The Rise Times of High and Low Redshift Type Ia Supernovae are Consistent

We present a self-consistent comparison of the rise times for low- and high-redshift Type Ia supernovae. Following previous studies, the early light curve is modeled using a t-squared law, which is then mated with a modified Leibundgut template light curve. The best-fit t-squared law is determined for ensemble samples of low- and high-redshift supernovae by fitting simultaneously for all light curve parameters for all supernovae in each sample. Our method fully accounts for the non-negligible covariance amongst the light curve fitting parameters, which previous analyses have neglected. Contrary to Riess et al. (1999), we find fair to good agreement between the rise times of the low- and high-redshift Type Ia supernovae. The uncertainty in the rise time of the high-redshift Type Ia supernovae is presently quite large (roughly +/- 1.2 days statistical), making any search for evidence of evolution based on a comparison of rise times premature. Furthermore, systematic effects on rise time determinations from the high-redshift observations, due to the form of the late-time light curve and the manner in which the light curves of these supernovae were sampled, can bias the high-redshift rise time determinations by up to +3.6/-1.9 days under extreme situations. The peak brightnesses - used for cosmology - do not suffer any significant bias, nor any significant increase in uncertainty.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Also available at http://www.lbl.gov/~nugent/papers.html Typos were corrected and a few sentences were added for improved clarit

Partial Ion Yield Sspectroscopy around the Cl 2p and C 1s Ionization Thresholds in CF3Cl

We present a partial ion yield experiment on freon 13, CF3Cl, excited in the vicinity of the C 1s and Cl 2p ionization thresholds. We have collected a large amount of cationic fragments and a few anionic fragments at both edges. We have observed a strong intensity dependence of Rydberg transitions with ion fragment size for the CFnCl+ and CFn+/F+ (n=0–3) series at both the Cl 2p and C 1s ionization edges. Selectivity in the fragmentation processes involving the C–Cl and C–F bonds are highlighted by the intensities of the C 1s to lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and LUMO+1 transitions measured on the CFnCl+ and CFn+ yields. Equally, by comparison with their cation counterpart, we discuss possible bond-length dependence for the anion formation at the carbon 1s edge

CPT violation and particle-antiparticle asymmetry in cosmology

General features of generation of the cosmological charge asymmetry in CPT non-invariant world are discussed. If the effects of CPT violation manifest themselves only in mass differences of particles and antiparticles, the baryon asymmetry of the universe hardly can be explained solely by breaking of CPT invariance. However, CPT non-invariant theories may lead to a new effect of distorting the usual equilibrium distributions. If this takes place, CPT violation may explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe.Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Submitted to a special issue of Yadernaya Fizika (Physics of Atomic Nuclei) dedicated to 80th birthday of L.B. Okun. Three references are adde

Fragmentation of Methyl Chloride Studied by Partial Positive and Negative Ion Yield Spectroscopy

The authors present partial-ion-yield experiments on the methyl chloride molecule excited in the vicinity of the Cl2p and C1s inner shells. A large number of fragments, cations produced by dissociation or recombination processes, as well as anionic species, have been detected. Although the spectra exhibit different intensity distributions depending on the core-excited atom, general observations include strong site-selective fragmentation along the C–Cl bond axis and a strong intensity dependence of transitions involving Rydberg series on fragment size

Free electron lifetime achievements in Liquid Argon Imaging TPC

A key feature for the success of the liquid Argon imaging TPC (LAr-TPC) technology is the industrial purification against electro-negative impurities, especially Oxygen and Nitrogen remnants, which have to be continuously kept at an exceptionally low level by filtering and recirculating liquid Argon. Improved purification techniques have been applied to a 120 liters LAr-TPC test facility in the INFN-LNL laboratory. Through-going muon tracks have been used to determine the free electron lifetime in liquid Argon against electro-negative impurities. The short path length here observed (30 cm) is compensated by the high accuracy in the observation of the specific ionization of cosmic ray muons at sea level as a function of the drift distance. A free electron lifetime of (21.4+7.3-4.3) ms, namely > 15.8 ms at 90 % C.L. has been observed over several weeks under stable conditions, corresponding to a residual Oxygen equivalent of about 15 ppt (part per trillion). At 500 V/cm, the free electron speed is 1.5 m/ms. In a LAr-TPC a free electron lifetime in excess of 15 ms corresponds for instance to an attenuation of less than 15 % after a drift path of 5 m, opening the way to the operation of the LAr-TPC with exceptionally long drift distances.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; Accepted for publication in JINS

Velocidade de embebição de sementes de soja submetidas a diferentes recobrimentos.

