Automated supervised classification of variable stars I. Methodology

The fast classification of new variable stars is an important step in making them available for further research. Selection of science targets from large databases is much more efficient if they have been classified first. Defining the classes in terms of physical parameters is also important to get an unbiased statistical view on the variability mechanisms and the borders of instability strips. Our goal is twofold: provide an overview of the stellar variability classes that are presently known, in terms of some relevant stellar parameters; use the class descriptions obtained as the basis for an automated `supervised classification' of large databases. Such automated classification will compare and assign new objects to a set of pre-defined variability training classes. For every variability class, a literature search was performed to find as many well-known member stars as possible, or a considerable subset if too many were present. Next, we searched on-line and private databases for their light curves in the visible band and performed period analysis and harmonic fitting. The derived light curve parameters are used to describe the classes and define the training classifiers. We compared the performance of different classifiers in terms of percentage of correct identification, of confusion among classes and of computation time. We describe how well the classes can be separated using the proposed set of parameters and how future improvements can be made, based on new large databases such as the light curves to be assembled by the CoRoT and Kepler space missions.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics (reference AA/2007/7638) Number of pages: 27 Number of figures: 1

Large-volume metrology instrument selection and measurability analysis

A wide range of metrology processes are involved in the manufacture of large products. In addition to the traditional tool-setting and product-verification operations, increasingly flexible metrology-enabled automation is also being used. Faced with many possible measurement problems and a very large number of metrology instruments employing diverse technologies, the selection of the appropriate instrument for a given task can be highly complex. Also, as metrology has become a key manufacturing process, it should be considered in the early stages of design, and there is currently very little research to support this. This paper provides an overview of the important selection criteria for typical measurement processes and presents some novel selection strategies. Metrics that can be used to assess measurability are also discussed. A prototype instrument selection and measurability analysis application is also presented, with discussion of how this can be used as the basis for development of a more sophisticated measurement planning tool. © 2010 Authors

Signal and Backgrounds for the Single Production of Scalar and Vector Leptoquarks at the LHC

We perform a detailed analysis of the potentiality of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to study the single production of leptoquarks via $pp \to e^\pm q\to$ leptoquark $\to e^\pm q$, with $e^\pm$ generated by the splitting of photons radiated by the protons. Working with the most general $SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$ invariant effective lagrangian for scalar and vector leptoquarks, we analyze in detail the leptoquark signals and backgrounds that lead to a final state containing an $e^\pm$ and a hard jet with approximately balanced transverse momenta. Our results indicate that the LHC will be able to discover leptoquarks with masses up to 2--3 TeV, depending on their type, for Yukawa couplings of the order of the electromagnetic one.Comment: Revtex, 23 pages, 11 postscript files. Uses axodraw.sty (included) and epsfig.sty. Typos corrected. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Measurement of the τ\tau electric dipole moment using longitudinal polarization of e+e−e^+e^- beams

Certain CP-odd momentum correlations in the production and subsequent decay of $\tau$ pairs in $e^+ e^-$ collisions are enhanced significantly when the $e^+$ and $e^-$ beams are longitudinally polarized. These may be used to probe the real and imaginary parts of $d_\tau^\gamma$, the electric dipole moment of the $\tau$. Closed-form expressions for these ``vector correlations'' and the standard deviation of the operators defining them due to standard model interactions are presented for the two-body final states of $\tau$ decays. If 42\% average polarization of each beam is achieved, as proposed for the tau-charm factories, with equal integrated luminosities for each sign of polarization and a total yield of $2\cdot 10^7$ $\tau^+ \tau^-$ pairs, it is possible to attain sensitivities for $\vert\delta {\rm Re} d_{\tau}^{\gamma}\vert$ of $8\cdot 10^{-19}$, $1\cdot 10^{-19}$, $1\cdot 10^{-19}$ $e$ cm respectively and for $\vert\delta {\rm Im} d_{\tau}^{\gamma}\vert$ of $4\cdot 10^{-14}$, $6\cdot 10^{-15}$, $5\cdot 10^{-16}$ $e$ cm respectively at the three operating center-of-mass energies of 3.67, 4.25 and 10.58 GeV. These bounds emerge when the effects of a posible weak dipole form factor $d_\tau^Z$ are negligible as is the case when it is of the same order of magnitude as $d_\tau^\gamma$. Furthermore, in such a polarization experiment where different polarizations are possible, a model-independent disentangling of their individual effects is possible, and a technique to achieve this is described. A strong longitudinal polarization physics programme at the tau-charm factory appears warranted.Comment: 30 pages, latex, no figure

Lepton flavor violating signals of a little Higgs model at the high energy linear e+e−e^{+}e^{-} colliders

Littlest Higgs $(LH)$ model predicts the existence of the doubly charged scalars $\Phi^{\pm\pm}$, which generally have large flavor changing couplings to leptons. We calculate the contributions of $\Phi^{\pm\pm}$ to the lepton flavor violating $(LFV)$ processes $l_{i}\to l_{j}\gamma$ and $l_{i}\to l_{j}l_{k}l_{k}$, and compare our numerical results with the current experimental upper limits on these processes. We find that some of these processes can give severe constraints on the coupling constant $Y_{ij}$ and the mass parameter $M_{\Phi}$. Taking into account the constraints on these free parameters, we further discuss the possible lepton flavor violating signals of $\Phi^{\pm\pm}$ at the high energy linear $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider $(ILC)$ experiments. Our numerical results show that the possible signals of $\Phi^{\pm\pm}$ might be detected via the subprocesses $e^{\pm}e^{\pm}\to l^{\pm}l^{\pm}$ in the future $ILC$ experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. Discussions and references added, typos correcte

Signal and Backgrounds for Leptoquarks at the LHC II: Vector Leptoquarks

We perform a detailed analyses of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) capability to discover first generation vector leptoquarks through their pair production. We study the leptoquark signals and backgrounds that give rise to final states containing a pair e+e- and jets. Our results show that the LHC will be able to discover vector leptoquarks with masses up to 1.3-2.1 TeV depending on their couplings to fermions and gluons.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, REVTe

Quantization of eletric charge, the neutrino and generation nonuniversality

text of abstract It is showed that the eletric charge quantization is unconnected to Majorana neutrino in the non-universal generations leptoquark-bilepton flavordynamics which includes the right-handed neutrino and an explicit U(1) factor in the gauge semisimple group.Comment: 4 pages, latex ps, no figure

Probing Top-Quark Couplings at Polarized NLC

The energy spectrum of the lepton(s) in e^+e^- --> tt-bar --> l^{+-} ...../l^+l^-..... at next linear colliders (NLC) is studied for arbitrary longitudinal beam polarizations as a possible test of new physics in top-quark couplings. The most general non-standard couplings for gamma-tt-bar, Ztt-bar and Wtb vertices are considered. Expected precision of the non-standard-parameter determination is estimated applying the optimal-observable procedure.Comment: Final version, To appear in Phys. Rev.

Characterization of the heme pocket structure and ligand binding kinetics of non-symbiotic hemoglobins from the model legume lotus japonicus

Plant hemoglobins (Hbs) are found in nodules of legumes and actinorhizal plants but also in non-symbiotic organs of monocots and dicots. Non-symbiotic Hbs (nsHbs) have been classified into two phylogenetic groups. Class 1 nsHbs show an extremely high O2 affinity and are induced by hypoxia and nitric oxide (NO), whereas class 2 nsHbs have moderate O2 affinity and are induced by cold and cytokinins. The functions of nsHbs are still unclear, but some of them rely on the capacity of hemes to bind diatomic ligands and catalyze the NO dioxygenase (NOD) reaction (oxyferrous Hb + NO ? ferric Hb + nitrate). Moreover, NO may nitrosylate Cys residues of proteins. It is therefore important to determine the ligand binding properties of the hemes and the role of Cys residues. Here, we have addressed these issues with the two class 1 nsHbs (LjGlb1-1 and LjGlb1-2) and the single class 2 nsHb (LjGlb2) of Lotus japonicus, which is a model legume used to facilitate the transfer of genetic and biochemical information into crops. We have employed carbon monoxide (CO) as a model ligand and resonance Raman, laser flash photolysis, and stopped-flow spectroscopies to unveil major differences in the heme environments and ligand binding kinetics of the three proteins, which suggest non-redundant functions. In the deoxyferrous state, LjGlb1-1 is partially hexacoordinate, whereas LjGlb1-2 shows complete hexacoordination (behaving like class 2 nsHbs) and LjGlb2 is mostly pentacoordinate (unlike other class 2 nsHbs). LjGlb1-1 binds CO very strongly by stabilizing it through hydrogen bonding, but LjGlb1-2 and LjGlb2 show lower CO stabilization. The changes in CO stabilization would explain the different affinities of the three proteins for gaseous ligands. These affinities are determined by the dissociation rates and follow the order LjGlb1-1 > LjGlb1-2 > LjGlb2. Mutations LjGlb1-1 C78S and LjGlb1-2 C79S caused important alterations in protein dynamics and stability, indicating a structural role of those Cys residues, whereas mutation LjGlb1-1 C8S had a smaller effect. The three proteins and their mutant derivatives exhibited similarly high rates of NO consumption, which were due to NOD activity of the hemes and not to nitrosylation of Cys residues

Single decay-lepton angular distributions in polarized e+e- --> t tbar and simple angular asymmetries as a measure of CP-violating top dipole couplings

In the presence of an electric dipole coupling of t-tbar to a photon, and an analogous "weak" dipole coupling to the Z, CP violation in the process e+e- --> t tbar results in modified polarization of the top and anti-top. This polarization can be analyzed by studying the angular distributions of decay charged leptons when the top or anti-top decays leptonically. Analytic expressions are presented for these distributions when either t or tbar decays leptonically, including O(alpha_s) QCD corrections in the soft-gluon approximation. The angular distributions are insensitive to anomalous interactions in top decay. Two types of simple CP-violating polar-angle asymmetries and two azimuthal asymmetries, which do not need the full reconstruction of the t or tbar, are studied. Independent 90% CL limits that may be obtained on the real and imaginary parts of the electric and weak dipole couplings at a linear collider operating at sqrt{s}=500 GeV with integrated luminosity 500 fb^{-1} and also at sqrt{s}=1000 GeV with integrated luminosity 1000 fb^{-1} have been evaluated. The effect of longitudinal electron and/or positron beam polarizations has been included.Comment: 26 pages, latex, figures included as latex files, version appearing in Pramana - Journal of Physics, minor corrections and note added in proo