Factorization at Subleading Power and Irreducible Uncertainties in Bˉ→Xsγ\bar B\to X_s\gamma Decay

Using methods from soft-collinear and heavy-quark effective theory, a systematic factorization analysis is performed for the $\bar B\to X_s\gamma$ photon spectrum in the endpoint region $m_b-2E_\gamma={\cal O}(\Lambda_{\rm QCD})$. It is proposed that, to all orders in $1/m_b$, the spectrum obeys a novel factorization formula, which besides terms with the structure $H\,J\otimes S$ familiar from inclusive $\bar B\to X_u l\,\bar\nu$ decay distributions contains "resolved photon" contributions of the form $H\,J\otimes S\otimes\bar J$ and $H\,J\otimes S\otimes\bar J\otimes\bar J$. Here $S$ and $\bar J$ are new soft and jet functions, whose form is derived. These contributions arise whenever the photon couples to light partons instead of coupling directly to the effective weak interaction. The new contributions appear first at order $1/m_b$ and are related to operators other than $Q_{7\gamma}$ in the effective weak Hamiltonian. They give rise to non-vanishing $1/m_b$ corrections to the total decay rate, which cannot be described using a local operator product expansion. A systematic analysis of these effects is performed at tree level in hard and hard-collinear interactions. The resulting uncertainty on the decay rate defined with a cut $E_\gamma>1.6$ GeV is estimated to be approximately $\pm 5$. It could be reduced by an improved measurement of the isospin asymmetry $\Delta_{0-}$ to the level of $\pm 4$. We see no possibility to reduce this uncertainty further using reliable theoretical methods.Comment: 63 pages, 11 Figures, Journal Versio

Reference gene validation for quantitative RT-PCR during biotic and abiotic stresses in Vitis vinifera

Grapevine is one of the most cultivated fruit crop worldwide with Vitis vinifera being the species with the highest economical importance. Being highly susceptible to fungal pathogens and increasingly affected by environmental factors, it has become an important agricultural research area, where gene expression analysis plays a fundamental role. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is currently amongst the most powerful techniques to perform gene expression studies. Nevertheless, accurate gene expression quantification strongly relies on appropriate reference gene selection for sample normalization. Concerning V. vinifera, limited information still exists as for which genes are the most suitable to be used as reference under particular experimental conditions. In this work, seven candidate genes were investigated for their stability in grapevine samples referring to four distinct stresses (Erysiphe necator, wounding and UV-C irradiation in leaves and Phaeomoniella chlamydospora colonization in wood). The expression stability was evaluated using geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. In all cases, full agreement was not observed for the three methods. To provide comprehensive rankings integrating the three different programs, for each treatment, a consensus ranking was created using a non-weighted unsupervised rank aggregation method. According to the last, the three most suitable reference genes to be used in grapevine leaves, regardless of the stress, are UBC, VAG and PEP. For the P. chlamydospora treatment, EF1, CYP and UBC were the best scoring genes. Acquaintance of the most suitable reference genes to be used in grapevine samples can contribute for accurate gene expression quantification in forthcoming studiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Averages of b-hadron, c-hadron, and tau-lepton properties as of 2018 Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFLAV)

This paper reports world averages of measurements of b-hadron, c-hadron, and τ -lepton properties obtained by the Heavy Flavour Averaging Group using results available through September 2018. In rare cases, significant results obtained several months later are also used. For the averaging, common input parameters used in the various analyses are adjusted (rescaled) to common values, and known correlations are taken into account. The averages include branching fractions, lifetimes, neutral meson mixing parameters, C P violation parameters, parameters of semileptonic decays, and Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa matrix elements

GrailQuest & HERMES: Hunting for Gravitational Wave Electromagnetic Counterparts and Probing Space-Time Quantum Foam

Within Quantum Gravity theories, different models for space-time quantisation predict an energy dependent speed for photons. Although the predicted discrepancies are minuscule, GRB, occurring at cosmological distances, could be used to detect this signature of space-time granularity with a new concept of modular observatory of huge overall collecting area consisting in a fleet of small satellites in low orbits, with sub-microsecond time resolution and wide energy band (keV-MeV). The enormous number of collected photons will allow to effectively search these energy dependent delays. Moreover, GrailQuest will allow to perform temporal triangulation of high signal-to-noise impulsive events with arc-second positional accuracies: an extraordinary sensitive X-ray/Gamma all-sky monitor crucial for hunting the elusive electromagnetic counterparts of GW. A pathfinder of GrailQuest is already under development through the HERMES project: a fleet of six 3U cube-sats to be launched by 2021/22

Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assays

The formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, is a complex process that plays important roles in growth and development, tissue and organ regeneration, as well as numerous pathological conditions. Angiogenesis undergoes multiple discrete steps that can be individually evaluated and quantified by a large number of bioassays. These independent assessments hold advantages but also have limitations. This article describes in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro bioassays that are available for the evaluation of angiogenesis and highlights critical aspects that are relevant for their execution and proper interpretation. As such, this collaborative work is the first edition of consensus guidelines on angiogenesis bioassays to serve for current and future reference

Influência do resfriamento dinâmico na medição da tensão limite de escoamento

Non-Newtonian fluids may present several complex characteristics, such as viscoelasticity, plasticity and thixotropy. Understanding the behaviour of these materials is essential to facilitate its applicability, since many of them are present in daily life, such as gels, chocolate, and mayonnaise. The material studied on the present work was an waxy crude oil. The oil, present in reservoirs located in deep water, when subjected to low temperatures during production shutdowns, precipitates its paraffin, creating a structure which may be very resistant to flow. Thus, the formed material may represent a great difficulty to production restart. The design of pumps and compressors used in these systems depend on a rheological property called yield stress and therefore, it is essential to obtain reliable values of this rheological parameter. However, the complex behaviour, and the dependence of the crude oil characteristics on the shearing and temperature history make this a challenging task. Besides these, other factors may influence the measurement of yield stress, as the effect of wall slip and if the cooling is static or dynamic. This work shows the variation of yield stress for tests with dynamic cooling. The imposition of a stress during cooling caused the reduction in yield stress 0. Increasing the imposed stress, 0 decreased until it reached a minimum. Next, it was noticed an increase in yield stress with increasing imposed stress. The experiments carried out in this work were made in a commercial stress control rheometer. The effect of wall slip was tested by comparing smooth and rough geometries and it was verified signs of its presence, with the reduction of yield stress for smooth geometries. The equation of Weissenberg-Rabinowitsch, used for correction of the inhomogeneity of the shear stress along the radius geometry, seemed to be not necessary for the demonstrated results.Fluidos não newtonianos podem apresentar diversas características complexas, como a viscoelasticidade, plasticidade e tixotropia. Entender o comportamento de materiais tão complexos é fundamental para facilitar sua aplicabilidade, já que muitos estão presentes no cotidiano das pessoas, como géis, chocolate e maionese. O material estudado no presente trabalho foi um petróleo parafínico. O petróleo, presente em bacias localizadas em águas profundas, quando submetido a baixas temperaturas durante paradas de produção, precipita suas parafinas dando origem a uma estrutura que pode ser muito resistente ao escoamento. Dessa forma, o material formado pode representar uma grande dificuldade para o reinício da produção. O dimensionamento das bombas e compressores utilizados para retomada da produção depende de uma propriedade reológica denominada tensão limite de escoamento e, por isso, é fundamental obter valores confiáveis desse parâmetro reológico. No entanto, o comportamento complexo, e a dependência das características do petróleo com o histórico de cisalhamento e temperatura tornam a tarefa desafiadora. Outros fatores podem influenciar na medição da tensão limite de escoamento, como o efeito do escorregamento na parede do sensor da geometria e se o resfriamento é estático ou dinâmico. Este trabalho mostra a variação da tensão limite de escoamento para ensaios com resfriamento dinâmico. A imposição de tensão durante o resfriamento causou a redução da tensão limite de escoamento 0. Elevando-se a tensão imposta, 0 reduziu até atingir um valor mínimo. Em seguida, percebeu-se um aumento da tensão limite de escoamento com o aumento da tensão imposta. Os experimentos realizados neste trabalho foram feitos em um reômetro comercial do tipo tensão controlada (“stress controlled”). O efeito de escorregamento da amostra foi testado comparando geometrias com superfícies lisas e ranhuradas e foi possível verificar sinais de sua presença, com a redução da tensão limite de escoamento para geometrias lisas. A equação de Weissenberg-Rabinowitsch, utilizada para correção da não homogeneidade da tensão de cisalhamento ao longo do raio da geometria, mostrou-se não necessária para os resultados demonstrados

Timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1748.9−2021 during its 2015 outburst

We report on the timing analysis of the 2015 outburst of the intermittent accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar SAX J1748.9−2021 observed on March 4 by the X-ray satellite XMM–Newton. By phase connecting the time of arrivals of the observed pulses, we derived the best-fitting orbital solution for the 2015 outburst. We investigated the energy pulse profile dependence finding that the pulse fractional amplitude increases with energy while no significant time lags are detected. Moreover, we investigated the previous outbursts from this source, finding previously undetected pulsations in some intervals during the 2010 outburst of the source. Comparing the updated set of orbital parameters, in particular the value of the time of passage from the ascending node, with the orbital solutions reported from the previous outbursts, we estimated for the first time the orbital period derivative corresponding with P˙orb = (1.1 ± 0.3) × 10−10 s s−1. We note that this value is significant at 3.5σ confidence level, because of significant fluctuations with respect to the parabolic trend and more observations are needed in order to confirm the finding. Assuming the reliability of the result, we suggest that the large value of the orbital-period derivative can be explained as a result of a highly non-conservative mass transfer driven by emission of gravitational waves, which implies the ejection of matter from a region close to the inner Lagrangian point. We also discuss possible alternative explanations