The integrable quantum group invariant A_{2n-1}^(2) and D_{n+1}^(2) open spin chains

A family of A_{2n}^(2) integrable open spin chains with U_q(C_n) symmetry was recently identified in arXiv:1702.01482. We identify here in a similar way a family of A_{2n-1}^(2) integrable open spin chains with U_q(D_n) symmetry, and two families of D_{n+1}^(2) integrable open spin chains with U_q(B_n) symmetry. We discuss the consequences of these symmetries for the degeneracies and multiplicities of the spectrum. We propose Bethe ansatz solutions for two of these models, whose completeness we check numerically for small values of n and chain length N. We find formulas for the Dynkin labels in terms of the numbers of Bethe roots of each type, which are useful for determining the corresponding degeneracies. In an appendix, we briefly consider D_{n+1}^(2) chains with other integrable boundary conditions, which do not have quantum group symmetry.Comment: 47 pages; v2: two references added and minor change

Why Adolescent Girls Play Basketball in Australia and its Meaning for them

The potential of organized sport to contribute to the health and wellbeing of young people justifies concern about their participation in it. While most research focuses on barriers and drop out, this article reports on a study that adopted a positive approach. Conducted in a large basketball club in Melbourne, Australia, it focused on what kept adolescent girls, aged 13-16 in one team. It identified two main factors contributing toward making basketball enjoyable for the six girls in the study and which kept them playing. They were: (1) relationships within the team and (2) having a strong sense of learning and improvement

Disc mechanical characteristics : construction of a finite element mathematical model, first results

Computational mechanics is an invaluable tool to analyze biomechanical systems, either in healthy or degenerative conditions, and to improve our understanding on the events that can trigger trauma or diseases, to design new medical devices to restore working conditions, or even to point out treatment techniques. Numerical methods in general, and the Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) in particular, if properly built and used, can allow an inside view, a rigorous analysis and a qualitative study of any assumption, frequently too much difficult or even impossible to achieve with any in-vivo or in-vitro experimental technique. An Intervertebral Disc (IVD) is a functionally-oriented construction of several soft tissues, supporting a wide range of dynamic and static loads that generate complex stress fields, which experimental study and understanding of its biomechanical behavior is of an enormous complexity. On the one hand, human’s in-vivo study is almost impossible – due to the high degree of uncertainty in applied loads, geometric variability of individuals, complex surrounding musculoskeletal interactions, the role played by electro-chemical phenomena like osmolarity, etc – and post-mortem studies hardly provides accurate information to allow a clear and precise characterization and transposition to in-vivo biomechanics. On the other hand, due to that intrinsic complexity of the IVD, an accurate biomechanical model cannot easily be achieved. It is rather a step-by-step task where, although there are still many open questions, an important effort is being done to bring to the FEA the multi-physics behavior, and the complex interactions between them, in order to accurately model the IVD’s constitutive performance. This work is focused in the most relevant issues and phenomena that shall be taken into account in the development of an accurate biomechanical FEA model of the IVD, either in healthy or degenerated states

Heat transfer coefficients from Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids flowing in laminar regime in a helical coil

This study aimed to carry out experimental work to obtain, for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, heat transfer coefficients, at constant wall temperature as boundary condition, in fully developed laminar flow inside a helical coil. The Newtonian fluids studied were aqueous solutions of glycerol, 25%, 36%, 43%, 59% and 78% (w/w) and the non-Newtonian fluids aqueous solutions of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), a polymer, with concentrations 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.6% (w/w) and aqueous solutions of xanthan gum (XG), another polymer, with concentrations 0.1% and 0.2% (w/w). According to the rheological study performed, the polymer solutions had shear thinning behavior and different values of elasticity. The helical coil used has internal diameter, curvature ratio, length and pitch, respectively: 0.004575 m, 0.0263, 5.0 m and 11.34 mm. The Nusselt numbers for the CMC solutions are, on average, slightly higher than those for Newtonian fluids, for identical Prandtl and generalized Dean numbers. As outcome, the viscous component of the shear thinning polymer tends to potentiate the mixing effect of the Dean cells. The Nusselt numbers of the XG solutions are significant lower than those of the Newtonian solutions, for identical Prandtl and generalized Dean numbers. Therefore, the elastic component of the polymer tends to diminish the mixing effect of the Dean cells. A global correlation, for Nusselt number as a function of Péclet, generalized Dean and Weissenberg numbers for all Newtonian and non-Newtonian solutions studied, is presented

