210 research outputs found
Black-hole quasinormal modes and scalar glueballs in a finite-temperature AdS/QCD model
We use the holographic AdS/QCD soft-wall model to investigate the spectrum of
scalar glueballs in a finite temperature plasma. In this model, glueballs are
described by a massless scalar field in an AdS_5 black hole with a dilaton
soft-wall background. Using AdS/CFT prescriptions, we compute the boundary
retarded Green's function. The corresponding thermal spectral function shows
quasiparticle peaks at low temperatures. We also compute the quasinormal modes
of the scalar field in the soft-wall black hole geometry. The temperature and
momentum dependences of these modes are analyzed. The positions and widths of
the peaks of the spectral function are related to the frequencies of the
quasinormal modes. Our numerical results are found employing the power series
method and the computation of Breit-Wigner resonances.Comment: Revision: Results unchanged. More discussions on the model and on the
results. References added. 28 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
The VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey at 5 GHz
We present the first results of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey
(VIPS), a 5 GHz VLBI survey of 1,127 sources with flat radio spectra. Through
automated data reduction and imaging routines, we have produced publicly
available I, Q, and U images and have detected polarized flux density from 37%
of the sources. We have also developed an algorithm to use each source's I
image to automatically classify it as a point-like source, a core-jet, a
compact symmetric object (CSO) candidate, or a complex source. The mean ratio
of the polarized to total 5 GHz flux density for VIPS sources with detected
polarized flux density ranges from 1% to 20% with a median value of about 5%.
We have also found significant evidence that the directions of the jets in
core-jet systems tend to be perpendicular to the electric vector position
angles (EVPAs). The data is consistent with a scenario in which ~24% of the
polarized core-jets have EVPAs that are anti-aligned with the directions of
their jet components and which have a substantial amount of Faraday rotation.
In addition to these initial results, plans for future follow-up observations
are discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 3 tables, 13 figures; accepted for publication in Ap
AdS/CFT with Flavour in Electric and Magnetic Kalb-Ramond Fields
We investigate gauge/gravity duals with flavour for which pure-gauge
Kalb-Ramond B fields are turned on in the background, into which a D7 brane
probe is embedded. First we consider the case of a magnetic field in two of the
spatial boundary directions. We show that at finite temperature, i.e. in the
AdS-Schwarzschild background, the B field has a stabilizing effect on the
mesons and chiral symmetry breaking occurs for a sufficiently large value of
the B field. Then we turn to the electric case of a B field in the temporal
direction and one spatial boundary direction. In this case, there is a singular
region in which it is necessary to turn on a gauge field on the brane in order
to ensure reality of the brane action. We find that the brane embeddings are
attracted towards this region. Far away from this region, in the weak field
case at zero temperature, we investigate the meson spectrum and find a mass
shift similar to the Stark effect.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figures, v2: added references and comments on mode
decoupling, on thermodynamics and holographic renormalisation, JHEP style,
v3: Final published versio
Interstellar MHD Turbulence and Star Formation
This chapter reviews the nature of turbulence in the Galactic interstellar
medium (ISM) and its connections to the star formation (SF) process. The ISM is
turbulent, magnetized, self-gravitating, and is subject to heating and cooling
processes that control its thermodynamic behavior. The turbulence in the warm
and hot ionized components of the ISM appears to be trans- or subsonic, and
thus to behave nearly incompressibly. However, the neutral warm and cold
components are highly compressible, as a consequence of both thermal
instability in the atomic gas and of moderately-to-strongly supersonic motions
in the roughly isothermal cold atomic and molecular components. Within this
context, we discuss: i) the production and statistical distribution of
turbulent density fluctuations in both isothermal and polytropic media; ii) the
nature of the clumps produced by thermal instability, noting that, contrary to
classical ideas, they in general accrete mass from their environment; iii) the
density-magnetic field correlation (or lack thereof) in turbulent density
fluctuations, as a consequence of the superposition of the different wave modes
in the turbulent flow; iv) the evolution of the mass-to-magnetic flux ratio
(MFR) in density fluctuations as they are built up by dynamic compressions; v)
the formation of cold, dense clouds aided by thermal instability; vi) the
expectation that star-forming molecular clouds are likely to be undergoing
global gravitational contraction, rather than being near equilibrium, and vii)
the regulation of the star formation rate (SFR) in such gravitationally
contracting clouds by stellar feedback which, rather than keeping the clouds
from collapsing, evaporates and diperses them while they collapse.Comment: 43 pages. Invited chapter for the book "Magnetic Fields in Diffuse
Media", edited by Elisabete de Gouveia dal Pino and Alex Lazarian. Revised as
per referee's recommendation
Corrections to flat-space particle dynamics arising from space granularity
The construction of effective Hamiltonians describing corrections to flat
space particle dynamics arising from the granularity of space at very short
distances is discussed in the framework of an heuristic approach to the
semiclassical limit of loop quantum gravity. After some general motivation of
the subject, a brief non-specialist introduction to the basic tools employed in
the loop approach is presented. The heuristical semiclassical limit is
subsequently defined and the application to the case of photons and spin 1/2
fermions is described. The resulting modified Maxwell and Dirac Hamiltonians,
leading in particular to Planck scale corrections in the energy-momentum
relations, are presented. Alternative interpretations of the results and their
limitations, together with other approaches are briefly discussed along the
text. Three topics related to the above methods are reviewed: (1) The
determination of bounds to the Lorentz violating parameters in the fermionic
sector, obtained from clock comparison experiments.(2) The calculation of
radiative corrections in preferred frames associated to space granularity in
the framework of a Yukawa model for the interactions and (3) The calculation of
synchrotron radiation in the framework of the Myers-Pospelov effective theories
describing Lorentz invariance violations, as well as a generalized approach to
radiation in Planck scale modified electrodynamics. The above exploratory
results show that quantum gravity phenomenology provides observational guidance
in the construction of quantum gravity theories and opens up the possibility of
probing Planck scale physics.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures and 4 tables. Extended version of the talk given
at the 339-th WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Special Relativity, will it survive the
next 100 years?, Potsdam, february 200
n-Hexadecane hydrocracking Single-Event MicroKinetics on Pt/H-beta
[EN] The Single-Event MicroKinetic (SEMK) model constructed for gas-phase hydroconversion of light n-alkanes on large-pore USY zeolites was applied, for the first time, to the hydrocracking of n-hexadecane on a Pt/H-Beta catalyst. Despite the 12-ringed pore channels, shape selectivity was observed in the formation of ethyl side chains. Additionally, heavy feed molecules such as n-hexadecane lead to physisorption saturation of the catalyst pores by strong Van der Waals interactions of the long alkyl chains with the zeolite framework. Intermolecular interactions and packing efficiencies in the pores induce deviations from typical Henry-regime physisorption characteristics as the physisorption selectivity, which is expected to increase with increasing carbon number, appeared to be independent of the latter. Micropore saturation effects were described by the 'size entropy' which quantifies the difference in standard entropy loss between physisorption in the Henry regime and hindered physisorption on a saturated surface. The size entropy is proportional to the catalyst loading with physisorbed species and the adsorbate carbon number. The addition of a size entropy term in the SEMK model, amounting to 102J mol(-1) K-1 for a hexadecane molecule at full saturation, allowed accurately reproducing the contribution of secondary isomerization and cracking reactions, as quantified by means of a contribution analysis. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This work was funded by the European Research Institute of
Catalysis and the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme. This work was also supported by the Research Board
of Ghent University (BOF), the Interuniversity Attraction Poles
Programme–Belgian State–Belgian Science Policy and the Long
Term Structural Methusalem Funding by the Flemish Government.
Financial support by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) of Spain through the Project CTQ2010-17988/PPQ
is also gratefully acknowledged.Vandegehuchte, BD.; Thybaut, JW.; Martinez Feliu, A.; Arribas Viana, MDLD.; Marin, GB. (2012). n-Hexadecane hydrocracking Single-Event MicroKinetics on Pt/H-beta. Applied Catalysis A General. 441:10-20. doi:10.1016/j.apcata.2012.06.054S102044
Understanding preventive behaviors among mid-Western African-American men: a pilot qualitative study of prostate screening
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2011.03.00
An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types
The surface detector array of the Telescope Array experiment
The Telescope Array (TA) experiment, located in the western desert of
Utah,USA, is designed for observation of extensive air showers from extremely
high energy cosmic rays. The experiment has a surface detector array surrounded
by three fluorescence detectors to enable simultaneous detection of shower
particles at ground level and fluorescence photons along the shower track. The
TA surface detectors and fluorescence detectors started full hybrid observation
in March, 2008. In this article we describe the design and technical features
of the TA surface detector.Comment: 32 pages, 17 figure
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