785 research outputs found
The Antares Neutrino Telescope and Multi-Messenger Astronomy
Antares is currently the largest neutrino telescope operating in the Northern
Hemisphere, aiming at the detection of high-energy neutrinos from astrophysical
sources. Such observations would provide important clues about the processes at
work in those sources, and possibly help solve the puzzle of ultra-high energy
cosmic rays. In this context, Antares is developing several programs to improve
its capabilities of revealing possible spatial and/or temporal correlations of
neutrinos with other cosmic messengers: photons, cosmic rays and gravitational
waves. The neutrino telescope and its most recent results are presented,
together with these multi-messenger programs.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings of the 14th Gravitational Wave Data
Analysis Workshop (GWDAW-14) in Roma - January 26th-29th, 201
Oscillating and star-shaped drops levitated by an air-flow
We investigate the spontaneous oscillations of drops levitated above an air cushion, eventually inducing a breaking of axisymmetry and the appearance of “star drops”. This is strongly reminiscent of the Leidenfrost stars that are observed for drops floating above a hot substrate. The key advantage of this work is that we inject the airflow at a constant rate below the drop, thus eliminating thermal effects and allowing for a better control of the flow rate. We perform experiments with drops of different viscosities and observe stable states, oscillations, and chimney instabilities. We find that for a given drop size the instability appears above a critical flow rate, where the latter is largest for small drops. All these observations are reproduced by numerical simulations, where we treat the drop using potential flow and the gas as a viscous lubrication layer. Qualitatively, the onset of instability agrees with the experimental results, although the typical flow rates are too large by a factor 10. Our results demonstrate that thermal effects are not important for the formation of star drops and strongly suggest a purely hydrodynamic mechanism for the formation of Leidenfrost stars
The Highest Energy Neutrinos
Measurements of the arrival directions of cosmic rays have not revealed their
sources. High energy neutrino telescopes attempt to resolve the problem by
detecting neutrinos whose directions are not scrambled by magnetic fields. The
key issue is whether the neutrino flux produced in cosmic ray accelerators is
detectable. It is believed that the answer is affirmative, both for the
galactic and extragalactic sources, provided the detector has kilometer-scale
dimensions. We revisit the case for kilometer-scale neutrino detectors in a
model-independent way by focussing on the energetics of the sources. The real
breakthrough though has not been on the theory but on the technology front: the
considerable technical hurdles to build such detectors have been overcome.
Where extragalactic cosmic rays are concerned an alternative method to probe
the accelerators consists in studying the arrival directions of neutrinos
produced in interactions with the microwave background near the source, i.e.
within a GZK radius. Their flux is calculable within large ambiguities but, in
any case, low. It is therefore likely that detectors that are larger yet by
several orders of magnitudes are required. These exploit novel techniques, such
as detecting the secondary radiation at radio wavelengths emitted by neutrino
induced showers.Comment: 16 pages, pdflatex, 7 jpg figures, ICRC style files included.
Highlight talk presented at the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference,
Merida, Mexico, 200
Polymorphisms in the CD28/CTLA4/ICOS genes: Role in malignant melanoma susceptibility and prognosis?
The appearance of vitiligo and spontaneous regression of the primary lesion in melanoma patients illustrate a relationship between tumor immunity and autoimmunity. T lymphocytes play a major role both in tumor immunity and autoimmunity. CD28, Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) and inducible costimulator (ICOS) molecules are important secondary signal molecules in the T lymphocyte activation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CD28/CTLA4/ICOS gene region were reported to be associated with several autoimmune diseases including, type-1 diabetes, SLE, autoimmune thyroid diseases and celiac disease. In this study, we investigated the association of SNPs in the CD28, CTLA4 and ICOS genes with the risk of melanoma. We also assessed the prognostic effect of the different polymorphisms in melanoma patients. Twenty-four tagging SNPs across the three genes and four additional SNPs were genotyped in a cohort of 763 German melanoma patients and 734 healthy German controls. Influence on prognosis was determined in 587 melanoma cases belonging to stage I or II of the disease. In general, no differences in genotype or allele frequencies were detected between melanoma patients and controls. However, the variant alleles for two polymorphisms in the CD28 gene were differentially distributed in cases and controls. Similarly no association of any polymorphism with prognosis, except for the rs3181098 polymorphism in the CD28 gene, was observed. In addition, individuals with AA genotype for rs11571323 polymorphism in the ICOS gene showed reduced overall survival. However, keeping in view the correction for multiple hypothesis testing our results suggest that the polymorphisms in the CD28, CTLA4 and ICOS genes at least do not modulate risk of melanoma and nor do those influence the disease prognosis in the investigated population
Maximal air bubble entrainment at liquid drop impact
At impact of a liquid drop on a solid surface an air bubble can be entrapped.
Here we show that two competing effects minimize the (relative) size of this
entrained air bubble: For large drop impact velocity and large droplets the
inertia of the liquid flattens the entrained bubble, whereas for small impact
velocity and small droplets capillary forces minimize the entrained bubble.
However, we demonstrate experimentally, theoretically, and numerically that in
between there is an optimum, leading to maximal air bubble entrapment. Our
results have a strong bearing on various applications in printing technology,
microelectronics, immersion lithography, diagnostics, or agriculture.Comment: 4 page
Point-Form Analysis of Elastic Deuteron Form Factors
Point-form relativistic quantum mechanics is applied to elastic
electron-deuteron scattering. The deuteron is modeled using relativistic
interactions that are scattering-equivalent to the nonrelativistic Argonne
and Reid '93 interactions. A point-form spectator approximation (PFSA)
is introduced to define a conserved covariant current in terms of
single-nucleon form factors. The PFSA is shown to provide an accurate
description of data up to momentum transfers of 0.5 , but falls
below the data at higher momentum transfers. Results are sensitive to the
nucleon form factor parameterization chosen, particularly to the neutron
electric form factor.Comment: RevTex, 31 pages, 1 table, 13 figure
Radiative corrections to polarization observables in elastic electron-deuteron scattering in leptonic variables
The model--independent QED radiative corrections to polarization observables
in elastic scattering of unpolarized and longitudinally--polarized electron
beam by the deuteron target have been calculated in leptonic variables. The
experimental setup when the deuteron target is arbitrarily polarized is
considered and the procedure for applying derived results to the vector or
tensor polarization of the recoil deuteron is discussed. The basis of the
calculations consists of the account for all essential Feynman diagrams which
results in the form of the Drell-Yan representation for the cross-section and
use of the covariant parametrization of the deuteron polarization state. The
numerical estimates of the radiative corrections are given for the case when
event selection allows the undetected particles (photons and electron-positron
pairs) and the restriction on the lost invariant mass is used.Comment: 43 pages,3 figures. To be published in ZhTEF. revised 14.02.2012.
arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:nucl-ex/0002003 by other author
Association between stringency of lockdown measures and emergency department visits during the COVID-19 pandemic:A Dutch multicentre study
Introduction The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted regular health care, including the Emergency Department (ED), and resulted in insufficient ICU capacity. Lockdown measures were taken to prevent disease spread and hospital overcrowding. Little is known about the relationship of stringency of lockdown measures on ED utilization. Objective This study aimed to compare the frequency and characteristics of ED visits during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 to 2019, and their relation to stringency of lockdown measures. Material and methods A retrospective multicentre study among five Dutch hospitals was performed. The primary outcome was the absolute number of ED visits (year 2018 and 2019 compared to 2020). Secondary outcomes were age, sex, triage category, way of transportation, referral, disposition, and treating medical specialty. The relation between stringency of lockdown measures, measured with the Oxford Stringency Index (OSI) and number and characteristics of ED visits was analysed. Results The total number of ED visits in the five hospitals in 2019 was 165,894, whereas the total number of visits in 2020 was 135,762, which was a decrease of 18.2% (range per hospital: 10.5%-30.7%). The reduction in ED visits was greater during periods of high stringency lockdown measures, as indicated by OSI. Conclusion The number of ED visits in the Netherlands has significantly dropped during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a clear association between decreasing ED visits and increasing lockdown measures. The OSI could be used as an indicator in the management of ED visits during a future pandemic.</p
- …