The Invisible Web: A Quick Overview

This article provides a quick overview of recent literature published about the Invisible Web. In particular, this article covers such topics as what is the Invisible Web, weaknesses of popular search engines, types of information found on the Invisible Web, when to use the Invisible Web, search tools and search strategies

Observation of Asymmetric Transport in Structures with Active Nonlinearities

A mechanism for asymmetric transport based on the interplay between the fundamental symmetries of parity (P) and time (T) with nonlinearity is presented. We experimentally demonstrate and theoretically analyze the phenomenon using a pair of coupled van der Pol oscillators, as a reference system, one with anharmonic gain and the other with complementary anharmonic loss; connected to two transmission lines. An increase of the gain/loss strength or the number of PT-symmetric nonlinear dimers in a chain, can increase both the asymmetry and transmittance intensities.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

High-resolution Velocity Fields of Low-mass Disk Galaxies. I. CO Observations

This paper is the first in a series whose aim is to examine the relative distributions of dark and baryonic matter as a function of star formation history in a representative sample of low-mass disk galaxies. In this paper, we present high-resolution 12 CO(j=1→0) interferometry for a sample of 26 nearby dwarf galaxies that were obtained from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). Among these 26 galaxies, 14 have good CO detections, including 6 galaxies previously detected in single-dish CO measurements and 8 newly detected ones. We find a linear correlation between the CO flux and the mid- and far-IR flux from the WISE and IRAS catalogs. Compared to the far-IR flux, the mid-IR flux may be a better indication of whether a galaxy contains sufficient CO for detection at the level of instrument sensitivity of CARMA. This correlation might prove to be useful in future studies to help choosing other CO targets for observation. The median molecular mass (including helium) of our galaxies is 2.8×10 8 M⊙, which is consistent with past observations for dwarf galaxies. The molecular content is weakly correlated with the dynamical mass, r-band luminosity and size of the galaxies. The median ratios of molecular mass versus dynamical mass and molecular mass versus r-band luminosity are M mol M dyn ≈ 0.035 and M mol L r ≈ 0.078M⊙ L r , ⊙, respectively, which are also consistent with past observations for dwarf galaxies

Testing A (Stringy) Model of Quantum Gravity

I discuss a specific model of space-time foam, inspired by the modern non-perturbative approach to string theory (D-branes). The model views our world as a three brane, intersecting with D-particles that represent stringy quantum gravity effects, which can be real or virtual. In this picture, matter is represented generically by (closed or open) strings on the D3 brane propagating in such a background. Scattering of the (matter) strings off the D-particles causes recoil of the latter, which in turn results in a distortion of the surrounding space-time fluid and the formation of (microscopic, i.e. Planckian size) horizons around the defects. As a mean-field result, the dispersion relation of the various particle excitations is modified, leading to non-trivial optical properties of the space time, for instance a non-trivial refractive index for the case of photons or other massless probes. Such models make falsifiable predictions, that may be tested experimentally in the foreseeable future. I describe a few such tests, ranging from observations of light from distant gamma-ray-bursters and ultra high energy cosmic rays, to tests using gravity-wave interferometric devices and terrestrial particle physics experients involving, for instance, neutral kaons.Comment: 25 pages LATEX, four figures incorporated, uses special proceedings style. Invited talk at the third international conference on Dark Matter in Astro and Particle Physics, DARK2000, Heidelberg, Germany, July 10-15 200

Multivariate discrimination and the Higgs + W/Z search

A systematic method for optimizing multivariate discriminants is developed and applied to the important example of a light Higgs boson search at the Tevatron and the LHC. The Significance Improvement Characteristic (SIC), defined as the signal efficiency of a cut or multivariate discriminant divided by the square root of the background efficiency, is shown to be an extremely powerful visualization tool. SIC curves demonstrate numerical instabilities in the multivariate discriminants, show convergence as the number of variables is increased, and display the sensitivity to the optimal cut values. For our application, we concentrate on Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson with H -> bb and compare to the irreducible standard model background, Z/W + bb. We explore thousands of experimentally motivated, physically motivated, and unmotivated single variable discriminants. Along with the standard kinematic variables, a number of new ones, such as twist, are described which should have applicability to many processes. We find that some single variables, such as the pull angle, are weak discriminants, but when combined with others they provide important marginal improvement. We also find that multiple Higgs boson-candidate mass measures, such as from mild and aggressively trimmed jets, when combined may provide additional discriminating power. Comparing the significance improvement from our variables to those used in recent CDF and DZero searches, we find that a 10-20% improvement in significance against Z/W + bb is possible. Our analysis also suggests that the H + W/Z channel with H -> bb is also viable at the LHC, without requiring a hard cut on the W/Z transverse momentum.Comment: 41 pages, 5 tables, 29 figure

High-resolution Velocity Fields of Low-mass Disk Galaxies. I. CO Observations

This paper is the first in a series whose aim is to examine the relative distributions of dark and baryonic matter as a function of star formation history in a representative sample of low-mass disk galaxies. In this paper, we present high-resolution 12 CO(j=1→0) interferometry for a sample of 26 nearby dwarf galaxies that were obtained from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). Among these 26 galaxies, 14 have good CO detections, including 6 galaxies previously detected in single-dish CO measurements and 8 newly detected ones. We find a linear correlation between the CO flux and the mid- and far-IR flux from the WISE and IRAS catalogs. Compared to the far-IR flux, the mid-IR flux may be a better indication of whether a galaxy contains sufficient CO for detection at the level of instrument sensitivity of CARMA. This correlation might prove to be useful in future studies to help choosing other CO targets for observation. The median molecular mass (including helium) of our galaxies is 2.8×10 8 M⊙, which is consistent with past observations for dwarf galaxies. The molecular content is weakly correlated with the dynamical mass, r-band luminosity and size of the galaxies. The median ratios of molecular mass versus dynamical mass and molecular mass versus r-band luminosity are M mol M dyn ≈ 0.035 and M mol L r ≈ 0.078M⊙ L r , ⊙, respectively, which are also consistent with past observations for dwarf galaxies

Stringy Space-Time Foam and High-Energy Cosmic Photons

In this review, I discuss briefly stringent tests of Lorentz-violating quantum space-time foam models inspired from String/Brane theories, provided by studies of high energy Photons from intense celestial sources, such as Active Galactic Nuclei or Gamma Ray Bursts. The theoretical models predict modifications to the radiation dispersion relations, which are quadratically suppressed by the string mass scale, and time delays in the arrival times of photons (assumed to be emitted more or less simultaneously from the source), which are proportional to the photon energy, so that the more energetic photons arrive later. Although the astrophysics at the source of these energetic photons is still not understood, and such non simultaneous arrivals, that have been observed recently, might well be due to non simultaneous emission as a result of conventional physics effects, nevertheless, rather surprisingly, the observed time delays can also fit excellently the stringy space-time foam scenarios, provided the space-time defect foam is inhomogeneous. The key features of the model, that allow it to evade a plethora of astrophysical constraints on Lorentz violation, in sharp contrast to other field-theoretic Lorentz-violating models of quantum gravity, are: (i) transparency of the foam to electrons and in general charged matter, (ii) absence of birefringence effects and (iii) a breakdown of the local effective lagrangian formalism.Comment: 26 pages Latex, 4 figures, uses special macros. Keynote Lecture in the International Conference "Recent Developments in Gravity" (NEB14), Ioannina (Greece) June 8-11 201

Massless D-strings and moduli stabilization in type I cosmology

We consider the cosmological evolution induced by the free energy F of a gas of maximally supersymmetric heterotic strings at finite temperature and weak coupling in dimension D>=4. We show that F, which plays the role of an effective potential, has minima associated to enhanced gauge symmetries, where all internal moduli can be attracted and dynamically stabilized. Using the fact that the heterotic/type I S-duality remains valid at finite temperature and can be applied at each instant of a quasi-static evolution, we find in the dual type I cosmology that all internal NS-NS and RR moduli in the closed string sector and the Wilson lines in the open string sector can be stabilized. For the special case of D=6, the internal volume modulus remains a flat direction, while the dilaton is stabilized. An essential role is played by light D-string modes wrapping the internal manifold and whose contribution to the free energy cannot be omitted, even when the type I string is at weak coupling. As a result, the order of magnitude of the internal radii expectation values on the type I side is (lambda_I alpha')^{1/2}, where lambda_I is the ten-dimensional string coupling. The non-perturbative corrections to the type I free energy can alternatively be described as effects of "thermal E1-instantons", whose worldsheets wrap the compact Euclidean time cycle.Comment: 39 pages, 1 figur