8,626 research outputs found
Asynchronous response of coupled pacemaker neurons
We study a network model of two conductance-based pacemaker neurons of
differing natural frequency, coupled with either mutual excitation or
inhibition, and receiving shared random inhibitory synaptic input. The networks
may phase-lock spike-to-spike for strong mutual coupling. But the shared input
can desynchronize the locked spike-pairs by selectively eliminating the lagging
spike or modulating its timing with respect to the leading spike depending on
their separation time window. Such loss of synchrony is also found in a large
network of sparsely coupled heterogeneous spiking neurons receiving shared
input.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Heavy-to-light baryonic form factors at large recoil
We analyze heavy-to-light baryonic form factors at large recoil and derive
the scaling behavior of these form factors in the heavy quark limit. It is
shown that only one universal form factor is needed to parameterize Lambda_b to
p and Lambda_b to Lambda matrix elements in the large recoil limit of light
baryons, while hadronic matrix elements of Lambda_b to Sigma transition vanish
in the large energy limit of Sigma baryon due to the space-time parity
symmetry. The scaling law of the soft form factor eta(P^{\prime} \cdot v),
P^{\prime} and v being the momentum of nucleon and the velocity of Lambda_b
baryon, responsible for Lambda_b to p transitions is also derived using the
nucleon distribution amplitudes in leading conformal spin. In particular, we
verify that this scaling behavior is in full agreement with that from
light-cone sum rule approach in the heavy-quark limit. With these form factors,
we further investigate the Lambda baryon polarization asymmetry alpha in
Lambda_b to Lambda gamma and the forward-backward asymmetry A_{FB} in Lambda_b
to Lambda l^{+} l^{-}. Both two observables (alpha and A_{FB}) are independent
of hadronic form factors in leading power of 1/m_b and in leading order of
alpha_s. We also extend the analysis of hadronic matrix elements for Omega_b to
Omega transitions to rare Omega_b to Omega gamma and Omega_b to Omega l^{+}
l^{-} decays and find that radiative Omega_b to Omega gamma decay is probably
the most promising FCNC b to s radiative baryonic decay channel. In addition,
it is interesting to notice that the zero-point of forward-backward asymmetry
of Omega_b to Omega l^{+} l^{-} is the same as the one for Lambda_b to Lambda
l^{+} l^{-} to leading order accuracy provided that the form factors
\bar{\zeta}_i (i=3, 4, 5) are numerically as small as indicated from the quark
model.Comment: 19 page
What Fraction of Gravitational Lens Galaxies Lie in Groups?
We predict how the observed variations in galaxy populations with environment
affect the number and properties of gravitational lenses in different
environments. Two trends dominate: lensing strongly favors early-type galaxies,
which tend to lie in dense environments, but dense environments tend to have a
larger ratio of dwarf to giant galaxies than the field. The two effects nearly
cancel, and the distribution of environments for lens and non-lens galaxies are
not substantially different (lens galaxies are slightly less likely than
non-lens galaxies to lie in groups and clusters). We predict that about 20% of
lens galaxies are in bound groups (defined as systems with a line-of-sight
velocity dispersion sigma in the range 200 < sigma < 500 km/s), and another
roughly 3% are in rich clusters (sigma > 500 km/s). Therefore at least roughly
25% of lenses are likely to have environments that significantly perturb the
lensing potential. If such perturbations do not significantly increase the
image separation, we predict that lenses in groups have a mean image separation
that is about 0.2'' smaller than that for lenses in the field and estimate that
20-40 lenses in groups are required to test this prediction with significance.
The tail of the distribution of image separations is already illuminating.
Although lensing by galactic potential wells should rarely produce lenses with
image separations theta >~ 6'', two such lenses are seen among 49 known lenses,
suggesting that environmental perturbations of the lensing potential can be
significant. Further comparison of theory and data will offer a direct probe of
the dark halos of galaxies and groups and reveal the extent to which they
affect lensing estimates of cosmological parameters.Comment: 32 pages, 6 embedded figures; accepted for publication in Ap
Enrichment analysis of genetic association in genes and pathways by aggregating signals from both rare and common variants
New high-throughput sequencing technologies have brought forth opportunities for unbiased analysis of thousands of rare genomic variants in genome-wide association studies of complex diseases. Because it is hard to detect single rare variants with appreciable effect sizes at the population level, existing methods mostly aggregate effects of multiple markers by collapsing the rare variants in genes (or genomic regions). We hypothesize that a higher level of aggregation can further improve association signal strength. Using the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 simulated data, we test a two-step strategy that first applies a collapsing method in a gene-level analysis and then aggregates the gene-level test results by performing an enrichment analysis in gene sets. We find that the gene set approach which combines signals across multiple genes outperforms testing individual genes separately and that the power of the gene set enrichment test is further improved by proper adjustment of statistics to account for gene-wise differences
Perception of nonnative tonal contrasts by Mandarin-English and English-Mandarin sequential bilinguals
This study examined the role of acquisition order and crosslinguistic similarity in influencing transfer at the initial stage of perceptually acquiring a tonal third language (L3). Perception of tones in Yoruba and Thai was tested in adult sequential bilinguals representing three different first (L1) and second language (L2) backgrounds: L1 Mandarin-L2 English (MEBs), L1 English-L2 Mandarin (EMBs), and L1 English-L2 intonational/non-tonal (EIBs). MEBs outperformed EMBs and EIBs in discriminating L3 tonal contrasts in both languages, while EMBs showed a small advantage over EIBs on Yoruba. All groups showed better overall discrimination in Thai than Yoruba, but group differences were more robust in Yoruba. MEBsâ and EMBsâ poor discrimination of certain L3 contrasts was further reflected in the L3 tones being perceived as similar to the same Mandarin tone; however, EIBs, with no knowledge of Mandarin, showed many of the same similarity judgments. These findings thus suggest that L1 tonal experience has a particularly facilitative effect in L3 tone perception, but there is also a facilitative effect of L2 tonal experience. Further, crosslinguistic perceptual similarity between L1/L2 and L3 tones, as well as acoustic similarity between different L3 tones, play a significant role at this early stage of L3 tone acquisition.Published versio
Heavy to Light Meson Exclusive Semileptonic Decays in Effective Field Theory of Heavy Quark
We present a general study on exclusive semileptonic decays of heavy (B, D,
B_s) to light (pi, rho, K, K^*) mesons in the framework of effective field
theory of heavy quark. Transition matrix elements of these decays can be
systematically characterized by a set of wave functions which are independent
of the heavy quark mass except for the implicit scale dependence. Form factors
for all these decays are calculated consistently within the effective theory
framework using the light cone sum rule method at the leading order of 1/m_Q
expansion. The branching ratios of these decays are evaluated, and the heavy
and light flavor symmetry breaking effects are investigated. We also give
comparison of our results and the predictions from other approaches, among
which are the relations proposed recently in the framework of large energy
effective theory.Comment: 18 pages, ReVtex, 5 figures, added references and comparison of
results, and corrected signs in some formula
Physics at BES-III
This physics book provides detailed discussions on important topics in
-charm physics that will be explored during the next few years at \bes3 .
Both theoretical and experimental issues are covered, including extensive
reviews of recent theoretical developments and experimental techniques. Among
the subjects covered are: innovations in Partial Wave Analysis (PWA),
theoretical and experimental techniques for Dalitz-plot analyses, analysis
tools to extract absolute branching fractions and measurements of decay
constants, form factors, and CP-violation and \DzDzb-oscillation parameters.
Programs of QCD studies and near-threshold tau-lepton physics measurements are
also discussed.Comment: Edited by Kuang-Ta Chao and Yi-Fang Wan
Giant Thermoelectric Effect from Transmission Supernodes
We predict an enormous order-dependent quantum enhancement of thermoelectric
effects in the vicinity of a higher-order `supernode' in the transmission
spectrum of a nanoscale junction. Single-molecule junctions based on
3,3'-biphenyl and polyphenyl ether (PPE) are investigated in detail. The
nonequilibrium thermodynamic efficiency and power output of a thermoelectric
heat engine based on a 1,3-benzene junction are calculated using many-body
theory, and compared to the predictions of the figure-of-merit ZT.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Recommended from our members
Draft genome sequence of uncultured upland soil cluster gammaproteobacteria gives molecular insights into high-affinity methanotrophy
Aerated soils form the second largest sink for atmospheric CHâ. A nearcomplete genome of uncultured upland soil cluster Gammaproteobacteria that oxidize CHâ at 2.5 ppmv was obtained from incubated Antarctic mineral cryosols. This first genome of high-affinity methanotrophs can help resolve the mysteries about their phylogenetic affiliation and metabolic potential
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