Aspects of Scalar Field Dynamics in Gauss-Bonnet Brane Worlds

The Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet equations projected from the bulk to brane lead to a complicated Friedmann equation which simplifies to $H^2 \sim \rho^q$ in the asymptotic regimes. The Randall-Sundrum (RS) scenario corresponds to $q=2$ whereas $q=2/3$ & $q=1$ give rise to high energy Gauss-Bonnet (GB) regime and the standard GR respectively. Amazingly, while evolving from RS regime to high energy GB limit, one passes through a GR like region which has important implications for brane world inflation. For tachyon GB inflation with potentials $V(\phi) \sim \phi^p$ investigated in this paper, the scalar to tensor ratio of perturbations $R$ is maximum around the RS region and is generally suppressed in the high energy regime for the positive values of $p$. The ratio is very low for $p>0$ at all energy scales relative to GB inflation with ordinary scalar field. The models based upon tachyon inflation with polynomial type of potentials with generic positive values of $p$ turn out to be in the $1 \sigma$ observational contour bound at all energy scales varying from GR to high energy GB limit. The spectral index $n_S$ improves for the lower values of $p$ and approaches its scale invariant limit for $p=-2$ in the high energy GB regime. The ratio $R$ also remains small for large negative values of $p$, however, difference arises for models close to scale invariance limit. In this case, the tensor to scale ratio is large in the GB regime whereas it is suppressed in the intermediate region between RS and GB. Within the frame work of patch cosmologies governed by $H^2 \sim \rho^q$, the behavior of ordinary scalar field near cosmological singularity and the nature of scaling solutions are distinguished for the values of $q 1$.Comment: 15 pages, 10 eps figures; appendix on various scales in GB brane world included and references updated; final version to appear in PR

The structure of Herpesvirus Fusion Glycoprotein B-Bilayer Complex reveals the protein-membrane and lateral protein-protein interaction

Glycoprotein B (gB) is a key component of the complex herpesvirus fusion machinery. We studied membrane interaction of two gB ectodomain forms and present an electron cryotomography structure of the gB-bilayer complex. The two forms differed in presence or absence of the membrane proximal region (MPR) but showed an overall similar trimeric shape. The presence of the MPR impeded interaction with liposomes. In contrast, the MPR-lacking form interacted efficiently with liposomes. Lateral interaction resulted in coat formation on the membranes. The structure revealed that interaction of gB with membranes was mediated by the fusion loops and limited to the outer membrane leaflet. The observed intrinsic propensity of gB to cluster on membranes indicates an additional role of gB in driving the fusion process forward beyond the transient fusion pore opening and subsequently leading to fusion pore expansion

Improved description of charged Higgs boson production at hadron colliders

We present a new method for matching the two twin-processes gb->H+/-t and gg->H+/-tb in Monte Carlo event generators. The matching is done by defining a double-counting term, which is used to generate events that are subtracted from the sum of these two twin-processes. In this way we get a smooth transition between the collinear region of phase space, which is best described by gb->H+/-t, and the hard region, which requires the use of the gg->H+/-tb process. The resulting differential distributions show large differences compared to both the gb-> H+/-t and gg->H+/-tb processes illustrating the necessity to use matching when tagging the accompanying b-jet.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Revised with updated discussion and reference

Discovery of a New Member of the Inner Oort Cloud from The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey

We report the discovery of 2010 GB$_{174}$, a likely new member of the Inner Oort Cloud (IOC). 2010 GB$_{174}$ is one of 91 Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and Centaurs discovered in a 76 deg$^2$ contiguous region imaged as part of the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) --- a moderate ecliptic latitude survey reaching a mean limiting magnitude of $g^\prime \simeq 25.5$ --- using MegaPrime on the 3.6m Canada France Hawaii Telescope. 2010 GB$_{174}$ is found to have an orbit with semi-major axis $a\simeq350.8$ AU, inclination $i \simeq 21.6^\circ$ and pericentre $q\sim48.5$ AU. This is the second largest perihelion distance among known solar system objects. Based on the sky coverage and depth of the NGVS, we estimate the number of IOC members with sizes larger than 300 km ($H_V \le 6.2$ mag) to be $\simeq 11\,000$. A comparison of the detection rate from the NGVS and the PDSSS (a characterized survey that `re-discovered' the IOC object Sedna) gives, for an assumed a power-law LF for IOC objects, a slope of $\alpha \simeq 0.7 \pm 0.2$, with only two detections in this region this slope estimate is highly uncertain.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Black Strings at Large DD

We study the black string solutions in the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet(EGB) theory at large $D$. By using the $1/D$ expansion in the near horizon region we derive the effective equations that describe the dynamics of the EGB black strings. The uniform and non-uniform black strings are obtained as the static solutions of the effective equations. From the perturbation analysis of the effective equations, we find that thin EGB black strings suffer from the Gregory-Laflamme instablity and the GB term weakens the instability when the GB coefficient is small, however, when the GB coefficient is large the GB term enhances the instability. Furthermore, we numerically solve the effective equations to study the non-linear instability. It turns out that the thin black strings are unstable to developing inhomogeneities along their length, and at late times they asymptote to the stable non-uniform black strings. The behavior is qualitatively similar to the case in the Einstein gravity. Compared with the black string instability in the Einstein gravity at large D, when the GB coefficient is small the time needed to reach to final state increases, but when the GB coefficient is large the time to reach to final state decreases. Starting from the point of view in which the effective equations can be interpreted as the equations for the dynamical fluid, we evaluate the transport coefficients and find that the ratio of the shear viscosity and the entropy density agrees with that obtained previously in the membrane paradigm after taking the large $D$ limit.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, some errors corrected, references adde