Nab: Measurement Principles, Apparatus and Uncertainties

The Nab collaboration will perform a precise measurement of 'a', the electron-neutrino correlation parameter, and 'b', the Fierz interference term in neutron beta decay, in the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the SNS, using a novel electric/magnetic field spectrometer and detector design. The experiment is aiming at the 10^{-3} accuracy level in (Delta a)/a, and will provide an independent measurement of lambda = G_A/G_V, the ratio of axial-vector to vector coupling constants of the nucleon. Nab also plans to perform the first ever measurement of 'b' in neutron decay, which will provide an independent limit on the tensor weak coupling.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, talk presented at the International Workshop on Particle Physics with Slow Neutrons, Grenoble, 29-31 May 2008; to appear in Nucl. Instrum. Meth. in Physics Research

Euclidean Distances, soft and spectral Clustering on Weighted Graphs

We define a class of Euclidean distances on weighted graphs, enabling to perform thermodynamic soft graph clustering. The class can be constructed form the "raw coordinates" encountered in spectral clustering, and can be extended by means of higher-dimensional embeddings (Schoenberg transformations). Geographical flow data, properly conditioned, illustrate the procedure as well as visualization aspects.Comment: accepted for presentation (and further publication) at the ECML PKDD 2010 conferenc

"Ordinary, the same as anywhere else": notes on the management of spoiled identity in 'marginal' middle class neighbourhoods

Urban sociologists are becoming increasingly interested in neighbourhood as a source of middle-class identity. Particular emphasis is currently being given to two types of middle-class neighbourhood; gentrified urban neighbourhoods of ‘distinction’ and inconspicuous ‘suburban landscapes of privilege’. However, there has been a dearth of work on ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods that are similarly ‘inconspicuous’ rather than distinctive, but less exclusive, thus containing sources of ‘spoiled identity’. This article draws on data gathered from two ‘marginal’ middleclass neighbourhoods that contained a particular source of ‘spoiled identity’: social renters. Urban sociological analyses of neighbour responses to these situations highlight a process of dis-identification with the maligned object, which exacerbates neighbour differences. Our analysis of data from the ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods suggests something entirely different and Goffmanesque. This entailed the management of spoiled identity, which emphasized similarities rather than differences between neighbours.</p

High-precision determination of transition amplitudes of principal transitions in Cs from van der Waals coefficient C_6

A method for determination of atomic dipole matrix elements of principal transitions from the value of dispersion coefficient C_6 of molecular potentials correlating to two ground-state atoms is proposed. The method is illustrated on atomic Cs using C_6 deduced from high-resolution Feshbach spectroscopy. The following reduced matrix elements are determined < 6S_{1/2} || D || 6P_{1/2} > =4.5028(60) |e| a0 and =6.3373(84) |e| a0 (a0= 0.529177 \times 10^{-8} cm.) These matrix elements are consistent with the results of the most accurate direct lifetime measurements and have a similar uncertainty. It is argued that the uncertainty can be considerably reduced as the coefficient C_6 is constrained further.Comment: 4 pages; 3 fig

The Kuiper Belt and Other Debris Disks

We discuss the current knowledge of the Solar system, focusing on bodies in the outer regions, on the information they provide concerning Solar system formation, and on the possible relationships that may exist between our system and the debris disks of other stars. Beyond the domains of the Terrestrial and giant planets, the comets in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud preserve some of our most pristine materials. The Kuiper belt, in particular, is a collisional dust source and a scientific bridge to the dusty "debris disks" observed around many nearby main-sequence stars. Study of the Solar system provides a level of detail that we cannot discern in the distant disks while observations of the disks may help to set the Solar system in proper context.Comment: 50 pages, 25 Figures. To appear in conference proceedings book "Astrophysics in the Next Decade

Direct Top Quark Production at Hadron Colliders as a Probe of New Physics

We examine the effect of an anomalous flavor changing chromomagnetic moment which allows direct top quark production (two partons combining into an unaccompanied single top quark in the s-channel) at hadron colliders. We consider both t-c-g and t-u-g couplings. We find that the anomalous charm quark coupling parameter $\kappa_c / \Lambda$ can be measured down to $.06 TeV^{-1}(.009 TeV^{-1}$) at the Tevatron with the Main Injector upgrade(LHC). The anomalous up quark coupling parameter $\kappa_u / \Lambda$ can be measured to $.02 TeV^{-1}(.003 TeV^{-1}$) at the Tevatron(LHC).Comment: 14 pages, Latex, requires feynm

Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties ofβ-MnO2nanorods

We present synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of structurally well-ordered single-crystalline β-MnO2nanorods of 50–100 nm diameter and several µm length. Thorough structural characterization shows that the basic β-MnO2material is covered by a thin surface layer (∼2.5 nm) of α-Mn2O3phase with a reduced Mn valence that adds its own magnetic signal to the total magnetization of the β-MnO2nanorods. The relatively complicated temperature-dependent magnetism of the nanorods can be explained in terms of a superposition of bulk magnetic properties of spatially segregated β-MnO2and α-Mn2O3constituent phases and the soft ferromagnetism of the thin interface layer between these two phases

Inclusive cross section and double helicity asymmetry for \pi^0 production in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV: Implications for the polarized gluon distribution in the proton

The PHENIX experiment presents results from the RHIC 2005 run with polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV, for inclusive \pi^0 production at mid-rapidity. Unpolarized cross section results are given for transverse momenta p_T=0.5 to 20 GeV/c, extending the range of published data to both lower and higher p_T. The cross section is described well for p_T < 1 GeV/c by an exponential in p_T, and, for p_T > 2 GeV/c, by perturbative QCD. Double helicity asymmetries A_LL are presented based on a factor of five improvement in uncertainties as compared to previously published results, due to both an improved beam polarization of 50%, and to higher integrated luminosity. These measurements are sensitive to the gluon polarization in the proton, and exclude maximal values for the gluon polarization.Comment: 375 authors, 7 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D, Rapid Communications. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm