3,588 research outputs found
Search for Free Fractional Electric Charge Elementary Particles
We have carried out a direct search in bulk matter for free fractional
electric charge elementary particles using the largest mass single sample ever
studied - about 17.4 mg of silicone oil. The search used an improved and highly
automated Millikan oil drop technique. No evidence for fractional charge
particles was found. The concentration of particles with fractional charge more
than 0.16e (e being the magnitude of the electron charge) from the nearest
integer charge is less than particles per nucleon with 95%
confidence.Comment: 10 pages,LaTeX, 4 PS figures, submitted to PR
A New Method for Searching for Free Fractional Charge Particles in Bulk Matter
We present a new experimental method for searching for free fractional charge
in bulk matter; this new method derives from the traditional Millikan liquid
drop method, but allows the use of much larger drops, 20 to 100 mm in diameter,
compared to the traditional method that uses drops less than 15 mm in diameter.
These larger drops provide the substantial advantage that it is then much
easier to consistently generate drops containing liquid suspensions of powdered
meteorites and other special minerals. These materials are of great importance
in bulk searches for fractional charge particles that may have been produced in
the early universe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures in a singl PDF file (created from WORD Doc.).
Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument
Recommended from our members
A novel approach to non-biased systematic random sampling : a stereologic estimate of Purkinje cells in the human cerebellum
Non-biased systematic sampling using the principles of stereology provides accurate quantitative estimates of objects within neuroanatomic structures. However, the basic principles of stereology are not optimally suited for counting objects that selectively exist within a limited but complex and convoluted portion of the sample, such as occurs when counting cerebellar Purkinje cells. In an effort to quantify Purkinje cells in association with certain neurodegenerative disorders, we developed a new method for stereologic sampling of the cerebellar cortex, involving calculating the volume of the cerebellar tissues, identifying and isolating the Purkinje cell layer and using this information to extrapolate non-biased systematic sampling data to estimate the total number of Purkinje cells in the tissues. Using this approach, we counted Purkinje cells in the right cerebella of four human male control specimens, aged 41, 67, 70 and 84 years, and estimated the total Purkinje cell number for the four entire cerebella to be 27.03, 19.74, 20.44 and 22.03 million cells, respectively. The precision of the method is seen when comparing the density of the cells within the tissue: 266,274, 173,166, 167,603 and 183,575 cells/cm3, respectively. Prior literature documents Purkinje cell counts ranging from 14.8 to 30.5 million cells. These data demonstrate the accuracy of our approach. Our novel approach, which offers an improvement over previous methodologies, is of value for quantitative work of this nature. This approach could be applied to morphometric studies of other similarly complex tissues as well
Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis and Hadronic Decay of Long-Lived Massive Particles
We study the big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) with the long-lived exotic
particle, called X. If the lifetime of X is longer than \sim 0.1 sec, its decay
may cause non-thermal nuclear reactions during or after the BBN, altering the
predictions of the standard BBN scenario. We pay particular attention to its
hadronic decay modes and calculate the primordial abundances of the light
elements. Using the result, we derive constraints on the primordial abundance
of X. Compared to the previous studies, we have improved the following points
in our analysis: The JETSET 7.4 Monte Carlo event generator is used to
calculate the spectrum of hadrons produced by the decay of X; The evolution of
the hadronic shower is studied taking account of the details of the energy-loss
processes of the nuclei in the thermal bath; We have used the most recent
observational constraints on the primordial abundances of the light elements;
In order to estimate the uncertainties, we have performed the Monte Carlo
simulation which includes the experimental errors of the cross sections and
transfered energies. We will see that the non-thermal productions of D, He3,
He4 and Li6 provide stringent upper bounds on the primordial abundance of
late-decaying particle, in particular when the hadronic branching ratio of X is
sizable. We apply our results to the gravitino problem, and obtain upper bound
on the reheating temperature after inflation.Comment: 94 pages, 49 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D. This is a full
length paper of the preprint astro-ph/040249
Measurement of Dielectric Suppression of Bremsstrahlung
In 1953, Ter-Mikaelian predicted that the bremsstrahlung of low energy
photons in a medium is suppressed because of interactions between the produced
photon and the electrons in the medium. This suppression occurs because the
emission takes place over on a long distance scale, allowing for destructive
