Physical parameters of three field RR Lyrae stars

This work was partially supported by DGAPA–Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico through project IN104612.Stromgren uvby - beta photometry of the stars classified as RR Lyrae stars RU Piscium, SS Piscium and TU Ursae Majoris has been used to estimate their iron abundance, temperature, gravity and absolute magnitude. The stability of the pulsating period is discussed. The nature of SS Psc as a RRc or a HADS is addressed. The reddening of each star is estimated from the Stromgren colour indices and reddening sky maps. The results of three approaches to the determination of [Fe/H], T-eff and log(g) are discussed: Fourier light curve decomposition, the Preston Delta S index and the theoretical grids on the (b - y)(o) - c(10) plane.Peer reviewe

Controlled generation of large volumes of atmospheric clouds in a ground-based environmental chamber

Atmospheric clouds were generated in a 23,000 cubic meter environmental chamber as the first step in a two part study on the effects of contaminants on cloud formation. The generation procedure was modeled on the terrestrial generation mechanism so that naturally occurring microphysics mechanisms were operative in the cloud generation process. Temperature, altitude, liquid water content, and convective updraft velocity could be selected independently over the range of terrestrially realizable clouds. To provide cloud stability, a cotton muslin cylinder 29.3 meters in diameter and 24.2 meters high was erected within the chamber and continuously wetted with water at precisely the same temperature as the cloud. The improved instrumentation which permitted fast, precise, and continual measurements of cloud temperature and liquid water content is described

Self-normalized processes: exponential inequalities, moment bounds and iterated logarithm laws

Self-normalized processes arise naturally in statistical applications. Being unit free, they are not affected by scale changes. Moreover, self-normalization often eliminates or weakens moment assumptions. In this paper we present several exponential and moment inequalities, particularly those related to laws of the iterated logarithm, for self-normalized random variables including martingales. Tail probability bounds are also derived. For random variables B_t>0 and A_t, let Y_t(\lambda)=\exp{\lambda A_t-\lambda ^2B_t^2/2}. We develop inequalities for the moments of A_t/B_{t} or sup_{t\geq 0}A_t/{B_t(\log \log B_{t})^{1/2}} and variants thereof, when EY_t(\lambda )\leq 1 or when Y_t(\lambda) is a supermartingale, for all \lambda belonging to some interval. Our results are valid for a wide class of random processes including continuous martingales with A_t=M_t and B_t=\sqrt _t, and sums of conditionally symmetric variables d_i with A_t=\sum_{i=1}^td_i and B_t=\sqrt\sum_{i=1}^td_i^2. A sharp maximal inequality for conditionally symmetric random variables and for continuous local martingales with values in R^m, m\ge 1, is also established. Another development in this paper is a bounded law of the iterated logarithm for general adapted sequences that are centered at certain truncated conditional expectations and self-normalized by the square root of the sum of squares. The key ingredient in this development is a new exponential supermartingale involving \sum_{i=1}^td_i and \sum_{i=1}^td_i^2.Comment: Published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org) in the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/00911790400000039

Determination of the ΔS=1\Delta S = 1 weak Hamiltonian in the SU(4) chiral limit through topological zero-mode wave functions

A new method to determine the low-energy couplings of the $\Delta S=1$ weak Hamiltonian is presented. It relies on a matching of the topological poles in $1/m^2$ of three-point correlators of two pseudoscalar densities and a four-fermion operator, measured in lattice QCD, to the same observables computed in the $\epsilon$-regime of chiral perturbation theory. We test this method in a theory with a light charm quark, i.e. with an SU(4) flavour symmetry. Quenched numerical measurements are performed in a 2 fm box, and chiral perturbation theory predictions are worked out up to next-to-leading order. The matching of the two sides allows to determine the weak low-energy couplings in the SU(4) limit. We compare the results with a previous determination, based on three-point correlators containing two left-handed currents, and discuss the merits and drawbacks of the two procedures.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figure

Weak low-energy couplings from topological zero-mode wavefunctions

We discuss a new method to determine the low-energy couplings of the $\Delta S=1$ weak Hamiltonian in the $\epsilon$-regime. It relies on a matching of the topological poles in $1/m^2$ of three-point functions of two pseudoscalar densities and a four-fermion operator computed in lattice QCD, to the same observables in the Chiral Effective Theory. We present the results of a NLO computation in chiral perturbation theory of these correlation functions together with some preliminary numerical results.Comment: 7 pages. Contribution to Lattice 200