65 research outputs found
Ab Initio Structural Energetics of Beta-Si3N4 Surfaces
Motivated by recent electron microscopy studies on the Si3N4/rare-earth oxide
interfaces, the atomic and electronic structures of bare beta-Si3N4 surfaces
are investigated from first principles. The equilibrium shape of a Si3N4
crystal is found to have a hexagonal cross section and a faceted dome-like base
in agreement with experimental observations. The large atomic relaxations on
the prismatic planes are driven by the tendency of Si to saturate its dangling
bonds, which gives rise to resonant-bond configurations or planar sp^2-type
bonding. We predict three bare surfaces with lower energies than the open-ring
(10-10) surface observed at the interface, which indicate that
non-stoichiometry and the presence of the rare-earth oxide play crucial roles
in determining the termination of the Si3N4 matrix grains.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 Figures, 1 tabl
Strain-Driven Mn-Reorganization in Overlithiated LixMn2O4 Epitaxial Thin-Film Electrodes
Lithium manganate LixMn2O4 (LMO) is a lithium ion cathode that suffers from the widely observed but poorly understood phenomenon of capacity loss due to Mn dissolution during electrochemical cycling. Here, operando X-ray reflectivity (low- and high-angle) is used to study the structure and morphology of epitaxial LMO (111) thin film cathodes undergoing lithium insertion and extraction to understand the inter-relationships between biaxial strain and Mn-dissolution. The initially strain-relieved LiMn2O4 films generate in-plane tensile and compressive strains for delithiated (x 1) charge states, respectively. The results reveal reversible Li insertion into LMO with no measurable Mn-loss for 0 1) reveals Mn loss from LMO along with dramatic changes in the intensity of the (111) Bragg peak that cannot be explained by Li stoichiometry. These results reveal a partially reversible site reorganization of Mn ions within the LMO film that is not seen in bulk reactions and indicates a transition in Mn-layer stoichiometry from 3:1 to 2:2 in alternating cation planes. Density functional theory calculations confirm that compressive strains (at x = 2) stabilize LMO structures with 2:2 Mn site distributions, therefore providing new insights into the role of lattice strain in the stability of LMO
Can the Mechanism for Hybrid Decays be Detected?
Two mechanisms for the () hybrid meson decay processes
are investigated. These mechanisms are applied to
and decays to
illustrate the validity of the decay mechanisms and to obtain independent
information on the coupling of to quark and gluonic operators.
From this information, we find that
is substantially different
in the two decay mechanisms, and hence future experimental measurements of this
ratio will provide valuable information for substantiating the hybrid nature of
these states and for determining the mechanism for these hybrid decays.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 1 eps figure embedded in manuscript. Analysis and
references extended in v
Cell-Free DNA as a Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma.
PURPOSE: Total cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and tumor-derived cfDNA (ctDNA) can be used to study tumor-derived genetic aberrations. We analyzed the diagnostic and prognostic potential of cfDNA and ctDNA, obtained from pediatric patients with rhabdomyosarcoma. METHODS: cfDNA was isolated from diagnostic plasma samples from 57 patients enrolled in the EpSSG RMS2005 study. To study the diagnostic potential, shallow whole genome sequencing (shWGS) and cell-free reduced representation bisulphite sequencing (cfRRBS) were performed in a subset of samples and all samples were tested using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction to detect methylated RASSF1A (RASSF1A-M). Correlation with outcome was studied by combining cfDNA RASSF1A-M detection with analysis of our rhabdomyosarcoma-specific RNA panel in paired cellular blood and bone marrow fractions and survival analysis in 56 patients. RESULTS: At diagnosis, ctDNA was detected in 16 of 30 and 24 of 26 patients using shallow whole genome sequencing and cfRRBS, respectively. Furthermore, 21 of 25 samples were correctly classified as embryonal by cfRRBS. RASSF1A-M was detected in 21 of 57 patients. The presence of RASSF1A-M was significantly correlated with poor outcome (the 5-year event-free survival [EFS] rate was 46.2% for 21 RASSF1A-M‒positive patients, compared with 84.9% for 36 RASSF1A-M‒negative patients [P < .001]). RASSF1A-M positivity had the highest prognostic effect among patients with metastatic disease. Patients both negative for RASSF1A-M and the rhabdomyosarcoma-specific RNA panel (28 of 56 patients) had excellent outcome (5-year EFS 92.9%), while double-positive patients (11/56) had poor outcome (5-year EFS 13.6%, P < .001). CONCLUSION: Analyzing ctDNA at diagnosis using various techniques is feasible in pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma and has potential for clinical use. Measuring RASSF1A-M in plasma at initial diagnosis correlated significantly with outcome, particularly when combined with paired analysis of blood and bone marrow using a rhabdomyosarcoma-specific RNA panel
Tests for a Strong Electroweak Sector at Future e^+e^- High Energy Colliders
The study of the scattering at high energy of the gauge bosons W and Z, in
particular longitudinally polarized W and Z, can clarify the mechanism of
spontaneous symmetry breaking in the Standard Model of the electroweak
interactions. Different models of strong electroweak sector, based on the
effective lagrangian approach are briefly reviewed. They include models with no
resonance, with scalar resonance, additional vector and axial-vector
resonances. The effective Lagrangians are derived from the chiral symmetry of
the symmetry breaking sector. Limits on these models from existing