The muonic longitudinal shower profiles at production

In this paper the longitudinal profile of muon production along the shower axis is studied. The characteristics of this distribution is investigated for different primary masses, zenith angles, primary energies, and different high energy hadronic models. It is found that the shape of this distribution displays universal features similarly to what is known for the electromagnetic profile. The relation between the muon production distribution and the longitudinal electromagnetic evolution is also discussed

Observation of the Kohn anomaly near the K point of bilayer graphene

The dispersion of electrons and phonons near the K point of bilayer graphene was investigated in a resonant Raman study using different laser excitation energies in the near infrared and visible range. The electronic structure was analyzed within the tight-binding approximation, and the Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure (SWM) parameters were obtained from the analysis of the dispersive behavior of the Raman features. A softening of the phonon branches was observed near the K point, and results evidence the Kohn anomaly and the importance of considering electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions to correctly describe the phonon dispersion in graphene systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Cerenkov angle and charge reconstruction with the RICH detector of the AMS experiment

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) will be equipped with a proximity focusing Ring Imaging Cerenkov (RICH) detector, for measurements of particle electric charge and velocity. In this note, two possible methods for reconstructing the Cerenkov angle and the electric charge with the RICH, are discussed. A Likelihood method for the Cerenkov angle reconstruction was applied leading to a velocity determination for protons with a resolution of around 0.1%. The existence of a large fraction of background photons which can vary from event to event, implied a charge reconstruction method based on an overall efficiency estimation on an event-by-event basis.Comment: Proceedings submitted to RICH 2002 (Pylos-Greece

New methods to reconstruct XmaxX_{\rm max} and the energy of gamma-ray air showers with high accuracy in large wide-field observatories

Novel methods to reconstruct the slant depth of the maximum of the longitudinal profile (\Xmax) of high-energy showers initiated by gamma-rays as well as their energy ($E_0$) are presented. The methods were developed for gamma rays with energies ranging from a few hundred GeV to $\sim 10$ TeV. An estimator of \Xmax is obtained, event-by-event, from its correlation with the distribution of the arrival time of the particles at the ground, or the signal at the ground for lower energies. An estimator of $E_0$ is obtained, event-by-event, using a parametrization that has as inputs the total measured energy at the ground, the amount of energy contained in a region near to the shower core and the estimated \Xmax. Resolutions about $40 \, (20)\,{\rm g/cm^2}$ and about $30 \, (20)\%$ for, respectively, \Xmax and $E_0$ at $1 \, (10) \ \rm{TeV}$ energies are obtained, considering vertical showers. The obtained results are auspicious and can lead to the opening of new physics avenues for large wide field-of-view gamma-ray observatories. The dependence of the resolutions with experimental conditions is discussed.Comment: 11 pages; 15 figures, to appear in EPJ

The Estimation of the Effective Centre of Mass Energy in q-qbar-gamma Events from DELPHI

The photon radiation in the initial state lowers the energy available for the e$^+$e$^-$ collisions; this effect is particularly important at LEP2 energies (above the mass of the Z boson). Being aligned to the beam direction, such initial state radiation is mostly undetected. This article describes the procedure used by the DELPHI experiment at LEP to estimate the effective centre-of-mass energy in hadronic events collected at energies above the Z peak. Typical resolutions ranging from 2 to 3 GeV on the effective center-of-mass energy are achieved, depending on the event topology.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure