35,008 research outputs found
Mass-spectrometric study of the rhenium-oxygen system
Rhenium, having the second highest melting point among the metals, is used for refractory containers. Thermodynamic values for rhenium oxide is determined by mass spectrometry and X ray diffraction
Space VLBI Observations of 3C 279 at 1.6 and 5 GHz
We present the first VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP) observations of
the gamma-ray blazar 3C 279 at 1.6 and 5 GHz. The combination of the VSOP and
VLBA-only images at these two frequencies maps the jet structure on scales from
1 to 100 mas. On small angular scales the structure is dominated by the quasar
core and the bright secondary component `C4' located 3 milliarcseconds from the
core (at this epoch). On larger angular scales the structure is dominated by a
jet extending to the southwest, which at the largest scale seen in these images
connects with the smallest scale structure seen in VLA images. We have
exploited two of the main strengths of VSOP: the ability to obtain
matched-resolution images to ground-based images at higher frequencies and the
ability to measure high brightness temperatures. A spectral index map was made
by combining the VSOP 1.6 GHz image with a matched-resolution VLBA-only image
at 5 GHz from our VSOP observation on the following day. The spectral index map
shows the core to have a highly inverted spectrum, with some areas having a
spectral index approaching the limiting value for synchrotron self-absorbed
radiation of 2.5. Gaussian model fits to the VSOP visibilities revealed high
brightness temperatures (>10^{12} K) that are difficult to measure with
ground-only arrays. An extensive error analysis was performed on the brightness
temperature measurements. Most components did not have measurable brightness
temperature upper limits, but lower limits were measured as high as 5x10^{12}
K. This lower limit is significantly above both the nominal inverse Compton and
equipartition brightness temperature limits. The derived Doppler factor,
Lorentz factor, and angle to the line-of-sight in the case of the equipartition
limit are at the upper end of the range of expected values for EGRET blazars.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, emulateapj.sty, To be published in The
Astrophysical Journal, v537, Jul 1, 200
S and D-wave phase shifts in isospin-2 pi pi scattering from lattice QCD
The isospin-2 pi pi system provides a useful testing ground for determining
elastic hadron scattering parameters from finite-volume spectra obtained using
lattice QCD computations. A reliable determination of the excited state
spectrum of two pions in a cubic box follows from variational analysis of
correlator matrices constructed using a large basis of operators. A general
operator construction is presented which respects the symmetries of a
multi-hadron system in flight. This is applied to the case of pi pi and allows
for the determination of the scattering phase-shifts at a large number of
kinematic points, in both S-wave and D-wave, within the elastic region. The
technique is demonstrated with a calculation at a pion mass of 396 MeV, where
the elastic scattering is found to be well described by a scattering length
parameterisation.Comment: Tables of little-group CGCs in ancillary file; v2: minor changes to
reflect published versio
Improved timber harvest techniques maintain biodiversity in tropical forests
Tropical forests are selectively logged at 20 times the rate at which they are cleared, and at least a fifth have already been disturbed in this way. In a recent pan-tropical assessment, Burivalova et al. demonstrate the importance of logging intensity as a driver of biodiversity decline in timber estates. Their analyses reveal that species richness of some taxa could decline by 50% at harvest intensities of 38 m3 ha-1. However, they did not consider the extraction techniques that lead to these intensities. Here, we conduct a complementary meta-analysis of assemblage responses to differing logging practices: conventional logging and reduced-impact logging. We show that biodiversity impacts are markedly less severe in forests that utilise reduced-impact logging, compared to those using conventional methods. While supporting the initial findings of Burivalova et al., we go on to demonstrate that best practice forestry techniques curtail the effects of timber extraction regardless of intensity. Therefore, harvest intensities are not always indicative of actual disturbance levels resulting from logging. Accordingly, forest managers and conservationists should advocate practices that offer reduced collateral damage through best practice extraction methods, such as those used in reduced-impact logging. Large-scale implementation of this approach would lead to improved conservation values in the 4 million km2 of tropical forests that are earmarked for timber extraction
Isoscalar meson spectroscopy from lattice QCD
We extract to high statistical precision an excited spectrum of
single-particle isoscalar mesons using lattice QCD, including states of high
spin and, for the first time, light exotic JPC isoscalars. The use of a novel
quark field construction has enabled us to overcome the long-standing challenge
of efficiently including quark-annihilation contributions. Hidden-flavor mixing
angles are extracted and while most states are found to be close to ideally
flavor mixed, there are examples of large mixing in the pseudoscalar and axial
sectors in line with experiment. The exotic JPC isoscalar states appear at a
mass scale comparable to the exotic isovector states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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