Interacting Field Theories in Robertson-Walker Spacetimes: Analytic Approximations

The renormalization of a scalar field theory with a quartic self-coupling via adiabatic regularization in a Robertson-Walker spacetime is discussed. The adiabatic counterterms are presented in a way that is most conducive to numerical computations. A variation of the adiabatic regularization method is presented which leads to analytic approximations for the energy–momentum tensor of the quantum field and the quantum contribution to the effective mass of the mean field. Conservation of the energy–momentum tensor for the field is discussed and it is shown that the part of the energy–momentum tensor which depends only on the mean field is not conserved but the full renormalized energy–momentum tensor is conserved, as expected and required by the semiclassical Einstein's equation. It is also shown that if the analytic approximations are used the resulting approximate energy–momentum tensor is conserved. This allows a self-consistent backreaction calculation to be performed using the analytic approximations. The usefulness of the approximations is discussed.     

A method for the study of surface corrosion beneath protective layers

This work is concerned with the development of a technique to observe the onset of corrosion as it occurs beneath a temporary protective layer. Such temporary protectives include paints, varnishes, greases and oils that are applied to metal surfaces to give short-term protection from corrosion. The objective of this project was to develop a technique that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of various temporary protectives in different environments, without the need to remove the protective layer, thus eliminating the possibility of any chemical changes or loss of corrosion products occurring as a result of removal. The temporary protective layers are typically 25Μm for paints and 15Μm per layer for varnishes. The 6.3 keV fluorescence X-ray is able to penetrate such layers, but the large escape depth (∼10Μm) of the X-rays means that for a thin protective layer a large proportion of the X-rays detected will originate from deep within the substrate and the resultant spectrum will be representative of the bulk rather than the surface. To enhance the surface sensitivity of the CXMS technique, the near surface region must be enriched in the isotope Fe-57. To achieve this, Fe-57 was vacuum evaporated onto the surface of mild steel substrates and subsequently diffused into the near surface region. An approximate 20 nm Fe-57 layer was deposited onto mild steel samples. The surface enriched samples were then annealed to allow the Fe-57 to diffuse into the near surface region of the mild steel substrate, and also to allow back diffusion of the substrate. A diffusion model was developed to predict the surface distribution of Fe-57 as a function of annealing parameters. The computer diffusion model allowed the ideal annealing conditions to be estimated to obtain a required near surface environment. It was essential that the annealing conditions did not result in any surface oxidation, and did result in a surface that was characteristic of mild steel. CEMS and CXMS spectra were recorded of samples before and after annealing, and also dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) was used to monitor the enrichment and diffusion process. Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA) was also used to characterize the surface. A number of enriched samples were prepared and treated with a variety of surface temporary protectives. The CXMS spectra were recorded before and after exposure of the coated samples to various aggressive environments.     

Magnetic resonance studies of laryngeal tumors implanted in nude mice: effect of treatment with bleomycin and electroporation

Recently, a new type of cancer treatment has been introduced that combines pulsed electric fields (PEF) with anticancer drugs. The proposed mode of action is that PEF create transient pores in the membranes which allow entry of drugs into the cells. This method increases cytotoxicity of some anticancer drugs like bleomycin (BLM) by 2-3 orders of magnitude, which, in turn, reduces systemic drug dosage without decreasing efficacy. In the present study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to determine changes in apparent water self-diffusion coefficients (ADC) and spin-lattice (T(1)) and spin-spin (T(2)) relaxation times that occur in an animal laryngeal tumor (HEp-2 cells) model with BLM delivered by PEF. A Bruker 14 Tesla (600 MHz) wide-bore spectrometer with micro-imaging capability was used to generate all the data. Mice carrying approximately 8 mm tumors were treated with several combinations of drug and PEF. All measurements were made on tumor samples excised from mice 24 and 48 hours after treatment with (i) saline, intratumor injection (i.t.), (ii) BLM, i.t., (iii) saline with PEF, and (iv) BLM, i.t., followed by PEF. Although T(1) does not differ between the controls (i, ii, and iii) and full treatment (iv) 6.72 +/- 0.20 s vs. 6.31 +/- 1.7 s, T(2) for (iv) at 24 hours is significantly different from the controls 52.4 +/- 0.91 ms vs. 46.5 +/- 1.54 ms. T(2) differences between treatment and controls disappear at 48 hours. ADC increases significantly from 24 to 48 hours (7.31 +/- 0.16 x 10(-6) to 8.28 +/- 0.28 x 10(-6) cm(2)/sec, p = 0.05). Longer T(2) values may reflect early apoptosis and tumor death when the tumor is structurally less dense. Higher ADC's, associated with the periphery of the tumors and the central region, may indicate loose structural organization and necrosis resulting from the combination treatment.     

Optimum and standard beam widths for numerical modeling of interface scattering problems

Gaussian beams provide a useful insonifying field for surface or interface scattering problems such as encountered in electromagnetics, acoustics and seismology. Gaussian beams have these advantages: (i) They give a finite size for the scattering region on the interface. (ii) The incident energy is restricted to a small range of grazing angles. (iii) They do not have side lobes. (iv) They have a convenient mathematical expression. The major disadvantages are: (i) Insonification of an interface is nonuniform. The scattered field will depend on the location of the scatterers within the beam. (ii) The beams spread, so that propagation becomes an integral component of the scattering problem. A standard beam parameterization is proposed which keeps propagation effects uniform among various models so that the effects of scattering only can be compared. In continuous wave problems, for a given angle of incidence and incident amplitude threshold, there will be an optimum Gaussian beam which keeps the insonified area as small as possible. For numerical solutions of pulse beams, these standard parameters provide an estimate of the smallest truncated domain necessary for a physically meaningful result.     

Free-carrier generation in aggregates of single-wall carbon nanotubes by photoexcitation in the ultraviolet regime

We present evidence for the generation of free carriers in aggregated single-wall carbon nanotubes by photoexcitation in the energetic range of the π→π(*) transition associated with the M saddle point of the graphene lattice. The underlying broad absorption culminating at 4.3 eV can be fit well with a Fano line shape that describes strong coupling of a saddle-point exciton to an underlying free electron-hole pair continuum. Moreover, it is demonstrated that transitions in this energetic region autoionize into the continuum by detecting features unique to the presence of free charges in the transient transmission spectra of the continuum-embedded second sub-band exciton, S(2).     

Coherent anti-stokes Raman spectroscopy of highly compressed solid deuterium at 300 K: evidence for a new phase and implications for the band gap

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy has been used to study deuterium at ambient temperature to 187 GPa, the highest pressure this technique has ever been applied. The pressure dependence of the nu1 vibron line shape indicates that deuterium has a rho direct=0.501 and rho exciton=0.434 mol/cm3 for a band gap of 2omega P=4.66 eV. The extrapolation from the ambient pressure band gap yields a metallization pressure of 460 GPa, confirming earlier measurements. Above 143 GPa, the Raman shift data provide clear evidence for the presence of the ab initio predicted I' phase of deuterium.     

Spectral Measures for <Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>

Spectral measures provide invariants for braided subfactors via fusion modules. In this paper we study joint spectral measures associated to the rank two Lie group G ₂, including the McKay graphs for the irreducible representations of G ₂ and its maximal torus, and fusion modules associated to all known G ₂ modular invariants.     

Radiation-induced fermion resonance

The Dirac equation is solved for two novel terms which describe the interaction energy between the half-integral spin of a fermion and the classical, circularly polarized, electromagnetic field. A simple experiment is suggested to test the new terms and the existence of radiation-induced fermion resonance.     

Active to sterile neutrino mixing limits from neutral-current interactions in MINOS

Results are reported from a search for active to sterile neutrino oscillations in the MINOS long-baseline experiment, based on the observation of neutral-current neutrino interactions, from an exposure to the NuMI neutrino beam of 7.07×10(20) protons on target. A total of 802 neutral-current event candidates is observed in the Far Detector, compared to an expected number of 754 ± 28(stat) ± 37(syst) for oscillations among three active flavors. The fraction f(s) of disappearing ν(μ) that may transition to ν(s) is found to be less than 22% at the 90% C.L.     

Magneto-controlled illumination with opto-fluidics

Imaging of micro- and nanofluidics is a challenge since the size of the channels is so small that the installment of additional optical and mechanical switches is very difficult. The size of the device and associated increase in viscous dissipation constitute another constraint. In response to these limitations, this work proposes and demonstrates the manipulation of light by adding a functional lens to control the light on demand. In the present work, this lens is realized by filling a hollow fiber with a colloid of superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles. When the propagation of light is perpendicular to the magnetic field, this lens stretches the circular beam into a ribbon yielding a larger visible area. Potentially, one can apply a rotating magnetic field thus illuminating a larger spot size or creating other beam geometries. Such composite fibers might also be of value for Faraday isolation and other magneto-optic effects in optical fibers.