190 research outputs found
Conchoidal transform of two plane curves
The conchoid of a plane curve is constructed using a fixed circle in
the affine plane. We generalize the classical definition so that we obtain a
conchoid from any pair of curves and in the projective plane. We
present two definitions, one purely algebraic through resultants and a more
geometric one using an incidence correspondence in \PP^2 \times \PP^2. We
prove, among other things, that the conchoid of a generic curve of fixed degree
is irreducible, we determine its singularities and give a formula for its
degree and genus. In the final section we return to the classical case: for any
given curve we give a criterion for its conchoid to be irreducible and we
give a procedure to determine when a curve is the conchoid of another.Comment: 18 pages Revised version: slight title change, improved exposition,
fixed proof of Theorem 5.3 Accepted for publication in Appl. Algebra Eng.,
Commun. Comput
Decay Constants and Semileptonic Decays of Heavy Mesons in Relativistic Quark Model
We investigate the and mesons in the relativistic quark model by
applying the variational method with the Gaussian wave function. We calculate
the Fermi momentum parameter , and obtain
GeV, which is almost independent of the input parameters, , ,
and . We then calculate the ratio /, and obtain the
result which is larger, by the factor of about 1.3, than
given by the naive nonrelativistic analogy. This result is in a good agreement
with the recent Lattice calculations. We also calculate the ratio
/. In these calculations the wave function at
origin is essential. We also determine by comparing the
theoretical prediction of the ACCMM model with the lepton energy spectrum of from the recent ARGUS analysis, and find that
GeV, when we use GeV. However, this
experimentally determined value of is strongly dependent on the value
of input parameter .Comment: 15 pages (Latex) (uses epsfig.sty, 1 figure appended as a uuencoded
compressed ps-file
B(E1) Strengths from Coulomb Excitation of 11Be
The (E1;) strength for Be has been extracted from
intermediate energy Coulomb excitation measurements, over a range of beam
energies using a new reaction model, the extended continuum discretized coupled
channels (XCDCC) method. In addition, a measurement of the excitation cross
section for Be+Pb at 38.6 MeV/nucleon is reported. The (E1)
strength of 0.105(12) efm derived from this measurement is consistent
with those made previously at 60 and 64 MeV/nucleon, i n contrast to an
anomalously low result obtained at 43 MeV/nucleon. By coupling a
multi-configuration description of the projectile structure with realistic
reaction theory, the XCDCC model provides for the first time a fully quantum
mechanical description of Coulomb excitation. The XCDCC calculations reveal
that the excitation process involves significant contributions from nuclear,
continuum, and higher-order effects. An analysis of the present and two earlier
intermediate energy measurements yields a combined B(E1) strength of 0.105(7)
efm. This value is in good agreement with the value deduced
independently from the lifetime of the state in Be, and has a
comparable p recision.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.
Helium Clustering in Neutron-Rich Be Isotopes
Measurements of the helium-cluster breakup and neutron removal cross sections
for neutron-rich Be isotopes A=10-12,14 are presented. These have been studied
in the 30 to 42 MeV/u energy range where reaction measurements are proposed to
be sensitive to the cluster content of the ground-state wave-function. These
measurements provide a comprehensive survey of the decay processes of the Be
isotopes by which the valence neutrons are removed revealing the underlying
alpha-alpha core-cluster structure. The measurements indicate that clustering
in the Be isotopes remains important up to the drip-line nucleus 14^Be and that
the dominant helium-cluster structure in the neutron-rich Be isotopes
corresponds to alpha-Xn-alpha.Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables and 3 figure
Risk assessment for epidemic spread of the quarantined potato pathogen Synchytrium endobioticum in the Republic of Georgia
Synchytrium endobioticum (causal agent of potato wart) is a devastating soilborne pathogen. Eradication is difficult and infestation can result in 100% yield loss, making this a strictly quarantined pathogen worldwide. Emerging epidemics pose a high risk to production in Georgia where potato is an essential staple, grown primarily by smallholder farmers, and yields are among the world’s lowest. S. endobioticum was first reported in Georgia in 2014 in a localized outbreak in Adjara. Because pathogen dissemination is primarily via human transport of infested tubers, understanding the local potato seed system is critical. This study was the first to systematically characterize the actors involved in seed and ware potato production and trade in Georgia. To collect this information, an expert elicitation was conducted in 2017 across a broad range of participants from the Georgian potato production sector. We present a model of the current potato seed exchange network for the most important agroecological regions. We integrated network analysis in a risk assessment for S. endobioticum spread in Georgia under 1) no intervention, 2) quarantine, 3) introduction of host plant resistance, and 4) combined quarantine and resistance deployment. Preliminary analyses suggest that under no intervention, risk of spread is high, while rapid and consistent quarantine can be effective. Methods presented here provide a general framework for future seed system risk assessments
Lectures on conformal field theory and Kac-Moody algebras
This is an introduction to the basic ideas and to a few further selected
topics in conformal quantum field theory and in the theory of Kac-Moody
algebras.Comment: 59 pages, LaTeX2e, extended version of lectures given at the Graduate
Course on Conformal Field Theory and Integrable Models (Budapest, August
1996), to appear in Springer Lecture Notes in Physic
Fractional Quantum Hall Effect via Holography: Chern-Simons, Edge States, and Hierarchy
We present three holographic constructions of fractional quantum Hall effect
(FQHE) via string theory. The first model studies edge states in FQHE using
supersymmetric domain walls in N=6 Chern-Simons theory. We show that D4-branes
wrapped on CP^1 or D8-branes wrapped on CP^3 create edge states that shift the
rank or the level of the gauge group, respectively. These holographic edge
states correctly reproduce the Hall conductivity. The second model presents a
holographic dual to the pure U(N)_k (Yang-Mills-)Chern-Simons theory based on a
D3-D7 system. Its holography is equivalent to the level-rank duality, which
enables us to compute the Hall conductivity and the topological entanglement
entropy. The third model introduces the first string theory embedding of
hierarchical FQHEs, using IIA string on C^2/Z_n.Comment: 36 pages, 6 figures; v2: with an improved derivation of Hall
conductivity in section 3.2, typo corrections, and additional references; v3:
explanations and comments adde
Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons
We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of
leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark,
either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to
determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model,
the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and . These
parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they
have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract
precise values of and from measurements, however,
requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm
and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions
governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is
relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into
hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches,
especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing
insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international
effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics
during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in
the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of
contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at
http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p
Recurrent mutations in the U2AF1 splicing factor in myelodysplastic syndromes
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are hematopoietic stem cell disorders that often progress to chemotherapy-resistant secondary acute myeloid leukemia (sAML). We used whole-genome sequencing to perform an unbiased comprehensive screen to discover the somatic mutations in a sample from an individual with sAML and genotyped the loci containing these mutations in the matched MDS sample. Here we show that a missense mutation affecting the serine at codon 34 (Ser34) in U2AF1 was recurrently present in 13 out of 150 (8.7%) subjects with de novo MDS, and we found suggestive evidence of an increased risk of progression to sAML associated with this mutation. U2AF1 is a U2 auxiliary factor protein that recognizes the AG splice acceptor dinucleotide at the 3' end of introns, and the alterations in U2AF1 are located in highly conserved zinc fingers of this protein. Mutant U2AF1 promotes enhanced splicing and exon skipping in reporter assays in vitro. This previously unidentified, recurrent mutation in U2AF1 implicates altered pre-mRNA splicing as a potential mechanism for MDS pathogenesis
Study of the B^0 Semileptonic Decay Spectrum at the Upsilon(4S) Resonance
We have made a first measurement of the lepton momentum spectrum in a sample
of events enriched in neutral B's through a partial reconstruction of B0 -->
D*- l+ nu. This spectrum, measured with 2.38 fb**-1 of data collected at the
Upsilon(4S) resonance by the CLEO II detector, is compared directly to the
inclusive lepton spectrum from all Upsilon(4S) events in the same data set.
These two spectra are consistent with having the same shape above 1.5 GeV/c.
From the two spectra and two other CLEO measurements, we obtain the B0 and B+
semileptonic branching fractions, b0 and b+, their ratio, and the production
ratio f+-/f00 of B+ and B0 pairs at the Upsilon(4S). We report b+/b0=0.950
(+0.117-0.080) +- 0.091, b0 = (10.78 +- 0.60 +- 0.69)%, and b+ = (10.25 +- 0.57
+- 0.65)%. b+/b0 is equivalent to the ratio of charged to neutral B lifetimes,
tau+/tau0.Comment: 14 page, postscript file also available at
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
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