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n_TOF Collaboration(Paradela, C. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2010). Neutron-induced fission cross section of U-234 and Np-237 measured at the CERN Neutron Time-of-Flight (n_TOF) facility. Phys. Rev. C, 82(3), 034601–11pp.
Abstract: A high-resolution measurement of the neutron-induced fission cross section of U-234 and Np-237 has been performed at the CERN Neutron Time-of-Flight facility. The cross sections have been determined in a wide energy range from 1 eV to 1 GeV using the evaluated U-235 cross section as reference. In these measurements the energy determination for the U-234 resonances could be improved, whereas previous discrepancies for the Np-237 resonances were confirmed. New cross-section data are provided for high neutron energies that go beyond the limits of prior evaluations, obtaining important differences in the case of Np-237.
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Peris, J. B., Davis, P., Cuevas, J. M., Nebot, M., & Sanjuan, R. (2010). Distribution of Fitness Effects Caused by Single-Nucleotide Substitutions in Bacteriophage f1. Genetics, 185(2), 603–U308.
Abstract: Empirical knowledge of the fitness effects of mutations is important for understanding many evolutionary processes, yet this knowledge is often hampered by several sources of measurement error and bias. Most of these problems can be solved using site-directed mutagenesis to engineer single mutations, an approach particularly suited for viruses due to their small genomes. Here, we used this technique to measure the fitness effect of 100 single-nucleotide substitutions in the bacteriophage f1, a filamentous single-strand DNA virus. We found that approximately one-fifth of all mutations are lethal. Viable ones reduced fitness by 11% on average and were accurately described by a log-normal distribution. More than 90% of synonymous substitutions were selectively neutral, while those affecting intergenic regions reduced fitness by 14% on average. Mutations leading to amino acid substitutions had an overall mean deleterious effect of 37%, which increased to 45% for those changing the amino acid polarity. Interestingly, mutations affecting early steps of the infection cycle tended to be more deleterious than those affecting late steps. Finally, we observed at least two beneficial mutations. Our results confirm that high mutational sensitivity is a general property of viruses with small genomes, including RNA and single-strand DNA viruses infecting animals, plants, and bacteria.
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CDF Collaboration(Aaltonen, T. et al), & Cabrera, S. (2010). Measurement of the Ratio sigma(t(t)over-bar)/sigma(Z/gamma*-> ll) and Precise Extraction of the t(t)over-bar Cross Section. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(1), 012001–7pp.
Abstract: We report a measurement of the ratio of the t (t) over bar to Z/gamma* production cross sections in root s = 1.96 TeV p (p) over bar collisions using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of up to 4.6 fb(-1), collected by the CDF II detector. The t (t) over bar cross section ratio is measured using two complementary methods, a b-jet tagging measurement and a topological approach. By multiplying the ratios by the well-known theoretical Z/gamma* -> ll cross section predicted by the standard model, the extracted t (t) over bar cross sections are effectively insensitive to the uncertainty on luminosity. A best linear unbiased estimate is used to combine both measurements with the result sigma(t (t) over bar) = 7.70 +/- 0.52 pb, for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV/c(2).
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BABAR Collaboration(del Amo Sanchez, P. et al), Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2011). Measurement of the B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)nu and B+ -> eta(l)l(+)nu branching fractions, the B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)nu and B+ -> eta l(+)nu form- factor shapes, and determination of |Vub|. Phys. Rev. D, 83(5), 052011–16pp.
Abstract: We report the results of a study of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decays, B+ -> eta(l)l(+)nu and B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)nu undertaken with approximately 464 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs collected at the Y(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The analysis uses events in which the signal B decays are reconstructed with a loose neutrino reconstruction technique. We obtain partial branching fractions for B+ -> eta l(+)nu and B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)nu decays in three and 12 bins of q(2), respectively, from which we extract the f (+)(q(2)) form-factor shapes and the total branching fractions B(B+ -> eta l(+)nu)= (0.36 +/- 0.05(stat) +/- 0.04(syst)) x 10(-4) and B(B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)nu) = (1.42 +/- 0.05(stat) +/- 0.07(syst)) x 10(-4). We also measure B(B+ -> eta'l(+)nu) = (0.24 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.03(syst)) x 10(-4). We obtain values for the magnitude of the CKM matrix element |V-ub| using three different QCD calculations.
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Martin Camalich, J., Geng, L. S., & Vicente Vacas, M. J. (2010). Lowest-lying baryon masses in covariant SU(3)-flavor chiral perturbation theory. Phys. Rev. D, 82(7), 074504–7pp.
Abstract: We present an analysis of the baryon-octet and -decuplet masses using covariant SU(3)-flavor chiral perturbation theory up to next-to-leading order. Besides the description of the physical masses we address the problem of the lattice QCD extrapolation. Using the PACS-CS Collaboration data we show that a good description of the lattice points can be achieved at next-to-leading order with the covariant loop amplitudes and phenomenologically determined values for the meson-baryon couplings. Moreover, the extrapolation to the physical point up to this order is found to be better than the linear one given at leading-order by the Gell-Mann-Okubo approach. The importance that a reliable combination of lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory may have for hadron phenomenology is emphasized with the prediction of the pion-baryon and strange-baryon sigma terms.
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