Analysis of fabrics and metal threads from two Andalusian liturgical vestments from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: a multitechnical approach

This manuscript provided one of the first scientific studies performed on ancient Spanish liturgical vestments by using a multitechnical physicochemical approach. The interlining and lining fabrics were done by cotton and the core of threads by silk. Silver, gold and little amounts of copper were detected. The highest values of gold were found in the metal threads of the cope and the gallon of the chasuble. Two layers were identified: the internal composed by silver and the external by silver and gold. The fibers were proved to be degraded and also the surface of the metal, where scratches and silver-based compounds were detected due to environmental and anthropogenic actions. Indigo was employed as dye in the blue and green fabrics. Wax was detected in the yellow fibers, although other dyes could not be discarded. The materials used in the restoration processes were of minor quality.

Using Covariant Polarisation Sums in QCD

Covariant gauges lead to spurious, non-physical polarisation states of gauge bosons. In QED, the use of the Feynman gauge, $$\sum _{\lambda } \varepsilon _\mu ^{(\lambda )}\varepsilon _\nu ^{(\lambda )*} = -\eta _{\mu \nu }$$ ∑ λ ε μ ( λ ) ε ν ( λ ) ∗ = - η μ ν , is justified by the Ward identity which ensures that the contributions of non-physical polarisation states cancel in physical observables. In contrast, the same replacement can be applied only to a single external gauge boson in squared amplitudes of non-abelian gauge theories like QCD. In general, the use of this replacement requires to include external Faddeev–Popov ghosts. We present a pedagogical derivation of these ghost contributions applying the optical theorem and the Cutkosky cutting rules. We find that the resulting cross terms $$\mathcal {A}(c_1,\bar{c}_1;\ldots )\mathcal {A}(\bar{c}_1,c_1;\ldots )^*$$ A ( c 1 , c ¯ 1 ; … ) A ( c ¯ 1 , c 1 ; … ) ∗ between ghost amplitudes cannot be transformed into $$(-1)^{n/2}|\mathcal {A}(c_1,\bar{c}_1;\ldots )|^2$$ ( - 1 ) n / 2 | A ( c 1 , c ¯ 1 ; … ) | 2 in the case of more than two ghosts. Thus the Feynman rule stated in the literature holds only for two external ghosts, while it is in general incorrect.

Non-invasive identification of textile fibres using near-infrared fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy and multivariate classification techniques

The identification of textile fibres from cultural property provides information about the object's technology. Today, microscopic examination remains the preferred method, and molecular spectroscopies (e.g. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies) can complement it but may present some limitations. To avoid sampling, non-invasive fibre optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) in the near-infrared (NIR) range showed promising results for identifying textile fibres; but examining and interpreting numerous spectra with features that are not well defined is highly time-consuming. Multivariate classification techniques may overcome this problem and have already shown promising results for classifying textile fibres for the textile industry but have been seldom used in the heritage science field. In this work, we compare the performance of two classification techniques, principal component analysis–linear discrimination analysis (PCA-LDA) and soft independent modelling of class analogy (SIMCA), to identify cotton, wool, and silk fibres, and their mixtures in historical textiles using FORS in the NIR range (1000–1700 nm). We built our models analysing reference samples of single fibres and their mixtures, and after the model calculation and evaluation, we studied four historical textiles: three Persian carpets from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and an Italian seventeenth-century tapestry. We cross-checked the results with Raman spectroscopy. The results highlight the advantages and disadvantages of both techniques for the non-invasive identification of the three fibre types in historical textiles and the influence their vicinity can have in the classification.