First measurement of the ϱ spectral function in nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass muon pairs in 158 A GeV In–In collisions. A strong excess of pairs is observed above the yield expected from neutral meson decays. The unprecedented sample size close to 400000 events and the good mass resolution of about 2% made it possible to isolate the excess by subtraction of the decay sources. The shape of the resulting mass spectrum shows some non-trivial centrality dependence, but is largely consistent with a dominant contribution from π⁺π^-→ϱ→μ⁺μ^- annihilation. The associated ϱ spectral function exhibits considerable broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. The p_T-differential mass spectra show the excess to be much stronger at low p_T than at high p_T. The results are compared to theoretical model predictions; they tend to rule out models linking hadron masses directly to the chiral condensate. PACS 25.75.-q; 12.38.Mh; 13.85.Qk     

Mathematical modeling of crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) of polyethylene

Four polyethylene samples (PE) with different molecular weight distributions (MWD) were analyzed by crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) at several cooling rates to investigate the effect of MWD and cooling rate on their Crystaf profiles. Using these results, we developed a mathematical model for Crystaf that considers crystallization kinetic effects, which are ignored in all previous Crystaf models. The Crystaf model we proposed can fit the experimental Crystaf profiles of the 4 polyethylene resins very well. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2749–2759, 2006     

Group algebras of Kleinian type and groups of units

The algebras of Kleinian type are finite-dimensional semisimple rational algebras A such that the group of units of an order in A is commensurable with a direct product of Kleinian groups. We classify the Schur algebras of Kleinian type and the group algebras of Kleinian type. As an application, we characterize the group rings RG, with R an order in a number field and G a finite group, such that the group of units of RG is virtually a direct product of free-by-free groups.     

On the phase structure of the compact abelian lattice Higgs model

This paper studies the vacuum overlap order parameter proposed by Fredenhagen and Marcu in the case of the compactU(1) gauge model with the Wilson action coupled to a Higgs field with fixed length ||=1. The existence of two distinct phases inD space-time dimensions (D4) is established.     

In-trees and plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs

A notion of anin-tree is introduced. It is then used to characterize and count plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs. In-trees have also been applied in the study of independent vertex covers of faces in outerplanar graphs.This research was partially supported by the grant RP.I.09, from the Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw. Hospitality of the Institute of Datalogy, University of Copenhagen where this research has been completed is gratefully acknowledged.     

Autour de la conjecture de L. Markus sur les variétés affines

Summary For any subgroupG of (n), we introduce some integer discGn called thediscompacity ofG. This number measures to what extent the closure ofG is not compact. The Markus' conjecture says that a compact affinely flat unimodular manifold is complete. Our main result (called the discompact theorem) is that this conjecture is true under the assumption that the linear holonomy i.e. the parallel transport has discompacity 1. Because discSO(n–1, 1)=1, this ensures that a compact flat Lorentz manifoldM is geodesically complete. Hence, by a previous result of W. Goldman and Y. Kamishima [GK], such aM is, up to finite covering, a solvmanifold. This achieves the proof of a Bieberbach's theorem for compact Lorentz flat manifolds.     

Polarized light and X-ray precession study of the ferroelastic domains of YBa2Cu3O7-δ

The ferroelastic domains of the orthorhombic phase of YBa₂Cu₃O_7- have been observed in polarized light on ceramics and single crystals. By combining polarized light microscopy with the X-ray precession technique, the correlation of the orientation of the orthorhombica- andb-axes with that of thea-b-plane bireflectance, reflection dichroism, transmission dichroism (at a thickness of about 1m), reflection tints generated with compensators and upon uncrossing of polars, as well as the orientation of etch pits has been realized on ferroelastic single domains, bi-domains and more complicated domain patterns. Four ferroelastic orthorhombic domain states have been identified, at variance with former group theoretical considerations, predicting only two states. Ensembles of lamellar domains beyond optical resolution generate strong bireflectance with principal axes rotated by 45° relative to the truea, b-directions.