Electromagnetic Polarization Effects due to Axion Photon Mixing

We investigate the effect of axions on the polarization of electromagnetic waves as they propagate through astronomical distances. We analyze the change in the dispersion of the electromagnetic wave due to its mixing with axions. We find that this leads to a shift in polarization and turns out to be the dominant effect for a wide range of frequencies. We analyze whether this effect or the decay of photons into axions can explain the large scale anisotropies which have been observed in the polarizations of quasars and radio galaxies. We also comment on the possibility that the axion-photon mixing can explain the dimming of distant supernovae.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

A first insight into the developability of an IgG3 : a combined computational and experimental approach

Immunoglobulin G 3 (IgG3) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are high value scaffolds for developing novel therapies. Despite their wide-ranging therapeutic potential, IgG3 physicochemical properties and developability characteristics remain largely under-characterised. Protein-protein interactions elevate solution viscosity in high-concentration formulations impacting physico-chemical stability, manufacturability, and injectability of mAbs. Therefore, in this manuscript, the key molecular descriptors and biophysical properties of a model anti-IL-8 IgG1 and its IgG3 ortholog are characterised. A computational and experimental framework was applied to measure molecular descriptors impacting on their downstream developability. Findings from this approach underpin a detailed understanding of the molecular characteristics of IgG3 mAbs as potential therapeutic entities. This work is the first report examining the manufacturability of IgG3 for high concentration mAb formulations. While poorer conformational and colloidal stability, and elevated solution viscosity was observed for IgG3, future efforts controlling surface potential through sequence-engineering of solvent-accessible patches can be used to improve biophysical parameters that dictate mAb developability

Gravitational waves from coalescing binaries and Doppler experiments

Doppler tracking of interplanetary spacecraft provides the only method presently available for broad-band searches of low frequency gravitational waves. The instruments have a peak sensitivity around the reciprocal of the round-trip light-time T of the radio link connecting the Earth to the space-probe and therefore are particularly suitable to search for coalescing binaries containing massive black holes in galactic nuclei. A number of Doppler experiments -- the most recent involving the probes ULYSSES, GALILEO and MARS OBSERVER -- have been carried out so far; moreover, in 2002-2004 the CASSINI spacecraft will perform three 40 days data acquisition runs with expected sensitivity about twenty times better than that achieved so far. Central aims of this paper are: (i) to explore, as a function of the relevant instrumental and astrophysical parameters, the Doppler output produced by in-spiral signals -- sinusoids of increasing frequency and amplitude (the so-called chirp); (ii) to identify the most important parameter regions where to concentrate intense and dedicated data analysis; (iii) to analyze the all-sky and all-frequency sensitivity of the CASSINI's experiments, with particular emphasis on possible astrophysical targets, such as our Galactic Centre and the Virgo Cluster.Comment: 52 pages, LaTeX, 19 Postscript Figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Socioeconomic Position and Adolescent Trajectories in Smoking, Drinking, and Psychiatric Distress

Purpose: Smoking, drinking, and psychiatric distress are inter-related and may also be associated with socioeconomic position (SEP). This paper investigates the role of SEP in adolescent development across all three of these outcomes. Methods: Data were self-reported by adolescents in the Twenty-07 Study (N = 1,515) at ages 15, 17, and 18 years. Latent class analysis was used to identify homogeneous subgroups of adolescents with distinct developmental patterns. Associations between developmental patterns and a range of socioeconomic indicators were then tested. Results: Five classes were identified. A Low Risk class had low levels for all outcomes. A High Distress class had persistently high levels of distress, but was otherwise similar to the Low Risk group. A High Drinking class drank alcohol earlier and more heavily but also had higher levels of distress than the Low Risk group. Smokers were grouped in two classes, Early Smokers and Late Smokers, and both also had raised levels of drinking and distress. Early Smokers tended to begin earlier and smoke more heavily than Late Smokers. Relative to the Low Risk class, adolescents in a disadvantaged SEP were more likely to be Early Smokers and somewhat less likely to be in the High Drinking class. SEP was not consistently associated with membership in the High Distress or Late Smokers classes. Conclusions: Associations with SEP are evident in opposing directions or absent depending on the combination and timing of outcomes, suggesting that a disadvantaged SEP is not a simple common cause for all three outcomes. © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved

State, community and the negotiated construction of energy markets: Community energy policy in England

This article provides fresh insight on the political construction of markets through empirical analysis of community energy in the UK. It considers the diverse actors, understandings, processes and technologies enrolled in market creation, stabilisation and correction, while emphasising how negotiation, mediation and translation are pervasive throughout. Our starting point is an exploration of the role of the state in managing processes of socially embedding and disembedding markets, and how tensions between ideological commitments to deregulation and the social necessity of intervention are addressed by governing at a distance, in this example through the conveniently malleable notion of ‘community’. We draw attention in particular to the variegated manifestations of these processes and the plurality of actors and logics operating within the ‘black box’ of the state, as well as within and between markets and civil society. We reveal how negotiation between competing logics – the impulse to marketise and its diverse others – can be observed across different forms of organisation and action. We argue that such deliberations can be seen as fractal patterns throughout contemporary socioeconomic arrangements, emphasising how the Polanyian concept of the ‘double movement’ can be deepened through analysis of the heterogeneous associations and logics at work in ‘actually existing’ instituted action, understanding political processes as ontologically performative. Empirical material is drawn from across four research projects, each focusing on different aspects of the UK government's Community Energy Strategy, exploring the varying ways marketisation plays out through different governmental programmes

Inflation and Dark Energy from spectroscopy at z > 2

The expansion of the Universe is understood to have accelerated during two epochs: in its very first moments during a period of Inflation and much more recently, at z < 1, when Dark Energy is hypothesized to drive cosmic acceleration. The undiscovered mechanisms behind these two epochs represent some of the most important open problems in fundamental physics. The large cosmological volume at 2 < z < 5, together with the ability to efficiently target high-$z$ galaxies with known techniques, enables large gains in the study of Inflation and Dark Energy. A future spectroscopic survey can test the Gaussianity of the initial conditions up to a factor of ~50 better than our current bounds, crossing the crucial theoretical threshold of $\sigma(f_{NL}^{\rm local})$ of order unity that separates single field and multi-field models. Simultaneously, it can measure the fraction of Dark Energy at the percent level up to $z = 5$, thus serving as an unprecedented test of the standard model and opening up a tremendous discovery space

Universal WBC reduction

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75583/1/j.1537-2995.2000.40060751.x.pd

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal