402 research outputs found
The nature of the highest energy cosmic rays
Ultra high energy gamma rays produce electron--positron pairs in interactions
on the geomagnetic field. The pair electrons suffer magnetic bremsstrahlung and
the energy of the primary gamma ray is shared by a bunch of lower energy
secondaries. These processes reflect the structure of the geomagnetic field and
cause experimentally observable effects. The study of these effects with future
giant air shower arrays can identify the nature of the highest energy cosmic
rays as either gamma-rays or nuclei.Comment: 15 pages of RevTeX plus 6 postscript figures, tarred, gzipped and
uuencoded. Subm. to Physical Review
Asymptotic conditions of motion for radiating charged particles
Approximate asymptotic conditions on the motion of compact, electrically
charged particles are derived within the framework of general relativity using
the Einstein- Infeld-Hoffmann (EIH) surface integral method. While
superficially similar to the Abraham-Lorentz and Lorentz-Dirac (ALD) equations
of motion, these conditions differ from them in several fundamental ways. They
are not equations of motion in the usual sense but rather a set of conditions
which these motions must obey in the asymptotic future of an initial value
surface. In addition to being asymptotic, these conditions of motion are
approximate and apply, as do the original EIH equations, only to slowly moving
systems. Also, they do not admit the run- away solutions of these other
equations. As in the original EIH work, they are integrability conditions
gotten from integrating the empty-space (i.e., source free) Einstein-Maxwell
equations of general relativity over closed two-surfaces surrounding the
sources of the fields governed by these equations. No additional ad hoc
assumptions, such as the form of a force law or the introduction of inertial
reaction terms, needed to derive the ALD equations are required for this
purpose. Nor is there a need for any of the infinite mass renormalizations that
are required in deriving these other equations.Comment: 15 page
Limits on models of the ultrahigh energy cosmic rays based on topological defects
An erratum exists for this article. Please see the description link below for details.Using the propagation of ultrahigh energy nucleons, photons, and electrons in the universal radiation backgrounds, we obtain limits on the luminosity of topological defect scenarios for the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays. The limits are set as a function of the mass of the X particles emitted by the cosmic strings or other defects, the cosmological evolution of the topological defects, and the strength of the extragalactic magnetic fields. The existing data on the cosmic ray spectrum and on the isotropic 100 MeV gamma-ray background limit significantly the parameter space in which topological defects can generate the flux of the highest energy cosmic rays, and rule out models with the standard X-particle mass of 10Âčâ¶GeV and higher.R. J. Protheroe and Todor Stane
The maximally entangled symmetric state in terms of the geometric measure
The geometric measure of entanglement is investigated for permutation
symmetric pure states of multipartite qubit systems, in particular the question
of maximum entanglement. This is done with the help of the Majorana
representation, which maps an n qubit symmetric state to n points on the unit
sphere. It is shown how symmetries of the point distribution can be exploited
to simplify the calculation of entanglement and also help find the maximally
entangled symmetric state. Using a combination of analytical and numerical
results, the most entangled symmetric states for up to 12 qubits are explored
and discussed. The optimization problem on the sphere presented here is then
compared with two classical optimization problems on the S^2 sphere, namely
Toth's problem and Thomson's problem, and it is observed that, in general, they
are different problems.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, small corrections and additions to contents and
reference
Ultra-High Energy Gamma Rays in Geomagnetic Field and Atmosphere
The nature and origin of ultra-high energy (UHE: reffering to > 10^19 eV)
cosmic rays are great mysteries in modern astrophysics. The current theories
for their explanation include the so-called "top-down" decay scenarios whose
main signature is a large ratio of UHE gamma rays to protons. Important step in
determining the primary composition at ultra-high energies is the study of air
shower development. UHE gamma ray induced showers are affected by the
Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect and the geomagnetic cascading process.
In this work extensive simulations have been carried out to study the
characteristics of air showers from UHE gamma rays. At energies above several
times 10^19 eV the shower is affected by geomagnetic cascading rather than by
the LPM effect. The properties of the longitudinal development such as average
depth of the shower maximum or its fluctuations depend strongly on both primary
energy and incident direction. This feature may provide a possible evidence of
the UHE gamma ray presence by fluorescence detectors.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.
Non-monotonic variation with salt concentration of the second virial coefficient in protein solutions
The osmotic virial coefficient of globular protein solutions is
calculated as a function of added salt concentration at fixed pH by computer
simulations of the ``primitive model''. The salt and counter-ions as well as a
discrete charge pattern on the protein surface are explicitly incorporated. For
parameters roughly corresponding to lysozyme, we find that first
decreases with added salt concentration up to a threshold concentration, then
increases to a maximum, and then decreases again upon further raising the ionic
strength. Our studies demonstrate that the existence of a discrete charge
pattern on the protein surface profoundly influences the effective interactions
and that non-linear Poisson Boltzmann and Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek
(DLVO) theory fail for large ionic strength. The observed non-monotonicity of
is compared to experiments. Implications for protein crystallization are
discussed.Comment: 43 pages, including 17 figure
Forming Judgments of Attitude Certainty, Intensity, and Importance: The Role of Subjective Experiences
Two studies examined the impact of subjective experiences on reports of attitude certainty, intensity, and importance. In Study 1, participants with moderate or extreme attitudes toward doctor-assisted suicide generated three (easy) or seven (hard) arguments that either supported or countered their opinion toward the issue prior to indicating the strength of their attitude. Participants with moderate attitudes rated their opinions as more intense, personally important, and held with greater certainty when they had generated either a small number of supporting arguments or a large number of opposing arguments. Ratings provided by individuals with extreme attitudes were unaffected by the argument generation task. In Study 2, the impact of ease of recall on strength-related judgments was eliminated when it was rendered nondiagnostic by a misattribution manipulation. Implications of these findings for attitude strength and other judgmental phenomena are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68385/2/10.1177_0146167299025007001.pd
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