1,585 research outputs found
Curvature singularities, tidal forces and the viability of Palatini f(R) gravity
In a previous paper we showed that static spherically symmetric objects
which, in the vicinity of their surface, are well-described by a polytropic
equation of state with 3/2<Gamma<2 exhibit a curvature singularity in Palatini
f(R) gravity. We argued that this casts serious doubt on the validity of
Palatini f(R) gravity as a viable alternative to General Relativity. In the
present paper we further investigate this characteristic of Palatini f(R)
gravity in order to clarify its physical interpretation and consequences.Comment: 15 pages. CQG in press. Part of the material moved to an appendix,
discussion on the meV scale predictions of Palatini f(R) gravity adde
Search for the lepton-family-number nonconserving decay \mu -> e + \gamma
The MEGA experiment, which searched for the muon- and electron-number
violating decay \mu -> e + \gamma, is described. The spectrometer system, the
calibrations, the data taking procedures, the data analysis, and the
sensitivity of the experiment are discussed. The most stringent upper limit on
the branching ratio of \mu -> e + \gamma) < 1.2 x 10^{-11} was obtained
Cosmological perturbations in Palatini modified gravity
Two approaches to the study of cosmological density perturbations in modified
theories of Palatini gravity have recently been discussed. These utilise,
respectively, a generalisation of Birkhoff's theorem and a direct linearization
of the gravitational field equations. In this paper these approaches are
compared and contrasted. The general form of the gravitational lagrangian for
which the two frameworks yield identical results in the long-wavelength limit
is derived. This class of models includes the case where the lagrangian is a
power-law of the Ricci curvature scalar. The evolution of density perturbations
in theories of the type is investigated numerically. It is
found that the results obtained by the two methods are in good agreement on
sufficiently large scales when the values of the parameters (b,c) are
consistent with current observational constraints. However, this agreement
becomes progressively poorer for models that differ significantly from the
standard concordance model and as smaller scales are considered
A new measurement of antineutrino oscillation with the full detector configuration at Daya Bay
We report a new measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance using the
fully-constructed Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. The final two of eight
antineutrino detectors were installed in the summer of 2012. Including the 404
days of data collected from October 2012 to November 2013 resulted in a total
exposure of 6.910 GW-ton-days, a 3.6 times increase over
our previous results. Improvements in energy calibration limited variations
between detectors to 0.2%. Removal of six Am-C radioactive
calibration sources reduced the background by a factor of two for the detectors
in the experimental hall furthest from the reactors. Direct prediction of the
antineutrino signal in the far detectors based on the measurements in the near
detectors explicitly minimized the dependence of the measurement on models of
reactor antineutrino emission. The uncertainties in our estimates of
and were halved as a result of these
improvements. Analysis of the relative antineutrino rates and energy spectra
between detectors gave and eV in the three-neutrino
framework.Comment: Updated to match final published versio
First study of \eta_c, \eta(1760) and X(1835) production via \eta'\pi^+\pi^- final states in two-photon collisions
The invariant mass spectrum of the \eta' \pi^+ \pi^- final state produced in
two-photon collisions is obtained using a 673 fb^{-1} data sample collected in
the vicinity of the \Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB
asymmetric-energy e^+e^- collider. We observe a clear signal of the \eta_c and
measure its mass and width to be M(\eta_c)=(2982.7 +- 1.8(stat) +- 2.2(syst) +-
0.3(model)) MeV/c^2 and \Gamma(\eta_c) = (37.8^{+5.8}_{-5.3}(stat) +- 2.8(syst)
+- 1.4(model)) MeV/c^2. The third error is an uncertainty due to possible
interference between the \eta_c and a non-resonant component. We also report
the first evidence for \eta(1760) decay to \eta' \pi^+ \pi^-; we find two
solutions for its parameters, depending on the inclusion or not of the X(1835),
whose existence is of marginal significance in our data. From a fit to the mass
spectrum using coherent X(1835) and \eta(1760) resonant amplitudes, we set a
90% confidence level upper limit on the product \Gamma_{\gamma\gamma} \BR
(\eta' \pi^+ \pi^-) for the X(1835).Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PR
Measurement of branching fraction and direct asymmetry in charmless decays at Belle
We report a study of the charmless hadronic decay of the charged meson to
the three-body final state . The results are based on a data
sample that contains pairs collected at the
resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy
collider. The measured inclusive branching fraction and the direct
asymmetry are and
, respectively, where the first uncertainties are
statistical and the second are systematic. The invariant mass
distribution of the signal candidates shows an excess in the region below
GeV/, which is consistent with the previous studies from BaBar and LHCb.
In addition, strong evidence of a large direct asymmetry is found in the
low-invariant-mass region.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
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