Fermion Mass Matrices in term of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Matrix and Mass Eigenvalues

A parameter free, model independent analysis of quark mass matrices is carried out. We find a representation in terms of a diagonal mass matrix for the down (up) quarks and a suitable matrix for the up (down) quarks, such that the mass parameters only depend on the six quark masses and the three angles and phase appearing in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. The results found may also be applied to the Dirac mass matrices of the leptons.Comment: 7 pages LaTeX, no figures. Title changed, Particle Data Group parametrization of CKM matrix used in equation (8), numerical values in table 1 evaluated using the quark mass values at the Z^o mass scale, equation (21) eliminated and 2 references change

Vacuum field energy and spontaneous emission in anomalously dispersive cavities

Anomalously dispersive cavities, particularly white light cavities, may have larger bandwidth to finesse ratios than their normally dispersive counterparts. Partly for this reason, their use has been proposed for use in LIGO-like gravity wave detectors and in ring-laser gyroscopes. In this paper we analyze the quantum noise associated with anomalously dispersive cavity modes. The vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode is proportional to the cavity-averaged group velocity of that mode. For anomalously dispersive cavities with group index values between 1 and 0, this means that the total vacuum field energy associated with a particular cavity mode must exceed $\hbar \omega/2$. For white light cavities in particular, the group index approaches zero and the vacuum field energy of a particular spatial mode may be significantly enhanced. We predict enhanced spontaneous emission rates into anomalously dispersive cavity modes and broadened laser linewidths when the linewidth of intracavity emitters is broader than the cavity linewidth.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Effect of the Gribov horizon on the Polyakov loop and vice versa

We consider finite temperature SU(2) gauge theory in the continuum formulation, which necessitates the choice of a gauge fixing. Choosing the Landau gauge, the existing gauge copies are taken into account by means of the Gribov-Zwanziger (GZ) quantization scheme, which entails the introduction of a dynamical mass scale (Gribov mass) directly influencing the Green functions of the theory. Here, we determine simultaneously the Polyakov loop (vacuum expectation value) and Gribov mass in terms of temperature, by minimizing the vacuum energy w.r.t. the Polyakov loop parameter and solving the Gribov gap equation. Inspired by the Casimir energy-style of computation, we illustrate the usage of Zeta function regularization in finite temperature calculations. Our main result is that the Gribov mass directly feels the deconfinement transition, visible from a cusp occurring at the same temperature where the Polyakov loop becomes nonzero. In this exploratory work we mainly restrict ourselves to the original Gribov-Zwanziger quantization procedure in order to illustrate the approach and the potential direct link between the vacuum structure of the theory (dynamical mass scales) and (de)confinement. We also present a first look at the critical temperature obtained from the Refined Gribov-Zwanziger approach. Finally, a particular problem for the pressure at low temperatures is reported.Comment: 19 pages, 8 .pdf figures. v2: extended section 3 + extra references; version accepted for publication in EPJ

Estimation of the methane emission factor for the Italian Mediterranean buffalo

In order to contribute to the improvement of the national greenhouse gas emission inventory, this work aimed at estimating a country-specific enteric methane (CH4) emission factor for the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. For this purpose, national agriculture statistics, and information on animal production and farming conditions were analysed, and the emission factor was estimated using the Tier 2 model of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Country-specific CH4 emission factors for buffalo cows (630 kg body weight, BW) and other buffalo (313 kg BW) categories were estimated for the period 1990–2004. In 2004, the estimated enteric CH4 emission factor for the buffalo cows was 73 kg/head per year, whereas that for other buffalo categories it was 56 kg/head per year. Research in order to determine specific CH4 conversion rates at the predominant production system is suggested