2,766 research outputs found
Treatment of bimodality in proficiency test of pH in bioethanol matrix
The pH value in bioethanol is a quality control parameter related to its
acidity and to the corrosiveness of vehicle engines when it is used as fuel. In
order to verify the comparability and reliability of the measurement of pH in
bioethanol matrix among some experienced chemical laboratories, reference
material (RM) of bioethanol developed by Inmetro - the Brazilian National
Metrology Institute - was used in a proficiency testing (PT) scheme. There was
a difference of more than one unit in the value of the pH measured due to the
type of internal filling electrolytic solutions (potassium chloride, KCl or
lithium chloride, LiCl) from the commercial pH combination electrodes used by
the participant laboratories. Therefore, bimodal distribution has occurred from
the data of this PT scheme. This work aims to present the possibilities that a
PT scheme provider can use to overcome the bimodality problem. Data from the PT
of pH in bioethanol were treated by two different statistical approaches:
kernel density model and the mixture of distributions. Application of these
statistical treatments improved the initial diagnoses of PT provider, by
solving bimodality problem and contributing for a better performance evaluation
in measuring pH of bioethanol.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Accreditation and
Quality Assurance (ACQUAL
The Role of Fermions in Bubble Nucleation
We present a study of the role of fermions in the decay of metastable states
of a scalar field via bubble nucleation. We analyze both one and
three-dimensional systems by using a gradient expansion for the calculation of
the fermionic determinant. The results of the one-dimensional case are compared
to the exact results of previous work.Comment: 15 pages, revtex, 9 figure
Effective potential in the BET formalism
We calculate the one-loop effective potential at finite temperature for a
system of massless scalar fields with quartic interaction in
the framework of the boundary effective theory (BET) formalism. The calculation
relies on the solution of the classical equation of motion for the field, and
Gaussian fluctuations around it. Our result is non-perturbative and differs
from the standard one-loop effective potential for field values larger than
.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Pressure of massless hot scalar theory in the boundary effective theory framework
We use the boundary effective theory (BET) approach to thermal field theory
in order to calculate the pressure of a system of massless scalar fields with
quartic interaction. The method naturally separates the infrared physics, and
is essentially non-perturbative. To lowest order, the main ingredient is the
solution of the free Euler-Lagrange equation with non-trivial (time) boundary
conditions. We derive a resummed pressure, which is in good agreement with
recent calculations found in the literature, following a very direct and
compact procedure.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Thermal Decays in a Hot Fermi Gas
We present a study of the decay of metastable states of a scalar field via
thermal activation, in the presence of a finite density of fermions. The
process we consider is the nucleation of ``{\it droplets}'' of true vacuum
inside the false one. We analyze a one-dimensional system of interacting bosons
and fermions, considering the latter at finite temperature and with a given
chemical potential. As a consequence of a non-equilibrium formalism previously
developed, we obtain time-dependent decay rates.Comment: 18 pages, REVTEX, 9 figures available upon reques
Diversidade genética entre acessos de Jatropha sp.
Uma das formas de identificação rápida de genótipos para composição de um banco de germoplasma é por meio da técnica de marcadores isoenzimáticos e moleculares. Com o objetivo de avaliar a variabilidade genética de acessos de Jatropha sp. Utilizou-se a técnica de marcadores isoenzimáticos e moleculares tipo RAPD. Foram utilizados 14 acessos de pinhão manso de diferentes origens, coletadas folhas jovens e procedido a extração (Isoenzimas) e purificação do DNA (RAPD). Para as isoenzimas a revelação foi feita para os sistemas enzimáticos álcool desidrogenase (ADH), esterase (EST), glutamato oxaloacetato transaminase (GOT) e peroxidase (PO), e na amplificação do DNA foram utilizados 14 oligonucleotídeos, sendo os produtos de amplificação separados em gel de agarose 0,8%, corados com brometo de etídio (0,5 µg/mL) e visualizados sob luz UV. As estimativas das similaridades genéticas (Sgij) entre cada par de genótipos foram calculadas pelo coeficiente de Jaccard usando o programa NTSYS-pc versão 2.1. Na análise de isoenzimas, os acessos mais similares foram 1 e 3, com 89% e o mais divergente foi o acesso 13 com 71%. No RAPD houve formação de grupos da espécie Jatropha curcas L. E do gênero Jatropha sp. O acesso 109 obteve 90% de divergência com os demais acessos. Os grupamentos formados apresentaram origens diversas, sendo possível um estudo de melhoramento visando características agronômicas desejáveis. Com os marcadores utilizados é possível a caracerização do banco de germoplasm
Zero-mode analysis of quantum statistical physics
We present a unified formulation for quantum statistical physics based on the
representation of the density matrix as a functional integral. We identify the
stochastic variable of the effective statistical theory that we derive as a
boundary configuration and a zero mode relevant to the discussion of infrared
physics. We illustrate our formulation by computing the partition function of
an interacting one-dimensional quantum mechanical system at finite temperature
from the path-integral representation for the density matrix. The method of
calculation provides an alternative to the usual sum over periodic
trajectories: it sums over paths with coincident endpoints, and includes
non-vanishing boundary terms. An appropriately modified expansion into
Matsubara modes provides a natural separation of the zero-mode physics. This
feature may be useful in the treatment of infrared divergences that plague the
perturbative approach in thermal field theory.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Strange quark matter in explosive astrophysical systems
Explosive astrophysical systems, such as supernovae or compact star binary
mergers, provide conditions where strange quark matter can appear. The high
degree of isospin asymmetry and temperatures of several MeV in such systems may
cause a transition to the quark phase already around saturation density.
Observable signals from the appearance of quark matter can be predicted and
studied in astrophysical simulations. As input in such simulations, an equation
of state with an integrated quark matter phase transition for a large
temperature, density and proton fraction range is required. Additionally,
restrictions from heavy ion data and pulsar observation must be considered. In
this work we present such an approach. We implement a quark matter phase
transition in a hadronic equation of state widely used for astrophysical
simulations and discuss its compatibility with heavy ion collisions and pulsar
data. Furthermore, we review the recently studied implications of the QCD phase
transition during the early post-bounce evolution of core-collapse supernovae
and introduce the effects from strong interactions to increase the maximum mass
of hybrid stars. In the MIT bag model, together with the strange quark mass and
the bag constant, the strong coupling constant provides a parameter
to set the beginning and extension of the quark phase and with this the mass
and radius of hybrid stars.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, talk given at the International Conference on
Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM2009), Buzios, Brasil, September 28 - October
2, 2009, to be published in Journal Phys.
Strangeness in Astrophysics and Cosmology
Some recent developments concerning the role of strange quark matter for
astrophysical systems and the QCD phase transition in the early universe are
addressed. Causality constraints of the soft nuclear equation of state as
extracted from subthreshold kaon production in heavy-ion collisions are used to
derive an upper mass limit for compact stars. The interplay between the
viscosity of strange quark matter and the gravitational wave emission from
rotation-powered pulsars are outlined. The flux of strange quark matter nuggets
in cosmic rays is put in perspective with a detailed numerical investigation of
the merger of two strange stars. Finally, we discuss a novel scenario for the
QCD phase transition in the early universe, which allows for a small
inflationary period due to a pronounced first order phase transition at large
baryochemical potential.Comment: 8 pages, invited talk given at the International Conference on
Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM2009), Buzios, Brasil, September 28 - October
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