Active and Passive Quantum Erasers for Neutral Kaons

Quantum marking and quantum erasure are discussed for the neutral kaon system. Contrary to other two-level systems, strangeness and lifetime of a neutral kaon state can be alternatively measured via an "active" or a "passive" procedure. This offers new quantum erasure possibilities. In particular, the operation of a quantum eraser in the "delayed choice" mode is clearly illustrated.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, references added, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Conformal covariance of massless free nets

In the present paper we review in a fibre bundle context the covariant and massless canonical representations of the Poincare' group as well as certain unitary representations of the conformal group (in 4 dimensions). We give a simplified proof of the well-known fact that massless canonical representations with discrete helicity extend to unitary and irreducible representations of the conformal group mentioned before. Further we give a simple new proof that massless free nets for any helicity value are covariant under the conformal group. Free nets are the result of a direct (i.e. independent of any explicit use of quantum fields) and natural way of constructing nets of abstract C*-algebras indexed by open and bounded regions in Minkowski space that satisfy standard axioms of local quantum physics. We also give a group theoretical interpretation of the embedding {\got I} that completely characterizes the free net: it reduces the (algebraically) reducible covariant representation in terms of the unitary canonical ones. Finally, as a consequence of the conformal covariance we also mention for these models some of the expected algebraic properties that are a direct consequence of the conformal covariance (essential duality, PCT--symmetry etc.).Comment: 31 pages, Latex2

CP, T and CPT Violations in the K^0 - bar{K^0} System -- Present Status --

Possible violation of CP, T and CPT symmetries in the K^0 - bar{K^0} system is studied in a way as phenomenological and comprehensive as possible. For this purpose, we first introduce parameters which represent violation of these symmetries in mixing parameters and decay amplitudes in a convenient and well-defined way and, treating these parameters as small, derive formulas which relate them to the experimentally measured quantities. We then perform numerical analyses to derive constraints to these symmetry-violating parameters, with the latest data reported by KTeV Collaboration, NA48 Collaboration and CPLEAR Collaboration, along with those compiled by Particle Data Group, used as inputs. The result obtained by CPLEAR Collaboration from an unconstrained fit to a time-dependent leptonic asymmetry, aided by the Bell-Steinberger relation, enables us to determine or constrain most of the parameters separately. It is shown among the other things that (1) CP and T symmetries are violated definitively at least at the level of 10^{-4} in 2 pi decays, (2) CP and T symmetries are violated at least at the level of 10^{-3} in the K^0 - bar{K^0} mixing, and (3) CPT symmetry is at present tested to the level of 10^{-5} at the utmost.Comment: 20 page

Fundamental time asymmetry from nontrivial space topology

It is argued that a fundamental time asymmetry could arise from the global structure of the space manifold. The proposed mechanism relies on the CPT anomaly of certain chiral gauge theories defined over a multiply connected space manifold. The resulting time asymmetry (microscopic arrow of time) is illustrated by a simple thought experiment. The effect could, in principle, play a role in determining the initial conditions of the big bang.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX, v5: version publishe

Is Hostility Dancing Along with Conversion and Dissociation?

Background.Hysterical symptoms frequently accompany a variety of neurotic and even psychotic psychiatric syndromes and illnesses. Methods.The presence and course of these symptoms was investigated in the present study in 73 psychiatric patients. The relationship of conversion symptoms and dissociative symptoms, both two broad dimensions of hysterical symptomatology, with self-reported hostility was examined in particular. Results.It was found that changes in dissociative symptoms showed highly significant correlations with the changes of externally directed hostility but no significant association with those of internally directed hostility. There was no significant association between changes in hostility and changes in conversion symptoms. Conclusions.In patients recovering from mental illnesses (acute or relapses), as the dissociative symptoms became less marked so the patients expressed less extrapunitive forms of hostility. Changes in dissociative symptoms correlate significantly with changes in total hostility, as well. Conversion symptoms, on the other hand, do not correlate significantly with changes in these scales. It is also of interest that no significant correlations have been shown between the score changes of the intropunitive subscales with either conversion or dissociative symptoms

Dynamical response of the magnetotail to changes of the solar wind direction: an MHD modeling perspective

We performed global MHD simulations to investigate the magnetotail response to the solar wind directional changes (<I>V<sub>z</sub></I>-variations). These changes, although small, cause significant variations of the neutral sheet shape and location even in the near and middle tail regions. They display a complicated temporal response, in which ~60 to 80% of the final shift of the neutral sheet in <I>Z</I> direction occurs within first 10–15 min (less for faster solar wind), whereas a much longer time (exceeding half hour) is required to reach a new equilibrium. The asymptotic equilibrium shape of the simulated neutral sheet is consistent with predictions of Tsyganenko-Fairfield (2004) empirical model. To visualize a physical origin of the north-south tail motion we compared the values of the total pressure in the northern and southern tail lobes and found a considerable difference (10–15% for only 6° change of the solar wind direction used in the simulation). That difference builds up during the passage of the solar wind directional discontinuity and is responsible for the vertical shift of the neutral sheet, although some pressure difference remains in the near tail even near the new equilibrium. Surprisingly, at a given tailward distance, the response was found to be first initiated in the tail center (the "leader effect"), rather than near the flanks, which can be explained by the wave propagation in the tail, and which may have interesting implications for the substorm triggering studies. The present results have serious implications for the data-based modeling, as they place constraints on the accuracy of tail magnetic configurations to be derived for specific events using data of multi-spacecraft missions, e.g. such as THEMIS

Cholinergic neural activity directs retinal layer-specific angiogenesis and blood retinal barrier formation.

Blood vessels in the central nervous system (CNS) develop unique features, but the contribution of CNS neurons to regulating those features is not fully understood. We report that inhibiting spontaneous cholinergic activity or reducing starburst amacrine cell numbers prevents invasion of endothelial cells into the deep layers of the retina and causes blood-retinal-barrier (BRB) dysfunction in mice. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which drives angiogenesis, and Norrin, a Wnt ligand that induces BRB properties, are decreased after activity blockade. Exogenous VEGF restores vessel growth but not BRB function, whereas stabilizing beta-catenin in endothelial cells rescues BRB dysfunction but not vessel formation. We further identify that inhibiting cholinergic activity reduces angiogenesis during oxygen-induced retinopathy. Our findings demonstrate that neural activity lies upstream of VEGF and Norrin, coordinating angiogenesis and BRB formation. Neural activity originating from specific neural circuits may be a general mechanism for driving regional angiogenesis and barrier formation across CNS development