Tests of hadronic interactions with measurements by Pierre Auger Observatory

The hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of a number of properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. By comparing these measurements to predictions from air shower simulations, it is possible to both infer the cosmic ray's mass composition and test hadronic interactions beyond the energies reached by accelerators. In this paper, we will present a compilation of results of air shower measurements by Pierre Auger Observatory which are sensitive to the properties of hadronic interactions and can be used to constrain the hadronic interaction models. The inconsistencies found between the interpretation of different observables with regard to primary composition and between their measurements and simulations show that none of the currently used hadronic interaction models can provide a proper description of air showers and, in particular, of the muon production.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2018), Nagoya, Japa

Measurements of Hadron Production in Pion-Carbon Interactions with NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this proceeding we present results on spectra of identified hadrons produced in pion-carbon production interactions, which are of fundamental importance to improve the extensive air shower modeling, and hence the interpretation of ultra-high-energy-cosmic-rays measurements. In particular, our measurements of (anti)baryons and $\rho^0$ production in pion-carbon interactions can contribute to improve the predictions of muon production by air shower simulations using hadronic interaction models. In this contribution we discuss the data analysis and the results from pion-carbon collisions recorded at beam momenta of 158 and 350 GeV/c. The preliminary spectra of $K^{\pm}$ and $p$($\bar{p}$) are shown, as well as a comparison to predictions of hadronic interaction models used in air shower simulations. Additionally, we present final results on the production of $\rho^0$, $\omega$ and $K^{0*}$ resonances.Comment: Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Rays Conference, Busan, South Kore

Recent results from the cosmic ray program of the NA61/SHINE experiment

NA61/SHINE is a fixed target experiment designed to study hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions at the CERN Super-Proton-Synchrotron. In this paper we summarize the results from pion-carbon collisions recorded at beam momenta of 158 and 350 GeV/c. Hadron production measurements in this type of interactions is of fundamental importance for the understanding of the muon production in extensive air showers. In particular, production of (anti)baryons and $\rho^0$ are mechanisms responsible for increasing the number of muons which reaches the ground. The underestimation of the (anti)baryons or $\rho^0$ production rates in current hadronic interaction models could be one of the sources of the excess of muons observed by cosmic ray experiments. The results on the production spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, K$^{\pm}$, p, $\bar{\text{p}}$, $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, K$^{0}_\text{S}$, $\rho^0$, $\omega$ and K$^{0*}$ are presented, as well as their comparison to predictions of hadronic interaction models currently used in air shower simulations.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2018), Nagoya, Japa

Dynamical Delocalization for the 1D Bernoulli Discrete Dirac Operator

An 1D tight-binding version of the Dirac equation is considered; after checking that it recovers the usual discrete Schr?odinger equation in the nonrelativistic limit, it is found that for two-valued Bernoulli potentials the zero mass case presents absence of dynamical localization for specific values of the energy, albeit it has no continuous spectrum. For the other energy values (again excluding some very specific ones) the Bernoulli Dirac system is localized, independently of the mass.Comment: 9 pages, no figures - J. Physics A: Math. Ge

A broad-coverage distributed connectionist model of visual word recognition

In this study we describe a distributed connectionist model of morphological processing, covering a realistically sized sample of the English language. The purpose of this model is to explore how effects of discrete, hierarchically structured morphological paradigms, can arise as a result of the statistical sub-regularities in the mapping between word forms and word meanings. We present a model that learns to produce at its output a realistic semantic representation of a word, on presentation of a distributed representation of its orthography. After training, in three experiments, we compare the outputs of the model with the lexical decision latencies for large sets of English nouns and verbs. We show that the model has developed detailed representations of morphological structure, giving rise to effects analogous to those observed in visual lexical decision experiments. In addition, we show how the association between word form and word meaning also give rise to recently reported differences between regular and irregular verbs, even in their completely regular present-tense forms. We interpret these results as underlining the key importance for lexical processing of the statistical regularities in the mappings between form and meaning

Graviton-photon oscillation in alternative theories of gravity

In this paper we investigate graviton-photon oscillation in the presence of an external magnetic field in alternative theories of gravity. Whereas the effect of an effective refractive index for the electromagnetic radiation was already considered in the literature, we develop the first approach to take into account the effect of the modification of the predictions for gravitational waves in alternative theories of gravity in the phenomenon of graviton-photon mixing.Comment: V1: 5 pages. V2: 9 pages (new style); clarifications in the discussion included, no physics changes; 3 references added. V3: 10 pages, 4 references added, discussion extended. Version accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit

The role of short periodic orbits in quantum maps with continuous openings

We apply a recently developed semiclassical theory of short periodic orbits to the continuously open quantum tribaker map. In this paradigmatic system the trajectories are partially bounced back according to continuous reflectivity functions. This is relevant in many situations that include optical microresonators and more complicated boundary conditions. In a perturbative regime, the shortest periodic orbits belonging to the classical repeller of the open map - a cantor set given by a region of exactly zero reflectivity - prove to be extremely robust in supporting a set of long-lived resonances of the continuously open quantum maps. Moreover, for step like functions a significant reduction in the number needed is obtained, similarly to the completely open situation. This happens despite a strong change in the spectral properties when compared to the discontinuous reflectivity case.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1604.0181

A Link Between the Semi-Major Axis of Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets and Stellar Metallicity

The fact that most extrasolar planets found to date are orbiting metal-rich stars lends credence to the core accretion mechanism of gas giant planet formation over its competitor, the disc instability mechanism. However, the core accretion mechanism is not refined to the point of explaining orbital parameters such as their unexpected semi-major axes and eccentricities. We propose a model, which correlates the metallicity of the host star with the original semi-major axis of its most massive planet, prior to migration, considering that the core accretion scenario governs giant gas planet formation. The model predicts that the optimum regions for planetary formation shift inward as stellar metallicity decreases, providing an explanation for the observed absence of long period planets in metal-poor stars. We compare our predictions with the available data on extrasolar planets for stars with masses similar to the mass of the Sun. A fitting procedure produces an estimate of what we define as the Zero Age Planetary Orbit (ZAPO) curve as a function of the metallicity of the star. The model also hints that the lack of planets circling metal-poor stars may be partly caused by an enhanced destruction probability during the migration process, since the planets lie initially closer to the central stars.Comment: Nature of the replacement: According to recent simulations, the temperature profile, T, is more adequately reproduced by beta = 1 rather than beta = 2. We have introduced a distance scale factor that solves the very fast drop of T for low metallicity and introduces naturally the inferior distance limit of our ZAPO. Under this modification all the fitting process was altere

Dynamical Lower Bounds for 1D Dirac Operators

Quantum dynamical lower bounds for continuous and discrete one-dimensional Dirac operators are established in terms of transfer matrices. Then such results are applied to various models, including the Bernoulli-Dirac one and, in contrast to the discrete case, critical energies are also found for the continuous Dirac case with positive mass.Comment: 18 pages; to appear in Math.