Butyltin compounds in a sediment core from the old Tilbury basin, London, UK

Sections from a sediment core taken from the River Thames were analysed for butyltin species using gas chromatography with species-specific isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Results demonstrated that in most samples tributyltin concentrations of 20–60 ng/g accounted for <10% of the total butyltin species present, which is in agreement with data from other sediment samples which were historically contaminated with tributyltin. Vertical distribution of the organotin residues with depth throughout the core, with data on organochlorine compounds and heavy metals allowed for the construction of a consistent hypothesis on historical deposition of contaminated sediments. From this it was possible to infer that the concentrations of tributyltin in sediments deposited during the early 1960s were in the order of 400–600 lg/g by using degradation rate constants derived by other workers. Such values fall well within the range quoted for harbour sediments in the literature

Decoherence in trapped ions due to polarization of the residual background gas

We investigate the mechanism of damping and heating of trapped ions associated with the polarization of the residual background gas induced by the oscillating ions themselves. Reasoning by analogy with the physics of surface electrons in liquid helium, we demonstrate that the decay of Rabi oscillations observed in experiments on 9Be+ can be attributed to the polarization phenomena investigated here. The measured sensitivity of the damping of Rabi oscillations with respect to the vibrational quantum number of a trapped ion is also predicted in our polarization model.Comment: 26 pdf pages with 5 figures, http://www.df.ufscar.br/~quantum

Relationship between dynamical heterogeneities and stretched exponential relaxation

We identify the dynamical heterogeneities as an essential prerequisite for stretched exponential relaxation in dynamically frustrated systems. This heterogeneity takes the form of ordered domains of finite but diverging lifetime for particles in atomic or molecular systems, or spin states in magnetic materials. At the onset of the dynamical heterogeneity, the distribution of time intervals spent in such domains or traps becomes stretched exponential at long time. We rigorously show that once this is the case, the autocorrelation function of the renewal process formed by these time intervals is also stretched exponential at long time.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Gauge and Scheme Dependence of Mixing Matrix Renormalization

We revisit the issue of mixing matrix renormalization in theories that include Dirac or Majorana fermions. We show how a gauge-variant on-shell renormalized mixing matrix can be related to a manifestly gauge-independent one within a generalized ${\bar {\rm MS}}$ scheme of renormalization. This scheme-dependent relation is a consequence of the fact that in any scheme of renormalization, the gauge-dependent part of the mixing-matrix counterterm is ultra-violet safe and has a pure dispersive form. Employing the unitarity properties of the theory, we can successfully utilize the afore-mentioned scheme-dependent relation to preserve basic global or local symmetries of the bare Lagrangian through the entire process of renormalization. As an immediate application of our study, we derive the gauge-independent renormalization-group equations of mixing matrices in a minimal extension of the Standard Model with isosinglet neutrinos.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX, uses axodraw.st

Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory

Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from Sagittarius $A$. Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe