442 research outputs found
A model-independent maximum range for the liquidity correction of TIPS yields
We derive a model-independent maximum range for the admissible liquidity risk premium in real Treasury bonds—also known as Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). The range is constructed using additional information in the inflation swap market and a set of simple theoretical assumptions. As an application, we construct a lower bound to estimates of the inflation risk premium the Treasury receives from TIPS by deducting their maximum liquidity premium. This conservative measure of the benefit to the Treasury of issuing TIPS is positive on average at the ten-year maturity for our sample period.Inflation (Finance) ; Inflation-indexed bonds
The use of Hemopure® at Groote Schuur hospital, Cape Town: 4 case studies
Hemopure® is a cell-free haemoglobin solution that is made from bovine haemoglobin that is designed to carry oxygen in the plasma. It is approved for use in South Africa for the treatment of acute surgical anaemia. We describe the use of Hemopure® at a large tertiary hospital in Cape Town where there is a blood bank on the premises. Four patients received Hemopure® during situations of acute, life-threatening anaemia. Two patients were Jehovah’s Witnesses and in two cases the blood bank was not able to find compatible blood due to the presence of antibodies in the patient’s blood. Patients were carefully monitored by the anaesthetists or intensive care staff, who were managing the patient. No adverse reactions were experienced. Hemopure® was indispensable in managing these critically ill patients
Gluino decays with heavier scalar superpartners
We compute gluino decay widths in supersymmetric theories with arbitrary
flavor and CP violation angles. Our emphasis is on theories with scalar
superpartner masses heavier than the gluino such that tree-level two-body
decays are not allowed, which is relevant, for example, in split supersymmetry.
We compute gluino decay branching fractions in several specific examples and
show that it is plausible that the only accessible signal of supersymmetry at
the LHC could be four top quarks plus missing energy. We show another example
where the only accessible signal for supersymmetry is two gluon jets plus
missing energy.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Added references and minor typos and errors
corrected (no change in numerical results
High seroprevalence of human herpesviruses in HIV-infected individuals attending primary healthcare facilities in rural South Africa
Seroprevalence data of human herpesviruses (HHVs) are limited for sub-Saharan Africa. These are important to provide an indication of potential burden of HHV-related disease, in particular in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals who are known to be at increased risk of these conditions in the Western world. In this cross-sectional study among 405 HIV-infected and antiretroviral therapy naïve individuals in rural South Africa the seroprevalence of HHVs was: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) (98%), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) (87%), varicella zoster virus (VZV) (89%), and 100% for both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Independent factors associated with VZV seropositivity were low educational status and having children. Lack of in-house access to drinking water was independently associated with positive HSV-1 serostatus, whereas Shangaan ethnicity was associated with HSV-2 seropositivity. Increasing age was associated with higher IgG titres to both EBV and CMV, whereas CD4 cell count was negatively associated with EBV and CMV IgG titres. Moreover, IgG titres of HSV-1 and 2, VZV and CMV, and CMV and EBV were positively correlated. The high HHV seroprevalence emphasises the importance of awareness of these viral infections in HIV-infected individuals in South Africa
Higgs boson mass limits in perturbative unification theories
Motivated in part by recent demonstrations that electroweak unification into
a simple group may occur at a low scale, we detail the requirements on the
Higgs mass if the unification is to be perturbative. We do this for the
Standard Model effective theory, minimal supersymmetry, and next-to-minimal
supersymmetry with an additional singlet field. Within the Standard Model
framework, we find that perturbative unification with sin2(thetaW)=1/4 occurs
at Lambda=3.8 TeV and requires mh<460 GeV, whereas perturbative unification
with sin2(thetaW)=3/8 requires mh<200 GeV. In supersymmetry, the presentation
of the Higgs mass predictions can be significantly simplified, yet remain
meaningful, by using a single supersymmetry breaking parameter Delta_S. We
present Higgs mass limits in terms of Delta_S for the minimal supersymmetric
model and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric model. We show that in
next-to-minimal supersymmetry, the Higgs mass upper limit can be as large as
500 GeV even for moderate supersymmetry masses if the perturbative unification
scale is low (e.g., Lambda=10 TeV).Comment: 20 pages, latex, 6 figures, references adde
Supersymmetry Without Prejudice at the LHC
The discovery and exploration of Supersymmetry in a model-independent fashion
will be a daunting task due to the large number of soft-breaking parameters in
the MSSM. In this paper, we explore the capability of the ATLAS detector at the
LHC ( TeV, 1 fb) to find SUSY within the 19-dimensional
pMSSM subspace of the MSSM using their standard transverse missing energy and
long-lived particle searches that were essentially designed for mSUGRA. To this
end, we employ a set of k previously generated model points in the
19-dimensional parameter space that satisfy all of the existing experimental
and theoretical constraints. Employing ATLAS-generated SM backgrounds and
following their approach in each of 11 missing energy analyses as closely as
possible, we explore all of these k model points for a possible SUSY
signal. To test our analysis procedure, we first verify that we faithfully
reproduce the published ATLAS results for the signal distributions for their
benchmark mSUGRA model points. We then show that, requiring all sparticle
masses to lie below 1(3) TeV, almost all(two-thirds) of the pMSSM model points
are discovered with a significance in at least one of these 11 analyses
assuming a 50\% systematic error on the SM background. If this systematic error
can be reduced to only 20\% then this parameter space coverage is increased.
