Transport properties of the quark-gluon plasma from lattice QCD

I review the progress made in extracting transport properties of the quark-gluon plasma from lattice QCD simulations. The information on shear and bulk viscosity, the "low-energy constants" of hydrodynamics, is encoded in the retarded correlators of Tmunu, the energy-momentum tensor. Euclidean correlators, computable on the lattice, are related to the retarded correlators by an integral transform. The most promising strategy to extract shear and bulk viscosity is to study the shear and sound channel correlators where the hydrodynamic modes dominate. I present preliminary results from a comprehensive study of the gluonic plasma between 0.95Tc and 4.0Tc.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, plenary talk at the Quark Matter 2009 conference, Knoxville, T

The Companions of Paul on His Various Journeys and in His Captivities

For the better understanding o:r the position in which the companions of Paul stood to the Apostle and the role which they played in the 1ife and journeys of this great missionary; it is expedient to say a few words about that great Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul is the axle around which all the companions revolve as the separate parts of a great mechanism. We shall not attempt to give a complete biography of the man; but we shall try to give a brief survey of his life, in order that we may have a clear conception also of the details, with which we are confronted in the remarks concerning some of the companions

Glueball masses in U(1) LGT using the multi-level algorithm

The multi-level algorithm allows, at least for pure gauge theories, reliable measurement of exponentially small expectation values. The implementation of the algorithm depends strongly on the observable one wants to measure. Here we report measurement of glueball masses using the multi-level algorithm in 4 dimensional compact U(1) theory as a case study.Comment: Lattice 2003 (algorithm) 3 pages, 3 figures and 2 table

Resonant motions in the presence of degeneracies for quasi-periodically perturbed systems

We consider one-dimensional systems in the presence of a quasi-periodic perturbation, in the analytical setting, and study the problem of existence of quasi-periodic solutions which are resonant with the frequency vector of the perturbation. We assume that the unperturbed system is locally integrable and anisochronous, and that the frequency vector of the perturbation satisfies the Bryuno condition. Existence of resonant solutions is related to the zeroes of a suitable function, called the Melnikov function - by analogy with the periodic case. We show that, if the Melnikov function has a zero of odd order and under some further condition on the sign of the perturbation parameter, then there exists at least one resonant solution which continues an unperturbed solution. If the Melnikov function is identically zero then one can push perturbation theory up to the order where a counterpart of Melnikov function appears and does not vanish identically: if such a function has a zero of odd order and a suitable positiveness condition is met, again the same persistence result is obtained. If the system is Hamiltonian, then the procedure can be indefinitely iterated and no positiveness condition must be required: as a byproduct, the result follows that at least one resonant quasi-periodic solution always exists with no assumption on the perturbation. Such a solution can be interpreted as a (parabolic) lower-dimensional torus.Comment: 60 pages, 16 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1011.093

Callisto - A New Concept for Solar Radio Spectrometers

A new radio spectrometer, CALLISTO, is presented. It is a dual-channel frequency-agile receiver based on commercially available consumer electronics. Its major characteristic is the low price for hardware and software, and the short assembly time, both two or more orders of magnitude below existing spectrometers. The instrument is sensitive at the physical limit and extremely stable. The total bandwidth is 825 MHz, and the width of individual channel is 300 kHz. A total of 1000 measurements can be made per second. The spectrometer is well suited for solar low-frequency radio observations pertinent to space weather research. Five instruments of the type were constructed until now and put into operation at several sites, including Bleien (Zurich) and NRAO (USA). First results in the 45-870 MHz range are presented. Some of them were recorded in a preliminary setup during the time of high solar activity in October and November 200

Penicillin in the Treatment of an Open Joint

On the evening of April 18, 1947 an albino 3 year old mare was entered at the Stange Memorial Clinic with the history that the right hock had been cut on a fence the morning of April 17, 1947. The veterinarians who first attended the animal had applied a pressure bandage infiltrated with powdered sulfanilamide to control hemorrhage and administered tetanus antitoxin

Opportunities and challenges facing new energy crops. Summary

In the EU, 20% of primary energy demand is to be covered by renewable energy sources by 2020 in order to reduce emissions of climate-relevant gases and dependence on imports of fossil energy sources. Biomass is the most important renewable energy source in both the European Union and Germany, with a share of around two thirds. Bioenergy sources play a major role in the expansion strategies for renewable energies. Biofuel and biogas production have risen sharply in Germany in recent years due to government subsidies. This part of bioenergy is essentially based on energy crop cultivation (mainly rapeseed and maize). However, with food prices rising sharply worldwide, especially in 2007/2008, the expansion targets for biofuels have been called into question to some extent. There was controversy about the extent to which the increasing production of biofuels had contributed to this price increase. With the financial and economic crisis, agricultural prices then fell significantly, and agriculture is in the midst of a revenue and income crisis in which energy crops can once again gain importance as an income option. Another point of discussion is the extent to which ambitious expansion targets will lead to the import of bioenergy sources and thus trigger an expansion of cultivated areas in tropical exporting countries at the expense of rainforest. In the case of large-scale rainforest clearing, this would even mean increased greenhouse gas emissions instead of their reduction. These rapid changes in the public debate pose particular challenges for scientific policy advice in this topic area. Subject and aim of the study The TA project "Opportunities and challenges of new energy crops" (short title "Energy Crops") was approved by the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment on 27 September 2006. Due to the importance of the very complex topic and the manifold demands on the project, a staged approach was chosen. In the first phase of the project, the focus was on the review and comparative evaluation of existing studies. An overview of the subject area is provided in the basic analyses (TAB Working Report No. 121). The studies in the second project phase concentrated on the in-depth analysis of three topic areas: Expansion of energy crop use and (land) competition nationally and internationally, dimensions of environmentally compatible energy crop production, and certification of biogenic energy sources

Bi-directional Kerr-Lens Mode-Locked Titanium Sapphire Laser

Precision near-infrared absorption spectroscopy is a highly desired scientific method, but the blooming technology has not yet come to fruition. Field deployments are limited, and some methods come with limitations that hamper the viability. The laser cavity completed for this thesis project is a single cavity Dual Comb Spectroscopy laser, which improves myriad limiting characteristics of previous lasers in this application. Crucially, it can produce two simultaneous pulse trains with unique repetition rates. The laser cavity has been designed, built, and aligned for improved stability, including vibrational, noise, and thermal control. The design, analysis, and results of a dual comb spectroscopy laser which successfully maintains two combs, 750 MHz repetition rate, with a bandwidth of 30 nm centered at 835 nm is presented