18,021 research outputs found
High power diode laser surface glazing of concrete
This present work describes the utilisation of the relatively novel high power diode laser
(HPDL) to generate a surface glaze on the ordinary Portland cement (OPC) surface of
concrete. The value of such an investigation would be to facilitate the hitherto impossible
task of generating a durable and long-lasting surface seal on the concrete, thereby extending
the life and applications base of the concrete. The basic process phenomena are investigated
and the laser effects in terms of glaze morphology, composition and microstructure
are presented. Also, the resultant heat affects are analysed and described, as well as
the effects of the shield gases, O2 and Ar, during laser processing. HPDL glazing of OPC
was successfully demonstrated with power densities as low as 750 W cm-2 and at scanning
rates up to 480 mm min-1. The work showed that the generation of the surface glaze resulted
in improved mechanical and chemical properties over the untreated OPC surface of concrete.
Both untreated and HPDL glazed OPC were tested for pull-off strength, rupture strength,
water absorption, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The OPC laser glaze exhibited
clear improvements in wear, water sorptivity, and resistance (up to 80% concentration) to
nitric acid, sodium hydroxide and detergent. Life assessment testing revealed that the OPC
laser glaze had an increase in actual wear life of 1.3 to 14.8 times over the untreated OPC
surface of concrete, depending upon the corrosive environment
Bosonic field equations from an exact uncertainty principle
A Hamiltonian formalism is used to describe ensembles of fields in terms of
two canonically conjugate functionals (one being the field probability
density). The postulate that a classical ensemble is subject to nonclassical
fluctuations of the field momentum density, of a strength determined solely by
the field uncertainty, is shown to lead to a unique modification of the
ensemble Hamiltonian. The modified equations of motion are equivalent to the
quantum equations for a bosonic field, and thus this exact uncertainty
principle provides a new approach to deriving and interpreting the properties
of quantum ensembles. The examples of electromagnetic and gravitational fields
are discussed. In the latter case the exact uncertainty approach specifies a
unique operator ordering for the Wheeler-DeWitt and Ashtekar-Wheeler-DeWitt
equations.Comment: 24 pages, extended version of part (B) of hep-th/0206235, to appear
in J. Phys.
Visions in monochrome: Families, marriage and the individualisation thesis
This paper takes issue with the way in which the individualisation thesis â in which it is assumed that close relationships have become tenuous and fragile - has become so dominant in ânewâ sociological theorising about family life. Although others have criticised this thesis, in this paper the main criticism derives from empirical research findings carried out with members of transnational families living in Britain whose values and practices do not fit easily with ideas of individualisation. It is argued that we need a much more complex and less linear notion of how families change across generations and in time
Predictions for Higgs and SUSY spectra from SO(10) Yukawa Unification with mu > 0
We use Yukawa unification to constrain SUSY parameter space. We
find a narrow region survives for (suggested by \bsgam and the
anomalous magnetic moment of the muon) with , , \gev and \gev. Demanding Yukawa unification thus makes definite predictions for
Higgs and sparticle masses.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, revised version to be published in PR
Ricci Collineations for type B warped space-times
We present the general structure of proper Ricci Collineations (RC) for type
B warped space-times. Within this framework, we give a detailed description of
the most general proper RC for spherically symmetric metrics. As examples,
static spherically symmetric and Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times are
considered.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, To appear in GR
A Complete Theory of Grand Unification in Five Dimensions
A fully realistic unified theory is constructed, with SU(5) gauge symmetry
and supersymmetry both broken by boundary conditions in a fifth dimension.
Despite the local explicit breaking of SU(5) at a boundary of the dimension,
the large size of the extra dimension allows precise predictions for gauge
coupling unification, alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.118 \pm 0.003, and for Yukawa coupling
unification, m_b(M_Z) = 3.3 \pm 0.2 GeV. A complete understanding of the MSSM
Higgs sector is given; with explanations for why the Higgs triplets are heavy,
why the Higgs doublets are protected from a large tree-level mass, and why the
mu and B parameters are naturally generated to be of order the SUSY breaking
scale. All sources of d=4,5 proton decay are forbidden, while a new origin for
d=6 proton decay is found to be important. Several aspects of flavor follow
from an essentially unique choice of matter location in the fifth dimension:
only the third generation has an SU(5) mass relation, and the lighter two
generations have small mixings with the heaviest generation. The entire
superpartner spectrum is predicted in terms of only two free parameters. The
squark and slepton masses are determined by their location in the fifth
dimension, allowing a significant experimental test of the detailed structure
of the extra dimension. Lepton flavor violation is found to be generically
large in higher dimensional unified theories with high mediation scales of SUSY
breaking. In our theory this forces a common location for all three neutrinos,
predicting large neutrino mixing angles. Rates for mu -> e gamma, mu -> e e e,
mu -> e conversion and tau -> mu gamma are larger in our theory than in
conventional 4D supersymmetric GUTs. Proposed experiments probing mu -> e
transitions will probe the entire interesting parameter space of our theory.Comment: 51 pages, late
Spread Supersymmetry
In the multiverse the scale of SUSY breaking, \tilde{m} = F_X/M_*, may scan
and environmental constraints on the dark matter density may exclude a large
range of \tilde{m} from the reheating temperature after inflation down to
values that yield a LSP mass of order a TeV. After selection effects, the
distribution for \tilde{m} may prefer larger values. A single environmental
constraint from dark matter can then lead to multi-component dark matter,
including both axions and the LSP, giving a TeV-scale LSP lighter than the
corresponding value for single-component LSP dark matter.
If SUSY breaking is mediated to the SM sector at order X^* X, only squarks,
sleptons and one Higgs doublet acquire masses of order \tilde{m}. The gravitino
mass is lighter by a factor of M_*/M_Pl and the gaugino masses are suppressed
by a further loop factor. This Spread SUSY spectrum has two versions; the
Higgsino masses are generated in one from supergravity giving a wino LSP and in
the other radiatively giving a Higgsino LSP. The environmental restriction on
dark matter fixes the LSP mass to the TeV domain, so that the squark and
slepton masses are order 10^3 TeV and 10^6 TeV in these two schemes. We study
the spectrum, dark matter and collider signals of these two versions of Spread
SUSY. The Higgs is SM-like and lighter than 145 GeV; monochromatic photons in
cosmic rays arise from dark matter annihilations in the halo; exotic short
charged tracks occur at the LHC, at least for the wino LSP; and there are the
eventual possibilities of direct detection of dark matter and detailed
exploration of the TeV-scale states at a future linear collider. Gauge coupling
unification is as in minimal SUSY theories.
If SUSY breaking is mediated at order X, a much less hierarchical spectrum
results---similar to that of the MSSM, but with the superpartner masses 1--2
orders of magnitude larger than in natural theories.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Bottom-Tau Unification in SUSY SU(5) GUT and Constraints from b to s gamma and Muon g-2
An analysis is made on bottom-tau Yukawa unification in supersymmetric (SUSY)
SU(5) grand unified theory (GUT) in the framework of minimal supergravity, in
which the parameter space is restricted by some experimental constraints
including Br(b to s gamma) and muon g-2. The bottom-tau unification can be
accommodated to the measured branching ratio Br(b to s gamma) if superparticle
masses are relatively heavy and higgsino mass parameter \mu is negative. On the
other hand, if we take the latest muon g-2 data to require positive SUSY
contributions, then wrong-sign threshold corrections at SUSY scale upset the
Yukawa unification with more than 20 percent discrepancy. It has to be
compensated by superheavy threshold corrections around the GUT scale, which
constrains models of flavor in SUSY GUT. A pattern of the superparticle masses
preferred by the three requirements is also commented.Comment: 21pages, 6figure
Near-Infrared Classification Spectroscopy: H-band Spectra of Fundamental MK Standards
We present a catalogue of H-band spectra for 85 stars of approximately solar
abundance observed at a resolving power of 3000 with the KPNO Mayall 4m FTS.
The atlas covers spectral types O7-M5 and luminosity classes I-V as defined on
the MK system. We identify both atomic and molecular indices and line-ratios
which are temperature and luminosity sensitive allowing spectral classification
to be carried out in the H-band. The line ratios permit spectral classification
in the presence of continuum excess emission, which is commonly found in
pre-main sequence and evolved stars. We demonstrate that with spectra of R =
1000 obtained at SNR > 50 it is possible to derive spectral types within +- 2
subclasses for late-type stars. These data are available electronically through
the Astronomical Data Center in addition to being served on the World-Wide-Web.Comment: To appear in the November 20, 1998 issue of ApJ (Volume 508, #1
Living for the weekend: youth identities in northeast England
Consumption and consumerism are now accepted as key contexts for the construction of youth identities in de-industrialized Britain. This article uses empirical evidence from interviews with young people to suggest that claims of `new community' are overstated, traditional forms of friendship are receding, and increasingly atomized and instrumental youth identities are now being culturally constituted and reproduced by the pressures and anxieties created by enforced adaptation to consumer capitalism. Analysis of the data opens up the possibility of a critical rather than a celebratory exploration of the wider theoretical implications of this process
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