Proton Drip-Line Calculations and the Rp-process

One-proton and two-proton separation energies are calculated for proton-rich nuclei in the region $A=41-75$. The method is based on Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations of Coulomb displacement energies of mirror nuclei in combination with the experimental masses of the neutron-rich nuclei. The implications for the proton drip line and the astrophysical rp-process are discussed. This is done within the framework of a detailed analysis of the sensitivity of rp process calculations in type I X-ray burst models on nuclear masses. We find that the remaining mass uncertainties, in particular for some nuclei with $N=Z$, still lead to large uncertainties in calculations of X-ray burst light curves. Further experimental or theoretical improvements of nuclear mass data are necessary before observed X-ray burst light curves can be used to obtain quantitative constraints on ignition conditions and neutron star properties. We identify a list of nuclei for which improved mass data would be most important.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

Controlled growth of hexagonal gold nanostructures during thermally induced self-assembling on Ge(001) surface

Nano-sized gold has become an important material in various fields of science and technology, where control over the size and crystallography is desired to tailor the functionality. Gold crystallizes in the face-centered cubic (fcc) phase, and its hexagonal closed packed (hcp) structure is a very unusual and rare phase. Stable Au hcp phase has been reported to form in nanoparticles at the tips of some Ge nanowires. It has also recently been synthesized in the form of thin graphene-supported sheets which are unstable under electron beam irradiation. Here, we show that stable hcp Au 3D nanostructures with well-defined crystallographic orientation and size can be systematically created in a process of thermally induced self-assembly of thin Au layer on Ge(001) monocrystal. The Au hcp crystallite is present in each Au nanostructure and has been characterized by different electron microscopy techniques. We report that a careful heat treatment above the eutectic melting temperature and a controlled cooling is required to form the hcp phase of Au on a Ge single crystal. This new method gives scientific prospects to obtain stable Au hcp phase for future applications in a rather simple manner as well as redefine the phase diagram of Gold with Germanium

On Unbounded Composition Operators in L2L^2-Spaces

Fundamental properties of unbounded composition operators in $L^2$-spaces are studied. Characterizations of normal and quasinormal composition operators are provided. Formally normal composition operators are shown to be normal. Composition operators generating Stieltjes moment sequences are completely characterized. The unbounded counterparts of the celebrated Lambert's characterizations of subnormality of bounded composition operators are shown to be false. Various illustrative examples are supplied

\b{eta}-delayed three-proton decay of 31Ar

The beta decay of 31Ar, produced by fragmentation of a 36Ar beam at 880 MeV/nucleon, was investigated. Identified ions of 31Ar were stopped in a gaseous time projection chamber with optical readout allowing to record decay events with emission of protons. In addition to \b{eta}-delayed emission of one and two protons we have clearly observed the beta-delayed three-proton branch. The branching ratio for this channel in 31Ar is found to be 0.07(2)%.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Rev.

Searching for ß-delayed protons from 11 Be

ISOLDE Workshop and Usersmeeting. Wednesday 05 December - Friday 07 December 2018 .CERN ( ISOLDE User Support. PH Departmen - CERN/CH-1211 Geneve 23). --.https://indico.cern.ch/event/736872/contributions

Active target TPC for study of photonuclear reactions at astrophysical energies

A setup designed to study photonuclear reactions at astrophysical energies - an active target Time Projection Chamber was developed and constructed at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. The device was successfully employed in two experiments at the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, in which {\gamma}- and neutron-induced reactions with CO2 gas target were measured. The reaction products were detected and their momenta reconstructed. Preliminary results are shown.Comment: Presented at Zakopane Conference on Nuclear Physics 202

Silencing hepatic MCJ attenuates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by increasing mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered the next major health epidemic with an estimated 25% worldwide prevalence. No drugs have yet been approved and NAFLD remains a major unmet need. Here, we identify MCJ (Methylation-Controlled J protein) as a target for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an advanced phase of NAFLD. MCJ is an endogenous negative regulator of the respiratory chain Complex I that acts to restrain mitochondrial respiration. We show that therapeutic targeting of MCJ in the liver with nanoparticle- and GalNAc-formulated siRNA efficiently reduces liver lipid accumulation and fibrosis in multiple NASH mouse models. Decreasing MCJ expression enhances the capacity of hepatocytes to mediate beta -oxidation of fatty acids and minimizes lipid accumulation, which results in reduced hepatocyte damage and fibrosis. Moreover, MCJ levels in the liver of NAFLD patients are elevated relative to healthy subjects. Thus, inhibition of MCJ emerges as an alternative approach to treat NAFLD. Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) disease causes degeneration of the liver, affects about 25% of people globally, and has no approved treatment. Here, the authors show that the therapeutic siRNA-driven silencing of MCJ in the liver is an effective and safe treatment for NAFLD in multiple mouse models.We thank Douglas Taatjes and Nicole Bouffard for help with confocal microscopy analysis (Microscopy Imaging Center) at the University of Vermont. We also thank the University of Vermont Medical Center's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Histology and Clinical Laboratories for assistance with liver section staining and AST/ALT measurement, respectively. This work was supported by NIH STTR R41DK112429 (M.R.), NIH PO GM103496 (M.R.), Mitotherapeutix LLC (M.R., K.F, and M.L.M.-C.), MINECO/Feder SAF2015-65327-R and RTI2018-096494-B-100 (J.A.), MINECO/Feder SAF2017-87301-R (M.L.M-C.), BIOEF (M.L.M.-C.), EITB Maratoia BIO15/CA/014 (M.L.M-C), BBVA (M.L.M.-C.), La Caixa Foundation (M.L.M.-C.), Basque Country Health Department 2013111114 (M.L.M-C), MINECO/Feder SAF2015-64352-R (P.A.) and MINECO-Feder RTI2018-095134-B-100 (P.A.). ISCIII-Feder PI17/00535 (C.G.-M.), ISCIII-Feder CP14/00181, and PI16/00823 (A.G-R.), and Francisco Cobos Foundation (A.G.-R.). CIC bioGUNE is the recipient of a Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation (SEV-2016-0644) by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV