2,754 research outputs found
Velocity in Lorentz-Violating Fermion Theories
We consider the role of the velocity in Lorentz-violating fermionic quantum
theory, especially emphasizing the nonrelativistic regime. Information about
the velocity will be important for the kinematical analysis of scattering and
other problems. Working within the minimal standard model extension, we derive
new expressions for the velocity. We find that generic momentum and spin
eigenstates may not have well-defined velocities. We also demonstrate how
several different techniques may be used to shed light on different aspects of
the problem. A relativistic operator analysis allows us to study the behavior
of the Lorentz-violating Zitterbewegung. Alternatively, by studying the time
evolution of Gaussian wave packets, we find that there are Lorentz-violating
modifications to the wave packet spreading and the spin structure of the wave
function.Comment: 24 page
Timing strains of the marine insect Clunio marinus diverged and persist with gene flow
Genetic divergence of populations in the presence of gene flow is a central theme in speciation research. Theory predicts that divergence can happen with full range overlap – in sympatry – driven by ecological factors, but there are few empirical examples of how ecologically divergent selection can overcome gene flow and lead to reproductive isolation. In the marine midge Clunio marinus (Diptera: Chironomidae) reproduction is ecologically restricted to the time of the lowest tides, which is ensured through accurate control of development and adult emergence by circalunar and circadian clocks. As tidal regimes differ along the coastline, locally adapted timing strains of C. marinus are found in different sites across Europe. At the same time, ecologically suitable low tides occur at both full and new moon and twice a day, providing C. marinus with four non-overlapping temporal niches at every geographic location. Along the coast of Brittany, which is characterized by a steep gradient in timing of the tides, we found an unusually large number of differentially adapted timing strains, and the first known instances of sympatric C. marinus strains occupying divergent temporal niches. Analysis of mitochondrial genotypes suggests that these timing strains originated from a single recent colonization event. Nuclear genotypes show strong gene flow, sympatric timing strains being the least differentiated. Even when sympatric strains exist in non-overlapping temporal niches, timing adaptations do not result in genome-wide genetic divergence, suggesting timing adaptations are maintained by permanent ecological selection. This constitutes a model case for incipient ecological divergence with gene flow
Arterial Stiffness and Wave Reflections Predict Postural Sway in Young Adults
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Movers and shakers: Granular damping in microgravity
The response of an oscillating granular damper to an initial perturbation is
studied using experiments performed in microgravity and granular dynamics
mulations. High-speed video and image processing techniques are used to extract
experimental data. An inelastic hard sphere model is developed to perform
simulations and the results are in excellent agreement with the experiments.
The granular damper behaves like a frictional damper and a linear decay of the
amplitude is bserved. This is true even for the simulation model, where
friction forces are absent. A simple expression is developed which predicts the
optimal damping conditions for a given amplitude and is independent of the
oscillation frequency and particle inelasticities.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Isotopic variation of parity violation in atomic ytterbium
We report on measurements of atomic parity violation, made on a chain of
ytterbium isotopes with mass numbers A=170, 172, 174, and 176. In the
experiment, we optically excite the 6s2 1S0 -> 5d6s 3D1 transition in a region
of crossed electric and magnetic fields, and observe the interference between
the Stark- and weak-interaction-induced transition amplitudes, by making field
reversals that change the handedness of the coordinate system. This allows us
to determine the ratio of the weak-interaction-induced electric-dipole (E1)
transition moment and the Stark-induced E1 moment. Our measurements, which are
at the 0.5% level of accuracy for three of the four isotopes measured, allow a
definitive observation of the isotopic variation of the weak-interaction
effects in an atom, which is found to be consistent with the prediction of the
Standard Model. In addition, our measurements provide information about an
additional Z' boson.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Bound on Lorentz- and CPT-Violating Boost Effects for the Neutron
A search for an annual variation of a daily sidereal modulation of the
frequency difference between co-located Xe and He Zeeman
masers sets a stringent limit on boost-dependent Lorentz and CPT violation
involving the neutron, consistent with no effect at the level of 150 nHz. In
the framework of the general Standard-Model Extension, the present result
provides the first clean test for the fermion sector of the symmetry of
spacetime under boost transformations at a level of GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
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