243 research outputs found
Variant supercurrent multiplets
In N = 1 rigid supersymmetric theories, there exist three standard
realizations of the supercurrent multiplet corresponding to the (i) old
minimal, (ii) new minimal and (iii) non-minimal off-shell formulations for N =
1 supergravity. Recently, Komargodski and Seiberg in arXiv:1002.2228 put
forward a new supercurrent and proved its consistency, although in the past it
was believed not to exist. In this paper, three new variant supercurrent
multiplets are proposed. Implications for supergravity-matter systems are
discussed.Comment: 11 pages; V2: minor changes in sect. 3; V3: published version; V4:
typos in eq. (2.3) corrected; V5: comments and references adde
Mechanism of Action of Secreted Newt Anterior Gradient Protein
Anterior gradient (AG) proteins have a thioredoxin fold and are targeted to the secretory pathway where they may act in the ER, as well as after secretion into the extracellular space. A newt member of the family (nAG) was previously identified as interacting with the GPI-anchored salamander-specific three-finger protein called Prod1. Expression of nAG has been implicated in the nerve dependence of limb regeneration in salamanders, and nAG acted as a growth factor for cultured newt limb blastemal (progenitor) cells, but the mechanism of action was not understood. Here we show that addition of a peptide antibody to Prod1 specifically inhibit the proliferation of blastema cells, suggesting that Prod1 acts as a cell surface receptor for secreted nAG, leading to S phase entry. Mutation of the single cysteine residue in the canonical active site of nAG to alanine or serine leads to protein degradation, but addition of residues at the C terminus stabilises the secreted protein. The mutation of the cysteine residue led to no detectable activity on S phase entry in cultured newt limb blastemal cells. In addition, our phylogenetic analyses have identified a new Caudata AG protein called AG4. A comparison of the AG proteins in a cell culture assay indicates that nAG secretion is significantly higher than AGR2 or AG4, suggesting that this property may vary in different members of the family
Comments on Supercurrent Multiplets, Supersymmetric Field Theories and Supergravity
We analyze various supersymmetry multiplets containing the supercurrent and
the energy-momentum tensor. The most widely known such multiplet, the
Ferrara-Zumino (FZ) multiplet, is not always well-defined. This can happen once
Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) terms are present or when the Kahler form of the target
space is not exact. We present a new multiplet S which always exists. This
understanding of the supersymmetry current allows us to obtain new results
about the possible IR behavior of supersymmetric theories. Next, we discuss the
coupling of rigid supersymmetric theories to supergravity. When the theory has
an FZ-multiplet or it has a global R-symmetry the standard formalism can be
used. But when this is not the case such simple gauging is impossible. Then, we
must gauge the current S. The resulting theory has, in addition to the graviton
and the gravitino, another massless chiral superfield Phi which is essential
for the consistency of the theory. Some of the moduli of various string models
play the role of Phi. Our general considerations, which are based on the
consistency of supergravity, show that such moduli cannot be easily lifted thus
leading to constraints on gravity/string models.Comment: 27 pages. v2: references added and minor changes. v3: minor changes.
v4: minor clarification
N=2 supergravity and supercurrents
We address the problem of classifying all N=2 supercurrent multiplets in four
space-time dimensions. For this purpose we consider the minimal formulation of
N=2 Poincare supergravity with a tensor compensator, and derive its linearized
action in terms of three N=2 off-shell multiplets: an unconstrained scalar
superfield, a vector multiplet, and a tensor multiplet. Such an action was
ruled out to exist in the past. Using the action constructed, one can derive
other models for linearized N=2 supergravity by applying N=2 superfield duality
transformations. The action depends parametrically on a constant non-vanishing
real isotriplet g^{ij}=g^{ji} which originates as an expectation value of the
tensor compensator. Upon reduction to N=1 superfields, we show that the model
describes two dually equivalent formulations for the massless multiplet
(1,3/2)+(3/2,2) depending on a choice of g^{ij}. In the case g^{11}=g^{22}=0,
the action describes (i) new minimal N=1 supergravity; and (ii) the
Fradkin-Vasiliev-de Wit-van Holten gravitino multiplet. In the case g^{12}=0,
on the other hand, the action describes (i) old minimal N=1 supergravity; and
(ii) the Ogievetsky-Sokatchev gravitino multiplet.Comment: 40 pages; v2: added references, some comments, new appendi
Ectoplasm with an Edge
The construction of supersymmetric invariant actions on a spacetime manifold
with a boundary is carried out using the "ectoplasm" formalism for the
construction of closed forms in superspace. Non-trivial actions are obtained
from the pull-backs to the bosonic bodies of closed but non-exact forms in
superspace; finding supersymmetric invariants thus becomes a cohomology
problem. For a spacetime with a boundary, the appropriate mathematical language
changes to relative cohomology, which we use to give a general formulation of
off-shell supersymmetric invariants in the presence of boundaries. We also
relate this construction to the superembedding formalism for the construction
of brane actions, and we give examples with bulk spacetimes of dimension 3, 4
and 5. The closed superform in the 5D example needs to be constructed as a
Chern-Simons type of invariant, obtained from a closed 6-form displaying Weil
triviality.Comment: 25 page
Rigid Supersymmetric Theories in Curved Superspace
We present a uniform treatment of rigid supersymmetric field theories in a
curved spacetime , focusing on four-dimensional theories with four
supercharges. Our discussion is significantly simpler than earlier treatments,
because we use classical background values of the auxiliary fields in the
supergravity multiplet. We demonstrate our procedure using several examples.
For we reproduce the known results in the literature. A
supersymmetric Lagrangian for exists, but unless the
field theory is conformal, it is not reflection positive. We derive the
Lagrangian for and note that the
time direction can be rotated to Euclidean signature and be
compactified to only when the theory has a continuous R-symmetry. The
partition function on is independent of
the parameters of the flat space theory and depends holomorphically on some
complex background gauge fields. We also consider R-invariant
theories on and clarify a few points about them.Comment: 26 pages, uses harvmac; v2 with added reference
Identification of plastic constitutive parameters at large deformations from three dimensional displacement fields
The aim of this paper is to provide a general procedure to extract the constitutive parameters of a plasticity model starting from displacement measurements and using the Virtual Fields Method. This is a classical inverse problem which has been already investigated in the literature, however several new features are developed here. First of all the procedure applies to a general three-dimensional displacement field which leads to large plastic deformations, no assumptions are made such as plane stress or plane strain although only pressure-independent plasticity is considered. Moreover the equilibrium equation is written in terms of the deviatoric stress tensor that can be directly computed from the strain field without iterations. Thanks to this, the identification routine is much faster compared to other inverse methods such as finite element updating. The proposed method can be a valid tool to study complex phenomena which involve severe plastic deformation and where the state of stress is completely triaxial, e.g. strain localization or necking occurrence. The procedure has been validated using a three dimensional displacement field obtained from a simulated experiment. The main potentialities as well as a first sensitivity study on the influence of measurement errors are illustrated
Formation of gutingimycin: analytical investigation of trioxacarcin A-mediated alkylation of dsDNA
Formation and fragmentation of recognition complexes between trioxacarcin A and various DNA sequences were examined by temperature-dependent UV and CD spectroscopy, HPLC analysis, and ESI mass spectrometry with regard to reaction conditions, intermediates, products, mechanism, and sequence specificity. Cleavage of the trioxacarcin–DNA complexes provided the natural product gutingimycin by guanine abstraction. The resulting DNA with an abasic site was further cleaved into a DNA fragment with a furanyl unit at the 3′-end and an oligonucleotide with a phosphorylated 5′-end
The prevention of anaphylactoid reactions to iodinated radiological contrast media: a systematic review
BACKGROUND: Anaphylactoid reactions to iodinated contrast media are relatively common and potentially life threatening. Opinion is divided as to the utility of medications for preventing these reactions. We performed a systematic review to assess regimes for the prevention of anaphylactoid reactions to iodinated contrast media. METHODS: Searches for studies were conducted in the Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL databases. Bibliographies of included studies and review articles were examined and experts were contacted. Randomised clinical trials that examined agents given prior to iodinated contrast material for the prevention of anaphylactoid reactions were included in the review. The validity of the included studies was examined using a component approach. RESULTS: Six studies met the inclusion criteria, but only one of these fulfilled all of the validity criteria. There were four studies that examined the use of H1 antihistamines, each was used to prevent anaphylactoid reactions to ionic contrast. The random effects pooled relative risk demonstrated a significant reduction in the overall rate of anaphylactoid reactions (RR = 0.4, 95% CI 0.18-0.9, p = 0.027). There were insufficient studies to produce a pooled statistic for the use of corticosteroids, however regimes of steroids (methylprednisolone 32 mg) given at least six hours and again two hours prior to the administration of contrast suggested a reduction in the incidence of anaphylactoid reactions. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, there are few high quality randomised clinical trials that have addressed the question of the optimal methods to prevent allergic type reactions to iodinated radiological contrast media. Allowing for these limitations, the results suggest that H1 antihistamines given immediately prior to the administration of ionic contrast may be useful in preventing reactions to ionic contrast and are suggestive of a protective effect of corticosteroids when given in two doses at least six hours prior and again two hours prior to the administration of contrast, both ionic and non-ionic. These agents should be considered for use in patients who are at high risk of an anaphylactoid reaction to contrast media and for who prophylactic therapy is considered necessary. Further research is needed before definitive recommendations can be made
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