69,306 research outputs found
Heavy Supersymmetric Particle Effects in Higgs Boson Production Associated with a Bottom Quark Pair at LHC and Tevatron
If all the supersymmetry particles (sparticles) except a light Higgs boson
are too heavy to be directly produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and
Tevatron, a possible way to reveal evidence for supersymmetry is through their
virtual effects in other processes. We examine such supersymmetric QCD effects
in bottom pair production associated with a light Higgs boson at the LHC and
Tevatron. We find that if the relevant sparticles (gluinos and squarks) are
well above the TeV scale, too heavy to be directly produced, they can still
have sizable virtual effects in this process. For large , such
residual effects can alter the production rate by as much as 40 percent, which
should be observable in future measurements of this process.Comment: results for Tevatron added, version in PR
Semiclassical quantization with bifurcating orbits
Bifurcations of classical orbits introduce divergences into semiclassical
spectra which have to be smoothed with the help of uniform approximations. We
develop a technique to extract individual energy levels from semiclassical
spectra involving uniform approximations. As a prototype example, the method is
shown to yield excellent results for photo-absorption spectra for the hydrogen
atom in an electric field in a spectral range where the abundance of
bifurcations would render the standard closed-orbit formula without uniform
approximations useless. Our method immediately applies to semiclassical trace
formulae as well as closed-orbit theory and offers a general technique for the
semiclassical quantization of arbitrary systems
Molecular gas in extreme star-forming environments: the starbursts Arp220 and NGC6240 as case studies
We report single-dish multi-transition measurements of the 12^CO, HCN, and
HCO^+ molecular line emission as well as HNC J=1-0 and HNCO in the two
ultraluminous infra-red galaxies Arp220 and NGC6240. Using this new molecular
line inventory, in conjunction with existing data in the literature, we
compiled the most extensive molecular line data sets to date for such galaxies.
The many rotational transitions, with their different excitation requirements,
allow the study of the molecular gas over a wide range of different densities
and temperatures with significant redundancy, and thus allow good constraints
on the properties of the dense gas in these two systems. The mass (~(1-2) x
10^10 Msun) of dense gas (>10^5-6 cm^-3) found accounts for the bulk of their
molecular gas mass, and is consistent with most of their IR luminosities
powered by intense star bursts while self-regulated by O,B star cluster
radiative pressure onto the star-forming dense molecular gas. The highly
excited HCN transitions trace a gas phase ~(10-100)x denser than that of the
sub-thermally excited HCO^+ lines (for both galaxies). These two phases are
consistent with an underlying density-size power law found for Galactic GMCs
(but with a steeper exponent), with HCN lines tracing denser and more compact
regions than HCO^+. Whether this is true in IR-luminous, star forming galaxies
in general remains to be seen, and underlines the need for observations of
molecular transitions with high critical densities for a sample of bright
(U)LIRGs in the local Universe -- a task for which the HI-FI instrument on
board Herschel is ideally suited to do.Comment: 38 pages (preprint ApJ style), 3 figures, accepted for Ap
Microbubble Cavitation Imaging
Ultrasound cavitation of microbubble contrast agents has a potential for therapeutic applications such as sonothrombolysis (STL) in acute ischemic stroke. For safety, efficacy, and reproducibility of treatment, it is critical to evaluate the cavitation state (moderate oscillations, stable cavitation, and inertial cavitation) and activity level in and around a treatment area. Acoustic passive cavitation detectors (PCDs) have been used to this end but do not provide spatial information. This paper presents a prototype of a 2-D cavitation imager capable of producing images of the dominant cavitation state and activity level in a region of interest. Similar to PCDs, the cavitation imaging described here is based on the spectral analysis of the acoustic signal radiated by the cavitating microbubbles: ultraharmonics of the excitation frequency indicate stable cavitation, whereas elevated noise bands indicate inertial cavitation; the absence of both indicates moderate oscillations. The prototype system is a modified commercially available ultrasound scanner with a sector imaging probe. The lateral resolution of the system is 1.5 mm at a focal depth of 3 cm, and the axial resolution is 3 cm for a therapy pulse length of 20 mu s. The maximum frame rate of the prototype is 2 Hz. The system has been used for assessing and mapping the relative importance of the different cavitation states of a microbubble contrast agent. In vitro (tissue-mimicking flow phantom) and in vivo (heart, liver, and brain of two swine) results for cavitation states and their changes as a function of acoustic amplitude are presented
Grid-enabled SIMAP utility: Motivation, integration technology and performance results
A biological system comprises large numbers of functionally diverse and frequently multifunctional sets of elements that interact selectively and nonlinearly to produce coherent behaviours. Such a system can be anything from an intracellular biological process (such as a biochemical reaction cycle, gene regulatory network or signal transduction pathway) to a cell, tissue, entire organism, or even an ecological web. Biochemical systems are
responsible for processing environmental signals, inducing the appropriate cellular responses and sequence of
internal events. However, such systems are not fully or even poorly understood. Systems biology is a scientific field that is concerned with the systematic study of biological and biochemical systems in terms of complex interactions rather than their individual molecular components. At the core of systems biology is computational
modelling (also called mathematical modelling), which is the process of constructing and simulating an abstract
model of a biological system for subsequent analysis. This methodology can be used to test hypotheses via insilico experiments, providing predictions that can be tested by in-vitro and in-vivo studies. For example, the ERbB1-4 receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and the signalling pathways they activate, govern most core cellular processes such as cell division, motility and survival (Citri and Yarden, 2006) and are strongly linked to cancer when they malfunction due to mutations etc. An ODE (ordinary differential equation)-based mass action ErbB model has been constructed and analysed by Chen et al. (2009) in order to depict what roles of each protein plays and ascertain to how sets of proteins coordinate with each other to perform distinct physiological functions. The
model comprises 499 species (molecules), 201 parameters and 828 reactions. These in silico experiments can often be computationally very expensive, e.g. when multiple biochemical factors are being considered or a variety of complex networks are being simulated simultaneously. Due to the size and complexity of the models
and the requirement to perform comprehensive experiments it is often necessary to use high-performance computing (HPC) to keep the experimental time within tractable bounds. Based on this as part of an EC funded
cancer research project, we have developed the SIMAP Utility that allows the SImulation modeling of the MAP kinase pathway (http://www.simap-project.org). In this paper we present experiences with Grid-enabling SIMAP using Condor
Neutron skin uncertainties of Skyrme energy density functionals
Background: Neutron-skin thickness is an excellent indicator of isovector
properties of atomic nuclei. As such, it correlates strongly with observables
in finite nuclei that depend on neutron-to-proton imbalance and the nuclear
symmetry energy that characterizes the equation of state of neutron-rich
matter. A rich worldwide experimental program involving studies with rare
isotopes, parity violating electron scattering, and astronomical observations
is devoted to pinning down the isovector sector of nuclear models. Purpose: We
assess the theoretical systematic and statistical uncertainties of neutron-skin
thickness and relate them to the equation of state of nuclear matter, and in
particular to nuclear symmetry energy parameters. Methods: We use the nuclear
superfluid Density Functional Theory with several Skyrme energy density
functionals and density dependent pairing. To evaluate statistical errors and
their budget, we employ the statistical covariance technique. Results: We find
that the errors on neutron skin increase with neutron excess. Statistical
errors due to uncertain coupling constants of the density functional are found
to be larger than systematic errors, the latter not exceeding 0.06 fm in most
neutron-rich nuclei across the nuclear landscape. The single major source of
uncertainty is the poorly determined slope L of the symmetry energy that
parametrizes its density dependence. Conclusions: To provide essential
constraints on the symmetry energy of the nuclear energy density functional,
next-generation measurements of neutron skins are required to deliver precision
better than 0.06 fm.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Holographic phase transition in a non-critical holographic model
We consider a holographic model constructed from the intersecting brane
configuration D4-/D4 in noncritical string theory. We study the
chiral phase diagram of this holographic QCD-like model with a finite baryon
chemical potential through the supergravity dual approximation.Comment: 14 pages, reference adde
Boundary lubrication properties of materials with expansive freezing
We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of solid-solid contacts
lubricated by a model fluid displaying many of the properties of water,
particularly its expansive freezing. Near the region where expansive freezing
occurs, the lubricating film remains fluid, and the friction force decreases
linearly as the shear velocity is reduced. No sign of stick-slip motion is
observed even at the lowest velocities. We give a simple interpretation of
these results, and suggest that in general good boundary lubrication properties
will be found in the family of materials with expansive freezing.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Effects Of Attenuation And Thrombus Age On The Success Of Ultrasound And Microbubble-Mediated Thrombus Dissolution
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of applied mechanical index, incident angle, attenuation and thrombus age on the ability of 2-D vs. 3-D diagnostic ultrasound and microbubbles to dissolve thrombi. A total of 180 occlusive porcine arterial thrombi of varying age (3 or 6 h) were examined in a flow system. A tissue-mimicking phantom of varying thickness (5 to 10 cm) was placed over the thrombosed vessel and the 2-D or 3-D diagnostic transducer aligned with the thrombosed vessel using a positioning system. Diluted lipid-encapsulated microbubbles were infused during ultrasound application. Percent thrombus dissolution (%TD) was calculated by comparison of clot mass before and after treatment. Both 2-D and 3-D-guided ultrasound increased %TD compared with microbubbles alone, but %TD achieved with 6-h-old thrombi was significantly less than 3-h-old thrombi. Thrombus dissolution was achieved at 10 cm tissue-mimicking depths, even without inertial cavitation. In conclusion, diagnostic 2-D or 3-D ultrasound can dissolve thrombi with intravenous nontargeted microbubbles, even at tissue attenuation distances of up to 10 cm. This treatment modality is less effective, however, for older aged thrombi. (E-mail: [email protected]) (C) 2011 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology
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