A tunable radiation source by coupling laser-plasma-generated electrons to a periodic structure

Near-infrared radiation around 1000 nm generated from the interaction of a high-density MeV electron beam, obtained by impinging an intense ultrashort laser pulse on a solid target, with a metal grating is observed experimentally. Theoretical modeling and particle-in-cell simulation suggest that the radiation is caused by the Smith-Purcell mechanism. The results here indicate that tunable terahertz radiation with tens GV=m field strength can be achieved by using appropriate grating parameter

Superconductivity in MgB_2 doped with Ti and C

Measurements of the superconducting upper critical field, H_{c2}, and critical current density, J_c, have been carried out for MgB_2 doped with Ti and/or C in order to explore the problems encountered if these dopants are used to enhance the superconducting performance. Carbon replaces boron in the MgB_2 lattice and apparently shortens the electronic mean free path thereby raising H_c2. Titanium forms precipitates of either TiB or TiB_2 that enhance the flux pinning and raise J_c. Most of these precipitates are intra-granular in the MgB_2 phase. If approximately 0.5% Ti and approximately 2% C are co-deposited with B to form doped boron fibers and these fibers are in turn reacted in Mg vapor to form MgB_2, the resulting superconductor has H_{c2}(T=0) ~ 25 T and J_c ~ 10,000 A/cm**2 at 5 K and 2.2 T.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

Pigment epithelium-derived factor in the monkey retinal pigment epithelium and interphotoreceptor matrix: apical secretion and distribution

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is an extracellular protein derived from the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a tissue formed by polarized cells that release growth and trophic factors in a directional fashion. We have investigated the distribution and directional release of PEDF protein by the monkey RPE. We established primary cultures of monkey RPE cells that expressed the PEDF gene, and that synthesized and secreted the PEDF protein. Northern analysis of RPE cultures and monkey ocular tissues showed that PEDF transcripts were highly expressed in RPE as compared with several other monkey ocular tissues, being even more abundant in cultured cells than they were in the native RPE. The differentiated RPE cells in culture secreted protein that shared the immunological, biochemical and biological characteristics of PEDF. The overall PEDF levels in the RPE conditioned media reached 6.5 mg ml- after 8 days in culture (i.e. 1.1 pg of PEDF per RPE cell). RPE cells were cultivated on permeable supports as monolayers forming a barrier between apical and basal compartments. Apical and basal culture media were sampled at three or four-day intervals for 18 cycles, and the PEDF content was quantified. Most of the PEDF protein was significantly higher in the apical than in the basal medium (>4 times) at the initial recovery intervals, to be detected only in the apical medium at the latter intervals. In the native monkey eye, the concentration of soluble PEDF in the interphotoreceptor matrix (144 nM) was 7-fold and 25-fold greater than in vitreous and aqueous, respectively. PEDF was abundant in the interphotoreceptor matrix surrounding rod and cone outer segments, and was detectable at lower levels in the RPE as visualized by confocal microscopy. We concluded that PEDF synthesized by the RPE is secreted preferentially from the apical surface and is distributed apically to the RPE bordering the outer segments of photoreceptors. PEDF can be a useful marker for RPE polarization and differentiation. The polarization of RPE may be an important mechanism to control PEDF secretion and our results offer interesting possibilities on regulation of PEDF

Production of the PP-Wave Excited BcB_c-States through the Z0Z^0 Boson Decays

In Ref.[7],we have dealt with the production of the two color-singlet $S$-wave $(c\bar{b})$-quarkonium states $B_c(|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 1}[^1S_0]>)$ and $B^*_c(|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 1}[^3S_1]>)$ through the $Z^0$ boson decays. As an important sequential work, we make a further discussion on the production of the more complicated $P$-wave excited $(c\bar{b})$-quarkonium states, i.e. $|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 1}[^1P_1]>$ and $|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 1}[^3P_J]>$ (with $J=(1,2,3)$). More over, we also calculate the channel with the two color-octet quarkonium states $|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 8}[^1S_0]g>$ and $|(c\bar{b})_{\bf 8}[^3S_1]g>$, whose contributions to the decay width maybe at the same order of magnitude as that of the color-singlet $P$-wave states according to the naive nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics scaling rules. The $P$-wave states shall provide sizable contributions to the $B_c$ production, whose decay width is about 20% of the total decay width $\Gamma_{Z^0\to B_c}$. After summing up all the mentioned $(c\bar{b})$-quarkonium states' contributions, we obtain $\Gamma_{Z^0\to B_c} =235.9^{+352.8}_{-122.0}$ KeV, where the errors are caused by the main uncertainty sources.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures and 2 tables. basic formulae in the appendix are cut off to match the published version, which can be found in v1. to be published in Eur.Phys.J.

Z0Z_0 Boson Decays to Bc(∗)B^{(*)}_c Meson and Its Uncertainties

The programming new $e^{+}e^-$ collider with high luminosity shall provide another useful platform to study the properties of the doubly heavy $B_c$ meson in addition to the hadronic colliders as LHC and TEVATRON. Under the `New Trace Amplitude Approach', we calculate the production of the spin-singlet $B_c$ and the spin-triplet $B^*_c$ mesons through the $Z^0$ boson decays, where uncertainties for the production are also discussed. Our results show $\Gamma_{(^1S_0)}= 81.4^{+102.1}_{-40.5}$ KeV and $\Gamma_{(^3S_1)}=116.4^{+163.9}_{-62.8}$ KeV, where the errors are caused by varying $m_b$ and $m_c$ within their reasonable regions.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. To be published in Eur.Phys.J.

Existence and uniqueness of solutions for systems of fractional differential equations with Riemann–Stieltjes integral boundary condition

In this article, we first establish an existence and uniqueness result for a class of systems of nonlinear operator equations under more general conditions by means of the cone theory and monotone iterative technique. Furthermore, the iterative sequence of the solution and the error estimation of the system are given. Then we use this new result to study the existence and uniqueness of the solution for boundary value problems of systems of fractional differential equations with a Riemann–Stieltjes integral boundary condition in real Banach spaces. The results obtained in this paper are more general than many previous results and complement them

Revisiting the Bs(∗)B^{(*)}_s-Meson Production at the Hadronic Colliders

The production of heavy-flavored hadron at the hadronic colliders provides a challenging opportunity to test the validity of pQCD predictions. There are two mechanisms for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction, i.e. the gluon-gluon fusion mechanism via the subprocess $g+g\rightarrow B^{(*)}_s+b+\bar{s}$ and the extrinsic heavy quark mechanism via the subprocesses $g+\bar{b}\to B^{(*)}_s +\bar{s}$ and $g+s\to B^{(*)}_s +b$, both of which shall have sizable contributions in proper kinematic region. Different from the fixed-flavor-number scheme (FFNS) previously adopted in the literature, we study the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction under the general-mass variable-flavor-number scheme (GM-VFNS), in which we can consistently deal with the double counting problem from the above two mechanisms. Properties for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction are discussed. To be useful reference, a comparative study of FFNS and GM-VFNS is presented. Both of which can provide reasonable estimations for the $B^{(*)}_s$ hadroproduction. At the Tevatron, the difference between these two schemes is small, however such difference is obvious at the LHC. The forthcoming more precise data on LHC shall provide a good chance to check which scheme is more appropriate to deal with the $B^{(*)}_s$-meson production and to further study the heavy quark components in hadrons.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. To match the published version. To be published in Eur.Phys.J.