Spin asymmetry and GDH sum rule for real and virtual photons for the deuteron

An explicit evaluation of the spin asymmetry of the deuteron and the associated GDH sum rule is presented which includes disintegration, single and double pion and eta production. For the GDH integral a large cancellation is found between the disintegration channel and the meson production channels. Furthermore, first results for the contribution of the disintegration channel to the generalized GDH integral at constant four-momentum transfer reveal a dominance of the isovector M1 transition to the $^1$S$_0$-state near threshold resulting in a negative contribution with a minimum around $Q^2\approx 0.2$ fm$^{-2}$ which is driven by the nucleon anomalous isovector magnetic moment.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, World Scientific style, invited talk at GDH 2004 Symposiu

Incoherent pion photoproduction on the deuteron with polarization observables I: Formal expressions

Formal expressions are developed for the general five-fold differential cross section of incoherent $\pi$-photoproduction on the deuteron including beam and target polarization. The polarization observables of the cross section are described by various beam, target and beam-target asymmetries for polarized photons and/or polarized deuterons. They are given as bilinear hermitean forms in the reaction matrix elements divided by the unpolarized cross section. In addition, the corresponding observables for the semi-exclusive reaction $\vec d(\vec \gamma,\pi)NN$ are also given.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Iron single crystal growth from a lithium-rich melt

\alpha-Fe single crystals of rhombic dodecahedral habit were grown from a melt of Li$_{84}$N$_{12}$Fe$_{\sim 3}$. Crystals of several millimeter along a side form at temperatures around $T \approx 800^\circ$C. Upon further cooling the growth competes with the formation of Fe-doped Li$_3$N. The b.c.c. structure and good sample quality of \alpha-Fe single crystals were confirmed by X-ray and electron diffraction as well as magnetization measurements and chemical analysis. A nitrogen concentration of 90\,ppm was detected by means of carrier gas hot extraction. Scanning electron microscopy did not reveal any sign of iron nitride precipitates.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Photoproduction of eta-mesons on the deuteron above S11(1535) in the presence of a narrow P11(1670) resonance

Incoherent photoproduction of eta-mesons on the deuteron is considered. The main attention is paid to the region above the S11(1535) resonance where rather narrow resonance like structure in the total cross section extracted for gamma n -> eta n has been reported. The corresponding experimental results are analyzed from the phenomenological standpoint within the model containing a baryon P11 with the mass about 1670 MeV and a width less than 30 MeV. This resonance was suggested in some recent works as a nonstrange member of the pentaquark antidecuplet with J^P=1/2^+. The calculation is also performed for the polarized and nonpolarized angular distributions of $\eta$ mesons. In addition, we present our predictions for the cross sections of the neutral kaons and double pion photoproduction, where the same narrow P11(1670) resonance is assumed to contribute through the decay into K^0 Lambda and pi Delta configuration.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Incoherent single pion electroproduction on the deuteron with polarization effects

Incoherent pion electroproduction on the deuteron is studied from threshold up to the second resonance region with special emphasis on the influence of final state interaction, in particular on polarization observables. The elementary $\gamma N\to\pi N$ amplitude is taken from the MAID-2003 model. Final state interaction is included by considering complete rescattering in the final $NN$ and $\pi N$ subsystems. Their influence on the structure functions governing the semi-exclusive differential cross section, where besides the scattered electron only the produced pion is detected, is investigated in detail. For charged pion-production the effect of $NN$-rescattering is moderate whereas $\pi N$-rescattering is almost negligible, except very close to threshold. $NN$-rescattering appears much stronger in neutral pion production for which the primary mechanism is the elimination of a significant spurious coherent contribution in the impulse approximation. Sizeable effects are also found in some of the polarization structure functions for beam and/or target polarizations.Comment: 20 pages including 14 figure

Acute Liver Failure Secondary to Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis during Pregnancy.

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a syndrome of excessive immune activation that mimics and occurs with other systemic diseases. A 35-year-old female presented with signs of viral illness at 13 weeks of pregnancy and progressed to acute liver failure (ALF). We discuss the diagnosis of HLH and Kikuchi-Fujimoto (KF) lymphadenitis in the context of pregnancy and ALF. HLH may respond to comorbid disease-specific therapy, and more toxic treatment can be avoided

Solid-State Excitation Laser for Laser-Ultrasonics

The inspection speed of laser-ultrasonics compared with conventional ultrasonic testing is limited by the pulse repetition rate of the excitation laser. The maximum pulse repetition rate reported up to now for CO2-lasers, which are presently used for nearly all systems, is in the range of 400 Hz. In this paper a new approach based on a diode-pumped solid-state laser is discussed, which is currently being developed. This new excitation laser is designed for a repetition rate of 1 kHz and will operate at a mid-IR wavelength of 3.3 m. The higher repeti-tion rate enables a higher inspection speed, whereas the mid-IR wavelength anticipates a better coupling efficiency. The total power for pumping the laser crystals is transported via flexible optical fibres to the compact laser head, thus allowing operation on a robot arm. The laser head consists of a master oscillator feeding several lines of power amplifiers and in-cludes nonlinear optical wavelength conversion by an optical parametric process. It is char-acterized by a modular construction which provides optimal conditions for operation at high average power as well as for easy maintenance. These features will enable building reliable, long-lived, rugged, smart laser ultrasonic systems in futur