New AGNs discovered by H.E.S.S

During the last year, six new Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) have been discovered and studied by H.E.S.S. at Very High Energies (VHE). Some of these recent discoveries have been made thanks to new enhanced analysis methods and are presented at this conference for the first time. The three blazars 1ES 0414+009, SHBL J001355.9-185406 and 1RXS J101015.9-311909 have been targeted for observation due to their high levels of radio and X-ray fluxes, while the Fermi/LAT catalogue of bright sources triggered the observation of PKS 0447-439 and AP Librae. Additionally, the BL Lac 1ES 1312-423 was discovered in the field-of-view (FoV) of Centaurus A thanks to the large exposure dedicated by H.E.S.S. to this particularly interesting source. The newly-discovered sources are presented here and in three companion presentations at this conference.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, proceeding from the 25th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics (Heidelberg, Germany, 2010

Developing procedures for assessment of ecological status of Indian River basins in the context of environmental water requirements

River basins / Ecology / Indicators / Environmental flows / Environmental management / Habitats / Biota / Fish / Ecosystems / India / Krishna River Basin / Chauvery River Basin / Narmada River Basin / Periyar River Basin / Ganga River Basin

Coexistence of Band Jahn Teller Distortion and superconductivity in correlated systems

The co-existence of band Jahn-Teller (BJT) effect with superconductivity (SC) is studied for correlated systems, with orbitally degenerate bands using a simple model. The Hubbard model for a doubly degenerate orbital with the on-site intraorbital Coulomb repulsion treated in the slave boson formalism and the interorbital Coulomb repulsion treated in the Hartree-Fock mean field approximation, describes the correlated system. The model further incorporates the BJT interaction and a pairing term to account for the lattice distortion and superconductivity respectively. It is found that structural distortion tends to suppress superconductivity and when SC sets in at low temperatures, the growth of the lattice distortion is arrested. The phase diagram comprising of the SC and structural transition temperatures $T_c$ and $T_s$ versus the dopant concentration $\delta$ reveals that the highest obtainable $T_c$ for an optimum doping is limited by structural transition. The dependence of the occupation probabilities of the different bands as well as the density of states (DOS) in the distorted-superconducting phase, on electron correlation has been discussed.Comment: RevTex, 4 pages, 4 figuers (postscript files attached) Journal Reference : Phys. Rev. B (accepted for publication

In vitro mass multiplication of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) through axillary bud culture

The present investigation was conducted for mass multiplication of Jatropha curcas L. through axillary bud culture. For this nodal segment from 3-5 months old nursery grown plants were used as explants for axillary bud culture. The sterilization treatment involving dipping explants in 0.1 per cent HgCl2 solution for 5 minutes resulted in minimum contamination and maximum establishment of nodal explants. The treatment MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L BAP and 1.0 mg/L IAA was the best for culture establishment, shoot proliferation and multiplication of the axillary buds which exhibited highest value in each parameter like establishment (76.1%), number of days taken for shoot initiation (3.1 days), length of longest shoot (6.8 cm), number of leaves on main shoot (7.1) and number of shoots per explant (6.3). Among different treatments for root initiation, half MS media fortified with 1 mg/L IBA, 3 mg/ L NAA and 0.25 g AC gave best result in maximum number of rooting percentage (60) with minimum time taken for root initiation (13.3 days), produced maximum number of roots per shoots (5.1) and length of longest root (4.9 cm) when established shoots were treated with it. Such produced plantlets showed nearly cent per cent survival after hardening and acclimatization. It showed that explants surface sterilized with 0.1 per cent HgCl2 solution for 5 minutes inoculated in MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/L BAP and 1.0 mg/L IAA and half MS media fortified with 1 mg/L IBA, 3 mg/L NAA and 0.25 g AC were best in shoot establishment and root development respectively for mass multiplication of J. curcas L. through axillary bud culture

Measurement of the damping of nuclear shell effect in the doubly magic 208^{208}Pb region

The damping of the nuclear shell effect with excitation energy has been measured through an analysis of the neutron spectra following the triton transfer in the $^7$Li induced reaction on $^{205}$Tl. The measured neutron spectra demonstrate the expected large shell correction energy for the nuclei in the vicinity of doubly magic $^{208}$Pb and a small value for $^{184}$W. A quantitative extraction of the allowed values of the damping parameter $\gamma$, along with those for the asymptotic nuclear level density parameter $\tilde{a}$, has been made for the first time.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Chiral Solitons in a Current Coupled Schr\"odinger Equation With Self Interaction

Recently non-topological chiral soliton solutions were obtained in a derivatively coupled non-linear Schr\"odinger model in 1+1 dimensions. We extend the analysis to include a more general self-coupling potential (which includes the previous cases) and find chiral soliton solutions. Interestingly even the magnitude of the velocity is found to be fixed. Energy and U(1) charge associated with this non-topological chiral solitons are also obtained.Comment: 8 pages, no figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Exact Thermodynamics of the Double sinh-Gordon Theory in 1+1-Dimensions

We study the classical thermodynamics of a 1+1-dimensional double-well sinh-Gordon theory. Remarkably, the Schrodinger-like equation resulting from the transfer integral method is quasi-exactly solvable at several temperatures. This allows exact calculation of the partition function and some correlation functions above and below the short-range order (``kink'') transition, in striking agreement with high resolution Langevin simulations. Interesting connections with the Landau-Ginzburg and double sine-Gordon models are also established.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (embedded using epsf), uses RevTeX plus macro (included). Minor revision to match journal version, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press

Efficacy of different oils used for the extraction of annatto colour from the seeds of Bixa orellana L.

Annatto, a naturally obtained colour is a potential and valuable Non Wood Forest Product (NWFP). It is obtained from the seeds of plant species Bixa orellana L. The present experiment was carried out to find the efficacy of different oils used for annatto colour extraction. Experiment was started with the pretreatment of seeds of B. orellana with soaking in water at 0%, 50%, 100% and 150% (v/w) for 24 hrs at room temperature and colour extraction with castor oil at 100°C showed that maximum bixin (%) was found from the pretreated seeds with 50% (v/w) water soaking i.e., 0.46% bixin. Similarly for oil soluble annatto extraction method, the maximum extraction of bixin (0.99 %) was found with castor oil at 120°C for 1 hr and least bixin (0.03 %) was recorded with mustard oil at 60oC temperature for 1 hr. Sesame oil and ground nut oil were also showed better extractability. Out of different treatments, castor oil at 120°C for 1 hr gave better result with respect to bixin extraction as compared to others

VHE Gamma-ray Afterglow Emission from Nearby GRBs

Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are among the potential extragalactic sources of very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-rays. We discuss the prospects of detecting VHE gamma-rays with current ground-based Cherenkov instruments during the afterglow phase. Using the fireball model, we calculate the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) emission from forward-shock electrons. The modeled results are compared with the observational afterglow data taken with and/or the sensitivity level of ground-based VHE instruments (e.g. STACEE, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, VERITAS, and Whipple). We find that modeled SSC emission from bright and nearby bursts such as GRB 030329 are detectable by these instruments even with a delayed observation time of ~10 hours.Comment: Proceeding of "Heidelberg International Symposium on High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy", held in Heidelberg, 7-11 July 2008, submitted to AIP Conference Proceedings. 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl