660 research outputs found
Catalytic conversion of methanol to larger organic molecules over crystalline forsterite: laboratory study and astrophysical implications
Laboratory catalytic reactions of methanol over heated crystalline silicates (forsterite) lead to the formation of gas-phase olefinic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, and are of potential importance in astrophysical environments including hot molecular cores, protoplanetary disks and shocks. In our experiments the methanol reagent, together with intermediate and product gas-phase molecular species were detected using time-of-flight mass-spectrometry (TOF-MS). A solid deposited on the crystalline forsterite surface was examined subsequently using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric techniques and found to comprise amorphous and graphitic carbon. The chemical players in this work â gas-phase methanol, crystalline silicates and PAHs, have been identified spectroscopically in a range of astrophysical environments including young and evolved stars, protoplanetary disks, comets, captured dust particles and meteorites. It is envisaged that reactions on bare dust grains as studied here both experimentally and theoretically through DFT calculations, can have implications for chemical transformations and conversions, in forming PAH molecules and potentially in the synthesis of prebiotic molecules
Torsion Constraints in the Randall--Sundrum Scenario
Torsion appears due to fermions coupled to gravity and leads to the strongest
particle physics bounds on flat extra dimensions. In this work, we consider
torsion constraints in the case of a warped extra dimension with brane and bulk
fermions. From current data we obtain a 3-sigma bound on the TeV--brane mass
scale scale \Lambda_\pi > 2.2 (10) TeV for the AdS curvature k=1 (0.01) in
(reduced) Planck units. If Dirac or light sterile neutrinos reside on the
brane, the bound increases to 17 (78) TeV.Comment: typos corrected, matches the Phys. Rev. D versio
Strong duality in conic linear programming: facial reduction and extended duals
The facial reduction algorithm of Borwein and Wolkowicz and the extended dual
of Ramana provide a strong dual for the conic linear program in the absence of any constraint qualification. The facial
reduction algorithm solves a sequence of auxiliary optimization problems to
obtain such a dual. Ramana's dual is applicable when (P) is a semidefinite
program (SDP) and is an explicit SDP itself. Ramana, Tuncel, and Wolkowicz
showed that these approaches are closely related; in particular, they proved
the correctness of Ramana's dual using certificates from a facial reduction
algorithm.
Here we give a clear and self-contained exposition of facial reduction, of
extended duals, and generalize Ramana's dual:
-- we state a simple facial reduction algorithm and prove its correctness;
and
-- building on this algorithm we construct a family of extended duals when
is a {\em nice} cone. This class of cones includes the semidefinite cone
and other important cones.Comment: A previous version of this paper appeared as "A simple derivation of
a facial reduction algorithm and extended dual systems", technical report,
Columbia University, 2000, available from
http://www.unc.edu/~pataki/papers/fr.pdf Jonfest, a conference in honor of
Jonathan Borwein's 60th birthday, 201
Neutrino masses from operator mixing
We show that in theories that reduce, at the Fermi scale, to an extension of
the standard model with two doublets, there can be additional dimension five
operators giving rise to neutrino masses. In particular there exists a singlet
operator which can not generate neutrino masses at tree level but generates
them through operator mixing. Under the assumption that only this operator
appears at tree level we calculate the neutrino mass matrix. It has the Zee
mass matrix structure and leads naturally to bimaximal mixing. However, the
maximal mixing prediction for solar neutrinos is very sharp even when higher
order corrections are considered. To allow for deviations from maximal mixing a
fine tuning is needed in the neutrino mass matrix parameters. However, this
fine tuning relates the departure from maximal mixing in solar neutrino
oscillations with the neutrinoless double beta decay rate.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, revte
Pentaquark as Kaon-Nucleon Resonance
Several recent experiments have reported evidence for a narrow feature in the
K(+)-neutron system, an apparent resonant state ~ 100 MeV above threshold and
with a width < 25 MeV. This state has been labelled as Theta(+) (previously as
Z(*)), and because of the implied inclusion of a anti-strange quark, is
referred to as a pentaquark, that is, five quarks within a single bag. We
present an alternative explanation for such a structure, as a higher angular
momentum resonance in the isospin zero K(+) -N system. One might call this an
exit channel or a molecular resonance. In a non-relativistic potential model we
find a possible candidate for the kaon-nucleon system with relative angular
momentum L=3, while L=1 and 2 states possess centrifugal barriers too low to
confine the kaon and nucleon in a narrow state at an energy so high above
threshold. A rather strong state-dependence in the potential is essential,
however, for eliminating an observable L=2 resonance at lower energies.Comment: 4 page
Emergence of Anti-Cancer Drug Resistance: Exploring the Importance of the Microenvironmental Niche via a Spatial Model
Practically, all chemotherapeutic agents lead to drug resistance. Clinically,
it is a challenge to determine whether resistance arises prior to, or as a
result of, cancer therapy. Further, a number of different intracellular and
microenvironmental factors have been correlated with the emergence of drug
resistance. With the goal of better understanding drug resistance and its
connection with the tumor microenvironment, we have developed a hybrid
discrete-continuous mathematical model. In this model, cancer cells described
