Isoscalar-isovector mass splittings in excited mesons

Mass splittings between the isovector and isoscalar members of meson nonets arise in part from hadronic loop diagrams which violate the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule. Using a model for these loop processes which works qualitatively well in the established nonets, I tabulate predictions for the splittings and associated isoscalar mixing angles in the remaining nonets below about 2.5 GeV, and explain some of their systematic features. The results for excited vector mesons compare favorably with experiment.Comment: 8 RevTeX pages, including 1 LaTeX figure. CMU-HEP93-23/DOE-ER-40682-4

Minimal renormalization without epsilon-expansion: Amplitude functions in three dimensions below T_c

Massive field theory at fixed dimension d<4 is combined with the minimal subtraction scheme to calculate the amplitude functions of thermodynamic quantities for the O(n) symmetric phi^4 model below T_c in two-loop order. Goldstone singularities arising at an intermediate stage in the calculation of O(n) symmetric quantities are shown to cancel among themselves leaving a finite result in the limit of zero external field. From the free energy we calculate the amplitude functions in zero field for the order parameter, specific heat and helicity modulus (superfluid density) in three dimensions. We also calculate the q^2 part of the inverse of the wavenumber-dependent transverse susceptibility chi_T(q) which provides an independent check of our result for the helicity modulus. The two-loop contributions to the superfluid density and specific heat below T_c turn out to be comparable in magnitude to the one-loop contributions, indicating the necessity of higher-order calculations and Pade-Borel type resummations.Comment: 41 pages, LaTeX, 8 PostScript figures, submitted to NPB [FS

Five-loop additive renormalization in the phi^4 theory and amplitude functions of the minimally renormalized specific heat in three dimensions

We present an analytic five-loop calculation for the additive renormalization constant A(u,epsilon) and the associated renormalization-group function B(u) of the specific heat of the O(n) symmetric phi^4 theory within the minimal subtraction scheme. We show that this calculation does not require new five-loop integrations but can be performed on the basis of the previous five-loop calculation of the four-point vertex function combined with an appropriate identification of symmetry factors of vacuum diagrams. We also determine the amplitude functions of the specific heat in three dimensions for n=1,2,3 above T_c and for n=1 below T_c up to five-loop order. Accurate results are obtained from Borel resummations of B(u) for n=1,2,3 and of the amplitude functions for n=1. Previous conjectures regarding the smallness of the resummed higher-order contributions are confirmed. Borel resummed universal amplitude ratios A^+/A^- and a_c^+/a_c^- are calculated for n=1.Comment: 30 pages REVTeX, 3 PostScript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Effects of air pollution and meteorological parameters on human health in the city of Athens, Greece

The impact of air pollution (CO, NO, NO2, SO2, O3) and meteorological parameters (air temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure) on three indicators of human morbidity (circulatory, respiratory and skin diseases) is quantified, while the sensitivity of the results to different model specifications is tested. Findings indicate that higher SO2 and CO levels significantly increase circulatory and skin diseases, respectively, while higher NO and O3 concentrations increase respiratory diseases. Air temperature is significantly associated with all human health indicators. This work highlights the need for lower air pollution standards for the city of Athens and a wider climate change policy

SAM68 is a physiological regulator of SMN2 splicing in spinal muscular atrophy

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by loss of motor neurons in patients with null mutations in the SMN1 gene. The almost identical SMN2 gene is unable to compensate for this deficiency because of the skipping of exon 7 during pre-messenger RNA (mRNA) processing. Although several splicing factors can modulate SMN2 splicing in vitro, the physiological regulators of this disease-causing event are unknown. We found that knockout of the splicing factor SAM68 partially rescued body weight and viability of SMAΔ7 mice. Ablation of SAM68 function promoted SMN2 splicing and expression in SMAΔ7 mice, correlating with amelioration of SMA-related defects in motor neurons and skeletal muscles. Mechanistically, SAM68 binds to SMN2 pre-mRNA, favoring recruitment of the splicing repressor hnRNP A1 and interfering with that of U2AF65 at the 3' splice site of exon 7. These findings identify SAM68 as the first physiological regulator of SMN2 splicing in an SMA mouse model

Three-loop critical exponents, amplitude functions, and amplitude ratios from variational perturbation theory

We use variational perturbation theory to calculate various universal amplitude ratios above and below T_c in minimally subtracted phi^4-theory with N components in three dimensions. In order to best exhibit the method as a powerful alternative to Borel resummation techniques, we consider only to two- and three-loops expressions where our results are analytic expressions. For the critical exponents, we also extend existing analytic expressions for two loops to three loops.Comment: Author Information under http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/institution.html . Latest update of paper (including all PS fonts) at http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/kleiner_re318/preprint.htm

A High Efficiency Ultra High Vacuum Compatible Flat Field Spectrometer for EUV Wavelengths

A custom, flat field, extreme ultraviolet EUV spectrometer built specifically for use with low power light sources that operate under ultrahigh vacuum conditions is reported. The spectral range of the spectrometer extends from 4 nm to 40 nm. The instrument optimizes the light gathering power and signal to noise ratio while achieving good resolution. A detailed description of the spectrometer and design considerations are presented, as well as a novel procedure that could be used to obtain a synthetic wavelength calibration with the aid of only a single known spectral feature. This synthetic wavelength calibration is compared to a standard wavelength calibration obtained from previously reported spectral lines of Xe, Ar and Ne ions recorded with this spectrometer

Minimal renormalization without \epsilon-expansion: Three-loop amplitude functions of the O(n) symmetric \phi^4 model in three dimensions below T_c

We present an analytic three-loop calculation for thermodynamic quantities of the O(n) symmetric \phi^4 theory below T_c within the minimal subtraction scheme at fixed dimension d=3. Goldstone singularities arising at an intermediate stage in the calculation of O(n) symmetric quantities cancel among themselves leaving a finite result in the limit of zero external field. From the free energy we calculate the three-loop terms of the amplitude functions f_phi, F+ and F- of the order parameter and the specific heat above and below T_c, respectively, without using the \epsilon=4-d expansion. A Borel resummation for the case n=2 yields resummed amplitude functions f_phi and F- that are slightly larger than the one-loop results. Accurate knowledge of these functions is needed for testing the renormalization-group prediction of critical-point universality along the \lambda-line of superfluid He(4). Combining the three-loop result for F- with a recent five-loop calculation of the additive renormalization constant of the specific heat yields excellent agreement between the calculated and measured universal amplitude ratio A+/A- of the specific heat of He(4). In addition we use our result for f_phi to calculate the universal combination R_C of the amplitudes of the order parameter, the susceptibility and the specific heat for n=2 and n=3. Our Borel-resummed three-loop result for R_C is significantly more accurate than the previous result obtained from the \epsilon-expansion up to O(\epsilon^2).Comment: 29 pages LaTeX including 3 PostScript figures, to appear in Nucl. Phys. B [FS] (1998