Disappearing cosmological constant in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>) gravity

For higher-derivative f(R) gravity, where R is the Ricci scalar, a class of models is proposed, which produce viable cosmology different from the ACDM at recent times and satisfy cosmological, Solar System, and laboratory tests. These models have both flat and de Sitter spacetimes as particular solutions in the absence of matter. Thus, a cosmological constant is zero in a flat spacetime, but appears effectively in a curved one for sufficiently large R. A “smoking gun” for these models would be a small discrepancy in the values of the slope of the primordial perturbation power spectrum determined from galaxy surveys and CMB fluctuations. On the other hand, a new problem for dark energy models based on f(R) gravity is pointed out, which is connected with the possible overproduction of new massive scalar particles (scalarons) arising in this theory in the very early Universe. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

GaSe<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> solid solutions

The most probable parameters of the pure, doped, and mixed GaSe_1−xS_x (x ≤ 0.4) crystals (solid solutions) are presented together with the results of investigations of their crystal structure and defects, optical and mechanical properties, and damage thresholds. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 35–40, June, 2007.     

The determination of <Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis></Subscript> from <Emphasis Type="Italic">τ</Emphasis> decays revisited

We revisit the determination of α _S (m _τ ²) using a fit to inclusive τ hadronic spectral moments in light of (1) the recent calculation of the fourth-order perturbative coefficient K ₄ in the expansion of the Adler function, (2) new precision measurements from BABAR of e⁺e⁻ annihilation cross sections, which decrease the uncertainty in the separation of vector and axial-vector spectral functions, and (3) improved results from BABAR and Belle on τ branching fractions involving kaons. We estimate that the fourth-order perturbative prediction reduces the theoretical uncertainty, introduced by the truncation of the series, by 20% with respect to earlier determinations. We discuss to some detail the perturbative prediction of two different methods: fixed-order perturbation theory (FOPT) and contour-improved perturbative theory (CIPT). The corresponding theoretical uncertainties are studied at the τ and Z mass scales. The CIPT method is found to be more stable with respect to the missing higher order contributions and to renormalization scale variations. It is also shown that FOPT suffers from convergence problems along the complex integration contour. Nonperturbative contributions extracted from the most inclusive fit are small, in agreement with earlier determinations. Systematic effects from quark-hadron duality violation are estimated with simple models and found to be within the quoted systematic errors. The fit based on CIPT gives α _S (m _τ ²)=0.344±0.005±0.007, where the first error is experimental and the second theoretical. After evolution to M _Z we obtain α _S (M _Z ²)=0.1212±0.0005±0.0008±0.0005, where the errors are respectively experimental, theoretical and due to the evolution. The result is in agreement with the corresponding N³LO value derived from essentially the Z width in the global electroweak fit. The α _S (M _Z ²) determination from τ decays is the most precise one to date.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">SU</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis></Subscript>(4)×<Emphasis Type="Italic">U</Emphasis>(1) model for electroweak unification and sterile neutrinos

Some of the basic problems in neutrino physics, such as new energy scales, the enormous gap between the neutrino masses and the lightest charged fermion mass, and the possible existence of sterile neutrinos in the eV mass range are studied in the local gauge group SU _L (4)×U(1) for electroweak unification, which does not contain fermions with exotic electric charges. It is shown that the neutrino mass spectrum can be decoupled from that of the other fermions. The further normal seesaw mechanism for neutrinos, with right-handed neutrino Majorana masses of order M≫M _weak as well a new eV-scale can be accommodated. The eV-scale seesaw may manifest itself in experiments like the Liquid Scintillation Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE (MB) experimental results and future neutrino experiments.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>-Branes in the Euclidean <Emphasis Type="Italic">AdS</Emphasis><Subscript>3</Subscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>-Duality

We show that D-branes in the Euclidean AdS ₃ can be naturally associated to the maximally isotropic subgroups of the Lu–Weinstein double of SU(2). This picture makes very transparent the residual loop group symmetry of the D-brane configurations and gives also immediately the D-branes shapes and the σ-model boundary conditions in the de Sitter T-dual of the SL(2,C)/SU(2) WZW model.     

Size effect in nanocrystalline manganites La<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis><Subscript>x</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>=Ag,Sr)

Nanocrystalline samples of the manganites La_0.9Ag_0.1MnO₃, La_0.7Ag_0.3MnO₃, and La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ were synthesized through pyrolysis and isothermally annealed. The atomic, subatomic, and magnetic structures of these manganites were studied using magnetic, x-ray, and neutron diffraction measurements. Increasing the annealing temperature from 600 to 1200°C coarsens the grains from 30–40 to 600–700 nm in size. All the samples studied have rhombohedral structure and are ferromagnets. The Curie temperature decreases for the samples doped by silver and increases for the samples doped by strontium as the anneal temperature is increased. The magnetization of the Mn ions increases with nanoparticle size in all the three systems, which indicates the presence of a size effect.     

Optical properties of nonlinear solid solution GaSe<Subscript>1-<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>S<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> (0 < <Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis> ≤ 0.4) crystals

Transmission spectra and phase matching conditions for second harmonic generation in GaSe_1–x S _x (0 < x ≤ 0.4) solid solution crystals are experimentally investigated. An algorithm is suggested and dispersion equations are derived that allow the phase matching angles describing best the available experimental data to be estimated as a function of the mixing ratio x. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 80–85, October, 2008.     

Weak annihilation and the effective parameters <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> in non-leptonic <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis> decays

Based on SU(3) flavor symmetry, many of the quark-graph amplitudes in two-body non-leptonic decays of charmed mesons can be extracted from experiment, which enable us to see the relevance and importance of weak annihilation topologies and to determine the complex parameters a₁ and a₂ to test the factorization approach. It is found that a ₂ /a ₁ in and can be different by a factor of 2, indicating that non-factorizable corrections to the latter are far more important than the former. The relative phase between a₁ and a₂ is about 150°. Weak annihilation topologies induced by nearby resonances via final-state rescattering can be described in a model-independent manner. Although the W-exchange contribution in decays is dominated by resonant final-state interactions (FSIs), its amplitude in VP decays (V: vector meson, P: pseudoscalar meson) receives little contributions from FSIs in the quark-antiquark resonance formation. As a consequence, the sign flip of the W-exchange amplitude in and decays, which is needed to explain the relatively real decay amplitudes of , remains unexplained. SU(3) symmetry is badly broken in some Cabibbo-suppressed modes and this can be accounted for by the accumulation of some modest SU(3) violation in individual quark-graph amplitudes. Received: 19 July 2002 / Published online: 20 November 2002     

Passive Advection and the Degenerate Elliptic Operators <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript>

 We prove estimates for the stationary state n-point functions at zero molecular diffusivity in the Kraichnan model [13]. This is done by proving upper bounds for the heat kernels and Green's functions of the degenerate elliptic operators M _n that occur in the Hopf equations for the n-point functions. Received: 25 August 2001 / Accepted: 30 September 2002 Published online: 20 January 2003 Communicated by A. Kupiainen     

Leptonic constant of the pseudoscalar <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> meson

We calculate the leptonic constant for the pseudoscalar ground state of the B _c meson in the framework of a QCD-motivated potential model taking into account the two-loop anomalous dimension for the heavy quark current in nonrelativistic QCD as matched with full QCD.     

Neutron scattering study of combustion-synthesized Ce<Subscript>1−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Cu<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>O<Subscript>2−<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>

Powder neutron diffraction and Hi-Q neutron diffraction data have been recorded and analysed in order to obtain the local and long range order of Cu in Cudoped CeO₂ with three doping levels of Cu. Rietveld method and MCGR techniques of data analysis for the two types of data reveal that the Cu ion is in the 2+ oxidation state and has a vacancy in its first coordination shell. These deductions from the data analysis fit well with the mechanism of catalysis we propose.     

Polarization variables in inclusive <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/Ψ production at HERA in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis></Subscript>-factorization approach

In the framework of k _t -factorization approach, the process of inclusive photoproduction of J/Ψ mesons at HERA conditions is considered. The spin density matrix elements are calculated, and the predictions are compared with recent experimental data. The article is published in the original.     

Magnetic and transport properties of monocrystalline<Emphasis Type="Italic">Fe</Emphasis><Subscript>3</Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis><Subscript>4</Subscript>

A monocrystal ofFe ₃ O ₄ is characterized by resistance, magnetoresistance and magnetic measurements in a temperature range from 4.2 K to 350 K and magnetic field-cycling from −9 T to 9 T. The resistance measurements revealed a metal-insulator Verwey transition (VT) atT _v =123.76 K with activation energy E=92.5 meV at T >T _v and temperature-substitute for the activation energy below the VT,T ₀=E/k _B ≈3800 K within 70 K–110K. The magnetotransport results independently verified the VT at 123.70 K, with discontinuous change in the magnetic moment ΔM≈0.21 ΔM≈0.21μ _B and resistance hysteresis, dependent on the magnetic field in a narrow temperature range of 0.4° around theT _v . The magnetic characterization established self consistentlyT _v as ≈123.67 K, the jump in the magnetization at the VT≈0.25μ _B and confirmed, that the magnetocrystalline anisotropy is the main microscopic mechanism responsible for the magnetization of the monocrystal (88%) with additional natural and imposed defects contributing as 12%.     

Re-evaluation of the LHC potential for the measurement of <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">W</Emphasis></Subscript>

We present a study of the LHC sensitivity to the W boson mass based on simulation studies. We find that both experimental and phenomenological sources of systematic uncertainties can be strongly constrained with Z measurements: the lineshape, dσ _Z /dm, is robustly predicted, and its analysis provides an accurate measurement of the detector resolution and absolute scale, while the differential cross-section analysis, d² σ _Z /dydp _T , absorbs the strong interaction uncertainties. A sensitivity δ m _W ∼7 MeV for each decay channel (W→e ν, W→μ ν), and for an integrated luminosity of 10 fb⁻¹, appears as a reasonable goal.     

Reduced expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">TAC1</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">PENK</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">SOCS2</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hcrtr-2</Emphasis> mutated narcoleptic dog brain

Background  

Narcolepsy causes dramatic behavioral alterations in both humans and dogs, with excessive sleepiness and cataplexy triggered by emotional stimuli. Deficiencies in the hypocretin system are well established as the origin of the condition; both from studies in humans who lack the hypocretin ligand (HCRT) and in dogs with a mutation in hypocretin receptor 2 (HCRTR2). However, little is known about molecular alterations downstream of the hypocretin signals.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript> correlation analysis of complex foods

The potential of nuclear magnetic resonance two-dimensionalT ₁-T ₂ correlation spectroscopy for quality control in food science is explored for three types of food, namely, egg (white and yolk), cellular tissue (fruit and vegetable) and hydrocolloids (creams and baked products). The complications of cross-relaxation and diffusive exchange are highlighted and various tools for peak assignment are discussed.     

Dual properties of orthogonal polynomials of discrete variables associated with the quantum algebra <Emphasis Type="Italic">U</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis></Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">su</Emphasis>(2))

We show that for every set of discrete polynomials y _n (x(s)) on the lattice x(s), defined on a finite interval (a, b), it is possible to construct two sets of dual polynomials z _k (ξ(t)) of degrees k = s-a and k = b-s-1. Here we do this for the classical and alternative Hahn and Racah polynomials as well as for their q-analogs. Also we establish the connection between classical and alternative families. This allows us to obtain new expressions for the Clerbsch-Gordan and Racah coefficients of the quantum algebra U _q (su(2)) in terms of various Hahn and Racah q-polynomials. Dedicated to the memory of our teacher and friend Arnold F. Nikiforov (18.11.1930–27.12.2005).     

Structures,energetics and magnetic properties of (NiSn)<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript> clusters with <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> = 1–6

We report the results of calculations which were performed to investigate equilibrium structures, electronic and magnetic properties of stoichiometric (NiSn) _n clusters with n = 1–6 within the framework of density functional theory. The calculated results show that the structural arrangement of (NiSn) _n clusters is dominated by the Ni-Sn and Ni-Ni interactions. We find that these binary clusters show significant variation in the geometries as compared to that of the host nickel clusters. The preference for tetrahedron unit of Ni₃Sn is seen in the lowest-energy configuration of these clusters. The multi-centre bonding between Ni atoms play an important role in stabilizing the stoichiometric Ni-Sn clusters. Doping of Sn atoms enhances the binding energy and reduces the ionization potential of nickel clusters. These binary clusters prefer the lowest spin state. For (NiSn)₆ the magnetic moment is 0 μB. The complete quenching of the cluster magnetic moment appears to be due to the antiferromagnetic alignment of atomic spins as revealed by the spin density plots.