Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Are Three Flavors Special?, Joseph Schechter, Amir H. Fariborz, Renata Jora, M. Naeem Shahid

Physics - All Scholarship

It has become clearer recently that the regular pattern of three flavor nonets describing the low spin meson multiplets seems to require some modification for the case of the spin 0 scalar mesons. One picture which has had some success, treats the scalars in a chiral Lagrangian framework and considers them to populate two nonets. These are, in turn, taken to result from the mixing of two "bare" nonets, one of which is of quark- antiquark type and the other of two quark- two antiquark type. Here we show that such a mixing is, before chiral symmetry breaking terms are …

Outlier Detection Using Modified-Ranks And Other Variants, Huaming Huang, Kishan Mehrotra, Chilukuri K. Mohan

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Technical Reports

Rank based algorithms provide a promising approach for outlier detection, but currently used rank-based measures of outlier detection suffer from two deficiencies: first they take a large value from an object whose density is high even though the object may not be an outlier and second the distance between the object and its nearest cluster plays a mild role though its rank with respect to its neighbor. To correct for these deficiencies we introduce the concept of modified-rank and propose new algorithms for outlier detection based on this concept.

A Distributed Approach For Fault Mitigation In Large Scale Distributed Systems, Mina Jung

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Dissertations

In a large scale real-time distributed system, a large number of components and the time criticality of tasks can contribute to complex situations. Providing predictable and reliable service is a paramount interest in such a system. For example, a single point failure in an electric grid system may lead to a widespread power outage like the Northeast Blackout of 2003. System design and implementation address fault avoidance and mitigation. However, not all faults and failures can be removed during these phases, and therefore run-time fault avoidance and mitigation are needed during the operation. Timing constraints and predictability of the system …

Synthesis And Biosynthesis Of Polyketide Natural Products, Atahualpa Pinto

Chemistry - Dissertations

Traditionally separate disciplines of a large and broad chemical spectrum, synthetic organic chemistry and biochemistry have found in the last two decades a fertile common ground in the area pertaining to the biosynthesis of natural products. Both disciplines remain indispensable in providing unique solutions on numerous questions populating the field. Our contributions to this interdisciplinary pursuit have been confined to the biosynthesis of polyketides, a therapeutically and structurally diverse class of natural products, where we employed both synthetic chemistry and biochemical techniques to validate complex metabolic processes. One such example pertained to the uncertainty surrounding the regiochemistry of dehydration and …

Citrate Binding To The Membrane Protein Proteorhodopsin, Farhana F. Syed

Chemistry - Dissertations

Proteorhodopsin (pR) is an intrinsic membrane protein with an important role in solar-energy storage of the biosphere. Earlier work in our lab has shown that polyhistidine-tagged pR can be purified by means of selective precipitation with citrate under specific conditions, as can a number of mutants based on this His₆-tagged pR. Purification of a heterologously-expressed trans-membrane protein by a simple salt such as citrate is novel. However, such a phenomenon leads to several questions: How does citrate cause pR precipitation? Does the polyhistidine-tag assist in such a precipitation? Is this precipitation pH-specific? Does citrate affect the function of …

Controlling Biofouling By Surface Engineering And Molecular Inhibition, Debjyoti Bandyopadhyay

Chemistry - Dissertations

The common theme that binds together all the chapters in this dissertation is anti-biofouling chemistry. By utilizing tools of surface engineering and molecular inhibition, a hypothesis driven, systematic approach of controlling the different forms of biofoulings such as protein adsorption, mammalian cell adhesion and biofilm formation is presented. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction about topics relevant for understanding the studies presented in subsequent chapters. Chapter 2 reports the synthesis of enantiomerically pure alkanethiols that terminate with different stereoisomer's of sugar alcohols, and the effect of chirality of these polyol-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on resisting protein adsorption.

Chapter 3 …

Characterization Of Enhanced Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detectors And Studies Of Numeric Simulations For Compact-Binary Coalescences, Larne Pekowsky

Physics - Dissertations

Gravitational waves are a consequence of the general theory of relativity. Direct detection of such waves will provide a wealth of information about physics, astronomy, and cosmology. A worldwide effort is currently underway to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The global network of detectors includes the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which recently completed its sixth science run.

A particularly promising source of gravitational waves is a binary system consisting of two neutron stars and/or black holes. As the objects orbit each other they emit gravitational radiation, lose energy, and spiral inwards. This produces a characteristic ``chirp'' …

Searching For Gravitational Waves From Compact Binary Coalescence Using Ligo And Virgo Data, Collin Capano

Physics - Dissertations

This thesis describes current efforts to search for gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences (CBCs) by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration. We briefly review the physics of gravitational-wave emission and detection, describing how gravitational waves are emitted from "inspiraling" compact stellar mass objects and how the LSC and Virgo try to detect them using interferometers. Next we review the data-analysis principles used to search for potential signals in the detectors' noise. These principles are employed by ``ihope," which is the data-analysis pipeline used to search for CBCs. We describe each step in this pipeline and discuss …

Interacting Stochastic Processes: From Viciousness To Caging To Force Chains, Shiliyang Xu

Physics - Dissertations

This thesis documents a quest to develop and study several novel interacting stochastic processes. As for the first example, we generalize a system of vicious random walkers in which the only interaction between any two random walkers is that when they intersect, both walkers are annihilated. We define a system of N vicious accelerating walkers with each walker undergoing random acceleration and compute the survival probability distribution for this system. We also define and study a system of N vicious Levy flights in which any two Levy flights crossing one another annihilate each other. The average mean-squared displacement of a …

The Design And Construction Of A Green Laser And Fabry-Perot Cavity System For Jefferson Lab's Hall A Compton Polarimeter, Abdurahim Rakhman

Physics - Dissertations

A high finesse Fabry-Perot cavity with a frequency doubled green laser (CW, 532 nm) have been built and installed in Hall A of Jefferson Lab for high precision Compton polarimetry project in spring of 2010. It provides a high intensity circularly polarized photon target for measuring the polarization of electron beam with energies from 1.0 GeV to 11.0 GeV in a nondestructive manner. The IR beam (CW, 1064 nm) from a Ytterbium doped fiber laser amplifier seeded by a Nd:YAG narrow linewidth NPRO laser is frequency doubled in by a single-pass Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPMgLN) crystal. The maximum achieved …

De Sitter Gravity From Lattice Gauge Theory, Simon Catterall, Daniel Ferrante, Arwen Nicholson

Physics - All Scholarship

We investigate a lattice model for Euclidean quantum gravity based on discretization of the Palatini formulation of General Relativity. Using Monte Carlo simulation we show that while a naive approach fails to lead to a vacuum state consistent with the emergence of classical spacetime, this problem may be evaded if the lattice action is supplemented by an appropriate counter term. In this new model we find regions of the parameter space which admit a ground state which can be interpreted as (Euclidean) de Sitter space.

A New Cohesion Metric And Restructuring Technique For Object Oriented Paradigm, Mehmet Kaya, Jim Fawcett

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Technical Reports

When software systems grow large during maintenance, they may lose their quality and become complex to read, understood and maintained. Developing a software system usually requires teams of developers working in concert to provide a finished product in a reasonable amount of time. What that means is many people may read each component of the software system such as a class in object oriented programming environment.

Thermodynamic Limit To Photonic-Plasmonic Light-Trapping In Thin Films On Metals, Eric A. Schiff

Physics - All Scholarship

We calculate the maximum optical absorptance enhancements in thin semiconductor films on metals due to structures that diffuse light and couple it to surface plasmon polaritons. The calculations can be used to estimate plasmonic effects on light-trapping in solar cells. The calculations are based on the statistical distribution of energy in the electromagnetic modes of the structure, which include surface plasmon polariton modes at the metal interface as well as the trapped waveguide modes in the film. The enhancement has the form 4n²+nλ/h (n – film refractive index, λ – optical wavelength, h …

Soil Chemistry And The Recovery Of Sensitive Watersheds From Chronic Acidification, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

A Measurement Of The Semileptonic Branching Fraction Of The B_S Meson, Duncan Brown, J. P. Lees

Physics - All Scholarship

We report a measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the B_s meson using data collected with the BaBar detector in the center-of-mass (CM) energy region above the Upsilon(4S) resonance. We use the inclusive yield of phi mesons and the phi yield in association with a high-momentum lepton to perform a simultaneous measurement of the semileptonic branching fraction and the production rate of B_s mesons relative to all B mesons as a function of CM energy. The inclusive semileptonic branching fraction of the B_s meson is determined to be B(B_s to l nu X)=9.5 (+2.5/-2.0)(stat)(+1.1/-1.9)(syst)%, where l indicates the …

The Importance Of Slow-Roll Corrections During Multi-Field Inflation, Scott Watson, Anastasios Avgoustidis, Sera Cremonini, Anne-Christine Davis

Physics - All Scholarship

We re-examine the importance of slow-roll corrections during the evolution of cosmological perturbations in models of multi-field inflation. We find that in many instances the presence of light degrees of freedom leads to situations in which next to leading order slow-roll corrections become significant. Examples where we expect such corrections to be crucial include models in which modes exit the Hubble radius while the inflationary trajectory undergoes an abrupt turn in field space, or during a phase transition. We illustrate this with two examples -- hybrid inflation and double quadratic inflation. Utilizing both analytic estimates and full numerical results, we …

Why Probability Appears In Quantum Mechaincs, Jerome Blackman, Wu Teh Hsiang

Mathematics - All Scholarship

Early in the development of quantum theory Bohr introduced what came to be called the Copenhagen interpretation. Specifically, the square of the absolute value of the wave function was to be used as a probability density. There followed lengthy arguments about this ranging from alternative universes to Schrodinger's cat. Einstein famously remarked "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice." The purpose of this paper is to present a mathematical model of the measuring process that shows that the Copenhagen interpretation can actually follow from the fact that the time development of quantum systems is governed by the …

Small And Large Time Stability Of The Time Taken For A Lévy Process To Cross Curved Boundaries, Philip S. Griffin, Ross A. Maller

Mathematics - All Scholarship

This paper is concerned with the small time behaviour of a Levy process X. In particular, we investigate the stabilities of the times, Tb(r) and Tb*(r), at which X, started with X₀ = 0, first leaves the space-time regions {(t, y) ∈ R² : y ≤ rt^b, t ≥ 0} (one-sided exit), or {(t, y) in R² :|y| ≤ rt^b, t ≥ 0} (two-sided exit), 0 ≤ b < 1, as r -> 0. Thus essentially we determine whether or not these passage times behave like deterministic functions in the sense of different modes of convergence; specifically convergence …

Small And Large Time Stability Of The Time Taken For A Lévy Process To Cross Curved Boundaries, Philip S. Griffin, Ross A. Maller

Mathematics - All Scholarship

This paper is concerned with the small time behaviour of a Levy process X. In particular, we investigate the stabilities of the times, T_b(r) and T^*_b (r), at which X, started with X₀ = 0, first leaves the space-time regions {(t, y) in R² : y ≤ rt^b, t ≥ 0} (one-sided exit), or {(t, y) in R² :|y| ≤ rt^b, t ≥ 0} (two-sided exit), 0 ≤ b < 1, as r ↓ 0. Thus essentially we determine whether or not these passage times behave like deterministic functions in the sense of different modes of convergence; specifically convergence in probability, almost surely and in L^p. In many instances these are seen to be equivalent to relative stability of the process X itself. The …

Generic Phases Of Cross-Linked Active Gels: Relaxation, Oscillation And Contractility, Shiladitya Banerjee, Tanniemola B. Liverpool, M. C. Marchetti

Physics - All Scholarship

We study analytically and numerically a generic continuum model of an isotropic active solid with internal stresses generated by non-equilibrium `active' mechano-chemical reactions. Our analysis shows that the gel can be tuned through three classes of dynamical states by increasing motor activity: a constant unstrained state of homogeneous density, a state where the local density exhibits sustained oscillations, and a steady-state which is spontaneously contracted, with a uniform mean density.

