296 research outputs found
Formation and characterization of FeLV iscoms.
Immunostimulating complexes (ISCOMs) have been prepared from feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) envelope proteins. The ISCOMs were characterized biochemically in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showing the presence of proteins of estimated molecular weights of 15,000, 27,000 and 70,000. Immunoblotting showed that both the transmembrane protein p15E and the external glycoprotein gp70 (making up the gp85 protein) were present in the ISCOM. Furthermore, a degradation product of gp70 with an estimated molecular weight of 32,000 was identified in the immunoblot. The FeLV ISCOM was shown by electron microscopy to have the characteristic cage-like structure of an ISCOM with a mean diameter of 37 nm. About 10% of the total amount of gp70 in the culture fluid was recovered in the ISCOMs. The largest loss was encountered during the sedimentation of the virus. In a preliminary immunization experiment in mice the FeLV ISCOMs elicited after a booster gave a clear-cut immune response against gp70
Nonrelativistic Chern-Simons Vortices on the Torus
A classification of all periodic self-dual static vortex solutions of the
Jackiw-Pi model is given. Physically acceptable solutions of the Liouville
equation are related to a class of functions which we term
Omega-quasi-elliptic. This class includes, in particular, the elliptic
functions and also contains a function previously investigated by Olesen. Some
examples of solutions are studied numerically and we point out a peculiar
phenomenon of lost vortex charge in the limit where the period lengths tend to
infinity, that is, in the planar limit.Comment: 25 pages, 2+3 figures; improved exposition, corrected typos, added
one referenc
Stringy Instantons and Cascading Quivers
D-brane instantons can perturb the quantum field theories on space-time
filling D-branes by interesting operators. In some cases, these D-brane
instantons are novel "stringy" effects (not interpretable directly as instanton
effects in the low-energy quantum field theory), while in others the D-brane
instantons can be directly interpreted as field theory effects. In this note,
we describe a situation where both perspectives are available, by studying
stringy instantons in quivers which arise at simple Calabi-Yau singularities.
We show that a stringy instanton which wraps an unoccupied node of the quiver,
and gives rise to a non-perturbative mass in the space-time field theory, can
be reinterpreted as a conventional gauge theory effect by going up in an
appropriate renormalization group cascade. Interestingly, in the cascade, the
contribution of the stringy instanton does not come from gauge theory
instantons but from strong coupling dynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, harvma
Sources of riverine mercury across the Mackenzie River Basin; inferences from a combined Hg\\C isotopes and optical properties approach
The Arctic environment harbors a complex mosaic of mercury (Hg) and carbon (C) reservoirs, some of which are rapidly destabilizing in response to climate warming. The sources of riverine Hg across the Mackenzie River basin (MRB) are uncertain, which leads to a poor understanding of potential future release. Measurements of dissolved and particulate mercury (DHg, PHg) and carbon (DOC, POC) concentration were performed, along with analyses of Hg stable isotope ratios (incl. Delta 199Hg, delta 202Hg), radiocarbon content (Delta 14C) and optical properties of DOC of river water. Isotopic ratios of Hg revealed a closer association to terrestrial Hg reservoirs for the particulate fraction, while the dissolved fraction was more closely associated with atmospheric deposition sources of shorter turnover time. There was a positive correlation between the Delta 14C-OC and riverine Hg concentration for both particulate and dissolved fractions, indicating that waters transporting older-OC (14C-depleted) also contained higher levels of Hg. In the dissolved fraction, older DOC was also associated with higher molecular weight, aromaticity and humic content, which are likely associated with higher Hg-binding potential. Riverine PHg concentration increased with turbidity and SO4 concentration. There were large contrasts in Hg concentration and OC age and quality among the mountain and lowland sectors of the MRB, which likely reflect the spatial distribution of various terrestrial Hg and OC reservoirs, including weathering of sulfate minerals, erosion and extraction of coal deposits, thawing permafrost, forest fires, peatlands, and forests. Results revealed major differences in the sources of particulate and dissolved riverine Hg, but nonetheless a common positive association with olde
Unoriented D-brane Instantons vs Heterotic worldsheet Instantons
We discuss Fermi interactions of four hyperini generated by ``stringy''
instantons in a Type I / Heterotic dual pair on T^4/Z_2.Comment: Minor corrections and clarifications. Added reference
Lifting D-Instanton Zero Modes by Recombination and Background Fluxes
We study the conditions under which D-brane instantons in Type II orientifold
compactifications generate a non-perturbative superpotential. If the instanton
is non-invariant under the orientifold action, it carries four instead of the
two Goldstone fermions required for superpotential contributions. Unless these
are lifted, the instanton can at best generate higher fermionic F-terms of
Beasley-Witten type. We analyse two strategies to lift the additional zero
modes. First we discuss the process of instantonic brane recombination in Type
IIA orientifolds. We show that in some cases charge invariance of the measure
enforces the presence of further zero modes which, unlike the Goldstinos,
cannot be absorbed. In other cases, the instanton exhibits reparameterisation
zero modes after recombination and a superpotential is generated if these are
lifted by suitable closed or open string couplings. In the second part of the
paper we address lifting the extra Goldstinos of D3-brane instantons by
supersymmetric three-form background fluxes in Type IIB orientifolds. This
requires non-trivial gauge flux on the instanton. Only if the part of the
fermionic action linear in the gauge flux survives the orientifold projection
can the extra Goldstinos be lifted.Comment: 38 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables; v2: Appendix B slightly expanded,
minor rewordin
Instanton Induced Neutrino Majorana Masses in CFT Orientifolds with MSSM-like spectra
Recently it has been shown that string instanton effects may give rise to
neutrino Majorana masses in certain classes of semi-realistic string
compactifications. In this paper we make a systematic search for supersymmetric
MSSM-like Type II Gepner orientifold constructions admitting boundary states
associated with instantons giving rise to neutrino Majorana masses and other L-
and/or B-violating operators. We analyze the zero mode structure of D-brane
instantons on general type II orientifold compactifications, and show that only
instantons with O(1) symmetry can have just the two zero modes required to
contribute to the 4d superpotential. We however discuss how the addition of
fluxes and/or possible non-perturbative extensions of the orientifold
compactifications would allow also instantons with and U(1) symmetries
to generate such superpotentials. In the context of Gepner orientifolds with
MSSM-like spectra, we find no models with O(1) instantons with just the
required zero modes to generate a neutrino mass superpotential. On the other
hand we find a number of models in one particular orientifold of the Gepner
model with instantons with a few extra uncharged
non-chiral zero modes which could be easily lifted by the mentioned effects. A
few more orientifold examples are also found under less stringent constraints
on the zero modes. This class of instantons have the interesting
property that R-parity conservation is automatic and the flavour structure of
the neutrino Majorana mass matrices has a simple factorized form.Comment: 68 pages, 2 figures; v2. typos corrected, refs adde
Moduli Redefinitions and Moduli Stabilisation
Field redefinitions occur in string compactifications at the one loop level.
We review arguments for why such redefinitions occur and study their effect on
moduli stabilisation and supersymmetry breaking in the LARGE volume scenario.
For small moduli, although the effect of such redefinitions can be larger than
that of the corrections in both the K\"ahler and scalar potentials,
they do not alter the structure of the scalar potential. For the less well
motivated case of large moduli, the redefinitions can dominate all other terms
in the scalar potential. We also study the effect of redefinitions on the
structure of supersymmetry breaking and soft terms.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures; v2. references adde
Yukawa couplings and masses of non-chiral states for the Standard Model on D6-branes on T6/Z6'
The perturbative leading order open string three-point couplings for the
Standard Model with hidden USp(6) on fractional D6-branes on T6/Z6' from
arXiv:0806.3039 [hep-th], arXiv:0910.0843 [hep-th] are computed. Physical
Yukawa couplings consisting of holomorphic Wilsonian superpotential terms times
a non-holomorphic prefactor involving the corresponding classical open string
Kaehler metrics are given, and mass terms for all non-chiral matter states are
derived. The lepton Yukawa interactions are at leading order flavour diagonal,
while the quark sector displays a more intricate pattern of mixings. While N=2
supersymmetric sectors acquire masses via only two D6-brane displacements -
which also provide the hierarchies between up- and down-type Yukawas within one
quark or lepton generation -, the remaining vector-like states receive masses
via perturbative three-point couplings to some Standard Model singlet fields
with vevs along flat directions. Couplings to the hidden sector and messengers
for supersymmetry breaking are briefly discussed.Comment: 52 pages (including 8p. appendix); 5 figures; 14 tables; v2:
discussion in section 4.1.3 extended, footnote 5 added, typos corrected,
accepted by JHE
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