4,093 research outputs found
The bright optical afterglow of the nearby gamma-ray burst of 29 March 2003
Many past studies of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been limited
because of the large distance to typical GRBs, resulting in faint afterglows.
There has long been a recognition that a nearby GRB would shed light on the
origin of these mysterious cosmic explosions, as well as the physics of their
fireballs. However, GRBs nearer than z=0.2 are extremely rare, with an
estimated rate of localisation of one every decade. Here, we report the
discovery of bright optical afterglow emission from GRB 030329. Our prompt
dissemination and the brilliance of the afterglow resulted in extensive
followup (more than 65 telescopes) from radio through X-ray bands, as well as
measurement of the redshift, z=0.169. The gamma-ray and afterglow properties of
GRB 030329 are similar to those of cosmological GRBs (after accounting for the
small distance), making this the nearest known cosmological GRB. Observations
have already securely identified the progenitor as a massive star that exploded
as a supernova, and we anticipate futher revelations of the GRB phenomenon from
studies of this source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. Original tex
On direct measurement of the W production charge asymmetry at the LHC
The prospects for making a direct measurement of the W production charge
asymmetry at the LHC are discussed. A modification to the method used at the
Tevatron is proposed for measurements at the LHC. The expected sensitivity for
such a measurement to parton distribution functions is compared to that for a
measurement of the lepton charge asymmetry. The direct measurement approach is
found to be less useful for placing constraints on parton distribution
functions at the LHC than a measurement of the lepton charge asymmetry.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, v2: references and keywords updated v3:
Additional paragraph discussing inclusion of W asymmetry in global fits adde
Reducing combinatorial uncertainties: A new technique based on MT2 variables
We propose a new method to resolve combinatorial ambiguities in hadron
collider events involving two invisible particles in the final state. This
method is based on the kinematic variable MT2 and on the MT2-assisted-on-shell
reconstruction of invisible momenta, that are reformulated as `test' variables
Ti of the correct combination against the incorrect ones. We show how the
efficiency of the single Ti in providing the correct answer can be
systematically improved by combining the different Ti and/or by introducing
cuts on suitable, combination-insensitive kinematic variables. We illustrate
our whole approach in the specific example of top anti-top production, followed
by a leptonic decay of the W on both sides. However, by construction, our
method is also directly applicable to many topologies of interest for new
physics, in particular events producing a pair of undetected particles, that
are potential dark-matter candidates. We finally emphasize that our method is
apt to several generalizations, that we outline in the last sections of the
paper.Comment: 1+23 pages, 8 figures. Main changes in v3: (1) discussion at the end
of sec. 2 improved; (2) added sec. 4.2 about the method's dependence on mass
information. Matches journal versio
Higgs boson enhancement effects on squark-pair production at the LHC
We study the Higgs boson effects on third-generation squark-pair production
in proton-proton collision at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), including
\Stop \Stop^*, \Stop\Sbot^*, and \Sbot \Sbot^*. We found that substantial
enhancement can be obtained through s-channel exchanges of Higgs bosons at
large , at which the enhancement mainly comes from , , and initial states. We compute the complete set of electroweak
(EW) contributions to all production channels. This completes previous
computations in the literature. We found that the EW contributions can be
significant and can reach up to 25% in more general scenarios and at the
resonance of the heavy Higgs boson. The size of Higgs enhancement is comparable
or even higher than the PDF uncertainties and so must be included in any
reliable analysis. A full analytical computation of all the EW contributions is
presented.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
MINLO: Multi-scale improved NLO
In the present work we consider the assignment of the factorization and
renormalization scales in hadron collider processes with associated jet
production, at next-to-leading order (NLO) in perturbation theory. We propose a
simple, definite prescription to this end, including Sudakov form factors to
consistently account for the distinct kinematic scales occuring in such
collisions. The scheme yields results that are accurate at NLO and, for a large
class of observables, it resums to all orders the large logarithms that arise
from kinematic configurations involving disparate scales. In practical terms
the method is most simply understood as an NLO extension of the matrix element
reweighting procedure employed in tree level matrix element-parton shower
merging algorithms. By way of a proof-of-concept, we apply the method to Higgs
and Z boson production in association with up to two jets.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figure
