Impact of the inelastic proton -- nucleus cross section on the prompt neutrino flux

The description of the inelastic proton -- nucleus cross section at very high energies is still an open question. The current theoretical uncertainty has direct impact on the predictions of the cosmic ray and neutrino physics observables. In this paper we consider different models for the treatment of $\sigma_{inel}^{pA}$, compare its predictions at ultrahigh cosmic ray energies and estimate the prompt neutrino flux at the neutrino energies that have been probed by the IceCube Observatory. We demonstrate that depending of the model used to describe $\sigma_{inel}^{pA}$, the predictions for the prompt neutrino flux can differ by a factor of order of three. Such result demonstrate the importance of a precise measurement of the inelastic proton -- nucleus cross section at high energies.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2: corrected the range of horizontal axis in figure 1. Matches the version published in Eur. Phys. J.

Disentangling instrumental broadening

A new procedure aiming at disentangling the instrumental profile broadening and the relevant X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) profile shape is presented. The technique consists of three steps: denoising by means of wavelet transforms, background suppression by morphological functions and deblurring by a Lucy--Richardson damped deconvolution algorithm. Real XRPD intensity profiles of ceria samples are used to test the performances. Results show the robustness of the method and its capability of efficiently disentangling the instrumental broadening affecting the measurement of the intrinsic physical line profile. These features make the whole procedure an interesting and user-friendly tool for the pre-processing of XRPD data.Comment: 9 pages, 1 table, 1 figure; typos correcte

Hypercentral constituent quark model and isospin dependence

The constituent quark model based on a hypercentral approach takes into account three-body force effects and standard two-body potential contributions. The quark potential contains a hypercentral interaction, to which a hyperfine term is added. While the hypercentral potential supplies good values for the centroid energies of the resonance multiplets and a realistic set of quark wave functions, the hyperfine splittings are sometimes not sufficient to account for the observed masses. In this work we have introduced an improved form of the hyperfine interaction and an isospin dependent quark potential. The resulting description of the baryon spectrum is very good, also for the Roper resonance, specially thanks to the flavour dependent interaction.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Extra S11 and P13 in the Hypercentral Constituent Quark Model

We report on the recent results of the hypercentral Constituent Quark Model (hCQM). The model contains a spin independent three-quark interaction which is inspired by Lattice QCD calculations and reproduces the average energy values of the SU(6) multiplets. The splittings within each multiplet are obtained with a SU(6)-breaking interaction, which can include also an isospin dependent term. All the 3- and 4-stars resonances are well reproduced. Moreover, as all the Constituent Quark models, the hCQM predicts ``missing'' resonances ({\em e.g.} extra $S11$ and $P13$ states) which can be of some help for the experimental identification of new resonances. The model provides also a good description of the medium $Q^2$-behavior of the electromagnetic transition form factors. In particular the calculated helicity amplitude $A_{{1/2}}$ for the $S_{11}(1535)$ resonance agrees very well with the recent CLAS data. More recently, the elastic nucleon form factors have been calculated using a relativistic version of the hCQM and a relativistic quark current.Comment: 7 pages,3 figures, Talk given at NStar 2002 workshop on the physics of excited nucleons, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 9-12, 200

Acquisition of ownership illusion with self-disownership in neurological patients

The multisensory regions in frontoparietal cortices play a crucial role in the sense of body and self. Disrupting this sense may lead to a feeling of disembodiment, or more generally, a sense of disownership. Experimentally, this altered consciousness disappears during illusory own-body perceptions, increasing the intensity of perceived ownership for an external virtual limb. In many clinical conditions, particularly in individuals with a discontinuous or absent sense of bodily awareness, the brain may effortlessly create a convincing feeling of body ownership over a surrogate body or body part. The immediate visual input dominates the current bodily state and induces rapid plastic adaptation that reconfigures the dynamics of bodily representation, allowing the brain to acquire an alternative sense of body and self. Investigating strategies to deconstruct the lack of a normal sense of bodily ownership, especially after a neurological injury, may aid the selection of appropriate clinical treatment

The effects of retardation on the topological plasmonic chain: plasmonic edge states beyond the quasistatic limit

We study a one-dimensional plasmonic system with non-trivial topology: a chain of metallic nanoparticles with alternating spacing, which is the plasmonic analogue to the Su-Schreiffer-Heeger model. We extend previous efforts by including long range hopping with retardation and radiative damping, which leads to a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with frequency dependence. We calculate band structures numerically and show that topological features such as quantised Zak phase persist due to chiral symmetry. This predicts parameters leading to topologically protected edge modes, which allows for positioning of disorder-robust hotspots at topological interfaces, opening up novel nanophotonics applications

Collective Gradient Sensing in Fish Schools

Throughout the animal kingdom, animals frequently benefit from living in groups. Models of collective behaviour show that simple local interactions are sufficient to generate group morphologies found in nature (swarms, flocks and mills). However, individuals also interact with the complex noisy environment in which they live. In this work, we experimentally investigate the group performance in navigating a noisy light gradient of two unrelated freshwater species: golden shiners (Notemigonuscrysoleucas) and rummy nose tetra (Hemigrammus bleheri). We find that tetras outperform shiners due to their innate individual ability to sense the environmental gradient. Using numerical simulations, we examine how group performance depends on the relative weight of social and environmental information. Our results highlight the importance of balancing of social and environmental information to promote optimal group morphologies and performance