Limits on the Axial Coupling Constant of New Light Bosons

We report on a neutron particle physics experiment, which provides for the first time an upper limit on the strength of an axial coupling constant for a new light spin 1 boson in the millimeter range. Such a new boson would mediate a new force between ordinary fermions, like neutrons and protons. The experiment was set up at the cold neutron reflectometer Narziss at the Paul Scherrer Institute and uses Ramsey's technique of separated oscillating fields to search for a pseudomagnetic neutron spin precession induced by this new interaction. For the axial coupling constant $g_A^2$, an upper limit of $6\times10^{-13}$ (95% C.L.) was determined for an interaction range of 1 mm

Market entry of an innovative technology : the example of a new app on the brazilian tourism market

The Brazilian start-up Local Wander plans to enter the tourism sector with a mobile application aiming to enable a new form of travel research. A web-based survey has been sent out to the start-up’s target audience (n: 236) in order to gain further relevant information for the designing of Local Wander’s market entry strategy. By applying the diffusion of innovation theory, this thesis could detect five different adopter categories, originally described by Rogers (1962), among Local Wander’s target audience based on their adoption intention. The Early Market was observed to be significantly bigger than the theory predicted. Research revealed four char-acteristics to be of significant impact on the adoption intention: Relative Perceived Product Advantage, Perceived Product Complexity, Compatibility with digital travel research sources, and the adopter’s Innovativeness towards mobile applications. Specific characteristics in order to identify Local Wander’s early users, the so called Innovators, were detected giving indica-tions for further necessary company market research. Findings showed that the diffusion of innovation framework is a helpful tool for start-ups’ prospective decision making and market entry strategy planning.A Start-up Brasileira Local Wander planeja entrar no setor de turismo através de um aplicativo para telefone celular, com o objetivo de oferecer um novo serviço de pesquisa para viajantes. Uma pesquisa, via internet, foi enviada a 236 pessoas identificadas como público-alvo para a Start-up a fim de obter mais informações relevantes para a criação da estratégia de entrada no mercado. Ao aplicar a teoria da difusão da inovação, esta dissertação pôde identificar cinco diferentes categorias de adotantes, como descrito originalmente por Rogers (1962), entre o pú-blico-alvo da Local Wander com base na sua intenção de adoção. O Mercado Inicial foi obser-vado significativamente maior do que a teoria previu. A pesquisa, acima citada, revelou quatro características de forte impacto sobre a intenção de adoção do produto: Vantagem relativa do produto percebida pelo público-alvo, complexidade percebida, compatibilidade com recursos digitais de pesquisa de viagem e o quão inovador são os adotantes em relação aos aplicativos para celular. Características específicas para identificar os primeiros usuários do Local Wander, chamados de inovadores, foram detectados dando indicações para futuras pesquisas que sejam necessárias para a empresa. Os resultados encontrados mostram que a teoria da difusão da ino-vação é uma ferramenta extremamente útil para a tomada de decisão em Start-ups e para o desenvolvimento de estratégia para entrada no mercado

A proposed search for new light bosons using a table-top neutron Ramsey apparatus

If a new light boson existed, it would mediate a new force between ordinary fermions, like neutrons. In general such a new force is described by the Compton wavelength $\lambda_c$ of the associated boson and a set of dimensionless coupling constants. For light boson masses of about $10^-4$ eV, $\lambda_c$ is of the order millimeters. Here, we propose a table-top particle physics experiment which provides the possibility to set limits on the strength of the coupling constants of light bosons with spin-velocity coupling. It utilises Ramsey's technique of separated oscillating fields to measure the pseudo-magnetic effect on neutron spins passing by a massive sample.Comment: proceedings of the ECNS 2011 conference, published in Jour of Phys. Conf. Serie

Statistical Uncertainty in Quantitative Neutron Radiography

We demonstrate a novel procedure to calibrate neutron detection systems commonly used in standard neutron radiography. This calibration allows determining the uncertainties due to Poisson-like neutron counting statistics for each individual pixel of a radiographic image. The obtained statistical errors are necessary in order to perform a correct quantitative analysis. This fast and convenient method is applied to data measured at the cold neutron radiography facility ICON at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Moreover, from the results the effective neutron flux at the beam line is determined

The Pulsed Neutron Beam EDM Experiment

We report on the Beam EDM experiment, which aims to employ a pulsed cold neutron beam to search for an electric dipole moment instead of the established use of storable ultracold neutrons. We present a brief overview of the basic measurement concept and the current status of our proof-of-principle Ramsey apparatus