14,486 research outputs found
Kink-Antikink Unbinding Transition in the Two Dimensional Fully Frustrated XY Model
We carry out the first numerical simulations to directly confirm the
existence of a kink-antikink unbinding transition, T_w, along Ising-like domain
walls in the two dimensional fully frustrated XY model. We comment on the
possible implications of kink-antikink unbinding for the bulk phase transitions
of the model.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures - expanded version of original submission as
accepted by Phys. Rev. B. Some correction to the analysis lead to an increase
in the value of the kink unbinding transition temperatur
Two phase transitions in the fully frustrated model
The fully frustrated model on a square lattice is studied by means of
Monte Carlo simulations. A Kosterlitz-Thouless transition is found at , followed by an ordinary Ising transition at a slightly
higher temperature, . The non-Ising exponents reported by
others, are explained as a failure of finite size scaling due to the screening
length associated with the nearby Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.Comment: REVTEX file, 8 pages, 5 figures in uuencoded postscrip
Mortality following a brain tumour diagnosis in patients with multiple sclerosis
Objectives: As brain tumours and their treatment may theoretically have a poorer prognosis in inflammatory central nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), all-cause mortality following a brain tumour diagnosis was compared between patients with and without MS. The potential role of age at tumour diagnosis was also examined. Setting: Hospital inpatients in Sweden with assessment of mortality in hospital or following discharge. Participants: Swedish national registers identified 20 543 patients with an MS diagnosis (1969-2005) and they were matched individually to produce a comparison cohort of 204 163 members of the general population without MS. Everyone with a primary brain tumour diagnosis was selected for this study: 111 with MS and 907 without MS. Primary and secondary outcome measures: 5-year mortality risk following brain tumour diagnosis and age at brain tumour diagnosis. Results: A non-statistically significant lower mortality risk among patients with MS (lower for those with tumours of high-grade and uncertain-grade malignancy and no notable difference for low-grade tumours) produced an unadjusted HR (and 95% CI) of 0.75 (0.56 to 1.02). After adjustment for age at diagnosis, grade of malignancy, sex, region of residence and socioeconomic index, the HR is 0.91 (0.67-1.24). The change in estimate was largely due to adjustment for age at brain tumour diagnosis, as patients with MS were on average 4.7 years younger at brain tumour diagnosis than those in the comparison cohort (p<0.001). Conclusions: Younger age at tumour diagnosis may contribute to mortality reduction in those with highgrade and uncertain-grade brain tumours. Survival following a brain tumour is not worse in patients with MS; even after age at brain tumour diagnosis and grade of malignancy are taken into account
From scalar to string confinement
We outline a connection between scalar quark confinement, a
phenomenologically successful concept heretofore lacking fundamental
justification, and QCD. Although scalar confinement does not follow from QCD,
there is an interesting and close relationship between them. We develop a
simple model intermediate between scalar confinement and the QCD string for
illustrative purposes. Finally, we find the bound state masses of scalar,
time-component vector, and string confinement analytically through
semi-classical quantization.Comment: ReVTeX, 9 pages, 5 figure
In Search of the Vortex Loop Blowout Transition for a type-II Superconductor in a Finite Magnetic Field
The 3D uniformly frustrated XY model is simulated to search for a predicted
"vortex loop blowout" transition within the vortex line liquid phase of a
strongly type-II superconductor in an applied magnetic field. Results are shown
to strongly depend on the precise scheme used to trace out vortex line paths.
While we find evidence for a transverse vortex path percolation transition, no
signal of this transition is found in the specific heat.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figure
Semileptonic form factors - a model-independent approach
We demonstrate that the B->D(*) l nu form factors can be accurately predicted
given the slope parameter rho^2 of the Isgur-Wise function. Only weak
assumptions, consistent with lattice results, on the wavefunction for the light
degrees of freedom are required to establish this result. We observe that the
QCD and 1/m_Q corrections can be systematically represented by an effective
Isgur-Wise function of shifted slope. This greatly simplifies the analysis of
semileptonic B decay. We also investigate what the available semileptonic data
can tell us about lattice QCD and Heavy Quark Effective Theory. A rigorous
identity relating the form factor slope difference rho_D^2-rho_A1^2 to a
combination of form factor intercepts is found. The identity provides a means
of checking theoretically evaluated intercepts with experiment.Comment: 18 pages, Revtex, 4 postscript figures, uses epsfig.st
Discreteness-induced Transition in Catalytic Reaction Networks
Drastic change in dynamics and statistics in a chemical reaction system,
induced by smallness in the molecule number, is reported. Through stochastic
simulations for random catalytic reaction networks, transition to a novel state
is observed with the decrease in the total molecule number N, characterized by:
i) large fluctuations in chemical concentrations as a result of intermittent
switching over several states with extinction of some molecule species and ii)
strong deviation of time averaged distribution of chemical concentrations from
that expected in the continuum limit, i.e., . The origin of
transition is explained by the deficiency of molecule leading to termination of
some reactions. The critical number of molecules for the transition is obtained
as a function of the number of molecules species M and that of reaction paths
K, while total reaction rates, scaled properly, are shown to follow a universal
form as a function of NK/M
Unitary ambiguity in the extraction of the E2/M1 ratio for the transition
The resonant electric quadrupole amplitude in the transition is of great interest for the understanding of
baryon structure. Various dynamical models have been developed to extract it
from the corresponding photoproduction multipole of pions on nucleons. It is
shown that once such a model is specified, a whole class of unitarily
equivalent models can be constructed, all of them providing exactly the same
fit to the experimental data. However, they may predict quite different
resonant amplitudes. Therefore, the extraction of the E2/M1() ratio (bare or dressed) which is based on a dynamical
model using a largely phenomenological interaction is not unique.Comment: 10 pages revtex including 4 postscript figure
Change of Diurnal Heart Rate Patterns During Pregnancy and Lactation in Dogs (Canis familiaris)
Pregnancy and lactation involve great demands on the cardiovascular system. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the heart rate and diurnal heart rate pattern change when dogs become pregnant or lactate. Five clinically healthy female beagle dogs were mated, and delivered three to seven healthy puppies. The heart rate was investigated with 24-h ECG (Holter) once during anoestrus, at 3, 5, 7 and 9 weeks of pregnancy, and at week 4 postpartum (lactation). However, at 9 weeks, the ECG could not be recorded for the fully 24 h in 4 of 5 dogs, because labour started and the dogs then appeared disturbed by the recordings. The results at this date are not included in the statistical comparison. The heart rate increased progressively during pregnancy and was still elevated at 4 weeks of lactation. During late pregnancy the difference in heart rates between daytime and nighttime became smaller, but the heart rate was significantly higher in daytime in all periods. In conclusion, the increased heart rates during pregnancy and lactation reflect increased demands on the cardiovascular system and may be important to consider in clinical practice
Analytic Quantization of the QCD String
We perform an analytic semi-classical quantization of the straight QCD string
with one end fixed and a massless quark on the other, in the limits of orbital
and radial dominant motion. We compare our results to the exact numerical
semi-classical quantization. We observe that the numerical semi-classical
quantization agrees well with our exact numerical canonical quantization.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 9 figure
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