Molecular architecture and function of adenovirus DNA polymerase

Central to this thesis is the role of adenovirus DNA polymerase (Ad pol) in adenovirus DNA replication. Ad pol is a member of the family B DNA polymerases but belongs to a distinct subclass of polymerases that use a protein as primer. As Ad pol catalyses both the initiation and elongation phases and needs to accomodate both DNA and protein as a primer, it is not surprising that a large number of protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions are involved in efficient replication. Indeed, Ad pol is known to interact with pTP, NFI and DNA, although our understanding of these interactions is limited. In this thesis, these interactions have been studied in greater detail. After an introductory chapter on DNA dependent DNA polymerases and Ad replication, the jumping back mechanism that characterizes the change from initiation to elongation is extensively reviewed in chapter 2. In chapter 3, the highly conserved (I/Y)XGG motif of Ad pol is studied. In chapter 4, the interaction between Ad pol and DNA is further studied by the use of biotinylated oligo-nucleotides with a bulky streptavidin block. Chapter 5 examines the termination of Ad pol on the native TP-containing viral DNA. Finally, in chapter 6 the recruitment of the pTP-pol complex via a direct interaction between Ad pol and NFI is studied in detail

Unphysical Operators in Partially Quenched QCD

We point out that the chiral Lagrangian describing pseudo-Goldstone bosons in partially quenched QCD has one more four-derivative operator than that for unquenched QCD with three flavors. The new operator can be chosen to vanish in the unquenched sector of the partially quenched theory. Its contributions begin at next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. At this order it contributes only to unphysical scattering processes, and we work out some examples. Its contributions to pseudo-Goldstone properties begin at next-to-next-to-leading order, and we determine their form. We also determine all the zero and two derivative operators in the $O(p^6)$ partially quenched chiral Lagrangian, finding three more than in unquenched QCD, and use these to give the general form of the analytic next-to-next-to-leading order contributions to the pseudo-Goldstone mass and decay constant. We discuss the general implications of such additional operators for the utility of partially quenched simulationsComment: 13 pages, 11 figures Version 2: Additional footnote and parenthesis in section

Quantization of Solitons and the Restricted Sine-Gordon Model

We show how to compute form factors, matrix elements of local fields, in the restricted sine-Gordon model, at the reflectionless points, by quantizing solitons. We introduce (quantum) separated variables in which the Hamiltonians are expressed in terms of (quantum) tau-functions. We explicitly describe the soliton wave functions, and we explain how the restriction is related to an unusual hermitian structure. We also present a semi-classical analysis which enlightens the fact that the restricted sine-Gordon model corresponds to an analytical continuation of the sine-Gordon model, intermediate between sine-Gordon and KdV.Comment: 29 pages, Latex, minor updatin

Hadronic Electromagnetic Properties at Finite Lattice Spacing

Electromagnetic properties of the octet mesons as well as the octet and decuplet baryons are augmented in quenched and partially quenched chiral perturbation theory to include O(a) corrections due to lattice discretization. We present the results for the SU(3) flavor group in the isospin limit as well as the results for SU(2) flavor with non-degenerate quarks. These corrections will be useful for extrapolation of lattice calculations using Wilson valence and sea quarks, as well as calculations using Wilson sea quarks and Ginsparg-Wilson valence quarks.Comment: 19 pages, 0 figures, RevTeX

Spinons and parafermions in fermion cosets

We introduce a set of gauge invariant fermion fields in fermionic coset models and show that they play a very central role in the description of several Conformal Field Theories (CFT's). In particular we discuss the explicit realization of primaries and their OPE in unitary minimal models, parafermion fields in $Z_k$ CFT's and that of spinon fields in $SU(N)_k, k=1$ Wess-Zumino-Witten models (WZW) theories. The higher level case ($k>1$) will be briefly discussed. Possible applications to QHE systems and spin-ladder systems are addressed.Comment: 6 pages, Latex file. Invited talk at International Seminar dedicated to the memory of D.V.Volkov, Kharkov, January 5-7, 199

Fusion and singular vectors in A1{(1)} highest weight cyclic modules

We show how the interplay between the fusion formalism of conformal field theory and the Knizhnik--Zamolodchikov equation leads to explicit formulae for the singular vectors in the highest weight representations of A1{(1)}.Comment: 42 page

Microscopic study of freeze-out in relativistic heavy ion collisions at SPS energies

The freeze-out conditions in the light (S+S) and heavy (Pb+Pb) colliding systems of heavy nuclei at 160 AGeV/$c$ are analyzed within the microscopic Quark Gluon String Model (QGSM). We found that even for the most heavy systems particle emission takes place from the whole space-time domain available for the system evolution, but not from the thin ''freeze-out hypersurface", adopted in fluid dynamical models. Pions are continuously emitted from the whole volume of the reaction and reflect the main trends of the system evolution. Nucleons in Pb+Pb collisions initially come from the surface region. For both systems there is a separation of the elastic and inelastic freeze-out. The mesons with large transverse momenta, $p_t$, are predominantly produced at the early stages of the reaction. The low $p_t$-component is populated by mesons coming mainly from the decay of resonances. This explains naturally the decreasing source sizes with increasing $p_t$, observed in HBT interferometry. Comparison with S+S and Au+Au systems at 11.6 AGeV/$c$ is also presented.Comment: REVTEX, 26 pages incl. 9 figures and 2 tables, to be published in the Physical Review

Exact conserved quantities on the cylinder II: off-critical case

With the aim of exploring a massive model corresponding to the perturbation of the conformal model [hep-th/0211094] the nonlinear integral equation for a quantum system consisting of left and right KdV equations coupled on the cylinder is derived from an integrable lattice field theory. The eigenvalues of the energy and of the transfer matrix (and of all the other local integrals of motion) are expressed in terms of the corresponding solutions of the nonlinear integral equation. The analytic and asymptotic behaviours of the transfer matrix are studied and given.Comment: enlarged version before sending to jurnal, second part of hep-th/021109

Hidden sl(2,R) Symmetry in 2D CFTs and the Wave Function of 3D Quantum Gravity

We show that all two-dimensional conformal field theories possess a hidden sl(2,R) affine symmetry. More precisely, we add appropriate ghost fields to an arbitrary CFT, and we use them to construct the currents of sl(2,R). We then define a BRST operator whose cohomology defines a physical subspace where the extended theory coincides with the original CFT. We use the sl(2,R) algebra to construct candidate wave functions for 3-d quantum gravity coupled to matter, and we discuss their viability.Comment: Minor misprints corrected.Eight references added. To appear in JHEP.34 pages, LaTe