Ergodicity of the Δ3\Delta_3 statistic and purity of neutron resonance data

The $\Delta_3(L)$ statistic characterizes the fluctuations of the number of levels as a function of the length of the spectral interval. It is studied as a possible tool to indicate the regular or chaotic nature of underlying dynamics, detect missing levels and the mixing of sequences of levels of different symmetry, particularly in neutron resonance data. The relation between the ensemble average and the average over different fragments of a given realization of spectra is considered. A useful expression for the variance of $\Delta_3(L)$ which accounts for finite sample size is discussed. An analysis of neutron resonance data presents the results consistent with a maximum likelihood method applied to the level spacing distribution.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures, 1 tabl

Global Maps of Science based on the new Web-of-Science Categories

In August 2011, Thomson Reuters launched version 5 of the Science and Social Science Citation Index in the Web of Science (WoS). Among other things, the 222 ISI Subject Categories (SCs) for these two databases in version 4 of WoS were renamed and extended to 225 WoS Categories (WCs). A new set of 151 Subject Categories (SCs) was added, but at a higher level of aggregation. Since we previously used the ISI SCs as the baseline for a global map in Pajek (Rafols et al., 2010) and brought this facility online (at http://www.leydesdorff.net/overlaytoolkit), we recalibrated this map for the new WC categories using the Journal Citation Reports 2010. In the new installation, the base maps can also be made using VOSviewer (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010).Comment: Scientometrics, in pres

Ample consumption period available until use-by dates: a potential, marketing position for store brands

Traditionally store brands in Australia are viewed with suspicion in regard to their quality and are usually purchased because of the "value for money" that they offer. Australian supermarket majors are considering introducing a new suite of store brands in the higher price brackets. The danger of moving upscale however is that these store brands are relinquishing their value for money appeal and will come head to head with the manufactured brands. Store brands will now require some quality dimension to compete. This paper after studying the attitudes and behavioural response of grocery shoppers to use by dates, is proposing that that the promise of "generous" use-by dates as a surrogate for quality, could be considered as a positioning plank to promote store brands as alternatives to manufactured brands. Logit analysis is employed to explain shoppers' perception and response to use-by dates, of products that they regularly buy, and of alternative products which they have never bought before if the use-by dates of their regular items are perceived to be too shor

Peculiarities in the Spectrum of the Adjoint Scalar Kinetic Operator in Yang-Mills Theory

We study the spectrum of low-lying eigenmodes of the kinetic operator for scalar particles, in the color adjoint representation of Yang-Mills theory. The kinetic operator is the covariant Laplacian, plus a constant which serves to renormalize mass. In the pure gauge theory, our data indicates that the interval between the lowest eigenvalue and the mobility edge tends to infinity in the continuum limit. On these grounds, it is suggested that the perturbative expression for the scalar propagator may be misleading even at distance scales that are small compared to the confinement scale. We also measure the density of low-lying eigenmodes, and find a possible connection to multi-critical matrix models of order m=1.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figure

Shore Platform Processes in Eastern Canada

This research is conducted on a mesotidal, argillite shore platform at Mont Louis in Gaspé, Québec, and on macrotidal platforms in the basalts of Scots Bay and the sandstones of Burncoat Head in Nova Scotia. Rock samples have been subjected to wetting and drying and to salt weathering cycles. The platforms were surveyed; rock hardness was determined with a Rock Test Hammer; waves were recorded in the field; and downwearing rates were measured at 56 micro-erosion meter stations over 1 to 3 years. Weathering is the dominant process at Mont Louis, although the horizontal platform may have been cut by waves at the high tidal level. Wave backwearing was much more important than downwearing by weathering during the Holocene at Scots Bay. Wave quarrying only occurs on a few scarps today, however, and without much abrasive material, slow downwearing now dominates over most of the platform surface. Waves probably help to remove loosened sand grains at Burncoat Head, thereby contributing to platform downwearing. Abrasion is also important in places, but the data suggest that backwearing by wave quarrying and probably frost has been a little more important than downwearing by abrasion and weathering during the Holocene.Processus des plates-formes littorales de l’est du Canada. Une plate-forme littorale d’argilites soumise à des marées modérées à Mont Louis en Gaspésie, Québec, et des plates-formes soumises à des fortes marées dans les basaltes de Scots Bay et les grès de Burncoat Head de la Nouvelle-Écosse furent étudiées. Des échantillons de roches ont été soumis à des cycles de mouillage et de séchage et d’haloclastie. Le profil des plates-formes a été mesuré, la dureté des roches a été établie par le test du marteau de Schmidt, les vagues ont été mesurées sur le terrain et le taux d’usure vertical a été quantifié à 56 stations avec des appareils détectant la micro-­érosion, le tout sur une période d’un à trois ans. L’altération est le processus dominant à Mont Louis, bien que la plate-forme horizontale ait été entaillée par les vagues au maximum des marées hautes. L’usure horizontale par les vagues était plus importante que l’usure verticale par altération durant l’Holocène à Scots Bay. L’extraction de grands blocs par les vagues ne se produit toutefois de nos jours que sur quelques abrupts et, en l’absence de matériel abrasif, une lente usure verticale domine maintenant sur la plupart des plates-formes. Les vagues ont probablement aidé à éliminer les grains de sable produits par l’altération à Burncoat Head, contribuant ainsi à l’usure verticale de la plate-forme. L’abrasion est également importante à certains endroits, mais les données indiquent que l’usure horizontale par les vagues, et aussi par le gel, a été un peu plus importante que l’usure verticale par l’abrasion et l’altération durant l’Holocène

Discovery of a Transition to Global Spin-up in EXO 2030+375

EXO 2030+375, a 42-second transient X-ray pulsar with a Be star companion, has been observed to undergo an outburst at nearly every periastron passage for the last 13.5 years. From 1994 through 2002, the global trend in the pulsar spin frequency was spin-down. Using RXTE data from 2003 September, we have observed a transition to global spin-up in EXO 2030+375. Although the spin frequency observations are sparse, the relative spin-up between 2002 June and 2003 September observations, along with an overall brightening of the outbursts since mid 2002 observed with the RXTE ASM, accompanied by an increase in density of the Be disk, indicated by infrared magnitudes, suggest that the pattern observed with BATSE of a roughly constant spin frequency, followed by spin-up, followed by spin-down is repeating. If so this pattern has approximately an 11 year period, similar to the 15 +/- 3 year period derived by Wilson et al. (2002) for the precession period of a one-armed oscillation in the Be disk. If this pattern is indeed repeating, we predict a transition from spin-up to spin-down in 2005.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 4 pages, 5 figures, using emulateapj.cl

Measurement of branching fractions and CP-violating charge asymmetries for B-meson decays to D^(*)D^(*), and implications for the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle γ

We present measurements of the branching fractions and charge asymmetries of B decays to all D^(*)D^(*) modes. Using 232×10^6 BB pairs recorded on the Υ(4S) resonance by the BABAR detector at the e^+e^- asymmetric B factory PEP-II at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, we measure the branching fractions B(B^0→D^(*+)D^(*-))=(8.1±0.6±1.0)×10^(-4), B(B^0→D^(*±)D^∓)=(5.7±0.7±0.7)×10^(-4), B(B^0→D^+D^-)=(2.8±0.4±0.5)×10^(-4), B(B^+→D^(*+)D^(*0))=(8.1±1.2±1.2)×10^(-4), B(B^+→D^*+D^0)=(3.6±0.5±0.4)×10^(-4), B(B^+→D^+D^(*0))=(6.3±1.4±1.0)×10^(-4), and B(B^+→D^+D^(0))=(3.8±0.6±0.5)×10^(-4), where in each case the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. We also determine the limits B(B^0→D^(*0)D^(*0))<0.9×10^(-4), B(B^0→D^(*0)D^0)<2.9×10^(-4), and B(B^0→D^0D^0)<0.6×10^(-4), each at 90% confidence level. All decays above denote either member of a charge-conjugate pair. We also determine the CP-violating charge asymmetries A(B^0→D^(*±)D^∓)=0.03±0.10±0.02, A(B^+→D^(*+)D^(*0))=-0.15±0.11±0.02, A(B^+→D^(*+)D^0)=-0.06±0.13±0.02, A(B^+→D^+D^(*0))=0.13±0.18±0.04, and A(B^+→D^+D^0)=-0.13±0.14±0.02. Additionally, when we combine these results with information from time-dependent CP asymmetries in B^0→D^((*)+)D^((*)-) decays and world-averaged branching fractions of B decays to D_s^(*)D^(*) modes, we find the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase γ is favored to lie in the range (0.07–2.77) radians (with a +0 or +π radians ambiguity) at 68% confidence level

Search for the decay τ-→3π^-2π^+2π^0ν_τ

A search for the decay of the τ lepton to five charged and two neutral pions is performed using data collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e^+e^- collider. The analysis uses 232  fb^(-1) of data at center-of-mass energies on or near the Υ(4S) resonance. We observe 10 events with an expected background of 6.5_(-1.4)^(+2.0) events. In the absence of a signal, we set the limit on the branching ratio B(τ-→3π^-2π^+2π^0ν_τ)<3.4×10^(-6) at the 90% confidence level. This is a significant improvement over the previously established limit. In addition, we search for the decay mode τ-→2ωπ-ν_τ. We observe 1 event with an expected background of 0.4+1.0/-0.4 events and calculate the upper limit B(τ-→2ωπ-ν_τ)<5.4×10^(-7) at the 90% confidence level. This is the first upper limit for this mode

Fermi-LAT Observations of High- and Intermediate-Velocity Clouds: Tracing Cosmic Rays in the Halo of the Milky Way

It is widely accepted that cosmic rays (CRs) up to at least PeV energies are Galactic in origin. Accelerated particles are injected into the interstellar medium where they propagate to the farthest reaches of the Milky Way, including a surrounding halo. The composition of CRs coming to the solar system can be measured directly and has been used to infer the details of CR propagation that are extrapolated to the whole Galaxy. In contrast, indirect methods, such as observations of gamma-ray emission from CR interactions with interstellar gas, have been employed to directly probe the CR densities in distant locations throughout the Galactic plane. In this article we use 73 months of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope in the energy range between 300 MeV and 10 GeV to search for gamma-ray emission produced by CR interactions in several high- and intermediate-velocity clouds located at up to ~ 7 kpc above the Galactic plane. We achieve the first detection of intermediate-velocity clouds in gamma rays and set upper limits on the emission from the remaining targets, thereby tracing the distribution of CR nuclei in the halo for the first time. We find that the gamma-ray emissivity per H atom decreases with increasing distance from the plane at 97.5% confidence level. This corroborates the notion that CRs at the relevant energies originate in the Galactic disk. The emissivity of the upper intermediate-velocity Arch hints at a 50% decline of CR densities within 2 kpc from the plane. We compare our results to predictions of CR propagation models.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa