De Branges spaces and Krein's theory of entire operators

This work presents a contemporary treatment of Krein's entire operators with deficiency indices $(1,1)$ and de Branges' Hilbert spaces of entire functions. Each of these theories played a central role in the research of both renown mathematicians. Remarkably, entire operators and de Branges spaces are intimately connected and the interplay between them has had an impact in both spectral theory and the theory of functions. This work exhibits the interrelation between Krein's and de Branges' theories by means of a functional model and discusses recent developments, giving illustrations of the main objects and applications to the spectral theory of difference and differential operators.Comment: 37 pages, no figures. The abstract was extended. Typographical errors were corrected. The bibliography style was change

On Aharonov-Casher bound states

In this work bound states for the Aharonov-Casher problem are considered. According to Hagen's work on the exact equivalence between spin-1/2 Aharonov-Bohm and Aharonov-Casher effects, is known that the $\boldsymbol{\nabla}\cdot\mathbf{E}$ term cannot be neglected in the Hamiltonian if the spin of particle is considered. This term leads to the existence of a singular potential at the origin. By modeling the problem by boundary conditions at the origin which arises by the self-adjoint extension of the Hamiltonian, we derive for the first time an expression for the bound state energy of the Aharonov-Casher problem. As an application, we consider the Aharonov-Casher plus a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator. We derive the expression for the harmonic oscillator energies and compare it with the expression obtained in the case without singularity. At the end, an approach for determination of the self-adjoint extension parameter is given. In our approach, the parameter is obtained essentially in terms of physics of the problem.Comment: 11 pages, matches published versio

Energy dependence of Cronin momentum in saturation model for p+Ap+A and A+AA+A collisions

We calculate $\sqrt{s}$ dependence of Cronin momentum for $p+A$ and $A+A$ collisions in saturation model. We show that this dependence is consistent with expectation from formula which was obtained using simple dimentional consideration. This can be used to test validity of saturation model (and distinguish among its variants) and measure $x$ dependence of saturation momentum from experimental data.Comment: LaTeX2e, 12 pages, 8 figure

Study of Tau-pair Production in Photon-Photon Collisions at LEP and Limits on the Anomalous Electromagnetic Moments of the Tau Lepton

Tau-pair production in the process e+e- -> e+e-tau+tau- was studied using data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP2 during the years 1997 - 2000. The corresponding integrated luminosity is 650 pb^{-1}. The values of the cross-section obtained are found to be in agreement with QED predictions. Limits on the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton are deduced.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Evidence for an Excess of Soft Photons in Hadronic Decays of Z^0

Soft photons inside hadronic jets converted in front of the DELPHI main tracker (TPC) in events of qqbar disintegrations of the Z^0 were studied in the kinematic range 0.2 < E_gamma < 1 GeV and transverse momentum with respect to the closest jet direction p_T < 80 MeV/c. A clear excess of photons in the experimental data as compared to the Monte Carlo predictions is observed. This excess (uncorrected for the photon detection efficiency) is (1.17 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet in the specified kinematic region, while the expected level of the inner hadronic bremsstrahlung (which is not included in the Monte Carlo) is (0.340 +/- 0.001 +/- 0.038) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet. The ratio of the excess to the predicted bremsstrahlung rate is then (3.4 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.8), which is similar in strength to the anomalous soft photon signal observed in fixed target experiments with hadronic beams.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Effect of a Russian-backbone live-attenuated influenza vaccine with an updated pandemic H1N1 strain on shedding and immunogenicity among children in The Gambia : an open-label, observational, phase 4 study

Background The efficacy and effectiveness of the pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) component in live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) is poor. The reasons for this paucity are unclear but could be due to impaired replicative fitness of pH1N1 A/California/07/2009-like (Cal09) strains. We assessed whether an updated pH1N1 strain in the Russian-backbone trivalent LAIV resulted in greater shedding and immunogenicity compared with LAIV with Cal09. Methods We did an open-label, prospective, observational, phase 4 study in Sukuta, a periurban area in The Gambia. We enrolled children aged 24–59 months who were clinically well. Children received one dose of the WHO prequalified Russian-backbone trivalent LAIV containing either A/17/California/2009/38 (Cal09) or A/17/New York/15/5364 (NY15) based on their year of enrolment. Primary outcomes were the percentage of children with LAIV strain shedding at day 2 and day 7, haemagglutinin inhibition seroconversion, and an increase in influenza haemagglutinin-specific IgA and T-cell responses at day 21 after LAIV. This study is nested within a randomised controlled trial investigating LAIV–microbiome interactions (NCT02972957). Findings Between Feb 8, 2017, and April 12, 2017, 118 children were enrolled and received one dose of the Cal09 LAIV from 2016–17. Between Jan 15, 2018, and March 28, 2018, a separate cohort of 135 children were enrolled and received one dose of the NY15 LAIV from 2017–18, of whom 126 children completed the study. Cal09 showed impaired pH1N1 nasopharyngeal shedding (16 of 118 children [14%, 95% CI 8·0–21·1] with shedding at day 2 after administration of LAIV) compared with H3N2 (54 of 118 [46%, 36·6–55·2]; p<0·0001) and influenza B (95 of 118 [81%, 72·2–87·2]; p<0·0001), along with suboptimal serum antibody (seroconversion in six of 118 [5%, 1·9–10·7]) and T-cell responses (CD4+ interferon γ-positive and/or CD4+ interleukin 2-positive responses in 45 of 111 [41%, 31·3–50·3]). After the switch to NY15, a significant increase in pH1N1 shedding was seen (80 of 126 children [63%, 95% CI 54·4–71·9]; p<0·0001 compared with Cal09), along with improvements in seroconversion (24 of 126 [19%, 13·2–26·8]; p=0·011) and influenza-specific CD4+ T-cell responses (73 of 111 [66%, 60·0–75·6; p=0·00028]). The improvement in pH1N1 seroconversion with NY15 was even greater in children who were seronegative at baseline (24 of 64 children [38%, 95% CI 26·7–49·8] vs six of 79 children with Cal09 [8%, 2·8–15·8]; p<0·0001). Persistent shedding to day 7 was independently associated with both seroconversion (odds ratio 12·69, 95% CI 4·1–43·6; p<0·0001) and CD4+ T-cell responses (odds ratio 7·83, 95% CI 2·99–23·5; p<0·0001) by multivariable logistic regression. Interpretation The pH1N1 component switch that took place between 2016 and 2018 might have overcome the poor efficacy and effectiveness reported with previous LAIV formulations. LAIV effectiveness against pH1N1 should, therefore, improve in upcoming influenza seasons. Our data highlight the importance of assessing replicative fitness, in addition to antigenicity, when selecting annual LAIV components

Study of Inclusive J/psi Production in Two-Photon Collisions at LEP II with the DELPHI Detector

Inclusive J/psi production in photon-photon collisions has been observed at LEP II beam energies. A clear signal from the reaction gamma gamma -> J/psi+X is seen. The number of observed N(J/psi -> mu+mu-) events is 36 +/- 7 for an integrated luminosity of 617 pb^{-1}, yielding a cross-section of sigma(J/psi+X) = 45 +/- 9 (stat) +/- 17 (syst) pb. Based on a study of the event shapes of different types of gamma gamma processes in the PYTHIA program, we conclude that (74 +/- 22)% of the observed J/psi events are due to `resolved' photons, the dominant contribution of which is most probably due to the gluon content of the photon.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Accepted by Phys. Lett.

CP asymmetry in B→ϕKSB \to \phi K_S in a general two-Higgs-doublet model with fourth-generation quarks

We discuss the time-dependent CP asymmetry of decay $B \to \phi K_S$ in an extension of the Standard Model with both two Higgs doublets and additional fourth-generation quarks. We show that although the Standard Model with two-Higgs-doublet and the Standard model with fourth generation quarks alone are not likely to largely change the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ from the decay of $B \to \phi K_S$, the model with both additional Higgs doublet and fourth-generation quarks can easily account for the possible large negative value of $\sin 2 \beta$ without conflicting with other experimental constraints. In this model, additional large CP violating effects may arise from the flavor changing Yukawa interactions between neutral Higgs bosons and the heavy fourth generation down type quark, which can modify the QCD penguin contributions. With the constraints obtained from $b \to s \bar{s} s$ processes such as $B \to X_s \gamma$ and $\Delta m_{B_s^0}$, this model can lead to the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ to be as large as $- 0.4$ in the CP asymmetry of $B \to \phi K_S$.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, references added, to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

A Precise Measurement of the Tau Lifetime

The tau lepton lifetime has been measured with the e+e- -> tau+tau- events collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP in the years 1991-1995. Three different methods have been exploited, using both one-prong and three-prong tau decay channels. Two measurements have been made using events in which both taus decay to a single charged particle. Combining these measurements gave tau_tau (1 prong) = 291.8 +/- 2.3 (stat) +/- 1.5 (sys) fs. A third measurement using taus which decayed to three charged particles yielded tau_tau (3 prong) = 288.6 +/- 2.4 (stat) +/- 1.3 (sys) fs. These were combined with previous DELPHI results to measure the tau lifetime, using the full LEP1 data sample, to be tau_tau = 290.9 +/- 1.4 (stat) +/- 1.0 (sys) fs.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure