8,727 research outputs found
GPS observables in general relativity
I present a complete set of gauge invariant observables, in the context of
general relativity coupled with a minimal amount of realistic matter (four
particles). These observables have a straightforward and realistic physical
interpretation. In fact, the technology to measure them is realized by the
Global Positioning System: they are defined by the physical reference system
determined by GPS readings. The components of the metric tensor in this
physical reference system are gauge invariant quantities and, remarkably, their
evolution equations are local.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, references adde
Effects of new physics in neutrino oscillations in matter
A new flavor changing electron neutrino interaction with matter would always
dominate the nu_e oscillation probability at sufficiently high neutrino
energies. Being suppressed by theta_{13}, the energy scale at which the new
effect starts to be relevant may be within the reach of realistic experiments,
where the peculiar dependence of the signal with energy could give rise to a
clear signature in the nu_e --> nu_tau channel. The latter could be observed by
means of a coarse large magnetized detector by exploiting tau --> mu decays. We
discuss the possibility of identifying or constraining such effects with a high
energy neutrino factory. We also comment on the model independent limits on
them.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
On reference frames in spacetime and gravitational energy in freely falling frames
We consider the interpretation of tetrad fields as reference frames in
spacetime. Reference frames may be characterized by an antisymmetric
acceleration tensor, whose components are identified as the inertial
accelerations of the frame (the translational acceleration and the frequency of
rotation of the frame). This tensor is closely related to
gravitoelectromagnetic field quantities. We construct the set of tetrad fields
adapted to observers that are in free fall in the Schwarzschild spacetime, and
show that the gravitational energy-momentum constructed out of this set of
tetrad fields, in the framework of the teleparallel equivalent of general
relatrivity, vanishes. This result is in agreement with the principle of
equivalence, and may be taken as a condition for a viable definition of
gravitational energy.Comment: 19 pages, no figures, accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravit
Lepton number violating interactions and their effects on neutrino oscillation experiments
Mixing between bosons that transform differently under the standard model
gauge group, but identically under its unbroken subgroup, can induce
interactions that violate the total lepton number. We discuss four-fermion
operators that mediate lepton number violating neutrino interactions both in a
model-independent framework and within supersymmetry (SUSY) without R-parity.
The effective couplings of such operators are constrained by: i) the upper
bounds on the relevant elementary couplings between the bosons and the
fermions, ii) by the limit on universality violation in pion decays, iii) by
the data on neutrinoless double beta decay and, iv) by loop-induced neutrino
masses. We find that the present bounds imply that lepton number violating
neutrino interactions are not relevant for the solar and atmospheric neutrino
problems. Within SUSY without R-parity also the LSND anomaly cannot be
explained by such interactions, but one cannot rule out an effect
model-independently. Possible consequences for future terrestrial neutrino
oscillation experiments and for neutrinos from a supernova are discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figures, Late
First detection of the 448 GHz H2O transition in space
We present the first detection of the ortho-H2O 4_23-3_30 transition at 448
GHz in space. We observed this transition in the local (z = 0.010) luminous
infrared (IR) galaxy ESO 320-G030 (IRAS F11506-3851) using the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The water 4_23-3_30 emission, which
originates in the highly obscured nucleus of this galaxy, is spatially resolved
over a region of ~65 pc in diameter and shows a regular rotation pattern
compatible with the global molecular and ionized gas kinematics. The line
profile is symmetric and well fitted by a Gaussian with an integrated flux of
37.0 +- 0.7 Jy km s-1 . Models predict this water transition as a potential
collisionally excited maser transition. On the contrary, in this galaxy, we
find that the 4_23-3_30 emission is primarily excited by the intense far-IR
radiation field present in its nucleus. According to our modeling, this
transition is a probe of deeply buried galaxy nuclei thanks to the high dust
optical depths (tau_100{\mu}m > 1, N_H > 1e24 cm-2) required to efficiently
excite it.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letters; 4 pages, 5 figure
Temperature-controlled interlayer exchange coupling in strong/weak ferromagnetic multilayers: a thermo-magnetic Curie-switch
We investigate a novel type of interlayer exchange coupling based on driving
a strong/weak/strong ferromagnetic tri-layer through the Curie point of the
weakly ferromagnetic spacer, with the exchange coupling between the strongly
ferromagnetic outer layers that can be switched, on and off, or varied
continuously in magnitude by controlling the temperature of the material. We
use Ni-Cu alloy of varied composition as the spacer material and model the
effects of proximity-induced magnetism and the interlayer exchange coupling
through the spacer from first principles, taking into account not only thermal
spin-disorder but also the dependence of the atomic moment of Ni on the
nearest-neighbor concentration of the non-magnetic Cu. We propose and
demonstrate a gradient-composition spacer, with a lower Ni-concentration at the
interfaces, for greatly improved effective-exchange uniformity and
significantly improved thermo-magnetic switching in the structure. The reported
magnetic multilayer materials can form the base for a variety of novel magnetic
devices, such as sensors, oscillators, and memory elements based on
thermo-magnetic Curie-switching in the device.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
RNAseq analysis of heart tissue from mice treated with atenolol and isoproterenol reveals a reciprocal transcriptional response.
The transcriptional response to many widely used drugs and its modulation by genetic variability is poorly understood. Here we present an analysis of RNAseq profiles from heart tissue of 18 inbred mouse strains treated with the β-blocker atenolol (ATE) and the β-agonist isoproterenol (ISO).
Differential expression analyses revealed a large set of genes responding to ISO (n = 1770 at FDR = 0.0001) and a comparatively small one responding to ATE (n = 23 at FDR = 0.0001). At a less stringent definition of differential expression, the transcriptional responses to these two antagonistic drugs are reciprocal for many genes, with an overall anti-correlation of r = -0.3. This trend is also observed at the level of most individual strains even though the power to detect differential expression is significantly reduced. The inversely expressed gene sets are enriched with genes annotated for heart-related functions. Modular analysis revealed gene sets that exhibit coherent transcription profiles across some strains and/or treatments. Correlations between these modules and a broad spectrum of cardiovascular traits are stronger than expected by chance. This provides evidence for the overall importance of transcriptional regulation for these organismal responses and explicits links between co-expressed genes and the traits they are associated with. Gene set enrichment analysis of differentially expressed groups of genes pointed to pathways related to heart development and functionality.
Our study provides new insights into the transcriptional response of the heart to perturbations of the β-adrenergic system, implicating several new genes that had not been associated to this system previously
Present and Future Bounds on Non-Standard Neutrino Interactions
We consider Non-Standard neutrino Interactions (NSI), described by
four-fermion operators of the form , where is an electron or first generation quark. We
assume these operators are generated at dimension , so the related
vertices involving charged leptons, obtained by an SU(2) transformation
, do not appear at tree level. These related
vertices necessarily arise at one loop, via exchange. We catalogue current
constraints from measurements in neutrino scattering, from
atmospheric neutrino observations, from LEP, and from bounds on the related
charged lepton operators. We estimate future bounds from comparing KamLAND and
solar neutrino data, and from measuring at the near detector
of a neutrino factory. Operators constructed with and should
not confuse the determination of oscillation parameters at a factory,
because the processes we consider are more sensitive than oscillations at the
far detector. For operators involving , we estimate similar
sensitivities at the near and far detector.Comment: Erratum added at the end of the documen
Torsion and the Gravitational Interaction
By using a nonholonomous-frame formulation of the general covariance
principle, seen as an active version of the strong equivalence principle, an
analysis of the gravitational coupling prescription in the presence of
curvature and torsion is made. The coupling prescription implied by this
principle is found to be always equivalent with that of general relativity, a
result that reinforces the completeness of this theory, as well as the
teleparallel point of view according to which torsion does not represent
additional degrees of freedom for gravity, but simply an alternative way of
representing the gravitational field.Comment: Version 2: minor presentation changes, a reference added, 11 pages
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