7,328 research outputs found
Z parameters and electroweak fits
Almost exactly ten years after the start-up of LEP and four years after the completion of the energy scans around the Z resonance the analyses of the Z parameters by the four experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL are almost final. Together with other precision electroweak results these provide a stringent test of the Standard Model
Some Dynamical Effects of the Cosmological Constant
Newton's law gets modified in the presence of a cosmological constant by a
small repulsive term (antigarvity) that is proportional to the distance.
Assuming a value of the cosmological constant consistent with the recent SnIa
data () we investigate the significance of this
term on various astrophysical scales. We find that on galactic scales or
smaller (less than a few tens of kpc) the dynamical effects of the vacuum
energy are negligible by several orders of magnitude. On scales of 1Mpc or
larger however we find that vacuum energy can significantly affect the
dynamics. For example we show that the velocity data in the Local Group of
galaxies correspond to galactic masses increased by 35% in the presence of
vacuum energy. The effect is even more important on larger low density systems
like clusters of galaxies or superclusters.Comment: 5 two column pages, 2 figure
Combining real and virtual Higgs boson mass constraints
Within the framework of the standard model we observe that there is a
significant discrepancy between the most precise boson decay asymmetry
measurement and the limit from direct searches for Higgs boson production.
Using methods inspired by the Particle Data Group we explore the possible
effect on fits of the Higgs boson mass. In each case the central value and the
95% confidence level upper limit increase significantly relative to the
conventional fit. The results suggest caution in drawing conclusions about the
Higgs boson mass from the existing data.Comment: 11 pages, Latex. Citations are added and paper is otherwise
reconciled with version to be published in Physical Review Letter
Search for Associations Containing Young stars (SACY): Chemical tagging IC 2391 & the Argus association
We explore the possible connection between the open cluster IC 2391 and the
unbound Argus association identified by the SACY survey. In addition to common
kinematics and ages between these two systems, here we explore their chemical
abundance patterns to confirm if the two substructures shared a common origin.
We carry out a homogenous high-resolution elemental abundance study of eight
confirmed members of IC 2391 as well as six members of the Argus association
using UVES spectra. We derive spectroscopic stellar parameters and abundances
for Fe, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni and Ba.
All stars in the open cluster and Argus association were found to share
similar abundances with the scatter well within the uncertainties, where [Fe/H]
= -0.04 +/-0.03 for cluster stars and [Fe/H] = -0.06 +/-0.05 for Argus stars.
Effects of over-ionisation/excitation were seen for stars cooler than roughly
5200K as previously noted in the literature. Also, enhanced Ba abundances of
around 0.6 dex were observed in both systems. The common ages, kinematics and
chemical abundances strongly support that the Argus association stars
originated from the open cluster IC 2391. Simple modeling of this system find
this dissolution to be consistent with two-body interactions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figs, accepted for publication in MNRA
Concepts, Developments and Advanced Applications of the PAX Toolkit
The Physics Analysis eXpert (PAX) is an open source toolkit for high energy
physics analysis. The C++ class collection provided by PAX is deployed in a
number of analyses with complex event topologies at Tevatron and LHC. In this
article, we summarize basic concepts and class structure of the PAX kernel. We
report about the most recent developments of the kernel and introduce two new
PAX accessories. The PaxFactory, that provides a class collection to facilitate
event hypothesis evolution, and VisualPax, a Graphical User Interface for PAX
objects
Search for associations containing young stars (SACY). V. Is multiplicity universal? Tight multiple systems
Context: Dynamically undisrupted, young populations of stars are crucial to
study the role of multiplicity in relation to star formation. Loose nearby
associations provide us with a great sample of close (150 pc) Pre-Main
Sequence (PMS) stars across the very important age range (5-70 Myr) to
conduct such research.
Aims: We characterize the short period multiplicity fraction of the SACY
(Search for Associations Containing Young stars) accounting for any
identifiable bias in our techniques and present the role of multiplicity
fractions of the SACY sample in the context of star formation.
Methods: Using the cross-correlation technique we identified double-lined
spectroscopic systems (SB2), in addition to this we computed Radial Velocity
(RV) values for our subsample of SACY targets using several epochs of FEROS and
UVES data. These values were used to revise the membership of each association
then combined with archival data to determine significant RV variations across
different data epochs characteristic of multiplicity; single-lined multiple
systems (SB1).
Results: We identified 7 new multiple systems (SB1s: 5, SB2s: 2). We find no
significant difference between the short period multiplicity fraction
() of the SACY sample and that of nearby star forming regions
(1-2 Myr) and the field (10%) both as a function of
age and as a function of primary mass, , in the ranges [1:200 day] and
[0.08 -].
Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the picture of universal star
formation, when compared to the field and nearby star forming regions (SFRs).
We comment on the implications of the relationship between increasing
multiplicity fraction with primary mass, within the close companion range, in
relation to star formation.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, published, A&A
http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/20142385
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