Contactless 2-dimensional laser sensor for 3-dimensional wire position and tension measurements

We have developed a contact-free 2-dimensional laser sensor with which the position of wires can be measured in 3 dimensions with an accuracy of better than 10 micrometer and with which the tension of the wires can be determined with an accuracy of 0.04 N. These measurements can be made from a distance of 15 cm. The sensor consists of commercially available laser pointers, lenses, color filters and photodiodes. In our application we have used this laser sensor together with an automated 3 dimensional coordinate table. For a single position measurement, the laser sensor is moved by the 3-dimensional coordinate table in a plane and determines the coordinates at which the wires intersect with this plane. The position of the plane itself (the third coordinate) is given by the third axis of the measurement table which is perpendicular to this plane. The control and readout of the table and the readout of the laser sensor were realized with LabVIEW. The precision of the position measurement in the plane was determined with wires of 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm diameter. We use the sensor for the quality assurance of the wire electrode modules for the KATRIN neutrino mass experiment. We expect that the precision is at least comparable or better if the wires are thinner. Such a device could be well suited for the measurement of wire chamber geometries even with more than one wire layer.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Quark zero modes in intersecting center vortex gauge fields

The zero modes of the Dirac operator in the background of center vortex gauge field configurations in $\R^2$ and $\R^4$ are examined. If the net flux in D=2 is larger than 1 we obtain normalizable zero modes which are mainly localized at the vortices. In D=4 quasi-normalizable zero modes exist for intersecting flat vortex sheets with the Pontryagin index equal to 2. These zero modes are mainly localized at the vortex intersection points, which carry a topological charge of $\pm 1/2$. To circumvent the problem of normalizability the space-time manifold is chosen to be the (compact) torus \T^2 and \T^4, respectively. According to the index theorem there are normalizable zero modes on \T^2 if the net flux is non-zero. These zero modes are localized at the vortices. On \T^4 zero modes exist for a non-vanishing Pontryagin index. As in $\R^4$ these zero modes are localized at the vortex intersection points.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2e, references added, treatment of ideal vortices on the torus shortene

Free Energy of an SU(2) Model of (2+1)-dimensional QCD in the Constant Condensate Background

Gluon and quark contributions to the thermodynamic potential (free energy) of a (2+1)-dimensional QCD model at finite temperature in the background of a constant homogeneous chromomagnetic field H combined with A_0 condensate are calculated. The role of the tachyonic mode in the gluon energy spectrum is discussed. A possibility of the free energy global minimum generation at nonzero values of H and A_0 condensates is investigated.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 14 pages, 6 eps figures, some miscalculations were correcte

Bare Quark Matter Surfaces of Strange Stars and e+e−e^+e^- Emission

We show that the Coulomb barrier at the quark surface of a hot strange star may be a powerful source of $e^+e^-$ pairs which are created in an extremely strong electric field of the barrier and flow away from the star. The luminosity in the outflowing pair plasma depends on the surface temperature $T_{_S}$ and may be very high, up to $\sim 3\times 10^{51} ergs/s$ at $T_{_S}\sim 10^{11}$ K. The effect of pair creation by the Coulomb barrier may be a good observational signature of strange stars which can give an answer to the question of whether a compact object is a neutron or strange star.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, LATEX, accepted for publication in the Physical Review Letter

The Influence of an External Chromomagnetic Field on Color Superconductivity

We study the competition of quark-antiquark and diquark condensates under the influence of an external chromomagnetic field modelling the gluon condensate and in dependence on the chemical potential and temperature. As our results indicate, an external chromomagnetic field might produce remarkable qualitative changes in the picture of the color superconducting (CSC) phase formation. This concerns, in particular, the possibility of a transition to the CSC phase and diquark condensation at finite temperature.Comment: 27 pages, RevTex, 8 figures; the version accepted for the publication in PRD (few references added; new numerical results added; main conclusions are not changed

Consumers’ evaluation of allocation policies for scarce health care services: Vested interest activation trumps spatial and temporal distance

The allocation of scarce health care service resources often requires trade-offs between individual and collective outcomes (e.g., when some individuals benefit more strongly from a given policy th

Search for charginos in e+e- interactions at sqrt(s) = 189 GeV

An update of the searches for charginos and gravitinos is presented, based on a data sample corresponding to the 158 pb^{-1} recorded by the DELPHI detector in 1998, at a centre-of-mass energy of 189 GeV. No evidence for a signal was found. The lower mass limits are 4-5 GeV/c^2 higher than those obtained at a centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV. The (\mu,M_2) MSSM domain excluded by combining the chargino searches with neutralino searches at the Z resonance implies a limit on the mass of the lightest neutralino which, for a heavy sneutrino, is constrained to be above 31.0 GeV/c^2 for tan(beta) \geq 1.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure