Loops, Cutoffs and Anomalous Gauge Boson Couplings

We discuss several issues regarding analyses which use loop calculations to put constraints on anomalous trilinear gauge boson couplings (TGC's). Many such analyses give far too stringent bounds. This is independent of questions of gauge invariance, contrary to the recent claims of de Rujula et. al., since the lagrangians used in these calculations ARE gauge invariant, but the SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y symmetry is nonlinearly realized. The real source of the problem is the incorrect use of cutoffs -- the cutoff dependence of a loop integral does not necessarily reflect the true dependence on the heavy physics scale M. If done carefully, one finds that the constraints on anomalous TGC's are much weaker. We also compare effective lagrangians in which SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y is realized linearly and nonlinearly, and discuss the role of custodial SU(2) in each formulation.Comment: talk presented at the XXVI International Conference on High Energy Physics, Dallas, USA, August 1992, plain TeX, 12 pages, 3 figures (not included), UdeM-LPN-TH-105, McGill-92/3

Childhood maltreatment and amygdala connectivity in methamphetamine dependence: a pilot study.

IntroductionChildhood maltreatment, a well-known risk factor for the development of substance abuse disorders, is associated with functional and structural abnormalities in the adult brain, particularly in the limbic system. However, almost no research has examined the relationship between childhood maltreatment and brain function in individuals with drug abuse disorders.MethodsWe conducted a pilot study of the relationship between childhood maltreatment (evaluated with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; Bernstein and Fink 1998) and resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala (bilateral region of interest) with functional magnetic resonance imaging in 15 abstinent, methamphetamine-dependent research participants. Within regions that showed connectivity with the amygdala as a function of maltreatment, we also evaluated whether amygdala connectivity was associated positively with negative affect and negatively with healthy emotional processing.ResultsThe results indicated that childhood maltreatment was positively associated with resting-state connectivity between the amygdala and right hippocampus, right parahippocampal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right orbitofrontal cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem. Furthermore, connectivity between the amygdala and hippocampus was positively related to measures of depression, trait anxiety, and emotion dysregulation, and negatively related to self-compassion and dispositional mindfulness.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that childhood maltreatment may contribute to increased limbic connectivity and maladaptive emotional processing in methamphetamine-dependent adults, and that healthy emotion regulation strategies may serve as a therapeutic target to ameliorate the associated behavioral phenotype. Childhood maltreatment warrants further investigation as a potentially important etiological factor in the neurobiology and treatment of substance use disorders

State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policies, Providers, Politics, Demographics, and Economic Environment

This paper uses data on abortion rates from 1974-88, to estimate two-stage least squares models with fixed state and year effects. The results indicate that implementing restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion results in lower aggregate abortion rates in-state and higher abortion rates among nearby states, suggesting one of the main effects of these policies is to induce cross-state migration for abortion services. The effect of these restrictions on actual abortions among state residents is much smaller; a maximal estimate suggests that 22 percent of the abortions among low-income women that are publicly funded do not take place after funding is eliminated. We also have substantial evidence that a larger number of abortion providers in a state increases the abortion rate within the state, primarily through inducing cross-state migration, with nonhospital providers being particularly important. Political affiliation variables have mixed effects and are difficult to interpret. Controlling for state fixed effects, the effect of changes in demographic and economic variables over time is typically small, although a rise in unemployment has consistently positive effects on abortion rates.

Fermi gas in harmonic oscillator potentials

Assuming the validity of grand canonical statistics, we study the properties of a spin-polarized Fermi gas in harmonic traps. Universal forms of Fermi temperature $T_F$, internal energy $U$ and the specific heat per particle of the trapped Fermi gas are calculated as a {\it function} of particle number, and the results compared with those of infinite number particles.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, LATE

Exploring CP Violation with B_d -> D K_s Decays

We (re)examine CP violation in the decays B_d -> D K_s, where D represents D^0, D(bar), or one of their excited states. The quantity $\sin^2(2\beta + \gamma)$ can be extracted from the time-dependent rates for $B_d(t) -> {\bar D}^{**0} K_s$ and $B_d(t) -> D^{**0} K_s$, where the $D^{**0}$ decays to $D^{(*)+}\pi^-$. If one considers a non-CP-eigenstate hadronic final state to which both D(bar) and D^0 can decay (e.g. $K^+\pi^-$), then one can obtain two of the angles of the unitarity triangle from measurements of the time-dependent rates for $B_d(t) -> (K^+\pi^-)_{D K_s}$ and $B_d(t) -> (K^-\pi^+)_{D K_s}$. There are no penguin contributions to these decays, so all measurements are theoretically clean.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, no figure