222 research outputs found
Higher-order scalar interactions and SM vacuum stability
Investigation of the structure of the Standard Model effective potential at
very large field strengths opens a window towards new phenomena and can reveal
properties of the UV completion of the SM. The map of the lifetimes of the
vacua of the SM enhanced by nonrenormalizable scalar couplings has been
compiled to show how new interactions modify stability of the electroweak
vacuum. Whereas it is possible to stabilize the SM by adding Planck scale
suppressed interactions and taking into account running of the new couplings,
the generic effect is shortening the lifetime and hence further destabilisation
of the SM electroweak vacuum. These findings have been illustrated with phase
diagrams of modified SM-like models. It has been demonstrated that
stabilisation can be achieved by lowering the suppression scale of higher order
operators while picking up such combinations of new couplings, which do not
deepen the new minima of the potential. Our results show the dependence of the
lifetime of the electroweak minimum on the magnitude of the new couplings,
including cases with very small couplings (which means very large effective
suppression scale) and couplings vastly different in magnitude (which
corresponds to two different suppression scales).Comment: plain Latex, 9 figure
Skyrmion Multi-Walls
Skyrmion walls are topologically-nontrivial solutions of the Skyrme system
which are periodic in two spatial directions. We report numerical
investigations which show that solutions representing parallel multi-walls
exist. The most stable configuration is that of the square -wall, which in
the limit becomes the cubically-symmetric Skyrme crystal. There is
also a solution resembling parallel hexagonal walls, but this is less stable.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur
On the Theory of Evolution Versus the Concept of Evolution: Three Observations
Here we address three misconceptions stated by Rice et al. in their observations of our article Paz-y-Miño and Espinosa (Evo Edu Outreach 2:655–675, 2009), published in this journal. The five authors titled their note “The Theory of Evolution is Not an Explanation for the Origin of Life.” First, we argue that it is fallacious to believe that because the formulation of the theory of evolution, as conceived in the 1800s, did not include an explanation for the origin of life, nor of the universe, the concept of evolution would not allow us to hypothesize the possible beginnings of life and its connections to the cosmos. Not only Stanley Miller’s experiments of 1953 led scientists to envision a continuum from the inorganic world to the origin and diversification of life, but also Darwin’s own writings of 1871. Second, to dismiss the notion of Rice et al. that evolution does not provide explanations concerning the universe or the cosmos, we identify compelling scientific discussions on the topics: Zaikowski et al. (Evo Edu Outreach 1:65–73, 2008), Krauss (Evo Edu Outreach 3:193–197, 2010), Peretó et al. (Orig Life Evol Biosph 39:395–406, 2009) and Follmann and Brownson (Naturwissenschaften 96:1265–1292, 2009). Third, although we acknowledge that the term Darwinism may not be inclusive of all new discoveries in evolution, and also that creationists and Intelligent Designers hijack the term to portray evolution as ideology, we demonstrate that there is no statistical evidence suggesting that the word Darwinism interferes with public acceptance of evolution, nor does the inclusion of the origin of life or the universe within the concept of evolution. We examine the epistemological and empirical distinction between the theory of evolution and the concept of evolution and conclude that, although the distinction is important, it should not compromise scientific logic
Quantitative model for inferring dynamic regulation of the tumour suppressor gene p53
Background: The availability of various "omics" datasets creates a prospect of performing the study of genome-wide genetic regulatory networks. However, one of the major challenges of using mathematical models to infer genetic regulation from microarray datasets is the lack of information for protein concentrations and activities. Most of the previous researches were based on an assumption that the mRNA levels of a gene are consistent with its protein activities, though it is not always the case. Therefore, a more sophisticated modelling framework together with the corresponding inference methods is needed to accurately estimate genetic regulation from "omics" datasets.
Results: This work developed a novel approach, which is based on a nonlinear mathematical model, to infer genetic regulation from microarray gene expression data. By using the p53 network as a test system, we used the nonlinear model to estimate the activities of transcription factor (TF) p53 from the expression levels of its target genes, and to identify the activation/inhibition status of p53 to its target genes. The predicted top 317 putative p53 target genes were supported by DNA sequence analysis. A comparison between our prediction and the other published predictions of p53 targets suggests that most of putative p53 targets may share a common depleted or enriched sequence signal on their upstream non-coding region.
