P300- like event related potential amplitude in rats is a correlate of conditioned reinforcement

We have developed a methodology for recording a robust P300 event related potential (ERP) in rats. In these experiments a contingency shaped model of the human “oddball’ paradigm was employed in which rats were shaped to press a lever for food reinforcement signaled by the click of the pellet dispenser. A target tone cued the insertion of the lever that retracted after 1­sec or immediately following a single reinforced response, while a non­target tone was randomly presented. Brain activity was recorded through stainless steel electrodes implanted 1mm below the skull. Here, we compared the amplitude of the P300 response to the click of the pellet dispenser to the amplitude of the P300 response to the target and non­target tones. We found that the amplitude to food click was significantly greater that the amplitude to the target tone that cued lever insertion. Since the food click is more proximal to the primary reinforcer than the lever tone, it is a stronger conditioned reinforcer than the lever tone that sets the occasion for the food click. Accordingly we suggest that the P300 in rats is a correlate of conditioned reinforcement

A BPS Interpretation of Shape Invariance

We show that shape invariance appears when a quantum mechanical model is invariant under a centrally extended superalgebra endowed with an additional symmetry generator, which we dub the shift operator. The familiar mathematical and physical results of shape invariance then arise from the BPS structure associated with this shift operator. The shift operator also ensures that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the energy levels of such a model and the energies of the BPS-saturating states. These findings thus provide a more comprehensive algebraic setting for understanding shape invariance.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, LaTe

Twisted Sectors and Chern-Simons Terms in M-Theory Orbifolds

It is shown that the twisted sector spectrum, as well as the associated Chern-Simons interactions, can be determined on M-theory orbifold fixed planes that do not admit gravitational anomalies. This is demonstrated for the seven-planes arising within the context of an explicit $R^6 \times S^1/Z_2 \times T^4/Z_2$ orbifold, although the results are completely general. Local anomaly cancellation in this context is shown to require fractional anomaly data that can only arise from a twisted sector on the seven-planes, thus determining the twisted spectrum up to a small ambiguity. These results open the door to the construction of arbitrary M-theory orbifolds, including those containing fixed four-planes which are of phenomenological interest.Comment: 21 pages, LaTe

An M-Theory Perspective on Heterotic K3 Orbifold Compactifications

We analyze the structure of heterotic M-theory on K3 orbifolds by presenting a comprehensive sequence of M-theoretic models constructed on the basis of local anomaly cancellation. This is facilitated by extending the technology developed in our previous papers to allow one to determine "twisted" sector states in non-prime orbifolds. These methods should naturally generalize to four-dimensional models, which are of potential phenomenological interest.Comment: 58 pages, LaTe

Effective Symmetries of the Minimal Supermultiplet of N = 8 Extended Worldline Supersymmetry

A minimal representation of the N = 8 extended worldline supersymmetry, known as the `ultra-multiplet', is closely related to a family of supermultiplets with the same, E(8) chromotopology. We catalogue their effective symmetries and find a Spin(4) x Z(2) subgroup common to them all, which explains the particular basis used in the original construction. We specify a constrained superfield representation of the supermultiplets in the ultra-multiplet family, and show that such a superfield representation in fact exists for all adinkraic supermultiplets. We also exhibit the correspondences between these supermultiplets, their Adinkras and the E(8) root lattice bases. Finally, we construct quadratic Lagrangians that provide the standard kinetic terms and afford a mixing of an even number of such supermultiplets controlled by a coupling to an external 2-form of fluxes.Comment: 13 Figure

Mechanical failure characterization of optical components caused by laser induced damage initiated at contaminants

The goal of this research is to quantify by numerical techniques the effects of surface and subsurface absorbing defects on damage initiation and growth in high power laser optical components. The defects include laser absorbing spots (e.g., surface particulate contamination) and surface damage regions (e.g., micro-cracks and voids) which are present due to environmental exposure and fabrication processes. This report focuses on three sources of contamination that can cause damage to optical components: (1) Front surface particle contamination, (2) Back surface particle contamination, and (3) Subsurface particle contamination. The DYNA2D (non-linear structural mechanics) code was used to model the growth of damage in the glass substrate. The damage in the nominally transparent glass substrate as a result of front surface particle contamination was found to be dependent on the magnitude of the resultant pressure pulse applied to the particle and the initial area of contact between the particle and glass substrate. The pressures generated from a back surface particle being blown off the surface provided sufficient loading to severely damage (crack) the glass substrate. A subsurface Ceria dioxide particle showed a strong surface interaction that influenced the formation and direction of the damage (cracking) that ultimately resulted in the blow-out of the damaged material leaving a relatively clean crater in the glass. Crater shape and size was determined. Since fused silica is the most transparent, and therefore laser damage resistant, of the optical materials, it is used for the most at-risk optical elements. The present studies are for a fused silica substrate. Some oxides such as Ceria are transparent in the infrared and visible, but absorbing in the UV part of the spectrum. Because ICF lasers like NIF use frequency tripling, effects of such oxides must be included