Decoherence induced CPT violation and entangled neutral mesons

We discuss two classes of semi-microscopic theoretical models of stochastic space-time foam in quantum gravity and the associated effects on entangled states of neutral mesons, signalling an intrinsic breakdown of CPT invariance. One class of models deals with a specific model of foam, initially constructed in the context of non-critical (Liouville) string theory, but viewed here in the more general context of effective quantum-gravity models. The relevant Hamiltonian perturbation, describing the interaction of the meson with the foam medium, consists of off-diagonal stochastic metric fluctuations, connecting distinct mass eigenstates (or the appropriate generalisation thereof in the case of K-mesons), and it is proportional to the relevant momentum transfer (along the direction of motion of the meson pair). There are two kinds of CPT-violating effects in this case, which can be experimentally disentangled: one (termed ``omega-effect'') is associated with the failure of the indistinguishability between the neutral meson and its antiparticle, and affects certain symmetry properties of the initial state of the two-meson system; the second effect is generated by the time evolution of the system in the medium of the space-time foam, and can result in time-dependent contributions of the $omega-effect type in the time profile of the two meson state. Estimates of both effects are given, which show that, at least in certain models, such effects are not far from the sensitivity of experimental facilities available currently or in the near future. The other class of quantum gravity models involves a medium of gravitational fluctuations which behaves like a ``thermal bath''. In this model both of the above-mentioned intrinsic CPT violation effects are not valid.Comment: 16 pages revtex, no figure

Aging and Social Security in Mexico

Low fertility levels in many countries are creating aging populations whose demands for health care and income maintenance (social security) will increase to unprecedented levels, thereby calling forth policies that will promote increased family care and worklife flexibility. The Population Project at IIASA is examining current patterns of population aging and changing lifestyles, projecting the needs for health and income support that such patterns are likely to generate during the next several decades, and considering alternative family and employment policies that might reduce the social costs of meeting these needs. The project is seeking to develop a better understanding of how low fertility and mortality combine to create aging populations, with high demands for health and income maintenance, and reduced family support systems that can provide that maintenance. The research will produce analyses of current demographic patterns, primarily in IIASA countries, together with an assessment of their probable future societal consequences and impacts on the aging. It will consider the position of the elderly within changing family structures, review national policies that promote an enlarged role for family care, and examine the costs and benefits of alternative systems for encouraging worklife flexibility by transferring income between different periods of life. Although not a member of IIASA, Mexico offers a particularly interesting example of a country whose population aging has only started. Mexico has a young population structure and a combination of public and private pension systems. Fertility apparently has begun to decline, and the number of elderly people is expected to rise sharply in the future. In this paper, Roberto Ham, the director of the Population and Urban Development Center at El Colegio de Mexico, examines the evolution of Mexico's aging population and describes current social security policies

Exotic quark effects on the Higgs sector of the USSM at the LHC

The Higgs sector of the U(1)-extended supersymmetric model is studied with great detail. We calculate the masses of the Higgs bosons at the one-loop level. We also calculate at the one-loop level the gluon-involving processes for the productions and decays of the scalar Higgs bosons of the model at the energy of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where the radiative corrections due to the loops of top, bottom, and exotic quarks and their scalar partners are taken into account. We find that the exotic quark and exotic scalar quarks in the model may manifest themselves at the LHC, since the production of the heaviest scalar Higgs boson via gluon fusion processes is mediated virtually by the loops of exotic quark and exotic scalar quarks, for a reasonable parameter set of the model.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, JP

Explosive Ballooning Flux Tubes in Tokamaks

Tokamak stability to, potentially explosive, `ballooning' displacements of elliptical magnetic flux tubes is examined in large aspect ratio equilibrium. Above a critical pressure gradient the energy stored in the plasma may be lowered by finite (but not infinitesimal) displacements of such tubes (metastability). Above a higher pressure gradient, the linear stability boundary, such tubes are linearly and nonlinearly unstable. The flux tube displacement can be of the order of the pressure gradient scale length. Plasma transport from displaced flux tubes may result in rapid loss of confinement.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Accurate measurement of telemetry performance

Performance of high rate telemetry stations used in the Deep Space Network is verified. Measurement techniques are discussed

Aerodynamic interference effects on tilting proprotor aircraft

The Green's function method was used to study tilting proprotor aircraft aerodynamics with particular application to the problem of the mutual interference of the wing-fuselage-tail-rotor wake configuration. While the formulation is valid for fully unsteady rotor aerodynamics, attention was directed to steady state aerodynamics, which was achieved by replacing the rotor with the actuator disk approximation. The use of an actuator disk analysis introduced a mathematical singularity into the formulation; this problem was studied and resolved. The pressure distribution, lift, and pitching moment were obtained for an XV-15 wing-fuselage-tail rotor configuration at various flight conditions. For the flight configurations explored, the effects of the rotor wake interference on the XV-15 tilt rotor aircraft yielded a reduction in the total lift and an increase in the nose-down pitching moment. This method provides an analytical capability that is simple to apply and can be used to investigate fuselage-tail rotor wake interference as well as to explore other rotor design problem areas

Stress relaxation and mechanical properties of RL-1973 and PD-200-16 silicone resin sponge materials

Stress relaxation tests were conducted by loading specimens in double-lap shear to a preselected strain level and monitoring the decay of stress with time. The stress relaxation response characteristics were measured over a temperature range of 100 to 300 K and four strain levels. It is concluded that only a slight amount of stress relaxation was observed, and the stiffness increased approximately two orders of magnitude over the range of temperatures