3,431 research outputs found
Photon Physics in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC
Various pion and photon production mechanisms in high-energy nuclear
collisions at RHIC and LHC are discussed. Comparison with RHIC data is done
whenever possible. The prospect of using electromagnetic probes to characterize
quark-gluon plasma formation is assessed.Comment: Writeup of the working group "Photon Physics" for the CERN Yellow
Report on "Hard Probes in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC", 134 pages. One
figure added in chapter 5 (comparison with PHENIX data). Some figures and
correponding text corrected in chapter 6 (off-chemical equilibrium thermal
photon rates). Some figures modified in chapter 7 (off-chemical equilibrium
photon rates) and comparison with PHENIX data adde
How unique is the Asymptotic Normalisation Coefficient (ANC) method?
The asymptotic normalisation coefficients (ANC) for the vertex B
Be + p is deduced from a set of different proton transfer reactions at
different energies. This set should ensure the peripheral character of the
reaction and availability of data for the elastic channels. The problems
associated with the characteristics of the data and the analysis are discussed.
For a subgroup of the set of available data, the uniqueness property of the
extracted ANC is fulfilled. However, more measurements are needed before a
definite conclusion can be drawn.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Phys Rev
Origin of anomalously long interatomic distances in suspended gold chains
The discovery of long bonds in gold atom chains has represented a challenge
for physical interpretation. In fact, interatomic distances frequently attain
3.0-3.6 A values and, distances as large as 5.0 A may be seldom observed. Here,
we studied gold chains by transmission electron microscopy and performed
theoretical calculations using cluster ab initio density functional formalism.
We show that the insertion of two carbon atoms is required to account for the
longest bonds, while distances above 3 A may be due to a mixture of clean and
one C atom contaminated bonds.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures, to be published in Physical Review
Letter
Stirring Strongly Coupled Plasma
We determine the energy it takes to move a test quark along a circle of
radius L with angular frequency w through the strongly coupled plasma of N=4
supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We find that for most values of L and w
the energy deposited by stirring the plasma in this way is governed either by
the drag force acting on a test quark moving through the plasma in a straight
line with speed v=Lw or by the energy radiated by a quark in circular motion in
the absence of any plasma, whichever is larger. There is a continuous crossover
from the drag-dominated regime to the radiation-dominated regime. In the
crossover regime we find evidence for significant destructive interference
between energy loss due to drag and that due to radiation as if in vacuum. The
rotating quark thus serves as a model system in which the relative strength of,
and interplay between, two different mechanisms of parton energy loss is
accessible via a controlled classical gravity calculation. We close by
speculating on the implications of our results for a quark that is moving
through the plasma in a straight line while decelerating, although in this case
the classical calculation breaks down at the same value of the deceleration at
which the radiation-dominated regime sets in.Comment: 27 pages LaTex, 5 figure
Jet hadrochemistry as a characteristics of jet quenching
Jets produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC are expected to be
strongly modified due to the interaction of the parton shower with the dense
QCD matter. Here, we point out that jet quenching can leave signatures not only
in the longitudinal and transverse jet energy and multiplicity distributions,
but also in the hadrochemical composition of the jet fragments. In particular,
we show that even in the absence of medium effects at or after hadronization,
the medium-modification of the parton shower can result in significant changes
in jet hadrochemistry. We discuss how jet hadrochemistry can be studied within
the high-multiplicity environment of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, LaTe
Evidence of the Generation of Isosaccharinic Acids and Their Subsequent Degradation by Local Microbial Consortia within Hyper-Alkaline Contaminated Soils, with Relevance to Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
The contamination of surface environments with hydroxide rich wastes leads to the formation of high pH (>11.0) soil profiles. One such site is a legacy lime works at Harpur Hill, Derbyshire where soil profile indicated in-situ pH values up to pH 12. Soil and porewater profiles around the site indicated clear evidence of the presence of the α and β stereoisomers of isosaccharinic acid (ISA) resulting from the anoxic, alkaline degradation of cellulosic material. ISAs are of particular interest with regards to the disposal of cellulosic materials contained within the intermediate level waste (ILW) inventory of the United Kingdom, where they may influence radionuclide mobility via complexation events occurring within a geological disposal facility (GDF) concept. The mixing of uncontaminated soils with the alkaline leachate of the site resulted in ISA generation, where the rate of generation in-situ is likely to be dependent upon the prevailing temperature of the soil. Microbial consortia present in the uncontaminated soil were capable of surviving conditions imposed by the alkaline leachate and demonstrated the ability to utilise ISAs as a carbon source. Leachate-contaminated soil was sub-cultured in a cellulose degradation product driven microcosm operating at pH 11, the consortia present were capable of the degradation of ISAs and the generation of methane from the resultant H2/CO2 produced from fermentation processes. Following microbial community analysis, fermentation processes appear to be predominated by Clostridia from the genus Alkaliphilus sp, with methanogenesis being attributed to Methanobacterium and Methanomassiliicoccus sp. The study is the first to identify the generation of ISA within an anthropogenic environment and advocates the notion that microbial activity within an ILW-GDF is likely to influence the impact of ISAs upon radionuclide migration
Culture dependent and independent analyses of 16S rRNA and ATP citrate lyase genes : a comparison of microbial communities from different black smoker chimneys on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Author Posting. © Springer, 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Extremophiles 12 (2008): 627-640, doi:10.1007/s00792-008-0167-5.The bacterial and archaeal communities of three deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems
located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR; Rainbow, Logatchev and Broken Spur) were
investigated using an integrated culture-dependent and independent approach.
Comparative molecular phylogenetic analyses, using the 16S rRNA gene and the deduced
amino acid sequences of the alpha and beta subunits of the ATP citrate lyase encoding
genes were carried out on natural microbial communities, on an enrichment culture
obtained from the Broken Spur chimney, and on novel chemolithoautotrophic bacteria
and reference strains originally isolated from several different deep-sea vents. Our data
showed that the three MAR hydrothermal vent chimneys investigated in this study host
very different microbial assemblages. The microbial community of the Rainbow chimney
was dominated by thermophilic, autotrophic, hydrogen-oxidizing, sulfur- and nitrate
reducing Epsilonproteobacteria related to the genus Caminibacter. The detection of
sequences related to sulfur-reducing bacteria and archaea (Archaeoglobus) indicated that
thermophilic sulfate reduction might also be occurring at this site. The Logatchev
bacterial community included several sequences related to mesophilic sulfur-oxidizing
bacteria, while the archaeal component of this chimney was dominated by sequences
related to the ANME-2 lineage, suggesting that anaerobic oxidation of methane may be
occurring at this site. Comparative analyses of the ATP citrate lyase encoding genes from
natural microbial communities suggested that Epsilonproteobacteria were the dominant
primary producers using the reverse TCA cycle (rTCA) at Rainbow, while Aquificales of
the genera Desulfurobacterium and Persephonella were prevalent in the Broken Spur
chimney.This research was supported by NSF grants MCB 04-56676 (C.V.), OCE 03-27353 (C.V.), MCB 04-56689 (S.M.S.), a grant from the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station to C.V., and a NIH Ph.D. Training
Program in Biotechnology Fellowship (NIH NIGMS 5 T32 GM08339) to J.V. M.H. was
supported through a postdoctoral scholarship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution
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