Underground muons from the direction of Cygnus X-3

The flux of underground muons from the direction of the binary Cygnus X-3 was measured by the Soudan 2 proton decay detector. This time-projection calorimeter is located at a depth of 2200 m (water equivalent) in northern Minnesota at latitude 48 deg N, longitude 92 deg W. An analysis was then performed that compared both the total observed flux and the observed flux per transit with the number of events expected in the absence of a source. This expected number of events was determined by combining the detector acceptance as a function of time with detector acceptance as a function of the local spatial coordinates. These functions were evaluated by use of off-source events. The direction of Cygnus X-3 was defined as a 2 deg half-angle cone, centered on the nominal source coordinates. This definition is consistent with the expected appearance of a point source in the Soudan 2 detector after consideration of track reconstruction errors, multiple scattering in the rock, and possible systematic effects. Details of the analysis and the results are presented

Growth and Containment of a Hierarchical Criminal Network

We model the hierarchical evolution of an organized criminal network via antagonistic recruitment and pursuit processes. Within the recruitment phase, a criminal kingpin enlists new members into the network, who in turn seek out other affiliates. New recruits are linked to established criminals according to a probability distribution that depends on the current network structure. At the same time, law enforcement agents attempt to dismantle the growing organization using pursuit strategies that initiate on the lower level nodes and that unfold as self-avoiding random walks. The global details of the organization are unknown to law enforcement, who must explore the hierarchy node by node. We halt the pursuit when certain local criteria of the network are uncovered, encoding if and when an arrest is made; the criminal network is assumed to be eradicated if the kingpin is arrested. We first analyze recruitment and study the large scale properties of the growing network; later we add pursuit and use numerical simulations to study the eradication probability in the case of three pursuit strategies, the time to first eradication and related costs. Within the context of this model, we find that eradication becomes increasingly costly as the network increases in size and that the optimal way of arresting the kingpin is to intervene at the early stages of network formation. We discuss our results in the context of dark network disruption and their implications on possible law enforcement strategies.Comment: 16 pages, 11 Figures; New title; Updated figures with color scheme better suited for colorblind readers and for gray scale printin

The relevance of positivity in spin physics

Positivity reduces substantially the allowed domain for spin observables. We briefly recall some methods used to determine these domains and give some typical examples for exclusive and inclusive spin-dependent reactions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Talk presented at CIPANP 2009, San Diego California, USA, May 26-31, 2009 To be published in AIP Conference Proceeding

Baryons in the Field Correlator Method

The ground and $P$-wave excited states of $nnn$, $nns$ and $ssn$ baryons are studied in the framework of the field correlator method using the running strong coupling constant in the Coulomb-like part of the three-quark potential. The string correction for the confinement potential of the orbitally excited baryons, which is the leading contribution of the proper inertia of the rotating strings, is estimated.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at APS April Meeting, Denver, Colorado, May 2-5, 2009 and at the Tenth Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2009), San Diego, California, May 26-31, 200

Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Proton Decay in SO(10) SUSY-GUT with TeV W_R

In a recent paper, we proposed a new class of supersymmetric SO(10) models for neutrino masses where the TeV scale electroweak symmetry is SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times U(1)_{B-L} making the associated gauge bosons W_R and Z' accessible at the Large Hadron Collider. We showed that there exists a domain of Yukawa coupling parameters and symmetry breaking patterns which give an excellent fit to all fermion masses including neutrinos. In this sequel, we discuss an alternative Yukawa pattern which also gives good fermion mass fit and then study the predictions of both models for proton lifetime. Consistency with current experimental lower limits on proton life time require the squark masses of first two generations to be larger than ~ 1.2 TeV. We also discuss how one can have simultaneous breaking of both SU(2)_R\times U(1)_{B-L} and standard electroweak symmetries via radiative corrections.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables

A steel-scintillator counter to detect neutrons

A steel-scintillator sandwich counter was used as a simple and highly efficient detector for both neutrons and protons. The validity of simple approximations for the detection efficiency was investigated by experimental tests and a detailed Monte Carlo calculation of the nuclear and electromagnetic cascades in the counter.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32659/1/0000024.pd

Immunocytochemical localization of the neuron-specific form of the c-src gene product, pp60c-src(+), in rat brain

Neurons express high levels of a variant form of the c-src gene product, denoted pp60c-src(+), which contains a 6 amino acid insert in the amino-terminal half of the c-src protein. We have determined the localization of pp60c-src(+) in neurons using an affinity-purified anti-peptide antibody, referred to as affi-SB12, that exclusively recognizes this neuron-specific form of the c-src gene product. Using affi-SB12, we examined the distribution of pp60c-src(+) by immunoperoxidase staining of sections through adult rat brains, pp60c-src(+) was widely distributed in rat brain and appeared to be differentially expressed in subpopulations of neurons. The majority of immunoreactive neurons was found in the mesencephalon, cerebellum, pons, and medulla. Telencephalic structures that contained substantial populations of pp60c-src(+)-immunoreactive neurons included layer V of the cerebral cortex and the ventral pallidum. Within individual neurons, pp60c-src(+) immunoreactivity was localized to the cell soma and dendritic processes, while labeling of axons and nerve terminals (puncta) was not as readily detected. Dense accumulations of immunoreactive axons were rare, being most prominent in portions of the inferior and superior olive, and in the spinal trigeminal nucleus. While the regional distribution of pp60c-src(+) immunoreactivity does not correlate with any specific neuronal cell type or first messenger system, this unique pattern of expression of pp60c-src(+) suggests the existence of a previously uncharacterized functional organization within the brain. Furthermore, the localization of this neuron-specific tyrosine kinase in functionally important areas of the nerve cell, namely, dendritic processes, axons, and nerve terminals, suggests that pp60c-src(+) may regulate pleiotropic functions in specific classes of neurons in the adult central nervous system

Double Type-II Seesaw, Baryon Asymmetry and Dark Matter for Cosmic e^\pm Excesses

We construct a new realization of type-II seesaw for neutrino masses and baryon asymmetry by extending the standard model with one light and two heavy singlet scalars besides one Higgs triplet. The heavy singlets pick up small vacuum expectation values to give a suppressed trilinear coupling between the triplet and doublet Higgs bosons after the light singlet drives the spontaneous breaking of lepton number. The Higgs triplet can thus remain light and be accessible at the LHC. The lepton number conserving decays of the heavy singlets can generate a lepton asymmetry stored in the Higgs triplet to account for the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe. We further introduce stable gauge bosons from a hidden sector, which obtain masses and annihilate into the Higgs triplet after spontaneous breaking of the associated non-Abelian gauge symmetry. With Breit-Wigner enhancement, the stable gauge bosons can simultaneously explain the relic density of dark matter and the cosmic positron/electron excesses.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, minor rewording, final PRD version (in Press

T-violation in Kμ3K_{\mu3} decay in a general two-Higgs doublet model

We calculate the transverse muon polarization in the $K^+_{\mu3}$ process arising from the Yukawa couplings of charged Higgs boson in a general two-Higgs doublet model where spontaneous violation of CP is presentComment: 6 pages, latex, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Exploring Aerosols near Clouds with High-Spatial-Resolution Aircraft Remote Sensing During SEAC4RS

Since aerosols are important to our climate system, we seek to observe the variability of aerosol properties within cloud systems. When applied to the satelliteborne Moderateresolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Dark Target retrieval algorithm provides global aerosol optical depth (AOD; at 0.55 m) in cloudfree scenes. Since MODIS' resolution (500m pixels, 3 or 10km product) is too coarse for studying nearcloud aerosol, we ported the Dark Target algorithm to the highresolution (~50m pixels) enhancedMODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS), which flew on the highaltitude ER2 during the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds, and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys Airborne Science Campaign over the United States in 2013. We find that even with aggressive cloud screening, the ~0.5km eMAS retrievals show enhanced AOD, especially within 6 km of a detected cloud. To determine the cause of the enhanced AOD, we analyze additional eMAS products (cloud retrievals and degradedresolution AOD), coregistered Cloud Physics Lidar profiles, MODIS aerosol retrievals, and groundbased Aerosol Robotic Network observations. We also define spatial metrics to indicate local cloud distributions near each retrieval and then separate into nearcloud and farfromcloud environments. The comparisons show that low cloud masking is robust, and unscreened thin cirrus would have only a small impact on retrieved AOD. Some of the enhancement is consistent with clearcloud transition zone microphysics such as aerosol swelling. However, 3D radiation interaction between clouds and the surrounding clear air appears to be the primary cause of the high AOD near clouds