Periaxonal K+ regulation in the small squid Alloteuthis. Studies on isolated and in situ axons

A novel giant axon preparation from the squid Alloteuthis is described. Properties of in situ and isolated axons are similar. Periaxonal K+ accumulation is a function of the physiological state of the animal and of the axon and its sheathing layers. Carefully dissected isolated axons, and axons in situ in a healthy mantle, show much less K+ accumulation than previously reported in squid. It is suggested that the Schwann cells are involved in the observed K+ regulation

Point singularities and suprathreshold stochastic resonance in optimal coding

Motivated by recent studies of population coding in theoretical neuroscience, we examine the optimality of a recently described form of stochastic resonance known as suprathreshold stochastic resonance, which occurs in populations of noisy threshold devices such as models of sensory neurons. Using the mutual information measure, it is shown numerically that for a random input signal, the optimal threshold distribution contains singularities. For large enough noise, this distribution consists of a single point and hence the optimal encoding is realized by the suprathreshold stochastic resonance effect. Furthermore, it is shown that a bifurcational pattern appears in the optimal threshold settings as the noise intensity increases. Fisher information is used to examine the behavior of the optimal threshold distribution as the population size approaches infinity.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Searching for Leptoquarks in electron-photon Collisions

We study the production of composite scalar leptoquarks in $e\gamma$ colliders, and we show that an $e^+e^-$ machine operating in its $e\gamma$ mode is the best way to look for these particles in $e^+e^-$ collisions, due to the hadronic content of the photon.Comment: 12 pages in REVTeX3. 6 figures appended as postcript files. Report: IFT-P.014/93 and IFUSP-P 104

Heavy Quark production at the TEVATRON and HERA using k_t-factorization with CCFM evolution

The application of k_t-factorization supplemented with the CCFM small-x evolution equation to heavy quark production at the TEVATRON and at HERA is discussed. The bb_bar production cross sections at the TEVATRON can be consistently described using the k_t-factorization formalism together with the unintegrated gluon density obtained within the CCFM evolution approach from a fit to HERA F_2 data. Special attention is drawn to the comparison with measured visible cross sections, which are compared to the hadron level Monte Carlo generator CASCADEComment: 13 pages, updated references and updated Fig. 9, Fig. 2 replace

The Sachs-Wolfe Effect: Gauge Independence and a General Expression

In this paper we address two points concerning the Sachs-Wolfe effect: (i) the gauge independence of the observable temperature anisotropy, and (ii) a gauge-invariant expression of the effect considering the most general situation of hydrodynamic perturbations. The first result follows because the gauge transformation of the temperature fluctuation at the observation event only contributes to the isotropic temperature change which, in practice, is absorbed into the definition of the background temperature. Thus, we proceed without fixing the gauge condition, and express the Sachs-Wolfe effect using the gauge-invariant variables.Comment: 5 pages, closer to published versio

Prospects for CP-violation searches in the future experiment with RF-separated K+/- beam at U-70

The first description of the experimental program "OKA" with RF-separated K+/- beam at Protvino U-70 PS is presented. The parameters of the beam as well as the potential for CP-violation searches are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to proceedings of International Conference on CP Violation, Sep 18-22, 2000, Ital

Gravitons and Lightcone Fluctuations

Gravitons in a squeezed vacuum state, the natural result of quantum creation in the early universe or by black holes, will introduce metric fluctuations. These metric fluctuations will introduce fluctuations of the lightcone. It is shown that when the various two-point functions of a quantized field are averaged over the metric fluctuations, the lightcone singularity disappears for distinct points. The metric averaged functions remain singular in the limit of coincident points. The metric averaged retarded Green's function for a massless field becomes a Gaussian which is nonzero both inside and outside of the classical lightcone. This implies some photons propagate faster than the classical light speed, whereas others propagate slower. The possible effects of metric fluctuations upon one-loop quantum processes are discussed and illustrated by the calculation of the one-loop electron self-energy.Comment: 18pp, LATEX, TUTP-94-1

Effective lagrangian for the tbH^+ interaction in the MSSM and charged Higgs phenomenology

In the framework of a 2HDM effective lagrangian for the MSSM, we analyse important phenomenological aspects associated with quantum soft SUSY-breaking effects that modify the relation between the bottom mass and the bottom Yukawa coupling. We derive a resummation of the dominant supersymmetric corrections for large values of \tb to all orders in perturbation theory. With the help of the operator product expansion we also perform the resummation of the leading and next-to-leading logarithms of the standard QCD corrections. We use these resummation procedures to compute the radiative corrections to the \tbH, \Htb decay rates. In the large \tb regime, we derive simple formulae embodying all the dominant contributions to these decay rates and we compute the corresponding branching ratios. We show, as an example, the effect of these new results on determining the region of the \mH--\tb plane excluded by the Tevatron searches for a supersymmetric charged Higgs boson in top quark decays, as a function of the MSSM parameter space.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX, 17 figures, revised version submitted to Nuc. Phys.

Improved tests of extra-dimensional physics and thermal quantum field theory from new Casimir force measurements

We report new constraints on extra-dimensional models and other physics beyond the Standard Model based on measurements of the Casimir force between two dissimilar metals for separations in the range 0.2--1.2 $\mu$m. The Casimir force between an Au-coated sphere and a Cu-coated plate of a microelectromechanical torsional oscillator was measured statically with an absolute error of 0.3 pN. In addition, the Casimir pressure between two parallel plates was determined dynamically with an absolute error of $\approx 0.6$ mPa. Within the limits of experimental and theoretical errors, the results are in agreement with a theory that takes into account the finite conductivity and roughness of the two metals. The level of agreement between experiment and theory was then used to set limits on the predictions of extra-dimensional physics and thermal quantum field theory. It is shown that two theoretical approaches to the thermal Casimir force which predict effects linear in temperture are ruled out by these experiments. Finally, constraints on Yukawa corrections to Newton's law of gravity are strengthened by more than an order of magnitude in the range 56 nm to 330 nm.Comment: Revtex 4, 35 pages, 14 figures in .gif format, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Nuclear transparency from quasielastic A(e,e'p) reactions uo to Q^2=8.1 (GeV/c)^2

The quasielastic (e,e$^\prime$p) reaction was studied on targets of deuterium, carbon, and iron up to a value of momentum transfer $Q^2$ of 8.1 (GeV/c)$^2$. A nuclear transparency was determined by comparing the data to calculations in the Plane-Wave Impulse Approximation. The dependence of the nuclear transparency on $Q^2$ and the mass number $A$ was investigated in a search for the onset of the Color Transparency phenomenon. We find no evidence for the onset of Color Transparency within our range of $Q^2$. A fit to the world's nuclear transparency data reflects the energy dependence of the free proton-nucleon cross section.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure