2,042 research outputs found
An assessment of road-verge grass as a feedstock for farm-fed anaerobic digestion plants
Cuttings from road-verge grass could provide biomass for energy generation, but currently this potential is not exploited. This research assessed the technical, practical and financial feasibility of using grass harvested from road verges as a feedstock in farm-fed anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. The methane potential (191 mL CH4 gDMâ1) and digestion characteristics of verge grass were similar to those of current farm feedstocks; indicating suitability for AD. Ensiling had no significant impact on the biomethane generated. Testing co-digestions of verge grass with current farm feedstocks showed enhanced methane yields, suggesting that verge grass could be a valuable addition to AD feedstock mixes. In a case study of the UK county of Lincolnshire, potential volumes and locations of verge grass biomass were estimated, with capacities and locations of existing AD plants, to assess the potential to supply practical grass volumes. Grass harvesting costs were modelled and compared with other feedstock costs. Finally, the attitudes of AD operators to using verge grass were investigated to understand whether a market for verge grass exists. In a small survey all operators were willing to use it as a feedstock and most were prepared to pay over the estimated harvesting cost. If verge grass was legally recognised as a waste product it could be attractive to AD operators especially where financial incentives to use waste feedstocks are in place. In rural areas, verge grass could be harvested and co-digested by existing farm-fed AD plants, potentially reducing the cost of road verge maintenance and increasing biodiversity
Mellin Amplitudes for Dual Conformal Integrals
Motivated by recent work on the utility of Mellin space for representing
conformal correlators in /CFT, we study its suitability for representing
dual conformal integrals of the type which appear in perturbative scattering
amplitudes in super-Yang-Mills theory. We discuss Feynman-like rules for
writing Mellin amplitudes for a large class of integrals in any dimension, and
find explicit representations for several familiar toy integrals. However we
show that the power of Mellin space is that it provides simple representations
even for fully massive integrals, which except for the single case of the
4-mass box have not yet been computed by any available technology. Mellin space
is also useful for exhibiting differential relations between various multi-loop
integrals, and we show that certain higher-loop integrals may be written as
integral operators acting on the fully massive scalar -gon in
dimensions, whose Mellin amplitude is exactly 1. Our chief example is a very
simple formula expressing the 6-mass double box as a single integral of the
6-mass scalar hexagon in 6 dimensions.Comment: 29+7 page
New differential equations for on-shell loop integrals
We present a novel type of differential equations for on-shell loop
integrals. The equations are second-order and importantly, they reduce the loop
level by one, so that they can be solved iteratively in the loop order. We
present several infinite series of integrals satisfying such iterative
differential equations. The differential operators we use are best written
using momentum twistor space. The use of the latter was advocated in recent
papers discussing loop integrals in N=4 super Yang-Mills. One of our
motivations is to provide a tool for deriving analytical results for scattering
amplitudes in this theory. We show that the integrals needed for planar MHV
amplitudes up to two loops can be thought of as deriving from a single master
topology. The master integral satisfies our differential equations, and so do
most of the reduced integrals. A consequence of the differential equations is
that the integrals we discuss are not arbitrarily complicated transcendental
functions. For two specific two-loop integrals we give the full analytic
solution. The simplicity of the integrals appearing in the scattering
amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills is strongly suggestive of a relation
to the conjectured underlying integrability of the theory. We expect these
differential equations to be relevant for all planar MHV and non-MHV
amplitudes. We also discuss possible extensions of our method to more general
classes of integrals.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures; v2: typos corrected, definition of harmonic
polylogarithms adde
Collinear and Soft Limits of Multi-Loop Integrands in N=4 Yang-Mills
It has been argued in arXiv:1112.6432 that the planar four-point integrand in
N=4 super Yang-Mills theory is uniquely determined by dual conformal invariance
together with the absence of a double pole in the integrand of the logarithm in
the limit as a loop integration variable becomes collinear with an external
