Scalar induced gravitational waves in symmetric teleparallel gravity with a parity-violating term

Gravitational waves (GWs) are useful to test gravitational theories and to probe the physics in the early universe. In this paper, we investigate the scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) in symmetric teleparallel gravity with a parity-violating term. The presence of the parity-violating term leads to the velocity birefringence effect of the SIGWs. However, after taking into account the observational constraints on the speed of GWs, the contribution from the parity-violating term to SIGWs is negligible. Nevertheless, the contribution to SIGWs from the perturbations of the connection can be significant, and results in a multipeak structure in the energy density of SIGWs. This feature makes the symmetric teleparallel gravity distinguishable from the general relativity.Comment: 32 pages,2 figure

Scalar induced gravitational waves from Chern-Simons gravity during inflation era

We investigate the scalar induced gravitational waves (SIGWs) in the Chern-Simons (CS) gravity with a dynamical scalar field during slow roll inflation. Due to the parity violation in the CS term, the SIGWs are generally polarized, which are effectively characterized by the degree of circular polarization. We derive the semianalytic expression to evaluate the power spectra and the degree of circular polarization of the SIGWs, which receive contributions from the general relativity and the parity-violating term, respectively. We find that the correction from the parity-violating CS term is negligible on large scales, which means that the degree of circular polarization of SIGWs is very small.Comment: 23 pages, references added, and a new discussion about a linear coupling function added. Version to be published in JCA

Fenofibrate Enhances the In Vitro Differentiation of Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in Mice

Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a critical role in maintaining immune self-tolerance. Reduced number and activity of Tregs are usually found in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and enhancing the differentiation of Tregs may be a promising therapeutic strategy. Some reports suggested an anti-inflammatory and anti-autoimmune potential for fenofibrate, a hypolipidemic drug used worldwide, whose lipid effects are mediated by the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα). In the present paper, we found that fenofibrate dose-dependently increased transforming growth factor-β and interleukin-2-induced Treg differentiation in vitro, by 1.96-fold from 0 to 20 μM (12.59 ± 1.34% to 24.69 ± 3.03%, P < 0.05). Other PPARα activators, WY14643 (100 μM), gemfibrozil (50 μM), and bezafibrate (30 μM), could not enhance Treg differentiation. In addition, PPARα could not upregulate the promoter activity of the Treg-specific transcription factor Foxp3. Fenofibrate might exert its function by enhancing Smad3 phosphorylation, a critical signal in Treg differentiation, via Akt suppression. Our work reveals a new PPARα independent anti-inflammatory mechanism of fenofibrate in up-regulating mouse Treg differentiation