| 1. |
- Schael, S, et al.
(författare)
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Precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Physics Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-1573 .- 1873-6270. ; 427:5-6, s. 257-454
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the final electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the Z resonance by the experiments operating at the electron-positron colliders SLC and LEP. The data consist of 17 million Z decays accumulated by the ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL experiments at LEP, and 600 thousand Z decays by the SLID experiment using a polarised beam at SLC. The measurements include cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries and polarised asymmetries. The mass and width of the Z boson, m(Z) and Gamma(Z), and its couplings to fermions, for example the p parameter and the effective electroweak mixing angle for leptons, are precisely measured: m(Z) = 91.1875 +/- 0.0021 GeV, Gamma(Z) = 2.4952 +/- 0.0023 GeV, rho(l) = 1.0050 +/- 0.0010, sin(2)theta(eff)(lept) = 0.23153 +/- 0.00016. The number of light neutrino species is determined to be 2.9840 +/- 0.0082, in agreement with the three observed generations of fundamental fermions. The results are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model (SM). At the Z-pole, electroweak radiative corrections beyond the running of the QED and QCD coupling constants are observed with a significance of five standard deviations, and in agreement with the Standard Model. Of the many Z-pole measurements, the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quark production shows the largest difference with respect to its SM expectation, at the level of 2.8 standard deviations. Through radiative corrections evaluated in the framework of the Standard Model, the Z-pole data are also used to predict the mass of the top quark, m(t) = 173(+10)(+13) GeV, and the mass of the W boson, m(W) = 80.363 +/- 0.032 GeV. These indirect constraints are compared to the direct measurements, providing a stringent test of the SM. Using in addition the direct measurements of m(t) and m(W), the mass of the as yet unobserved SM Higgs boson is predicted with a relative uncertainty of about 50% and found to be less than 285 GeV at 95% confidence level. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Andreoni, I., et al.
(författare)
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Follow Up of GW170817 and Its Electromagnetic Counterpart by Australian-Led Observing Programmes
- 2017
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Ingår i: Publications Astronomical Society of Australia. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 1323-3580 .- 1448-6083. ; 34
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source emission cooled from approximately 6 400 K to 2 100 K over a 7-d period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (similar to 2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.
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| 3. |
- Weltman, A., et al.
(författare)
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Fundamental physics with the Square Kilometre Array
- 2020
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Ingår i: Publications Astronomical Society of Australia. - : CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS. - 1323-3580 .- 1448-6083. ; 37
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a planned large radio interferometer designed to operate over a wide range of frequencies, and with an order of magnitude greater sensitivity and survey speed than any current radio telescope. The SKA will address many important topics in astronomy, ranging from planet formation to distant galaxies. However, in this work, we consider the perspective of the SKA as a facility for studying physics. We review four areas in which the SKA is expected to make major contributions to our understanding of fundamental physics: cosmic dawn and reionisation; gravity and gravitational radiation; cosmology and dark energy; and dark matter and astroparticle physics. These discussions demonstrate that the SKA will be a spectacular physics machine, which will provide many new breakthroughs and novel insights on matter, energy, and spacetime.
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| 4. |
- Nielsen, Rasmus, et al.
(författare)
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Tracing the peopling of the world through genomics
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 541:7637, s. 302-310
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Advances in the sequencing and the analysis of the genomes of both modern and ancient peoples have facilitated a number of breakthroughs in our understanding of human evolutionary history. These include the discovery of interbreeding between anatomically modern humans and extinct hominins; the development of an increasingly detailed description of the complex dispersal of modern humans out of Africa and their population expansion worldwide; and the characterization of many of the genetic adaptions of humans to local environmental conditions. Our interpretation of the evolutionary history and adaptation of humans is being transformed by analyses of these new genomic data.
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| 5. |
- Schroeder, Kari B., et al.
(författare)
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Haplotypic background of a private allele at high frequency in the Americas
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 26:5, s. 995-1016
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently, the observation of a high-frequency private allele,the 9-repeat allele at microsatellite D9S1120, in all sampledNative American and Western Beringian populations has been interpretedas evidence that all modern Native Americans descend primarilyfrom a single founding population. However, this inference assumedthat all copies of the 9-repeat allele were identical by descentand that the geographic distribution of this allele had notbeen influenced by natural selection. To investigate whetherthese assumptions are satisfied, we genotyped 34 single nucleotidepolymorphisms across 500 kilobases (kb) around D9S1120 in 21Native American and Western Beringian populations and 54 otherworldwide populations. All chromosomes with the 9-repeat alleleshare the same haplotypic background in the vicinity of D9S1120,suggesting that all sampled copies of the 9-repeat allele areidentical by descent. Ninety-one percent of these chromosomesshare the same 76.26 kb haplotype, which we call the "AmericanModal Haplotype" (AMH). Three observations lead us to concludethat the high frequency and widespread distribution of the 9-repeatallele are unlikely to be the result of positive selection:1) aside from its association with the 9-repeat allele, theAMH does not have a high frequency in the Americas, 2) the AMHis not unusually long for its frequency compared with otherhaplotypes in the Americas, and 3) in Latin American mestizopopulations, the proportion of Native American ancestry at D9S1120is not unusual compared with that observed at other genomewidemicrosatellites. Using a new method for estimating the timeto the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all sampled copiesof an allele on the basis of an estimate of the length of thegenealogy descended from the MRCA, we calculate the mean timeto the MRCA of the 9-repeat allele to be between 7,325 and 39,900years, depending on the demographic model used. The resultssupport the hypothesis that all modern Native Americans andWestern Beringians trace a large portion of their ancestry toa single founding population that may have been isolated fromother Asian populations prior to expanding into the Americas.
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| 6. |
- Williams, P., et al.
(författare)
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Quorum sensing and the population-dependent control of virulence
- 2000
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Ingår i: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8436 .- 1471-2970. ; 355:1397, s. 667-680
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- One crucial feature of almost all bacterial infections is the need for the invading pathogen to reach a critical cell population density sufficient to overcome host defences and establish the infection. Controlling the expression of virulence determinants in concert with cell population density may therefore confer a significant survival advantage on the pathogen such that the host is overwhelmed before a defence response can be fully initiated. Many different bacterial pathogens are now known to regulate diverse physiological processes including virulence in a cell-density-dependent manner through cell-cell communication. This phenomenon, which relies on the interaction of a diffusible signal molecule (e.g. an N-acylhomoserine lactone) with a sensor or transcriptional activator to couple gene expression with cell population density, has become known as 'quorum sensing'. Although the size of the 'quorum' is likely to be highly variable and influenced by the diffusibility of the signal molecule within infected tissues, nevertheless quorum-sensing signal molecules can be detected in vivo in both experimental animal model and human infections. Furthermore, certain quorum-sensing molecules have been shown to possess pharmacological and immunomodulatory activity such that they may function as virulence determinants per se. As a consequence, quorum sensing constitutes a novel therapeutic target for the design of small molecular antagonists capable of attenuating virulence through the blockade of bacterial cell-cell communication.
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