Precision Measurement Of The Neutron's Beta Asymmetry Using Ultra-Cold Neutrons

A measurement of A_β, the correlation between the electron momentum and neutron (n) spin (the beta asymmetry) in n beta-decay, together with the n lifetime, provides a method for extracting fundamental parameters for the charged-current weak interaction of the nucleon. In particular when combined with decay measurements, one can extract the V_(ud) element of the CKM matrix, a critical element in CKM unitarity tests. By using a new SD_2 super-thermal source at LANSCE, large fluxes of UCN (ultra-cold neutrons) are expected for the UCNA project. These UCN will be 100% polarized using a 7 T magnetic field, and directed into the β spectrometer. This approach, together with an expected large reduction in backgrounds, will result in an order of magnitude reduction in the critical systematic corrections associated with current n β-asymmetry measurements. This paper will give an overview of the UCNA Aβ measurement as well as an update on the status of the experiment

Genomic relatedness within five common Finnish Campylobacter jejuni pulsed-field gel electrophoresis genotypes studied by amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis, ribotyping and serotyping

Thirty-five Finnish Campylobacter jejuni strains with five SmaI/SacII pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) genotypes selected among human and chicken isolates from 1997 and 1998 were used for comparison of their PFGE patterns, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) patterns, HaeIII ribotypes, and heat-stable (HS) serotypes. The discriminatory power of PFGE, AFLP, and ribotyping with HaeIII were shown to be at the same level for this selected set of strains, and these methods assigned the strains into the same groups. The PFGE and AFLP patterns within a genotype were highly similar, indicating genetic relatedness. The same HS serotypes were distributed among different genotypes, and different serotypes were identified within one genotype. HS serotype 12 was only associated with the combined genotype G1 (PFGE-AFLP-ribotype). These studies using polyphasic genotyping methods suggested that common Finnish C. jejuni genotypes form genetic lineages which colonize both humans and chickens

Mass Flow Control in a Magnesium Hall-effect Thruster

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83626/1/AIAA-2010-6861-269.pd

Regge calculus from a new angle

In Regge calculus space time is usually approximated by a triangulation with flat simplices. We present a formulation using simplices with constant sectional curvature adjusted to the presence of a cosmological constant. As we will show such a formulation allows to replace the length variables by 3d or 4d dihedral angles as basic variables. Moreover we will introduce a first order formulation, which in contrast to using flat simplices, does not require any constraints. These considerations could be useful for the construction of quantum gravity models with a cosmological constant.Comment: 8 page

Microcanonical statistics of black holes and bootstrap condition

The microcanonical statistics of the Schwarzschild black holes as well as the Reissner-Nordstr$\sf \ddot{o}$m black holes are analyzed. In both cases we set up the inequalities in the microcanonical density of states. These are then used to show that the most probable configuration in the gases of black holes is that one black hole acquires all of the mass and all of the charge at high energy limit. Thus the black holes obey the statistical bootstrap condition and, in contrast to the other investigation, we see that U(1) charge does not break the bootstrap property.Comment: 16 pages. late

Multi-Layer Evolution of Acoustic-Gravity Waves and Ionospheric Disturbances Over the United States After the 2022 Hunga Tonga Volcano Eruption

e Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha\u27apai volcano underwent a series of large-magnitude eruptions that generated in the atmosphere. We investigate the spatial and temporal evolutions of fluctuations driven by atmospheric acoustic-gravity waves (AGWs) and, in particular, the Lamb wave modes in high spatial resolution data sets measured over the Continental United States (CONUS), complemented with data over the Americas and the Pacific. Along with \u3e800 barometer sites, tropospheric observations, and Total Electron Content data from \u3e3,000 receivers, we report detections of volcano-induced AGWs in mesopause and ionosphere-thermosphere airglow imagery and Fabry-Perot interferometry. We also report unique AGW signatures in the ionospheric D-region, measured using Long-Range Navigation pulsed low-frequency transmitter signals. Although we observed fluctuations over a wide range of periods and speeds, we identify Lamb wave modes exhibiting 295–345 m s−1 phase front velocities with correlated spatial variability of their amplitudes from the Earth\u27s surface to the ionosphere. Results suggest that the Lamb wave modes, tracked by our ray-tracing modeling results, were accompanied by deep fluctuation fields coupled throughout the atmosphere, and were all largely consistent in arrival times with the sequence of eruptions over 8 hr. The ray results also highlight the importance of winds in reducing wave amplitudes at CONUS midlatitudes. The ability to identify and interpret Lamb wave modes and accompanying fluctuations on the basis of arrival times and speeds, despite complexity in their spectra and modulations by the inhomogeneous here, suggests opportunities for analysis and modeling to understand their signals to constrain features of azardous events

Spectrum of Charged Black Holes - The Big Fix Mechanism Revisited

Following an earlier suggestion of the authors(gr-qc/9607030), we use some basic properties of Euclidean black hole thermodynamics and the quantum mechanics of systems with periodic phase space coordinate to derive the discrete two-parameter area spectrum of generic charged spherically symmetric black holes in any dimension. For the Reissner-Nordstrom black hole we get $A/4G\hbar=\pi(2n+p+1)$, where the integer p=0,1,2,.. gives the charge spectrum, with $Q=\pm\sqrt{\hbar p}$. The quantity $\pi(2n+1)$, n=0,1,... gives a measure of the excess of the mass/energy over the critical minimum (i.e. extremal) value allowed for a given fixed charge Q. The classical critical bound cannot be saturated due to vacuum fluctuations of the horizon, so that generically extremal black holes do not appear in the physical spectrum. Consistency also requires the black hole charge to be an integer multiple of any fundamental elementary particle charge: $Q= \pm me$, m=0,1,2,.... As a by-product this yields a relation between the fine structure constant and integer parameters of the black hole -- a kind of the Coleman big fix mechanism induced by black holes. In four dimensions, this relationship is $e^2/\hbar=p/m^2$ and requires the fine structure constant to be a rational number. Finally, we prove that the horizon area is an adiabatic invariant, as has been conjectured previously.Comment: 21 pages, Latex. 1 Section, 1 Figure added. To appear in Class. and Quant. Gravit