6,924 research outputs found
A luminosity monitor for the A4 parity violation experiment at MAMI
A water Cherenkov luminosity monitor system with associated electronics has
been developed for the A4 parity violation experiment at MAMI. The detector
system measures the luminosity of the hydrogen target hit by the MAMI electron
beam and monitors the stability of the liquid hydrogen target. Both is required
for the precise study of the count rate asymmetries in the scattering of
longitudinally polarized electrons on unpolarized protons. Any helicity
correlated fluctuation of the target density leads to false asymmetries. The
performance of the luminosity monitor, investigated in about 2000 hours with
electron beam, and the results of its application in the A4 experiment are
presented.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, submitted to NIM
Inertial waves and modes excited by the libration of a rotating cube
We report experimental measurements of the flow in a cubic container
submitted to a longitudinal libration, i.e. a rotation modulated in time.
Velocity fields in a vertical and a horizontal plane are measured in the
librating frame using a corotating particle image velocimetry system. When the
libration frequency is smaller than twice the mean rotation rate
, inertial waves can propagate in the interior of the fluid. At
arbitrary excitation frequencies , the oscillating flow
shows two contributions: (i) a basic flow induced by the libration motion, and
(ii) inertial wave beams propagating obliquely upward and downward from the
horizontal edges of the cube. In addition to these two contributions, inertial
modes may also be excited at some specific resonant frequencies. We
characterize in particular the resonance of the mode of lowest order compatible
with the symmetries of the forcing, noted [2,1,+]. By comparing the measured
flow fields to the expected inviscid inertial modes computed numerically
[L.R.M. Maas, Fluid Dyn. Res. \textbf{33}, 373 (2003)], we show that only a
subset of inertial modes, matching the symmetries of the forcing, can be
excited by the libration.Comment: Phys. Fluids (in press
What the Infrared Behaviour of QCD Vertex Functions in Landau gauge can tell us about Confinement
The infrared behaviour of Landau gauge QCD vertex functions is investigated
employing a skeleton expansion of the Dyson-Schwinger and Renormalization Group
equations. Results for the ghost-gluon, three-gluon, four-gluon and quark-gluon
vertex functions are presented. Positivity violation of the gluon propagator,
and thus gluon confinement, is demonstrated. Results of the Dyson-Schwinger
equations for a finite volume are compared to corresponding lattice data. It is
analytically demonstrated that a linear rising potential between heavy quarks
can be generated by infrared singularities in the dressed quark-gluon vertex.
The selfconsistent mechanism that generates these singularities necessarily
entails the scalar Dirac amplitudes of the full vertex and the quark
propagator. These can only be present when chiral symmetry is broken, either
explicitly or dynamically.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of ``X Hadron
Physics 2007'', Florianopolis, Brazil, March 26 - 31, 200
Far-field optical microscope with nanometer-scale resolution based on in-plane surface plasmon imaging
A new far-field optical microscopy technique capable of reaching
nanometer-scale resolution has been developed recently using the in-plane image
magnification by surface plasmon polaritons. This microscopy is based on the
optical properties of a metal-dielectric interface that may, in principle,
provide extremely large values of the effective refractive index n up to
100-1000 as seen by the surface plasmons. Thus, the theoretical diffraction
limit on resolution becomes lambda/2n, and falls into the nanometer-scale
range. The experimental realization of the microscope has demonstrated the
optical resolution better than 50 nm for 502 nm illumination wavelength.