momentum. In this paper we reformulate this condition in a simple way in terms
of the amplitude itself, rather than its logarithm, and verify that it holds
for two- and three-loop MHV integrands for n>4. We investigate the extent to
which this collinear constraint and a constraint on the soft behavior of
integrands can be used to determine integrands. We find an interesting
complementarity whereby the soft constraint becomes stronger while the
collinear constraint becomes weaker at larger n. For certain reasonable choices
of basis at two and three loops the two constraints in unison appear strong
enough to determine MHV integrands uniquely for all n.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figures; v2: very minor change
Theoretical Study of High Frequency Ultrasonic Wave Attenuation in Polycrystalline Materials
Three different regimes for scattering of ultrasonic waves in poly-crystalline materials exist, depending on the ratio of the mean grain size to the wavelength: (i) the low frequency (Rayleigh) region with scattering-induced attenuation proportional to the fourth power of the frequency and to the cube of the mean grain diameter, (ii) the medium frequency (stochastic) region with scattering proportional to the square of the frequency and to the mean grain diameter, and (iii) the high-frequency (geometric) region with scattering independent of frequency
Some analytic results for two-loop scattering amplitudes
We present analytic results for the finite diagrams contributing to the
two-loop eight-point MHV scattering amplitude of planar N=4 SYM. We use a
recently proposed representation for the integrand of the amplitude in terms of
(momentum) twistors and focus on a restricted kinematics in which the answer
depends only on two independent cross-ratios. The theory of motives can be used
to vastly simplify the results, which can be expressed as simple combinations
of classical polylogarithms.Comment: 18 page
The low pKa value of iron-binding ligand Tyr188 and its implication in iron release and anion binding of human transferrin
2D NMR-pH titrations were used to determine pKa values for four conserved tyrosine residues, Tyr45, Tyr85, Tyr96 and Tyr188, in human transferrin. The low pKa of Tyr188 is due to the fact that the iron-binding ligand interacts with Lys206 in open-form and with Lys296 in the closed-form of the protein. Our current results also confirm the anion binding of sulfate and arsenate to transferrin and further suggest that Tyr188 is the actual binding site for the anions in solution. These data indicate that Tyr188 is a critical residue not only for iron binding but also for chelator binding and iron release in transferrin. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies.postprin
Wilson Loops @ 3-Loops in Special Kinematics
We obtain a compact expression for the octagon MHV amplitude / Wilson loop at
3 loops in planar N=4 SYM and in special 2d kinematics in terms of 7 unfixed
coefficients. We do this by making use of the cyclic and parity symmetry of the
amplitude/Wilson loop and its behaviour in the soft/collinear limits as well as
in the leading term in the expansion away from this limit. We also make a
natural and quite general assumption about the functional form of the result,
namely that it should consist of weight 6 polylogarithms whose symbol consists
of basic cross-ratios only (and not functions thereof). We also describe the
uplift of this result to 10 points.Comment: 26 pages. Typos correcte
Superconformal symmetry and two-loop amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills
Scattering amplitudes in superconformal field theories do not enjoy this
symmetry, because the definition of asymptotic states involve a notion of
infinity. Concentrating on planar Yang-Mills, we consider a
generalization of scattering amplitudes which depends on twice as many
Grassmann variables. We conjecture that it restores at least half of the
superconformal symmetries, and all of the dual superconformal symmetries. The
object arises naturally as the dual of a null polygonal Wilson loop in an
superspace. We support the conjecture by using it to
obtain the total differential of all -point two-loop MHV amplitudes, and
showing that the result passes consistency checks. Potential all-loop
constraints are also discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures and 1 noteboo
Yangian symmetry of light-like Wilson loops
We show that a certain class of light-like Wilson loops exhibits a Yangian
symmetry at one loop, or equivalently, in an Abelian theory. The Wilson loops
we discuss are equivalent to one-loop MHV amplitudes in N=4 super Yang-Mills
theory in a certain kinematical regime. The fact that we find a Yangian
symmetry constraining their functional form can be thought of as the effect of
the original conformal symmetry associated to the scattering amplitudes in the
N=4 theory.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
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