Antagonistic pleiotropy and the evolution of extraordinary lifespans in eusocial organisms

Queens of eusocial species live extraordinarily long compared to their workers. So far, it has been argued that these lifespan divergences are readily explained by the classical evolutionary theory of ageing. As workers predominantly perform risky tasks, such as foraging and nest defense, and queens stay in the well-protected nests, selection against harmful genetic mutations expressed in old age should be weaker in workers than in queens due to caste differences in extrinsic mortality risk, and thus, lead to the evolution of longer queen and shorter worker lifespans. However, these arguments have not been supported by formal models. Here, we present a model for the evolution of caste-specific ageing in social insects, based on Williams’ antagonistic pleiotropy theory of ageing. In individual-based simulations, we assume that mutations with antagonistic fitness effects can act within castes, that is, mutations in early life are accompanied by an antagonistic effect acting in later life, or between castes, where antagonistic effects emerge due to caste antagonism or indirect genetic effects between castes. In monogynous social insect species with sterile workers, large lifespan divergences between castes evolved under all different scenarios of antagonistic effects, but regardless of the degree of caste-specific extrinsic mortality. Mutations with antagonistic fitness effects within castes reduced lifespans of both castes, while mutations with between-caste antagonistic effects decreased worker lifespans more than queen lifespans, and consequently increased lifespan divergences. Our results challenge the central explanatory role of extrinsic mortality for caste-specific ageing in eusocial organisms and suggest that antagonistic pleiotropy affects castes differently due to reproductive monopolization by queens, hence, reproductive division of labor. Finally, these findings provide new insights into the evolution of tissue-specific ageing in multicellular organisms in general

Narrow Line Cooling and Momentum-Space Crystals

Narrow line laser cooling is advancing the frontier for experiments ranging from studies of fundamental atomic physics to high precision optical frequency standards. In this paper, we present an extensive description of the systems and techniques necessary to realize 689 nm 1S0 - 3P1 narrow line cooling of atomic 88Sr. Narrow line cooling and trapping dynamics are also studied in detail. By controlling the relative size of the power broadened transition linewidth and the single-photon recoil frequency shift, we show that it is possible to continuously bridge the gap between semiclassical and quantum mechanical cooling. Novel semiclassical cooling process, some of which are intimately linked to gravity, are also explored. Moreover, for laser frequencies tuned above the atomic resonance, we demonstrate momentum-space crystals containing up to 26 well defined lattice points. Gravitationally assisted cooling is also achieved with blue-detuned light. Theoretically, we find the blue detuned dynamics are universal to Doppler limited systems. This paper offers the most comprehensive study of narrow line laser cooling to date.Comment: 14 pages, 19 figure

A Study of Dopamine Metabolism in a Patient with Juvenile Parkinsonism by Positron Emission Tomography

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The evolution of ageing in cooperative breeders

Cooperatively breeding animals live longer than their solitary counterparts. The traditional explanation for this is that cooperative breeding evolves more readily in long-lived species. Here, we reverse this argument and show that long lifespans are an evolutionary consequence of cooperative breeding. Natural selection favours a delayed onset of senescence in cooperative breeders, relative to solitary breeders, because cooperative breeders have a delayed age of first reproduction due to reproductive queueing. Especially long lifespans evolve in cooperative breeders with age-dependent reproductive queueing. Finally, we show that lower genetic relatedness among group members leads to the evolution of longer lifespans. This is because selection against higher mortality is weaker when mortality reduces competition between relatives. Our results link the evolutionary theory of ageing with kin selection theory, demonstrating that the evolution of ageing in cooperative breeders is driven by the timing of reproduction and kin structure within breeding territories

Precision spectroscopy and density-dependent frequency shifts in ultracold Sr

By varying the density of an ultracold $^{88}$Sr sample from $10^9$ cm$^{-3}$ to $> 10^{12}$ cm$^{-3}$, we make the first definitive measurement of the density-related frequency shift and linewidth broadening of the $^1S_0$ - $^3P_1$ optical clock transition in an alkaline earth system. In addition, we report the most accurate measurement to date of the $^{88}$Sr $^1S_0 - ^3P_1$ optical clock transition frequency. Including a detailed analysis of systematic errors, the frequency is ($434 829 121 312 334 \pm 20_{stat} \pm 33_{sys}$) Hz.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. submitte

Pressure dependence of the Curie temperature in Ni2MnSn Heusler alloy: A first-principles study

The pressure dependence of electronic structure, exchange interactions and Curie temperature in ferromagnetic Heusler alloy Ni2MnSn has been studied theoretically within the framework of the density-functional theory. The calculation of the exchange parameters is based on the frozen--magnon approach. The Curie temperature, Tc, is calculated within the mean-field approximation by solving the matrix equation for a multi-sublattice system. In agrement with experiment the Curie temperature increased from 362K at ambient pressure to 396 at 12 GPa. Extending the variation of the lattice parameter beyond the range studied experimentally we obtained non-monotonous pressure dependence of the Curie temperature and metamagnetic transition. We relate the theoretical dependence of Tc on the lattice constant to the corresponding dependence predicted by the empirical interaction curve. The Mn-Ni atomic interchange observed experimentally is simulated to study its influence on the Curie temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Gigantic anisotropic uniaxial pressure effect on superconductivity within the CuO2 plane of La1.64Eu0.2Sr0.16CuO4 - strain control of stripe criticality

The effect of uniaxial pressure on superconductivity was examined for a high-Tc cuprate La1.64Eu0.2Sr0.16CuO4, which is located at the boundary between the superconducting and stripe phases. We found remarkably large anisotropy of the uniaxial pressure effect not only between the in-plane and out-of-plane pressures but also within the CuO2-plane. When the pressure is applied along the tetragonal [110] direction, we found the largest pressure effect ever observed in cuprates, dTc/dP - 2.5 K/kbar, while the change of Tc was not appreciable when applied along [100]. This substantial in-plane anisotropy is attributed to an intimate link between the symmetry of the one-dimensional stripes and that of the strain produced within the CuO2 plane.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figure

An efficient CDMA decoder for correlated information sources

We consider the detection of correlated information sources in the ubiquitous Code-Division Multiple-Access (CDMA) scheme. We propose a message-passing based scheme for detecting correlated sources directly, with no need for source coding. The detection is done simultaneously over a block of transmitted binary symbols (word). Simulation results are provided demonstrating a substantial improvement in bit-error-rate in comparison with the unmodified detector and the alternative of source compression. The robustness of the error-performance improvement is shown under practical model settings, including wrong estimation of the generating Markov transition matrix and finite-length spreading codes.Comment: 11 page

Time independent description of rapidly oscillating potentials

The classical and quantum dynamics in a high frequency field are found to be described by an effective time independent Hamiltonian. It is calculated in a systematic expansion in the inverse of the frequency ($\omega$) to order $\omega^{-4}$. The work is an extension of the classical result for the Kapitza pendulum, which was calculated in the past to order $\omega^{-2}$. The analysis makes use of an implementation of the method of separation of time scales and of a quantum gauge transformation in the framework of Floquet theory. The effective time independent Hamiltonian enables one to explore the dynamics in presence of rapidly oscillating fields, in the framework of theories that were developed for systems with time independent Hamiltonians. The results are relevant, in particular, for exploration of the dynamics of cold atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Revised versio