309 research outputs found
Damped Lyman-alpha absorption from a nearby Low Surface Brightness galaxy
Ground-based & HST images of the nearby galaxy SBS 1543+593 (z=0.009) show it
to be a Low Surface Brightness (LSB) galaxy with a central surface brightness
of mu_B(0)=23.2 mag/arcsec-2 and scale length 0.9 h-1 kpc, values typical for
the local LSB galaxy population. The galaxy lies directly in front of the QSO
HS 1543+5921 (z=0.807); an HST STIS spectrum of the quasar reveals a damped
Lyman-alpha (DLA) line at the redshift of the interloper with an HI column
density of log N(HI) = 20.35, as well as several low-ionization metal lines
with strengths similar to those found in the Milky Way interstellar medium. Our
data show that LSB galaxies are certainly able to produce the DLA lines seen at
higher redshift, and fuels the speculation that LSB galaxies are a major
contributor to that population of absorbers.Comment: Submitted to A
Halo Properties in Cosmological Simulations of Self-Interacting Cold Dark Matter
We present a comparison of halo properties in cosmological simulations of
collisionless cold dark matter (CDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM)
for a range of dark matter cross sections. We find, in agreement with various
authors, that CDM yields cuspy halos that are too centrally concentrated as
compared to observations. Conversely, SIDM simulations using a Monte Carlo
N-body technique produce halos with significantly reduced central densities and
flatter cores with increasing cross section. We introduce a concentration
parameter based on enclosed mass that we expect will be straightforward to
determine observationally, unlike that of Navarro, Frenk & White, and provide
predictions for SIDM and CDM. SIDM also produces more spherical halos than CDM,
providing possibly the strongest observational test of SIDM. We discuss our
findings in relation to various relevant observations as well as SIDM
simulations of other groups. Taking proper account of simulation limitations,
we find that a dark matter cross section per unit mass of sigma_DM ~=
10^{-23}-10^{-24} cm^2/GeV is consistent with all current observational
constraints.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to Ap
Calculation of 1/m^3 terms in the total semileptonic width of D mesons.
We calculate the 1/ corrections in the inclusive semileptonic widths
of mesons. We show that these are due to the novel penguin type operators
that appear at this level in the transition operator. Taking into account the
nonperturbative corrections leads to the predicted value of the semileptonic
width significantly lower than the experimental value. The worsen the
situation or at the very least, within uncertainty, give small contribution. We
indicate possible ways out. It seems most probable that violations of duality
are noticeable in the energy range characteristic to the inclusive decays in
the charm family. Theoretically these deviations are related to divergence of
the high-order terms in the power expansion in the inverse heavy quark mass.Comment: Final version accepted for publication in Physical Review D (19
pages, 5 figures appended as two PS files at the end of the LATEX file
Operator Product Expansion for Exclusive Decays: B^+ ->Ds^+ e+e- and B^+ -> Ds^{*+} e+e-
The decays and proceed
through a weak and an electromagnetic interaction. This is a typical ``long
distance'' process, usually difficult to compute systematically. We propose
that over a large fraction of phase space a combination of an operator product
and heavy quark expansions effectively turns this process into one in which the
weak and electromagnetic interactions occur through a local operator. Moreover,
we use heavy quark spin symmetry to relate all the local operators that appear
in leading order of the operator expansion to two basic ones. We use this
operator expansion to estimate the decay rates for .Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, Latex, published version in PR
Intra-urban differences underlying leprosy spatial distribution in central Brazil:geospatial techniques as potential tools for surveillance
This ecological study identified an aggregation of urban neighbourhoods spatial patterns in the cumulative new case detection rate (NCDR) of leprosy in the municipality of Rondonópolis, central Brazil, as well as intra-urban socioeconomic differences underlying this distribution. Scan statistics of all leprosy cases reported in the area from 2011 to 2017 were used to investigate spatial and spatiotemporal clusters of the disease at the neighbourhood level. The associations between the log of the smoothed NCDR and demographic, socioeconomic, and structural characteristics were explored by comparing multivariate models based on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, spatial lag, spatial error, and geographically weighted regression (GWR). Leprosy cases were observed in 84.1% of the neighbourhoods of Rondonópolis, where 848 new cases of leprosy were reported corresponding to a cumulative NCDR of 57.9 cases/100,000 inhabitants. Spatial and spatiotemporal high-risk clusters were identified in western and northern neighbourhoods, whereas central and southern areas comprised low-risk areas. The GWR model was selected as the most appropriate modelling strategy (adjusted R²: 0.305; AIC: 242.85). By mapping the GWR coefficients, we identified that low literacy rate and low mean monthly nominal income per household were associated with a high NCDR of leprosy, especially in the neighbourhoods located within high-risk areas. In conclusion, leprosy presented a heterogeneous and peripheral spatial distribution at the neighbourhood level, which seems to have been shaped by intra-urban differences related to deprivation and poor living conditions. This information should be considered by decision-makers while implementing surveillance measures aimed at leprosy control.</p
Renormalons in Effective Field Theories
We investigate the high-order behavior of perturbative matching conditions in
effective field theories. These series are typically badly divergent, and are
not Borel summable due to infrared and ultraviolet renormalons which introduce
ambiguities in defining the sum of the series. We argue that, when treated
consistently, there is no physical significance to these ambiguities. Although
nonperturbative matrix elements and matching conditions are in general
ambiguous, the ambiguity in any physical observable is always higher order in
than the theory has been defined. We discuss the implications for the
recently noticed infrared renormalon in the pole mass of a heavy quark. We show
that a ratio of form factors in exclusive decays (which is related
to the pole mass) is free from renormalon ambiguities regardless of the mass
used as the expansion parameter of HQET. The renormalon ambiguities also cancel
in inclusive heavy hadron decays. Finally, we demonstrate the cancellation of
renormalons in a four-Fermi effective theory obtained by integrating out a
heavy colored scalar.Comment: Minor changes mad
Determining V(ub) from B+ --> D*+(s) e+ e- and B+ --> D*+ e+ e-
It was recently pointed out that the decays B^+ --> D^{*+}_s gamma and B^+
--> D^{*+} gamma can be used for an extraction of |V_{ub}|. The theory of these
decays is poorly understood. It was shown that in a world of almost degenerate
b and c-quarks the decay would be computable. The severe difficulties that are
encountered in the realistic calculation stem primarily from the very hard
photon produced in the two body decay. We point out that in the decays B^+ -->
D^{*+}_s e^+e^- and B^+ --> D^{*+} e^+e^- the photon vertex is soft when the
charmed meson is nearly at rest (in the B^+ rest frame). This allows us to
compute with some confidence the decay rate in a restricted but interesting
kinematic regime. Given enough data the extraction of V_{ub} with reasonably
small uncertainties could proceed through an analysis of these exclusive decays
much as is done in the determination of V_{cb}.Comment: 9 pages, latex (revtex), replaced with published versio
Parallel Microbial Ecology of Pasteuria and Nematode Species in Scottish Soils
Copyright © 2020 Orr, Neilson, Freitag, Roberts, Davies, Blok and Cock.Pasteuria spp. are endospore forming bacteria which act as natural antagonists to many of the most economically significant plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs). Highly species-specific nematode suppression may be observed in soils containing a sufficiently high density of Pasteuria spp. spores. This suppression is enacted by the bacteria via inhibition of root invasion and sterilization of the nematode host. Molecular methods for the detection of Pasteuria spp. from environmental DNA (eDNA) have been described; however, these methods are limited in both scale and in depth. We report the use of small subunit rRNA gene metabarcoding to profile Pasteuria spp. and nematode communities in parallel. We have investigated Pasteuria spp. population structure in Scottish soils using eDNA from two sources: soil extracted DNA from the second National Soil Inventory of Scotland (NSIS2); and nematode extracted DNA collected from farms in the East Scotland Farm Network (ESFN). We compared the Pasteuria spp. community culture to both nematode community structure and the physiochemical properties of soils. Our results indicate that Pasteuria spp. populations in Scottish soils are broadly dominated by two sequence variants. The first of these aligns with high identity to Pasteuria hartismeri, a species first described parasitizing Meloidogyne ardenensis, a nematode parasite of woody and perennial plants in northern Europe. The second aligns with a Pasteuria-like sequence which was first recovered from a farm near Edinburgh which was found to contain bacterial feeding nematodes and Pratylenchus spp. encumbered by Pasteuria spp. endospores. Further, soil carbon, moisture, bulk density, and pH showed a strong correlation with the Pasteuria spp. community composition. These results indicate that metabarcoding is appropriate for the sensitive, specific, and semi-quantitative profiling of Pasteuria species from eDNA.Peer reviewe
Forecasting the new case detection rate of leprosy in four states of Brazil : a comparison of modelling approaches
Background
Brazil has the second highest annual number of new leprosy cases. The aim of this study is to formally compare predictions of future new case detection rate (NCDR) trends and the annual probability of NCDR falling below 10/100,000 of four different modelling approaches in four states of Brazil: Rio Grande do Norte, Amazonas, Ceará, Tocantins.
Methods
A linear mixed model, a back-calculation approach, a deterministic compartmental model and an individual-based model were used. All models were fitted to leprosy data obtained from the Brazilian national database (SINAN). First, models were fitted to the data up to 2011, and predictions were made for NCDR for 2012–2014. Second, data up to 2014 were considered and forecasts of NCDR were generated for each year from 2015 to 2040. The resulting distributions of NCDR and the probability of NCDR being below 10/100,000 of the population for each year were then compared between approaches.
Results
Each model performed well in model fitting and the short-term forecasting of future NCDR. Long-term forecasting of NCDR and the probability of NCDR falling below 10/100,000 differed between models. All agree that the trend of NCDR will continue to decrease in all states until 2040. Reaching a NCDR of less than 10/100,000 by 2020 was only likely in Rio Grande do Norte. Prediction until 2040 showed that the target was also achieved in Amazonas, while in Ceará and Tocantins the NCDR most likely remain (far) above 10/100,000.
Conclusions
All models agree that, while incidence is likely to decline, achieving a NCDR below 10/100,000 by 2020 is unlikely in some states. Long-term prediction showed a downward trend with more variation between models, but highlights the need for further control measures to reduce the incidence of new infections if leprosy is to be eliminated
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