through a particle-spring approach respond to dynamically changing oxygen and
DNA damaging drug concentrations described through partial differential
equations. We thoroughly explored the behavior of our self-calibrated model
under the following common conditions: a fixed layout of the vasculature, an
identical initial configuration of cancer cells, the same mechanism of drug
action, and one mechanism of cellular response to the drug. We considered one
set of simulations in which drug resistance existed prior to the start of
treatment, and another set in which drug resistance is acquired in response to
treatment. This allows us to compare how both kinds of resistance influence the
spatial and temporal dynamics of the developing tumor, and its clonal
diversity. We show that both pre-existing and acquired resistance can give rise
to three biologically distinct parameter regimes: successful tumor eradication,
reduced effectiveness of drug during the course of treatment (resistance), and
complete treatment failure
Bone microarchitecture in transgender adults: a cross-sectional study
First published: 03 January 2022Gender-affirming hormone therapy aligns physical characteristics with an individualâs gender identity, but sex hormones regulate bone remodeling and influence bonemorphology. Wehypothesized that transmen receiving testosterone have compromised bonemorphology because of suppression of ovarian estradiol production, whereas trans women receiving estradiol, with or without anti-androgen therapy, have preserved bonemicroarchitecture.We compared distal radial and tibial microarchitecture using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography images in a cross-sectional study of 41 trans men with 71 cis female controls, and 40 trans women with 51 cismale controls. Between-group differences were expressed as standardized deviations (SD) fromthemean in age-matched cisgender controls with 98% confidence intervals adjusted for cross-sectional area (CSA) and multiple comparisons. Relative to cis women, trans men had 0.63 SD higher total volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD; both p = 0.01). Cortical vBMD and cortical porosity did not differ, but cortices were 1.11 SD thicker (p < 0.01). Trabeculae were 0.38 SD thicker (p = 0.05) but otherwise no different. Compared with cismen, trans women had 0.68 SD lower total vBMD (p=0.01). Cortical vBMD was 0.70 SD lower (p < 0.01), cortical thicknesswas 0.51 SD lower (p = 0.04), and cortical porosity was 0.70 SD higher (p < 0.01). Trabecular bone volume (BV/TV) was 0.77 SD lower (p < 0.01),with 0.57 SD fewer (p < 0.01) and 0.30 SD thicker trabeculae (p = 0.02). There was 0.56 SD greater trabecular separation (p = 0.01). Findings at the distal radius were similar. Contrary to each hypothesis, bonemicroarchitecture was not compromised in trans men, perhaps because aromatization of administered testosterone prevented bone loss. Trans women had deteriorated bone microarchitecture either because of deficits in microstructure before treatment or because the estradiol dosage was insufficient to offset reduced aromatizable testosterone. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.Ingrid Bretherton, Ali Ghasem-Zadeh, Shalem Y Leemaqz, Ego Seeman, Xiaofang Wang, Thomas McFarlane, Cassandra Spanos, Mathis Grossmann, Jeffrey D Zajac, and Ada S Cheun
On primordial trispectrum from exchanging scalar modes in general multiple field inflationary models
We make an complementary investigation of the primordial trispectrum from
exchanging intermediate scalar modes in multi-field inflation models with
generalized kinetic terms. Together with the calculation of irreducible
contributions to the primordial trispectrum in Ref.[103], we give the full
leading-order primordial trispectrum in generalized multi-field models.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; v2 references adde
Brane decay of a (4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole: spin-0 particles
In this work, we study the `scalar channel' of the emission of Hawking
radiation from a (4+n)-dimensional, rotating black hole on the brane. We
numerically solve both the radial and angular part of the equation of motion
for the scalar field, and determine the exact values of the absorption
probability and of the spheroidal harmonics, respectively. With these, we
calculate the particle, energy and angular momentum emission rates, as well as
the angular variation in the flux and power spectra -- a distinctive feature of
emission during the spin-down phase of the life of the produced black hole. Our
analysis is free from any approximations, with our results being valid for
arbitrarily large values of the energy of the emitted particle, angular
momentum of the black hole and dimensionality of spacetime. We finally compute
the total emissivities for the number of particles, energy and angular momentum
and compare their relative behaviour for different values of the parameters of
the theory.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figure
Supersymmetry without R-parity : Constraints from Leptonic Phenomenology
R-parity conservation is an {\it ad hoc} assumption in the most popular
version of the supersymmetric standard model. Most studies of models which do
allow for R-parity violation have been restricted to various limiting
scenarios. The single-VEV parametrization used in this paper provides a
workable framework to analyze phenomenology of the most general theory of SUSY
without R-parity. We perform a comprehensive study of leptonic phenomenology at
tree-level. Experimental constraints on various processes are studied
individually and then combined to yield regions of admissible parameter space.
In particular, we show that large R-parity violating bilinear couplings are not
ruled out, especially for large .Comment: 56 pages Revtex with figures incorporated; typos (including
transcription typo in Table II) and minor corrections; proof-read version, to
appear in Phys. Rev.
- âŠ