Online monitoring system and data management for KamLAND

In January 22, 2002, KamLAND started the data-taking. The KamLAND detector is a complicated system which consists of liquid scintillator, buffer oil, spherical balloon and so on. In order to maintain the detector safety, we constructed monitoring system which collect detector status information such as balloon weight, liquid scintillator oil level and so on. In addition, we constructed continuous Rn monitoring system for the $^7$Be solar neutrino detection. The KamLAND monitoring system consists of various network, LON, 1-Wire, and TCP/IP, and these are indispensable for continuous experimental data acquisition.Comment: Submitted to Nucl.Instrum.Meth.

Hydrodynamical effects in internal shock of relativistic outflows

We study both analytically and numerically hydrodynamical effects of two colliding shells, the simplified models of the internal shock in various relativistic outflows such as gamma-ray bursts and blazars. We pay particular attention to three interesting cases: a pair of shells with the same rest mass density (``{\it equal rest mass density}''), a pair of shells with the same rest mass (``{\it equal mass}''), and a pair of shells with the same bulk kinetic energy (``{\it equal energy}'') measured in the intersteller medium (ISM) frame. We find that the density profiles are significantly affected by the propagation of rarefaction waves. A split-feature appears at the contact discontinuity of two shells for the ``equal mass'' case, while no significant split appears for the ``equal energy'' and ``equal rest mass density'' cases. The shell spreading with a few ten percent of the speed of light is also shown as a notable aspect caused by rarefaction waves. The conversion efficiency of the bulk kinetic energy to internal one is numerically evaluated. The time evolutions of the efficiency show deviations from the widely-used inellastic two-point-mass-collision model.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figures, accepted by Ap

Tau phosphorylation at Alzheimer\u27s disease-related Ser356 contributes to tau stabilization when PAR-1/MARK activity is elevated.

Abnormal phosphorylation of the microtubule-associated protein tau is observed in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). AD-related phosphorylation of two tau residues, Ser262 and Ser356, by PAR-1/MARK stabilizes tau in the initial phase of mismetabolism, leading to subsequent phosphorylation events, accumulation, and toxicity. However, the relative contribution of phosphorylation at each of these sites to tau stabilization has not yet been elucidated. In a Drosophila model of human tau toxicity, we found that tau was phosphorylated at Ser262, but not at Ser356, and that blocking Ser262 phosphorylation decreased total tau levels. By contrast, when PAR-1 was co-overexpressed with tau, tau was hyperphosphorylated at both Ser262 and Ser356. Under these conditions, the protein levels of tau were significantly elevated, and prevention of tau phosphorylation at both residues was necessary to completely suppress this elevation. These results suggest that tau phosphorylation at Ser262 plays the predominant role in tau stabilization when PAR-1/MARK activity is normal, whereas Ser356 phosphorylation begins to contribute to this process when PAR-1/MARK activity is abnormally elevated, as in diseased brains

Flux of Atmospheric Neutrinos

Atmospheric neutrinos produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere are of interest for several reasons. As a beam for studies of neutrino oscillations they cover a range of parameter space hitherto unexplored by accelerator neutrino beams. The atmospheric neutrinos also constitute an important background and calibration beam for neutrino astronomy and for the search for proton decay and other rare processes. Here we review the literature on calculations of atmospheric neutrinos over the full range of energy, but with particular attention to the aspects important for neutrino oscillations. Our goal is to assess how well the properties of atmospheric neutrinos are known at present.Comment: 68 pages, 26 figures. With permission from the Annual Review of Nuclear & Particle Science. Final version of this material is scheduled to appear in the Annual Review of Nuclear & Particle Science Vol. 52, to be published in December 2002 by Annual Reviews (http://annualreviews.org

Large Kinetic Power in FRII Radio Jets

We investigate the total kinetic powers (L_{j}) and ages (t_{age}) of powerful jets of four FR II radio sources (Cygnus A, 3C 223, 3C 284, and 3C 219) by the detail comparison of the dynamical model of expanding cocoons with observed ones. It is found that these sources have quite large kinetic powers with the ratio of L_{j} to the Eddington luminosity (L_{Edd}) resides in $0.02 <L_{j}/L_{Edd} <10$. Reflecting the large kinetic powers, we also find that the total energy stored in the cocoon (E_{c}) exceed the energy derived from the minimum energy condition (E_{min}): $2< E_{c}/E_{min} <160$. This implies that a large amount of kinetic power is carried by invisible components such as thermal leptons (electron and positron) and/or protons.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Equation of state in the PNJL model with the entanglement interaction

The equation of state and the phase diagram in two-flavor QCD are investigated by the Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model with an entanglement vertex between the chiral condensate and the Polyakov-loop. The entanglement-PNJL (EPNJL) model reproduces LQCD data at zero and finite chemical potential better than the PNJL model. Hadronic degrees of freedom are taken into account by the free-hadron-gas (FHG) model with the volume-exclusion effect due to the hadron generation. The EPNJL+FHG model improves agreement of the EPNJL model with LQCD data particularly at small temperature. The quarkyonic phase survives, even if the correlation between the chiral condensate and the Polyakov loop is strong and hadron degrees of freedom are taken into account. However, the location of the quarkyonic phase is sensitive to the strength of the volume exclusion.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Stabilization of Microtubule-Unbound Tau via Tau Phosphorylation at Ser262/356 by Par-1/MARK Contributes to Augmentation of AD-Related Phosphorylation and Aβ42-Induced Tau Toxicity.

Abnormal accumulation of the microtubule-interacting protein tau is associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). β-amyloid (Aβ) lies upstream of abnormal tau behavior, including detachment from microtubules, phosphorylation at several disease-specific sites, and self-aggregation into toxic tau species in AD brains. To prevent the cascade of events leading to neurodegeneration in AD, it is essential to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the initial events of tau mismetabolism. Currently, however, these mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, using transgenic Drosophila co-expressing human tau and Aβ, we found that tau phosphorylation at AD-related Ser262/356 stabilized microtubule-unbound tau in the early phase of tau mismetabolism, leading to neurodegeneration. Aβ increased the level of tau detached from microtubules, independent of the phosphorylation status at GSK3-targeted SP/TP sites. Such mislocalized tau proteins, especially the less phosphorylated species, were stabilized by phosphorylation at Ser262/356 via PAR-1/MARK. Levels of Ser262 phosphorylation were increased by Aβ42, and blocking this stabilization of tau suppressed Aβ42-mediated augmentation of tau toxicity and an increase in the levels of tau phosphorylation at the SP/TP site Thr231, suggesting that this process may be involved in AD pathogenesis. In contrast to PAR-1/MARK, blocking tau phosphorylation at SP/TP sites by knockdown of Sgg/GSK3 did not reduce tau levels, suppress tau mislocalization to the cytosol, or diminish Aβ-mediated augmentation of tau toxicity. These results suggest that stabilization of microtubule-unbound tau by phosphorylation at Ser262/356 via the PAR-1/MARK may act in the initial steps of tau mismetabolism in AD pathogenesis, and that such tau species may represent a potential therapeutic target for AD

Precise Measurements of Atmospheric Muon Fluxes with the BESS Spectrometer

The vertical absolute fluxes of atmospheric muons and muon charge ratio have been measured precisely at different geomagnetic locations by using the BESS spectrometer. The observations had been performed at sea level (30 m above sea level) in Tsukuba, Japan, and at 360 m above sea level in Lynn Lake, Canada. The vertical cutoff rigidities in Tsukuba (36.2 N, 140.1 E) and in Lynn Lake (56.5 N, 101.0 W) are 11.4 GV and 0.4 GV, respectively. We have obtained vertical fluxes of positive and negative muons in a momentum range from 0.6 to 20 GeV/c with systematic errors less than 3 % in both measurements. By comparing the data collected at two different geomagnetic latitudes, we have seen an effect of cutoff rigidity. The dependence on the atmospheric pressure and temperature, and the solar modulation effect have been also clearly observed. We also clearly observed the decrease of charge ratio of muons at low momentum side with at higher cutoff rigidity region.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Astroparticle Physic

Simulation of Atmospheric Muon and Neutrino Fluxes with CORSIKA

The fluxes of atmospheric muons and neutrinos are calculated by a three dimensional Monte Carlo simulation with the air shower code CORSIKA using the hadronic interaction models DPMJET, VENUS, GHEISHA, and UrQMD. For the simulation of low energy primary particles the original CORSIKA has been extended by a parametrization of the solar modulation and a microscopic calculation of the directional dependence of the geomagnetic cut-off functions. An accurate description for the geography of the Earth has been included by a digital elevation model, tables for the local magnetic field in the atmosphere, and various atmospheric models for different geographic latitudes and annual seasons. CORSIKA is used to calculate atmospheric muon fluxes for different locations and the neutrino fluxes for Kamioka. The results of CORSIKA for the muon fluxes are verified by an extensive comparison with recent measurements. The obtained neutrino fluxes are compared with other calculations and the influence of the hadronic interaction model, the geomagnetic cut-off and the local magnetic field on the neutrino fluxes is investigated.Comment: revtex, 19 pages, 19 Postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.