433 research outputs found
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On the road to the solution of the Solar Neutrino Problem
The present status of solar neutrino experiments is reviewed. The discrepancy between the experimental results and the theoretical expectations has come to be known as the Solar Neutrino Problem. Possible solutions to this problem are discussed. The next generation of solar neutrino experiments are described
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The interplay of nuclear and atomic physics in the synthesis of the elements
In many astronomical environments, physical conditions are so extreme that matter is almost completely ionized. The absence of bound atomic electrons can dramatically alter the decay rates of a number of radioactive nuclei. Several examples of this interplay of nuclear and atomic physics relevant to the synthesis of the chemical elements are described. 16 refs., 4 figs
Low-lying levels in Pm148
The Sm149(d,3He) reaction has been used to populate levels in Pm148. Nineteen new excited states have been observed below 1 MeV excitation energy in Pm148. The possible astrophysical implications of these results are discussed
Long-term monitoring of SO2 quiescent degassing from Nyiragongo’s lava lake
The activity of open-vent volcanoes with an active lava-lake, such as Nyiragongo, is characterized by persistent degassing, thus continuous monitoring of the rate, volume and fate of their gas emissions is of great importance to understand their geophysical state and their potential impact. We report results of SO2 emission measurements from Nyiragongo conducted between 2004 and 2012 with a network of ground-based scanning-DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) remote sensors. The mean SO2 emission rate is found to be 13 ± 9 kg s−1, similar to that observed in 1959. Daily emission rate has a distribution close to log-normal and presents large inter-day variability, reflecting the dynamics of percolation of magma batches of heterogeneous size distribution and changes in the effective permeability of the lava lake. The degassed S content is found to be between 1000 and 2000 ppm from these measurements and the reported magma flow rates sustaining the lava lake. The inter-annual trend and plume height statistics indicate stability of a quiescently degassing lava lake during the period of study
Comment on "Evolution of a Quasi-Stationary State"
Approximately forty years ago it was realized that the time development of
decaying systems might not be precisely exponential. Rolf Winter (Phys. Rev.
{\bf 123}, 1503 (1961)) analyzed the simplest nontrivial system - a particle
tunneling out of a well formed by a wall and a delta-function. He calculated
the probability current just outside the well and found irregular oscillations
on a short time scale followed by an exponential decrease followed by more
oscillations and finally by a decrease as a power of the time. We have
reanalyzed this system, concentrating on the survival probability of the
particle in the well rather than the probability current, and find a different
short time behavior.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, RevTex
Ventricular diastolic filling characteristics in stage-24 chick embryos after extra-embryonic venous obstruction
Alteration of extra-embryonic venous blood flow in stage-17 chick embryos
results in well-defined cardiovascular malformations. We hypothesize that
the decreased dorsal aortic blood volume flow observed after venous
obstruction results in altered ventricular diastolic function in stage-24
chick embryos. A microclip was placed at the right lateral vitelline vein
in a stage-17 (52-64 h of incubation) chick embryo. At stage 24 (4.5 days
of incubation), we measured simultaneously dorsal aortic and
atrioventricular blood flow velocities with a 20-MHz pulsed-Doppler
velocity meter. The fraction of passive and active filling was integrated
and multiplied by dorsal aortic blood flow to obtain the relative passive
and active ventricular filling volumes. Data were summarized as means +/-
S.E.M. and analyzed by t-test. At similar cycle lengths ranging from 557
ms to 635 ms (P>0.60), dorsal aortic blood flow and stroke volume measured
in the dorsal aorta were similar in stage-24 clipped and normal embryos.
Passive filling volume (0.07+/-0.01 mm(3)) was decreased, and active
filling volume (0.40+/-0.02 mm(3)) was increased in the clipped embryo
when compared with the normal embryo (0.15+/-0.01 mm(3), 0.30+/-0.01
mm(3), respectively) (P<0.003). In the clipped embryos, the passive/active
ratio was decreased compared with that in normal embryos (P<0.001).
Ventricular filling components changed after partially obstructing the
extra-embryonic venous circulation. These results suggest that material
properties of the embryonic ventricle are modified after temporarily
reduced hemodynamic load
Systematic Study of Fermion Masses and Mixing Angles in Horizontal SU(2) Gauge Theory
Despite its great success in explaining the basic interactions of nature, the
standard model suffers from an inability to explain the observed masses of the
fundamental particles and the weak mixing angles between them. We shall survey
a set of possible extensions to the standard model, employing an SU(2)
``horizontal'' gauge symmetry between the particle generations, to see what
light they can shed on this problem.Comment: 43 pages, 4 figures (available by postal mail on request), OZ-92/0
Further Evidence Suggestive of a Solar Influence on Nuclear Decay Rates
Recent analyses of nuclear decay data show evidence of variations suggestive
of a solar influence. Analyses of datasets acquired at the Brookhaven National
Laboratory (BNL) and at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) both
show evidence of an annual periodicity and of periodicities with sidereal
frequencies in the neighborhood of 12.25 year^{-1} (at a significance level
that we have estimated to be 10^{-17}). It is notable that this implied
rotation rate is lower than that attributed to the solar radiative zone,
suggestive of a slowly rotating solar core. This leads us to hypothesize that
there may be an "inner tachocline" separating the core from the radiative zone,
analogous to the "outer tachocline" that separates the radiative zone from the
convection zone. The Rieger periodicity (which has a period of about 154 days,
corresponding to a frequency of 2.37 year^{-1}) may be attributed to an r-mode
oscillation with spherical-harmonic indices l=3, m=1, located in the outer
tachocline. This suggests that we may test the hypothesis of a solar influence
on nuclear decay rates by searching BNL and PTB data for evidence of a
"Rieger-like" r-mode oscillation, with l=3, m=1, in the inner tachocline. The
appropriate search band for such an oscillation is estimated to be 2.00-2.28
year^{-1}. We find, in both datasets, strong evidence of a periodicity at 2.11
year^{-1}. We estimate that the probability of obtaining these results by
chance is 10^{-12}.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, v2 has a color corrected Fig 6, a corrected
reference, and a corrected typ
Charge conservation and time-varying speed of light
It has been recently claimed that cosmologies with time dependent speed of
light might solve some of the problems of the standard cosmological scenario,
as well as inflationary scenarios. In this letter we show that most of these
models, when analyzed in a consistent way, lead to large violations of charge
conservation. Thus, they are severly constrained by experiment, including those
where is a power of the scale factor and those whose source term is the
trace of the energy-momentum tensor. In addition, early Universe scenarios with
a sudden change of related to baryogenesis are discarded.Comment: 4 page
Power Spectrum Analysis of Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Decay-Rate Data: Evidence for Solar Rotational Modulation
Evidence for an anomalous annual periodicity in certain nuclear decay data
has led to speculation concerning a possible solar influence on nuclear
processes. We have recently analyzed data concerning the decay rates of Cl-36
and Si-32, acquired at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), to search for
evidence that might be indicative of a process involving solar rotation.
Smoothing of the power spectrum by weighted-running-mean analysis leads to a
significant peak at frequency 11.18/yr, which is lower than the equatorial
synodic rotation rates of the convection and radiative zones. This article
concerns measurements of the decay rates of Ra-226 acquired at the
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany. We find that a similar
(but not identical) analysis yields a significant peak in the PTB dataset at
frequency 11.21/yr, and a peak in the BNL dataset at 11.25/yr. The change in
the BNL result is not significant since the uncertainties in the BNL and PTB
analyses are estimated to be 0.13/yr and 0.07/yr, respectively. Combining the
two running means by forming the joint power statistic leads to a highly
significant peak at frequency 11.23/yr. We comment briefly on the possible
implications of these results for solar physics and for particle physics.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure
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