2,048 research outputs found
Notes on the Third Law of Thermodynamics.I
We analyze some aspects of the third law of thermodynamics. We first review
both the entropic version (N) and the unattainability version (U) and the
relation occurring between them. Then, we heuristically interpret (N) as a
continuity boundary condition for thermodynamics at the boundary T=0 of the
thermodynamic domain. On a rigorous mathematical footing, we discuss the third
law both in Carath\'eodory's approach and in Gibbs' one. Carath\'eodory's
approach is fundamental in order to understand the nature of the surface T=0.
In fact, in this approach, under suitable mathematical conditions, T=0 appears
as a leaf of the foliation of the thermodynamic manifold associated with the
non-singular integrable Pfaffian form . Being a leaf, it cannot
intersect any other leaf const. of the foliation. We show that (N) is
equivalent to the requirement that T=0 is a leaf. In Gibbs' approach, the
peculiar nature of T=0 appears to be less evident because the existence of the
entropy is a postulate; nevertheless, it is still possible to conclude that the
lowest value of the entropy has to belong to the boundary of the convex set
where the function is defined.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures; RevTex fil
Long-Time Behavior of Macroscopic Quantum Systems: Commentary Accompanying the English Translation of John von Neumann's 1929 Article on the Quantum Ergodic Theorem
The renewed interest in the foundations of quantum statistical mechanics in
recent years has led us to study John von Neumann's 1929 article on the quantum
ergodic theorem. We have found this almost forgotten article, which until now
has been available only in German, to be a treasure chest, and to be much
misunderstood. In it, von Neumann studied the long-time behavior of macroscopic
quantum systems. While one of the two theorems announced in his title, the one
he calls the "quantum H-theorem", is actually a much weaker statement than
Boltzmann's classical H-theorem, the other theorem, which he calls the "quantum
ergodic theorem", is a beautiful and very non-trivial result. It expresses a
fact we call "normal typicality" and can be summarized as follows: For a
"typical" finite family of commuting macroscopic observables, every initial
wave function from a micro-canonical energy shell so evolves that for
most times in the long run, the joint probability distribution of these
observables obtained from is close to their micro-canonical
distribution.Comment: 34 pages LaTeX, no figures; v2: minor improvements and additions. The
English translation of von Neumann's article is available as arXiv:1003.213
Hydrodynamical Description of 200 A GeV/c S+Au Collisions: Hadron and Electromagnetic Spectra
We study relativistic S+Au collisions at 200 A GeV/c using a hydrodynamical
approach. We test various equations of state (EOSs), which are used to describe
the strongly interacting matter at densities attainable in the CERN-SPS heavy
ion experiments. For each EOS, suitable initial conditions can be determined to
reproduce the experimental hadron spectra; this emphasizes the ambiguity
between the initial conditions and the EOS in such an approach. Simultaneously,
we calculate the resulting thermal photon and dielectron spectra, and compare
with experiments. If one allows the excitation of resonance states with
increasing temperature, the electro-magnetic signals from scenarios with and
without phase transition are very similar and are not resolvable within the
current experimental resolution. With regard to the CERES dilepton data, none
of the EOSs considered, in conjunction with the standard leading order dilepton
rates, succeed in reproducing the observed excess of dileptons below the rho
peak. Our work, however, suggests that an improved measurement of the photon
and dilepton spectra has the potential to strongly constrain the EOS.Comment: Uses REVTeX, 48 pages, 13 Postscript figure
Search for Large Extra Spatial Dimensions in Dimuon Production with the D0 Detector
We present the results of a search for the effects of large extra spatial
dimensions in collisions at 1.96 TeV in events
containing a pair of energetic muons. The data correspond to 246 \ipb of
integrated luminosity collected by the \D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Good agreement with the expected background was found, yielding no
evidence for large extra dimensions. We set 95% C.L. lower limits on the
fundamental Planck scale between 0.85 TeV and 1.27 TeV within several
formalisms. These are the most stringent limits achieved in the dimuon channel
to date.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Published in Phys. Rev. Lett. Minor
changes in v2 to match the published versio
Cell-Sorting at the A/P Boundary in the Drosophila Wing Primordium: A Computational Model to Consolidate Observed Non-Local Effects of Hh Signaling
Non-intermingling, adjacent populations of cells define compartment boundaries;
such boundaries are often essential for the positioning and the maintenance of
tissue-organizers during growth. In the developing wing primordium of
Drosophila melanogaster, signaling by the secreted protein
Hedgehog (Hh) is required for compartment boundary maintenance. However, the
precise mechanism of Hh input remains poorly understood. Here, we combine
experimental observations of perturbed Hh signaling with computer simulations of
cellular behavior, and connect physical properties of cells to their Hh
signaling status. We find that experimental disruption of Hh signaling has
observable effects on cell sorting surprisingly far from the compartment
boundary, which is in contrast to a previous model that confines Hh influence to
the compartment boundary itself. We have recapitulated our experimental
observations by simulations of Hh diffusion and transduction coupled to
mechanical tension along cell-to-cell contact surfaces. Intriguingly, the best
results were obtained under the assumption that Hh signaling cannot alter the
overall tension force of the cell, but will merely re-distribute it locally
inside the cell, relative to the signaling status of neighboring cells. Our
results suggest a scenario in which homotypic interactions of a putative Hh
target molecule at the cell surface are converted into a mechanical force. Such
a scenario could explain why the mechanical output of Hh signaling appears to be
confined to the compartment boundary, despite the longer range of the Hh
molecule itself. Our study is the first to couple a cellular vertex model
describing mechanical properties of cells in a growing tissue, to an explicit
model of an entire signaling pathway, including a freely diffusible component.
We discuss potential applications and challenges of such an approach
Search for charged Higgs bosons decaying to top and bottom quarks in ppbar collisions
We describe a search for production of a charged Higgs boson, q \bar{q'} ->
H^+, reconstructed in the t\bar{b} final state in the mass range 180 <= M_{H^+}
<= 300 GeV. The search was undertaken at the Fermilab Tevatron collider with a
center-of-mass energy sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV and uses 0.9 fb^{-1} of data collected
with the D0 detector. We find no evidence for charged Higgs boson production
and set upper limits on the production cross section in the Types I, II and III
two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs). An excluded region in the (M_{H^+},tan\beta)
plane for Type I 2HDM is presented.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter
Measurement of the B0_s semileptonic branching ratio to an orbitally excited D_s** state, Br(B0_s -> Ds1(2536) mu nu)
In a data sample of approximately 1.3 fb-1 collected with the D0 detector
between 2002 and 2006, the orbitally excited charm state D_s1(2536) has been
observed with a measured mass of 2535.7 +/- 0.6 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst) MeV via
the decay mode B0_s -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X. A first measurement is made of the
branching ratio product Br(b(bar) -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X).Br(D_s1(2536)->D*
K0_S). Assuming that D_s1(2536) production in semileptonic decay is entirely
from B0_s, an extraction of the semileptonic branching ratio Br(B0_s ->
D_s1(2536) mu nu X) is made.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, version with minor changes as accepted by
Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the forward-backward charge asymmetry and extraction of sin^2Theta^{eff}_W in ppbar -> Z/\gamma^{*}+X -> e+e+X events produced at \sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV
We present a measurement of the forward-backward charge asymmetry ()
in events at a center-of-mass energy
of 1.96 TeV using 1.1 fb of data collected with the D0 detector at the
Fermilab Tevatron collider. is measured as a function of the invariant
mass of the electron-positron pair, and found to be consistent with the
standard model prediction. We use the measurement to extract the
effective weak mixing angle .Comment: 7 Pages, 1 Figure, 3 Tables, Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let
Simultaneous measurement of the ratio B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq) and the top quark pair production cross section with the D0 detector at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present the first simultaneous measurement of the ratio of branching
fractions, R=B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq), with q being a d, s, or b quark, and the top
quark pair production cross section sigma_ttbar in the lepton plus jets channel
using 0.9 fb-1 of ppbar collision data at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV collected with the
D0 detector. We extract R and sigma_ttbar by analyzing samples of events with
0, 1 and >= 2 identified b jets. We measure R = 0.97 +0.09-0.08 (stat+syst) and
sigma_ttbar = 8.18 +0.90-0.84 (stat+syst)} +/-0.50 (lumi) pb, in agreement with
the standard model prediction.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Letter
Measurement of the lifetime of the B_c meson in the semileptonic decay channel
Using approximately 1.3 fb-1 of data collected by the D0 detector between
2002 and 2006, we measure the lifetime of the B_c meson in the B_c -> J/psi mu
nu X final state. A simultaneous unbinned likelihood fit to the J/\psi+mu
invariant mass and lifetime distributions yields a signal of 881 +/- 80 (stat)
candidates and a lifetime measurement of \tau(B_c) = 0.448 +0.038 -0.036 (stat)
+/- 0.032 (syst) ps.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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