Strong latitudinal shear in the shallow convection zone of a rapidly rotating A-star

We have derived the mean broadening profile of the star V102 in the region of the open cluster IC4665 from high resolution spectroscopy. At a projected equatorial rotation velocity of vsini = (105 +- 12)km/s we find strong deviation from classical rotation. We discuss several scenarios, the most plausible being strong differential rotation in latitudinal direction. For this scenario we find a difference in angular velocity of DeltaOmega = 3.6 +- 0.8 rad/d (DeltaOmega/Omega = 0.42 +- 0.09). From the Halpha line we derive a spectral type of A9 and support photometric measurements classifying IC4665 V102 as a non-member of IC4665. At such early spectral type this is the strongest case of differential rotation observed so far. Together with three similar stars, IC4665 V102 seems to form a new class of objects that exhibit extreme latitudinal shear in a very shallow convective envelope.Comment: accepted for A&A Letter

Spectroscopic measurements of temperature and plasma impurity concentration during magnetic reconnection at the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment

Electron temperature measurements during counterhelicity spheromak merging studies at the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) [M. R. Brown, Phys. Plasmas 6, 1717 (1999)] are presented. VUV monochromator measurements of impurity emission lines are compared with model spectra produced by the non-LTE excitation kinematics code PRISMSPECT [J. J. MacFarlane et al., in Proceedings of the Third Conference on Inertial Fusion Science and Applications (2004)] to yield the electron temperature in the plasma with 1 µs time resolution. Average T_e is seen to increase from 12 to 19 eV during spheromak merging. Average C III ion temperature, measured with a new ion Doppler spectrometer (IDS) [C. D. Cothran et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 063504 (2006)], likewise rises during spheromak merging, peaking at ~22 eV, but a similar increase in T_i is seen during single spheromak discharges with no merging. The VUV emission line measurements are also used to constrain the concentrations of various impurities in the SSX plasma, which are dominated by carbon, but include some oxygen and nitrogen. A burst of soft x-ray emission is seen during reconnection with a new four-channel detector (SXR). There is evidence for spectral changes in the soft x-ray emission as reconnection progresses, although our single-temperature equilibrium spectral models are not able to provide adequate fits to all the SXR data

Distributed microprocessors in a tactical universal modem

The distributed microprocessor system associated with a wideband signal conversion unit (WBSCU) is described. Multiple embedded 8086 and 2901 microprocessors, supported by dedicated hardware modules, perform the required real time operations for both transmit and receive functions. Commands from a host computer determine the configuration of the WBSCU via the IEEE 488 bus. Each of the four WBSCU channels is assigned to process a specified IF waveform; each channel configures its own resources and, in some cases, borrows resources from other channels. The processed waveform data is communicated from individual channels to redundant global memories. Data flow between the user community and global memories occurs via redundant 1553 buses through intelligent Bus Interface Units. Each WBSCU channel contains one 2901 bit slice machine and one 8086 microprocessor. The 2901 provides high speed processing capability for the most time critical operations. The 8086 is used for lower speed processing tasks where its high level language capability can be better exploited. Each 8086 has a global bus for wideband interprocessor communication, and a local bus for 8086/2901, master/slave communication. Software architecture consists of a control and communications structure governing mode dependent signal processing tasks

Outer-Sphere Effects on Reduction Potentials of Copper Sites in Proteins: The Curious Case of High Potential Type 2 C112D/M121E Pseudomonas aeruginosa Azurin

Redox and spectroscopic (electronic absorption, multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and X-ray absorption) properties together with X-ray crystal structures are reported for the type 2 Cu^(II) C112D/M121E variant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin. The results suggest that Cu^(II) is constrained from interaction with the proximal glutamate; this structural frustration implies a “rack” mechanism for the 290 mV (vs NHE) reduction potential measured at neutral pH. At high pH (~9), hydrogen bonding in the outer coordination sphere is perturbed to allow axial glutamate ligation to Cu^(II), with a decrease in potential to 119 mV. These results highlight the role played by outer-sphere interactions, and the structural constraints they impose, in determining the redox behavior of transition metal protein cofactors

Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson in the Diphoton Decay Channel with 4.9 fb^(-1) of pp Collision Data at √s = 7 TeV with ATLAS

A search for the standard model Higgs boson is performed in the diphoton decay channel. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.9  fb^(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 7  TeV. In the diphoton mass range 110–150 GeV, the largest excess with respect to the background-only hypothesis is observed at 126.5 GeV, with a local significance of 2.8 standard deviations. Taking the look-elsewhere effect into account in the range 110–150 GeV, this significance becomes 1.5 standard deviations. The standard model Higgs boson is excluded at 95% confidence level in the mass ranges of 113–115 GeV and 134.5–136 GeV

Measurement of the W →τν_τ cross section in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

The cross section for the production of W bosons with subsequent decay W→τν_τ is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on a data sample that was recorded in 2010 at a proton–proton center-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^(−1). The cross section is measured in a region of high detector acceptance and then extrapolated to the full phase space. The product of the total W production cross section and the W→τν_τ branching ratio is measured to be σ^(tot) _(W→τντ) = 11.1±0.3 (stat)±1.7 (syst)±0.4 (lumi) nb

Measurement of the W^±Z production cross section and limits on anomalous triple gauge couplings in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents a measurement of W^± Z production in 1.02 fb^(−1) of pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2011. Doubly leptonic decay events are selected with electrons, muons and missing transverse momentum in the final state. In total 71 candidates are observed, with a background expectation of 12.1 ± 1.4(stat.)^(+4.1)_(−2.0)(syst.) events. The total cross section for W^± Z production for Z/γ^∗ masses within the range 66 GeV to 116 GeV is determined to be σ^(tot)_(WZ) = 20.5^(+3.1)_(−2.8)(stat.)^(+1.4)_(−1.3)(syst.)^(+0.9)_(−0.8)(lumi.) pb, which is consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 17.3^(+1.3) _(0.8) pb. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are extracted

Search for a Light Higgs Boson Decaying to Long-Lived Weakly Interacting Particles in Proton-Proton Collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

A search for the decay of a light Higgs boson (120–140 GeV) to a pair of weakly interacting, long-lived particles in 1.94  fb^(-1) of proton-proton collisions at √s=7  TeV recorded in 2011 by the ATLAS detector is presented. The search strategy requires that both long-lived particles decay inside the muon spectrometer. No excess of events is observed above the expected background and limits on the Higgs boson production times branching ratio to weakly interacting, long-lived particles are derived as a function of the particle proper decay length

Search for contact interactions in dilepton events from pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents a search for contact interactions in the dielectron and dimuon channels using data from proton–proton collisions produced by the LHC at √s=7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. The data sample, collected in 2011, corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.08 and 1.21 fb^(−1) in the e^+e^− and μ^+μ^− channels, respectively. No significant deviations from the standard model are observed. Using a Bayesian approach with a prior flat in 1/Λ^2, the following 95% CL lower limits are placed on the energy scale of ℓℓqq contact interactions: Λ−>10.1 TeV (Λ^+>9.4 TeV) in the electron channel and Λ^−>8.0 TeV (Λ^+>7.0 TeV) in the muon channel for constructive (destructive) interference in the left–left isoscalar contact interaction model. Limits are also provided for a prior flat in 1/Λ^4

Search for an excess of events with an identical flavour lepton pair and significant missing transverse momentum in √s =7 TeV proton–proton collisions with the ATLAS detector

Results are presented of a search for particles decaying into final states with significant missing transverse momentum and exactly two identical flavour leptons (e, μ) of opposite charge in √s = 7 TeV collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. This channel is particularly sensitive to supersymmetric particle cascade decays producing flavour correlated lepton pairs. Flavour uncorrelated backgrounds are subtracted using a sample of opposite flavour lepton pair events. Observation of an excess beyond Standard Model expectations following this subtraction procedure would offer one of the best routes to measuring the masses of supersymmetric particles. In a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb^(−1) no such excess is observed. Model-independent limits are set on the contribution to these final states from supersymmetry and are used to exclude regions of a phenomenological supersymmetric parameter space