Classical and Quantum Correlations of Scalar Field in the Inflationary Universe

We investigate classical and quantum correlations of a quantum field in the inflationary universe using a particle detector model. By considering the entanglement and correlations between two comoving detectors interacting with a scalar field, we find that the entanglement between the detectors becomes zero after their physical separation exceeds the Hubble horizon. Furthermore, the quantum discord, which is defined as the quantum part of total correlation, approaches zero on super horizon scale. These behaviors support appearance of classical nature of the quantum fluctuation generated during the inflationary era.Comment: 21 pages, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Crystallographic Study of Itokawa Particle, RA-QD02-0127 by Using Energy-Scanning X-Ray Diffraction Method with Synchrotron Radiation

The petrographic study of Itokawa particle, RA-QD02-0127 has been performed by SEM-EDS and optical microscope observations. The purpose of this study is to understand better the metamorphic and impact shock history of asteroid Itokawa, and other S-class asteroids

Identification of Magnetite in Lunar Regolith Breccia 60016: Evidence for Oxidized Conditions at the Lunar Surface

Lunar regolith breccias are temporal archives of magmatic and impact bombardment processes on the Moon. Apollo 16 sample 60016 is an ‘ancient’ feldspathic regolith breccia that was converted from a soil to a rock at ~3.8 Ga. The breccia contains a small (70 × 50 μm) rock fragment composed dominantly of an Fe-oxide phase with disseminated domains of troilite. Fragments of plagioclase (An95-97), pyroxene (En74-75, Fs21-22,Wo3-4) and olivine (Fo66-67) are distributed in and adjacent to the Fe-oxide. The silicate minerals have lunar compositions that are similar to anorthosites. Mineral chemistry, synchrotron X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrate that the oxide phase is magnetite with an estimated Fe3+/ΣFe ratio of ~0.45. The presence of magnetite in 60016 indicates that oxygen fugacity during formation was equilibrated at, or above, the Fe-magnetite or wűstite-magnetite oxygen buffer. This discovery provides direct evidence for oxidised conditions on the Moon. Thermodynamic modelling shows that magnetite could have been formed from oxidisation-driven mineral replacement of Fe-metal or desulphurisation from Fe-sulphides (troilite) at low temperatures (°C) in equilibrium with H2O steam/liquid or CO2 gas. Oxidising conditions may have arisen from vapour transport during degassing of a magmatic source region, or from a hybrid endogenic-exogenic process when gases were released during an impacting asteroid or comet impact

The Little Review on Leptogenesis

This is a brief review on the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis. Leptogenesis is an appealing scenario that may relate the observed baryon asymmetry in the Universe to the low-energy neutrino data. In this review talk, particular emphasis is put on recent developments on the field, such as the flavourdynamics of leptogenesis and resonant leptogenesis near the electroweak phase transition. It is illustrated how these recent developments enable the modelling of phenomenologically predictive scenarios that can directly be tested at the LHC and indirectly in low-energy experiments of lepton-number and lepton-flavour violation.Comment: 15 pages, based on a plenary presentation given at the DISCRETE'08 Symposium, 11-16 December 2008, Valencia, Spai

Pure nematic state in iron-based superconductor

Lattice and electronic states of thin FeSe films on LaAlO$_3$ substrates are investigated in the vicinity of the nematic phase transition. No evidence of structural phase transition is found by x-ray diffraction below $T^\ast \sim 90$ K, while results obtained from resistivity measurement and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy clearly show the appearance of a nematic state. These results indicate formation of a pure nematic state in the iron-based superconductor and provide conclusive evidence that the nematic state originates from the electronic degrees of freedom. This pure nematicity in the thin film implies difference in the electron-lattice interaction from bulk FeSe crystals. FeSe films provide valuable playgrounds for observing the pure response of "bare" electron systems free from the electron-lattice interaction, and should make important contribution to investigate nematicity and its relationship with superconductivity

Technical design and performance of the NEMO3 detector

The development of the NEMO3 detector, which is now running in the Frejus Underground Laboratory (L.S.M. Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane), was begun more than ten years ago. The NEMO3 detector uses a tracking-calorimeter technique in order to investigate double beta decay processes for several isotopes. The technical description of the detector is followed by the presentation of its performance.Comment: Preprint submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Methods A Corresponding author: Corinne Augier ([email protected]

A CAI in the Ivuna CI1 Chondrite

We have recently discovered the first well-preserved calcium aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) in a CI1 chondrite (Ivuna). Previously, all CI1 chondrites were thought to be devoid of preserved CAI and chondrules due to the near total aqueous alteration to which their parent body (bodies) have been subjected. The CAI is roughly spherical, but with a slight teardrop geometry and a maximum diameter of 170 microns (fig. 1). It lacks any Wark-Lovering Rim. Incipient aqueous alteration, and probably shock, have rendered large portions of the CAI poorly crystalline. It is extremely fine-grained, with only a few grains exceeding 10 microns. We have performed electron microprobe analyses (EPMA), FEG-SEM imaging and element mapping, as well as electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) and synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) in order to determine the fundamental characteristics of this apparently unique object

Study of 2 beta-decay of Mo-100 and Se-82 using the NEMO3 detector

After analysis of 5797 h of data from the detector NEMO3, new limits on neutrinoless double beta decay of Mo-100 (T-1/2 > 3.1 x 10(23) y, 90% CL) and Se-82 (T-1/2 > 1.4 x 10(23) y, 90% CL) have been obtained. The corresponding limits on the effective majorana neutrino mass are: 1.4 x 10(22) y (90% CL) for Mo-100 and T-1/2 > 1.2 x 10(22) y (90% CL) for Se-82. Corresponding bounds on the Majoron-neutrino coupling constant are < (0.5-0.9) x 10(- 4) and <(0.7-1.6) x 10(- 4). Two-neutrino 2beta-decay half-lives have been measured with a high accuracy, (T1/2Mo)-Mo-100 = [7.68 +/- 0.02(stat) +/- 0.54(syst)] x 10(18) y and (T1/2Se)-Se-82 = [10.3 +/- 0.3(stat) +/- 0.7(syst)] x 10(19) y. (C) 2004 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica"

Scintillation-only Based Pulse Shape Discrimination for Nuclear and Electron Recoils in Liquid Xenon

In a dedicated test setup at the Kamioka Observatory we studied pulse shape discrimination (PSD) in liquid xenon (LXe) for dark matter searches. PSD in LXe was based on the observation that scintillation light from electron events was emitted over a longer period of time than that of nuclear recoil events, and our method used a simple ratio of early to total scintillation light emission in a single scintillation event. Requiring an efficiency of 50% for nuclear recoil retention we reduced the electron background to 7.7\pm1.1(stat)\pm1.2 0.6(sys)\times10-2 at energies between 4.8 and 7.2 keVee and to 7.7\pm2.8(stat)\pm2.5 2.8(sys)\times10-3 at energies between 9.6 and 12 keVee for a scintillation light yield of 20.9 p.e./keV. Further study was done by masking some of that light to reduce this yield to 4.6 p.e./keV, the same method results in an electron event reduction of 2.4\pm0.2(stat)\pm0.3 0.2(sys)\times10-1 for the lower of the energy regions above. We also observe that in contrast to nuclear recoils the fluctuations in our early to total ratio for electron events are larger than expected from statistical fluctuations.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure