WorldWideScience

Sample records for matter loss observed

  1. CO2 Losses from Terrestrial Organic Matter through Photodegradation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutledge, S.; Campbell, D. I.; Baldocchi, D. D.; Schipper, L. A.

    2010-12-01

    Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) is the sum of CO2 uptake by plants and CO2 losses from both living plants and dead organic matter. In all but a few ecosystem scale studies on terrestrial carbon cycling, losses of CO2 from dead organic matter are assumed to be the result of microbial respiration alone. Here we provide evidence for an alternative, previously largely underestimated mechanism for ecosystem-scale CO2 emissions. The process of photodegradation, the direct breakdown of organic matter by solar radiation, was found to contribute substantially to the ecosystem scale CO2 losses at both a bare peatland in New Zealand, and a summer-dead grassland in California. Comparisons of daytime eddy covariance (EC) data with data collected at the same time using an opaque chamber and the CO2 soil gradient technique, or with night-time EC data collected during similar moisture and temperature conditions were used to quantify the direct effect of exposure of organic matter to solar radiation. At a daily scale, photodegradation contributed up to 62% and 92% of summer mid-day CO2 fluxes at the de-vegetated peatland and at the grassland during the dry season, respectively. Irradiance-induced CO2 losses were estimated to be 19% of the total annual CO2 loss at the peatland, and almost 60% of the dry season CO2 loss at the grassland. Small-scale measurements using a transparent chamber confirmed that CO2 emissions from air-dried peat and grass occurred within seconds of exposure to light when microbial activity was inhibited. Our findings imply that photodegradation could be important for many ecosystems with exposed soil organic matter, litter and/or standing dead material. Potentially affected ecosystems include sparsely vegetated arid and semi-arid ecosystems (e.g. shrublands, savannahs and other grasslands), bare burnt areas, agricultural sites after harvest or cultivation (especially if crop residues are left on the surface), deciduous forests after leaf fall, or ecosystems

  2. CMB bounds on dark matter annihilation: Nucleon energy losses after recombination

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weniger, C.; Serpico, P.D.; Iocco, F.; Bertone, G.

    2013-01-01

    We consider the propagation and energy losses of protons and antiprotons produced by dark matter annihilation at redshifts 100matter annihilations into quarks, gluons and weak gauge bosons, protons and antiprotons carry about 20% of the energy injected into e± and γ’s,

  3. Stress-induced grey matter loss determined by MRI is primarily due to loss of dendrites and their synapses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kassem, Mustafa S; Lagopoulos, Jim; Stait-Gardner, Tim; Price, William S; Chohan, Tariq W; Arnold, Jonathon C; Hatton, Sean N; Bennett, Maxwell R

    2013-04-01

    Stress, unaccompanied by signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, is known to decrease grey matter volume (GMV) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and hippocampus but not the amygdala in humans. We sought to determine if this was the case in stressed mice using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to identify the cellular constituents of the grey matter that quantitatively give rise to such changes. Stressed mice showed grey matter losses of 10 and 15 % in the ACC and hippocampus, respectively but not in the amygdala or the retrosplenial granular area (RSG). Concurrently, no changes in the number or volumes of the somas of neurons, astrocytes or oligodendrocytes were detected. A loss of synaptic spine density of up to 60 % occurred on different-order dendrites in the ACC and hippocampus (CA1) but not in the amygdala or RSG. The loss of spines was accompanied by decreases in cumulative dendritic length of neurons of over 40 % in the ACC and hippocampus (CA1) giving rise to decreases in volume of dendrites of 2.6 mm(3) for the former and 0.6 mm(3) for the latter, with no change in the amygdala or RSG. These values are similar to the MRI-determined loss of GMV following stress of 3.0 and 0.8 mm(3) in ACC and hippocampus, respectively, with no changes in the amygdala or RSG. This quantitative study is the first to relate GMV changes in the cortex measured with MRI to volume changes in cellular constituents of the grey matter.

  4. In vivo evidence of cerebellar atrophy and cerebral white matter loss in Huntington disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fennema-Notestine, C; Archibald, S.L.; Jacobsen, M.W.

    2004-01-01

    and education. Primary analyses defined six subcortical regions, the gray and white matter of primary cortical lobes and cerebellum, and abnormal signal in the cerebral white matter. RESULTS: As expected, basal ganglia and cerebral cortical gray matter volumes were significantly smaller in HD. The HD group also...... demonstrated significant cerebral white matter loss and an increase in the amount of abnormal signal in the white matter; occipital white matter appeared more affected than other cerebral white matter regions. Cortical gray and white matter measures were significantly related to caudate volume. Cerebellar gray...

  5. Effect of curing methods, packaging and gamma irradiation on the weight loss and dry matter percent of garlic during curing and storage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahmoud, A.A.; El-Oksh, I.I.; Farag, S.E.A.

    1988-01-01

    The Egyptian garlic plants, showed higher percent of weight loss at 17 or 27 days from curing compared to those of Chinese plants. The curing period of 17 days seemed satisfactory for the Egyptian cultivar, whereas, 27 days seemed to be enough for the Chinese garlic. No significant differences were observed between common and shaded curing methods in weight loss per cent. The Chinese garlic contained higher dry matter percentage than those of the Egyptian cultivar. Shaded cured plants of the two cultivars contained higher dry matter percent than those subjected to the common curing methods. Irradiation of garlic bulbs, shaded curing method and sack packaging decreased, in general the weight loss during storage in comparison with other treatments

  6. WMAP haze: Directly observing dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forbes, Michael McNeil; Zhitnitsky, Ariel R.

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we show that dark matter in the form of dense matter/antimatter nuggets could provide a natural and unified explanation for several distinct bands of diffuse radiation from the core of the Galaxy spanning over 13 orders of magnitude in frequency. We fix all of the phenomenological properties of this model by matching to x-ray observations in the keV band, and then calculate the unambiguously predicted thermal emission in the microwave band, at frequencies smaller by 11 orders of magnitude. Remarkably, the intensity and spectrum of the emitted thermal radiation are consistent with - and could entirely explain - the so-called 'WMAP haze': a diffuse microwave excess observed from the core of our Galaxy by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This provides another strong constraint of our proposal, and a remarkable nontrivial validation. If correct, our proposal identifies the nature of the dark matter, explains baryogenesis, and provides a means to directly probe the matter distribution in our Galaxy by analyzing several different types of diffuse emissions.

  7. Optimized VBM in patients with Alzheimer's disease: gray matter loss and its correlation with cognitive function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Seon Hyeong; Moon, Won Jin; Chung, Eun Chul; Lee, Min Hee; Roh, Hong Gee; Park, Kwang Bo; Na, Duck Ryul

    2005-01-01

    To investigate the regional changes in gray matter volume by using optimized voxel based morphometry in the whole brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to determine its correlation with cognitive function. Nineteen patients with AD (mean mini mental state examination (MMSE) score = 20.4) and 19 age-matched control subjects (mean MMSE score 29) participated in this prospective study. T1-weighted 3D-SPGR scans were obtained for each subject. These T1-weighted images were spatially normalized into study-specific T1 template and segmented into gray matter, white matter and CSF. After the images were modulated and smoothed, all of the gray matter images were compared with control images by using voxel-wise statistical parametric test (two-sample-test). In patients with AD, total gray matter volume was significantly smaller than normal control (552 ± 39 mL vs. 632 ± 51 mL, ρ 0.001). Significant gray matter loss was seen in both the hippocampus and amygdala complexs, and the parahippocampi and frontoparietal cortices (ρ < 0.01, family wise error corrected). Left cerebral atrophy was more prominent than the right. Loss of gray matter volume in both the superior frontal gyri and left inferior temporal gyrus had a strong correlation with lower MMSE score. Optimized VBM was able to visualize pathologic changes of AD in vivo. In AD there was widespread gray matter volume loss in the frontoparietal lobes as well as the medial temporal lobes and had a strong correlation between volume loss of specific cortical areas and MMSE score

  8. Ultimate energy density of observable cold baryonic matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lattimer, James M; Prakash, Madappa

    2005-03-25

    We demonstrate that the largest measured mass of a neutron star establishes an upper bound to the energy density of observable cold baryonic matter. An equation of state-independent expression satisfied by both normal neutron stars and self-bound quark matter stars is derived for the largest energy density of matter inside stars as a function of their masses. The largest observed mass sets the lowest upper limit to the density. Implications from existing and future neutron star mass measurements are discussed.

  9. Observing Primeval Galaxies and Dark Matter with LAIRTS

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-12-05

    in the form of black holes. Previously, we had argued that the dark matter in the halo of spiral galaxies is not baryonic . Now we have extended those...consider each type of barvonic matter and show the contradictions that would exist if the dark matter were made up of each form of baryonic matter . A topic...Classification) Observing Primeval Galaxies and Dark Matter with LAIRTS 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) 13a. TYPE OF REPORT 13b. TIME COVERED 14. DATE OF REPORT (Year

  10. Experimental Study of Soil Organic Matter Loss From Cultivated Field Plots In The Venezuelan Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellanger, B.; Huon, S.; Velasquez, F.; Vallès, V.; Girardin A, C.; Mariotti, A. B.

    The question of discriminating sources of organic matter in suspended particles of stream flows can be addressed by using total organic carbon (TOC) concentration and stable isotope (13C, 15N) measurements when constant fluxes of organic matter supply can be assumed. However, little is known on the dynamics of organic matter release during soil erosion and on the temporal stability of its isotopic signature. In this study, we have monitored soil organic carbon loss and water runoff using natural rainfall events on three experimental field plots with different vegetation cover (bare soil, maize and coffee fields), set up on natural slopes of a tropical mountainous watershed in NW Venezuela (09°13'32'' ­ 09°10'00''N, 70°13'49'' ­ 70°18'34''W). Runoff and soil loss are markedly superior for the bare field plot than for the coffee field plot: by a factor 15 ­ 36, respectively, for the five-month experiment, and by a factor 30 ­ 120, respectively, during a single rainfall event experiment. Since runoff and soil organic matter loss are closely linked during most of the flow (at the time scales of this study), TOC concentration in suspended matter is constant. Furthermore, stable isotope compositions reflect those of top-soil organic matter from which they originate.

  11. Organic Matter Loading Modifies the Microbial Community Responsible for Nitrogen Loss in Estuarine Sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babbin, Andrew R; Jayakumar, Amal; Ward, Bess B

    2016-04-01

    Coastal marine sediments, as locations of substantial fixed nitrogen loss, are very important to the nitrogen budget and to the primary productivity of the oceans. Coastal sediment systems are also highly dynamic and subject to periodic natural and anthropogenic organic substrate additions. The response to organic matter by the microbial community involved in nitrogen loss processes was evaluated using mesocosms of Chesapeake Bay sediments. Over the course of a 50-day incubation, rates of anammox and denitrification were measured weekly using (15)N tracer incubations, and samples were collected for genetic analysis. Rates of both nitrogen loss processes and gene abundances associated with them corresponded loosely, probably because heterogeneities in sediments obscured a clear relationship. The rates of denitrification were stimulated more, and the fraction of nitrogen loss attributed to anammox slightly reduced, by the higher organic matter addition. Furthermore, the large organic matter pulse drove a significant and rapid shift in the denitrifier community composition as determined using a nirS microarray, indicating that the diversity of these organisms plays an essential role in responding to anthropogenic inputs. We also suggest that the proportion of nitrogen loss due to anammox in these coastal estuarine sediments may be underestimated due to temporal dynamics as well as from methodological artifacts related to conventional sediment slurry incubation approaches.

  12. Baseline Gray- and White Matter Volume Predict Successful Weight Loss in the Elderly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Fatemeh; Paolini, Brielle M.; Burdette, Jonathan H.; Marsh, Anthony P.; Rejeski, W. Jack; Laurienti, Paul J.

    2016-01-01

    Objective The purpose of this study is to investigate if structural brain phenotypes can be used to predict weight loss success following behavioral interventions in older adults that are overweight or obese and have cardiometabolic dysfunction. Methods A support vector machine (SVM) with a repeated random subsampling validation approach was used to classify participants into the upper and lower halves of the weight loss distribution following 18 months of a weight loss intervention. Predictions were based on baseline brain gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume from 52 individuals that completed the intervention and a magnetic resonance imaging session. Results The SVM resulted in an average classification accuracy of 72.62 % based on GM and WM volume. A receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that classification performance was robust based on an area under the curve of 0.82. Conclusions Our findings suggest that baseline brain structure is able to predict weight loss success following 18 months of treatment. The identification of brain structure as a predictor of successful weight loss is an innovative approach to identifying phenotypes for responsiveness to intensive lifestyle interventions. This phenotype could prove useful in future research focusing on the tailoring of treatment for weight loss. PMID:27804273

  13. Observational Constraints on Quark Matter in Neutron Stars

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2007-01-01

    We study the observational constraints of mass and redshift on the properties of the equation of state (EOS) for quark matter in compact stars based on the quasi-particle description. We discuss two scenarios: strange stars and hybrid stars. We construct the equations of state utilizing an extended MIT bag model taking the medium effect into account for quark matter and the relativistic mean field theory for hadron matter. We show that quark matter may exist in strange stars and in the interior of neutron stars. The bag constant is a key parameter that affects strongly the mass of strange stars. The medium effect can lead to the stiffer hybrid-star EOS approaching the pure hadronic EOS, due to the reduction of quark matter, and hence the existence of heavy hybrid stars. We find that a middle range coupling constant may be the best choice for the hybrid stars being compatible with the observational constraints.

  14. Partial volume effect-corrected FDG PET and grey matter volume loss in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samuraki, Miharu; Yanase, Daisuke; Yamada, Masahito; Matsunari, Ichiro; Chen, Wei-Ping; Yajima, Kazuyoshi; Fujikawa, Akihiko; Takeda, Nozomi; Nishimura, Shintaro; Matsuda, Hiroshi

    2007-01-01

    Although 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET is an established imaging technique to assess brain glucose utilisation, accurate measurement of tracer concentration is confounded by the presence of partial volume effect (PVE) due to the limited spatial resolution of PET, which is particularly true in atrophic brains such as those encountered in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our aim was to investigate the effects of PVE correction on FDG PET in conjunction with voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in patients with mild AD. Thirty-nine AD patients and 73 controls underwent FDG PET and MRI. The PVE-corrected grey matter PET images were obtained using an MRI-based three-compartment method. Additionally, the results of PET were compared with grey matter loss detected by VBM. Before PVE correction, reduced FDG uptake was observed in posterior cingulate gyri (PCG) and parieto-temporal lobes (PTL) in AD patients, which persisted after PVE correction. Notably, PVE correction revealed relatively preserved FDG uptake in hippocampal areas, despite the grey matter loss in medial temporal lobe (MTL) revealed by VBM. FDG uptake in PCG and PTL is reduced in AD regardless of whether or not PVE correction is applied, supporting the notion that the reduced FDG uptake in these areas is not the result of atrophy. Furthermore, FDG uptake by grey matter tissue in the MTL, including hippocampal areas, is relatively preserved, suggesting that compensatory mechanisms may play a role in patients with mild AD. (orig.)

  15. Probing hot dense matter with jet energy loss

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levai, P.; Barnafoeldi, G.G.; Gyulassy, M.; Vitev, I.; Fai, G.; Zhang, Y.

    2002-01-01

    We study, in a pQCD calculation augmented by nuclear effects, the jet energy loss needed to reproduce the π 0 spectra in Au+Au collisions at large p T , measured by PHENIX at RHIC. The transverse width of the parton momentum distributions (intrinsic k T ) is used phenomenologically to obtain a reliable baseline pp result. Jet quenching is applied to the nuclear spectra (including shadowing and multiscattering) to fit the data. Latest results on fluctuating gluon radiation are considered to measure the opacity of the produced hot dense matter at RHIC energy. (orig.)

  16. Properties of galactic dark matter: Constraints from astronomical observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burch, B.; Cowsik, R.

    2013-01-01

    The distributions of normal matter and of dark matter in the Galaxy are coupled to each other as they both move in the common gravitational potential. In order to fully exploit this interplay and to derive the various properties of dark matter relevant to their direct and indirect detection, we have comprehensively reviewed the astronomical observations of the spatial and velocity distributions of the components of normal matter. We then postulate that the phase-space distribution of dark matter follows a lowered-isothermal form and self-consistently solve Poisson's equation to construct several models for the spatial and velocity distributions of dark matter. In this paper, we compute the total gravitational potential of the normal and dark matter components and investigate their consistency with current observations of the rotation curve of the Galaxy and of the spatial and velocity distributions of blue horizontal-branch and blue straggler stars. Even with this demand of consistency, a large number of models with a range of parameters characterizing the dark matter distribution remain. We find that the best choice of parameters, within the range of allowed values for the surface density of the disk 55 M ☉ pc –2 , are the following: the dark matter density at the Galactic center ρ DM, c ≈ 100-250 GeV cm –3 , the local dark matter density ρ DM (R 0 ) ≈ 0.56-0.72 GeV cm –3 , and the rms speed of dark matter particles 〈v DM 2 (R 0 )〉 1/2 ≈490−−550 km s –1 . We also discuss possible astronomical observations that may further limit the range of the allowed models. The predictions of the allowed models for direct and indirect detection will be discussed separately in a companion paper.

  17. Optimized VBM in patients with Alzheimer's disease: gray matter loss and its correlation with cognitive function

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Seon Hyeong; Moon, Won Jin; Chung, Eun Chul; Lee, Min Hee; Roh, Hong Gee; Park, Kwang Bo; Na, Duck Ryul [Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-11-15

    To investigate the regional changes in gray matter volume by using optimized voxel based morphometry in the whole brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and to determine its correlation with cognitive function. Nineteen patients with AD (mean mini mental state examination (MMSE) score = 20.4) and 19 age-matched control subjects (mean MMSE score 29) participated in this prospective study. T1-weighted 3D-SPGR scans were obtained for each subject. These T1-weighted images were spatially normalized into study-specific T1 template and segmented into gray matter, white matter and CSF. After the images were modulated and smoothed, all of the gray matter images were compared with control images by using voxel-wise statistical parametric test (two-sample-test). In patients with AD, total gray matter volume was significantly smaller than normal control (552 {+-} 39 mL vs. 632 {+-} 51 mL, {rho} 0.001). Significant gray matter loss was seen in both the hippocampus and amygdala complexs, and the parahippocampi and frontoparietal cortices ({rho} < 0.01, family wise error corrected). Left cerebral atrophy was more prominent than the right. Loss of gray matter volume in both the superior frontal gyri and left inferior temporal gyrus had a strong correlation with lower MMSE score. Optimized VBM was able to visualize pathologic changes of AD in vivo. In AD there was widespread gray matter volume loss in the frontoparietal lobes as well as the medial temporal lobes and had a strong correlation between volume loss of specific cortical areas and MMSE score.

  18. Measurement of Quark Energy Loss in Cold Nuclear Matter at Fermilab E906/SeaQuest

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Po-Ju [Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

    2017-01-01

    Parton energy loss is a process within QCD that draws considerable interest. The measurement of parton energy loss can provide valuable information for other hard-scattering processes in nuclei, and also serves as an important tool for exploring the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quantifying the energy loss in cold nuclear matter will help to set a baseline relative to energy loss in the QGP. With the Drell-Yan process, the energy loss of incoming quarks in cold nuclear matter can be ideally investigated since the final state interaction is expected to be minimal. E906/SeaQuest is a fixed-target experiment using the 120 GeV proton beam from the Fermilab Main Injector and has been collecting data from p+p, p+d, p+C, p+Fe, and p+W collisions. Within the E906 kinematic coverage of Drell-Yan production via the dimuon channel, the quark energy loss can be measured in a regime where other nuclear effects are expected to be small. In this thesis, the study of quark ener gy loss from different cold nuclear targets is presented.

  19. Gray matter in the brain : Differences associated with tinnitus and hearing loss

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boyen, Kris; Langers, Dave R. M.; de Kleine, Emile; van Dijk, Pim

    Tinnitus, usually associated with hearing loss, is characterized by the perception of sound without an external sound source. The pathophysiology of tinnitus is poorly understood. In the present study, voxel-based morphometiy (VBM) was employed to identify gray matter differences related to hearing

  20. Non-baryonic dark matter: observational evidence and detection methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergstroem, Lars

    2000-01-01

    The evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A general picture emerges, where both baryonic and non-baryonic dark matter is needed to explain current observations. In particular, a wealth of observational information points to the existence of a non-baryonic component, contributing between around 20 and 40% of the critical mass density needed to make the universe geometrically flat on large scales. In addition, an even larger contribution from vacuum energy (or cosmological constant) is indicated by recent observations. To the theoretically favoured particle candidates for non-baryonic dark matter belong axions, supersymmetric particles, and of less importance, massive neutrinos. The theoretical foundation and experimental situation for each of these is reviewed. Direct and indirect methods for detection of supersymmetric dark matter are described in some detail. Present experiments are just reaching the required sensitivity to discover or rule out some of these candidates, and major improvements are planned over the coming years. (author)

  1. Quark nugget dark matter: Comparison with radio observations of nearby galaxies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lawson, K., E-mail: klawson@phas.ubc.ca; Zhitnitsky, A.R.

    2016-06-10

    It has been recently claimed that radio observations of nearby spiral galaxies essentially rule out a dark matter source for the galactic haze [1]. Here we consider the low energy thermal emission from a quark nugget dark matter model in the context of microwave emission from the galactic centre and radio observations of nearby Milky Way like galaxies. We demonstrate that observed emission levels do not strongly constrain this specific dark matter candidate across a broad range of the allowed parameter space in drastic contrast with conventional dark matter models based on the WIMP paradigm.

  2. Dry matter losses and quality changes during short rotation coppice willow storage in chip or rod form.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittaker, Carly; Yates, Nicola E; Powers, Stephen J; Misselbrook, Tom; Shield, Ian

    2018-05-01

    This study compares dry matter losses and quality changes during the storage of SRC willow as chips and as rods. A wood chip stack consisting of approximately 74 tonnes of fresh biomass, or 31 tonnes dry matter (DM) was built after harvesting in the spring. Three weeks later, four smaller stacks of rods with an average weight of 0.8 tonnes, or 0.4 tonnes DM were built. During the course of the experiment temperature recorders placed in the stacks found that the wood chip pile reached 60 °C within 10 days of construction, but the piles of rods remained mostly at ambient temperatures. Dry matter losses were calculated by using pre-weighed independent samples within the stacks and by weighing the whole stack before and after storage. After 6 months the wood chip stack showed a DM loss of between 19.8 and 22.6%, and mean losses of 23.1% were measured from the 17 independent samples. In comparison, the rod stacks showed an average stack DM loss of between 0 and 9%, and between 1.4% and 10.6% loss from the independent samples. Analysis of the stored material suggests that storing willow in small piles of rods produces a higher quality fuel in terms of lower moisture and ash content; however, it has a higher fine content compared to storage in chip form. Therefore, according to the two storage methods tested here, there may be a compromise between maximising the net dry matter yield from SRC willow and the final fine content of the fuel.

  3. Dry Matter Losses and Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Outside Storage of Short Rotation Coppice Willow Chip.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittaker, Carly; Yates, Nicola E; Powers, Stephen J; Misselbrook, Tom; Shield, Ian

    This study examined the dry matter losses and the greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations within two short rotation coppice (SRC) willow wood chip storage heaps. One heap was built on a grassland area (East Midlands) and the other (Rothamsted) on a concrete hard standing. A series of 1- and 3-m probes were embedded in the heaps in order to retrieve gas samples for analysis, and pre-weighed net bags were positioned in the core of the heap to detect dry matter losses. The bagged samples showed dry matter losses of 18 and 19 % in the East Midlands and Rothamsted heaps after 210 and 97 days storage, respectively. The Rothamsted heap showed a whole-heap dry matter loss of 21 %. During this time, the wood chips dried from 54 to 39 % moisture content in the East Midlands heap and 50 to 43 % at Rothamsted. The results from analysing the whole Rothamsted heap indicated an overall loss of 1.5 GJ per tonne stored, although measurements from bagged samples in the core suggested that the chips dried sufficiently to have a minimal energy loss from storage. The process of mixing the heap, however, led to incorporation of wet outer layers and hence the average moisture content was higher in an average sample of chip. After establishment of the heaps, the temperature rose rapidly and this correlated with a peak in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration within the heap. A peak in methane (CH 4 ) concentration was also detected in both heaps, though more noticeably in the East Midlands heap after around 55 days. In both instances, the peak CH 4 concentration occurred as CO 2 concentrations dropped, suggesting that after an active period of aerobic decomposition in the first 2 months of storage, the conditions in the heap became anaerobic. The results from this study suggest that outside wood chip storage is not an efficient method of storing biomass, though this may be location-specific as there are some studies showing lower dry matter losses. It is necessary to explore other

  4. Different regional gray matter loss in recent onset PTSD and non PTSD after a single prolonged trauma exposure.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yunchun Chen

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Gray matter loss in the limbic structures was found in recent onset post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD patients. In the present study, we measured regional gray matter volume in trauma survivors to verify the hypothesis that stress may cause different regional gray matter loss in trauma survivors with and without recent onset PTSD. METHOD: High resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI were obtained from coal mine flood disaster survivors with (n = 10 and without (n = 10 recent onset PTSD and 20 no trauma exposed normal controls. The voxel-based morphometry (VBM method was used to measure the regional gray matter volume in three groups, the correlations of PTSD symptom severities with the gray matter volume in trauma survivors were also analyzed by multiple regression. RESULTS: Compared with normal controls, recent onset PTSD patients had smaller gray matter volume in left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, and non PTSD subjects had smaller gray matter volume in the right pulvinar and left pallidum. The gray matter volume of the trauma survivors correlated negatively with CAPS scores in the right frontal lobe, left anterior and middle cingulate cortex, bilateral cuneus cortex, right middle occipital lobe, while in the recent onset PTSD, the gray matter volume correlated negatively with CAPS scores in bilateral superior medial frontal lobe and right ACC. CONCLUSION: The present study identified gray matter loss in different regions in recent onset PTSD and non PTSD after a single prolonged trauma exposure. The gray matter volume of left dorsal ACC associated with the development of PTSD, while the gray matter volume of right pulvinar and left pallidum associated with the response to the severe stress. The atrophy of the frontal and limbic cortices predicts the symptom severities of the PTSD.

  5. Dry matter losses of grass, lucerne and maize silages in bunker silos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brigitte Koehler

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available An efficient feed management is important for a sustainable and economic agricultural production. One of the main points for improving the efficiency is the reduction of feed losses. In the present investigation the dry matter (DM losses of grass, lucerne and maize silages in farm scaled bunker silos were analysed. The method of determining DM losses was the total-in versus total-out DM mass flow of the silos, including the determination of DM content and other silage parameters via manual sampling. The results taken from 48 silos showed on average for all investigated crops 9–12% of DM losses. Density and feed out rate showed a negative correlation to DM losses in maize silages. According to the applied method for determining DM losses on farm scale, a guideline of 8% can be suggested for maximum DM losses in bunker silos for grass and maize silages. The described method seems to be applicable for improving the feed management by using largely automated measurements on the harvest and feeding side.

  6. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in microalgal photobioreactors: a potential loss in solar energy conversion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulatt, Chris J; Thomas, David N

    2010-11-01

    Microalgae are considered to be a potential alternative to terrestrial crops for bio-energy production due to their relatively high productivity per unit area of land. In this work we examined the amount of dissolved organic matter exuded by algal cells cultured in photobioreactors, to examine whether a significant fraction of the photoassimilated biomass could potentially be lost from the harvestable biomass. We found that the mean maximum amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released measured 6.4% and 17.3% of the total organic carbon in cultures of Chlorellavulgaris and Dunaliella tertiolecta, respectively. This DOM in turn supported a significant growth of bacterial biomass, representing a further loss of the algal assimilated carbon. The release of these levels of DOC indicates that a significant fraction of the photosynthetically fixed organic matter could be lost into the surrounding water, suggesting that the actual biomass yield per hectare for industrial purposes could be somewhat less than expected. A simple and inexpensive optical technique, based on chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) measurements, to monitor such losses in commercial PBRs is discussed.

  7. Organic matter loss from cultivated peat soils in Sweden

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berglund, Örjan; Berglund, Kerstin

    2015-04-01

    The degradation of drained peat soils in agricultural use is an underestimated source of loss of organic matter. Oxidation (biological degradation) of agricultural peat soils causes a loss of organic matter (OM) of 11 - 22 t ha-1 y-1 causing a CO2 emission of 20 - 40 t ha-1 y-1. Together with the associated N2O emissions from mineralized N this totals in the EU to about 98.5 Mton CO2 eq per year. Peat soils are very prone to climate change and it is expected that at the end of this century these values are doubled. The degradation products pollute surface waters. Wind erosion of peat soils in arable agriculture can cause losses of 3 - 30 t ha-1 y-1 peat also causing air pollution (fine organic particles). Subsidence rates are 1 - 2 cm per year which leads to deteriorating drainage effect and make peat soils below sea or inland water levels prone to flooding. Flooding agricultural peat soils is in many cases not possible without high costs, high GHG emissions and severe water pollution. Moreover sometimes cultural and historic landscapes are lost and meadow birds areas are lost. In areas where the possibility to regulate the water table is limited the mitigation options are either to increase biomass production that can be used as bioenergy to substitute some fossil fuel, try to slow down the break-down of the peat by different amendments that inhibit microbial activity, or permanent flooding. The negative effects of wind erosion can be mitigated by reducing wind speed or different ways to protect the soil by crops or fiber sheets. In a newly started project in Sweden a typical peat soil with and without amendment of foundry sand is cropped with reed canary grass, tall fescue and timothy to investigate the yield and greenhouse gas emissions from the different crops and how the sand effect the trafficability and GHG emissions.

  8. The edges of dark matter halos: theory and observations

    OpenAIRE

    More, Surhud

    2017-01-01

    I discuss recent theoretical advances which have led us to suggest a physical definition for the boundary of dark matter halos. We propose using the "splashback radius" which corresponds to the apocenter of recently infalling material as a physical boundary for dark matter halos. We also present how the splashback radius can be detected in observations.

  9. The Edges Of Dark Matter Halos: Theory And Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    More, Surhud

    2017-06-01

    I discuss recent theoretical advances which have led us to suggest a physical definition for the boundary of dark matter halos. We propose using the "splashback radius" which corresponds to the apocenter of recently infalling material as a physical boundary for dark matter halos. We also present how the splashback radius can be detected in observations.

  10. Silage review: Factors affecting dry matter and quality losses in silages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borreani, G; Tabacco, E; Schmidt, R J; Holmes, B J; Muck, R E

    2018-05-01

    An overview was made of dry matter (DM) and quality losses that occur during the ensiling process from the field through the feeding phase. The aim was to review the relevant published literature of the last 15 yr focusing on developments achieved after the publication of the book Silage Science and Technology. This review discusses the factors affecting DM and quality losses in terms of field and pre-ensiling conditions, respiration and temperature at ensiling, fermentation patterns, methods of covering and weighting the silage cover, and management of aerobic deterioration. The possibility of reducing DM and quality losses during the ensiling process requires knowledge of how to measure losses on farm and establish the status of the silage during the feed-out phase, implementing the most effective management practices to avoid air exposure during conservation and reduce silage aerobic deterioration during feeding. The paper concludes with future perspectives and recommended management practices to reduce losses and increase efficiency over the whole ensiling process in view of increasing sustainability of the livestock production chain. The Authors. Published by FASS Inc. and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

  11. Retardation of hadrons in passing through intranuclear matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strugalski, Z.

    1988-01-01

    Hadrons are reduced in velocities by their passages through layers of intranuclear matter - due to strong interactions, similarly as electrified particles are reduced in velocities by their passages through layers of materials - due to electromagnetic interactions. The observed hadron energy loss in intranuclear matter can be treated as an analog of the well-known energy loss of electrified particles in materials. 24 refs.; 2 figs.; 1 tab

  12. Solar Neutrino Observables Sensitive to Matter Effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Minakata

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We discuss constraints on the coefficient AMSW which is introduced to simulate the effect of weaker or stronger matter potential for electron neutrinos with the current and future solar neutrino data. The currently available solar neutrino data leads to a bound AMSW=1.47+0.54−0.42(+1.88−0.82 at 1σ (3σ CL, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction AMSW=1. For weaker matter potential (AMSW1, the bound is milder and is dominated by the day-night asymmetry of 8B neutrino flux recently observed by Super-Kamiokande. Among the list of observables of ongoing and future solar neutrino experiments, we find that (1 an improved precision of the day-night asymmetry of 8B neutrinos, (2 precision measurements of the low-energy quasi-monoenergetic neutrinos, and (3 the detection of the upturn of the 8B neutrino spectrum at low energies are the best choices to improve the bound on AMSW.

  13. Evidence of dark matter from biological observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zioutas, K.

    1990-01-01

    In accordance with the generally accepted properties of dark matter (DM) candidates, the probability of their interaction with living matter must be equal to that for inorganic matter, and the expected effects might be unique and provide the etiology related to the appearance of several biological phenomena having sometimes fatal late effects. Although collisions with DM are rare, the charged secondaries (recoiling atoms) are expected to be high linear energy transfer particles favouring the highest relative biological effectiveness values for this, as yet invisible, part of the natural background radiation. A few cases are given, where a correlation between DM interaction and phenomena in living matter might already exist, or can show up in existing data: biorhythms with periodicities identical to known cosmic frequencies are explainable with gravitationally clustered DM around the sun, the moon, the earth, etc. The observed arrhythmia, when biological probes are moved (in airplanes, satellites, etc.) support this idea strongly. It is also proposed to implement some of the biological properties and processes (such as element composition and chemical reactions) in future DM detectors in order to improve their sensitivity. The interdisciplinary feedback is bidirectional: huge DM detectors could be used in attempt to understand enigmatic biological behaviour. (orig.)

  14. The impact of dry matter loss during herbaceous biomass storage on net greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels production

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emery, Isaac R.; Mosier, Nathan S.

    2012-01-01

    Life cycle inventory models of greenhouse gas emissions from biofuel production have become tightly integrated into government mandates and other policies to encourage biofuel production. Current models do not include life cycle impacts of biomass storage or reflect current literature on emissions from soil and biomass decomposition. In this study, the GREET model framework was used to determine net greenhouse gas emissions during ethanol production from corn and switchgrass via three biomass storage systems: wet ensiling of whole corn, and indoor and outdoor dry bale storage of corn stover and switchgrass. Dry matter losses during storage were estimated from the literature and used to modify GREET inventory analysis. Results showed that biomass stability is a key parameter affecting fuel production per farmed hectare and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Corn silage may generate 5358 L/ha of ethanol at 26.5 g CO 2 eq/MJ, relative to 5654 L/ha at 52.3 g CO 2 eq/MJ from combined corn stover and conventional grain corn ethanol production, or 3919 L/ha at 21.3 g CO 2 eq/MJ from switchgrass. Dry matter losses can increase net emissions by 3–25% (ensiling), 5–53% (bales outdoors), or 1–12% (bales indoors), decreasing the net GHG reduction of ethanol over gasoline by up to 10.9%. Greater understanding of biomass storage losses and greenhouse gas fluxes during storage is necessary to accurately assess biomass storage options to ensure that the design of biomass supply logistics systems meet GHG reduction mandates for biofuel production. -- Highlights: ► Analyzed the impact of biomass loss during storage. ► Probable dry matter losses strongly depend on storage method and infrastructure. ► Assessed impact of storage losses on LCA for cellulosic ethanol production. ► Storage losses increase GHG emissions by 1–53% depending upon storage conditions.

  15. Grey matter volume loss is associated with specific clinical motor signs in Huntington's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coppen, Emma M; Jacobs, Milou; van den Berg-Huysmans, Annette A; van der Grond, Jeroen; Roos, Raymund A C

    2018-01-01

    Motor disturbances are clinical hallmarks of Huntington's disease (HD) and involve chorea, dystonia, hypokinesia and visuomotor dysfunction. Investigating the association between specific motor signs and different regional volumes is important to understand the heterogeneity of HD. To investigate the motor phenotype of HD and associations with subcortical and cortical grey matter volume loss. Structural T1-weighted MRI scans of 79 HD patients and 30 healthy controls were used to calculate volumes of seven subcortical structures including the nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, thalamus, caudate nucleus, putamen, pallidum and amygdala. Multiple linear regression analyses, corrected for age, gender, CAG, MRI scan protocol and normalized brain volume, were performed to assess the relationship between subcortical volumes and different motor subdomains (i.e. eye movements, chorea, dystonia, hypokinesia/rigidity and gait/balance). Voxel-based morphometry analysis was used to investigate the relationship between cortical volume changes and motor signs. Subcortical volume loss of the accumbens nucleus, caudate nucleus, putamen, and pallidum were associated with higher chorea scores. No other subcortical region was significantly associated with motor symptoms after correction for multiple comparisons. Voxel-based cortical grey matter volume reductions in occipital regions were related with an increase in eye movement scores. In HD, chorea is mainly associated with subcortical volume loss, while eye movements are more related to cortical volume loss. Both subcortical and cortical degeneration has an impact on motor impairment in HD. This implies that there is a widespread contribution of different brain regions resulting in the clinical motor presentation seen in HD patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Early brain loss in circuits affected by Alzheimer’s disease is predicted by fornix microstructure but may be independent of gray matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evan eFletcher

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available In a cohort of community-recruited elderly subjects with normal cognition at initial evaluation, we found that baseline fornix white matter microstructure was significantly correlated with early volumetric longitudinal tissue change across a region of interest (called fSROI, which overlaps circuits known to be selectively vulnerable to AD pathology. Other white matter and gray matter regions had much weaker or non-existent associations with longitudinal tissue change. Tissue loss in fSROI was in turn a significant factor in a survival model of cognitive decline, as was baseline fornix microstructure. These findings suggest that WM deterioration in the fornix and tissue loss in fSROI may be the early beginnings of posterior limbic circuit and default mode network degeneration. We also found that gray matter baseline volumes in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus predicted cognitive decline in survival models. But since GM regions did not also significantly predict brain tissue loss, our results may imply a view in which early, prodromal deterioration appears as two quasi independent processes in white and gray matter regions of the limbic circuit crucial to memory.

  17. Observational constraints on variable equation of state parameters of dark matter and dark energy after Planck

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suresh Kumar

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we study a cosmological model in general relativity within the framework of spatially flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker space–time filled with ordinary matter (baryonic, radiation, dark matter and dark energy, where the latter two components are described by Chevallier–Polarski–Linder equation of state parameters. We utilize the observational data sets from SNLS3, BAO and Planck + WMAP9 + WiggleZ measurements of matter power spectrum to constrain the model parameters. We find that the current observational data offer tight constraints on the equation of state parameter of dark matter. We consider the perturbations and study the behavior of dark matter by observing its effects on CMB and matter power spectra. We find that the current observational data favor the cold dark matter scenario with the cosmological constant type dark energy at the present epoch.

  18. Observational constraints on variable equation of state parameters of dark matter and dark energy after Planck

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kumar, Suresh; Xu, Lixin

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we study a cosmological model in general relativity within the framework of spatially flat Friedmann–Robertson–Walker space–time filled with ordinary matter (baryonic), radiation, dark matter and dark energy, where the latter two components are described by Chevallier–Polarski–Linder equation of state parameters. We utilize the observational data sets from SNLS3, BAO and Planck + WMAP9 + WiggleZ measurements of matter power spectrum to constrain the model parameters. We find that the current observational data offer tight constraints on the equation of state parameter of dark matter. We consider the perturbations and study the behavior of dark matter by observing its effects on CMB and matter power spectra. We find that the current observational data favor the cold dark matter scenario with the cosmological constant type dark energy at the present epoch

  19. Testing the Dark Matter Scenario for PeV Neutrinos Observed in IceCube.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murase, Kohta; Laha, Ranjan; Ando, Shin'ichiro; Ahlers, Markus

    2015-08-14

    Late time decay of very heavy dark matter is considered as one of the possible explanations for diffuse PeV neutrinos observed in IceCube. We consider implications of multimessenger constraints, and show that proposed models are marginally consistent with the diffuse γ-ray background data. Critical tests are possible by a detailed analysis and identification of the sub-TeV isotropic diffuse γ-ray data observed by Fermi and future observations of sub-PeV γ rays by observatories like HAWC or Tibet AS+MD. In addition, with several-year observations by next-generation telescopes such as IceCube-Gen2, muon neutrino searches for nearby dark matter halos such as the Virgo cluster should allow us to rule out or support the dark matter models, independently of γ-ray and anisotropy tests.

  20. Probing dark matter decay and annihilation with Fermi LAT observations of nearby galaxy clusters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Xiaoyuan [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China). National Astronomical Observatories; Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Vertongen, Gilles [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, 75 - Paris (France); Weniger, Christoph [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany)

    2011-09-15

    Galaxy clusters are promising targets for indirect dark matter searches. Gamma-ray signatures from the decay or annihilation of dark matter particles inside these clusters could be observable with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Based on three years of Fermi LAT gamma-ray data, we analyze the flux coming from eight nearby clusters individually as well as in a combined likelihood analysis. Concentrating mostly on signals from dark matter decay, we take into account uncertainties of the cluster masses as determined by X-ray observations and model the cluster emission with extended sources. We do not find significant emission from any of the considered clusters and present limits on the dark matter lifetime and annihilation cross-section. We compare our lifetime limits derived from cluster observations with the limits that can be obtained from the extragalactic gamma-ray background, and find that in case of hadronic decay the cluster limits become competitive at dark matter masses below a few hundred GeV. Finally, we show that in presence of dark matter substructures down to 10{sup -6} solar masses the limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section could improve by a factor of a few hundred, possibly going down to the thermal cross-section of 3 x 10{sup -26} cm{sup 3}s{sup -1} for dark matter masses matter in scenarios with R-parity violation. Implications of these limits for the possible observation of long-lived superparticles at the LHC are discussed. (orig.)

  1. Probing dark matter decay and annihilation with Fermi LAT observations of nearby galaxy clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Huang, Xiaoyuan; Vertongen, Gilles; Weniger, Christoph

    2011-09-01

    Galaxy clusters are promising targets for indirect dark matter searches. Gamma-ray signatures from the decay or annihilation of dark matter particles inside these clusters could be observable with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Based on three years of Fermi LAT gamma-ray data, we analyze the flux coming from eight nearby clusters individually as well as in a combined likelihood analysis. Concentrating mostly on signals from dark matter decay, we take into account uncertainties of the cluster masses as determined by X-ray observations and model the cluster emission with extended sources. We do not find significant emission from any of the considered clusters and present limits on the dark matter lifetime and annihilation cross-section. We compare our lifetime limits derived from cluster observations with the limits that can be obtained from the extragalactic gamma-ray background, and find that in case of hadronic decay the cluster limits become competitive at dark matter masses below a few hundred GeV. Finally, we show that in presence of dark matter substructures down to 10 -6 solar masses the limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section could improve by a factor of a few hundred, possibly going down to the thermal cross-section of 3 x 10 -26 cm 3 s -1 for dark matter masses < or similar 150 GeV and annihilation into b anti b. As a direct application of our results, we derive limits on the lifetime of gravitino dark matter in scenarios with R-parity violation. Implications of these limits for the possible observation of long-lived superparticles at the LHC are discussed. (orig.)

  2. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based assessment of gray matter loss in medial temporal lobe epilepsy; comparison with FDG PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Hye Jin; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Jae Sung; Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Sang Gun; Chang, Kee Hyun; Lee, Dong Soo

    2004-01-01

    The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones

  3. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based assessment of gray matter loss in medial temporal lobe epilepsy; comparison with FDG PET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Hye Jin; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Jae Sung; Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Sang Gun; Chang, Kee Hyun; Lee, Dong Soo [College of Medicine, Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2004-02-01

    The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones.

  4. The Effect of Elevated Ozone Concentrations with Varying Shading on Dry Matter Loss in a Winter Wheat-Producing Region in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jingxin; Zheng, Youfei; He, Yuhong; Wu, Rongjun; Mai, Boru; Kang, Hanqing

    2016-01-01

    Surface-level ozone pollution causes crop production loss by directly reducing healthy green leaf area available for carbon fixation. Ozone and its precursors also affect crop photosynthesis indirectly by decreasing solar irradiance. Pollutants are reported to have become even more severe in Eastern China over the last ten years. In this study, we investigated the effect of a combination of elevated ozone concentrations and reduced solar irradiance on a popular winter wheat Yangmai13 (Triticum aestivum L.) at field and regional levels in China. Winter wheat was grown in artificial shading and open-top-chamber environments. Treatment 1 (T1, i.e., 60% shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb), Treatment 2 (T2, i.e., 20% shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb), and Control Check Treatment (CK, i.e., no shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb), with two plots under each, were established to investigate the response of winter wheat under elevated ozone concentrations and varying solar irradiance. At the field level, linear temporal relationships between dry matter loss and cumulative stomatal ozone uptake were first established through a parameterized stomatal-flux model. At the regional level, ozone concentrations and meteorological variables, including solar irradiance, were simulated using the WRF-CMAQ model (i.e., a meteorology and air quality modeling system). These variables were then used to estimate cumulative stomatal ozone uptake for the four major winter wheat-growing provinces. The regional-level cumulative ozone uptake was then used as the independent variable in field data-based regression models to predict dry matter loss over space and time. Field-level results showed that over 85% (T1: R(2) = 0.85 & T2: R(2) = 0.89) of variation in dry matter loss was explained by cumulative ozone uptake. Dry matter was reduced by 3.8% in T1 and 2.2% in T2 for each mmol O3·m(-2) of cumulative ozone uptake. At the regional level, dry matter loss in winter

  5. The Effect of Elevated Ozone Concentrations with Varying Shading on Dry Matter Loss in a Winter Wheat-Producing Region in China.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingxin Xu

    Full Text Available Surface-level ozone pollution causes crop production loss by directly reducing healthy green leaf area available for carbon fixation. Ozone and its precursors also affect crop photosynthesis indirectly by decreasing solar irradiance. Pollutants are reported to have become even more severe in Eastern China over the last ten years. In this study, we investigated the effect of a combination of elevated ozone concentrations and reduced solar irradiance on a popular winter wheat Yangmai13 (Triticum aestivum L. at field and regional levels in China. Winter wheat was grown in artificial shading and open-top-chamber environments. Treatment 1 (T1, i.e., 60% shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb, Treatment 2 (T2, i.e., 20% shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb, and Control Check Treatment (CK, i.e., no shading with an enhanced ozone of 100±9 ppb, with two plots under each, were established to investigate the response of winter wheat under elevated ozone concentrations and varying solar irradiance. At the field level, linear temporal relationships between dry matter loss and cumulative stomatal ozone uptake were first established through a parameterized stomatal-flux model. At the regional level, ozone concentrations and meteorological variables, including solar irradiance, were simulated using the WRF-CMAQ model (i.e., a meteorology and air quality modeling system. These variables were then used to estimate cumulative stomatal ozone uptake for the four major winter wheat-growing provinces. The regional-level cumulative ozone uptake was then used as the independent variable in field data-based regression models to predict dry matter loss over space and time. Field-level results showed that over 85% (T1: R(2 = 0.85 & T2: R(2 = 0.89 of variation in dry matter loss was explained by cumulative ozone uptake. Dry matter was reduced by 3.8% in T1 and 2.2% in T2 for each mmol O3·m(-2 of cumulative ozone uptake. At the regional level, dry matter

  6. Comparative analysis of wood chips and bundles - Costs, carbon dioxide emissions, dry-matter losses and allergic reactions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eriksson, Lisa; Gustavsson, Leif [Ecotechnology, Department of Engineering and Sustainable Development, Mid Sweden University, SE-831 25 Oestersund (Sweden)

    2010-01-15

    There are multiple systems for the collection, processing, and transport of forest residues for use as a fuel. We compare two systems in use in Sweden to analyze differences in fuel cost, CO{sub 2} emissions, dry-matter loss, and potential for allergic reactions. We compare a bundle system with the traditional Swedish chip system, and then do an in-depth comparison of a Finnish bundle system with the Swedish bundle system. Bundle systems have lower costs, while the allergic reactions do not differ significantly between the systems. The bundle machine is expensive, but results in high productivity and in an overall cost-effective system. The bundle system has higher primary energy use and CO{sub 2} emissions, but the lower dry-matter losses in the bundle system chain give CO{sub 2} emissions per delivered MWh almost as low as for the chip system. Also, lower dry-matter losses mean that more biomass per hectare can be extracted from the clear-cut area. This leads to a higher possible substitution of fossil fuels per hectare with the bundle system, and that more CO{sub 2} emissions from fossil fuel can be avoided per hectare than in the chip system. The Finnish bundle system with its more effective compressing and forwarding is more cost- and energy-effective than the Swedish bundle system, but Swedish bundle systems can be adapted to be more effective in both aspects. (author)

  7. Signals for invisible matter from solar-terrestrial observations

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2016-01-01

    We observe a strong correlation between the orbital position of the planets with solar phenomena like flares or the variation of EUV irradiance. Similarly, a correlation is found in the study of the ionization content of the Earth atmosphere. Planetary gravitational lensing of one (or more) streams of slow moving invisible matter is proposed as an explanation of such a behaviour.

  8. Pathological changes in the white matter after spinal contusion injury in the rat.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C Joakim Ek

    Full Text Available It has been shown previously that after spinal cord injury, the loss of grey matter is relatively faster than loss of white matter suggesting interventions to save white matter tracts offer better therapeutic possibilities. Loss of white matter in and around the injury site is believed to be the main underlying cause for the subsequent loss of neurological functions. In this study we used a series of techniques, including estimations of the number of axons with pathology, immunohistochemistry and mapping of distribution of pathological axons, to better understand the temporal and spatial pathological events in white matter following contusion injury to the rat spinal cord. There was an initial rapid loss of axons with no detectable further loss beyond 1 week after injury. Immunoreactivity for CNPase indicated that changes to oligodendrocytes are rapid, extending to several millimetres away from injury site and preceding much of the axonal loss, giving early prediction of the final volume of white matter that survived. It seems that in juvenile rats the myelination of axons in white matter tracts continues for some time, which has an important bearing on interpretation of our, and previous, studies. The amount of myelin debris and axon pathology progressively decreased with time but could still be observed at 10 weeks after injury, especially at more distant rostral and caudal levels from the injury site. This study provides new methods to assess injuries to spinal cord and indicates that early interventions are needed for the successful sparing of white matter tracts following injury.

  9. Dark matter line emission constraints from NuSTAR observations of the Bullet Cluster

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Riemer-Sørensen, S.; Wik, D.; Madejski, G.

    2015-01-01

    Some dark matter candidates, e.g., sterile neutrinos, provide observable signatures in the form of mono-energetic line emission. We present the first search for dark matter line emission in the range in a pointed observation of the Bullet Cluster with NuSTAR. We do not detect any significant line...... emission and instead we derive upper limits (95% CL) on the flux, and interpret these constraints in the context of sterile neutrinos and more generic dark matter candidates. NuSTAR does not have the sensitivity to constrain the recently claimed line detection at , but improves on the constraints...... for energies of 10–25 keV....

  10. Flipped neutrino emissivity from strange matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goyal, A.; Dutta, S. (Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110007 (India))

    1994-04-15

    Energy loss due to wrong helicity sterile neutrinos through spin flip processes leads to rapid cooling of nascent neutron stars. The observed cooling of neutron stars associated with SN 1987A seems to preclude the existence of Dirac neutrinos with a mass in excess of 20 keV. Assuming that nuclear matter in the core of the neutron star undergoes a phase transition to quark matter leading to a strange star or a neutron star with a strange matter core, we examine the emission of flipped Dirac neutrinos for two dominant processes: quark-neutrino scattering [[ital q]+[nu][sub [minus

  11. Climatology of GPS signal loss observed by Swarm satellites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Xiong

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available By using 3-year global positioning system (GPS measurements from December 2013 to November 2016, we provide in this study a detailed survey on the climatology of the GPS signal loss of Swarm onboard receivers. Our results show that the GPS signal losses prefer to occur at both low latitudes between ±5 and ±20° magnetic latitude (MLAT and high latitudes above 60° MLAT in both hemispheres. These events at all latitudes are observed mainly during equinoxes and December solstice months, while totally absent during June solstice months. At low latitudes the GPS signal losses are caused by the equatorial plasma irregularities shortly after sunset, and at high latitude they are also highly related to the large density gradients associated with ionospheric irregularities. Additionally, the high-latitude events are more often observed in the Southern Hemisphere, occurring mainly at the cusp region and along nightside auroral latitudes. The signal losses mainly happen for those GPS rays with elevation angles less than 20°, and more commonly occur when the line of sight between GPS and Swarm satellites is aligned with the shell structure of plasma irregularities. Our results also confirm that the capability of the Swarm receiver has been improved after the bandwidth of the phase-locked loop (PLL widened, but the updates cannot radically avoid the interruption in tracking GPS satellites caused by the ionospheric plasma irregularities. Additionally, after the PLL bandwidth increased larger than 0.5 Hz, some unexpected signal losses are observed even at middle latitudes, which are not related to the ionospheric plasma irregularities. Our results suggest that rather than 1.0 Hz, a PLL bandwidth of 0.5 Hz is a more suitable value for the Swarm receiver.

  12. Climatology of GPS signal loss observed by Swarm satellites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Chao; Stolle, Claudia; Park, Jaeheung

    2018-04-01

    By using 3-year global positioning system (GPS) measurements from December 2013 to November 2016, we provide in this study a detailed survey on the climatology of the GPS signal loss of Swarm onboard receivers. Our results show that the GPS signal losses prefer to occur at both low latitudes between ±5 and ±20° magnetic latitude (MLAT) and high latitudes above 60° MLAT in both hemispheres. These events at all latitudes are observed mainly during equinoxes and December solstice months, while totally absent during June solstice months. At low latitudes the GPS signal losses are caused by the equatorial plasma irregularities shortly after sunset, and at high latitude they are also highly related to the large density gradients associated with ionospheric irregularities. Additionally, the high-latitude events are more often observed in the Southern Hemisphere, occurring mainly at the cusp region and along nightside auroral latitudes. The signal losses mainly happen for those GPS rays with elevation angles less than 20°, and more commonly occur when the line of sight between GPS and Swarm satellites is aligned with the shell structure of plasma irregularities. Our results also confirm that the capability of the Swarm receiver has been improved after the bandwidth of the phase-locked loop (PLL) widened, but the updates cannot radically avoid the interruption in tracking GPS satellites caused by the ionospheric plasma irregularities. Additionally, after the PLL bandwidth increased larger than 0.5 Hz, some unexpected signal losses are observed even at middle latitudes, which are not related to the ionospheric plasma irregularities. Our results suggest that rather than 1.0 Hz, a PLL bandwidth of 0.5 Hz is a more suitable value for the Swarm receiver.

  13. Binary evolution and observational constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loore, C. de

    1984-01-01

    The evolution of close binaries is discussed in connection with problems concerning mass and angular momentum losses. Theoretical and observational evidence for outflow of matter, leaving the system during evolution is given: statistics on total masses and mass ratios, effects of the accretion of the mass gaining component, the presence of streams, disks, rings, circumstellar envelopes, period changes, abundance changes in the atmosphere. The effects of outflowing matter on the evolution is outlined, and estimates of the fraction of matter expelled by the loser, and leaving the system, are given. The various time scales involved with evolution and observation are compared. Examples of non conservative evolution are discussed. Problems related to contact phases, on mass and energy losses, in connection with entropy changes are briefly analysed. For advanced stages the disruption probabilities for supernova explosions are examined. A global picture is given for the evolution of massive close binaries, from ZAMS, through WR phases, X-ray phases, leading to runaway pulsars or to a binary pulsar and later to a millisecond pulsar. (Auth.)

  14. Signature of the interaction between dark energy and dark matter in observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdalla, Elcio; Abramo, L. Raul; Souza, Jose C. C. de

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the effect of an interaction between dark energy and dark matter upon the dynamics of galaxy clusters. This effect is computed through the Layser-Irvine equation, which describes how an astrophysical system reaches virial equilibrium and was modified to include the dark interactions. Using observational data from almost 100 purportedly relaxed galaxy clusters we put constraints on the strength of the couplings in the dark sector. We compare our results with those from other observations and find that a positive (in the sense of energy flow from dark energy to dark matter) nonvanishing interaction is consistent with the data within several standard deviations.

  15. LRSPC, Proton High-Energy Loss in Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2001-01-01

    1 - Description of program or function: The LRSPC program is designed to estimate the energy loss, due to ionization and excitation, and the range of charged particles passing through matter. The code treats protons in elements or mixtures composed of elements with atomic numbers ranging from 1 to 100. The results for protons are generally valid from 1 MeV to 100 GeV. The code may be extended to treat other charged particles such as muons, pions, hyperons, deuterons, tritons and alphas by changing the particle mass, charge and range at 2 MeV. 2 - Method of solution: Stopping power is calculated from the Bethe-Bloch equation with shell and density corrections included. Range is calculated by integrating the reciprocal of the stopping power from an initial value at 2 MeV. The K-shell correction is taken from Walske's data. The L-shell and higher shell corrections are adjusted to fit low energy measurements fro 30 elements. The density correction is calculated by a method similar to that of Sternheimer, differing chiefly in the large number of electron shells considered. LRSPC computes improved proton range and stopping power data for use in the proton penetration code, LPPC (CCC-0051). It is packages separately and may be requested independently. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: Number of elements in mixture ≤ 10, Atomic number of element ≤ 100, Number of energy points ≤ 500

  16. Interstellar matter within elliptical galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jura, Michael

    1988-01-01

    Multiwavelength observations of elliptical galaxies are reviewed, with an emphasis on their implications for theoretical models proposed to explain the origin and evolution of the interstellar matter. Particular attention is given to interstellar matter at T less than 100 K (atomic and molecular gas and dust), gas at T = about 10,000 K, and gas at T = 10 to the 6th K or greater. The data are shown to confirm the occurrence of mass loss from evolved stars, significant accretion from companion galaxies, and cooling inflows; no evidence is found for large mass outflow from elliptical galaxies.

  17. White matter integrity in veterans with mild traumatic brain injury: associations with executive function and loss of consciousness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorg, Scott F; Delano-Wood, Lisa; Luc, Norman; Schiehser, Dawn M; Hanson, Karen L; Nation, Daniel A; Lanni, Elisa; Jak, Amy J; Lu, Kun; Meloy, M J; Frank, Lawrence R; Lohr, James B; Bondi, Mark W

    2014-01-01

    We investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the association between white matter integrity and executive function (EF) performance in postacute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In addition, we examined whether injury severity, as measured by loss of consciousness (LOC) versus alterations in consciousness (AOC), is related to white matter microstructural alterations and neuropsychological outcome. Thirty Iraq and Afghanistan War era veterans with a history of mTBI and 15 healthy veteran control participants. There were no significant overall group differences between control and mTBI participants on DTI measures. However, a subgroup of mTBI participants with EF decrements (n = 13) demonstrated significantly decreased fractional anisotropy of prefrontal white matter, corpus callosum, and cingulum bundle structures compared with mTBI participants without EF decrements (n = 17) and control participants. Participants having mTBI with LOC were more likely to evidence reduced EF performances and disrupted ventral prefrontal white matter integrity when compared with either mTBI participants without LOC or control participants. Findings suggest that altered white matter integrity contributes to reduced EF in subgroups of veterans with a history of mTBI and that LOC may be a risk factor for reduced EF as well as associated changes to ventral prefrontal white matter.

  18. Contrast between white and grey matter: MRI appearance with ageing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magnaldi, S.; Ukmar, M.; Vasciaveo, A.; Longo, R.; Pozzi-Mucelli, R.S.

    1993-01-01

    MRI contrast between white and grey matter appears to be higher in young normal subjects than in older patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible relationships between these changes in contrast and ageing. It consisted of two parts. In the first part we retrospectively evaluated 140 MRI brain examinations of healthy subjects, 20 per decade (age range 20-90 years), in whom the contrast was subjectively scored. In the second part we prospectively measured the actual T1, spin density (SD) and T2 values of white and grey matter in another 22 healthy subjects (age range 20-80 years). In the first group of subjects a progressive decrease in white/grey matter contrast was observed with ageing. In the second group of subjects the T1, SD and T2 values of white matter were always shorter than those of grey matter. There is a close relation among T1, SD and T2 values of white and grey matter with ageing. We suggest that there is a progressive loss of white/grey matter contrast with ageing. Such a phenomenon is possibly due to an increased water content in the white matter and the progressive neuronal loss in the grey matter that occurs with age. (orig.)

  19. Constraints on majoron dark matter from cosmic microwave background and astrophysical observations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lattanzi, Massimiliano, E-mail: lattanzi@fe.infn.it [Dipartimento di Fisica e Science della Terra, Università di Ferrara and INFN, sezione di Ferrara, Polo Scientifico e Tecnologico - Edificio C Via Saragat, 1, I-44122 Ferrara Italy (Italy); Riemer-Sørensen, Signe [School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Queensland (Australia); Tórtola, Mariam; Valle, J.W.F. [AHEP Group, Instituto de Física Corpuscular – C.S.I.C./Universitat de València Campus de Paterna, Apt 22085, E-46071 València (Spain)

    2014-04-01

    The origin of dark matter and the generation of neutrino masses could be related if neutrino masses arise from the spontaneous violation of ungauged lepton number. In this case the associated Nambu–Goldstone boson, the majoron, could acquire a mass from non-perturbative gravitational effects and play the role of DM. Here we report our cosmological and astrophysical constraints on majoron dark matter coming from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and a variety of X- and γ-ray observations.

