An unexpectedly low-redshift excess of Swift gamma-ray burst rate

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most violent explosions in the Universe and can be used to explore the properties of high-redshift universe. It is believed that the long GRBs are associated with the deaths of massive stars. So it is possible to use GRBs to investigate the star formation rate (SFR). In this paper, we use Lynden-Bell's $c^-$ method to study the luminosity function and rate of \emph{Swift} long GRBs without any assumptions. We find that the luminosity of GRBs evolves with redshift as $L(z)\propto g(z)=(1+z)^k$ with $k=2.43_{-0.38}^{+0.41}$. After correcting the redshift evolution through $L_0(z)=L(z)/g(z)$, the luminosity function can be expressed as $\psi(L_0)\propto L_0^{-0.14\pm0.02}$ for dim GRBs and $\psi(L_0)\propto L_0^{-0.70\pm0.03}$ for bright GRBs, with the break point $L_{0}^{b}=1.43\times10^{51}~{\rm erg~s^{-1}}$. We also find that the formation rate of GRBs is almost constant at $z<1.0$ for the first time, which is remarkably different from the SFR. At $z>1.0$, the formation rate of GRB is consistent with the SFR. Our results are dramatically different from previous studies. Some possible reasons for this low-redshift excess are discussed. We also test the robustness of our results with Monte Carlo simulations. The distributions of mock data (i.e., luminosity-redshift distribution, luminosity function, cumulative distribution and $\log N-\log S$ distribution) are in good agreement with the observations. Besides, we also find that there are remarkable difference between the mock data and the observations if long GRB are unbiased tracers of SFR at $z<1.0$.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted by ApJ

Theoretical Modeling of Bonding Characteristics and Performance of Wood Composites. Part I. Inter-Element Contact

This is the first of a four-paper series aiming to model fundamental bonding characteristics and performance of wood composites. In this paper, a mathematical model and a computer simulation model are developed to predict the variation of inter-element (strand) contact during mat consolidation. The mathematical predictions and the computer simulations agree well with each other. The results show that the relationship between the inter-element contact and the mat density is highly nonlinear and is significantly affected by the wood density and the element thickness. The effects of the element length and width are less significant. The models imply that use of less dense wood species and thinner strands are beneficial to lower product density while achieving adequate inter-element contact for bonding

A rapid cosmic-ray increase in BC 3372-3371 from ancient buried tree rings in China

Cosmic rays interact with the Earth's atmosphere to produce $^{14}$C, which can be absorbed by trees. Therefore, rapid increases of $^{14}$C in tree rings can be used to probe previous cosmic-ray events. By this method, three $^{14}$C rapidly increasing events have been found. Plausible causes of these events include large solar proton events, supernovae or short gamma-ray bursts. However, due to the lack of measurements of $^{14}$C by year, the occurrence frequency of such $^{14}$C rapidly increasing events is poorly known. In addition, rapid increases may be hidden in the IntCal13 data with five-year resolution. Here we report the result of $^{14}$C measurements using an ancient buried tree during the period between BC 3388 and 3358. We find a rapid increase of about 9\textperthousand~ in the $^{14}$C content from BC 3372 to BC 3371. We suggest that this event could originate from a large solar proton event.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, published in Nature Communication

Systematic study of elliptic flow parameter in the relativistic nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies

We employed the new issue of a parton and hadron cascade model PACIAE 2.1 to systematically investigate the charged particle elliptic flow parameter $v_2$ in the relativistic nuclear collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. With randomly sampling the transverse momentum $x$ and $y$ components of the particles generated in string fragmentation on the circumference of an ellipse instead of circle originally, the calculated charged particle $v_2(\eta)$ and $v_2(p_T)$ fairly reproduce the corresponding experimental data in the Au+Au/Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=0.2/2.76 TeV. In addition, the charged particle $v_2(\eta)$ and $v_2(p_T)$ in the p+p collisions at $\sqrt s$=7 TeV as well as in the p+Au/p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=0.2/5.02 TeV are predicted.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Humidity Microsensors Integrated with Circuitry on-a-Chip

A humidity microsensor integrated with a readout circuit on-a-chip fabricated using the commercial 0.18 μm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) process was presented. The integrated sensor chip consists of a humidity sensor and a readout circuit. The humidity sensor is composed of a sensitive film and interdigitated electrodes. The sensitive film is titanium dioxide prepared by the sol-gel method. The titanium dioxide is coated on the interdigitated electrodes. The humidity sensor requires a post-process to remove the sacrificial layer and to coat the titanium dioxide. The resistance of the sensor changes as the sensitive film absorbs or desorbs vapor. The readout circuit is employed to convert the resistance variation of the sensor into the output voltage. The experimental results show that the integrated humidity sensor has a sensitivity of 4.5 mV/RH% (relative humidity) at room temperature