Conclusions: The proposed quantitative model can not only be used to infer the regulatory relationship between TF and its down-stream genes, but also be applied to estimate the protein activities of TF from the expression levels of its target genes
Non-minimal coupling of the Higgs boson to curvature in an inflationary universe
In the absence of new physics around 10^10 GeV, the electroweak vacuum is at best metastable. This represents a major challenge for high scale in ationary models as, during the early rapid expansion of the universe, it seems difficult to understand how the Higgs vacuum would not decay to the true lower vacuum of the theory with catas- trophic consequences if inflation took place at a scale above 10^10 GeV. In this paper we show that the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs boson to curvature could solve this problem by generating a direct coupling of the Higgs boson to the inflationary potential thereby stabilizing the electroweak vacuum. For specific values of the Higgs field initial condition and of its non-minimal coupling, inflation can drive the Higgs field to the electroweak vacuum quickly during inflation
High Smac/DIABLO expression is associated with early local recurrence of cervical cancer
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a recent pilot report, we showed that Smac/DIABLO mRNA is expressed <it>de novo </it>in a subset of cervical cancer patients. We have now expanded this study and analyzed Smac/DIABLO expression in the primary lesions in 109 cervical cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used immunohistochemistry of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections to analyze Smac/DIABLO expression in the 109 primary lesions. Seventy-eight samples corresponded to epidermoid cervical cancer and 31 to cervical adenocarcinoma. The median follow up was 46.86 months (range 10–186).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Smac/DIABLO was expressed in more adenocarcinoma samples than squamous tumours (71% vs 50%; p = 0.037). Among the pathological variables, a positive correlation was found between Smac/DIABLO immunoreactivity and microvascular density, a marker for angiogenesis (p = 0.04). Most importantly, Smac/DIABLO immunoreactivity was associated with a higher rate of local recurrence in squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.002, log rank test). No association was found between Smac/DIABLO and survival rates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smac/DIABLO expression is a potential marker for local recurrence in cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients.</p
Global Analysis of the Higgs Candidate with Mass ~ 125 GeV
We analyze the properties of the Higgs candidate with mass ~ 125 GeV
discovered by the CMS and ATLAS Collaborations, constraining the possible
deviations of its couplings from those of a Standard Model Higgs boson. The
CMS, ATLAS and Tevatron data are compatible with Standard Model couplings to
massive gauge bosons and fermions, and disfavour several types of composite
Higgs models unless their couplings resemble those in the Standard Model. We
show that the couplings of the Higgs candidate are consistent with a linear
dependence on particle masses, scaled by the electroweak scale ~ 246 GeV, the
power law and the mass scale both having uncertainties ~ 20%.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, v2 incorporates experimental data released
during July 2012 and corrected (and improved) treatment of mass dependence of
coupling
Composite Higgs Sketch
The coupling of a composite Higgs to the standard model fields can deviate
substantially from the standard model values. In this case perturbative
unitarity might break down before the scale of compositeness is reached, which
would suggest that additional composites should lie well below this scale. In
this paper we account for the presence of an additional spin 1 custodial
triplet of rhos. We examine the implications of requiring perturbative
unitarity up to the compositeness scale and find that one has to be close to
saturating certain unitarity sum rules involving the Higgs and the rho
couplings. Given these restrictions on the parameter space we investigate the
main phenomenological consequences of the spin 1 triplet. We find that they can
substantially enhance the Higgs di-photon rate at the LHC even with a reduced
Higgs coupling to gauge bosons. The main existing LHC bounds arise from
di-boson searches, especially in the experimentally clean channel where the
charged rhos decay to a W-boson and a Z, which then decay leptonically. We find
that a large range of interesting parameter space with 700 GeV < m(rho) < 2 TeV
is currently experimentally viable.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures; v4: sum rule corrected, conclusions unchange
Muon conversion to electron in nuclei in type-I seesaw models
We compute the muon to electron conversion in the type-I seesaw model, as a
function of the right-handed neutrino mixings and masses. The results are
compared with previous computations in the literature. We determine the
definite predictions resulting for the ratios between the muon to electron
conversion rate for a given nucleus and the rate of two other processes which
also involve a mu-e flavour transition: mu -> e gamma and mu -> eee. For a
quasi-degenerate mass spectrum of right-handed neutrino masses -which is the
most natural scenario leading to observable rates- those ratios depend only on
the seesaw mass scale, offering a quite interesting testing ground. In the case
of sterile neutrinos heavier than the electroweak scale, these ratios vanish
typically for a mass scale of order a few TeV. Furthermore, the analysis
performed here is also valid down to very light masses. It turns out that
planned mu -> e conversion experiments would be sensitive to masses as low as 2
MeV. Taking into account other experimental constraints, we show that future mu
-> e conversion experiments will be fully relevant to detect or constrain
sterile neutrino scenarios in the 2 GeV-1000 TeV mass range.Comment: 32 pages 14 figures, references added and some minor precisions;
results unchange
One-Loop Calculation of the Oblique S Parameter in Higgsless Electroweak Models
We present a one-loop calculation of the oblique S parameter within Higgsless
models of electroweak symmetry breaking and analyze the phenomenological
implications of the available electroweak precision data. We use the most
general effective Lagrangian with at most two derivatives, implementing the
chiral symmetry breaking SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R -> SU(2)_{L+R} with Goldstones,
gauge bosons and one multiplet of vector and axial-vector massive resonance
states. Using the dispersive representation of Peskin and Takeuchi and imposing
the short-distance constraints dictated by the operator product expansion, we
obtain S at the NLO in terms of a few resonance parameters. In
asymptotically-free gauge theories, the final result only depends on the
vector-resonance mass and requires M_V > 1.8 TeV (3.8 TeV) to satisfy the
experimental limits at the 3 \sigma (1\sigma) level; the axial state is always
heavier, we obtain M_A > 2.5 TeV (6.6 TeV) at 3\sigma (1\sigma). In
strongly-coupled models, such as walking or conformal technicolour, where the
second Weinberg sum rule does not apply, the vector and axial couplings are not
determined by the short-distance constraints; but one can still derive a lower
bound on S, provided the hierarchy M_V < M_A remains valid. Even in this less
constrained situation, we find that in order to satisfy the experimental limits
at 3\sigma one needs M_{V,A} > 1.8 TeV.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures. Version published in JHEP. Some references and
sentences have been added to facilitate the discussio
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