  20. Constraints on majoron dark matter from cosmic microwave background and astrophysical observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Riemer-Sørensen, Signe; Tórtola, Mariam; Valle, J.W.F.

    2014-01-01

    The origin of dark matter and the generation of neutrino masses could be related if neutrino masses arise from the spontaneous violation of ungauged lepton number. In this case the associated Nambu–Goldstone boson, the majoron, could acquire a mass from non-perturbative gravitational effects and play the role of DM. Here we report our cosmological and astrophysical constraints on majoron dark matter coming from Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and a variety of X- and γ-ray observations

  1. New interpretation of matter-antimatter asymmetry based on branes and possible observational consequences

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai Ronggen; Li Tong; Li Xueqian; Wang Xun

    2007-01-01

    Motivated by the alpha-magnetic-spectrometer (AMS) project, we assume that after the big bang or inflation epoch, antimatter was repelled onto one brane which is separated from our brane where all the observational matter resides. It is suggested that CP may be spontaneously broken, the two branes would correspond to ground states for matter and antimatter, respectively. Generally a complex scalar field which is responsible for the spontaneous CP violation, exists in the space between the branes. The matter and antimatter on the two branes attract each other via gravitational force, meanwhile the scalar field causes a Casimir effect to result in a repulsive force against the gravitation. We find that the Casimir force is much stronger than the gravitational force, as long as the separation of the two branes is small. Thus at early epoch after the big bang, the two branes were closer and then have been separated by the Casimir repulsive force from each other. The trend will continue until the separation is sufficiently large and then the gravitational force observed in our four-space would obviously deviate from the Newton's universal gravitational law. We suppose that there is a potential barrier at the brane boundary, which is similar to the surface tension for a water membrane. The barrier prevents the matter (antimatter) particles from entering the space between two branes and jump from one brane to another. However, by the quantum tunneling, a sizable antimatter flux may come to our brane and be observed by the AMS. In this work by considering two possible models, i.e. the naive flat space-time and Randall-Sundrum models, and using the observational data on the visible matter in our universe as inputs, we derive the antimatter flux which comes to our detector in the nonrelativistic approximation and make a rough numerical estimate of possible numbers of antihelium at AMS

  2. Dark Matter and observable lepton flavour violation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heurtier, Lucien; Univ. Libre de Bruxelles; Teresi, Daniele

    2016-07-01

    Seesaw models with leptonic symmetries allow right-handed (RH) neutrino masses at the electroweak scale, or even lower, at the same time having large Yukawa couplings with the Standard Model leptons, thus yielding observable effects at current or near-future lepton-flavour-violation (LFV) experiments. These models have been previously considered also in connection to low-scale leptogenesis, but the combination of observable LFV and successful leptogenesis has appeared to be difficult to achieve unless the leptonic symmetry is embedded into a larger one. In this paper, instead, we follow a different route and consider a possible connection between large LFV rates and Dark Matter (DM). We present a model in which the same leptonic symmetry responsible for the large Yukawa couplings guarantees the stability of the DM candidate, identified as the lightest of the RH neutrinos. The spontaneous breaking of this symmetry, caused by a Majoron-like field, also provides a mechanism to produce the observed relic density via the decays of the latter. The phenomenological implications of the model are discussed, finding that large LFV rates, observable in the near-future μ→e conversion experiments, require the DM mass to be in the keV range. Moreover, the active-neutrino coupling to the Majoron-like scalar field could be probed in future detections of supernova neutrino bursts.

  3. MAVEN Observations of Atmospheric Loss at Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curry, Shannon; Luhmann, Janet; Jakosky, Bruce M.; Brain, David; LeBlanc, Francis; Modolo, Ronan; Halekas, Jasper S.; Schneider, Nicholas M.; Deighan, Justin; McFadden, James; Espley, Jared R.; Mitchell, David L.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Dong, Yaxue; Dong, Chuanfei; Ma, Yingjuan; Cohen, Ofer; Fränz, Markus; Holmström, Mats; Ramstad, Robin; Hara, Takuya; Lillis, Robert J.

    2016-06-01

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission has been making observations of the Martian upper atmosphere and its escape to space since November 2014. The subject of atmospheric loss at terrestrial planets is a subject of intense interest not only because of the implications for past and present water reservoirs, but also for its impacts on the habitability of a planet. Atmospheric escape may have been especially effective at Mars, relative to Earth or Venus, due to its smaller size as well as the lack of a global dynamo magnetic field. Not only is the atmosphere less gravitationally bound, but also the lack of global magnetic field allows the impinging solar wind to interact directly with the Martian atmosphere. When the upper atmosphere is exposed to the solar wind, planetary neutrals can be ionized and 'picked up' by the solar wind and swept away.Both neutral and ion escape have played significant roles the long term climate change of Mars, and the MAVEN mission was designed to directly measure both escaping planetary neutrals and ions with high energy, mass, and time resolution. We will present 1.5 years of observations of atmospheric loss at Mars over a variety of solar and solar wind conditions, including extreme space weather events. We will report the average ion escape rate and the spatial distribution of escaping ions as measured by MAVEN and place them in context both with previous measurements of ion loss by other spacecraft (e.g. Phobos 2 and Mars Express) and with estimates of neutral escape rates by MAVEN. We will then report on the measured variability in ion escape rates with different drivers (e.g. solar EUV, solar wind pressure, etc.) and the implications for the total ion escape from Mars over time. Additionally, we will also discuss the implications for atmospheric escape at exoplanets, particularly weakly magnetized planetary bodies orbiting M-dwarfs, and the dominant escape mechanisms that may drive atmospheric erosion in other

  4. Coupled dark matter-dark energy in light of near Universe observations

    CERN Document Server

    Honorez, Laura Lopez; Mena, Olga; Verde, Licia; Jimenez, Raul

    2010-01-01

    Cosmological analysis based on currently available observations are unable to rule out a sizeable coupling among the dark energy and dark matter fluids. We explore a variety of coupled dark matter-dark energy models, which satisfy cosmic microwave background constraints, in light of low redshift and near universe observations. We illustrate the phenomenology of different classes of dark coupling models, paying particular attention in distinguishing between effects that appear only on the expansion history and those that appear in the growth of structure. We find that while a broad class of dark coupling models are effectively models where general relativity (GR) is modified --and thus can be probed by a combination of tests for the expansion history and the growth of structure--, there is a class of dark coupling models where gravity is still GR, but the growth of perturbations is, in principle modified. While this effect is small in the specific models we have considered, one should bear in mind that an inco...

  5. Observational constraints on dark matter-dark energy scattering cross section

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumar, Suresh [BITS Pilani, Department of Mathematics, Rajasthan (India); Nunes, Rafael C. [Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Departamento de Fisica, Juiz de Fora, MG (Brazil)

    2017-11-15

    In this letter, we report precise and robust observational constraints on the dark matter-dark energy scattering cross section, using the latest data from cosmic microwave background (CMB) Planck temperature and polarization, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measurements and weak gravitational lensing data from Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). The scattering scenario consists of a pure momentum exchange between the dark components, and we find σ{sub d} < 10{sup -29} cm{sup 2} (m{sub dm}c{sup 2}/GeV) at 95% CL from the joint analysis (CMB + BAO + CFHTLenS), where m{sub dm} is a typical dark matter particle mass. We notice that the scattering among the dark components may influence the growth of large scale structure in the Universe, leaving the background cosmology unaltered. (orig.)

  6. A review of observations of organic matter in fogs and clouds: Origin, processing and fate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herckes, Pierre; Valsaraj, Kalliat T.; Collett, Jeffrey L.

    2013-10-01

    While fog and cloud composition has been studied for decades, most of the research was limited to inorganic species and fog acidity. Recently the focus has shifted towards organic matter in the atmospheric aqueous phase of fogs and clouds: its origin, reactivity and fate. An impressive number of fog and cloud chemistry observational studies have been performed over the last decade throughout the world. In the present work we will review the state of knowledge of atmospheric organic matter processing by fogs, with a focus on field observations. We start by reviewing observational studies in general and then discuss our knowledge on the occurrence of organic matter in fogs, its solubility, characterization and molecular speciation. Organic carbon concentrations can vary widely from approximately 1 mg C/L in remote marine environments to more than 100 mg C/L in polluted radiation fogs, accounting for a substantial part of fogwater solutes. The carbonaceous material can enter the droplets from the gas and particle phase and the scavenging behavior of fogs will be detailed. Observational studies showed evidence of aqueous phase transformation of organic material, in particular secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generation, in fog. Recent observations of biological material in fog suggest also an impact of biological processing within the droplets on fog organic matter. The review will end with a discussion of the impact of fog on the deposition fluxes of organic material and hence its atmospheric lifetime.

  7. Observations of bunch-by-bunch losses in the 2010 LHC proton physics operation

    CERN Document Server

    Papotti, G

    2011-01-01

    This document summarizes the bunch-by-bunch loss observations carried out during the 2010 proton physics run at the LHC. These observations proved beneficial to the improvement of operations, in particular in the early days of nominal intensity per bunch operation: then the plots initiated the removal of the tune split and motivated the modification of a filling scheme to remove parasitic encounters that heightened the losses on selected bunches. Along with plots from sample physics fills, summary plots for the year are shown. The colour coding is always chosen so to highlight the dependence of the losses on the filling scheme.

  8. Dark Matter Search Using XMM-Newton Observations of Willman 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lowenstein, Michael; Kusenko, Alexander

    2012-01-01

    We report the results of a search for an emission line from radiatively decaying dark matter in the ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxy Willman 1 based on analysis of spectra extracted from XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory data. The observation follows up our analysis of Chandra data of Willman 1that resulted in line flux upper limits over the Chandra bandpass and evidence of a 2.5 keY feature at a significance below the 99% confidence threshold used to define the limits. The higher effective area of the XMM-Newton detectors, combined with application of recently developing methods for extended-source analysis, allow us to derive improved constraints on the combination of mass and mixing angle of the sterile neutrino dark matter candidate. We do not confirm the Chandra evidence for a 2.5 keV emission line.

  9. Matter-antimatter and matter-matter interactions at intermediate energies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Antonio Carlos Fontes dos

    2002-01-01

    This article presents some of the recent experimental advances on the study on antimatter-matter and matter-matter interactions, and some of the subtle differences stimulated a great theoretical efforts for explanation of the results experimentally observed

  10. Flipped neutrino emissivity from strange matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goyal, A.; Dutta, S.

    1994-01-01

    Energy loss due to wrong helicity sterile neutrinos through spin flip processes leads to rapid cooling of nascent neutron stars. The observed cooling of neutron stars associated with SN 1987A seems to preclude the existence of Dirac neutrinos with a mass in excess of 20 keV. Assuming that nuclear matter in the core of the neutron star undergoes a phase transition to quark matter leading to a strange star or a neutron star with a strange matter core, we examine the emission of flipped Dirac neutrinos for two dominant processes: quark-neutrino scattering [q+ν - (bar ν + )→q+ν + (bar ν - )] and the quark neutrino pair bremsstrahlung process [q+q→q+q+ν - bar ν - (ν+bar ν + )]. We determine the composition of quark matter just after core bounce and examine the effect of neutrino degeneracy on the emission rate and mean free path of the wrong helicity neutrinos

  11. Dark Matter Constraints from Observations of 25 Milky Way Satellite Galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ackermann, M.; Albert, A.; Anderson, B.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Bissaldi, E.; hide

    2013-01-01

    The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely considered to be among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter via gamma rays. Here we report on gamma ray observations of 25 Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies based on 4 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. None of the dwarf galaxies are significantly detected in gamma rays, and we present gamma ray flux upper limits between 500MeV and 500 GeV. We determine the dark matter content of 18 dwarf spheroidal galaxies from stellar kinematic data and combine LAT observations of 15 dwarf galaxies to constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section. We set some of the tightest constraints to date on the annihilation of dark matter particles with masses between 2 GeV and 10TeV into prototypical standard model channels. We find these results to be robust against systematic uncertainties in the LAT instrument performance, diffuse gamma ray background modeling, and assumed dark matter density profile.

  12. Deep gray matter volume loss drives disability worsening in multiple sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prados, Ferran; Brownlee, Wallace J.; Altmann, Daniel R.; Tur, Carmen; Cardoso, M. Jorge; De Angelis, Floriana; van de Pavert, Steven H.; Cawley, Niamh; De Stefano, Nicola; Stromillo, M. Laura; Battaglini, Marco; Ruggieri, Serena; Gasperini, Claudio; Filippi, Massimo; Rocca, Maria A.; Rovira, Alex; Sastre‐Garriga, Jaume; Vrenken, Hugo; Leurs, Cyra E.; Killestein, Joep; Pirpamer, Lukas; Enzinger, Christian; Ourselin, Sebastien; Wheeler‐Kingshott, Claudia A.M. Gandini; Chard, Declan; Thompson, Alan J.; Alexander, Daniel C.; Barkhof, Frederik; Ciccarelli, Olga

    2018-01-01

    Objective Gray matter (GM) atrophy occurs in all multiple sclerosis (MS) phenotypes. We investigated whether there is a spatiotemporal pattern of GM atrophy that is associated with faster disability accumulation in MS. Methods We analyzed 3,604 brain high‐resolution T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans from 1,417 participants: 1,214 MS patients (253 clinically isolated syndrome [CIS], 708 relapsing‐remitting [RRMS], 128 secondary‐progressive [SPMS], and 125 primary‐progressive [PPMS]), over an average follow‐up of 2.41 years (standard deviation [SD] = 1.97), and 203 healthy controls (HCs; average follow‐up = 1.83 year; SD = 1.77), attending seven European centers. Disability was assessed with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). We obtained volumes of the deep GM (DGM), temporal, frontal, parietal, occipital and cerebellar GM, brainstem, and cerebral white matter. Hierarchical mixed models assessed annual percentage rate of regional tissue loss and identified regional volumes associated with time‐to‐EDSS progression. Results SPMS showed the lowest baseline volumes of cortical GM and DGM. Of all baseline regional volumes, only that of the DGM predicted time‐to‐EDSS progression (hazard ratio = 0.73; 95% confidence interval, 0.65, 0.82; p < 0.001): for every standard deviation decrease in baseline DGM volume, the risk of presenting a shorter time to EDSS worsening during follow‐up increased by 27%. Of all longitudinal measures, DGM showed the fastest annual rate of atrophy, which was faster in SPMS (–1.45%), PPMS (–1.66%), and RRMS (–1.34%) than CIS (–0.88%) and HCs (–0.94%; p < 0.01). The rate of temporal GM atrophy in SPMS (–1.21%) was significantly faster than RRMS (–0.76%), CIS (–0.75%), and HCs (–0.51%). Similarly, the rate of parietal GM atrophy in SPMS (–1.24‐%) was faster than CIS (–0.63%) and HCs (–0.23%; all p values <0.05). Only the atrophy rate in DGM in patients was significantly associated

  13. Constraining self-interacting dark matter with scaling laws of observed halo surface densities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bondarenko, Kyrylo; Boyarsky, Alexey; Bringmann, Torsten; Sokolenko, Anastasia

    2018-04-01

    The observed surface densities of dark matter halos are known to follow a simple scaling law, ranging from dwarf galaxies to galaxy clusters, with a weak dependence on their virial mass. Here we point out that this can not only be used to provide a method to determine the standard relation between halo mass and concentration, but also to use large samples of objects in order to place constraints on dark matter self-interactions that can be more robust than constraints derived from individual objects. We demonstrate our method by considering a sample of about 50 objects distributed across the whole halo mass range, and by modelling the effect of self-interactions in a way similar to what has been previously done in the literature. Using additional input from simulations then results in a constraint on the self-interaction cross section per unit dark matter mass of about σ/mχlesssim 0.3 cm2/g. We expect that these constraints can be significantly improved in the future, and made more robust, by i) an improved modelling of the effect of self-interactions, both theoretical and by comparison with simulations, ii) taking into account a larger sample of objects and iii) by reducing the currently still relatively large uncertainties that we conservatively assign to the surface densities of individual objects. The latter can be achieved in particular by using kinematic observations to directly constrain the average halo mass inside a given radius, rather than fitting the data to a pre-selected profile and then reconstruct the mass. For a velocity-independent cross-section, our current result is formally already somewhat smaller than the range 0.5‑5 cm2/g that has been invoked to explain potential inconsistencies between small-scale observations and expectations in the standard collisionless cold dark matter paradigm.

  14. Observed effects of soil organic matter content on the microwave emissivity of soils

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Neill, P.E.; Jackson, T.J.

    1990-01-01

    In order to determine the significance of organic matter content on the microwave emissivity of soils when estimating soil moisture, a series of field experiments were conducted in which 1.4 GHz microwave emissivity data were collected over test plots of sandy loam soil with different organic matter levels (1.8%, 4.0%, and 6.1%) for a range of soil moisture values. Analyses of the observed data showed only minor variation in microwave emissivity due to a change in organic matter content at a given moisture level for soils with similar texture and structure. Predictions of microwave emissivity made using a dielectric model for aggregated soils exhibited the same trends and type of response as the measured data when adjusted values for the input parameters were utilized

  15. Loss to follow-up in an international, multicentre observational study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mocroft, A; Kirk, O; Aldins, P

    2008-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to assess loss to follow-up (LTFU) in EuroSIDA, an international multicentre observational cohort study. METHODS: LTFU was defined as no follow-up visit, CD4 cell count measurement or viral load measurement after 1 January 2006. Poisson regression was used...

  16. Constraints on decaying Dark Matter from XMM-Newton observations of M31

    CERN Document Server

    Boyarsky, Alexey; Ruchayskiy, Oleg; Savchenko, Vladimir

    2007-01-01

    We derive constraints on parameters of the radiatively decaying Dark Matter (DM) particles, using XMM-Newton EPIC spectra of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). Using the observations of the outer (5'-13') parts of M31 we improve the existing constraints. For the case of sterile neutrino DM, combining our constraints with the latest computation of abundances of sterile neutrino in the Dodelson-Widrow (DW) scenario, we obtain the lower mass limit m_s 5.6 kev), we argue that the scenario in which all the DM is produced via DW mechanism is ruled out. We discuss however other production mechanisms and note that the sterile neutrino remains a viable candidate of Dark Matter, either warm or cold.

  17. Dark matter constraints from observations of 25 Milky Way satellite galaxies with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ackermann, M.; et al.

    2014-02-11

    The dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are some of the most dark-matter-dominated objects known. Due to their proximity, high dark matter content, and lack of astrophysical backgrounds, dwarf spheroidal galaxies are widely considered to be among the most promising targets for the indirect detection of dark matter via gamma rays. Here we report on gamma-ray observations of 25 Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies based on 4 years of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) data. None of the dwarf galaxies are significantly detected in gamma rays, and we present gamma-ray flux upper limits between 500 MeV and 500 GeV. We determine the dark matter content of 18 dwarf spheroidal galaxies from stellar kinematic data and combine LAT observations of 15 dwarf galaxies to constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section. We set some of the tightest constraints to date on the the annihilation of dark matter particles with masses between 2 GeV and 10 TeV into prototypical Standard Model channels. We find these results to be robust against systematic uncertainties in the LAT instrument performance, diffuse gamma-ray background modeling, and assumed dark matter density profile.

  18. Coupled dark matter-dark energy in light of near universe observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honorez, Laura Lopez; Reid, Beth A.; Verde, Licia; Jimenez, Raul; Mena, Olga

    2010-01-01

    Cosmological analysis based on currently available observations are unable to rule out a sizeable coupling among the dark energy and dark matter fluids. We explore a variety of coupled dark matter-dark energy models, which satisfy cosmic microwave background constraints, in light of low redshift and near universe observations. We illustrate the phenomenology of different classes of dark coupling models, paying particular attention in distinguishing between effects that appear only on the expansion history and those that appear in the growth of structure. We find that while a broad class of dark coupling models are effectively models where general relativity (GR) is modified — and thus can be probed by a combination of tests for the expansion history and the growth of structure —, there is a class of dark coupling models where gravity is still GR, but the growth of perturbations is, in principle modified. While this effect is small in the specific models we have considered, one should bear in mind that an inconsistency between reconstructed expansion history and growth may not uniquely indicate deviations from GR. Our low redshift constraints arise from cosmic velocities, redshift space distortions and dark matter abundance in galaxy voids. We find that current data constrain the dimensionless coupling to be |ξ| < 0.2, but prospects from forthcoming data are for a significant improvement. Future, precise measurements of the Hubble constant, combined with high-precision constraints on the growth of structure, could provide the key to rule out dark coupling models which survive other tests. We shall exploit as well weak equivalence principle violation arguments, which have the potential to highly disfavour a broad family of coupled models

  19. Theoretical and observational constraints on {Lambda}-dark matter interaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costa, Francisco Ernandes Matos [Universidade de Sao Paulo (IAG/USP), SP (Brazil). Inst. de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas

    2012-07-01

    Full text: Phenomenological models with variable cosmological term (decaying vacuum) have been proposed in literature as an attempt to alleviate the cosmological constant problem and more recently the coincidence problem. In the context of the general relativity theory a cosmological term that varies in space or time requires a coupling with some other cosmic component, so that the total energy-momentum tensor is conserved. In this work we investigate a general class of interacting models in which the attenuated dilution of cold dark matter scales as a{sup -3} (a), where f(a) is an arbitrary function of the cosmic scale factor (a). From thermodynamic arguments, we show that f(a) is proportional to entropy source of the particle creation process. In order to investigate the cosmological consequences of this kind of interacting models, we expand f(a) in a power series up to the first order [f(a) = f{sub 0} + f{sub 1}a, where f{sub 0} and f{sub 1} are constants] and viable cosmological solutions are obtained. In particular, we show that the energy densities of the dark components present a term which dilutes at the same rate acting as a curvature in the evolution of the Universe. Finally, we use current Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and cosmic microwave background (CMB) data to place constraints on the interacting function f(a). We also show that an energy flow from dark matter to cosmological term or vice-versa is observationally allowed, however, the second law of thermodynamics forbids an energy flow from dark matter to cosmological term. (author)

  20. Testing the dark matter origin of the WMAP-Planck haze with radio observations of spiral galaxies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carlson, Eric; Linden, Tim; Profumo, Stefano [Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064 (United States); Hooper, Dan, E-mail: erccarls@ucsc.edu, E-mail: dhooper@fnal.gov, E-mail: tlinden@ucsc.edu, E-mail: profumo@ucsc.edu [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States)

    2013-07-01

    If the Galactic WMAP radio haze, as recently confirmed by Planck, is produced by dark matter annihilation or decay, similar diffuse radio halos should exist around other galaxies with physical properties comparable to the Milky Way. If instead the haze is due to an astrophysical mechanism peculiar to the Milky Way or to a transient event, a similar halo need not exist around all Milky Way ''twins''. We use radio observations of 66 spiral galaxies to test the dark matter origin of the haze. We select galaxies based on morphological type and maximal rotational velocity, and obtain their luminosities from a 1.49 GHz catalog and additional radio observations at other frequencies. We find many instances of galaxies with radio emission that is less than 5% as bright as naively expected from dark matter models that could produce the Milky Way haze, and at least 3 galaxies that are less than 1% as bright as expected, assuming dark matter distributions, magnetic fields, and cosmic ray propagation parameters equal to those of the Milky Way. For reasonable ranges for the variation of these parameters, we estimate the fraction of galaxies that should be expected to be significantly less bright in radio, and argue that this is marginally compatible with the observed distribution. While our findings therefore cannot rule out a dark matter origin for the radio haze at this time, we find numerous examples (including the Andromeda Galaxy) where, if dark matter is indeed the origin of the Milky Way haze, some mechanism must be in place to suppress the corresponding haze of the external galaxy. We point out that Planck data will offer opportunities to improve this type of constraint in a highly relevant frequency range and for a potentially larger set of candidate galaxies.

  1. Observations of mass loss from OB and Wolf-Rayet stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barlow, M.J.

    1982-01-01

    In this review, three observationally accessible parameters of the winds of OB and Wolf-Rayet stars are discussed: (1) Terminal velocities, (2) Velocity laws, (3) Mass loss rates. In addition, some discussion of the ionisation structure of the winds is included. In general, only the most recent results for OB stars are mentioned. (Auth.)

  2. Differing associations between Aβ accumulation, hypoperfusion, blood-brain barrier dysfunction and loss of PDGFRB pericyte marker in the precuneus and parietal white matter in Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miners, J Scott; Schulz, Isabel; Love, Seth

    2018-01-01

    Recent studies implicate loss of pericytes in hypoperfusion and blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we have measured levels of the pericyte marker, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (PDGFRB), and fibrinogen (to assess blood-brain barrier leakage), and analyzed their relationship to indicators of microvessel density (von Willebrand factor level), ante-mortem oxygenation (myelin-associated glycoprotein:proteolipid protein-1 ratio and vascular endothelial growth factor level), Aβ level and plaque load, in precuneus and underlying white matter from 49 AD to 37 control brains. There was reduction in PDGFRB and increased fibrinogen in the precuneus in AD. These changes correlated with reduction in oxygenation and with plaque load. In the underlying white matter, increased fibrinogen correlated with reduced oxygenation, but PDGFRB level was unchanged. The level of platelet-derived growth factor-ββ (PDGF-BB), important for pericyte maintenance, was increased in AD but mainly in the insoluble tissue fraction, correlating with insoluble Aβ level. Loss of the PDGFRB within the precuneus in AD is associated with fibrinogen leakage and reduced oxygenation, and related to fibrillar Aβ accumulation. In contrast, fibrinogen leakage and reduced oxygenation of underlying white matter occur independently of loss of PDGFRB, perhaps secondary to reduced transcortical perfusion.

  3. ASCA observation of NGC 4636: Dark matter and metallicity gradient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mushotzky, R. F.; Loewenstein, M.; Awaki, H.; Makishima, K.; Matsushita, K.; Matsumoto, H.

    1994-01-01

    We present our analysis of ASCA PV phase observation of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4636. Solid state imaging spectrometer (SIS) spectra in six concentric annuli centered on NGC 4636 are used to derive temperature, metallicity, and column density profiles for the hot interstellar medium. Outside of the central 3 min the temperature is roughly constant at approximately 0.85 keV, while the metallicity decreases from greater than 0.36 solar at the center to less than 0.12 solar at R approximately 9 min. The implications of this gradient for elliptical galaxy formation and the enrichment of intracluster gas are discussed. We derive a detailed mass profile consistent with the stellar velocity dispersion and with ROSAT position sensitive proportional counter (PSPC) and ASCA SIS X-ray temperature profiles. We find that NGC 4636 becomes dark matter dominated at roughly the de Vaucouleurs radius, and, at r approximately 100 kpc, the ratio of dark to luminous matter density is approximately 80 and solar mass/solar luminosity approximately equal to 150. Evidence for the presence of a cooling flow is also discussed.

  4. Probing the sign-changeable interaction between dark energy and dark matter with current observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Juan-Juan; Zhang, Jing-Fei; Li, Yun-He; He, Dong-Ze; Zhang, Xin

    2018-03-01

    We consider the models of vacuum energy interacting with cold dark matter in this study, in which the coupling can change sigh during the cosmological evolution. We parameterize the running coupling b by the form b( a) = b 0 a+ b e(1- a), where at the early-time the coupling is given by a constant b e and today the coupling is described by another constant b 0. We explore six specific models with (i) Q = b( a) H 0 ρ 0, (ii) Q = b( a) H 0 ρ de, (iii) Q = b( a) H 0 ρ c, (iv) Q = b( a) Hρ 0, (v) Q = b( a) H ρ de, and (vi) Q = b( a) Hρ c. The current observational data sets we use to constrain the models include the JLA compilation of type Ia supernova data, the Planck 2015 distance priors data of cosmic microwave background observation, the baryon acoustic oscillations measurements, and the Hubble constant direct measurement. We find that, for all the models, we have b 0 0 at around the 1 σ level, and b 0 and b e are in extremely strong anti-correlation. Our results show that the coupling changes sign during the evolution at about the 1 σ level, i.e., the energy transfer is from dark matter to dark energy when dark matter dominates the universe and the energy transfer is from dark energy to dark matter when dark energy dominates the universe.

  5. Mirror matter as self-interacting dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohapatra, R.N.; Nussinov, S.; Teplitz, V.L.

    2002-01-01

    It has been argued that the observed core density profile of galaxies is inconsistent with having a dark matter particle that is collisionless and that alternative dark matter candidates which are self-interacting may explain observations better. One new class of self-interacting dark matter that has been proposed in the context of mirror universe models of particle physics is the mirror hydrogen atom, whose stability is guaranteed by the conservation of mirror baryon number. We show that the effective transport cross section for mirror hydrogen atoms has the right order of magnitude for solving the 'cuspy' halo problem. Furthermore, the suppression of dissipation effects for mirror atoms due to a higher mirror mass scale prevents the mirror halo matter from collapsing into a disk, strengthening the argument for mirror matter as galactic dark matter

  6. Was a new phase of nuclear matter observed at CERN SPS...?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Odyniec, G.

    2001-01-01

    The enhanced production of strange particles, that was predicted as a consequence of the formation of quark-gluon plasma, was observed in CERN SPS heavy ion experiments. As data matured, the emphasis on theory and interpretation of experimental results has increased. In this presentation the hadronic yields and their ratios, as well as the role of strangeness production in the search for a new phase of matter, in both experiment and theory, are discussed. (author)

  7. Tidal disruption of fuzzy dark matter subhalo cores

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Xiaolong; Schwabe, Bodo; Niemeyer, Jens C.; Bürger, David

    2018-03-01

    We study tidal stripping of fuzzy dark matter (FDM) subhalo cores using simulations of the Schrödinger-Poisson equations and analyze the dynamics of tidal disruption, highlighting the differences with standard cold dark matter. Mass loss outside of the tidal radius forces the core to relax into a less compact configuration, lowering the tidal radius. As the characteristic radius of a solitonic core scales inversely with its mass, tidal stripping results in a runaway effect and rapid tidal disruption of the core once its central density drops below 4.5 times the average density of the host within the orbital radius. Additionally, we find that the core is deformed into a tidally locked ellipsoid with increasing eccentricities until it is completely disrupted. Using the core mass loss rate, we compute the minimum mass of cores that can survive several orbits for different FDM particle masses and compare it with observed masses of satellite galaxies in the Milky Way.

  8. K+ and K- potentials in hadronic matter can be observed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sood, Aman D.; Hartnack, Ch.; Aichelin, Joerg

    2011-01-01

    One key question in the analysis of subthreshold kaon production is how to obtain information on the properties of strange mesons in dense nuclear matter. The principal problem for extracting precise information on these properties is, however, that almost all observables depend simultaneously not only on the K - potential but also on several other input quantities which are only vaguely known e.g. life time of Δ and in-medium modification of the cross section. The situation were much better if experiment provides an observable which depends on the K potentials only and which is not spoiled by other little or unknown quantities. Here the aim was to show that the ratio of the K + and K - momentum spectra at small momentum in light systems can be such an observable. In order to study this observable and in order to make sure that it does not depend on other input quantities the K - have been separated into 2 classes (by tracing back K - to its corresponding anti strange partner K + )

  9. Infrared observations of the dark matter lens candidate Q2345+007

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcleod, Brian; Rieke, Marcia; Weedman, Daniel

    1994-01-01

    Deep K-band observations are presented of the double image quasar Q2345+007. This has the largest separation (7.1 sec) of any quasar image pair considered as gravitationally lensed, so the required lens is massive (10(exp 13) solar masses). No lens has been detected in previous deep images at visible wavelengths, and we find no lens to limiting K magnitude 20.0 in the infrared image. This constrains any lens to being much less luminous than brightest cluster galaxies, while the lens must be much more massive than such galaxies to produce the observed separation. Because spectral data indicate exceptional intrinsic similarity in the quasar image components, this pair remains as the most intriguing example of an observed configuration requiring the presence of massive, concentrated dark matter acting as a gravitational lens.

  10. Dark Matter Searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moriyama, Shigetaka

    2008-01-01

    Recent cosmological as well as historical observations of rotational curves of galaxies strongly suggest the existence of dark matter. It is also widely believed that dark matter consists of unknown elementary particles. However, astrophysical observations based on gravitational effects alone do not provide sufficient information on the properties of dark matter. In this study, the status of dark matter searches is investigated by observing high-energy neutrinos from the sun and the earth and by observing nuclear recoils in laboratory targets. The successful detection of dark matter by these methods facilitates systematic studies of its properties. Finally, the XMASS experiment, which is due to start at the Kamioka Observatory, is introduced

  11. Searching for Decaying Dark Matter in Deep XMM-Newton Observation of the Draco Dwarf Spheroidal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruchayskiy, Oleg; Boyardsky, Alex; Iakbovskyi, Dmytro; Bulbul, Esra; Eckert, Domique; Franse, Jeron; Malyshev, Denys; Markevitch, Maxim; Neronov, Andrii

    2016-01-01

    We present results of a search for the 3.5 keV emission line in our recent very long (approx. 1.4 Ms) XMM-Newton observation of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The astrophysical X-ray emission from such dark matter-dominated galaxies is faint, thus they provide a test for the dark matter origin of the 3.5 keV line previously detected in other massive, but X-ray bright objects, such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. We do not detect a statistically significant emission line from Draco; this constrains the lifetime of a decaying dark matter particle to tau >(7-9) × 10(exp 27) s at 95% CL (combining all three XMM-Newton cameras; the interval corresponds to the uncertainty of the dark matter column density in the direction of Draco). The PN camera, which has the highest sensitivity of the three, does show a positive spectral residual (above the carefully modeled continuum) at E = 3.54 +/- 0.06 keV with a 2.3(sigma) significance. The two MOS cameras show less-significant or no positive deviations, consistently within 1(sigma) with PN. Our Draco limit on tau is consistent with previous detections in the stacked galaxy clusters, M31 and the Galactic Centre within their 1 - 2(sigma) uncertainties, but is inconsistent with the high signal from the core of the Perseus cluster (which has itself been inconsistent with the rest of the detections). We conclude that this Draco observation does not exclude the dark matter interpretation of the 3.5 keV line in those objects.

  12. The dark-baryonic matter mass relation for observational verification in Verlinde's emergent gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Jian Qi

    2018-06-01

    Recently, a new interesting idea of origin of gravity has been developed by Verlinde. In this scheme of emergent gravity, where horizon entropy, microscopic de Sitter states and relevant contribution to gravity are involved, an entropy displacement resulting from matter behaves as a memory effect and can be exhibited at sub-Hubble scales, namely, the entropy displacement and its "elastic" response would lead to emergent gravity, which gives rise to an extra gravitational force. Then galactic dark matter effects may origin from such extra emergent gravity. We discuss some concepts in Verlinde's theory of emergent gravity and point out some possible problems or issues, e.g., the gravitational potential caused by Verlinde's emergent apparent dark matter may no longer be continuous in spatial distribution at ordinary matter boundary (such as a massive sphere surface). In order to avoid the unnatural discontinuity of the extra emergent gravity of Verlinde's apparent dark matter, we suggest a modified dark-baryonic mass relation (a formula relating Verlinde's apparent dark matter mass to ordinary baryonic matter mass) within this framework of emergent gravity. The modified mass relation is consistent with Verlinde's result at relatively small scales (e.g., R3h_{70}^{-1} Mpc), the modified dark-baryonic mass relation presented here might be in better agreement with the experimental curves of weak lensing analysis in the recent work of Brouwer et al. Galactic rotation curves are compared between Verlinde's emergent gravity and McGaugh's recent model of MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics established based on recent galaxy observations). It can be found that Verlinde rotational curves deviate far from those of McGaugh MOND model when the MOND effect (or emergent dark matter) dominates. Some applications of the modified dark-baryonic mass relation inspired by Verlinde's emergent gravity will be addressed for galactic and solar scales. Potential possibilities to test this dark

  13. Mass loss controlled thermal pretreatment system to assess the effects of pretreatment temperature on organic matter solubilization and methane yield from food waste.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martha Minale Yeshanew

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The effects of thermal pretreatment (TP on the main characteristics of food waste (FW and its biochemical methane potential (BMP and distribution of volatile fatty acids (VFAs under mesophilic condition (35 ⁰C were investigated. The TP experiments were carried out at 80 °C, 100 °C, 120 °C for 2 hour and 140 °C for 1 hour. The designed TP set-up was able to minimize the organic matter loss during the course of the pretreatments. Soluble organic fractions evaluated in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD and soluble protein increased linearly with pretreatment temperature. In contrast, the carbohydrate solubilization was more enhanced (30 % higher solubilization by the TP at lower temperature (80 °C. A slight increment of soluble phenols was found, particularly for temperatures exceeding 100 °C. Thermally pretreated FW under all conditions exhibited an improved methane yield than the untreated FW, due to the increased organic matter solubilization. The highest cumulative methane yield of 442 (± 8.6 mL/gVSadded, corresponding to a 28.1 % enhancement compared to the untreated FW, was obtained with a TP at 80 °C. No significant variation in the VFAs trends were observed during the BMP tests under all investigated conditions.

  14. Ultra faint dwarf galaxies: an arena for testing dark matter versus modified gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Weikang; Ishak, Mustapha, E-mail: wxl123830@utdallas.edu, E-mail: mishak@utdallas.edu [Department of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083 (United States)

    2016-10-01

    The scenario consistent with a wealth of observations for the missing mass problem is that of weakly interacting dark matter particles. However, arguments or proposals for a Newtonian or relativistic modified gravity scenario continue to be made. A distinguishing characteristic between the two scenarios is that dark matter particles can produce a gravitational effect, in principle, without the need of baryons while this is not the case for the modified gravity scenario where such an effect must be correlated with the amount of baryonic matter. We consider here ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies as a promising arena to test the two scenarios based on the above assertion. We compare the correlation of the luminosity with the velocity dispersion between samples of UFD and non-UFD galaxies, finding a significant loss of correlation for UFD galaxies. For example, we find for 28 non-UFD galaxies a strong correlation coefficient of −0.688 which drops to −0.077 for the 23 UFD galaxies. Incoming and future data will determine whether the observed stochasticity for UFD galaxies is physical or due to systematics in the data. Such a loss of correlation (if it is to persist) is possible and consistent with the dark matter scenario for UFD galaxies but would constitute a new challenge for the modified gravity scenario.

  15. Emotion detection deficits and changes in personality traits linked to loss of white matter integrity in primary progressive aphasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Namita Multani

    2017-01-01

    in the three PPA variants and are likely associated with disease-specific neuroanatomical changes. Loss of white matter integrity contributes as significantly as focal atrophy in behavioral changes in PPA.

  16. Boosted dark matter signals uplifted with self-interaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kong, Kyoungchul, E-mail: kckong@ku.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Mohlabeng, Gopolang, E-mail: mohlabeng319@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Park, Jong-Chul, E-mail: log1079@gmail.com [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 (United States); Department of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-04-09

    We explore detection prospects of a non-standard dark sector in the context of boosted dark matter. We focus on a scenario with two dark matter particles of a large mass difference, where the heavier candidate is secluded and interacts with the standard model particles only at loops, escaping existing direct and indirect detection bounds. Yet its pair annihilation in the galactic center or in the Sun may produce boosted stable particles, which could be detected as visible Cherenkov light in large volume neutrino detectors. In such models with multiple candidates, self-interaction of dark matter particles is naturally utilized in the assisted freeze-out mechanism and is corroborated by various cosmological studies such as N-body simulations of structure formation, observations of dwarf galaxies, and the small scale problem. We show that self-interaction of the secluded (heavier) dark matter greatly enhances the capture rate in the Sun and results in promising signals at current and future experiments. We perform a detailed analysis of the boosted dark matter events for Super-Kamiokande, Hyper-Kamiokande and PINGU, including notable effects such as evaporation due to self-interaction and energy loss in the Sun.

  17. White Matter Loss in a Mouse Model of Periventricular Leukomalacia Is Rescued by Trophic Factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre Gressens

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL is the most frequent cause of cerebral palsy and other intellectual disabilities, and currently there is no treatment. In PVL, glutamate excitotoxicity (GME leads to abnormal oligodendrocytes (OLs, myelin deficiency, and ventriculomegaly. We have previously identified that the combination of transferrin and insulin growth factors (TSC1 promotes endogenous OL regeneration and remyelination in the postnatal and adult rodent brain. Here, we produced a periventricular white matter lesion with a single intracerebral injection of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA. Comparing lesions produced by NMDA alone and those produced by NMDA + TSC1 we found that: NMDA affected survival and reduced migration of OL progenitors (OLPs. In contrast, mice injected with NMDA + TSC1 proliferated twice as much indicating that TSC1 supported regeneration of the OLP population after the insult. Olig2-mRNA expression showed 52% OLP survival in mice receiving a NMDA injection and increased to 78% when TSC1 + NMDA were injected simultaneously and ventricular size was reduced by TSC1. Furthermore, in striatal slices TSC1 reduced the inward currents induced by NMDA in medium-sized spiny neurons, demonstrating neuroprotection. Thus, white matter loss after excitotoxicity can be partially rescued as TSC1 conferred neuroprotection to preexisting OLP and regeneration via OLP proliferation. Furthermore, we showed that early TSC1 administration maximizes neuroprotection.

  18. 7 CFR 1773.41 - Extraordinary retirement losses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 12 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Extraordinary retirement losses. 1773.41 Section 1773... Documentation § 1773.41 Extraordinary retirement losses. The CPA's workpapers must contain an analysis of retirement losses, including any required approval by a regulatory commission with jurisdiction in the matter...

  19. Dark Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Einasto J.

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available I give a review of the development of the concept of dark matter. The dark matter story passed through several stages from a minor observational puzzle to a major challenge for theory of elementary particles. Modern data suggest that dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, and that it consists of some unknown non-baryonic particles. Dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, thus properties of dark matter particles determine the structure of the cosmic web.

  20. Far-from-equilibrium heavy quark energy loss at strong coupling

    CERN Document Server

    Chesler, Paul; Rajagopal, Krishna

    2013-01-01

    We study the energy loss of a heavy quark propagating through the matter produced in the collision of two sheets of energy [1]. Even though this matter is initially far-from-equilibrium we find that, when written in terms of the energy density, the equilibrium expression for heavy quark energy loss describes most qualitative features of our results well. At later times, once a plasma described by viscous hydrodynamics has formed, the equilibrium expression describes the heavy quark energy loss quantitatively. In addition to the drag force that makes it lose energy, a quark moving through the out-of-equilibrium matter feels a force perpendicular to its velocity.

  1. DarkBit. A GAMBIT module for computing dark matter observables and likelihoods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bringmann, Torsten; Dal, Lars A. [University of Oslo, Department of Physics, Oslo (Norway); Conrad, Jan; Edsjoe, Joakim; Farmer, Ben [AlbaNova University Centre, Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Stockholm University, Department of Physics, Stockholm (Sweden); Cornell, Jonathan M. [McGill University, Department of Physics, Montreal, QC (Canada); Kahlhoefer, Felix; Wild, Sebastian [DESY, Hamburg (Germany); Kvellestad, Anders; Savage, Christopher [NORDITA, Stockholm (Sweden); Putze, Antje [LAPTh, Universite de Savoie, CNRS, Annecy-le-Vieux (France); Scott, Pat [Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Department of Physics, London (United Kingdom); Weniger, Christoph [University of Amsterdam, GRAPPA, Institute of Physics, Amsterdam (Netherlands); White, Martin [University of Adelaide, Department of Physics, Adelaide, SA (Australia); Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Tera-scale, Parkville (Australia); Collaboration: The GAMBIT Dark Matter Workgroup

    2017-12-15

    We introduce DarkBit, an advanced software code for computing dark matter constraints on various extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, comprising both new native code and interfaces to external packages. This release includes a dedicated signal yield calculator for gamma-ray observations, which significantly extends current tools by implementing a cascade-decay Monte Carlo, as well as a dedicated likelihood calculator for current and future experiments (gamLike). This provides a general solution for studying complex particle physics models that predict dark matter annihilation to a multitude of final states. We also supply a direct detection package that models a large range of direct detection experiments (DDCalc), and that provides the corresponding likelihoods for arbitrary combinations of spin-independent and spin-dependent scattering processes. Finally, we provide custom relic density routines along with interfaces to DarkSUSY, micrOMEGAs, and the neutrino telescope likelihood package nulike. DarkBit is written in the framework of the Global And Modular Beyond the Standard Model Inference Tool (GAMBIT), providing seamless integration into a comprehensive statistical fitting framework that allows users to explore new models with both particle and astrophysics constraints, and a consistent treatment of systematic uncertainties. In this paper we describe its main functionality, provide a guide to getting started quickly, and show illustrative examples for results obtained with DarkBit (both as a stand-alone tool and as a GAMBIT module). This includes a quantitative comparison between two of the main dark matter codes (DarkSUSY and micrOMEGAs), and application of DarkBit's advanced direct and indirect detection routines to a simple effective dark matter model. (orig.)

  2. Window in the dark matter exclusion limits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaharijas, Gabrijela; Farrar, Glennys R.

    2005-01-01

    We consider the cross section limits for light dark matter cadnidates (m=0.4 to 10 GeV). We calculate the interaction of dark matter in the crust above underground dark matter detectors and find that in the intermediate cross section range, the energy loss of dark matter is sufficient to fall below the energy threshold of current underground experiments. This implies the existence of a window in the dark matter exclusion limits in the micro-barn range

  3. Dark matter: the astrophysical case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silk, J.

    2012-01-01

    The identification of dark matter is one of the most urgent problems in cosmology. I describe the astrophysical case for dark matter, from both an observational and a theoretical perspective. This overview will therefore focus on the observational motivations rather than the particle physics aspects of dark matter constraints on specific dark matter candidates. First, however, I summarize the astronomical evidence for dark matter, then I highlight the weaknesses of the standard cold dark matter model (LCDM) to provide a robust explanation of some observations. The greatest weakness in the dark matter saga is that we have not yet identified the nature of dark matter itself

  4. On-line iron loss resistance identification by a state observer for rotor-flux-oriented control of induction motor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrera, Pablo M. de la; Bossio, Guillermo R.; Solsona, Jorge A.; Garcia, Guillermo O.

    2008-01-01

    A rotor flux state observer considering iron loss, for an Induction Motor (IM), is proposed. The aim of this proposal is to avoid detuning caused by the IM iron loss on a field-oriented control (FOC). An adaptive scheme for the K Fe , a parameter that represents the IM iron loss, is also proposed. The main objective of this scheme is to improve the dynamic response of control by compensating the variations of iron losses due to possible variations in the stator core characteristics. Simulation results demonstrated that the observer and the adaptive scheme showed a good performance fulfilling then the objectives

  5. Multi-messenger constraints and pressure from dark matter annihilation into e--e+ pairs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wechakama, Maneenate

    2013-01-01

    Despite striking evidence for the existence of dark matter from astrophysical observations, dark matter has still escaped any direct or indirect detection until today. Therefore a proof for its existence and the revelation of its nature belongs to one of the most intriguing challenges of nowadays cosmology and particle physics. The present work tries to investigate the nature of dark matter through indirect signatures from dark matter annihilation into electron-positron pairs in two different ways, pressure from dark matter annihilation and multi-messenger constraints on the dark matter annihilation cross-section. We focus on dark matter annihilation into electron-positron pairs and adopt a model-independent approach, where all the electrons and positrons are injected with the same initial energy E 0 ∝m dm c 2 . The propagation of these particles is determined by solving the diffusion-loss equation, considering inverse Compton scattering, synchrotron radiation, Coulomb collisions, bremsstrahlung, and ionization. The first part of this work, focusing on pressure from dark matter annihilation, demonstrates that dark matter annihilation into electron-positron pairs may affect the observed rotation curve by a significant amount. The injection rate of this calculation is constrained by INTEGRAL, Fermi, and H.E.S.S. data. The pressure of the relativistic electron-positron gas is computed from the energy spectrum predicted by the diffusion-loss equation. For values of the gas density and magnetic field that are representative of the Milky Way, it is estimated that the pressure gradients are strong enough to balance gravity in the central parts if E 0 0 . By comparing the predicted rotation curves with observations of dwarf and low surface brightness galaxies, we show that the pressure from dark matter annihilation may improve the agreement between theory and observations in some cases, but it also imposes severe constraints on the model parameters (most notably, the

  6. Observations of neutral beam and ICRF tail ion losses due to Alfven modes in TFTR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Darrow, D.S.; Zweben, S.J.; Chang, Z.

    1996-04-01

    Fast ion losses resulting from MHD modes at the Alfven frequency, such as the TAE, have been observed in TFTR. The modes have been driven both by neutral beam ions, at low B T , and by H-minority ICRF tail ions at higher B T . The measurements indicate that the loss rate varies linearly with the mode amplitude, and that the fast ion losses during the mode activity can be significant, e.g. up to 10% of the input power is lost in the worst case

  7. Modified dark matter: Relating dark energy, dark matter and baryonic matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edmonds, Douglas; Farrah, Duncan; Minic, Djordje; Ng, Y. Jack; Takeuchi, Tatsu

    Modified dark matter (MDM) is a phenomenological model of dark matter, inspired by gravitational thermodynamics. For an accelerating universe with positive cosmological constant (Λ), such phenomenological considerations lead to the emergence of a critical acceleration parameter related to Λ. Such a critical acceleration is an effective phenomenological manifestation of MDM, and it is found in correlations between dark matter and baryonic matter in galaxy rotation curves. The resulting MDM mass profiles, which are sensitive to Λ, are consistent with observational data at both the galactic and cluster scales. In particular, the same critical acceleration appears both in the galactic and cluster data fits based on MDM. Furthermore, using some robust qualitative arguments, MDM appears to work well on cosmological scales, even though quantitative studies are still lacking. Finally, we comment on certain nonlocal aspects of the quanta of modified dark matter, which may lead to novel nonparticle phenomenology and which may explain why, so far, dark matter detection experiments have failed to detect dark matter particles.

  8. Partial Adaptation of Obtained and Observed Value Signals Preserves Information about Gains and Losses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Christopher J; Baddeley, Michelle; Tobler, Philippe N; Schultz, Wolfram

    2016-09-28

    Given that the range of rewarding and punishing outcomes of actions is large but neural coding capacity is limited, efficient processing of outcomes by the brain is necessary. One mechanism to increase efficiency is to rescale neural output to the range of outcomes expected in the current context, and process only experienced deviations from this expectation. However, this mechanism comes at the cost of not being able to discriminate between unexpectedly low losses when times are bad versus unexpectedly high gains when times are good. Thus, too much adaptation would result in disregarding information about the nature and absolute magnitude of outcomes, preventing learning about the longer-term value structure of the environment. Here we investigate the degree of adaptation in outcome coding brain regions in humans, for directly experienced outcomes and observed outcomes. We scanned participants while they performed a social learning task in gain and loss blocks. Multivariate pattern analysis showed two distinct networks of brain regions adapt to the most likely outcomes within a block. Frontostriatal areas adapted to directly experienced outcomes, whereas lateral frontal and temporoparietal regions adapted to observed social outcomes. Critically, in both cases, adaptation was incomplete and information about whether the outcomes arose in a gain block or a loss block was retained. Univariate analysis confirmed incomplete adaptive coding in these regions but also detected nonadapting outcome signals. Thus, although neural areas rescale their responses to outcomes for efficient coding, they adapt incompletely and keep track of the longer-term incentives available in the environment. Optimal value-based choice requires that the brain precisely and efficiently represents positive and negative outcomes. One way to increase efficiency is to adapt responding to the most likely outcomes in a given context. However, too strong adaptation would result in loss of precise

  9. Observing a light dark matter beam with neutrino experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deniverville, Patrick; Pospelov, Maxim; Ritz, Adam

    2011-10-01

    We consider the sensitivity of fixed-target neutrino experiments at the luminosity frontier to light stable states, such as those present in models of MeV-scale dark matter. To ensure the correct thermal relic abundance, such states must annihilate via light mediators, which in turn provide an access portal for direct production in colliders or fixed targets. Indeed, this framework endows the neutrino beams produced at fixed-target facilities with a companion “dark matter beam,” which may be detected via an excess of elastic scattering events off electrons or nuclei in the (near-)detector. We study the high-luminosity proton fixed-target experiments at LSND and MiniBooNE, and determine that the ensuing sensitivity to light dark matter generally surpasses that of other direct probes. For scenarios with a kinetically-mixed U(1)' vector mediator of mass mV, we find that a large volume of parameter space is excluded for mDM˜1-5MeV, covering vector masses 2mDM≲mV≲mη and a range of kinetic mixing parameters reaching as low as κ˜10-5. The corresponding MeV-scale dark matter scenarios motivated by an explanation of the galactic 511 keV line are thus strongly constrained.

  10. Matter-antimatter and matter-matter interactions at intermediate energies; Interacao materia-antimateria e materia-materia a energias intermediarias

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, Antonio Carlos Fontes dos [Missouri Univ., Rolla, MO (United States). Dept. of Physics]. E-mail: antoniocfs@hotmail.com

    2002-07-01

    This article presents some of the recent experimental advances on the study on antimatter-matter and matter-matter interactions, and some of the subtle differences stimulated a great theoretical efforts for explanation of the results experimentally observed.

  11. Transient Mass-loss Analysis of Solar Observations Using Stellar Methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crosley, M. K.; Norman, C. [Johns Hopkins University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Osten, R. A. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

    2017-08-10

    Low-frequency dynamic spectra of radio bursts from nearby stars offer the best chance to directly detect the stellar signature of transient mass loss on low-mass stars. Crosley et al. (2016) proposes a multi-wavelength methodology to determine coronal mass ejection (CME) parameters, such as speed, mass, and kinetic energy. We test the validity and accuracy of the results derived from the methodology by using Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite X-ray observations and Bruny Island Radio Spectrometer radio observations. These are analogous observations to those that would be found in the stellar studies. Derived results from these observations are compared to direct white light measurements of the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph. We find that, when a pre-event temperature can be determined, the accuracy of CME speeds are within a few hundred km s{sup −1}, and are reliable when specific criteria has been met. CME mass and kinetic energies are only useful in determining the approximate order of magnitude measurements when considering the large errors associated to them. These results will be directly applicable to the interpretation of any detected stellar events and the derivation of stellar CME properties.

  12. Novel experimentally observed phenomena in soft matter

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The resulting flow is non-Newtonian and is characterized by features such as shear rate-dependent viscosities and nonzero normal stresses. This article begins with an introduction to some unusual flow properties displayed by soft matter. Experiments that report a spectrum of novel phenomena exhibited by these materials, ...

  13. Might dark matter not be concentric with luminous matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Chongming; Lu Tan.

    1986-12-01

    In this paper, an idea on dark matter nonconcentric with luminous matter is proposed. This case could influence the rotation curve of galaxy differently in its different direction. Recently, Rubin and Ford's observation on rotation curve of Hickson 88a has been explained by means of the idea. Some possible observational predictions have also been given. (author)

  14. Observational constraints on the unified dark matter and dark energy model based on the quark bag model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montiel, Ariadna; Salzano, Vincenzo; Lazkoz, Ruth

    2014-01-01

    In this work we investigate if a small fraction of quarks and gluons, which escaped hadronization and survived as a uniformly spread perfect fluid, can play the role of both dark matter and dark energy. This fluid, as developed in [1], is characterized by two main parameters: β, related to the amount of quarks and gluons which act as dark matter; and γ, acting as the cosmological constant. We explore the feasibility of this model at cosmological scales using data from type Ia Supernovae (SNeIa), Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (LGRB) and direct observational Hubble data. We find that: (i) in general, β cannot be constrained by SNeIa data nor by LGRB or H(z) data; (ii) γ can be constrained quite well by all three data sets, contributing with ≈78% to the energy–matter content; (iii) when a strong prior on (only) baryonic matter is assumed, the two parameters of the model are constrained successfully.

  15. Observational constraints on the unified dark matter and dark energy model based on the quark bag model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Montiel, Ariadna, E-mail: amontiel@fis.cinvestav.mx [Departamento de Física, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Apartado Postal 14-740, 07000 México DF (Mexico); Salzano, Vincenzo, E-mail: vincenzo.salzano@ehu.es [Departamento de Física Teórica e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Apdo. 644, E-48080 Bilbao (Spain); Lazkoz, Ruth, E-mail: ruth.lazkoz@ehu.es [Departamento de Física Teórica e Historia de la Ciencia, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Apdo. 644, E-48080 Bilbao (Spain)

    2014-06-02

    In this work we investigate if a small fraction of quarks and gluons, which escaped hadronization and survived as a uniformly spread perfect fluid, can play the role of both dark matter and dark energy. This fluid, as developed in [1], is characterized by two main parameters: β, related to the amount of quarks and gluons which act as dark matter; and γ, acting as the cosmological constant. We explore the feasibility of this model at cosmological scales using data from type Ia Supernovae (SNeIa), Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (LGRB) and direct observational Hubble data. We find that: (i) in general, β cannot be constrained by SNeIa data nor by LGRB or H(z) data; (ii) γ can be constrained quite well by all three data sets, contributing with ≈78% to the energy–matter content; (iii) when a strong prior on (only) baryonic matter is assumed, the two parameters of the model are constrained successfully.

  16. A Preliminary Observation of Weight Loss Following Left Gastric Artery Embolization in Humans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew J. Gunn

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background/Objectives. Embolization of the left gastric artery (LGA, which preferentially supplies the gastric fundus, has been shown to produce weight loss in animal models. However, weight loss after LGA embolization in humans has not been previously established. The aim of this study was to evaluate postprocedural weight loss in patients following LGA embolization. Subjects/Methods. A retrospective analysis of the medical records of patients who underwent LGA embolization for upper gastrointestinal (GI bleeding was performed. Postprocedural weight loss in this group was compared to a control group of patients who had undergone embolization of other arteries for upper GI bleeding. Results. The experimental group (N=19 lost an average of 7.3% of their initial body weight within three months of LGA embolization, which was significantly greater than the 2% weight loss observed in the control group (N=28 (P=0.006. No significant differences were seen between the groups in preprocedural body mass index (BMI, age, postprocedural care in the intensive care unit, history of malignancy, serum creatinine, or left ventricular ejection fraction. Conclusions. The current data suggest that body weight in humans may be modulated via LGA embolization. Continued research is warranted with prospective studies to further investigate this phenomenon.

  17. Low pre-existing gray matter volume in the medial temporal lobe and white matter lesions are associated with postoperative cognitive dysfunction after cardiac surgery.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kengo Maekawa

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD is recognized as a complication in the elderly after cardiac surgery. Imaging of the brain provides evidence of neurodegeneration in elderly patients; however, abnormalities in brain structure and their relation to POCD are uncertain. This pilot study investigated whether loss of gray matter in the bilateral medial temporal lobe (MTL, seen in preoperative MRI, was associated with POCD. METHODS: Data were collected prospectively on 28 elderly patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery. MRI of the brains of all patients were assessed for prior cerebral infarctions, and carotid and intracranial arterial stenosis. Patients also completed six neuropsychological tests of memory, attention and executive function before and after surgery. POCD was defined as an individual decrease in more than two tests of at least 1 standard deviation from the group baseline mean for that test. The degree of gray matter loss in the MTL of each patient was calculated using voxel-based morphometry with three-dimensional, T1-weighted MRI. This represented the degree of gray matter change as a Z score. RESULTS: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction was identified in 8 of the 28 patients (29%. Patients with POCD had significantly more white matter lesions on MRI, and greater loss of gray matter in the bilateral MTL (average Z score 2.0±0.9 than patients without POCD. An analysis by stepwise logistic regression identified gray matter loss in the MTL and cerebral infarctions on MRI as independent predictors of POCD. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggested that reduced gray matter in the bilateral MTL and white matter lesions existed in brains of elderly cardiac surgery patients who experienced POCD. Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.

  18. MR imaging of metabolic white matter diseases: Therapeutic response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gebarski, S.S.; Allen, R.

    1987-01-01

    In metabolic diseases affecting the brain, MR imaging abnormalities include white-matter signal aberrations suggesting myelination delay, dysmyelination and demyelination, pathologic iron storage, and finally, loss of substance usually in a nonspecific pattern. The authors suggest that MR imaging may have therapeutic implications: (1) classic galactosemia - white-matter signal aberration became normal after dietary therapy; (2) phenylketonuria - age- and sex-matched treated and nontreated adolescents showed marked differences in brain volume, with the treated patient's volume nearly normal; (3) maple syrup urine disease - gross white-matter signal aberration became nearly normal after dietary therapy; and (4) hyperglycinemia - relentless progression of white-matter signal aberration and loss of brain substance despite therapy. These data suggest that brain MR imaging may provide a therapeutic index in certain metabolic diseases

  19. Impeded Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Slatyer, Tracy R. [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Wang, Xiao-Ping [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Xue, Wei [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2016-12-12

    We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

  20. Impeded Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Slatyer, Tracy R.; Wang, Xiao-Ping; Xue, Wei

    2016-01-01

    We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

  1. Histological observations in the Hawaiian reef coral, Porites compressa, affected by Porites bleaching with tissue loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudek, M.; Work, Thierry M.; Aeby, G.S.; Davy, S.K.

    2012-01-01

    The scleractinian finger coral Porites compressa is affected by the coral disease Porites bleaching with tissue loss (PBTL). This disease initially manifests as bleaching of the coenenchyme (tissue between polyps) while the polyps remain brown with eventual tissue loss and subsequent algal overgrowth of the bare skeleton. Histopathological investigation showed a loss of symbiont and melanin-containing granular cells which was more pronounced in the coenenchyme than the polyps. Cell counts confirmed a 65% reduction in symbiont density. Tissue loss was due to tissue fragmentation and necrosis in affected areas. In addition, a reduction in putative bacterial aggregate densities was found in diseased samples but no potential pathogens were observed.

  2. Mass loss and nutrient concentrations of buried wood as a function of organic matter removal, soil compaction, and vegetation control in a regenerating oak-pine forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Felix Ponder; John M. Kabrick; Mary Beth Adams; Deborah S. Page-Dumroese; Marty F. Jurgensen

    2017-01-01

    Mass loss and nutrient concentrations of northern red oak (Quercus rubra) and white oak (Q. alba) wood stakes were measured 30 months after their burial in the upper 10 cm of soil in a regenerating forest after harvesting and soil disturbance. Disturbance treatments were two levels of organic matter (OM) removal (only...

  3. Dark matter universe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahcall, Neta A

    2015-10-06

    Most of the mass in the universe is in the form of dark matter--a new type of nonbaryonic particle not yet detected in the laboratory or in other detection experiments. The evidence for the existence of dark matter through its gravitational impact is clear in astronomical observations--from the early observations of the large motions of galaxies in clusters and the motions of stars and gas in galaxies, to observations of the large-scale structure in the universe, gravitational lensing, and the cosmic microwave background. The extensive data consistently show the dominance of dark matter and quantify its amount and distribution, assuming general relativity is valid. The data inform us that the dark matter is nonbaryonic, is "cold" (i.e., moves nonrelativistically in the early universe), and interacts only weakly with matter other than by gravity. The current Lambda cold dark matter cosmology--a simple (but strange) flat cold dark matter model dominated by a cosmological constant Lambda, with only six basic parameters (including the density of matter and of baryons, the initial mass fluctuations amplitude and its scale dependence, and the age of the universe and of the first stars)--fits remarkably well all the accumulated data. However, what is the dark matter? This is one of the most fundamental open questions in cosmology and particle physics. Its existence requires an extension of our current understanding of particle physics or otherwise point to a modification of gravity on cosmological scales. The exploration and ultimate detection of dark matter are led by experiments for direct and indirect detection of this yet mysterious particle.

  4. Histological observations in the Hawaiian reef coral, Porites compressa, affected by Porites bleaching with tissue loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudek, M; Work, T M; Aeby, G S; Davy, S K

    2012-10-01

    The scleractinian finger coral Porites compressa is affected by the coral disease Porites bleaching with tissue loss (PBTL). This disease initially manifests as bleaching of the coenenchyme (tissue between polyps) while the polyps remain brown with eventual tissue loss and subsequent algal overgrowth of the bare skeleton. Histopathological investigation showed a loss of symbiont and melanin-containing granular cells which was more pronounced in the coenenchyme than the polyps. Cell counts confirmed a 65% reduction in symbiont density. Tissue loss was due to tissue fragmentation and necrosis in affected areas. In addition, a reduction in putative bacterial aggregate densities was found in diseased samples but no potential pathogens were observed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Dark matter in the universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Opher, Reuven

    2001-01-01

    We treat here the problem of dark matter in galaxies. Recent articles seem to imply that we are entering into the precision era of cosmology, implying that all of the basic physics of cosmology is known. However, we show here that recent observations question the pillar of the standard model: the presence of nonbaryonic 'dark matter' in galaxies. Using Newton's law of gravitation, observations indicate that most of the matter in galaxies in invisible or dark. From the observed abundances of light elements, dark matter in galaxies must be primarily nonbaryonic. The standard model and its problems in explaining nonbaryonic dark matter will first be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion of a modification of Newton's law of gravitation to explain dark matter in galaxies. (author)

  6. Experimental observation of parametric effects near period doubling in a loss-modulated CO2 laser

    OpenAIRE

    Chizhevsky, V. N.

    1996-01-01

    A number of parametric effects, such as suppression of period doubling, shift of the bifurcation point, scaling law relating the shift and the perturbation amplitude, influence of the detuning on the suppression, reaching of the maximum gain between the original and shifted bifurcation points, and scaling law for idler power are experimentally observed near period doubling bifurcation in a loss-driven CO2 laser that is subjected to periodic loss perturbations at a frequency that is close to a...

  7. Probing sub-GeV dark matter-baryon scattering with cosmological observables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Weishuang Linda; Dvorkin, Cora; Chael, Andrew

    2018-05-01

    We derive new limits on the elastic scattering cross section between baryons and dark matter using cosmic microwave background data from the Planck satellite and measurements of the Lyman-alpha forest flux power spectrum from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our analysis addresses generic cross sections of the form σ ∝vn , where v is the dark matter-baryon relative velocity, allowing for constraints on the cross section independent of specific particle physics models. We include high-ℓ polarization data from Planck in our analysis, improving over previous constraints. We apply a more careful treatment of dark matter thermal evolution than previously done, allowing us to extend our constraints down to dark matter masses of ˜MeV . We show in this work that cosmological probes are complementary to current direct detection and astrophysical searches.

  8. Constraining Asymmetric Dark Matter through observations of compact stars

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kouvaris, Christoforos; Tinyakov, Peter

    2011-01-01

    We put constraints on asymmetric dark matter candidates with spin-dependent interactions based on the simple existence of white dwarfs and neutron stars in globular clusters. For a wide range of the parameters (WIMP mass and WIMP-nucleon cross section), WIMPs can be trapped in progenitors in large...... numbers and once the original star collapses to a white dwarf or a neutron star, these WIMPs might self-gravitate and eventually collapse forming a mini-black hole that eventually destroys the star. We impose constraints competitive to direct dark matter search experiments, for WIMPs with masses down...

  9. Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bashir, A.; Cotti, U.; De Leon, C. L.; Raya, A; Villasenor, L.

    2008-01-01

    One of the biggest scientific mysteries of our time resides in the identification of the particles that constitute a large fraction of the mass of our Universe, generically known as dark matter. We review the observations and the experimental data that imply the existence of dark matter. We briefly discuss the properties of the two best dark-matter candidate particles and the experimental techniques presently used to try to discover them. Finally, we mention a proposed project that has recently emerged within the Mexican community to look for dark matter

  10. Describing the observed cosmic neutrinos by interactions of nuclei with matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Winter, Walter

    2014-07-01

    IceCube have observed neutrinos which are presumably of extra-galactic origin. Since specific sources have not yet been identified, we discuss what could be learned from the conceptual point of view. We use a simple model for neutrino production from the interactions between nuclei and matter, and we focus on the description of the spectral shape and flavor composition observed by IceCube. Our main parameters are spectral index, maximal energy, magnetic field, and composition of the accelerated nuclei. We show that a cutoff at PeV energies can be achieved by soft enough spectra, a cutoff of the primary energy, or strong enough magnetic fields. These options, however, are difficult to reconcile with the hypothesis that these neutrinos originate from the same sources as the ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We demonstrate that heavier nuclei accelerated in the sources may be a possible way out if the maximal energy scales appropriately with the mass number of the nuclei. In this scenario, neutrino observations can actually be used to test the UHECR acceleration mechanism. We also emphasize the need for a volume upgrade of the IceCube detector for future precision physics, for which the flavor information becomes a statistical meaningful model discriminator as qualitatively new ingredient.

  11. Searching for signatures of dark matter-dark radiation interaction in observations of large-scale structure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Zhen; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Knox, Lloyd

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we conduct a search in the latest large-scale structure measurements for signatures of the dark matter-dark radiation interaction proposed by Buen-Abad et al. (2015). We show that prior claims of an inference of this interaction at ˜3 σ significance rely on a use of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster mass function that ignores uncertainty in the mass-observable relationship. Including this uncertainty we find that the inferred level of interaction remains consistent with the data, but so does zero interaction; i.e., there is no longer a preference for nonzero interaction. We also point out that inference of the shape and amplitude of the matter power spectrum from Ly α forest measurements is highly inconsistent with the predictions of the Λ CDM model conditioned on Planck cosmic microwave background temperature, polarization, and lensing power spectra, and that the dark matter-dark radiation model can restore that consistency. We also phenomenologically generalize the model of Buen-Abad et al. (2015) to allow for interaction rates with different scalings with temperature, and find that the original scaling is preferred by the data.

  12. Effective description of dark matter self-interactions in small dark matter haloes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kummer, Janis

    2017-07-01

    Self-interacting dark matter may have striking astrophysical signatures, such as observ- able offsets between galaxies and dark matter in merging galaxy clusters. Numerical N-body simulations used to predict such observables typically treat the galaxies as collisionless test particles, a questionable assumption given that each galaxy is embedded in its own dark matter halo. To enable a more accurate treatment we develop an effective description of small dark matter haloes taking into account the two major effects due to dark matter self-scatterings: deceleration and evaporation. We point out that self-scatterings can have a sizeable impact on the trajectories of galaxies, diminishing the separation between galaxies and dark matter in merging clusters. This effect depends sensitively on the underlying particle physics, in particular the angular dependence of the self-scattering cross section, and cannot be predicted from the momentum transfer cross section alone.

  13. Exothermic dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Graham, Peter W.; Saraswat, Prashant; Harnik, Roni; Rajendran, Surjeet

    2010-01-01

    We propose a novel mechanism for dark matter to explain the observed annual modulation signal at DAMA/LIBRA which avoids existing constraints from every other dark matter direct detection experiment including CRESST, CDMS, and XENON10. The dark matter consists of at least two light states with mass ∼few GeV and splittings ∼5 keV. It is natural for the heavier states to be cosmologically long-lived and to make up an O(1) fraction of the dark matter. Direct detection rates are dominated by the exothermic reactions in which an excited dark matter state downscatters off of a nucleus, becoming a lower energy state. In contrast to (endothermic) inelastic dark matter, the most sensitive experiments for exothermic dark matter are those with light nuclei and low threshold energies. Interestingly, this model can also naturally account for the observed low-energy events at CoGeNT. The only significant constraint on the model arises from the DAMA/LIBRA unmodulated spectrum but it can be tested in the near future by a low-threshold analysis of CDMS-Si and possibly other experiments including CRESST, COUPP, and XENON100.

  14. Searching for dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mateo, Mario

    1994-01-01

    Three teams of astronomers believe they have independently found evidence for dark matter in our galaxy. A brief history of the search for dark matter is presented. The use of microlensing-event observation for spotting dark matter is described. The equipment required to observe microlensing events and three groups working on dark matter detection are discussed. The three groups are the Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHO) Project team, the Experience de Recherche d'Objets Sombres (EROS) team, and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) team. The first apparent detections of microlensing events by the three teams are briefly reported.

  15. Dark matter and dark radiation in brane world cosmology and its observational test in the BBN, CMB and supernovae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kajino, T.; Ichiki, F.K.; Garnavich, P.M.; Mathews, G.J.; Yahiro, M.

    2005-01-01

    A massive cold dark matter particle is likely to disappear when it is quantized in a Randall-Sundrum noncompact higher dimensional AdS 5 spacetime. To distinguish disappearance of our dark matter particle from the previous decaying particles, we refer to it as disappearing cold dark matter (DCDM). We look for cosmological evidence for this new paradigm and show that this new model is consistent with all data at the 95% C.L., satisfying all sorts of presently available observational constraints from the redshift-luminosity relation of Type Ia supernovae, the mass-to-light ratios of galaxy clusters, and the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background [Phys. Rev. D 68 (2003) 083518

  16. Dark matter structures and emission of very long gravitational waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G.S.

    2005-01-01

    Formation of large structure in the Universe as a result of gravitational instability in cold dark matter is investigated in a simple analytical model. Collapse of the rotating spheroid is approximated by a system of ordinary differential equations describing its dynamics. The gravitational potential is approximated by the one of the uniform Maclaurin spheroid. Development of gravitational instability and collapse in the dark matter medium do not lead to any shock formation or radiation, but is characterized by non-collisional relaxation, which is accompanied by the mass and angular momentum losses. Phenomenological account of these processes is done in this model. Formation of the equilibrium configuration dynamics of collapse is investigated. A very long gravitational wave emission during the collapse is estimated, and their possible connection with the observed gravitational lenses is discussed

  17. Dark Matter Caustics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Natarajan, Aravind

    2010-01-01

    The continuous infall of dark matter with low velocity dispersion in galactic halos leads to the formation of high density structures called caustics. Dark matter caustics are of two kinds : outer and inner. Outer caustics are thin spherical shells surrounding galaxies while inner caustics have a more complicated structure that depends on the dark matter angular momentum distribution. The presence of a dark matter caustic in the plane of the galaxy modifies the gas density in its neighborhood which may lead to observable effects. Caustics are also relevant to direct and indirect dark matter searches.

  18. Bounds on Cross-sections and Lifetimes for Dark Matter Annihilation and Decay into Charged Leptons from Gamma-ray Observations of Dwarf Galaxies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Essig, Rouven; /SLAC; Sehgal, Neelima; Strigari, Louis E.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park

    2009-06-19

    We provide conservative bounds on the dark matter cross-section and lifetime from final state radiation produced by annihilation or decay into charged leptons, either directly or via an intermediate particle {phi}. Our analysis utilizes the experimental gamma-ray flux upper limits from four Milky Way dwarf satellites: HESS observations of Sagittarius and VERITAS observations of Draco, Ursa Minor, and Willman 1. Using 90% confidence level lower limits on the integrals over the dark matter distributions, we find that these constraints are largely unable to rule out dark matter annihilations or decays as an explanation of the PAMELA and ATIC/PPB-BETS excesses. However, if there is an additional Sommerfeld enhancement in dwarfs, which have a velocity dispersion {approx} 10 to 20 times lower than that of the local Galactic halo, then the cross-sections for dark matter annihilating through {phi}'s required to explain the excesses are very close to the cross-section upper bounds from Willman 1. Dark matter annihilation directly into {tau}'s is also marginally ruled out by Willman 1 as an explanation of the excesses, and the required cross-section is only a factor of a few below the upper bound from Draco. Finally, we make predictions for the gamma-ray flux expected from the dwarf galaxy Segue 1 for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. We find that for a sizeable fraction of the parameter space in which dark matter annihilation into charged leptons explains the PAMELA excess, Fermi has good prospects for detecting a gamma-ray signal from Segue 1 after one year of observation.

  19. Tracking nitrogen losses in a greenhouse crop rotation experiment in North China using the EU-Rotate{sub N} simulation model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo Ruiying [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No. 222 Tianshui Nanlu, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu Province (China); Nendel, Claas, E-mail: nendel@zalf.d [Institute for Landscape Systems Analysis, Leibniz-Center for Agricultural Landscape Research, Eberswalder Strasse 84, 15374 Muencheberg (Germany); Rahn, Clive [Warwick HRI, Wellesbourne CV35 9EF (United Kingdom); Jiang Chunguang; Chen Qing [College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, No. 2 Yuanmingyuan Xilu, Haidian, Beijing 100193 (China)

    2010-06-15

    Vegetable production in China is associated with high inputs of nitrogen, posing a risk of losses to the environment. Organic matter mineralisation is a considerable source of nitrogen (N) which is hard to quantify. In a two-year greenhouse cucumber experiment with different N treatments in North China, non-observed pathways of the N cycle were estimated using the EU-Rotate{sub N} simulation model. EU-Rotate{sub N} was calibrated against crop dry matter and soil moisture data to predict crop N uptake, soil mineral N contents, N mineralisation and N loss. Crop N uptake (Modelling Efficiencies (ME) between 0.80 and 0.92) and soil mineral N contents in different soil layers (ME between 0.24 and 0.74) were satisfactorily simulated by the model for all N treatments except for the traditional N management. The model predicted high N mineralisation rates and N leaching losses, suggesting that previously published estimates of N leaching for these production systems strongly underestimated the mineralisation of N from organic matter. - The EU-Rotate{sub N} model can satisfactorily simulate crop N uptake and N{sub min} dynamics in a typical greenhouse cucumber production system of North China

  20. The effect of liraglutide on weight loss in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: an observational study

    OpenAIRE

    Christina Bording Rasmussen; Svend eLindenberg

    2014-01-01

    AbstractObjective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide on weight loss in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Methods: In an observational study, 84 overweight or obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome were treated with liraglutide. Baseline characteristics and weight changes at clinical follow-up were recorded. Main outcome measures were absolute and relative weight loss.Results: In overweight o...

  1. Macro Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Jacobs, David M; Lynn, Bryan W.

    2015-01-01

    Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe, $\\Lambda$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be (e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling observational or experimental evidence exists to support these particular candidates, nor any beyond-the-Standard-Model physics that might produce such candidates. This suggests that other dark matter candidates, including ones that might arise in the Standard Model, should receive increased attention. Here we consider a general class of dark matter candidates with characteristic masses and interaction cross-sections characterized in units of grams and cm$^2$, respectively -- we therefore dub these macroscopic objects as Macros. Such dark matter candidates could potentially be assembled out of Standard Model particles (quarks and leptons) in the early universe. A combination of earth-based, astrophysical, and cosmological observations constrain a portion of the Macro parameter space; ho...

  2. Cerebral gray matter volume losses in essential tremor: A case-control study using high resolution tissue probability maps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Eric; Dyke, Jonathan P; Hernandez, Nora; Louis, Elan D; Dydak, Ulrike

    2018-03-10

    Essential tremor (ET) is increasingly recognized as a multi-dimensional disorder with both motor and non-motor features. For this reason, imaging studies are more broadly examining regions outside the cerebellar motor loop. Reliable detection of cerebral gray matter (GM) atrophy requires optimized processing, adapted to high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We investigated cerebral GM volume loss in ET cases using automated segmentation of MRI T1-weighted images. MRI was acquired on 47 ET cases and 36 controls. Automated segmentation and voxel-wise comparisons of volume were performed using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) software. To improve upon standard protocols, the high-resolution International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) 2009a atlas and tissue probability maps were used to process each subject image. Group comparisons were performed: all ET vs. Controls, ET with head tremor (ETH) vs. Controls, and severe ET vs. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed between ET with and without head tremor and controls. Age, sex, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score were regressed out from each comparison. We were able to consistently identify regions of cerebral GM volume loss in ET and in ET subgroups in the posterior insula, superior temporal gyri, cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyri and other occipital and parietal regions. There were no significant increases in GM volume in ET in any comparisons with controls. This study, which uses improved methodologies, provides evidence that GM volume loss in ET is present beyond the cerebellum, and in fact, is widespread throughout the cerebrum as well. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. White noise from dark matter: 21 cm observations of early baryon collapse

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zurek, Kathryn M.; Hogan, Craig J.

    2007-01-01

    In concordance cosmology, dark matter density perturbations generated by inflation lead to nonlinear, virialized minihalos, into which baryons collapse at redshift z∼20. We survey here novel baryon evolution produced by a modification of the power spectrum from white noise density perturbations at scales below k∼10h Mpc -1 (the smallest scales currently measured with the Lyman-α forest). Exotic dark matter dynamics, such as would arise from scalar dark matter with a late phase transition (similar to an axion, but with lower mass), or primordial black hole dark matter, create such an amplification of small scale power. The dark matter produced in such a phase transition collapses into minihalos, with a size given by the dark matter mass within the horizon at the phase transition. If the mass of the initial minihalos is larger than ∼10 -3 M · , the modified power spectrum is found to cause widespread baryon collapse earlier than standard ΛCDM, leading to earlier gas heating. It also results in higher spin temperature of the baryons in the 21 cm line relative to ΛCDM at redshifts z>20 if the mass of the minihalo is larger than 1M · . It is estimated that experiments probing 21 cm radiation at high redshift will contribute a significant constraint on dark matter models of this type for initial minihalos larger than ∼10M · . These experiments may also detect (or rule out) primordial black holes as the dark matter in the window 30M · H 3 M · still left open by strong microlensing experiments and other astrophysical constraints. Early experiments reaching to z≅15 will constrain minihalos down to ∼10 3 M ·

  4. Dark matter detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Forster, G.

    1995-01-01

    A fundamental question of astrophysics and cosmology is the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations show clearly the existence of some kind of dark matter, though they cannot yet reveal its nature. Dark matter can consist of baryonic particles, or of other (known or unknown) elementary particles. Baryonic dark matter probably exists in the form of dust, gas, or small stars. Other elementary particles constituting the dark matter can possibly be measured in terrestrial experiments. Possibilities for dark matter particles are neutrinos, axions and weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While a direct detection of relic neutrinos seems at the moment impossible, there are experiments looking for baryonic dark matter in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects, and for particle dark matter in the form of axions and WIMPS. (orig.)

  5. Suprathermal electron loss cone distributions in the solar wind: Ulysses observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillips, J. L.; Feldman, W. C.; Gosling, J. T.; Hammond, C. M.; Forsyth, R. J.

    1996-01-01

    We present observations by the Ulysses solar wind plasma experiment of a new class of suprathermal electron signatures. At low solar latitudes and heliocentric distances beyond 3.37 AU Ulysses encountered seven intervals, ranging in duration from 1 hour to 22 hours, in which the suprathermal distributions included an antisunward field-aligned beam and a return population with a flux dropout typically spanning ±60 deg. from the sunward field-aligned direction. All events occurred between the forward and reverse shocks or waves bounding corotating interaction regions (CIRs). The observations support a scenario in which the sunward-moving electrons result from reflection of the prevailing antisunward field-aligned beam at magnetic field compressions downstream from the spacecraft, with wide loss cones caused by the relatively weak mirror ratio. This hypothesis requires that the field magnitude within the CIRs actually increased locally with increasing field-aligned distance from the Sun

  6. Dark matter and dark energy interactions: theoretical challenges, cosmological implications and observational signatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, B; Abdalla, E; Atrio-Barandela, F; Pavón, D

    2016-09-01

    Models where dark matter and dark energy interact with each other have been proposed to solve the coincidence problem. We review the motivations underlying the need to introduce such interaction, its influence on the background dynamics and how it modifies the evolution of linear perturbations. We test models using the most recent observational data and we find that the interaction is compatible with the current astronomical and cosmological data. Finally, we describe the forthcoming data sets from current and future facilities that are being constructed or designed that will allow a clearer understanding of the physics of the dark sector.

  7. Self-interacting warm dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hannestad, Steen; Scherrer, Robert J.

    2000-01-01

    It has been shown by many independent studies that the cold dark matter scenario produces singular galactic dark halos, in strong contrast with observations. Possible remedies are that either the dark matter is warm so that it has significant thermal motion or that the dark matter has strong self-interactions. We combine these ideas to calculate the linear mass power spectrum and the spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations for self-interacting warm dark matter. Our results indicate that such models have more power on small scales than is the case for the standard warm dark matter model, with a CMB fluctuation spectrum which is nearly indistinguishable from standard cold dark matter. This enhanced small-scale power may provide better agreement with the observations than does standard warm dark matter. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

  8. Codecaying Dark Matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dror, Jeff Asaf; Kuflik, Eric; Ng, Wee Hao

    2016-11-18

    We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freeze-out, called codecaying dark matter. Multicomponent dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can codecay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark matter density is exponentially depleted through the decay of nearly degenerate particles rather than from Boltzmann suppression. The relic abundance is set by the dark matter annihilation cross section, which is predicted to be boosted, and the decay rate of the dark sector particles. The mechanism is viable in a broad range of dark matter parameter space, with a robust prediction of an enhanced indirect detection signal. Finally, we present a simple model that realizes codecaying dark matter.

  9. Subcortical White Matter Changes with Normal Aging Detected by Multi-Shot High Resolution Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sheng Xie

    Full Text Available Subcortical white matter builds neural connections between cortical and subcortical regions and constitutes the basis of neural networks. It plays a very important role in normal brain function. Various studies have shown that white matter deteriorates with aging. However, due to the limited spatial resolution provided by traditional diffusion imaging techniques, microstructural information from subcortical white matter with normal aging has not been comprehensively assessed. This study aims to investigate the deterioration effect with aging in the subcortical white matter and provide a baseline standard for pathological disorder diagnosis. We apply our newly developed multi-shot high resolution diffusion tensor imaging, using self-feeding multiplexed sensitivity-encoding, to measure subcortical white matter changes in regions of interest of healthy persons with a wide age range. Results show significant fractional anisotropy decline and radial diffusivity increasing with age, especially in the anterior part of the brain. We also find that subcortical white matter has more prominent changes than white matter close to the central brain. The observed changes in the subcortical white matter may be indicative of a mild demyelination and a loss of myelinated axons, which may contribute to normal age-related functional decline.

  10. Interaction of radiation with matter

    CERN Document Server

    Nikjoo, Hooshang; Emfietzoglou, Dimitris

    2012-01-01

    Written for students approaching the subject for the first time, this text provides a solid grounding in the physics of the interactions of photons and particles with matter, which is the basis of radiological physics and radiation dosimetry. The authors first present the relevant atomic physics and then describe the interactions, emphasizing practical applications in health/medical physics and radiation biology. They cover such important topics as microdosimetry, interaction of photons with matter, electron energy loss, and dielectric response. Each chapter includes exercises and a summary.

  11. The effect of liraglutide on weight loss in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: an observational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Christina B; Lindenberg, Svend

    2014-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 analog liraglutide on weight loss in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In an observational study, 84 overweight or obese women with PCOS were treated with liraglutide. Baseline characteristics and weight changes at clinical follow-up were recorded. Main outcome measures were absolute and relative weight loss. In overweight or obese women with PCOS treated with liraglutide for a minimum of 4 weeks, a mean weight loss of 9.0 kg (95% CI: 7.8-10.1, p weight loss of more than 5 and 10% of baseline weight was seen in 81.7 and 32.9% of patients, respectively. The mean duration of treatment with liraglutide was 27.8 weeks (SD 19.2). Treatment with liraglutide in combination with metformin and lifestyle intervention resulted in a significant weight loss in overweight and obese women with PCOS, indicating that liraglutide may be an effective alternative for weight loss in this group of patients. However, larger placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm this.

  12. Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Greg L West

    Full Text Available Maintaining grey matter within the hippocampus is important for healthy cognition. Playing 3D-platform video games has previously been shown to promote grey matter in the hippocampus in younger adults. In the current study, we tested the impact of 3D-platform video game training (i.e., Super Mario 64 on grey matter in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC of older adults. Older adults who were 55 to 75 years of age were randomized into three groups. The video game experimental group (VID; n = 8 engaged in a 3D-platform video game training over a period of 6 months. Additionally, an active control group took a series of self-directed, computerized music (piano lessons (MUS; n = 12, while a no-contact control group did not engage in any intervention (CON; n = 13. After training, a within-subject increase in grey matter within the hippocampus was significant only in the VID training group, replicating results observed in younger adults. Active control MUS training did, however, lead to a within-subject increase in the DLPFC, while both the VID and MUS training produced growth in the cerebellum. In contrast, the CON group displayed significant grey matter loss in the hippocampus, cerebellum and the DLPFC.

  13. Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Greg L; Zendel, Benjamin Rich; Konishi, Kyoko; Benady-Chorney, Jessica; Bohbot, Veronique D; Peretz, Isabelle; Belleville, Sylvie

    2017-01-01

    Maintaining grey matter within the hippocampus is important for healthy cognition. Playing 3D-platform video games has previously been shown to promote grey matter in the hippocampus in younger adults. In the current study, we tested the impact of 3D-platform video game training (i.e., Super Mario 64) on grey matter in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of older adults. Older adults who were 55 to 75 years of age were randomized into three groups. The video game experimental group (VID; n = 8) engaged in a 3D-platform video game training over a period of 6 months. Additionally, an active control group took a series of self-directed, computerized music (piano) lessons (MUS; n = 12), while a no-contact control group did not engage in any intervention (CON; n = 13). After training, a within-subject increase in grey matter within the hippocampus was significant only in the VID training group, replicating results observed in younger adults. Active control MUS training did, however, lead to a within-subject increase in the DLPFC, while both the VID and MUS training produced growth in the cerebellum. In contrast, the CON group displayed significant grey matter loss in the hippocampus, cerebellum and the DLPFC.

  14. Massive graviton dark matter with environment dependent mass: A natural explanation of the dark matter-baryon ratio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoki, Katsuki; Mukohyama, Shinji

    2017-11-01

    We propose a scenario that can naturally explain the observed dark matter-baryon ratio in the context of bimetric theory with a chameleon field. We introduce two additional gravitational degrees of freedom, the massive graviton and the chameleon field, corresponding to dark matter and dark energy, respectively. The chameleon field is assumed to be nonminimally coupled to dark matter, i.e., the massive graviton, through the graviton mass terms. We find that the dark matter-baryon ratio is dynamically adjusted to the observed value due to the energy transfer by the chameleon field. As a result, the model can explain the observed dark matter-baryon ratio independently from the initial abundance of them.

  15. AMS-02 fits dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balázs, Csaba; Li, Tong

    2016-05-01

    In this work we perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of the AMS-02 electron, positron fluxes and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the context of a simplified dark matter model. We include known, standard astrophysical sources and a dark matter component in the cosmic ray injection spectra. To predict the AMS-02 observables we use propagation parameters extracted from observed fluxes of heavier nuclei and the low energy part of the AMS-02 data. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Majorana fermion coupling to third generation fermions via a spin-0 mediator, and annihilating to multiple channels at once. The simultaneous presence of various annihilation channels provides the dark matter model with additional flexibility, and this enables us to simultaneously fit all cosmic ray spectra using a simple particle physics model and coherent astrophysical assumptions. Our results indicate that AMS-02 observations are not only consistent with the dark matter hypothesis within the uncertainties, but adding a dark matter contribution improves the fit to the data. Assuming, however, that dark matter is solely responsible for this improvement of the fit, it is difficult to evade the latest CMB limits in this model.

  16. AMS-02 fits dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Balázs, Csaba; Li, Tong [ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Tera-scale,School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800 (Australia)

    2016-05-05

    In this work we perform a comprehensive statistical analysis of the AMS-02 electron, positron fluxes and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the context of a simplified dark matter model. We include known, standard astrophysical sources and a dark matter component in the cosmic ray injection spectra. To predict the AMS-02 observables we use propagation parameters extracted from observed fluxes of heavier nuclei and the low energy part of the AMS-02 data. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Majorana fermion coupling to third generation fermions via a spin-0 mediator, and annihilating to multiple channels at once. The simultaneous presence of various annihilation channels provides the dark matter model with additional flexibility, and this enables us to simultaneously fit all cosmic ray spectra using a simple particle physics model and coherent astrophysical assumptions. Our results indicate that AMS-02 observations are not only consistent with the dark matter hypothesis within the uncertainties, but adding a dark matter contribution improves the fit to the data. Assuming, however, that dark matter is solely responsible for this improvement of the fit, it is difficult to evade the latest CMB limits in this model.

  17. Drugs as habitable planets in the space of dark chemical matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siramshetty, Vishal B; Preissner, Robert

    2018-03-01

    A recent study demonstrated antifungal activity of dark chemical matter (DCM) compounds that were otherwise inactive in more than 100 HTS assays. These compounds were proposed to possess unique activity and 'clean' safety profiles. Here, we present an outlook of the promiscuity and safety of these compounds by retrospectively comparing their chemical and biological spaces with those of drugs. Significant amounts of marketed drugs (16%), withdrawn drugs (16.5%) and natural compounds (3.5%) share structural identity with DCM. Compound promiscuity assessment indicates that dark matter compounds could potentially interact with multiple biological targets. Further, thousands of DCM compounds showed presence of frequent-hitting pan-assay interference compound (PAINS) substructures. In light of these observations, filtering these compounds from screening libraries can be an irrevocable loss. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE): Observing Mass Loss on Short-Period Exoplanets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egan, Arika; Fleming, Brian; France, Kevin

    2018-06-01

    The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) is an NUV spectrograph packaged into a 6U CubeSat, designed to characterize the interaction between exoplanetary atmospheres and their host stars. CUTE will conduct a transit spectroscopy survey, gathering data over multiple transits on more than 12 short-period exoplanets with a range of masses and radii. The instrument will characterize the spectral properties of the transit light curves to atomic and molecular absorption features predicted to exist in the upper atmospheres of these planets, including Mg I, Mg II, Fe II, and OH. The shape and evolution of these spectral light curves will be used to quantify mass loss rates, the stellar drives of that mass loss, and the possible existence of exoplanetary magnetic fiends. This poster presents the science motivation for CUTE, planned observation and data analysis methods, and expected results.

  19. Early and extensive spinal white matter involvement in neuromyelitis optica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashida, Shotaro; Masaki, Katsuhisa; Yonekawa, Tomomi; Suzuki, Satoshi O; Hiwatashi, Akio; Matsushita, Takuya; Watanabe, Mitsuru; Yamasaki, Ryo; Suenaga, Toshihiko; Iwaki, Toru; Murai, Hiroyuki; Kira, Jun-Ichi

    2017-05-01

    Studies of longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesions (LESCLs) in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) have focused on gray matter, where the relevant antigen, aquaporin-4 (AQP4), is abundant. Because spinal white matter pathology in NMO is not well characterized, we aimed to clarify spinal white matter pathology of LESCLs in NMO. We analyzed 50 spinal cord lesions from eleven autopsied NMO/NMO spectrum disorder (NMOSD) cases. We also evaluated LESCLs with three or fewer spinal cord attacks by 3-tesla MRI in 15 AQP4 antibody-positive NMO/NMOSD patients and in 15 AQP4 antibody-negative multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Pathological analysis revealed seven cases of AQP4 loss and four predominantly demyelinating cases. Forty-four lesions from AQP4 loss cases involved significantly more frequently posterior columns (PC) and lateral columns (LC) than anterior columns (AC) (59.1%, 63.6%, and 34.1%, respectively). The posterior horn (PH), central portion (CP), and anterior horn (AH) were similarly affected (38.6%, 36.4% and 31.8%, respectively). Isolated perivascular inflammatory lesions with selective loss of astrocyte endfoot proteins, AQP4 and connexin 43, were present only in white matter and were more frequent in PC and LC than in AC (22.7%, 29.5% and 2.3%, P corr  = 0.020, and P corr  = 0.004, respectively). MRI indicated LESCLs more frequently affected PC and LC than AC in anti-AQP4 antibody-seropositive NMO/NMOSD (86.7%, 60.0% and 20.0%, P corr  = 0.005, and P corr  = 0.043, respectively) and AQP4 antibody-seronegative MS patients (86.7%, 73.3% and 33.3%, P corr  = 0.063, and P corr  = 0.043, respectively). PH, CP and AH were involved in 93.3%, 86.7% and 73.3% of seropositive patients, respectively, and in 53.3%, 60.0% and 40.0% of seronegative patients, respectively. NMO frequently and extensively affects spinal white matter in addition to central gray matter, especially in PC and LC, where isolated perivascular lesions with astrocyte endfoot

  20. Cell wall content and rumen dry matter disappearance of γ-irradiated wood by-products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flachowsky, G.; Baer, M.; Zuber, S.; Tiroke, K.

    1990-01-01

    Spruce sawdust and barks of spruce, pine and larch were irradiated with various doses of γ-rays (0; 0.1; 0.25; 0.5; 1.0 and 2.0 MGy). Cell wall constituents and rumen dry-matter disappearance (incubation time: 48 h) were determined. γ-Irradiation significantly reduced neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre content of all by-products. The crude lignin of the wood by-products was not significantly influenced by γ-irradiation. Rumen dry-matter loss of untreated sawdust was 5.6%, that of barks between 18.2 (pine) and 64.6% (spruce). γ-Irradiation significantly increased rumen dry-matter loss. Increased washout due to solubilization and particle breakdown was mainly responsible for the higher dry-matter losses in the rumen after irradiation. The results do not justify practical use because of the high dose of irradiation required. (author)

  1. Dark matter in spiral galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albada, T.S. van; Sancisi, R.

    1986-01-01

    Mass models of spiral galaxies based on the observed light distribution, assuming constant M/L for bulge and disc, are able to reproduce the observed rotation curves in the inner regions, but fail to do so increasingly towards and beyond the edge of the visible material. The discrepancy in the outer region can be accounted for by invoking dark matter; some galaxies require at least four times as much dark matter as luminous matter. There is no evidence for a dependence on galaxy luminosity or morphological type. Various arguments support the idea that a distribution of visible matter with constant M/L is responsible for the circular velocity in the inner region, i.e. inside approximately 2.5 disc scalelengths. Luminous matter and dark matter seem to 'conspire' to produce the flat observed rotation curves in the outer region. It seems unlikely that this coupling between disc and halo results from the large-scale gravitational interaction between the two components. Attempts to determine the shape of dark halos have not yet produced convincing results. (author)

  2. Relativistic simulations of compact object mergers for nucleonic matter and strange quark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauswein, Andreas Ottmar

    2010-01-01

    Under the assumption that the energy of the ground state of 3-flavor quark matter is lower than the one of nucleonic matter, the compact stellar remnants of supernova explosions are composed of this quark matter. Because of the appearance of strange quarks, such objects are called strange stars. Considering their observational features, strange stars are very similar to neutron stars made of nucleonic matter, and therefore observations cannot exclude the existence of strange stars. This thesis introduces a new method for simulating mergers of compact stars and black holes within a general relativistic framework. The main goal of the present work is the investigation of the question, whether the coalescence of two strange stars in a binary system yields observational signatures that allow one to distinguish them from colliding neutron stars. In this context the gravitational-wave signals are analyzed. It is found that in general the characteristic frequencies in the gravitational-wave spectra are higher for strange stars. Moreover, the amount of matter that becomes gravitationally unbound during the merging is determined. The detection of ejecta of strange star mergers as potential component of cosmic ray flux could serve as a proof of the existence of strange quark matter. (orig.)

  3. Relativistic simulations of compact object mergers for nucleonic matter and strange quark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bauswein, Andreas Ottmar

    2010-01-29

    Under the assumption that the energy of the ground state of 3-flavor quark matter is lower than the one of nucleonic matter, the compact stellar remnants of supernova explosions are composed of this quark matter. Because of the appearance of strange quarks, such objects are called strange stars. Considering their observational features, strange stars are very similar to neutron stars made of nucleonic matter, and therefore observations cannot exclude the existence of strange stars. This thesis introduces a new method for simulating mergers of compact stars and black holes within a general relativistic framework. The main goal of the present work is the investigation of the question, whether the coalescence of two strange stars in a binary system yields observational signatures that allow one to distinguish them from colliding neutron stars. In this context the gravitational-wave signals are analyzed. It is found that in general the characteristic frequencies in the gravitational-wave spectra are higher for strange stars. Moreover, the amount of matter that becomes gravitationally unbound during the merging is determined. The detection of ejecta of strange star mergers as potential component of cosmic ray flux could serve as a proof of the existence of strange quark matter. (orig.)

  4. Constraints on mirror models of dark matter from observable neutron-mirror neutron oscillation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohapatra, Rabindra N.; Nussinov, Shmuel

    2018-01-01

    The process of neutron-mirror neutron oscillation, motivated by symmetric mirror dark matter models, is governed by two parameters: n -n‧ mixing parameter δ and n -n‧ mass splitting Δ. For neutron mirror neutron oscillation to be observable, the splitting between their masses Δ must be small and current experiments lead to δ ≤ 2 ×10-27 GeV and Δ ≤10-24 GeV. We show that in mirror universe models where this process is observable, this small mass splitting constrains the way that one must implement asymmetric inflation to satisfy the limits of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on the number of effective light degrees of freedom. In particular we find that if asymmetric inflation is implemented by inflaton decay to color or electroweak charged particles, the oscillation is unobservable. Also if one uses SM singlet fields for this purpose, they must be weakly coupled to the SM fields.

  5. What is the probability that direct detection experiments have observed dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bozorgnia, Nassim; Schwetz, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    In Dark Matter direct detection we are facing the situation of some experiments reporting positive signals which are in conflict with limits from other experiments. Such conclusions are subject to large uncertainties introduced by the poorly known local Dark Matter distribution. We present a method to calculate an upper bound on the joint probability of obtaining the outcome of two potentially conflicting experiments under the assumption that the Dark Matter hypothesis is correct, but completely independent of assumptions about the Dark Matter distribution. In this way we can quantify the compatibility of two experiments in an astrophysics independent way. We illustrate our method by testing the compatibility of the hints reported by DAMA and CDMS-Si with the limits from the LUX and SuperCDMS experiments. The method does not require Monte Carlo simulations but is mostly based on using Poisson statistics. In order to deal with signals of few events we introduce the so-called ''signal length'' to take into account energy information. The signal length method provides a simple way to calculate the probability to obtain a given experimental outcome under a specified Dark Matter and background hypothesis

  6. Dark Matter Annihilation at the Galactic Center

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Linden, Timothy Ryan [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

    2013-06-01

    Observations by the WMAP and PLANCK satellites have provided extraordinarily accurate observations on the densities of baryonic matter, dark matter, and dark energy in the universe. These observations indicate that our universe is composed of approximately ve times as much dark matter as baryonic matter. However, e orts to detect a particle responsible for the energy density of dark matter have been unsuccessful. Theoretical models have indicated that a leading candidate for the dark matter is the lightest supersymmetric particle, which may be stable due to a conserved R-parity. This dark matter particle would still be capable of interacting with baryons via weak-force interactions in the early universe, a process which was found to naturally explain the observed relic abundance of dark matter today. These residual annihilations can persist, albeit at a much lower rate, in the present universe, providing a detectable signal from dark matter annihilation events which occur throughout the universe. Simulations calculating the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy almost universally predict the galactic center of the Milky Way Galaxy (GC) to provide the brightest signal from dark matter annihilation due to its relative proximity and large simulated dark matter density. Recent advances in telescope technology have allowed for the rst multiwavelength analysis of the GC, with suitable e ective exposure, angular resolution, and energy resolution in order to detect dark matter particles with properties similar to those predicted by the WIMP miracle. In this work, I describe ongoing e orts which have successfully detected an excess in -ray emission from the region immediately surrounding the GC, which is di cult to describe in terms of standard di use emission predicted in the GC region. While the jury is still out on any dark matter interpretation of this excess, I describe several related observations which may indicate a dark matter origin. Finally, I discuss the

  7. A semi-automated method for measuring thickness and white matter ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A semi-automated method for measuring thickness and white matter integrity of the corpus callosum. ... and interhemispheric differences. Future research will determine normal values for age and compare CC thickness with peripheral white matter volume loss in large groups of patients, using the semiautomated technique.

  8. Dark matter universe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahcall, Neta A.

    2015-01-01

    Most of the mass in the universe is in the form of dark matter—a new type of nonbaryonic particle not yet detected in the laboratory or in other detection experiments. The evidence for the existence of dark matter through its gravitational impact is clear in astronomical observations—from the early observations of the large motions of galaxies in clusters and the motions of stars and gas in galaxies, to observations of the large-scale structure in the universe, gravitational lensing, and the cosmic microwave background. The extensive data consistently show the dominance of dark matter and quantify its amount and distribution, assuming general relativity is valid. The data inform us that the dark matter is nonbaryonic, is “cold” (i.e., moves nonrelativistically in the early universe), and interacts only weakly with matter other than by gravity. The current Lambda cold dark matter cosmology—a simple (but strange) flat cold dark matter model dominated by a cosmological constant Lambda, with only six basic parameters (including the density of matter and of baryons, the initial mass fluctuations amplitude and its scale dependence, and the age of the universe and of the first stars)—fits remarkably well all the accumulated data. However, what is the dark matter? This is one of the most fundamental open questions in cosmology and particle physics. Its existence requires an extension of our current understanding of particle physics or otherwise point to a modification of gravity on cosmological scales. The exploration and ultimate detection of dark matter are led by experiments for direct and indirect detection of this yet mysterious particle. PMID:26417091

  9. Inelastic dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, David; Weiner, Neal

    2001-01-01

    Many observations suggest that much of the matter of the universe is nonbaryonic. Recently, the DAMA NaI dark matter direct detection experiment reported an annual modulation in their event rate consistent with a WIMP relic. However, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) Ge experiment excludes most of the region preferred by DAMA. We demonstrate that if the dark matter can only scatter by making a transition to a slightly heavier state (Δm∼100 keV), the experiments are no longer in conflict. Moreover, differences in the energy spectrum of nuclear recoil events could distinguish such a scenario from the standard WIMP scenario. Finally, we discuss the sneutrino as a candidate for inelastic dark matter in supersymmetric theories

  10. Constraints on mirror models of dark matter from observable neutron-mirror neutron oscillation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rabindra N. Mohapatra

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The process of neutron-mirror neutron oscillation, motivated by symmetric mirror dark matter models, is governed by two parameters: n−n′ mixing parameter δ and n−n′ mass splitting Δ. For neutron mirror neutron oscillation to be observable, the splitting between their masses Δ must be small and current experiments lead to δ≤2×10−27 GeV and Δ≤10−24 GeV. We show that in mirror universe models where this process is observable, this small mass splitting constrains the way that one must implement asymmetric inflation to satisfy the limits of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on the number of effective light degrees of freedom. In particular we find that if asymmetric inflation is implemented by inflaton decay to color or electroweak charged particles, the oscillation is unobservable. Also if one uses SM singlet fields for this purpose, they must be weakly coupled to the SM fields.

  11. Hidden charged dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan L.; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Tu, Huitzu; Yu, Hai-Bo

    2009-01-01

    Can dark matter be stabilized by charge conservation, just as the electron is in the standard model? We examine the possibility that dark matter is hidden, that is, neutral under all standard model gauge interactions, but charged under an exact (\\rm U)(1) gauge symmetry of the hidden sector. Such candidates are predicted in WIMPless models, supersymmetric models in which hidden dark matter has the desired thermal relic density for a wide range of masses. Hidden charged dark matter has many novel properties not shared by neutral dark matter: (1) bound state formation and Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation after chemical freeze out may reduce its relic density, (2) similar effects greatly enhance dark matter annihilation in protohalos at redshifts of z ∼ 30, (3) Compton scattering off hidden photons delays kinetic decoupling, suppressing small scale structure, and (4) Rutherford scattering makes such dark matter self-interacting and collisional, potentially impacting properties of the Bullet Cluster and the observed morphology of galactic halos. We analyze all of these effects in a WIMPless model in which the hidden sector is a simplified version of the minimal supersymmetric standard model and the dark matter is a hidden sector stau. We find that charged hidden dark matter is viable and consistent with the correct relic density for reasonable model parameters and dark matter masses in the range 1 GeV ∼ X ∼< 10 TeV. At the same time, in the preferred range of parameters, this model predicts cores in the dark matter halos of small galaxies and other halo properties that may be within the reach of future observations. These models therefore provide a viable and well-motivated framework for collisional dark matter with Sommerfeld enhancement, with novel implications for astrophysics and dark matter searches

  12. Goal setting: Eating, Physical activity & Weight loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    No matter what your weight loss goal is, the key to reaching your goals is to make changes to your lifestyle behaviors like eating and physical activity. This involves setting realistic expectations and making a plan.

  13. Dark matter in and around stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivertsson, Sofia

    2009-01-01

    There is by now compelling evidence that most of the matter in the universe is in the form of dark matter, a form of matter quite different from the matter we experience in every day life. The gravitational effects of this dark matter have been observed in many different ways but its true nature is still unknown. In most models dark matter particles can annihilate with each other into standard model particles. The direct or indirect observation of such annihilation products could give important clues for the dark matter puzzle. For signals from dark matter annihilations to be detectable, typically high dark matter densities are required. Massive objects, such as stars, can increase the local dark matter density both via scattering off nucleons and by pulling in dark matter gravitationally as the star forms. Dark matter annihilations outside the star would give rise to gamma rays and this is discussed in the first paper. Furthermore dark matter annihilations inside the star would deposit energy inside the star which, if abundant enough, could alter the stellar evolution. Aspects of this are investigated in the second paper. Finally, local dark matter over densities formed in the early universe could still be around today; prospects of detecting gamma rays from such clumps are discussed in the third paper

  14. Dark matter detection - II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zacek, Viktor

    2015-01-01

    The quest for the mysterious missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of today's particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world-wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

  15. Dark matter detection - I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zacek, Viktor

    2015-01-01

    The quest for the mysterious missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of today's particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world-wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

  16. Dark matter detection - III

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zacek, Viktor

    2015-01-01

    The quest for the missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of todays particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the Universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the Universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world- wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

  17. Microphysical Characteristics of Atmospheric Particulate Matter from NASA’s MODIS, MISR, and AERONET Observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gad, N; Ibrahim, Alaa; Shokr, M

    2017-01-01

    We present a comparative study of atmospheric particulate matter (also known as aerosols) observed by satellite remote sensing and ground-based observations. We compare satellite measurements obtained by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) instruments against the ground-based aerosol sun-photometer data from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) station in Cairo, Egypt from 2003 to 2014 to build a long-term database for climatological studies and to improve upon the accuracy and coverage achievable from the satellite data. We deduce microphysical and geometrical properties about the dominant aerosols based on key optical properties including aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), and Ångström exponent (AE). This has allowed us to place important constraints on the type of aerosols (natural, anthropogenic, and biogenic). (paper)

  18. The effect of liraglutide on weight loss in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: an observational study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christina Bording Rasmussen

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available AbstractObjective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide on weight loss in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Methods: In an observational study, 84 overweight or obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome were treated with liraglutide. Baseline characteristics and weight changes at clinical follow-up were recorded. Main outcome measures were absolute and relative weight loss.Results: In overweight or obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome treated with liraglutide for a minimum of 4 weeks a mean weight loss of 9.0 kg (95% CI: 7.8-10.13, p<0.0001 and a mean decrease in BMI of 3.2 kg/m2 (95% CI: 2.8-3.6, p<0.0001 was found. A weight loss of more than 5% and 10% of baseline weight was seen in 81.7% and 32.9% of patients, respectively. The mean duration of treatment with liraglutide was 27.8 weeks (SD 19.2.Conclusion: Treatment with liraglutide in combination with metformin and lifestyle intervention resulted in a significant weight loss in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome, indicating that liraglutide may be an effective alternative for weight loss in this group of patients. However, larger placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm this.

  19. Marginal matters: pregnancy loss as a social event

    OpenAIRE

    van der Sijpt, E.

    2010-01-01

    Studies on fertility in Africa have known a major paradigm shift when demographic concerns about ‘overpopulation’ came to be replaced by new ideas about reproductive health, rights, and choices during the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Whereas this shift has allowed for more recognition of losses during pregnancy which had been virtually absent in previous demographic accounts of high fertility rates, the new discourse on rights and choices turns most of i...

  20. Increased nuclear Olig1-expression in the pregenual anterior cingulate white matter of patients with major depression: a regenerative attempt to compensate oligodendrocyte loss?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosebach, Jennifer; Keilhoff, Gerburg; Gos, Tomasz; Schiltz, Kolja; Schoeneck, Linda; Dobrowolny, Henrik; Mawrin, Christian; Müller, Susan; Schroeter, Matthias L; Bernstein, Hans-Gert; Bogerts, Bernhard; Steiner, Johann

    2013-08-01

    Structural and functional oligodendrocyte deficits as well as impaired myelin integrity have been described in affective disorders and schizophrenia, and may disturb the connectivity between disease-relevant brain regions. Olig1, an oligodendroglial transcription factor, might be important in this context, but has not been systematically studied so far. Nissl- and Olig1-stained oligodendrocytes were quantified in the pregenual anterior cingulate (pACC)/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and adjacent white matter of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 9), bipolar disorder (BD, n = 8), schizophrenia (SZ, n = 13), and matched controls (n = 16). Potential downstream effects of increased Olig1-expression were analyzed. Antidepressant drug effects on Olig1-expression were further explored in OLN-93 oligodendrocyte cultures. Nissl-stainings of both white matter regions showed a 19-27% reduction of total oligodendrocyte densities in MDD and BD, but not in SZ. In contrast, nuclear Olig1-immunoreactivity was elevated in MDD in the pACC-adjacent white matter (left: p = 0.008; right: p = 0.018); this effect tended to increase with antidepressant dosage (r = 0.631, p = 0.069). This reactive increase of Olig1 was confirmed by partly dose-dependent effects of imipramine and amitriptyline in oligodendrocyte cultures. Correspondingly, MBP expression in the pACC-adjacent white matter tended to increase with antidepressant dosage (r = 0.637, p = 0.065). Other tested brain regions showed no diagnosis-dependent differences regarding Olig1-immunoreactivity. Since nuclear Olig1-expression marks oligodendrocyte precursor cells, its increased expression along with reduced total oligodendrocyte densities (Nissl-stained) in the pACC-adjacent white matter of MDD patients might indicate a (putatively medication-boosted) regenerative attempt to compensate oligodendrocyte loss. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Galactic searches for dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strigari, Louis E.

    2013-01-01

    For nearly a century, more mass has been measured in galaxies than is contained in the luminous stars and gas. Through continual advances in observations and theory, it has become clear that the dark matter in galaxies is not comprised of known astronomical objects or baryonic matter, and that identification of it is certain to reveal a profound connection between astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. The best explanation for dark matter is that it is in the form of a yet undiscovered particle of nature, with experiments now gaining sensitivity to the most well-motivated particle dark matter candidates. In this article, I review measurements of dark matter in the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies and the status of Galactic searches for particle dark matter using a combination of terrestrial and space-based astroparticle detectors, and large scale astronomical surveys. I review the limits on the dark matter annihilation and scattering cross sections that can be extracted from both astroparticle experiments and astronomical observations, and explore the theoretical implications of these limits. I discuss methods to measure the properties of particle dark matter using future experiments, and conclude by highlighting the exciting potential for dark matter searches during the next decade, and beyond

  2. Longitudinal Study of Gray Matter Changes in Parkinson Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, X; Liang, P; Li, Y; Shi, L; Wang, D; Li, K

    2015-12-01

    The pathology of Parkinson disease leads to morphological brain volume changes. So far, the progressive gray matter volume change across time specific to patients with Parkinson disease compared controls remains unclear. Our aim was to investigate the pattern of gray matter changes in patients with Parkinson disease and to explore the progressive gray matter volume change specific to patients with Parkinson disease with disease progression by using voxel-based morphometry analysis. Longitudinal cognitive assessment and structural MR imaging of 89 patients with Parkinson disease (62 men) and 55 healthy controls (33 men) were from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative data base, including the initial baseline and 12-month follow-up data. Two-way analysis of covariance was performed with covariates of age, sex, years of education, imaging data from multiple centers, and total intracranial volume by using Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration Through Exponentiated Lie Algebra tool from SPM8 software. Gray matter volume changes for patients with Parkinson disease were detected with decreased gray matter volume in the frontotemporoparietal areas and the bilateral caudate, with increased gray matter volume in the bilateral limbic/paralimbic areas, medial globus pallidus/putamen, and the right occipital cortex compared with healthy controls. Progressive gray matter volume decrease in the bilateral caudate was found for both patients with Parkinson disease and healthy controls, and this caudate volume was positively associated with cognitive ability for both groups. The progressive gray matter volume increase specific to the patients with Parkinson disease was identified close to the left ventral lateral nucleus of thalamus, and a positive relationship was found between the thalamic volume and the tremor scores in a subgroup with tremor-dominant patients with Parkinson disease. The observed progressive changes in gray matter volume in Parkinson disease may provide

  3. Loss of white matter integrity is associated with gait disorders in cerebral small vessel disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Laat, K.F. de; Tuladhar, A.M.; Norden, A.G.W. van; Norris, D.G.; Zwiers, M.P.; Leeuw, F.E. de

    2011-01-01

    Gait disturbances are common in the elderly. Cerebral small vessel disease, including white matter lesions and lacunars infarcts, is thought to disrupt white matter tracts that connect important motor regions, hence resulting in gait disturbances. Pathological studies have demonstrated abnormalities

  4. Direct search for dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Jonghee; /Fermilab

    2009-12-01

    Dark matter is hypothetical matter which does not interact with electromagnetic radiation. The existence of dark matter is only inferred from gravitational effects of astrophysical observations to explain the missing mass component of the Universe. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles are currently the most popular candidate to explain the missing mass component. I review the current status of experimental searches of dark matter through direct detection using terrestrial detectors.

  5. The origin of matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cline, J.

    2004-01-01

    The author presents the issue of how matter triumphed over anti-matter in the formation of the universe. Theories focus on the nature of asymmetry that might have created an excess of matter over anti-matter. Sakharov and Kuzmin listed 3 conditions that must be met for baryogenesis to take place. First the baryon number must not be conserved: there must be some interactions that change the number of baryons, baryon-number violation can rise from an interaction between quarks and leptons. Secondly, 2 symmetries that relate particles to antiparticles must be violated. The CP violation in Kaon decay is too weak to create enough baryon asymmetry, so physicists believe that larger sources of CP violation await discovery. Thirdly, there must be the loss of thermal equilibrium of the universe. In thermal equilibrium, baryons are decaying but inverse processes are also taking place, quarks are fusing to form baryons, rates being equal no baryon asymmetry is generated. But if thermal equilibrium is broken, to say temperature is decreasing, at a certain temperature a pair of quarks will no longer have enough energy to produce a heavy particle which generates baryon asymmetry. (A.C.)

  6. What Matters in Weight Loss? An In-Depth Analysis of Self-Monitoring.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Painter, Stefanie Lynn; Ahmed, Rezwan; Hill, James O; Kushner, Robert F; Lindquist, Richard; Brunning, Scott; Margulies, Amy

    2017-05-12

    Using technology to self-monitor body weight, dietary intake, and physical activity is a common practice used by consumers and health companies to increase awareness of current and desired behaviors in weight loss. Understanding how to best use the information gathered by these relatively new methods needs to be further explored. The purpose of this study was to analyze the contribution of self-monitoring to weight loss in participants in a 6-month commercial weight-loss intervention administered by Retrofit and to specifically identify the significant contributors to weight loss that are associated with behavior and outcomes. A retrospective analysis was performed using 2113 participants enrolled from 2011 to 2015 in a Retrofit weight-loss program. Participants were males and females aged 18 years or older with a starting body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2, who also provided a weight measurement at the sixth month of the program. Multiple regression analysis was performed using all measures of self-monitoring behaviors involving weight measurements, dietary intake, and physical activity to predict weight loss at 6 months. Each significant predictor was analyzed in depth to reveal the impact on outcome. Participants in the Retrofit Program lost a mean -5.58% (SE 0.12) of their baseline weight with 51.87% (1096/2113) of participants losing at least 5% of their baseline weight. Multiple regression model (R 2 =.197, Pself-monitoring behaviors of self-weigh-in, daily steps, high-intensity activity, and persistent food logging were significant predictors of weight loss during a 6-month intervention. ©Stefanie Lynn Painter, Rezwan Ahmed, James O Hill, Robert F Kushner, Richard Lindquist, Scott Brunning, Amy Margulies. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 12.05.2017.

  7. Diffusion tensor imaging of brain white matter in Huntington gene mutation individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberta Arb Saba

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the role of the involvement of white matter tracts in huntingtin gene mutation patients as a potential biomarker of the progression of the disease. Methods We evaluated 34 participants (11 symptomatic huntingtin gene mutation, 12 presymptomatic huntingtin gene mutation, and 11 controls. We performed brain magnetic resonance imaging to assess white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging, with measurement of fractional anisotropy. Results We observed a significant decrease of fractional anisotropy in the cortical spinal tracts, corona radiate, corpus callosum, external capsule, thalamic radiations, superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus in the Huntington disease group compared to the control and presymptomatic groups. Reduction of fractional anisotropy is indicative of a degenerative process and axonal loss. There was no statistically significant difference between the presymptomatic and control groups. Conclusion White matter integrity is affected in huntingtin gene mutation symptomatic individuals, but other studies with larger samples are required to assess its usefulness in the progression of the neurodegenerative process.

  8. Mode-dependent dispersion in Raman line shapes: Observation and implications from ultrafast Raman loss spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Umapathy, S.; Mallick, B.; Lakshmanna, A.

    2010-01-01

    Ultrafast Raman loss spectroscopy (URLS) enables one to obtain the vibrational structural information of molecular systems including fluorescent materials. URLS, a nonlinear process analog to stimulated Raman gain, involves a narrow bandwidth picosecond Raman pump pulse and a femtosecond broadband white light continuum. Under nonresonant condition, the Raman response appears as a negative (loss) signal, whereas, on resonance with the electronic transition the line shape changes from a negative to a positive through a dispersive form. The intensities observed and thus, the Franck-Condon activity (coordinate dependent), are sensitive to the wavelength of the white light corresponding to a particular Raman frequency with respect to the Raman pump pulse wavelength, i.e., there is a mode-dependent response in URLS.

  9. Lectures on dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seljak, U.

    2001-01-01

    These lectures concentrate on evolution and generation of dark matter perturbations. The purpose of the lectures is to present, in a systematic way, a comprehensive review of the cosmological parameters that can lead to observable effects in the dark matter clustering properties. We begin by reviewing the relativistic linear perturbation theory formalism. We discuss the gauge issue and derive Einstein's and continuity equations for several popular gauge choices. We continue by developing fluid equations for cold dark matter and baryons and Boltzmann equations for photons, massive and massless neutrinos. We then discuss the generation of initial perturbations by the process of inflation and the parameters of that process that can be extracted from the observations. Finally we discuss evolution of perturbations in various regimes and the imprint of the evolution on the dark matter power spectrum both in the linear and in the nonlinear regime. (author)

  10. Lectures on dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seljak, U [Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (United States)

    2001-11-15

    These lectures concentrate on evolution and generation of dark matter perturbations. The purpose of the lectures is to present, in a systematic way, a comprehensive review of the cosmological parameters that can lead to observable effects in the dark matter clustering properties. We begin by reviewing the relativistic linear perturbation theory formalism. We discuss the gauge issue and derive Einstein's and continuity equations for several popular gauge choices. We continue by developing fluid equations for cold dark matter and baryons and Boltzmann equations for photons, massive and massless neutrinos. We then discuss the generation of initial perturbations by the process of inflation and the parameters of that process that can be extracted from the observations. Finally we discuss evolution of perturbations in various regimes and the imprint of the evolution on the dark matter power spectrum both in the linear and in the nonlinear regime. (author)

  11. The dark matter distribution of NGC 5921

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Israa Abdulqasim Mohammed; Hashim, Norsiah; Abidin, Zamri Zainal

    2018-04-01

    We used the neutral atomic hydrogen data of the Very Large Array for the spiral galaxy NGC 5921 with z = 0.0045 at the distance of 22.4 Mpc, to investigate the nature of dark matter. The investigation was based on two theories, namely, dark matter and Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). We presented the kinematic analysis of the rotation curve with two models of dark matter, namely, the Burkert and NFW profiles. The results revealed that the NFW halo model can reproduce the observed rotation curve, with χ 2_{red}≈ 1, while the Burkert model is unable to fit the observation data. Therefore, the dark matter density profile of NGC 5921 can be presented as a cuspy halo. We also tried to investigate the observed rotation curve of NGC 5921 with MOND, along with the possible assumption on baryonic matter and distance. We note that MOND is still incapable of mimicking the rotation curve with the observed data of the galaxy.

  12. White matter damage is related to ataxia severity in SCA3.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, J-S; Klein, J C; Baudrexel, S; Deichmann, R; Nolte, D; Hilker, R

    2014-02-01

    Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is the most frequent inherited cerebellar ataxia in Europe, the US and Japan, leading to disability and death through motor complications. Although the affected protein ataxin-3 is found ubiquitously in the brain, grey matter atrophy is predominant in the cerebellum and the brainstem. White matter pathology is generally less severe and thought to occur in the brainstem, spinal cord, and cerebellar white matter. Here, we investigated both grey and white matter pathology in a group of 12 SCA3 patients and matched controls. We used voxel-based morphometry for analysis of tissue loss, and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to investigate microstructural pathology. We analysed correlations between microstructural properties of the brain and ataxia severity, as measured by the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) score. SCA3 patients exhibited significant loss of both grey and white matter in the cerebellar hemispheres, brainstem including pons and in lateral thalamus. On between-group analysis, TBSS detected widespread microstructural white matter pathology in the cerebellum, brainstem, and bilaterally in thalamus and the cerebral hemispheres. Furthermore, fractional anisotropy in a white matter network comprising frontal, thalamic, brainstem and left cerebellar white matter strongly and negatively correlated with SARA ataxia scores. Tractography identified the thalamic white matter thus implicated as belonging to ventrolateral thalamus. Disruption of white matter integrity in patients suffering from SCA3 is more widespread than previously thought. Moreover, our data provide evidence that microstructural white matter changes in SCA3 are strongly related to the clinical severity of ataxia symptoms.

  13. Asymmetric dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaplan, David E.; Luty, Markus A.; Zurek, Kathryn M.

    2009-01-01

    We consider a simple class of models in which the relic density of dark matter is determined by the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In these models a B-L asymmetry generated at high temperatures is transferred to the dark matter, which is charged under B-L. The interactions that transfer the asymmetry decouple at temperatures above the dark matter mass, freezing in a dark matter asymmetry of order the baryon asymmetry. This explains the observed relation between the baryon and dark matter densities for the dark matter mass in the range 5-15 GeV. The symmetric component of the dark matter can annihilate efficiently to light pseudoscalar Higgs particles a or via t-channel exchange of new scalar doublets. The first possibility allows for h 0 →aa decays, while the second predicts a light charged Higgs-like scalar decaying to τν. Direct detection can arise from Higgs exchange in the first model or a nonzero magnetic moment in the second. In supersymmetric models, the would-be lightest supersymmetric partner can decay into pairs of dark matter particles plus standard model particles, possibly with displaced vertices.

  14. Observed Hearing Loss and Incident Dementia in a Multiethnic Cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golub, Justin S; Luchsinger, José A; Manly, Jennifer J; Stern, Yaakov; Mayeux, Richard; Schupf, Nicole

    2017-08-01

    To determine whether observed hearing loss (OHL) is associated with incident dementia in a multiethnic population. Prospective epidemiological cohort study. Community in northern Manhattan. Participants in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project, a longitudinal study on aging and dementia in an ethnically diverse community (n = 1,881). OHL was defined when the examiner observed it or according to self-reported hearing aid use. A consensus panel diagnosed dementia using standard research criteria. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the relationship between OHL at baseline and risk of incident dementia (mean 7.3 ± 4.4 years of longitudinal followup, range 0.9-20 years). OHL was associated with 1.69 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3-2.3, P < .010) times the risk of incident dementia, adjusting for demographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors, apolipoprotein E4 genotype, and stroke. When stratified according to race, the association between OHL and incident dementia was high in all groups but was statistically significant only in blacks (hazard ratio = 2.62, 95% CI = 1.5-4.5, P < .010). OHL was associated with greater risk of incident dementia in a multiethnic cohort. More study is needed to determine whether HL contributes to dementia and whether treating HL can reduce the risk of dementia. © 2017, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2017, The American Geriatrics Society.

  15. Grey matter alterations in patients with Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Raecke, Rea; Roa-Sanchez, Pedro; Speckter, Herwin; Fermin-Delgado, Rafael; Perez-Then, Eddy; Oviedo, Jairo; Stoeter, Peter

    2014-09-01

    Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare heritable disease marked by dystonia and loss of movement control. In contrast to the well-known "Eye-of-the-Tiger" sign affecting the globus pallidus, little is known about other deviations of brain morphology, especially about grey matter changes. We investigated 29 patients with PKAN and 29 age-matched healthy controls using Magnet Resonance Imaging and Voxel-Based Morphometry. As compared to controls, children with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the putamen and nucleus caudatus and adults with PKAN showed increased grey matter density in the ventral part of the anterior cingulate cortex. A multiple regression analysis with dystonia score as predictor showed grey matter reduction in the cerebellum, posterior cingulate cortex, superior parietal lobule, pars triangularis and small frontal and temporal areas and an analysis with age as predictor showed grey matter decreases in the putamen, nucleus caudatus, supplementary motor area and anterior cingulate cortex. The grey matter increases may be regarded as a secondary phenomenon compensating the increased activity of the motor system due to a reduced inhibitory output of the globus pallidus. With increasing age, the grey matter reduction of cortical midline structures however might contribute to the progression of dystonic symptoms due to loss of this compensatory control. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Terrestrial dissolved organic matter distribution in the North Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Painter, Stuart C; Lapworth, Dan J; Woodward, E Malcolm S; Kroeger, Silke; Evans, Chris D; Mayor, Daniel J; Sanders, Richard J

    2018-07-15

    The flow of terrestrial carbon to rivers and inland waters is a major term in the global carbon cycle. The organic fraction of this flux may be buried, remineralized or ultimately stored in the deep ocean. The latter can only occur if terrestrial organic carbon can pass through the coastal and estuarine filter, a process of unknown efficiency. Here, data are presented on the spatial distribution of terrestrial fluorescent and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (FDOM and CDOM, respectively) throughout the North Sea, which receives organic matter from multiple distinct sources. We use FDOM and CDOM as proxies for terrestrial dissolved organic matter (tDOM) to test the hypothesis that tDOM is quantitatively transferred through the North Sea to the open North Atlantic Ocean. Excitation emission matrix fluorescence and parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) revealed a single terrestrial humic-like class of compounds whose distribution was restricted to the coastal margins and, via an inverse salinity relationship, to major riverine inputs. Two distinct sources of fluorescent humic-like material were observed associated with the combined outflows of the Rhine, Weser and Elbe rivers in the south-eastern North Sea and the Baltic Sea outflow to the eastern central North Sea. The flux of tDOM from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean appears insignificant, although tDOM export may occur through Norwegian coastal waters unsampled in our study. Our analysis suggests that the bulk of tDOM exported from the Northwest European and Scandinavian landmasses is buried or remineralized internally, with potential losses to the atmosphere. This interpretation implies that the residence time in estuarine and coastal systems exerts an important control over the fate of tDOM and needs to be considered when evaluating the role of terrestrial carbon losses in the global carbon cycle. Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Monotonous braking of high energy hadrons in nuclear matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strugalski, Z.

    1979-01-01

    Propagation of high energy hadrons in nuclear matter is discussed. The possibility of the existence of the monotonous energy losses of hadrons in nuclear matter is considered. In favour of this hypothesis experimental facts such as pion-nucleus interactions (proton emission spectra, proton multiplicity distributions in these interactions) and other data are presented. The investigated phenomenon in the framework of the hypothesis is characterized in more detail

  18. Clumpy cold dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silk, Joseph; Stebbins, Albert

    1993-01-01

    A study is conducted of cold dark matter (CDM) models in which clumpiness will inhere, using cosmic strings and textures suited to galaxy formation. CDM clumps of 10 million solar mass/cu pc density are generated at about z(eq) redshift, with a sizable fraction surviving. Observable implications encompass dark matter cores in globular clusters and in galactic nuclei. Results from terrestrial dark matter detection experiments may be affected by clumpiness in the Galactic halo.

  19. Soil erosion and organic matter loss by using fallout 137Cs as tracer in Miyun reservoir valley

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hua Luo; Zhang Zhigang; Li Junbo; Feng Yan; Zhao Hong; Yin Xunxiao; Zhu Fengyun

    2005-01-01

    Miyun reservoir is one of the important water sources for Beijing, the water quality of the reservoir is directly influenced by soil erosion. Based on measuring the 137 Cs concentrations, organic content in the soil of selected sampling sites, the authors investigated the relationship between the quality of soil erosion and organic matters. According to classificatory standards of soil erosion, the intensity of erosion in Miyun reservoir valley is light and moderate, but in some parts erosion is serious. The land use model has dramatic influence on distribution of organic matters in the soil. Unreasonable human activities could cause serious increase of organic matter runoff and soil erosion intensity. Distributions of organic matters were increased in the following order: bush land > forestry > orchard > farmland. Organic matters in the upper course were higher than in the circumference of reservoir. The simulated model suggests that there is a cubic relation between the contents of organic matters and 137 Cs concentrations (r 2 =0.9). The math model in the single sights can forecast soil erosion and changes of concentrations of organic matters in the soils, so that the chemical analysis and measurements are simplified. (authors)

  20. Sterile neutrino dark matter

    CERN Document Server

    Merle, Alexander

    2017-01-01

    This book is a new look at one of the hottest topics in contemporary science, Dark Matter. It is the pioneering text dedicated to sterile neutrinos as candidate particles for Dark Matter, challenging some of the standard assumptions which may be true for some Dark Matter candidates but not for all. So, this can be seen either as an introduction to a specialized topic or an out-of-the-box introduction to the field of Dark Matter in general. No matter if you are a theoretical particle physicist, an observational astronomer, or a ground based experimentalist, no matter if you are a grad student or an active researcher, you can benefit from this text, for a simple reason: a non-standard candidate for Dark Matter can teach you a lot about what we truly know about our standard picture of how the Universe works.

  1. Constraining heavy dark matter with cosmic-ray antiprotons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuoco, Alessandro; Heisig, Jan; Korsmeier, Michael; Krämer, Michael

    2018-04-01

    Cosmic-ray observations provide a powerful probe of dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy. In this paper we derive constraints on heavy dark matter from the recent precise AMS-02 antiproton data. We consider all possible annihilation channels into pairs of standard model particles. Furthermore, we interpret our results in the context of minimal dark matter, including higgsino, wino and quintuplet dark matter. We compare the cosmic-ray antiproton limits to limits from γ-ray observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and to limits from γ-ray and γ-line observations towards the Galactic center. While the latter limits are highly dependent on the dark matter density distribution and only exclude a thermal wino for cuspy profiles, the cosmic-ray limits are more robust, strongly disfavoring the thermal wino dark matter scenario even for a conservative estimate of systematic uncertainties.

  2. Calf Strength Loss During Mechanical Unloading: Does It Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    English, K. L.; Mulavara, A.; Bloomberg, J.; Ploutz-Snyder, LL

    2016-01-01

    During the mechanical unloading of spaceflight and its ground-based analogs, muscle mass and muscle strength of the calf are difficult to preserve despite exercise countermeasures that effectively protect these parameters in the thigh. It is unclear what effects these local losses have on balance and whole body function which will be essential for successful performance of demanding tasks during future exploration missions.

  3. Diurnal modulation signal from dissipative hidden sector dark matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Foot

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available We consider a simple generic dissipative dark matter model: a hidden sector featuring two dark matter particles charged under an unbroken U(1′ interaction. Previous work has shown that such a model has the potential to explain dark matter phenomena on both large and small scales. In this framework, the dark matter halo in spiral galaxies features nontrivial dynamics, with the halo energy loss due to dissipative interactions balanced by a heat source. Ordinary supernovae can potentially supply this heat provided kinetic mixing interaction exists with strength ϵ∼10−9. This type of kinetically mixed dark matter can be probed in direct detection experiments. Importantly, this self-interacting dark matter can be captured within the Earth and shield a dark matter detector from the halo wind, giving rise to a diurnal modulation effect. We estimate the size of this effect for detectors located in the Southern hemisphere, and find that the modulation is large (≳10% for a wide range of parameters.

  4. Interacting warm dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cruz, Norman; Palma, Guillermo; Zambrano, David; Avelino, Arturo

    2013-01-01

    We explore a cosmological model composed by a dark matter fluid interacting with a dark energy fluid. The interaction term has the non-linear λρ m α ρ e β form, where ρ m and ρ e are the energy densities of the dark matter and dark energy, respectively. The parameters α and β are in principle not constrained to take any particular values, and were estimated from observations. We perform an analytical study of the evolution equations, finding the fixed points and their stability properties in order to characterize suitable physical regions in the phase space of the dark matter and dark energy densities. The constants (λ,α,β) as well as w m and w e of the EoS of dark matter and dark energy respectively, were estimated using the cosmological observations of the type Ia supernovae and the Hubble expansion rate H(z) data sets. We find that the best estimated values for the free parameters of the model correspond to a warm dark matter interacting with a phantom dark energy component, with a well goodness-of-fit to data. However, using the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) we find that this model is overcame by a warm dark matter – phantom dark energy model without interaction, as well as by the ΛCDM model. We find also a large dispersion on the best estimated values of the (λ,α,β) parameters, so even if we are not able to set strong constraints on their values, given the goodness-of-fit to data of the model, we find that a large variety of theirs values are well compatible with the observational data used

  5. Dark-matter QCD-axion searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosenberg, Leslie J

    2010-01-01

    The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle appearing in a simple and elegant extension to the Standard Model of particle physics that cancels otherwise huge CP-violating effects in QCD; this extension has a broken U(1) axial symmetry, where the resulting Goldstone Boson is the axion. A light axion of mass 10 -(6-3) eV (the so-called i nvisible axion ) would couple extraordinarily weakly to normal matter and radiation and would therefore be extremely difficult to detect in the laboratory. However, such an axion would be a compelling dark-matter candidate and is therefore a target of a number of searches. Compared to other dark-matter candidates, the plausible range of axion dark-matter couplings and masses is narrowly constrained. This restricted search space allows for 'definitive' searches, where non-observation would seriously impugn the dark-matter QCD-axion hypothesis. Axion searches employ a wide range of technologies and techniques, from astrophysical observations to laboratory electromagnetic signal detection. For some experiments, sensitivities are have reached likely dark-matter axion couplings and masses. This is a brief and selective overview of axion searches. With only very limited space, I briefly describe just two of the many experiments that are searching for dark-matter axions.

  6. Riluzole protects Huntington disease patients from brain glucose hypometabolism and grey matter volume loss and increases production of neurotrophins

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Squitieri, Ferdinando; Orobello, Sara; Cannella, Milena; Martino, Tiziana [IRCCS Neuromed, Neurogenetics Unit and Centre for Rare Disease, Pozzilli (Italy); Romanelli, Pantaleo [IRCCS Neuromed, Department of Neurosurgery, Pozzilli (Italy); Giovacchini, Giampiero; Ciarmiello, Andrea [S. Andrea Hospital, Unit of Nuclear Medicine, La Spezia (Italy); Frati, Luigi [University ' ' Sapienza' ' , Department of Experimental Medicine, Rome (Italy); Mansi, Luigi [Second University of Naples, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Naples (Italy)

    2009-07-15

    Huntington disease (HD) mutation increases gain-of-toxic functions contributing to glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity. Riluzole interferes with glutamatergic neurotransmission, thereby reducing excitotoxicity, enhancing neurite formation in damaged motoneurons and increasing serum concentrations of BDNF, a brain cortex neurotrophin protecting striatal neurons from degeneration. We investigated metabolic and volumetric differences in distinct brain areas between 11 riluzole-treated and 12 placebo-treated patients by MRI and {sup 18}F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) PET scanning, according to fully automated protocols. We also investigated the influence of riluzole on peripheral growth factor blood levels. Placebo-treated patients showed significantly greater proportional volume loss of grey matter and decrease in metabolic FDG uptake than patients treated with riluzole in all cortical areas (p<0.05). The decreased rate of metabolic FDG uptake correlated with worsening clinical scores in placebo-treated patients, compared to those who were treated with riluzole. The progressive decrease in metabolic FDG uptake observed in the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex correlated linearly with the severity of motor scores calculated by Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS-I) in placebo-treated patients. Similarly, the rate of metabolic changes in the frontal and temporal areas of the brain cortex correlated linearly with worsening behavioural scores calculated by UHDRS-III in the placebo-treated patients. Finally, BDNF and transforming growth factor beta-1 serum levels were significantly higher in patients treated with riluzole. The linear correlation between decreased metabolic FDG uptake and worsening clinical scores in the placebo-treated patients suggests that FDG-PET may be a valuable procedure to assess brain markers of HD. (orig.)

  7. Riluzole protects Huntington disease patients from brain glucose hypometabolism and grey matter volume loss and increases production of neurotrophins

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Squitieri, Ferdinando; Orobello, Sara; Cannella, Milena; Martino, Tiziana; Romanelli, Pantaleo; Giovacchini, Giampiero; Ciarmiello, Andrea; Frati, Luigi; Mansi, Luigi

    2009-01-01

    Huntington disease (HD) mutation increases gain-of-toxic functions contributing to glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity. Riluzole interferes with glutamatergic neurotransmission, thereby reducing excitotoxicity, enhancing neurite formation in damaged motoneurons and increasing serum concentrations of BDNF, a brain cortex neurotrophin protecting striatal neurons from degeneration. We investigated metabolic and volumetric differences in distinct brain areas between 11 riluzole-treated and 12 placebo-treated patients by MRI and 18 F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) PET scanning, according to fully automated protocols. We also investigated the influence of riluzole on peripheral growth factor blood levels. Placebo-treated patients showed significantly greater proportional volume loss of grey matter and decrease in metabolic FDG uptake than patients treated with riluzole in all cortical areas (p<0.05). The decreased rate of metabolic FDG uptake correlated with worsening clinical scores in placebo-treated patients, compared to those who were treated with riluzole. The progressive decrease in metabolic FDG uptake observed in the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex correlated linearly with the severity of motor scores calculated by Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS-I) in placebo-treated patients. Similarly, the rate of metabolic changes in the frontal and temporal areas of the brain cortex correlated linearly with worsening behavioural scores calculated by UHDRS-III in the placebo-treated patients. Finally, BDNF and transforming growth factor beta-1 serum levels were significantly higher in patients treated with riluzole. The linear correlation between decreased metabolic FDG uptake and worsening clinical scores in the placebo-treated patients suggests that FDG-PET may be a valuable procedure to assess brain markers of HD. (orig.)

  8. Dark Matter Detection: Current Status

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerib, Daniel S.

    2011-01-01

    Overwhelming observational evidence indicates that most of the matter in the Universe consists of non-baryonic dark matter. One possibility is that the dark matter is Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) that were produced in the early Universe. These relics could comprise the Milky Way's dark halo and provide evidence for new particle physics, such as Supersymmetry. This talk focuses on the status of current efforts to detect dark matter by testing the hypothesis that WIMPs exist in the galactic halo. WIMP searches have begun to explore the region of parameter space where SUSY particles could provide dark matter candidates.

  9. DLHA: Dark Matter Les Houches Agreement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balazs, C.; Cerdeno, D.G.; Leane, R.; Kakizaki, M.; Kraml, S.; Savage, C.; Scott, P.; Sekmen, S.

    2012-01-01

    This work presents a set of conventions and numerical structures that aim to provide a universal interface between computer programs calculating dark matter related observables. It specifies input and output parameters for the calculation of observables such as abundance, direct and various indirect detection rates. These parameters range from cosmological to astrophysical to nuclear observables. The present conventions lay the foundations for defining a future Les Houches Dark Matter Accord. (authors)

  10. Collapsed Dark Matter Structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Matthew R.; DiFranzo, Anthony

    2018-02-01

    The distributions of dark matter and baryons in the Universe are known to be very different: The dark matter resides in extended halos, while a significant fraction of the baryons have radiated away much of their initial energy and fallen deep into the potential wells. This difference in morphology leads to the widely held conclusion that dark matter cannot cool and collapse on any scale. We revisit this assumption and show that a simple model where dark matter is charged under a "dark electromagnetism" can allow dark matter to form gravitationally collapsed objects with characteristic mass scales much smaller than that of a Milky-Way-type galaxy. Though the majority of the dark matter in spiral galaxies would remain in the halo, such a model opens the possibility that galaxies and their associated dark matter play host to a significant number of collapsed substructures. The observational signatures of such structures are not well explored but potentially interesting.

  11. Collapsed Dark Matter Structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Matthew R; DiFranzo, Anthony

    2018-02-02

    The distributions of dark matter and baryons in the Universe are known to be very different: The dark matter resides in extended halos, while a significant fraction of the baryons have radiated away much of their initial energy and fallen deep into the potential wells. This difference in morphology leads to the widely held conclusion that dark matter cannot cool and collapse on any scale. We revisit this assumption and show that a simple model where dark matter is charged under a "dark electromagnetism" can allow dark matter to form gravitationally collapsed objects with characteristic mass scales much smaller than that of a Milky-Way-type galaxy. Though the majority of the dark matter in spiral galaxies would remain in the halo, such a model opens the possibility that galaxies and their associated dark matter play host to a significant number of collapsed substructures. The observational signatures of such structures are not well explored but potentially interesting.

  12. Body image concerns amongst massive weight loss patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilmartin, Jo

    2013-05-01

    To explore body image matters amongst patients following massive weight loss. In contemporary health care, a growing number of morbidly obese patients are seeking surgical solutions such as bariatric surgery or in other cases engaging with radical lifestyle changes. Massive weight loss can leave patients with a huge excess of lax overstretched skin that in some cases can trigger major body image dissatisfaction or depression. There is a scarcity of research about the needs of this group of patients and this is important for nursing practice. A qualitative design using in-depth interviews was employed. Twenty white adults (18 women and two men) were recruited retrospectively amongst patients who had massive weight loss by undergoing bariatric surgery or radical lifestyle changes, aged 29-63 years. All of the participants gave signed informed consent. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. One core theme focusing on body image ugliness and three associated subthemes were identified: the subthemes included feeling socially marginalised, feeling depressed and sexual and intimacy difficulties. Body image matters are hugely significant and appear to have a lasting effect on emotional well-being and function, contributing to psychological distress and social isolation. Greater sensitivity is required in enabling patients to work through emotional isolation and shame that has been a part of their childhood. Furthermore more, treatments need to be accessible to this growing patient population such as reconstructive surgery. Nurses who care for massive weight loss patients need to be mindful of their psychodynamic needs and be non-judgemental and accepting. Moreover, nurses need to be aware of treatment options and be able to assess body image matters and implement quality care for this particular patient group including body image acceptance programmes and support groups. © 2013 Blackwell

  13. Fragmentation analysis of water-soluble atmospheric organic matter using ultrahigh-resolution FT-ICR mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leclair, Jeffrey P; Collett, Jeffrey L; Mazzoleni, Lynn R

    2012-04-17

    Isolated water-soluble atmospheric organic matter (AOM) analytes extracted from radiation fogwater samples were analyzed using collision induced dissociation with ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). Tandem mass analysis was performed on several mass ranges between 100 and 400 Da to characterize the functional groups of AOM species. Compounds containing nitrogen and/or sulfur were targeted because of the high number of oxygen atoms contained in their molecular formulas. Due to the large number of isobaric ions in the precursor isolation ranges, large numbers of product ions resulted from collision induced dissociation. Common neutral losses were assigned by matching the molecular formulas of the expected product ions with the detected product ions within the appropriate mass spectra. Since polar functional groups are expected to affect the hygroscopic properties of aerosols, the losses of H(2)O, CO(2), CH(3)OH, HNO(3), CH(3)NO(3), SO(3), SO(4) and combinations of these were specifically targeted. Among the 421 compounds studied, the most frequently observed neutral losses were CO(2) (54%), H(2)O (43%) and CH(3)OH (40%). HNO(3) losses were observed for 63% of the studied nitrogen containing compounds and 33% of the studied compounds containing both nitrogen and sulfur. SO(3) losses were observed for 85% of the studied sulfur containing compounds and 42% of studied compounds containing both nitrogen and sulfur. A number of molecular formulas matching those of monoterpene ozonolysis SOA were observed; they include organonitrates, organosulfates, and nitroxy-organosulfates. Overall, the results of fragmentation analysis of 400+ individual molecular precursors elucidate the complexity and multifunctional nature of the isolated water-soluble AOM.

  14. An argument that the dark matter is axions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sikivie, P.

    2014-01-01

    An argument is presented that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. It has 3 steps. First, axions behave differently from the other forms of cold dark matter because they form a re-thermalizing Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)). Second, there is a tool to distinguish axion BEC from the other dark matter candidates on the basis of observation, namely the study of the inner caustics of galactic halos. Third, the observational evidence for caustic rings of dark matter is consistent in every aspect with axion BEC, but not with the other proposed forms of dark matter. (author)

  15. Dark matter from gravitational particle production at reheating

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Markkanen, Tommi [Department of Physics, King' s College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom); Nurmi, Sami, E-mail: tommi.markkanen@kcl.ac.uk, E-mail: sami.t.nurmi@jyu.fi [Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä (Finland)

    2017-02-01

    We show that curvature induced particle production at reheating generates adiabatic dark matter if there are non-minimally coupled spectator scalars weakly coupled to visible matter. The observed dark matter abundance implies an upper bound on spectator masses m and non-minimal coupling values ξ. For example, assuming quadratic inflation, instant reheating and a single spectator scalar with only gravitational couplings, the observed dark matter abundance is obtained for m ∼ 0.1 GeV and ξ ∼ 1. Larger mass and coupling values of the spectator are excluded as they would lead to overproduction of dark matter.

  16. Dark matter from gravitational particle production at reheating

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Markkanen, Tommi; Nurmi, Sami

    2017-01-01

    We show that curvature induced particle production at reheating generates adiabatic dark matter if there are non-minimally coupled spectator scalars weakly coupled to visible matter. The observed dark matter abundance implies an upper bound on spectator masses m and non-minimal coupling values ξ. For example, assuming quadratic inflation, instant reheating and a single spectator scalar with only gravitational couplings, the observed dark matter abundance is obtained for m ∼ 0.1 GeV and ξ ∼ 1. Larger mass and coupling values of the spectator are excluded as they would lead to overproduction of dark matter.

  17. Adsorption induced losses in interfacial cohesion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asaro, R.J.

    1977-07-01

    A model for interfacial cohesion is developed which describes the loss in the strength of an interface due to the segregation and adsorption of impurities on it. Distinctions are made between interface separations that occur too rapidly for any significant redistribution of adsorbing matter to take place and separations that are slow enough to allow full adsorption equilibrium. Expressions for the total work of complete decohesion are presented for both cases. The results are applied to well-known model adsorption isotherms and some experimental data for grain boundary adsorption of phosphorus in iron is analyzed with respect to the losses in intergranular cohesion

  18. Interacting hot dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atrio-Barandela, F.; Davidson, S.

    1997-01-01

    We discuss the viability of a light particle (∼30eV neutrino) with strong self-interactions as a dark matter candidate. The interaction prevents the neutrinos from free-streaming during the radiation-dominated regime so galaxy-sized density perturbations can survive. Smaller scale perturbations are damped due to neutrino diffusion. We calculate the power spectrum in the imperfect fluid approximation, and show that it is damped at the length scale one would estimate due to neutrino diffusion. The strength of the neutrino-neutrino coupling is only weakly constrained by observations, and could be chosen by fitting the power spectrum to the observed amplitude of matter density perturbations. The main shortcoming of our model is that interacting neutrinos cannot provide the dark matter in dwarf galaxies. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

  19. The method for determination of parameters of the phenomenological continual model of soil organic matter transformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. I. Bartsev

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available A possible method for experimental determination of parameters of the previously proposed continual mathematical model of soil organic matter transformation is theoretically considered in this paper. The previously proposed by the authors continual model of soil organic matter transformation, based on using the rate of matter transformation as a continual scale of its recalcitrance, describes the transformation process phenomenologically without going into detail of microbiological mechanisms of transformation. Thereby simplicity of the model is achieved. The model is represented in form of one differential equation in first­order partial derivatives, which has an analytical solution in elementary functions. The model equation contains a small number of empirical parameters which generally characterize environmental conditions where the matter transformation process occurs and initial properties of the plant litter. Given the values of these parameters, it is possible to calculate dynamics of soil organic matter stocks and its distribution over transformation rate. In the present study, possible approaches for determination of the model parameters are considered and a simple method of their experimental measurement is proposed. An experiment of an incubation of chemically homogeneous samples in soil and multiple sequential measurement of the sample mass loss with time is proposed. An equation of time dynamics of mass loss of incubated homogeneous sample is derived from the basic assumption of the presented soil organic matter transformation model. Thus, fitting by the least squares method the parameters of sample mass loss curve calculated according the proposed mass loss dynamics equation allows to determine the parameters of the general equation of soil organic transformation model.

  20. Gamma-ray lines from radiative dark matter decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garny, Mathias; Ibarra, Alejandro; Tran, David; Weniger, Christoph

    2011-01-01

    The decay of dark matter particles which are coupled predominantly to charged leptons has been proposed as a possible origin of excess high-energy positrons and electrons observed by cosmic-ray telescopes PAMELA and Fermi LAT. Even though the dark matter itself is electrically neutral, the tree-level decay of dark matter into charged lepton pairs will generically induce radiative two-body decays of dark matter at the quantum level. Using an effective theory of leptophilic dark matter decay, we calculate the rates of radiative two-body decays for scalar and fermionic dark matter particles. Due to the absence of astrophysical sources of monochromatic gamma rays, the observation of a line in the diffuse gamma-ray spectrum would constitute a strong indication of a particle physics origin of these photons. We estimate the intensity of the gamma-ray line that may be present in the energy range of a few TeV if the dark matter decay interpretation of the leptonic cosmic-ray anomalies is correct and comment on observational prospects of present and future Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes, in particular the CTA

  1. Anitproton-matter interactions in antiproton applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, David L., Jr.

    1990-01-01

    By virtue of the highly energetic particles released when they annihilate in matter, antiprotons have a variety of potentially important applications. Among others, these include remote 3-D density and composition imaging of the human body and also of thick, dense materials, cancer therapy, and spacecraft propulsion. Except for spacecraft propulsion, the required numbers of low energy antiprotons can be produced, stored, and transported through reliance on current or near term technology. Paramount to these applications and to fundamental research involving antiprotons is knowledge of how antiprotons interact with matter. The basic annihilation process is fairly well understood, but the antiproton annihilation and energy loss rates in matter depend in complex ways on a number of atomic processes. The rates, and the corresponding cross sections, were measured or are accurately predictable only for limited combinations of antiproton kinetic energy and material species.

  2. Dark matter haloes: a multistream view

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramachandra, Nesar S.; Shandarin, Sergei F.

    2017-09-01

    Mysterious dark matter constitutes about 85 per cent of all masses in the Universe. Clustering of dark matter plays a dominant role in the formation of all observed structures on scales from a fraction to a few hundreds of Mega-parsecs. Galaxies play a role of lights illuminating these structures so they can be observed. The observations in the last several decades have unveiled opulent geometry of these structures currently known as the cosmic web. Haloes are the highest concentrations of dark matter and host luminous galaxies. Currently the most accurate modelling of dark matter haloes is achieved in cosmological N-body simulations. Identifying the haloes from the distribution of particles in N-body simulations is one of the problems attracting both considerable interest and efforts. We propose a novel framework for detecting potential dark matter haloes using the field unique for dark matter-multistream field. The multistream field emerges at the non-linear stage of the growth of perturbations because the dark matter is collisionless. Counting the number of velocity streams in gravitational collapses supplements our knowledge of spatial clustering. We assume that the virialized haloes have convex boundaries. Closed and convex regions of the multistream field are hence isolated by imposing a positivity condition on all three eigenvalues of the Hessian estimated on the smoothed multistream field. In a single-scale analysis of high multistream field resolution and low softening length, the halo substructures with local multistream maxima are isolated as individual halo sites.

  3. Stars of strange matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bethe, H.A.; Brown, G.E.; Cooperstein, J.

    1987-01-01

    We investigate suggestions that quark matter with strangeness per baryon of order unity may be stable. We model this matter at nuclear matter densities as a gas of close packed Λ-particles. From the known mass of the Λ-particle we obtain an estimate of the energy and chemical potential of strange matter at nuclear densities. These are sufficiently high to preclude any phase transition from neutron matter to strange matter in the region near nucleon matter density. Including effects from gluon exchange phenomenologically, we investigate higher densities, consistently making approximations which underestimate the density of transition. In this way we find a transition density ρ tr > or approx.7ρ 0 , where ρ 0 is nuclear matter density. This is not far from the maximum density in the center of the most massive neutron stars that can be constructed. Since we have underestimated ρ tr and still find it to be ∝7ρ 0 , we do not believe that the transition from neutron to quark matter is likely in neutron stars. Moreover, measured masses of observed neutron stars are ≅1.4 M sun , where M sun is the solar mass. For such masses, the central (maximum) density is ρ c 0 . Transition to quark matter is certainly excluded for these densities. (orig.)

  4. Dark-matter QCD-axion searches.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg, Leslie J

    2015-10-06

    In the late 20th century, cosmology became a precision science. Now, at the beginning of the next century, the parameters describing how our universe evolved from the Big Bang are generally known to a few percent. One key parameter is the total mass density of the universe. Normal matter constitutes only a small fraction of the total mass density. Observations suggest this additional mass, the dark matter, is cold (that is, moving nonrelativistically in the early universe) and interacts feebly if at all with normal matter and radiation. There's no known such elementary particle, so the strong presumption is the dark matter consists of particle relics of a new kind left over from the Big Bang. One of the most important questions in science is the nature of this dark matter. One attractive particle dark-matter candidate is the axion. The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle arising in a simple and elegant extension to the standard model of particle physics that nulls otherwise observable CP-violating effects (where CP is the product of charge reversal C and parity inversion P) in quantum chromo dynamics (QCD). A light axion of mass 10(-(6-3)) eV (the invisible axion) would couple extraordinarily weakly to normal matter and radiation and would therefore be extremely difficult to detect in the laboratory. However, such an axion is a compelling dark-matter candidate and is therefore a target of a number of searches. Compared with other particle dark-matter candidates, the plausible range of axion dark-matter couplings and masses is narrowly constrained. This focused search range allows for definitive searches, where a nonobservation would seriously impugn the dark-matter QCD-axion hypothesis. Axion searches use a wide range of technologies, and the experiment sensitivities are now reaching likely dark-matter axion couplings and masses. This article is a selective overview of the current generation of sensitive axion searches. Not all techniques and experiments

  5. Dewatering treatments to increase dry matter content of the brown seaweed, kelp (Laminaria digitata ((Hudson) JV Lamouroux)).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Joe A; Turner, Lesley B; Adams, Jessica M M; Dyer, Philip W; Theodorou, Michael K

    2017-01-01

    Macroalgal water content is an on-going problem for the use of readily accessible seaweeds in sustainable biorefining, including fuel production. Silage is a reduced-water, compactable, easily stored, transportable material. Ensiling could establish a non-seasonal supply of preserved algal biomass, but requires high initial dry matter content to mitigate environmental pollution risks from effluent. This study investigated potential dewatering methods for kelp harvested throughout the year. Treatments included air-drying, osmotic media and acids. Significant interactions between treatment and harvest-time were observed for traits of interest. Fresh weight loss during treatment was composed of changes in water and dry matter content. Air-drying gave reliable increase in final dry matter content; in summer and autumn 30% dry matter content was reached after 24h. Dilute hydrochloric acid reduced stickiness and rendered material suitable for dewatering by screw-pressing; it may be possible to use the consequent pH reduction to promote efficient preservation. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  6. Thermalizing Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Rasmus S L; Vogl, Stefan

    2017-12-22

    Sterile neutrinos produced through oscillations are a well motivated dark matter candidate, but recent constraints from observations have ruled out most of the parameter space. We analyze the impact of new interactions on the evolution of keV sterile neutrino dark matter in the early Universe. Based on general considerations we find a mechanism which thermalizes the sterile neutrinos after an initial production by oscillations. The thermalization of sterile neutrinos is accompanied by dark entropy production which increases the yield of dark matter and leads to a lower characteristic momentum. This resolves the growing tensions with structure formation and x-ray observations and even revives simple nonresonant production as a viable way to produce sterile neutrino dark matter. We investigate the parameters required for the realization of the thermalization mechanism in a representative model and find that a simple estimate based on energy and entropy conservation describes the mechanism well.

  7. Thermalizing Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Rasmus S. L.; Vogl, Stefan

    2017-12-01

    Sterile neutrinos produced through oscillations are a well motivated dark matter candidate, but recent constraints from observations have ruled out most of the parameter space. We analyze the impact of new interactions on the evolution of keV sterile neutrino dark matter in the early Universe. Based on general considerations we find a mechanism which thermalizes the sterile neutrinos after an initial production by oscillations. The thermalization of sterile neutrinos is accompanied by dark entropy production which increases the yield of dark matter and leads to a lower characteristic momentum. This resolves the growing tensions with structure formation and x-ray observations and even revives simple nonresonant production as a viable way to produce sterile neutrino dark matter. We investigate the parameters required for the realization of the thermalization mechanism in a representative model and find that a simple estimate based on energy and entropy conservation describes the mechanism well.

  8. Mass loss rates of OB stars derived from infrared observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanzi, E.G.; Tarenghi, M.; Panagia, N.

    1981-01-01

    In this paper the authors report briefly on a study of the mass loss of early type stars in the infrared. Up to now near infrared (1.25 - 4.8 μ) broad band photometry of 70 southern OB stars of various luminosity class has been secured. Program stars have been selected, among those bright enough in the infrared to give a suitable photometric accuracy, in order to cover a wide range of spectral types. 37 stars are found to exhibit emission in excess over a blackbody photospheric continuum, which is interpreted in terms of gas ejected in the form of an accelerated wind. By means of model calculations the corresponding mass loss rates are derived. The obtained values compare well with those determined independently by various authors for stars in common. Their data show that mass loss rates increase with luminosity and are a decreasing function of surface gravity. (Auth.)

  9. Regulator Loss Functions and Hierarchical Modeling for Safety Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatfield, Laura A; Baugh, Christine M; Azzone, Vanessa; Normand, Sharon-Lise T

    2017-07-01

    Regulators must act to protect the public when evidence indicates safety problems with medical devices. This requires complex tradeoffs among risks and benefits, which conventional safety surveillance methods do not incorporate. To combine explicit regulator loss functions with statistical evidence on medical device safety signals to improve decision making. In the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample, we select pediatric inpatient admissions and identify adverse medical device events (AMDEs). We fit hierarchical Bayesian models to the annual hospital-level AMDE rates, accounting for patient and hospital characteristics. These models produce expected AMDE rates (a safety target), against which we compare the observed rates in a test year to compute a safety signal. We specify a set of loss functions that quantify the costs and benefits of each action as a function of the safety signal. We integrate the loss functions over the posterior distribution of the safety signal to obtain the posterior (Bayes) risk; the preferred action has the smallest Bayes risk. Using simulation and an analysis of AMDE data, we compare our minimum-risk decisions to a conventional Z score approach for classifying safety signals. The 2 rules produced different actions for nearly half of hospitals (45%). In the simulation, decisions that minimize Bayes risk outperform Z score-based decisions, even when the loss functions or hierarchical models are misspecified. Our method is sensitive to the choice of loss functions; eliciting quantitative inputs to the loss functions from regulators is challenging. A decision-theoretic approach to acting on safety signals is potentially promising but requires careful specification of loss functions in consultation with subject matter experts.

  10. CNS involvement in primary Sjogren Syndrome: assessment of gray and white matter changes with MRI and voxel-based morphometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzarouchi, Loukia C; Tsifetaki, Niki; Konitsiotis, Spyridon; Zikou, Anastasia; Astrakas, Loukas; Drosos, Alexandros; Argyropoulou, Maria I

    2011-11-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate with MRI the involvement of gray matter and white matter structures in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome. Fifty-three patients with primary Sjögren syndrome, 18 age- and disease duration-matched patients with systemic sclerosis, and 35 age-matched control subjects were examined for differences in white matter hyperintensities (WMHIs) detected on FLAIR MR images. Differences in brain volume between patients with primary Sjögren syndrome and controls were studied by application of voxel-based morphometry to a 3D T1-weighted sequence. WMHIs were observed in 38 of the 53 patients with primary Sjögren syndrome, six of 18 patients with systemic sclerosis, and 17 of 35 controls. The numbers of WMHIs 2 mm or larger and the number smaller than 2 mm were higher in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome than in controls (≥ 2 mm, p = 0.004; syndrome patients and that in systemic sclerosis patients. After control for age, a positive relation was found between disease duration and total number of WMHIs (p = 0.037) and number of WMHIs 2 mm or larger (p = 0.023) in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome. In comparison with the controls, patients with primary Sjögren syndrome had decreased gray matter volume in the cortex, deep gray matter, and cerebellum. Associated loss of white matter volume was observed in areas corresponding to gray matter atrophy and in the corpus callosum (p syndrome have WMHIs and gray and white matter atrophy, probably related to cerebral vasculitis.

  11. Dark matter in our Galaxy. I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tucker, W.; Tucker, K.

    1989-01-01

    Research concerned with the existence and nature of dark matter is examined. The first evidence of dark matter discovered by Oort in 1932 during the study of galactic rotation and observations by Bahcall in 1984 using tracer stars are discussed. Stars, gas, dust, rocks, white dwarfs, neutron stars, black holes, and red and brown dwarfs are investigated as possible forms of dark matter. The date reveal that gas, dust, neutron stars, black holes, rocks, and comets can not be dark matter; however, brown, red, or white dwarfs could be possible forms of dark matter

  12. Observational evidence for turbulent effects on total suspended matter within the Pearl River plume

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chunhua, Qiu; Danyi, Su; Huabin, Mao; Jiaxue, Wu; Yongsheng, Cui; Dongxiao, Wang

    2017-12-01

    We observed the structure of the Pearl River plume and its turbulent characteristics, and investigated the turbulent effect on total suspended matter (TSM) within its ;far-field; region, based on in situ and satellite data collected in June 2015. A significant northeastward plume was created under southern monsoonal conditions. The in situ data provided the width, depth, and velocity of the plume, as inferred by salinity. Weaker turbulence occurred at the front surface position than in the plume zone. Stronger turbulence induced greater turbidity in the bottom boundary layer; however, the surface mixed layer differed. By estimating the turbidity budget, we found the lateral fluxes term was the largest term in the plume, turbulent fluxes comprised the second largest term, and the settling terms comprised the smallest term. We quantified the turbulent mechanisms and found that stronger river discharge induced greater TSM turbidity. Tidal and buoyancy fluxes had minor regulatory effects on TSM. Our observations suggest that TSM in the ;far field; region originated from the Pearl River and the coastal region.

  13. Z2 SIMP dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernal, Nicolás; Chu, Xiaoyong

    2016-01-01

    Dark matter with strong self-interactions provides a compelling solution to several small-scale structure puzzles. Under the assumption that the coupling between dark matter and the Standard Model particles is suppressed, such strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) allow for a successful thermal freeze-out through N-to-N' processes, where N dark matter particles annihilate to N' of them. In the most common scenarios, where dark matter stability is guaranteed by a Z 2 symmetry, the seemingly leading annihilating channel, i.e. 3-to-2 process, is forbidden, so the 4-to-2 one dominate the production of the dark matter relic density. Moreover, cosmological observations require that the dark matter sector is colder than the thermal bath of Standard Model particles, a condition that can be dynamically generated via a small portal between dark matter and Standard Model particles, à la freeze-in. This scenario is exemplified in the context of the Singlet Scalar dark matter model

  14. Acceleration of the GrIS mass loss as observed by GRACE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Svendsen, Peter Limkilde; Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg

    2012-01-01

    The mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has previously been analysed in a variety of ways, including altimetry, gravimetry and mass budget calculations, establishing a continuing decrease in the ice mass, with a number of studies finding acceleration in the mass loss. Here, we examine...

  15. Energy loss of particles in dense matter - calorimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wigmans, R.

    1987-08-01

    In the last decade, a class of detectors gradually have become more and more important in experimental particle physics. They are called calorimeters, or total absorption detectors. Basically a calorimeter is a block of matter, in which the particle to be measured interacts, and deposits all its energy in the form of a shower of decreasingly lower-energy particles. The block is made such that certain (usually small and hopefully constant) fraction of the initial particle energy is transformed in a measurable signal (light, electrical charge). This lecture mainly deals with sampling calorimeters but in section 2 also fully sensitive devices are briefly treated. In this section calorimeters for detecting electromagnetic showers are discussed. The physics processes relevant to em shower development are examined, and the factors that limit the performance of em calorimeters. Section 3 is devoted to readout techniques for sampling calorimeters. In sections 4-7 hadron calorimeters are discussed. The physics processes relevant to hadron shower development, their consequences for the calorimeter signals and the possibility for optimizing the performance of hadron calorimeters are examined. In section 8 an outlook for future development is given. 31 refs.; 48 figs

  16. Loss aversion is associated with bilateral insula volume. A voxel based morphometry study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markett, S; Heeren, G; Montag, C; Weber, B; Reuter, M

    2016-04-21

    Loss aversion is a decision bias, reflecting a greater sensitivity to losses than to gains in a decision situation. Recent neuroscientific research has shown that mesocorticolimbic structures like ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum constitute a bidirectional neural system that processes gains and losses and exhibits a neural basis of loss aversion. On a functional and structural level, the amygdala and insula also seem to play an important role in the processing of loss averse behavior. By applying voxel-based morphometry to structural brain images in N=41 healthy participants, the current study provides further evidence for the relationship of brain structure and loss aversion. The results show a negative correlation of gray matter volume in bilateral posterior insula as well as left medial frontal gyrus with individual loss aversion. Hence, higher loss aversion is associated with lower gray matter volume in these brain areas. Both structures have been discussed to play important roles in the brain's salience network, where the posterior insula is involved in interoception and the detection of salience. The medial frontal gyrus might impact decision making through its dense connections with the anterior cingulate cortex. A possible explanation for the present finding is that structural differences in these regions alter the processing of losses and salience, possibly biasing decision making towards avoidance of negative outcomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Studying Cold Nuclear Matter with the MPC-EX of PHENIX

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grau, Nathan; Phenix Collaboration

    2017-09-01

    Highly asymmetric collision systems, such as d+Au, provide a unique environment to study cold nuclear matter. Potential measurements range from pinning down the modification of the nuclear wave function, i.e. saturation, to studying final state interactions, i.e. energy loss. The PHENIX experiment has enhanced the muon piston calorimeter (MPC) with a silicon-tungsten preshower, the MPC-EX. With its fine segmentation the MPC-EX extends the photon detection capability at 3 < | η | < 3.8. In this talk we review the current status of the detector, its calibration, and its identification capabilities using the 2016 d+Au dataset. We also discuss the specific physics observables the MPC-EX can measure.

  18. Ultra Light Axionic Dark Matter: Galactic Halos and Implications for Observations with Pulsar Timing Arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Martino, Ivan; Broadhurst, Tom; Tye, S.-H. Henry; Chiueh, Tzihong; Shive, Hsi-Yu; Lazkoz, Ruth

    2018-01-01

    The cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm successfully explains the cosmic structure over an enormous span of redshifts. However, it fails when probing the innermost regions of dark matter halos and the properties of the Milky Way's dwarf galaxy satellites. Moreover, the lack of experimental detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) favors alternative candidates such as light axionic dark matter that naturally arise in string theory. Cosmological N-body simulations have shown that axionic dark matter forms a solitonic core of size of ≃ 150 pc in the innermost region of the galactic halos. The oscillating scalar field associated to the axionic dark matter halo produces an oscillating gravitational potential that induces a time dilation of the pulse arrival time of ≃ 400 ns/(m_B/10^{-22} eV) for pulsar within such a solitonic core. Over the whole galaxy, the averaged predicted signal may be detectable with current and forthcoming pulsar timing array telescopes.

  19. Influence of sulfate reduction on the organic matter of Wealden sediments of the Lower Saxony Basin (Germany)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berner, U. [Bundesanstalt fuer Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), Hannover (Germany)

    2013-08-01

    Sediments of the Wealden (Lower Saxony Basin, Germany) as obtained from the well Isterberg 1001 consist of clay stones, marls and few massive carbonate horizons. Although, the basin is predominantly characterized as lacustrine geochemical data indicate significant influences of marine ingression which have introduced sulfur into the depositional system. Consequently the organic matter of the sediments has been substantially affected by bacterial sulfate reduction, which has led to losses of the initial organic carbon of 5 to 80 wt.- percent, which is a minimum estimate as losses of H{sub 2}S form the sediments were not taken into account for the mass balance consideration. Complete uptake of reactive iron into sulfides has led in a significant number of samples to the presence of excess sulfur not contained in sulfides. In our argumentation we assume that excess sulfur is at least partly incorporated into the organic matter. Pyrolysis investigations show that organic matter in samples containing higher amounts of excess sulfur generates hydrocarbons at lower temperatures than samples with low concentrations of excess sulfur. These observations are compatible with findings usually reported for Type S-II kerogens. The likely organically bound excess sulfur introduces a bias with thermal maturities from RockEval pyrolysis, which implies that T{sub max} data rather reflect quality changes of the organic matter than thermal maturity in the investigated Wealden sediments. The hydrocarbon potential has been reduced significantly in samples which have been affected strongly by the microbial process as indicated by hydrogen indices of the sediments. The observations of variable degrees of sulfate reduction indicate also a variation of organic matter fluxes to the sediment surface of the palaeo-lake likely resulting from changes in biological surface productivity. Low carbon fluxes likely coincide with extensive use of organic substrate by sulfate reducers whereas high

  20. A hydrodynamic approach to cosmology - Texture-seeded cold dark matter and hot dark matter cosmogonies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cen, R. Y.; Ostriker, J. P.; Spergel, D. N.; Turok, N.

    1991-01-01

    Hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation in a texture-seeded cosmology are presented, with attention given to Omega = 1 galaxies dominated by both hot dark matter (HDM) and cold dark matter (CDM). The simulations include both gravitational and hydrodynamical physics with a detailed treatment of collisional and radiative thermal processes, and use a cooling criterion to estimate galaxy formation. Background radiation fields and Zel'dovich-Sunyaev fluctuations are explicitly computed. The derived galaxy mass function is well fitted by the observed Schechter luminosity function for a baryonic M/L of 3 and total M/L of 60 in galaxies. In both HDM and CDM texture scenarios, the 'galaxies' and 'clusters' are significantly more strongly correlated than the dark matter due to physical bias processes. The slope of the correlation function in both cases is consistent with observations. In contrast to Gaussian models, peaks in the dark matter density distributrion are less correlated than average.

  1. Dark Matter in Quantum Gravity

    OpenAIRE

    Calmet, Xavier; Latosh, Boris

    2018-01-01

    We show that quantum gravity, whatever its ultra-violet completion might be, could account for dark matter. Indeed, besides the massless gravitational field recently observed in the form of gravitational waves, the spectrum of quantum gravity contains two massive fields respectively of spin 2 and spin 0. If these fields are long-lived, they could easily account for dark matter. In that case, dark matter would be very light and only gravitationally coupled to the standard model particles.

  2. Progressive white-matter disease with primary cerebellar involvement: a separate entity?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yalcinkaya, C. [Division of Child Neurology, Department of Neurology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul (Turkey); Arslanoglu, I. [Division of Endocrinology, Department of Paediatrics, Goeztepe Hospital, Istanbul (Turkey); Islak, C. [Division of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul (Turkey); Aydin, A. [Division of Metabolic Disease, Department of Paediatrics, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul (Turkey); Boltshauser, E. [Division of Paediatric Neurology, University Children' s Hospital, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032 Zuerich (Switzerland)

    2002-09-01

    Although its metabolic basis has not yet been clarified, we report a progressive white-matter disease in a Turkish girl, starting in the cerebellum and spreading to supratentorial white matter. The onset was at the age of 2.5 years with diabetes insipidus, followed by ataxia and pyramidal signs resulting in loss of walking. Aqueduct stenosis was first recognised at the age of 8 years. To our knowledge, this MRI and clinical pattern does not correspond to a recognised, well-defined white-matter disease and may indicate a separate entity. (orig.)

  3. Progressive white-matter disease with primary cerebellar involvement: a separate entity?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yalcinkaya, C.; Arslanoglu, I.; Islak, C.; Aydin, A.; Boltshauser, E.

    2002-01-01

    Although its metabolic basis has not yet been clarified, we report a progressive white-matter disease in a Turkish girl, starting in the cerebellum and spreading to supratentorial white matter. The onset was at the age of 2.5 years with diabetes insipidus, followed by ataxia and pyramidal signs resulting in loss of walking. Aqueduct stenosis was first recognised at the age of 8 years. To our knowledge, this MRI and clinical pattern does not correspond to a recognised, well-defined white-matter disease and may indicate a separate entity. (orig.)

  4. How cold is cold dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Armendariz-Picon, Cristian; Neelakanta, Jayanth T.

    2014-01-01

    If cold dark matter consists of particles, these must be non-interacting and non-relativistic by definition. In most cold dark matter models however, dark matter particles inherit a non-vanishing velocity dispersion from interactions in the early universe, a velocity that redshifts with cosmic expansion but certainly remains non-zero. In this article, we place model-independent constraints on the dark matter temperature to mass ratio, whose square root determines the dark matter velocity dispersion. We only assume that dark matter particles decoupled kinetically while non-relativistic, when galactic scales had not entered the horizon yet, and that their momentum distribution has been Maxwellian since that time. Under these assumptions, using cosmic microwave background and matter power spectrum observations, we place upper limits on the temperature to mass ratio of cold dark matter today (away from collapsed structures). These limits imply that the present cold dark matter velocity dispersion has to be smaller than 54 m/s. Cold dark matter has to be quite cold, indeed

  5. sUsY dark matter - a collider physicist's perspective

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    new particles that constitute the dark matter in the universe. On the other hand, .... gamma signal is robust, because it cannot have any astrophysical origin. ... and the produced antiprotons propagate to our solar system without too much loss.

  6. Constraining decaying dark matter with FERMI-LAT gamma rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maccione, L.

    2011-01-01

    High energy electron sand positrons from decaying dark matter can produce a significant flux of gamma rays by inverse Compton of low energy photons in the interstellar radiation field. This possibility is inevitably related with the dark matter interpretation of the observed PAMELA and FERMI excesses. We will describe a simple and universal method to constrain dark matter models which produce electrons and positrons in their decay by using the FERMI-LAT gamma-ray observations in the energy range between 0.5 GeV and 300 GeV, by exploiting universal response functions that, once convolved with a specific dark matter model, produce the desired constraint. The response functions contain all the astrophysical inputs. Here is discussed the uncertainties in the determination of the response functions and apply them to place constraints on some specific dark matter decay models that can well fit the positron and electron fluxes observed by PAMELA and FERMI LAT, also taking into account prompt radiation from the dark matter decay. With the available data decaying dark matter can not be excluded as source of the PAMELA positron excess.

  7. Dark matter and particle physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Masiero, A [SISSA-ISAS, Trieste (Italy) and INFN, Sezione di Trieste (Italy); Pascoli, S [SISSA-ISAS, Trieste (Italy) and INFN, Sezione di Trieste (Italy)

    2001-11-15

    Dark matter constitutes a key-problem at the interface between Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. Indeed, the observational facts which have been accumulated in the last years on dark matter point to the existence of an amount of non-baryonic dark matter. Since the Standard Model of Particle Physics does not possess any candidate for such non-baryonic dark matter, this problem constitutes a major indication for new Physics beyond the Standard Model. We analyze the most important candidates for non-baryonic dark matter in the context of extensions of the Standard Model (in particular supersymmetric models). The recent hints for the presence of a large amount of unclustered 'vacuum' energy (cosmological constant?) is discussed from the Astrophysical and Particle Physics perspective. (author)

  8. A Modified Gash Model for Estimating Rainfall Interception Loss of Forest Using Remote Sensing Observations at Regional Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaokui Cui

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Rainfall interception loss of forest is an important component of water balance in a forested ecosystem. The Gash analytical model has been widely used to estimate the forest interception loss at field scale. In this study, we proposed a simple model to estimate rainfall interception loss of heterogeneous forest at regional scale with several reasonable assumptions using remote sensing observations. The model is a modified Gash analytical model using easily measured parameters of forest structure from satellite data and extends the original Gash model from point-scale to the regional scale. Preliminary results, using remote sensing data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS products, field measured rainfall data, and meteorological data of the Automatic Weather Station (AWS over a picea crassifolia forest in the upper reaches of the Heihe River Basin in northwestern China, showed reasonable accuracy in estimating rainfall interception loss at both the Dayekou experimental site (R2 = 0.91, RMSE = 0.34 mm∙d −1 and the Pailugou experimental site (R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 0.6 mm∙d −1, compared with ground measurements based on per unit area of forest. The interception loss map of the study area was shown to be strongly heterogeneous. The modified model has robust physics and is insensitive to the input parameters, according to the sensitivity analysis using numerical simulations. The modified model appears to be stable and easy to be applied for operational estimation of interception loss over large areas.

  9. Correlation between white matter damage and gray matter lesions in multiple sclerosis patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xue-mei Han

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We observed the characteristics of white matter fibers and gray matter in multiple sclerosis patients, to identify changes in diffusion tensor imaging fractional anisotropy values following white matter fiber injury. We analyzed the correlation between fractional anisotropy values and changes in whole-brain gray matter volume. The participants included 20 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and 20 healthy volunteers as controls. All subjects underwent head magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Our results revealed that fractional anisotropy values decreased and gray matter volumes were reduced in the genu and splenium of corpus callosum, left anterior thalamic radiation, hippocampus, uncinate fasciculus, right corticospinal tract, bilateral cingulate gyri, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus in multiple sclerosis patients. Gray matter volumes were significantly different between the two groups in the right frontal lobe (superior frontal, middle frontal, precentral, and orbital gyri, right parietal lobe (postcentral and inferior parietal gyri, right temporal lobe (caudate nucleus, right occipital lobe (middle occipital gyrus, right insula, right parahippocampal gyrus, and left cingulate gyrus. The voxel sizes of atrophic gray matter positively correlated with fractional anisotropy values in white matter association fibers in the patient group. These findings suggest that white matter fiber bundles are extensively injured in multiple sclerosis patients. The main areas of gray matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis are the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, caudate nucleus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Gray matter atrophy is strongly associated with white matter injury in multiple sclerosis patients, particularly with injury to association fibers.

  10. Jet evolution in hot and cold QCD matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Domdey, Svend Oliver

    2010-07-23

    In this thesis, we study the evolution of energetic partons in hot and cold QCD matter. In both cases, interactions with the medium lead to energy loss of the parton and its transverse momentum broadens. The propagation of partons in cold nuclear matter can be investigated experimentally in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) on nuclei. We use the dipole model to calculate transverse momentum broadening in DIS on nuclei and compare to experimental data from HERMES. In hot matter, the evolution of the parton shower is strongly modified. To calculate this modification, we construct an additional scattering term in the QCD evolution equations which accounts for scattering of partons in the quark-gluon plasma. With this scattering term, we compute the modified gluon distribution in the shower at small momentum fractions. Furthermore, we calculate the modified fragmentation function of gluons into pions. The scattering term causes energy loss of the parton shower which leads to a suppression of hadrons with large transverse momentum. In the third part of this thesis, we study double dijet production in hadron collisions. This process contains information about the transverse parton distribution of hadrons. As main result, we find that double dijet production will allow for a study of the transverse growth of hadronic wave functions at the LHC. (orig.)

  11. Cosmic gamma-ray background from dark matter annihilation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ando, Shin'ichiro

    2007-01-01

    High-energy photons from pair annihilation of dark matter particles contribute to the cosmic gamma-ray background (CGB) observed in a wide energy range. The precise shape of the energy spectrum of CGB depends on the nature of dark matter particles. In order to discriminate between the signals from dark matter annihilation and other astrophysical sources, however, the information from the energy spectrum of CGB may not be sufficient. We show that dark matter annihilation not only contributes to the mean CGB intensity, but also produces a characteristic anisotropy, which provides a powerful tool for testing the origins of the observed CGB. We show that the expected sensitivity of future gamma-ray detectors such as GLAST should allow us to measure the angular power spectrum of CGB anisotropy, if dark matter particles are supersymmetric neutralinos and they account for most of the observed mean intensity. As the intensity of photons from annihilation is proportional to the density squared, we show that the predicted shape of the angular power spectrum of gamma rays from dark matter annihilation is different from that due to other astrophysical sources such as blazars, whose intensity is linearly proportional to density. Therefore, the angular power spectrum of the CGB provides a 'smoking-gun' signature of gamma rays from dark matter annihilation

  12. Baryonic dark matter and Machos

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griest, K.

    2000-01-01

    A brief description of the status of baryons in the Universe is given, along with recent results from the MACHO collaboration and their meaning. A dark matter halo consisting of baryons in the form of Machos is ruled out, leaving an elementary particle as the prime candidate for the dark matter. The observed microlensing events may make up around 20% of the dark matter in the Milky Way, or may indicate an otherwise undetected component of the Large Magellanic Cloud

  13. Was ordinary matter synthesized from mirror matter? An attempt to explain why ΩB≅0.2Ωdark

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foot, R.; Volkas, R.R.

    2003-01-01

    The cosmological dust has begun to settle. A likely picture is a universe comprised (predominantly) of three components: ordinary baryons (Ω B ≅0.05), nonbaryonic dark matter (Ω dark ≅0.22) and dark energy (Ω Λ ≅0.7). We suggest that the observed similarity of the abundances of ordinary baryons and nonbaryonic dark matter (Ω B /Ω dark ≅0.20) hints at an underlying similarity between the fundamental properties of ordinary and dark matter particles. This is necessarily the case if dark matter is identified with mirror matter. We examine a specific mirror matter scenario where Ω B /Ω dark ≅0.20 is naturally obtained

  14. Ratcheting Up The Search for Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McDermott, Samuel Dylan [Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

    2014-01-01

    The last several years have included remarkable advances in two of the primary areas of fundamental particle physics: the search for dark matter and the discovery of the Higgs boson. This dissertation will highlight some contributions made on the forefront of these exciting fields. Although the circumstantial evidence supporting the dark matter hypothesis is now almost undeniably significant, indisputable direct proof is still lacking. As the direct searches for dark matter continue, we can maximize our prospects of discovery by using theoretical techniques complementary to the observational searches to rule out additional, otherwise accessible parameter space. In this dissertation, I report bounds on a wide range of dark matter theories. The models considered here cover the spectrum from the canonical case of self-conjugate dark matter with weak-scale interactions, to electrically charged dark matter, to non-annihilating, non-fermionic dark matter. These bounds are obtained from considerations of astrophysical and cosmological data, including, respectively: diffuse gamma ray photon observations; structure formation considerations, along with an explication of the novel local dark matter structure due to galactic astrophysics; and the existence of old pulsars in dark-matter-rich environments. I also consider the prospects for a model of neutrino dark matter which has been motivated by a wide set of seemingly contradictory experimental results. In addition, I include a study that provides the tools to begin solving the speculative ``inverse'' problem of extracting dark matter properties solely from hypothetical nuclear energy spectra, which we may face if dark matter is discovered with multiple direct detection experiments. In contrast to the null searches for dark matter, we have the example of the recent discovery of the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the first fundamental scalar particle ever observed, and precision measurements of the production and

  15. Electroweakly-interacting Dirac dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagata, Natsumi

    2014-11-01

    We consider a class of fermionic dark matter candidates that are charged under both the SU(2) L and U(1) Y gauge interactions. Such a dark matter is stringently restricted by the dark matter direct detection experiments, since the Z-boson exchange processes induce too large dark matter-nucleus elastic scattering cross sections. Effects of ultraviolet (UV) physics, however, split it into two Majorana fermions to evade the constraint. These effects may be probed by means of the dark matter-nucleus scattering via the Higgs-boson exchange process, as well as the electric dipole moments induced by the dark matter and its SU(2) L partner fields. In this Letter, we evaluate them with effective operators that describe the UV-physics effects. It turns out that the constraints coming from the experiments for the quantities have already restricted the dark matters with hypercharge Y≥3/2. Future experiments have sensitivities to probe this class of dark matter candidates, and may disfavor the Y≥1 cases if no signal is observed. In this case, only the Y=0 and 1/2 cases may be the remaining possibilities for the SU(2) L charged fermionic dark matter candidates.

  16. Dark matter distribution and annihilation at the Galactic center

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dokuchaev, V I; Eroshenko, Yu N

    2016-01-01

    We describe a promising method for measuring the total dark matter mass near a supermassive black hole at the Galactic center based on observations of nonrelativistic precession of the orbits of fast S0 stars. An analytical expression for the precession angle has been obtained under the assumption of a power-law profile of the dark matter density. The awaited weighing of the dark matter at the Galactic center provides the strong constraints on the annihilation signal from the neuralino dark matter particle candidate. The mass of the dark matter necessary for the explanation of the observed excess of gamma-radiation owing to the annihilation of the dark matter particles has been calculated with allowance for the Sommerfeld effect. (paper)

  17. The influence of initial state fluctuations on heavy quark energy loss in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao, Shanshan; Bass, Steffen A; Huang, Yajing; Qin, Guang-You

    2015-01-01

    We study the effects of initial state fluctuations on the dynamical evolution of heavy quarks inside a quark–gluon plasma (QGP) created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The evolution of heavy quarks in QGP matter is described utilizing a modified Langevin equation that incorporates the contributions from both collisional and radiative energy loss. The spacetime evolution of the fireball medium is simulated with a (2 + 1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamic model. We find that when the medium traversed by the heavy quark contains a fixed amount of energy, heavy quarks tend to lose more energy for greater fluctuations of the medium density. This may result in a larger suppression of heavy flavor observables in a fluctuating QGP matter than in a smooth one. The possibility of using hard probes to infer the information of initial states of heavy-ion collisions is discussed. (paper)

  18. Turnover of intra- and extra-aggregate organic matter at the silt-size scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    I. Virto; C. Moni; C. Swanston; C. Chenu

    2010-01-01

    Temperate silty soils are especially sensitive to organic matter losses associated to some agricultural management systems. Long-term preservation of organic C in these soils has been demonstrated to occur mainly in the silt- and clay-size fractions, although our knowledge about the mechanisms through which it happens remains unclear. Although organic matter in such...

  19. Emotion regulation reduces loss aversion and decreases amygdala responses to losses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokol-Hessner, Peter; Camerer, Colin F; Phelps, Elizabeth A

    2013-03-01

    Emotion regulation strategies can alter behavioral and physiological responses to emotional stimuli and the neural correlates of those responses in regions such as the amygdala or striatum. The current study investigates the brain systems engaged when using an emotion regulation technique during financial decisions. In decision making, regulating emotion with reappraisal-focused strategies that encourage taking a different perspective has been shown to reduce loss aversion as observed both in choices and in the relative arousal responses to actual loss and gain outcomes. In the current study, we find using fMRI that behavioral loss aversion correlates with amygdala activity in response to losses relative to gains. Success in regulating loss aversion also correlates with the reduction in amygdala responses to losses but not to gains. Furthermore, across both decisions and outcomes, we find the reappraisal strategy increases baseline activity in dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the striatum. The similarity of the neural circuitry observed to that seen in emotion regulation, despite divergent tasks, serves as further evidence for a role of emotion in decision making, and for the power of reappraisal to change assessments of value and thereby choices.

  20. Light dark matter through assisted annihilation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dey, Ujjal Kumar; Maity, Tarak Nath; Ray, Tirtha Sankar

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we investigate light dark matter scenarios where annihilation to Standard Model particles at tree-level is kinematically forbidden. In such cases annihilation can be aided by massive Standard Model-like species, called assisters , in the initial state that enhances the available phase space opening up novel tree-level processes. We investigate the feasibility of such non-standard assisted annihilation processes to reproduce the observed relic density of dark matter. We present a simple scalar dark matter-scalar assister model where this is realised. We find that if the dark matter and assister are relatively degenerate the required relic density can be achieved for a keV-MeV scale dark matter. We briefly discuss the cosmological constraints on such dark matter scenarios.

  1. The Angular Momentum of Baryons and Dark Matter Halos Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimm, Taysun; Devriendt, Julien; Slyz, Adrianne; Pichon, Christophe; Kassin, Susan A.; Dubois, Yohan

    2011-01-01

    Recent theoretical studies have shown that galaxies at high redshift are fed by cold, dense gas filaments, suggesting angular momentum transport by gas differs from that by dark matter. Revisiting this issue using high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamics simulations with adaptive-mesh refinement (AMR), we find that at the time of accretion, gas and dark matter do carry a similar amount of specific angular momentum, but that it is systematically higher than that of the dark matter halo as a whole. At high redshift, freshly accreted gas rapidly streams into the central region of the halo, directly depositing this large amount of angular momentum within a sphere of radius r = 0.1R(sub vir). In contrast, dark matter particles pass through the central region unscathed, and a fraction of them ends up populating the outer regions of the halo (r/R(sub vir) > 0.1), redistributing angular momentum in the process. As a result, large-scale motions of the cosmic web have to be considered as the origin of gas angular momentum rather than its virialised dark matter halo host. This generic result holds for halos of all masses at all redshifts, as radiative cooling ensures that a significant fraction of baryons remain trapped at the centre of the halos. Despite this injection of angular momentum enriched gas, we predict an amount for stellar discs which is in fair agreement with observations at z=0. This arises because the total specific angular momentum of the baryons (gas and stars) remains close to that of dark matter halos. Indeed, our simulations indicate that any differential loss of angular momentum amplitude between the two components is minor even though dark matter halos continuously lose between half and two-thirds of their specific angular momentum modulus as they evolve. In light of our results, a substantial revision of the standard theory of disc formation seems to be required. We propose a new scenario where gas efficiently carries the angular momentum generated

  2. Quark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Csernai, L.; Kampert, K. H.

    1994-10-15

    Precisely one decade ago the GSI (Darmstadt)/LBL (Berkeley) Collaboration at the Berkeley Bevalac reported clear evidence for collective sidewards flow in high energy heavy ion collisions. This milestone observation clearly displayed the compression and heating up of nuclear matter, providing new insights into how the behaviour of nuclear matter changes under very different conditions. This year, evidence for azimuthally asymmetric transverse flow at ten times higher projectile energy (11 GeV per nucleon gold on gold collisions) was presented by the Brookhaven E877 collaboration at the recent European Research Conference on ''Physics of High Energy Heavy Ion Collisions'', held in Helsinki from 17-22 June.

  3. Quark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Csernai, L.; Kampert, K.H.

    1994-01-01

    Precisely one decade ago the GSI (Darmstadt)/LBL (Berkeley) Collaboration at the Berkeley Bevalac reported clear evidence for collective sidewards flow in high energy heavy ion collisions. This milestone observation clearly displayed the compression and heating up of nuclear matter, providing new insights into how the behaviour of nuclear matter changes under very different conditions. This year, evidence for azimuthally asymmetric transverse flow at ten times higher projectile energy (11 GeV per nucleon gold on gold collisions) was presented by the Brookhaven E877 collaboration at the recent European Research Conference on ''Physics of High Energy Heavy Ion Collisions'', held in Helsinki from 17-22 June

  4. Global and regional associations of smaller cerebral gray and white matter volumes with gait in older people.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele L Callisaya

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Gait impairments increase with advancing age and can lead to falls and loss of independence. Brain atrophy also occurs in older age and may contribute to gait decline. We aimed to investigate global and regional relationships of cerebral gray and white matter volumes with gait speed, and its determinants step length and cadence, in older people. METHODS: In a population-based study, participants aged >60 years without Parkinson's disease or brain infarcts underwent magnetic resonance imaging and gait measurements using a computerized walkway. Linear regression was used to study associations of total gray and white matter volumes with gait, adjusting for each other, age, sex, height and white matter hyperintensity volume. Other covariates considered in analyses included weight and vascular disease history. Voxel-based morphometry was used to study regional relationships of gray and white matter with gait. RESULTS: There were 305 participants, mean age 71.4 (6.9 years, 54% male, mean gait speed 1.16 (0.22 m/s. Smaller total gray matter volume was independently associated with poorer gait speed (p = 0.001 and step length (p<0.001, but not cadence. Smaller volumes of cortical and subcortical gray matter in bilateral regions important for motor control, vision, perception and memory were independently associated with slower gait speed and shorter steps. No global or regional associations were observed between white matter volume and gait independent of gray matter volume, white matter hyperintensity volume and other covariates. CONCLUSION: Smaller gray matter volume in bilaterally distributed brain networks serving motor control was associated with slower gait speed and step length, but not cadence.

  5. Wanted! Nuclear Data for Dark Matter Astrophysics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gondolo, P.

    2014-01-01

    Astronomical observations from small galaxies to the largest scales in the universe can be consistently explained by the simple idea of dark matter. The nature of dark matter is however still unknown. Empirically it cannot be any of the known particles, and many theories postulate it as a new elementary particle. Searches for dark matter particles are under way: production at high-energy accelerators, direct detection through dark matter-nucleus scattering, indirect detection through cosmic rays, gamma rays, or effects on stars. Particle dark matter searches rely on observing an excess of events above background, and a lot of controversies have arisen over the origin of observed excesses. With the new high-quality cosmic ray measurements from the AMS-02 experiment, the major uncertainty in modeling cosmic ray fluxes is in the nuclear physics cross sections for spallation and fragmentation of cosmic rays off interstellar hydrogen and helium. The understanding of direct detection backgrounds is limited by poor knowledge of cosmic ray activation in detector materials, with order of magnitude differences between simulation codes. A scarcity of data on nucleon spin densities blurs the connection between dark matter theory and experiments. What is needed, ideally, are more and better measurements of spallation cross sections relevant to cosmic rays and cosmogenic activation, and data on the nucleon spin densities in nuclei

  6. Linear scale bounds on dark matter--dark radiation interactions and connection with the small scale crisis of cold dark matter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hannestad, Steen; Archidiacono, Maria; Bohr, Sebastian

    2017-01-01

    One of the open questions in modern cosmology is the small scale crisis of the cold dark matter paradigm. Increasing attention has recently been devoted to self-interacting dark matter models as a possible answer. However, solving the so-called "missing satellites" problem requires in addition...... the presence of an extra relativistic particle (dubbed dark radiation) scattering with dark matter in the early universe. Here we investigate the impact of different theoretical models devising dark matter dark radiation interactions on large scale cosmological observables. We use cosmic microwave background...... data to put constraints on the dark radiation component and its coupling to dark matter. We find that the values of the coupling allowed by the data imply a cut-off scale of the halo mass function consistent with the one required to match the observations of satellites in the Milky Way....

  7. Language loss and language decay of Malawi's indigenous ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article focuses on the decay of almost all of Malawi's indigenous languages with the exception of ciCewa. The languages facing loss and decay have been suppressed, neglected and not developed, particularly since Malawi attained her independence in 1964. This is a crucial matter in issues of national unity, group ...

  8. Atomic interactions of charged particles with matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bichsel, H.

    1993-01-01

    Ideas about the interactions of charged particles with matter are discussed. First, some experimental information is presented. Concepts related to collision cross sections and the Bethe model for them are given. The stopping power is derived and applied to the discussion of depth dose functions ('Bragg curves'). Some details of the energy loss in microscopic volumes are discussed

  9. Diffusion tensor imaging in children with unilateral hearing loss: a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tara eRachakonda

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Language acquisition was assumed to proceed normally in children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL since they have one functioning ear. However, children with UHL score poorly on speech-language tests and have higher rates of educational problems compared to normal hearing (NH peers. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI is an imaging modality used to measure microstructural integrity of brain white matter. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate differences in fractional anisotropy (FA and mean diffusivity (MD in hearing- and non-hearing-related structures in the brain between children with UHL and their NH siblings. Study Design: Prospective observational cohortSetting: Academic medical center.Subjects and Methods: 61 children were recruited, tested and imaged. 29 children with severe-to-profound UHL were compared to 20 siblings with NH using IQ and oral language testing, and MRI with DTI. 12 children had inadequate MRI data. Parents provided demographic data and indicated whether children had a need for an individualized educational program (IEP or speech therapy (ST. DTI parameters were measured in auditory and non-auditory regions of interest (ROIs. Between-group comparisons were evaluated with non-parametric tests. Results: Lower FA of left lateral lemniscus was observed for children with UHL compared to their NH siblings, as well as trends towards differences in other auditory and nonauditory regions. Correlation analyses showed associations between several DTI parameters and outcomes in children with UHL. Regression analyses revealed relationships between educational outcome variables and several DTI parameters, which may provide clinically useful information for guidance of speech therapy. Discussion/Conclusion: White matter microstructural patterns in several brain regions are preserved despite unilateral rather than bilateral auditory input which contrasts with findings in patients with bilateral hearing loss.

  10. PEAK COVARIANCE STABILITY OF A RANDOM RICCATI EQUATION ARISING FROM KALMAN FILTERING WITH OBSERVATION LOSSES

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Li XIE; Lihua XIE

    2007-01-01

    We consider the stability of a random Riccati equation with a Markovian binary jump coefficient. More specifically, we are concerned with the boundedness of the solution of a random Riccati difference equation arising from Kalman filtering with measurement losses. A sufficient condition for the peak covariance stability is obtained which has a simpler form and is shown to be less conservative in some cases than a very recent result in existing literature. Furthermore, we show that a known sufficient condition is also necessary when the observability index equals one.

  11. Phases of cannibal dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Farina, Marco [New High Energy Theory Center, Department of Physics, Rutgers University,136 Frelinghuisen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Pappadopulo, Duccio; Ruderman, Joshua T.; Trevisan, Gabriele [Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University,New York, NY 10003 (United States)

    2016-12-13

    A hidden sector with a mass gap undergoes an epoch of cannibalism if number changing interactions are active when the temperature drops below the mass of the lightest hidden particle. During cannibalism, the hidden sector temperature decreases only logarithmically with the scale factor. We consider the possibility that dark matter resides in a hidden sector that underwent cannibalism, and has relic density set by the freeze-out of two-to-two annihilations. We identify three novel phases, depending on the behavior of the hidden sector when dark matter freezes out. During the cannibal phase, dark matter annihilations decouple while the hidden sector is cannibalizing. During the chemical phase, only two-to-two interactions are active and the total number of hidden particles is conserved. During the one way phase, the dark matter annihilation products decay out of equilibrium, suppressing the production of dark matter from inverse annihilations. We map out the distinct phenomenology of each phase, which includes a boosted dark matter annihilation rate, new relativistic degrees of freedom, warm dark matter, and observable distortions to the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.

  12. Constraining Dark Matter with ATLAS

    CERN Document Server

    Czodrowski, Patrick; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as their signature. The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches on the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  13. Indirect detection of dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, J; Lamanna, G; Lavalle, J

    2006-01-01

    This article is an experimental review of the status and prospects of indirect searches for dark matter. Experiments observe secondary particles such as positrons, antiprotons, antideuterons, gamma-rays and neutrinos which could originate from annihilations of dark matter particles in various locations in the galaxy. Data exist from some experiments which have been interpreted as hints of evidence for dark matter. These data and their interpretations are reviewed together with the new experiments which are planned to resolve the puzzles and make new measurements which could give unambiguous results

  14. Casting light on dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ellis, John

    2012-01-01

    The prospects for detecting a candidate supersymmetric dark matter particle at the LHC are reviewed, and compared with the prospects for direct and indirect searches for astrophysical dark matter. The discussion is based on a frequentist analysis of the preferred regions of the Minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with universal soft supersymmetry breaking (the CMSSM). LHC searches may have good chances to observe supersymmetry in the near future - and so may direct searches for astrophysical dark matter particles, whereas indirect searches may require greater sensitivity, at least within the CMSSM.

  15. Dark matter, a hidden universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trodden, M.; Feng, J.

    2011-01-01

    The main candidates to dark matter are particles called WIMPs for weakly interacting massive particles. 4 experiments (CDMS in Minnesota (Usa), DAMA at Gran Sasso (Italy), CoGeNT in Minnesota (Usa) and PAMELA onboard a Russian satellite) have claimed to have detected them. New clues suggest that it could exist new particles interacting via new forces. The observation that dwarf galaxies are systematically more spherical than massive galaxies might be a sign of the existence of new forces between dark matter components. Dark matter could not be as inert as previously thought. (A.C.)

  16. Indirect search for dark matter with AMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goy, Corinne

    2006-01-01

    This document summarises the potential of AMS in the indirect search for Dark Matter. Observations and cosmology indicate that the Universe may include a large amount of Dark Matter of unknown nature. A good candidate is the Ligthest Supersymmetric Particle in R-Parity conserving models. AMS offers a unique opportunity to study Dark Matter indirect signature in three spectra: gamma, antiprotons and positrons

  17. Water-soluble elements in atmospheric particulate matter over tropical and equatorial Atlantic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buat-Menard, Patrick; Morelli, Jacques; Chesselet, Roger

    1974-01-01

    Samples of water-soluble atmospheric particulate matter collected from R/V ''Jean Charcot'' (May to October 1971) and R/V ''James Gilliss'' (October 1972) over Tropical and Equatorial Atlantic were analyzed for Na, Mg, K and Ca by atomic absorption and for Cl and S as SO 4 by colorimetry. Data shows a strong geographical dependence of K and Ca enrichment relative to their elemental ratio to Na in sea-water. Ca enrichment is related to presence of identified soluble calcium minerals in continental dust originating from African deserts (Sahara-Kalahari). This dust does not influence amounts of K in the water-soluble phase. When observed, strong K enrichment appears tightly associated with high concentrations of surface-active organic material in the microlayer derived from high biological activity (Gulf of Guinea). Observed in same samples, SO 4 enrichment could also be controlled by the same source. This SO 4 enrichment balances the observed Cl loss in aerosols accordingly with gaseous HCl formation processes in marine atmosphere [fr

  18. Quark matter in astrophysics and cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olinto, A.V.

    1987-10-01

    We dicuss the role of quark matter in astrophysics and cosmology. The implications of the dynamics of the quark-hadron phase transition in the early universe for the element abundances from big bang nucleosynthesis and the composition of the dark matter in the universe are addressed. We discuss the possibility of deciding on an equation of state for high density matter by observing the cooling of a neutron star remnant of SN1987A. Quark matter models for the Centauros events, Cygnus X-3 cosmic ray events, high energy gamma-ray bursts and the solar neutrino problem are described. 25 refs., 3 figs

  19. The nature of white matter abnormalities in blast-related mild traumatic brain injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmeet P. Hayes

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI has been a common injury among returning troops due to the widespread use of improvised explosive devices in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. As most of the TBIs sustained are in the mild range, brain changes may not be detected by standard clinical imaging techniques such as CT. Furthermore, the functional significance of these types of injuries is currently being debated. However, accumulating evidence suggests that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI is sensitive to subtle white matter abnormalities and may be especially useful in detecting mild TBI (mTBI. The primary aim of this study was to use DTI to characterize the nature of white matter abnormalities following blast-related mTBI, and in particular, examine the extent to which mTBI-related white matter abnormalities are region-specific or spatially heterogeneous. In addition, we examined whether mTBI with loss of consciousness (LOC was associated with more extensive white matter abnormality than mTBI without LOC, as well as the potential moderating effect of number of blast exposures. A second aim was to examine the relationship between white matter integrity and neurocognitive function. Finally, a third aim was to examine the contribution of PTSD symptom severity to observed white matter alterations. One hundred fourteen OEF/OIF veterans underwent DTI and neuropsychological examination and were divided into three groups including a control group, blast-related mTBI without LOC (mTBI - LOC group, and blast-related mTBI with LOC (mTBI + LOC group. Hierarchical regression models were used to examine the extent to which mTBI and PTSD predicted white matter abnormalities using two approaches: 1 a region-specific analysis and 2 a measure of spatial heterogeneity. Neurocognitive composite scores were calculated for executive functions, attention, memory, and psychomotor speed. Results showed that blast-related mTBI + LOC was associated with greater odds of

  20. Impacts of prescribed fire on soil loss and soil quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shakesby, Richard A.; Martins Bento, Celia; Ferreira, Carla S.S.; Ferreira, António J.D.; Stoof, C.R.; Urbanek, Emilia; Walsh, Rory P.D.

    2015-01-01

    Prescribed (controlled) fire has recently been adopted as an important wildfire-fighting strategy in the Mediterranean. Relatively little research, however, has assessed its impacts on soil erosion and soil quality. This paper investigates hillslope-scale losses of soil, organic matter and

  1. Constraining decaying dark matter with Fermi LAT gamma-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Le; Sigl, Günter; Weniger, Christoph; Maccione, Luca; Redondo, Javier

    2010-01-01

    High energy electrons and positrons from decaying dark matter can produce a significant flux of gamma rays by inverse Compton off low energy photons in the interstellar radiation field. This possibility is inevitably related with the dark matter interpretation of the observed PAMELA and FERMI excesses. The aim of this paper is providing a simple and universal method to constrain dark matter models which produce electrons and positrons in their decay by using the Fermi LAT gamma-ray observations in the energy range between 0.5 GeV and 300 GeV. We provide a set of universal response functions that, once convolved with a specific dark matter model produce the desired constraints. Our response functions contain all the astrophysical inputs such as the electron propagation in the galaxy, the dark matter profile, the gamma-ray fluxes of known origin, and the Fermi LAT data. We study the uncertainties in the determination of the response functions and apply them to place constraints on some specific dark matter decay models that can well fit the positron and electron fluxes observed by PAMELA and Fermi LAT. To this end we also take into account prompt radiation from the dark matter decay. We find that with the available data decaying dark matter cannot be excluded as source of the PAMELA positron excess

  2. Dark matter at the Fermi scale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Jonathan L

    2006-01-01

    Recent breakthroughs in cosmology reveal that a quarter of the Universe is composed of dark matter, but the microscopic identity of dark matter remains a deep mystery. I review recent progress in resolving this puzzle, focusing on two well-motivated classes of dark matter candidates: weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and superWIMPs. These possibilities have similar motivations: they exist in the same well-motivated particle physics models, the observed dark matter relic density emerges naturally and dark matter particles have mass around 100 GeV, the energy scale identified as interesting over 70 years ago by Fermi. At the same time, they have widely varying implications for direct and indirect dark matter searches, particle colliders, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, and halo profiles and structure formation. If WIMPs or superWIMPs are a significant component of dark matter, we will soon be entering a golden era in which dark matter will be studied through diverse probes at the interface of particle physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. I outline a programme of dark matter studies for each of these scenarios and discuss the prospects for identifying dark matter in the coming years. (topical review)

  3. Turning off the lights: How dark is dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDermott, Samuel D.; Yu Haibo; Zurek, Kathryn M.

    2011-01-01

    We consider current observational constraints on the electromagnetic charge of dark matter. The velocity dependence of the scattering cross section through the photon gives rise to qualitatively different constraints than standard dark matter scattering through massive force carriers. In particular, recombination epoch observations of dark matter density perturbations require that ε, the ratio of the dark matter to electronic charge, is less than 10 -6 for m X =1 GeV, rising to ε -4 for m X =10 TeV. Though naively one would expect that dark matter carrying a charge well below this constraint could still give rise to large scattering in current direct detection experiments, we show that charged dark matter particles that could be detected with upcoming experiments are expected to be evacuated from the Galactic disk by the Galactic magnetic fields and supernova shock waves and hence will not give rise to a signal. Thus dark matter with a small charge is likely not a source of a signal in current or upcoming dark matter direct detection experiments.

  4. Detecting dark matter with imploding pulsars in the galactic center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bramante, Joseph; Linden, Tim

    2014-11-07

    The paucity of old millisecond pulsars observed at the galactic center of the Milky Way could be the result of dark matter accumulating in and destroying neutron stars. In regions of high dark matter density, dark matter clumped in a pulsar can exceed the Schwarzschild limit and collapse into a natal black hole which destroys the pulsar. We examine what dark matter models are consistent with this hypothesis and find regions of parameter space where dark matter accumulation can significantly degrade the neutron star population within the galactic center while remaining consistent with observations of old millisecond pulsars in globular clusters and near the solar position. We identify what dark matter couplings and masses might cause a young pulsar at the galactic center to unexpectedly extinguish. Finally, we find that pulsar collapse age scales inversely with the dark matter density and linearly with the dark matter velocity dispersion. This implies that maximum pulsar age is spatially dependent on position within the dark matter halo of the Milky Way. In turn, this pulsar age spatial dependence will be dark matter model dependent.

  5. Respite Utilization and Responses to Loss among Family Caregivers: Relationship Matters

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeCaporale, Lauren; Mensie, Lauren; Steffen, Ann

    2013-01-01

    Family caregivers of physically and cognitively impaired older adults face multiple challenges when providing care, including responses to tangible and anticipated losses. However, little is known about the grief experiences of family caregivers and how these might differentially influence the care-related behaviors of spouses and adult children.…

  6. The Isotropic Radio Background and Annihilating Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hooper, Dan [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Belikov, Alexander V. [Institut d' Astrophysique (France); Jeltema, Tesla E. [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States); Linden, Tim [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States); Profumo, Stefano [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States); Slatyer, Tracy R. [Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)

    2012-11-01

    Observations by ARCADE-2 and other telescopes sensitive to low frequency radiation have revealed the presence of an isotropic radio background with a hard spectral index. The intensity of this observed background is found to exceed the flux predicted from astrophysical sources by a factor of approximately 5-6. In this article, we consider the possibility that annihilating dark matter particles provide the primary contribution to the observed isotropic radio background through the emission of synchrotron radiation from electron and positron annihilation products. For reasonable estimates of the magnetic fields present in clusters and galaxies, we find that dark matter could potentially account for the observed radio excess, but only if it annihilates mostly to electrons and/or muons, and only if it possesses a mass in the range of approximately 5-50 GeV. For such models, the annihilation cross section required to normalize the synchrotron signal to the observed excess is sigma v ~ (0.4-30) x 10^-26 cm^3/s, similar to the value predicted for a simple thermal relic (sigma v ~ 3 x 10^-26 cm^3/s). We find that in any scenario in which dark matter annihilations are responsible for the observed excess radio emission, a significant fraction of the isotropic gamma ray background observed by Fermi must result from dark matter as well.

  7. Wetland Loss Patterns and Inundation-Productivity ...

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tidal salt marsh is a key defense against, yet is especially vulnerable to, the effects of accelerated sea level rise. To determine whether salt marshes in southern New England will be stable given increasing inundation over the coming decades, we examined current loss patterns, inundation-productivity feedbacks, and sustaining processes. A multi-decadal analysis of salt marsh aerial extent using historic imagery and maps revealed that salt marsh vegetation loss is both widespread and accelerating, with vegetation loss rates over the past four decades summing to 17.3 %. Landward retreat of the marsh edge, widening and headward expansion of tidal channel networks, loss of marsh islands, and the development and enlargement of interior depressions found on the marsh platform contributed to vegetation loss. Inundation due to sea level rise is strongly suggested as a primary driver: vegetation loss rates were significantly negatively correlated with marsh elevation (r2 = 0.96; p = 0.0038), with marshes situated below mean high water (MHW) experiencing greater declines than marshes sitting well above MHW. Growth experiments with Spartina alterniflora, the Atlantic salt marsh ecosystem dominant, across a range of elevations and inundation regimes further established that greater inundation decreases belowground biomass production of S. alterniflora and, thus, negatively impacts organic matter accumulation. These results suggest that southern New England salt ma

  8. The dark matter distribution of M87 and NGC 1399

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, John C.

    1993-01-01

    Recent X-ray observations of clusters of galaxies indicate that, outside the innermost about 100 kpc region, the ratio of dark matter density to baryonic matter density declines with radius. We show that this result is consistent with a cold dark matter simulation, suggesting the presence of dissipationless dark matter in the observed clusters. This is contrary to previous suggestions that dissipational baryonic dark matter is required to explain the decline in the density ratio. The simulation further shows that, in the inner 100 kpc region, the density ratio should rise with radius. We confirm this property in M87 and NGC 1399, which are close enough to allow the determination of the density ratio in the required inner region. X-ray mappings of the dark matter distribution in clusters of galaxies are therefore consistent with the presence of dissipationless dark matter.

  9. Isotropic radio background from quark nugget dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lawson, Kyle; Zhitnitsky, Ariel R., E-mail: arz@physics.ubc.ca

    2013-07-09

    Recent measurements by the ARCADE2 experiment unambiguously show an excess in the isotropic radio background at frequencies below the GHz scale. We argue that this excess may be a natural consequence of the interaction of visible and dark matter in the early universe if the dark matter consists of heavy nuggets of quark matter. Explanation of the observed radio band excess requires the introduction of no new parameters, rather we exploit the same dark matter model and identical normalization parameters to those previously used to explain other excesses of diffuse emission from the centre of our galaxy. These previously observed excesses include the WMAP Haze of GHz radiation, keV X-ray emission and MeV gamma-ray radiation.

  10. Isotropic radio background from quark nugget dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawson, Kyle; Zhitnitsky, Ariel R.

    2013-01-01

    Recent measurements by the ARCADE2 experiment unambiguously show an excess in the isotropic radio background at frequencies below the GHz scale. We argue that this excess may be a natural consequence of the interaction of visible and dark matter in the early universe if the dark matter consists of heavy nuggets of quark matter. Explanation of the observed radio band excess requires the introduction of no new parameters, rather we exploit the same dark matter model and identical normalization parameters to those previously used to explain other excesses of diffuse emission from the centre of our galaxy. These previously observed excesses include the WMAP Haze of GHz radiation, keV X-ray emission and MeV gamma-ray radiation

  11. A new “culprit” for matter-antimatter asymmetry

    CERN Multimedia

    Antonella Del Rosso

    2013-01-01

    In our matter-dominated Universe, the observation of new processes showing matter-antimatter asymmetry allows scientists to test their theories and, possibly, to explore new territories. The LHCb collaboration has recently observed matter-antimatter asymmetries in the decays of the B0s meson, which thus becomes the fourth particle known to present such behaviour.   The VELO detector: a crucial element for particle identifiation in LHCb. Almost all physics processes known to scientists show perfect symmetry if a particle is interchanged with its antiparticle (C symmetry), and then if left and right are swapped (P symmetry). So it becomes very hard to explain why the Universe itself does not conform to this symmetry and, instead, shows a huge preference for matter. Processes that violate this symmetry are rare and of great interest to scientists. Violation of the CP symmetry in neutral kaons was first observed by Nobel Prize Laureates James Cronin and Val Fitch in the 1960s. About 40 years la...

  12. Measurement of the dark matter velocity anisotropy profile in galaxy clusters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Host, Ole

    2009-01-01

    Dark matter halos contribute the major part of the mass of galaxy clusters and the formation of these cosmological structures have been investigated in numerical simulations. Observations have been found to be in good agreement with the numerical predictions regarding the spatial distribution of dark matter, i.e. the mass profile. However, the dynamics of dark matter in halos has so far proved a greater challenge to probe observationally. We have used observations of 16 relaxed galaxy clusters to show that the dark matter velocity dispersion is larger along the radial direction than along the tangential, and that the magnitude of this velocity anisotropy β varies with radius. This measurement implies that the collective behaviour of dark matter particles is fundamentally different from that of baryonic particles and constrains the self-interaction per unit mass. The radial variation of the anisotropy velocity agrees with the predictions so that, on cluster scales, there is now excellent agreement between numerical predictions and observations regarding the phase space of dark matter.

  13. Dissipative dark matter and the Andromeda plane of satellites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Randall, Lisa; Scholtz, Jakub

    2015-01-01

    We show that dissipative dark matter can potentially explain the large observed mass to light ratio of the dwarf satellite galaxies that have been observed in the recently identified planar structure around Andromeda, which are thought to result from tidal forces during a galaxy merger. Whereas dwarf galaxies created from ordinary disks would be dark matter poor, dark matter inside the galactic plane not only provides a source of dark matter, but one that is more readily bound due to the dark matter's lower velocity. This initial N-body study shows that with a thin disk of dark matter inside the baryonic disk, mass-to-light ratios as high as O(90) can be generated when tidal forces pull out patches of sizes similar to the scales of Toomre instabilities of the dark disk. A full simulation will be needed to confirm this result

  14. Neutrino signals from dark matter decay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Covi, Laura; Grefe, Michael; Ibarra, Alejandro; Tran, David

    2009-12-01

    We investigate different neutrino signals from the decay of dark matter particles to determine the prospects for their detection, and more specifically if any spectral signature can be disentangled from the background in present and future neutrino observatories. If detected, such a signal could bring an independent confirmation of the dark matter interpretation of the dramatic rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV recently observed by the PAMELA satellite experiment and offer the possibility of distinguishing between astrophysical sources and dark matter decay or annihilation. In combination with other signals, it may also be possible to distinguish among different dark matter decay channels. (orig.)

  15. Neutrino signals from dark matter decay

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Covi, Laura; Grefe, Michael [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Ibarra, Alejandro; Tran, David [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Physik-Department T30d

    2009-12-15

    We investigate different neutrino signals from the decay of dark matter particles to determine the prospects for their detection, and more specifically if any spectral signature can be disentangled from the background in present and future neutrino observatories. If detected, such a signal could bring an independent confirmation of the dark matter interpretation of the dramatic rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV recently observed by the PAMELA satellite experiment and offer the possibility of distinguishing between astrophysical sources and dark matter decay or annihilation. In combination with other signals, it may also be possible to distinguish among different dark matter decay channels. (orig.)

  16. Doppler effect on indirect detection of dark matter using dark matter only simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Devon; Laha, Ranjan; Ng, Kenny C. Y.; Abel, Tom

    2017-03-01

    Indirect detection of dark matter is a major avenue for discovery. However, baryonic backgrounds are diverse enough to mimic many possible signatures of dark matter. In this work, we study the newly proposed technique of dark matter velocity spectroscopy [E. G. Speckhard, K. C. Y. Ng, J. F. Beacom, and R. Laha, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 031301 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.031301]. The nonrotating dark matter halo and the Solar motion produce a distinct longitudinal dependence of the signal which is opposite in direction to that produced by baryons. Using collisionless dark matter only simulations of Milky Way like halos, we show that this new signature is robust and holds great promise. We develop mock observations by a high energy resolution x-ray spectrometer on a sounding rocket, the Micro-X experiment, to our test case, the 3.5 keV line. We show that by using six different pointings, Micro-X can exclude a constant line energy over various longitudes at ≥3 σ . The halo triaxiality is an important effect, and it will typically reduce the significance of this signal. We emphasize that this new smoking gun in motion signature of dark matter is general and is applicable to any dark matter candidate which produces a sharp photon feature in annihilation or decay.

  17. Elevated moisture stimulates carbon loss from mineral soils by releasing protected organic matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Wenjuan; Hall, Steven J

    2017-11-24

    Moisture response functions for soil microbial carbon (C) mineralization remain a critical uncertainty for predicting ecosystem-climate feedbacks. Theory and models posit that C mineralization declines under elevated moisture and associated anaerobic conditions, leading to soil C accumulation. Yet, iron (Fe) reduction potentially releases protected C, providing an under-appreciated mechanism for C destabilization under elevated moisture. Here we incubate Mollisols from ecosystems under C 3 /C 4 plant rotations at moisture levels at and above field capacity over 5 months. Increased moisture and anaerobiosis initially suppress soil C mineralization, consistent with theory. However, after 25 days, elevated moisture stimulates cumulative gaseous C-loss as CO 2 and CH 4 to >150% of the control. Stable C isotopes show that mineralization of older C 3 -derived C released following Fe reduction dominates C losses. Counter to theory, elevated moisture may significantly accelerate C losses from mineral soils over weeks to months-a critical mechanistic deficiency of current Earth system models.

  18. Dark matter assimilation into the baryon asymmetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Eramo, Francesco; Fei, Lin; Thaler, Jesse

    2012-01-01

    Pure singlets are typically disfavored as dark matter candidates, since they generically have a thermal relic abundance larger than the observed value. In this paper, we propose a new dark matter mechanism called a ssimilation , which takes advantage of the baryon asymmetry of the universe to generate the correct relic abundance of singlet dark matter. Through assimilation, dark matter itself is efficiently destroyed, but dark matter number is stored in new quasi-stable heavy states which carry the baryon asymmetry. The subsequent annihilation and late-time decay of these heavy states yields (symmetric) dark matter as well as (asymmetric) standard model baryons. We study in detail the case of pure bino dark matter by augmenting the minimal supersymmetric standard model with vector-like chiral multiplets. In the parameter range where this mechanism is effective, the LHC can discover long-lived charged particles which were responsible for assimilating dark matter

  19. Dark Matter

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The study of gas clouds orbiting in the outer regions of spiral galaxies has revealed that their gravitational at- traction is much larger than the stars alone can provide. Over the last twenty years, astronomers have been forced to postulate the presence of large quantities of 'dark matter' to explain their observations. They are ...

  20. White matter hyperintensities and normal-appearing white matter integrity in the aging brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maniega, Susana Muñoz; Valdés Hernández, Maria C; Clayden, Jonathan D; Royle, Natalie A; Murray, Catherine; Morris, Zoe; Aribisala, Benjamin S; Gow, Alan J; Starr, John M; Bastin, Mark E; Deary, Ian J; Wardlaw, Joanna M

    2015-02-01

    White matter hyperintensities (WMH) of presumed vascular origin are a common finding in brain magnetic resonance imaging of older individuals and contribute to cognitive and functional decline. It is unknown how WMH form, although white matter degeneration is characterized pathologically by demyelination, axonal loss, and rarefaction, often attributed to ischemia. Changes within normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) in subjects with WMH have also been reported but have not yet been fully characterized. Here, we describe the in vivo imaging signatures of both NAWM and WMH in a large group of community-dwelling older people of similar age using biomarkers derived from magnetic resonance imaging that collectively reflect white matter integrity, myelination, and brain water content. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) were significantly lower, whereas mean diffusivity (MD) and longitudinal relaxation time (T1) were significantly higher, in WMH than NAWM (p curve, 0.982; 95% CI, 0.975-0.989). Furthermore, the level of deterioration of NAWM was strongly associated with the severity of WMH, with MD and T1 increasing and FA and MTR decreasing in NAWM with increasing WMH score, a relationship that was sustained regardless of distance from the WMH. These multimodal imaging data indicate that WMH have reduced structural integrity compared with surrounding NAWM, and MD provides the best discriminator between the 2 tissue classes even within the mild range of WMH severity, whereas FA, MTR, and T1 only start reflecting significant changes in tissue microstructure as WMH become more severe. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Dark Matter Coannihilation with a Lighter Species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berlin, Asher

    2017-09-22

    We propose a new thermal freeze-out mechanism for ultraheavy dark matter. Dark matter coannihilates with a lighter unstable species that is nearby in mass, leading to an annihilation rate that is exponentially enhanced relative to standard weakly interactive massive particles. This scenario destabilizes any potential dark matter candidate. In order to remain consistent with astrophysical observations, our proposal necessitates very long-lived states, motivating striking phenomenology associated with the late decays of ultraheavy dark matter, potentially as massive as the scale of grand unified theories, M_{GUT}∼10^{16}  GeV.

  2. ALMA observations of lensed Herschel sources: testing the dark matter halo paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amvrosiadis, A.; Eales, S. A.; Negrello, M.; Marchetti, L.; Smith, M. W. L.; Bourne, N.; Clements, D. L.; De Zotti, G.; Dunne, L.; Dye, S.; Furlanetto, C.; Ivison, R. J.; Maddox, S. J.; Valiante, E.; Baes, M.; Baker, A. J.; Cooray, A.; Crawford, S. M.; Frayer, D.; Harris, A.; Michałowski, M. J.; Nayyeri, H.; Oliver, S.; Riechers, D. A.; Serjeant, S.; Vaccari, M.

    2018-04-01

    With the advent of wide-area submillimetre surveys, a large number of high-redshift gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies have been revealed. Because of the simplicity of the selection criteria for candidate lensed sources in such surveys, identified as those with S500 μm > 100 mJy, uncertainties associated with the modelling of the selection function are expunged. The combination of these attributes makes submillimetre surveys ideal for the study of strong lens statistics. We carried out a pilot study of the lensing statistics of submillimetre-selected sources by making observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of a sample of strongly lensed sources selected from surveys carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. We attempted to reproduce the distribution of image separations for the lensed sources using a halo mass function taken from a numerical simulation that contains both dark matter and baryons. We used three different density distributions, one based on analytical fits to the haloes formed in the EAGLE simulation and two density distributions [Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) and SISSA] that have been used before in lensing studies. We found that we could reproduce the observed distribution with all three density distributions, as long as we imposed an upper mass transition of ˜1013 M⊙ for the SIS and SISSA models, above which we assumed that the density distribution could be represented by a Navarro-Frenk-White profile. We show that we would need a sample of ˜500 lensed sources to distinguish between the density distributions, which is practical given the predicted number of lensed sources in the Herschel surveys.

  3. A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Drewes, M.; Merle, A.; Mertens, S.; Adhikari, R.; Agostini, M.; Ky, N.Anh; Araki, T.; Archidiacono, M.; Bahr, M.; Behrens, J.; Bezrukov, F.; Bhupal Dev, P.S.; Borah, D.; Boyarsky, A.; de Gouvea, A.; de S. Pires, C.A.; de Vega, H.J.; Dias, A.G.; Di Bari, P.; Djurcic, Z.; Dolde, K.; Dorrer, H.; Durero, M.; Dragoun, O.; Dullmann, Ch. E.; Eberhardt, K.; Eliseev, S.; Enss, C.; Evans, N.W.; Faessler, A.; Filianin, P.; Fischer, V.; Fleischmann, A.; Formaggio, J.A.; Franse, J.; Fraenkle, F.M.; Frenk, C.S.; Fuller, G.; Gastaldo, L.; Garzilli, A.; Giunti, C.; Gluck, F.; Goodman, M.C.; Gonzalez-Garcia, M.C.; Gorbunov, D.; Hamann, J.; Hannen, V.; Hannestad, S.; Heeck, J.; Hansen, S.H.; Hassel, C.; Hofmann, F.; Houdy, T.; Huber, A.; Iakubovskyi, D.; Ianni, A.; Ibarra, A.; Jacobsson, R.; Jeltema, T.; Kempf, S.; Kieck, T.; Korzeczek, M.; Kornoukhov, V.; Lachenmaier, T.; Laine, M.; Langacker, P.; Lesgourgues, J.; Lhuillier, D.; Li, Y.F.; Liao, W.; Long, A.W.; Maltoni, M.; Mangano, G.; Mavromatos, N.E.; Menci, N.; Mirizzi, A.; Monreal, B.; Nozik, A.; Neronov, A.; Niro, V.; Novikov, Y.; Oberauer, L.; Otten, E.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Pallavicini, M.; Pantuev, V.S.; Papastergis, E.; Parke, S.; Pastor, S.; Patwardhan, A.; Pilaftsis, A.; Radford, D.C.; Ranitzsch, P.C.O.; Rest, O.; Robinson, D.J.; Rodrigues da Silva, P.S.; Ruchayskiy, O.; Sanchez, N.G.; Sasaki, M.; Saviano, N.; Schneider, A.; Schneider, F.; Schwetz, T.; Schonert, S.; Shankar, F.; Steinbrink, N.; Strigari, L.; Suekane, F.; Suerfu, B.; Takahashi, R.; Van, N.Thi Hong; Tkachev, I.; Totzauer, M.; Tsai, Y.; Tully, C.G.; Valerius, K.; Valle, J.; Venos, D.; Viel, M.; Wang, M.Y.; Weinheimer, C.; Wendt, K.; Winslow, L.; Wolf, J.; Wurm, M.; Xing, Z.; Zhou, S.; Zuber, K.; Baur, J.; Drexlin, G.; Jochum, J.; Pascoli, S.; Scholl, S.; Shrock, R.; Vivier, M.

    2017-01-13

    We present a comprehensive review of keV-scale sterile neutrino Dark Matter, collecting views and insights from all disciplines involved - cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear, and particle physics - in each case viewed from both theoretical and experimental/observational perspectives. After reviewing the role of active neutrinos in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, we focus on sterile neutrinos in the context of the Dark Matter puzzle. Here, we first review the physics motivation for sterile neutrino Dark Matter, based on challenges and tensions in purely cold Dark Matter scenarios. We then round out the discussion by critically summarizing all known constraints on sterile neutrino Dark Matter arising from astrophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. In this context, we provide a balanced discourse on the possibly positive signal from X-ray observations. Another focus of the paper concerns the construction of particle physics models, aiming to explain how steri...

  4. Dark matter seen as a Bose-Einstein condensate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manzoni, Andre; Pires, Marcelo

    2011-01-01

    Full text: Astronomical observations of the stellar angular velocity in galaxies shows the general relativity theory, which considers that the usual matter changes the space-time, unable to describe the angular velocity to the peripheral stars. There are two possibilities to solve this problem, or the general relativity theory is not adequate to the phenomena or another type of matter must be considered in the composition of the galaxies. Many astrophysicists are in agreement considering another type of matter. This matter, called dark matter (DM), must interact very weakly with the barionic matter and, therefore, is invisible to direct observation. Some of them consider this dark matter made up of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which were not detected yet due to their very thin cross-section. A cloud of these particles is distributed around the galaxy under a low temperature and density. If we consider the cloud as a quantum gas, with the energies and the densities low enough to have binary interactions between particles, the gas can reach temperature condition to take a phase transition to the Bose-Einstein condensate where there are a constructive interference partner of these WIMPs. We performed an investigation about the dark matter being a Bose-Einstein condensate of WIMPs confined in itself gravitational potential. Taking the Thomas-Fermi approximation where the number of WIMPs is big enough to neglect the kinetic contribution in the total energy, we got the state equation of barotropic gas. Fitting this state equation with the data of rotational curves and density profiles taken from astronomical observations of galaxies, we estimated the mass and the scattering length of these WIMPs. (author)

  5. Quark Matter May Not Be Strange.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holdom, Bob; Ren, Jing; Zhang, Chen

    2018-06-01

    If quark matter is energetically favored over nuclear matter at zero temperature and pressure, then it has long been expected to take the form of strange quark matter (SQM), with comparable amounts of u, d, and s quarks. The possibility of quark matter with only u and d quarks (udQM) is usually dismissed because of the observed stability of ordinary nuclei. However, we find that udQM generally has lower bulk energy per baryon than normal nuclei and SQM. This emerges in a phenomenological model that describes the spectra of the lightest pseudoscalar and scalar meson nonets. Taking into account the finite size effects, udQM can be the ground state of baryonic matter only for baryon number A>A_{min} with A_{min}≳300. This ensures the stability of ordinary nuclei and points to a new form of stable matter just beyond the periodic table.

  6. Insular and Hippocampal Gray Matter Volume Reductions in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kugel, Harald; Krug, Axel; Schöning, Sonja; Ohrmann, Patricia; Uhlmann, Christina; Postert, Christian; Suslow, Thomas; Heindel, Walter; Arolt, Volker; Kircher, Tilo; Dannlowski, Udo

    2014-01-01

    Background Major depressive disorder is a serious psychiatric illness with a highly variable and heterogeneous clinical course. Due to the lack of consistent data from previous studies, the study of morphometric changes in major depressive disorder is still a major point of research requiring additional studies. The aim of the study presented here was to characterize and quantify regional gray matter abnormalities in a large sample of clinically well-characterized patients with major depressive disorder. Methods For this study one-hundred thirty two patients with major depressive disorder and 132 age- and gender-matched healthy control participants were included, 35 with their first episode and 97 with recurrent depression. To analyse gray matter abnormalities, voxel-based morphometry (VBM8) was employed on T1 weighted MRI data. We performed whole-brain analyses as well as a region-of-interest approach on the hippocampal formation, anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala, correlating the number of depressive episodes. Results Compared to healthy control persons, patients showed a strong gray-matter reduction in the right anterior insula. In addition, region-of-interest analyses revealed significant gray-matter reductions in the hippocampal formation. The observed alterations were more severe in patients with recurrent depressive episodes than in patients with a first episode. The number of depressive episodes was negatively correlated with gray-matter volume in the right hippocampus and right amygdala. Conclusions The anterior insula gray matter structure appears to be strongly affected in major depressive disorder and might play an important role in the neurobiology of depression. The hippocampal and amygdala volume loss cumulating with the number of episodes might be explained either by repeated neurotoxic stress or alternatively by higher relapse rates in patients showing hippocampal atrophy. PMID:25051163

  7. The dark universe dark matter and dark energy

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2008-01-01

    According to the standard cosmological model, 95% of the present mass density of the universe is dark: roughly 70% of the total in the form of dark energy and 25% in the form of dark matter. In a series of four lectures, I will begin by presenting a brief review of cosmology, and then I will review the observational evidence for dark matter and dark energy. I will discuss some of the proposals for dark matter and dark energy, and connect them to high-energy physics. I will also present an overview of an observational program to quantify the properties of dark energy.

  8. Can modified gravity from extra dimensions explain dark matter effects?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kar, S.; Bharadwaj, S.; Pal, S.

    2006-01-01

    Observations on galaxy rotation curves and X-ray profiles of galaxy clusters over several decades have shown us that there exists a need for non-luminous (dark) matter. Cosmological observations also point towards the existence of dark components of two kinds - dark matter and dark energy - which, together, seem to be most of what is there the universe. However, for several years, there has been a line of thought which proposes modified gravity as an alternative to dark matter. In this article, we show, how the effective Einstein equations which arise in the context of the currently fashionable warped braneworld models, can explain the effects of dark matter as a manifestation of the consequences of the existence of extra dimensions. Finally, in order to distinguish between the effects of material dark matter and modified gravity, we calculate gravitational lensing in our modified gravity theory and show distinct differences in the deflection angles. If confirmed with observations, our results may shed new light on the existence of extra dimensions and dark matter. (authors)

  9. CP violation and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hambye, T.

    2012-01-01

    In our everyday environment one observes only matter. That is quite a fortunate situation... Any sizeable presence of antimatter on Earth, from the enormous energy it would release through annihilation with matter, would prevent us talking about it. For the physicist this fact, at first sight obvious, is nevertheless a kind of surprise: antimatter, which is observed in cosmic rays, in radioactive decays of nuclei, which has been copiously produced and extensively studied in accelerators and which is nowadays currently used in hospitals, turns out to have pretty much the same properties as matter. Moreover, the fact that matter dominates appears to be a general property of our Universe: no evidence of large quantities of antimatter has been observed at any distance from us. Why would matter have taken the advantage on antimatter? In this short review we explain how, through a limited number of basic elements, one can find answers to this question. Matter and antimatter have, in fact, not exactly the same properties: from laboratory experiments CP conservation is known not to be a fundamental law of nature. (author)

  10. Matter and antimatter in the universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Canetti, Laurent; Shaposhnikov, Mikhail; Drewes, Marco

    2012-01-01

    We review observational evidence for a matter–antimatter asymmetry in the early universe, which leads to the remnant matter density we observe today. We also discuss bounds on the presence of antimatter in the present-day universe, including the possibility of a large lepton asymmetry in the cosmic neutrino background. We briefly review the theoretical framework within which baryogenesis, the dynamical generation of a matter–antimatter asymmetry, can occur. As an example, we discuss a testable minimal particle physics model that simultaneously explains the baryon asymmetry of the universe, neutrino oscillations and dark matter. (paper)

  11. Observability of localized magnetoplasmons in quantum dots: Scrutinizing the eligibility of far-infrared, Raman, and electron-energy-loss spectroscopies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kushwaha, Manvir S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251 (United States)

    2016-03-15

    We investigate a one-component, quasi-zero dimensional, quantum plasma exposed to a parabolic potential and an applied magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. If the size of such a system as can be realized in the semiconducting quantum dots is on the order of the de-Broglie wavelength, the electronic and optical properties become highly tunable. Then the quantum size effects challenge the observation of many-particle phenomena such as the magneto-optical absorption, Raman intensity, and electron energy-loss spectrum. An exact analytical solution of the problem leads us to infer that these many-particle phenomena are, in fact, dictated by the generalized Kohn’s theorem (GKT) in the long-wavelength limit. Maneuvering the confinement and/or the magnetic field furnishes the resonance energies capable of being explored with the FIR, Raman, and/or electron-energy-loss spectroscopy. This implies that either of these probes is competent in observing the localized magnetoplasmons in the system. As an application of the rigorous analytical diagnosis of the system, we have presented various pertinent single-particle, such as Fock-Darwin spectrum, Fermi energy, zigzag excitation spectrum, and magneto-optical transitions, and the many-particle phenomena, such as magneto-optical absorption, Raman intensity, and electron energy-loss probability. In the latter, the energy position of the resonance peaks is observed to be independent of the electron-electron interactions and hence of the number of electrons in the quantum dot in compliance with the GKT. It is found that both confinement potential and magnetic field play a decisive role in influencing the aforementioned many-particle phenomena. Specifically, increasing (decreasing) the strength of the confining potential is found to be analogous to shrinking (expanding) the size of the quantum dots and results into a blue (red) shift in the respective spectra. Intensifying the magnetic field has two-fold effects in the resonance

  12. Dust emission and soil loss due to anthropogenic activities by wind erosion simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katra, Itzhak; Swet, Nitzan; Tanner, Smadar

    2017-04-01

    Wind erosion is major process of soil loss and air pollution by dust emission of clays, nutrients, and microorganisms. Many soils throughout the world are currently or potentially associated with dust emissions, especially in dryland zones. The research focuses on wind erosion in semi-arid soils (Northern Negev, Israel) that are subjected to increased human activities of urban development and agriculture. A boundary-layer wind tunnel has been used to study dust emission and soil loss by simulation and quantification of high-resolution wind processes. Field experiments were conducted in various surface types of dry loess soils. The experimental plots represent soils with long-term and short term influences of land uses such as agriculture (conventional and organic practices), grazing, and natural preserves. The wind tunnel was operated under various wind velocities that are above the threshold velocity of aeolian erosion. Total soil sediment and particulate matter (PM) fluxes were calculated. Topsoil samples from the experimental plots were analysed in the laboratory for physical and chemical characteristics including aggregation, organic matter, and high-resolution particle size distribution. The results showed variations in dust emission in response to surface types and winds to provide quantitative estimates of soil loss over time. Substantial loss of particulate matter that is < 10 micrometer in diameter, including clays and nutrients, was recorded in most experimental conditions. Integrative analyses of the topsoil properties and dust experiment highlight the significant implications for soil nutrient resources and management strategies as well as for PM loading to the atmosphere and air pollution.

  13. In search of dark matter

    CERN Document Server

    Freeman, Kenneth C

    2006-01-01

    The dark matter problem is one of the most fundamental and profoundly difficult to solve problems in the history of science. Not knowing what makes up most of the known universe goes to the heart of our understanding of the Universe and our place in it. In Search of Dark Matter is the story of the emergence of the dark matter problem, from the initial erroneous ‘discovery’ of dark matter by Jan Oort to contemporary explanations for the nature of dark matter and its role in the origin and evolution of the Universe. Written for the educated non-scientist and scientist alike, it spans a variety of scientific disciplines, from observational astronomy to particle physics. Concepts that the reader will encounter along the way are at the cutting edge of scientific research. However the themes are explained in such a way that no prior understanding of science beyond a high school education is necessary.

  14. Little composite dark matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balkin, Reuven; Perez, Gilad; Weiler, Andreas

    2018-01-01

    We examine the dark matter phenomenology of a composite electroweak singlet state. This singlet belongs to the Goldstone sector of a well-motivated extension of the Littlest Higgs with T -parity. A viable parameter space, consistent with the observed dark matter relic abundance as well as with the various collider, electroweak precision and dark matter direct detection experimental constraints is found for this scenario. T -parity implies a rich LHC phenomenology, which forms an interesting interplay between conventional natural SUSY type of signals involving third generation quarks and missing energy, from stop-like particle production and decay, and composite Higgs type of signals involving third generation quarks associated with Higgs and electroweak gauge boson, from vector-like top-partners production and decay. The composite features of the dark matter phenomenology allows the composite singlet to produce the correct relic abundance while interacting weakly with the Higgs via the usual Higgs portal coupling [Formula: see text], thus evading direct detection.

  15. Little composite dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balkin, Reuven; Perez, Gilad; Weiler, Andreas

    2018-02-01

    We examine the dark matter phenomenology of a composite electroweak singlet state. This singlet belongs to the Goldstone sector of a well-motivated extension of the Littlest Higgs with T-parity. A viable parameter space, consistent with the observed dark matter relic abundance as well as with the various collider, electroweak precision and dark matter direct detection experimental constraints is found for this scenario. T-parity implies a rich LHC phenomenology, which forms an interesting interplay between conventional natural SUSY type of signals involving third generation quarks and missing energy, from stop-like particle production and decay, and composite Higgs type of signals involving third generation quarks associated with Higgs and electroweak gauge boson, from vector-like top-partners production and decay. The composite features of the dark matter phenomenology allows the composite singlet to produce the correct relic abundance while interacting weakly with the Higgs via the usual Higgs portal coupling λ _{ {DM}}˜ O(1%), thus evading direct detection.

  16. Little composite dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Balkin, Reuven; Weiler, Andreas [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, First Physik-Department, Garching (Germany); Perez, Gilad [Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Rehovot (Israel)

    2018-02-15

    We examine the dark matter phenomenology of a composite electroweak singlet state. This singlet belongs to the Goldstone sector of a well-motivated extension of the Littlest Higgs with T-parity. A viable parameter space, consistent with the observed dark matter relic abundance as well as with the various collider, electroweak precision and dark matter direct detection experimental constraints is found for this scenario. T-parity implies a rich LHC phenomenology, which forms an interesting interplay between conventional natural SUSY type of signals involving third generation quarks and missing energy, from stop-like particle production and decay, and composite Higgs type of signals involving third generation quarks associated with Higgs and electroweak gauge boson, from vector-like top-partners production and decay. The composite features of the dark matter phenomenology allows the composite singlet to produce the correct relic abundance while interacting weakly with the Higgs via the usual Higgs portal coupling λ{sub DM} ∝ O(1%), thus evading direct detection. (orig.)

