4,848 research outputs found
A Funeral as a Festival: Celebrations of Life in the Mosuo Tribe in China
This article attempts to provoke a discussion concerning the definition and nature of festivals by considering the process of Mosuo funerals in Southwest China as a festival event. The role of women and men in daily life and within the funeral ceremony is discussed – the Mosuo is a matriarchal society – as are the vernacular architectural settings which have evolved for both ritual and everyday activities. The article looks at the religious perception of death in Mosuo culture, which considers funerals as celebrations of a life cycle including birth, growing up and death; through onsite observations, it documents the process of a Mosuo funeral in relation to its physical space. Even though, unlike most other festivals, funerals occur at unpredictable times, it is argued that for the Mosuo the funeral event is also
a festival
Attractor states and infrared scaling in de Sitter space
The renormalized expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor for a scalar
field with any mass m and curvature coupling xi is studied for an arbitrary
homogeneous and isotropic physical initial state in de Sitter spacetime. We
prove quite generally that has a fixed point attractor behavior at
late times, which depends only on m and xi, for any fourth order adiabatic
state that is infrared finite. Specifically, when m^2 + xi R > 0,
approaches the Bunch-Davies de Sitter invariant value at late times,
independently of the initial state. When m = xi = 0, it approaches instead the
de Sitter invariant Allen-Folacci value. When m = 0 and xi \ge 0 we show that
this state independent asymptotic value of the energy-momentum tensor is
proportional to the conserved geometrical tensor (3)H_{ab}, which is related to
the behavior of the quantum effective action of the scalar field under global
Weyl rescaling. This relationship serves to generalize the definition of the
trace anomaly in the infrared for massless, non-conformal fields. In the case
m^2 + xi R = 0, but m and xi separately different from zero, grows
linearly with cosmic time at late times. For most values of m and xi in the
tachyonic cases, m^2 + xi R grows exponentially at late cosmic
times for all physically admissable initial states.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, 46 kB tar.gz fil
Differential Production Cross Section of Z Bosons as a Function of Transverse Momentum at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV
We present a measurement of the transverse momentum distribution of Z bosons
produced in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using data collected by the D0
experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during 1994--1996. We find good
agreement between our data and a current resummation calculation. We also use
our data to extract values of the non-perturbative parameters for a particular
version of the resummation formalism, obtaining significantly more precise
values than previous determinations.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters v2 has margin
error correcte
WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature: Providing a common language
A systematic nomenclature for allergens originated in the early 1980s, when few protein allergens had been described. A group of scientists led by Dr. David G. Marsh developed a nomenclature based on the Linnaean taxonomy, and further established the World Health Organization/International Union of Immunological Societies (WHO/IUIS) Allergen Nomenclature Sub-Committee in 1986. Its stated aim was to standardize the names given to the antigens (allergens) that caused IgE-mediated allergies in humans. The Sub-Committee first published a revised list of allergen names in 1986, which continued to grow with rare publications until 1994. Between 1994 and 2007 the database was a text table online, then converted to a more readily updated website. The allergen list became the Allergen Nomenclature database (www.allergen.org), which currently includes approximately 880 proteins from a wide variety of sources. The Sub-Committee includes experts on clinical and molecular allergology. They review submissions of allergen candidates, using evidence-based criteria developed by the Sub-Committee. The review process assesses the biochemical analysis and the proof of allergenicity submitted, and aims to assign allergen names prior to publication. The Sub-Committee maintains and revises the database, and addresses continuous challenges as new “omics” technologies provide increasing data about potential new allergens. Most journals publishing information on new allergens require an official allergen name, which involves submission of confidential data to the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Sub-Committee, sufficient to demonstrate binding of IgE from allergic subjects to the purified protein
Precise measurement of the top quark mass in the dilepton channel at D0
We measure the top quark mass (mt) in ppbar collisions at a center of mass
energy of 1.96 TeV using dilepton ttbar->W+bW-bbar->l+nubl-nubarbbar events,
where l denotes an electron, a muon, or a tau that decays leptonically. The
data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb-1 collected with the D0
detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We obtain mt = 174.0 +- 1.8(stat)
+- 2.4(syst) GeV, which is in agreement with the current world average mt =
173.3 +- 1.1 GeV. This is currently the most precise measurement of mt in the
dilepton channel.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of Leptonic Asymmetries and Top Quark Polarization in ttbar Production
We present measurements of lepton (l) angular distributions in ttbar -> W+ b
W- b -> l+ nu b l- nubar bbar decays produced in ppbar collisions at a
center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=1.96TeV, where l is an electron or muon. Using
data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4fb^-1, collected with the
D0 detector at the Fermilab Collider, we find that the angular distributions of
l- relative to anti-protons and l+ relative to protons are in agreement with
each other. Combining the two distributions and correcting for detector
acceptance we obtain the forward-backward asymmetry A^l_FB = (5.8 +- 5.1(stat)
+- 1.3(syst))%, compared to the standard model prediction of A^l_FB (predicted)
= (4.7 +- 0.1)%. This result is further combined with the measurement based on
the analysis of the l+jets final state to obtain A^l_FB = (11.8 +- 3.2)%.
Furthermore, we present a first study of the top-quark polarization.Comment: submitted versio
A search for charged massive long-lived particles
We report on a search for charged massive long-lived particles (CMLLPs),
based on 5.2 fb of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector
at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. We search for events in which one
or more particles are reconstructed as muons but have speed and ionization
energy loss inconsistent with muons produced in beam collisions.
CMLLPs are predicted in several theories of physics beyond the standard model.
We exclude pair-produced long-lived gaugino-like charginos below 267 GeV and
higgsino-like charginos below 217 GeV at 95% C.L., as well as long-lived scalar
top quarks with mass below 285 GeV.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
Zgamma production and limits on anomalous ZZgamma and Zgammagamma couplings in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present a measurement of ppbar->Zgamma->ll+gamma (l = e, mu) production
with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.2 fb^{-1}
collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar Collider. The
results of the electron and muon channels are combined, and we measure the
total production cross section and the differential cross section
dsigma/dp_T^gamma, where p_T^gamma is the momentum of the photon in the plane
transverse to the beamline. The results obtained are consistent with the
standard model predictions from next-to-leading order calculations. We use the
transverse momentum spectrum of the photon to place limits on anomalous ZZgamma
and Zgammagamma couplings
Direct measurement of the mass difference between top and antitop quarks
We present a direct measurement of the mass difference between top and
antitop quarks (dm) in lepton+jets top-antitop final states using the "matrix
element" method. The purity of the lepton+jets sample is enhanced for
top-antitop events by identifying at least one of the jet as originating from a
b quark. The analyzed data correspond to 3.6 fb-1 of proton-antiproton
collisions at 1.96 TeV acquired by D0 in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. The combination of the e+jets and mu+jets channels yields dm = 0.8
+/- 1.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst) GeV, which is in agreement with the standard
model expectation of no mass difference.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Search for Zgamma events with large missing transverse energy in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present the first search for supersymmetry (SUSY) in Zgamma final states
with large missing transverse energy using data corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 6.2 fb-1 collected with the D0 experiment in ppbar collisions at
sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. This signature is predicted in gauge-mediated SUSY-breaking
models, where the lightest neutralino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric
particle (NLSP) and is produced in pairs, possibly through decay from heavier
supersymmetric particles. The NLSP can decay either to a Z boson or a photon
and an associated gravitino that escapes detection. We exclude this model at
the 95% C.L. for SUSY breaking scales of Lambda < 87 TeV, corresponding to
neutralino masses of < 151 GeV.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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