15 research outputs found
Derivative expansion and gauge independence of the false vacuum decay rate in various gauges
In theories with radiative symmetry breaking, the calculation of the false
vacuum decay rate requires the inclusion of higher-order terms in the
derivative expansion of the effective action. I show here that, in the case of
covariant gauges, the presence of infrared singularities forbids the consistent
calculation by keeping the lowest-order terms. The situation is remedied,
however, in the case of gauges. Using the Nielsen identities I show
that the final result is gauge independent for generic values of the gauge
parameter that are not anomalously small.Comment: Some comments and references adde
The self-consistent bounce: an improved nucleation rate
We generalize the standard computation of homogeneous nucleation theory at
zero temperature to a scenario in which the bubble shape is determined
self-consistently with its quantum fluctuations. Studying two scalar models in
1+1 dimensions, we find the self-consistent bounce by employing a two-particle
irreducible (2PI) effective action in imaginary time at the level of the
Hartree approximation. We thus obtain an effective single bounce action which
determines the rate exponent. We use collective coordinates to account for the
translational invariance and the growth instability of the bubble and finally
present a new nucleation rate prefactor. We compare the results with those
obtained using the standard 1-loop approximation and show that the
self-consistent rate can differ by several orders of magnitude.Comment: 28 pages, revtex, 7 eps figure
Development of Improved Methods for Low Template DNA Analysis
We investigated on the crystallographic, morphological and magnetic characteristics of barium ferrite-SiO2/Si films prepared by sol-gel dip coating method. It is found that the sol obtained at 80°C for 90 min. is the most suitable for coating. The particles formed in the films prepared by heat treatment at 800°C for 3 hours exhibits needle-like particles placing parallel to substrate. The saturation magnetization increases as thickness increases, and its maximum value is 260 emu/cm3. The direction of easy-magnetization in the films has tendency to vary from perpendicular to parallel to substrate as thickness increases
One-loop corrections to the metastable vacuum decay
We evaluate the one-loop prefactor in the false vacuum decay rate in a theory
of a self interacting scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. We use a numerical
method, established some time ago, which is based on a well-known theorem on
functional determinants. The proper handling of zero modes and of
renormalization is discussed. The numerical results in particular show that
quantum corrections become smaller away from the thin-wall case. In the
thin-wall limit the numerical results are found to join into those obtained by
a gradient expansion.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure
Computer-aided identification of Trypanosoma brucei uridine diphosphate galactose 4 '-epimerase inhibitors:toward the development of novel therapies for African sleeping sickness
Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of human African trypanosomiasis, affects tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans. As current therapeutics are inadequate due to toxic side effects, drug resistance, and limited effectiveness, novel therapies are urgently needed. UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (TbGalE), an enzyme of the Leloir pathway of galactose metabolism, is one promising T. brucei drug target. We here use the relaxed complex scheme, an advanced computer-docking methodology that accounts for full protein flexibility, to identify inhibitors of TbGalE. An initial hit rate of 62% was obtained at 100 microM, ultimately leading to the identification of 14 low-micromolar inhibitors. Thirteen of these inhibitors belong to a distinct series with a conserved binding motif that may prove useful in future drug design and optimization