  17. A quark matter contribution to the cosmic ray spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawson, K.

    2013-01-01

    I will describe a possible dark matter model in which the dark matter is composed of heavy nuggets of standard model quarks and antiquarks bound in a high density phase of QCD. If objects of this type are formed early in the universe's history they may provide the observed dark matter content. In this scenario the nuggets are dark not because of their fundamentally weak interactions but because of the incredibly small number density required to explain the observed mass density of the dark matter. The correspondingly small flux of these objects through the earth renders them invisible to conventional high sensitivity dark matter searches intended to detect weakly interacting particles with a flux many orders of magnitude larger. Instead the greatest search potential for dark matter models of this form may come from the largest scale cosmic ray detectors. I will briefly describe the properties of quark nugget dark matter and then use these properties in order to predict the signal they would produce in a variety of cosmic ray detectors. (authors)

  18. Dark Matter Freeze-in Production in Fast-Expanding Universes

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Eramo, Francesco; Fernandez, Nicolas; Profumo, Stefano

    2018-02-01

    If the dark matter is produced in the early universe prior to Big Bang nucleosynthesis, a modified cosmological history can drastically affect the abundance of relic dark matter particles. Here, we assume that an additional species to radiation dominates at early times, causing the expansion rate at a given temperature to be larger than in the standard radiation-dominated case. We demonstrate that, if this is the case, dark matter production via freeze-in (a scenario when dark matter interacts very weakly, and is dumped in the early universe out of equilibrium by decay or scattering processes involving particles in the thermal bath) is dramatically suppressed. We illustrate and quantitatively and analytically study this phenomenon for three different paradigmatic classes of freeze-in scenarios. For the frozen-in dark matter abundance to be as large as observations, couplings between the dark matter and visible-sector particles must be enhanced by several orders of magnitude. This sheds some optimistic prospects for the otherwise dire experimental and observational outlook of detecting dark matter produced by freeze-in.

  19. The judged seriousness of an environmental loss is a matter of what caused it

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas C. Brown; George L. Peterson; R. Marc Brodersen; Valerie Ford; Paul A. Bell

    2005-01-01

    Environmental losses, each described along with its cause, were judged for seriousness. Four types of cause were studied: illegal behavior, carelessness, economic and population growth, and natural events. Identical environmental losses (e.g., of a herd of elk or a large stand of trees) were considered most serious when caused by illegal behavior or carelessness, and...

  20. The prolate shape of the galactic dark-matter halo

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Helmi, A; Spooner, NJC; Kudryavtsev,

    2005-01-01

    Knowledge of the distribution of dark-matter in our Galaxy plays a crucial role in the interpretation of dark-matter detection experiments. I will argue here that probably the best way of constraining the properties of the dark-matter halo is through astrophysical observations. These provide

  1. Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at direct detection experiments

    OpenAIRE

    Giudice, Gian F.; Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

    2018-01-01

    We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experimen...

  2. Determining the dark matter mass with DeepCore

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Das, Chitta R. [Centro de Física Teórica de Partículas, Instituto Superior Técnico (CFTP), Universidade Tćnica de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Mena, Olga [Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Universitat de València, Apartado de Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain); Palomares-Ruiz, Sergio, E-mail: sergio.palomares.ruiz@ist.utl.pt [Centro de Física Teórica de Partículas, Instituto Superior Técnico (CFTP), Universidade Tćnica de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Universitat de València, Apartado de Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain); Pascoli, Silvia [IPPP, Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

    2013-10-01

    Cosmological and astrophysical observations provide increasing evidence of the existence of dark matter in our Universe. Dark matter particles with a mass above a few GeV can be captured by the Sun, accumulate in the core, annihilate, and produce high energy neutrinos either directly or by subsequent decays of Standard Model particles. We investigate the prospects for indirect dark matter detection in the IceCube/DeepCore neutrino telescope and its capabilities to determine the dark matter mass.

  3. Roles of epi-anecic taxa of earthworms in the organic matter recycling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoeffner, Kevin; Monard, Cécile; Santonja, Mathieu; Pérès, Guénola; Cluzeau, Daniel

    2017-04-01

    Given their impact on soil functioning and their interactions with soil organisms, earthworms contribute to the recycling of organic matter and participate significantly in the numerous ecosystem services provided by soils. Most studies on the role of earthworms in organic matter recycling were conducted at the level of the four functional groups (epigeic, epi-anecic, anecic strict and endogeic), but their effects at taxa level remain largely unknown. Still, within a functional group, anatomic and physiologic earthworm taxa traits are different, which should impact organic matter recycling. This study aims at determining, under controlled conditions, epi-anecic taxa differences in (i) leaf litter mass loss, (ii) assimilation and (iii) impact on microorganisms communities implied in organic matter degradation. In seperate microcosms, we chose 4 epi anecic taxa (Lumbricus rubellus, Lumbricus festivus, Lumbricus centralis and Lumbricus terrestris). Each taxon was exposed separately to leaves of three different plants (Holcus lanatus, Lolium perenne and Corylus avellana). In the same microcosm, leaves of each plant was both placed on the surface and buried 10cm deep. The experiment lasted 10 days for half of the samples and 20 days for the second half. Microorganisms communities were analysed using TRFLP in each earthworm taxon burrow walls at 20 days. We observed differences between epi-anecic taxa depending on species of plant and the duration of the experiment. Results are discussed taking into account physical and chemical properties of these 3 trophic resources (e.g. C/N ratio, phenolic compounds, percentage of lignin and cellulose...).

  4. The mystery of dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalatbari, Azar

    2015-01-01

    As only 0.5 per cent (the shining part) of the Universe is seen by telescopes, and corresponds to a tenth of ordinary matter or 5 per cent of the cosmos, astrophysicists postulated that the remaining 95 per cent are made of dark matter and dark energy. But always more researchers put the existence of this dark matter and energy into question again. They notably think of giving up Newton's law of universal gravitation, and also the basic assumption of cosmology, i.e. the homogeneous character of the Universe. The article recalls the emergence of the notion of dark matter to explain the fact that stars stay within a galaxy, whereas with their observed speed and the application of the gravitational theory they should escape their galaxy. Then, the issue has been to find evidence of the existence of dark matter. Neutrinos were supposed to be a clue, but only for a while. The notion of dark energy was introduced more recently by researchers who, by the observation of supernovae, noticed that the Universe expansion was accelerated in time. Then, after having discussed the issues raised by the possible existence of dark energy, the article explains how and why a new non homogeneous cosmology emerged. It also evokes current and future researches in this field. In an interview, an astrophysicist outlines why we should dare to modify Newton's law

  5. On wave dark matter in spiral and barred galaxies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez-Medina, Luis A.; Matos, Tonatiuh; Bray, Hubert L.

    2015-01-01

    We recover spiral and barred spiral patterns in disk galaxy simulations with a Wave Dark Matter (WDM) background (also known as Scalar Field Dark Matter (SFDM), Ultra-Light Axion (ULA) dark matter, and Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) dark matter). Here we show how the interaction between a baryonic disk and its Dark Matter Halo triggers the formation of spiral structures when the halo is allowed to have a triaxial shape and angular momentum. This is a more realistic picture within the WDM model since a non-spherical rotating halo seems to be more natural. By performing hydrodynamic simulations, along with earlier test particles simulations, we demonstrate another important way in which wave dark matter is consistent with observations. The common existence of bars in these simulations is particularly noteworthy. This may have consequences when trying to obtain information about the dark matter distribution in a galaxy, the mere presence of spiral arms or a bar usually indicates that baryonic matter dominates the central region and therefore observations, like rotation curves, may not tell us what the DM distribution is at the halo center. But here we show that spiral arms and bars can develop in DM dominated galaxies with a central density core without supposing its origin on mechanisms intrinsic to the baryonic matter

  6. Can the periodic spectral modulations observed in 236 Sloan Sky Survey stars be due to dark matter effects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamburini, Fabrizio; Licata, Ignazio

    2017-09-01

    The search for dark matter (DM) is one of the most active and challenging areas of current research. Possible DM candidates are ultralight fields such as axions and weak interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Axions piled up in the center of stars are supposed to generate matter/DM configurations with oscillating geometries at a very rapid frequency, which is a multiple of the axion mass m B (Brito et al (2015); Brito et al (2016)). Borra and Trottier (2016) recently found peculiar ultrafast periodic spectral modulations in 236 main sequence stars in the sample of 2.5 million spectra of galactic halo stars of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (˜1% of main sequence stars in the F-K spectral range) that were interpreted as optical signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, suggesting them as possible candidates for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) program. We argue, instead, that this could be the first indirect evidence of bosonic axion-like DM fields inside main sequence stars, with a stable radiative nucleus, where a stable DM core can be hosted. These oscillations were not observed in earlier stellar spectral classes probably because of the impossibility of starting a stable oscillatory regime due to the presence of chaotic motions in their convective nuclei. The axion mass values, (50< {m}B< 2.4× {10}3) μ {eV}, obtained from the frequency range observed by Borra and Trottier, (0.6070< f< 0.6077) THz, agree with the recent theoretical results from high-temperature lattice quantum chromodynamics (Borsanyi et al (2016); Borsanyi et al (2016b)).

  7. Constraining neutron star matter with Quantum Chromodynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Kurkela, Aleksi; Schaffner-Bielich, Jurgen; Vuorinen, Aleksi

    2014-01-01

    In recent years, there have been several successful attempts to constrain the equation of state of neutron star matter using input from low-energy nuclear physics and observational data. We demonstrate that significant further restrictions can be placed by additionally requiring the pressure to approach that of deconfined quark matter at high densities. Remarkably, the new constraints turn out to be highly insensitive to the amount --- or even presence --- of quark matter inside the stars.

  8. Loss Aversion and Individual Characteristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjorth, Katrine; Fosgerau, Mogens

    2011-01-01

    Many studies have shown that loss aversion affects the valuation of non-market goods. Using stated choice data, this paper presents an empirical investigation of how individual-level loss aversion varies with observable personal characteristics and with the choice context. We investigate loss...... aversion with respect to travel time and money, and find significant loss aversion in both dimensions. The degree of loss aversion in the time dimension is larger than in the money dimension, and depends on age and education. Subjects tend to be more loss averse when the reference is well established....

  9. Cosmological simulations of multicomponent cold dark matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medvedev, Mikhail V

    2014-08-15

    The nature of dark matter is unknown. A number of dark matter candidates are quantum flavor-mixed particles but this property has never been accounted for in cosmology. Here we explore this possibility from the first principles via extensive N-body cosmological simulations and demonstrate that the two-component dark matter model agrees with observational data at all scales. Substantial reduction of substructure and flattening of density profiles in the centers of dark matter halos found in simulations can simultaneously resolve several outstanding puzzles of modern cosmology. The model shares the "why now?" fine-tuning caveat pertinent to all self-interacting models. Predictions for direct and indirect detection dark matter experiments are made.

  10. Thermal Dark Matter Below a MeV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berlin, Asher; Blinov, Nikita

    2018-01-12

    We consider a class of models in which thermal dark matter is lighter than a MeV. If dark matter thermalizes with the standard model below the temperature of neutrino-photon decoupling, equilibration and freeze-out cool and heat the standard model bath comparably, alleviating constraints from measurements of the effective number of neutrino species. We demonstrate this mechanism in a model consisting of fermionic dark matter coupled to a light scalar mediator. Thermal dark matter can be as light as a few keV, while remaining compatible with existing cosmological and astrophysical observations. This framework motivates new experiments in the direct search for sub-MeV thermal dark matter and light force carriers.

  11. Microbial control of soil organic matter mineralization responses to labile carbon in subarctic climate change treatments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rousk, Kathrin; Michelsen, Anders; Rousk, Johannes

    2016-01-01

    Half the global soil carbon (C) is held in high-latitude systems. Climate change will expose these to warming and a shift towards plant communities with more labile C input. Labile C can also increase the rate of loss of native soil organic matter (SOM); a phenomenon termed ‘priming’. We investig......Half the global soil carbon (C) is held in high-latitude systems. Climate change will expose these to warming and a shift towards plant communities with more labile C input. Labile C can also increase the rate of loss of native soil organic matter (SOM); a phenomenon termed ‘priming’. We...

  12. Direct dark matter searches—Test of the Big Bounce Cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, Yeuk-Kwan E.; Vergados, J.D.

    2015-01-01

    We consider the possibility of using dark matter particle's mass and its interaction cross section as a smoking gun signal of the existence of a Big Bounce at the early stage in the evolution of our currently observed universe. A study of dark matter production in the pre-bounce contraction and the post bounce expansion epochs of this universe reveals a new venue for achieving the observed relic abundance of our present universe. Specifically, it predicts a characteristic relation governing a dark matter mass and interaction cross section and a factor of 1/2 in thermally averaged cross section, as compared to the non-thermal production in standard cosmology, is needed for creating enough dark matter particle to satisfy the currently observed relic abundance because dark matter is being created during the pre-bounce contraction, in addition to the post-bounce expansion. As the production rate is lower than the Hubble expansion rate information of the bounce universe evolution is preserved. Therefore once the value of dark matter mass and interaction cross section are obtained by direct detection in laboratories, this alternative route becomes a signature prediction of the bounce universe scenario. This leads us to consider a scalar dark matter candidate, which if it is light, has important implications on dark matter searches

  13. Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergström, Lars

    This chapter presents the elaborated lecture notes on Multi-Messenger Astronomy and Dark Matter given by Lars Bergström at the 40th Saas-Fee Advanced Course on "Astrophysics at Very High Energies". One of the main problems of astrophysics and astro-particle physics is that the nature of dark matter remains unsolved. There are basically three complementary approaches to try to solve this problem. One is the detection of new particles with accelerators, the second is the observation of various types of messengers from radio waves to gamma-ray photons and neutrinos, and the third is the use of ingenious experiments for direct detection of dark matter particles. After giving an introduction to the particle universe, the author discusses the relic density of particles, basic cross sections for neutrinos and gamma-rays, supersymmetric dark matter, detection methods for neutralino dark matter, particular dark matter candidates, the status of dark matter detection, a detailled calculation on an hypothetical "Saas-Fee Wimp", primordial black holes, and gravitational waves.

  14. A model for the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and the intergalactic medium in a cold dark matter-dominated universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryu, D.; Vishniac, E.T.; Chiang, W.H.

    1989-01-01

    Until now, most studies on the cold dark matter (CDM) universe have considered only the distribution of the dark matter and compared that with the observed distribution of galaxies. Even though the dark matter determines the overall dynamics of the large-scale structure, galaxies form out of the baryonic matter whose density and velocity distributions can be different from those of the dark matter, depending on the thermal history of the universe. In this paper, the authors study both the dark matter component and the baryonic component, that is, galaxies and the IGM, with several simplifying assumptions, by explicitly following the evolution. The dark matter, galaxies, and IGM are coupled through gravity; galaxies form out of the IGM by taking mass and momentum, whereas the IGM responds to the energy input from the galaxies

  15. Testing alternative theories of dark matter with the CMB

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Baojiu; Barrow, John D.; Mota, David F.; Zhao, HongSheng

    2008-01-01

    We propose a method to study and constrain modified gravity theories for dark matter using CMB temperature anisotropies and polarization. We assume that the theories considered here have already passed the matter power-spectrum test of large-scale structure. With this requirement met, we show that a modified gravity theory can be specified by parametrizing the time evolution of its dark-matter density contrast, which is completely controlled by the dark-matter stress history. We calculate how the stress history with a given parametrization affects the CMB observables, and a qualitative discussion of the physical effects involved is supplemented with numerical examples. It is found that, in general, alternative gravity theories can be efficiently constrained by the CMB temperature and polarization spectra. There exist, however, special cases where modified gravity cannot be distinguished from the CDM model even by using both CMB and matter power spectrum observations, nor can they be efficiently restricted by other observables in perturbed cosmologies. Our results show how the stress properties of dark matter, which determine the evolutions of both density perturbations and the gravitational potential, can be effectively investigated using just the general conservation equations and without assuming any specific theoretical gravitational theory within a wide class.

  16. The search for decaying Dark Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Herder, J W den; Ruchayskiy, O.; Abazajian, K.; Frenk, C.; Hansen, S.; Jonker, P.; Kouveliotou, C.; Lesgourgues, J.; Neronov, A.; Ohashi, T.; Paerels, F.; Paltani, S.; Piro, L.; Pohl, M.; Shaposhnikov, M.; Silk, J.; Valle, J.W.F.

    2009-01-01

    We propose an X-ray mission called Xenia to search for decaying superweakly interacting Dark Matter particles (super-WIMP) with a mass in the keV range. The mission and its observation plan are capable of providing a major break through in our understanding of the nature of Dark Matter (DM). It will confirm, or reject, predictions of a number of particle physics models by increasing the sensitivity of the search for decaying DM by about two orders of magnitude through a wide-field imaging X-ray spectrometer in combination with a dedicated observation program. The proposed mission will provide unique limits on the mixing angle and mass of neutral leptons, right handed partners of neutrinos, which are important Dark Matter candidates. The existence of these particles is strongly motivated by observed neutrino flavor oscillations and the problem of baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In super-WIMP models, the details of the formation of the cosmic web are different from those of LambdaCDM. The proposed mission wil...

  17. Baryon destruction by asymmetric dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davoudiasl, Hooman; Morrissey, David E.; Tulin, Sean; Sigurdson, Kris

    2011-01-01

    We investigate new and unusual signals that arise in theories where dark matter is asymmetric and carries a net antibaryon number, as may occur when the dark matter abundance is linked to the baryon abundance. Antibaryonic dark matter can cause induced nucleon decay by annihilating visible baryons through inelastic scattering. These processes lead to an effective nucleon lifetime of 10 29 -10 32 yrs in terrestrial nucleon decay experiments, if baryon number transfer between visible and dark sectors arises through new physics at the weak scale. The possibility of induced nucleon decay motivates a novel approach for direct detection of cosmic dark matter in nucleon decay experiments. Monojet searches (and related signatures) at hadron colliders also provide a complementary probe of weak-scale dark-matter-induced baryon number violation. Finally, we discuss the effects of baryon-destroying dark matter on stellar systems and show that it can be consistent with existing observations.

  18. One dark matter mystery: halos in the cosmic web

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaite, Jose

    2015-01-01

    The current cold dark matter cosmological model explains the large scale cosmic web structure but is challenged by the observation of a relatively smooth distribution of matter in galactic clusters. We consider various aspects of modeling the dark matter around galaxies as distributed in smooth halos and, especially, the smoothness of the dark matter halos seen in N-body cosmological simulations. We conclude that the problems of the cold dark matter cosmology on small scales are more serious than normally admitted

  19. One dark matter mystery: halos in the cosmic web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaite, Jose

    2015-01-01

    The current cold dark matter cosmological model explains the large scale cosmic web structure but is challenged by the observation of a relatively smooth distribution of matter in galactic clusters. We consider various aspects of modeling the dark matter around galaxies as distributed in smooth halos and, especially, the smoothness of the dark matter halos seen in N-body cosmological simulations. We conclude that the problems of the cold dark matter cosmology on small scales are more serious than normally admitted.

  20. Observation of Δ+→pπ0 decay in nuclear matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matulewicz, T.; Aphecetche, L.; Charbonnier, Y.; Delagrange, H.; Martinez, G.; Schutz, Y.; Marques, F.M.

    1997-01-01

    The Δ baryonic resonances production and decay in nuclear matter have been studied. The heavy ion reaction of 180 A MeV Ar beam on Ca target was used to create the Δ resonances (at SIS GSI Darmstadt). The decay of Δ was measured by means of neutral pion π 0 decay product, two gamma quanta, registration. The Δ resonance invariant mass distribution has been determined

  1. Baryogenesis, dark matter and the maximal temperature of the early universe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buchmueller, Wilfried

    2012-12-15

    Mechanisms for the generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry and dark matter strongly depend on the reheating temperature T{sub R}, the maximal temperature reached in the early universe. Forthcoming results from the LHC, low energy experiments, astrophysical observations and the Planck satellite will significantly constrain baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and thereby provide valuable information about the very early hot universe. At present, a wide range of reheating temperatures is still consistent with observations. We illustrate possible origins of matter and dark matter with four examples: moduli decay, electroweak baryogenesis, leptogenesis in the {nu}MSM and thermal leptogenesis. Finally, we discuss the connection between baryogenesis, dark matter and inflation in the context of supersymmetric spontaneous B-L breaking.

  2. Baryogenesis, dark matter and the maximal temperature of the early universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buchmueller, Wilfried

    2012-12-01

    Mechanisms for the generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry and dark matter strongly depend on the reheating temperature T R , the maximal temperature reached in the early universe. Forthcoming results from the LHC, low energy experiments, astrophysical observations and the Planck satellite will significantly constrain baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and thereby provide valuable information about the very early hot universe. At present, a wide range of reheating temperatures is still consistent with observations. We illustrate possible origins of matter and dark matter with four examples: moduli decay, electroweak baryogenesis, leptogenesis in the νMSM and thermal leptogenesis. Finally, we discuss the connection between baryogenesis, dark matter and inflation in the context of supersymmetric spontaneous B-L breaking.

  3. Energy loss effect in high energy nuclear Drell-Yan process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duan, C.G.; Song, L.H.; Huo, L.J.; Li, G.L.

    2003-01-01

    The energy loss effect in nuclear matter, which is a nuclear effect apart from the nuclear effect on the parton distribution as in deep-inelastic scattering process, can be measured best by the nuclear dependence of the high energy nuclear Drell-Yan process. By means of the nuclear parton distribution studied only with lepton deep-inelastic scattering experimental data, the measured Drell-Yan production cross sections for 800 GeV proton incident on a variety of nuclear targets are analyzed within the Glauber framework which takes into account the energy loss of the beam proton. It is shown that the theoretical results with considering the energy loss effect are in good agreement with the FNAL E866 data. (orig.)

  4. Ordinary matter, dark matter, and dark energy on normal Zeeman space-times

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imre Szabó, Zoltán

    2017-01-01

    Zeeman space-times are new, relativistic, and operator based Hamiltonian models representing multi-particle systems. They are established on Lorentzian pseudo Riemannian manifolds whose Laplacian immediately appears in the form of original quantum physical wave operators. In classical quantum theory they emerge, differently, from the Hamilton formalism and the correspondence principle. Nonetheless, this new model does not just reiterate the well known conceptions but holds the key to solving open problems of quantum theory. Most remarkably, it represents the dark matter, dark energy, and ordinary matter by the same ratios how they show up in experiments. Another remarkable agreement with reality is that the ordinary matter appears to be non-expanding and is described in consent with observations. The theory also explains gravitation, moreover, the Hamilton operators of all energy and matter formations, together with their physical properties, are solely derived from the Laplacian of the Zeeman space-time. By this reason, it is called Monistic Wave Laplacian which symbolizes an all-comprehensive unification of all matter and energy formations. This paper only outlines the normal case where the particles do not have proper spin but just angular momentum. The complete anomalous theory is detailed in [Sz2, Sz3, Sz4, Sz5, Sz6, Sz7].

  5. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barnes, P.D., Jr. [UC, Berkeley

    1996-01-01

    A substantial body of observational evidence indicates that the universe contains much more material than we observe directly via photons of any wavelength. The existence of this "missing" mass or "dark" matter is inferred by its gravitational effects on the luminous material. Accepting the existence of dark matter has profoundly shaken our understanding in most areas of cosmology. If it exists at the lowest densities measured it is hard to understand in detail the creation of the elements in the early universe. If moderate density values are correct, then we have trouble understanding how the universe came to have so much structure on large scales. If the largest densities are correct, then dark matter is not ordinary matter, but must be something exotic like a new fundamental particle. We would like to measure the properties of the dark matter directly. Supposing that the dark matter consists of a WIMP, that was in thermal equilibrium in the early universe, we have built an experiment to detect dark matter directly by elastic scattering with germanium or silicon nuclei. Our detectors are large (~ 200 g) calorimeters that can discriminate between interactions with the electrons, due to background photons and beta particles, and interactions with the nuclei, due to WIMPs and background neutrons. The detectors operate at low temperatures (~ 20 mK) in a specially constructed cryostat. To reduce the rate of background events to a manageable level, the detectors and cryostat have been constructed out of selected materials and properly shielded. This dissertation discusses the properties of the hypothetical WIMPs, the detectors, cryostat, and shielding system, and finally, the analysis methods.new fundamental particle, a

  6. Dynamical energy loss as a novel Quark–Gluon Plasma tomographic tool

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Djordjevic, Magdalena

    2016-12-15

    High momentum suppression of light and heavy flavor observables is considered to be an excellent probe of jet-medium interactions in QCD matter created at RHIC and LHC. Utilizing this tool requires accurate suppression predictions for different experiments, probes and experimental conditions, and their unbiased comparison with experimental data. With this goal, we developed the dynamical energy loss formalism towards generating predictions for non-central collisions; the formalism takes into account both radiative and collisional energy loss computed within the same theoretical framework, dynamical (as opposed to static) scattering centers, finite magnetic mass, running coupling and uses no free parameters in comparison with experimental data. Within this formalism, we provided predictions, and a systematic comparison with experimental data, for a diverse set of suppression data: all available light and heavy flavor probes, lower and high momentum ranges, various centrality ranges and various collision energies at RHIC and LHC. We here also provide clear qualitative and quantitative predictions for soon to become available LHC experimental data. Comprehensive agreement between our predictions and experimental results provides a good deal of confidence that our dynamical energy loss formalism can well explain the jet-medium interactions in QGP, which will be further tested by the obtained predictions for the upcoming data. Application of this model, as a novel high-precision tomographic tool of QGP medium, are also discussed.

  7. Phenomenology of left-right symmetric dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia-Cely, Camilo; Heeck, Julian

    2016-01-01

    We present a detailed study of dark matter phenomenology in low-scale left-right symmetric models. Stability of new fermion or scalar multiplets is ensured by an accidental matter parity that survives the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the gauge group by scalar triplets. The relic abundance of these particles is set by gauge interactions and gives rise to dark matter candidates with masses above the electroweak scale. Dark matter annihilations are thus modified by the Sommerfeld effect, not only in the early Universe, but also today, for instance, in the Center of the Galaxy. Majorana candidates—triplet, quintuplet, bi-doublet, and bi-triplet—bring only one new parameter to the model, their mass, and are hence highly testable at colliders and through astrophysical observations. Scalar candidates—doublet and 7-plet, the latter being only stable at the renormalizable level—have additional scalar-scalar interactions that give rise to rich phenomenology. The particles under discussion share many features with the well-known candidates wino, Higgsino, inert doublet scalar, sneutrino, and Minimal Dark Matter. In particular, they all predict a large gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilations, which can be searched for with Cherenkov telescopes. We furthermore discuss models with unequal left-right gauge couplings, g R  ≠ g L , taking the recent experimental hints for a charged gauge boson with 2 TeV mass as a benchmark point. In this case, the dark matter mass is determined by the observed relic density

  8. Coupling rainfall observations and satellite soil moisture for predicting event soil loss in Central Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todisco, Francesca; Brocca, Luca; Termite, Loris Francesco; Wagner, Wolfgang

    2015-04-01

    The accuracy of water soil loss prediction depends on the ability of the model to account for effects of the physical phenomena causing the output and the accuracy by which the parameters have been determined. The process based models require considerable effort to obtain appropriate parameter values and their failure to produce better results than achieved using the USLE/RUSLE model, encourages the use of the USLE/RUSLE model in roles of which it was not designed. In particular it is widely used in watershed models even at the event temporal scale. At hillslope scale, spatial variability in soil and vegetation result in spatial variations in soil moisture and consequently in runoff within the area for which soil loss estimation is required, so the modeling approach required to produce those estimates needs to be sensitive to those spatial variations in runoff. Some models include explicit consideration of runoff in determining the erosive stresses but this increases the uncertainty of the prediction due to the difficulty in parameterising the models also because the direct measures of surface runoff are rare. The same remarks are effective also for the USLE/RUSLE models including direct consideration of runoff in the erosivity factor (i.e. USLE-M by Kinnell and Risse, 1998, and USLE-MM by Bagarello et al., 2008). Moreover actually most of the rainfall-runoff models are based on the knowledge of the pre-event soil moisture that is a fundamental variable in the rainfall-runoff transformation. In addiction soil moisture is a readily available datum being possible to have easily direct pre-event measures of soil moisture using in situ sensors or satellite observations at larger spatial scale; it is also possible to derive the antecedent water content with soil moisture simulation models. The attempt made in the study is to use the pre-event soil moisture to account for the spatial variation in runoff within the area for which the soil loss estimates are required. More

  9. Loss restlessness and gain calmness: durable effects of losses and gains on choice switching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yechiam, Eldad; Zahavi, Gal; Arditi, Eli

    2015-08-01

    While the traditional conceptualization of the effect of losses focuses on bias in the subjective weight of losses compared with respective gains, some accounts suggest more global task-related effects of losses. Based on a recent attentional theory, we predicted a positive after-effect of losses on choice switching in later tasks. In two experimental studies, we found increased choice switching rates in tasks with losses compared to tasks with no losses. Additionally, this heightened shifting behavior was maintained in subsequent tasks that do not include losses, a phenomenon we refer to as "loss restlessness." Conversely, gains were found to have an opposite "calming" effect on choice switching. Surprisingly, the loss restlessness phenomenon was observed following an all-losses payoff regime but not after a task with symmetric mixed gains and losses. This suggests that the unresolved mental account following an all-losses regime increases search behavior. Potential implications to macro level phenomena, such as the leverage effect, are discussed.

  10. Axonal loss in the multiple sclerosis spinal cord revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrova, Natalia; Carassiti, Daniele; Altmann, Daniel R; Baker, David; Schmierer, Klaus

    2018-05-01

    Preventing chronic disease deterioration is an unmet need in people with multiple sclerosis, where axonal loss is considered a key substrate of disability. Clinically, chronic multiple sclerosis often presents as progressive myelopathy. Spinal cord cross-sectional area (CSA) assessed using MRI predicts increasing disability and has, by inference, been proposed as an indirect index of axonal degeneration. However, the association between CSA and axonal loss, and their correlation with demyelination, have never been systematically investigated using human post mortem tissue. We extensively sampled spinal cords of seven women and six men with multiple sclerosis (mean disease duration= 29 years) and five healthy controls to quantify axonal density and its association with demyelination and CSA. 396 tissue blocks were embedded in paraffin and immuno-stained for myelin basic protein and phosphorylated neurofilaments. Measurements included total CSA, areas of (i) lateral cortico-spinal tracts, (ii) gray matter, (iii) white matter, (iv) demyelination, and the number of axons within the lateral cortico-spinal tracts. Linear mixed models were used to analyze relationships. In multiple sclerosis CSA reduction at cervical, thoracic and lumbar levels ranged between 19 and 24% with white (19-24%) and gray (17-21%) matter atrophy contributing equally across levels. Axonal density in multiple sclerosis was lower by 57-62% across all levels and affected all fibers regardless of diameter. Demyelination affected 24-48% of the gray matter, most extensively at the thoracic level, and 11-13% of the white matter, with no significant differences across levels. Disease duration was associated with reduced axonal density, however not with any area index. Significant association was detected between focal demyelination and decreased axonal density. In conclusion, over nearly 30 years multiple sclerosis reduces axonal density by 60% throughout the spinal cord. Spinal cord cross sectional area

  11. Effective approaches in and beyond the MSSM: applications to Higgs physics and dark matter observables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drieu la Rochelle, G.

    2012-01-01

    We have developed in this thesis a method to shed some light on the features of supersymmetry in view of Higgs physics and observables pertaining to dark matter: the effective approach. We have thus investigated the BMSSM framework, an extension of the MSSM - Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model - that encompasses many different extensions of the MSSM. It turns out that allowing for extra-physics that affect the Higgs sector of the MSSM produces a much richer Higgs phenomenology compared to the MSSM. An important development that we have carried out in the aim of exploiting the LHC performance in the BMSSM framework is the recasting of the Standard Model analyses to BSM (Beyond the Standard Model) theories. Precisely, we have evaluated the accuracy of some approximations as for instance the quadrature sum of different signals to combine the statistical significances and the use of the inclusive predicted cross-sections instead of the exclusive ones. We have also seen that limits on the cross-sections that are obtained by a combination of different subchannels are generically model-dependent. We have then turned to another set of constraints on supersymmetric theories that consists in the dark matter observables. Our work has focused on the precise computation of the relic density in the MSSM. We have decided to introduce once again an effective approach, but whereas the one implemented in the BMSSM aimed at accounting for extra physics beyond the MSSM, this specific one was built to account for radiative corrections brought by MSSM particles. We have performed the implementation of different effective vertices and assessed the robustness of the approach in the case of annihilation of neutralinos to fermions. We have found that the full one-loop result was very well approximated in the case of a bi no-like neutralino, where the discrepancy between both calculations was found to be less than 2%. We have also discussed the case of the Higgsino's-like neutralino with

  12. Dragging force on galaxies due to streaming dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hara, Tetsuya; Miyoshi, Shigeru

    1990-01-01

    It has been reported that galaxies in large regions (approx. 10(exp 2) Mpc), including some clusters of galaxies, may be streaming coherently with velocities up to 600 km/sec or more with respect to the rest frame determined by the microwave background radiation. On the other hand, it is suggested that the dominant mass component of the universe is dark matter. Because we can only speculate the motion of dark matter from the galaxy motions, much attention should be paid to the correlation of velocities between the observed galaxies and cold dark matter. So the authors investigated whether such coherent large-scale streaming velocities are due to dark matter or only to baryonic objects which may be formed by piling up of gases due to some explosive events. It seems that, although each galaxy will not follow the motion of dark matter, clusters of galaxies may represent the velocity field of dark matter. The origin of the velocity field of dark matter would be due to the initial adiabatic perturbations and, in fact, the observed peculiar velocities of clusters are within the allowed region constrained from the isotropy of the microwave background radiation.

  13. GW170817 falsifies dark matter emulators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boran, S.; Desai, S.; Kahya, E. O.; Woodard, R. P.

    2018-02-01

    On August 17, 2017 the LIGO interferometers detected the gravitational wave (GW) signal (GW170817) from the coalescence of binary neutron stars. This signal was also simultaneously seen throughout the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays. We point out that this simultaneous detection of GW and EM signals rules out a class of modified gravity theories, termed "dark matter emulators," which dispense with the need for dark matter by making ordinary matter couple to a different metric from that of GW. We discuss other kinds of modified gravity theories which dispense with the need for dark matter and are still viable. This simultaneous observation also provides the first observational test of Einstein's weak equivalence principle (WEP) between gravitons and photons. We estimate the Shapiro time delay due to the gravitational potential of the total dark matter distribution along the line of sight (complementary to the calculation by Abbott et al. [Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017)], 10.3847/2041-8213/aa920c) to be about 400 days. Using this estimate for the Shapiro delay and from the time difference of 1.7 seconds between the GW signal and gamma rays, we can constrain violations of the WEP using the parametrized post-Newtonian parameter γ , and it is given by |γGW-γEM|<9.8 ×10-8.

  14. An allometric scaling law between gray matter and white matter of cerebral cortex

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Jihuan

    2006-01-01

    An allometric scaling relationship between cortical white and gray volumes is derived from a general model that describes brain's remarkable efficiency and prodigious communications between brain areas. The model assumes that (1) a cell's metabolic rate depends upon cell's surface; (2) the overall basal metabolic rates of brain areas depend upon their fractal structures; (3) differential brain areas have same basal metabolic rate at slow wave sleep. The obtained allometric exponent scaling white matter to gray matter is 1.2, which is very much close to Zhang and Sejnowski's observation data

  15. Cold dark matter: Controversies on small scales.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberg, David H; Bullock, James S; Governato, Fabio; Kuzio de Naray, Rachel; Peter, Annika H G

    2015-10-06

    The cold dark matter (CDM) cosmological model has been remarkably successful in explaining cosmic structure over an enormous span of redshift, but it has faced persistent challenges from observations that probe the innermost regions of dark matter halos and the properties of the Milky Way's dwarf galaxy satellites. We review the current observational and theoretical status of these "small-scale controversies." Cosmological simulations that incorporate only gravity and collisionless CDM predict halos with abundant substructure and central densities that are too high to match constraints from galaxy dynamics. The solution could lie in baryonic physics: Recent numerical simulations and analytical models suggest that gravitational potential fluctuations tied to efficient supernova feedback can flatten the central cusps of halos in massive galaxies, and a combination of feedback and low star formation efficiency could explain why most of the dark matter subhalos orbiting the Milky Way do not host visible galaxies. However, it is not clear that this solution can work in the lowest mass galaxies, where discrepancies are observed. Alternatively, the small-scale conflicts could be evidence of more complex physics in the dark sector itself. For example, elastic scattering from strong dark matter self-interactions can alter predicted halo mass profiles, leading to good agreement with observations across a wide range of galaxy mass. Gravitational lensing and dynamical perturbations of tidal streams in the stellar halo provide evidence for an abundant population of low-mass subhalos in accord with CDM predictions. These observational approaches will get more powerful over the next few years.

  16. Monte-Carlo simulation of primary electrons in the matter for the generation of x-rays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bendjama, H.; Laib, Y.; Allag, A.; Drai, R.

    2006-01-01

    The x-rays imagining chains components from the source to the detector, rest on the first part of simulation to the energy production of x-rays emission (source), which suggest us to identified the losses energies result from interaction between the fast electrons and the particles of metal : the energies losses due to 'collisional losses' (ionization, excitation) and radiative losses. For the medium and the primary electron energy which interests us, the electrons slowing down in the matter results primarily from the inelastic collisions; whose interest is to have to simulate the x-rays characteristic spectrum. We used a Monte-Carlo method to simulate the energy loss and the transport of primary electrons. This type of method requires only the knowledge of the cross sections attached to the description of all the elementary events. In this work, we adopted the differential cross section of Mott and the total cross section of inner-shell ionization according to the formulation of Gryzinski, to simulate the energy loss and the transport of primary electrons respectively. The simulation allows to follow the electrons until their energy reaches the atomic ionization potential of the irradiated matter. The differential cross section of Mott gives us a very good representation of the pace of the distribution of the energy losses. The transport of primary electron is approximately reproduced

  17. A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adhikari, R.; Agostini, M.; Ky, N. Anh

    2016-01-01

    We present a comprehensive review of keV-scale sterile neutrino Dark Matter, collecting views and insights from all disciplines involved - cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear, and particle physics - in each case viewed from both theoretical and experimental/observational perspectives. After reviewing...... the role of active neutrinos in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, we focus on sterile neutrinos in the context of the Dark Matter puzzle. Here, we first review the physics motivation for sterile neutrino Dark Matter, based on challenges and tensions in purely cold Dark Matter scenarios. We...... then round out the discussion by critically summarizing all known constraints on sterile neutrino Dark Matter arising from astrophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. In this context, we provide a balanced discourse on the possibly positive signal from X...

  18. Transport properties of dense matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Itoh, Naoki; Mitake, Shinichi; Iyetomi, Hiroshi; Ichimaru, Setsuo

    1983-01-01

    Transport coefficients, electrical and thermal conductivities in particular, are essential physical quantities for the theories of stellar structure. Since the discoveries of pulsars and X-ray stars, an accurate evaluation of the transport coefficients in the dense matter has become indispensable to the quantitative understanding of the observed neutron stars. The authors present improved calculations of the electrical and thermal conductivities of the dense matter in the liquid metal phase, appropriate to white dwarfs and neutron stars. (Auth.)

  19. Matter density perturbations in modified gravity models with arbitrary coupling between matter and geometry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nesseris, Savvas

    2009-01-01

    We consider theories with an arbitrary coupling between matter and gravity and obtain the perturbation equation of matter on subhorizon scales. Also, we derive the effective gravitational constant $G_{eff}$ and two parameters $\\Sigma$ and $\\eta$, which along with the perturbation equation...... of the matter density are useful to constrain the theory from growth factor and weak lensing observations. Finally, we use a completely solvable toy model which exhibits nontrivial phenomenology to investigate specific features of the theory. We obtain the analytic solution of the modified Friedmann equation...... for the scale factor $a$ in terms of time $t$ and use the age of the oldest star clusters and the primordial nucleosynthesis bounds in order to constrain the parameters of our toy model....

  20. Matter density perturbations in modified gravity models with arbitrary coupling between matter and geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nesseris, Savvas

    2009-01-01

    We consider theories with an arbitrary coupling between matter and gravity and obtain the perturbation equation of matter on subhorizon scales. Also, we derive the effective gravitational constant G eff and two parameters Σ and η, which along with the perturbation equation of the matter density are useful to constrain the theory from growth factor and weak lensing observations. Finally, we use a completely solvable toy model which exhibits nontrivial phenomenology to investigate specific features of the theory. We obtain the analytic solution of the modified Friedmann equation for the scale factor a in terms of time t and use the age of the oldest star clusters and the primordial nucleosynthesis bounds in order to constrain the parameters of our toy model.

  1. Cosmic Ray Signatures of Decaying Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibarra, Alejandro

    2011-01-01

    Astrophysical and cosmological observations do not require the dark matter particles to be absolutely stable. If they are indeed unstable, their decay into Standard Model particles might occur at a sufficiently large rate to allow the indirect detection of dark matter through an anomalous contribution to the high energy cosmic ray fluxes. We analyze the implications of the excess in the total electron plus positron flux and the positron fraction reported by the Fermi and PAMELA collaborations, respectively, for the scenario of decaying dark matter. We also discuss the constraints on this scenario from measurements of other cosmic ray species and the predictions for the diffuse gamma ray flux and the neutrino flux. In particular, we expect a sizable dipole-like anisotropy which may be observed in the near future by the Fermi-LAT.

  2. Punctate white matter lesions in infants: new insights using susceptibility-weighted imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niwa, Tetsu; Vries, Linda S. de; Benders, Manon J.N.L.; Groenendaal, Floris; Takahara, Taro; Nikkels, Peter G.J.

    2011-01-01

    Punctate white matter lesions (PWML) are recognized with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as hypersignal on T1-weighted imaging and hyposignal on T2-weighted imaging. Our aim was to assess how often a hemorrhagic component was present in PWML using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI). Seventeen preterm (gestational age, 25-34 weeks) and seven full-term infants (age at MRI, 37-42 weeks) with PWML were included. Seven preterm infants had sequential MRIs. PWML were diagnosed with conventional MRI and compared with SWI, where signal loss is suggestive of hemorrhage. The pattern of associated brain lesions was taken into account, and the percentage of lesions with signal loss on SWI was calculated for each infant. A significantly higher percentage of signal loss on SWI (median, 93.9%) was found among infants with germinal matrix and intraventricular hemorrhage as the primary diagnosis (n = 8) compared to those with a primary diagnosis of white matter injury (n = 14; median, 14.2%; p < 0.01). In the infants with serial MRIs, a reduction in the number of PWML and/or signal loss on SWI was noted at term equivalent age. In the patient who died, cystic lesions, associated with hemorrhage and gliosis, were demonstrated on histology. SWI can distinguish hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic PWML. Signal loss on SWI was more common when PWML were associated with an intraventricular hemorrhage. Longitudinal imaging showed a decrease in the number of PWML over time, with some PWML no longer showing signal loss on SWI, suggesting early gliosis. (orig.)

  3. A minimal model for two-component dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esch, Sonja; Klasen, Michael; Yaguna, Carlos E.

    2014-01-01

    We propose and study a new minimal model for two-component dark matter. The model contains only three additional fields, one fermion and two scalars, all singlets under the Standard Model gauge group. Two of these fields, one fermion and one scalar, are odd under a Z_2 symmetry that renders them simultaneously stable. Thus, both particles contribute to the observed dark matter density. This model resembles the union of the singlet scalar and the singlet fermionic models but it contains some new features of its own. We analyze in some detail its dark matter phenomenology. Regarding the relic density, the main novelty is the possible annihilation of one dark matter particle into the other, which can affect the predicted relic density in a significant way. Regarding dark matter detection, we identify a new contribution that can lead either to an enhancement or to a suppression of the spin-independent cross section for the scalar dark matter particle. Finally, we define a set of five benchmarks models compatible with all present bounds and examine their direct detection prospects at planned experiments. A generic feature of this model is that both particles give rise to observable signals in 1-ton direct detection experiments. In fact, such experiments will be able to probe even a subdominant dark matter component at the percent level.

  4. Observability of localized magnetoplasmons in quantum dots: Scrutinizing the eligibility of far-infrared, Raman, and electron-energy-loss spectroscopies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manvir S. Kushwaha

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available We investigate a one-component, quasi-zero dimensional, quantum plasma exposed to a parabolic potential and an applied magnetic field in the symmetric gauge. If the size of such a system as can be realized in the semiconducting quantum dots is on the order of the de-Broglie wavelength, the electronic and optical properties become highly tunable. Then the quantum size effects challenge the observation of many-particle phenomena such as the magneto-optical absorption, Raman intensity, and electron energy-loss spectrum. An exact analytical solution of the problem leads us to infer that these many-particle phenomena are, in fact, dictated by the generalized Kohn’s theorem (GKT in the long-wavelength limit. Maneuvering the confinement and/or the magnetic field furnishes the resonance energies capable of being explored with the FIR, Raman, and/or electron-energy-loss spectroscopy. This implies that either of these probes is competent in observing the localized magnetoplasmons in the system. As an application of the rigorous analytical diagnosis of the system, we have presented various pertinent single-particle, such as Fock-Darwin spectrum, Fermi energy, zigzag excitation spectrum, and magneto-optical transitions, and the many-particle phenomena, such as magneto-optical absorption, Raman intensity, and electron energy-loss probability. In the latter, the energy position of the resonance peaks is observed to be independent of the electron-electron interactions and hence of the number of electrons in the quantum dot in compliance with the GKT. It is found that both confinement potential and magnetic field play a decisive role in influencing the aforementioned many-particle phenomena. Specifically, increasing (decreasing the strength of the confining potential is found to be analogous to shrinking (expanding the size of the quantum dots and results into a blue (red shift in the respective spectra. Intensifying the magnetic field has two-fold effects in

  5. Can the flyby anomaly be attributed to earth-bound dark matter?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adler, Stephen L.

    2009-01-01

    We make preliminary estimates to assess whether the recently reported flyby anomaly can be attributed to dark matter interactions. We consider both elastic and exothermic inelastic scattering from dark matter constituents; for isotropic dark matter velocity distributions, the former decrease, while the latter increase, the final flyby velocity. The fact that the observed flyby velocity anomaly shows examples with both positive and negative signs, requires the dominance of different dark matter scattering processes along different flyby trajectories. The magnitude of the observed anomalies requires dark matter densities many orders of magnitude greater than the galactic halo density. Such a large density could result from an accumulation cascade, in which the solar system-bound dark matter density is much higher than the galactic halo density, and the earth-bound density is much higher than the solar system-bound density. We discuss a number of strong constraints on the hypothesis of a dark matter explanation for the flyby anomaly. These require dark matter to be non-self-annihilating, with the dark matter scattering cross section on nucleons much larger, and the dark matter mass much lighter, than usually assumed.

  6. Past and present of nuclear matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ritter, H.G.

    1994-05-01

    The subject of nuclear matter is interesting for many fields of physics ranging from condensed matter to lattice QCD. Knowing its properties is important for our understanding of neutron stars, supernovae and cosmology. Experimentally, we have the most precise information on ground state nuclear matter from the mass formula and from the systematics of monopole vibrations. This gives us the ground state density, binding energy and the compression modulus k at ground state density. However, those methods can not be extended towards the regime we are most interested in, the regime of high density and high temperature. Additional information can be obtained from the observation of neutron stars and of supernova explosions. In both cases information is limited by the rare events that nature provides for us. High energy heavy ion collisions, on the other hand, allow us to perform controlled experiments in the laboratory. For a very short period in time we can create a system that lets us study nuclear matter properties. Density and temperature of the system depend on the mass of the colliding nuclei, on their energy and on the impact parameter. The system created in nuclear collisions has at best about 200 constituents not even close to infinite nuclear matter, and it lasts only for collision times of ∼ 10 -22 sec, not an ideal condition for establishing any kind of equilibrium. Extended size and thermal and chemical equilibrium, however, axe a priori conditions of nuclear matter. As a consequence we need realistic models that describe the collision dynamics and non-equilibrium effects in order to relate experimental observables to properties of nuclear matter. The study of high energy nuclear collisions started at the Bevalac. I will try to summarize the results from the Bevalac studies, the highlights of the continuing program, and extension to higher energies without claiming to be complete

  7. Electronic energy loss of fast molecules in matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steinbeck, J.

    1975-06-01

    In high velocity collisions of molecular ions the correlated motion influence of the ion cores on the electronic energy loss is investigated. The stopping power in first Born approximation for a random arrangement of target atoms can be formulated in terms of the inelastic electronic structure factor. In treating the target atoms in Hartree-Fock approximation each electron can be regarded as stopping the ion independent of all other electrons without restriction by the Pauli principle. A second equivalent formulation of the stopping power leads to the dielectric function of the target. The results are applied to the stopping of H 2 + -ions. For vanishing distance between the two protons the stopping power per particle is twice that for single proton collisions. For distances in the order of the Bohr radius the correlated stopping power may even be smaller than for uncorrelated protons. With increasing distances the correlation influence vanishes. The stopping of H 2 + -ions in C, Si and Ge is discussed using Clementi wave functions for the core electrons and a free electron approximation with Lindhard's dielectric function for the valence electrons. The comparison with the only experimental result available for H 2 + in C at 300 keV yields qualitative agreement. (orig.) [de

  8. Increased microglial catalase activity in multiple sclerosis grey matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, Elizabeth; Kemp, Kevin; Hares, Kelly; Redondo, Julianna; Rice, Claire; Scolding, Neil; Wilkins, Alastair

    2014-04-22

    Chronic demyelination, on-going inflammation, axonal loss and grey matter neuronal injury are likely pathological processes that contribute to disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). Although the precise contribution of each process and their aetiological substrates is not fully known, recent evidence has implicated oxidative damage as a major cause of tissue injury in MS. The degree of tissue injury caused by oxidative molecules, such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), is balanced by endogenous anti-oxidant enzymes which detoxify ROS. Understanding endogenous mechanisms which protect the brain against oxidative injury in MS is important, since enhancing anti-oxidant responses is a major therapeutic strategy for preventing irreversible tissue injury in the disease. Our aims were to determine expression and activity levels of the hydrogen peroxide-reducing enzyme catalase in MS grey matter (GM). In MS GM, a catalase enzyme activity was elevated compared to control GM. We measured catalase protein expression by immune dot-blotting and catalase mRNA by a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Protein analysis studies showed a strong positive correlation between catalase and microglial marker IBA-1 in MS GM. In addition, calibration of catalase mRNA level with reference to the microglial-specific transcript AIF-1 revealed an increase in this transcript in MS. This was reflected by the extent of HLA-DR immunolabeling in MS GM which was significantly elevated compared to control GM. Collectively, these observations provide evidence that microglial catalase activity is elevated in MS grey matter and may be an important endogenous anti-oxidant defence mechanism in MS. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Supermassive dark-matter Q-balls in galactic centers?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Troitsky, Sergey [Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences,60th October Anniversary Prospect 7a, Moscow 117312 (Russian Federation); Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology,Institutskii per. 9, 141700, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region (Russian Federation)

    2016-11-11

    Though widely accepted, it is not proven that supermassive compact objects (SMCOs) residing in galactic centers are black holes. In particular, the Milky Way’s SMCO can be a giant nontopological soliton, Q-ball, made of a scalar field: this fits perfectly all observational data. Similar but tiny Q-balls produced in the early Universe may constitute, partly or fully, the dark matter. This picture explains in a natural way, why our SMCO has very low accretion rate and why the observed angular size of the corresponding radio source is much smaller than expected. Interactions between dark-matter Q-balls may explain how SMCOs were seeded in galaxies and resolve well-known problems of standard (non-interacting) dark matter.

  10. Testing MONDian dark matter with galactic rotation curves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edmonds, Doug; Farrah, Duncan; Minic, Djordje; Takeuchi, Tatsu; Ho, Chiu Man; Ng, Y. Jack

    2014-01-01

    MONDian dark matter (MDM) is a new form of dark matter quantum that naturally accounts for Milgrom's scaling, usually associated with modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND), and theoretically behaves like cold dark matter (CDM) at cluster and cosmic scales. In this paper, we provide the first observational test of MDM by fitting rotation curves to a sample of 30 local spiral galaxies (z ≈ 0.003). For comparison, we also fit the galactic rotation curves using MOND and CDM. We find that all three models fit the data well. The rotation curves predicted by MDM and MOND are virtually indistinguishable over the range of observed radii (∼1 to 30 kpc). The best-fit MDM and CDM density profiles are compared. We also compare with MDM the dark matter density profiles arising from MOND if Milgrom's formula is interpreted as Newtonian gravity with an extra source term instead of as a modification of inertia. We find that discrepancies between MDM and MOND will occur near the center of a typical spiral galaxy. In these regions, instead of continuing to rise sharply, the MDM mass density turns over and drops as we approach the center of the galaxy. Our results show that MDM, which restricts the nature of the dark matter quantum by accounting for Milgrom's scaling, accurately reproduces observed rotation curves.

  11. Constraints on Cosmic Rays, Magnetic Fields, and Dark Matter from Gamma-ray Observations of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies with VERITAS and FERMI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arlen, T.; Aune, T.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Bouvier, A.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Byrum, K.; Cannon, A.; Cesarini, A.; hide

    2012-01-01

    Observations of radio halos and relics in galaxy clusters indicate efficient electron acceleration. Protons should likewise be accelerated and, on account of weak energy losses, can accumulate, suggesting that clusters may also be sources of very high energy (VHE; E greater than100 GeV) gamma-ray emission. We report here on VHE gamma-ray observations of the Coma galaxy cluster with the VERITAS array of imaging Cerenkov telescopes, with complementing Fermi Large Area Telescope observations at GeV energies. No significant gamma-ray emission from the Coma Cluster was detected. Integral flux upper limits at the 99 confidence level were measured to be on the order of (2-5) x 10(sup -8) photons m(sup -2) s(sup -1) (VERITAS,greater than 220 GeV) and approximately 2 x 10(sup -6) photons m(sup -2) s(sup -1) (Fermi, 1-3 GeV), respectively. We use the gamma-ray upper limits to constrain cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields in Coma. Using an analytical approach, the CR-to-thermal pressure ratio is constrained to be less than 16% from VERITAS data and less than 1.7% from Fermi data (averaged within the virial radius). These upper limits are starting to constrain the CR physics in self-consistent cosmological cluster simulations and cap the maximum CR acceleration efficiency at structure formation shocks to be 50. Alternatively, this may argue for non-negligible CR transport processes such as CR streaming and diffusion into the outer cluster regions. Assuming that the radio-emitting electrons of the Coma halo result from hadronic CR interactions, the observations imply a lower limit on the central magnetic field in Coma of approximately (2-5.5)microG, depending on the radial magnetic field profile and on the gamma-ray spectral index. Since these values are below those inferred by Faraday rotation measurements in Coma (for most of the parameter space), this renders the hadronic model a very plausible explanation of the Coma radio halo. Finally, since galaxy clusters are dark

  12. Observational evidence of competing source, loss, and transport processes for relativistic electrons in Earth's outer radiation belt

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Drew; Mann, Ian; Usanova, Maria; Rodriguez, Juan; Henderson, Mike; Angelopoulos, Vassilis; Morley, Steven; Claudepierre, Seth; Li, Wen; Kellerman, Adam; Boyd, Alexander; Kim, Kyung-Chan

    source in the plasma sheet, and chorus waves. We show how sudden losses during outer belt dropout events are dominated at higher L-shells (L>~4) by magnetopause shadowing and outward radial transport, which is effective over the full ranges of energy and equatorial pitch angle of outer belt electrons, but at lower L-shells near the plasmapause, energy and pitch angle dependent losses can also occur and are consistent with rapid scattering by interactions between relativistic electrons and EMIC waves. We show cases demonstrating how these different processes occur simultaneously during active periods, with relative effects that vary as a function of L-shell and electron energy and pitch angle. Ultimately, our results highlight the complexity of competing source/acceleration, loss, and transport processes in Earth’s outer radiation belt and the necessity of using multipoint observations to disambiguate between them for future studies.

  13. Organic matter cycling in a neotropical reservoir: effects of temperature and experimental conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Flávia Bottino

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available AIM:This study reports a comparison between decomposition kinetics of detritus derived from two macrophyte species (Polygonum lapathifolium L.: Polygonaceae; Eichhornia azurea (Sw. Kunth.: Pontederiaceae growing in a neotropical reservoir (Brazil, under laboratory and field conditions, in order to assess hypotheses on the main differences in factors affecting organic matter cycling, including the effect of temperature. METHODS: Plant and water samples were collected from the reservoir in August 2009. In field incubation mass loss was assessed using a litter bag technique and in the laboratory the decay was followed using a decomposition chamber maintained under controlled conditions (i.e. in the dark, at 15 ºC and 25 ºC. A kinetic model was adopted to explain and compare the organic matter decay, ANOVA (Repeated Measures testing was used to describe the differences between the treatments and a linear correlation was used to compare in situ and in vitro experiments. RESULTS: The mass decay was faster in natural conditions with rapid release of the labile-soluble portion. The simulated values of mineralization rates of dissolved organic matter and refractory organic matter were rapid in high temperatures (25 ºC. The high Q10 results (mainly for E. azurea, and experimental conditions, and outcomes of ANOVA testing indicate the temperature variation (10 ºC influence the rates of mass decay. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested rapid organic matter cycling in warm months (from October to December supporting the microbial loop. Although the particulate organic matter losses are high in field conditions the results are of the same magnitude in both conditions suggesting an equivalence of the mass decay kinetic.

  14. Stellar Velocity Dispersion: Linking Quiescent Galaxies to Their Dark Matter Halos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zahid, H. Jabran; Sohn, Jubee; Geller, Margaret J.

    2018-06-01

    We analyze the Illustris-1 hydrodynamical cosmological simulation to explore the stellar velocity dispersion of quiescent galaxies as an observational probe of dark matter halo velocity dispersion and mass. Stellar velocity dispersion is proportional to dark matter halo velocity dispersion for both central and satellite galaxies. The dark matter halos of central galaxies are in virial equilibrium and thus the stellar velocity dispersion is also proportional to dark matter halo mass. This proportionality holds even when a line-of-sight aperture dispersion is calculated in analogy to observations. In contrast, at a given stellar velocity dispersion, the dark matter halo mass of satellite galaxies is smaller than virial equilibrium expectations. This deviation from virial equilibrium probably results from tidal stripping of the outer dark matter halo. Stellar velocity dispersion appears insensitive to tidal effects and thus reflects the correlation between stellar velocity dispersion and dark matter halo mass prior to infall. There is a tight relation (≲0.2 dex scatter) between line-of-sight aperture stellar velocity dispersion and dark matter halo mass suggesting that the dark matter halo mass may be estimated from the measured stellar velocity dispersion for both central and satellite galaxies. We evaluate the impact of treating all objects as central galaxies if the relation we derive is applied to a statistical ensemble. A large fraction (≳2/3) of massive quiescent galaxies are central galaxies and systematic uncertainty in the inferred dark matter halo mass is ≲0.1 dex thus simplifying application of the simulation results to currently available observations.

  15. Effectiveness of two contrasting mulching rates to reduce post-fire soil and organic matter losses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Flavio; Prats, Sergio; Vieira, Diana; Puga, João; Lopes, Rita; Gonzaléz-Pelayo, Oscar; Caetano, Ana; Campos, Isabel; Keizer, Jacob

    2017-04-01

    Wildfire-affected soils can reveal strong responses in runoff generation and associated soil (fertility) losses, thereby constituting a major threat to the typically shallow and poor forest soils of the Portuguese mountain areas. Mulching with logging residues from these forests has proven to provide a protective soil cover that is highly effective in reducing post-fire runoff and especially erosion (Prats et al., 2012, 2014, 2016a, 2016b). However, these past experiments have all applied comparatively large amounts of forest residues, in the order of 10 Mg ha-1, so that the relationship between application rate and effectiveness is still poorly known. Such relationship would nonetheless be of crucial importance for the employment of forest residue mulching in practice, as one of the possible emergency stabilization measures to be contemplated in post-fire land management of a recently-burned area. Further research gaps that exist in relation to post-fire forest residue mulching include its effectiveness in reducing soil fertility losses (C, N, P; Ferreira et al., 2016a, 2016b) and in minimizing export of contaminants (especially PAHs and metals; Campos et al., 2016), and its (secondary) impacts on soil biological activity and diversity (Puga et al., 2016) and on forest productivity (including through the addition of organic matter to the soil surface, partially replacing the burned litter layer; Prats et al. 2016b). In the framework of the EU-project RECARE, the effectiveness of two contrasting mulching rates with forest logging residues has been tested following a wildfire that on August 9th - 10th 2015 consumed some 715 ha of eucalypt plantations in the Semide municipality, central Portugal. Commercially-available logging residues (chopped bark and twigs) from eucalypt plantations were purchased, transported to the study site and applied to six out of nine 16 m2 erosion bounded plots that had been installed in a burned eucalypt plantation using a randomized

  16. Dark Matter searches with the ATLAS Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Ippolito, Valerio; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic Dark Matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If Dark Matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model particles it may be produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), escaping detection and leaving large missing transverse momentum as its signature. New results from the Dark Matter search programme of the ATLAS experiment are presented, based on LHC proton-proton collision data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV.

  17. Is the continuous matter creation cosmology an alternative to ΛCDM?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fabris, J.C.; Pacheco, J.A. de Freitas; Piattella, O.F.

    2014-01-01

    The matter creation cosmology is revisited, including the evolution of baryons and dark matter particles. The creation process affects only dark matter and not baryons. The dynamics of the ΛCDM model can be reproduced only if two conditions are satisfied: 1) the entropy density production rate and the particle density variation rate are equal and 2) the (negative) pressure associated to the creation process is constant. However, the matter creation model predicts a present dark matter-to-baryon ratio much larger than that observed in massive X-ray clusters of galaxies, representing a potential difficulty for the model. In the linear regime, a fully relativistic treatment indicates that baryons are not affected by the creation process but this is not the case for dark matter. Both components evolve together at early phases but lately the dark matter density contrast decreases since the background tends to a constant value. This behaviour produces a negative growth factor, in disagreement with observations, being a further problem for this cosmology

  18. A History of Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bertone, Gianfranco [U. Amsterdam, GRAPPA; Hooper, Dan [Fermilab

    2016-05-16

    Although dark matter is a central element of modern cosmology, the history of how it became accepted as part of the dominant paradigm is often ignored or condensed into a brief anecdotical account focused around the work of a few pioneering scientists. The aim of this review is to provide the reader with a broader historical perspective on the observational discoveries and the theoretical arguments that led the scientific community to adopt dark matter as an essential part of the standard cosmological model.

  19. Resurrection of neutrinos as dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schramm, D.N.

    1986-05-01

    It is shown that new observations of large scale structure in the universe (voids, foam, and large-scale velocity fields) are best understood if the dominant matter of the universe is in the form of massive (9eV less than or equal to m/sub nu/ less than or equal to 35 eV) neutrinos. Cold dark matter, even with biasing, seems unable to duplicate the combination of these observations (although a fine-tuned loophole with cold matter and percolated explosions may also marginally work.) The previous fatal problems of galaxy formation with neutrinos can be remedied by combining them with either cosmic strings or explosive galaxy formation. The former naturally gives the scale-free correlation function for galaxies, clusters, and superclusters, and gives large, but not necessarily spherical voids. The latter naturally gives spherical voids, but requires fine tuning and percolation to get the large scales and the scale-free correlation function. 39 refs

  20. Warm Dark Matter and Cosmic Reionization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villanueva-Domingo, Pablo; Gnedin, Nickolay Y.; Mena, Olga

    2018-01-01

    In models with dark matter made of particles with keV masses, such as a sterile neutrino, small-scale density perturbations are suppressed, delaying the period at which the lowest mass galaxies are formed and therefore shifting the reionization processes to later epochs. In this study, focusing on Warm Dark Matter (WDM) with masses close to its present lower bound, i.e., around the 3 keV region, we derive constraints from galaxy luminosity functions, the ionization history and the Gunn–Peterson effect. We show that even if star formation efficiency in the simulations is adjusted to match the observed UV galaxy luminosity functions in both CDM and WDM models, the full distribution of Gunn–Peterson optical depth retains the strong signature of delayed reionization in the WDM model. However, until the star formation and stellar feedback model used in modern galaxy formation simulations is constrained better, any conclusions on the nature of dark matter derived from reionization observables remain model-dependent.

  1. Dielectric spectroscopy for evaluating dry matter content of potato tubers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Glenn G. B.; Kjaer, Anders; Klösgen, Beate

    2016-01-01

    The present study investigated the application of dielectric spectroscopy as a method for evaluating the dry matter content of potato tubers. Sample specific factors determining the precision of this application were investigated by studying the prediction of the dry material content in agar gel...... of the predicted dry matter content was observed in chemically and spatially uniform systems, with a root mean square error (RMSE) of the predicted dry-matter content of 0.64 percentage points observed in agar gels containing refined potato starch. A marked decrease in precision is observed in model systems which...... include chemical variations between potato tuber samples. The added dry material content was predicted with a RMSE of 0.94 percentage points in agar gels with added dried material extracted from separate potato tubers. The local dry matter content from a region within 2 cm of the center location...

  2. Cognitive processing speed in older adults: relationship with white matter integrity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geoffrey A Kerchner

    Full Text Available Cognitive processing slows with age. We sought to determine the importance of white matter integrity, assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI, at influencing cognitive processing speed among normal older adults, assessed using a novel battery of computerized, non-verbal, choice reaction time tasks. We studied 131 cognitively normal adults aged 55-87 using a cross-sectional design. Each participant underwent our test battery, as well as MRI with DTI. We carried out cross-subject comparisons using tract-based spatial statistics. As expected, reaction time slowed significantly with age. In diffuse areas of frontal and parietal white matter, especially the anterior corpus callosum, fractional anisotropy values correlated negatively with reaction time. The genu and body of the corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus were among the areas most involved. This relationship was not explained by gray or white matter atrophy or by white matter lesion volume. In a statistical mediation analysis, loss of white matter integrity mediated the relationship between age and cognitive processing speed.

  3. Dry matter yield and nitrogen-15 uptake by tomatoes under sodium chloride stress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pessarakli, M.; Tucker, T.C.

    1988-01-01

    An absorption study was conducted in nutrient solution with seedlings of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill; cv. Columbia) to observe the effects of NaCl on ( 15 N) uptake and distribution in plant roots and shoots. The 14-d-old seedlings were grown for 16 d in complete Hoagland solution no. 1, then salinized (except the controls, -0.03 MPa) to -0.3, -0.6, and -0.9 MPa osmotic potentials with NaCl. Nutrient solutions were sampled daily for N loss after addition of 15 NH 4 15 NO 3 to the pots. The cumulative 15 N loss was considered to be absorbed by plants. Lowering the osmotic potential of the culture solution decreased total N uptake at all salinity levels, and 15 N uptake of the plants at medium and high salinity levels. A low level of salinity did not affect 15 N uptake compared with the control. Water uptake and dry matter yield were affected to a greater extent than 15 N absorption. Nitrogen-15 concentration was slightly higher in roots than in shoots

  4. Chemical and optical changes in freshwater dissolved organic matter exposed to solar radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osburn, C.L.; Morris, D.P.; Thorn, K.A.; Moeller, R.E.

    2001-01-01

    We studied the chemical and optical changes in the dissolved organic matter (DOM) from two freshwater lakes and a Sphagnum bog after exposure to solar radiation. Stable carbon isotopes and solid-state 13C-NMR spectra of DOM were used together with optical and chemical data to interpret results from experimental exposures of DOM to sunlight and from seasonal observations of two lakes in northeastern Pennsylvania. Solar photochemical oxidation of humic-rich bog DOM to smaller LMW compounds and to DIC was inferred from losses of UV absorbance, optical indices of molecular weight and changes in DOM chemistry. Experimentally, we observed a 1.2??? enrichment in ??13C and a 47% loss in aromatic C functionality in bog DOM samples exposed to solar UVR. Similar results were observed in the surface waters of both lakes. In late summer hypolimnetic water in humic Lake Lacawac, we observed 3 to 4.5??? enrichments in ??13C and a 30% increase in aromatic C relative to early spring values during spring mixing. These changes coincided with increases in molecular weight and UV absorbance. Anaerobic conditions of the hypolimnion in Lake Lacawac suggest that microbial metabolism may be turning over allochthonous C introduced during spring mixing, as well as autochthonous C. This metabolic activity produces HMW DOM during the summer, which is photochemically labile and isotopically distinct from allochthonous DOM or autochthonous DOM. These results suggest both photooxidation of allochthonous DOM in the epilimnion and autotrophic production of DOM by bacteria in the hypolimnion cause seasonal trends in the UV absorbance of lakes.

  5. Diffuse gamma ray constraints on annihilating or decaying Dark Matter after Fermi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cirelli, Marco; Panci, Paolo; Serpico, Pasquale D.

    2010-01-01

    We consider the diffuse gamma ray data from Fermi first year observations and compare them to the gamma ray fluxes predicted by Dark Matter annihilation or decay (both from prompt emission and from Inverse Compton Scattering), for different observation regions of the sky and a range of Dark Matter masses, annihilation/decay channels and Dark Matter galactic profiles. We find that the data exclude large regions of the Dark Matter parameter space not constrained otherwise and discuss possible directions for future improvements. Also, we further constrain Dark Matter interpretations of the e ± PAMELA/Fermi spectral anomalies, both for the annihilating and the decaying Dark Matter case: under very conservative assumptions, only models producing dominantly μ ± and assuming a cored Dark Matter galactic profile can fit the lepton data with masses around ∼2 TeV.

  6. Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at direct detection experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giudice, Gian F.; Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

    2018-05-01

    We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experiments, but require unconventional searches for energetic recoil electrons in coincidence with displaced multi-track events. Related experimental strategies can also be used to probe MeV-range boosted dark matter via their interactions with electrons inside the target material.

  7. Avatars of a Matter-Antimatter Universe

    CERN Document Server

    De Rújula, Alvaro

    1997-01-01

    An elegantly symmetric Universe, consisting of large islands of matter and antimatter, is by no means obviously out of the question. I review the observations that lead to the usual prejudice that the Universe contains only matter. I discuss recent work inferring that this prejudice can be converted into an inescapable conclusion. I argue that our theoretical conviction should not discourage direct searches for antimatter in cosmic rays.

  8. Dark Matter Mystery Deepens in Cosmic "Train Wreck"

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-08-01

    Astronomers have discovered a chaotic scene unlike any witnessed before in a cosmic "train wreck" between giant galaxy clusters. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes revealed a dark matter core that was mostly devoid of galaxies, which may pose problems for current theories of dark matter behavior. "These results challenge our understanding of the way clusters merge," said Dr. Andisheh Mahdavi of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. "Or, they possibly make us even reexamine the nature of dark matter itself." There are three main components to galaxy clusters: individual galaxies composed of billions of stars, hot gas in between the galaxies, and dark matter, a mysterious substance that dominates the cluster mass and can be detected only through its gravitational effects. Illustration of Abell 520 System Illustration of Abell 520 System Optical telescopes can observe the starlight from the individual galaxies, and can infer the location of dark matter by its subtle light-bending effects on distant galaxies. X-ray telescopes like Chandra detect the multimillion-degree gas. A popular theory of dark matter predicts that dark matter and galaxies should stay together, even during a violent collision, as observed in the case of the so-called Bullet Cluster. However, when the Chandra data of the galaxy cluster system known as Abell 520 was mapped along with the optical data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea, HI, a puzzling picture emerged. A dark matter core was found, which also contained hot gas but no bright galaxies. "It blew us away that it looks like the galaxies are removed from the densest core of dark matter," said Dr. Hendrik Hoekstra, also of University of Victoria. "This would be the first time we've seen such a thing and could be a huge test of our knowledge of how dark matter behaves." Animation of Galaxy Cluster Animation of Galaxy Cluster In addition to the dark matter core, a

  9. QCD Axion Dark Matter with a Small Decay Constant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Co, Raymond T.; Hall, Lawrence J.; Harigaya, Keisuke

    2018-05-01

    The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant fa˜O (1011) GeV (or higher). We introduce a new cosmological origin for axion dark matter, parametric resonance from oscillations of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field, that requires fa˜(108- 1011) GeV . The axions may be warm enough to give deviations from cold dark matter in large scale structure.

  10. Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Smith High-Velocity Cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gomez-Vargas, German A.; Hewitt, John W.; Linden, Tim; Tibaldo, Luigi

    2014-01-01

    Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use gamma-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant gamma-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (approximately 3 x 10 (sup -26) cubic centimeters per second) for dark matter masses less than or approximately 30 gigaelectronvolts annihilating via the B/B- bar oscillation or tau/antitau channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

  11. Searching for dark matter annihilation in the Smith high-velocity cloud

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Hewitt, John W.; Linden, Tim; Tibaldo, Luigi

    2014-01-01

    Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (∼ 3 × 10 –26 cm 3 s –1 ) for dark matter masses ≲ 30 GeV annihilating via the b b-bar or τ + τ – channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

  12. Searching for dark matter annihilation in the Smith high-velocity cloud

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drlica-Wagner, Alex [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Gómez-Vargas, Germán A. [Departamento de Fisíca, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago (Chile); Hewitt, John W. [CRESST, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250 (United States); Linden, Tim [The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Tibaldo, Luigi [W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

    2014-07-20

    Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (∼ 3 × 10{sup –26} cm{sup 3} s{sup –1}) for dark matter masses ≲ 30 GeV annihilating via the b b-bar or τ{sup +}τ{sup –} channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

  13. Surface-based reconstruction and diffusion MRI in the assessment of gray and white matter damage in multiple sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caffini, Matteo; Bergsland, Niels; LaganÃ, Marcella; Tavazzi, Eleonora; Tortorella, Paola; Rovaris, Marco; Baselli, Giuseppe

    2014-03-01

    Despite advances in the application of nonconventional MRI techniques in furthering the understanding of multiple sclerosis pathogenic mechanisms, there are still many unanswered questions, such as the relationship between gray and white matter damage. We applied a combination of advanced surface-based reconstruction and diffusion tensor imaging techniques to address this issue. We found significant relationships between white matter tract integrity indices and corresponding cortical structures. Our results suggest a direct link between damage in white and gray matter and contribute to the notion of gray matter loss relating to clinical disability.

  14. J/psi production in proton-nucleus collisions at ALICE: cold nuclear matter really matters

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2013-01-01

    Heavy quarkonia are expected to be sensitive to the properties of strongly interacting matter, at both low and high temperatures. In nucleus-nucleus collisions, a phase transition to a deconfined state of quarks and gluons (Quark-Gluon Plasma) is thought to take place once the temperature of the system exceeds a critical temperature of the order of 150-200 MeV. The deconfined state can induce a suppression of charmonium (due to color screening, dominant at SPS and RHIC energies), which can be overturned at LHC energy by the (re)combination of the large number of free c and cbar quarks, taking place when the system cools down below the critical temperature. Cold nuclear matter also has an influence on heavy quarkonia. Such effects can be studied in proton-nucleus collisions, where no deconfined state is expected to be created. At LHC energy, they mainly include nuclear shadowing, gluon saturation, break-up of the quarkonium states, and parton energy loss in the initial and final state. The study of these eff...

  15. Galactic optical cloaking of visible baryonic matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smolyaninov, Igor I.

    2018-05-01

    Three-dimensional gravitational cloaking is known to require exotic matter and energy sources, which makes it arguably physically unrealizable. On the other hand, typical astronomical observations are performed using one-dimensional paraxial line of sight geometries. We demonstrate that unidirectional line of sight gravitational cloaking does not require exotic matter, and it may occur in multiple natural astronomical scenarios that involve gravitational lensing. In particular, recently discovered double gravitational lens SDSSJ 0 9 4 6 +1 0 0 6 together with the Milky Way appear to form a natural paraxial cloak. A natural question to ask, then, is how much matter in the Universe may be hidden from view by such natural gravitational cloaks? It is estimated that the total volume hidden from an observer by gravitational cloaking may reach about 1% of the total volume of the visible Universe.

  16. Early Childhood Depression and Alterations in the Trajectory of Gray Matter Maturation in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luby, Joan L; Belden, Andy C; Jackson, Joshua J; Lessov-Schlaggar, Christina N; Harms, Michael P; Tillman, Rebecca; Botteron, Kelly; Whalen, Diana; Barch, Deanna M

    2016-01-01

    The trajectory of cortical gray matter development in childhood has been characterized by early neurogenesis and volume increase, peaking at puberty followed by selective elimination and myelination, resulting in volume loss and thinning. This inverted U-shaped trajectory, as well as cortical thickness, has been associated with cognitive and emotional function. Synaptic pruning-based volume decline has been related to experience-dependent plasticity in animals. To date, there have been no data to inform whether and how childhood depression might be associated with this trajectory. To examine the effects of early childhood depression, from the preschool age to the school age period, on cortical gray matter development measured across 3 waves of neuroimaging from late school age to early adolescence. Data were collected in an academic research setting from September 22, 2003, to December 13, 2014, on 193 children aged 3 to 6 years from the St Louis, Missouri, metropolitan area who were observed for up to 11 years in a longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging study of childhood depression. Multilevel modeling was applied to explore the association between the number of childhood depression symptoms and prior diagnosis of major depressive disorder and the trajectory of gray matter change across 3 scan waves. Data analysis was conducted from October 29, 2014, to September 28, 2015. Volume, thickness, and surface area of cortical gray matter measured using structural magnetic resonance imaging at 3 scan waves. Of the 193 children, 90 had a diagnosis of major depressive disorder; 116 children had 3 full waves of neuroimaging scans. Findings demonstrated marked alterations in cortical gray matter volume loss (slope estimate, -0.93 cm³; 95% CI, -1.75 to -0.10 cm³ per scan wave) and thinning (slope estimate, -0.0044 mm; 95% CI, -0.0077 to -0.0012 mm per scan wave) associated with experiencing an episode of major depressive disorder before the first magnetic resonance

  17. Two-singlet model for light cold dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abada, Abdessamad; Ghaffor, Djamal; Nasri, Salah

    2011-01-01

    We extend the standard model by adding two gauge-singlet Z 2 -symmetric scalar fields that interact with visible matter only through the Higgs particle. One is a stable dark matter WIMP, and the other one undergoes a spontaneous breaking of the symmetry that opens new channels for the dark matter annihilation, hence lowering the mass of the WIMP. We study the effects of the observed dark matter relic abundance on the WIMP annihilation cross section and find that in most regions of the parameters' space, light dark matter is viable. We also compare the elastic-scattering cross section of our dark matter candidate off a nucleus with existing (CDMSII and XENON100) and projected (SuperCDMS and XENON1T) experimental exclusion bounds. We find that most of the allowed mass range for light dark matter will be probed by the projected sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment.

  18. Anisotropy of the cosmic gamma-ray background from dark matter annihilation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ando, Shin'ichiro; Komatsu, Eiichiro

    2006-01-01

    High-energy photons from pair annihilation of dark matter particles contribute to the cosmic gamma-ray background (CGB) observed in a wide energy range. Since dark matter particles are weakly interacting, annihilation can happen only in high density regions such as dark matter halos. The precise shape of the energy spectrum of CGB depends on the nature of dark matter particles--their mass and annihilation cross section, as well as the cosmological evolution of dark matter halos. In order to discriminate between the signals from dark matter annihilation and other astrophysical sources, however, the information from the energy spectrum of CGB may not be sufficient. We show that dark matter annihilation not only contributes to the mean CGB intensity, but also produces a characteristic anisotropy, which provides a powerful tool for testing the origins of the observed CGB. We develop the formalism based on a halo model approach to analytically calculate the three-dimensional power spectrum of dark matter clumping, which determines the power spectrum of annihilation signals. We show that the expected sensitivity of future gamma-ray detectors such as the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) should allow us to measure the angular power spectrum of CGB anisotropy, if dark matter particles are supersymmetric neutralinos and they account for most of the observed mean intensity of CGB in GeV region. On the other hand, if dark matter has a relatively small mass, on the order of 20 MeV, and accounts for most of the CGB in MeV region, then the future Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) should be able to measure the angular power spectrum in MeV region. As the intensity of photons from annihilation is proportional to the density squared, we show that the predicted shape of the angular power spectrum of gamma rays from dark matter annihilation is different from that due to other astrophysical sources such as blazars and supernovae, whose intensity is linearly proportional to

  19. Superheavy thermal dark matter and primordial asymmetries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bramante, Joseph; Unwin, James

    2017-01-01

    The early universe could feature multiple reheating events, leading to jumps in the visible sector entropy density that dilute both particle asymmetries and the number density of frozen-out states. In fact, late time entropy jumps are usually required in models of Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, which typically produces an initial particle-antiparticle asymmetry that is much too large. An important consequence of late time dilution, is that a smaller dark matter annihilation cross section is needed to obtain the observed dark matter relic density. For cosmologies with high scale baryogenesis, followed by radiation-dominated dark matter freeze-out, we show that the perturbative unitarity mass bound on thermal relic dark matter is relaxed to 10 10 GeV. We proceed to study superheavy asymmetric dark matter models, made possible by a sizable entropy injection after dark matter freeze-out, and identify how the Affleck-Dine mechanism would generate the baryon and dark asymmetries.

  20. Superheavy thermal dark matter and primordial asymmetries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bramante, Joseph [Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics,31 Caroline St N, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5 (Canada); Unwin, James [Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago,845 W Taylor St, Chicago, IL 60607 (United States)

    2017-02-23

    The early universe could feature multiple reheating events, leading to jumps in the visible sector entropy density that dilute both particle asymmetries and the number density of frozen-out states. In fact, late time entropy jumps are usually required in models of Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, which typically produces an initial particle-antiparticle asymmetry that is much too large. An important consequence of late time dilution, is that a smaller dark matter annihilation cross section is needed to obtain the observed dark matter relic density. For cosmologies with high scale baryogenesis, followed by radiation-dominated dark matter freeze-out, we show that the perturbative unitarity mass bound on thermal relic dark matter is relaxed to 10{sup 10} GeV. We proceed to study superheavy asymmetric dark matter models, made possible by a sizable entropy injection after dark matter freeze-out, and identify how the Affleck-Dine mechanism would generate the baryon and dark asymmetries.

  1. Response of water deficit regime and soil amelioration on evapotranspiration loss and water use efficiency of maize ( Zea mays l.) in subtropical northeastern Himalayas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marwein, M. A.; Choudhury, B. U.; Chakraborty, D.; Kumar, M.; Das, A.; Rajkhowa, D. J.

    2017-05-01

    Rainfed maize production in the hilly ecosystem of Northeastern Himalayas often suffers from moisture and soil acidity induced abiotic stresses. The present study measured evapotranspiration loss (ETc) of maize crop under controlled condition (pot experiment) of water deficit (W25-25 % and W50-50 % of field capacity soil moistures) and well watered (W100 = 100 % of field capacity (FC)) regimes in strong acid soils (pH = 4.3) of the Northeastern Himalayan Region of India. The response of soil ameliorants (lime) and phosphorus (P) nutrition under differential water regimes on ETc losses and water use efficiency was also studied. The measured seasonal ETc loss varied from 124.3 to 270.9 mm across treatment combinations. Imposition of water deficit stress resulted in significant ( p < 0.05) reduction (by 33-50 %) of seasonal ETc losses but was at the cost of delay in tasseling to silking, 47-65 % reduction in dry matter accumulation (DMA), 12-22 days shortening of grain formation period, and complete kernel abortion. Liming @ 4 t ha-1 significantly ( p < 0.05) increased ETc losses and DMA across water regimes but the magnitude of increase was higher in severely water deficit (W25) regime. Unlike lime, P nutrition improved DMA only in well-watered regimes (W100) while seasonal ETc loss was unaffected. Vegetative stage (tillering to tasseling) contributed the maximum ETc losses while weekly crop ETc loss was estimated highest during 11th-14th week after sowing (coincided with blistering stage) and then declined. Water use efficiency estimated from dry matter produced per unit ETc losses and irrigation water used varied from 4.33 to 9.43 g dry matter kg-1 water and 4.21 to 8.56 g dry matter kg-1, respectively. Among the input factors (water, P, and lime), water regime most strongly influenced the ETc loss, growth duration, grain formation, and water use efficiency of maize.

  2. Response of water deficit regime and soil amelioration on evapotranspiration loss and water use efficiency of maize (Zea mays l.) in subtropical northeastern Himalayas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marwein, M A; Choudhury, B U; Chakraborty, D; Kumar, M; Das, A; Rajkhowa, D J

    2017-05-01

    Rainfed maize production in the hilly ecosystem of Northeastern Himalayas often suffers from moisture and soil acidity induced abiotic stresses. The present study measured evapotranspiration loss (ET c ) of maize crop under controlled condition (pot experiment) of water deficit (W 25 -25 % and W 50 -50 % of field capacity soil moistures) and well watered (W 100  = 100 % of field capacity (FC)) regimes in strong acid soils (pH = 4.3) of the Northeastern Himalayan Region of India. The response of soil ameliorants (lime) and phosphorus (P) nutrition under differential water regimes on ET c losses and water use efficiency was also studied. The measured seasonal ET c loss varied from 124.3 to 270.9 mm across treatment combinations. Imposition of water deficit stress resulted in significant (p losses but was at the cost of delay in tasseling to silking, 47-65 % reduction in dry matter accumulation (DMA), 12-22 days shortening of grain formation period, and complete kernel abortion. Liming @ 4 t ha -1 significantly (p losses and DMA across water regimes but the magnitude of increase was higher in severely water deficit (W 25 ) regime. Unlike lime, P nutrition improved DMA only in well-watered regimes (W 100 ) while seasonal ET c loss was unaffected. Vegetative stage (tillering to tasseling) contributed the maximum ET c losses while weekly crop ET c loss was estimated highest during 11th-14th week after sowing (coincided with blistering stage) and then declined. Water use efficiency estimated from dry matter produced per unit ET c losses and irrigation water used varied from 4.33 to 9.43 g dry matter kg -1  water and 4.21 to 8.56 g dry matter kg -1 , respectively. Among the input factors (water, P, and lime), water regime most strongly influenced the ET c loss, growth duration, grain formation, and water use efficiency of maize.

  3. White matter involvement in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caverzasi, Eduardo; Mandelli, Maria Luisa; DeArmond, Stephen J; Hess, Christopher P; Vitali, Paolo; Papinutto, Nico; Oehler, Abby; Miller, Bruce L; Lobach, Irina V; Bastianello, Stefano; Geschwind, Michael D; Henry, Roland G

    2014-12-01

    diffusivity, however, was apparent visibly on the quantitative attenuation coefficient maps compared to healthy control subjects. Neuropathological analysis showed diffuse astrocytic gliosis and activated microglia in the white matter, rare prion deposition and subtle subcortical microvacuolization, and patchy foci of demyelination with no evident white matter axonal degeneration. Decreased mean diffusivity on attenuation coefficient maps might be associated with astrocytic gliosis. We show for the first time significant global reduced mean diffusivity within the white matter in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, suggesting possible primary involvement of the white matter, rather than changes secondary to neuronal degeneration/loss. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

  4. Dark matter searches with the ATLAS detector

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00379232; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as its signature. The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches on the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  5. Dark Matter searches with the ATLAS Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Cortes-Gonzalez, Arely; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as their signature. The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches on the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  6. Dark matter searches with the ATLAS detector

    CERN Document Server

    Whalen, Kathleen; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as its signature. The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches using the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  7. Organic matter in central California radiation fogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herckes, Pierre; Lee, Taehyoung; Trenary, Laurie; Kang, Gongunn; Chang, Hui; Collett, Jeffrey L

    2002-11-15

    Organic matter was studied in radiation fogs in the San Joaquin Valley of California during the California Regional Particulate Air Quality Study (CRPAQS). Total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations ranged from 2 to 40 ppm of C. While most organic carbon was found in solution as dissolved organic carbon (DOC), 23% on average was not dissolved inside the fog drops. We observe a clear variation of organic matter concentration with droplet size. TOC concentrations in small fog drops (fogwater, consistent with the enrichment of the organic matter in smaller fog drops with lower terminal settling velocities.

  8. Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paloyo, Alfredo R; Reichert, Arndt R; Reuss-Borst, Monika; Tauchmann, Harald

    2015-11-01

    There is a paucity of evidence on the heterogeneous impacts of financial incentives on weight loss. Between March 2010 and January 2012, in a randomized controlled trial, we assigned 700 obese persons to three experimental arms. We test whether particular subgroups react differently to financial incentives for weight loss. Two treatment groups obtained a cash reward (€150 and €300 with 237 and 229 participants, respectively) for achieving an individually-assigned target weight within four months; the control group (234 participants) was not incentivized. Participants and administrators were not blinded to the intervention. We find that monetary rewards effectively induced obese individuals to reduce weight across all subgroups. However, there is no evidence for treatment-effect heterogeneity for those groups that were incentivized. Among those who were in the €300 group, statistically significant and large weight losses were observed for women, singles, and those who are not working (all above 4 kg in four months). In addition, the magnitude of the reward matters only for women and migrants. The effectiveness of financial incentives to reduce weight nevertheless raises sensitive ethical issues that should be taken into consideration by policymakers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. PPPC 4 DMν: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for Neutrinos from Dark Matter annihilations in the Sun

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baratella, Pietro [Scuola Normale Superiore and INFN, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, Pisa, 56126 (Italy); Cirelli, Marco [Institut de Physique Théorique, CNRS URA 2306 and CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 (France); Hektor, Andi; Pata, Joosep; Piibeleht, Morten; Strumia, Alessandro, E-mail: pietro.baratella@sissa.it, E-mail: marco.cirelli@cea.fr, E-mail: andi.hektor@cern.ch, E-mail: joosep.pata@cern.ch, E-mail: morten.piibeleht@cern.ch, E-mail: alessandro.strumia@cern.ch [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Ravala 10, Tallinn (Estonia)

    2014-03-01

    We provide ingredients and recipes for computing neutrino signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun. For each annihilation channel and DM mass we present the energy spectra of neutrinos at production, including: state-of-the-art energy losses of primary particles in solar matter, secondary neutrinos, electroweak radiation. We then present the spectra after propagation to the Earth, including (vacuum and matter) flavor oscillations and interactions in solar matter. We also provide a numerical computation of the capture rate of DM particles in the Sun. These results are available in numerical form.

  10. LEP shines light on dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fox, Patrick J.; Harnik, Roni; Kopp, Joachim; Tsai, Yuhsin

    2011-01-01

    Dark matter pair production at high energy colliders may leave observable signatures in the energy and momentum spectra of the objects recoiling against the dark matter. We use LEP data on monophoton events with large missing energy to constrain the coupling of dark matter to electrons. Within a large class of models, our limits are complementary to and competitive with limits on dark matter annihilation and on WIMP-nucleon scattering from indirect and direct searches. Our limits, however, do not suffer from systematic and astrophysical uncertainties associated with direct and indirect limits. For example, we are able to rule out light (< or approx. 10 GeV) thermal relic dark matter with universal couplings exclusively to charged leptons. In addition, for dark matter mass below about 80 GeV, LEP limits are stronger than Fermi constraints on annihilation into charged leptons in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Within its kinematic reach, LEP also provides the strongest constraints on the spin-dependent direct detection cross section in models with universal couplings to both quarks and leptons. In such models the strongest limit is also set on spin-independent scattering for dark matter masses below ∼4 GeV. Throughout our discussion, we consider both low energy effective theories of dark matter, as well as several motivated renormalizable scenarios involving light mediators.

  11. Asymmetric Higgsino dark matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blum, Kfir; Efrati, Aielet; Grossman, Yuval; Nir, Yosef; Riotto, Antonio

    2012-08-03

    In the supersymmetric framework, prior to the electroweak phase transition, the existence of a baryon asymmetry implies the existence of a Higgsino asymmetry. We investigate whether the Higgsino could be a viable asymmetric dark matter candidate. We find that this is indeed possible. Thus, supersymmetry can provide the observed dark matter abundance and, furthermore, relate it with the baryon asymmetry, in which case the puzzle of why the baryonic and dark matter mass densities are similar would be explained. To accomplish this task, two conditions are required. First, the gauginos, squarks, and sleptons must all be very heavy, such that the only electroweak-scale superpartners are the Higgsinos. With this spectrum, supersymmetry does not solve the fine-tuning problem. Second, the temperature of the electroweak phase transition must be low, in the (1-10) GeV range. This condition requires an extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model.

  12. WISPy cold dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arias, Paola [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Pontificia Univ. Catolica de Chile, Santiago (Chile). Facultad de Fisica; Cadamuro, Davide; Redondo, Javier [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Goodsell, Mark [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland); Jaeckel, Joerg [Durham Univ. (United Kingdom). Inst. for Particle Physics Phenomenology; Ringwald, Andreas [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2012-01-15

    Very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs), such as axion-like particles (ALPs) or hidden photons (HPs), may be non-thermally produced via the misalignment mechanism in the early universe and survive as a cold dark matter population until today. We find that, both for ALPs and HPs whose dominant interactions with the standard model arise from couplings to photons, a huge region in the parameter spaces spanned by photon coupling and ALP or HP mass can give rise to the observed cold dark matter. Remarkably, a large region of this parameter space coincides with that predicted in well motivated models of fundamental physics. A wide range of experimental searches - exploiting haloscopes (direct dark matter searches exploiting microwave cavities), helioscopes (searches for solar ALPs or HPs), or light-shining-through-a-wall techniques - can probe large parts of this parameter space in the foreseeable future. (orig.)

  13. Interacting dark matter disguised as warm dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehm, Celine; Riazuelo, Alain; Hansen, Steen H.; Schaeffer, Richard

    2002-01-01

    We explore some of the consequences of dark-matter-photon interactions on structure formation, focusing on the evolution of cosmological perturbations and performing both an analytical and a numerical study. We compute the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and matter power spectrum in this class of models. We find, as the main result, that when dark matter and photons are coupled, dark matter perturbations can experience a new damping regime in addition to the usual collisional Silk damping effect. Such dark matter particles (having quite large photon interactions) behave like cold dark matter or warm dark matter as far as the cosmic microwave background anisotropies or matter power spectrum are concerned, respectively. These dark-matter-photon interactions leave specific imprints at sufficiently small scales on both of these two spectra, which may allow us to put new constraints on the acceptable photon-dark-matter interactions. Under the conservative assumption that the abundance of 10 12 M · galaxies is correctly given by the cold dark matter, and without any knowledge of the abundance of smaller objects, we obtain the limit on the ratio of the dark-matter-photon cross section to the dark matter mass σ γ-DM /m DM -6 σ Th /(100 GeV)≅6x10 -33 cm 2 GeV -1

  14. Observing Higgs boson production through its decay into γ-rays: A messenger for dark matter candidates

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernal, Nicolás, E-mail: nicolas@th.physik.uni-bonn.de [Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics and Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Nußallee 12, D-53115 Bonn (Germany); Boehm, Céline [Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); LAPTH, U. de Savoie, CNRS, BP 110, 74941 Annecy-Le-Vieux (France); Palomares-Ruiz, Sergio [Centro de Física Teórica de Partículas (CFTP), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal); Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Universitat de València, Apartado de Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain); Silk, Joseph [UMR7095, Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris (France); Toma, Takashi [Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

    2013-06-10

    In this Letter, we study the γ-ray signatures subsequent to the production of a Higgs boson in space by dark matter annihilations. We investigate the cases where the Higgs boson is produced at rest or slightly boosted and show that such configurations can produce characteristic bumps in the γ-ray data. These results are relevant in the case of the Standard Model-like Higgs boson provided that the dark matter mass is about 63 GeV, 109 GeV or 126 GeV, but can be generalized to any other Higgs boson masses. Here, we point out that it may be worth looking for a 63 GeV line since it could be the signature of the decay of a Standard Model-like Higgs boson produced in space, as in the case of a di-Higgs final state if m{sub χ}≃126 GeV. We show that one can set generic constraints on the Higgs boson production rates using its decay properties. In particular, using the Fermi-LAT data from the galactic center, we find that the dark matter annihilation cross section into γ+ a Standard Model-like Higgs boson produced at rest or near rest cannot exceed 〈σv〉∼a few 10{sup −25} cm{sup 3}/s or 〈σv〉∼a few 10{sup −27} cm{sup 3}/s respectively, providing us with information on the Higgs coupling to the dark matter particle. We conclude that Higgs bosons can indeed be used as messengers to explore the dark matter mass range.

  15. PPPC 4 DM secondary: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for secondary radiation from Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buch, Jatan [Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS, CEA,F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur, West Bengal - 721302 (India); Cirelli, Marco; Giesen, Gaëlle; Taoso, Marco [Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS, CEA,F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

    2015-09-11

    We enlarge the set of recipes and ingredients at disposal of any poor particle physicist eager to cook up signatures from weak-scale Dark Matter models by computing two secondary emissions due to DM particles annihilating or decaying in the galactic halo, namely the radio signals from synchrotron emission and the gamma rays from bremsstrahlung. We consider several magnetic field configurations and propagation scenarios for electrons and positrons. We also provide an improved energy loss function for electrons and positrons in the Galaxy, including synchrotron losses in the different configurations, bremsstrahlung losses, ionization losses and Inverse Compton losses with an updated InterStellar Radiation Field.

  16. PPPC 4 DM secondary: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for secondary radiation from Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buch, Jatan; Cirelli, Marco; Giesen, Gaëlle; Taoso, Marco, E-mail: jbuch.iitkgp@gmail.com, E-mail: marco.cirelli@cea.fr, E-mail: gaelle.giesen@cea.fr, E-mail: marco.taoso@cea.fr [Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS, CEA, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

    2015-09-01

    We enlarge the set of recipes and ingredients at disposal of any poor particle physicist eager to cook up signatures from weak-scale Dark Matter models by computing two secondary emissions due to DM particles annihilating or decaying in the galactic halo, namely the radio signals from synchrotron emission and the gamma rays from bremsstrahlung. We consider several magnetic field configurations and propagation scenarios for electrons and positrons. We also provide an improved energy loss function for electrons and positrons in the Galaxy, including synchrotron losses in the different configurations, bremsstrahlung losses, ionization losses and Inverse Compton losses with an updated InterStellar Radiation Field.

  17. PPPC 4 DM secondary: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for secondary radiation from Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buch, Jatan; Cirelli, Marco; Giesen, Gaëlle; Taoso, Marco

    2015-01-01

    We enlarge the set of recipes and ingredients at disposal of any poor particle physicist eager to cook up signatures from weak-scale Dark Matter models by computing two secondary emissions due to DM particles annihilating or decaying in the galactic halo, namely the radio signals from synchrotron emission and the gamma rays from bremsstrahlung. We consider several magnetic field configurations and propagation scenarios for electrons and positrons. We also provide an improved energy loss function for electrons and positrons in the Galaxy, including synchrotron losses in the different configurations, bremsstrahlung losses, ionization losses and Inverse Compton losses with an updated InterStellar Radiation Field

  18. Constraint on the velocity dependent dark matter annihilation cross section from gamma-ray and kinematic observations of ultrafaint dwarf galaxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yi; Bi, Xiao-Jun; Yin, Peng-Fei; Zhang, Xinmin

    2018-03-01

    Searching for γ rays from dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) is a promising approach to detect dark matter (DM) due to the high DM densities and low baryon components in dSphs. The Fermi-LAT observations from dSphs have set stringent constraints on the velocity independent annihilation cross section. However, the constraints from dSphs may change in velocity dependent annihilation scenarios because of the different velocity dispersions in galaxies. In this work, we study how to set constraints on the velocity dependent annihilation cross section from the combined Fermi-LAT observations of dSphs with the kinematic data. In order to calculate the γ ray flux from the dSph, the correlation between the DM density profile and velocity dispersion at each position should be taken into account. We study such correlation and the relevant uncertainty from kinematic observations by performing a Jeans analysis. Using the observational results of three ultrafaint dSphs with large J-factors, including Willman 1, Reticulum II, and Triangulum II, we set constraints on the p-wave annihilation cross section in the Galaxy as an example.

  19. The dark matter of galaxy voids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutter, P. M.; Lavaux, Guilhem; Wandelt, Benjamin D.; Weinberg, David H.; Warren, Michael S.

    2014-03-01

    How do observed voids relate to the underlying dark matter distribution? To examine the spatial distribution of dark matter contained within voids identified in galaxy surveys, we apply Halo Occupation Distribution models representing sparsely and densely sampled galaxy surveys to a high-resolution N-body simulation. We compare these galaxy voids to voids found in the halo distribution, low-resolution dark matter and high-resolution dark matter. We find that voids at all scales in densely sampled surveys - and medium- to large-scale voids in sparse surveys - trace the same underdensities as dark matter, but they are larger in radius by ˜20 per cent, they have somewhat shallower density profiles and they have centres offset by ˜ 0.4Rv rms. However, in void-to-void comparison we find that shape estimators are less robust to sampling, and the largest voids in sparsely sampled surveys suffer fragmentation at their edges. We find that voids in galaxy surveys always correspond to underdensities in the dark matter, though the centres may be offset. When this offset is taken into account, we recover almost identical radial density profiles between galaxies and dark matter. All mock catalogues used in this work are available at http://www.cosmicvoids.net.

  20. Circumstellar matter and the nature of the SN1987A progenitor star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chevalier, R.A.; Fransson, C.

    1987-01-01

    The radio observations of the supernova SN1987A can be interpreted in terms of its interaction with circumstellar matter. The early turn-on of the radio emission implies a relatively low density circumstellar medium. The optical properties of the supernova imply that the progenitor star had a smaller radius than that of a typical type II supernova progenitor. The mass loss properties are consistent with this hypothesis. The authors predict the thermal X-ray luminosity of the supernova, and note that it is below the current upper limit. A bright infrared dust echo is not expected. Weak ultraviolet emission lines from circumstellar gas may be visible. Although the circumstellar density is low, it is possible that the progenitor star did lose a substantial fraction of its mass prior to the supernova explosion. (author)

  1. Supersymmetric Dark Matter and Prospects for its Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamamoto, Takahiro

    Dark matter is a prominent and dominant form of matter in the Universe. Yet, despite various intense efforts, its nongravitational effects have not been observed. In this dissertation, we explore the nature of such elusive particles within a supersymmetric SU(3)C ⊗ SU(2)L ⊗ U(1)Y gauge theory. Although large regions of parameter space within supersymmetric models have been excluded by recent results from collider experiments and direct and indirect dark matter searches, we find that there is a wide range of viable parameter space once the requirements of minimal flavor violation and mass universality are relaxed. In particular, we focus on a class of models in which electroweak-scale Majorana dark matter has interactions with the Standard Model sector via relatively light charged scalars with large chiral mixing and CP-violation. Our model is shown to lead to enhanced dark matter pair annihilation, and is constrained by precise measurements of the lepton dipole moments. We illustrate that our model satisfies all constraints, including the observed thermal relic density, and investigate prospects for the detection of dark matter annihilation products. We also examine the effects of chiral mixing and CP-violationn on the variation in the ratio of the flux of monoenergetic photons from annihilation to two photons relative to that from annihilation to a photon and a Z boson, as well as the helicity asymmetry in the diphoton final state. We also find the most general spectrum for internal bremsstrahlung, which interpolates between the regimes dominated by virtual internal bremsstrahlung and by final state radiation, and that it provides distinctive gamma-ray signals, which could potentially be observed in the near future.

  2. Penetration of relativistic heavy ions through matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scheidenberger, C.; Geissel, H.

    1997-07-01

    New heavy-ion accelerators covering the relativistic and ultra-relativistic energy regime allow to study atomic collisions with bare and few-electron projectiles. High-resolution magnetic spectrometers are used for precise stopping-power and energy-loss straggling measurements. Refined theories beyond the Born approximation have been developed and are confirmed by experiments. This paper summarizes the large progress in the understanding of relativistic heavy-ion penetration through matter, which has been achieved in the last few years. (orig.)

  3. Revisiting simplified dark matter models in terms of AMS-02 and Fermi-LAT

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Tong

    2018-01-01

    We perform an analysis of the simplified dark matter models in the light of cosmic ray observables by AMS-02 and Fermi-LAT. We assume fermion, scalar or vector dark matter particle with a leptophobic spin-0 mediator that couples only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter via scalar and/or pseudo-scalar bilinear. The propagation and injection parameters of cosmic rays are determined by the observed fluxes of nuclei from AMS-02. We find that the AMS-02 observations are consistent with the dark matter framework within the uncertainties. The AMS-02 antiproton data prefer 30 (50) GeV - 5 TeV dark matter mass and require an effective annihilation cross section in the region of 4 × 10-27 (7 × 10-27) - 4 × 10-24 cm3/s for the simplified fermion (scalar and vector) dark matter models. The cross sections below 2 × 10-26 cm3/s can evade the constraint from Fermi-LAT dwarf galaxies for about 100 GeV dark matter mass.

  4. A White Paper on keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adhikari, R. [Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi-110025 (India); Agostini, M. [Gran Sasso Science Institute (INFN), L' Aquila (Italy); Ky, N. Anh [Institute of physics, Vietnam academy of science and technology, 10 Dao Tan, Ba Dinh, Hanoi (Viet Nam); Araki, T. [Department of physics, Saitama University, Shimo-Okubo 255, 338-8570 Saitama Sakura-ku (Japan); Archidiacono, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Bahr, M. [University of California, Santa Barbara (United States); Baur, J. [Commissariat à l' énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Centre de Saclay, DSM/IRFU, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Behrens, J. [Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Institut für Kernphysik, Wilhelm Klemm-Str.9, D-48149 Münster (Germany); Bezrukov, F. [University of Connecticut (United States); Dev, P.S. Bhupal [Consortium for Fundamental Physics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Borah, D. [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam-781039 (India); Boyarsky, A. [Universiteit Leiden - Instituut Lorentz for Theoretical Physics, P.O. Box 9506, NL-2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands (Netherlands); De Gouvea, A. [Northwestern University (United States); Pires, C.A. de S. [Departamento de Física, UFPB, Caixa Postal 5008, 58051-970, João Pessoa, PB (Brazil); De Vega, H.J. [CNRS LPTHE UPMC Univ P. et M. Curie Paris VI (France); and others

    2017-01-01

    We present a comprehensive review of keV-scale sterile neutrino Dark Matter, collecting views and insights from all disciplines involved—cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear, and particle physics—in each case viewed from both theoretical and experimental/observational perspectives. After reviewing the role of active neutrinos in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, we focus on sterile neutrinos in the context of the Dark Matter puzzle. Here, we first review the physics motivation for sterile neutrino Dark Matter, based on challenges and tensions in purely cold Dark Matter scenarios. We then round out the discussion by critically summarizing all known constraints on sterile neutrino Dark Matter arising from astrophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. In this context, we provide a balanced discourse on the possibly positive signal from X-ray observations. Another focus of the paper concerns the construction of particle physics models, aiming to explain how sterile neutrinos of keV-scale masses could arise in concrete settings beyond the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The paper ends with an extensive review of current and future astrophysical and laboratory searches, highlighting new ideas and their experimental challenges, as well as future perspectives for the discovery of sterile neutrinos.

  5. Influence of N-15 labelled urea and azotobacter on corn yield and nitrogen budget as affected by organic matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soliman, S M; Abdelmonem, M A [Soil and Water Dept., Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo, (Egypt)

    1995-10-01

    As sandy soils of Egypt are poor in their chemical and physical properties, their fertilization with chemical or biological fertilizer is essential. The reported greenhouse experiment was conducted, using sandy soil of Egypt to evaluate the impact of urea fertilizer, applied alone combined with nitrification inhibitors (DCD) or (N-serve) on (corn yield and N-losses) as compared with inoculation with azotobacter under organic matter treatment as soil amendment. Total dry matter was recorded, while N-uptake by corn, and N-recovery due to inoculation with azotobacter was determined using N-15 dilution technique. Data obtained indicated that, application of DCD or N-serve with urea increased corn dry matter weight as well N-15 recovery. Significant increase in N-recovery was obtained due to nitrification inhibitor application and azotobacter inoculation. N-15 losses were reduced due to application of DCD and N-serve from 45% and respectively. Use of bio fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors could play an important role in corn production in sandy soil, as well as decrease the losses of applied N-fertilizers. fig., 3 tabs.

  6. Influence of N-15 labelled urea and azotobacter on corn yield and nitrogen budget as affected by organic matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soliman, S.M.; Abdelmonem, M.A.

    1995-01-01

    As sandy soils of Egypt are poor in their chemical and physical properties, their fertilization with chemical or biological fertilizer is essential. The reported greenhouse experiment was conducted, using sandy soil of Egypt to evaluate the impact of urea fertilizer, applied alone combined with nitrification inhibitors (DCD) or (N-serve) on (corn yield and N-losses) as compared with inoculation with azotobacter under organic matter treatment as soil amendment. Total dry matter was recorded, while N-uptake by corn, and N-recovery due to inoculation with azotobacter was determined using N-15 dilution technique. Data obtained indicated that, application of DCD or N-serve with urea increased corn dry matter weight as well N-15 recovery. Significant increase in N-recovery was obtained due to nitrification inhibitor application and azotobacter inoculation. N-15 losses were reduced due to application of DCD and N-serve from 45% and respectively. Use of bio fertilizers and nitrification inhibitors could play an important role in corn production in sandy soil, as well as decrease the losses of applied N-fertilizers. fig., 3 tabs

  7. Fundamental Particle Structure in the Cosmological Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khlopov, Maxim

    2013-11-01

    The nonbaryonic dark matter of the universe is assumed to consist of new stable forms of matter. Their stability reflects symmetry of micro-world and mechanisms of its symmetry breaking. Particle candidates for cosmological dark matter are lightest particles that bear new conserved quantum numbers. Dark matter particles may represent ideal gas of noninteracting particles. Self-interacting dark matter weakly or superweakly coupled to ordinary matter is also possible, reflecting nontrivial pattern of particle symmetry in the hidden sector of particle theory. In the early universe the structure of particle symmetry breaking gives rise to cosmological phase transitions, from which macroscopic cosmological defects or primordial nonlinear structures can be originated. Primordial black holes (PBHs) can be not only a candidate for dark matter, but also represent a universal probe for superhigh energy physics in the early universe. Evaporating PBHs turn to be a source of even superweakly interacting particles, while clouds of massive PBHs can serve as nonlinear seeds for galaxy formation. The observed broken symmetry of the three known families may provide a simultaneous solution for the problems of the mass of neutrino and strong CP-violation in the unique framework of models of horizontal unification. Dark matter candidates can also appear in the new families of quarks and leptons and the existence of new stable charged leptons and quarks is possible, hidden in elusive "dark atoms." Such possibility, strongly restricted by the constraints on anomalous isotopes of light elements, is not excluded in scenarios that predict stable double charged particles. The excessive -2 charged particles are bound in these scenarios with primordial helium in O-helium "atoms," maintaining specific nuclear-interacting form of the dark matter, which may provide an interesting solution for the puzzles of the direct dark matter searches. In the context of cosmoparticle physics, studying

  8. X-ray lines and self-interacting dark matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mambrini, Yann; Toma, Takashi

    We study the correlation between a monochromatic signal from annihilating dark matter and its self-interacting cross section. We apply our argument to a complex scalar dark sector, where the pseudo-scalar plays the role of a warm dark matter candidate while the scalar mediates its interaction with the Standard Model. We combine the recent observation of the cluster Abell 3827 for self-interacting dark matter and the constraints on the annihilation cross section for monochromatic X-ray lines. We also confront our model to a set of recent experimental analyses and find that such an extension can naturally produce a monochromatic keV signal corresponding to recent observations of Perseus or Andromeda, while in the meantime it predicts a self-interacting cross section of the order of [Formula: see text], as recently claimed in the observation of the cluster Abell 3827. We also propose a way to distinguish such models by future direct detection techniques.

  9. Experimental setup for precise measurement of losses in high-temperature superconducting transformer

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Janů, Zdeněk; Wild, J.; Řepa, P.; Jelínek, Z.; Žížek, F.; Peksa, L.; Soukup, František; Tichý, Rudolf

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 46, - (2006), s. 759-761 ISSN 0011-2275 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA102/05/0942 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100520 Keywords : superconducting transformer * AC losses * calorimeters Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.927, year: 2006

  10. On the structural factors of soil humic matter related to soil water repellence in fire-affected soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almendros, G.; González-Vila, F. J.; González-Pérez, J. A.; Knicker, H.; De la Rosa, J. M.; Dettweiler, C.; Hernández, Z.

    2012-04-01

    In order to elucidate the impact of forest fires on physical and chemical properties of the soils as well as on the chemical composition of the soil organic matter, samples from two Mediterranean soils with contrasted characteristics and vegetation (O horizon, Lithic Leptosols under Quercus ilex and Pinus pinaster) and one agricultural soil (Ap horizon, Luvisol) were heated at 350 °C in laboratory conditions for three successive steps up to 600 s. The C- and N-depletion in the course of the heating showed small changes up to an oxidation time of 300 s. On the other side, and after 600 s, considerable C-losses (between 21% in the Luvisol and 50% in the Leptosols) were observed. The relatively low N-depletion ca. 4% (Luvisol) and 21% (Leptosol under pine) suggested preferential loss of C and the subsequent relative enrichment of nitrogen. Paralleling the progressive depletion of organic matter, the Leptosols showed a significant increase of both pH and electrical conductivity. The former change paralleled the rapid loss of carboxyl groups, whereas the latter point to the relative enrichment of ash with a bearing on the concentration of inorganic ions, which could be considered a positive effect for the post-fire vegetation. The quantitative and qualitative analyses by solid-state 13C NMR spectra of the humic fractions in the samples subjected to successive heating times indicate significant concentration of aromatic structures newly-formed in the course of the dehydration and cyclization of carbohydrates (accumulation of black carbon-type polycyclic aromatic structures), and probably lipids and peptides. The early decarboxylation, in addition to the depletion of O-alkyl hydrophilic constituents and further accumulation of secondary aromatic structures resulted in the dramatic increase in the soil water drop penetration time. It was confirmed that this enhancement of the soil hydrophobicity is not related to an increased concentration of soil free lipid, but is

  11. Early-matter-like dark energy and the cosmic microwave background

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aurich, R.; Lustig, S.

    2016-01-01

    Early-matter-like dark energy is defined as a dark energy component whose equation of state approaches that of cold dark matter (CDM) at early times. Such a component is an ingredient of unified dark matter (UDM) models, which unify the cold dark matter and the cosmological constant of the ΛCDM concordance model into a single dark fluid. Power series expansions in conformal time of the perturbations of the various components for a model with early-matter-like dark energy are provided. They allow the calculation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy from the primordial initial values of the perturbations. For a phenomenological UDM model, which agrees with the observations of the local Universe, the CMB anisotropy is computed and compared with the CMB data. It is found that a match to the CMB observations is possible if the so-called effective velocity of sound c eff of the early-matter-like dark energy component is very close to zero. The modifications on the CMB temperature and polarization power spectra caused by varying the effective velocity of sound are studied

  12. Heavy quark energy loss far from equilibrium in a strongly coupled collision

    CERN Document Server

    Chesler, Paul M; Rajagopal, Krishna

    2013-01-01

    We compute and study the drag force acting on a heavy quark propagating through the matter produced in the collision of two sheets of energy in a strongly coupled gauge theory that can be analyzed holographically. Although this matter is initially far from equilibrium, we find that the equilibrium expression for heavy quark energy loss in a homogeneous strongly coupled plasma with the same instantaneous energy density or pressure as that at the location of the quark describes many qualitative features of our results. One interesting exception is that there is a time delay after the initial collision before the heavy quark energy loss becomes significant. At later times, once a liquid plasma described by viscous hydrodynamics has formed, expressions based upon assuming instantaneous homogeneity and equilibrium provide a semi-quantitative description of our results - as long as the rapidity of the heavy quark is not too large. For a heavy quark with large rapidity, the gradients in the velocity of the hydrodyna...

  13. Dark matter maps reveal cosmic scaffolding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massey, Richard; Rhodes, Jason; Ellis, Richard; Scoville, Nick; Leauthaud, Alexie; Finoguenov, Alexis; Capak, Peter; Bacon, David; Aussel, Hervé; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Koekemoer, Anton; McCracken, Henry; Mobasher, Bahram; Pires, Sandrine; Refregier, Alexandre; Sasaki, Shunji; Starck, Jean-Luc; Taniguchi, Yoshi; Taylor, Andy; Taylor, James

    2007-01-18

    Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious 'dark matter' component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither emits nor reflects light. As dark matter cannot be seen directly using traditional observations, very little is currently known about its properties. It does interact via gravity, and is most effectively probed through gravitational lensing: the deflection of light from distant galaxies by the gravitational attraction of foreground mass concentrations. This is a purely geometrical effect that is free of astrophysical assumptions and sensitive to all matter--whether baryonic or dark. Here we show high-fidelity maps of the large-scale distribution of dark matter, resolved in both angle and depth. We find a loose network of filaments, growing over time, which intersect in massive structures at the locations of clusters of galaxies. Our results are consistent with predictions of gravitationally induced structure formation, in which the initial, smooth distribution of dark matter collapses into filaments then into clusters, forming a gravitational scaffold into which gas can accumulate, and stars can be built.

  14. Dark matter maps reveal cosmic scaffolding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Massey, R; Rhodes, J; Ellis, R; Scoville, N; Capak, P [CALTECH, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Rhodes, J [CALTECH, Jet Prop Lab, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Leauthaud, A; Kneib, J P [Lab Astrophys Marseille, F-13376 Marseille, (France); Finoguenov, A [Max Planck Inst Extraterr Phys, D-85748 Garching, (Germany); Bacon, D; Taylor, A [Inst Astron, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, Midlothian, (United Kingdom); Aussel, H; Refregier, A [CNRS, CEA, Unite Mixte Rech, AIM, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, (France); Koekemoer, A; Mobasher, B [Univ Paris 07, CE Saclay, UMR 7158, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, (France); McCracken, H [Space Telescope Sci Inst, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Pires, S; Starck, J L [Univ Paris 06, Inst Astrophys Paris, F-75014 Paris, (France); Pires, S [Ctr Etud Saclay, CEA, DSM, DAPNIA, SEDI, F-91191 Gif Sur Yvette, (France); Sasaki, S; Taniguchi, Y [Ehime Univ, Dept Phys, Matsuyama, Ehime 7908577, (Japan); Taylor, J [Univ Waterloo, Dept Phys and Astron, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, (Canada)

    2007-07-01

    Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious 'dark matter' component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither emits nor reflects light. As dark matter cannot be seen directly using traditional observations, very little is currently known about its properties. It does interact via gravity, and is most effectively probed through gravitational lensing: the deflection of light from distant galaxies by the gravitational attraction of foreground mass concentrations. This is a purely geometrical effect that is free of astrophysical assumptions and sensitive to all matter - whether baryonic or dark. Here we show high-fidelity maps of the large-scale distribution of dark matter, resolved in both angle and depth. We find a loose network of filaments, growing over time, which intersect in massive structures at the locations of clusters of galaxies. Our results are consistent with predictions of gravitationally induced structure formation, in which the initial, smooth distribution of dark matter collapses into filaments then into clusters, forming a gravitational scaffold into which gas can accumulate, and stars can be built. (authors)

  15. Dark matter maps reveal cosmic scaffolding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Massey, R.; Rhodes, J.; Ellis, R.; Scoville, N.; Capak, P.; Rhodes, J.; Leauthaud, A.; Kneib, J.P.; Finoguenov, A.; Bacon, D.; Taylor, A.; Aussel, H.; Refregier, A.; Koekemoer, A.; Mobasher, B.; McCracken, H.; Pires, S.; Starck, J.L.; Pires, S.; Sasaki, S.; Taniguchi, Y.; Taylor, J.

    2007-01-01

    Ordinary baryonic particles (such as protons and neutrons) account for only one-sixth of the total matter in the Universe. The remainder is a mysterious 'dark matter' component, which does not interact via electromagnetism and thus neither emits nor reflects light. As dark matter cannot be seen directly using traditional observations, very little is currently known about its properties. It does interact via gravity, and is most effectively probed through gravitational lensing: the deflection of light from distant galaxies by the gravitational attraction of foreground mass concentrations. This is a purely geometrical effect that is free of astrophysical assumptions and sensitive to all matter - whether baryonic or dark. Here we show high-fidelity maps of the large-scale distribution of dark matter, resolved in both angle and depth. We find a loose network of filaments, growing over time, which intersect in massive structures at the locations of clusters of galaxies. Our results are consistent with predictions of gravitationally induced structure formation, in which the initial, smooth distribution of dark matter collapses into filaments then into clusters, forming a gravitational scaffold into which gas can accumulate, and stars can be built. (authors)

  16. Comprehensive asymmetric dark matter model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lonsdale, Stephen J.; Volkas, Raymond R.

    2018-05-01

    Asymmetric dark matter (ADM) is motivated by the similar cosmological mass densities measured for ordinary and dark matter. We present a comprehensive theory for ADM that addresses the mass density similarity, going beyond the usual ADM explanations of similar number densities. It features an explicit matter-antimatter asymmetry generation mechanism, has one fully worked out thermal history and suggestions for other possibilities, and meets all phenomenological, cosmological and astrophysical constraints. Importantly, it incorporates a deep reason for why the dark matter mass scale is related to the proton mass, a key consideration in ADM models. Our starting point is the idea of mirror matter, which offers an explanation for dark matter by duplicating the standard model with a dark sector related by a Z2 parity symmetry. However, the dark sector need not manifest as a symmetric copy of the standard model in the present day. By utilizing the mechanism of "asymmetric symmetry breaking" with two Higgs doublets in each sector, we develop a model of ADM where the mirror symmetry is spontaneously broken, leading to an electroweak scale in the dark sector that is significantly larger than that of the visible sector. The weak sensitivity of the ordinary and dark QCD confinement scales to their respective electroweak scales leads to the necessary connection between the dark matter and proton masses. The dark matter is composed of either dark neutrons or a mixture of dark neutrons and metastable dark hydrogen atoms. Lepton asymmetries are generated by the C P -violating decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos in both sectors. These are then converted by sphaleron processes to produce the observed ratio of visible to dark matter in the universe. The dynamics responsible for the kinetic decoupling of the two sectors emerges as an important issue that we only partially solve.

