1,773 research outputs found
On the existence of supergravity duals to D1--D5 CFT states
We define a metric operator in the 1/2-BPS sector of the D1-D5 CFT, the
eigenstates of which have a good semi-classical supergravity dual; the
non-eigenstates cannot be mapped to semi-classical gravity duals. We also
analyse how the data defining a CFT state manifests itself in the gravity side,
and show that it is arranged into a set of multipoles. Interestingly, we find
that quantum mechanical interference in the CFT can have observable
manifestations in the semi-classical gravity dual. We also point out that the
multipoles associated to the normal statistical ensemble fluctuate wildly,
indicating that the mixed thermal state should not be associated to a
semi-classical geometry.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures. v2 : references added, typos correcte
Coherent Pair Production by Photons in the 20-170 GeV Energy Range Incident on Crystals and Birefringence
The cross section for coherent pair production by linearly polarised photons
in the 20-170 GeV energy range was measured for photon aligned incidence on
ultra-high quality diamond and germanium crystals. The theoretical description
of coherent bremsstrahlung and coherent pair production phenomena is an area of
active theoretical debate and development. However, under our experimental
conditions, the theory predicted the combined cross section and polarisation
experimental observables very well indeed. In macroscopic terms, our experiment
measured a birefringence effect in pair production in a crystal. This study of
this effect also constituted a measurement of the energy dependent linear
polarisation of photons produced by coherent bremsstrahlung in aligned
crystals. New technologies for manipulating high energy photon beams can be
realised based on an improved understanding of QED phenomena at these energies.
In particular, this experiment demonstrates an efficient new polarimetry
technique. The pair production measurements were done using two independent
methods simultaneously. The more complex method using a magnet spectrometer
showed that the simpler method using a multiplicity detector was also viable.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Linear to Circular Polarisation Conversion using Birefringent Properties of Aligned Crystals for Multi-GeV Photons
We present the first experimental results on the use of a thick aligned Si
crystal acting as a quarter wave plate to induce a degree of circular
polarisation in a high energy linearly polarised photon beam. The linearly
polarised photon beam is produced from coherent bremsstrahlung radiation by 178
GeV unpolarised electrons incident on an aligned Si crystal, acting as a
radiator. The linear polarisation of the photon beam is characterised by
measuring the asymmetry in electron-positron pair production in a Ge crystal,
for different crystal orientations. The Ge crystal therefore acts as an
analyser. The birefringence phenomenon, which converts the linear polarisation
to circular polarisation, is observed by letting the linearly polarised photons
beam pass through a thick Si quarter wave plate crystal, and then measuring the
asymmetry in electron-positron pair production again for a selection of
relative angles between the crystallographic planes of the radiator, analyser
and quarter wave plate. The systematics of the difference between the measured
asymmetries with and without the quarter wave plate are predicted by theory to
reveal an evolution in the Stokes parameters from which the appearance of a
circularly polarised component in the photon beam can be demonstrated. The
measured magnitude of the circularly polarised component was consistent with
the theoretical predictions, and therefore is in indication of the existence of
the birefringence effect.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, REVTeX4 two column, Version for
publicatio
Results on the Coherent Interaction of High Energy Electrons and Photons in Oriented Single Crystals
The CERN-NA-59 experiment examined a wide range of electromagnetic processes
for multi-GeV electrons and photons interacting with oriented single crystals.
The various types of crystals and their orientations were used for producing
photon beams and for converting and measuring their polarisation.
The radiation emitted by 178 GeV unpolarised electrons incident on a 1.5 cm
thick Si crystal oriented in the Coherent Bremsstrahlung (CB) and the
String-of-Strings (SOS) modes was used to obtain multi-GeV linearly polarised
photon beams.
A new crystal polarimetry technique was established for measuring the linear
polarisation of the photon beam. The polarimeter is based on the dependence of
the Coherent Pair Production (CPP) cross section in oriented single crystals on
the direction of the photon polarisation with respect to the crystal plane.
Both a 1 mm thick single crystal of Germanium and a 4 mm thick multi-tile set
of synthetic Diamond crystals were used as analyzers of the linear
polarisation.
