1,232 research outputs found
Ultrasonic Songs of Male Mice
Previously it was shown that male mice, when they encounter female mice or their pheromones, emit ultrasonic vocalizations with frequencies ranging over 30–110 kHz. Here, we show that these vocalizations have the characteristics of song, consisting of several different syllable types, whose temporal sequencing includes the utterance of repeated phrases. Individual males produce songs with characteristic syllabic and temporal structure. This study provides a quantitative initial description of male mouse songs, and opens the possibility of studying song production and perception in an established genetic model organism
Normalizing Weak Boson Pair Production at the Large Hadron Collider
The production of two weak bosons at the Large Hadron Collider will be one of
the most important sources of SM backgrounds for final states with multiple
leptons. In this paper we consider several quantities that can help normalize
the production of weak boson pairs. Ratios of inclusive cross-sections for
production of two weak bosons and Drell-Yan are investigated and the
corresponding theoretical errors are evaluated. The possibility of predicting
the jet veto survival probability of VV production from Drell-Yan data is also
considered. Overall, the theoretical errors on all quantities remain less than
5-20%. The dependence of these quantities on the center of mass energy of the
proton-proton collision is also studied.Comment: 11 pages; added references, minor text revisions, version to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Top Pair Production Beyond Double-Pole Approximation: pp, pp~ --> 6 Fermions and 0, 1 or 2 Additional Partons
Hadron collider cross sections for tt~ production and di-lepton,
single-lepton and all-jet decays with up to 2 additional jets are calculated
using complete LO matrix elements with 6-, 7- and 8-particle final states. The
fixed-width, complex-mass and overall-factor schemes (FWS, CMS & OFS) are
employed and the quality of narrow-width and double-pole approximations (NWA &
DPA) is investigated for inclusive production and suppressed backgrounds to new
particle searches. NWA and DPA cross sections differ by 1% or less. The
inclusion of sub- and non-resonant amplitudes effects a cross section increase
of 5-8% at pp supercolliders, but only minor changes at the Tevatron. On-shell
tt~/Wtb backgrounds for the H --> WW decay in weak boson fusion, the hadronic
\tau decay of a heavy H^\pm and the \phi --> hh --> \tau\tau bb~ radion decay
at the LHC are updated, with corrections ranging from 3% to 30%. FWS and CMS
cross sections are uniformly consistent, but OFS cross sections are up to 6%
smaller for some backgrounds.Comment: 20 pages, 6 tables, 1 figur
Inadequacy of zero-width approximation for a light Higgs boson signal
In the Higgs search at the LHC, a light Higgs boson (115 GeV <~ M_H <~ 130
GeV) is not excluded by experimental data. In this mass range, the width of the
Standard Model Higgs boson is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than
its mass. The zero-width approximation is hence expected to be an excellent
approximation. We show that this is not always the case. The inclusion of
off-shell contributions is essential to obtain an accurate Higgs signal
normalisation at the 1% precision level. For gg (-> H) -> VV, V= W,Z, O(10%)
corrections occur due to an enhanced Higgs signal in the region M_VV > 2 M_V,
where also sizable Higgs-continuum interference occurs. We discuss how
experimental selection cuts can be used to exclude this region in search
channels where the Higgs invariant mass cannot be reconstructed. We note that
the H -> VV decay modes in weak boson fusion are similarly affected.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, 6 tables; added references, expanded
introduction, version to appear in JHE
Three Numerical Puzzles and the Top Quark's Chiral Weak-Moment
Versus the standard model's t --> W b decay helicity amplitudes, three
numerical puzzles occur at the 0.1 % level when one considers the amplitudes in
the case of an additional (f_M + f_E) coupling of relative strength 53 GeV. The
puzzles are theoretical ones which involve the t --> W b decay helicity
amplitudes in the two cases, the relative strength of this additional coupling,
and the observed masses of these three particles. A deeper analytic realization
is obtained for two of them. Equivalent realizations are given for the
remaining one. An empirical consequence of these analytic realizations is that
it is important to search for effects of a large chiral weak-moment of the
top-quark, the effective mass-scale is about 53 GeV. A full theoretical
resolution would include relating the origin of such a chiral weak-moment and
the mass generation of the top-quark, the W-boson, and probably the b-quark.Comment: 18 pages, 1 postscript table (revised to better explain notation,
model #1, add a little material...
