Preheating and Affleck-Dine leptogenesis after thermal inflation

Previously, we proposed a model of low energy Affleck-Dine leptogenesis in the context of thermal inflation. The lepton asymmetry is generated at the end of thermal inflation, which occurs at a relatively low energy scale with the Hubble parameter somewhere in the range 1 \keV \lesssim H \lesssim 1 \MeV. Thus Hubble damping will be ineffective in bringing the Affleck-Dine field into the lepton conserving region near the origin, leaving the possibility that the lepton number could be washed out. Previously, we suggested that preheating could damp the amplitude of the Affleck-Dine field allowing conservation of the lepton number. In this paper, we demonstrate numerically that preheating does efficiently damp the amplitude of the Affleck-Dine field and that the lepton number is conserved as the result. In addition to demonstrating a crucial aspect of our model, it also opens the more general possibility of low energy Affleck-Dine baryogenesis.Comment: 38 pages, 17 figure

The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: morphological classification and bimodality in the colour-concentration plane

Using 10 095 galaxies (B < 20 mag) from the Millennium Galaxy Catalogue, we derive B-band luminosity distributions and selected bivariate brightness distributions for the galaxy population. All subdivisions extract highly correlated sub-sets of the galaxy population which consistently point towards two overlapping distributions. A clear bimodality in the observed distribution is seen in both the rest-(u-r) colour and log(n) distributions. The rest-(u-r) colour bimodality becomes more pronounced when using the core colour as opposed to global colour. The two populations are extremely well separated in the colour-log(n) plane. Using our sample of 3 314 (B < 19 mag) eyeball classified galaxies, we show that the bulge-dominated, early-type galaxies populate one peak and the bulge-less, late-type galaxies occupy the second. The early- and mid-type spirals sprawl across and between the peaks. This constitutes extremely strong evidence that the fundamental way to divide the luminous galaxy population is into bulges and discs and that the galaxy bimodality reflects the two component nature of galaxies and not two distinct galaxy classes. We argue that these two-components require two independent formation mechanisms/processes and advocate early bulge formation through initial collapse and ongoing disc formation through splashback, infall and merging/accretion. We calculate the B-band luminosity-densities and stellar-mass densities within each subdivision and estimate that the z ~ 0 stellar mass content in spheroids, bulges and discs is 35 +/- 2 per cent, 18 +/- 7 and 47 +/- 7 per cent respectively. [Abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 23 pages, 17 figures. Comments welcome. MGC website is at: http://www.eso.org/~jliske/mgc

Second Order General Slow-Roll Power Spectrum

Recent combined results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) provide a remarkable set of data which requires more accurate and general investigation. Here we derive formulae for the power spectrum P(k) of the density perturbations produced during inflation in the general slow-roll approximation with second order corrections. Also, using the result, we derive the power spectrum in the standard slow-roll picture with previously unknown third order corrections.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure ; A typo in Eq. (38) is fixed ; References expanded and a note adde

Simulating the WFIRST coronagraph Integral Field Spectrograph

A primary goal of direct imaging techniques is to spectrally characterize the atmospheres of planets around other stars at extremely high contrast levels. To achieve this goal, coronagraphic instruments have favored integral field spectrographs (IFS) as the science cameras to disperse the entire search area at once and obtain spectra at each location, since the planet position is not known a priori. These spectrographs are useful against confusion from speckles and background objects, and can also help in the speckle subtraction and wavefront control stages of the coronagraphic observation. We present a software package, the Coronagraph and Rapid Imaging Spectrograph in Python (crispy) to simulate the IFS of the WFIRST Coronagraph Instrument (CGI). The software propagates input science cubes using spatially and spectrally resolved coronagraphic focal plane cubes, transforms them into IFS detector maps and ultimately reconstructs the spatio-spectral input scene as a 3D datacube. Simulated IFS cubes can be used to test data extraction techniques, refine sensitivity analyses and carry out design trade studies of the flight CGI-IFS instrument. crispy is a publicly available Python package and can be adapted to other IFS designs.Comment: 15 page

The causal structure of dynamical charged black holes

We study the causal structure of dynamical charged black holes, with a sufficient number of massless fields, using numerical simulations. Neglecting Hawking radiation, the inner horizon is a null Cauchy horizon and a curvature singularity due to mass inflation. When we include Hawking radiation, the inner horizon becomes space-like and is separated from the Cauchy horizon, which is parallel to the out-going null direction. Since a charged black hole must eventually transit to a neutral black hole, we studied the neutralization of the black hole and observed that the inner horizon evolves into a space-like singularity, generating a Cauchy horizon which is parallel to the in-going null direction. Since the mass function is finite around the inner horizon, the inner horizon is regular and penetrable in a general relativistic sense. However, since the curvature functions become trans-Planckian, we cannot saymore about the region beyond the inner horizon, and it is natural to say that there is a 'physical' space-like singularity. However, if we assume an exponentially large number of massless scalar fields, our results can be extended beyond the inner horizon. In this case, strong cosmic censorship and black hole complementarity can be violated.Comment: 23 pages, 23 figure

Activation of an Endogenous Retrovirus-Associated Long Non-Coding RNA in Human Adenocarcinoma

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as molecules that significantly impact many cellular processes and have been associated with almost every human cancer. Compared to protein-coding genes, lncRNA genes are often associated with transposable elements, particularly with endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs). ERVs can have potentially deleterious effects on genome structure and function, so these elements are typically silenced in normal somatic tissues, albeit with varying efficiency. The aberrant regulation of ERVs associated with lncRNAs (ERV-lncRNAs), coupled with the diverse range of lncRNA functions, creates significant potential for ERV-lncRNAs to impact cancer biology. Methods We used RNA-seq analysis to identify and profile the expression of a novel lncRNA in six large cohorts, including over 7,500 samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results We identified the tumor-specific expression of a novel lncRNA that we have named Endogenous retroViral-associated ADenocarcinoma RNA or ‘EVADR’, by analyzing RNA-seq data derived from colorectal tumors and matched normal control tissues. Subsequent analysis of TCGA RNA-seq data revealed the striking association of EVADR with adenocarcinomas, which are tumors of glandular origin. Moderate to high levels of EVADR were detected in 25 to 53% of colon, rectal, lung, pancreas and stomach adenocarcinomas (mean&thinsp;=&thinsp;30 to 144 FPKM), and EVADR expression correlated with decreased patient survival (Cox regression; hazard ratio&thinsp;=&thinsp;1.47, 95% confidence interval&thinsp;=&thinsp;1.06 to 2.04, P&thinsp;=&thinsp;0.02). In tumor sites of non-glandular origin, EVADR expression was detectable at only very low levels and in less than 10% of patients. For EVADR, a MER48 ERV element provides an active promoter to drive its transcription. Genome-wide, MER48 insertions are associated with nine lncRNAs, but none of the MER48-associated lncRNAs other than EVADR were consistently expressed in adenocarcinomas, demonstrating the specific activation of EVADR. The sequence and structure of the EVADR locus is highly conserved among Old World monkeys and apes but not New World monkeys or prosimians, where the MER48 insertion is absent. Conservation of the EVADR locus suggests a functional role for this novel lncRNA in humans and our closest primate relatives. Conclusions Our results describe the specific activation of a highly conserved ERV-lncRNA in numerous cancers of glandular origin, a finding with diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications

General Solutions for Tunneling of Scalar Fields with Quartic Potentials in de Sitter Space

The tunneling rates for scalar fields with quartic potentials in de Sitter space in the limit of no gravitational back reaction are calculated numerically and the results are fitted by analytic formulae.Comment: (Contours in Figure 1 corrected, two-dimensional fitting coefficient corrected, references added.), 16 pages, KUNS 124

Cosmology with a TeV mass GUT Higgs

The most natural way to break the GUT gauge symmetry is with a Higgs field whose vacuum expectation value is of order 10^{16}\,\mbox{GeV} but whose mass is of order $10^2$ to 10^3\,\mbox{GeV}. This can lead to a cosmological history radically different from what is usually assumed to have occurred between the standard inflationary and nucleosynthesis epochs, which may solve the gravitino and Polonyi/moduli problems in a natural way.Comment: 4 pages, revte

Common Avian Infection Plagued the Tyrant Dinosaurs

Abstract Background: Tyrannosaurus rex and other tyrannosaurid fossils often display multiple, smooth-edged full-thickness erosive lesions on the mandible, either unilaterally or bilaterally. The cause of these lesions in the Tyrannosaurus rex specimen FMNH PR2081 (known informally by the name &apos;Sue&apos;) has previously been attributed to actinomycosis, a bacterial bone infection, or bite wounds from other tyrannosaurids