179 research outputs found
Effect of Platelet-activating Factor on in vitro and in vivo Interleukin-6 Production
The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible effect
of platelet-activating factor (PAF), by comparison with
interleukin-1ÎČ and polyriboinositic/polyribocytidylic (poly
IâC) acid, on IL-6 production by L 929 mouse fibroblasts. At
concentrations above 1 ÎŒM PAF, the production of IL-6 by mouse
fibroblasts was enhanced in a dose dependent fashion. At 5 ÎŒM
PAF, the peak increase (60.1 ± 19.4 U/ml) was similar to
that induced by 50 ÎŒg/ml poly IâC (60.0 ± 35.0
U/ml) and higher than the one evoked by 100 U/ml IL-1ÎČ
(3.8 ± 1.8 U/ml). The increase of 11-6 activity induced
by 5 ÎŒM PAF was maximal after a 22 h incubation period with L 929
cells. Lyso-PAF (5 ÎŒM) also increased IL-6 activity from
fibroblasts to a similar extent compared with 5 ÎŒM PAF. In
addition, the IL-6 activity induced by 5 ÎŒM PAF was still
observed when the specific PAF antagonist, BN 52021 (10 ÎŒM), was
added to the incubation medium of L 929 cells. The result suggests
that the production of IL-6 by L 929 cells evoked by PAF in
vitro is not receptor mediated. The in vivo
effect of PAF on IL-6 production was also investigated in the rat.
Two hours after intravenous injection of PAF (2 to 4 ÎŒg/kg),
a dramatic increase of IL-6 activity in rat serum was observed, this
effect being dose dependent. The increase of IL-6 induced by 3
ÎŒg/kg PAF was not observed when the animals were treated with
the PAF antagonist, BN 52021 (1 to 60 mg/kg0. These results
demonstrate that PAF modulates IL-6 production and that the in
vivo effect is receptor mediated
GRANIT project: a trap for gravitational quantum states of UCN
Previous studies of gravitationally bound states of ultracold neutrons showed
the quantization of energy levels, and confirmed quantum mechanical predictions
for the average size of the two lowest energy states wave functions.
Improvements in position-like measurements can increase the accuracy by an
order of magnitude only. We therefore develop another approach, consisting in
accurate measurements of the energy levels. The GRANIT experiment is devoted to
the study of resonant transitions between quantum states induced by an
oscillating perturbation.
According to Heisenberg's uncertainty relations, the accuracy of measurement
of the energy levels is limited by the time available to perform the
transitions. Thus, trapping quantum states will be necessary, and each source
of losses has to be controlled in order to maximize the lifetime of the states.
We discuss the general principles of transitions between quantum states, and
consider the main systematical losses of neutrons in a trap.Comment: presented in ISINN 15 seminar, Dubn
Minimal Length and the Quantum Bouncer: A Nonperturbative Study
We present the energy eigenvalues of a quantum bouncer in the framework of
the Generalized (Gravitational) Uncertainty Principle (GUP) via quantum
mechanical and semiclassical schemes. In this paper, we use two equivalent
nonperturbative representations of a deformed commutation relation in the form
[X,P]=i\hbar(1+\beta P^2) where \beta is the GUP parameter. The new
representation is formally self-adjoint and preserves the ordinary nature of
the position operator. We show that both representations result in the same
modified semiclassical energy spectrum and agrees well with the quantum
mechanical description.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Int. J. Theor. Phy
Revised experimental upper limit on the electric dipole moment of the neutron
We present for the first time a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the experimental results that set the current world sensitivity limit on the magnitude of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron. We have extended and enhanced our earlier analysis to include recent developments in the understanding of the effects of gravity in depolarizing ultracold neutrons; an improved calculation of the spectrum of the neutrons; and conservative estimates of other possible systematic errors, which are also shown to be consistent with more recent measurements undertaken with the apparatus. We obtain a net result of dn=â0.21±1.82Ă10â26ââeâcm, which may be interpreted as a slightly revised upper limit on the magnitude of the EDM of 3.0Ă10â26ââeâcm (90% C.L.) or 3.6Ă10â26ââeâcm (95% C.L.)
