5,177 research outputs found
Overview of progress in European medium sized tokamaks towards an integrated plasma-edge/wall solution
Integrating the plasma core performance with an edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) that leads
to tolerable heat and particle loads on the wall is a major challenge. The new European
medium size tokamak task force (EU-MST) coordinates research on ASDEX Upgrade
(AUG), MAST and TCV. This multi-machine approach within EU-MST, covering a wide
parameter range, is instrumental to progress in the field, as ITER and DEMO core/pedestal
and SOL parameters are not achievable simultaneously in present day devices. A two prong
approach is adopted. On the one hand, scenarios with tolerable transient heat and particle
loads, including active edge localised mode (ELM) control are developed. On the other hand,
divertor solutions including advanced magnetic configurations are studied. Considerable
progress has been made on both approaches, in particular in the fields of: ELM control with
resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP), small ELM regimes, detachment onset and control,
as well as filamentary scrape-off-layer transport. For example full ELM suppression has now
been achieved on AUG at low collisionality with n = 2 RMP maintaining good confinement
HH(98,y2) 0.95. Advances have been made with respect to detachment onset and control.
Studies in advanced divertor configurations (Snowflake, Super-X and X-point target divertor)
shed new light on SOL physics. Cross field filamentary transport has been characterised in a
wide parameter regime on AUG, MAST and TCV progressing the theoretical and experimental
understanding crucial for predicting first wall loads in ITER and DEMO. Conditions in the
SOL also play a crucial role for ELM stability and access to small ELM regimes.European Commission (EUROfusion 633053
Determination of the Kobayashi-Maskawa-Cabibbo matrix element V_{us} under various flavor-symmetry-breaking models in hyperon semileptonic decays
We study the success to describe hyperon semileptonic decays of four models
that incorporate second-order SU(3) symmetry breaking corrections. The criteria
to assess their success is by determining V_{us} in each of the three relevant
hyperon semileptonic decays and comparing the values obtained with one another
and also with the one that comes from K_{l3} decays. A strong dependence on the
particular symmetry breaking model is observed. Values of V_{us} which do not
agree with the one of K_{l3} are generally obtained. However, in the context of
chiral perturbation theory, only the model whose corrections are O(m_s) and
O(m_s^{3/2}) is successful. Using its predictions for the f_1 form factors one
can quote a value of V_{us} from this model, namely, V_{us}=0.2176\pm 0.0026,
which is in excellent agreement with the K_{l3} one.Comment: Final versio
Role of oxidative stress on the etiology and pathophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and its relation with the enteric nervous system
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons in the spinal cord, cerebral cortex, and medulla oblongata. Most patients present a clinical phenotype of classic ALS—with predominant atrophy, muscle weakness, and fasciculations—and survival of 3 to 5 years following diagnosis. In the present review, we performed a literature search to provide an update on the etiology and pathophysiological mechanisms involved in ALS. There are two types of ALS: the familial form with genetic involvement, and the sporadic form with a multifactorial origin. ALS pathophysiology is characterized by involvement of multiple processes, including oxidative stress, glutamate excitotoxicity, and neuroinflammation. Moreover, it is proposed that conditioning risk factors affect ALS development, such as susceptibility to neurodegeneration in motor neurons, the intensity of performed physical activity, and intestinal dysbiosis with involvement of the enteric nervous system, which supports the existing theories of disease generation. To improve patients’ prognosis and survival, it is necessary to further deepen our understanding of the etiopathogenesis of ALS
Analysis of self--averaging properties in the transport of particles through random media
We investigate self-averaging properties in the transport of particles
through random media. We show rigorously that in the subdiffusive anomalous
regime transport coefficients are not self--averaging quantities. These
quantities are exactly calculated in the case of directed random walks. In the
case of general symmetric random walks a perturbative analysis around the
Effective Medium Approximation (EMA) is performed.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX , No figures, submitted to Physical Review E (Rapid
Communication
Forecasting confined spatiotemporal chaos with genetic algorithms
A technique to forecast spatiotemporal time series is presented. it uses a
Proper Ortogonal or Karhunen-Lo\`{e}ve Decomposition to encode large
spatiotemporal data sets in a few time-series, and Genetic Algorithms to
efficiently extract dynamical rules from the data. The method works very well
for confined systems displaying spatiotemporal chaos, as exemplified here by
forecasting the evolution of the onedimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau
equation in a finite domain.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Rare Events and Scale--Invariant Dynamics of Perturbations in Delayed Dynamical Systems
We study the dynamics of perturbations in time delayed dynamical systems.
Using a suitable space-time coordinate transformation, we find that the time
evolution of the linearized perturbations (Lyapunov vector) can be mapped to
the linear Zhang surface growth model [Y.-C. Zhang, J. Phys. France {\bf 51},
2129 (1990)], which is known to describe surface roughening driven by power-law
distributed noise. As a consequence, Lyapunov vector dynamics is dominated by
rare random events that lead to non-Gaussian fluctuations and multiscaling
properties.Comment: Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., 4 pages, 3 eps fig
The FERRUM project: laboratory-measured transition probabilities for Cr II
Aims: We measure transition probabilities for Cr II transitions from the z
^4H_J, z ^2D_J, y ^4F_J, and y ^4G_J levels in the energy range 63000 to 68000
cm^{-1}. Methods: Radiative lifetimes were measured using time-resolved
laser-induced fluorescence from a laser-produced plasma. In addition, branching
fractions were determined from intensity-calibrated spectra recorded with a UV
Fourier transform spectrometer. The branching fractions and radiative lifetimes
were combined to yield accurate transition probabilities and oscillator
strengths. Results: We present laboratory measured transition probabilities for
145 Cr II lines and radiative lifetimes for 14 Cr II levels. The
laboratory-measured transition probabilities are compared to the values from
semi-empirical calculations and laboratory measurements in the literature.Comment: 13 pages. Accepted for publication in A&
Eliminating Error in the Chemical Abundance Scale for Extragalactic HII Regions
In an attempt to remove the systematic errors which have plagued the
calibration of the HII region abundance sequence, we have theoretically modeled
the extragalactic HII region sequence. We then used the theoretical spectra so
generated in a double blind experiment to recover the chemical abundances using
both the classical electron temperature + ionization correction factor
technique, and the technique which depends on the use of strong emission lines
(SELs) in the nebular spectrum to estimate the abundance of oxygen. We find a
number of systematic trends, and we provide correction formulae which should
remove systematic errors in the electron temperature + ionization correction
factor technique. We also provide a critical evaluation of the various
semi-empirical SEL techniques. Finally, we offer a scheme which should help to
eliminate systematic errors in the SEL-derived chemical abundance scale for
extragalactic HII regions.Comment: 24 pages, 9 Tables, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Updated considering minor changes during the final edition process and some
few missing reference
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