A birefringence phenomenon, the conversion of the linear polarisation of the
photon beam into circular polarisation, was observed. This was achieved by
letting the linearly polarised photon beam pass through a 10 cm thick Silicon
single crystal that acted as a "quarter wave plate" (QWP) as suggested by N.
Cabibbo et al.Comment: Presented at International workshop "Relativistic Channeling and
Related Coherent Phenomena", Frascati (Rome) 23-26 March 200
The effects of an intronic polymorphism in TOMM40 and APOE genotypes in sporadic inclusion body myositis.
A previous study showed that, in carriers of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype ε3/ε3 or ε3/ε4, the presence of a very long (VL) polyT repeat allele in "translocase of outer mitochondrial membrane 40" (TOMM40) was less frequent in patients with sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM) compared with controls and associated with a later age of sIBM symptom onset, suggesting a protective effect of this haplotype. To further investigate the influence of these genetic factors in sIBM, we analyzed a large sIBM cohort of 158 cases as part of an International sIBM Genetics Study. No significant association was found between APOE or TOMM40 genotypes and the risk of developing sIBM. We found that the presence of at least 1 VL polyT repeat allele in TOMM40 was significantly associated with about 4 years later onset of sIBM symptoms. The age of onset was delayed by 5 years when the patients were also carriers of the APOE genotype ε3/ε3. In addition, males were likely to have a later age of onset than females. Therefore, the TOMM40 VL polyT repeat, although not influencing disease susceptibility, has a disease-modifying effect on sIBM, which can be enhanced by the APOE genotype ε3/ε3
A potential role for muscle in glucose homeostasis: in vivo kinetic studies in glycogen storage disease type 1a and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase deficiency
A potential role for muscle in glucose homeostasis was recently suggested based on characterization of extrahepatic and extrarenal glucose-6-phosphatase (glucose-6-phosphatase-beta). To study the role of extrahepatic tissue in glucose homeostasis during fasting glucose kinetics were studied in two patients with a deficient hepatic and renal glycogenolysis and/or gluconeogenesis. Endogenous glucose production (EGP), glycogenolysis (GGL), and gluconeogenesis (GNG) were quantified with stable isotopes in a patient with glycogen storage disease type 1a (GSD-1a) and a patient with fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) deficiency. The [6,6-H-2(2)]glucose dilution method in combination with the deuterated water method was used during individualized fasting tests. Both patients became hypoglycemic after 2.5 and 14.5 h fasting, respectively. At that time, the patient with GSD-1a had EGP 3.84 mu mol/kg per min (30% of normal EGP after an overnight fast), GGL 3.09 mu mol/kg per min, and GNG 0.75 mu mol/kg per min. The patient with FBPase deficiency had EGP 8.53 mu mol/kg per min (62% of normal EGP after an overnight fast), GGL 6.89 mu mol/kg per min GGL, and GNG 1.64 mu mol/kg per min. EGP was severely hampered in both patients, resulting in hypoglycemia. However, despite defective hepatic and renal GNG in both disorders and defective hepatic GGL in GSD-1a, both patients were still able to produce glucose via both pathways. As all necessary enzymes of these pathways have now been functionally detected in muscle, a contribution of muscle to EGP during fasting via both GGL as well as GNG is suggeste
Strings on Bubbling Geometries
We study gauge theory operators which take the form of a product of a trace
with a Schur polynomial, and their string theory duals. These states represent
strings excited on bubbling AdS geometries which are dual to the Schur
polynomials. These geometries generically take the form of multiple annuli in
the phase space plane. We study the coherent state wavefunction of the lattice,
which labels the trace part of the operator, for a general Young tableau and
their dual description on the droplet plane with a general concentric ring
pattern. In addition we identify a density matrix over the coherent states on
all the geometries within a fixed constraint. This density matrix may be used
to calculate the entropy of a given ensemble of operators. We finally recover
the BMN string spectrum along the geodesic near any circle from the ansatz of
the coherent state wavefunction.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figures, published version in JHE
The impact of low erythrocyte density in human blood on the fitness and energetic reserves of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae
Background
Anaemia is a common health problem in the developing world. This condition is characterized by a reduction in erythrocyte density, primarily from malnutrition and/or
infectious diseases such as malaria. As red blood cells are the primary source of protein for haematophagous mosquitoes, any reduction could impede the ability of mosquito vectors to transmit malaria by influencing their fitness or that of the parasites they transmit. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of differences in the density of red blood cells in human blood on malaria vector (Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto) fitness. The hypotheses tested are that mosquito vector energetic reserves and fitness are negatively influenced by reductions in the red cell density of host human blood meals commensurate with those expected from severe anaemia.
