5,355 research outputs found
Photodetachment study of the 1s3s4s ^4S resonance in He^-
A Feshbach resonance associated with the 1s3s4s ^{4}S state of He^{-} has
been observed in the He(1s2s ^{3}S) + e^- (\epsilon s) partial photodetachment
cross section. The residual He(1s2s ^{3}S) atoms were resonantly ionized and
the resulting He^+ ions were detected in the presence of a small background. A
collinear laser-ion beam apparatus was used to attain both high resolution and
sensitivity. We measured a resonance energy E_r = 2.959 255(7) eV and a width
\Gamma = 0.19(3) meV, in agreement with a recent calculation.Comment: LaTeX article, 4 pages, 3 figures, 21 reference
Decay modes of 250No
The Fragment Mass Analyzer at the ATLAS facility has been used to
unambiguously identify the mass number associated with different decay modes of
the nobelium isotopes produced via 204Pb(48Ca,xn)(252-x)No reactions.
Isotopically pure (>99.7%) 204Pb targets were used to reduce background from
more favored reactions on heavier lead isotopes. Two spontaneous fission
half-lives (t_1/2 = 3.7+1.1-0.8 us and 43+22-15 us) were deduced from a total
of 158 fission events. Both decays originate from 250No rather than from
neighboring isotopes as previously suggested. The longer activity most likely
corresponds to a K-isomer in this nucleus. No conclusive evidence for an alpha
branch was observed, resulting in upper limits of 2.1% for the shorter lifetime
and 3.4% for the longer activity.Comment: RevTex4, 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Measurement of the Absolute Differential Cross Section for np Elastic Scattering at 194 MeV
A tagged medium-energy neutron beam has been used in a precise measurement of
the absolute differential cross section for np back-scattering. The results
resolve significant discrepancies within the np database concerning the angular
dependence in this regime. The experiment has determined the absolute
normalization with 1.5% uncertainty, suitable to verify constraints of
supposedly comparable precision that arise from the rest of the database in
partial wave analyses. The analysis procedures, especially those associated
with evaluation of systematic errors in the experiment, are described in detail
so that systematic uncertainties may be included in a reasonable way in
subsequent partial wave analysis fits incorporating the present results.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, submitted for publication in Physical Review
Measurement of the Absolute np Scattering Differential Cross Section at 194 MeV
We describe a double-scattering experiment with a novel tagged neutron beam
to measure differential cross sections for np back-scattering to better than 2%
absolute precision. The measurement focuses on angles and energies where the
cross section magnitude and angle-dependence constrain the charged pion-nucleon
coupling constant, but existing data show serious discrepancies among
themselves and with energy-dependent partial wave analyses (PWA). The present
results are in good accord with the PWA, but deviate systematically from other
recent measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Determination of z~0.8 neutral hydrogen fluctuations using the 21 cm intensity mapping auto-correlation
The large-scale distribution of neutral hydrogen in the Universe will be
luminous through its 21 cm emission. Here, for the first time, we use the
auto-power spectrum of 21 cm intensity fluctuations to constrain neutral
hydrogen fluctuations at z~0.8. Our data were acquired with the Green Bank
Telescope and span the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1 over two fields totalling ~41
deg. sq. and 190 h of radio integration time. The dominant synchrotron
foregrounds exceed the signal by ~10^3, but have fewer degrees of freedom and
can be removed efficiently. Even in the presence of residual foregrounds, the
auto-power can still be interpreted as an upper bound on the 21 cm signal. Our
previous measurements of the cross-correlation of 21 cm intensity and the
WiggleZ galaxy survey provide a lower bound. Through a Bayesian treatment of
signal and foregrounds, we can combine both fields in auto- and cross-power
into a measurement of Omega_HI b_HI = [0.62^{+0.23}_{-0.15}] * 10^{-3} at 68%
confidence with 9% systematic calibration uncertainty, where Omega_HI is the
neutral hydrogen (HI) fraction and b_HI is the HI bias parameter. We describe
observational challenges with the present data set and plans to overcome them.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. v2 as published; MNRASL (2013
Spatial heterogeneity of habitat suitability for Rift Valley fever occurrence in Tanzania: an ecological niche modelling approach
Despite the long history of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in Tanzania, extent of its suitable habitat in the country remains unclear. In this study we investigated potential effects of temperature, precipitation, elevation, soil type, livestock density, rainfall pattern, proximity to wild animals, protected areas and forest on the habitat suitability for RVF occurrence in Tanzania. Presence-only records of 193 RVF outbreak locations from 1930 to 2007 together with potential predictor variables were used to model and map the suitable habitats for RVF occurrence using ecological niche modelling. Ground-truthing of the model outputs was conducted by comparing the levels of RVF virus specific antibodies in cattle, sheep and goats sampled from locations in Tanzania that presented different predicted habitat suitability values. Habitat suitability values for RVF occurrence were higher in the northern and central-eastern regions of Tanzania than the rest of the regions in the country. Soil type and precipitation of the wettest quarter contributed equally to habitat suitability (32.4% each), followed by livestock density (25.9%) and rainfall pattern (9.3%). Ground-truthing of model outputs revealed that the odds of an animal being seropositive for RVFV when sampled from areas predicted to be most suitable for RVF occurrence were twice the odds of an animal sampled from areas least suitable for RVF occurrence (95% CI: 1.43, 2.76, p < 0.001). The regions in the northern and central-eastern Tanzania were more suitable for RVF occurrence than the rest of the regions in the country. The modelled suitable habitat is characterised by impermeable soils, moderate precipitation in the wettest quarter, high livestock density and a bimodal rainfall pattern. The findings of this study should provide guidance for the design of appropriate RVF surveillance, prevention and control strategies which target areas with these characteristics
An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Variation of 4f Hybridization Across the La1-xCexIn3 Series
Crystal structures of a series of La1-xCexIn3 (x = 0.02, 0.2, 0.5, or 0.8)
intermetallic compounds have been investigated by both neutron and X-ray
diffraction, and their physical properties have been characterized by magnetic
susceptibility and specific heat measurements. Our results emphasize atypical
atomic displacement parameters (ADP) for the In and the rare-earth sites.
Depending on the x value, the In ADP presents either an "ellipsoidal"
elongation (La-rich compounds) or a "butterfly-like" distortion (Ce-rich
compounds). These deformations have been understood by theoretical techniques
based on the band theory and are the result of hybridization between conduction
electrons and 4f-electrons.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Towards an effective potential for the monomer, dimer, hexamer, solid and liquid forms of hydrogen fluoride
We present an attempt to build up a new two-body effective potential for
hydrogen fluoride, fitted to theoretical and experimental data relevant not
only to the gas and liquid phases, but also to the crystal. The model is simple
enough to be used in Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. The
potential consists of: a) an intra-molecular contribution, allowing for
variations of the molecular length, plus b) an inter-molecular part, with three
charged sites on each monomer and a Buckingham "exp-6" interaction between
fluorines. The model is able to reproduce a significant number of observables
on the monomer, dimer, hexamer, solid and liquid forms of HF. The shortcomings
of the model are pointed out and possible improvements are finally discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages, 2 figures. For related papers see also
http://www.chim.unifi.it:8080/~valle
Radio-to-UV monitoring of AO 0235+164 by the WEBT and Swift during the 2006--2007 outburst
The blazar AO 0235+164 was claimed to show a quasi-periodic behaviour in the
radio and optical bands. Moreover, an extra emission component contributing to
the UV and soft X-ray flux was detected, whose nature is not yet clear. A
predicted optical outburst was observed in late 2006/early 2007. We here
present the radio-to-optical WEBT light curves during the outburst, together
with UV data acquired by Swift in the same period. We found the optical
outburst to be as strong as the big outbursts of the past: starting from late
September 2006, a brightness increase of 5 mag led to the outburst peak in
February 19-21, 2007. We also observed an outburst at mm and then at cm
wavelengths, with an increasing time delay going toward lower frequencies
during the rising phase. Cross-correlation analysis indicates that the 1 mm and
37 GHz flux variations lagged behind the R-band ones by about 3 weeks and 2
months, respectively. These short time delays suggest that the corresponding
jet emitting regions are only slightly separated and/or misaligned. In
contrast, during the outburst decreasing phase the flux faded contemporaneously
at all cm wavelengths. This abrupt change in the emission behaviour may suggest
the presence of some shutdown mechanism of intrinsic or geometric nature. The
behaviour of the UV flux closely follows the optical and near-IR one. By
separating the synchrotron and extra component contributions to the UV flux, we
found that they correlate, which suggests that the two emissions have a common
origin.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, in press for Astronomy and Astrophysic
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