Following a "Collapsing" Wavefunction

I study the quantum mechanics of a spin interacting with an ``apparatus''. Although the evolution of the whole system is unitary, the spin evolution is not. The system is chosen so that the spin exhibits loss of quantum coherence, or ``wavefunction collapse'', of the sort usually associated with a quantum measurement. The system is analyzed from the point of view of the spin density matrix (or ``Schmidt paths''), and also using the consistent histories approach. These two points of view are contrasted with each other. Connections between the results and the form of the Hamiltonian are discussed in detail.Comment: 30 pages, plain LaTex, 3 figures in a separate uuencoded fil

Taming troubled teens: The social production of mental morbidity amongst young mothers in Pelotas, Brazil

Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier Ltd. This is a post-print version of the article. The published version of the article can be viewed at the link below.Explanations for the association between teen-childbearing and subsequent mental morbidity vary considerably, from those based on neurological theories of development to those investigating underlying social and economic determinants. Based on longitudinal epidemiological and ethnographic sub-studies of the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort study, this paper explores the hypothesis that teen childbearing and subsequent mental morbidity have become associated through the interplay of culture, society, and biology in situations where teen pregnancy has become a stigmatised object of scientific and public health attention. Results show that the effect of teen childbearing on subsequent mental morbidity remained significant in the multivariate analysis. Ethnographic analysis, together with epidemiological effect modification analyses, suggest that this association is partially accounted for by the fact that it is more pronounced amongst a specific subgroup of women of low socio-economic status who, being more politicised about societal injustice, were also more critically engaged with – and thus troubled by – the inequitable institutionalisation of life-cycle transitions. With time, these women became highly critical of the institutionalised identification of early childbearing as a key violation of life-cycle norms and the differential class-based application of scientific knowledge on its causes and consequences. Public health campaigns should consider how the age-based institutionalisation of developmental norms has enabled the stigmatisation of those identified as transgressors.The 1982 cohort study has been funded by The Wellcome Trust, the World Health Organisation, the PanAmerican Health Organisation, the European Union, the Programa Nacional para Centros de Excelência (PRONEX), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Rio Grande do Sul (Fapergs). D Béhague received support from a US National Science Foundation Doctoral Fellowship and a Postdoctoral Training Fellowship from The Wellcome Trust (Grant no. GR077175MA)

Concerning the quark condensate

A continuum expression for the trace of the massive dressed-quark propagator is used to explicate a connection between the infrared limit of the QCD Dirac operator's spectrum and the quark condensate appearing in the operator product expansion, and the connection is verified via comparison with a lattice-QCD simulation. The pseudoscalar vacuum polarisation provides a good approximation to the condensate over a larger range of current-quark masses.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX2e, revtex

Elastic Scattering by Deterministic and Random Fractals: Self-Affinity of the Diffraction Spectrum

The diffraction spectrum of coherent waves scattered from fractal supports is calculated exactly. The fractals considered are of the class generated iteratively by successive dilations and translations, and include generalizations of the Cantor set and Sierpinski carpet as special cases. Also randomized versions of these fractals are treated. The general result is that the diffraction intensities obey a strict recursion relation, and become self-affine in the limit of large iteration number, with a self-affinity exponent related directly to the fractal dimension of the scattering object. Applications include neutron scattering, x-rays, optical diffraction, magnetic resonance imaging, electron diffraction, and He scattering, which all display the same universal scaling.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Phys. Rev. E, in press. More info available at http://www.fh.huji.ac.il/~dani

Ginzburg-Landau theory of vortices in a multi-gap superconductor

The Ginzburg-Landau functional for a two-gap superconductor is derived within the weak-coupling BCS model. The two-gap Ginzburg-Landau theory is, then, applied to investigate various magnetic properties of MgB2 including an upturn temperature dependence of the transverse upper critical field and a core structure of an isolated vortex. Orientation of vortex lattice relative to crystallographic axes is studied for magnetic fields parallel to the c-axis. A peculiar 30-degree rotation of the vortex lattice with increasing strength of an applied field observed by neutron scattering is attributed to the multi-gap nature of superconductivity in MgB2.Comment: 11 page

Reversible magnetization of MgB2 single crystals with a two-gap nature

We present reversible magnetization measurements on MgB2 single crystals in magnetic fields up to 2.5 T applied parallel to the crystal's c-axis. This magnetization is analyzed in terms of the Hao-Clem model, and various superconducting parameters, such as the critical fields [Hc(0) and Hc2(0)], the characteristic lengths [xi(0) and lambda(0)], and the Ginzburg-Landau parameter, kappa, are derived. The temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth, lambda(T), obtained from the Hao-Clem analysis could not be explained by theories assuming a single gap. Our data are well described by using a two-gap model.Comment: 20 pages, 1 table, 4 figures, will be published in Phys. Rev.

Geometric phase in the Kitaev honeycomb model and scaling behavior at critical points

In this paper a geometric phase of the Kitaev honeycomb model is derived and proposed to characterize the topological quantum phase transition. The simultaneous rotation of two spins is crucial to generate the geometric phase for the multi-spin in a unit-cell unlike the one-spin case. It is found that the ground-state geometric phase, which is non-analytic at the critical points, possesses zigzagging behavior in the gapless $B$ phase of non-Abelian anyon excitations, but is a smooth function in the gapped $A$ phase. Furthermore, the finite-size scaling behavior of the non-analytic geometric phase along with its first- and second-order partial derivatives in the vicinity of critical points is shown to exhibit the universality. The divergent second-order derivative of geometric phase in the thermodynamic limit indicates the typical second-order phase transition and thus the topological quantum phase transition can be well described in terms of the geometric-phase.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) remains among the most influential and popular classical music composers. Health problems significantly impacted his career as a composer and pianist, including progressive hearing loss, recurring gastrointestinal complaints, and liver disease. In 1802, Beethoven requested that following his death, his disease be described and made public. Medical biographers have since proposed numerous hypotheses, including many substantially heritable conditions. Here we attempt a genomic analysis of Beethoven in order to elucidate potential underlying genetic and infectious causes of his illnesses. We incorporated improvements in ancient DNA methods into existing protocols for ancient hair samples, enabling the sequencing of high-coverage genomes from small quantities of historical hair. We analyzed eight independently sourced locks of hair attributed to Beethoven, five of which originated from a single European male. We deemed these matching samples to be almost certainly authentic and sequenced Beethoven\u27s genome to 24-fold genomic coverage. Although we could not identify a genetic explanation for Beethoven\u27s hearing disorder or gastrointestinal problems, we found that Beethoven had a genetic predisposition for liver disease. Metagenomic analyses revealed furthermore that Beethoven had a hepatitis B infection during at least the months prior to his death. Together with the genetic predisposition and his broadly accepted alcohol consumption, these present plausible explanations for Beethoven\u27s severe liver disease, which culminated in his death. Unexpectedly, an analysis of Y chromosomes sequenced from five living members of the Van Beethoven patrilineage revealed the occurrence of an extra-pair paternity event in Ludwig van Beethoven\u27s patrilineal ancestry

Class I histone deacetylases (HDAC) critically contribute to Ewing sarcoma pathogenesis

BACKGROUND: Histone acetylation and deacetylation seem processes involved in the pathogenesis of Ewing sarcoma (EwS). Here histone deacetylases (HDAC) class I were investigated. METHODS: Their role was determined using different inhibitors including TSA, Romidepsin, Entinostat and PCI-34051 as well as CRISPR/Cas9 class I HDAC knockouts and HDAC RNAi. To analyze resulting changes microarray analysis, qRT-PCR, western blotting, Co-IP, proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, invasion assays and xenograft-mouse models were used. RESULTS: Class I HDACs are constitutively expressed in EwS. Patients with high levels of individual class I HDAC expression show decreased overall survival. CRISPR/Cas9 class I HDAC knockout of individual HDACs such as HDAC1 and HDAC2 inhibited invasiveness, and blocked local tumor growth in xenograft mice. Microarray analysis demonstrated that treatment with individual HDAC inhibitors (HDACi) blocked an EWS-FLI1 specific expression profile, while Entinostat in addition suppressed metastasis relevant genes. EwS cells demonstrated increased susceptibility to treatment with chemotherapeutics including Doxorubicin in the presence of HDACi. Furthermore, HDACi treatment mimicked RNAi of EZH2 in EwS. Treated cells showed diminished growth capacity, but an increased endothelial as well as neuronal differentiation ability. HDACi synergizes with EED inhibitor (EEDi) in vitro and together inhibited tumor growth in xenograft mice. Co-IP experiments identified HDAC class I family members as part of a regulatory complex together with PRC2. CONCLUSIONS: Class I HDAC proteins seem to be important mediators of the pathognomonic EWS-ETS-mediated transcription program in EwS and in combination therapy, co-treatment with HDACi is an interesting new treatment opportunity for this malignant disease