70,119 research outputs found
Cross Calibration of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes with Fermi
An updated model for the synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from a
population of high energy electrons of the Crab Nebula is used to reproduce the
measured spectral energy distribution from radio to high energy gamma-rays. By
comparing the predicted inverse Compton component with recent Fermi
measurements of the nebula's emission, it is possible to determine the average
magnetic field in the nebula and to derive the underlying electron energy
distribution. The model calculation can then be used to cross calibrate the
Fermi observations with ground based air shower measurements. The resulting
energy calibration factors are derived and can be used for combining broad
energy measurements taken with Fermi in conjunction with ground based
measurements.Comment: 2009 Fermi Symposium, eConf Proceedings C091122, 5 pages, 5 figures,
3 table
Extension of the spin-1/2 frustrated square lattice model: the case of layered vanadium phosphates
We study the influence of the spin lattice distortion on the properties of
frustrated magnetic systems and consider the applicability of the spin-1/2
frustrated square lattice model to materials lacking tetragonal symmetry. We
focus on the case of layered vanadium phosphates AA'VO(PO4)2 (AA' = Pb2, SrZn,
BaZn, and BaCd). To provide a proper microscopic description of these
compounds, we use extensive band structure calculations for real materials and
model structures and supplement this analysis with simulations of thermodynamic
properties, thus facilitating a direct comparison with the experimental data.
Due to the reduced symmetry, the realistic spin model of layered vanadium
phosphates AA'VO(PO4)2 includes four inequivalent exchange couplings: J1 and
J1' between nearest-neighbors and J2 and J2' between next-nearest-neighbors.
The estimates of individual exchange couplings suggest different regimes, from
J1'/J1 and J2'/J2 close to 1 in BaCdVO(PO4)2, a nearly regular frustrated
square lattice, to J1'/J1 ~ 0.7 and J2'/J2 ~ 0.4 in SrZnVO(PO4)2, a frustrated
square lattice with sizable distortion. The underlying structural differences
are analyzed, and the key factors causing the distortion of the spin lattice in
layered vanadium compounds are discussed. We propose possible routes for
finding new frustrated square lattice materials among complex vanadium oxides.
Full diagonalization simulations of thermodynamic properties indicate the
similarity of the extended model to the regular one with averaged couplings. In
case of moderate frustration and moderate distortion, valid for all the
AA'VO(PO4)2 compounds reported so far, the distorted spin lattice can be
considered as a regular square lattice with the couplings (J1+J1')/2 between
nearest-neighbors and (J2+J2')/2 between next-nearest-neighbors.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Shocked Surface Layers of O-Ne-Mg Cores
We demonstrate that rapid expansion of the shocked surface layers of an
O-Ne-Mg core following its collapse can result in r-process nucleosynthesis. As
the supernova shock accelerates through these layers, it makes them expand so
rapidly that free nucleons remain in disequilibrium with alpha-particles
throughout most of the expansion. This allows heavy r-process isotopes
including the actinides to form in spite of the very low initial neutron excess
of the matter. We estimate that yields of heavy r-process nuclei from this site
may be sufficient to explain the Galactic inventory of these isotopes.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter
Heavy Meson Production in NN Collisions with Polarized Beam and Target -- A new facility for COSY
The study of near--threshold meson production in pp and pd collisions
involving polarized beams and polarized targets offers the rare opportunity to
gain insight into short--range features of the nucleon--nucleon interaction.
