864 research outputs found
The spectroscopic parameters of sodium cyanide, NaCN (X 1A'), revisited
The study of the rotational spectrum of NaCN (X A') has recently been
extended in frequency and in quantum numbers. Difficulties have been
encountered in fitting the transition frequencies within experimental
uncertainties. Various trial fits traced the difficulties to the incomplete
diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. Employing fewer spectroscopic parameters
than before, the transition frequencies could be reproduced within experimental
uncertainties on average. Predictions of -type -branch transitions with
up to 570 GHz should be reliable to better than 1 MHz. In addition,
modified spectroscopic parameters have been derived for the 13C isotopic
species of NaCN.Comment: 5 pages, no figure, J. Mol. Spectrosc., appeared; CDMS links update
Prediction of reduction in aggressive behaviour of growing pigs using skin lesion traits as selection criteria
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Thermochemical Modelling of Fluid-Rock Reactions in Vera Rubin ridge, Gale Crater, Mars.
Vera Rubin Ridge (VRR) in Gale Crater, Mars, is a ~200 m wide ~6.5 km long northeast- southwest resistant geomorphological feature on the northern slopes of Aeolis Mons (Mt. Sharp). Analysis of Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) orbital data showed that VRR has strong hematite spectral signatures. Hematite was confirmed in-situ at VRR with the Curiosity rover and has been shown to be present throughout the Mur- ray formation. VRR is stratigraphically continu-ous with the underlying Murray formation. Previous thermochemical modelling showed how hematite at VRR could have formed as the result of open-system weathering at high water/rock ratios. Here we use thermochemical modelling to investigate possible reaction pathways for the hematite-clay- bearing assemblage observed at VRR, starting from an identified least-altered (minimum clay content) Murray composition, and a Mars basal brine
Aggression and Affiliation during Social Conflict in Pigs
Social conflict is mostly studied in relation to aggression. A more integral approach, including aggressive and affiliative behaviour as well as physiology, may however give a better understanding of the animals' experience during social conflict. The experience of social conflict may also be reflected in the spatial distribution between conspecifics. The objective was to assess the relationship between behaviour, physiology, and spatial integration in pigs (Sus scrofa) during social conflict. Hereto, 64 groups of pigs (9 wk of age) were studied in a 24 h regrouping test whereby pairs of familiar pigs were grouped with 2 unfamiliar pairs, in either barren or straw-enriched housing. Data on aggressive and affiliative behaviour, skin lesions, body weight, and haptoglobin could be summarized into three principal component analysis factors. These three factors were analysed in relation to spatial integration, i.e. inter-individual distances and lying in body contact. Pigs stayed up to 24 h after encounter in closer proximity to the familiar pig than to unfamiliar pigs. Pigs with a high factor 1 score were more inactive, gave little social nosing, had many skin lesions and a high body weight. They tended to space further away from the familiar pig (b = 1.9 cm; P = 0.08) and unfamiliar ones (b = 0.7 cm; P = 0.05). Pigs that were involved in much aggression (factor 2), and that had a strong increase in haptoglobin (factor 3), tended to be relatively most far away from unfamiliar pigs (b = 0.03 times further; P = 0.08). Results on lying in body contact were coherent with results on distances. Pigs in enriched housing spaced further apart than pigs in barren housing (
Direct amplification of nodD from community DNA reveals the genetic diversity of Rhizobium leguminosarum in soil
Sequences of nodD, a gene found only in rhizobia, were amplified from total community DNA isolated from a pasture soil. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers used, Y5 and Y6, match nodD from Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii, R. leguminosarum biovar viciae and Sinorhizobium meliloti. The PCR product was cloned and yielded 68 clones that were identified by restriction pattern as derived from biovar trifolii [11 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) types] and 15 clones identified as viciae (seven RFLP types). These identifications were confirmed by sequencing. There were no clones related to S. meliloti nodD. For comparison, 122 strains were isolated from nodules of white clover (Trifolium repens) growing at the field site, and 134 from nodules on trap plants of T. repens inoculated with the soil. The nodule isolates were of four nodD RFLP types, with 77% being of a single type. All four of these patterns were also found among the clones from soil DNA, and the same type was the most abundant, although it made up only 34% of the trifolii-like clones. We conclude that clover selects specific genotypes from the available soil population, and that R. leguminosarum biovar trifolii was approximately five times more abundant than biovar viciae in this pasture soil, whereas S. meliloti was rare
Collider signals from slow decays in supersymmetric models with an intermediate-scale solution to the mu problem
The problem of the origin of the mu parameter in the Minimal Supersymmetric
Standard Model can be solved by introducing singlet supermultiplets with
non-renormalizable couplings to the ordinary Higgs supermultiplets. The
Peccei-Quinn symmetry is broken at a scale which is the geometric mean between
the weak scale and the Planck scale, yielding a mu term of the right order of
magnitude and an invisible axion. These models also predict one or more singlet
fermions which have electroweak-scale masses and suppressed couplings to MSSM
states. I consider the case that such a singlet fermion, containing the axino
as an admixture, is the lightest supersymmetric particle. I work out the
relevant couplings in several of the simplest models of this type, and compute
the partial decay widths of the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle
involving leptons or jets. Although these decays will have an average proper
decay length which is most likely much larger than a typical collider detector,
they can occasionally occur within the detector, providing a striking signal.
With a large sample of supersymmetric events, there will be an opportunity to
observe these decays, and so gain direct information about physics at very high
energy scales.Comment: 24 pages, LaTeX, 4 figure
Supersymmetry and the positron excess in cosmic rays
Recently the HEAT balloon experiment has confirmed an excess of high-energy
positrons in cosmic rays. They could come from annihilation of dark matter in
the galactic halo. We discuss expectations for the positron signal in cosmic
rays from the lightest superpartner. The simplest interpretations are
incompatible with the size and shape of the excess if the relic LSPs evolved
from thermal equilbrium. Non-thermal histories can describe a sufficient
positron rate. Reproducing the energy spectrum is more challenging, but perhaps
possible. The resulting light superpartner spectrum is compatible with collider
physics, the muon anomalous magnetic moment, Z-pole electroweak data, and other
dark matter searches.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, references added, minor wording change
Upper and Lower Limits on Neutralino WIMP Mass and Spin--Independent Scattering Cross Section, and Impact of New (g-2)_{mu} Measurement
We derive the allowed ranges of the spin--independent interaction cross
section \sigsip for the elastic scattering of neutralinos on proton for wide
ranges of parameters of the general Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We
investigate the effects of the lower limits on Higgs and superpartner masses
from colliders, as well as the impact of constraints from \bsgamma and the
new measurement of \gmtwo on the upper and lower limits on \sigsip. We
further explore the impact of the neutralino relic density, including
coannihilation, and of theoretical assumptions about the largest allowed values
of the supersymmetric parameters. For , requiring the latter to lie
below 1\tev leads to \sigsip\gsim 10^{-11}\pb at \mchi\sim100\gev and
\sigsip\gsim 10^{-8}\pb at \mchi\sim1\tev. When the supersymmetric
parameters are allowed above 1\tev, for 440\gev \lsim \mchi\lsim 1020 \gev
we derive a {\em parameter--independent lower limit} of \sigsip \gsim 2\times
10^{-12}\pb. (No similar lower limits can be set for nor for
1020\gev\lsim\mchi\lsim2.6\tev.) Requiring \abundchi<0.3 implies a {\em
parameter--independent upper limit} \mchi\lsim2.6\tev. The new \epem--based
measurement of restricts \mchi\lsim 350\gev at CL
and \mchi\lsim515\gev at CL, and implies . The largest
allowed values of \sigsip have already become accessible to recent
experimental searches.Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, 9 eps figures. Version to appear in JHE
Theta angle versus CP violation in the leptonic sector
Assuming that the axion mechanism of solving the strong CP problem does not
exist and the vanishing of theta at tree level is achieved by some
model-building means, we study the naturalness of having large CP-violating
sources in the leptonic sector. We consider the radiative mechanisms which
transfer a possibly large CP-violating phase in the leptonic sector to the
theta parameter. It is found that large theta cannot be induced in the models
with one Higgs doublet as at least three loops are required in this case. In
the models with two or more Higgs doublets the dominant source of theta is the
phases in the scalar potential, induced by CP violation in leptonic sector.
Thus, in the MSSM framework the imaginary part of the trilinear soft-breaking
parameter A_l generates the corrections to the theta angle already at one loop.
These corrections are large, excluding the possibility of large phases, unless
the universality in the slepton sector is strongly violated.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
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