1,455 research outputs found
Radiative Electroweak Symmetry-Breaking Revisited
In the absence of a tree-level scalar-field mass, renormalization-group
methods permit the explicit summation of leading-logarithm contributions to all
orders of the perturbative series within the effective potential for
electroweak symmetry. This improvement of the effective
potential function is seen to reduce residual dependence on the renormalization
mass scale. The all-orders summation of leading logarithm terms involving the
dominant three couplings contributing to radiative corrections is suggestive of
a potential characterized by a plausible Higgs boson mass of 216 GeV. However,
the tree potential's local minimum at is restored if QCD is
sufficiently strong.Comment: revtex, 4 pages, 1 eps figure embedded in manuscript. Updated version
contains additional comments and corrects minor error
Microfluidic genome-wide profiling of intrinsic electrical properties in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Methods to analyze the intrinsic physical properties of cells – for example, size, density, rigidity, or electrical properties – are an active area of interest in the microfluidics community. Although the physical properties of cells are determined at a fundamental level by gene expression, the relationship between the two remains exceptionally complex and poorly characterized, limiting the adoption of intrinsic separation technologies. To improve our current understanding of how a cell's genotype maps to a measurable physical characteristic and quantitatively investigate the potential of using these characteristics as biomarkers, we have developed a novel screen that combines microfluidic cell sorting with high-throughput sequencing and the haploid yeast deletion library to identify genes whose functions modulate one such characteristic – intrinsic electrical properties. Using this screen, we are able to establish a high-content electrical profile of the haploid yeast gene deletion strains. We find that individual genetic deletions can appreciably alter the electrical properties of cells, affecting [approximately] 10% of the 4432 gene deletion strains screened. Additionally, we find that gene deletions affecting electrical properties in specific ways (i.e. increasing or decreasing effective conductivity at higher or lower electric field frequencies) are strongly associated with an enriched subset of fundamental biological processes that can be traced to specific pathways and complexes. The screening approach demonstrated here and the attendant results are immediately applicable to the intrinsic separations community.Singapore-MIT AllianceNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF IDBR grant DBI-0852654)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant EB005753
Higgs Mediated EDMs in the Next-to-MSSM: An Application to Electroweak Baryogenesis
We perform a study on the predictions of electric-dipole moments (EDMs) of
neutron, Mercury (Hg), Thallium (Tl), deuteron, and Radium (Ra) in the
framework of next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM) with
CP-violating parameters in the superpotential and soft-supersymmetry-breaking
sector. We confine to the case in which only the physical tree-level CP phase
, associated with the couplings of the singlet
terms in the superpotential and with the vacuum-expectation-values (VEVs),
takes on a nonzero value. We found that the one-loop contributions from
neutralinos are mostly small while the two-loop Higgs-mediated contributions of
the Barr-Zee (BZ) type diagrams dominate. We emphasize a scenario motivated by
electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures, to appear in PR
Covariant and locally Lorentz-invariant varying speed of light theories
We propose definitions for covariance and local Lorentz invariance applicable
when the speed of light is allowed to vary. They have the merit of
retaining only those aspects of the usual definitions which are invariant under
unit transformations, and which can therefore legitimately represent the
outcome of an experiment. We then discuss some possibilities for invariant
actions governing the dynamics of such theories. We consider first the
classical action for matter fields and the effects of a changing upon
quantization. We discover a peculiar form of quantum particle creation due to a
varying . We then study actions governing the dynamics of gravitation and
the speed of light. We find the free, empty-space, no-gravity solution, to be
interpreted as the counterpart of Minkowksi space-time, and highlight its
similarities with Fock-Lorentz space-time. We also find flat-space string-type
solutions, in which near the string core is much higher. We label them
fast-tracks and compare them with gravitational wormholes. We finally discuss
general features of cosmological and black hole solutions, and digress on the
meaning of singularities in these theories.Comment: To be published in Physical Review
Dynamics of Quintessence Models of Dark Energy with Exponential Coupling to the Dark Matter
We explore quintessence models of dark energy which exhibit non-minimal
coupling between the dark matter and the dark energy components of the cosmic
fluid. The kind of coupling chosen is inspired in scalar-tensor theories of
gravity. We impose a suitable dynamics of the expansion allowing to derive
exact Friedmann-Robertson-Walker solutions once the coupling function is given
as input. Self-interaction potentials of single and double exponential types
emerge as result of our choice of the coupling function. The stability and
existence of the solutions is discussed in some detail. Although, in general,
models with appropriated interaction between the components of the cosmic
mixture are useful to handle the coincidence problem, in the present study the
coincidence can not be evaded due to the choice of the solution generating
ansatz.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Targeting EZH2 Reprograms Intratumoral Regulatory T Cells to Enhance Cancer Immunity.
Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for maintaining immune homeostasis, but their presence in tumor tissues impairs anti-tumor immunity and portends poor prognoses in cancer patients. Here, we reveal a mechanism to selectively target and reprogram the function of tumor-infiltrating Tregs (TI-Tregs) by exploiting their dependency on the histone H3K27 methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in tumors. Disruption of EZH2 activity in Tregs, either pharmacologically or genetically, drove the acquisition of pro-inflammatory functions in TI-Tregs, remodeling the tumor microenvironment and enhancing the recruitment and function of CD8+ and CD4+ effector T cells that eliminate tumors. Moreover, abolishing EZH2 function in Tregs was mechanistically distinct from, more potent than, and less toxic than a generalized Treg depletion approach. This study reveals a strategy to target Tregs in cancer that mitigates autoimmunity by reprogramming their function in tumors to enhance anti-cancer immunity
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