interference between different instantaneous photon emission amplitudes. We
present here measurements of bremsstrahlung cross sections of 200 keV to 20 MeV
photons produced by 8 and 25 GeV electrons in carbon and gold targets. Our data
shows that dielectric suppression occurs at the predicted level, reducing the
cross section up to 75 percent in our data.Comment: 11 pages, format is postscript file, gzip-ed, uuencode-e
Narrowing the window for millicharged particles by CMB anisotropy
We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum in
models with millicharged particles of electric charge q\sim 10^{-6}-10^{-1} in
units of electron charge. We find that a large region of the parameter space
for the millicharged particles exists where their effect on the CMB spectrum is
similar to the effect of baryons. Using WMAP data on the CMB anisotropy and
assuming Big Bang nucleosynthesis value for the baryon abundance we find that
only a small fraction of cold dark matter, Omega_{mcp}h_0^2 < 0.007 (at 95%
CL), may consists of millicharged particles with the parameters (charge and
mass) from this region. This bound significantly narrows the allowed range of
the parameters of millicharged particles. In models without paraphoton
millicharged particles are now excluded as a dark matter candidate. We also
speculate that recent observation of 511 keV gamma-rays from the Galactic bulge
may be an indication that a (small) fraction of CDM is comprised of the
millicharged particles.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; v2: journal version, references adde
The first NINDS/NIBIB consensus meeting to define neuropathological criteria for the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegeneration characterized by the abnormal accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein within the brain. Like many other neurodegenerative conditions, at present, CTE can only be definitively diagnosed by post-mortem examination of brain tissue. As the first part of a series of consensus panels funded by the NINDS/NIBIB to define the neuropathological criteria for CTE, preliminary neuropathological criteria were used by 7 neuropathologists to blindly evaluate 25 cases of various tauopathies, including CTE, Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, argyrophilic grain disease, corticobasal degeneration, primary age-related tauopathy, and parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam. The results demonstrated that there was good agreement among the neuropathologists who reviewed the cases (Cohen's kappa, 0.67) and even better agreement between reviewers and the diagnosis of CTE (Cohen's kappa, 0.78). Based on these results, the panel defined the pathognomonic lesion of CTE as an accumulation of abnormal hyperphosphorylated tau (p-tau) in neurons and astroglia distributed around small blood vessels at the depths of cortical sulci and in an irregular pattern. The group also defined supportive but non-specific p-tau-immunoreactive features of CTE as: pretangles and NFTs affecting superficial layers (layers II-III) of cerebral cortex; pretangles, NFTs or extracellular tangles in CA2 and pretangles and proximal dendritic swellings in CA4 of the hippocampus; neuronal and astrocytic aggregates in subcortical nuclei; thorn-shaped astrocytes at the glial limitans of the subpial and periventricular regions; and large grain-like and dot-like structures. Supportive non-p-tau pathologies include TDP-43 immunoreactive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and dot-like structures in the hippocampus, anteromedial temporal cortex and amygdala. The panel also recommended a minimum blocking and staining scheme for pathological evaluation and made recommendations for future study. This study provides the first step towards the development of validated neuropathological criteria for CTE and will pave the way towards future clinical and mechanistic studies
Characterizing cognitive deficits and dementia in an aging urban population in India.
Rapid rise in the population of older adults in India will lead to the need for increased health care services related to diagnosis, management, and long-term care for those with dementia and cognitive impairment. A direct approach for service provision through memory clinics can be an effective, successful, and sustaining means of delivering specialized health care services. We have established a memory clinic in Mumbai, India by employing the diverse clinical skills available in Indian academic institutions, diagnostic and research expertise of clinicians and psychologists, and the support of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Our project involved recruitment of patients, clinical and neuropsychological assessment, and standardized diagnostic procedures, demonstrating the feasibility of using research methods to develop a memory clinic. In this paper, we describe the development of a community-based memory clinic in urban India, including linguistic and cultural factors and present detailed results, including diagnostic characterization, on 194 subjects with various stages of cognitive deficits. Our findings support the feasibility of developing a memory clinic in a public hospital and successful use of research diagnostic criteria to categorize cognitive deficits observed in this population, which may be used to inform the development of other such clinics
- …