Methods
Mosquitoes (An. gambiae s.s.) were offered blood meals of different packed cell volume(PCV) of human blood consistent with those arising from severe anaemia (15%) and normalPCV (50%). Associations between mosquito energetic reserves (lipid, glucose and glycogen)and fitness measures (reproduction and survival) and blood meal PCV were investigated.
Results
The amount of protein that malaria vectors acquired from blood feeding (indexed by
haematin excretion) was significantly reduced at low blood PCV. However, mosquitoes
feeding on blood of low PCV had the same oviposition rates as those feeding on blood of normal PCV, and showed an increase in egg production of around 15%. The long-term survival of An. gambiae s.s was reduced after feeding on low PCV blood, but PCV had no significant impact on the proportion of mosquitoes surviving through the minimal period required to develop and transmit malaria parasites (estimated as 14 days post-blood feeding). The impact of blood PCV on the energetic reserves of mosquitoes was relatively minor.
Conclusions
These results suggest that feeding on human hosts whose PCV has been depleted due to severe anaemia does not significantly reduce the fitness or transmission potential of malaria vectors, and indicates that mosquitoes may be able exploit resources for reproduction more
efficiently from blood of low rather than normal PCV
Coherent bremsstrahlung, boherent pair production, birefringence and polarimetry in the 20-170 GeV energy range using aligned crystals
The processes of coherent bremsstrahlung (CB) and coherent pair production
(CPP) based on aligned crystal targets have been studied in the energy range
20-170 GeV. The experimental arrangement allowed for measurements of single
photon properties of these phenomena including their polarization dependences.
This is significant as the theoretical description of CB and CPP is an area of
active theoretical debate and development. With the theoretical approach used
in this paper both the measured cross sections and polarization observables are
predicted very well. This indicates a proper understanding of CB and CPP up to
energies of 170 GeV. Birefringence in CPP on aligned crystals is applied to
determine the polarization parameters in our measurements. New technologies for
high energy photon beam optics including phase plates and polarimeters for
linear and circular polarization are demonstrated in this experiment. Coherent
bremsstrahlung for the strings-on-strings (SOS) orientation yields a larger
enhancement for hard photons than CB for the channeling orientations of the
crystal. Our measurements and our calculations indicate low photon
polarizations for the high energy SOS photons.Comment: 23 pages, 27 figures, 2 tables, REVTeX4 two column
Genetic Deep Convolutional Autoencoder Applied for Generative Continuous Arterial Blood Pressure via Photoplethysmography
Hypertension affects huge number of people around the world. It also has a great contribution to cardiovascular and renal related diseases. This study investigates the ability deep convolutional autoencoder (DCAE) to generate the continuous arterial blood pressure (ABP) by only utilizing the photoplethysmography (PPG) to generate the continuous ABP. The total of 18 patients is utilized. LeNet-5 and U-Net based DCAEs, respectively for LDCAE and UDCAE, are compared to the MP60 IntelliVue Patient Monitor, as the golden standard. Moreover, in order to investigate the data generalization, leave-one-out cross-validation (CV) method is conducted. The results show that the UDCAE provides superior results in producing the SBP estimation. Meanwhile, LDCAE gives a slightly better for the DBP prediction. Finally, the genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization deep convolutional autoencoder (GDCAE) is further administered to optimize the ensemble of the CV models. The results reveal that the GDCAE is superior to either the LDCAE or UDCAE. For conclusion, this study reveals that the SBP and DBP can also be accurately achieved by only utilizing the single PPG signal
- …