1,738 research outputs found
Ellipsoidal Coulomb Crystals in a Linear Radiofrequency Trap
A static quadrupole potential breaks the cylindrical symmetry of the
effective potential of a linear rf trap. For a one-component fluid plasma at
low temperature, the resulting equilibrium charge distribution is predicted to
be an ellipsoid. We have produced laser-cooled Be ellipsoidal ion crystals
and found good agreement between their shapes and the cold fluid prediction. In
two-species mixtures, containing Be and sympathetically cooled ions of
lower mass, a sufficiently strong static quadrupole potential produces a
spatial separation of the species.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
The Pierre Auger Project and Enhancements
The current status of the scientific results of the Auger Observatory will be
discussed which include spectrum, anisotropy in arrival directions, chemical
composition analyses, and limits on neutrino and photon fluxes. A review of the
Observatory detection systems will be presented. Auger has started the
construction of its second phase which encompasses antennae for radio detection
of cosmic rays, high-elevation telescopes, and surface plus muon detectors.
Details will be presented on the latter, AMIGA (Auger Muons and Infill for the
Ground Array), an Auger project consisting of 85 detector pairs each one
composed of a surface water-Cherenkov detector and a buried muon counter. The
detector pairs are arranged in an array with spacings of 433 and 750 m in order
to perform a detailed study of the 10^17 eV to 10^19 eV spectrum region.
Preliminary results on the performance of the 750 m array of surface detectors
and the first muon counter prototype will be presented.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, VIII Latin American Symposium on Nuclear Physics
and Applications December 15-19, 2009, Santiago, Chil
Precision spectroscopy of the molecular ion HD+: control of Zeeman shifts
Precision spectroscopy on cold molecules can potentially enable novel tests
of fundamental laws of physics and alternative determination of some
fundamental constants. Realizing this potential requires a thorough
understanding of the systematic effects that shift the energy levels of
molecules. We have performed a complete ab initio calculation of the magnetic
field effects for a particular system, the heteronuclear molecular hydrogen ion
HD+. Different spectroscopic schemes have been considered, and numerous
transitions, all accessible by modern radiation sources and exhibiting well
controllable or negligible Zeeman shift, have been found to exist. Thus, HD+ is
a perspective candidate for determination of the ratio of electron-to-nuclear
reduced mass, and for tests of its time-independence.Comment: A Table added, references and figures update
Sympathetic cooling of He ions in a radiofrequency trap
We have generated Coulomb crystals of ultracold He ions in a linear
radiofrequency trap, by sympathetic cooling via laser--cooled Be.
Stable crystals containing up to 150 localized He ions at 20 mK were
obtained. Ensembles or single ultracold He ions open up interesting
perspectives for performing precision tests of QED and measurements of nuclear
radii. The present work also indicates the feasibility of cooling and
crystallizing highly charged atomic ions using Be as coolant.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Expression and alternative splicing of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM in human granulosa cells during luteinization
Freshly aspirated human granulosa cells from pre-ovulatory follicles and granulosa cells luteinized in culture possess the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) of approximate molecular mass of 140,000 and NCAM mRNA as confirmed by S1-nuclease protection assays and RT-PCR. Moreover, in the process of luteinization the NCAM isoform pattern is modified. Isoforms containing an insert of 10 amino acids (termed VASE) in the extracellular domain of NCAM were supplemented by alternatively spliced isoforms without this insert. NCAM immunoreactivity, at light and electron microscope levels, was associated with the cell membrane of most granulosa cells which formed clusters. During time in culture an increasing subpopulation of granulosa cells, devoid of NCAM immunoreactivity, spread out and formed monolayers. This differential expression and the alternative splicing of NCAM during luteinization of granulosa cells raise the possibility that NCAM could be involved in folliculogenesis and the formation of the corpus luteum in the human
Cosmic Strings on the Lattice
We develop a formalism for the quantization of topologically stable
excitations in the 4-dimensional abelian lattice gauge theory. The excitations
are global and local (Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen) strings and monopoles. The
operators of creation and annihilation of string states are constructed; the
string Green functions are represented as a path integral over random surfaces.
Topological excitations play an important role in the early universe. In the
broken symmetry phase of the spin model, closed global cosmic strings
arise, while in the Higgs phase of the noncompact gauge-Higgs model, local
cosmic strings are present. The compact gauge-Higgs model also involves
monopoles. Then the strings can break if their ends are capped by monopoles.
The topology of the Euclidean string world sheets are studied by numerical
simulations.Comment: 4 pages LaTex (espcrc2.sty), LATTICE'92 contribution, ITEP(1992
Evidence for an active fault below the northwestern Alpine foreland of Switzerland
This study is devoted to the analysis of a prominent concentration of earthquakes whose epicenters delineate an active 20-30 km long NâS trending tectonic feature near the town of Fribourg, in the Molasse Basin of western Switzerland. This feature coincides with the possible southward continuation of the NNEâSSW trending Rhine Graben located approximately 80 km further north. In addition these epicenters are located in the vicinity of the Fribourg Syncline and the Alterswil Culmination, whose structural axes are oriented NâS in this area, instead of being aligned with the predominant regional NEâSW structural trend. Most of the earthquakes belong to one of three series of events that occurred over a time span of 2-4 months in 1987, 1995 and 1999. They include four events with magnitudes between 3 and 4 and one with a magnitude of 4.3. Focal depths, constrained by modelling sPMP-PMP traveltime differences with synthetic seismograms, are around 2 km, which places these events in the sedimentary cover. Fault plane solutions correspond to almost pure strike-slip mechanisms with nearly NâS and EâW oriented nodal planes. High-precision relative locations of individual events within the different earthquake clusters as well as of the relative locations of the clusters to each other show that these earthquakes are associated with left lateral motion along a NâS trending fault system. Deep reaching large scale flower structures in the Mesozoic and Tertiary overburden are observed on interpreted seismic profiles, close to the hypocenters. The unusual NâS trend of the Fribourg Syncline can be attributed to movements along these faults during Oligocene and Miocene times. Also magnetic data support the assumption of a NâS striking fault system in the Fribourg area, possibly related to a Permo-Carboniferous trough. Though the direct link between the fault traces in the overburden and the active fault system at depth could not be established in this study, their similar deformational style and their vicinity suggest that they are related. The total length of the inferred fault carries the potential of a magnitude 6 earthquake and thus constitutes a significant source of seismic hazar
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Changing European storm loss potentials under modified climate conditions according to ensemble simulations of the ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 GMC
A simple storm loss model is applied to an ensemble of ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 GCM simulations in order to estimate changes of insured loss potentials over Europe in the 21st century. Losses are computed based on the daily maximum wind speed for each grid point. The calibration of the loss model is performed using wind data from the ERA40-Reanalysis and German loss data. The obtained annual losses for the present climate conditions (20C, three realisations) reproduce the statistical features of the historical insurance loss data for Germany.
The climate change experiments correspond to the SRES-Scenarios A1B and A2, and for each of them three realisations are considered. On average, insured loss potentials increase for all analysed European regions at the end of the 21st century. Changes are largest for Germany and France, and lowest for Portugal/Spain. Additionally, the spread between the single realisations is large, ranging e.g. for Germany from â4% to +43% in terms of mean annual loss. Moreover, almost all simulations show an increasing interannual variability of storm damage. This assessment is even more pronounced if no adaptation of building structure to climate change is considered. The increased loss potentials are linked with enhanced values for the high percentiles of surface wind maxima over Western and Central Europe, which in turn are associated with an enhanced number and increased intensity of extreme cyclones over the British Isles and the North Sea
Oriented Percolation in One-Dimensional 1/|x-y|^2 Percolation Models
We consider independent edge percolation models on Z, with edge occupation
probabilities p_ = p if |x-y| = 1, 1 - exp{- beta / |x-y|^2} otherwise. We
prove that oriented percolation occurs when beta > 1 provided p is chosen
sufficiently close to 1, answering a question posed in [Commun. Math. Phys.
104, 547 (1986)]. The proof is based on multi-scale analysis.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures. See also Commentary on J. Stat. Phys. 150,
804-805 (2013), DOI 10.1007/s10955-013-0702-
Changing European storm loss potentials under modified climate conditions according to ensemble simulations of the ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 GCM
International audienceA simple storm loss model is applied to an ensemble of ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 GCM simulations in order to estimate changes of insured loss potentials over Europe in the 21st century. Losses are computed based on the daily maximum wind speed for each grid point. The calibration of the loss model is performed using wind data from the ERA40-Reanalysis and German loss data. The obtained annual losses for the present climate conditions (20C, three realisations) reproduce the statistical features of the historical insurance loss data for Germany. The climate change experiments correspond to the SRES-Scenarios A1B and A2, and for each of them three realisations are considered. On average, insured loss potentials increase for all analysed European regions at the end of the 21st century. Changes are largest for Germany and France, and lowest for Portugal/Spain. Additionally, the spread between the single realisations is large, ranging e.g. for Germany from ?4% to +43% in terms of mean annual loss. Moreover, almost all simulations show an increasing interannual variability of storm damage. This assessment is even more pronounced if no adaptation of building structure to climate change is considered. The increased loss potentials are linked with enhanced values for the high percentiles of surface wind maxima over Western and Central Europe, which in turn are associated with an enhanced number and increased intensity of extreme cyclones over the British Isles and the North Sea
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