Attitude control system Patent

Development of attitude control system for spacecraft orientatio

Neutrinos, Weak Interactions, and r-process Nucleosynthesis

Two of the key issues in understanding the neutron-to-proton ratio in a core-collapse supernova are discussed. One of these is the behavior of the neutrino-nucleon cross sections as supernova energies. The other issue is the many-body properties of the neutrino gas near the core when both one- and two-body interaction terms are included.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of "International Symposium on Structure of Exotic Nuclei and Nuclear Forces (SENUF 06)", March 2006, Tokyo, Japa

On the asymmetry of Gamow-Teller beta-decay rates in mirror nuclei in relation with second-class currents

The theoretical evaluation of major nuclear structure effects on the asymmetry of allowed Gamow-Teller beta-decay rates in light mirror nuclei is presented. The calculations are performed within the shell model, using empirical isospin-nonconserving interaction and realistic Woods-Saxon radial wave functions. The revised treatment of p-shell nuclei is supplemented by systematic calculations for sd-shell nuclei and compared to experimental asymmetries when available. The results are important in connection with the possible existence of second-class currents in the weak interaction.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure

Singular point characterization in microscopic flows

We suggest an approach to microrheology based on optical traps in order to measure fluid fluxes around singular points of fluid flows. We experimentally demonstrate this technique, applying it to the characterization of controlled flows produced by a set of birefringent spheres spinning due to the transfer of light angular momentum. Unlike the previous techniques, this method is able to distinguish between a singular point in a complex flow and the absence of flow at all; furthermore it permits us to characterize the stability of the singular point.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figure

Sun tracker with rotatable plane-parallel plate and two photocells Patent

Sun tracker with rotatable plane-parallel plate and two photocell

Possible CP-Violation effects in core-collapse Supernovae

We study CP-violation effects when neutrinos are present in dense matter, such as outside the proto-neutron star formed in a core-collapse supernova. Using general arguments based on the Standard Model, we confirm that there are no CP-violating effects at the tree level on the electron neutrino and anti-neutrino fluxes in a core-collapse supernova. On the other hand significant effects can be obtained for muon and tau neutrinos even at the tree level. We show that CP violating effects can be present in the supernova electron (anti)neutrino fluxes as well, if muon and tau neutrinos have different fluxes at the neutrinosphere. Such differences could arise due to physics beyond the Standard Model, such as the presence of flavor-changing interactions.Comment: 11 pages, 18 figure