On intermediate subfactors of Goodman-de la Harpe-Jones subfactors

In this paper we present a conjecture on intermediate subfactors which is a generalization of Wall's conjecture from the theory of finite groups. Motivated by this conjecture, we determine all intermediate subfactors of Goodman-Harpe-Jones subfactors, and as a result we verify that Goodman-Harpe-Jones subfactors verify our conjecture. Our result also gives a negative answer to a question motivated by a conjecture of Aschbacher-Guralnick.Comment: To appear in Comm. Math. Phy

Properties of the ferrimagnetic double-perovskite A_{2}FeReO_{6} (A=Ba and Ca)

Ceramics of A_{2}FeReO_{6} double-perovskite have been prepared and studied for A=Ba and Ca. Ba_{2}FeReO_{6} has a cubic structure (Fm3m) with $a\approx$8.0854(1) \AA whereas Ca_{2}FeReO_{6} has a distorted monoclinic symmetry with $a\approx 5.396(1) \AA, b\approx 5.522(1) \AA, c\approx 7.688(2) \AA$ and $\beta =90.4^{\circ} (P21/n)$. The barium compound is metallic from 5 K to 385 K, i.e. no metal-insulator transition has been seen up to 385 K, and the calcium compound is semiconducting from 5 K to 385 K. Magnetization measurements show a ferrimagnetic behavior for both materials, with T_{c}=315 K for Ba_{2}FeReO_{6} and above 385 K for Ca_{2}FeReO_{6}. A specific heat measurement on the barium compound gave an electron density of states at the Fermi level, N(E_{F}) equal to 6.1$\times 10^{24} eV^{-1}mole^{-1}$. At 5 K, we observed a negative magnetoresistance of 10 % in a magnetic field of 5 T, but only for Ba_{2}FeReO_{6}. Electrical, thermal and magnetic properties are discussed and compared to the analogous compounds Sr_{2}Fe(Mo,Re)O_{6}.Comment: 5 pages REVTeX, 7 figures included, submitted to PR

Nitrate, sulphate and chloride contents in public drinking water supplies in Sicily, Italy

Water samples collected from public drinking water supplies in Sicily were analysed for electric conductivity and for their chloride, sulphate and nitrate contents. The samples were collected as uniformly as possible from throughout the Sicilian territory, with an average sampling density of about one sample for every 7,600 inhabitants. Chloride contents that ranged from 5.53 to 1,302 mg/l were correlated strongly with electric conductivity, a parameter used as a proxy for water salinity. The highest values are attributable to seawater contamination along the coasts of the island. High chloride and sulphate values attributable to evaporitic rock dissolution were found in the central part of Sicily. The nitrate concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 296 mg/l, with 31 samples (4.7% of the total) exceeding the maximum admissible concentration of 50 mg/l. Anomalous samples always came from areas of intensive agricultural usage, indicating a clear anthropogenic origin. The same parameters were also measured in bottled water sold in Sicily, and they all were within the ranges for public drinking water supplies. The calculated mean nitrate intake from consuming public water supplies (16.1 mg/l) did not differ significantly from that of bottled water (15.2 mg/l). Although the quality of public water supplies needs to be improved by eliminating those that do not comply with the current drinking water limits, at present it does not justify the high consumption of bottled water (at least for nitrate contents)

Simulations of Galactic Cosmic Ray Impacts on the Herschel/PACS bolometer Arrays with Geant4 Code

The effects of the in-flight behaviour of the bolometer arrays of the Herschel/PACS instrument under impacts of Galactic cosmic rays are explored. This instrument is part of the ESA-Herschel payload, which will be launched at the end of 2008 and will operate at the Lagrangian L2 point of the Sun-Earth system. We find that the components external to the detectors (the spacecraft, the cryostat, the PACS box, collectively referred to as the `shield') are the major source of secondary events affecting the detector behaviour. The impacts deposit energy on the bolometer chips and influence the behaviour of nearby pixels. 25% of hits affect the adjacent pixels. The energy deposited raises the bolometer temperature by a factor ranging from 1 to 6 percent of the nominal value. We discuss the effects on the observations and compare simulations with laboratory tests.Comment: Experimental Astronomy, 2008, in pres

The Nuclear Activity of the Galaxies in the Hickson Compact Groups

In order to investigate the nuclear activity of galaxies residing in compact groups of galaxies, we present results of our optical spectroscopic program made at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. We have performed optical spectroscopy of 69 galaxies which belong to 31 Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) of Galaxies. Among them, three galaxies have discordant redshifts. Further, spectral quality is too poor to classify other three galaxies. Therefore, we describe our results for the remaining 63 galaxies. Our main results are summarized below. (1) We have found in our sample; 28 AGN, 16 HII nuclei, and 19 normal galaxies which show no emission line. We used this HCG sample for statistical analyses. (2) Comparing the frequency distributions of activity types between the HCGs and the field galaxies whose data are taken from Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent (382 field galaxies), we find that the frequency of HII nuclei in the HCGs is significantly less than that in the field. However, this difference may be due to selection bias that our HCG sample contains more early-type galaxies than the field, because it is known that HII nuclei are rarer in early-type galaxies than in later ones. (3) Applying correction this morphological bias to the HCG sample, we find that there is no statistically significant difference in the frequency of occurrence of emission-line galaxies between the HCGs and the field. This implies that the dense galaxy environment in the HCGs does not affect triggering both the AGN activity and the nuclear starburst. We discuss some implications on the nuclear activity in the HCG galaxies.Comment: 33 pages (3 aasms4 LaTeX files), 5 figures (5 Postscript files: excluded Figure 1), Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

A prompt neutrino measurement

A test has been made to explore the possibility of beam dump neutrino experiments with short target‐detector separations and modest detectors. Results have given a positive neutrino signal which is interpreted in the context of various charmed‐meson production models. A limit to the lifetime and mass of the axion is also a byproduct of this test.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87326/2/246_1.pd

The Saito-Kurokawa lifting and Darmon points

Let E_{/_\Q} be an elliptic curve of conductor $Np$ with $p\nmid N$ and let $f$ be its associated newform of weight 2. Denote by $f_\infty$ the $p$-adic Hida family passing though $f$, and by $F_\infty$ its $\Lambda$-adic Saito-Kurokawa lift. The $p$-adic family $F_\infty$ of Siegel modular forms admits a formal Fourier expansion, from which we can define a family of normalized Fourier coefficients $\{\widetilde A_T(k)\}_T$ indexed by positive definite symmetric half-integral matrices $T$ of size $2\times 2$. We relate explicitly certain global points on $E$ (coming from the theory of Stark-Heegner points) with the values of these Fourier coefficients and of their $p$-adic derivatives, evaluated at weight $k=2$.Comment: 14 pages. Title change

Search for Magnetic Monopoles Trapped in Matter

There have been many searches for magnetic monopoles in flight, but few for monopoles in matter. We have searched for magnetic monopoles in meteorites, schists, ferromanganese nodules, iron ores and other materials. The detector was a superconducting induction coil connected to a SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) with a room temperature bore 15 cm in diameter. We tested a total of more than 331 kg of material including 112 kg of meteorites. We found no monopole and conclude the overall monopole/nucleon ratio in the samples is $<1.2 \times 10^{-29}$ with a 90\% confidence level.Comment: 6 pages, rev tex, no figure

On the Angular Resolution of the AGILE gamma-ray imaging detector

We present a study of the Angular Resolution of the AGILE gamma-ray imaging detector (GRID) that is operational in space since April 2007. The AGILE instrument is made of an array of 12 planes each equipped with a Tungsten converter and Silicon micros trip detectors and is sensitive in the energy range 50 MeV - 10 GeV. Among the space instruments devoted to gamma-ray astrophysics, AGILE uniquely exploits an analog readout system with dedicated electronics coupled with Silicon detectors. We show the results of Monte Carlo simulations carried out to reproduce the gamma-ray detection by the GRID, and we compare them to in-flight data. We use the Crab (pulsar + Nebula) system for discussion of real data performance, since its E^{-2} energy spectrum is representative of the majority of gamma-ray sources. For Crab-like spectrum sources, the GRID angular resolution (FWHM of ~4deg at 100 MeV; ~0.8deg at 1 GeV; ~0.9deg integrating the full energy band from 100 MeV to tens of GeV) is stable across a large field of view, being characterized by a flat response up to 30deg off-axis. A comparison of the angular resolution obtained by the two operational gamma-ray instruments, AGILE-GRID and Fermi-LAT, is interesting in view of future gamma-ray missions, that are currently under study. The two instruments exploit different detector configurations affecting the angular resolution: the former being optimized in the readout and track reconstruction especially in the low-energy band, the latter in terms of converter thickness and power consumption. We show that, despite these differences, the angular resolution of both instruments is very similar between 100 MeV and a few GeV.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Antiferromagnetic Order of the Ru and Gd in Superconducting RuSr2GdCu2O8

Neutron diffraction has been used to study the magnetic order in RuSr{2}GdCu2O8. The Ru moments order antiferromagnetically at T{N}=136(2)K, coincident with the previously reported onset of ferromagnetism. Neighboring spins are antiparallel in all three directions, with a low T moment of 1.18(6) mu {B} along the c-axis. Our measurements put an upper limit of ~0.1 mu{B} to any net zero-field moment, with fields exceeding ~0.4T needed to induce a measurable magnetization. The Gd ions order independently at T{N}=2.50(2)K with the same spin configuration. PACS numbers: 74.72.Jt, 75.25.+z, 74.25.Ha, 75.30.KzComment: Four pages, Latex, 5 eps figure