295 research outputs found
Strong Electric Fields From Positive Lightning Strokes in the Stratosphere
A balloon payload launched in Brazil has measured vector electric fields from lightning at least an order of magnitude larger than previously reported above 30 km in the stratosphere. During the flight hundreds of lightning events were recorded, including several positive cloud to ground lightning strokes. A two stroke flash, with small (15 kA peak current) and moderate (53 kA) positive strokes at a horizontal range of 34 km, produced field changes over 140 V/m at 34 km altitude. On-board optical lightning detection, recorded with GPS timing, coupled with ground based lightning location gives high time resolution for study of the electric field transient propagation. These measurements imply that lightning electric fields in the mesosphere over large thunderstorms may be much larger than previously measured
Gyrotropic impact upon negatively refracting surfaces
Surface wave propagation at the interface between different types of gyrotropic materials and an isotropic negatively refracting medium, in which the relative permittivity and relative permeability are, simultaneously, negative is investigated. A general approach is taken that embraces both gyroelectric and gyromagnetic materials, permitting the possibility of operating in either the low GHz, THz or the optical frequency regimes. The classical transverse Voigt configuration is adopted and a complete analysis of non-reciprocal surface wave dispersion is presented. The impact of the surface polariton modes upon the reflection of both plane waves and beams is discussed in terms of resonances and an example of the influence upon the Goos–Hänchen shift is given
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200 BeV Accelerator: Studies on Experimental USE Volume II 1964 - 1965
Higgs-Boson Decay to Four Fermions Including a Single Top Quark Below Threshold
The rare decay modes Higgs four light fermions, and Higgs
single top-quark + three light fermions for , are
presented, and phenomenologically interpreted. The angular correlation between
fermion planes is presented as a test of the spin and intrinsic parity of the
Higgs particle. In Higgs decay to single top, two tree-level graphs contribute
in the standard model (SM); one couples the Higgs to , and
one to t\bar t(\sim g_{top\;yukawa}=m_t/246\GeV). The large Yukawa coupling
for m_t>100\GeV makes the second amplitude competitive or dominant for most
values. Thus the Higgs decay rate to single top directly probes the
SM universal mechanism generating both gauge boson and fermion masses, and
offers a means to infer the Higgs- Yukawa coupling when is kinematically disallowed. We find that the modes at the SSC, and at future high energy,
high luminosity colliders, may be measureable if is not too far above
. We classify non-standard Higgses as gaugeo-phobic, fermio-phobic or
fermio-philic, and discuss the Higgs single top rates for these
classes.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures (figures available upon request); VAND-TH-93/
Sensitivity of the IceCube Detector to Astrophysical Sources of High Energy Muon Neutrinos
We present the results of a Monte-Carlo study of the sensitivity of the
planned IceCube detector to predicted fluxes of muon neutrinos at TeV to PeV
energies. A complete simulation of the detector and data analysis is used to
study the detector's capability to search for muon neutrinos from sources such
as active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. We study the effective area and the
angular resolution of the detector as a function of muon energy and angle of
incidence. We present detailed calculations of the sensitivity of the detector
to both diffuse and pointlike neutrino emissions, including an assessment of
the sensitivity to neutrinos detected in coincidence with gamma-ray burst
observations. After three years of datataking, IceCube will have been able to
detect a point source flux of E^2*dN/dE = 7*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV at a 5-sigma
significance, or, in the absence of a signal, place a 90% c.l. limit at a level
E^2*dN/dE = 2*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV. A diffuse E-2 flux would be detectable at a
minimum strength of E^2*dN/dE = 1*10^-8 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1GeV. A gamma-ray burst
model following the formulation of Waxman and Bahcall would result in a 5-sigma
effect after the observation of 200 bursts in coincidence with satellite
observations of the gamma-rays.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 6 table
The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope
With an effective telescope area of order m for TeV neutrinos, a
threshold near 50 GeV and a pointing accuracy of 2.5 degrees per muon
track, the AMANDA detector represents the first of a new generation of high
energy neutrino telescopes, reaching a scale envisaged over 25 years ago. We
describe early results on the calibration of natural deep ice as a particle
detector as well as on AMANDA's performance as a neutrino telescope.Comment: 12 pages, Latex2.09, uses espcrc2.sty and epsf.sty, 13 postscript
files included. Talk presented at the 18th International Conference on
Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics (Neutrino 98), Takayama, Japan, June 199
Online Stakeholder Interactions in the Early Stage of a Megaproject
The purpose of this paper is to examine the network structure of online stakeholder discussions in the planning stage of a UK public mega project, High Speed Rail. By providing new rail connections between London, Birmingham and Manchester, this project is highly complex as it is embedded in a network of stakeholder relationships that may support or oppose the project. Data drawn from Twitter was analyzed using Social Network Analysis and inductive analysis of user profiles and content. Findings indicate that the majority of online stakeholders oppose the project and form stable clusters. Larger clusters within this network may attempt to deploy power directly in the form of a manipulation strategy while smaller clusters may seek to ally themselves with more powerful groups, a pathway strategy. Overall, the methodology is a useful complement to existing methods and may provide real time insights into the complex, evolving discussions around mega projects
The pK0\Sigma+ final state in proton-proton collisions
This paper reports results from a study of the reaction pp->pK0\Sigma+ at
beam momenta of p_{beam} = 2950, 3059, and 3200 MeV/c (excess energies of
\epsilon= 126, 161, and 206 MeV). Total cross sections were determined for all
energies; a set of differential cross sections (Dalitz plots; invariant mass
spectra of all two-body subsystems; angular distributions of all final state
particles; distributions in helicity and Jackson frames) are presented for
\epsilon= 161 MeV. The total cross sections are proportional to the volume of
available three-body phase-space indicating that the transition matrix element
does not change significantly in this range of excess energies. It is concluded
from the differential data that the reaction proceeds dominantly via the
N(1710)P_{11} and/or N(1720)P_{13} resonance(s); N(1650)S_{11} and
\Delta(1600)P_{33} could also contribute.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure
Perceived stressors of climate vulnerability across scales in the Savannah zone of Ghana: a participatory approach
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are confronted with climatic and non-climatic stressors. Research attention has focused on climatic stressors, such as rainfall variability, with few empirical studies exploring non-climatic stressors and how these interact with climatic stressors at multiple scales to affect food security and livelihoods. This focus on climatic factors restricts understanding of the combinations of stressors that exacerbate the vulnerability of farming households and hampers the development of holistic climate change adaptation policies. This study addresses this particular research gap by adopting a multi-scale approach to understand how climatic and non-climatic stressors vary, and interact, across three spatial scales (household, community and district levels) to influence livelihood vulnerability of smallholder farming households in the Savannah zone of northern Ghana. This study across three case study villages utilises a series of participatory tools including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The incidence, importance, severity and overall risk indices for stressors are calculated at the household, community, and district levels. Results show that climatic and non-climatic stressors were perceived differently; yet, there were a number of common stressors including lack of money, high cost of farm inputs, erratic rainfall, cattle destruction of crops, limited access to markets and lack of agricultural equipment that crossed all scales. Results indicate that the gender of respondents influenced the perception and severity assessment of stressors on rural livelihoods at the community level. Findings suggest a mismatch between local and district level priorities that have implications for policy and development of agricultural and related livelihoods in rural communities. Ghana’s climate change adaptation policies need to take a more holistic approach that integrates both climatic and non-climatic factors to ensure policy coherence between national climate adaptation plans and District development plans
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