An Improved Search for the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment
A permanent electric dipole moment of fundamental spin-1/2 particles violates
both parity (P) and time re- versal (T) symmetry, and hence, also charge-parity
(CP) symmetry since there is no sign of CPT-violation. The search for a neutron
electric dipole moment (nEDM) probes CP violation within and beyond the Stan-
dard Model. The experiment, set up at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), an
improved, upgraded version of the apparatus which provided the current best
experimental limit, dn < 2.9E-26 ecm (90% C.L.), by the RAL/Sussex/ILL
collaboration: Baker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 131801 (2006). In the next
two years we aim to improve the sensitivity of the apparatus to sigma(dn) =
2.6E-27 ecm corresponding to an upper limit of dn < 5E-27 ecm (95% C.L.), in
case for a null result. In parallel the collaboration works on the design of a
new apparatus to further increase the sensitivity to sigma(dn) = 2.6E-28 ecm.Comment: APS Division for particles and fields, Conference Proceedings, Two
figure
Constraining interactions mediated by axion-like particles with ultracold neutrons
We report a new limit on a possible short range spin-dependent interaction
from the precise measurement of the ratio of Larmor precession frequencies of
stored ultracold neutrons and Hg atoms confined in the same volume. The
measurement was performed in a 1 T vertical magnetic holding field
with the apparatus searching for a permanent electric dipole moment of the
neutron at the Paul Scherrer Institute. A possible coupling between freely
precessing polarized neutron spins and unpolarized nucleons of the wall
material can be investigated by searching for a tiny change of the precession
frequencies of neutron and mercury spins. Such a frequency change can be
interpreted as a consequence of a short range spin-dependent interaction that
could possibly be mediated by axions or axion-like particles. The interaction
strength is proportional to the CP violating product of scalar and pseudoscalar
coupling constants . Our result confirms limits from complementary
experiments with spin-polarized nuclei in a model-independent way. Limits from
other neutron experiments are improved by up to two orders of magnitude in the
interaction range of m
Gravitational depolarization of ultracold neutrons: comparison with data
We compare the expected effects of so-called gravitationally enhanced depolarization of ultracold neutrons to measurements carried out in a spin-precession chamber exposed to a variety of vertical magnetic-field gradients. In particular, we have investigated the dependence upon these field gradients of spin-depolarization rates and also of shifts in the measured neutron Larmor precession frequency. We find excellent qualitative agreement, with gravitationally enhanced depolarization accounting for several previously unexplained features in the data
Measurement of the permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron
We present the result of an experiment to measure the electric dipole moment EDM) of the neutron at the Paul Scherrer Institute using Ramsey's method of separated oscillating magnetic fields with ultracold neutrons (UCN). Our measurement stands in the long history of EDM experiments probing physics violating time reversal invariance. The salient features of this experiment
were the use of a Hg-199 co-magnetometer and an array of optically pumped cesium vapor magnetometers to cancel and correct for magnetic field changes. The statistical analysis was performed on blinded datasets by two separate groups while the estimation of systematic effects profited from an
unprecedented knowledge of the magnetic field. The measured value of the neutron EDM is d_{\rm n} = (0.0\pm1.1_{\rm stat}\pm0.2_{\rmsys})\times10^{-26}e\,{\rm cm}
First observation of trapped high-field seeking ultracold neutron spin states
Ultracold neutrons were stored in a volume, using a magnetic dipole field shutter. Radial confinement was provided by material walls. Low-field seeking neutrons were axially confined above the magnetic field. High-field seeking neutrons are trapped inside the magnetic field. They can systematically shift the measured neutron lifetime to lower values in experiments with magnetic confinement
Testing isotropy of the universe using the Ramsey resonance technique on ultracold neutron spins
Physics at the Planck scale could be revealed by looking for tiny violations
of fundamental symmetries in low energy experiments. In 2008, a sensitive test
of the isotropy of the Universe using has been performed with stored ultracold
neutrons (UCN), this is the first clock-comparison experiment performed with
free neutrons. During several days we monitored the Larmor frequency of neutron
spins in a weak magnetic field using the Ramsey resonance technique. An
non-zero cosmic axial field, violating rotational symmetry, would induce a
daily variation of the precession frequency. Our null result constitutes one of
the most stringent tests of Lorentz invariance to date.Comment: proceedings of the PNCMI2010 conferenc
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