Perturbative reliability of the Higgs-boson coupling in the standard electroweak model

We apply Pade summation to the \beta(\lambda) function for the quartic Higgs coupling \lambda in the standard electroweak model. We use the \beta function calculated to five loops in the minimal subtraction scheme to demonstrate the improvement resulting from the summation, and then apply the method to the more physical on-mass-shell renormalization scheme where \beta is known to three loops. We conclude that the OMS \beta function and the running coupling \lambda(\mu) are reliably known over the range of energies and Higgs-boson masses of current interest.Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX, 6 figure

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations