20,140 research outputs found
The QCD vacuum as a disordered medium: A simplified model for the QCD Dirac operator
We model the QCD Dirac operator as a power-law random banded matrix (RBM)
with the appropriate chiral symmetry. Our motivation is the form of the Dirac
operator in a basis of instantonic zero modes with a corresponding gauge
background of instantons. We compare the spectral correlations of this model to
those of an instanton liquid model (ILM) and find agreement well beyond the
Thouless energy. In the bulk of the spectrum the (dimensionless) Thouless
energy of the RBM scales with the square root of system size in agreement with
the ILM and chiral perturbation theory. Near the origin the scaling of the
(dimensionless) Thouless energy in the RBM remains the same as in the bulk
which agrees with chiral perturbation theory but not with the ILM. Finally we
discuss how this RBM should be modified in order to describe the spectral
correlations of the QCD Dirac operator at the finite temperature chiral
restoration transition.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Testing the performance and accuracy of the RELXILL model for the relativistic X-ray reflection from accretion disks
The reflection spectroscopic model RELXILL is commonly implemented in
studying relativistic X-ray reflection from accretion disks around black holes.
We present a systematic study of the model's capability to constrain the
dimensionless spin and ionization parameters from 6,000 NuSTAR
simulations of a bright X-ray source employing the lamppost geometry. We employ
high count spectra to show the limitations in the model without being confused
with limitations in signal-to-noise. We find that both parameters are
well-recovered at 90% confidence with improving constraints at higher
reflection fraction, high spin, and low source height. We test spectra across a
broad range - first at 1010 and then 10 total source counts
across the effective 3-79 keV band of NuSTAR, and discover a strong dependence
of the results on how fits are performed around the starting parameters, owing
to the complexity of the model itself. A blind fit chosen over an approach that
carries some estimates of the actual parameter values can lead to significantly
worse recovery of model parameters. We further stress on the importance to span
the space of nonlinear-behaving parameters like carefully and
thoroughly for the model to avoid misleading results. In light of selecting
fitting procedures, we recall the necessity to pay attention to the choice of
data binning and fit statistics used to test the goodness of fit by
demonstrating the effect on the photon index . We re-emphasize and
implore the need to account for the detector resolution while binning X-ray
data and using Poisson fit statistics instead while analyzing Poissonian data.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Addressing the Multiple Needs of Students with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
This paper investigates research literature on mild traumatic brain injury and supports for students, guardians, and the implications for educators. Students who experience mild traumatic brain injury will encounter a variety of symptoms (i.e., dizziness, amnesia, headache, sensitivity to sound) throughout their recovery. Students may also experience difficulties in their academic performance: occlusion errors, academic dysfunction, and deficits in long-term cognitive control. Medical staff, guardians, students, and educators must support students, on an individual basis, to serve the multiple needs of students recovering from mild traumatic brain injury
The effect of the range of interaction on the phase diagram of a globular protein
Thermodynamic perturbation theory is applied to the model of globular
proteins studied by ten Wolde and Frenkel (Science 277, pg. 1976) using
computer simulation. It is found that the reported phase diagrams are
accurately reproduced. The calculations show how the phase diagram can be tuned
as a function of the lengthscale of the potential.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Human exposure limits to hypergolic fuels
Over the past four decades, many studies have been conducted on the toxicities of the rocket propellants hydrazine (HZ) and monomethylhydrazine (MH). Numerous technical challenges have made it difficult to unambiguously interpret the results of these studies, and there is considerable divergence between results obtained by different investigators on the inhalation concentrations (MAC's) for each toxic effect inducible by exposure to hypergolic fuels in spacecraft atmospheres, NASA undertook a critical review of published and unpublished investigations on the toxicities of these compounds. The current state of the art practices for similar studies. While many questions remain unanswered, MAC's were determined using the best available data for a variety of toxic endpoints for potential continuous exposure durations ranging from 1 hour to 180 days. Spacecraft MAC's (SMAC's) were set for each compound based on the most sensitive toxic endpoint at each exposure duration
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Shear-induced damped oscillations in an epithelium depend on actomyosin contraction and E-cadherin cell adhesion.
Shear forces between cells occur during global changes in multicellular organization during morphogenesis and tissue growth, yet how cells sense shear forces and propagate a response across a tissue is unknown. We found that applying exogenous shear at the midline of an epithelium induced a local, short-term deformation near the shear plane, and a long-term collective oscillatory movement across the epithelium that spread from the shear-plane and gradually dampened. Inhibiting actomyosin contraction or E-cadherin trans-cell adhesion blocked oscillations, whereas stabilizing actin filaments prolonged oscillations. Combining these data with a model of epithelium mechanics supports a mechanism involving the generation of a shear-induced mechanical event at the shear plane which is then relayed across the epithelium by actomyosin contraction linked through E-cadherin. This causes an imbalance of forces in the epithelium, which is gradually dissipated through oscillatory cell movements and actin filament turnover to restore the force balance across the epithelium
Topological Properties of the QCD Vacuum at T=0 and T ~ T_c
We study on the lattice the topology of SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills theories
at zero temperature and of QCD at temperatures around the phase transition. To
smooth out dislocations and the UV noise we cool the configurations with an
action which has scale invariant instanton solutions for instanton size above
about 2.3 lattice spacings. The corresponding "improved" topological charge
stabilizes at an integer value after few cooling sweeps. At zero temperature
the susceptibility calculated from this charge (about (195MeV)^4 for SU(2) and
(185 MeV)^4 for SU(3)) agrees very well with the phenomenological expectation.
At the minimal amount of cooling necessary to resolve the structure in terms of
instantons and anti-instantons we observe a dense ensemble where the total
number of peaks is by a factor 5-10 larger than the net charge. The average
size observed for these peaks at zero temperature is about 0.4-0.45 fm for
SU(2) and 0.5-0.6 fm for SU(3). The size distribution changes very little with
further cooling, although in this process up to 90% of the peaks disappear by
pair annihilation. For QCD we observe below T_c a reduction of the topological
susceptibility as an effect of the dynamical fermions. Nevertheless also here
the instantons form a dense ensemble with general characteristics similar to
those of the quenched theory. A further drop in the susceptibility above T_c is
also in rough agreement with what has been observed for pure SU(3). We see no
clear signal for dominant formation of instanton - anti-instanton molecules.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 4 figures (one colour). Contribution to the 31st
International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles,
Buckow, September 2-6, 199
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