Abundance and evolution of galaxy clusters in cosmological models with massive neutrino

The time evolution of the number density of galaxy clusters and their mass and temperature functions are used to constrain cosmological parameters in the spatially flat dark matter models containing a fraction of hot particles (massive neutrino) additional to cold and baryonic matter. We test the modified MDM models with cosmic gravitational waves and show that they neither pass the cluster evolution test nor reproduce the observed height of the first acoustic peak in $\Delta T/T$ spectrum, and therefore should be ruled out. The models with a non-zero cosmological constant are in better agreement with observations. We estimate the free cosmological parameters in $\Lambda$MDM with a negligible abundance of gravitational waves, and find that within the parameter ranges $h\in (0.6, 0.7)$, $n\in (0.9, 1.1)$, (i) the value of $\Omega_\Lambda$ is strongly affected by a small fraction of hot dark matter, $f_\nu\equiv\Omega_\nu /\Omega_m\in (0, 0.2)$: $0.45 <\Omega_\Lambda <0.7$ ($1\sigma$ CL), and (ii) the redshift evolution of galaxy clusters alone reveals the following explicit correlation between $\Omega_\Lambda$ and $f_\nu$: $\Omega_\Lambda +0.5f_\nu =0.65\pm 0.1$. The present accuracy of observational data allows only to bound the fraction of hot matter, $f_\nu\in (0, 0.2)$ (the number of massive neutrino species remains undelimited, $N_\nu =1, 2, 3$).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted in A&

Detecting a stochastic background of gravitational radiation: Signal processing strategies and sensitivities

We analyze the signal processing required for the optimal detection of a stochastic background of gravitational radiation using laser interferometric detectors. Starting with basic assumptions about the statistical properties of a stochastic gravity-wave background, we derive expressions for the optimal filter function and signal-to-noise ratio for the cross-correlation of the outputs of two gravity-wave detectors. Sensitivity levels required for detection are then calculated. Issues related to: (i) calculating the signal-to-noise ratio for arbitrarily large stochastic backgrounds, (ii) performing the data analysis in the presence of nonstationary detector noise, (iii) combining data from multiple detector pairs to increase the sensitivity of a stochastic background search, (iv) correlating the outputs of 4 or more detectors, and (v) allowing for the possibility of correlated noise in the outputs of two detectors are discussed. We briefly describe a computer simulation which mimics the generation and detection of a simulated stochastic gravity-wave signal in the presence of simulated detector noise. Numerous graphs and tables of numerical data for the five major interferometers (LIGO-WA, LIGO-LA, VIRGO, GEO-600, and TAMA-300) are also given. The treatment given in this paper should be accessible to both theorists involved in data analysis and experimentalists involved in detector design and data acquisition.Comment: 81 pages, 30 postscript figures, REVTE

Semi-Analytic Calculation of the Gravitational Wave Signal From the Electroweak Phase Transition for General Quartic Scalar Effective Potentials

Upcoming gravitational wave (GW) detectors might detect a stochastic background of GWs potentially arising from many possible sources, including bubble collisions from a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition. We investigate whether it is possible to connect, via a semi-analytical approximation to the tunneling rate of scalar fields with quartic potentials, the GW signal through detonations with the parameters entering the potential that drives the electroweak phase transition. To this end, we consider a finite temperature effective potential similar in form to the Higgs potential in the Standard Model (SM). In the context of a semi-analytic approximation to the three dimensional Euclidean action, we derive a general approximate form for the tunneling temperature and the relevant GW parameters. We explore the GW signal across the parameter space describing the potential which drives the phase transition. We comment on the potential detectability of a GW signal with future experiments, and physical relevance of the associated potential parameters in the context of theories which have effective potentials similar in form to that of the SM. In particular we consider singlet, triplet, higher dimensional operators, and top-flavor extensions to the Higgs sector of the SM. We find that the addition of a temperature independent cubic term in the potential, arising from a gauge singlet for instance, can greatly enhance the GW power. The other parameters have milder, but potentially noticeable, effects.Comment: accepted by JCAP, revisions: removed turbulence contribution, minor changes to experimental sensitivity, fixed various minor typos and text revisions, added references, made it clear we consider only detonations; 17 pages, 4 figures, revtex

Detection methods for non-Gaussian gravitational wave stochastic backgrounds

We address the issue of finding an optimal detection method for a discontinuous or intermittent gravitational wave stochastic background. Such a signal might sound something like popcorn popping. We derive an appropriate version of the maximum likelihood detection statistic, and compare its performance to that of the standard cross-correlation statistic both analytically and with Monte Carlo simulations. The maximum likelihood statistic performs better than the cross-correlation statistic when the background is sufficiently non-Gaussian. For both ground and space based detectors, this results in a gain factor, ranging roughly from 1 to 3, in the minimum gravitational-wave energy density necessary for detection, depending on the duty cycle of the background. Our analysis is exploratory, as we assume that the time structure of the events cannot be resolved, and we assume white, Gaussian noise in two collocated, aligned detectors. Before this detection method can be used in practice with real detector data, further work is required to generalize our analysis to accommodate separated, misaligned detectors with realistic, colored, non-Gaussian noise.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, submitted to physical review D, added revisions in response to reviewers comment

Gene expression and growth factor analysis in early nerve regeneration following segmental nerve defect reconstruction with a mesenchymal stromal cell-enhanced decellularized nerve all

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the molecular mechanisms underlying nerve repair by a decellularized nerve allograft seeded with adiposederived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and compare it to the unseeded allograft and autograft nerve. Methods: Undifferentiated MSCs were seeded onto decellularized nerve allografts and used to reconstruct a 10 mm gap in a rat sciatic nerve model. Gene expression profiles of genes essential for nerve regeneration and immunohistochemical staining (IHC) for PGP9.5, NGF, RECA-1, and S100 were obtained 2 weeks postoperatively. Results: Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the angiogenic molecule VEGFA was significantly increased in seeded allografts, and transcription factor SOX2 was downregulated in seeded allografts. Seeded grafts showed a significant increase in immunohistochemical markers NGF and RECA-1, when compared with unseeded allografts. Conclusions: MSCs contributed to the secretion of trophic factors. A beneficial effect of the MSCs on angiogenesis was found when compared with the unseeded nerve allograft, but implanted MSCs did not show evidence of differentiation into Schwann cell-like cells

Relic Gravitational Waves and Their Detection

The range of expected amplitudes and spectral slopes of relic (squeezed) gravitational waves, predicted by theory and partially supported by observations, is within the reach of sensitive gravity-wave detectors. In the most favorable case, the detection of relic gravitational waves can be achieved by the cross-correlation of outputs of the initial laser interferometers in LIGO, VIRGO, GEO600. In the more realistic case, the sensitivity of advanced ground-based and space-based laser interferometers will be needed. The specific statistical signature of relic gravitational waves, associated with the phenomenon of squeezing, is a potential reserve for further improvement of the signal to noise ratio.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures included, revtex. Based on a talk given at "Gyros, Clocks, and Interferometers: Testing General Relativity in Space" (Germany, August 99

Sporting embodiment: sports studies and the (continuing) promise of phenomenology

Whilst in recent years sports studies have addressed the calls ‘to bring the body back in’ to theorisations of sport and physical activity, the ‘promise of phenomenology’ remains largely under-realised with regard to sporting embodiment. Relatively few accounts are grounded in the ‘flesh’ of the lived sporting body, and phenomenology offers a powerful framework for such analysis. A wide-ranging, multi-stranded, and interpretatively contested perspective, phenomenology in general has been taken up and utilised in very different ways within different disciplinary fields. The purpose of this article is to consider some selected phenomenological threads, key qualities of the phenomenological method, and the potential for existentialist phenomenology in particular to contribute fresh perspectives to the sociological study of embodiment in sport and exercise. It offers one way to convey the ‘essences’, corporeal immediacy and textured sensuosity of the lived sporting body. The use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is also critically addressed. Key words: phenomenology; existentialist phenomenology; interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA); sporting embodiment; the lived-body; Merleau-Pont

Charged-current neutrino-208Pb reactions

We present theoretical results on the non flux-averaged $^{208}Pb(\nu_{e},e^-)^{208}Bi$ and $^{208}Pb(\nu_{\mu},\mu^-)^{208}Bi$ reaction cross sections, obtained within the charge-exchange Random-Phase-Approximation. A detailed knowledge of these cross sections is important in different contexts. In particular, it is necessary to assess the possibility of using lead as a detector in future experiments on supernova neutrinos, such as OMNIS and LAND, and eventually detect neutrino oscillation signals by exploiting the spectroscopic properties of $^{208}Bi$. We discuss the present status on the theoretical predictions of the reaction cross sections.Comment: 5 pages, latex, 3 figures. added discussion on present status, Submitted to Phys.Rev.

Optical sum rule violation, superfluid weight and condensation energy in the cuprates

The model of hole superconductivity predicts that the superfluid weight in the zero-frequency $\delta$-function in the optical conductivity has an anomalous contribution from high frequencies, due to lowering of the system's kinetic energy upon entering the superconducting state. The lowering of kinetic energy, mainly in-plane in origin, accounts for both the condensation energy of the superconductor as well as an increased potential energy due to larger Coulomb repulsion in the paired state. It leads to an apparent violation of the conductivity sum rule, which in the clean limit we predict to be substantially larger for in-plane than for c-axis conductivity. However, because cuprates are in the dirty limit for c-axis transport, the sum rule violation is found to be greatly enhanced in the c-direction. The model predicts the sum rule violation to be largest in the underdoped regime and to decrease with doping, more rapidly in the c-direction that in the plane. So far, experiments have detected sum rule violation in c-axis transport in several cuprates, as well as a decrease and disappearance of this violation for increasing doping, but no violation in-plane. We explore the predictions of the model for a wide range of parameters, both in the absence and in the presence of disorder, and the relation with current experimental knowledge.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.