A Phenomenological Theory of The Pseudogap State

An ansatz is proposed for the coherent part of the single particle Green's function in a doped resonant valence bond (RVB) state by, analogy with the form derived by Konik and coworkers for a doped spin liquid formed by an array of 2-leg Hubbard ladders near half-filling. The parameters of the RVB state are taken from the renormalized mean field theory of Zhang and coworkers for underdoped cuprates. The ansatz shows good agreement with recent angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) on underdoped cuprates and resolves an apparent disagreement with the Luttinger Sum Rule. The transition in the normal state from a doped RVB spin liquid to a standard Landau Fermi liquid, that occurs in the renormalized mean field theory, appears as a quantum critical point characterized by a change in the analytic form of the Green's function. A d-wave superconducting dome surrounding this quantum critical point is introduced phenomenologically. Results are also presented for the Drude weight and tunneling density of states as functions of the hole density.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure

Unified theory for Goos-H\"{a}nchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects

A unified theory is advanced to describe both the lateral Goos-H\"{a}nchen (GH) effect and the transverse Imbert-Fedorov (IF) effect, through representing the vector angular spectrum of a 3-dimensional light beam in terms of a 2-form angular spectrum consisting of its 2 orthogonal polarized components. From this theory, the quantization characteristics of the GH and IF displacements are obtained, and the Artmann formula for the GH displacement is derived. It is found that the eigenstates of the GH displacement are the 2 orthogonal linear polarizations in this 2-form representation, and the eigenstates of the IF displacement are the 2 orthogonal circular polarizations. The theoretical predictions are found to be in agreement with recent experimental results.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

The formation of aromatic hydrocarbons during the pyrolysis of polyethylene

Plastics see very widespread use in modern society. The properties of many plastics can be modified relatively easily to fit a wide variety of applications. However, the disposal of waste plastics presents a significant environmental challenge. Recently, there has been considerable interest into tertiary recycling of waste plastics to produce liquid fuel. This project focuses on the formation of aromatic hydrocarbons during thermal pyrolysis of plastics. Several reactor configurations have been suggested for the pyrolysis of plastics. The reactor configuration used in this study consists of a stirrer tank reactor coupled with a reflux column and a condenser

Strong CP and Mu Problems in Theories with Gauge Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We provide a simple solution to the $\mu$ and strong CP problems in the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking. The generic appearance of R symmetry in dynamical supersymmetry breaking is used to implement Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Acceptable $\mu$ and $B$ terms as well as the large symmetry breaking scale are induced in the presence of nonrenormalizable interactions. Cosmological consequences of this scheme turn out to yield constraints on the PQ symmetry breaking scale and the number of the messenger/heavy quarks. Complexity in introducing non-R Peccei-Quinn symmetry is contrasted with the case of R symmetry.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex. Significantly modified version to apear in Phys. Rev.

Fermion Masses and Mixing and CP-Violation in SO(10) Models with Family Symmetries

Several ideas for solving the problem of fermion mass hierarchy and mixing and specific supersymmetric models that realize it are reviewed. In particular, we discuss many models based on SO(10) in four dimensions combined with a family symmetry to accommodate fermion mass hierarchy and mixing, including the case of neutrinos. These models are compared and various tests that can be used to distinguish these models are suggested. We also include a discussion of a few SO(10) models in higher space-time dimensions.Comment: 66 pages; 5 figures; Submitted to International Journal of Modern Physics A; v2: a few references added; some changes in tex

Mutations in the mitochondrial cysteinyl-tRNA synthase gene, CARS2, lead to a severe epileptic encephalopathy and complex movement disorder

Background: Mitochondrial disease is often suspected in cases of severe epileptic encephalopathy especially when a complex movement disorder, liver involvement and progressive developmental regression are present. Although mutations in either mitochondrial DNA or POLG are often present, other nuclear defects in mitochondrial DNA replication and protein translation have been associated with a severe epileptic encephalopathy. Methods: and results We identified a proband with an epileptic encephalopathy, complex movement disorder and a combined mitochondrial respiratory chain enzyme deficiency. The child presented with neurological regression, complex movement disorder and intractable seizures. A combined deficiency of mitochondrial complexes I, III and IV was noted in liver tissue, along with increased mitochondrial DNA content in skeletal muscle. Incomplete assembly of complex V, using blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis and complex I, using western blotting, suggested a disorder of mitochondrial transcription or translation. Exome sequencing identified compound heterozygous mutations in CARS2, a mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase. Both mutations affect highly conserved amino acids located within the functional ligase domain of the cysteinyl-tRNA synthase. A specific decrease in the amount of charged mt-tRNACys was detected in patient fibroblasts compared with controls. Retroviral transfection of the wild-type CARS2 into patient skin fibroblasts led to the correction of the incomplete assembly of complex V, providing functional evidence for the role of CARS2 mutations in disease aetiology. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that mutations in CARS2 result in a mitochondrial translational defect as seen in individuals with mitochondrial epileptic encephalopathy

Model-Based Estimation With Boundary Side Information or Boundary Regularization

The authors have previously developed a model-based strategy for joint estimation of myocardial perfusion and boundaries using ECT (emission computed tomography). They have also reported difficulties with boundary estimation in low contrast and low count rate situations. Here they propose using boundary side information (obtainable from high resolution MRI and CT images) or boundary regularization to improve both perfusion and boundary estimation in these situations. To fuse boundary side information into the emission measurements, the authors formulate a joint log-likelihood function to include auxiliary boundary measurements as well as ECT projection measurements. In addition, they introduce registration parameters to align auxiliary boundary measurements with ECT measurements and jointly estimate these parameters with other parameters of interest from the composite measurements. In simulated PET O-15 water myocardial perfusion studies using a simplified model, the authors show that the joint estimation improves perfusion estimation performance and gives boundary alignment accuracy of <0.5 mm even at 0.2 million counts. They implement boundary regularization through formulating a penalized log-likelihood function. They also demonstrate in simulations that simultaneous regularization of the epicardial boundary and myocardial thickness gives comparable perfusion estimation accuracy with the use of boundary side information.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/85825/1/Fessler106.pd

Leptogenesis from R parity nonconservation

It is known that realistic neutrino masses for neutrino oscillations may be obtained from R parity nonconserving supersymmetry. It is also known that such interactions would erase any preexisting lepton or baryon asymmetry of the Universe because of the inevitable intervention of the electroweak sphalerons. We now show how a crucial subset of these R parity nonconserving terms may in fact create its own successful leptogenesis.Comment: 4 pages latex file with one postscript figur