1,642 research outputs found
Descriptions of Wolf Attacks on Bison Calves in Wood Buffalo National Park
Wolf predation on bison in Wood Buffalo Park and adjacent areas in late spring/early summer season was observed to be directed toward cow/calf herds. While hunting, wolf packs in early summer developed a strong preference for herds with calves. Packs of four to six individuals were observed. Of 14 interactions recorded, 12 were made from ground observations and 2 were made from the air. Five apparent defense strategies to protect calves were noted. These were: (1) to run to the cow, (2) to run to a herd, (3 ) to run to the nearest bull, (4) to get out in front and center of a stampeding herd and (5) to run through water bodies. When fleeing from wolves in open areas, cow with young calves took the lead, while bulls often were seen at the rear of the herds. When under attack from wolves, cows and particularly bulls were sometimes seen to defend the calves. Killing attempts observed in this study lasted from a few minutes to 11 hours.Key words: wolf predation, bison, wolves, antipredator defense, Wood Buffalo National ParkMots clés: prédation des loups, bisons, loups, défense contre les prédateurs, parc national Wood Buffal
Hybrid Quarkonia with High Statistics from NRQCD
We have studied the O(mv^6) effects in NRQCD on the spectrum of heavy
quarkonia and compare our results for different lattices (quenched and
dynamical). We also report on an investigation into hybrid states within the
framework of NRQCD. This suggests that the lowest lying hybrid is around the
B^* \bar B threshold and 3 standard deviations above the B \bar B.Comment: 3 pages, LaTeX2e, 4 figures, uses styles [espcrc2, epsf], talk
presented at Lattice 9
Perturbative Wilson loops from unquenched Monte Carlo simulations at weak couplings
Perturbative expansions of several small Wilson loops are computed through
next-to-next-to-leading order in unquenched lattice QCD, from Monte Carlo
simulations at weak couplings. This approach provides a much simpler
alternative to conventional diagrammatic perturbation theory, and is applied
here for the first time to full QCD. Two different sets of lattice actions are
considered: one set uses the unimproved plaquette gluon action together with
the unimproved staggered-quark action; the other set uses the one-loop-improved
Symanzik gauge-field action together with the so-called ``asqtad''
improved-staggered quark action. Simulations are also done with different
numbers of dynamical fermions. An extensive study of the systematic
uncertainties is presented, which demonstrates that the small third-order
perturbative component of the observables can be reliably extracted from
simulation data. We also investigate the use of the rational hybrid Monte Carlo
algorithm for unquenched simulations with unimproved-staggered fermions. Our
results are in excellent agreement with diagrammatic perturbation theory, and
provide an important cross-check of the perturbation theory input to a recent
determination of the strong coupling by the HPQCD
collaboration.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Update: Accurate Determinations of alpha_s from Realistic Lattice QCD
We use lattice QCD simulations, with MILC configurations (including vacuum
polarization from u, d, and s quarks), to update our previous determinations of
the QCD coupling constant. Our new analysis uses results from 6 different
lattice spacings and 12 different combinations of sea-quark masses to
significantly reduce our previous errors. We also correct for
finite-lattice-spacing errors in the scale setting, and for nonperturbative
chiral corrections to the 22 short-distance quantities from which we extract
the coupling. Our final result is alpha_V(7.5GeV,nf=3) = 0.2120(28), which is
equivalent to alpha_msbar(M_Z,n_f=5)= 0.1183(8). We compare this with our
previous result, which differs by one standard deviation.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 4 table
Unquenched Charmonium with NRQCD - Lattice 2000
We present results from a series of NRQCD simulations of the charmonium
system, both in the quenched approximation and with n_f = 2 dynamical quarks.
The spectra show evidence for quenching effects of ~10% in the S- and
P-hyperfine splittings. We compare this with other systematic effects.
Improving the NRQCD evolution equation altered the S-hyperfine by as much as 20
MeV, and we estimate radiative corrections may be as large as 40%.Comment: Lattice 2000 (Heavy Quark Physics
Precise charm to strange mass ratio and light quark masses from full lattice QCD
By using a single formalism to handle charm, strange and light valence quarks
in full lattice QCD for the first time, we are able to determine ratios of
quark masses to 1%. For we obtain 11.85(16), an order of magnitude
more precise than the current PDG average. Combined with 1% determinations of
the charm quark mass now possible this gives
92.4(1.5) MeV. The MILC result for yields = 3.40(7) MeV for the average of and quark masses.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Version accepted by Physical Review Letters.
Changes include modifying the title, using the MILC value for m_s/m_l which
changes slightly the resulting up and down quark masses and their average,
adding some references and making other small adjustments to the text for
space reasons
Tadpole renormalization and relativistic corrections in lattice NRQCD
We make a comparison of two tadpole renormalization schemes in the context of
the quarkonium hyperfine splittings in lattice NRQCD. Improved gauge-field and
NRQCD actions are analyzed using the mean-link in Landau gauge, and
using the fourth root of the average plaquette . Simulations are done
for , , and systems. The hyperfine splittings are
computed both at leading and at next-to-leading order in the relativistic
expansion. Results are obtained at lattice spacings in the range of about
0.14~fm to 0.38~fm. A number of features emerge, all of which favor tadpole
renormalization using . This includes much better scaling behavior of
the hyperfine splittings in the three quarkonium systems when is
used. We also find that relativistic corrections to the spin splittings are
smaller when is used, particularly for the and
systems. We also see signs of a breakdown in the NRQCD expansion when the bare
quark mass falls below about one in lattice units. Simulations with
also appear to be better behaved in this context: the bare quark masses turn
out to be larger when is used, compared to when is used on
lattices with comparable spacings. These results also demonstrate the need to
go beyond tree-level tadpole improvement for precision simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures (minor changes to some phraseology and
references
High-precision determination of the light-quark masses from realistic lattice QCD
Three-flavor lattice QCD simulations and two-loop perturbation theory are
used to make the most precise determination to date of the strange-, up-, and
down-quark masses, , , and , respectively. Perturbative matching
is required in order to connect the lattice-regularized bare- quark masses to
the masses as defined in the \msbar scheme, and this is done here for the first
time at next-to-next-to leading (or two-loop) order. The bare-quark masses
required as input come from simulations by the MILC collaboration of a
highly-efficient formalism (using so-called ``staggered'' quarks), with three
flavors of light quarks in the Dirac sea; these simulations were previously
analyzed in a joint study by the HPQCD and MILC collaborations, using
degenerate and quarks, with masses as low as , and two values of
the lattice spacing, with chiral extrapolation/interpolation to the physical
masses. With the new perturbation theory presented here, the resulting \msbar\
masses are m^\msbar_s(2 {GeV}) = 87(0)(4)(4)(0) MeV, and \hat m^\msbar(2
{GeV}) = 3.2(0)(2)(2)(0) MeV, where \hat m = \sfrac12 (m_u + m_d) is the
average of the and masses. The respective uncertainties are from
statistics, simulation systematics, perturbation theory, and
electromagnetic/isospin effects. The perturbative errors are about a factor of
two smaller than in an earlier study using only one-loop perturbation theory.
Using a recent determination of the ratio due to
the MILC collaboration, these results also imply m^\msbar_u(2 {GeV}) =
1.9(0)(1)(1)(2) MeV and m^\msbar_d(2 {GeV}) = 4.4(0)(2)(2)(2) MeV. A
technique for estimating the next order in the perturbative expansion is also
presented, which uses input from simulations at more than one lattice spacing
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