4,452 research outputs found
Peak reduction technique in commutative algebra
The "peak reduction" method is a powerful combinatorial technique with
applications in many different areas of mathematics as well as theoretical
computer science. It was introduced by Whitehead, a famous topologist and group
theorist, who used it to solve an important algorithmic problem concerning
automorphisms of a free group. Since then, this method was used to solve
numerous problems in group theory, topology, combinatorics, and probably in
some other areas as well.
In this paper, we give a survey of what seems to be the first applications of
the peak reduction technique in commutative algebra and affine algebraic
geometry.Comment: survey; 10 page
Single-stranded genomic architecture constrains optimal codon usage
Viral codon usage is shaped by the conflicting forces of mutational pressure and selection to match host patterns for optimal expression. We examined whether genomic architecture (single- or double-stranded DNA) influences the degree to which bacteriophage codon usage differ from their primary bacterial hosts and each other. While both correlated equally with their hosts' genomic nucleotide content, the coat genes of ssDNA phages were less well adapted than those of dsDNA phages to their hosts' codon usage profiles due to their preference for codons ending in thymine. No specific biases were detected in dsDNA phage genomes. In all nine of ten cases of codon redundancy in which a specific codon was overrepresented, ssDNA phages favored the NNT codon. A cytosine to thymine biased mutational pressure working in conjunction with strong selection against non-synonymous mutations appears be shaping codon usage bias in ssDNA viral genomes
Nucleosomes in serum of patients with early cerebral stroke
Background: Nucleosomes are cell death products that are elevated in serum of patients with diseases that are associated with massive cell destruction. We investigated the kinetics of circulating nucleosomes after cerebral stroke and their correlation with the clinical status. Methods: In total, we analyzed nucleosomes by ELISA in sera of 63 patients with early stroke daily during the first week after onset. For correlation with the clinical pathology, patients were grouped into those with medium to slight functional impairment (Barthel Index BI >= 50) and those with severe functional impairment (BI = 50 showed a continuous increase in nucleosomes until day 5 (median: 523 arbitrary units, AU) followed by a slow decline. In contrast, patients with BI = 50 (497 AU; p = 0.031). Concerning the infarction volume, nucleosomes showed significant correlations for the concentrations on day 3 (r = 0.43; p = 0.001) and for the area under the curve (r = 0.34; p = 0.016). Conclusion: Even if nucleosomes are nonspecific cell death markers, their release into serum after cerebral stroke correlates with the gross functional status as well as with the infarction volume and can be considered as biochemical correlative to the severity of stroke. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
Shock waves in strongly coupled plasmas
Shock waves are supersonic disturbances propagating in a fluid and giving
rise to dissipation and drag. Weak shocks, i.e., those of small amplitude, can
be well described within the hydrodynamic approximation. On the other hand,
strong shocks are discontinuous within hydrodynamics and therefore probe the
microscopics of the theory. In this paper we consider the case of the strongly
coupled N=4 plasma whose microscopic description, applicable for scales smaller
than the inverse temperature, is given in terms of gravity in an asymptotically
space. In the gravity approximation, weak and strong shocks should be
described by smooth metrics with no discontinuities. For weak shocks we find
the dual metric in a derivative expansion and for strong shocks we use
linearized gravity to find the exponential tail that determines the width of
the shock. In particular we find that, when the velocity of the fluid relative
to the shock approaches the speed of light the penetration depth
scales as . We compare the results with second
order hydrodynamics and the Israel-Stewart approximation. Although they all
agree in the hydrodynamic regime of weak shocks, we show that there is not even
qualitative agreement for strong shocks. For the gravity side, the existence of
shock waves implies that there are disturbances of constant shape propagating
on the horizon of the dual black holes.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures; v2:typos corrected, references adde
The homotopy type of the loops on -connected -manifolds
For we compute the homotopy groups of -connected closed
manifolds of dimension . Away from the finite set of primes dividing
the order of the torsion subgroup in homology, the -local homotopy groups of
are determined by the rank of the free Abelian part of the homology.
Moreover, we show that these -local homotopy groups can be expressed as a
direct sum of -local homotopy groups of spheres. The integral homotopy type
of the loop space is also computed and shown to depend only on the rank of the
free Abelian part and the torsion subgroup.Comment: Trends in Algebraic Topology and Related Topics, Trends Math.,
Birkhauser/Springer, 2018. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1510.0519
Quarkonium dissociation by anisotropy
We compute the screening length for quarkonium mesons moving through an
anisotropic, strongly coupled N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma by means of its
gravity dual. We present the results for arbitrary velocities and orientations
of the mesons, as well as for arbitrary values of the anisotropy. The
anisotropic screening length can be larger or smaller than the isotropic one,
and this depends on whether the comparison is made at equal temperatures or at
equal entropy densities. For generic motion we find that: (i) mesons dissociate
above a certain critical value of the anisotropy, even at zero temperature;
(ii) there is a limiting velocity for mesons in the plasma, even at zero
temperature; (iii) in the ultra-relativistic limit the screening length scales
as with \epsilon =1/2, in contrast with the isotropic result
\epsilon =1/4.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures; v2: minor changes, added reference
Probing strongly coupled anisotropic plasma
We calculate the static potential, the drag force and the jet quenching
parameter in strongly coupled anisotropic N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma. We find
that the jet quenching is in general enhanced in presence of anisotropy
compared to the isotropic case and that its value depends strongly on the
direction of the moving quark and the direction along which the momentum
broadening occurs. The jet quenching is strongly enhanced for a quark moving
along the anisotropic direction and momentum broadening happens along the
transverse one. The parameter gets lower for a quark moving along the
transverse direction and the momentum broadening considered along the
anisotropic one. Finally, a weaker enhancement is observed when the quark moves
in the transverse plane and the broadening occurs on the same plane. The drag
force for quark motion parallel to the anisotropy is always enhanced. For
motion in the transverse space the drag force is enhanced compared to the
isotropic case only for quarks having velocity above a critical value. Below
this critical value the force is decreased. Moreover, the drag force along the
anisotropic direction is always stronger than the force in the transverse
space. The diffusion time follows exactly the inverse relations of the drag
forces. The static potential is decreased and stronger decrease observed for
quark-antiquark pair aligned along the anisotropic direction than the
transverse one. We finally comment on our results and elaborate on their
similarities and differences with the weakly coupled plasmas.Comment: 1+44 pages, 18 Figures; Added results on static force; Added
references; version published in JHE
Single-inclusive production of large-pT charged particles in hadronic collisions at TeV energies and perturbative QCD predictions
The single inclusive spectrum of charged particles with transverse momenta
pT=3-150 GeV/c measured at midrapidity by the CDF experiment in
proton-antiproton (p-pbar) collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV is compared to
next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the most recent
parametrizations of the parton distributions and parton-to-hadron fragmentation
functions. Above pT~20 GeV/c, there is a very sizeable disagreement of the
Tevatron data compared to the NLO predictions and to xT-scaling expectations,
suggesting a problem in the experimental data. We also present the predictions
for the pT-differential charged hadron spectra and the associated theoretical
uncertainties for proton-proton (p-p) collisions at LHC energies
(sqrt(s)=0.9-14 TeV). Two procedures to estimate the charged hadron spectra at
LHC heavy-ion collision energies (sqrt(s)=2.76,5.5 TeV) from p-p measurements
are suggested.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures. A few text additions. Accepted for publication
in JHE
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