Warped Product Rigidity, Chenxu He, Peter Petersen, William Wylie

Mathematics - All Scholarship

In this paper we study the space of solutions to an overdetermined linear system involving the Hessian of functions. We show that if the solution space has dimension greater than one, then the underlying manifold has a very rigid warped product structure. This warped product structure will be used to study warped product Einstein structures in our paper "The space of virtual solutions to the warped product Einstein equation".

The Space Of Virtual Solutions To The Warped Product Einstein Equation, Chenxu He, Peter Petersen, William Wylie

Mathematics - All Scholarship

In this paper we introduce a vector space of virtual warping functions that yield Einstein metrics over a fixed base. There is a natural quadratic form on this space and we study how this form interacts with the geometry. We use this structure along with the results in our earlier paper "Warped product rigidity" to show that essentially every warped product Einstein manifold admits a particularly nice warped product structure that we call basic. As applications we give a sharp characterization of when a homogeneous Einstein metric can be a warped product and also generalize a construction of Lauret showing …

Systematic Errors Of The Mcrg Method, Simon Catterall, Luigi Del Debbio, Joel Giedt, Liam Keegan

Physics - All Scholarship

We present a Monte Carlo Renormalisation Group (MCRG) study of the SU(2) gauge theory with two Dirac fermions in the adjoint representation. Using the two-lattice matching technique we measure the running of the coupling and the anomalous mass dimension. We find slow running of the coupling, compatible with an infrared fixed point. Assuming this running is negligible we find a vanishing anomalous dimension, gamma=-0.03(13), however without this assumption our uncertainty in the running of the coupling leads to a much larger range of allowed values, -0.6 < gamma < 0.6. We discuss the systematic errors affecting the current analysis and possible improvements.

Three-Dimensional Folding Of The Triangular Lattice, Mark Bowick, P Di Francesco, Oliver Golinelli, Emmanuel Guitter

Physics - All Scholarship

We study the folding of the regular triangular lattice in three dimensional embedding space, a model for the crumpling of polymerised membranes. We consider a discrete model, where folds are either planar or form the angles of a regular octahedron. These "octahedral" folding rules correspond simply to a discretisation of the 3d embedding space as a Face Centred Cubic lattice. The model is shown to be equivalent to a 96--vertex model on the triangular lattice. The folding entropy per triangle ${\rm ln} q_{3d}$ is evaluated numerically to be $q_{3d}=1.43(1)$. Various exact bounds on $q_{3d}$ are derived.

Search For The Lepton Number Violating Decays B+ → Π- Μ+Μ+ And B+→ K-Μ+ Μ+, Raymond Mountain, Marina Artuso, S. Blusk, Alessandra Borgia

Physics - All Scholarship

A search is performed for the lepton number violating decay B^{+}\rightarrow h^- \mu^+ \mu^+, where h^- represents a K^- or a \pi^-, using data from the LHCb detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36pb^{-1}. The decay is forbidden in the Standard Model but allowed in models with a Majorana neutrino. No signal is observed in either channel and limits of B(B^{+} \rightarrow K^- \mu^+ \mu^+) < 5.4\times 10^{-8} and B(B^{+} \rightarrow \pi^- \mu^+ \mu^+) < 5.8\times 10^{-8} are set at the 95% confidence level. These improve the previous best limits by factors of 40 and 30, respectively.

Search For Lepton-Number Violating Processes In B+ -> H- L+ L+ Decays, Raymond Mountain, Marina Artuso, S. Blusk, Alessandra Borgia

Physics - All Scholarship

A search is performed for the lepton number violating decay B^{+}\rightarrow h^- \mu^+ \mu^+, where h^- represents a K^- or a \pi^-, using data from the LHCb detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36pb^{-1}. The decay is forbidden in the Standard Model but allowed in models with a Majorana neutrino. No signal is observed in either channel and limits of B(B^{+} \rightarrow K^- \mu^+ \mu^+) < 5.4\times 10^{-8} and B(B^{+} \rightarrow \pi^- \mu^+ \mu^+) < 5.8\times 10^{-8} are set at the 95% confidence level. These improve the previous best limits by factors of 40 and 30, respectively.

All-Sky Search For Periodic Gravitational Waves In The Full S5 Ligo Data, Duncan Brown, J. Abadie, Stefan Ballmer, Collin Capano, P. Couvares

Physics - All Scholarship

We report on an all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency band 50-800 Hz and with the frequency time derivative in the range of 0 through -6e-9 Hz/s. Such a signal could be produced by a nearby spinning and slightly non-axisymmetric isolated neutron star in our galaxy. After recent improvements in the search program that yielded a 10x increase in computational efficiency, we have searched in two years of data collected during LIGO's fifth science run and have obtained the most sensitive all-sky upper limits on gravitational wave strain to date. Near 150 Hz our upper limit on …

Measurements Of The Branching Fractions For B(S) → D(S)Πππ And Λb0 → Λc+Πππ, Raymond Mountain, Marina Artuso, S. Blusk, Alessandra Borgia

Physics - All Scholarship

Branching fractions of the decays H_b\to H_c\pi^-\pi^+\pi^- relative to H_b\to H_c\pi^- are presented, where H_b (H_c) represents B^0-bar(D^+), B^- (D^0), B_s^0-bar (D_s^+) and \Lambda_b^0 (\Lambda_c^+). The measurements are performed with the LHCb detector using 35{\rm pb^{-1}} of data collected at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV. The ratios of branching fractions are measured to be B(B^0-bar -> D^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-)/ B(B^0-bar -> D^+\pi^-) = 2.38\pm0.11\pm0.21 B(B^- -> D^0\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(B^- -> D^0\pi^-) = 1.27\pm0.06\pm0.11 B(B_s^0-bar -> D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(B_s^0-bar -> D_s^+\pi^-) = 2.01\pm0.37\pm0.20 B(\Lambda_b^0->\Lambda_c^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(\Lambda_b^0 -> \Lambda_c^+\pi^-) = 1.43\pm0.16\pm0.13. We also report measurements of partial decay rates of these decays to excited charm hadrons. …

Measurements Of The Branching Fractions For B_(S) -> D_(S)Πππ And Λ_B^0 -> Λ_C^+Πππ, Raymond Mountain, Marina Artuso, S. Blusk, Alessandra Borgia

Physics - All Scholarship

Branching fractions of the decays H_b\to H_c\pi^-\pi^+\pi^- relative to H_b\to H_c\pi^- are presented, where H_b (H_c) represents B^0-bar(D^+), B^- (D^0), B_s^0-bar (D_s^+) and \Lambda_b^0 (\Lambda_c^+). The measurements are performed with the LHCb detector using 35{\rm pb^{-1}} of data collected at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV. The ratios of branching fractions are measured to be B(B^0-bar -> D^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-)/ B(B^0-bar -> D^+\pi^-) = 2.38\pm0.11\pm0.21 B(B^- -> D^0\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(B^- -> D^0\pi^-) = 1.27\pm0.06\pm0.11 B(B_s^0-bar -> D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(B_s^0-bar -> D_s^+\pi^-) = 2.01\pm0.37\pm0.20 B(\Lambda_b^0->\Lambda_c^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-) / B(\Lambda_b^0 -> \Lambda_c^+\pi^-) = 1.43\pm0.16\pm0.13. We also report measurements of partial decay rates of these decays to excited charm hadrons. …

Amplitude Analyses Of The Decays Χc1 →Ηπ+Π- And Χc1→Η'Π+Π-, Raymond Mountain, Marina Artuso, S. Blusk, T. Skwarnicki

Physics - All Scholarship

Using a data sample of 2.59 x 10^7 psi(2S) decays obtained with the CLEO-c detector, we perform amplitude analyses of the complementary decay chains chi_c1 -> eta pi+ pi- and chi_c1 -> eta' pi+ pi-. We find evidence for a P-wave eta' pi scattering amplitude, which, if interpreted as a resonance, would have exotic J^PC = 1^-+ and parameters consistent with the pi_1(1600) state reported in other production mechanisms. We also make the first observation of the decay a_0(980) -> eta' pi and measure the ratio of branching fractions B(a_0(980) -> eta' pi)/B(a_0(980) -> eta pi) = 0.064 +- 0.014 …