been available about the clinical characteristics and risk factors of refractory CMV, or its potential harmful impact on the clinical outcome following allo-HSCT. We studied transplant factors affecting refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT, and the impact of refractory CMV on the risk of CMV disease and non-relapse mortality (NRM). We retrospectively studied 488 consecutive patients with CMV infection after allo-HSCT. Patients with refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT had a higher incidence of CMV disease and NRM than those without refractory CMV (11.9% vs. 0.8% and 17.1% vs. 8.3%, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that refractory CMV infection in the 100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for CMV disease (hazard ratio (HR) 10.539, 95% CI 2.467–45.015, p 0.001), and that refractory CMV infection within 60–100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for NRM (HR 8.435, 95% CI 1.511–47.099, p 0.015). Clinical factors impacting on the risk of refractory CMV infection included receiving transplants from human leukocyte antigen-mismatched family donors (HR 2.012, 95% CI 1.603–2.546, p <0.001) and acute graft-versus-host disease (HR 1.905, 95% CI 1.352–2.686, p <0.001). We conclude that patients with refractory CMV infection during the early stage after allo-HSCT are at high risk for both CMV disease and NRM

The Supersymmetric Standard Models with Decay and Stable Dark Matters

We propose two supersymmetric Standard Models (SMs) with decaying and stable dark matter (DM) particles. To explain the SM fermion masses and mixings and have a heavy decay DM particle S, we consider the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism by introducing an anomalous U(1)_X gauge symmetry. Around the string scale, the U(1)_X gauge symmetry is broken down to a Z_2 symmetry under which S is odd while all the SM particles are even. S obtains a vacuum expectation value around the TeV scale, and then it can three-body decay dominantly to the second/third family of the SM leptons in Model I and to the first family of the SM leptons in Model II. Choosing a benchmark point in the constrained minimal supersymmetric SM with exact R parity, we show that the lightest neutralino DM is consistent with the CDMS II experiment. Considering S three-body decay and choosing suitable parameters, we show that the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT experiments and the PAMELA and ATIC experiments can be explained in Model I and Model II, respectively.Comment: RevTex4, 26 pages, 6 figures, references added, version to appear in EPJ

Higher algebraic KK-groups and D\mathcal D-split sequences

In this paper, we use $\mathcal D$-split sequences and derived equivalences to provide formulas for calculation of higher algebraic $K$-groups (or mod-$p$ $K$-groups) of certain matrix subrings which cover tiled orders, rings related to chains of Glaz-Vasconcelos ideals, and some other classes of rings. In our results, we do not assume any homological requirements on rings and ideals under investigation, and therefore extend sharply many existing results of this type in the algebraic $K$-theory literature to a more general context.Comment: 20 page

Lepton Flavor Violation and the Origin of the Seesaw Mechanism

The right--handed neutrino mass matrix that is central to the understanding of small neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism can arise either (i) from renormalizable operators or (ii) from nonrenormalizable or super-renormalizable operators, depending on the symmetries and the Higgs content of the theory beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we study lepton flavor violating (LFV) effects in the first class of seesaw models wherein the \nu_R Majorana masses arise from renormalizable Yukawa couplings involving a B-L = 2 Higgs field. We present detailed predictions for \tau -> \mu + \gamma and \mu -> e + \gamma branching ratios in these models taking the current neutrino oscillation data into account. Focusing on minimal supergravity models, we find that for a large range of MSSM parameters suggested by the relic abundance of neutralino dark matter and that is consistent with Higgs boson mass and other constraints, these radiative decays are in the range accessible to planned experiments. We compare these predictions with lepton flavor violation in the second class of models arising entirely from the Dirac Yukawa couplings. We study the dependence of the ratio r \equiv B(\mu -> e+\gamma)/B(\tau ->\mu +\gamma) on the MSSM parameters and show that measurement of r can provide crucial insight into the origin of the seesaw mechanism.Comment: 20 pages, Revtex, 7 figure

t→bWt \to b W in NonCommutative Standard Model

We study the top quark decay to b quark and W boson in the NonCommutative Standard Model (NCSM). The lowest contribution to the decay comes from the terms quadratic in the matrix describing the noncommutative (NC) effects while the linear term is seen to identically vanish because of symmetry. The NC effects are found to be significant only for low values of the NC characteristic scale.Comment: 11 page Latex file containing 2 eps figures (redrawn). More discussion included. To appear in PR

Direct Measurement of the Pseudoscalar Decay Constant fD+

The absolute branching fraction of $D^+ \to \mu^+ \nu$ has been directly measured by an analysis of a data sample of about 33 ${\rm pb^{-1}}$ collected around $\sqrt{s}=3.773$ GeV with the BES-II at the BEPC. At these energies, $D^-$ meson is produced in pair as $e^+e^-\to D^{+} D^{-}$. A total of $5321 \pm 149 \pm 160$ $D^-$ mesons are reconstructed from this data set. In the recoil side of the tagged $D^-$ mesons, $2.67\pm1.74$ purely leptonic decay events of $D^+ \to \mu^+ \nu$ are observed. This yields a branching fraction of $BF(D^+ \to \mu^+ \nu_{\mu}) = (0.122^{+0.111}_{-0.053}\pm 0.010)$, and a corresponding pseudoscalar decay constant $f_{D^+}=(371^{+129}_{-119}\pm 25)$ MeV.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Physics Letters B in October, 200

Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for D0→K−e+νeD^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e and D0→π−e+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e and Determinations of the Form Factors f+K(0)f_{+}^{K}(0) and f+π(0)f^{\pi}_{+}(0)

The absolute branching fractions for the decays $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ are determined using $7584\pm 198 \pm 341$ singly tagged $\bar D^0$ sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged $\bar D^0$ meson, $104.0\pm 10.9$ events for $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $9.0 \pm 3.6$ events for $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ decays are observed. Those yield the absolute branching fractions to be $BF(D^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e)=(3.82 \pm 0.40\pm 0.27)$ and $BF(D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e)=(0.33 \pm 0.13\pm 0.03)$. The vector form factors are determined to be $|f^K_+(0)| = 0.78 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.03$ and $|f^{\pi}_+(0)| = 0.73 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.06$. The ratio of the two form factors is measured to be $|f^{\pi}_+(0)/f^K_+(0)|= 0.93 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.07$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Measurements of J/psi Decays into 2(pi+pi-)eta and 3(pi+pi-)eta

Based on a sample of 5.8X 10^7 J/psi events taken with the BESII detector, the branching fractions of J/psi--> 2(pi+pi-)eta and J/psi-->3(pi+pi-)eta are measured for the first time to be (2.26+-0.08+-0.27)X10^{-3} and (7.24+-0.96+-1.11)X10^{-4}, respectively.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

BESII Detector Simulation

A Monte Carlo program based on Geant3 has been developed for BESII detector simulation. The organization of the program is outlined, and the digitization procedure for simulating the response of various sub-detectors is described. Comparisons with data show that the performance of the program is generally satisfactory.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, uses elsart.cls, to be submitted to NIM