The Cooler Synchrotron COSY at FZ--J\"ulich is a unique environment to perform
such studies. Measurements of polarization observables require a cylindrically
symmetrical detector, capable to measure the momenta and the directions of
outgoing charged hadrons. The wide energy range of COSY leads to momenta of
outgoing protons to be detected in a single meson production reaction between
300 and 2500 MeV/c. Scattering angles of protons to be covered extend to about
in the laboratory system. An azimuthal angular coverage of the
device around 98% seems technically achievable. The required magnetic
spectrometer could consist of a superconducting toroid, providing fields around
3 T.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Czechoslovak Journal of Physic
Properties of Intercalated 2H-NbSe2, 4Hb-TaS2 and 1T-TaS2
The layered compounds 2H-NbSe, 24Hb-TaS, 2and 1T-TaS2 have been intercalated with organic molecules; and the resulting crystal structure, heat capacity, conductivity, and superconductivity have been studied. The coordination in the disulfide layers was found to be unchanged in the product phase. Resistance minima appear and the superconducting transition temperature is reduced in the NbSe2 complex. Conversely, superconductivity is induced in the 4Hb-TaS2 complex. Corresponding evidence of a large change of the density of states, negative for 2H-NbSe2 and positive for 4Hb-TaS2, was also observed upon intercalation. The transport properties of all the intercalation complexes show a pronounced dependence upon the coordination of the transition metal
The Bulk Channel in Thermal Gauge Theories
We investigate the thermal correlator of the trace of the energy-momentum
tensor in the SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. Our goal is to constrain the spectral
function in that channel, whose low-frequency part determines the bulk
viscosity. We focus on the thermal modification of the spectral function,
. Using the operator-product expansion we give
the high-frequency behavior of this difference in terms of thermodynamic
potentials. We take into account the presence of an exact delta function
located at the origin, which had been missed in previous analyses. We then
combine the bulk sum rule and a Monte-Carlo evaluation of the Euclidean
correlator to determine the intervals of frequency where the spectral density
is enhanced or depleted by thermal effects. We find evidence that the thermal
spectral density is non-zero for frequencies below the scalar glueball mass
and is significantly depleted for .Comment: (1+25) pages, 6 figure
RSFQ devices with selective dissipation for quantum information processing
We study the possibility to use frequency dependent damping in RSFQ circuits
as means to reduce dissipation and consequent decoherence in RSFQ/qubit
circuits. We show that stable RSFQ operation can be achieved by shunting the
Josephson junctions with an circuit instead of a plain resistor. We derive
criteria for the stability of such an arrangement, and discuss the effect on
decoherence and the optimisation issues. We also design a simple flux generator
aimed at manipulating flux qubits
Stochastic Description of a Bistable Frustrated Unit
Mixed positive and negative feedback loops are often found in biological
systems which support oscillations. In this work we consider a prototype of
such systems, which has been recently found at the core of many genetic
circuits showing oscillatory behaviour. Our model consists of two interacting
species A and B, where A activates not only its own production, but also that
of its repressor B. While the self-activation of A leads already to a bistable
unit, the coupling with a negative feedback loop via B makes the unit
frustrated. In the deterministic limit of infinitely many molecules, such a
bistable frustrated unit is known to show excitable and oscillatory dynamics,
depending on the maximum production rate of A which acts as a control
parameter. We study this model in its fully stochastic version and we find
oscillations even for parameters which in the deterministic limit are deeply in
the fixed-point regime. The deeper we go into this regime, the more irregular
these oscillations are, becoming finally random excitations whenever
fluctuations allow the system to overcome the barrier for a large excursion in
phase space. The fluctuations can no longer be fully treated as a perturbation.
The smaller the system size (the number of molecules), the more frequent are
these excitations. Therefore, stochasticity caused by demographic noise makes
this unit even more flexible with respect to its oscillatory behaviour.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figure
Cancer therapeutic potential of combinatorial immuno- and vaso-modulatory interventions
Currently, most of the basic mechanisms governing tumor-immune system
interactions, in combination with modulations of tumor-associated vasculature,
are far from being completely understood. Here, we propose a mathematical model
of vascularized tumor growth, where the main novelty is the modeling of the
interplay between functional tumor vasculature and effector cell recruitment
dynamics. Parameters are calibrated on the basis of different in vivo
immunocompromised Rag1-/- and wild-type (WT) BALB/c murine tumor growth
experiments. The model analysis supports that tumor vasculature normalization
can be a plausible and effective strategy to treat cancer when combined with
appropriate immuno-stimulations. We find that improved levels of functional
tumor vasculature, potentially mediated by normalization or stress alleviation
strategies, can provide beneficial outcomes in terms of tumor burden reduction
and growth control. Normalization of tumor blood vessels opens a therapeutic
window of opportunity to augment the antitumor immune responses, as well as to
reduce the intratumoral immunosuppression and induced-hypoxia due to vascular
abnormalities. The potential success of normalizing tumor-associated
vasculature closely depends on the effector cell recruitment dynamics and tumor
sizes. Furthermore, an arbitrary increase of initial effector cell
concentration does not necessarily imply a better tumor control. We evidence
the existence of an optimal concentration range of effector cells for tumor
shrinkage. Based on these findings, we suggest a theory-driven therapeutic
proposal that optimally combines immuno- and vaso-modulatory interventions
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