Electroweak Theory Without Higgs Bosons

A perturbative SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y electroweak theory containing W, Z, photon, ghost, lepton and quark fields, but no Higgs or other fields, gives masses to W, Z and the non-neutrino fermions by means of an unconventional choice for the unperturbed Lagrangian and a novel method of renormalisation. The renormalisation extends to all orders. The masses emerge on renormalisation to one loop. To one loop the neutrinos are massless, the A -> Z transition drops out of the theory, the d quark is unstable and S-matrix elements are independent of the gauge parameter xi.Comment: 27 pages, LaTex, no figures; revised for publication; accepted by Int. J. Mod. Phys. A; includes biographical note on A. F. Nicholso

Combining simulation modeling and stable isotope analyses to reconstruct the last known movements of one of Nature’s giants

The spatial ecology of rare, migratory oceanic animals is difficult to study directly. Where incremental tissues are available, their chemical composition can provide valuable indirect observations of movement and diet. Interpreting the chemical record in incremental tissues can be highly uncertain, however, as multiple mechanisms interact to produce the observed data. Simulation modeling is one approach for considering alternative hypotheses in ecology and can be used to consider the relative likelihood of obtaining an observed record under different combinations of ecological and environmental processes. Here we show how a simulation modeling approach can help to infer movement behaviour based on stable carbon isotope profiles measured in incremental baleen tissues of a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). The life history of this particular specimen, which stranded in 1891 in the UK, was selected as a case study due to its cultural significance as part of a permanent display at the Natural History Museum, London. We specifically tested whether measured variations in stable isotope compositions across the analysed baleen plate were more consistent with residency or latitudinal migrations. The measured isotopic record was most closely reproduced with a period of residency in sub-tropical waters for at least a full year followed by three repeated annual migrations between sub-tropical and high latitude regions. The latitudinal migration cycle was interrupted in the year prior to stranding, potentially implying pregnancy and weaning, but isotopic data alone cannot test this hypothesis. Simulation methods can help reveal movement information coded in the biochemical compositions of incremental tissues such as those archived in historic collections, and provides context and inferences that are useful for retrospective studies of animal movement, especially where other sources of individual movement data are sparse or challenging to validate.© 2019 Trueman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited

An absolute polarimeter for high energy protons

A study of the spin asymmetries for polarized elastic proton proton collisions in the electromagnetic hadronic interference (CNI) region of momentum transfer provides a method of self calibration of proton polarization. The method can be extended to non-identical spin half scattering so that, in principle, the polarization of a proton may be obtained through an analysis of its elastic collision with a different polarized particle, helium 3 for instance. Sufficiently large CNI spin asymmetries provide enough information to facilitate the evaluation of nearly all the helicity amplitudes at small t as well as the polarization of both initial spin half fermions. Thus it can serve equally well as a polarimeter for helium 3

Spin asymmetries for elastic proton scattering and the spin dependent couplings of the Pomeron

This paper serves as a report on the large amount of analysis done in conjunction with the polarized proton program at RHIC. This comprises elastic scattering data of protons on protons in colliding beam or fixed target mode and proton beams on carbon targets. In addition to providing a model for the energy dependence of the analyzing power of elastic scattering needed for proton polarimetry, it also provides some significant information about the spin dependence of dominant Regge poles. Most notably, the data indicates that the Pomeron has a significant spin-flip coupling. This allows the exploration of the double spin flip asymmetry A_{NN} for which some data over a wide energy range is now available, along with a concrete realization of a proposed Odderon search.Comment: final reference modife

A calculation of the Lepage-Mackenzie scale for the lattice axial and vector currents

We calculate the perturbative scales (q*) for the axial and vector currents for the Wilson action, with and without tadpole improvement, using Lepage and Mackenzie's formalism. The scale for the pseudoscalar density (times the mass) is computed as well. Contrary to naive expectation, tadpole improvement reduces q* by only a small amount for the operators we consider. We also discuss the use of a nonperturbative coupling to calculate the perturbative scale.Comment: 13 pages. One postscript figur

DNA barcoding identifies a cosmopolitan diet in the ocean sunfish

The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the world’s heaviest bony fish reaching a body mass of up to 2.3 tonnes. However, the prey M. mola consumes to fuel this prodigious growth remains poorly known. Sunfish were thought to be obligate gelatinous plankton feeders, but recent studies suggest a more generalist diet. In this study, through molecular barcoding and for the first time, the diet of sunfish in the north-east Atlantic Ocean was characterised. Overall, DNA from the diet content of 57 individuals was successfully amplified, identifying 41 different prey items. Sunfish fed mainly on crustaceans and teleosts, with cnidarians comprising only 16% of the consumed prey. Although no adult fishes were sampled, we found evidence for an ontogenetic shift in the diet, with smaller individuals feeding mainly on small crustaceans and teleost fish, whereas the diet of larger fish included more cnidarian species. Our results confirm that smaller sunfish feed predominantly on benthic and on coastal pelagic species, whereas larger fish depend on pelagic prey. Therefore, sunfish is a generalist predator with a greater diversity of links in coastal food webs than previously realised. Its removal as fisheries’ bycatch may have wider reaching ecological consequences, potentially disrupting coastal trophic interactions

Developing Mn-doped lead sulfide quantum dots for MRI labels

Magnetic interactions of Mn2+ions in lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals with protons in water are probed by NMR and MRI. A thin layer of capping molecules enables free solvent diffusion to the nanocrystal surface resulting in a decrease of proton relaxation times. Magnetic resonance imaging of neuronal cell pellets exposed to (PbMn)S at non-toxic concentrations demonstrates their prospects as MRI-labels

The analytical singlet αs4\alpha_s^4 QCD contributions into the e+e−e^+e^--annihilation Adler function and the generalized Crewther relations

The generalized Crewther relations in the channels of the non-singlet and vector quark currents are considered. They follow from the double application of the operator product expansion approach to the same axial vector-vector-vector triangle amplitude in two regions, adjoining to the angle sides $(x,y)$ (or $p^2,q^2$). We assume that the generalized Crewther relations in these two kinematic regimes result in the existence of the same perturbation expression for two products of the coefficient functions of annihilation and deep-inelastic scattering processes in the non-singlet and vector channels. Taking into account the 4-th order result for $S_{GLS}$ and the perturbative effects of the violation of the conformal symmetry in the generalized Crewther relation, we obtain the analytical contribution to the singlet $\alpha_s^4$ correction to the $D_A^{V}$-function. Its a-posteriori comparison with the recent result of direct diagram-by-diagram evaluation of the singlet 4-th order corrections to $D_A^{V}$- function demonstrates the coincidence of the predicted and obtained $\zeta_3^2$-contributions to the singlet term. They can be obtained in the conformal invariant limit from the original Crewther relation. On the contrary to previous belief, the appearance of $zeta_3$-terms in perturbative series in gauge models does not contradict to the property of conformal symmetry and can be considered as ragular feature. The Banks-Zaks motivated relation between our predicted and obtained 4-th order corrections is mentioned. This confirms Baikov-Chetyrkin-Kuhn expectation that the generalized Crewther relation in the channel of vector currents receives additional singlet contribution, which in this order of perturbation theory is proportional to the first coefficient of the QCD $\beta$-function.Comment: Concrete new foundations explained, abstract updated, presentation improved, 2 references added, extra acknowledgements added. This work is dedicated to K. G. Chetyrkin on the occasion of his 60th anniversary, to be published in Jetp. Lett supposedly in vol.94, issue 1

Dilepton production in proton-proton collisions at BEVALAC energies

The dilepton production in elementary ${pp\to e^{+}e^{-}X}$ reactions at BEVALAC energies $T_{lab}=1\div 5$ GeV is investigated. The calculations include direct ${e^{+}e^{-}}$ decays of the vector mesons $\rho ^{0}$, $\omega$, and $\phi$, Dalitz decays of the $\pi ^{0}$-, $\eta$-, $$-, $\omega$-, and $\phi$-mesons, and of the baryon resonances $$ $...$ . The subthreshold vector meson production cross sections in $pp$ collisions are treated in a way sufficient to avoid double counting with the inclusive vector meson production. The vector meson dominance model for the transition form factors of the resonance Dalitz decays $R\to e^{+}e^{-}N$ is used in an extended form to ensure correct asymptotics which are in agreement with the quark counting rules. Such a modification gives an unified and consistent description of both $R\to N\gamma$ radiative decays and $R\to N\rho (\omega)$ meson decays. The effect of multiple pion production on the experimental efficiency for the detection of the dilepton pairs is studied. We find the dilepton yield in reasonable agreement with the experimental data for the set of intermediate energies whereas at the highest energy $T_{lab}=4.88$ GeV the number of dilepton pairs is likely to be overestimated experimentally in the mass range $M=300\div 700$ MeV.Comment: 25 pages (IOP style), 5 figures, revised manuscript accepted for publication in JP