FeatureScan: revealing property-dependent similarity of nucleotide sequences
FeatureScan is a software package aiming to reveal novel types of DNA sequence similarity by comparing physico-chemical properties. Thirty-eight different parameters of DNA double strands such as charge, melting enthalpy, conformational parameters and the like are provided. As input FeatureScan requires two sequences, a pattern sequence and a target sequence, search conditions are set by selecting a specific DNA parameter and a threshold value. Search results are displayed in FASTA format and directly linked to external genome databases/browsers (ENSEMBL, NCBI, UCSC). An Internet version of FeatureScan is accessible at . As part of the HOBIT initiative () FeatureScan is also accessible as a web service at its above home page. Currently, several preloaded genomes are provided at this Internet website (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus and four strains of Escherichia coli) as target sequences. Standalone executables of FeatureScan are available on request
Search for a Standard Model Higgs Boson in CMS via Vector Boson Fusion in the H->WW->l\nu l\nu Channel
We present the potential for discovering the Standard Model Higgs boson
produced by the vector-boson fusion mechanism. We considered the decay of Higgs
bosons into the W+W- final state, with both W-bosons subsequently decaying
leptonically. The main background is ttbar with one or more jets produced. This
study is based on a full simulation of the CMS detector, and up-to-date
reconstruction codes. The result is that a signal of 5 sigma significance can
be obtained with an integrated luminosity of 12-72 1/fb for Higgs boson masses
between 130-200 GeV. In addition, the major background can be measured directly
to 7% from the data with an integrated luminosity of 30 1/fb. In this study, we
also suggested a method to obtain information in Higgs mass using the
transverse mass distributions.Comment: 26 pages, 22 figure
Finite-Width Effects in Top Quark Production at Hadron Colliders
Production cross sections for t\bar{t} and t\bar{t}j events at hadron
colliders are calculated, including finite width effects and off resonance
contributions for the entire decay chain, t --> bW --> b\ell\nu, for both top
quarks. Resulting background rates to Higgs search at the CERN LHC are updated
for inclusive H --> WW studies and for H --> \tau\tau and H --> WW decays in
weak boson fusion events. Finite width effects are large, increasing
t\bar{t}(j) rates by 20% or more, after typical cuts which are employed for
top-background rejection.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, 7 tables; minor changes, reference added, to be
published in Phys. Rev.
Constitutive Activation of Kappa Opioid Receptors at Ventral Tegmental Area Inhibitory Synapses Following Acute Stress.
Stressful experiences potently activate kappa opioid receptors (κORs). κORs in the ventral tegmental area regulate multiple aspects of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic cell function. Here we show that at GABAergic synapses on rat VTA dopamine neurons, a single exposure to a brief cold-water swim stress induces prolonged activation of κORs. This is mediated by activation of the receptor during the stressor followed by a persistent, ligand-independent constitutive activation of the κOR itself. This lasting change in function is not seen at κORs at neighboring excitatory synapses, suggesting distinct time courses and mechanisms of regulation of different subsets of κORs. We also provide evidence that constitutive activity of κORs governs the prolonged reinstatement to cocaine-seeking observed after cold water swim stress. Together, our studies indicate that stress-induced constitutive activation is a novel mechanism of κOR regulation that plays a critical role in reinstatement of drug seeking
Gluon-induced W-boson pair production at the LHC
Pair production of W bosons constitutes an important background to Higgs
boson and new physics searches at the Large Hadron Collider LHC. We have
calculated the loop-induced gluon-fusion process gg -> W*W* -> leptons,
including intermediate light and heavy quarks and allowing for arbitrary
invariant masses of the W bosons. While formally of next-to-next-to-leading
order, the gg -> W*W* -> leptons process is enhanced by the large gluon flux at
the LHC and by experimental Higgs search cuts, and increases the
next-to-leading order WW background estimate for Higgs searches by about 30%.
We have extended our previous calculation to include the contribution from the
intermediate top-bottom massive quark loop and the Higgs signal process. We
provide updated results for cross sections and differential distributions and
study the interference between the different gluon scattering contributions. We
describe important analytical and numerical aspects of our calculation and
present the public GG2WW event generator.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure
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