These results are indicative that the ATLAS SUSY search strategy is robust
under a broad class of Supersymmetric models. We then explore in detail the
properties of the kinematically accessible model points which remain
unobservable by these search analyses in order to ascertain problematic cases
which may arise in general SUSY searches.Comment: 69 pages, 40 figures, Discussion adde
Top Squarks and Bottom Squarks in the MSSM with Complex Parameters
We present a phenomenological study of top squarks (~t_1,2) and bottom
squarks (~b_1,2) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with
complex parameters A_t, A_b, \mu and M_1. In particular we focus on the CP
phase dependence of the branching ratios of (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) decays. We
give the formulae of the two-body decay widths and present numerical results.
We find that the effect of the phases on the (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) decays can
be quite significant in a large region of the MSSM parameter space. This could
have important implications for (~t_1,2) and (~b_1,2) searches and the MSSM
parameter determination in future collider experiments. We have also estimated
the accuracy expected in the determination of the parameters of ~t_i and ~b_i
by a global fit of the measured masses, decay branching ratios and production
cross sections at e^+ e^- linear colliders with polarized beams. Analysing two
scenarios, we find that the fundamental parameters apart from A_t and A_b can
be determined with errors of 1% to 2%, assuming an integrated luminosity of 1
ab^-1 and a sufficiently large c.m.s. energy to produce also the heavier ~t_2
and ~b_2 states. The parameter A_t can be determined with an error of 2 - 3%,
whereas the error on A_b is likely to be of the order of 50%.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, comments and references added, conclusions
unchanged; version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Influence of Grain Boundary Character on Creep Void Formation in Alloy 617
Alloy 617, a high temperature creep-resistant, nickel-based alloy, is being considered for the primary heat exchanger for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) which will operate at temperatures exceeding 760oC. Orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) is used to characterize the grain boundaries in the vicinity of creep voids that develop during high temperature creep tests (800-1000oC at creep stresses ranging from 20-85 MPa) terminated at creep strains ranging from 5-40%. Observations using optical microscopy indicate creep rate does not significantly influence the creep void fraction at a given creep strain. Preliminary analysis of the OIM data indicates voids tend to form on grain boundaries parallel, perpendicular or 45o to the tensile axis, while few voids are found at intermediate inclinations to the tensile axis. Random grain boundaries intersect most voids while CSL-related grain boundaries did not appear to be consistently associated with void development
Search for single top quarks in the tau+jets channel using 4.8 fb of collision data
We present the first direct search for single top quark production using tau
leptons. The search is based on 4.8 fb of integrated luminosity
collected in collisions at =1.96 TeV with the D0 detector
at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with a final state
including an isolated tau lepton, missing transverse energy, two or three jets,
one or two of them tagged. We use a multivariate technique to discriminate
signal from background. The number of events observed in data in this final
state is consistent with the signal plus background expectation. We set in the
tau+jets channel an upper limit on the single top quark cross section of
\TauLimObs pb at the 95% C.L. This measurement allows a gain of 4% in expected
sensitivity for the observation of single top production when combining it with
electron+jets and muon+jets channels already published by the D0 collaboration
with 2.3 fb of data. We measure a combined cross section of
\SuperCombineXSall pb, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
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