1,183 research outputs found
Universal criterion for the breakup of invariant tori in dissipative systems
The transition from quasiperiodicity to chaos is studied in a two-dimensional
dissipative map with the inverse golden mean rotation number. On the basis of a
decimation scheme, it is argued that the (minimal) slope of the critical
iterated circle map is proportional to the effective Jacobian determinant.
Approaching the zero-Jacobian-determinant limit, the factor of proportion
becomes a universal constant. Numerical investigation on the dissipative
standard map suggests that this universal number could become observable in
experiments. The decimation technique introduced in this paper is readily
applicable also to the discrete quasiperiodic Schrodinger equation.Comment: 13 page
What is the Brightest Source for Dilepton Emissions at RHIC?
We calculate the dilepton emissions as the decay product of the charm and
bottom quarks produced in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energy. We take into
account the next-to-leading-order radiative corrections in perturbative QCD to
the heavy quark production from both an initial hard parton-parton scattering
and an ideal quark-gluon plasma. We find that the thermal charm decay dominates
the dilepton production in the low dilepton mass region ( GeV), while the
heavy quark production from the initial scattering takes over the intermediate
and high mass regions ( GeV). Our result also indicates the importance of
the bottom quark in the high mass region ( GeV ) due to its large mass and
cascade decay. If the initial scattering produced charm suffers a significant
energy loss due to the secondary interaction, the bottom decay constitutes the
major background for the thermal dileptons.Comment: 12 pages in RevTeX, 3 epsf figures embedde
Large mass dileptons from the passage of jets through quark gluon plasma
We calculate the emission of large mass dileptons originating from the
annihilation of quark jets passing through quark gluon plasma. Considering
central collisions of heavy nuclei at SPS, RHIC and LHC energies, we find that
the yield due to the jet-plasma interaction gets progressively larger as the
collision energy increases. We find it to be negligible at SPS energies, of the
order of the Drell-Yan contribution and much larger than the normal thermal
yield at RHIC energies and up to a factor of ten larger than the Drell-Yan
contribution at LHC energies. An observation of this new dilepton source would
confirm the occurrence of jet-plasma interactions and of conditions suitable
for jet-quenching to take place.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures; references added, improved calculation,
conclusions unchange
Verified and potential pathogens of predatory mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae)
Several species of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Phytoseiidae), including species of the genera Amblyseius, Galendromus, Metaseiulus, Neoseiulus, Phytoseiulus and Typhlodromus, are currently reared for biological control of various crop pests and/or as model organisms for the study of predator¿prey interactions. Pathogen-free phytoseiid mites are important to obtain high efficacy in biological pest control and to get reliable data in mite research, as pathogens may affect the performance of their host or alter their reproduction and behaviour. Potential and verified pathogens have been reported for phytoseiid mites during the past 25 years. The present review provides an overview, including potential pathogens with unknown host effects (17 reports), endosymbiotic Wolbachia (seven reports), other bacteria (including Cardinium and Spiroplasma) (four reports), cases of unidentified diseases (three reports) and cases of verified pathogens (six reports). From the latter group four reports refer to Microsporidia, one to a fungus and one to a bacterium. Only five entities have been studied in detail, including Wolbachia infecting seven predatory mite species, other endosymbiotic bacteria infecting Metaseiulus (Galendromus, Typhlodromus) occidentalis (Nesbitt), the bacterium Acaricomes phytoseiuli infecting Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, the microsporidium Microsporidium phytoseiuli infecting P. persimilis and the microsporidium Oligosproridium occidentalis infecting M. occidentalis. In four cases (Wolbachia, A. phytoseiuli, M. phytoseiuli and O. occidentalis) an infection may be connected with fitness costs of the host. Moreover, infection is not always readily visible as no obvious gross symptoms are present. Monitoring of these entities on a routine and continuous basis should therefore get more attention, especially in commercial mass-production. Special attention should be paid to field-collected mites before introduction into the laboratory or mass rearing, and to mites that are exchanged among rearing facilities. However, at present general pathogen monitoring is not yet practical as effects of many entities are unknown. More research effort is needed concerning verified and potential pathogens of commercially reared arthropods and those used as model organisms in research
Open Problems on Central Simple Algebras
We provide a survey of past research and a list of open problems regarding
central simple algebras and the Brauer group over a field, intended both for
experts and for beginners.Comment: v2 has some small revisions to the text. Some items are re-numbered,
compared to v
G-CSF Prevents the Progression of Structural Disintegration of White Matter Tracts in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Pilot Trial
Background: The hematopoietic protein Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) has neuroprotective and regenerative properties. The G-CSF receptor is expressed by motoneurons, and G-CSF protects cultured motoneuronal cells from apoptosis. It therefore appears as an attractive and feasible drug candidate for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The current pilot study was performed to determine whether treatment with G-CSF in ALS patients is feasible.Methods: Ten patients with definite ALS were entered into a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Patients received either 10 mu g/kg BW G-CSF or placebo subcutaneously for the first 10 days and from day 20 to 25 of the study. Clinical outcome was assessed by changes in the ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRS), a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery, and by examining hand activities of daily living over the course of the study (100 days). The total number of adverse events (AE) and treatment-related AEs, discontinuation due to treatment-related AEs, laboratory parameters including leukocyte, erythrocyte, and platelet count, as well as vital signs were examined as safety endpoints. Furthermore, we explored potential effects of G-CSF on structural cerebral abnormalities on the basis of voxel-wise statistics of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), brain volumetry, and voxel-based morphometry.Results: Treatment was well-tolerated. No significant differences were found between groups in clinical tests and brain volumetry from baseline to day 100. However, DTI analysis revealed significant reductions of fractional anisotropy (FA) encompassing diffuse areas of the brain when patients were compared to controls. On longitudinal analysis, the placebo group showed significant greater and more widespread decline in FA than the ALS patients treated with G-CSF.Conclusions: Subcutaneous G-CSF treatment in ALS patients appears as feasible approach. Although exploratory analysis of clinical data showed no significant effect, DTI measurements suggest that the widespread and progressive microstructural neural damage in ALS can be modulated by G-CSF treatment. These findings may carry significant implications for further clinical trials on ALS using growth factors
Limits on WWgamma and WWZ Couplings from W Boson Pair Production
The results of a search for W boson pair production in pbar-p collisions at
sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV with subsequent decay to emu, ee, and mumu channels are
presented. Five candidate events are observed with an expected background of
3.1+-0.4 events for an integrated luminosity of approximately 97 pb^{-1}.
Limits on the anomalous couplings are obtained from a maximum likelihood fit of
the E_T spectra of the leptons in the candidate events. Assuming identical
WWgamma and WWZ couplings, the 95 % C.L. limits are -0.62<Delta_kappa<0.77
(lambda = 0) and -0.53<lambda<0.56 (Delta_kappa = 0) for a form factor scale
Lambda = 1.5 TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review
A Quasi-Model-Independent Search for New Physics at Large Transverse Momentum
We apply a quasi-model-independent strategy ("Sleuth") to search for new high
p_T physics in approximately 100 pb^-1 of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV
collected by the DZero experiment during 1992-1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron.
Over thirty-two e mu X, W+jets-like, Z+jets-like, and 3(lepton/photon)X
exclusive final states are systematically analyzed for hints of physics beyond
the standard model. Simultaneous sensitivity to a variety of models predicting
new phenomena at the electroweak scale is demonstrated by testing the method on
a particular signature in each set of final states. No evidence of new high p_T
physics is observed in the course of this search, and we find that 89% of an
ensemble of hypothetical similar experimental runs would have produced a final
state with a candidate signal more interesting than the most interesting
observed in these data.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to Physical Review
Spin Correlation in tt-bar Production from pp-bar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV
The D0 collaboration has performed a study of spin correlation in tt-bar
production for the process tt-bar to bb-bar W^+W^-, where the W bosons decay to
e-nu or mu-nu. A sample of six events was collected during an exposure of the
D0 detector to an integrated luminosity of approximately 125 pb^-1 of
sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV pp-bar collisions. The standard model (SM) predicts that the
short lifetime of the top quark ensures the transmission of any spin
information at production to the tt-bar decay products.
The degree of spin correlation is characterized by a correlation coefficient
k. We find that k>-0.25 at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the SM
prediction of k=0.88.Comment: Submitted to PRL, Added references, minor changes to tex
Differential Production Cross Section of Z Bosons as a Function of Transverse Momentum at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV
We present a measurement of the transverse momentum distribution of Z bosons
produced in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using data collected by the D0
experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during 1994--1996. We find good
agreement between our data and a current resummation calculation. We also use
our data to extract values of the non-perturbative parameters for a particular
version of the resummation formalism, obtaining significantly more precise
values than previous determinations.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters v2 has margin
error correcte
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