Final-State Interactions in the Superscaling Analysis of Neutral-Current Quasielastic Neutrino Scattering

Effects of strong final-state interactions in the superscaling properties of neutral-current quasielastic neutrino cross sections are investigated using the Relativistic Impulse Approximation as guidance. First- and second-kind scaling are analyzed for neutrino beam energies ranging from 1 to 2 GeV for the cases of 12C, 16O and 40Ca. Different detection angles of the outgoing nucleon are considered in order to sample various nucleon energy regimes. Scaling of the second kind is shown to be very robust. Validity of first-kind scaling is found to be linked to the kinematics of the process. Superscaling still prevails even in the presence of very strong final-state interactions, provided that some kinematical restrains are kept, and the conditions under which superscaling can be applied to predict neutral-current quasielastic neutrino scattering are determined.Comment: 39 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Factors determining the pattern of the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) epidemic in the UK.

Following the emergence of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) 6 years ago, and the gradual rise in clinical cases, there has been increased speculation regarding the overall magnitude of this epidemic in Great Britain. In this paper, we explore the epidemiological factors and uncertainties determining the scale of this epidemic in light of the most recent data on reported vCJD mortality. Our results demonstrate that, while the magnitude of the uncertainty has decreased dramatically since 1996, it is still not possible to predict with any degree of accuracy the final magnitude of this epidemic, with the 95% confidence interval for future cases being from 10 to 7000 deaths. However, short-term projections show that it is unlikely that a dramatic increase in case numbers will be observed in the next 2-5 years (95% confidence interval for 2 years: 10-80 cases, for 5 years: 10-200 cases). The results confirm significant age-dependent susceptibility/exposure to infection, with the likelihood profile demonstrating that those aged between 10 and 20 years are at highest risk of infection. We also demonstrate how projections based on onset data may be substantially biased, and explore the sensitivity of results to assumptions concerning the exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the incubation-period distribution

A simple model for NN correlations in quasielastic lepton-nucleus scattering

We present a covariant extension of the relativistic Fermi gas model which incorporates correlation effects in nuclei. Within this model, inspired by the BCS descriptions of systems of fermions, we obtain the nuclear spectral function and from it the superscaling function for use in treating high-energy quasielastic electroweak processes. Interestingly, this model has the capability to yield the asymmetric tail seen in the experimental scaling function.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the Twenty Seventh International Workshop on Nuclear Theory, June 23 - 28, 2008, Rila mountains, Bulgari

Vortices in fermion droplets with repulsive dipole-dipole interactions

Vortices are found in a fermion system with repulsive dipole-dipole interactions, trapped by a rotating quasi-two-dimensional harmonic oscillator potential. Such systems have much in common with electrons in quantum dots, where rotation is induced via an external magnetic field. In contrast to the Coulomb interactions between electrons, the (externally tunable) anisotropy of the dipole-dipole interaction breaks the rotational symmetry of the Hamiltonian. This may cause the otherwise rotationally symmetric exact wavefunction to reveal its internal structure more directly.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Mass flow through solid 4He induced by the fountain effect

Using an apparatus that allows superfluid liquid 4He to be in contact with hcp solid \4he at pressures greater than the bulk melting pressure of the solid, we have performed experiments that show evidence for 4He mass flux through the solid and the likely presence of superfluid inside the solid. We present results that show that a thermomechanical equilibrium in quantitative agreement with the fountain effect exists between two liquid reservoirs connected to each other through two superfluid-filled Vycor rods in series with a chamber filled with solid 4He. We use the thermomechanical effect to induce flow through the solid and measure the flow rate. On cooling, mass flux appears near T = 600 mK and rises smoothly as the temperature is lowered. Near T = 75 mK a sharp drop in the flux is present. The flux increases as the temperature is reduced below 75 mK. We comment on possible causes of this flux minimum.Comment: 20 pages, 22 figures, 7 table

Quasielastic Charged Current Neutrino-nucleus Scattering

We provide integrated cross sections for quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering. Results evaluated using the phenomenological scaling function extracted from the analysis of experimental $(e,e')$ data are compared with those obtained within the framework of the relativistic impulse approximation. We show that very reasonable agreement is reached when a description of final-state interactions based on the relativistic mean field is included. This is consistent with previous studies of differential cross sections which are in accord with the universality property of the superscaling function.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let