313 research outputs found

    Tests of the Equivalence Principle with Neutral Kaons

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    We test the Principle of Equivalence for particles and antiparticles, using CPLEAR data on tagged K0 and K0bar decays into pi^+ pi^-. For the first time, we search for possible annual, monthly and diurnal modulations of the observables |eta_{+-}| and phi_{+-}, that could be correlated with variations in astrophysical potentials. Within the accuracy of CPLEAR, the measured values of |eta_{+-}| and phi_{+-} are found not to be correlated with changes of the gravitational potential. We analyze data assuming effective scalar, vector and tensor interactions, and we conclude that the Principle of Equivalence between particles and antiparticles holds to a level of 6.5, 4.3 and 1.8 x 10^{-9}, respectively, for scalar, vector and tensor potentials originating from the Sun with a range much greater than the distance Earth-Sun. We also study energy-dependent effects that might arise from vector or tensor interactions. Finally, we compile upper limits on the gravitational coupling difference between K0 and K0bar as a function of the scalar, vector and tensor interaction range.Comment: 15 pages latex 2e, five figures, one style file (cernart.csl) incorporate

    Test of CPT Symmetry and Quantum Mechanics with Experimental data from CPLEAR

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    We use fits to recent published CPLEAR data on neutral kaon decays to π+π\pi^+\pi^- and πeν\pi e\nu to constrain the CPT--violation parameters appearing in a formulation of the neutral kaon system as an open quantum-mechanical system. The obtained upper limits of the CPT--violation parameters are approaching the range suggested by certain ideas concerning quantum gravity.Comment: 9 pages of uuencoded postscript (includes 3 figures

    Causes and Correlates of Calf Mortality in Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus)

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    Juvenile mortality is a key factor influencing population growth rate in density-independent, predation-free, well-managed captive populations. Currently at least a quarter of all Asian elephants live in captivity, but both the wild and captive populations are unsustainable with the present fertility and calf mortality rates. Despite the need for detailed data on calf mortality to manage effectively populations and to minimize the need for capture from the wild, very little is known of the causes and correlates of calf mortality in Asian elephants. Here we use the world's largest multigenerational demographic dataset on a semi-captive population of Asian elephants compiled from timber camps in Myanmar to investigate the survival of calves (n = 1020) to age five born to captive-born mothers (n = 391) between 1960 and 1999. Mortality risk varied significantly across different ages and was higher for males at any age. Maternal reproductive history was associated with large differences in both stillbirth and liveborn mortality risk: first-time mothers had a higher risk of calf loss as did mothers producing another calf soon (<3.7 years) after a previous birth, and when giving birth at older age. Stillbirth (4%) and pre-weaning mortality (25.6%) were considerably lower than those reported for zoo elephants and used in published population viability analyses. A large proportion of deaths were caused by accidents and lack of maternal milk/calf weakness which both might be partly preventable by supplementary feeding of mothers and calves and work reduction of high-risk mothers. Our results on Myanmar timber elephants with an extensive keeping system provide an important comparison to compromised survivorship reported in zoo elephants. They have implications for improving captive working elephant management systems in range countries and for refining population viability analyses with realistic parameter values in order to predict future population size of the Asian elephant

    The neutral kaon decays to π+ππ0\pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0: a detailed analysis of the CPLEAR data

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    A detailed analysis of neutral kaons decaying to \Pgpp \Pgpm \Pgpz\ is presented based on the complete data set containing half a million events. Time-dependent decay rate asymmetries are measured between initially tagged \PKz\ and \PaKz\ and for different regions of the phase space. These asymmetries, resulting from the interference between the CP-conserving decay amplitude of \PKzL\ and the decay amplitude of \PKzS\ -- either CP-violating or CP-conserving -- allow the determinationof the \PKzS\ parameters \etapmz\ (CP-violating) and \lampmz\ (CP-conserving), and also of the main i sospin components of the \PKzS\ decay amplitude. The branching ratio of \PKzS\ \rightarrow \Pgpp \Pgpm \Pgpz\ (CP-conserving) is deduced directly from \lampmz . In addition, we extract the slope parameters describing the energy dependence of the \PKzL \rightarrow \Pgpp \Pgpm \Pgpz Dalitz plot. The whole set of our results fits well within the current phenomenological picture of the neut ral-kaon system including CP violation and Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT)

    Determination of the T- and CPT-violation parameters in the neutral-kaon system using the Bell-Steinberger relation and data from CPLEAR

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    Data from the CPLEAR experiment, together with the most recent world averages for some of the neutral-kaon parameters, were constrained with the Bell--Steinberger (or unitarity) relation, allowing the T-violation parameter \ree and the CPT-violation parameter \imd of the neutral-kaon mixing matrix to be determined with an increased accuracy: \ree = (164.9 \pm 2.5)\times 10^{-5}, \imd = ( 2.4 \pm 5.0)\times 10^{-5}. Moreover, the constraint allows the CPT-violation parameter for the neutral-kaon semileptonic decays, \rey, to be determined for the first time. The ΔSΔQ\Delta S \neq \Delta Q parameters \rexm and \imxp are given with an increased accuracy. The quantity Re(y + x)\mathrm{Re}(y~+~x_-), which enters the T-violation CPLEAR asymmetry previously published, is determined to be (0.2±0.3)×103(0.2 \pm 0.3)\times 10^{-3}. The value obtained for \red is in agreement with the one resulting from a previous unconstrained fit and has a slightly smaller error

    A determination of the CPT violation parameter Re(δ\delta) from the semileptonic decay of strangeness-tagged neutral kaons

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    We have improved by two orders of magnitude the limit currently available for the CPT violation parameter \red . To this purpose we have analyzed the full sample of neutral-kaon decays to \semi\ recorded in the CPLEAR experiment, where the strangeness of the neutral kaons was tagged at production and decay time. An appropriate function of the measured decay rates, including information from the analysis of \pip\pim\ decay channel, gives directly \red . The result =(3.0±3.3stat±0.6syst)×104\red = (3.0 \pm 3.3_\mathrm{{stat}} \pm 0.6_\mathrm{{syst}}) \times 10^{-4} is compatible with zero. Values for the parameters \imd, \rexm and \imxp were also obtained
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