2,103 research outputs found
Invited review: dysregulation of chromatin remodellers in paediatric brain tumours – SMARCB1 and beyond
Unstable Hadrons in Hot Hadron Gas in Laboratory and in the Early Universe
We study kinetic master equations for chemical reactions involving the
formation and the natural decay of unstable particles in a thermal bath. We
consider the decay channel of one into two particles, and the inverse process,
fusion of two thermal particles into one. We present the master equations the
evolution of the density of the unstable particles in the early Universe. We
obtain the thermal invariant reaction rate using as an input the free space
(vacuum) decay time and show the medium quantum effects on reaction relaxation time. As another laboratory example
we describe the process in thermal hadronic gas in
heavy-ion collisions. A particularly interesting application of our formalism
is the process in the early Universe.
We also explore the physics of and freeze-out in the
Universe.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, published in Physical Review
Hadron Resonances and Phase Threshold in Heavy Ion Collisions
We show that a measurement of the reaction energy dependence of relative
hadron resonance yields in heavy ion collisions can be used to study the phase
structure of the dense QCD matter created in these collisions, and investigate
the origin of the trends observed in the excitation functions of certain soft
hadronic observables. We show that presence of chemical nonequilibrium in light
quark abundance imparts a characteristic signature on the energy dependence of
resonance yields, that differs considerably from what is expected in the
equilibrium picture.Comment: In press, Phys. Rev.
Electron Positron Annihilation Radiation from SgrA East at the Galactic Center
Maps of the Galactic electron-positron annihilation radiation show evidence
for three distinct and significant features: (1) a central bulge source, (2)
emission in the Galactic plane, and (3) an enhancement of emission at positive
latitudes above the Galactic Center. In this paper, we explore the possibility
that Sgr A East, a very prominent radio structure surrounding the Galactic
nucleus, may be a significant contributer to the central bulge feature. The
motivation for doing so stems from a recently proposed link between this radio
object and the EGRET gamma-ray source 2EG J1746-2852. If this association is
correct, then Sgr A East is also expected to be a source of copious positron
production. The results presented here show that indeed Sgr A East must have
produced a numerically significant population of positrons, but also that most
of them have not yet had sufficient time to thermalize and annihilate. As such,
Sgr A East by itself does not appear to be the dominant current source of
annihilation radiation, but it will be when the positrons have cooled
sufficiently and they have become thermalized. This raises the interesting
possibility that the bulge component may be due to the relics of earlier
explosive events like the one that produced Sgr A East.Comment: This manuscript was prepared with the AAS Latex macros v4.0 It is 37
pages long and has 16 figure
The Sound of Sonoluminescence
We consider an air bubble in water under conditions of single bubble
sonoluminescence (SBSL) and evaluate the emitted sound field nonperturbatively
for subsonic gas-liquid interface motion. Sound emission being the dominant
damping mechanism, we also implement the nonperturbative sound damping in the
Rayleigh-Plesset equation for the interface motion. We evaluate numerically the
sound pulse emitted during bubble collapse and compare the nonperturbative and
perturbative results, showing that the usual perturbative description leads to
an overestimate of the maximal surface velocity and maximal sound pressure. The
radius vs. time relation for a full SBSL cycle remains deceptively unaffected.Comment: 25 pages; LaTex and 6 attached ps figure files. Accepted for
publication in Physical Review
Clinical and microbiological characteristics of bloodstream infections due to AmpC β-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae: an active surveillance cohort in a large centralized Canadian region
Background: The objective of this study was to describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics of bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to AmpC producing Enterobacteriaceae (AE) in a large centralized Canadian region over a 9-year period. Methods: An active surveillance cohort design in Calgary, Canada. Results: A cohort of 458 episodes of BSIs caused by AE was assembled for analysis. The majority of infections were of nosocomial origin with unknown sources. Enterobacter spp. was the most common species while BSIs due to Serratia spp. had a significant higher mortality when compared to other AE. Delays in empiric or definitive antibiotic therapy were not associated with a difference in outcome. However, patients that did not receive any empiric antimicrobial therapy had increased mortality (3/5; 60% vs. 57/453; 13%; p = 0.018) as did those that did not receive definitive therapy (6/17; 35% vs. 54/441; 12%; p = 0.015). Conclusions: Delays in therapy were not associated with adverse outcomes although lack of active therapy was associated with increased mortality. A strategy for BSIs due to AE where β-lactam antibiotics (including oxyiminocephalosporins) are used initially followed by a switch to non-β-lactam antibiotics once susceptibility results are available is effective.</p
On the characterisation of a Bragg spectrometer with X-rays from an ECR source
Narrow X-ray lines from helium-like argon emitted from a dedicated ECR source
have been used to determine the response function of a Bragg crystal
spectrometer equipped with large area spherically bent silicon (111) or quartz
(10) crystals. The measured spectra are compared with simulated ones
created by a ray-tracing code based on the expected theoretical crystal's
rocking curve and the geometry of the experimental set-up.Comment: Version acceptee (NIM
Depth-dependent ordering, two-length-scale phenomena and crossover behavior in a crystal featuring a skin-layer with defects
Structural defects in a crystal are responsible for the "two length-scale"
behavior, in which a sharp central peak is superimposed over a broad peak in
critical diffuse X-ray scattering. We have previously measured the scaling
behavior of the central peak by scattering from a near-surface region of a V2H
crystal, which has a first-order transition in the bulk. As the temperature is
lowered toward the critical temperature, a crossover in critical behavior is
seen, with the temperature range nearest to the critical point being
characterized by mean field exponents. Near the transition, a small two-phase
coexistence region is observed. The values of transition and crossover
temperatures decay with depth. An explanation of these experimental results is
here proposed by means of a theory in which edge dislocations in the
near-surface region occur in walls oriented in the two directions normal to the
surface. The strain caused by the dislocation lines causes the ordering in the
crystal to occur as growth of roughly cylindrically shaped regions. After the
regions have reached a certain size, the crossover in the critical behavior
occurs, and mean field behavior prevails. At a still lower temperature, the
rest of the material between the cylindrical regions orders via a weak
first-order transition.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Cryogenics for CERN experiments: past, present and future
Use of cryogenics at CERN was originated (in the 1960s) by bubble chambers and the associated s.c. solenoids. Complex cryoplants were installed to provide cooling at LH2 and LHe temperatures. Continuity (in the 1970s) in He cryogenics for experiments was provided by spectrometer magnets for fixed target physics of the SPS accelerator. More recently (in the 1980s), large "particle-transparent" s.c. solenoids for collider experiments (LEP) have been built demanding new cryoplants. The LHC experiments (in the 2000s) will continue the tradition with s.c. dipoles (ALICE and LHCb), solenoids (CMS, ATLAS) and toroids (ATLAS) of unusual size. Cryogenics for experiments using noble liquids follows the same trend since the development (in the 1970s) of the first shower LAr detectors. A LKr calorimeter (about 10 m3) will be operated in 1996 and the ATLAS experiment foresees a set of three huge LAr calorimeters (almost 90 m3 total volume of liquid) to be installed underground
- …