Gas of self-avoiding loops on the brickwork lattice

An exact calculation of the phase diagram for a loop gas model on the brickwork lattice is presented. The model includes a bending energy. In the dense limit, where all the lattice sites are occupied, a phase transition occuring at an asymmetric Lifshitz tricritical point is observed as the temperature associated with the bending energy is varied. Various critical exponents are calculated. At lower densities, two lines of transitions (in the Ising universality class) are observed, terminated by a tricritical point, where there is a change in the modulation of the correlation function. To each tricritical point an associated disorder line is found.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. to appear in J. Phys. A : Math. & Ge

A cohort study of duplex Doppler examinations of the carotid artery in primary open angle glaucoma

Objectives To explore the possibility of pathological change in the common carotid artery at the bifurcation and in the internal carotid artery beyond the bifurcation which could contribute to a reduced diastolic pressure as observed in primary open angle glaucoma. Design Duplex ultrasonic examinations of carotid bifurcations were conducted on 80 patients. Carotid artery defects were allocated into three types: no demonstrable flow defects, internal carotid artery abnormalities and disease in the carotid bulb. Setting Bristol Royal Infirmary Vascular Laboratory. Participants Eighty patients (mean age 69.6 years) providing a total of 160 sides to the analysis. Main outcome measures An estimated central retinal artery pressure, intraocular pressure and field loss were recorded for each side measured. Results Doppler investigations revealed significant levels of pathological change in the internal carotid distinct from changes at the carotid bulb. The disease revealed in the internal carotid artery was significantly associated with intraocular pressure (p = 0.032), with an effect small to medium in magnitude. The Q2 measure, derived from mean arterial pressure and intraocular pressure, was also substantively associated with disease in the internal carotid artery. Both intraocular pressure and the Q2 measure effectively discriminated between groups, with field loss providing rather less discriminating capability. There was a strong trend towards a higher intraocular pressures and a greater visual field loss with internal carotid artery disease. Conclusions Pathological changes in the extra cranial carotid artery in primary open angle glaucoma exceed those in the arteries classified as normal. The presence of disease specifically in the internal carotid artery emphasised the need for a mechanism for the evaluation of the internal carotid apart from the carotid bulb. A basis for clarifying the presence of an ischaemic zone is proposed

Extended Bose-Hubbard model with incompressible states at fractional numbers

The Bose-Hubbard model is extended to include nearest and far neighbor interactions and is related to the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). Both models may be studied in optical lattices with quantum gases. The ground state is calculated for the extended Bose-Hubbard model with strong repulsive interactions (weak hopping). Incompressible Mott insulator states are found at rational filling fractions compatible with the principal and secondary FQHE filling fractions of the lowest Landau levels observed experimentally. It is discussed to which extent these states at fractional filling survive or undergoes a Mott insulator transition to a superfluid as hopping terms are included.Comment: Revised version, to appear in PR

Neutrino masses or new interactions

Recent proposals to study the mass of the "electron" neutrino at a sensitivity of 0.3 eV can be used to place limits on the right handed and scalar charged currents at a level which improves on the present experimental limits. Indeed the neglect of the possibility of such interactions can lead to the inference of an incorrect value for the mass, as we illustrate.Comment: 12 pages and 3 figures. Contributed to the XX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, July 2001, and to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Budapest, July 2001. Preprint numbers added, misprints correcte

Neutrino clustering and the Z-burst model

The possibility that the observed Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays are generated by high energy neutrinos creating "Z-bursts" in resonant interactions with the background neutrinos has been proposed, but there are difficulties in generating enough events with reasonable incident neutrino fluxes. We point out that this difficulty is overcome if the background neutrinos have coalesced into "neutrino clouds" --- a possibility previously suggested by some of us in another context. The limitations that this mechanism for the generation of UHECRs places on the high energy neutrino flux, on the masses of the background neutrinos and the characteristics of the neutrino clouds are spelled out.Comment: 13 pages and 3 figures. Contributed to the XX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Rome, July 2001, and to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Budapest, July 2001. Preprint numbers added, misprints correcte

C-Cl Bond Fission, Hcl Elimination, And Secondary Radical Decomposition In The 193 Nm Photodissociation Of Allyl Chloride

The primary photodissociation dynamics of allyl chloride upon excitation at 193 nm is investigated in a crossed laser-molecular beam scattering apparatus. Tunable vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization of the products provides a unique ability to learn about the secondary reaction products of the nascent photoproducts formed. The data show evidence for four significant primary reaction channels: a previously unidentified low kinetic energy C-Cl bond fission channel producing unstable allyl radicals, an excited state C-Cl bond fission channel producing Cl atoms with high translational energy, an HCl elimination pathway releasing significant energy to product translation to HCl and its momentum-matched mass 40 partner, and an HCl elimination channel producing low kinetic energy HCl products and predominantly unstable mass 40 products. The measured branching of these primary reaction channels of [all C-Cl] : [fast C-Cl] : [slow C-Cl] : [fast HCl] : [slow HCl] : [all HCl] is 1.00: 0.971: 0.029: 0.291: 0.167: 0.458 (where fast refers to the high recoil kinetic energy channels). The high internal energy allyl radicals formed in the slow C-Cl fission pathway of allyl chloride further dissociate/isomerize, as do the unstable mass 40 products formed in the HCl elimination pathways, and these products are investigated. Photoionization efficiency (PIE) curves of the HCl product suggest that a three-centered elimination mechanism contributes significantly to an observed HCl elimination reaction. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics

Rovibrational Resonance Effects In Collision-Induced Electronic Energy Transfer: I2(E,v=0-2)+CF4

Collisions of I-2 in the E(0(g)(+)) electronic state with CF4 molecules induce electronic energy transfer to the nearby D, beta, and D-\u27 ion-pair states. Simulations of dispersed fluorescence spectra reveal collision-induced electronic energy transfer rate constants and final vibrational state distributions within each final electronic state. In comparison with earlier reports on I-2(upsilon(E)=0-2) collisions with He or Ar atoms, we find markedly different dynamics when I-2, excited to the same rovibronic states, collides with CF4. Final vibrational state distributions agree with the associated Franck-Condon factors with the initially prepared state to a greater degree than those found with He or Ar collision partners and suggest that internal degrees of freedom in the CF4 molecule represent a substantial means for accepting the accompanying loss of I-2 vibronic energy. Comparison of the E -\u3e D transfer of I-2 excited to the J=23 and J=55 levels of the upsilon(E)=0 state reveals the onset of specific, nonstatistical dynamics as the available energy is increased above the threshold for excitation of the low frequency nu(2) bending mode of CF4. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics

A Model for the Analysis of Caries Occurrence in Primary Molar Tooth Surfaces

Recently methods of caries quantification in the primary dentition have moved away from summary ‘whole mouth’ measures at the individual level to methods based on generalised linear modelling (GLM) approaches or survival analysis approaches. However, GLM approaches based on logistic transformation fail to take into account the time-dependent process of tooth/surface survival to caries. There may also be practical difficulties associated with casting parametric survival-based approaches in a complex multilevel hierarchy and the selection of an optimal survival distribution, while non-parametric survival methods are not generally suitable for the assessment of supplementary information recorded on study participants. In the current investigation, a hybrid semi-parametric approach comprising elements of survival-based and GLM methodologies suitable for modelling of caries occurrence within fixed time periods is assessed, using an illustrative multilevel data set of caries occurrence in primary molars from a cohort study, with clustering of data assumed to occur at surface and tooth levels. Inferences of parameter significance were found to be consistent with previous parametric survival-based analyses of the same data set, with gender, socio-economic status, fluoridation status, tooth location, surface type and fluoridation status-surface type interaction significantly associated with caries occurrence. The appropriateness of the hierarchical structure facilitated by the hybrid approach was also confirmed. Hence the hybrid approach is proposed as a more appropriate alternative to primary caries modelling than non-parametric survival methods or other GLM-based models, and as a practical alternative to more rigorous survival-based methods unlikely to be fully accessible to most researchers