263 research outputs found
Superconducting Magnets Used as a Magnetic Bumper/Tether System
Development of new materials for superconducting trapped field (permanent) magnets, and a continuation of tests on a magnetic bumper/tether for spacecraft docking is reported
The impact of multiplex genetic testing on disease risk perceptions
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110591/1/cge12403.pd
Toward Early-Warning Detection of Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescence
Rapid detection of compact binary coalescence (CBC) with a network of
advanced gravitational-wave detectors will offer a unique opportunity for
multi-messenger astronomy. Prompt detection alerts for the astronomical
community might make it possible to observe the onset of electromagnetic
emission from (CBC). We demonstrate a computationally practical filtering
strategy that could produce early-warning triggers before gravitational
radiation from the final merger has arrived at the detectors.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, published in ApJ. Reformatted preprint with
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The GstLAL Search Analysis Methods for Compact Binary Mergers in Advanced LIGO's Second and Advanced Virgo's First Observing Runs
After their successful first observing run (September 12, 2015 - January 12,
2016), the Advanced LIGO detectors were upgraded to increase their sensitivity
for the second observing run (November 30, 2016 - August 26, 2017). The
Advanced Virgo detector joined the second observing run on August 1, 2017. We
discuss the updates that happened during this period in the GstLAL-based
inspiral pipeline, which is used to detect gravitational waves from the
coalescence of compact binaries both in low latency and an offline
configuration. These updates include deployment of a zero-latency whitening
filter to reduce the over-all latency of the pipeline by up to 32 seconds,
incorporation of the Virgo data stream in the analysis, introduction of a
single-detector search to analyze data from the periods when only one of the
detectors is running, addition of new parameters to the likelihood ratio
ranking statistic, increase in the parameter space of the search, and
introduction of a template mass-dependent glitch-excision thresholding method.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. D, comments
welcom
The GstLAL template bank for spinning compact binary mergers in the second observation run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo
We describe the methods used to construct the aligned-spin template bank of
gravitational waveforms used by the GstLAL-based inspiral pipeline to analyze
data from the second observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo. The bank expands
upon the parameter space covered during the first observing run, including
coverage for merging compact binary systems with total mass between 2
and 400 and mass ratios between 1 and
97.989. Thus the systems targeted include merging neutron star-neutron star
systems, neutron star-black hole binaries, and black hole-black hole binaries
expanding into the intermediate-mass range. Component masses less than 2
have allowed (anti-)aligned spins between while
component masses greater than 2 have allowed
(anti-)aligned between . The bank placement technique combines a
stochastic method with a new grid-bank method to better isolate noisy
templates, resulting in a total of 677,000 templates.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure
The Needle in the 100 deg^2 Haystack: Uncovering Afterglows of Fermi GRBs with the Palomar Transient Factory
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has greatly expanded the number and energy window of observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, the coarse localizations of tens to a hundred square degrees provided by the Fermi GRB Monitor instrument have posed a formidable obstacle to locating the bursts' host galaxies, measuring their redshifts, and tracking their panchromatic afterglows. We have built a target-of-opportunity mode for the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in order to perform targeted searches for Fermi afterglows. Here, we present the results of one year of this program: 8 afterglow discoveries out of 35 searches. Two of the bursts with detected afterglows (GRBs 130702A and 140606B) were at low redshift (z = 0.145 and 0.384, respectively) and had spectroscopically confirmed broad-line Type Ic supernovae. We present our broadband follow-up including spectroscopy as well as X-ray, UV, optical, millimeter, and radio observations. We study possible selection effects in the context of the total Fermi and Swift GRB samples. We identify one new outlier on the Amati relation. We find that two bursts are consistent with a mildly relativistic shock breaking out from the progenitor star rather than the ultra-relativistic internal shock mechanism that powers standard cosmological bursts. Finally, in the context of the Zwicky Transient Facility, we discuss how we will continue to expand this effort to find optical counterparts of binary neutron star mergers that may soon be detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo
Investigation of the Exclusive 3He(e,e'pp)n Reaction
Cross sections for the 3He(e,e'pp)n reaction were measured over a wide range
of energy and three- momentum transfer. At a momentum transfer q=375 MeV/c,
data were taken at transferred energies omega ranging from 170 to 290 MeV. At
omega=220 MeV, measurements were performed at three q values (305, 375, and 445
MeV/c). The results are presented as a function of the neutron momentum in the
final-state, as a function of the energy and momentum transfer, and as a
function of the relative momentum of the two-proton system. The data at neutron
momenta below 100 MeV/c, obtained for two values of the momentum transfer at
omega=220 MeV, are well described by the results of continuum-Faddeev
calculations. These calculations indicate that the cross section in this domain
is dominated by direct two-proton emission induced by a one-body hadronic
current. Cross section distributions determined as a function of the relative
momentum of the two protons are fairly well reproduced by continuum-Faddeev
calculations based on various realistic nucleon-nucleon potential models. At
higher neutron momentum and at higher energy transfer, deviations between data
and calculations are observed that may be due to contributions of isobar
currents.Comment: 14 pages, 1 table, 17 figure
Recoil Polarization for Delta Excitation in Pion Electroproduction
We measured angular distributions of recoil-polarization response functions
for neutral pion electroproduction for W=1.23 GeV at Q^2=1.0 (GeV/c)^2,
obtaining 14 separated response functions plus 2 Rosenbluth combinations; of
these, 12 have been observed for the first time. Dynamical models do not
describe quantities governed by imaginary parts of interference products well,
indicating the need for adjusting magnitudes and phases for nonresonant
amplitudes. We performed a nearly model-independent multipole analysis and
obtained values for Re(S1+/M1+)=-(6.84+/-0.15)% and Re(E1+/M1+)=-(2.91+/-0.19)%
that are distinctly different from those from the traditional Legendre analysis
based upon M1+ dominance and sp truncation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, for PR
Dark matter search in a Beam-Dump eXperiment (BDX) at Jefferson Lab
MeV-GeV dark matter (DM) is theoretically well motivated but remarkably
unexplored. This Letter of Intent presents the MeV-GeV DM discovery potential
for a 1 m segmented plastic scintillator detector placed downstream of the
beam-dump at one of the high intensity JLab experimental Halls, receiving up to
10 electrons-on-target (EOT) in a one-year period. This experiment
(Beam-Dump eXperiment or BDX) is sensitive to DM-nucleon elastic scattering at
the level of a thousand counts per year, with very low threshold recoil
energies (1 MeV), and limited only by reducible cosmogenic backgrounds.
Sensitivity to DM-electron elastic scattering and/or inelastic DM would be
below 10 counts per year after requiring all electromagnetic showers in the
detector to exceed a few-hundred MeV, which dramatically reduces or altogether
eliminates all backgrounds. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations are in progress to
finalize the detector design and experimental set up. An existing 0.036 m
prototype based on the same technology will be used to validate simulations
with background rate estimates, driving the necessary RD towards an
optimized detector. The final detector design and experimental set up will be
presented in a full proposal to be submitted to the next JLab PAC. A fully
realized experiment would be sensitive to large regions of DM parameter space,
exceeding the discovery potential of existing and planned experiments by two
orders of magnitude in the MeV-GeV DM mass range.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, submitted to JLab PAC 4
High-Resolution Sonography: A New Technique to Detect Nerve Damage in Leprosy
Mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy, infects peripheral nerves resulting in functional impairment, ulcer formation and stigmatizing deformities. Early diagnosis of nerve involvement is important to avoid nerve related complications. We used non-invasive, high-resolution sonography (US) and color Doppler (CD) imaging to study the ulnar (UN), median (MN), lateral popliteal (LP) and posterior tibial (PT) nerves in 20 leprosy patients and compared 30 healthy Indian controls. The nerves were significantly thicker in the patients (p<0.0001 for each nerve). One of the key signs of leprosy is the presence of enlarged nerves. The kappa for clinical palpation and nerve enlargement by sonography was 0.30 for all examined nerves. Increased neural vascularity, the sign of inflammation was observed in 26% (39/152) of nerves by CD imaging. Increased CD was observed in multiple nerves in 3 of 4 patients with type 2 reaction. Significant correlation was observed between clinical parameters of grade of thickening, sensory loss and muscle weakness and US abnormalities of nerve echotexture, endoneural flow and cross-sectional area (p<0.001). We conclude that sonography is a better diagnostic tool to predict nerve damage as compared to clinical assessment. Nerve damage was sonographically more extensive and was observed in nerves considered clinically normal
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