Anomalous shell effect in the transition from a circular to a triangular billiard

We apply periodic orbit theory to a two-dimensional non-integrable billiard system whose boundary is varied smoothly from a circular to an equilateral triangular shape. Although the classical dynamics becomes chaotic with increasing triangular deformation, it exhibits an astonishingly pronounced shell effect on its way through the shape transition. A semiclassical analysis reveals that this shell effect emerges from a codimension-two bifurcation of the triangular periodic orbit. Gutzwiller's semiclassical trace formula, using a global uniform approximation for the bifurcation of the triangular orbit and including the contributions of the other isolated orbits, describes very well the coarse-grained quantum-mechanical level density of this system. We also discuss the role of discrete symmetry for the large shell effect obtained here.Comment: 14 pages REVTeX4, 16 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. E. Qualities of some figures are lowered to reduce their sizes. Original figures are available at http://www.phys.nitech.ac.jp/~arita/papers/tricirc

Periodic-orbit approach to the nuclear shell structures with power-law potential models: Bridge orbits and prolate-oblate asymmetry

Deformed shell structures in nuclear mean-field potentials are systematically investigated as functions of deformation and surface diffuseness. As the mean-field model to investigate nuclear shell structures in a wide range of mass numbers, we propose the radial power-law potential model, V \propto r^\alpha, which enables a simple semiclassical analysis by the use of its scaling property. We find that remarkable shell structures emerge at certain combinations of deformation and diffuseness parameters, and they are closely related to the periodic-orbit bifurcations. In particular, significant roles of the "bridge orbit bifurcations" for normal and superdeformed shell structures are pointed out. It is shown that the prolate-oblate asymmetry in deformed shell structures is clearly understood from the contribution of the bridge orbit to the semiclassical level density. The roles of bridge orbit bifurcations in the emergence of superdeformed shell structures are also discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 23 figures, revtex4-1, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Flows to Schrodinger Geometries

We construct RG flow solutions interpolating AdS and Schrodinger geometries in Abelian Higgs models obtained from consistent reductions of type IIB supergravity and M-theory. We find that z=2 Schrodinger geometries can be realized at the minima of scalar potentials of these models, where a scalar charged under U(1) gauge symmetry obtains a nonzero vacuum expectation value. The RG flows are induced by an operator deformation of the dual CFT. The flows are captured by fake superpotentials of the theories.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, v2: typos corrected, references added, published version in PR

Disturbances of both cometary and Earth's magnetospheres excited by single solar flares

In the solar wind a comet plays the role of a windvane that moves three-dimensionally in the heliomagnetosphere. Among the solar systems bodies, only comets have a wide range of inclination angles of their orbital planes to the ecliptic plane ranging from 0 to 90 deg. Therefore, observations of cometary plasma tails are useful in probing the heliomagnetospheric conditions in the high heliolatitudinal region. A comet can be compared to a polar-orbiting probe encircling the Sun. We will introduce two rare cases in which the magnetospheres of both the comet and the Earth are disturbed by a single solar flare

Susceptibility to cytotoxic T lymphocyte-induced apoptosis is a function of the proliferative status of the target

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) kill cells by perturbing the target\u27s plasma membrane and by inducing the disintegration of the target cell\u27s DNA into oligonucleosomal fragments, a process characteristic of apoptosis. We show that the DNA fragmentation event is distinct from the membrane lysis event and is dependent on the state of target cell activation or commitment into the mitotic cycle. Quiescent cells were refractory to DNA fragmentation, but not to membrane lysis. Log phase growth, transformation with c-myc, or infection of quiescent G0 targets with herpes simplex virus-1, which induces a competent state for DNA synthesis, all enhanced target cell susceptibility to CTL-induced DNA fragmentation without altering the membrane lysis. These results suggest that G0 cells are resistant to CTL-induced apoptosis, but that entry into G1 or a G1-like state by growth factors, cellular transformation, or DNA virus infection renders them competent to enter the apoptotic pathway(s)

Inhibition of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-induced target cell DNA fragmentation, but not lysis, by inhibitors of DNA topoisomerases I and II

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) kill their target cells via a contact-dependent mechanism that results in the perturbation of the target cell\u27s plasma membrane and the fragmentation of the target cell\u27s DNA into nucleosomal particles. The membrane disruption is presumed to be due to the action of perforin, while the DNA fragmentation is thought to be by the activation of an endogenous nuclease(s). DNA topoisomerases I and II are nuclear enzymes with inherent endonuclease activities. We have investigated their role in the CTL-induced DNA fragmentation process. We report that in CTL killing assays, the treatment of target cells with topoisomerase I and II inhibitors blocks the CTL-induced DNA fragmentation process, but not the lysis of the target cell

Nonlinear Evolution of Very Small Scale Cosmological Baryon Perturbations at Recombination

The evolution of baryon density perturbations on very small scales is investigated. In particular, the nonlinear growth induced by the radiation drag force from the shear velocity field on larger scales during the recombination epoch, which is originally proposed by Shaviv in 1998, is studied in detail. It is found that inclusion of the diffusion term which Shaviv neglected in his analysis results in rather mild growth whose growth rate is $\ll 100$ instead of enormous amplification $\sim 10^4$ of Shaviv's original claim since the diffusion suppresses the growth. The growth factor strongly depends on the amplitude of the large scale velocity field. The nonlinear growth mechanism is applied to density perturbations of general adiabatic cold dark matter (CDM) models. In these models, it has been found in the previous works that the baryon density perturbations are not completely erased by diffusion damping if there exists gravitational potential of CDM. With employing the perturbed rate equation which is derived in this paper, the nonlinear evolution of baryon density perturbations is investigated. It is found that: (1) The nonlinear growth is larger for smaller scales. This mechanism only affects the perturbations whose scales are smaller than $\sim 10^2M_\odot$, which are coincident with the stellar scales. (2) The maximum growth factors of baryon density fluctuations for various COBE normalized CDM models are typically less than factor 10 for $3-\sigma$ large scale velocity peaks. (3) The growth factor depends on $\Omega_{\rm b}$.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap

Can Geometric Test Probe the Cosmic Equation of State ?

Feasibility of the geometric test as a probe of the cosmic equation of state of the dark energy is discussed assuming the future 2dF QSO sample. We examine sensitivity of the QSO two-point correlation functions, which are theoretically computed incorporating the light-cone effect and the redshift distortions, as well as the nonlinear effect, to a bias model whose evolution is phenomenologically parameterized. It is shown that the correlation functions are sensitive on a mean amplitude of the bias and not to the speed of the redshift evolution. We will also demonstrate that an optimistic geometric test could suffer from confusion that a signal from the cosmological model can be confused with that from a stochastic character of the bias.Comment: 11 pages, including 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Fast scintillation counter system and performance

An experimental study of the fast scintillation counter (FS) system to observe a shower disk structure at Mt. Norikura is described, especially the system performance and a pulse wave-form by a single charge particles. The photomultiplier tube (PT) pulse appears at the leading edge of the main pulse. To remove this PT-pulse from the main pulse, the frame of the scintillator vessel was changed. The fast triggering system was made to decrease the dead time which came from the use of the function of the self triggering of the storage oscilloscope (OSC). To provide a new field on the multi-parameter study of the cosmic ray showers, the system response of the FS system also improved as a result of many considerations

The structure of the shower disk observed at Mt. Norikura

The structure of the EAS shower disk, the arrival time distribution of charged particles at the core of the small or middle size shower, is measured at Mt. Norikura in Japan. Four fast scintillation counters with an area of 0.25 sq m and a fast trigger system are added to the Mt. Norikura EAS array for the study