5,145 research outputs found
Seasonal Growth Curves of Perennial Ryegrass in Mexico
An experiment was established at Colegio de Postgraduados Research Station, Texcoco, MĂ©xico to evaluate the seasonal pattern of growth curve of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) swards. Growth rate increases rapidly from a low level immediately after defoliation, and eventually reaches an equilibrium level as the amount of green leaf in the sward stabilize. The time required to reach this state varied according to the season of year, with the four seasons ranked in the order: spring (4 weeks) \u3c summer (5 weeks) \u3c autumn and winter (6 weeks). Once swards reached equilibrium, growth rates started to decline as a consequence of an increase in dead material and pseudostem. These increases were highest in spring and lowest in winter. The results of this study suggest that sward management to maximise herbage production and utilisation in ryegrass swards must be done once the highest green leaf mass is reached. In this trial, it was reached at 5, 6, 6 and 4 weeks in summer, autumn, winter and spring, respectively
Performance of discrete heat engines and heat pumps in finite time
The performance in finite time of a discrete heat engine with internal
friction is analyzed. The working fluid of the engine is composed of an
ensemble of noninteracting two level systems. External work is applied by
changing the external field and thus the internal energy levels. The friction
induces a minimal cycle time. The power output of the engine is optimized with
respect to time allocation between the contact time with the hot and cold baths
as well as the adiabats. The engine's performance is also optimized with
respect to the external fields. By reversing the cycle of operation a heat pump
is constructed. The performance of the engine as a heat pump is also optimized.
By varying the time allocation between the adiabats and the contact time with
the reservoir a universal behavior can be identified. The optimal performance
of the engine when the cold bath is approaching absolute zero is studied. It is
found that the optimal cooling rate converges linearly to zero when the
temperature approaches absolute zero.Comment: 45 pages LaTeX, 25 eps figure
The pair potential of colloidal stars
We report on the construction of colloidal stars: 1 micrometer polystyrene
beads grafted with a dense brush of 1 micrometer long and 10 nm wide
semi-flexible filamentous viruses. The pair interaction potentials of colloidal
stars are measured using an experimental implementation of umbrella sampling, a
technique originally developed in computer simulations in order to probe rare
events. The influence of ionic strength and grafting density on the interaction
is measured. Good agreements are found between the measured interactions and
theoretical predictions based upon the osmotic pressure of counterions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Changed conten
SO(10) unified models and soft leptogenesis
Motivated by the fact that, in some realistic models combining SO(10) GUTs
and flavour symmetries, it is not possible to achieve the required baryon
asymmetry through the CP asymmetry generated in the decay of right-handed
neutrinos, we take a fresh look on how deep this connection is in SO(10). The
common characteristics of these models are that they use the see-saw with
right-handed neutrinos, predict a normal hierarchy of masses for the neutrinos
observed in oscillating experiments and in the basis where the right-handed
Majorana mass is diagonal, the charged lepton mixings are tiny.
In addition these models link the up-quark Yukawa matrix to the neutrino
Yukawa matrix Y^\nu with the special feature of Y^\nu_{11}-> 0 Using this
condition, we find that the required baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be
explained by the soft leptogenesis using the soft B parameter of the second
lightest right-handed neutrino whose mass turns out to be around 10^8 GeV. It
is pointed out that a natural way to do so is to use no-scale supergravity
where the value of B ~1 GeV is set through gauge-loop corrections.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures. Added references, new appendix of a relevant fit
and improved comment
Quantum Hall Effects in Graphene-Based Two-Dimensional Electron Systems
In this article we review the quantum Hall physics of graphene based
two-dimensional electron systems, with a special focus on recent experimental
and theoretical developments. We explain why graphene and bilayer graphene can
be viewed respectively as J=1 and J=2 chiral two-dimensional electron gases
(C2DEGs), and why this property frames their quantum Hall physics. The current
status of experimental and theoretical work on the role of electron-electron
interactions is reviewed at length with an emphasis on unresolved issues in the
field, including assessing the role of disorder in current experimental
results. Special attention is given to the interesting low magnetic field limit
and to the relationship between quantum Hall effects and the spontaneous
anomalous Hall effects that might occur in bilayer graphene systems in the
absence of a magnetic field
Coherent Pair Production by Photons in the 20-170 GeV Energy Range Incident on Crystals and Birefringence
The cross section for coherent pair production by linearly polarised photons
in the 20-170 GeV energy range was measured for photon aligned incidence on
ultra-high quality diamond and germanium crystals. The theoretical description
of coherent bremsstrahlung and coherent pair production phenomena is an area of
active theoretical debate and development. However, under our experimental
conditions, the theory predicted the combined cross section and polarisation
experimental observables very well indeed. In macroscopic terms, our experiment
measured a birefringence effect in pair production in a crystal. This study of
this effect also constituted a measurement of the energy dependent linear
polarisation of photons produced by coherent bremsstrahlung in aligned
crystals. New technologies for manipulating high energy photon beams can be
realised based on an improved understanding of QED phenomena at these energies.
In particular, this experiment demonstrates an efficient new polarimetry
technique. The pair production measurements were done using two independent
methods simultaneously. The more complex method using a magnet spectrometer
showed that the simpler method using a multiplicity detector was also viable.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Linear to Circular Polarisation Conversion using Birefringent Properties of Aligned Crystals for Multi-GeV Photons
We present the first experimental results on the use of a thick aligned Si
crystal acting as a quarter wave plate to induce a degree of circular
polarisation in a high energy linearly polarised photon beam. The linearly
polarised photon beam is produced from coherent bremsstrahlung radiation by 178
GeV unpolarised electrons incident on an aligned Si crystal, acting as a
radiator. The linear polarisation of the photon beam is characterised by
measuring the asymmetry in electron-positron pair production in a Ge crystal,
for different crystal orientations. The Ge crystal therefore acts as an
analyser. The birefringence phenomenon, which converts the linear polarisation
to circular polarisation, is observed by letting the linearly polarised photons
beam pass through a thick Si quarter wave plate crystal, and then measuring the
asymmetry in electron-positron pair production again for a selection of
relative angles between the crystallographic planes of the radiator, analyser
and quarter wave plate. The systematics of the difference between the measured
asymmetries with and without the quarter wave plate are predicted by theory to
reveal an evolution in the Stokes parameters from which the appearance of a
circularly polarised component in the photon beam can be demonstrated. The
measured magnitude of the circularly polarised component was consistent with
the theoretical predictions, and therefore is in indication of the existence of
the birefringence effect.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Results on the Coherent Interaction of High Energy Electrons and Photons in Oriented Single Crystals
The CERN-NA-59 experiment examined a wide range of electromagnetic processes
for multi-GeV electrons and photons interacting with oriented single crystals.
The various types of crystals and their orientations were used for producing
photon beams and for converting and measuring their polarisation.
The radiation emitted by 178 GeV unpolarised electrons incident on a 1.5 cm
thick Si crystal oriented in the Coherent Bremsstrahlung (CB) and the
String-of-Strings (SOS) modes was used to obtain multi-GeV linearly polarised
photon beams.
A new crystal polarimetry technique was established for measuring the linear
polarisation of the photon beam. The polarimeter is based on the dependence of
the Coherent Pair Production (CPP) cross section in oriented single crystals on
the direction of the photon polarisation with respect to the crystal plane.
Both a 1 mm thick single crystal of Germanium and a 4 mm thick multi-tile set
of synthetic Diamond crystals were used as analyzers of the linear
polarisation.
A birefringence phenomenon, the conversion of the linear polarisation of the
photon beam into circular polarisation, was observed. This was achieved by
letting the linearly polarised photon beam pass through a 10 cm thick Silicon
single crystal that acted as a "quarter wave plate" (QWP) as suggested by N.
Cabibbo et al.Comment: Presented at International workshop "Relativistic Channeling and
Related Coherent Phenomena", Frascati (Rome) 23-26 March 200
Theory and simulation of short-range models of globular protein solutions
We report theoretical and simulation studies of phase coexistence in model
globular protein solutions, based on short-range, central, pair potential
representations of the interaction among macro-particles. After reviewing our
previous investigations of hard-core Yukawa and generalised Lennard-Jones
potentials, we report more recent results obtained within a DLVO-like
description of lysozyme solutions in water and added salt. We show that a
one-parameter fit of this model based on Static Light Scattering and
Self-Interaction Chromatography data in the dilute protein regime, yields
demixing and crystallization curves in good agreement with experimental
protein-rich/protein-poor and solubility envelopes. The dependence of cloud and
solubility points temperature of the model on the ionic strength is also
investigated. Our findings highlight the minimal assumptions on the properties
of the microscopic interaction sufficient for a satisfactory reproduction of
the phase diagram topology of globular protein solutions.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, Proc. of Conference "Structural Arrest
Transitions in Colloidal Systems with Short-Range Attractions", Messina
(ITALY) 17-20 December 200
Physics at a Neutrino Factory
In response to the growing interest in building a Neutrino Factory to produce
high intensity beams of electron- and muon-neutrinos and antineutrinos, in
October 1999 the Fermilab Directorate initiated two six-month studies. The
first study, organized by N. Holtkamp and D. Finley, was to investigate the
technical feasibility of an intense neutrino source based on a muon storage
ring. This design study has produced a report in which the basic conclusion is
that a Neutrino Factory is technically feasible, although it requires an
aggressive R&D program. The second study, which is the subject of this report,
was to explore the physics potential of a Neutrino Factory as a function of the
muon beam energy and intensity, and for oscillation physics, the potential as a
function of baseline.Comment: 133 pages, 64 figures. Report to the Fermilab Directorate. Available
from http://www.fnal.gov/projects/muon_collider/ This version fixes some
printing problem
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