Vacuum stability in stau-neutralino coannihilation in MSSM

The stau-neutralino coannihilation provides a feasible way to accommodate the observed cosmological dark matter (DM) relic density in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). In such a coannihilation mechanism the stau mass usually has an upper bound since its annihilation rate becomes small with the increase of DM mass. Inspired by this observation, we examine the upper limit of stau mass in the parameter space with a large mixing of staus. We find that the stau pair may dominantly annihilate into dibosons and hence the upper bound on the stau mass ($\sim400$ GeV) obtained from the $f\bar{f}$ final states can be relaxed. Imposing the DM relic density constraint and requiring a long lifetime of the present vacuum, we find that the lighter stau mass can be as heavy as about 1.4 TeV for the stau maximum mixing. However, if requiring the present vacuum to survive during the thermal history of the universe, this mass limit will reduce to about 0.9 TeV. We also discuss the complementarity of vacuum stability and direct detections in probing this stau coannihilation scenario.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Controlled polarization rotation of an optical field in multi-Zeeman-sublevel atoms

We investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, the phenomenon of polarization rotation of a weak, linearly-polarized optical (probe) field in an atomic system with multiple three-level electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) sub-systems. The polarization rotation angle can be controlled by a circularly-polarized coupling beam, which breaks the symmetry in number of EIT subsystems seen by the left- and right-circularly-polarized components of the weak probe beam. A large polarization rotation angle (up to 45 degrees) has been achieved with a coupling beam power of only 15 mW. Detailed theoretical analyses including different transition probabilities in different transitions and Doppler-broadening are presented and the results are in good agreements with the experimentally measured results.Comment: 28pages, 12figure

Mid-infrared computational temporal ghost imaging

Ghost imaging in the time domain allows for reconstructing fast temporal objects using a slow photodetector. The technique involves correlating random or pre-programmed probing temporal intensity patterns with the integrated signal measured after modulation by the temporal object. However, the implementation of temporal ghost imaging necessitates ultrafast detectors or modulators for measuring or pre-programming the probing intensity patterns, which is not universally available in all spectral regions especially in the mid-infrared range. Here, we demonstrate a frequency downconversion temporal ghost imaging scheme that enables to extend the operation regime to arbitrary wavelengths regions where fast modulators and detectors are not available. The approach modulates a signal with temporal intensity patterns in the near-infrared and transfers the patterns to an idler via difference-frequency generation at the wavelength of the temporal object to be retrieved. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate temporal ghost imaging in the mid-infrared. The scheme is flexible and introduces new possibilities for scan-free pump-probe imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamics in spectral regions where ultrafast modulation or detection is challenging such as the mid-infrared and THz regions

Guided flows in coronal magnetic flux tubes

There is evidence for coronal plasma flows to break down into fragments and to be laminar. We investigate this effect by modeling flows confined along magnetic channels. We consider a full MHD model of a solar atmosphere box with a dipole magnetic field. We compare the propagation of a cylindrical flow perfectly aligned to the field to that of another one with a slight misalignment. We assume a flow speed of 200 km/s, and an ambient magnetic field of 30 G. We find that while the aligned flow maintains its cylindrical symmetry while it travels along the magnetic tube, the misaligned one is rapidly squashed on one side, becoming laminar and eventually fragmented because of the interaction and backreaction of the magnetic field. This model could explain an observation of erupted fragments that fall back as thin and elongated strands and end up onto the solar surface in a hedge-like configuration, made by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The initial alignment of plasma flow plays an important role in determining the possible laminar structure and fragmentation of flows while they travel along magnetic channels.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication, movies available upon request to the first autho

Relationship between obesity and structural brain abnormality: Accumulated evidence from observational studies

Body mass index; Structural brain abnormalitiesÍndex de massa corporal; Anormalitats estructurals del cervellÍndice de masa corporal; Anomalías estructurales del cerebroWe aimed to evaluate the relationship between obesity and structural brain abnormalities assessed by magnetic resonance imaging using data from 45 observational epidemiological studies, where five articles reported prospective longitudinal results. In cross-sectional studies’ analyses, the pooled weighted mean difference for total brain volume (TBV) and gray matter volume (GMV) in obese/overweight participants was -11.59 (95 % CI: -23.17 to -0.02) and -10.98 (95 % CI: -20.78 to -1.18), respectively. TBV was adversely associated with BMI and WC, GMV with BMI, and hippocampal volume with BMI, WC, and WHR. WC/WHR are associated with a risk of lacunar and white matter hyperintensity (WMH). In longitudinal studies’ analyses, BMI was not statistically associated with the overall structural brain abnormalities (for continuous BMI: RR = 1.02, 95 % CI: 0.94–1.12; for categorial BMI: RR = 1.18, 95 % CI: 0.75–1.85). Small sample size of prospective longitudinal studies limited the power of its pooled estimates. A higher BMI is associated with lower brain volume while greater WC/WHR, but not BMI, is related to a risk of lacunar infarct and WMH. Future longitudinal research is needed to further elucidate the specific causal relationships and explore preventive measures.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82070851, 81870556, 81930019, 81770686, 81970591), Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospital’s Youth Program (QML20170204), Excellent Talents in Dongcheng District of Beijing