533 research outputs found
Avoided intersections of nodal lines
We consider real eigen-functions of the Schr\"odinger operator in 2-d. The
nodal lines of separable systems form a regular grid, and the number of nodal
crossings equals the number of nodal domains. In contrast, for wave functions
of non integrable systems nodal intersections are rare, and for random waves,
the expected number of intersections in any finite area vanishes. However,
nodal lines display characteristic avoided crossings which we study in the
present work. We define a measure for the avoidance range and compute its
distribution for the random waves ensemble. We show that the avoidance range
distribution of wave functions of chaotic systems follow the expected random
wave distributions, whereas for wave functions of classically integrable but
quantum non-separable wave functions, the distribution is quite different.
Thus, the study of the avoidance distribution provides more support to the
conjecture that nodal structures of chaotic systems are reproduced by the
predictions of the random waves ensemble.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
The unexpectedly short Holocene Humid Period in Northern Arabia
The early to middle Holocene Humid Period led to a greening of today's arid Saharo-Arabian desert belt. While this phase is well defined in North Africa and the Southern Arabian Peninsula, robust evidence from Northern Arabia is lacking. Here we fill this gap with unprecedented annually to sub-decadally resolved proxy data from Tayma, the only known varved lake sediments in Northern Arabia. Based on stable isotopes, micro-facies analyses and varve and radiocarbon dating, we distinguish five phases of lake development and show that the wet phase in Northern Arabia from 8800-7900 years BP is considerably shorter than the commonly defined Holocene Humid Period (similar to 11,000-5500 years BP). Moreover, we find a two century-long peak humidity at times when a centennial-scale dry anomaly around 8200 years BP interrupted the Holocene Humid Period in adjacent regions. The short humid phase possibly favoured Neolithic migrations into Northern Arabia representing a strong human response to environmental changes
PCB pollution continues to impact populations of orcas and other dolphins in European waters
Organochlorine (OC) pesticides and the more persistent polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have well-established dose-dependent toxicities to birds, fish and mammals in experimental studies, but the actual impact of OC pollutants on European marine top predators remains unknown. Here we show that several cetacean species have very high mean blubber PCB concentrations likely to cause population declines and suppress population recovery. In a large pan-European meta-analysis of stranded (nâ=â929) or biopsied (nâ=â152) cetaceans, three out of four species:- striped dolphins (SDs), bottlenose dolphins (BNDs) and killer whales (KWs) had mean PCB levels that markedly exceeded all known marine mammal PCB toxicity thresholds. Some locations (e.g. western Mediterranean Sea, south-west Iberian Peninsula) are global PCB "hotspots" for marine mammals. Blubber PCB concentrations initially declined following a mid-1980s EU ban, but have since stabilised in UK harbour porpoises and SDs in the western Mediterranean Sea. Some small or declining populations of BNDs and KWs in the NE Atlantic were associated with low recruitment, consistent with PCB-induced reproductive toxicity. Despite regulations and mitigation measures to reduce PCB pollution, their biomagnification in marine food webs continues to cause severe impacts among cetacean top predators in European seas
Light Vector Mesons in the Nuclear Medium
The light vector mesons (, , and ) were produced in
deuterium, carbon, titanium, and iron targets in a search for possible
in-medium modifications to the properties of the meson at normal nuclear
densities and zero temperature. The vector mesons were detected with the CEBAF
Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) via their decays to . The rare
leptonic decay was chosen to reduce final-state interactions. A combinatorial
background was subtracted from the invariant mass spectra using a
well-established event-mixing technique. The meson mass spectrum was
extracted after the and signals were removed in a nearly
model-independent way. Comparisons were made between the mass spectra
from the heavy targets () with the mass spectrum extracted from the
deuterium target. With respect to the -meson mass, we obtain a small
shift compatible with zero. Also, we measure widths consistent with standard
nuclear many-body effects such as collisional broadening and Fermi motion.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, 3 table
First measurement of coherent -meson photoproduction on deuteron at low energies
The cross section and decay angular distributions for the coherent \phi meson
photoproduction on the deuteron have been measured for the first time up to a
squared four-momentum transfer t =(p_{\gamma}-p_{\phi})^2 =-2 GeV^2/c^2, using
the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The
cross sections are compared with predictions from a re-scattering model. In a
framework of vector meson dominance, the data are consistent with the total
\phi-N cross section \sigma_{\phi N} at about 10 mb. If vector meson dominance
is violated, a larger \sigma_{\phi N} is possible by introducing larger t-slope
for the \phi N \to \phi N process than that for the \gamma N \to \phi N
process. The decay angular distributions of the \phi are consistent with
helicity conservation.Comment: 6 page
A Bayesian analysis of pentaquark signals from CLAS data
We examine the results of two measurements by the CLAS collaboration, one of
which claimed evidence for a pentaquark, whilst the other found no
such evidence. The unique feature of these two experiments was that they were
performed with the same experimental setup. Using a Bayesian analysis we find
that the results of the two experiments are in fact compatible with each other,
but that the first measurement did not contain sufficient information to
determine unambiguously the existence of a . Further, we suggest a
means by which the existence of a new candidate particle can be tested in a
rigorous manner.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Recommended from our members
Measurement of the underground atmospheric muon charge ratio using the MINOS Near Detector
The magnetized MINOS Near Detector, at a depth of 225 mwe, is used to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio. The ratio of observed positive to negative atmospheric muon rates, using 301 days of data, is measured to be 1.266±0.001(stat)_(-0.014)^(+0.015)(syst). This measurement is consistent with previous results from other shallow underground detectors and is 0.108±0.019(stat+syst) lower than the measurement at the functionally identical MINOS Far Detector at a depth of 2070 mwe. This increase in charge ratio as a function of depth is consistent with an increase in the fraction of muons arising from kaon decay for increasing muon surface energie
Photodisintegration of He into p+t
The two-body photodisintegration of He into a proton and a triton has
been studied using the CEBAF Large-Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson
Laboratory. Real photons produced with the Hall-B bremsstrahlung-tagging system
in the energy range from 0.35 to 1.55 GeV were incident on a liquid He
target. This is the first measurement of the photodisintegration of He
above 0.4 GeV. The differential cross sections for the He
reaction have been measured as a function of photon-beam energy and
proton-scattering angle, and are compared with the latest model calculations by
J.-M. Laget. At 0.6-1.2 GeV, our data are in good agreement only with the
calculations that include three-body mechanisms, thus confirming their
importance. These results reinforce the conclusion of our previous study of the
three-body breakup of He that demonstrated the great importance of
three-body mechanisms in the energy region 0.5-0.8 GeV .Comment: 13 pages submitted in one tgz file containing 2 tex file and 22
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