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19,878 real negative results, null findings, and replication failures · Negative / Null Result Report. Search the index →

WASTE indexes published research — it does not host or republish full papers. Each entry is a metadata record compiled from open scholarly databases; the abstract is shown in full only where the paper is openly licensed, otherwise a short excerpt under fair use. Classifications are automated and approximate.

Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Hunting for Extragalactic Axion-like Dark Matter in a Decade-long Blazar Optical Polarimetry

Qiu-Ju Huang, Bao Wang, Jun-Jie Wei et al. · 2025 · arXiv

Axions or axion-like particles (ALPs) are well-motivated dark matter (DM) candidates whose coupling to photons induces periodic oscillations in the polarization angle of astrophysical light. This work reports the first search for such a signature using ten years of optical polarimetric monitoring of the blazar 1ES 1959+650. No statistically significant periodicity is detected using a Lomb-Scargle periodogram and Monte Carlo analysis. Assuming a central DM density in the host galaxy, this null result places tight upper limits on the ALP-photon coupling constant at $g_{aγ}<(5.8 \times 10^{-14}-1

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Supersymmetric CP violating Phases and the LSP relic density and detection rates

Shaaban Khalil, Qaisar Shafi · 1999 · arXiv

For varying values of $\tanβ$, we study the effect of CP violating phases from the soft supersymmetry breaking terms in string-inspired models on the relic abundance and detection rates of the lightest neutralino (LSP). We find that the phases have no significant effect on the LSP relic abundance but can have a substantial impact on the detection rates.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

An Absence of Hot Jupiter Planets in 47 Tucanae: Results of a Wide-Field Transit Search

David T. F Weldrake, Penny D Sackett, Kenneth C Freeman et al. · 2004 · arXiv

We present the results of a comprehensive wide field search for transiting ``Hot Jupiter'' planets (1d<P<16d) in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Motivated by the core null result of Gilliland and coworkers, this work further addresses the question of giant planet frequency in 47 Tuc by observing, from the ground, a 52'x52' field centered on the cluster for 30.4 nights. Hence this work is most sensitive to the uncrowded outer regions of the cluster and concentrates on 21,920 main sequence stars (~solar in mass). This work comprises the largest ground-based transit search of a globular cluster

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Lepton number violating muon decay and the LSND neutrino anomaly

K. S. Babu, Sandip Pakvasa · 2002 · arXiv

We show that lepton number violating muon decays, μ^+ -> e^+ + ν_e-bar + ν_i-bar (i=e, μor τ), can consistently explain the neutrino anomaly reported by the LSND experiment. Two effective operators in the Standard Model are identified which lead to just such decays and no other processes. The scale of new physics Λmust be relatively low, Λ< 500 GeV. Extensions of the Standard Model which realize these effective operators are presented. Since new physics affects only the decay of the muon, and not of π^+-, our scenario predicts a null result for ν_μ-bar - ν_e-bar oscillation searches at the Fer

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

No actual measurement ... was required: Maxwell and Cavendish's null method for the inverse square law of electrostatics

Isobel Falconer · 2016 · arXiv

In 1877 James Clerk Maxwell and his student Donald MacAlister refined Henry Cavendish's 1773 null experiment demonstrating the absence of electricity inside a charged conductor. This null result was a mathematical prediction of the inverse square law of electrostatics, and both Cavendish and Maxwell took the experiment as verifying the law. However, Maxwell had already expressed absolute conviction in the law, based on results of Michael Faraday's. So, what was the value to him of repeating Cavendish's experiment? After assessing whether the law was as secure as he claimed, this paper explores

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

A Thorough Search for Short Timescale Periodicity in Four Active Repeating Fast Radio Bursts

Chen Du, Yong-Feng Huang, Zhi-Bin Zhang et al. · 2023 · arXiv

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are bright radio transients with millisecond durations which typically occur at extragalactic distances. The association of FRB 20200428 with the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 strongly indicates that they could originate from neutron stars, which naturally leads to the expectation that periodicity connected with the spinning of magnetars should exist in the activities of repeating FRBs. However, previous studies have failed to find any signatures supporting such a conjecture. Here we perform a thorough search for short timescale periodicity in the four most active r

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Is the assumption of a special system of reference consistent with Special Relativity?

Rodrigo de Abreu, Vasco Guerra · 2005 · arXiv

In a previous work we have shown that the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment in vacuum is deeply connected with the notion of time. The same is true for the the postulate of constancy of the two-way speed of light in vacuum in all frames independently of the state of motion of the emitting body. The argumentation formerly given is very general and has to be true not only within Special Relativity and its `equivalence' of all inertial frames, but as well as in Lorentz-Poincaré scenario of a preferred reference frame. This paper is the second of a trilogy intending to revisit the fou

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

A Search for 6.7 GHz Methanol Masers in OH Megamaser Galaxies at 0.11<z<0.27

Jeremy Darling, Paul Goldsmith, Di Li et al. · 2003 · arXiv

We report the results of a search for 6.7 GHz methanol (CH3OH) maser emission in OH megamaser galaxies at 0.11<z<0.27. No detections were made in the 25 objects observed down to rms noise levels of roughly 0.6 mJy in 150 kHz channels. The OH megamaser sample includes OH emission of all observed types: narrow and broad, physically compact and extended, variable and quiescent, and from simple single lines to multi-component complexes to lines with high velocity wings. Our null result indicates, for the widest possible range of OH megamaser environments, that methanol masing does not scale with O

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Search for axion-like dark matter through nuclear spin precession in electric and magnetic fields

C. Abel, N. J. Ayres, G. Ban et al. · 2017 · arXiv

We report on a search for ultra-low-mass axion-like dark matter by analysing the ratio of the spin-precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and $^{199}$Hg atoms for an axion-induced oscillating electric dipole moment of the neutron and an axion-wind spin-precession effect. No signal consistent with dark matter is observed for the axion mass range $10^{-24}~\textrm{eV} \le m_a \le 10^{-17}~\textrm{eV}$. Our null result sets the first laboratory constraints on the coupling of axion dark matter to gluons, which improve on astrophysical limits by up to 3 orders of magnitude, and also im

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

On the cross correlation between the arrival direction of ultra-high energy cosmic rays, BL Lacertae, and EGRET detections: A new way to identify EGRET sources?

Diego F. Torres, Stephen Reucroft, Olaf Reimer et al. · 2003 · arXiv

With the aim of testing recent claims for a particularly strong correlation between ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), observed with the AGASA and the Yakutsk experiments, and a sample of BL Lacertae (BL Lacs), we here conduct a blind statistical assessment. We search for associations between the same set of BL Lac objects and the arrival directions of 33 relevant UHECRs observed with the Haverah Park and the Volcano Ranch experiments. Within the accuracy of angle determination, there are no positional coincidences. The probability that this null result arises as a statistical fluctuation

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Search for ultralight axion dark matter in a side-band analysis of a 199Hg free-spin precession signal

C. Abel, N. J. Ayres, G. Ban et al. · 2022 · arXiv

Ultra-low-mass axions are a viable dark matter candidate and may form a coherently oscillating classical field. Nuclear spins in experiments on Earth might couple to this oscillating axion dark-matter field, when propagating on Earth's trajectory through our Galaxy. This spin coupling resembles an oscillating pseudo-magnetic field which modulates the spin precession of nuclear spins. Here we report on the null result of a demonstration experiment searching for a frequency modulation of the free spin-precession signal of \magHg in a \SI{1}{\micro\tesla} magnetic field. Our search covers the axi

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Probing the flavor-specific scalar mediator for the muon $(g-2)$ deviation, the proton radius puzzle and the light dark matter production

Bin Zhu, Xuewen Liu · 2021 · arXiv

Flavor-specific scalar bosons exist in various Standard Model extensions and couple to a single generation of fermions via a global flavor symmetry breaking mechanism. Given this strategy, we propose a MeV flavor-specific scalar model in dimension-$5$ operator series, which explains the muon g-2 anomaly and proton radius puzzle by coupling with the muon and down-quark at the same time. The framework is consistent with the null result of high-intensity searches. Specifically, the supernova constraints for muon couplings become weakened by including the contribution of down-quark interaction. Th

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Detecting pulsars in the Galactic centre

Kaustubh Rajwade, Duncan Lorimer, Loren Anderson · 2016 · arXiv

Although high-sensitivity surveys have revealed a number of highly dispersed pulsars in the inner Galaxy, none have so far been found in the Galactic centre (GC) region, which we define to be within a projected distance of 1~pc from Sgr~A*. This null result is surprising given that several independent lines of evidence predict a sizable population of neutron stars in the region. Here, we present a detailed analysis of both the canonical and millisecond pulsar populations in the GC and consider free-free absorption and multi-path scattering to be the two main sources of flux density mitigation.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

The role of the chiral phase transition in modelling the kaon to pion ratio

A. V. Friesen, Yu. L. Kalinovsky, V. D. Toneev · 2019 · arXiv

A sharp peak in the $K^+/π^+$ ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collision is discussed in the framework of the SU(3) Polyakov-loop extended NJL model with vector interaction. In the model, the $K^+/π^+$ ratio was calculated along the chiral phase transition line for different values of the vector coupling $g_V$. We showed that the value of the vector coupling had no significant effect on the $K^+/π^+$ behaviour.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Model constraints based on the IceCube neutrino non-detection of GRB 221009A

Shunke Ai, He Gao · 2022 · arXiv

GRB 221009A is a bright Gamma-ray burst (GRB) with isotropic energy being larger than $10^{54} ~{\rm ergs}$. Its fairly low redshift makes it a promising candidate for high energy neutrino detection. However, a neutrino search for this GRB reported by the IceCube collaboration yielded a null result. In this paper, we utilize the upper limit from IceCube observation to test different GRB prompt emission models. We find that, at least for this specific burst, the dissipative photosphere model could be ruled out in a large parameter space. The internal shock model can survive only with a large bu

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Forecasting neutrino masses from combining KATRIN and the CMB: Frequentist and Bayesian analyses

Ole Host, Ofer Lahav, Filipe B. Abdalla et al. · 2007 · arXiv

We present a showcase for deriving bounds on the neutrino masses from laboratory experiments and cosmological observations. We compare the frequentist and Bayesian bounds on the effective electron neutrino mass m_beta which the KATRIN neutrino mass experiment is expected to obtain, using both an analytical likelihood function and Monte Carlo simulations of KATRIN. Assuming a uniform prior in m_beta, we find that a null result yields an upper bound of about 0.17 eV at 90% confidence in the Bayesian analysis, to be compared with the frequentist KATRIN reference value of 0.20 eV. This is a signif

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Transverse momentum analysis of collective motion in relativistic nuclear collisions

P. Danielewicz, G. Odyniec · 2021 · arXiv

Novel transverse-momentum technique is used to analyse charged-particle exclusive data for collective motion in the Ar+KCl reaction at 1.8 GeV/nucl. Previous analysis of this reaction, employing the standard sphericity tensor, revealed no significant effect. In the present analysis, collective effects are observed, and they are substantially stronger than in the Cugnon cascade model, but weaker than in the hydrodynamical model.

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Negative / Null Result Report

P–417 A comparison of baseline and sequential changes of extended cytokine profile during implantation window between women who did and did not conceive after embryo transfer

Y Zhao, T Zhang, X Guo et al. · 2021 · Human Reproduction

Abstract Study question To compare the changing peripheral levels of inflammation-related cytokine profile during a 9-day period after blastocyst transfer between women who did and did not conceive. Summary answer:Successful implantation…

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Very special relativity as relativity of dark matter: the Elko connection

D. V. Ahluwalia, S. P. Horvath · 2010 · arXiv

In the very special relativity (VSR) proposal by Cohen and Glashow, it was pointed out that invariance under HOM(2) is both necessary and sufficient to explain the null result of the Michelson-Morely experiment. It is the quantum field theoretic demand of locality, or the requirement of P, T, CP, or CT invariance, that makes invariance under the Lorentz group a necessity. Originally it was conjectured that VSR operates at the Planck scale; we propose that the natural arena for VSR is at energies similar to the standard model, but in the dark sector. To this end we provide an ab initio spinor r

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Optimized velocity distributions for direct dark matter detection

Alejandro Ibarra, Andreas Rappelt · 2017 · arXiv

We present a method to calculate, without making assumptions about the local dark matter velocity distribution, the maximal and minimal number of signal events in a direct detection experiment given a set of constraints from other direct detection experiments and/or neutrino telescopes. The method also allows to determine the velocity distribution that optimizes the signal rates. We illustrate our method with three concrete applications: i) to derive a halo-independent upper limit on the cross section from a set of null results, ii) to confront in a halo-independent way a detection claim to a

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Experimental Limit on Neutron Orbital Angular Momentum Detection Using Polarized 3He

D. Sarenac, O. Lailey, D. V. Garrad et al. · 2026 · arXiv

A recent proposal suggested that neutron orbital angular momentum (OAM) states could be detected via spin-polarized absorption in polarized 3He, with predicted cross-section variations linked to the neutron's OAM. We experimentally tested this hypothesis using spin-polarized neutron beams with OAM =-2 to 2, generated by fork-dislocation phase-gratings, and transmitted through a polarized 3He cell. Within statistical precision, no OAM-dependent change in the absorption cross section was observed. This null result places stringent constraints on polarized 3He-based OAM detection schemes. The abs

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Cosmological implications of supersymmetric CP violating phases

Shaaban Khalil · 1999 · arXiv

We show that large SUSY phases have no significant effect on the relic density of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). However, they are very significant for the detection rates. We emphasise that the phase of the trilinear coupling increase the direct and indirect detection rates.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

On the Sum Rule Approach to Quarkonium-Hadron Interactions

D. Kharzeev, H. Satz, A. Syamtomov et al. · 1996 · arXiv

We extend a recent sum rule calculation for inelastic quarkonium-hadron interactions to realistic parton distribution functions; we also include finite target-mass corrections. Both modifications are shown to have no significant effect on the resulting cross section behaviour but the performed analysis gives useful insights on the sum-rule approach in general.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessComputer Science

Controlling the quantum computational speed

N. Metwally, M. Abdel-Aty, M. Sebawe Abdalla · 2008 · arXiv

The speed of quantum computation is investigated through the time evolution of the speed of the orthogonality. The external field components for classical treatment beside the detuning and the coupling parameters for quantum treatment play important roles on the computational speed. It has been shown that the number of photons has no significant effect on the speed of computation. However, it is very sensitive to the variation in both detuning and the interaction coupling parameters.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Study od a Slice at +9 to +15 degrees of Declination: I. The Neutral Hydrogen Content of Galaxies in Loose Groups

M. A. G. Maia, C. N. A. Willmer, L. N. da Costa · 1997 · arXiv

We examine the H1 content of spiral galaxies in groups by using a catalog of loose groups of galaxies identified in a magnitude limited sample m < 15.7 spanning the range 8 h to 18 h in right ascension and +9 to +15 in declination. The redshift completeness of the galaxy sample is ~95%. No significant effect of H1 depletion is found, although there may be a hint that the earliest type spirals are slightly deficient.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessEngineering

Classifying Rhoticity of /r/ in Speech Sound Disorder using Age-and-Sex Normalized Formants

Nina R Benway, Jonathan L Preston, Asif Salekin et al. · 2023 · arXiv

Mispronunciation detection tools could increase treatment access for speech sound disorders impacting, e.g., /r/. We show age-and-sex normalized formant estimation outperforms cepstral representation for detection of fully rhotic vs. derhotic /r/ in the PERCEPT-R Corpus. Gated recurrent neural networks trained on this feature set achieve a mean test participant-specific F1-score =.81 (σx=.10, med = .83, n = 48), with post hoc modeling showing no significant effect of child age or sex.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Constraints on fall-back disks in radio pulsars and anomalous X-ray pulsars

P. B. Jones · 2008 · arXiv

Calculations have been made of fall-back disk heating by the pulsar wind as distinct from the soft X-rays emitted by the neutron-star surface. The relation between these heating rates and measured near-infrared fluxes in the K and Ks bands places severe constraints on the inner radii of any fall-back disks that may be present in radio pulsars and in some anomalous X-ray pulsars. The lower limits found are so large that the disks concerned can have no significant effect on pulsar spin-down.

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Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessPhysics

Spin Transport in a Quantum Wire

Cristina Bena, Leon Balents · 2001 · arXiv

We study the effect of electron-electron backscattering interactions on spin transport in a quantum wire. Even if these interactions have no significant effect on charge transport, they strongly influence the transport of spin. We use the quantum Boltzmann equation in the collision approximation to derive equations of motion for spin current and magnetization. In the limit of small perturbations from equilibrium, we explain the existence of `precessional' and `diffusive' behaviors. We also discuss the low-temperature non-linear decay of an uniform spin current outside the hydrodynamic regime.

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