PET brain imaging in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy
Effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has lead to a significant reduction in the prevalence and incidence of central nervous system (CNS) HIV-associated brain disease, particularly CNS opportunistic infections and HIV encephalitis. Despite this, cognitive deficits in people living with HIV, also known as HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) have become more prevalent in recent years. The pathogenesis of HAND is likely to be multifactorial, however recent evidence suggests that brain microglial activation is the most likely pathogenic mechanism. Recent developments in positron emission tomography (PET) brain neuroimaging using novel brain radioligands targeting a variety of physiological changes in the brains of HIV-positive individuals have improved our understanding of the mechanisms associated with the development of HAND. This review will highlight recent PET brain neuroimaging studies in the cART era, focusing on physiological and neurochemical changes associated with HAND in people living with HIV
How and When Socially Entrepreneurial Nonprofit Organizations Benefit From Adopting Social Alliance Management Routines to Manage Social Alliances?
Social alliance is defined as the collaboration between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Building on the insights derived from the resource-based theory, we develop a conceptual framework to explain how socially entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations (SENPOs) can improve their social alliance performance by adopting strategic alliance management routines. We test our framework using the data collected from 203 UK-based SENPOs in the context of cause-related marketing campaign-derived social alliances. Our results confirm a positive relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. We also find that relational mechanisms, such as mutual trust, relational embeddedness, and relational commitment, mediate the relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. Moreover, our findings suggest that different types of social alliance motivation can influence the impact of social alliance management routines on different types of the relational mechanisms. In general, we demonstrate that SENPOs can benefit from adopting social alliance management routines and, in addition, highlight how and when the social alliance management routines–social alliance performance relationship might be shaped. Our study offers important academic and managerial implications, and points out future research directions
Robot rights? Towards a social-relational justification of moral consideration \ud
Should we grant rights to artificially intelligent robots? Most current and near-future robots do not meet the hard criteria set by deontological and utilitarian theory. Virtue ethics can avoid this problem with its indirect approach. However, both direct and indirect arguments for moral consideration rest on ontological features of entities, an approach which incurs several problems. In response to these difficulties, this paper taps into a different conceptual resource in order to be able to grant some degree of moral consideration to some intelligent social robots: it sketches a novel argument for moral consideration based on social relations. It is shown that to further develop this argument we need to revise our existing ontological and social-political frameworks. It is suggested that we need a social ecology, which may be developed by engaging with Western ecology and Eastern worldviews. Although this relational turn raises many difficult issues and requires more work, this paper provides a rough outline of an alternative approach to moral consideration that can assist us in shaping our relations to intelligent robots and, by extension, to all artificial and biological entities that appear to us as more than instruments for our human purpose
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Can preferential credit programs speed up the adoption of low-carbon agricultural systems in Mato Grosso, Brazil? Results from bioeconomic microsimulation
The need to balance agricultural production and environmental protection shifted the focus of Brazilian
land-use policy toward sustainable agriculture. In 2010,
Brazil established preferential credit lines to finance
investments into low-carbon integrated agricultural systems
of crop, livestock and forestry. This article presents a
simulation-based empirical assessment of integrated system
adoption in the state of Mato Grosso, where highly
mechanized soybean–cotton and soybean–maize doublecrop
systems currently prevail. We employ bioeconomic modeling to explicitly capture the heterogeneity of farm level costs and benefits of adoption. By parameterizing and validating our simulations with both empirical and experimental data, we evaluate the effectiveness of the ABC Integration credit through indicators such as land-use change, adoption rates and budgetary costs of credit provision. Alternative scenarios reveal that specific credit conditions might speed up the diffusion of low-carbon agricultural systems in Mato Grosso
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