Do halos exist on the dripline of deformed nuclei?

A study of the effect of deformation and pairing on the development of halo nuclei is presented. Exploratory three-body $core+n+n$ calculations show that both the NN interaction and the deformation/excitation of the core hinder the formation of the halo. Preliminary self-consistent mean-field calculations are used to search for regions in the nuclear chart where halos could potentially develop. These are also briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages and 3 figures, proceedings for CGS1

Cerebral and cardiovascular effects of analgesic doses of ketamine during a target controlled general anesthesia: a prospective randomized study

Introduction: Ketamine is increasingly being used in various pain settings. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of an analgesic dose of ketamine in the bispectral index (BIS), spectral edge frequency (SEF-95), density spectral array (DSA), cerebral oximetry (rSO2) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) during general anaesthesia with a target controlled infusion. Methods: A prospective, single-blinded and randomized study on adult patients scheduled for elective spine surgery was carried out. After anaesthesia induction with propofol, remifentanil and rocuronium, when a stable BIS value (45-55) was achieved, an automatic recording of BIS, SEF-95, rSO2 and MAP values during 9 min was performed to establish patients baseline values. Subsequently, patients were randomly assigned to receive a ketamine bolus dose of 0.2 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg or 1 mg/kg; all variables were recorded for additional 9 min after the ketamine bolus, in the absence of any surgical stimulus. A p-value <0.05 was considered significant in the statistical analysis. Results and discussion: Thirty-nine patients were enrolled in the study. Our results show a dose-related increase of SEF-95 and BIS values. DSA demonstrate a shift in the frequency range and power distribution towards higher frequencies. Our results do not show significant differences in MAP and rSO2 values. Conclusion: When ketamine is used intraoperatively in analgesic doses, the anaesthetist should anticipate an increase in SEF-95 and BIS values which will not be associated with the level of anaesthesia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the particle spectrum and the conformal window

We study the SU(3) gauge theory with twelve flavours of fermions in the fundamental representation as a prototype of non-Abelian gauge theories inside the conformal window. Guided by the pattern of underlying symmetries, chiral and conformal, we analyze the two-point functions theoretically and on the lattice, and determine the finite size scaling and the infinite volume fermion mass dependence of the would-be hadron masses. We show that the spectrum in the Coulomb phase of the system can be described in the context of a universal scaling analysis and we provide the nonperturbative determination of the fermion mass anomalous dimension gamma*=0.235(46) at the infrared fixed point. We comment on the agreement with the four-loop perturbative prediction for this quantity and we provide a unified description of all existing lattice results for the spectrum of this system, them being in the Coulomb phase or the asymptotically free phase. Our results corroborate the view that the fixed point we are studying is not associated to a physical singularity along the bare coupling line and estimates of physical observables can be attempted on either side of the fixed point. Finally, we observe the restoration of the U(1) axial symmetry in the two-point functions.Comment: 40 pages, 22 figure

One,Two,Zero: Scales of Strong Interactions

We discuss our results on QCD with a number of fundamental fermions ranging from zero to sixteen. These theories exhibit a wide array of fascinating phenomena which have been under close scrutiny, especially in recent years, first and foremost is the approach to conformality. To keep this review focused, we have chosen scale generation, or lack thereof as a guiding theme, however the discussion will be set in the general framework of the analysis of the phases and phase transitions of strong interactions at zero and nonzero temperature.Comment: 15 pages, prepared for IJMPA Special Issue 'Recent Nonperturbative Developments in QCD-like Theories

Chiral symmetry restoration in QCD with many flavours

We discuss the phases of QCD in the parameter space spanned by the number of light flavours and the temperature with respect to the realisation of chiral and conformal symmetries. The intriguing interplay of these symmetries is best studied by means of lattice simulations, and some selected results from our recent work are presented here.Comment: 10 pages, proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement, 17-21 November, 2014, ZiF, Bielefeld, German

Mass freezing in growing neutrino quintessence

Growing neutrino quintessence solves the coincidence problem for dark energy by a growing cosmological value of the neutrino mass which emerges from a cosmon-neutrino interaction stronger than gravity. The cosmon-mediated attraction between neutrinos induces the formation of large scale neutrino lumps in a recent cosmological epoch. We argue that the non-linearities in the cosmon field equations stop the further increase of the neutrino mass within sufficiently dense and large lumps. As a result, we find the neutrino induced gravitational potential to be substantially reduced when compared to linear extrapolations. We furthermore demonstrate that inside a lump the possible time variation of fundamental constants is much smaller than their cosmological evolution. This feature may reconcile current geophysical bounds with claimed cosmological variations of the fine structure constant.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures. Version published in PR

All-optical high speed NOR gate based on two photon absorption in silicon wire waveguides

We demonstrate for the first time an all-optical logic NOR gate in submicron size silicon wire waveguides. High speed operation at equivalent 80Gbps data rate was achieved using pump induced non-degenerate two-photon absorption inside the waveguides. The device requires low pulse energy (few pJ) for logic gate operation. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America

Synthesis of sub-5 nm Co-doped SnO2_2 nanoparticles and their structural, microstructural, optical and photocatalytic properties

A swift chemical route to synthesize Co-doped SnO$_2$ nanopowders is described. Pure and highly stable Sn$_{1-x}$Co$_x$O$_{2-\delta}$ (0 $\le$ x $\le$ 0.15) crystalline nanoparticles were synthesized, with mean grain sizes < 5 nm and the dopant element homogeneously distributed in substitutional sites of the SnO$_2$ matrix. The UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra of the Sn$_{1-x}$Co$_x$O$_{2-\delta}$ samples reveal red shifts, the optical bandgap energies decreasing with increasing Co concentration. The Urbach energies of the samples were calculated and correlated with their bandgap energies. The photocatalytic activity of the Sn$_{1-x}$Co$_x$O$_{2-\delta}$ samples was investigated for the 4-hydroxylbenzoic acid (4-HBA) degradation process. A complete photodegradation of a 10 ppm 4-HBA solution was achieved using 0.02% (w/w) of Sn$_{0.95}$Co$_{0.05}$O$_{2-\delta}$ nanoparticles in 60 min of irradiation.Comment: 29 pages, 2 tables, 10 figure