1,068 research outputs found
First direct limits on lightly ionizing particles with electric charge less than e/6
Artículo escrito por muchos autores, sólo se referencian el primero, los autores que firman como Universidad Autónoma de Madrid y el grupo de colaboración en el caso de que aparezca en el artículoWhile the standard model of particle physics does not include free particles with fractional charge, experimental searches have not ruled out their existence. We report results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment that give the first direct-detection limits for cosmogenically produced relativistic particles with electric charge lower than e/6. A search for tracks in the six stacked detectors of each of two of the CDMS II towers finds no candidates, thereby excluding new parameter space for particles with electric charges between e/6 and e/200This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation, by the U.S. Department of Energy, by NSERC Canada, and by MultiDark (Spanish MINECO). Fermilab is operated by the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. De-AC02-07CH11359. SLAC is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515 with the U.S. Department of Energ
Steady shear flow of magnetic fiber suspensions: theory and comparison with experiments
International audienceThis paper is focused on the rheology of magnetic fiber suspensions in the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the flow. At low Mason numbers, Mn<0.1, the experimental flow curves show a steep initial section corresponding to the inclination and stretching of the gap-spanning aggregates formed upon magnetic field application. At higher Mason numbers, aggregates no longer stick to the walls and the flow curves reach a Bingham regime, with the dynamic yield stress growing with the magnetic field intensity. This yield stress appears to be about three times higher for the fiber suspensions than for the suspensions of spherical particles. Such difference, measured at relatively low magnetic field intensities, H0<30 kA/m, is explained in terms of the enhanced magnetic susceptibility of the aggregates composed of fibers compared to the aggregates composed of spherical particles. For weak magnetic fields, the forces of solid friction between fibers are expected to play a minor role on the stress level of the suspension. In order to confirm these findings, we propose a new theoretical model, taking into account hydrodynamic interactions. The flow curve and the yield stress predictions are in a good agreement with the experimental results for semi-diluted suspensions
Theoretical predictions for the direct detection of neutralino dark matter in the NMSSM
We analyse the direct detection of neutralino dark matter in the framework of
the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. After performing a detailed
analysis of the parameter space, taking into account all the available
constraints from LEPII, we compute the neutralino-nucleon cross section, and
compare the results with the sensitivity of detectors. We find that sizable
values for the detection cross section, within the reach of dark matter
detectors, are attainable in this framework. For example, neutralino-proton
cross sections compatible with the sensitivity of present experiments can be
obtained due to the exchange of very light Higgses with m_{h_1^0}\lsim 70
GeV. Such Higgses have a significant singlet composition, thus escaping
detection and being in agreement with accelerator data. The lightest neutralino
in these cases exhibits a large singlino-Higgsino composition, and a mass in
the range 50\lsim m_{\tilde\chi_1^0}\lsim 100 GeV.Comment: Final version to appear in JHEP. References added. LaTeX, 53 pages,
23 figure
Efficiency of scanning and attention to faces in infancy independently predict language development in a multiethnic and bilingual sample of 2-year-olds
Efficient visual exploration in infancy is essential for cognitive and language development. It allows infants to participate in social interactions by attending to faces and learning about objects of interest. Visual scanning of scenes depends on a number of factors and early differences in efficiency are likely contributing to differences in learning and language development during subsequent years. Predicting language development in diverse samples is particularly challenging, as additional multiple sources of variability affect infant performance. In this study we tested how the complexity of visual scanning in the presence or absence of a face at 6-7 months of age is related to language development at 2 years of age in a multi-ethnic and predominantly bilingual sample from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. We used Recurrence Quantification Analysis to measure the temporal and spatial distribution of fixations recurring in the same area of a visual scene. We found that in the absence of a face the temporal distribution of re-fixations on selected objects of interest (but not all) significantly predicted both receptive and expressive language scores, explaining 16 - 20% of the variance. Also, lower rate of re-fixations recurring in the presence of a face predicted higher receptive language scores, suggesting larger vocabulary in infants that effectively disengage from faces. Altogether, our results suggest that dynamic measures, which quantify the complexity of visual scanning can reliably and robustly predict language development in highly diverse samples. They suggest that selective attending to objects predicts language independently of attention to faces. As eye-tracking and language assessments were carried out in early intervention centres, our study demonstrates the utility of mobile eye-tracking setups for early detection of risk in attention and language development
Beyond fixation durations: Recurrence quantification analysis reveals spatiotemporal dynamics of infant visual scanning
