Big Bang nucleosynthesis revisited via Trojan Horse Method measurements

Nuclear reaction rates are among the most important input for understanding the primordial nucleosynthesis and therefore for a quantitative description of the early Universe. An up-to-date compilation of direct cross sections of 2H(d,p)3H, 2H(d,n)3He, 7Li(p,alpha)4He and 3He(d,p)4He reactions is given. These are among the most uncertain cross sections used and input for Big Bang nucleosynthesis calculations. Their measurements through the Trojan Horse Method (THM) are also reviewed and compared with direct data. The reaction rates and the corresponding recommended errors in this work were used as input for primordial nucleosynthesis calculations to evaluate their impact on the 2H, 3,4He and 7Li primordial abundances, which are then compared with observations.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Magnetic properties of single-crystalline CeCuGa3

The magnetic behavior of single-crystalline CeCuGa3 has been investigated. The compound forms in a tetragonal BaAl4-type structure consisting of rare-earth planes separated by Cu-Ga layers. If the Cu-Ga site disorder is reduced, CeCuGa3 adopts the related, likewise tetragonal BaNiSn3-type structure, in which the Ce ion are surrounded by different Cu and Ga layers and the inversion symmetry is lost. In the literature conflicting reports about the magnetic order of CeCuGa3 have been published. Single crystals with the centrosymmetric structure variant exhibit ferromagnetic order below approx. 4 K with a strong planar anisotropy. The magnetic behavior above the transition temperature can be well understood by the crystal-field splitting of the 4f Hund's rule ground-state multiplet of the Ce ions

Finite-Temperature Transition in the Spin-Dimer Antiferromagnet BaCuSi2O6

We consider a classical XY-like Hamiltonian on a body-centered tetragonal lattice, focusing on the role of interlayer frustration. A three-dimensional (3D) ordered phase is realized via thermal fluctuations, breaking the mirror-image reflection symmetry in addition to the XY symmetry. A heuristic field-theoretical model of the transition has a decoupled fixed point in the 3D XY universality, and our Monte Carlo simulation suggests that there is such a temperature region where long-wavelength fluctuations can be described by this fixed point. However, it is shown using scaling arguments that the decoupled fixed point is unstable against a fluctuation-induced biquadratic interaction, indicating that a crossover to nontrivial critical phenomena with different exponents appears as one approaches the critical point beyond the transient temperature region. This new scenario clearly contradicts the previous notion of the 3D XY universality.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Effects of Food Availability and Administration of Orexigenic and Anorectic Agents on Elevated Ethanol Drinking Associated With Drinking in the Dark Procedures

Drinking in the dark (DID) procedures have recently been developed to induce high levels of ethanol drinking in C57BL/6J mice, which result in blood ethanol concentrations reaching levels that have measurable affects on physiology and/or behavior. The present study determined if increased ethanol drinking associated with DID procedures may be motivated by caloric need rather than by the post-ingestive pharmacological effects of ethanol. To this end, food availability was manipulated or mice were given peripheral administration of orexigenic or anorectic agents during DID procedures

X-Band ESR Determination of Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya Interaction in 2D SrCu2_2(BO3_3)2_2 System

X-band ESR measurements on a single crystal of SrCu$_2$(BO$_3$)$_2$ system in a temperature range between 10 K and 580 K are presented. The temperature and angular dependence of unusually broad ESR spectra can be explained by the inclusion of antisymmetric Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (DM) interaction, which yields by far the largest contribution to the linewidth. However, the well-accepted picture of only out-of-plane interdimer DM vectors is not sufficient for explanation of the observed angular dependence. In order to account for the experimental linewidth anisotropy we had to include sizable in-plane components of interdimer as well as intradimer DM interaction in addition to the out-of-plane interdimer one. The nearest-neighbor DM vectors lie perpendicular to crystal anisotropy c-axis due to crystal symmetry. We also emphasize that above the structural phase transition occurring at 395 K dynamical mechanism should be present allowing for instantaneous DM interactions. Moreover, the linewidth at an arbitrary temperature can be divided into two contributions; namely, the first part arising from spin dynamics governed by the spin Hamiltonian of the system and the second part due to significant spin-phonon coupling. The nature of the latter mechanism is attributed to phonon-modulation of the antisymmetric interaction, which is responsible for the observed linear increase of the linewidth at high temperatures.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Structural Phase Transition in the 2D Spin Dimer Compound SrCu2(BO3)2

A displacive, 2nd order structural phase transition at Ts=395 K from space group I`4 2 m below Ts to I 4/m c m above Ts has been discovered in the two-dimensional spin dimer compound SrCu2(BO3)2. The temperature evolution of the structure in both phases has been studied by X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering, supplemented by differential scanning calorimetry and SQUID magnetometry. The implications of this transition and of the observed phonon anomalies in Raman scattering for spin-phonon and interlayer coupling in this quantum spin system will be discussed.Comment: 13pages, 13 figure

Increased Consumption but Not Operant Self-administration of Ethanol in Mice Lacking the RIIbeta Subunit of Protein Kinase A

Accumulating evidence indicates that cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) is involved in the neurobiological responses to ethanol. Previous reports indicate that mice lacking the RIIβ subunit of PKA (RIIβ−/−) voluntarily consume more ethanol than wild-type controls (RIIβ+/+) using two-bottle testing procedures. While such procedures primarily measure consummatory behavior, operant self-administration procedures allow analysis of consummatory as well as appetitive or “ethanol-seeking” behavior (i.e., lever pressing is required to gain access to the ethanol solution). Therefore, we determined if the high ethanol consumption characteristic of RIIβ−/− mice would be complimented by increased appetitive ethanol-seeking behavior in an operant paradigm

Involvement of protein kinase A in ethanol-induced locomotor activity and sensitization

Mutant mice lacking the RIIβ subunit of protein kinase A (regulatory subunit II beta−/−) show increased ethanol preference. Recent evidence suggests a relationship between heightened ethanol preference and susceptibility to ethanol-induced locomotor sensitization. It is currently unknown if protein kinase A signaling modulates the stimulant effects and/or behavioral sensitization caused by ethanol administration. To address this question, we examined the effects of repeated ethanol administration on locomotor activity RIIβ−/− and littermate wild-type (RIIβ+/+) mice on multiple genetic backgrounds

Blockade of the Corticotropin Releasing Factor Type 1 Receptor Attenuates Elevated Ethanol Drinking Associated With Drinking in the Dark Procedures

Drinking in the dark (DID) procedures have recently been developed to induce high levels of ethanol drinking in C57BL/6J mice, which result in blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) reaching levels that have measurable affects on physiology and/or behavior. The present experiments determined whether the increased ethanol drinking caused by DID procedures can be attenuated by pretreatment with CP-154,526; a corticotropin releasing factor type-1 (CRF1) receptor antagonist