5,589 research outputs found
Relativistic three-body recombination with the QED vacuum
Electron-positron pair annihilation into a single photon is studied when a
second free electron is present. Focussing on the relativistic regime, we show
that the photon emitted in the three-lepton interaction may exhibit distinct
angular distributions and polarization properties. Moreover, the process can
dominate over two-photon annihilation in relativistic electron-positron plasmas
of few-MeV temperature. An analogy with three-body recombination of electrons
with ions is drawn.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
SAFT-γ force field for the simulation of molecular fluids: 4. A single-site coarse-grained model of water applicable over a wide temperature range
In this work, we develop coarse-grained (CG) force fields for water, where the effective CG intermolecular interactions between particles are estimated from an accurate description of the macroscopic experimental vapour-liquid equilibria data by means of a molecular-based equation of state. The statistical associating fluid theory for Mie (generalised Lennard-Jones) potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR Mie) is used to parameterise spherically symmetrical (isotropic) force fields for water. The resulting SAFT-γ CG models are based on the Mie (8-6) form with size and energy parameters that are temperature dependent; the latter dependence is a consequence of the angle averaging of the directional polar interactions present in water. At the simplest level of CG where a water molecule is represented as a single bead, it is well known that an isotropic potential cannot be used to accurately reproduce all of the thermodynamic properties of water simultaneously. In order to address this deficiency, we propose two CG potential models of water based on a faithful description of different target properties over a wide range of temperatures: our CGW1-vle model is parameterised to match the saturated-liquid density and vapour pressure; our other CGW1-ift model is parameterised to match the saturated-liquid density and vapour-liquid interfacial tension. A higher level of CG corresponding to two water molecules per CG bead is also considered: the corresponding CGW2-bio model is developed to reproduce the saturated-liquid density and vapour-liquid interfacial tension in the physiological temperature range, and is particularly suitable for the large-scale simulation of bio-molecular systems. A critical comparison of the phase equilibrium and transport properties of the proposed force fields is made with the more traditional atomistic models
Compton Scattered Transition Radiation from Very High Energy Particles
X-ray transition radiation can be used to measure the Lorentz factor of
relativistic particles. At energies approaching gamma = E/mc^2 = 10^5,
transition radiation detectors (TRDs) can be optimized by using thick (sim 5 -
10 mil) foils with large (5-10 mm) spacings. This implies X-ray energies >100
keV and the use of scintillators as the X-ray detectors. Compton scattering of
the X-rays out of the particle beam then becomes an important effect. We
discuss the design of very high energy detectors, the use of metal radiator
foils rather than the standard plastic foils, inorganic scintillators for
detecting Compton scattered transition radiation, and the application to the
ACCESS cosmic ray experiment.Comment: To be published, Astroparticle Physic
The D coefficient in neutron beta decay in effective field theory
In this paper we explore the time-reversal-odd triple-correlation coefficient
in neutron beta decay, the so-called "D coefficient", using heavy-baryon
effective field theory with photon degrees of freedom. We find that this
framework allows us to reproduce the known results for the contribution which
comes from final-state interactions, and also to discuss higher-order
corrections. In particular we are able to show that in the heavy-baryon limit
all electromagnetic contributions vanish. By calculating the leading correction
to the known result, we give a final expression which is accurate to better
than 1%. Hence we extend downwards the range over which the D coefficient could
be used to explore time-violation from new physics.Comment: 12c pages, 3 eps figures Version accepted for publication in Physics
Letters B; minor changes of wordin
Does particle decay cause wave function collapse: An experimental test
We describe an experimental test of whether particle decay causes wave
function collapse. The test uses interference between two well separated, but
coherent, sources of vector mesons. The short-lived mesons decay before their
wave functions can overlap, so any interference must involve identical final
states. Unlike previous tests of nonlocality, the interference involves
continuous variables, momentum and position. Interference can only occur if the
wave function retains amplitudes for all possible decays. The interference can
be studied through the transverse momentum spectrum of the reconstructed
mesons.Comment: Slightly revised version, to appear in Phys. Lett. A. 11 pgs.,
including 2 figure
A closer look into the microbiome of microalgal cultures
Although bacteria are commonly co-occurring in microalgal cultivation and production systems, little is known about their community structure and how it might be affected by specific microalgal groups or growth conditions. A better understanding about the underlying factors that determine the growth of specific bacterial populations is not only important for optimizing microalgal production processes, but also in the context of product quality when the algal biomass is to be used for future food or feed. We analyzed the bacterial community composition associated with nine microalgal strains in stock culture, maintained in two different growth media, to explore how specific taxonomic microalgal groups, microalgal origin, or the growth medium affect the bacterial community composition. Furthermore, we monitored the bacterial community composition for three Phaeodactylum strains during batch cultivation in bubble columns to examine if the bacterial composition alters during cultivation. Our results reveal that different microalgal genera, kept at the same cultivation conditions over many years, displayed separate and unique bacterial communities, and that different strains of the same genus had very similar bacterial community compositions, despite originating from different habitats. However, when maintained in a different growth medium, the bacterial composition changed for some. During batch cultivation, the bacterial community structure remained relatively stable for each Phaeodactylum strain. This indicates that microalgae seem to impact the development of the associated bacterial communities and that different microalgal genera could create distinct conditions that select for dominance of specific bacteria. However, other factors such as the composition of growth medium also affect the formation of the bacterial community structure.publishedVersio
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