Standard looking-duration measures in eye-tracking data provide only general quantitative indices, while details of the spatiotemporal structuring of fixation sequences are lost. To overcome this, various tools have been developed to measure the dynamics of fixations. However, these analyses are only useful when stimuli have high perceptual similarity and they require the previous definition of areas of interest (AOIs). Although these methods have been widely applied in adult studies, relatively little is known about the temporal structuring of infant gaze-foraging behaviors such as variability of scanning over time or individual scanning patterns. Thus, to shed more light on the spatiotemporal characteristics of infant fixation sequences we apply for the first time a new methodology for nonlinear time-series analysis—the
recurrence quantification analysis (RQA). We present how the dynamics of infant scanning varies depending on the scene content during a "pop-out" search task. Moreover, we show how the normalization of RQA measures with average fixation durations provides a more detailed account of the dynamics of fixation sequences. Finally, we link the RQA measures of temporal dynamics of scanning with the spatial information about the stimuli using heat maps of recurrences without the need for defining a priori AOIs and present how infants’ foraging strategies are driven by the image content. We conclude from our findings that the RQA methodology has potential applications in the analysis of the temporal dynamics of infant visual foraging offering advantages over existing
methods
An origin for small neutrino masses in the NMSSM
We consider the Next to Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) which
provides a natural solution to the so-called mu problem by introducing a new
gauge-singlet superfield S. We realize that a new mechanism of neutrino mass
suppression, based on the R-parity violating bilinear terms mu_i L_i H_u mixing
neutrinos and higgsinos, arises within the NMSSM, offering thus an original
solution to the neutrino mass problem (connected to the solution for the mu
problem). We generate realistic (Majorana) neutrino mass values without
requiring any strong hierarchy amongst the fundamental parameters, in contrast
with the alternative models. In particular, the ratio |mu_i/mu| can reach about
10^-1, unlike in the MSSM where it has to be much smaller than unity. We check
that the obtained parameters also satisfy the collider constraints and internal
consistencies of the NMSSM. The price to pay for this new cancellation-type
mechanism of neutrino mass reduction is a certain fine tuning, which get
significantly improved in some regions of parameter space. Besides, we discuss
the feasibility of our scenario when the R-parity violating bilinear terms have
a common origin with the mu term, namely when those are generated via a VEV of
the S scalar component from the couplings lambda_i S L_i H_u. Finally, we make
comments on some specific phenomenology of the NMSSM in the presence of
R-parity violating bilinear terms.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, Latex fil
Thermal Bremsstrahlung photons probing the nuclear caloric curve
Hard-photon (E 30 MeV) emission from second-chance
nucleon-nucleon Bremsstrahlung collisions in intermediate energy heavy-ion
reactions is studied employing a realistic thermal model. Photon spectra and
yields measured in several nucleus-nucleus reactions are consistent with an
emission from hot nuclear systems with temperatures 4 - 7 MeV. The
corresponding caloric curve in the region of excitation energies
3{\it A} - 8{\it A} MeV shows lower values of than
those expected for a Fermi fluid.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Physics Letters
Theory of the Quantum Hall Smectic Phase II: Microscopic Theory
We present a microscopic derivation of the hydrodynamic theory of the Quantum
Hall smectic or stripe phase of a two-dimensional electron gas in a large
magnetic field. The effective action of the low energy is derived here from a
microscopic picture by integrating out high energy excitations with a scale of
the order the cyclotron energy.The remaining low-energy theory can be expressed
in terms of two canonically conjugate sets of degrees of freedom: the
displacement field, that describes the fluctuations of the shapes of the
stripes, and the local charge fluctuations on each stripe.Comment: 20 pages, RevTex, 3 figures, second part of cond-mat/0105448 New and
improved Introduction. Final version as it will appear in Physical Review
Lower limit on the neutralino mass in the general MSSM
We discuss constraints on SUSY models with non-unified gaugino masses and R_P
conservation. We derive a lower bound on the neutralino mass combining the
direct limits from LEP, the indirect limits from gmuon, bsgamma, Bsmumu and the
relic density constraint from WMAP. The lightest neutralino (mneutralino=6GeV)
is found in models with a light pseudoscalar with MA<200GeV and a large value
for . Models with heavy pseudoscalars lead to mneutralino>18(29)GeV
for . We show that even a very conservative bound from the
muon anomalous magnetic moment can increase the lower bound on the neutralino
mass in models with mu<0 and/or large values of . We then examine
the potential of the Tevatron and the direct detection experiments to probe the
SUSY models with the lightest neutralinos allowed in the context of light
pseudoscalars with high . We also examine the potential of an e+e-
collider of 500GeV to produce SUSY particles in all models with neutralinos
lighter than the W. In contrast to the mSUGRA models, observation of at least
one sparticle is not always guaranteed.Comment: 37 pages, LateX, 16 figures, paper with higher resolution figures
available at
http://wwwlapp.in2p3.fr/~boudjema/papers/bound-lsp/bound-lsp.htm
Possible shears bands in At204 and Fr206, and identification of excited states in Fr205,207
Neutron-deficient astatine and francium nuclei were produced in the reaction 30Si+181Ta→211Fr* at 152 MeV. The evaporation residues from this very fissile system were selected with the HERCULES-II detector system and residue-gated γ rays were measured with Gammasphere. Excited states were observed for the first time in Fr205,207, as well as sequences of low-energy transitions between high-spin states in At204 and Fr206. These latter structures have properties similar to those associated with magnetic rotation (shears bands) in lead nuclei. Comparisons with established shears bands are presented and prospects for the magnetic-rotation phenomenon near the predicted N=120 "magic" number are explored
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