1,293 research outputs found
Prevalence of hyaline membrane disease in black and white low-birth-weight infants
Previous studies in South Africa and elsewhere have suggested that there are ethnic differences in the prevalence of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). This study compared the prevalence of HMD between black and white infants with birth weights of 1 000 - 1 749 g. A cohort of black and one of white low-birth-weight infants were enrolled at Baragwanath and Johannesburg Hospitals respectively. Black infants were found to have a higher rate of intra-uterine growth retardation. When compared according to either birth weight or gestational age categories, black infants had a significantly lower prevalence of HMD. For example, between 29 and 34 weeks' gestation 36,2% of black and 62,5% of white infants developed HMD (P < 0,001). The reasons for these differences are not clear, however, and require further study
Modelling macroscopic and baby universes by fundamental strings
We develop a model of -dimensional parent and baby universes as
macroscopic and microscopic fundamental closed strings. We argue, on the basis
of understanding of strings from the point of view of target -dimensional
space-time, that processes involving baby universes/wormholes not only induce
-number "-parameters" in action, but also lead to loss of
quantum coherence for a observer in the parent universe.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, no figure
Gauge-invariant fluctuations of scalar branes
A generalization of the Bardeen formalism to the case of warped geometries is
presented. The system determining the gauge-invariant fluctuations of the
metric induced by the scalar fluctuations of the brane is reduced to a set of
Schr\"odinger-like equations for the Bardeen potentials and for the canonical
normal modes of the scalar-tensor action. Scalar, vector and tensor modes of
the geometry are classified according to four-dimensional Lorentz
transformations. While the tensor modes of the geometry live on the brane
determining the corrections to Newton law, the scalar and and vector
fluctuations exhibit non normalizable zero modes and are, consequently, not
localized on the brane. The spectrum of the massive modes of the fluctuations
is analyzed using supersymmetric quantum mechanics.Comment: 29 pages in Latex styl
Tachyonic preheating using 2PI-1/N dynamics and the classical approximation
We study the process of tachyonic preheating using approximative quantum
equations of motion derived from the 2PI effective action. The O(N) scalar
(Higgs) field is assumed to experience a fast quench which is represented by an
instantaneous flip of the sign of the mass parameter. The equations of motion
are solved numerically on the lattice, and the Hartree and 1/N-NLO
approximations are compared to the classical approximation. Classical dynamics
is expected to be valid, since the occupation numbers can rise to large values
during tachyonic preheating. We find that the classical approximation performs
excellently at short and intermediate times, even for couplings in the larger
region currently allowed for the SM Higgs. This is reassuring, since all
previous numerical studies of tachyonic preheating and baryogenesis during
tachyonic preheating have used classical dynamics. We also compare different
initializations for the classical simulations.Comment: 32 pages, 21 figures. Published version: Some details added, section
added, references added, conclusions unchange
New Eaxactly Solvable Hamiltonians: Shape Invariance and Self-Similarity
We discuss in some detail the self-similar potentials of Shabat and
Spiridonov which are reflectionless and have an infinite number of bound
states. We demonstrate that these self-similar potentials are in fact shape
invariant potentials within the formalism of supersymmetric quantum mechanics.
In particular, using a scaling ansatz for the change of parameters, we obtain a
large class of new, reflectionless, shape invariant potentials of which the
Shabat-Spiridonov ones are a special case. These new potentials can be viewed
as q-deformations of the single soliton solution corresponding to the
Rosen-Morse potential. Explicit expressions for the energy eigenvalues,
eigenfunctions and transmission coefficients for these potentials are obtained.
We show that these potentials can also be obtained numerically. Included as an
intriguing case is a shape invariant double well potential whose supersymmetric
partner potential is only a single well. Our class of exactly solvable
Hamiltonians is further enlarged by examining two new directions: (i) changes
of parameters which are different from the previously studied cases of
translation and scaling; (ii) extending the usual concept of shape invariance
in one step to a multi-step situation. These extensions can be viewed as
q-deformations of the harmonic oscillator or multi-soliton solutions
corresponding to the Rosen-Morse potential.Comment: 26 pages, plain tex, request figures by e-mai
String Cosmology: A Review
We give an overview of the status of string cosmology. We explain the
motivation for the subject, outline the main problems, and assess some of the
proposed solutions. Our focus is on those aspects of cosmology that benefit
from the structure of an ultraviolet-complete theory.Comment: 55 pages. v2: references adde
Domain wall generation by fermion self-interaction and light particles
A possible explanation for the appearance of light fermions and Higgs bosons
on the four-dimensional domain wall is proposed. The mechanism of light
particle trapping is accounted for by a strong self-interaction of
five-dimensional pre-quarks. We obtain the low-energy effective action which
exhibits the invariance under the so called \tau-symmetry. Then we find a set
of vacuum solutions which break that symmetry and the five-dimensional
translational invariance. One type of those vacuum solutions gives rise to the
domain wall formation with consequent trapping of light massive fermions and
Higgs-like bosons as well as massless sterile scalars, the so-called branons.
The induced relations between low-energy couplings for Yukawa and scalar field
interactions allow to make certain predictions for light particle masses and
couplings themselves, which might provide a signature of the higher dimensional
origin of particle physics at future experiments. The manifest translational
symmetry breaking, eventually due to some gravitational and/or matter fields in
five dimensions, is effectively realized with the help of background scalar
defects. As a result the branons acquire masses, whereas the ratio of Higgs and
fermion (presumably top-quark) masses can be reduced towards the values
compatible with the present-day phenomenology. Since the branons do not couple
to fermions and the Higgs bosons do not decay into branons, the latter ones are
essentially sterile and stable, what makes them the natural candidates for the
dark matter in the Universe.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style,few important refs. adde
Chern-Simons production during preheating in hybrid inflation models
We study the onset of symmetry breaking after hybrid inflation in a model
having the field content of the SU(2) gauge-scalar sector of the standard
model, coupled to a singlet inflaton. This process is studied in
(3+1)-dimensions in a fully non-perturbative way with the help of lattice
techniques within the classical approximation. We focus on the role played by
gauge fields and, in particular, on the generation of Chern-Simons number. Our
results are shown to be insensitive to the various cut-offs introduced in our
numerical approach. The spectra preserves a large hierarchy between long and
short-wavelength modes during the whole period of symmetry breaking and
Chern-Simons generation, confirming that the dynamics is driven by the low
momentum sector of the theory. We establish that the Chern-Simons production
mechanism is associated with local sphaleron-like structures. The corresponding
sphaleron rates are of order 10^{-5} m^4, which, within certain scenarios of
electroweak baryogenesis and a (not unnaturally large) additional source of CP
violation, could explain the present baryon asymmetry of the universe.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, ReVTeX. With minor corrections, version to
appear in Phys. Rev.
A Step Beyond the Bounce: Bubble Dynamics in Quantum Phase Transitions
We study the dynamical evolution of a phase interface or bubble in the
context of a \lambda \phi^4 + g \phi^6 scalar quantum field theory. We use a
self-consistent mean-field approximation derived from a 2PI effective action to
construct an initial value problem for the expectation value of the quantum
field and two-point function. We solve the equations of motion numerically in
(1+1)-dimensions and compare the results to the purely classical evolution. We
find that the quantum fluctuations dress the classical profile, affecting both
the early time expansion of the bubble and the behavior upon collision with a
neighboring interface.Comment: 12 pages, multiple figure
Symmetries of a class of nonlinear fourth order partial differential equations
In this paper we study symmetry reductions of a class of nonlinear fourth
order partial differential equations \be u_{tt} = \left(\kappa u + \gamma
u^2\right)_{xx} + u u_{xxxx} +\mu u_{xxtt}+\alpha u_x u_{xxx} + \beta u_{xx}^2,
\ee where , , , and are constants. This
equation may be thought of as a fourth order analogue of a generalization of
the Camassa-Holm equation, about which there has been considerable recent
interest. Further equation (1) is a ``Boussinesq-type'' equation which arises
as a model of vibrations of an anharmonic mass-spring chain and admits both
``compacton'' and conventional solitons. A catalogue of symmetry reductions for
equation (1) is obtained using the classical Lie method and the nonclassical
method due to Bluman and Cole. In particular we obtain several reductions using
the nonclassical method which are no} obtainable through the classical method
- …