Prospects of measuring the leptonic CP phase with atmospheric neutrinos

We have studied the prospects of measuring the CP violating phase with atmospheric neutrinos at a large magnetized iron calorimeter detector considering the muons (directly measurable) of the neutrino events generated by a MonteCarlo event generator Nuance. The effect of $\theta_{13}$ and $\delta_{CP}$ appears dominantly neither in atmospheric neutrino oscillation nor in solar neutrino oscillation, but appears as subleading in both cases. These are observable in range of $E \sim 1$ GeV for atmospheric neutrino, where solar and atmospheric oscillation couple. In this regime, the quasi-elastic events dominate and the energy resolution is very good, but the angular resolution is very poor. Unlike beam experiments this poor angular resolution acts against its measurements. However, we find that one can be able to distinguish $\delta_{CP}\approx 0^\circ$ and $180^\circ$ at 90% confidence level. We find no significant sensitivity for $\delta_{CP}\approx 90^\circ$ or $270^\circ$.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, clarifying discussions on results added; accepted in Phys. Rev.

Kodaikanal Digitized White-light Data Archive (1921-2011): Analysis of various solar cycle features

Long-term sunspot observations are key to understand and predict the solar activities and its effects on the space weather.Consistent observations which are crucial for long-term variations studies,are generally not available due to upgradation/modifications of observatories over the course of time. We present the data for a period of 90 years acquired from persistent observation at the Kodaikanal observatory in India. We use an advanced semi-automated algorithm to detect the sunspots form each calibrated white-light image. Area, longitude and latitude of each of the detected sunspots are derived. Implementation of a semi-automated method is very necessary in such studies as it minimizes the human bias in the detection procedure. Daily, monthly and yearly sunspot area variations obtained from the Kodaikanal, compared well with the Greenwich sunspot area data. We find an exponentially decaying distribution for the individual sunspot area for each of the solar cycles. Analyzing the histograms of the latitudinal distribution of the detected sunspots, we find Gaussian distributions, in both the hemispheres, with the centers at $\sim$15$^{\circ}$ latitude. The height of the Gaussian distributions are different for the two hemispheres for a particular cycle. Using our data, we show clear presence of Waldmeier effect which correlates the rise time with the cycle amplitude. Using the wavelet analysis, we explored different periodicities of different time scales present in the sunspot area times series.Comment: Accepted for Publication in A&

Fluorogenic labeling of 5-formylpyrimidine nucleotides in DNA and RNA.

5-Formylcytosine (5fC) and 5-formyluracil (5fU) are natural nucleobase modifications that are generated by oxidative modification of 5-methylcytosine and thymine (or 5-methyluracil). Herein, we describe chemoselective labeling of 5-formylpyrimidine nucleotides in DNA and RNA by fluorogenic aldol-type condensation reactions with 2,3,3-trimethylindole derivatives. Mild and specific reaction conditions were developed for 5fU and 5fC to produce hemicyanine-like chromophores with distinct photophysical properties. Residue-specific detection was established by fluorescence readout as well as primer-extension assays. The reactions were optimized on DNA oligonucleotides and were equally suitable for the modification of 5fU- and 5fC-modified RNA. This direct labeling approach of 5-formylpyrimidines is expected to help in elucidating the occurrence, enzymatic transformations, and functional roles of these epigenetic/epitranscriptomic nucleobase modifications in DNA and RNA