Quenched and first unquenched lattice HQET determination of the Bs-Meson width difference

We present recent results for the prediction of the Bs lifetime difference from lattice Heavy Quark Effective Theory simulations. In order to get a next-to-leading order result we have calculated the matching between QCD and HQET and the two-loop anomalous dimensions in the HQET for all the \Delta B=2 operators, in particular for the operators which enter the width difference. We present results from quenched and, for the first time, from unquenched simulations. We obtain for the Bs lifetime difference, (\Delta\Gamma_Bs/\Gamma_Bs)^{(que.)}=(5.1+/- 1.9+/- 1.7)10^(-2) and (\Delta\Gamma_Bs/\Gamma_Bs)^{(unq.)}=(4.3+/- 2.0+/- 1.9)10^(-2) from the quenched and unquenched simulations respectivelyComment: Lattice 2000 (Heavy Quark Physics), 4 pages, LaTeX. Some misprints corrected. No result change

Flat tax reforms in the U.S.: A boon for the income poor

In this article we quantify the aggregate, distributional and welfare consequences of two revenue neutral flat-tax reforms using a model economy that replicates the U.S. distributions of earnings, income and wealth in very much detail. We find that the less progressive reform brings about a 2.4 percent increase in steady-state output and a more unequal distribution of after-tax income. In contrast, the more progressive reform brings about a -2.6 percent reduction in steady-state output and a distribution of aftertax income that is more egalitarian. We also find that in the less progressive flat-tax economy aggregate welfare falls by -0.17 percent of consumption, and in the more progressive flat-tax economy it increases by 0.45 percent of consumption. In both flattax reforms the income poor pay less income taxes and obtain sizeable welfare gains

The first INTEGRAL-OMC catalogue of optically variable sources

The Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) onboard INTEGRAL provides photometry in the Johnson V-band. With an aperture of 50 mm and a field of view of 5deg x 5deg, OMC is able to detect optical sources brighter than V~18, from a previously selected list of potential targets of interest. After more than nine years of observations, the OMC database contains light curves for more than 70000 sources (with more than 50 photometric points each). The objectives of this work have been to characterize the potential variability of the objects monitored by OMC, to identify periodic sources and to compute their periods, taking advantage of the stability and long monitoring time of the OMC. To detect potential variability, we have performed a chi-squared test, finding 5263 variable sources out of an initial sample of 6071 objects with good photometric quality and more than 300 data points each. We have studied the periodicity of these sources using a method based on the phase dispersion minimization technique, optimized to handle light curves with very different shapes.In this first catalogue of variable sources observed by OMC, we provide for each object the median of the visual magnitude, the magnitude at maximum and minimum brightness in the light curve during the window of observations, the period, when found, as well as the complete intrinsic and period-folded light curves, together with some additional ancillary data.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics; 13 pages, 16 figures. Figures' resolution has been degraded to fit astro-ph constraint

Prolamin content and grain weight in RNAi silenced wheat lines under different conditions of temperature and nitrogen availability

Temperature and nitrogen (N) availability are two important environmental factors that may produce important changes in grain composition during grain filling of bread wheat. In this study, four wheat lines with the down-regulation of gliadins by means of RNA interference (RNAi) have been characterized to determine the effect of thermal stress and N availability on grain weight and quality; with focus on gliadin and glutenin protein fractions. Grain weight was reduced with heat stress (HS) in all RNAi lines, whereas gliadin content was increased in the wild-types. With respect to gliadin content, RNAi lines responded to HS and N availability differently from their respective wild-types, except for ω-gliadin content, indicating a very clear stability of silencing under different environmental conditions. In a context of increased temperature and HS events, and in environments with different N availability, the RNAi lines with down-regulated gliadins seem well suited for the production of wheat grain with low gliadin content.The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project AGL2016-80566-P) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) supported this research

Isoscaling and the nuclear EOS

Experiments with rare isotopes are shedding light on the role isospin plays in the equation of state (EoS) of nuclear matter, and isoscaling -an straight-forward comparison of reactions with different isospin- could deliver valuable information about it. In this work we test this assertion pragmatically by comparing molecular dynamics simulations of isoscaling reactions using different equations of state and looking for changes in the isoscaling parameters; to explore the possibility of isoscaling carrying information from the hot-and-dense stage of the reaction, we perform our study in confined and expanding systems. Our results indicate that indeed isoscaling can help us learn about the nuclear EoS, but only in some range of excitation energies

Width difference in the Bs system from lattice HQET

We present recent results for the prediction of the Bs lifetime difference from lattice Heavy Quark Effective Theory simulations. In order to get a next-to-leading order result we have calculated the matching between QCD and HQET and the two loop anomalous dimension in the HQET for all the \Delta B=2 operators, in particular for the operators which enter in the width difference. We obtain for the Bs lifetime difference, (\Delta\Gamma_Bs/\Gamma_Bs)=(5.1+/- 1.9+/- 1.7)10^(-2).Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX. Talk given at International Conference on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons, Valencia, Spain, 27-30 Jun 2000. Some misprints corrected. No result change

Limits to the planet candidate GJ 436c

We report on H-band, ground-based observations of a transit of the hot Neptune GJ 436b. Once combined to achieve sampling equivalent to archived observations taken with Spitzer, our measurements reach comparable precision levels. We analyze both sets of observations in a consistent way, and measure the rate of orbital inclination change to be of 0.02+/-0.04 degrees in the time span between the two observations (253.8 d, corresponding to 0.03+/-0.05 degrees/yr if extrapolated). This rate allows us to put limits on the relative inclination between the two planets by performing simulations of planetary systems, including a second planet, GJ 436c, whose presence has been recently suggested (Ribas et al. 2008). The allowed inclinations for a 5 M_E super-Earth GJ 436c in a 5.2 d orbit are within ~7 degrees of the one of GJ 436b; for larger differences the observed inclination change can be reproduced only during short sections (<50%) of the orbital evolution of the system. The measured times of three transit centers of the system do not show any departure from linear ephemeris, a result that is only reproduced in <1% of the simulated orbits. Put together, these results argue against the proposed planet candidate GJ 436c.Comment: Replaced with accepted version. Minor language corrections. 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in A&A Letter