1,347 research outputs found
Effect of oleic acid supplementation on prostaglandin production in maternal endometrial and fetal allantochorion cells isolated from late gestation ewes
Elevated circulating non-esterified fatty acids including oleic acid (OA) are associated with many pregnancy related complications. Prostaglandins (PGs) play crucial roles during parturition. We investigated the effect of OA supplementation on PG production using an in vitro model of ovine placenta
Constraints on the SU(3) Electroweak Model
We consider a recent proposal by Dimopoulos and Kaplan to embed the
electroweak SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y into a larger group SU(3)_W X SU(2) X U(1) at a
scale above a TeV. This idea is motivated by the prediction for the weak mixing
angle sin^2 theta_W = 1/4, which naturally appears in these models so long as
the gauge couplings of the high energy SU(2) and U(1) groups are moderately
large. The extended gauge dynamics results in new effective operators that
contribute to four-fermion interactions and Z pole observables. We calculate
the corrections to these electroweak precision observables and carry out a
global fit of the new physics to the data. For SU(2) and U(1) gauge couplings
larger than 1, we find that the 95% C.L. lower bound on the matching (heavy
gauge boson mass) scale is 11 TeV. We comment on the fine-tuning of the high
energy gauge couplings needed to allow matching scales above our bounds. The
remnants of SU(3)_W breaking include multi-TeV SU(2)_L doublets with electric
charge (+-2,+-1). The lightest charged gauge boson is stable, leading to
cosmological difficulties.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures embedded, uses JHEP.cl
Oxalate formation under the hyperarid conditions of the Atacama desert as a mineral marker to provide clues to the source of organic carbon on Mars
In this study, we report the detection and characterization of the organic minerals weddellite
(CaC2O4 · 2H2O) and whewellite (CaC2O4 · H2O) in the hyperarid, Mars-like conditions of the Salar Grande,
Atacama desert, Chile. Weddellite and whewellite are commonly of biological origin on Earth and have great
potential for preserving records of carbon geochemistry and possible biological activity on Mars if they
are present there. Weddellite and whewellite have been found as secondary minerals occurring inside the
lower detrital unit that fills the Salar Grande basin. The extremely low solubility of most oxalate minerals
inhibits detection of oxalate by ion chromatography (IC). Crystalline oxalates, including weddellite and
whewellite, were detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The association of weddellite with surface biota and its
presence among subsurface detrital materials suggest the potential of a biological origin for Salar Grande
weddellite and whewellite. In this regard, biological activity is uniquely capable of concentrating oxalates
at levels detectable by XRD. The complementary detection of oxalate-bearing phases through IC in the upper
halite-rich unit suggests the presence of a soluble oxalate phase in the basin that is not detected by XRD.
The formation, transport, and concentration of oxalate in the Salar Grande may provide a geochemical
analogue for oxalate-bearing minerals recently suggested to exist on Mars
Differential birefringence in Bragg gratings in multicore fiber under transverse stress
We present experimental measurements of the peak splitting of the reflection spectra of fiber Bragg gratings as a result of birefringence induced by transverse loading of a multicore fiber. Measurements show that the splitting is a function of the applied load and the direction of the load relative to the azimuth of the fiber. A model for calculating the stress in the fiber that is due to an applied load is in good agreement with our experimental observations
Sodium atoms and clusters on graphite: a density functional study
Sodium atoms and clusters (N<5) on graphite (0001) are studied using density
functional theory, pseudopotentials and periodic boundary conditions. A single
Na atom is observed to bind at a hollow site 2.45 A above the surface with an
adsorption energy of 0.51 eV. The small diffusion barrier of 0.06 eV indicates
a flat potential energy surface. Increased Na coverage results in a weak
adsorbate-substrate interaction, which is evident in the larger separation from
the surface in the cases of Na_3, Na_4, Na_5, and the (2x2) Na overlayer. The
binding is weak for Na_2, which has a full valence electron shell. The presence
of substrate modifies the structures of Na_3, Na_4, and Na_5 significantly, and
both Na_4 and Na_5 are distorted from planarity. The calculated formation
energies suggest that clustering of atoms is energetically favorable, and that
the open shell clusters (e.g. Na_3 and Na_5) can be more abundant on graphite
than in the gas phase. Analysis of the lateral charge density distributions of
Na and Na_3 shows a charge transfer of about 0.5 electrons in both cases.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure
Entanglement Transfer via XXZ Heisenberg chain with DM Interaction
The role of spin-orbit interaction, arises from the Dzyaloshinski-Moriya
anisotropic antisymmetric interaction, on the entanglement transfer via an
antiferromagnetic XXZ Heisenberg chain is investigated. From symmetrical point
of view, the XXZ Hamiltonian with Dzyaloshinski-Moriya interaction can be
replaced by a modified XXZ Hamiltonian which is defined by a new exchange
coupling constant and rotated Pauli operators. The modified coupling constant
and the angle of rotations are depend on the strength of Dzyaloshinski-Moriya
interaction. In this paper we study the dynamical behavior of the entanglement
propagation through a system which is consist of a pair of maximally entangled
spins coupled to one end of the chain. The calculations are performed for the
ground state and the thermal state of the chain, separately. In both cases the
presence of this anisotropic interaction make our channel more efficient, such
that the speed of transmission and the amount of the entanglement are improved
as this interaction is switched on. We show that for large values of the
strength of this interaction a large family of XXZ chains becomes efficient
quantum channels, for whole values of an isotropy parameter in the region .Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure
Coulomb Effects on Electromagnetic Pair Production in Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
We discuss the implications of the eikonal amplitude on the pair production
probability in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion transits. In this context the
Weizs\"acker-Williams method is shown to be exact in the ultrarelativistic
limit, irrespective of the produced particles' mass. A new equivalent
single-photon distribution is derived which correctly accounts for the Coulomb
distortions. As an immediate application, consequences for unitarity violation
in photo-dissociation processes in peripheral heavy-ion encounters are
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 .eps figure
Dynamical spin correlations in Heisenberg ladder under magnetic field and correlation functions in SO(5) ladder
The zero-temperature dynamical spin-spin correlation functions are calculated
for the spin-1/2 two-leg Heisenberg ladder in a magnetic field above the lower
critical field Hc1. The dynamical structure factors are calculated which
exhibit both massless and massive excitations. These modes appear in different
sectors characterized by the parity in the rung direction and by the momentum
in the direction of the chains. The structure factors have power-law
singularities at the lower edges of their support. The results are also
applicable to spin-1 Heisenberg chain. The implications are briefly discussed
for various correlation functions and the pi-resonance in the SO(5) symmetric
ladder model.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, added references; final version to appear in
Phys. Rev.
N-body simulations of gravitational dynamics
We describe the astrophysical and numerical basis of N-body simulations, both
of collisional stellar systems (dense star clusters and galactic centres) and
collisionless stellar dynamics (galaxies and large-scale structure). We explain
and discuss the state-of-the-art algorithms used for these quite different
regimes, attempt to give a fair critique, and point out possible directions of
future improvement and development. We briefly touch upon the history of N-body
simulations and their most important results.Comment: invited review (28 pages), to appear in European Physics Journal Plu
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