Strange Quark Mass from the Invariant Mass Distribution of Cabibbo-Suppressed Tau Decays

Quark mass corrections to the tau hadronic width play a significant role only for the strange quark, hence providing a method for determining its mass. The experimental input is the vector plus axial-vector strange spectral function derived from a complete study of tau decays into strange hadronic final states performed by ALEPH. New results on strange decay modes from other experiments are also incorporated. The present analysis determines the strange quark mass at the Mtau mass scale using moments of the spectral function. Justified theoretical constraints are applied to the nonperturbative components and careful attention is paid to the treatment of the perturbative expansions of the moments which exhibit convergence problems. The result obtained, m_s(Mtau^2) = (120 +- 11_exp +- 8_Vus +- 19_th) MeV = (120^+21_-26) MeV, is stable over the scale from Mtau down to about 1.4 GeV. Evolving this result to customary scales yields m_s(1 GeV^2) = (160^+28_-35) MeV and m_s(4 GeV^2) = (116^+20_-25) MeV.Comment: LaTex, 8 pages, 4 figures (EPS

Consistent two--dimensional chiral gravity

We study chiral induced gravity in the light-cone gauge and show that the theory is consistent for a particular choice of chiralities. The corresponding Kac--Moody central charge has no forbidden region of complex values. Generalized analysis of the critical exponents is given and their relation to the $SL(2,R)$ vacuum states is elucidated. All the parameters containing information about the theory can be traced back to the characteristics of the group of residual symmetry in the light--cone gauge.Comment: 38 pages, LateX, to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys.

A Submillimeter HCN Laser in IRC+10216

We report the detection of a strong submillimeter wavelength HCN laser line at a frequency near 805 GHz toward the carbon star IRC+10216. This line, the J=9-8 rotational transition within the (04(0)0) vibrationally excited state, is one of a series of HCN laser lines that were first detected in the laboratory in the early days of laser spectroscopy. Since its lower energy level is 4200 K above the ground state, the laser emission must arise from the inner part of IRC+10216's circumstellar envelope. To better characterize this environment, we observed other, thermally emitting, vibrationally excited HCN lines and find that they, like the laser line, arise in a region of temperature approximately 1000 K that is located within the dust formation radius; this conclusion is supported by the linewidth of the laser. The (04(0)0), J=9-8 laser might be chemically pumped and may be the only known laser (or maser) that is excited both in the laboratory and in space by a similar mechanism.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Graphene Oxide Reduces the Hydrolytic Degradation in Polyamide-11

Graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated into polyamide-11 (PA11) via in-situ polymerization. The GO-PA11 nano-composite had elevated resistance to hydrolytic degradation. At a loading of 1 mg/g, GO to PA11, the accelerated aging equilibrium molecular weight of GO-PA11 was higher (33 and 34 kg/mol at 100 and 120 C, respectively) compared to neat PA11 (23 and 24 kg/mol at 100 and 120 C, respectively). Neat PA11 had hydrolysis rate constants (kH) of 2.8 and 12 ( 10(exp -2) day(exp -1)) when aged at 100 and 120 C, respectively, and re-polymerization rate constants (kP) of 5.0 and 23 ( 10(exp -5) day(exp -1)), respectively. The higher equilibrium molecular weight for GO-PA11 loaded at 1 mg/g was the result of a decreased kH, 1.8 and 4.5 ( 10(exp -2) day(exp -1)), and an increased kP, 10 and 17 ( 10(exp -5) day(exp -1)) compared with neat PA11 at 100 and 120 C, respectively. The decreased rate of degradation and resulting 40% increased equilibrium molecular weight of GO-PA11 was attributed to the highly asymmetric planar GO nano-sheets that inhibited the molecular mobility of water and the polymer chain. The crystallinity of the polymer matrix was similarly affected by a reduction in chain mobility during annealing due to the GO nanoparticles' chemistry and highly asymmetric nano-planar sheet structure

A novel integral representation for the Adler function

New integral representations for the Adler D-function and the R-ratio of the electron-positron annihilation into hadrons are derived in the general framework of the analytic approach to QCD. These representations capture the nonperturbative information encoded in the dispersion relation for the D-function, the effects due to the interrelation between spacelike and timelike domains, and the effects due to the nonvanishing pion mass. The latter plays a crucial role in this analysis, forcing the Adler function to vanish in the infrared limit. Within the developed approach the D-function is calculated by employing its perturbative approximation as the only additional input. The obtained result is found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental prediction for the Adler function in the entire range of momenta $0 \le Q^2 < \infty$.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

CP Violation in Hyperon Nonleptonic Decays within the Standard Model

We calculate the CP-violating asymmetries A(Lambda_-^0) and A(Xi_-^-) in nonleptonic hyperon decay within the Standard Model using the framework of heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory (chiPT). We identify those terms that correspond to previous calculations and discover several errors in the existing literature. We present a new result for the lowest-order (in chiPT) contribution of the penguin operator to these asymmetries, as well as an estimate for the uncertainty of our result that is based on the calculation of the leading nonanalytic corrections.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures; discussion clarified, results & conclusions unchanged, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Dpes massless QCD have vacuum energy?

It is widely thought that this question has a positive answer, but we argue that the support for this belief from both experiment and theory is weak or nonexistent. We then list some of the ramifications of a negative answer.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, version to appear in NJ