8,976 research outputs found
Further search for a neutral boson with a mass around 9 MeV/c2
Two dedicated experiments on internal pair conversion (IPC) of isoscalar M1
transitions were carried out in order to test a 9 MeV/c2 X-boson scenario. In
the 7Li(p,e+e-)8Be reaction at 1.1 MeV proton energy to the predominantly T=0
level at 18.15 MeV, a significant deviation from IPC was observed at large pair
correlation angles. In the 11B(d,n e+e-)12C reaction at 1.6 MeV, leading to the
12.71 MeV 1+ level with pure T=0 character, an anomaly was observed at 9
MeV/c2. The compatibility of the results with the scenario is discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
Influence of the gate leakage current on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors
We investigate the effect of a small leakage current through the gate
insulator on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors
(FETs). We find that, irrespective of the specific organic molecule and
dielectric used, leakage current flowing through the gate insulator results in
an irreversible degradation of the single-crystal FET performance. This
degradation occurs even when the leakage current is several orders of magnitude
smaller than the source-drain current. The experimental data indicate that a
stable operation requires the leakage current to be smaller than $10^{-9} \
\mathrm{A/cm}^2$. Our results also suggest that gate leakage currents may
determine the lifetime of thin-film transistors used in applications.Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys. Let
Quantum theory of massless (p,0)-forms
We describe the quantum theory of massless (p,0)-forms that satisfy a
suitable holomorphic generalization of the free Maxwell equations on Kaehler
spaces. These equations arise by first-quantizing a spinning particle with a
U(1)-extended local supersymmetry on the worldline. Dirac quantization of the
spinning particle produces a physical Hilbert space made up of (p,0)-forms that
satisfy holomorphic Maxwell equations coupled to the background Kaehler
geometry, containing in particular a charge that measures the amount of
coupling to the U(1) part of the U(d) holonomy group of the d-dimensional
Kaehler space. The relevant differential operators appearing in these equations
are a twisted exterior holomorphic derivative and its hermitian conjugate
(twisted Dolbeault operators with charge q). The particle model is used to
obtain a worldline representation of the one-loop effective action of the
(p,0)-forms. This representation allows to compute the first few heat kernel
coefficients contained in the local expansion of the effective action and to
derive duality relations between (p,0) and (d-p-2,0)-forms that include a
topological mismatch appearing at one-loop.Comment: 32 pages, 3 figure
A multi-detector array for high energy nuclear e+e- pair spectrosocopy
A multi-detector array has been constructed for the simultaneous measurement
of energy- and angular correlation of electron-positron pairs produced in
internal pair conversion (IPC) of nuclear transitions up to 18 MeV. The
response functions of the individual detectors have been measured with
mono-energetic beams of electrons. Experimental results obtained with 1.6 MeV
protons on targets containing B and F show clear IPC over a wide
angular range. A comparison with GEANT simulations demonstrates that angular
correlations of pairs of transitions in the energy range between 6 and
18 MeV can be determined with sufficient resolution and efficiency to search
for deviations from IPC due to the creation and subsequent decay into
of a hypothetical short-lived neutral boson.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
The Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture for finite W-algebras
We study the representation theory of finite W-algebras. After introducing
parabolic subalgebras to describe the structure of W-algebras, we define the
Verma modules and give a conjecture for the Kac determinant. This allows us to
find the completely degenerate representations of the finite W-algebras. To
extract the irreducible representations we analyse the structure of singular
and subsingular vectors, and find that for W-algebras, in general the maximal
submodule of a Verma module is not generated by singular vectors only.
Surprisingly, the role of the (sub)singular vectors can be encapsulated in
terms of a `dual' analogue of the Kazhdan-Lusztig theorem for simple Lie
algebras. These involve dual relative Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. We support
our conjectures with some examples, and briefly discuss applications and the
generalisation to infinite W-algebras.Comment: 11 page
A Re-evaluation of Evidence for Light Neutral Bosons in Nuclear Emulsions
Electron-positron pair-production data obtained by bombardment of emulsion
detectors with either cosmic rays or projectiles with mass between one and 207
and kinetic energies between 18 GeV and 32 TeV have been re-analysed using a
consistent and conservative model of the background from electromagnetic pair
conversion. The combined data yield a spectrum of putative neutral bosons
decaying to e+e- pairs, with masses between 3 and 20 MeV/c^2 and femtosecond
lifetimes. The statistical significance against background for these "X-bosons"
varies between 2 and 8 sigma. The cross-section for direct production of
X-bosons increases slowly with projectile energy, remaining over 1,000 times
smaller the the pion production cross-section.Comment: major revision with improved figures; accepted by Int J Mod Phys
pairs from a nuclear transition signaling an elusive light neutral boson
Electron-positron pairs have been observed in the 10.95-MeV decay
in O. The branching ratio of the ee pairs compared to the
3.84-MeV decay of the level is deduced to be
. This magnetic monopole (M0) transition cannot proceed by
-ray decay and is, to first order, forbidden for internal pair
creation. However, the transition may also proceed by the emission of a light
neutral or boson. Indeed, we do observe a sharp peak in the
angular correlation with all the characteristics belonging to the
intermediate emission of such a boson with an invariant mass of 8.5(5)
MeV/c. It may play a role in the current quest for light dark matter in the
universe.Comment: 6 page
G2 Hitchin functionals at one loop
We consider the quantization of the effective target space description of
topological M-theory in terms of the Hitchin functional whose critical points
describe seven-manifolds with G2 structure. The one-loop partition function for
this theory is calculated and an extended version of it, that is related to
generalized G2 geometry, is compared with the topological G2 string. We relate
the reduction of the effective action for the extended G2 theory to the Hitchin
functional description of the topological string in six dimensions. The
dependence of the partition functions on the choice of background G2 metric is
also determined.Comment: 58 pages, LaTeX; v2: Acknowledgments adde
The Asymptotic Giant Branches of GCs: Selective Entry Only
The handful of available observations of AGB stars in Galactic Globular
Clusters suggest that the GC AGB populations are dominated by cyanogen-weak
stars. This contrasts strongly with the distributions in the RGB (and other)
populations, which generally show a 50:50 bimodality in CN band strength. If it
is true that the AGB populations show very different distributions then it
presents a serious problem for low mass stellar evolution theory, since such a
surface abundance change going from the RGB to AGB is not predicted by stellar
models. However this is only a tentative conclusion, since it is based on very
small AGB sample sizes. To test whether this problem really exists we have
carried out an observational campaign specifically targeting AGB stars in GCs.
We have obtained medium resolution spectra for about 250 AGB stars across 9
Galactic GCs using the multi-object spectrograph on the AAT (2df/AAOmega). We
present some of the preliminary findings of the study for the second parameter
trio of GCs: NGC 288, NGC 362 and NGC 1851. The results indeed show that there
is a deficiency of stars with strong CN bands on the AGB. To confirm that this
phenomenon is robust and not just confined to CN band strengths and their
vagaries, we have made observations using FLAMES/VLT to measure elemental
abundances for NGC 6752.We present some initial results from this study also.
Our sodium abundance results show conclusively that only a subset of stars in
GCs experience the AGB phase of evolution. This is the first direct, concrete
confirmation of the phenomenon.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in conference proceedings of "Reading the book of
globular clusters with the lens of stellar evolution", Rome, 26-28 November
201
The Age Of Globular Clusters In Light Of Hipparcos: Resolving the Age Problem?
We review five independent techniques which are used to set the distance
scale to globular clusters, including subdwarf main sequence fitting utilizing
the recent Hipparcos parallax catalogue. These data together all indicate that
globular clusters are farther away than previously believed, implying a
reduction in age estimates. This new distance scale estimate is combined with a
detailed numerical Monte Carlo study designed to assess the uncertainty
associated with the theoretical age-turnoff luminosity relationship in order to
estimate both the absolute age and uncertainty in age of the oldest globular
clusters. Our best estimate for the mean age of the oldest globular clusters is
now Gyr, with a one-sided, 95% confidence level lower limit of
9.5 Gyr. This represents a systematic shift of over 2 compared to our
earlier estimate, due completely to the new distance scale---which we emphasize
is not just due to the Hipparcos data. This now provides a lower limit on the
age of the universe which is consistent with either an open universe, or a
flat, matter dominated universe (the latter requiring H_0 \le 67 \kmsmpc).
Our new study also explicitly quantifies how remaining uncertainties in the
distance scale and stellar evolution models translate into uncertainties in the
derived globular cluster ages. Simple formulae are provided which can be used
to update our age estimate as improved determinations for various quantities
become available.Comment: 41 pages, including 10 eps figs, uses aaspp4.sty and flushrt.sty,
submitted to Ap.J., revised to incorporate FULL Hipparcos catalogue dat
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