13,732 research outputs found
More on softly broken N=2 QCD
We extend previous work on the soft breaking of supersymmetric QCD. We
present the formalism for the breaking due to a dilaton spurion for a general
gauge group and obtain the exact effective potential. We obtain some general
features of the vacuum structure in the pure Yang-Mills theory and we
also derive a general mass formula for this class of theories, in particular we
present explicit results for the mass spectrum in the case. Finally we
analyze the vacuum structure of the theory with one massless
hypermultiplet. This theory presents dyon condensation and a first order phase
transition in the supersymmetry breaking parameter driven by non-mutually local
BPS states. This could be a hint of Argyres-Douglas-like phases in
non-supersymmetric gauge theories.Comment: 35 pages, 9 Postscript figure
Galaxy Evolution in Local Group Analogs. I. A GALEX study of nearby groups
Understanding the astrophysical processes acting within galaxy groups and
their effects on the evolution of the galaxy population is one of the crucial
topic of modern cosmology, as almost 60% of galaxies in the Local Universe are
found in groups. We imaged in the far (FUV 1539 A) and near ultraviolet (NUV
2316 A) with GALEX three nearby groups, namely LGG93, LGG127 and LGG225. We
obtained the UV galaxy surface photometry and, for LGG225, the only group
covered by the SDSS, the photometry in u, g, r, i, z bands. We discuss galaxy
morphologies looking for interaction signatures and we analyze the SED of
galaxies to infer their luminosity-weighted ages. The UV and optical photometry
was also used to perform a kinematical and dynamical analysis of each group and
to evaluate the stellar mass. A few member galaxies in LGG225 show a distorted
UV morphology due to ongoing interactions. (FUV-NUV) colors suggest that
spirals in LGG93 and LGG225 host stellar populations in their outskirts younger
than that of M31 and M33 in the LG or with less extinction. The irregular
interacting galaxy NGC3447A has a significantly younger stellar population (few
Myr old) than the average of the other irregular galaxies in LGG225 suggesting
that the encounter triggered star formation. The early-type members of LGG225,
NGC3457 and NGC3522, have masses of the order of a few 10^9 Mo, comparable to
the Local Group ellipticals. For the most massive spiral in LGG225, we estimate
a stellar mass of ~4x10 Mo, comparable to M33 in the LG. Ages of stellar
populations range from a few to ~7 Gyr for the galaxies in LGG225. The
kinematical and dynamical analysis indicates that LGG127 and LGG225 are in a
pre-virial collapse phase, i.e. still undergoing dynamical relaxation, while
LGG93 is likely virialized. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Chemical composition of stellar populations in Omega Centauri
We derive abundances of Fe, Na, O, and s-elements from GIRAFFE@VLT spectra
for more than 200 red giant stars in the Milky Way satellite Omega Centauri.
Our preliminary results are that: (i) we confirm that Omega Centauri exibiths
large star-to-star metallicity variations ( 1.4 dex); (ii) the
metallicity distribution reveals the presence of at least five stellar
populations with different [Fe/H]; (iii) a clear Na-O anticorrelation is
clearly observed for the metal-poor and metal-intermediate populations while
apparently the anticorrelation disappears for the most metal-rich populations.
Interestingly the Na level grows with iron.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symp. 268
"Light elements in the Universe" (C. Charbonnel, M. Tosi, F. Primas, C.
Chiappini, eds., Cambridge Univ. Press
Van der Waals and resonance interactions between accelerated atoms in vacuum and the Unruh effect
We discuss different physical effects related to the uniform acceleration of
atoms in vacuum, in the framework of quantum electrodynamics. We first
investigate the van der Waals/Casimir-Polder dispersion and resonance
interactions between two uniformly accelerated atoms in vacuum. We show that
the atomic acceleration significantly affects the van der Waals force, yielding
a different scaling of the interaction with the interatomic distance and an
explicit time dependence of the interaction energy. We argue how these results
could allow for an indirect detection of the Unruh effect through dispersion
interactions between atoms. We then consider the resonance interaction between
two accelerated atoms, prepared in a correlated Bell-type state, and
interacting with the electromagnetic field in the vacuum state, separating
vacuum fluctuations and radiation reaction contributions, both in the
free-space and in the presence of a perfectly reflecting plate. We show that
nonthermal effects of acceleration manifest in the resonance interaction,
yielding a change of the distance dependence of the resonance interaction
energy. This suggests that the equivalence between temperature and acceleration
does not apply to all radiative properties of accelerated atoms. To further
explore this aspect, we evaluate the resonance interaction between two atoms in
non inertial motion in the coaccelerated (Rindler) frame and show that in this
case the assumption of an Unruh temperature for the field is not required for a
complete equivalence of locally inertial and coaccelerated points of views.Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the Eighth International Workshop DICE 2016
Spacetime - Matter - Quantum Mechanic
Searching for a dusty cometary belt around TRAPPIST-1 with ALMA
Low-mass stars might offer today the best opportunities to detect and characterize planetary systems, especially those harbouring close-in low-mass temperate planets. Among those stars, TRAPPIST-1 is exceptional since it has seven Earth-sized planets, of which three could sustain liquid water on their surfaces. Here we present new and deep ALMA observations of TRAPPIST-1 to look for an exo-Kuiper belt which can provide clues about the formation and architecture of this system. Our observations at 0.88 mm did not detect dust emission, but can place an upper limit of 23 µJy if the belt is smaller than 4 au, and 0.15 mJy if resolved and 100 au in radius. These limits correspond to low dust masses of ̃10-5 to 10-2 M⊕, which are expected after 8 Gyr of collisional evolution unless the system was born with a >20 M⊕ belt of 100 km-sized planetesimals beyond 40 au or suffered a dynamical instability. This 20 M⊕ mass upper limit is comparable to the combined mass in TRAPPIST-1 planets, thus it is possible that most of the available solid mass in this system was used to form the known planets. A similar analysis of the ALMA data on Proxima Cen leads us to conclude that a belt born with a mass ≳1 M⊕ in 100 km-sized planetesimals could explain its putative outer belt at 30 au. We recommend that future characterizations of debris discs around low-mass stars should focus on nearby and young systems if possible
Radiobiological studies with monoenergetic neutrons
The Radiological Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF) has the capability of
producing essentially monoenergetic neutron beams, ranging in energy from 16.4 MeV
down to 220 keV. In addition, two lower energy neutron beams are available which
consist of a wide spectrum of energies and are described as the 110 keV and 60 keV
spectra. Seedlings of Vicia faba have been used to measure the oxygen enhancement
ratio (OER) and the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of each of these neutron
beams. The OER decreases as the neutron energy is reduced between 15.4 MeV and
220 keV, but does not appear to decrease further for lower energy neutrons. RBE increases
as the neutron energy is reduced from 15.4 AleV to 440 keV; the curve then
goes through a maximum at around 350 keV, and for lower energies the RBE falls again
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