1,329 research outputs found
Background field method at finite temperature and density
In this letter we make use of the Background Field Method (BFM) to compute
the effective potential of an SU(2) gauge field theory, in the presence of
chemical potential and temperature. The main idea is to consider the chemical
potential as the background field. The gauge fixing condition required by the
BFM turns out to be exactly the one we found in a previous article in a
different context.Comment: 6 pages, no figure
NN coupling and two-pion photoproduction on the nucleon
Effects of non-resonant photoproductions arising from two different
couplings are investigated in the reaction. We find that
the pseudoscalar (PS) coupling is generally preferable to the
pseudovector (PV) coupling and particularly the total cross sections
are successfully described by the model with the PS coupling. In order
to see the difference between the two couplings, we also show the results of
invariant mass spectra and helicity-dependent cross sections in various isospin
channels calculated with the PS and PV couplings.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, minor changes and version to be published in
Phys.Rev.
Predicting Neutron Production from Cosmic-ray Muons
Fast neutrons from cosmic-ray muons are an important background to
underground low energy experiments. The estimate of such background is often
hampered by the difficulty of measuring and calculating neutron production with
sufficient accuracy. Indeed substantial disagreement exists between the
different analytical calculations performed so far, while data reported by
different experiments is not always consistent. We discuss a new unified
approach to estimate the neutron yield, the energy spectrum, the multiplicity
and the angular distribution from cosmic muons using the Monte Carlo simulation
package FLUKA and show that it gives a good description of most of the existing
measurements once the appropriate corrections have been applied.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Thickness Estimation of Epitaxial Graphene on SiC using Attenuation of Substrate Raman Intensity
A simple, non-invasive method using Raman spectroscopy for the estimation of
the thickness of graphene layers grown epitaxially on silicon carbide (SiC) is
presented, enabling simultaneous determination of thickness, grain size and
disorder using the spectra. The attenuation of the substrate Raman signal due
to the graphene overlayer is found to be dependent on the graphene film
thickness deduced from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission
electron microscopy of the surfaces. We explain this dependence using an
absorbing overlayer model. This method can be used for mapping graphene
thickness over a region and is capable of estimating thickness of multilayer
graphene films beyond that possible by XPS and Auger electron spectroscopy
(AES).Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
B-blockers, calcium antagonists, and mortality in stable coronary artery disease: An international cohort study
Aims:
The effect of first-line antianginal agents, β-blockers, and calcium antagonists on clinical outcomes in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) remains uncertain.
Methods and results
We analysed the use of β-blockers or calcium antagonists (baseline and annually) and outcomes in 22 006 stable CAD patients (enrolled 2009–2010) followed annually to 5 years, in the CLARIFY registry (45 countries). Primary outcome was all-cause death. Secondary outcomes were cardiovascular death and the composite of cardiovascular death/non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI). After multivariable adjustment, baseline β-blocker use was not associated with lower all-cause death [1345 (7.8%) in users vs. 407 (8.4%) in non-users; hazard ratio (HR) 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84–1.06; P = 0.30]; cardiovascular death [861 (5.0%) vs. 262 (5.4%); HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.79–1.05; P = 0.20]; or cardiovascular death/non-fatal MI [1272 (7.4%) vs. 340 (7.0%); HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.91–1.16; P = 0.66]. Sensitivity analyses according to β-blocker use over time and to prescribed dose produced similar results. Among prior MI patients, for those enrolled in the year following MI, baseline β-blocker use was associated with lower all-cause death [205 (7.0%) vs. 59 (10.3%); HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.50–0.91; P = 0.01]; cardiovascular death [132 (4.5%) vs. 49 (8.5%); HR 0.52, 95% CI 0.37–0.73; P = 0.0001]; and cardiovascular death/non-fatal MI [212 (7.2%) vs. 59 (10.3%); HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.52–0.93; P = 0.01]. Calcium antagonists were not associated with any difference in mortality.
Conclusion
In this contemporary cohort of stable CAD, β-blocker use was associated with lower 5-year mortality only in patients enrolled in the year following MI. Use of calcium antagonists was not associated with superior mortality, regardless of history of MI
Charge asymmetry ratio as a probe of quark flavour couplings of resonant particles at the LHC
We show how a precise knowledge of parton distribution functions, in
particular those of the u and d quarks, can be used to constrain a certain
class of New Physics models in which new heavy charged resonances couple to
quarks and leptons. We illustrate the method by considering a left-right
symmetric model with a W' from a SU(2)_R gauge sector produced in
quark-antiquark annihilation and decaying into a charged lepton and a heavy
Majorana neutrino. We discuss a number of quark and lepton mixing scenarios,
and simulate both signals and backgrounds in order to determine the size of the
expected charge asymmetry. We show that various quark-W' mixing scenarios can
indeed be constrained by charge asymmetry measurements at the LHC, particularly
at 14 TeV centre of mass energy.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Guidelines for training in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)
These "Guidelines for training in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance" were developed by the Certification Committee of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and approved by the SCMR Board of Trustees
BF models, Duality and Bosonization on higher genus surfaces
The generating functional of two dimensional field theories coupled to
fermionic fields and conserved currents is computed in the general case when
the base manifold is a genus g compact Riemann surface. The lagrangian density
is written in terms of a globally defined 1-form and a
multi-valued scalar field . Consistency conditions on the periods of
have to be imposed. It is shown that there exist a non-trivial dependence of
the generating functional on the topological restrictions imposed to . In
particular if the periods of the field are constrained to take values , with any integer, then the partition function is independent of the
chosen spin structure and may be written as a sum over all the spin structures
associated to the fermions even when one started with a fixed spin structure.
These results are then applied to the functional bosonization of fermionic
fields on higher genus surfaces. A bosonized form of the partition function
which takes care of the chosen spin structure is obtainedComment: 17 page
Linear Collider Test of a Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Mechanism in left-right Symmetric Theories
There are various diagrams leading to neutrinoless double beta decay in
left-right symmetric theories based on the gauge group SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R. All
can in principle be tested at a linear collider running in electron-electron
mode. We argue that the so-called lambda-diagram is the most promising one.
Taking the current limit on this diagram from double beta decay experiments, we
evaluate the relevant cross section e e to W_L W_R, where W_L is the Standard
Model W-boson and W_R the one from SU(2)_R. It is observable if the life-time
of double beta decay and the mass of the W_R are close to current limits. Beam
polarization effects and the high-energy behaviour of the cross section are
also analyzed.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. v2: minor changes, references added, to be
published in EPJ
Fluxoid dynamics in superconducting thin film rings
We have measured the dynamics of individual magnetic fluxoids entering and
leaving photolithographically patterned thin film rings of the underdoped
high-temperature superconductor BiSrCaCuO, using a
variable sample temperature scanning SQUID microscope. These results can be
qualitatively described using a model in which the fluxoid number changes by
thermally activated nucleation of a Pearl vortex in, and transport of the Pearl
vortex across, the ring wall.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, fixed typo
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