908 research outputs found
First Double-Chooz Results and the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly
We investigate the possible effects of short-baseline antinu_e disappearance
implied by the reactor antineutrino anomaly on the Double-Chooz determination
of theta_{13} through the normalization of the initial antineutrino flux with
the Bugey-4 measurement. We show that the effects are negligible and the value
of theta_{13} obtained by the Double-Chooz collaboration is accurate only if
Delta m^2_{41} is larger than about 3 eV^2. For smaller values of Delta
m^2_{41} the short-baseline oscillations are not fully averaged at Bugey-4 and
the uncertainties due to the reactor antineutrino anomaly can be of the same
order of magnitude of the intrinsic Double-Chooz uncertainties.Comment: 4 page
An estimate of theta_14 independent of the reactor antineutrino flux determinations
In a previous paper [Phys. Rev. D 83, 113013 (2011)] we have shown that the
solar sector data (solar and KamLAND) are sensitive to the parameter theta_14,
encoding the admixture of the electron neutrino with a fourth (essentially)
sterile mass eigenstate. In that work we evidenced that such data prefer a
non-zero value of theta_14 and that such a preference is completely degenerate
with that of non-zero theta_13. In this report we show how the evidence of
theta_13 > 0, recently emerged from global neutrino data analyses, lifts such a
degeneracy and disfavors the case of sterile neutrino mixing. By excluding from
our analysis the total rate information coming from the reactor experiments we
untie our results from any assumption on their flux normalization. In this way,
we establish the robust upper bound sin^2 (theta_14) < 0.04 at the 90% C.L.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor changes, matches version accepted by PR
Not enough stellar mass Machos in the Galactic halo
We present an update of results from the search for microlensing towards the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by EROS (Experience de Recherche d'Objets
Sombres). We have now monitored 25 million stars over three years. Because of
the small number of observed microlensing candidates (four), our results are
best presented as upper limits on the amount of dark compact objects in the
halo of our Galaxy. We discuss critically the candidates and the possible
location of the lenses, halo or LMC . We compare our results to those of the
MACHO group. Finally, we combine these new results with those from our search
towards the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as earlier ones from the EROS1 phase
of our survey. The combined data is sensitive to compact objects in the broad
mass range solar masses. The derived upper limit on the
abundance of stellar mass MACHOs rules out such objects as the dominant
component of the Galactic halo if their mass is smaller than 2 solar masses.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, presented at the XIX International Conference on
Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Sudbury, Canada, June 200
Fitting Photometry of Blended Microlensing Events
We reexamine the usefulness of fitting blended lightcurve models to
microlensing photometric data. We find agreement with previous workers (e.g.
Wozniak & Paczynski) that this is a difficult proposition because of the
degeneracy of blend fraction with other fit parameters. We show that follow-up
observations at specific point along the lightcurve (peak region and wings) of
high magnification events are the most helpful in removing degeneracies. We
also show that very small errors in the baseline magnitude can result in
problems in measuring the blend fraction, and study the importance of
non-Gaussian errors in the fit results. The biases and skewness in the
distribution of the recovered blend fraction is discussed. We also find a new
approximation formula relating the blend fraction and the unblended fit
parameters to the underlying event duration needed to estimate microlensing
optical depth.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap
The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries: Issues, Terminology, Principles, Institutional Foundations, Implementation and Outlook
Ecosystems are complex and dynamic natural units that produce goods and services beyond those of benefit to fisheries. Because fisheries have a direct impact on the ecosystem, which is also impacted by other human activities, they need to be managed in an ecosystem context. The meaning of the terms 'ecosystem management', 'ecosystem based management', 'ecosystem approach to fisheries'(EAF), etc., are still not universally defined and progressively evolving. The justification of EAF is evident in the characteristics of an exploited ecosystem and the impacts resulting from fisheries and other activities. The rich set of international agreements of relevance to EAF contains a large number of principles and conceptual objectives. Both provide a fundamental guidance and a significant challenge for the implementation of EAF. The available international instruments also provide the institutional foundations for EAF. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is particularly important in this respect and contains provisions for practically all aspects of the approach. One major difficulty in defining EAF lies precisely in turning the available concepts and principles into operational objectives from which an EAF management plan would more easily be developed. The paper discusses these together with the types of action needed to achieve them. Experience in EAF implementation is still limited but some issues are already apparent, e.g. in added complexity, insufficient capacity, slow implementation, need for a pragmatic approach, etc. It is argued, in conclusion, that the future of EAF and fisheries depends on the way in which the two fundamental concepts of fisheries management and ecosystem management, and their respective stakeholders, will join efforts or collide
Astrometric Method to Break the Photometric Degeneracy between Binary-source and Planetary Microlensing Perturbations
An extra-solar planet can be detected by microlensing because the planet can
perturb the smooth lensing light curve created by the primary lens. However, it
was shown by Gaudi that a subset of binary-source events can produce light
curves that closely resemble those produced by a significant fraction of
planet/star lens systems, causing serious contamination of a sample of
suspected planetary systems detected via microlensing. In this paper, we show
that if a lensing event is observed astrometrically, one can unambiguously
break the photometric degeneracy between binary-source and planetary lensing
perturbations. This is possible because while the planet-induced perturbation
in the trajectory of the lensed source image centroid shifts points away from
the opening of the unperturbed elliptical trajectory, while the perturbation
induced by the binary source companion points always towards the opening.
