Progress of research of high-Tc superconductors

Research in the area of of high T(sub c) superconductors has made great progress in the last few years. New materials were found and the systematic investigation of these materials has contributed to understanding the mechanism of high T(sub c) superconductivity. The critical currents in thin films, bulks, and tapes increased drastically, and the origin of flux pinning will be clarified in the near future. The future of high T(sub c) superconductivity, in both the basic and applied research areas, is very optimistic. Recent activities in research of high T(sub c) superconductivity and superconductors in Japan are overviewed

Progress of research of high-T(sub c) superconductors

The research of high T(sub c) superconductors has made big progress in these last few years. New materials were found and the systematic investigations of these materials must contribute to understanding the mechanism of high T(sub c) superconductivity. The critical currents in thin films, bulks and tapes increased drastically, and the origin of flux pinning will be clarified in the near future. These progressions gives a view of a bright future of high T(sub c) superconductivity in both the basic and application research areas. Recent activities in research of high T(sub c) superconductivity and superconductors in Japan are overviewed

Distribution, feeding condition, and growth of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) larvae in the Seto Inland Sea

Distribution of eggs and larvae and feeding and growth of larvae of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) were investigated in relation to their prey in the Sea of Hiuchi, the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, in 1995 and 1996. The abundance of S. niphonius eggs and larvae peaked in late May, corresponding with that of clupeid larvae, the major prey organisms of S. niphonius larvae. The eggs were abundant in the northwestern waters and the larvae were abundant in the southern waters in late May in both years, indicating a southward drift during egg and yolksac stages by residual f low in the central part of the Sea of Hiuchi. Abundance of clupeid larvae in southern waters, where S. niphonius larvae were abundant, may indicate a spawning strategy on the part of first-feeding S. niphonius larvae to encounter the spatial and temporal peak in ichthyoplankton prey abundance in the Seto Inland Sea. Abundance of the clupeid larvae was higher in 1995 than in 1996. Feeding incidence (percentage of stomachs with food; 85.3% in 1995 and 67.7% in 1996) and mean growth rate estimated from otolith daily increments (1.05 mm/d in 1995 and 0.85 mm/d in 1996) of S. niphonius larvae in late May were significantly higher in 1995. Young-of-the-year S. niphonius abundance and catch per unit of fishing effort of 1-year-old S. niphonius in the Sea of Hiuchi was higher in 1995, indicating a more successful recruitment in this year. Spatial and temporal correspondence with high ichthyoplankton prey concentration was considered one of the important determinants for the feeding success, growth, and survival of S. niphonius larvae

Study of Black Holes with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

We evaluate the potential of the ATLAS detector for discovering black holes produced at the LHC, as predicted in models with large extra dimensions where quantum gravity is at the TeV scale. We assume that black holes decay by Hawking evaporation to all Standard Model particles democratically. We comment on the possibility to estimate the Planck scale.Comment: 27 page

Comparative study of flux pinning, creep and critical currents between YBaCuO crystals with and without Y2BaCuO5 inclusions

In the Y-Ba-Cu-O system, YBa2Cu3O(x) phase is produced by the following peritectic reaction: Y2BaCuO5 + liquid yields 2YBa2Cu3O(x). Through the control of processing conditions and starting compositions, it becomes possible to fabricate large crystals containing fine Y2BaCuO5(211) inclusions. Such crystals exhibit Jc values exceeding 10000 A/sq cm at 77 K and 1T. Recently, researchers developed a novel process which can control the volume fraction of 211 inclusions. Elimination of 211 inclusions is also possible. In this study, researchers prepared YBaCuO crystals with and without 211 inclusions using the novel process, and compared flux pinning, flux creep and critical currents. Magnetic field dependence of Jc for YBaCuO crystals with and with 211 inclusions is shown. It is clear that fine 211 inclusions can contribute to flux pinning. It was also found that flux creep rate could be reduced by increasing flux pinning force. Critical current density estimates based on the conventional flux pinning theory were in good agreement with experimental results

Drell-Yan Production of Z' in the Three-Site Higgsless Model at the LHC

In the Higgsless models, there are extra gauge bosons which keep the perturbative unitarity of a longitudinally polarized gauge boson. The three-site Higgsless model is a minimal Higgsless model and contains three extra gauge bosons, $W^{\prime \pm}$ and Z'. In this paper, we report the discovery potential of the Z' gauge boson via Drell-Yan production with Z'(mass=380, 500, 600 GeV) $\rightarrow WW \rightarrow \ell\nu qq$ ($\ell=e$, $\mu$) at the LHC ($\sqrt{s}$=14 TeV).Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures included. References revise

IVA for RV function analysis in TOF

Assessment of right ventricular (RV) function is quite important in patients with surgically corrected tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). However, quantitative assessment of RV function remains challenging, mainly because of the complex RV geometry. This prospective study investigated isovolumic acceleration (IVA), a parameter of myocardial systolic function not influenced by either preload or afterload, using tissue Doppler imaging. We evaluated IVA measured on pulmonary annulus (PA-IVA) and tricuspid annulus (TA-IVA), because we considered that PA-IVA and TA-IVA correspond with systolic function of the RV outflow tract (RVOT) and RV basal function, respectively. Thirty-nine patients with surgically repaired TOF (TOF group) and 40 age-matched healthy children (control group) were enrolled in this study. No significant difference was seen between TA-IVA (2.5 ± 0.8 m/s2) and PA-IVA (2.4 ± 0.8 m/s2) in the control group. In the TOF group, PA-IVA (1.0 ± 0.5 m/s2) was significantly lower than TA-IVA (1.3 ± 0.6 m/s2, p < 0.05). Both TA-IVA and PA-IVA were significantly lower in the TOF group than in the control group (p < 0.05 each). We concluded that PA-IVA offers a useful index to assess RVOT function in TOF patients