  17. Excited Dark Matter versus PAMELA/Fermi

    CERN Document Server

    Cline, James M

    2010-01-01

    Excitation of multicomponent dark matter in the galactic center has been proposed as the source of low-energy positrons that produce the excess 511 keV gamma rays that have been observed by INTEGRAL. Such models have also been promoted to explain excess high-energy electrons/positrons observed by the PAMELA, Fermi/LAT and H.E.S.S. experiments. We investigate whether one model can simultaneously fit all three anomalies, in addition to further constraints from inverse Compton scattering by the high-energy leptons. We find models that fit both the 511 keV and PAMELA excesses at dark matter masses M < 400 GeV, but not the Fermi lepton excess. The conflict arises because a more cuspy DM halo profile is needed to match the observed 511 keV signal than is compatible with inverse Compton constraints at larger DM masses.

  18. From superWIMPs to decaying dark matter. Models, bounds and indirect searches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weniger, Christoph

    2010-06-01

    Despite lots of observational and theoretical efforts, the particle nature of dark matter remains unknown. Beyond the paradigmatic WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), many theoretically well motivated models exist where dark matter interacts much more weakly than electroweak with Standard Model particles. In this case new phenomena occur, like the decay of dark matter or the interference with the standard cosmology of the early Universe. In this thesis we study some of these aspects of superweakly coupled dark matter in general, and in the special case of hidden U(1) X gauginos that kinetically mix with hypercharge. There, we will assume that the gauge group remains unbroken, similar to the Standard Model U(1) em . We study different kinds of cosmological bounds, including bounds from thermal overproduction, from primordial nucleosynthesis and from structure formation. Furthermore, we study the possible cosmic-ray signatures predicted by this scenario, with emphasis on the electron and positron channel in light of the recent observations by PAMELA and Fermi LAT. Moreover we study the cosmic-ray signatures of decaying dark matter independently of concrete particle-physics models. In particular we analyze in how far the rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV, as observed by PAMELA, can be explained by dark matter decay. Lastly, we concentrate on related predictions for gamma-ray observations with the Fermi LAT, and propose to use the dipole-like anisotropy of the prompt gamma-ray dark matter signal to distinguish exotic dark matter contributions from the extragalactic gamma-ray background. (orig.)

  19. From superWIMPs to decaying dark matter. Models, bounds and indirect searches

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weniger, Christoph

    2010-06-15

    Despite lots of observational and theoretical efforts, the particle nature of dark matter remains unknown. Beyond the paradigmatic WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), many theoretically well motivated models exist where dark matter interacts much more weakly than electroweak with Standard Model particles. In this case new phenomena occur, like the decay of dark matter or the interference with the standard cosmology of the early Universe. In this thesis we study some of these aspects of superweakly coupled dark matter in general, and in the special case of hidden U(1){sub X} gauginos that kinetically mix with hypercharge. There, we will assume that the gauge group remains unbroken, similar to the Standard Model U(1){sub em}. We study different kinds of cosmological bounds, including bounds from thermal overproduction, from primordial nucleosynthesis and from structure formation. Furthermore, we study the possible cosmic-ray signatures predicted by this scenario, with emphasis on the electron and positron channel in light of the recent observations by PAMELA and Fermi LAT. Moreover we study the cosmic-ray signatures of decaying dark matter independently of concrete particle-physics models. In particular we analyze in how far the rise in the positron fraction above 10 GeV, as observed by PAMELA, can be explained by dark matter decay. Lastly, we concentrate on related predictions for gamma-ray observations with the Fermi LAT, and propose to use the dipole-like anisotropy of the prompt gamma-ray dark matter signal to distinguish exotic dark matter contributions from the extragalactic gamma-ray background. (orig.)

  20. [Relationship between groundwater quality index of nutrition element and organic matter in riparian zone and water quality in river].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hua-Shan, Xu; Tong-Qian, Zhao; Hong-Q, Meng; Zong-Xue, Xu; Chao-Hon, Ma

    2011-04-01

    Riparian zone hydrology is dominated by shallow groundwater with complex interactions between groundwater and surface water. There are obvious relations of discharge and recharge between groundwater and surface water. Flood is an important hydrological incident that affects groundwater quality in riparian zone. By observing variations of physical and chemical groundwater indicators in riparian zone at the Kouma section of the Yellow River Wetland, especially those took place in the period of regulation for water and sediment at the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, relationship between the groundwater quality in riparian zone and the flood water quality in the river is studied. Results show that there will be great risk of nitrogen, phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen and organic matter permeating into the groundwater if floodplain changes into farmland. As the special control unit of nitrogen pollution between rivers and artificial wetlands, dry fanning areas near the river play a very important role in nitrogen migration between river and groundwater. Farm manure as base fertilizer may he an important source of phosphorus leak and loss at the artificial wetlands. Phosphorus leaks into the groundwater and is transferred along the hydraulic gradient, especially during the period of regulation for water and sediment at the Xiaolangdi Reservoir. The land use types and farming systems of the riparian floodplain have a major impact on the nitrate nitrogen contents of the groundwater. Nitrogen can infiltrate and accumulate quickly at anaerobic conditions in the fish pond area, and the annual nitrogen achieves a relatively balanced state in lotus area. In those areas, the soil is flooded and at anaerobic condition in spring and summer, nitrogen infiltrates and denitrification significantly, but soil is not flooded and at aerobic condition in the autumn and winter, and during these time, a significant nitrogen nitrification process occurs. In the area between 50 m and 200 m from the river

  1. Mycorrhizal associations of trees have different indirect effects on organic matter decomposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melanie K. Taylor; Richard A. Lankau; Nina Wurzburger; Franciska de Vries

    2016-01-01

    1. Organic matter decomposition is the main process by which carbon (C) is lost from terrestrialecosystems, and mycorrhizal associations of plants (i.e. arbuscular mycorrhizas (AM) and ectomycorrhizas(ECM)) may have different indirect effects on this loss pathway. AM and ECM plants differin the soil...

  2. A hypothesis concerning the nature of dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paduroiu, Sinziana; Rusu, Mircea

    2004-01-01

    In this paper we briefly review the main observational facts that lead to the hypothesis of the so called 'dark matter' as a considerable part of the matter in the Universe that is not visible. The expansion rate of the universe, the birth of the galaxies and their rotation curves are some of the phenomena that can be explained by the existence of dark matter. Generally, there are two models for dark matter: the hot dark matter (HDM) model and the cold dark matter one (CDM). In this paper we will refer mainly to the cold dark matter model. Two different opinions regarding the nature of dark matter and its contribution to the total mass of the matter in the Universe due to a cosmological constant will be discussed. In the first part some particles candidates for dark matter like neutralino and axions will be considered and their prediction made by supersymmetry theory. In the second part different alternative models will be presented that imply singularities of the gravitational theory; inflationary models; and in particular one model that introduces a new expression in the gravitational potential as an attempt to explain the phenomena that made us believe in the existence of this kind of matter. (authors)

  3. Nutrient additions to a tropical rain forest drive substantial soil carbon dioxide losses to the atmosphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleveland, Cory C; Townsend, Alan R

    2006-07-05

    Terrestrial biosphere-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO(2)) exchange is dominated by tropical forests, where photosynthetic carbon (C) uptake is thought to be phosphorus (P)-limited. In P-poor tropical forests, P may also limit organic matter decomposition and soil C losses. We conducted a field-fertilization experiment to show that P fertilization stimulates soil respiration in a lowland tropical rain forest in Costa Rica. In the early wet season, when soluble organic matter inputs to soil are high, P fertilization drove large increases in soil respiration. Although the P-stimulated increase in soil respiration was largely confined to the dry-to-wet season transition, the seasonal increase was sufficient to drive an 18% annual increase in CO(2) efflux from the P-fertilized plots. Nitrogen (N) fertilization caused similar responses, and the net increases in soil respiration in response to the additions of N and P approached annual soil C fluxes in mid-latitude forests. Human activities are altering natural patterns of tropical soil N and P availability by land conversion and enhanced atmospheric deposition. Although our data suggest that the mechanisms driving the observed respiratory responses to increased N and P may be different, the large CO(2) losses stimulated by N and P fertilization suggest that knowledge of such patterns and their effects on soil CO(2) efflux is critical for understanding the role of tropical forests in a rapidly changing global C cycle.

  4. Simultaneous Generation of WIMP Miracle-like Densities of Baryons and Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2012-01-01

    The observed density of dark matter is of the magnitude expected for a thermal relic weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP). In addition, the observed baryon density is within an order of magnitude of the dark matter density. This suggests that the baryon density is physically related to a typical thermal relic WIMP dark matter density. We present a model which simultaneously generates thermal relic WIMP-like densities for both baryons and dark matter by modifying a large initial baryon asymmetry. Production of unstable scalars carrying baryon number at the LHC would be a clear signature of the model.

  5. Dark matter from split seesaw

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kusenko, Alexander; Takahashi, Fuminobu; Yanagida, Tsutomu T.

    2010-01-01

    The seesaw mechanism in models with extra dimensions is shown to be generically consistent with a broad range of Majorana masses. The resulting democracy of scales implies that the seesaw mechanism can naturally explain the smallness of neutrino masses for an arbitrarily small right-handed neutrino mass. If the scales of the seesaw parameters are split, with two right-handed neutrinos at a high scale and one at a keV scale, one can explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, as well as dark matter. The dark matter candidate, a sterile right-handed neutrino with mass of several keV, can account for the observed pulsar velocities and for the recent data from Chandra X-ray Observatory, which suggest the existence of a 5 keV sterile right-handed neutrino.

  6. An Index of Loss Aversion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Köbberling, V.; Wakker, P.P.

    2005-01-01

    To a considerable extent, risk aversion as it is commonly observed is caused by loss aversion. Several indexes of loss aversion have been proposed in the literature. The one proposed in this paper leads to a clear decomposition of risk attitude into three distinct components: basic utility,

  7. An Index of Loss Aversion

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    V. Köbberling (Veronika); P.P. Wakker (Peter)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractTo a considerable extent, risk aversion as it is commonly observed is caused by loss aversion. Several indexes of loss aversion have been proposed in the literature. The one proposed in this paper leads to a clear decomposition of risk attitude into three distinct components: basic

  8. QCD Axion Dark Matter with a Small Decay Constant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Co, Raymond T; Hall, Lawrence J; Harigaya, Keisuke

    2018-05-25

    The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant f_{a}∼O(10^{11})  GeV (or higher). We introduce a new cosmological origin for axion dark matter, parametric resonance from oscillations of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field, that requires f_{a}∼(10^{8}-10^{11})  GeV. The axions may be warm enough to give deviations from cold dark matter in large scale structure.

  9. Quark Energy Loss and Shadowing in Nuclear Drell-Yan Process

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    DUAN Chun-Gui; CUI Shu-Wen; YAN Zhan-Yuan

    2005-01-01

    The energy loss effect in nuclear matter is another nuclear effect apart from the nuclear effects on the parton distribution as in deep inelastic scattering process. The quark energy loss can be measured best by the nuclear dependence of the high energy nuclear Drell-Yan process. By means of three kinds of quark energy loss parameterizations given in literature and the nuclear parton distribution extracted only with lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering experimental data, measured Drell-Yan production cross sections are analyzed for 800 GeV proton incident on a variety of nuclear targets from FNAL E866. It is shown that our results with considering the energy loss effect are much different from those of the FNAL E866, who analyzes the experimental data with the nuclear parton distribution functions obtained by using the deep inelastic IA collisions and pA nuclear Drell-Yan data. Considering the existence of energy loss effect in Drell-Yan lepton pairs production, we suggest that the extraction of nuclear parton distribution functions should not include Drell-Yan experimental data.

  10. Quark Energy Loss and Shadowing in Nuclear Drell-Yan Process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duan Chungui; Cui Shuwen; Yan Zhanyuan

    2005-01-01

    The energy loss effect in nuclear matter is another nuclear effect apart from the nuclear effects on the parton distribution as in deep inelastic scattering process. The quark energy loss can be measured best by the nuclear dependence of the high energy nuclear Drell-Yan process. By means of three kinds of quark energy loss parameterizations given in literature and the nuclear parton distribution extracted only with lepton-nucleus deep inelastic scattering experimental data, measured Drell-Yan production cross sections are analyzed for 800 GeV proton incident on a variety of nuclear targets from FNAL E866. It is shown that our results with considering the energy loss effect are much different from those of the FNAL E866, who analyzes the experimental data with the nuclear parton distribution functions obtained by using the deep inelastic lA collisions and pA nuclear Drell-Yan data. Considering the existence of energy loss effect in Drell-Yan lepton pairs production, we suggest that the extraction of nuclear parton distribution functions should not include Drell-Yan experimental data.

  11. Axion dark matter and the 21-cm signal

    OpenAIRE

    Sikivie, Pierre

    2018-01-01

    It was shown in ref. [1] that cold dark matter axions reach thermal contact with baryons, and therefore cool them, shortly after the axions thermalize among themselves and form a Bose-Einstein condensate. The recent observation by the EDGES collaboration of a baryon temperature at cosmic dawn lower than expected under "standard" assumptions is interpreted as new evidence that the dark matter is axions, at least in part. Baryon cooling by dark matter axions is found to be consistent with the o...

  12. Indirect dark matter searches: current status and perspectives

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2016-01-01

    Many theoretical ideas for the particle nature of dark matter exist. The  most popular models often predict that dark matter particles self-annihilate or decay, giving rise to potentially detectable signatures in astronomical observations.  I will summarize the current status of searches for such signatures and critically reassess recent claims for dark matter signals.  I will further provide an outlook on anticipated developments in the next 10 years, and discuss new methods to facilitate strategy development.

  13. Subacute normobaric oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen therapy in drowning, reversal of brain volume loss: a case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul G Harch

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A 2-year-old girl experienced cardiac arrest after cold water drowning. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI showed deep gray matter injury on day 4 and cerebral atrophy with gray and white matter loss on day 32. Patient had no speech, gait, or responsiveness to commands on day 48 at hospital discharge. She received normobaric 100% oxygen treatment (2 L/minute for 45 minutes by nasal cannula, twice/day since day 56 and then hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT at 1.3 atmosphere absolute (131.7 kPa air/45 minutes, 5 days/week for 40 sessions since day 79; visually apparent and/or physical examination-documented neurological improvement occurred upon initiating each therapy. After HBOT, the patient had normal speech and cognition, assisted gait, residual fine motor and temperament deficits. MRI at 5 months after injury and 27 days after HBOT showed near-normalization of ventricles and reversal of atrophy. Subacute normobaric oxygen and HBOT were able to restore drowning-induced cortical gray matter and white matter loss, as documented by sequential MRI, and simultaneous neurological function, as documented by video and physical examinations.

  14. 'Shrink' losses in commercially sized corn silage piles: Quantifying total losses and where they occur.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, P H; Swanepoel, N; Heguy, J M; Price, T; Meyer, D M

    2016-01-15

    Silage 'shrink' (i.e., loss of fresh chopped crop between ensiling and feedout) represents a nutrient loss which can degrade air quality as volatile carbon compounds, degrade surface waterways due to seepage, or degrade aquifers due to seepage. Virtually no research has documented shrink in large silage piles. The term 'shrink' is often ill defined, but can be expressed as losses of wet weight (WW), oven dry matter (oDM), and oDM corrected for volatiles lost in the drying oven (vcoDM). Corn silage piles (4 wedge, 2 rollover/wedge, 1 bunker) from 950 to 12,204 tonnes as built, on concrete (4), soil (2) and a combination (1) in California's San Joaquin Valley, using a bacterial inoculant, covered within 24 h with an oxygen barrier inner film and black/white outer plastic, fed out using large front end loaders through an electronic feed tracking system, and from the 2013 crop year, were used. Shrink as WW, oDM and vcoDM were 90±17, 68±18 and 28±21 g/kg, suggesting that much WW shrink is water and much oDM shrink is volatiles lost during analytical oven drying. Most shrink occurred in the silage mass with losses from exposed silage faces, as well as between exposed face silage removal and the total mixed ration mixer, being low. Silage bulk density, exposed silage face management and face use rate did not have obvious impacts on any shrink measure, but age of the silage pile during silage feedout impacted shrink losses ('older' silage piles being higher), but most strongly for WW shrink. Real shrink losses (i.e., vcoDM) of large well managed corn silage piles are low, the exposed silage face is a small portion of losses, and many proposed shrink mitigations appeared ineffective, possibly because shrink was low overall and they are largely directed at the exposed silage face. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Dry matter production, radiation interception and radiation use efficiency of potato in response to temperature and nitrogen application regimes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhenjiang, Zhou; Plauborg, Finn; Kristensen, Kristian

    2017-01-01

    while N rate varied from 0 to 180 kg ha−1. Statistical analysis using mixed modelling detected two clear features: Both temperature and N supply were important factors for dry matter production. Higher temperatures were associated with decreased dry matter production mainly through its negative effect...... on radiation use efficiency (RUE) when comparing inter-annual variation in dry matter production. The loss of tuber dry matter was c. 10% per °C, which is higher than estimated in previous studies. Specifically, compared to mean air temperature from end of tuber initiation to maturity, mean air temperature...... from emergence to end of tuber initiation was more important for dry matter production. N supply promoted dry matter production (p

  16. Bouncing Cosmologies with Dark Matter and Dark Energy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi-Fu Cai

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available We review matter bounce scenarios where the matter content is dark matter and dark energy. These cosmologies predict a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum with a slightly red tilt for scalar perturbations and a small tensor-to-scalar ratio. Importantly, these models predict a positive running of the scalar index, contrary to the predictions of the simplest inflationary and ekpyrotic models, and hence, could potentially be falsified by future observations. We also review how bouncing cosmological space-times can arise in theories where either the Einstein equations are modified or where matter fields that violate the null energy condition are included.

  17. Dark matter influence on black objects thermodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogatko, Marek; Wojnar, Aneta

    2018-05-01

    Physical process version of the first law of black hole thermodynamics in Einstein-Maxwell dark matter gravity was derived. The dark matter sector is mimicked by the additional U(1)-gauge field coupled to the ordinary Maxwell one. By considering any cross section of the black hole event horizon to the future of the bifurcation surface, the equilibrium state version of the first law of black hole mechanics was achieved. The considerations were generalized to the case of Einstein-Yang-Mills dark matter gravity theory. The main conclusion is that the influence of dark matter is crucial in the formation process of black objects. This fact may constitute the explanation of the recent observations of the enormous mass of the super luminous quasars formed in a relatively short time after Big Bang. We also pay attention to the compact binaries thermodynamics, when dark matter sector enters the game.

  18. Dark Matter Reality Check: Chandra Casts Cloud On Alternative Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-10-01

    New evidence from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory challenges an alternative theory of gravity that eliminates the need for dark matter. The observation also narrows the field for competing forms of dark matter, the elusive material thought to be the dominant form of matter in the universe. An observation of the galaxy NGC 720 shows it is enveloped in a slightly flattened, or ellipsoidal cloud of hot gas that has an orientation different from that of the optical image of the galaxy. The flattening is too large to be explained by theories in which stars and gas are assumed to contain most of the mass in the galaxy. "The shape and orientation of the hot gas cloud require it to be confined by an egg-shaped dark matter halo," said David Buote of the University of California, Irvine, and lead author of a report on this research in the 2002 September 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal. "This means that dark matter is not just an illusion due to a shortcoming of the standard theory of gravity - it is real." According to the generally accepted standard theory of gravity, the hot X-ray cloud would need an additional source of gravity - a halo of dark matter - to keep the hot gas from expanding away. The mass of dark matter required would be about five to ten times the mass of the stars in the galaxy. If the dark matter tracked the optical light from the stars in the galaxy, the hot X-ray cloud would be more round than it is. The flattened shape of the hot gas cloud requires a flattened dark matter halo. An alternative theory of gravity called MOND, for Modified Newtonian Dynamics, was proposed in 1983 by Mordecai Milgrom of the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and has remained viable over the years. MOND does away with the need for dark matter by modifying the theory where the acceleration produced by gravity is very small, such as the outskirts of galaxies. However, MOND cannot explain the Chandra observation of NGC 720. This is apparently the first dynamical evidence that

  19. NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-08-01

    Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter. "This is the most energetic cosmic event, besides the Big Bang, which we know about," said team member Maxim Markevitch of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. Lensing Illustration Gravitational Lensing Explanation These observations provide the strongest evidence yet that most of the matter in the universe is dark. Despite considerable evidence for dark matter, some scientists have proposed alternative theories for gravity where it is stronger on intergalactic scales than predicted by Newton and Einstein, removing the need for dark matter. However, such theories cannot explain the observed effects of this collision. "A universe that's dominated by dark stuff seems preposterous, so we wanted to test whether there were any basic flaws in our thinking," said Doug Clowe of the University of Arizona at Tucson, and leader of the study. "These results are direct proof that dark matter exists." Animation of Cluster Collision Animation of Cluster Collision In galaxy clusters, the normal matter, like the atoms that make up the stars, planets, and everything on Earth, is primarily in the form of hot gas and stars. The mass of the hot gas between the galaxies is far greater than the mass of the stars in all of the galaxies. This normal matter is bound in the cluster by the gravity of an even greater mass of dark matter. Without dark matter, which is invisible and can only be detected through its gravity, the fast-moving galaxies and the hot gas would quickly fly apart. The team was granted more than 100 hours on the Chandra telescope to observe the galaxy cluster 1E0657-56. The cluster is also known as the bullet cluster, because it contains a spectacular bullet-shaped cloud of hundred

  20. DaMaSCUS-CRUST: Dark Matter Simulation Code for Underground Scatterings - Crust Edition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emken, Timon; Kouvaris, Chris

    2018-03-01

    DaMaSCUS-CRUST determines the critical cross-section for strongly interacting DM for various direct detection experiments systematically and precisely using Monte Carlo simulations of DM trajectories inside the Earth's crust, atmosphere, or any kind of shielding. Above a critical dark matter-nucleus scattering cross section, any terrestrial direct detection experiment loses sensitivity to dark matter, since the Earth crust, atmosphere, and potential shielding layers start to block off the dark matter particles. This critical cross section is commonly determined by describing the average energy loss of the dark matter particles analytically. However, this treatment overestimates the stopping power of the Earth crust; therefore, the obtained bounds should be considered as conservative. DaMaSCUS-CRUST is a modified version of DaMaSCUS (ascl:1706.003) that accounts for shielding effects and returns a precise exclusion band.

  1. Direct and indirect detection of dissipative dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fan, JiJi; Katz, Andrey; Shelton, Jessie, E-mail: jijifan1982@gmail.com, E-mail: katz.andrey@gmail.com, E-mail: jshelton137@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

    2014-06-01

    We study the constraints from direct detection and solar capture on dark matter scenarios with a subdominant dissipative component. This dissipative dark matter component in general has both a symmetric and asymmetric relic abundance. Dissipative dynamics allow this subdominant dark matter component to cool, resulting in its partial or total collapse into a smaller volume inside the halo (e.g., a dark disk) as well as a reduced thermal velocity dispersion compared to that of normal cold dark matter. We first show that these features considerably relax the limits from direct detection experiments on the couplings between standard model (SM) particles and dissipative dark matter. On the other hand, indirect detection of the annihilation of the symmetric dissipative dark matter component inside the Sun sets stringent and robust constraints on the properties of the dissipative dark matter. In particular, IceCube observations force dissipative dark matter particles with mass above 50 GeV to either have a small coupling to the SM or a low local density in the solar system, or to have a nearly asymmetric relic abundance. Possible helioseismology signals associated with purely asymmetric dissipative dark matter are discussed, with no present constraints.

  2. Direct and indirect detection of dissipative dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fan, JiJi; Katz, Andrey; Shelton, Jessie

    2014-01-01

    We study the constraints from direct detection and solar capture on dark matter scenarios with a subdominant dissipative component. This dissipative dark matter component in general has both a symmetric and asymmetric relic abundance. Dissipative dynamics allow this subdominant dark matter component to cool, resulting in its partial or total collapse into a smaller volume inside the halo (e.g., a dark disk) as well as a reduced thermal velocity dispersion compared to that of normal cold dark matter. We first show that these features considerably relax the limits from direct detection experiments on the couplings between standard model (SM) particles and dissipative dark matter. On the other hand, indirect detection of the annihilation of the symmetric dissipative dark matter component inside the Sun sets stringent and robust constraints on the properties of the dissipative dark matter. In particular, IceCube observations force dissipative dark matter particles with mass above 50 GeV to either have a small coupling to the SM or a low local density in the solar system, or to have a nearly asymmetric relic abundance. Possible helioseismology signals associated with purely asymmetric dissipative dark matter are discussed, with no present constraints

  3. Ultralight particle dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ringwald, A.

    2013-10-01

    We review the physics case for very weakly coupled ultralight particles beyond the Standard Model, in particular for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs): (i) the axionic solution of the strong CP problem and its embedding in well motivated extensions of the Standard Model; (ii) the possibility that the cold dark matter in the Universe is comprised of axions and ALPs; (iii) the ALP explanation of the anomalous transparency of the Universe for TeV photons; and (iv) the axion or ALP explanation of the anomalous energy loss of white dwarfs. Moreover, we present an overview of ongoing and near-future laboratory experiments searching for axions and ALPs: haloscopes, helioscopes, and light-shining-through-a-wall experiments.

  4. Ultralight particle dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ringwald, A.

    2013-10-15

    We review the physics case for very weakly coupled ultralight particles beyond the Standard Model, in particular for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs): (i) the axionic solution of the strong CP problem and its embedding in well motivated extensions of the Standard Model; (ii) the possibility that the cold dark matter in the Universe is comprised of axions and ALPs; (iii) the ALP explanation of the anomalous transparency of the Universe for TeV photons; and (iv) the axion or ALP explanation of the anomalous energy loss of white dwarfs. Moreover, we present an overview of ongoing and near-future laboratory experiments searching for axions and ALPs: haloscopes, helioscopes, and light-shining-through-a-wall experiments.

  5. Critical Opalescence in Baryonic QCD Matter

    OpenAIRE

    Antoniou, N. G.; Diakonos, F. K.; Kapoyannis, A. S.; Kousouris, K. S.

    2006-01-01

    We show that critical opalescence, a clear signature of second-order phase transition in conventional matter, manifests itself as critical intermittency in QCD matter produced in experiments with nuclei. This behaviour is revealed in transverse momentum spectra as a pattern of power laws in factorial moments, to all orders, associated with baryon production. This phenomenon together with a similar effect in the isoscalar sector of pions (sigma mode) provide us with a set of observables associ...

  6. Dark Matter Searches with the ATLAS Detector

    CERN Document Server

    Elliot, Alison; The ATLAS collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as their signature.  The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches on the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  7. Dark Matter Searches with the ATLAS detector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elliot Alison

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The presence of a non-baryonic dark matter component in the Universe is inferred from the observation of its gravitational interaction. If dark matter interacts weakly with the Standard Model it would be produced at the LHC, escaping the detector and leaving a large missing transverse momentum as its signature. The ATLAS detector has developed a broad and systematic search program for dark matter production in LHC collisions. The results of these searches on the first 13 TeV data, their interpretation, and the design and possible evolution of the search program will be presented.

  8. Fermi/LAT observations of dwarf galaxies highly constrain a dark matter interpretation of excess positrons seen in AMS-02, HEAT, and PAMELA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    López, Alejandro [Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, 450 Church St., Ann Arbor (United States); Savage, Christopher [Nordita (Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics), KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, Stockholm (Sweden); Spolyar, Douglas; Adams, Douglas Q., E-mail: aolopez@umich.edu, E-mail: chris@savage.name, E-mail: dspolyar@gmail.com, E-mail: doug.q.adams@gmail.com [Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Stockholm University, Roslagstullsbacken 23, Roslagstullsbacken 21, Stockholm (Sweden)

    2016-03-01

    It is shown that a Weakly Interacting Massive dark matter Particle (WIMP) interpretation for the positron excess observed in a variety of experiments, HEAT, PAMELA, and AMS-02, is highly constrained by the Fermi/LAT observations of dwarf galaxies. In particular, this paper examines the annihilation channels that best fit the current AMS-02 data (Boudaud et al., 2014), specifically focusing on channels and parameter space not previously explored by the Fermi/LAT collaboration. The Fermi satellite has surveyed the γ-ray sky, and its observations of dwarf satellites are used to place strong bounds on the annihilation of WIMPs into a variety of channels. For the single channel case, we find that dark matter annihilation into (b b-bar ,e{sup +}e{sup -}, μ{sup +}μ{sup -}, τ{sup +}τ{sup -},4-e or 4-τ ) is ruled out as an explanation of the AMS positron excess (here b quarks are a proxy for all quarks, gauge and Higgs bosons). In addition, we find that the Fermi/LAT 2σ upper limits, assuming the best-fit AMS-02 branching ratios, exclude multichannel combinations into b b-bar and leptons. The tension between the results might relax if the branching ratios are allowed to deviate from their best-fit values, though a substantial change would be required. Of all the channels we considered, the only viable channel that survives the Fermi/LAT constraint and produces a good fit to the AMS-02 data is annihilation (via a mediator) to 4-μ, or mainly to 4-μ in the case of multichannel combinations.

  9. Simplified dark matter models in the light of AMS-02 antiproton data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Tong [ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Tera-scale,School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University,Melbourne, Victoria 3800 (Australia)

    2017-04-19

    In this work we perform an analysis of the recent AMS-02 antiproton flux and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the framework of simplified dark matter models. To predict the AMS-02 observables we adopt the propagation and injection parameters determined by the observed fluxes of nuclei. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Dirac fermionic dark matter, with leptophobic pseudoscalar or axialvector mediator that couples only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter particles. We find that the AMS-02 observations are consistent with the dark matter framework within the uncertainties. The antiproton data prefer a dark matter (mediator) mass in the 700 GeV–5 TeV region for the annihilation with pseudoscalar mediator and greater than 700 GeV (200 GeV–1 TeV) for the annihilation with axialvector mediator, respectively, at about 68% confidence level. The AMS-02 data require an effective dark matter annihilation cross section in the region of 1×10{sup −25}–1×10{sup −24} (1×10{sup −25}–4×10{sup −24}) cm{sup 3}/s for the simplified model with pseudoscalar (axialvector) mediator. The constraints from the LHC and Fermi-LAT are also discussed.

  10. Simplified dark matter models in the light of AMS-02 antiproton data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Tong

    2017-01-01

    In this work we perform an analysis of the recent AMS-02 antiproton flux and the antiproton-to-proton ratio in the framework of simplified dark matter models. To predict the AMS-02 observables we adopt the propagation and injection parameters determined by the observed fluxes of nuclei. We assume that the dark matter particle is a Dirac fermionic dark matter, with leptophobic pseudoscalar or axialvector mediator that couples only to Standard Model quarks and dark matter particles. We find that the AMS-02 observations are consistent with the dark matter framework within the uncertainties. The antiproton data prefer a dark matter (mediator) mass in the 700 GeV–5 TeV region for the annihilation with pseudoscalar mediator and greater than 700 GeV (200 GeV–1 TeV) for the annihilation with axialvector mediator, respectively, at about 68% confidence level. The AMS-02 data require an effective dark matter annihilation cross section in the region of 1×10 −25 –1×10 −24 (1×10 −25 –4×10 −24 ) cm 3 /s for the simplified model with pseudoscalar (axialvector) mediator. The constraints from the LHC and Fermi-LAT are also discussed.

  11. Matter, dark matter, and anti-matter in search of the hidden universe

    CERN Document Server

    Mazure, Alain

    2012-01-01

    For over ten years, the dark side of the universe has been headline news. Detailed studies of the rotation of spiral galaxies, and 'mirages' created by clusters of galaxies bending the light from very remote objects, have convinced astronomers of the presence of large quantities of dark (unseen) matter in the cosmos. Moreover, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some four to five billion years ago the expansion of the universe entered a phase of acceleration. This implies the existence of dark energy. The nature of these 'dark; ingredients remains a mystery, but they seem to comprise about 95 percent of the matter/energy content of the universe. As for ordinary matter, although we are immersed in a sea of dark particles, including primordial neutrinos and photons from 'fossil' cosmological radiation, both we and our environment are made of ordinary, baryonic matter. Strangely, even if 15-20 percent of matter is baryonic matter, this represents only 4-5 percent of the total matter/energy content of the cosmos...

  12. Mass limits on neutralino dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gilmore, Rudy C.

    2007-01-01

    We set an upper limit on the mass of a supersymmetric neutralino dark matter particle using the MicrOMEGAS and DarkSUSY software packages and the most recent constraints on relic density from combined Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. We explore several different possible scenarios within the minimal supersymmetric standard model, including coannihilation with charginos and sfermions and annihilation through a massive Higgs resonance, using low-energy mass inputs. We find that no coannihilation scenario is consistent with dark matter in observed abundance with a mass greater than 2.5 TeV for a W-ino-type particle or 1.8 TeV for a Higgsino-type. Contrived scenarios involving Higgs resonances with finely tuned mass parameters can allow masses as high as 34 TeV. The resulting gamma-ray energy distribution is not in agreement with the recent multi-TeV gamma-ray spectrum observed by H. E. S. S. originating from the center of the Milky Way. Our results are relevant only for dark matter densities resulting from a thermal origin

  13. Molybdenum isotope fractionation during adsorption to organic matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Elizabeth K.; Perakis, Steven; Pett-Ridge, Julie C.

    2018-01-01

    Organic matter is of emerging interest as a control on molybdenum (Mo) biogeochemistry, and information on isotope fractionation during adsorption to organic matter can improve interpretations of Mo isotope variations in natural settings. Molybdenum isotope fractionation was investigated during adsorption onto insolubilized humic acid (IHA), a surrogate for organic matter, as a function of time (2–170 h) and pH (2–7). For the time series experiment performed at pH 4.2, the average Mo isotope fractionation between the solution and the IHA (Δ98Mosolution-IHA) was 1.39‰ (± 0.16‰, 2σ, based on 98Mo/95Mo relative to the NIST 3134 standard) at steady state. For the pH series experiment, Mo adsorption decreased as pH increased from 2.0 to 6.9, and the Δ98Mosolution-IHA increased from 0.82‰ to 1.79‰. We also evaluated natural Mo isotope patterns in precipitation, foliage, organic horizon, surface mineral soil, and bedrock from 12 forested sites in the Oregon Coast Range. The average Mo isotope offset observed between precipitation and organic (O) horizon soil was 2.1‰, with light Mo isotopes adsorbing preferentially to organic matter. Fractionation during adsorption to organic matter is similar in magnitude and direction to prior observations of Mo fractionation during adsorption to Fe- and Mn- (oxyhydr)oxides. Our finding that organic matter influences Mo isotope composition has important implications for the role of organic matter as a driver of trace metal retention and isotopic fractionation.

  14. Detection of dark-matter-radiation of stars during visible sun eclipses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Volkamer, Klaus

    2003-01-01

    Recently a so-far unknown form of quantized, cold dark matter was detected on a laboratory scale which shows a complementary structure as compared to known forms of matter. From the experiments results that the observed quanta of the new type of matter as integer multiples of the Planck mass (mp = n · √((h·c)/((2 · π · G))) = n 0 21.77 μg, with n = 1, 2, 3 etc.) exhibit a spatially extended 'field-like' structure ranging over distances of centimetres or more, opposite to the 'point-like' structure of the known elementary particles of the standard model. Association of quanta of the new form of 'soft' (or subtle) matter to clusters was observed, as well as re-clustering after absorption. Thus, between such quanta a physical interaction must exist. In addition, the new form of matter shows at least two interactions with normal matter, a gravitational one due to its real mass content and a so-far unknown 'topological', i.e. form-specific, interaction at phase borders. Additional indications for a weak electromagnetic interaction exist. Furthermore, the experimental results reveal that some types of quanta of the new form of 'field-like' matter exhibit positive mass, as normal matter, but others exhibit a negative mass content, both in the order of magnitude of the Planck mass. Memory effects in normal matter were detected after absorption of quanta of the new form of soft matter. In general, the findings characterize the quanta of 'fieldlike' matter as WIMP candidates of a cosmic background radiation of cold dark matter (quanta with positive mass) as well as of a cosmic background radiation of dark energy (quanta with negative mass). During visible sun eclipses in 1989, 1996 and. 1999, as well as during full moon of 6 January 2001, a so-far unknown form of dark-matter-radiation ('dark radiation') was detected. The quanta of this 'dark radiation' travel with the speed of light, but reveal macroscopic real mass, with positive and with negative mass content. The

  15. Strategies for Determining the Nature of Dark Matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hooper, Dan; Fermilab; Baltz, Edward A.

    2008-01-01

    In this review, we discuss the role of the various experimental programs taking part in the broader effort to identify the particle nature of dark matter. In particular, we focus on electroweak scale dark matter particles and discuss a wide range of search strategies being carried out and developed to detect them. These efforts include direct detection experiments, which attempt to observe the elastic scattering of dark matter particles with nuclei, indirect detection experiments, which search for photons, antimatter and neutrinos produced as a result of dark matter annihilations, and collider searches for new TeV-scale physics. Each of these techniques could potentially provide a different and complementary set of information related to the mass, interactions and distribution of dark matter. Ultimately, it is hoped that these many different tools will be used together to conclusively identify the particle or particles that constitute the dark matter of our universe

  16. Observing Classroom Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danielson, Charlotte

    2012-01-01

    Classroom observation is a crucial aspect of any system of teacher evaluation. No matter how skilled a teacher is in other aspects of teaching--such as careful planning, working well with colleagues, and communicating with parents--if classroom practice is deficient, that individual cannot be considered a good teacher. Classroom observations can…

  17. Neutron star evolution and the structure of matter at high density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soyeur, Madeleine.

    1981-09-01

    The structure and properties of neutron stars are determined by the state of cold nuclear matter at high density. In order to investigate the behavior of matter inside neutron stars, observables sensitive to their internal structure have to be calculated and confronted to observations. The thermal radiation of neutron stars seems to be a good candidate to be such observable. It can be shown that the neutrino luminosity of neutron stars, responsible for their cooling in the early stages of their evolution is strongly dependent on possible phase transitions to superfluid nucleons, to pion condensation or to quark matter. The specific heat of matter is also not the same in the various phases expected at high density and is particularly sensitive to the nucleon superfluidity. At present, both the theoretical estimates and the observations of the thermal properties of neutron stars are still quite preliminary. In particular, large uncertainties due to possible reheating mechanisms and magnetic field effects make the theoretical interpretation of the steady radiation of pulsars quite difficult

  18. Can mountain glacier melting explains the GRACE-observed mass loss in the southeast Tibetan Plateau: From a climate perspective?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Chunqiao; Ke, Linghong; Huang, Bo; Richards, Keith S.

    2015-01-01

    The southeast Tibetan Plateau (SETP) includes the majority of monsoonal temperate glaciers in High Mountain Asia (HMA), which is an important source of water for the upper reaches of several large Asian river systems. Climatic change and variability has substantial impacts on cryosphere and hydrological processes in the SETP. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) gravimetry observations between 2003 and 2009 suggest that there was an average mass loss rate of - 5.99 ± 2.78 Gigatonnes (Gt)/yr in this region. Meanwhile, the hydrological data by model calculations from the GLDAS/Noah and CPC are used to estimate terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes with a slight negative trend of about - 0.3 Gt/yr. The recent studies (Kääb et al., 2012; Gardner et al., 2013) reported the thinning rates of mountain glaciers in HMA based on the satellite laser altimetry, and an approximate estimation of the glacier mass budget in the SETP was 4.69 ± 2.03 Gt/yr during 2003-2009. This estimate accounted for a large proportion ( 78.3%) of the difference between the GRACE TWS and model-calculated TWS changes. To better understand the cause of sharp mass loss existing in the SETP, the correlations between key climatic variables (precipitation and temperature) and the GRACE TWS changes are examined at different timescales between 2003 and 2011. The results show that precipitation is the leading factors of abrupt, seasonal and multi-year undulating signals of GRACE TWS anomaly time series, but with weak correlations with the inter-annual trend and annual mass budget of GRACE TWS. In contrast, the annual mean temperature is tightly associated with the annual net mass budget (r = 0.81, p < 0.01), which indirectly suggests that the GRACE-observed mass loss in the SETP may be highly related to glacial processes.

  19. PPPC 4 DMν: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for Neutrinos from Dark Matter annihilations in the Sun

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baratella, Pietro; Cirelli, Marco; Hektor, Andi; Pata, Joosep; Piibeleht, Morten; Strumia, Alessandro

    2014-01-01

    We provide ingredients and recipes for computing neutrino signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun. For each annihilation channel and DM mass we present the energy spectra of neutrinos at production, including: state-of-the-art energy losses of primary particles in solar matter, secondary neutrinos, electroweak radiation. We then present the spectra after propagation to the Earth, including (vacuum and matter) flavor oscillations and interactions in solar matter. We also provide a numerical computation of the capture rate of DM particles in the Sun. These results are available in numerical form http://www.marcocirelli.net/PPPC4DMID.html

  20. PPPC 4 DMν: a Poor Particle Physicist Cookbook for Neutrinos from Dark Matter annihilations in the Sun

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baratella, Pietro [Scuola Normale Superiore and INFN, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, Pisa, 56126 (Italy); Cirelli, Marco [Institut de Physique Théorique, CNRS URA 2306 & CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 (France); Hektor, Andi [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Ravala 10, Tallinn (Estonia); Helsinki Institute of Physics, P.O. Box 64, Helsinki, FI-00014 (Finland); Pata, Joosep; Piibeleht, Morten [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Ravala 10, Tallinn (Estonia); Strumia, Alessandro [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Ravala 10, Tallinn (Estonia); Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Pisa and INFN, Largo Buonarroti 2, Pisa (Italy)

    2014-03-27

    We provide ingredients and recipes for computing neutrino signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun. For each annihilation channel and DM mass we present the energy spectra of neutrinos at production, including: state-of-the-art energy losses of primary particles in solar matter, secondary neutrinos, electroweak radiation. We then present the spectra after propagation to the Earth, including (vacuum and matter) flavor oscillations and interactions in solar matter. We also provide a numerical computation of the capture rate of DM particles in the Sun. These results are available in numerical form http://www.marcocirelli.net/PPPC4DMID.html.

  1. Quantifying Matter

    CERN Document Server

    Angelo, Joseph A

    2011-01-01

    Quantifying Matter explains how scientists learned to measure matter and quantify some of its most fascinating and useful properties. It presents many of the most important intellectual achievements and technical developments that led to the scientific interpretation of substance. Complete with full-color photographs, this exciting new volume describes the basic characteristics and properties of matter. Chapters include:. -Exploring the Nature of Matter. -The Origin of Matter. -The Search for Substance. -Quantifying Matter During the Scientific Revolution. -Understanding Matter's Electromagnet

  2. Decaying dark matter and the PAMELA anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibarra, Alejandro; Tran, David

    2009-01-01

    Astrophysical and cosmological observations do not require the dark matter particles to be absolutely stable. If they are indeed unstable, their decay into positrons might occur at a sufficiently large rate to allow the indirect detection of dark matter through an anomalous contribution to the cosmic positron flux. In this paper we discuss the implications of the excess in the positron fraction recently reported by the PAMELA collaboration for the scenario of decaying dark matter. To this end, we have performed a model-independent analysis of possible signatures by studying various decay channels in the case of both a fermionic and a scalar dark matter particle. We find that the steep rise in the positron fraction measured by PAMELA at energies larger than 10 GeV can naturally be accommodated in several realizations of the decaying dark matter scenario. The data point toward a rather heavy dark matter particle, m DM ∼> 300 GeV, which preferentially decays directly into first or second generation charged leptons with a lifetime τ DM ∼ 10 26 s

  3. Bound-state formation for thermal relic dark matter and unitarity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harling, Benedict von; Petraki, Kalliopi

    2014-01-01

    We show that the relic abundance of thermal dark matter annihilating via a long-range interaction, is significantly affected by the formation and decay of dark matter bound states in the early universe, if the dark matter mass is above a few TeV . We determine the coupling required to obtain the observed dark matter density, taking into account both the direct 2-to-2 annihilations and the formation of bound states, and provide an analytical fit. We argue that the unitarity limit on the inelastic cross-section is realized only if dark matter annihilates via a long-range interaction, and we determine the upper bound on the mass of thermal-relic dark matter to be about 197 (139) TeV for (non)-self-conjugate dark matter

  4. Proceedings of workshop on dark matter and the structure of the universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sasaki, Misao

    1989-10-01

    The workshop on 'Dark matter and the structure of the universe' was held from January 29 to February 1, 1989 at the Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, Hiroshima University. It aimed at clarifying the basic theoretical problems of the dark matter and the structure of the universe, and gaining inspiration on the direction of future research. In the first half of the workshop, the observed data on the large scale structure were critically reviewed, and some new ideas and theoretical frameworks which relate the actual cosmological structure to the observable quantities were presented. In the second half of the workshop, the various possible matters being proposed for the dark matter were examined in the light of both observed (or experimental) data and theoretical predictions. The speakers in the workshop gave well prepared, stimulative talks, and made it possible for the participants to have fruitful and constructive discussions. The workshop was supported partially by the Grant in Aid for Scientific Research, Ministry of Education, and by the Research Institute for Theoretical Physics, Hiroshima University. In this report, eight presentations on observational and theoretical cosmology and ten on dark matter and galaxy formation are collected. (K.I.)

  5. Asymmetric dark matter and baryogenesis from pseudoscalar inflation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cado, Yann; Sabancilar, Eray, E-mail: yann.cado@epfl.ch, E-mail: eray.sabancilar@epfl.ch [Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology, Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

    2017-04-01

    We show that both the baryon asymmetry of the Universe and the dark matter abundance can be explained within a single framework that makes use of maximally helical hypermagnetic fields produced during pseudoscalar inflation and the chiral anomaly in the Standard Model. We consider a minimal asymmetric dark matter model free from anomalies and constraints. We find that the observed baryon and the dark matter abundances are achieved for a wide range of inflationary parameters, and the dark matter mass ranges between 7–15 GeV . The novelty of our mechanism stems from the fact that the same source of CP violation occurring during inflation explains both baryonic and dark matter in the Universe with two inflationary parameters, hence addressing all the initial condition problems in an economical way.

  6. Energy loss of muons in the energy range 1-10000 GeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lohmann, W.; Kopp, R.; Voss, R.

    1985-01-01

    A summary is given of the most recent formulae for the cross-sections contributing to the energy loss of muons in matter, notably due to electro-magnetic interactions (ionization, bremsstrahlung and electron-pair production) and nuclear interactions. Computed energy losses dE/dx are tabulated for muons with energy between 1 GeV and 10,000 GeV in a number of materials commonly used in high-energy physics experiments. In comparison with earlier tables, these show deviations that grow with energy and amount to several per cent at 200 GeV muon energy. (orig.)

  7. Challenges for the kinetic unified dark matter model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giannakis, Dimitrios; Hu, Wayne

    2005-01-01

    Given that the dark matter and dark energy in the Universe affect cosmological observables only gravitationally, their phenomenology may be described by a single stress-energy tensor. True unification however requires a theory that reproduces the successful phenomenology of ΛCDM and that requirement places specific constraints on the stress structure of the matter. We show that a recently proposed unification through an offset quadratic kinetic term for a scalar field is exactly equivalent to a fluid with a closed-form barotropic equation of state plus cosmological constant. The finite pressure at high densities introduces a cutoff in the linear power spectrum, which may alleviate the dark matter substructure problem; we provide a convenient fitting function for such studies. Given that sufficient power must remain to reionize the Universe, the equation of state today is nonrelativistic with p∝ρ 2 and a Jeans scale in the parsec regime for all relevant densities. Structure may then be evolved into the nonlinear regime with standard hydrodynamic techniques. In fact, the model is equivalent to the well-studied collisional dark matter with negligible mean free path. If recent observations of the triaxiality of dark matter halos and ram pressure stripping in galaxy clusters are confirmed, this model will be ruled out

  8. Plasma end-loss studies on Scylla I-C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKenna, K.F.; York, T.M.

    1976-08-01

    The end-loss process in the collision dominated Scylla I-C plasma has been investigated with a local pressure sensitive diagnostic, integrated density measurement and axially arrayed diamagnetic loop probes. The development of a plasma loss orifice, well within the theta-pinch coil, has been identified. The magnitude of the observed orifice is found to be in excellent agreement with that predicted from collisional MHD theories. The axially flowing plasma is well confined until it flows through the loss orifice. After passing through the orifice, rapid axial expansion is observed. An indication of the existence of inward traveling rarefaction waves has been observed from the plasma midplane temperature data; an abrupt decrease in the plasma temperature at t approximately equal to 6.5 μs corresponds to the predicted time of arrival of rarefaction waves at the coil midplane. The plasma loss rate derived from the pressure data indicates an initial period (t 4 μs) of gradual decay in the loss rate. This initial period of high loss rate is predicted from the MHD flow theories when the measured, time dependent plasma parameters are substituted into the analytical models. The loss rate determined from the end-on interferograms does not respond to the detailed structure of the plasma loss process

  9. The characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in Antarctic sea ice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norman, Louiza; Thomas, David N.; Stedmon, Colin A.; Granskog, Mats A.; Papadimitriou, Stathys; Krapp, Rupert H.; Meiners, Klaus M.; Lannuzel, Delphine; van der Merwe, Pier; Dieckmann, Gerhard S.

    2011-05-01

    An investigation of coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and its relationships to physical and biogeochemical parameters in Antarctic sea ice and oceanic water have indicated that ice melt may both alter the spectral characteristics of CDOM in Antarctic surface waters and serve as a likely source of fresh autochthonous CDOM and labile DOC. Samples were collected from melted bulk sea ice, sea ice brines, surface gap layer waters, and seawater during three expeditions: one during the spring to summer and two during the winter to spring transition period. Variability in both physical (temperature and salinity) and biogeochemical parameters (dissolved and particulate organic carbon and nitrogen, as well as chlorophyll a) was observed during and between studies, but CDOM absorption coefficients measured at 375 nm (a 375) did not differ significantly. Distinct peaked absorption spectra were consistently observed for bulk ice, brine, and gap water, but were absent in the seawater samples. Correlation with the measured physical and biogeochemical parameters could not resolve the source of these peaks, but the shoulders and peaks observed between 260 and 280 nm and between 320 to 330 nm respectively, particularly in the samples taken from high light-exposed gap layer environment, suggest a possible link to aromatic and mycosporine-like amino acids. Sea ice CDOM susceptibility to photo-bleaching was demonstrated in an in situ 120 hour exposure, during which we observed a loss in CDOM absorption of 53% at 280 nm, 58% at 330 nm, and 30% at 375 nm. No overall coincidental loss of DOC or DON was measured during the experimental period. A relationship between the spectral slope (S) and carbon-specific absorption (a *375) indicated that the characteristics of CDOM can be described by the mixing of two broad end-members; and aged material, present in brine and seawater samples characterised by high S values and low a *375; and a fresh material, due to elevated in situ

  10. A couplet from flavored dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Agrawal, Prateek [Fermilab,P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL, 60510 (United States); Chacko, Zackaria [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,College Park, MD, 20742-4111 (United States); Kilic, Can [Theory Group, Department of Physics and Texas Cosmology Center,The University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway Stop C1608, Austin, TX, 78712-1197 (United States); Verhaaren, Christopher B. [Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Maryland,College Park, MD, 20742-4111 (United States)

    2015-08-17

    We show that a couplet, a pair of closely spaced photon lines, in the X-ray spectrum is a distinctive feature of lepton flavored dark matter models for which the mass spectrum is dictated by Minimal Flavor Violation. In such a scenario, mass splittings between different dark matter flavors are determined by Standard Model Yukawa couplings and can naturally be small, allowing all three flavors to be long-lived and contribute to the observed abundance. Then, in the presence of a tiny source of flavor violation, heavier dark matter flavors can decay via a dipole transition on cosmological timescales, giving rise to three photon lines. Two of these lines are closely spaced, and constitute the couplet. Provided the flavor violation is sufficiently small, the ratios of the line energies are determined in terms of the charged lepton masses, and constitute a prediction of this framework. For dark matter masses of order the weak scale, the couplet lies in the keV-MeV region, with a much weaker line in the eV-keV region. This scenario constitutes a potential explanation for the recent claim of the observation of a 3.5 keV line. The next generation of X-ray telescopes may have the necessary resolution to resolve the double line structure of such a couplet.

  11. Did LIGO Detect Dark Matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bird, Simeon; Cholis, Ilias; Muñoz, Julian B; Ali-Haïmoud, Yacine; Kamionkowski, Marc; Kovetz, Ely D; Raccanelli, Alvise; Riess, Adam G

    2016-05-20

    We consider the possibility that the black-hole (BH) binary detected by LIGO may be a signature of dark matter. Interestingly enough, there remains a window for masses 20M_{⊙}≲M_{bh}≲100M_{⊙} where primordial black holes (PBHs) may constitute the dark matter. If two BHs in a galactic halo pass sufficiently close, they radiate enough energy in gravitational waves to become gravitationally bound. The bound BHs will rapidly spiral inward due to the emission of gravitational radiation and ultimately will merge. Uncertainties in the rate for such events arise from our imprecise knowledge of the phase-space structure of galactic halos on the smallest scales. Still, reasonable estimates span a range that overlaps the 2-53  Gpc^{-3} yr^{-1} rate estimated from GW150914, thus raising the possibility that LIGO has detected PBH dark matter. PBH mergers are likely to be distributed spatially more like dark matter than luminous matter and have neither optical nor neutrino counterparts. They may be distinguished from mergers of BHs from more traditional astrophysical sources through the observed mass spectrum, their high ellipticities, or their stochastic gravitational wave background. Next-generation experiments will be invaluable in performing these tests.

  12. Review of indirect detection of dark matter with neutrinos

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danninger, Matthias

    2017-09-01

    Dark Matter could be detected indirectly through the observation of neutrinos produced in dark matter self-annihilations or decays. Searches for such neutrino signals have resulted in stringent constraints on the dark matter self-annihilation cross section and the scattering cross section with matter. In recent years these searches have made significant progress in sensitivity through new search methodologies, new detection channels, and through the availability of rich datasets from neutrino telescopes and detectors, like IceCube, ANTARES, Super-Kamiokande, etc. We review recent experimental results and put them in context with respect to other direct and indirect dark matter searches. We also discuss prospects for discoveries at current and next generation neutrino detectors.

  13. Non-baryonic dark matter

    OpenAIRE

    Berezinsky, Veniamin Sergeevich; Bottino, A; Mignola, G

    1996-01-01

    The best particle candidates for non--baryonic cold dark matter are reviewed, namely, neutralino, axion, axino and Majoron. These particles are considered in the context of cosmological models with the restrictions given by the observed mass spectrum of large scale structures, data on clusters of galaxies, age of the Universe etc.

  14. Mass loss and cepheid pulsation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davis, C.G. Jr.

    1977-01-01

    Two purposes are served: to discuss the latest improvements in nonlinear pulsation theory indicating the ability to resolve features such as the ''Christy bump'' on the light curves and to show from the results of a bump model and recent observations that mass loss is one of the possible explanations for the mass discrepancy problem between evolutionary and pulsation theories. Recent observations by Sanford and Gow of Los Alamos and Bernat (McDonald Observatory) show that extensive mass loss has occurred in the evolution of the M supergiant α Orionis

  15. Mirror dark matter will be confirmed or excluded by XENON1T

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Clarke, J.D., E-mail: j.clarke5@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au; Foot, R., E-mail: rfoot@unimelb.edu.au

    2017-03-10

    Mirror dark matter, where dark matter resides in a hidden sector exactly isomorphic to the standard model, can be probed via direct detection experiments by both nuclear and electron recoils if the kinetic mixing interaction exists. In fact, the kinetic mixing interaction appears to be a prerequisite for consistent small scale structure: Mirror dark matter halos around spiral galaxies are dissipative – losing energy via dark photon emission. This ongoing energy loss requires a substantial energy input, which can be sourced from ordinary supernovae via kinetic mixing induced processes in the supernova's core. Astrophysical considerations thereby give a lower limit on the kinetic mixing strength, and indeed lower limits on both nuclear and electron recoil rates in direct detection experiments can be estimated. We show here that potentially all of the viable parameter space will be probed in forthcoming XENON experiments including LUX and XENON1T. Thus, we anticipate that these experiments will provide a definitive test of the mirror dark matter hypothesis.

  16. Mirror dark matter will be confirmed or excluded by XENON1T

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.D. Clarke

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Mirror dark matter, where dark matter resides in a hidden sector exactly isomorphic to the standard model, can be probed via direct detection experiments by both nuclear and electron recoils if the kinetic mixing interaction exists. In fact, the kinetic mixing interaction appears to be a prerequisite for consistent small scale structure: Mirror dark matter halos around spiral galaxies are dissipative – losing energy via dark photon emission. This ongoing energy loss requires a substantial energy input, which can be sourced from ordinary supernovae via kinetic mixing induced processes in the supernova's core. Astrophysical considerations thereby give a lower limit on the kinetic mixing strength, and indeed lower limits on both nuclear and electron recoil rates in direct detection experiments can be estimated. We show here that potentially all of the viable parameter space will be probed in forthcoming XENON experiments including LUX and XENON1T. Thus, we anticipate that these experiments will provide a definitive test of the mirror dark matter hypothesis.

  17. Dark matter in the universe: where, what, and why?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trimble, V.; Maryland Univ., College Park

    1988-01-01

    The universe is pervaded by non-luminous matter. Observations at many wavelengths, and on many length scales, yield a reasonably good picture of the amount of dark matter and its distribution. In very broad terms, the larger the scale we survey, the larger the fraction of gravitating mass that does not emit its fair share of light. The range is from about 50% in the solar neighbourhood (the nearest few hundred parsecs) to 99% or more in the largest clusters and superclusters of galaxies (ten million or more parsecs across). Observations do not, so far, tell us what that dark matter is made of, or even whether it is all the same kind of thing. Candidates that cannot currently be ruled out include tiny stars, stellar remnants, some kinds of black holes, neutrinos with rest masses 10 -5 to 10 -4 of the electron mass, and still more exotic kinds of particles (photinos, gravitinos, axions, majorons, Higgsinos...) that interact at most weakly with normal matter. (author)

  18. Matter-antimeter annihilation and the cosmic gamma-ray bursts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vincent, J.R.

    1976-12-01

    A review of the argument for matter-antimatter symmetry in the universe is given. It is found that based on known physical laws and processes the universe should be symmetric. In particular there in no known process to create the major elementary particles that does not involve the creation of an equal number of antiparticles. The cosmology of such a universe is discussed without reference to assumed initial conditions of the postulation of new physical laws. In a review of arguments against the existence of large quantities of antimatter it is shown that there is no observational evidence that preclude matters symmetrry, in fact we are unable to say whether or not the nearest star is matter or antimatter. The second section deals with the observation of cosmic gamma-ray bursts, and provides a brief history, implications on the nature of these events, and a summary of some of the proposed theories. Finally, it is suggested that these events are the result of matter-antimatter collisions and the case of an anticomment falling in to a Koinostar is discussed. It is shown that the mass/energy, collisional frequency and spatial distribution is in agreement with current observational data. Further calculations are in progress in which it is felt that the time scale and spectrum of such a collision may also fit the observations.(author)

  19. Indirect detection constraints on s- and t-channel simplified models of dark matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpenter, Linda M.; Colburn, Russell; Goodman, Jessica; Linden, Tim

    2016-09-01

    Recent Fermi-LAT observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Milky Way have placed strong limits on the gamma-ray flux from dark matter annihilation. In order to produce the strongest limit on the dark matter annihilation cross section, the observations of each dwarf galaxy have typically been "stacked" in a joint-likelihood analysis, utilizing optical observations to constrain the dark matter density profile in each dwarf. These limits have typically been computed only for singular annihilation final states, such as b b ¯ or τ+τ- . In this paper, we generalize this approach by producing an independent joint-likelihood analysis to set constraints on models where the dark matter particle annihilates to multiple final-state fermions. We interpret these results in the context of the most popular simplified models, including those with s- and t-channel dark matter annihilation through scalar and vector mediators. We present our results as constraints on the minimum dark matter mass and the mediator sector parameters. Additionally, we compare our simplified model results to those of effective field theory contact interactions in the high-mass limit.

  20. Mass, matter, materialization, mattergenesis and conservation of charge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsan, Ung Chan

    2013-01-01

    Conservation of mass in classical physics and in chemistry is considered to be equivalent to conservation of matter and is a necessary condition together with other universal conservation laws to account for observed experiments. Indeed matter conservation is associated to conservation of building blocks (molecules, atoms, nucleons, quarks and leptons). Matter is massive but mass and matter are two distinct concepts even if conservation of mass and conservation of matter represent the same reality in classical physics and chemistry. Conservation of mass is a consequence of conservation of atoms. Conservation of mass is valid because in these cases it is a very good approximation, the variation of mass being tiny and undetectable by weighing. However, nuclear physics and particle physics clearly show that conservation of mass is not valid to express conservation of matter. Mass is one form of energy, is a positive quantity and plays a fundamental role in dynamics allowing particles to be accelerated. Origin of mass may be linked to recently discovered Higgs bosons. Matter conservation means conservation of baryonic number A and leptonic number L, A and L being algebraic numbers. Positive A and L are associated to matter particles, negative A and L are associated to antimatter particles. All known interactions do conserve matter thus could not generate, from pure energy, a number of matter particles different from that of number of antimatter particles. But our universe is material and neutral, this double message has to be deciphered simultaneously. Asymmetry of our universe demands an interaction which violates matter conservation but obeys all universal conservation laws, in particular conservation of electric charge Q. Expression of Q shows that conservation of (A–L) and total flavor TF are necessary and sufficient to conserve Q. Conservation of A and L is indeed a trivial case of conservation of (A–L) and is valid for all known interactions of the standard