The Age-Specific Force of Natural Selection and Walls of Death

W. D. Hamilton's celebrated formula for the age-specific force of natural selection furnishes predictions for senescent mortality due to mutation accumulation, at the price of reliance on a linear approximation. Applying to Hamilton's setting the full non-linear demographic model for mutation accumulation of Evans et al. (2007), we find surprising differences. Non-linear interactions cause the collapse of Hamilton-style predictions in the most commonly studied case, refine predictions in other cases, and allow Walls of Death at ages before the end of reproduction. Haldane's Principle for genetic load has an exact but unfamiliar generalization.Comment: 27 page

Recession Looms for the U.S. Economy in 2007

This paper forecasts that weakness in the housing market is likely to push the economy into a recession in 2007. Economist Dean Baker provides predictions for GDP, job and wage growth; inflation (CPI); investment; exports and imports; and more

Properties of new unflavored mesons below 2.4 GeV

The global features of spectrum of highly excited light nonstrange mesons can be well understood within both chiral symmetry restoration scenario combined with the relation $M^2\sim J+n$ and within nonrelativistic description based on the relation $M^2\sim L+n$. The predictions of these two alternative classifications for missing states are different and only future experiments can distinguish between the two. We elaborate and compare systematically the predictions of both schemes, which may serve as a suggestion for future experiments devoted to the search for missing states.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. C XX, 005200 (2007

Scaled Particle Theory for Hard Sphere Pairs. II. Numerical Analysis

We use the extension of scaled particle theory (ESPT) presented in the accompanying paper [Stillinger et al. J. Chem. Phys. xxx, xxx (2007)] to calculate numerically pair correlation function of the hard sphere fluid over the density range $0\leq \rho\sigma^3\leq 0.96$. Comparison with computer simulation results reveals that the new theory is able to capture accurately the fluid's structure across the entire density range examined. The pressure predicted via the virial route is systematically lower than simulation results, while that obtained using the compressibility route is lower than simulation predictions for $\rho\sigma^3\leq 0.67$ and higher than simulation predictions for $\rho\sigma^3\geq 0.67$. Numerical predictions are also presented for the surface tension and Tolman length of the hard sphere fluid

Direct photon spectra in Pb-Pb at sqrt(s) = 5.5 TeV: hydrodynamics+pQCD predictions

The transverse momentum spectra for direct photons produced in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC, including thermal (hydrodynamics) and prompt (pQCD) emissions are presented.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to "Workshop on Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC: Last Call for Predictions", Geneva, Switzerland, 14 May - 8 Jun 2007. To appear in J.Phys.

Melting the Color Glass Condensate at the LHC

The charged particle multiplicity in central AA collisions and the production of heavy flavors in pA collisions at the LHC is predicted in the CGC framework.Comment: Presented at the Workshop on Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC: Last Call for Predictions, Geneva, Switzerland, 14 May - 8 Jun 2007; 2 pages, 3 figure