However, the theory of such surface plasmon-based far-field microscope
presented so far gives an oversimplified picture of its operation. For example,
the imaginary part of the metal dielectric constant severely limits the
surface-plasmon propagation and the shortest attainable wavelength in most
cases, which in turn limits the microscope magnification. Here I describe how
this limitation has been overcome in the experiment, and analyze the practical
limits on the surface plasmon microscope resolution. In addition, I present
more experimental results, which strongly support the conclusion of extremely
high spatial resolution of the surface plasmon microscope.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, will be published in the topical issue on
Nanostructured Optical Metamaterials of the Journal of Optics A: Pure and
Applied Optics, Manuscript revised in response to referees comment
The association between green space and cause-specific mortality in urban New Zealand: an ecological analysis of green space utility
<b>Background:</b>
There is mounting international evidence that exposure to green environments is associated with health benefits, including lower mortality rates. Consequently, it has been suggested that the uneven distribution of such environments may contribute to health inequalities. Possible causative mechanisms behind the green space and health relationship include the provision of physical activity opportunities, facilitation of social contact and the restorative effects of nature. In the New Zealand context we investigated whether there was a socioeconomic gradient in green space exposure and whether green space exposure was associated with cause-specific mortality (cardiovascular disease and lung cancer). We subsequently asked what is the mechanism(s) by which green space availability may influence mortality outcomes, by contrasting health associations for different types of green space.
<b>Methods:</b>
This was an observational study on a population of 1,546,405 living in 1009 small urban areas in New Zealand. A neighbourhood-level classification was developed to distinguish between usable (i.e., visitable) and non-usable green space (i.e., visible but not visitable) in the urban areas. Negative binomial regression models were fitted to examine the association between quartiles of area-level green space availability and risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease (n = 9,484; 1996 - 2005) and from lung cancer (n = 2,603; 1996 - 2005), after control for age, sex, socio-economic deprivation, smoking, air pollution and population density.
<b>Results:</b>
Deprived neighbourhoods were relatively disadvantaged in total green space availability (11% less total green space for a one standard deviation increase in NZDep2001 deprivation score, p < 0.001), but had marginally more usable green space (2% more for a one standard deviation increase in deprivation score, p = 0.002). No significant associations between usable or total green space and mortality were observed after adjustment for confounders.
<b>Conclusion</b>
Contrary to expectations we found no evidence that green space influenced cardiovascular disease mortality in New Zealand, suggesting that green space and health relationships may vary according to national, societal or environmental context. Hence we were unable to infer the mechanism in the relationship. Our inability to adjust for individual-level factors with a significant influence on cardiovascular disease and lung cancer mortality risk (e.g., diet and alcohol consumption) will have limited the ability of the analyses to detect green space effects, if present. Additionally, green space variation may have lesser relevance for health in New Zealand because green space is generally more abundant and there is less social and spatial variation in its availability than found in other contexts
Regulation and Restoration of Motoneuronal Synaptic Transmission During Neuromuscular Regeneration in the Pulmonate Snail Helisoma trivolvis
Regeneration of motor systems involves reestablishment of central control networks, reinnervation of muscle targets by motoneurons, and reconnection of neuromodulatory circuits. Still, how these processes are integrated as motor function is restored during regeneration remains ill defined. Here, we examined the mechanisms underlying motoneuronal regeneration of neuromuscular synapses related to feeding movements in the pulmonate snail Helisoma trivolvis. Neurons B19 and B110, although activated during different phases of the feeding pattern, innervate similar sets of muscles. However, the percentage of muscle fibers innervated, the efficacy of excitatory junction potentials, and the strength of muscle contractions were different for each cell’s specific connections. After peripheral nerve crush, a sequence of transient electrical and chemical connections formed centrally within the buccal ganglia. Neuromuscular synapse regeneration involved a three-phase process: the emergence of spontaneous synaptic transmission (P1), the acquisition of evoked potentials of weak efficacy (P2), and the establishment of functional reinnervation (P3). Differential synaptic efficacy at muscle contacts was recapitulated in cell culture. Differences in motoneuronal presynaptic properties (i.e., quantal content) were the basis of disparate neuromuscular synapse function, suggesting a role for retrograde target influences. We propose a homeostatic model of molluscan motor system regeneration. This model has three restoration events: (1) transient central synaptogenesis during axonal outgrowth, (2) intermotoneuronal inhibitory synaptogenesis during initial neuromuscular synapse formation, and (3) target-dependent regulation of neuromuscular junction formation
"Wet-to-Dry" Conformational Transition of Polymer Layers Grafted to Nanoparticles in Nanocomposite
The present communication reports the first direct measurement of the
conformation of a polymer corona grafted around silica nano-particles dispersed
inside a nanocomposite, a matrix of the same polymer. This measurement
constitutes an experimental breakthrough based on a refined combination of
chemical synthesis, which permits to match the contribution of the neutron
silica signal inside the composite, and the use of complementary scattering
methods SANS and SAXS to extract the grafted polymer layer form factor from the
inter-particles silica structure factor. The modelization of the signal of the
grafted polymer on nanoparticles inside the matrix and the direct comparison
with the form factor of the same particles in solution show a clear-cut change
of the polymer conformation from bulk to the nanocomposite: a transition from a
stretched and swollen form in solution to a Gaussian conformation in the matrix
followed with a compression of a factor two of the grafted corona. In the
probed range, increasing the interactions between the grafted particles (by
increasing the particle volume fraction) or between the grafted and the free
matrix chains (decreasing the grafted-free chain length ratio) does not
influence the amplitude of the grafted brush compression. This is the first
direct observation of the wet-to-dry conformational transition theoretically
expected to minimize the free energy of swelling of grafted chains in
interaction with free matrix chains, illustrating the competition between the
mixing entropy of grafted and free chains, and the elastic deformation of the
grafted chains. In addition to the experimental validation of the theoretical
prediction, this result constitutes a new insight for the nderstanding of the
general problem of dispersion of nanoparticles inside a polymer matrix for the
design of new nanocomposites materials
Accessing directly the properties of fundamental scalars in the confinement and Higgs phase
The properties of elementary particles are encoded in their respective
propagators and interaction vertices. For a SU(2) gauge theory coupled to a
doublet of fundamental complex scalars these propagators are determined in both
the Higgs phase and the confinement phase and compared to the Yang-Mills case,
using lattice gauge theory. Since the propagators are gauge-dependent, this is
done in the Landau limit of 't Hooft gauge, permitting to also determine the
ghost propagator. It is found that neither the gauge boson nor the scalar
differ qualitatively in the different cases. In particular, the gauge boson
acquires a screening mass, and the scalar's screening mass is larger than the
renormalized mass. Only the ghost propagator shows a significant change.
Furthermore, indications are found that the consequences of the residual
non-perturbative gauge freedom due to Gribov copies could be different in the
confinement and the Higgs phase.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; v2: one minor error corrected; v3: one
appendix on systematic uncertainties added and some minor changes, version to
appear in EPJ
Gluons at finite temperature in Landau gauge Yang--Mills theory
The infrared behavior of Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature provides
access to the role of confinement. In this review recent results on this topic
from lattice calculations and especially Dyson-Schwinger studies are discussed.
These indicate persistence of a residual confinement even in the
high-temperature phase. The confinement mechanism is very similar to the one in
the vacuum for the chromomagnetic sector. In the chromoelectric sector
screening occurs at the soft scale g^2T, although not leading to a perturbative
behavior.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, invited brief review for MPL
Chiral and deconfinement transition from correlation functions: SU(2) vs. SU(3)
We study a gauge invariant order parameter for deconfinement and the chiral
condensate in SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills theory in the vicinity of the
deconfinement phase transition using the Landau gauge quark and gluon
propagators. We determine the gluon propagator from lattice calculations and
the quark propagator from its Dyson-Schwinger equation, using the gluon
propagator as input. The critical temperature and a deconfinement order
parameter are extracted from the gluon propagator and from the dependency of
the quark propagator on the temporal boundary conditions. The chiral transition
is determined using the quark condensate as order parameter. We investigate
whether and how a difference in the chiral and deconfinement transition between
SU(2) and SU(3) is manifest.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. For clarification one paragraph and two
references added in the introduction and two sentences at the end of the
first and last paragraph of the summary. Appeared in EPJ
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