Towards Higgs boson production in gluon fusion to NNLO in the MSSM

We consider the Higgs boson production in the gluon-fusion channel to next-to-next-to-leading order within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. In particular, we present analytical results for the matching coefficient of the effective theory and study its influence on the total production cross section in the limit where the masses of all MSSM particles coincide. For supersymmetric masses below 500 GeV it is possible to find parameters leading to a significant enhancement of the Standard Model cross section, the K-factors, however, change only marginally.     

Dysregulation of chemo-cytokine production in schizophrenic patients versus healthy controls

Background  

The exact cause of schizophrenia is not known, although several aetiological theories have been proposed for the disease, including developmental or neurodegenerative processes, neurotransmitter abnormalities, viral infection and immune dysfunction or autoimmune mechanisms. Growing evidence suggests that specific cytokines and chemokines play a role in signalling the brain to produce neurochemical, neuroendocrine, neuroimmune and behavioural changes. A relationship between inflammation and schizophrenia was supported by abnormal cytokines production, abnormal concentrations of cytokines and cytokine receptors in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia. Since the neuropathology of schizophrenia has recently been reported to be closely associated with microglial activation we aimed to determined whether spontaneous or LPS-induced peripheral blood mononuclear cell chemokines and cytokines production is dysregulated in schizophrenic patients compared to healthy subjects. We enrolled 51 untreated first-episode schizophrenics (SC) and 40 healthy subjects (HC) and the levels of MCP-1, MIP-1α, IL-8, IL-18, IFN-γ and RANTES were determined by Elisa method in cell-free supernatants of PBMC cultures.     

WIMP event rates in directional experiments: The diurnal variation signature

The recent WMAP data have confirmed that exotic dark matter together with the vacuum energy (cosmological constant) dominate in the flat Universe. Modern particle theories provide viable cold dark matter candidates with masses in the GeV-TeV region. All such candidates will be called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). The nature of dark matter can only be unraveled by its direct detection in the laboratory. In this work we present some theoretical elements relevant to the direct dark matter detection experiments, paying particular attention to directional experiments, i.e. experiments in which not only the energy but the direction of the recoiling nucleus is observed. Since the direction of observation is fixed with respect to the Earth, while the Earth is rotating around its axis, in a directional experiment the angle between the direction of observation and the Sun’s direction of motion will change during the day. So, since the event rates sensitively depend on this angle, the observed signal in such experiments will exhibit very interesting and characteristic periodic diurnal variation.     

Organization of matter into one-dimensional units on designed media

The organization of magnetic materials into one-dimensional micro- and nanowires on designed media is discussed, exemplified by two experiments on the microscale and nanoscale, with regard to particles as basic building blocks for the growth and development of matter.     

Improved and isotropic resolution in tomographic diffractive microscopy combining sample and illumination rotation

Tomographic Diffractive Microscopy is a technique, which permits to image transparent living specimens in three dimensions without staining. It is commonly implemented in two configurations, by either rotating the sample illumination keeping the specimen fixed, or by rotating the sample using a fixed illumination. Under the first-order Born approximation, the volume of the frequency domain that can be mapped with the rotating illumination method has the shape of a “doughnut”, which exhibits a so-called “missing cone” of non-captured frequencies, responsible for the strong resolution anisotropy characteristic of transmission microscopes. When rotating the sample, the resolution is almost isotropic, but the set of captured frequencies still exhibits a missing part, the shape of which resembles that of an apple core. Furthermore, its maximal extension is reduced compared to tomography with rotating illumination. We propose various configurations for tomographic diffractive microscopy, which combine both approaches, and aim at obtaining a high and isotropic resolution. We illustrate with simulations the expected imaging performances of these configurations.     

Lyapunov exponent calculation of a two-degree-of-freedom vibro-impact system with symmetrical rigid stops

A two-degree-of-freedom vibro-impact system having symmetrical rigid stops and subjected to periodic excitation is investigated in this paper. By introducing local maps between different stages of motion in the whole impact process, the Poincar'e map of the system is constructed. Using the Poincar'e map and the Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization, a method of calculating the spectrum of Lyapunov exponents of the above vibro-impact system is presented. Then the phase portraits of periodic and chaotic attractors for the system and the corresponding convergence diagrams of the spectrum of Lyapunov exponents are given out through the numerical simulations. To further identify the validity of the aforementioned computation method, the bifurcation diagram of the system with respect to the bifurcation parameter and the corresponding largest Lyapunov exponents are shown.     

Application of a broadband blue laser diode to trace NO2 detection using off-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

We applied for the first time, to our knowledge, broadband off-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (BB-OB-QEPAS) to trace NO2 detection using a broadband blue laser diode centered at 450?nm. A detection limit of 18?ppbv (parts in 10(9) by volume) for NO2 in N2 at atmospheric pressure was achieved with an average laser power of 7?mW at a 1?s integration time, which corresponds to a 1?σ normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 4.1×10(-9) cm(-1)?W=Hz(1=2). An Allan variance analysis was performed to investigate the long-term stability of the BB-OB-QEPAS-based NO2 sensor.     

水溶性CdTe:Mn量子点的双光子吸收

采用激发波长800 nm、脉宽50 fs、重复频率1 kHz的Ti:sapphire放大飞秒激光器作为激发光源,利用开孔Z扫描技术研究了不同粒径的CdTe:Mn量子点的非线性吸收性质。理论计算结果表明,同一生长时间CdTe:Mn量子点的双光子吸收系数是CdTe量子点的1.1倍,其双光子吸收系数随量子点尺寸的减小而增大,这是由于CdTe:Mn量子点非线性吸收属于反饱和吸收,掺杂了Mn元素,减小了表面缺陷浓度,表明掺杂量子点具有很好的双光子吸收现象。     

反射率的数值反演

通过分析热流边界条件下的一维热传导过程,提出并实现了由后表面温度变化历史曲线反演前表面反射率变化历史曲线的数值方法。通过一维热传导的正向和反演计算过程,验证了反演程序的可靠性。对数值反演计算和实验测量两种方式得到的反射率曲线进行了对比,结果显示,两条反射率曲线在变化趋势上符合较好,初步验证了一维温度场中数值反演方法的可行性。