61,952 research outputs found
Highly-improved lattice field-strength tensor
We derive an O(a^4)-improved lattice version of the continuum field-strength
tensor. Discretization errors are reduced via the combination of several clover
terms of various sizes, complemented by tadpole improvement. The resulting
improved field-strength tensor is used to construct O(a^4)-improved topological
charge and action operators. We compare the values attained by these operators
as we cool several configurations to self-duality with a previously defined
highly-improved action and assess the relative scale of the remaining
discretization errors.Comment: 22 pages, 7 postscript figure
An Update on the 0Z Project
We give an update on our 0Z Survey to find more extremely metal poor (EMP)
stars with [Fe/H] < -3 dex through mining the database of the Hamburg/ESO
Survey. We present the most extreme such stars we have found from ~1550
moderate resolution follow up spectra. One of these, HE1424-0241, has highly
anomalous abundance ratios not seen in any previously known halo giant, with
very deficient Si, moderately deficient Ca and Ti, highly enhanced Mn and Co,
and low C, all with respect to Fe. We suggest a SNII where the nucleosynthetic
yield for explosive alpha-burning nuclei was very low compared to that for the
hydrostatic alpha-burning element Mg, which is normal in this star relative to
Fe. A second, less extreme, outlier star with high [Sc/Fe] has also been found.
We examine the extremely metal-poor tail of the HES metallicity distribution
function (MDF). We suggest on the basis of comparison of our high resolution
detailed abundance analyses with [Fe/H](HES) for stars in our sample that the
MDF inferred from follow up spectra of the HES sample of candidate EMP stars is
heavily contaminated for [Fe/H](HES) < -3 dex; many of the supposed EMP stars
below that metallicity are of substantially higher Fe-metallicity, including
most of the very C-rich stars, or are spurious objects.Comment: to appear in conference proceedings "First Stars III", ed. B. O'Shea,
A. Heger & T.Abel, 4 pages, 2 figure
Special Article: Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Childhood
In adults, physical activity and exercise training are associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, a reduced likelihood of developing adverse cardiovascular risk factors, and improved insulin sensitivity. In childhood, participation in appropriate physical activity may prevent the development of cardiovascular risk factors in the future and complement treatment of existing cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and overweight. Exercise in children can also significantly improve insulin sensitivity independent of weight loss. These e fects are mediated in overweight children by increases in lean body mass relative to fat mass and associated improvements in inflammatory mediators, endothelial function, and the associated adverse hormonal milieu
Reaction cross-section predictions for nucleon induced reactions
A microscopic calculation of the optical potential for nucleon-nucleus
scattering has been performed by explicitly coupling the elastic channel to all
the particle-hole (p-h) excitation states in the target and to all relevant
pickup channels. These p-h states may be regarded as doorway states through
which the flux flows to more complicated configurations, and to long-lived
compound nucleus resonances. We calculated the reaction cross sections for the
nucleon induced reactions on the targets Ca, Ni, Zr and
Sm using the QRPA description of target excitations, coupling to all
inelastic open channels, and coupling to all transfer channels corresponding to
the formation of a deuteron. The results of such calculations were compared to
predictions of a well-established optical potential and with experimental data,
reaching very good agreement. The inclusion of couplings to pickup channels
were an important contribution to the absorption. For the first time,
calculations of excitations account for all of the observed reaction
cross-sections, at least for incident energies above 10 MeV.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to INPC 2010 Conference Proceeding
A ratio model of perceived speed in the human visual system
The perceived speed of moving images changes over time. Prolonged viewing of a pattern (adaptation) leads to an exponential decrease in its perceived speed. Similarly, responses of neurones tuned to motion reduce exponentially over time. It is tempting to link these phenomena. However, under certain conditions, perceived speed increases after adaptation and the time course of these perceptual effects varies widely. We propose a model that comprises two temporally tuned mechanisms whose sensitivities reduce exponentially over time. Perceived speed is taken as the ratio of these filters' outputs. The model captures increases and decreases in perceived speed following adaptation and describes our data well with just four free parameters. Whilst the model captures perceptual time courses that vary widely, parameter estimates for the time constants of the underlying filters are in good agreement with estimates of the time course of adaptation of direction selective neurones in the mammalian visual system
A Detailed Study of Giants and Horizontal Branch Stars in M68: Atmospheric Parameters and Chemical Abundances
In this paper, we present a detailed high-resolution spectroscopic study of
post main sequence stars in the Globular Cluster M68. Our sample, which covers
a range of 4000 K in , and 3.5 dex in , is comprised of
members from the red giant, red horizontal, and blue horizontal branch, making
this the first high-resolution globular cluster study covering such a large
evolutionary and parameter space. Initially, atmospheric parameters were
determined using photometric as well as spectroscopic methods, both of which
resulted in unphysical and unexpected , , , and
[Fe/H] combinations. We therefore developed a hybrid approach that addresses
most of these problems, and yields atmospheric parameters that agree well with
other measurements in the literature. Furthermore, our derived stellar
metallicities are consistent across all evolutionary stages, with
[Fe/H] = 2.42 ( = 0.14) from 25 stars. Chemical
abundances obtained using our methodology also agree with previous studies and
bear all the hallmarks of globular clusters, such as a Na-O anti-correlation,
constant Ca abundances, and mild -process enrichment.Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journa
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