565 research outputs found
Isospin dependent multifragmentation of relativistic projectiles
The N/Z dependence of projectile fragmentation at relativistic energies has
been studied with the ALADIN forward spectrometer at the GSI Schwerionen
Synchrotron (SIS). Stable and radioactive Sn and La beams with an incident
energy of 600 MeV per nucleon have been used in order to explore a wide range
of isotopic compositions. For the interpretation of the data, calculations with
the statistical multifragmentation model for a properly chosen ensemble of
excited sources were performed. The parameters of the ensemble, representing
the variety of excited spectator nuclei expected in a participant-spectator
scenario, are determined empirically by searching for an optimum reproduction
of the measured fragment-charge distributions and correlations. An overall very
good agreement is obtained. The possible modification of the liquid-drop
parameters of the fragment description in the hot freeze-out environment is
studied, and a significant reduction of the symmetry-term coefficient is found
necessary to reproduce the mean neutron-to-proton ratios /Z and the
isoscaling parameters of Z<=10 fragments. The calculations are, furthermore,
used to address open questions regarding the modification of the surface-term
coefficient at freeze-out, the N/Z dependence of the nuclear caloric curve, and
the isotopic evolution of the spectator system between its formation during the
initial cascade stage of the reaction and its subsequent breakup.Comment: 23 pages, 29 figures, published in Physical Review
Isotopic Dependence of the Nuclear Caloric Curve
The A/Z dependence of projectile fragmentation at relativistic energies has
been studied with the ALADIN forward spectrometer at SIS. A stable beam of
124Sn and radioactive beams of 124La and 107Sn at 600 MeV per nucleon have been
used in order to explore a wide range of isotopic compositions. Chemical
freeze-out temperatures are found to be nearly invariant with respect to the
A/Z of the produced spectator sources, consistent with predictions for expanded
systems. Small Coulomb effects (\Delta T \approx 0.6 MeV) appear for residue
production near the onset of multifragmentation.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publ. in Phys. Rev. Let
Tracing a phase transition with fluctuations of the largest fragment size: Statistical multifragmentation models and the ALADIN S254 data
A phase transition signature associated with cumulants of the largest
fragment size distribution has been identified in statistical
multifragmentation models and examined in analysis of the ALADIN S254 data on
fragmentation of neutron-poor and neutron-rich projectiles. Characteristics of
the transition point indicated by this signature are weakly dependent on the
A/Z ratio of the fragmenting spectator source. In particular, chemical
freeze-out temperatures are estimated within the range 5.9 to 6.5 MeV. The
experimental results are well reproduced by the SMM model.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the International Workshop on
Multifragmentation and Related Topics (IWM2009), Catania, Italy, November
2009
Multi analyte profiling and variability of inflammatory markers in blood and induced sputum in patients with stable COPD
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We analyzed serial concentrations of multiple inflammatory mediators from serum and induced sputum obtained from patients with stable COPD and controls. The objective was to determine which proteins could be used as reliable biomarkers to assess COPD disease state and severity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty-two subjects; 21 with stable COPD and 21 controls, were studied every 2 weeks over a 6-week period. Serum and induced sputum were obtained at each of 3 visits and concentrations of 19 serum and 22 sputum proteins were serially assessed using multiplex immunoassays. We used linear mixed effects models to test the distribution of proteins for an association with COPD and disease severity. Measures of within- and between-subject coefficients of variation were calculated for each of the proteins to assess reliability of measurement.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was significant variability in concentrations of all inflammatory proteins over time, and variability was greater for sputum proteins (median intra-subject coefficient of variation 0.58) compared to proteins measured in serum (median intra-subject coefficient of variation 0.32, P = 0.03). Of 19 serum proteins and 22 sputum proteins tested, only serum CRP, myeloperoxidase and VEGF and sputum IL-6, IL-8, TIMP-1, and VEGF showed acceptable intra and inter-patient reliability and were significantly associated with COPD, the severity of lung function impairment, and dyspnea.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Levels of many serum and sputum biomarkers cannot be reliably ascertained based on single measurements. Multiple measurements over time can give a more reliable and precise estimate of the inflammatory burden in clinically stable COPD patients.</p
Neutron recognition in the LAND detector for large neutron multiplicity
The performance of the LAND neutron detector is studied. Using an
event-mixing technique based on one-neutron data obtained in the S107
experiment at the GSI laboratory, we test the efficiency of various analytic
tools used to determine the multiplicity and kinematic properties of detected
neutrons. A new algorithm developed recently for recognizing neutron showers
from spectator decays in the ALADIN experiment S254 is described in detail. Its
performance is assessed in comparison with other methods. The properties of the
observed neutron events are used to estimate the detection efficiency of LAND
in this experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
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Challenges in QCD matter physics --The scientific programme of the Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR
Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100 (sNN= 2.7--4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (μB> 500 MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation of state at high density as it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including activities before the start of data taking in 2024, in the context of the worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter
Simultaneous Extraction of the Fermi constant and PMNS matrix elements in the presence of a fourth generation
Several recent studies performed on constraints of a fourth generation of
quarks and leptons suffer from the ad-hoc assumption that 3 x 3 unitarity holds
for the first three generations in the neutrino sector. Only under this
assumption one is able to determine the Fermi constant G_F from the muon
lifetime measurement with the claimed precision of G_F = 1.16637 (1) x 10^-5
GeV^-2. We study how well G_F can be extracted within the framework of four
generations from leptonic and radiative mu and tau decays, as well as from K_l3
decays and leptonic decays of charged pions, and we discuss the role of lepton
universality tests in this context. We emphasize that constraints on a fourth
generation from quark and lepton flavour observables and from electroweak
precision observables can only be obtained in a consistent way if these three
sectors are considered simultaneously. In the combined fit to leptonic and
radiative mu and tau decays, K_l3 decays and leptonic decays of charged pions
we find a p-value of 2.6% for the fourth generation matrix element |U_{e 4}|=0
of the neutrino mixing matrix.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures with 16 subfigures, references and text added
refering to earlier related work, figures and text in discussion section
added, results and conclusions unchange
Anti-cancer effects and mechanism of actions of aspirin analogues in the treatment of glioma cancer
INTRODUCTION: In the past 25 years only modest advancements in glioma treatment have been made, with patient prognosis and median survival time following diagnosis only increasing from 3 to 7 months. A substantial body of clinical and preclinical evidence has suggested a role for aspirin in the treatment of cancer with multiple mechanisms of action proposed including COX 2 inhibition, down regulation of EGFR expression, and NF-κB signaling affecting Bcl-2 expression. However, with serious side effects such as stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding, aspirin analogues with improved potency and side effect profiles are being developed. METHOD: Effects on cell viability following 24 hr incubation of four aspirin derivatives (PN508, 517, 526 and 529) were compared to cisplatin, aspirin and di-aspirin in four glioma cell lines (U87 MG, SVG P12, GOS – 3, and 1321N1), using the PrestoBlue assay, establishing IC50 and examining the time course of drug effects. RESULTS: All compounds were found to decrease cell viability in a concentration and time dependant manner. Significantly, the analogue PN517 (IC50 2mM) showed approximately a twofold increase in potency when compared to aspirin (3.7mM) and cisplatin (4.3mM) in U87 cells, with similar increased potency in SVG P12 cells. Other analogues demonstrated similar potency to aspirin and cisplatin. CONCLUSION: These results support the further development and characterization of novel NSAID derivatives for the treatment of glioma
Assessment of circulating biomarkers for potential pharmacodynamic utility in patients with lymphoma
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