measurements, mainly LEP and Tevatron, are considered. We study also direct and
indirect effects of the new interactions at high energy future e^+e^- linear
colliders, through WW scattering and the direct production of these new vector
gauge bosons.Comment: 74 pages, 19 figures and 4 tables included, Latex, uses epsf, to
appear in La Rivista del Nuovo Cimento, some minor change
Physics Opportunities of e+e- Linear Colliders
We describe the anticipated experimental program of an e+e- linear collider
in the energy range 500 GeV -- 1.5 TeV. We begin with a description of current
collider designs and the expected experimental environment. We then discuss
precision studies of the W boson and top quark. Finally, we review the range of
models proposed to explain the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and
show, for each case, the central role that the linear collider experiments will
play in elucidating this physics. (to appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and
Particle Science)Comment: 93 pages, latex + 23 figures; typos corrections + 1 reference adde
The Infrared Behaviour of the Pure Yang-Mills Green Functions
We review the infrared properties of the pure Yang-Mills correlators and
discuss recent results concerning the two classes of low-momentum solutions for
them reported in literature; i.e. decoupling and scaling solutions. We will
mainly focuss on the Landau gauge and pay special attention to the results
inferred from the analysis of the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the theory and
from "{\it quenched}" lattice QCD. The results obtained from properly
interplaying both approaches are strongly emphasized.Comment: Final version to be published in FBS (54 pgs., 11 figs., 4 tabs
Combination Therapies Targeting Alk-Aberrant Neuroblastoma in Preclinical Models.
BACKGROUND: ALK activating mutations are identified in approximately 10% of newly diagnosed neuroblastomas and ALK amplifications in a further 1-2% of cases. Lorlatinib, a third generation ALK inhibitor, will soon be given alongside induction chemotherapy for children with ALK-aberrant neuroblastoma. However, resistance to single agent treatment has been reported and therapies that improve the response duration are urgently required. We studied the preclinical combination of lorlatinib with chemotherapy, or with the MDM2 inhibitor, idasanutlin, as recent data has suggested that ALK inhibitor resistance can be overcome through activation of the p53-MDM2 pathway. AIMS: To study the preclinical activity of ALK inhibitors alone and combined with chemotherapy or idasanutlin. METHODS: We compared different ALK inhibitors in preclinical models prior to evaluating lorlatinib in combination with chemotherapy or idasanutlin. We developed a triple chemotherapy (CAV: cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and vincristine) in vivo dosing schedule and applied this to both neuroblastoma genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM) and patient derived xenografts (PDX). RESULTS: Lorlatinib in combination with chemotherapy was synergistic in immunocompetent neuroblastoma GEMM. Significant growth inhibition in response to lorlatinib was only observed in the ALK-amplified PDX model with high ALK expression. In this PDX lorlatinib combined with idasanutlin resulted in complete tumor regression and significantly delayed tumor regrowth. CONCLUSION: In our preclinical neuroblastoma models, high ALK expression was associated with lorlatinib response alone or in combination with either chemotherapy or idasanutlin. The synergy between MDM2 and ALK inhibition warrants further evaluation of this combination as a potential clinical approach for children with neuroblastoma
Probing strongly interacting W's at the ILC with polarized beams
We study the possibility of fingerprinting a strongly interacting boson
sector which is consistent with present day LHC searches at the ILC with
longitudinal as well as transversely polarized electron and positron beams. We
account for the final state interaction using a suitable Omn\`es formalism in
terms of a plausible resonance description, and carry out thorough analyses of
cross sections, asymmetries and angular distributions of the . We carry
out a comparison with other extensions of the Standard Model, where heavy
additional bosons arise naturally. We also consider the effect of the
strong final state interaction on a correlation that depends on
, where the are the azimuthal angles of decay
leptons, and find that it is a useful discriminant.Comment: 25 pages latex using JHEP style files, 14 figures; v2 is a slightly
expanded version of v1, reference added, discussions improved, some figures
have been changed; corresponds to version accepted for publication in JHE
Light Meson Spectroscopy
We survey the current status of light meson spectroscopy. We begin with a
general introduction to meson spectroscopy and and its importance in
understanding the physical states of Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD).
Phemenological models of hadron spectroscopy are described with particular
emphasis on the constituent quark model and the qualitative features it
predicts for the meson spectrum. We next discuss expectations for hadrons lying
outside the quark model, such as hadron states with excited gluonic degrees of
freedom. These states include so-called hybrids glueballs}, as well as
multiquark states. The established meson states are compared to the quark model
predictions and we find that most meson states are well described by the quark
model. However, a number of states in the light-quark sector do not fit in
well, suggesting the existence of hadronic states with additional degrees of
freedom. We end with a brief description of future directions in meson
spectroscopy.Comment: 111 pages with 28 imbedded figures, in LaTeX2e with no special
macros. Submitted to Reviews of Modern Physics, Nov.12, 199
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