Axially Symmetric Solutions for SU(2) Yang-Mills Theory

By casting the Yang-Mills-Higgs equations of an SU(2) theory in the form of the Ernst equations of general relativity, it is shown how the known exact solutions of general relativity can be used to give similiar solutions for Yang-Mills theory. Thus all the known exact solutions of general relativity with axial symmetry (e.g. the Kerr metric, the Tomimatsu-Sato metric) have Yang-Mills equivalents. In this paper we only examine in detail the Kerr-like solution. It will be seen that this solution has surfaces where the gauge and scalar fields become infinite, which correspond to the infinite redshift surfaces of the normal Kerr solution. It is speculated that this feature may be connected with the confinement mechanism since any particle which carries an SU(2) color charge would tend to become trapped once it passes these surfaces. Unlike the Kerr solution, our solution apparently does not have any intrinsic angular momentum, but rather appears to give the non-Abelian field configuration associated with concentric shells of color charge.Comment: 15 pages LaTe

The C Terminus of Ku80 activates the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit

Ku is a heterodimeric protein with double-stranded DNA end-binding activity that operates in the process of nonhomologous end joining. Ku is thought to target the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) complex to the DNA and, when DNA bound, can interact and activate the DNA-PK catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs). We have carried out a 3′ deletion analysis of Ku80, the larger subunit of Ku, and shown that the C-terminal 178 amino acid residues are dispensable for DNA end-binding activity but are required for efficient interaction of Ku with DNA-PKcs. Cells expressing Ku80 proteins that lack the terminal 178 residues have low DNA-PK activity, are radiation sensitive, and can recombine the signal junctions but not the coding junctions during V(D)J recombination. These cells have therefore acquired the phenotype of mouse SCID cells despite expressing DNA-PKcs protein, suggesting that an interaction between DNA-PKcs and Ku, involving the C-terminal region of Ku80, is required for DNA double-strand break rejoining and coding but not signal joint formation. To gain further insight into important domains in Ku80, we report a point mutational change in Ku80 in the defective xrs-2 cell line. This residue is conserved among species and lies outside of the previously reported Ku70-Ku80 interaction domain. The mutational change nonetheless abrogates the Ku70-Ku80 interaction and DNA end-binding activity

Quantum Oscillations in the Underdoped Cuprate YBa2Cu4O8

We report the observation of quantum oscillations in the underdoped cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu4O8 using a tunnel-diode oscillator technique in pulsed magnetic fields up to 85T. There is a clear signal, periodic in inverse field, with frequency 660+/-15T and possible evidence for the presence of two components of slightly different frequency. The quasiparticle mass is m*=3.0+/-0.3m_e. In conjunction with the results of Doiron-Leyraud et al. for YBa2Cu3O6.5, the present measurements suggest that Fermi surface pockets are a general feature of underdoped copper oxide planes and provide information about the doping dependence of the Fermi surface.Comment: Contains revisions addressing referees' comments including a different Fig 1b. 4 pages, 4 figure

How much effort is required to accurately describe the complex ecology of a rodent‐borne viral disease?

We use data collected on 18, 1-ha live trapping grids monitored from 1994 through 2005 and on five of those grids through 2013 in the mesic northwestern United States to illustrate the complexity of the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)/Sin Nombre virus (SNV) host-pathogen system. Important factors necessary to understand zoonotic disease ecology include those associated with distribution and population dynamics of reservoir species as well as infection dynamics. Results are based on more than 851,000 trap nights, 16,608 individual deer mice and 10,572 collected blood samples. Deer mice were distributed throughout every habitat we sampled and were present during every sampling period in all habitats except high altitude habitats over 1900 m. Abundance varied greatly among locations with peak numbers occurring mostly during fall. However, peak rodent abundance occurred during fall, winter and spring during various years on three grids trapped 12 months/yr. Prevalence of antibodies to SNV averaged 3.9% to 22.1% but no grids had mice with antibodies during every month. The maximum period without antibody-positive mice ranged from 1 to 52 months, or even more at high altitude grids where deer mice were not always present. Months without antibody-positive mice were more prevalent during fall than spring. Population fluctuations were not synchronous over broad geographic areas and antibody prevalences were not well spatially consistent, differing greatly over short distances. We observed an apparently negative, but nonstatistically significant relationship between average antibody prevalence and average deer mouse population abundance and a statistically significant positive relationship between the average number of antibody positive mice and average population abundance. We present data from which potential researchers can estimate the effort required to adequately describe the ecology of a rodentborne viral system. We address different factors affecting population dynamics and hantavirus antibody prevalence and discuss the path to understanding a complex rodent-borne disease system as well as the obstacles in that path.Fil: Douglass, Richard J.. University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: Vadell, María Victoria. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones e Ingeniería Ambiental. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vectores; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Uncovering predictability in the evolution of the WTI oil futures curve

Accurately forecasting the price of oil, the world's most actively traded commodity, is of great importance to both academics and practitioners. We contribute by proposing a functional time series based method to model and forecast oil futures. Our approach boasts a number of theoretical and practical advantages including effectively exploiting underlying process dynamics missed by classical discrete approaches. We evaluate the finite-sample performance against established benchmarks using a model confidence set test. A realistic out-of-sample exercise provides strong support for the adoption of our approach with it residing in the superior set of models in all considered instances.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, to appear in European Financial Managemen

Small animal disease surveillance: respiratory disease 2017

This report focuses on surveillance for respiratory disease in companion animals. It begins with an analysis of data from 392 veterinary practices contributing to the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) between January and December 2017. The following section describes canine respiratory coronavirus infections in dogs, presenting results from laboratory-confirmed cases across the country between January 2010 and December 2017. This is followed by an update on the temporal trends of three important syndromes in companion animals, namely gastroenteritis, pruritus and respiratory disease, from 2014 to 2017. A fourth section presents a brief update on Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus in companion animals. The final section summarises some recent developments pertinent to companion animal health, namely eyeworm (Thelazzia callipaeda) infestations in dogs imported to the UK and canine influenza virus in the USA and Canada

On the physical meaning of the Unruh effect

We present simple arguments that detectors moving with constant acceleration (even acceleration for a finite time) should detect particles. The effect is seen to be universal. Moreover, detectors undergoing linear acceleration and uniform, circular motion both detect particles for the same physical reason. We show that if one uses a circularly orbiting electron in a constant external magnetic field as the Unruh--DeWitt detector, then the Unruh effect physically coincides with the experimentally verified Sokolov--Ternov effect.Comment: 7 pages, 0 figures references added, small changes in text. To be published JETP Lett

Spherical Shells of Classical Gauge Field and their Topological Charge as a Perturbative Expansion

We consider the classical equations of motion of $SU(2)$ gauge theory, without a Higgs field, in Minkowski space. We work in the spherical ansatz and develop a perturbative expansion in the coupling constant $g$ for solutions which in the far past look like freely propagating spherical shells. The topological charge $Q$ of these solutions is typically non-integer. We then show that $Q$ can be expressed as a power series expansion in $g$ which can be nonzero at finite order. We give an explicit analytic calculation of the order $g^5$ contribution to $Q$ for specific initial pulses. We discuss the relation between our findings and anomalous fermion number violation, and speculate on the physical implications of our results.Comment: 18 pages in REVTE