137 research outputs found
Dynamics of tachyonic preheating after hybrid inflation
We study the instability of a scalar field at the end of hybrid inflation,
using both analytical techniques and numerical simulations. We improve previous
studies by taking the inflaton field fully into account, and show that the
range of unstable modes depends sensitively on the velocity of the inflaton
field, and thereby on the Hubble rate, at the end of inflation. If topological
defects are formed, their number density is determined by the shortest unstable
wavelength. Finally, we show that the oscillations of the inflaton field
amplify the inhomogeneities in the energy density, leading to local symmetry
restoration and faster thermalization. We believe this explains why tachyonic
preheating is so effective in transferring energy away from the inflaton zero
mode.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, REVTeX. Minor changes, some references added.
To appear in PR
Complete genome sequence of the Medicago microsymbiont Ensifer (Sinorhizobium) medicae strain WSM419
Ensifer (Sinorhizobium) medicae is an effective nitrogen fixing microsymbiont of a diverse range of annual Medicago (medic) species. Strain WSM419 is an aerobic, motile, non-spore forming, Gram-negative rod isolated from a M. murex root nodule collected in Sardinia, Italy in 1981. WSM419 was manufactured commercially in Australia as an inoculant for annual medics during 1985 to 1993 due to its nitrogen fixation, saprophytic competence and acid tolerance properties. Here we describe the basic features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence, and annotation. This is the first report of a complete genome se-quence for a microsymbiont of the group of annual medic species adapted to acid soils. We reveal that its genome size is 6,817,576 bp encoding 6,518 protein-coding genes and 81 RNA only encoding genes. The genome contains a chromosome of size 3,781,904 bp and 3 plasmids of size 1,570,951 bp, 1,245,408 bp and 219,313 bp. The smallest plasmid is a fea-ture unique to this medic microsymbiont
A Hedged Monte Carlo Approach to Real Option Pricing
In this work we are concerned with valuing optionalities associated to invest
or to delay investment in a project when the available information provided to
the manager comes from simulated data of cash flows under historical (or
subjective) measure in a possibly incomplete market. Our approach is suitable
also to incorporating subjective views from management or market experts and to
stochastic investment costs. It is based on the Hedged Monte Carlo strategy
proposed by Potters et al (2001) where options are priced simultaneously with
the determination of the corresponding hedging. The approach is particularly
well-suited to the evaluation of commodity related projects whereby the
availability of pricing formulae is very rare, the scenario simulations are
usually available only in the historical measure, and the cash flows can be
highly nonlinear functions of the prices.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figure
On the M-theory description of supersymmetric gluodynamics
We study the stringy description of N=1 supersymmetric SU(N) gauge theory on
R^{1,2} X S^1. Our description is based on the known Klebanov-Strassler and
Maldacena-Nunez solutions, properly modified to account for the compact
dimension. The presence of this circle turns out to be a non trivial
modification and it leads us to consider the up-lifted eleven dimensional
solution. We discuss some of its properties. Perhaps the most interesting one
is that extra BPS M-branes are present. These generate a non-perturbative
superpotential that we explicitly compute. Our findings, besides their interest
in the gauge-string correspondence, may also have applications in the
cosmological KKLT and KKLMMT scenarios.Comment: 24 pages; typos corrected and references adde
Godel brane
We consider the brane-world generalisation of the Godel universe and analyse
its dynamical interaction with the bulk. The exact homogeneity of the standard
Godel spacetime no longer holds, unless the bulk is also static. We show how
the anisotropy of the Godel-type brane is dictated by that of the bulk and find
that the converse is also true. This determines the precise evolution of the
nonlocal anisotropic stresses, without any phenomenological assumptions, and
leads to a self-consistent closed set of equations for the evolution of the
Godel brane. We also examine the causality of the Godel brane and show that the
presence of the bulk cannot prevent the appearance of closed timelike curves.Comment: Revised version, to match paper published in Phys. Rev.
Out-of-equilibrium evolution of quantum fields in the hybrid model with quantum back reaction
The hybrid model with a scalar "inflaton" field coupled to a "Higgs" field
with a broken symmetry potential is one of the promising models for inflation
and (p)reheating after inflation. We consider the nonequilibrium evolution of
the quantum fields of this model with quantum back reaction in the Hartree
approximation, in particular the transition of the Higgs field from the
metastable "false vacuum" to the broken symmetry phase. We have performed the
renormalization of the equations of motion, of the gap equations and of the
energy density, using dimensional regularization. We study the influence of the
back reaction on the evolution of the classical fields and of the quantum
fluctuations. We observe that back reaction plays an important role over a wide
range of parameters. Some implications of our investigation for the preheating
stage after cosmic inflation are presented.Comment: 35 pages, 16 eps figures, revtex4; v2: typos corrected and references
added, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Religion as a Cross-cultural Determinant of Depression in Elderly Europeans: Results from the EURODEP Collaboration
Background. The protective effects of religion against late life depression may depend on the broader sociocultural environment. This paper examines whether the prevailing religious climate is related to cross-cultural differences of depression in elderly Europeans.
Methods. Two approaches were employed, using data from the EURODEP collaboration. First, associations were studied between church-attendance, religious denomination and depression at the syndrome level for six EURODEP study centres (five countries, N = 8398). Secondly, ecological associations were computed by multi-level analysis between national estimates of religious climate, derived from the European Value Survey and depressive symptoms, for the pooled dataset of 13 EURODEP study centres (11 countries, N = 17739).
Results. In the first study, depression rates were lower among regular church-attenders, most prominently among Roman Catholics. In the second study, fewer depressive symptoms were found among the female elderly in countries, generally Roman Catholic, with high rates of regular church-attendance. Higher levels of depressive symptoms were found among the male elderly in Protestant countries.
Conclusions. Religious practice is associated with less depression in elderly Europeans, both on the individual and the national level. Religious practice, especially when it is embedded within a traditional value-orientation, may facilitate coping with adversity in later life
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