pp-adic Zeros of Systems of Quadratic Forms

This survey describes work on the number of variables required to ensure that a system of r quadratic forms over the p-adics has a non-trivial common zero

Amplitude analysis of four-body decays using a massively-parallel fitting framework

The GooFit Framework is designed to perform maximum-likelihood fits for arbitrary functions on various parallel back ends, for example a GPU. We present an extension to GooFit which adds the functionality to perform time-dependent amplitude analyses of pseudoscalar mesons decaying into four pseudoscalar final states. Benchmarks of this functionality show a significant performance increase when utilizing a GPU compared to a CPU. Furthermore, this extension is employed to study the sensitivity on the $D^0 - \bar{D}^0$ mixing parameters $x$ and $y$ in a time-dependent amplitude analysis of the decay $D^0 \rightarrow K^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$. Studying a sample of 50 000 events and setting the central values to the world average of $x = (0.49 \pm0.15) \%$ and $y = (0.61 \pm0.08) \%$, the statistical sensitivities of $x$ and $y$ are determined to be $\sigma(x) = 0.019 \%$ and $\sigma(y) = 0.019 \%$.Comment: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics, CHEP 201

From finite nuclei to the nuclear liquid drop: leptodermous expansion based on the self-consistent mean-field theory

The parameters of the nuclear liquid drop model, such as the volume, surface, symmetry, and curvature constants, as well as bulk radii, are extracted from the non-relativistic and relativistic energy density functionals used in microscopic calculations for finite nuclei. The microscopic liquid drop energy, obtained self-consistently for a large sample of finite, spherical nuclei, has been expanded in terms of powers of A^{-1/3} (or inverse nuclear radius) and the isospin excess (or neutron-to-proton asymmetry). In order to perform a reliable extrapolation in the inverse radius, the calculations have been carried out for nuclei with huge numbers of nucleons, of the order of 10^6. The Coulomb interaction has been ignored to be able to approach nuclei of arbitrary sizes and to avoid radial instabilities characteristic of systems with very large atomic numbers. The main contribution to the fluctuating part of the binding energy has been removed using the Green's function method to calculate the shell correction. The limitations of applying the leptodermous expansion to actual nuclei are discussed. While the leading terms in the macroscopic energy expansion can be extracted very precisely, the higher-order, isospin-dependent terms are prone to large uncertainties due to finite-size effects.Comment: 13 pages revtex4, 7 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Einstellung zum Alkoholkonsum und Motivation zur Veränderung des Trinkverhaltens bei Schwangeren- Eine Validierung des Transtheoretischen Modells der Verhaltensänderung

Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Motivation von schwangeren Frauen zum Alkoholverzicht zu untersuchen. Ebenso sollte die Anwendbarkeit des Transtheoretischen Modells der Verhaltensänderung auf das Problemverhalten des Alkoholkonsums in der Schwangerschaft überprüft werden. Weitere Fragestellungen befassten sich mit dem Vergleich des Alkoholkonsums von Frauen, die sich in Familienstand, Ausbildungsstand und Rauchverhalten unterschieden. Es handelt sich um eine Querschnittstudie, in der Frauen aus 5 gynäkologischen Arztpraxen während eines Besuches bei ihrem Gynäkologen ein Fragebogen vorgelegt wurde. Insgesamt 256 Schwangere zwischen der 3. und 40. Schwangerschaftswoche nahmen an der Befragung teil. Ihr Alter betrug im Durchschnitt 29,9 Jahre (SD 5,6). Erstgebärende waren 145 Frauen, weitere 79 Frauen waren in ihrer zweiten Schwangerschaft und nur wenige Teilnehmerinnen waren in ihrer dritten, vierten oder fünften Schwangerschaft. 1. Die Dimensionalität der Konstrukte des TTM, wie sie in vorhergehenden Untersuchungen gefunden wurde, kann im Wesentlichen bestätigt werden. 2. Die Gütekriterien der zur Operationalisierung der Konstrukte verwendeten Skalen sind befriedigend. 3. Einen Alkoholkonsum während der Schwangerschaft geben 44 % aller Teilnehmerinnen an. Der durchschnittliche Alkoholkonsum beträgt 0,5 (SD = 0,95) alkoholischen Getränke bei einem Anlass während der letzten 30 Tage, wobei ein Maximalwert von 5 Getränken bei einem Anlass berichtet wird. Auf die Frage nach der Anzahl der Tage, an denen während der letzten 10 Tage ein alkoholisches Getränk getrunken wurde, geben die Teilnehmerinnen einen Mittelwert von 1,3 (SD = 0,63) Tagen an, das Maximum beträgt 5 Tage. Zur Frage nach der Anzahl der Anlässe, an denen seit Beginn der Schwangerschaft ein alkoholisches Getränk getrunken wurde, zeigt sich ein Mittelwert von 2,1 (SD = 1,7) Anlässen mit einem Maximalwert von mehr als 20 Anlässen. Sechs Frauen geben einen maximalen Alkoholkonsum von 4 oder mehr Getränken bei einem Anlass an. 4. Es zeigt sich ein signifikant höherer Alkoholkonsum bei unverheirateten Schwangeren im Vergleich zu Verheirateten. 5. Einen signifikant höheren Alkoholkonsum geben Frauen mit Universitätsabschluss und Frauen in Führungspositionen an. 6. Raucherinnen trinken während der Schwangerschaft nicht mehr Alkohol als Nichtraucherinnen

Arithmetic Spacetime Geometry from String Theory

An arithmetic framework to string compactification is described. The approach is exemplified by formulating a strategy that allows to construct geometric compactifications from exactly solvable theories at $c=3$. It is shown that the conformal field theoretic characters can be derived from the geometry of spacetime, and that the geometry is uniquely determined by the two-dimensional field theory on the world sheet. The modular forms that appear in these constructions admit complex multiplication, and allow an interpretation as generalized McKay-Thompson series associated to the Mathieu and Conway groups. This leads to a string motivated notion of arithmetic moonshine.Comment: 36 page

A Structure Function Model Recovers the Many Formulations for Air-Water Gas Transfer Velocity

Two ideas regarding the structure of turbulence near a clear air-water interface are used to derive a waterside gas transfer velocity k(L) for sparingly and slightly soluble gases. The first is that k(L) is proportional to the turnover velocity described by the vertical velocity structure function D-ww(r), where r is separation distance between two points. The second is that the scalar exchange between the air-water interface and the waterside turbulence can be suitably described by a length scale proportional to the Batchelor scale l(B) = Sc-1/2, where Sc is the molecular Schmidt number and eta is the Kolmogorov microscale defining the smallest scale of turbulent eddies impacted by fluid viscosity. Using an approximate solution to the von Karman-Howarth equation predicting D-ww(r) in the inertial and viscous regimes, prior formulations for k(L) are recovered including (i) kL = root 2/15Sc(-1/2)v(K), v(K) is the Kolmogorov velocity defined by the Reynolds number v(K)eta/nu = 1 and nu is the kinematic viscosity of water; (ii) surface divergence formulations; (iii) k(L) alpha Sc(-1/2)u(*), where u(*) is the waterside friction velocity; (iv) k(L) alpha Sc-1/2 root g nu/u(*) for Keulegan numbers exceeding a threshold needed for long-wave generation, where the proportionality constant varies with wave age, g is the gravitational acceleration; and (v) k(L) = root 2/15Sc(-1/2) (nu g beta(o)q(o))(1/4) in free convection, where q(o) is the surface heat flux and beta(o) is the thermal expansion of water. The work demonstrates that the aforementioned k(L) formulations can be recovered from a single structure function model derived for locally homogeneous and isotropic turbulence.Peer reviewe

Nuclear Shape Fluctuations in Fermi-Liquid Drop Model

Within the nuclear Fermi-liquid drop model, quantum and thermal fluctuations are considered by use of the Landau-Vlasov-Langevin equation. The spectral correlation function of the nuclear surface fluctuations is evaluated in a simple model of an incompressible and irrotational Fermi liquid. The dependence of the spectral correlation function on the dynamical Fermi-surface distortion is established. The temperature at which the eigenvibrations become overdamped is calculated. It is shown that, for realistic values of the relaxation time parameter and in the high temperature regime, there is a particular eigenmode of the Fermi liquid drop where the restoring force is exclusively due to the dynamical Fermi-surface distortion.Comment: 23 pages, revtex, file and 3 figures, accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Eutactic quantum codes

We consider sets of quantum observables corresponding to eutactic stars. Eutactic stars are systems of vectors which are the lower dimensional ``shadow'' image, the orthogonal view, of higher dimensional orthonormal bases. Although these vector systems are not comeasurable, they represent redundant coordinate bases with remarkable properties. One application is quantum secret sharing.Comment: 6 page