Therefore, astrometric microlensing observations by using future high-precision
interferometers will be important for solid confirmation of microlensing planet
detections.Comment: total 5 pages, including 1 figure and no table, ApJ, submitted,
better quality pdf file is avalilable at
http://astroph.chungbuk.ac.kr/~cheongho/publication.htm
Computation with Polynomial Equations and Inequalities arising in Combinatorial Optimization
The purpose of this note is to survey a methodology to solve systems of
polynomial equations and inequalities. The techniques we discuss use the
algebra of multivariate polynomials with coefficients over a field to create
large-scale linear algebra or semidefinite programming relaxations of many
kinds of feasibility or optimization questions. We are particularly interested
in problems arising in combinatorial optimization.Comment: 28 pages, survey pape
Large Magellanic Cloud Microlensing Optical Depth with Imperfect Event Selection
I present a new analysis of the MACHO Project 5.7 year Large Magellanic Cloud
(LMC) microlensing data set that incorporates the effects of contamination of
the microlensing event sample by variable stars. Photometric monitoring of
MACHO LMC microlensing event candidates by the EROS and OGLE groups has
revealed that one of these events is likely to be a variable star, while
additional data has confirmed that many of the other events are very likely to
be microlensing. This additional data on the nature of the MACHO microlensing
candidates is incorporated into a simple likelihood analysis to derive a
probability distribution for the number of MACHO microlens candidates that are
true microlensing events. This analysis shows that 10-12 of the 13 events that
passed the MACHO selection criteria are likely to be microlensing events, with
the other 1-3 being variable stars. This likelihood analysis is also used to
show that the main conclusions of the MACHO LMC analysis are unchanged by the
variable star contamination. The microlensing optical depth toward the LMC is =
1.0 +/- 0.3 * 10^{-7}. If this is due to microlensing by known stellar
populations, plus an additional population of lens objects in the Galactic
halo, then the new halo population would account for 16% of the mass of a
standard Galactic halo. The MACHO detection exceeds the expected background of
2 events expected from ordinary stars in standard models of the Milky Way and
LMC at the 99.98% confidence level. The background prediction is increased to 3
events if maximal disk models are assumed for both the MilkyWay and LMC, but
this model fails to account for the full signal seen by MACHO at the 99.8%
confidence level.Comment: 20 pages, 2 postscript figues, accepted by Ap
A Proper Motion Survey for White Dwarfs with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2
We have performed a search for halo white dwarfs as high proper motion
objects in a second epoch WFPC2 image of the Groth-Westphal strip. We identify
24 high proper motion objects with mu > 0.014 ''/yr. Five of these high proper
motion objects are identified as strong white dwarf candidates on the basis of
their position in a reduced proper motion diagram. We create a model of the
Milky Way thin disk, thick disk and stellar halo and find that this sample of
white dwarfs is clearly an excess above the < 2 detections expected from these
known stellar populations. The origin of the excess signal is less clear.
Possibly, the excess cannot be explained without invoking a fourth galactic
component: a white dwarf dark halo. We present a statistical separation of our
sample into the four components and estimate the corresponding local white
dwarf densities using only the directly observable variables, V, V-I, and mu.
For all Galactic models explored, our sample separates into about 3 disk white
dwarfs and 2 halo white dwarfs. However, the further subdivision into the thin
and thick disk and the stellar and dark halo, and the subsequent calculation of
the local densities are sensitive to the input parameters of our model for each
Galactic component. Using the lowest mean mass model for the dark halo we find
a 7% white dwarf halo and six times the canonical value for the thin disk white
dwarf density (at marginal statistical significance), but possible systematic
errors due to uncertainty in the model parameters likely dominate these
statistical error bars. The white dwarf halo can be reduced to around 1.5% of
the halo dark matter by changing the initial mass function slightly. The local
thin disk white dwarf density in our solution can be made consistent with the
canonical value by assuming a larger thin disk scaleheight of 500 pc.Comment: revised version, accepted by ApJ, results unchanged, discussion
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