197 research outputs found
Facility for studying the effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentration and increased temperature on crops
The requirements for the experimental study of the effects of global climate change conditions on plants are outlined. A semi-controlled plant growth facility is described which allows the study of elevated CO2 and temperature, and their interaction on the growth of plants under radiation and temperature conditions similar to the field. During an experiment on winter wheat (cv. Mercia), which ran from December 1990 through to August 1991, the facility maintained mean daytime CO2 concentrations of 363 and 692 cm3 m-3 for targets of 350 and 700 cm3 m-3 respectively. Temperatures were set to follow outside ambient or outside ambient +4-degrees-C, and hourly means were within 0.5-degrees-C of the target for 92% of the time for target temperatures greater than 6-degrees-C. Total photosynthetically active radiation incident on the crop (solar radiation supplemented by artifical light with natural photoperiod) was 2% greater than the total measured outside over the same period
Deep Inelastic Scattering and Gauge/String Duality
We study deep inelastic scattering in gauge theories which have dual string
descriptions. As a function of we find a transition. For small , the
dominant operators in the OPE are the usual ones, of approximate twist two,
corresponding to scattering from weakly interacting partons. For large ,
double-trace operators dominate, corresponding to scattering from entire
hadrons (either the original `valence' hadron or part of a hadron cloud.) At
large we calculate the structure functions. As a function of Bjorken
there are three regimes: of order one, where the scattering produces only
supergravity states; small, where excited strings are produced; and,
exponentially small, where the excited strings are comparable in size to the
AdS space. The last regime requires in principle a full string calculation in
curved spacetime, but the effect of string growth can be simply obtained from
the world-sheet renormalization group.Comment: 52 pages, 10 figure
Interacting models may be key to solve the cosmic coincidence problem
It is argued that cosmological models that feature a flow of energy from dark
energy to dark matter may solve the coincidence problem of late acceleration
(i.e., "why the energy densities of both components are of the same order
precisely today?"). However, much refined and abundant observational data of
the redshift evolution of the Hubble factor are needed to ascertain whether
they can do the job.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in JCA
Real and Virtual Compton Scattering off the Nucleon
A review is given of the very recent developments in the fields of real and
virtual Compton scattering off the nucleon. Both real and virtual Compton
scattering reactions are discussed at low outgoing photon energy where one
accesses polarizabilities of the nucleon. The real Compton scattering at large
momentum transfer is discussed which is asymptotically a tool to obtain
information on the valence quark wave function of the nucleon. The rapid
developments in deeply virtual Compton scattering and associated meson
electroproduction reactions at high energy, high photon virtuality and small
momentum transfer to the nucleon are discussed. A unified theoretical
description of those processes has emerged over the last few years, which gives
access to new, generalized parton distributions. The experimental status and
perspectives in these fields are also discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figure
A-dependence of nuclear transparency in quasielastic A(e,e'p) at high Q^2
The A-dependence of the quasielastic A(e,e'p) reaction has been studied at
SLAC with H-2, C, Fe, and Au nuclei at momentum transfers Q^2 = 1, 3, 5, and
6.8 (GeV/c)^2. We extract the nuclear transparency T(A,Q^2), a measure of the
average probability that the struck proton escapes from the nucleus A without
interaction. Several calculations predict a significant increase in T with
momentum transfer, a phenomenon known as Color Transparency. No significant
rise within errors is seen for any of the nuclei studied.Comment: 5 pages incl. 2 figures, Caltech preprint OAP-73
Kaon-Nucleon Scattering Amplitudes and Z-Enhancements from Quark Born Diagrams
We derive closed form kaon-nucleon scattering amplitudes using the ``quark
Born diagram" formalism, which describes the scattering as a single interaction
(here the OGE spin-spin term) followed by quark line rearrangement. The low
energy I=0 and I=1 S-wave KN phase shifts are in reasonably good agreement with
experiment given conventional quark model parameters. For Gev
however the I=1 elastic phase shift is larger than predicted by Gaussian
wavefunctions, and we suggest possible reasons for this discrepancy. Equivalent
low energy KN potentials for S-wave scattering are also derived. Finally we
consider OGE forces in the related channels K, KN and K,
and determine which have attractive interactions and might therefore exhibit
strong threshold enhancements or ``Z-molecule" meson-baryon bound states.
We find that the minimum-spin, minimum-isospin channels and two additional
K channels are most conducive to the formation of bound states.
Related interesting topics for future experimental and theoretical studies of
KN interactions are also discussed.Comment: 34 pages, figures available from the authors, revte
NN Core Interactions and Differential Cross Sections from One Gluon Exchange
We derive nonstrange baryon-baryon scattering amplitudes in the
nonrelativistic quark model using the ``quark Born diagram" formalism. This
approach describes the scattering as a single interaction, here the
one-gluon-exchange (OGE) spin-spin term followed by constituent interchange,
with external nonrelativistic baryon wavefunctions attached to the scattering
diagrams to incorporate higher-twist wavefunction effects. The short-range
repulsive core in the NN interaction has previously been attributed to this
spin-spin interaction in the literature; we find that these perturbative
constituent-interchange diagrams do indeed predict repulsive interactions in
all I,S channels of the nucleon-nucleon system, and we compare our results for
the equivalent short-range potentials to the core potentials found by other
authors using nonperturbative methods. We also apply our perturbative
techniques to the N and systems: Some
channels are found to have attractive core potentials and may accommodate
``molecular" bound states near threshold. Finally we use our Born formalism to
calculate the NN differential cross section, which we compare with experimental
results for unpolarised proton-proton elastic scattering. We find that several
familiar features of the experimental differential cross section are reproduced
by our Born-order result.Comment: 27 pages, figures available from the authors, revtex, CEBAF-TH-93-04,
MIT-CTP-2187, ORNL-CCIP-93-0
Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum
We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the
correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water
Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence
and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation
measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with
sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an
accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux.
Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by
systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected
by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal
in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics
of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in
hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around
the `ankle' at differs significantly from
expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made
up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The
data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass . Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are
thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray
flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report
Numbe
Probing exotic phenomena at the interface of nuclear and particle physics with the electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms: A unique window to hadronic and semi-leptonic CP violation
The current status of electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms which
involves the synergy between atomic experiments and three different theoretical
areas -- particle, nuclear and atomic is reviewed. Various models of particle
physics that predict CP violation, which is necessary for the existence of such
electric dipole moments, are presented. These include the standard model of
particle physics and various extensions of it. Effective hadron level combined
charge conjugation (C) and parity (P) symmetry violating interactions are
derived taking into consideration different ways in which a nucleon interacts
with other nucleons as well as with electrons. Nuclear structure calculations
of the CP-odd nuclear Schiff moment are discussed using the shell model and
other theoretical approaches. Results of the calculations of atomic electric
dipole moments due to the interaction of the nuclear Schiff moment with the
electrons and the P and time-reversal (T) symmetry violating
tensor-pseudotensor electron-nucleus are elucidated using different
relativistic many-body theories. The principles of the measurement of the
electric dipole moments of diamagnetic atoms are outlined. Upper limits for the
nuclear Schiff moment and tensor-pseudotensor coupling constant are obtained
combining the results of atomic experiments and relativistic many-body
theories. The coefficients for the different sources of CP violation have been
estimated at the elementary particle level for all the diamagnetic atoms of
current experimental interest and their implications for physics beyond the
standard model is discussed. Possible improvements of the current results of
the measurements as well as quantum chromodynamics, nuclear and atomic
calculations are suggested.Comment: 46 pages, 19 tables and 16 figures. A review article accepted for
EPJ
Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed
evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{eV}. The
anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less
than from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc
(using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron catalog). An updated
measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of
cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009.
The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more
precise measurement. The correlating fraction is , compared
with expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early
estimate of . The enlarged set of arrival directions is
examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects:
galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in
hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the
position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions
relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is
shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic
expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201
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