O tratamento de sementes de soja é uma prática utilizada para aumentar o desempenho das sementes, especialmente durante as fases iniciais do ciclo. A utilização do tratamento de sementes com polímeros tem sido uma alternativa para os agricultores por permitir melhor fi xação dos princípios ativos utilizados no tratamento químico. Entretanto, esses produtos não devem afetar as propriedades fisiológicas e físicas das sementes, como a velocidade de embebição. Assim, o objetivo do trabalho foi estudar o efeito de diferentes recobrimentos na velocidade de embebição das sementes de soja. Foram utilizados dois lotes de sementes de soja das cultivares SYN1263 RR e BMX Potência RR, as quais foram submetidas a seis diferentes recobrimentos: 1: Testemunha (ausência de fungicida, inseticida e polímero); 2: Fungicida + Inseticida; 3: Fungicida + Inseticida + Polímero A; 4: Fungicida + Inseticida + Polímero B; 5: Polímero A; 6: Polímero B. O fungicida e o inseticida utilizados foram Derosal Plus (carbendazim + thiram) e Cropstar FloRite 1197 (Nitral Urbana (imidacloprido + tiodicarbe), respectivamente, e os polímeros ) (A) e Laborsan (Laborsan) (B). Para a determinação da velocidade de embebição, as sementes foram dispostas sobre papel germitest umedecido 2,25 vezes o peso do papel seco e incubadas àtemperatura de 20°C, mensurando-se a massa das sementes em intervalos regularesde 1h, durante um período de 24h. De acordo com os resultados, o recobrimento das sementes de soja com os polímeros FloRite1197 (Nitral Urbana) e Laborsan (Laborsan) isolados ou em associação com o fungicida e inseticida não retardam a velocidade de absorção de água

Non-Dipolar Electron Angular Distributions from Fixed-in-Space Molecules

The first indication of nondipole effects in the azimuthal dependence of photoelectron angular distributions emitted from fixed-in-space molecules is demonstrated in N2. Comparison of the results with angular distributions observed for randomly oriented molecules and theoretical derivations for the nondipole correction first order in photon momentum suggests that higher orders will be needed to describe distributions measured in the molecular frame

Gravitational clustering of relic neutrinos and implications for their detection

We study the gravitational clustering of big bang relic neutrinos onto existing cold dark matter (CDM) and baryonic structures within the flat $\Lambda$CDM model, using both numerical simulations and a semi-analytical linear technique, with the aim of understanding the neutrinos' clustering properties for direct detection purposes. In a comparative analysis, we find that the linear technique systematically underestimates the amount of clustering for a wide range of CDM halo and neutrino masses. This invalidates earlier claims of the technique's applicability. We then compute the exact phase space distribution of relic neutrinos in our neighbourhood at Earth, and estimate the large scale neutrino density contrasts within the local Greisen--Zatsepin--Kuzmin zone. With these findings, we discuss the implications of gravitational neutrino clustering for scattering-based detection methods, ranging from flux detection via Cavendish-type torsion balances, to target detection using accelerator beams and cosmic rays. For emission spectroscopy via resonant annihilation of extremely energetic cosmic neutrinos on the relic neutrino background, we give new estimates for the expected enhancement in the event rates in the direction of the Virgo cluster.Comment: 38 pages, 8 embedded figures, iopart.cls; v2: references added, minor changes in text, to appear in JCA

Neutrino Masses and Mixings in a Universal Seesaw Mass Matrix Model

Neutrino masses and mixings are investigated on the basis of a universal seesaw mass matrix model, in which quark (except for top) and charged lepton mass matrices M_f and neutrino mass matrix M_\nu are given by M_f \simeq m_L M_F^{-1} m_R and M_\nu \simeq m_L M_F^{-1} m_L^T (F=N), respectively. For a simple model which can successfully describe quark masses and mixings, we find that the observed neutrino data (except for the solar neutrino data) are favor to the intermediate mass scales O(m_R) = 10^{11} GeV and O(M_F)= 10^{13} GeV together with O(m_L)= 10^2 GeV. In spite of the largesse of O(m_R), the observed top quark mass can be consistently understood from the would-be seesaw mass matrix with these mass scales.Comment: 19 pages (Latex file

A search for the analogue to Cherenkov radiation by high energy neutrinos at superluminal speeds in ICARUS

The OPERA collaboration has claimed evidence of superluminal {\nu}{_\mu} propagation between CERN and the LNGS. Cohen and Glashow argued that such neutrinos should lose energy by producing photons and e+e- pairs, through Z0 mediated processes analogous to Cherenkov radiation. In terms of the parameter delta=(v^2_nu-v^2_c)/v^2_c, the OPERA result implies delta = 5 x 10^-5. For this value of \delta a very significant deformation of the neutrino energy spectrum and an abundant production of photons and e+e- pairs should be observed at LNGS. We present an analysis based on the 2010 and part of the 2011 data sets from the ICARUS experiment, located at Gran Sasso National Laboratory and using the same neutrino beam from CERN. We find that the rates and deposited energy distributions of neutrino events in ICARUS agree with the expectations for an unperturbed spectrum of the CERN neutrino beam. Our results therefore refute a superluminal interpretation of the OPERA result according to the Cohen and Glashow prediction for a weak current analog to Cherenkov radiation. In particular no superluminal Cherenkov like e+e- pair or gamma emission event has been directly observed inside the fiducial volume of the "bubble chamber like" ICARUS TPC-LAr detector, setting the much stricter limit of delta < 2.5 10^-8 at the 90% confidence level, comparable with the one due to the observations from the SN1987A.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure