Deficient auditory emotion processing but intact emotional multisensory integration in alexithymia

Alexithymia has been associated with emotion recognition deficits in both auditory and visual domains. Although emotions are inherently multimodal in daily life, little is known regarding abnormalities of emotional multisensory integration (eMSI) in relation to alexithymia. Here, we employed an emotional Stroop-like audiovisual task while recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in individuals with high alexithymia levels (HA) and low alexithymia levels (LA). During the task, participants had to indicate whether a voice was spoken in a sad or angry prosody while ignoring the simultaneously presented static face which could be either emotionally congruent or incongruent to the human voice. We found that HA performed worse and showed higher P2 amplitudes than LA independent of emotion congruency. Furthermore, difficulties in identifying and describing feelings were positively correlated with the P2 component, and P2 correlated negatively with behavioral performance. Bayesian statistics showed no group differences in eMSI and classical integration-related ERP components (N1 and N2). Although individuals with alexithymia indeed showed deficits in auditory emotion recognition as indexed by decreased performance and higher P2 amplitudes, the present findings suggest an intact capacity to integrate emotional information from multiple channels in alexithymia. Our work provides valuable insights into the relationship between alexithymia and neuropsychological mechanisms of emotional multisensory integration

Objectives of the Millimetron Space Observatory science program and technical capabilities of its realization

We present the scientific program of the Spectr-M project aimed at the creation and operation of the Millimetron Space Observatory (MSO) planned for launch in the late 2020s. The unique technical capabilities of the observatory will enable broadband observations of astronomical objects from 50 μm to 10 mm wavelengths with a record sensitivity (up to ~ 0.1 μJy) in the single-dish mode and with an unprecedented high angular resolution (~ 0.1 μas) in the ground-space very long baseline interferometer (SVLBI) regime. The program addresses fundamental priority issues of astrophysics and physics in general that can be solved only with the MSO capabilities: 1) the study of physical processes in the early Universe up to redshifts z ~ 2 × 106 through measuring μ-distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum, and investigation of the structure and evolution of the Universe at redshifts z < 15 by measuring y-distortions of the CMB spectrum; 2) the investigation of the geometry of space-time around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the center of our Galaxy and M87 by imaging surrounding shadows, the study of plasma properties in the shadow formation regions, and the search for observational manifestations of wormholes; 3) the study of observational manifestations of the origin of life in the Universe - the search for water and biomarkers in the Galactic interstellar medium. Moreover, the technical capabilities of the MSO can help solve related problems, including the birth of the first galaxies and SMBHs (z ≳ 10), alternative approaches to measuring the Hubble constant, the physics of SMBHs in 'dusty' galactic nuclei, the study of protoplanetary disks and water transport in them, and the study of 'ocean worlds' in the Solar System

Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR

Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100 (sqrt(s_NN) = 2.7 - 4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (mu_B > 500 MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation-of-state at high density as it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including activities before the start of data taking in 2022, in the context of the worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Published in European Physical Journal

New high statistics measurement of Ke4K_{e4} decay form factors and ππ\pi\pi scattering phase shifts

We report results from a new measurement of the $K_{e4}$ decay $K^{\pm} \rightarrow \pi^{+}\pi^{-}e^{\pm}\nu$ by the NA48/2 collaboration at the CERN SPS, based on a partial sample of more than 670000 $K_{e4}$ decays in both charged modes collected in 2003. The form factors of the hadronic current (F, G, H) and $\pi\pi$ phase difference ($\delta=\delta_{s}-\delta_{p}$) have been measured in ten independent bins of the $\pi\pi$ mass spectrum to investigate the variation. A sizeable acceptance at large $\pi\pi$ mass, a low background and a very good resolution contribute to an improved experimental accuracy, a factor two better than in the previous measurement, when extracting the $\pi\pi$ scattering lengths $a^{0}_{0}$ and $a^{2}_{0}$. Under the assumption of isospin symmetry and using numerical solutions of the Roy equations, the following values are obtained in the plane ($a^{0}_{0}, a^{2}_{0}): a^{0}_{0}=0.233 \pm 0.016_{stat} \pm 0.007_{syst}, a^{2}_{0}=-0.0471 \pm 0.011_{stat} \pm 0.004_{syst}$. The presence of potentially large isospin effects is also considered and will allow comparison with precise predictions from Chiral Perturbation Theory

Search for direct CP violating charge asymmetries in K±→π±π+π−K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^+\pi^- and K±→π±π0π0K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^0\pi^0 decays

A measurement of the direct CP violating charge asymmetries of the Dalitz plot linear slopes $A_g=(g^+-g^-)/(g^++g^-)$ in $K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^0\pi^0$ decays by the NA48/2 experiment at CERN SPS is presented. A new technique of asymmetry measurement involving simultaneous $K^+$ and $K^-$ beams and a large data sample collected allowed a result of an unprecedented precision. The charge asymmetries were measured to be $A^c_g=(-1.5\pm2.2)\times10^{-4}$ with $3.11\times 10^9$ $K^{\pm}\to\pi^\pm\pi^+\pi^-$ decays, and $A^n_g=(1.8\pm1.8)\times10^{-4}$ with $9.13\times 10^7$ $K^{\pm}\to\pi^\pm\pi^0\pi^0$ decays. The precision of the results is limited mainly by the size of the data sample.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures. An updated version accepted by the EPJ

Direct search for light gluinos

We present the results for a direct search for light gluinos through the appearance of $\eta\rightarrow 3\pi^{0}$ with high transverse momentum in the vacuum tank of the NA48 experiment at CERN. We find one event within a lifetime range of $10^{-9}-10^{-3}$s and another one between $10^{-10}-10^{-9}$s. Both events are consistent with the expected background from neutrons in the beam, produced by 450 GeV protons impinging on the Be targets, which interact with the residual air in the tank. From these data we give limits on the production of the hypothetical $g\widetilde{g}$ bound state, the $R^0$ hadron, and its $R^0\rightarrow\eta\widetilde{\gamma}$ decay in the $R^0$ mass range between 1 and 5~GeV

Recent results in kaon physics

A review of the present experimental status of the K → πνν (Kπνν) and other kaon decay analyses at experiments NA62 (CERN) and KOTO (J-PARC) is given. The Kπνν decay is one of the best candidates among the rare meson decays for indirect searches for new physics in the mass ranges complementary to those accessible by current accelerators. The Standard Model (SM) prediction of the branching fraction (B) of the Kπνν decay is lower than 10−10 in both neutral and charged modes. The NA62 experiment aims to measure the B of the charged mode with better than 10% precision. Three candidate events, compatible with the SM prediction, have been observed from a sample of 2.12×1012 K+ decays collected in 2016 and 2017 by NA62. More than twice the statistics is available in the 2018 dataset currently being analysed. The KOTO experiment in Japan aims to measure B(KL → π0νν) using a technique similar to NA62, but with much lower momentum. In the first dataset taken in 2015 zero signal candidate events were observed. The current status of the analysis of the 2016-2018 dataset with 1.4 times more data is presented. Finally, the most recent results of other physics analyses at the NA62 experiment are summarised