Cubic Interactions in PP-Wave Light Cone String Field Theory

We use the supergravity modes to clarify the role of the prefactor in the light-cone superstring field theory on PP-wave background. We verify some of the proposals of the recent paper hep-th/0205089 and give further evidence for the correspondence between N=4 SYM gauge theory and string theory on PP-wave. We also consider energy-preserving processes and find that they give vanishing cubic interaction Hamiltonian matrix.Comment: 16+1 pages, no figures, LaTeX (v3: references, minor changes and a clarification about Neumann matrices added; to appear in Physical Review D

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

Political support among winners and losers : within- and between-country effects of structure, process and performance in Europe

First published:27 May 2018Why is the winner-loser gap in political support wider in some countries and narrower in others? Previous studies have focused on how the input side of political systems (i.e., the institutional structure) affects the winner-loser gap. This study suggests that one should also consider the output side (i.e., the quality of political process and economic performance) and posits that two mechanisms - rational and psychological - can explain how output factors affect the gap. Going beyond previous research, this article also considers whether contextual characteristics explain the variation in the gap not only between countries, but also within them. Applying mixed models to survey data from 30 European countries between 2002 and 2015, the study finds that the differences in support between winners and losers across countries are smaller in consensual systems, as in these contexts the support among losers is higher. However, changes in the institutional structure do not explain the over-time variation in the winner-loser gap. Moreover, increasing quality of process and economic performance do not attenuate the gap across countries and over time, as they affect positively the political support of both winners and losers. The study shows which contextual factors explain the winner-loser gap and points to the conditions that increase losers' consent, which is a crucial element of democratic legitimacy

Optimal cost-sharing mechanisms for steiner forest problems

Abstract. Könemann, Leonardi, and Schäfer [14] gave a 2-budget-balanced and groupstrategyproof mechanism for Steiner forest cost-sharing problems. We prove that this mechanism also achieves an O(log 2 k)approximation of the social cost, where k is the number of players. As a consequence, the KLS mechanism has the smallest-possible worst-case efficiency loss, up to constant factors, among all O(1)-budget-balanced Moulin mechanisms for such cost functions. We also extend our results to a more general network design problem.

Uptake, efficacy, and systemic distribution of naked, inhaled short interfering RNA (siRNA) and locked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) promise specific correction of disease-causing gene expression. Therapeutic implementation, however, has been forestalled by poor delivery to the appropriate tissue, cell type, and subcellular compartment. Topical administration is considered to circumvent these issues. The availability of inhalation devices and unmet medical need in lung disease has focused efforts in this tissue. We report the development of a novel cell sorting method for quantitative, cell type-specific analysis of siRNA, and locked nucleic acid (LNA) ASO uptake and efficacy after intratracheal (i.t.) administration in mice. Through fluorescent dye labeling, we compare the utility of this approach to whole animal and whole tissue analysis, and examine the extent of tissue distribution. We detail rapid systemic access and renal clearance for both therapeutic classes and lack of efficacy at the protein level in lung macrophages, epithelia, or other cell types. We nevertheless observe efficient redirection of i.t. administered phosphorothioate (PS) LNA ASO to the liver and kidney leading to targeted gene knockdown. These data suggest delivery remains a key obstacle to topically administered, naked oligonucleotide efficacy in the lung and introduce inhalation as a potentially viable alternative to injection for antisense administration to the liver and kidneys