826 research outputs found
MScMS-II: an innovative IR-based indoor coordinate measuring system for large-scale metrology applications
According to the current great interest concerning large-scale metrology applications in many different fields of manufacturing industry, technologies and techniques for dimensional measurement have recently shown a substantial improvement. Ease-of-use, logistic and economic issues, as well as metrological performance are assuming a more and more important role among system requirements. This paper describes the architecture and the working principles of a novel infrared (IR) optical-based system, designed to perform low-cost and easy indoor coordinate measurements of large-size objects. The system consists of a distributed network-based layout, whose modularity allows fitting differently sized and shaped working volumes by adequately increasing the number of sensing units. Differently from existing spatially distributed metrological instruments, the remote sensor devices are intended to provide embedded data elaboration capabilities, in order to share the overall computational load. The overall system functionalities, including distributed layout configuration, network self-calibration, 3D point localization, and measurement data elaboration, are discussed. A preliminary metrological characterization of system performance, based on experimental testing, is also presente
Deep Observation of the Giant Radio Lobes of Centaurus A with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
The detection of high energy (HE) {\gamma}-ray emission up to about 3 GeV
from the giant lobes of the radio galaxy Centaurus A has been recently reported
by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration based on ten months of all-sky survey
observations. A data set more than three times larger is used here to study the
morphology and photon spectrum of the lobes with higher statistics. The larger
data set results in the detection of HE {\gamma}-ray emission (up to about 6
GeV) from the lobes with a significance of more than 10 and 20 {\sigma} for the
North and the South lobe, respectively. Based on a detailed spatial analysis
and comparison with the associated radio lobes, we report evidence for a
substantial extension of the HE {\gamma}-ray emission beyond the WMAP radio
image in the case of the Northern lobe of Cen A. We reconstruct the spectral
energy distribution (SED) of the lobes using radio (WMAP) and Fermi-LAT data
from the same integration region. The implications are discussed in the context
of hadronic and leptonic scenarios
HST/WFPC2 morphologies and color maps of distant luminous infrared galaxies
Using HST/WFPC2 imaging in F606W (or F450W) and F814W filters, we obtained
the color maps in observed frame for 36 distant (0.4<z<1.2) luminous infrared
galaxies (LIRGs), with average star formation rates of ~100 M_sun/yr. Stars and
compact sources are taken as references to align images after correction of
geometric distortion. This leads to an alignment accuracy of 0.15 pixel, which
is a prerequisite for studying the detailed color properties of galaxies with
complex morphologies. A new method is developed to quantify the reliability of
each pixel in the color map without any bias against very red or blue color
regions.Based on analyses of two-dimensional structure and spatially resolved
color distribution, we carried out morphological classification for LIRGs.
About 36% of the LIRGs were classified as disk galaxies and 22% as irregulars.
Only 6 (17%) systems are obvious ongoing major mergers. An upper limit of 58%
was found for the fraction of mergers in LIRGs with all the possible
merging/interacting systems included. Strikingly, the fraction of compact
sources is as high as 25%, similar to that found in optically selected samples.
From their K band luminosities, LIRGs are relatively massive systems, with an
average stellar mass of about 1.1x10^11 solar mass. They are related to the
formation of massive and large disks, from their morphologies and also from the
fact that they represent a significant fraction of distant disks selected by
their sizes. The compact LIRGs show blue cores, which could be associated with
the formation of the central region of these galaxies. We suggest that there
are many massive disks still forming a large fraction of their stellar mass
since z=1. For most of them, their central parts (bulge?) were formed prior to
the formation of their disks.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Goldstones in Diphotons
We study the conditions for a new scalar resonance to be observed first in
diphotons at the LHC Run-2. We focus on scenarios where the scalar arises
either from an internal or spacetime symmetry broken spontaneously, for which
the mass is naturally below the cutoff and the low-energy interactions are
fixed by the couplings to the broken currents, UV anomalies, and selection
rules. We discuss the recent excess in diphoton resonance searches observed by
ATLAS and CMS at 750 GeV, and explore its compatibility with other searches at
Run-1 and its interpretation as Goldstone bosons in supersymmetry and composite
Higgs models. We show that two candidates naturally emerge: a Goldstone boson
from an internal symmetry with electromagnetic anomalies, and the scalar
partner of the Goldstone of supersymmetry breaking: the sgoldstino. The dilaton
from conformal symmetry breaking is instead disfavoured by present data, in its
minimal natural realization.Comment: 18 pages + refs, 2 figures. v2: typos corrected, references added,
discussions extended and three new plots. Conclusion unchanged. v3: published
versio
Aborted propagation of the Ethiopian rift caused by linkage with the Kenyan rift
International audienceContinental rift systems form by propagation of isolated rift segments that interact, and eventually evolve into continuous zones of deformation. This process impacts many aspects of rifting including rift morphology at breakup, and eventual ocean-ridge segmentation. Yet, rift segment growth and interaction remain enigmatic. Here we present geological data from the poorly documented Ririba rift (South Ethiopia) that reveals how two major sectors of the East African rift, the Kenyan and Ethiopian rifts, interact. We show that the Ririba rift formed from the southward propagation of the Ethiopian rift during the Pliocene but this propagation was short-lived and aborted close to the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary. Seismicity data support the abandonment of laterally offset, overlapping tips of the Ethiopian and Kenyan rifts. Integration with new numerical models indicates that rift abandonment resulted from progressive focusing of the tectonic and magmatic activity into an oblique, throughgoing rift zone of near pure extension directly connecting the rift sectors
Solving the mu problem with a heavy Higgs boson
We discuss the generation of the mu-term in a class of supersymmetric models
characterized by a low energy effective superpotential containing a term lambda
S H_1 H_2 with a large coupling lambda~2. These models generically predict a
lightest Higgs boson well above the LEP limit of 114 GeV and have been shown to
be compatible with the unification of gauge couplings. Here we discuss a
specific example where the superpotential has no dimensionful parameters and we
point out the relation between the generated mu-term and the mass of the
lightest Higgs boson. We discuss the fine-tuning of the model and we find that
the generation of a phenomenologically viable mu-term fits very well with a
heavy lightest Higgs boson and a low degree of fine-tuning. We discuss
experimental constraints from collider direct searches, precision data, thermal
relic dark matter abundance, and WIMP searches finding that the most natural
region of the parameter space is still allowed by current experiments. We
analyse bounds on the masses of the superpartners coming from Naturalness
arguments and discuss the main signatures of the model for the LHC and future
WIMP searches.Comment: Extended discussion of the LHC phenomenology, as published on JHEP
plus an addendum on the existence of further extremal points of the
potential. 47 pages, 16 figure
Interruption of torus doubling bifurcation and genesis of strange nonchaotic attractors in a quasiperiodically forced map : Mechanisms and their characterizations
A simple quasiperiodically forced one-dimensional cubic map is shown to
exhibit very many types of routes to chaos via strange nonchaotic attractors
(SNAs) with reference to a two-parameter space. The routes include
transitions to chaos via SNAs from both one frequency torus and period doubled
torus. In the former case, we identify the fractalization and type I
intermittency routes. In the latter case, we point out that atleast four
distinct routes through which the truncation of torus doubling bifurcation and
the birth of SNAs take place in this model. In particular, the formation of
SNAs through Heagy-Hammel, fractalization and type--III intermittent mechanisms
are described. In addition, it has been found that in this system there are
some regions in the parameter space where a novel dynamics involving a sudden
expansion of the attractor which tames the growth of period-doubling
bifurcation takes place, giving birth to SNA. The SNAs created through
different mechanisms are characterized by the behaviour of the Lyapunov
exponents and their variance, by the estimation of phase sensitivity exponent
as well as through the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents.Comment: 27 pages, RevTeX 4, 16 EPS figures. Phys. Rev. E (2001) to appea
Natural Islands for a 125 GeV Higgs in the scale-invariant NMSSM
We study whether a 125 GeV standard model-like Higgs boson can be
accommodated within the scale-invariant NMSSM in a way that is natural in all
respects, i.e., not only is the stop mass and hence its loop contribution to
Higgs mass of natural size, but we do not allow significant tuning of NMSSM
parameters as well. We pursue as much as possible an analytic approach which
gives clear insights on various ways to accommodate such a Higgs mass, while
conducting complementary numerical analyses. We consider both scenarios with
singlet-like state being heavier and lighter than SM-like Higgs. With A-terms
being small, we find for the NMSSM to be perturbative up to GUT scale, it is
not possible to get 125 GeV Higgs mass, which is true even if we tune
parameters of NMSSM. If we allow some of the couplings to become
non-perturbative below the GUT scale, then the non-tuned option implies that
the singlet self-coupling, kappa, is larger than the singlet-Higgs coupling,
lambda, which itself is order 1. This leads to a Landau pole for these
couplings close to the weak scale, in particular below ~10^4 TeV. In both the
perturbative and non-perturbative NMSSM, allowing large A_lambda, A_kappa gives
"more room" to accommodate a 125 GeV Higgs, but a tuning of these A-terms may
be needed. In our analysis we also conduct a careful study of the constraints
on the parameter space from requiring global stability of the desired vacuum
fitting a 125 GeV Higgs, which is complementary to existing literature. In
particular, as the singlet-Higgs coupling lambda increases, vacuum stability
becomes more serious of an issue.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, references added, minor corrections to text and
figures, version to be published in JHE
The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS): a large-scale structure at z=0.73 and the relation of galaxy morphologies to local environment
We have identified a large-scale structure at z~0.73 in the COSMOS field,
coherently described by the distribution of galaxy photometric redshifts, an
ACS weak-lensing convergence map and the distribution of extended X-ray sources
in a mosaic of XMM observations. The main peak seen in these maps corresponds
to a rich cluster with Tx= 3.51+0.60/-0.46 keV and Lx=(1.56+/-0.04) x 10^{44}
erg/s ([0.1-2.4] keV band). We estimate an X-ray mass within
corresponding to M500~1.6 x 10^{14} Msun and a total lensing mass (extrapolated
by fitting a NFW profile) M(NFW)=(6+/-3) x 10^15 Msun. We use an automated
morphological classification of all galaxies brighter than I_AB=24 over the
structure area to measure the fraction of early-type objects as a function of
local projected density Sigma_10, based on photometric redshifts derived from
ground-based deep multi-band photometry. We recover a robust morphology-density
relation at this redshift, indicating, for comparable local densities, a
smaller fraction of early-type galaxies than today. Interestingly, this
difference is less strong at the highest densities and becomes more severe in
intermediate environments. We also find, however, local "inversions'' of the
observed global relation, possibly driven by the large-scale environment. In
particular, we find direct correspondence of a large concentration of disk
galaxies to (the colder side of) a possible shock region detected in the X-ray
temperature map and surface brightness distribution of the dominant cluster. We
interpret this as potential evidence of shock-induced star formation in
existing galaxy disks, during the ongoing merger between two sub-clusters.Comment: 15 pages (emulateapj style), 16 figs (low res.); to appear in the ApJ
Supplement COSMOS Special Issue. Low-resolution figures; full resolution
version available at:
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~cosmos/publications/files/guzzo_0701482.pd
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