7,541 research outputs found
Validity of small scale tests for turret/fairing loads and cavity effects
Data from several wind tunnel experiments along with available flight test data are used to discuss the validity of small scale tests and their inherent limitations. Tests were performed at transonic speeds to measure the turbulence levels in a cavity with and without a forward porous fence, turret drag with and without an aerodynamic fairing, and turret/fairing unsteady pressures
Neutrino Phenomenology in a 3+1+1 Framework
Evidence continues to grow in the MiniBooNE (MB) antineutrino mode supporting
a low-energy excess compatible with the MB neutrino mode and possibly also
confirming the results of the LSND experiment. At least one sterile neutrino is
required to explain the anomalies consistent with the observations of other
experiments. At the same time, there is a strong tension between the positive
signals of LSND and MB and the null results of nu_e and nu_mu disappearance
experiments. We explore a scenario, first proposed in \cite{Nelson:2010hz},
where the presence of an additional heavy sterile neutrino (with mass well
above an eV) can alleviate tension between LSND, MB and the null results of
disappearance experiments. We compare and contrast this 3+1+1 scenario with the
more standard 3+1 scenario and carry out global fits to all oscillation data
including new 2011 MB anti-nu data. We find that the tension can be somewhat
alleviated and that a phenomenologically viable window for the heavy neutrino,
consistent with rare decays and BBN constraints, can be found if the fifth
neutrino has a mass of order 0.3 - 10 GeV. We also find, however, that the 2011
MB anti-nu data exacerbates the tension with null experiments in both the 3+1
and 3+1+1 models when the lowest energy bins are included, resulting in little
improvement in the global fit. We also discuss the implications of an
additional neutrino for the reactor and gallium anomalies, and show that an
oscillation explanation of the anomalies is disfavored by cosmological
considerations, direct searches, and precision electroweak tests.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures; replaced to reflect journal versio
Optimized Coplanar Waveguide Resonators for a Superconductor-Atom Interface
We describe the design and characterization of superconducting coplanar
waveguide cavities tailored to facilitate strong coupling between
superconducting quantum circuits and single trapped Rydberg atoms. For initial
superconductor-atom experiments at 4.2 K, we show that resonator quality
factors above can be readily achieved. Furthermore, we demonstrate that
the incorporation of thick-film copper electrodes at a voltage antinode of the
resonator provides a route to enhance the zero-point electric fields of the
resonator in a trapping region that is 40 m above the chip surface,
thereby minimizing chip heating from scattered trap light. The combination of
high resonator quality factor and strong electric dipole coupling between the
resonator and the atom should make it possible to achieve the strong coupling
limit of cavity quantum electrodynamics with this system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The burgeoning field of innate immune-mediated disease and autoinflammation.
Immune-mediated autoinflammatory diseases are occupying an increasingly prominent position among the pantheon of debilitating conditions that afflict mankind. This review focuses on some of the key developments which have occurred since the original description of autoinflammatory disease in 1999, and focuses on underlying mechanisms that trigger autoinflammation. The monogenic autoinflammatory disease range has expanded considerably during that time, and now includes a broad spectrum of disorders, including relatively common conditions such as cystic fibrosis and subsets of systemic lupus erythematosus. The innate immune system also plays a key role in the pathogenesis of complex inflammatory disorders. We have proposed a new nomenclature to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of monogenic disorders, which predispose to either autoinflammation or autoimmunity or, indeed, combinations of both. This new terminology also encompasses a wide spectrum of genetically determined autoinflammatory diseases, with variable clinical manifestations of immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation/autoimmunity. We also explore some of the ramifications of the breakthrough discovery of the physiologic role of pyrin and the search for identifiable factors that may serve to trigger attacks of autoinflammation. The evidence that pyrin, as part of the pyrin inflammasome, acts as a sensor of different inactivating bacterial modification Rho GTPases, rather than interacting directly with these microbial products, sets the stage for a better understanding of the role of micro-organisms and infections in the autoinflammatory disorders. Finally, we discuss some of the triggers of autoinflammation as well as potential therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing autophagy and proteasome degradation pathways
Learning physics in context: a study of student learning about electricity and magnetism
This paper re-centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus
on context. In order to do so, a theoretically-motivated understanding of
context is developed. Given a well-defined notion of context, data from a novel
university class in electricity and magnetism are analyzed to demonstrate the
central and inextricable role of context in student learning. This work sits
within a broader effort to create and analyze environments which support
student learning in the sciencesComment: 36 pages, 4 Figure
Blogging in the physics classroom: A research-based approach to shaping students' attitudes towards physics
Even though there has been a tremendous amount of research done in how to
help students learn physics, students are still coming away missing a crucial
piece of the puzzle: why bother with physics? Students learn fundamental laws
and how to calculate, but come out of a general physics course without a deep
understanding of how physics has transformed the world around them. In other
words, they get the "how" but not the "why". Studies have shown that students
leave introductory physics courses almost universally with decreased
expectations and with a more negative attitude. This paper will detail an
experiment to address this problem: a course weblog or "blog" which discusses
real-world applications of physics and engages students in discussion and
thinking outside of class. Specifically, students' attitudes towards the value
of physics and its applicability to the real-world were probed using a
26-question Likert scale survey over the course of four semesters in an
introductory physics course at a comprehensive Jesuit university. We found that
students who did not participate in the blog study generally exhibited a
deterioration in attitude towards physics as seen previously. However, students
who read, commented, and were involved with the blog maintained their initially
positive attitudes towards physics. Student response to the blog was
overwhelmingly positive, with students claiming that the blog made the things
we studied in the classroom come alive for them and seem much more relevant.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure
Unstable Nonradial Oscillations on Helium Burning Neutron Stars
Material accreted onto a neutron star can stably burn in steady state only
when the accretion rate is high (typically super-Eddington) or if a large flux
from the neutron star crust permeates the outer atmosphere. For such situations
we have analyzed the stability of nonradial oscillations, finding one unstable
mode for pure helium accretion. This is a shallow surface wave which resides in
the helium atmosphere above the heavier ashes of the ocean. It is excited by
the increase in the nuclear reaction rate during the oscillations, and it grows
on the timescale of a second. For a slowly rotating star, this mode has a
frequency of approximately 20-30 Hz (for l=1), and we calculate the full
spectrum that a rapidly rotating (>>30 Hz) neutron star would support. The
short period X-ray binary 4U 1820--30 is accreting helium rich material and is
the system most likely to show this unstable mode,especially when it is not
exhibiting X-ray bursts. Our discovery of an unstable mode in a thermally
stable atmosphere shows that nonradial perturbations have a different stability
criterion than the spherically symmetric thermal perturbations that generate
type I X-ray bursts.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal, 22 pages, 14
figure
Are Individuals Fickle-Minded?
Game theory has been used to model large-scale social events â such as constitutional law, democratic stability, standard setting, gender roles, social movements, communication, markets, the selection of officials by means of elections, coalition formation, resource allocation, distribution of goods, and war â as the aggregate result of individual choices in interdependent decision-making. Game theory in this way assumes methodological individualism. The widespread observation that game theory predictions do not in general match observation has led to many attempts to repair game theory by creating behavioral game theory, which adds corrective terms to the game theoretic predictions in the hope of making predictions that better match observations. But for game theory to be useful in making predictions, we must be able to generalize from an individualâs behavior in one situation to that individualâs behavior in very closely similar situations. In other words, behavioral game theory needs individuals to be reasonably consistent in action if the theory is to have predictive power. We argue on the basis of experimental evidence that the assumption of such consistency is unwarranted. More realistic models of individual agents must be developed that acknowledge the variance in behavior for a given individual
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