14,159 research outputs found
Universality of Quantum Gravity Corrections
We show that the existence of a minimum measurable length and the related
Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP), predicted by theories of Quantum
Gravity, influence all quantum Hamiltonians. Thus, they predict quantum gravity
corrections to various quantum phenomena. We compute such corrections to the
Lamb Shift, the Landau levels and the tunnelling current in a Scanning
Tunnelling Microscope (STM). We show that these corrections can be interpreted
in two ways: (a) either that they are exceedingly small, beyond the reach of
current experiments, or (b) that they predict upper bounds on the quantum
gravity parameter in the GUP, compatible with experiments at the electroweak
scale. Thus, more accurate measurements in the future should either be able to
test these predictions, or further tighten the above bounds and predict an
intermediate length scale, between the electroweak and the Planck scale.Comment: v1: 4 pages, LaTeX; v2: typos corrected, references updated, version
to match published version in Physical Review Letter
Cell-type phylogenetics and the origin of endometrial stromal cells
SummaryA challenge of genome annotation is the identification of genes performing specific biological functions. Here, we propose a phylogenetic approach that utilizes RNA-seq data to infer the historical relationships among cell types and to trace the pattern of gene-expression changes on the tree. The hypothesis is that gene-expression changes coincidental with the origin of a cell type will be important for the function of the derived cell type. We apply this approach to the endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), which are critical for the initiation and maintenance of pregnancy. Our approach identified well-known regulators of ESCs, PGR and FOXO1, as well as genes not yet implicated in female fertility, including GATA2 and TFAP2C. Knockdown analysis confirmed that they are essential for ESC differentiation. We conclude that phylogenetic analysis of cell transcriptomes is a powerful tool for discovery of genes performing cell-type-specific functions
A proposal for testing Quantum Gravity in the lab
Attempts to formulate a quantum theory of gravitation are collectively known
as {\it quantum gravity}. Various approaches to quantum gravity such as string
theory and loop quantum gravity, as well as black hole physics and doubly
special relativity theories predict a minimum measurable length, or a maximum
observable momentum, and related modifications of the Heisenberg Uncertainty
Principle to a so-called generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). We have
proposed a GUP consistent with string theory, black hole physics and doubly
special relativity theories and have showed that this modifies all quantum
mechanical Hamiltonians. When applied to an elementary particle, it suggests
that the space that confines it must be quantized, and in fact that all
measurable lengths are quantized in units of a fundamental length (which can be
the Planck length). On the one hand, this may signal the breakdown of the
spacetime continuum picture near that scale, and on the other hand, it can
predict an upper bound on the quantum gravity parameter in the GUP, from
current observations. Furthermore, such fundamental discreteness of space may
have observable consequences at length scales much larger than the Planck
scale. Because this influences all the quantum Hamiltonians in an universal
way, it predicts quantum gravity corrections to various quantum phenomena.
Therefore, in the present work we compute these corrections to the Lamb shift,
simple harmonic oscillator, Landau levels, and the tunneling current in a
scanning tunneling microscope.Comment: v1: 10 pages, REVTeX 4, no figures; v2: minor typos corrected and a
reference added. arXiv admin note: has substantial overlap with
arXiv:0906.5396 , published in a different journa
Clustering of the Diffuse Infrared Light from the COBE DIRBE maps. III. Power spectrum analysis and excess isotropic component of fluctuations
The cosmic infrared background (CIB) radiation is the cosmic repository for
energy release throughout the history of the universe. Using the all-sky data
from the COBE DIRBE instrument at wavelengths 1.25 - 100 mic we attempt to
measure the CIB fluctuations. In the near-IR, foreground emission is dominated
by small scale structure due to stars in the Galaxy. There we find a strong
correlation between the amplitude of the fluctuations and Galactic latitude
after removing bright foreground stars. Using data outside the Galactic plane
() and away from the center () we extrapolate
the amplitude of the fluctuations to cosec. We find a positive intercept
of nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2,3.5 and 4.9 mic
respectively, where the errors are the range of 92% confidence limits. For
color subtracted maps between band 1 and 2 we find the isotropic part of the
fluctuations at nW/m2/sr. Based on detailed numerical and
analytic models, this residual is not likely to originate from the Galaxy, our
clipping algorithm, or instrumental noise. We demonstrate that the residuals
from the fit used in the extrapolation are distributed isotropically and
suggest that this extra variance may result from structure in the CIB. For
2\deg< \theta < 15^\deg, a power-spectrum analysis yields firm upper limits
of (\theta/5^\deg) \times\delta F_{\rm rms} (\theta) < 6, 2.5, 0.8, 0.5
nW/m2/sr at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5 and 4.9 mic respectively. From 10-100 mic, the upper
limits <1 nW/m2/sr.Comment: Ap.J., in press. 69 pages including 24 fig
Gravitational anomalies: a recipe for Hawking radiation
We explore the method of Robinson and Wilczek for deriving the Hawking
temperature of a black hole. In this method, the Hawking radiation restores
general covariance in an effective theory of near-horizon physics which
otherwise exhibits a gravitational anomaly at the quantum level. The method has
been shown to work for broad classes of black holes in arbitrary spacetime
dimensions. These include static black holes, accreting or evaporating black
holes, charged black holes, rotating black holes, and even black rings. In the
case of charged and rotating black holes, the expected super-radiant current is
also reproduced.Comment: 7 pages; This essay received an "Honorable Mention" in the 2007 Essay
Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation; (v2) Short comments and
references added; (v3) Minor revisions and updated references to agree with
published versio
A Pseudorandom Binary Noise Ultrasonic System
The random noise ultrasonic system represents the state-of-the-art in terms of sensitivity and resolution for ultrasonic NDE systems. The principle impediment to its use in the field is the lack of real-time inspection capability. If a pair of pseudorandom binary noise sources are substituted for the white noise source in the random noise system, a real-time capability is achieved. An instrument using such sources will be demonstrated and its capabilities will be discussed
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