646 research outputs found
A Single Scale Theory for Cold and Hot Dark Matter
We show that a recently proposed extension of the MSSM can provide a scenario
where both the cold and hot dark matter of the universe owe their origin to a
single scale connected with the breakdown of the global B-L symmetry. The susy
partner of the majoron and the light Majorana neutrinos are the cold and hot
dark matter candidates respectively in this model and their desired relative
abundances emerge when the scale of B-L symmetry breaking is in the TeV range.Comment: UMD-PP-94-102 (latex file; 15 pages
Numerical Simulation of Vortex Crystals and Merging in N-Point Vortex Systems with Circular Boundary
In two-dimensional (2D) inviscid incompressible flow, low background
vorticity distribution accelerates intense vortices (clumps) to merge each
other and to array in the symmetric pattern which is called ``vortex
crystals''; they are observed in the experiments on pure electron plasma and
the simulations of Euler fluid. Vortex merger is thought to be a result of
negative ``temperature'' introduced by L. Onsager. Slight difference in the
initial distribution from this leads to ``vortex crystals''. We study these
phenomena by examining N-point vortex systems governed by the Hamilton
equations of motion. First, we study a three-point vortex system without
background distribution. It is known that a N-point vortex system with boundary
exhibits chaotic behavior for N\geq 3. In order to investigate the properties
of the phase space structure of this three-point vortex system with circular
boundary, we examine the Poincar\'e plot of this system. Then we show that
topology of the Poincar\'e plot of this system drastically changes when the
parameters, which are concerned with the sign of ``temperature'', are varied.
Next, we introduce a formula for energy spectrum of a N-point vortex system
with circular boundary. Further, carrying out numerical computation, we
reproduce a vortex crystal and a vortex merger in a few hundred point vortices
system. We confirm that the energy of vortices is transferred from the clumps
to the background in the course of vortex crystallization. In the vortex
merging process, we numerically calculate the energy spectrum introduced above
and confirm that it behaves as k^{-\alpha},(\alpha\approx 2.2-2.8) at the
region 10^0<k<10^1 after the merging.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figures. to be published in Journal of Physical Society
of Japan Vol.74 No.
Serum Dioxin, Testosterone, and Subsequent Risk of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: A Prospective Cohort Study of Air Force Veterans
BACKGROUND: Operation Ranch Hand veterans were involved in spraying herbicides, including Agent Orange, during the Vietnam War in 1962–1971; Agent Orange was contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). It has been hypothesized that dioxins may be partially responsible for an increase of male reproductive tract disorders such as testicular cancer, cryptorchidism, and hypospadias. OBJECTIVES: In this study, our objective was to assess the effect of serum TCDD concentration on the risk of development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and on serum testosterone levels. METHODS: This study was a longitudinal, prospective cohort study made up of U.S. Air Force veterans involved in Operation Ranch Hand. Other Air Force veterans who did not spray herbicides were included as comparisons. BPH was determined by medical record review and by medical examinations conducted during the study. Data were available for 971 Ranch Hand and 1,266 comparison veterans. We investigated the relationship between BPH and serum TCDD level using the Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for testosterone levels, body mass index (BMI), and the percentage change in BMI per year. RESULTS: In univariate and multivariate analyses, the risk of BPH decreased with increasing serum TCDD in the comparison group. The multivariate risk ratio for BPH in the comparison group was 0.84 (95% confidence interval, 0.73–0.98). Excluding men with prostate cancer, inflammatory or other prostatic diseases did not substantially alter the association. Serum testosterone levels were inversely associated with serum TCDD levels in both Ranch Hand and comparison groups. CONCLUSIONS: TCDD exposure at general population levels is associated with a decreasing risk of BPH with higher exposure levels. TCDD exposure is also negatively associated with serum testosterone levels
Quasi-stationary States of Two-Dimensional Electron Plasma Trapped in Magnetic Field
We have performed numerical simulations on a pure electron plasma system
under a strong magnetic field, in order to examine quasi-stationary states that
the system eventually evolves into. We use ring states as the initial states,
changing the width, and find that the system evolves into a vortex crystal
state from a thinner-ring state while a state with a single-peaked density
distribution is obtained from a thicker-ring initial state. For those
quasi-stationary states, density distribution and macroscopic observables are
defined on the basis of a coarse-grained density field. We compare our results
with experiments and some statistical theories, which include the
Gibbs-Boltzmann statistics, Tsallis statistics, the fluid entropy theory, and
the minimum enstrophy state. From some of those initial states, we obtain the
quasi-stationary states which are close to the minimum enstrophy state, but we
also find that the quasi-stationary states depend upon initial states, even if
the initial states have the same energy and angular momentum, which means the
ergodicity does not hold.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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