Impact of Coseismic Frictional Melting on Particle Size, Shape Distribution and Chemistry of Experimentally-Generated Pseudotachylite

In natural friction melts, or pseudotachylites, clast textures and glass compositions can influence the frictional behavior of faults hosting pseudotachylites, and are, in turn, sensitive to the processes involved in pseudotachylite formation. Quantification of these parameters in situations where the host rock composition and formation conditions are well-constrained, such as analogue experiments, may yield calibrations that can be employed in analysis of natural pseudotachylites. In this paper, we experimentally-generated pseudotachylites in granitoid rocks (tonalite and Westerly granite) at Pconf = 40 MPa and slip rates of ∼0.1 m s−1, comparable to the conditions under which natural pseudotachylite is known to form in Earth’s upper crust. We find variations in both clast textures and glass compositions that reflect formation processes, and probably influence the frictional behavior of similar natural faults hosting pseudotachylite. Quantification of particle size and shape distribution with a semi-automatic image analysis method, combined with analysis of glass and host-rock composition of these experimentally generated pseudotachylites, reveals that the textures of pseudotachylite material evolved by combinations of 1) comminution, 2) heterogeneous frictional flash melting, and 3) homogeneous (diffusive) clast melting and/or marginal decrepitation. Fractal dimensions of pseudotachylite-hosted clasts (D ∼ 3) that are greater than those of marginal fragmented host rock particles (gouge, D ∼ 2.4), reflect an increase of the intensity of comminution by slip localisation during a pre-melting phase. Chemical analyses demonstrate that these pseudotachylite glasses were generated by frictional flash melting, where host rock phases melt individually. Biotite is the least resistant to melting, feldspar intermediate, and quartz is the most resistant. The peudotachylite glass generated in these experiments has an alkaline composition, is depleted in SiO2 compared to the bulk host-rock, and shows heterogeneous compositions in a single sample related to proximity to host-rock minerals. The percentage contributions of host rock phases to the melt, calculated by a mixing model, shows that glass compositions are dominated by plagioclase and biotite. Within the melt, margins of clasts were dissolved uniformly by diffusion and/or affected by marginal decrepitation, resulting in convex and round shapes with convexities averaging ∼0.8 and circularities averaging ∼0.65

Quantum magneto-optics of graphite family

The optical conductivity of graphene, bilayer graphene, and graphite in quantizing magnetic fields is studied. Both dynamical conductivities, longitudinal and Hall's, are analytically evaluated. The conductivity peaks are explained in terms of electron transitions. We have shown that trigonal warping can be considered within the perturbation theory for strong magnetic fields larger than 1 T and in the semiclassical approach for weak fields when the Fermi energy is much larger than the cyclotron frequency. The main optical transitions obey the selection rule with \Deltan = 1 for the Landau number n, however the \Deltan = 2 transitions due to the trigonal warping are also possible. The Faraday/Kerr rotation and light transmission/reflection in the quantizing magnetic fields are calculated. Parameters of the Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure model are used in the fit taking into account the previous dHvA measurements and correcting some of them for the case of strong magnetic fields.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1106.340

Inclusive Dielectron Cross Sections in p+p and p+d Interactions at Beam Energies from 1.04 to 4.88 GeV

Measurements of dielectron production in p+p and p+d collisions with beam kinetic energies from 1.04 to 4.88 GeV are presented. The differential cross section is presented as a function of invariant pair mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity. The shapes of the mass spectra and their evolution with beam energy provide information about the relative importance of the various dielectron production mechanisms in this energy regime. The p+d to p+p ratio of the dielectron yield is also presented as a function of invariant pair mass, transverse momentum, and rapidity. The shapes of the transverse momentum and rapidity spectra from the p+d and p+p systems are found to be similar to one another for each of the beam energies studied. The beam energy dependence of the integrated cross sections is also presented.Comment: 15 pages and 16 figure

Event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per Nucleon

We present the first measurement of fluctuations from event to event in the production of strange particles in collisions of heavy nuclei. The ratio of charged kaons to charged pions is determined for individual central Pb+Pb collisions. After accounting for the fluctuations due to detector resolution and finite number statistics we derive an upper limit on genuine non-statistical fluctuations, perhaps related to a first or second order QCD phase transition. Such fluctuations are shown to be very small.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Tamoxifen for prevention of breast cancer: extended long-term follow-up of the IBIS-I breast cancer prevention trial

© Cuzick et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(14)71171-

Two-proton correlations from 158 AGeV Pb+Pb central collisions

The two-proton correlation function at midrapidity from Pb+Pb central collisions at 158 AGeV has been measured by the NA49 experiment. The results are compared to model predictions from static thermal Gaussian proton source distributions and transport models RQMD and VENUS. An effective proton source size is determined by minimizing CHI-square/ndf between the correlation functions of the data and those calculated for the Gaussian sources, yielding 3.85 +-0.15(stat.) +0.60-0.25(syst.) fm. Both the RQMD and the VENUS model are consistent with the data within the error in the correlation peak region.Comment: RevTeX style, 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. More discussion are added about the structure on the tail of the correlation function. The systematic error is revised. To appear in Phys. Lett.

Investigation of low 5-year relative survival for breast cancer in a London cancer network

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer 5-year relative survival is low in the North East London Cancer Network (NELCN). METHODS: We compared breast cancer that was diagnosed during 2001-2005 with that in the rest of London. RESULTS: North East London Cancer Network women more often lived in socioeconomic quintile 5 (42 vs 21%) and presented with advanced disease (11 vs 7%). Cox regression analysis showed the survival difference (hazard ratio: 1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-1.41) reduced to 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89-1.11) after adjustment for age, stage, socioeconomic deprivation, ethnicity and treatment. Major drivers were stage and deprivation. Excess mortality was in the first year. CONCLUSION: Late diagnosis occurs in NELCN

Experimental Study of the Shortest Reset Word of Random Automata

In this paper we describe an approach to finding the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton by using a SAT solver. We use this approach to perform an experimental study of the length of the shortest reset word of a finite synchronizing automaton. The largest automata we considered had 100 states. The results of the experiments allow us to formulate a hypothesis that the length of the shortest reset word of a random finite automaton with $n$ states and 2 input letters with high probability is sublinear with respect to $n$ and can be estimated as $1.95 n^{0.55}.