Unitarity of Time-Like Noncommutative Gauge Theories: The Violation of Ward Identities in Time-Ordered Perturbation Theory

We study Ward identities for simple processes with external gauge bosons in the time-ordered perturbation theory approach to time-like noncommutative gauge theories. We demonstrate that these Ward identities cannot be satisfied when all orders in the noncommutativity parameters theta_i0 are taken into account. We conclude that in time-ordered perturbation theory one cannot solve the unitarity problem of time-like noncommutative quantum field theories.Comment: 16 pages LaTeX (feynmp.sty, elsart.cls and thophys.sty included). Clarified the comments on Seiberg-Witten Maps, updated references. This version has been accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Nicht-kommutative Quantenelektrodynamik von Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen in allen Ordnungen in Theta

The basic question which drove our whole work was to find a meaningful noncommutative gauge theory even for the time-like case ($\theta^{0 i} \neq 0$). In order to be able to tackle questions regarding unitarity, it is not sufficient to consider theories which include the noncommutative parameter only up to a finite order. The reason is that in order to investigate tree-level unitarity or the optical theorem in loops one has to know the behavior of the noncommutative theory for center-of-mass energies much greater than the noncommutative scale. Therefore an effective theory, that is by construction only valid up to the noncommutative scale, isn't sufficient for our purpose. Our model is based on two fundamental assumptions. The first assumption is given by the commutation relations \eqref{eq:ncalg}. This led to the Moyal-Weyl star-product \eqref{eq:astproduct2} which replaces all point-like products between two fields. The second assumption is to assume that the model built this way is not only invariant under the noncommutative gauge transformation but also under the commutative one. In order to obtain an action of such a model one has to replace the fields by their appropriate \swms. We chose the gauge fixed action \eqref{eq:actioncgf} as the fundamental action of our model. After having constructed the action of the NCQED including the {\swms} we were confronted with the problem of calculating the {\swms} to all orders in \tMN. By means of \cite{bbg} we could calculate the {\swms} order by order in the gauge field, where each order in the gauge field contains all orders in the noncommutative parameter (\cf chapter \ref{chapter:swms}). By comparing the maps with the result we obtained from an alternative ansatz \cite{bcpvz}, we realized that already the simplest {\swm} for the gauge field is not unique. In chapter \ref{chapter:ambiguities} we examined this ambiguity, which we could parametrised by an arbitrary function \astf. The next step was to derive the Feynman rules for our NCQED. One finds that the propagators remain unchanged so that the free theory is equal to the commutative QED. The fermion-fermion-photon vertex contains not only a phase factor coming from the Moyal-Weyl star-product but also two additional terms which have their origin in the \swms. Beside the 3-photon vertex which is already present in NCQED without {\swms} and which has also additional terms coming from the \swms, too, one has a contact vertex which couples two fermions with two photons. After having derived all the vertices we calculated the pair annihilation scattering process $e^+ e^- \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ at Born level. By choosing the parameter \kggg = 1 (\cf section \ref{sec:represent}), we found that the amplitude of the pair annihilation process becomes equal to the amplitude of the NCQED without \swms. This means that, at least for this process, the NCQED excluding {\swms} is only a special case of NCQED including \swms. On the basis of the pair annihilation process, we afterwards investigated tree-level unitarity. In order to satisfy the tree-level unitarity we had to constrain the arbitrary function \astf. We found that the series expansion of \astf has to start with unity. In addition, the even part of the function must not increase faster than $s^{-1/2} \log(s)$ for $s \rightarrow \infty$, whereas the odd part of the \astf-function can't be constrained, at least by the process we considered. By assuming these constrains for the \astf-function, we could show that tree-level unitarity is satisfied if one incorporates the uncertainties present in the energy and the momenta of the scattered particles, \ie the uncertainties of the center-of-mass energy and the scattering angles. This uncertainties are not exclusively present due to the finite experimental resolution. A delta-like center-of-mass energy as well as delta-like momenta are in general not possible because the scattered particles are never exact plane waves.Die wichtigste Motivation dieser Arbeit war es eine nichtkommutative Erweiterung der Quantenelektrodynamik (QED) zu entwickeln, die auch für eine zeitartige Nichtkommutativität, das heißt Nichtvertauschbarkeit von Orts und Zeit Koordinaten, physikalisch interpretierbar bleibt. Unser Modell basiert im Wesentlichen auf zwei Annahmen. Die erste Annahme hat mit der Raumzeit selbst zu tun und ist der Grund warum man von "nichtkommutativen" Theorien spricht. Wir fordern, dass zwei Raumzeitkoordinaten nicht mehr miteinander kommutieren sollen. Diese nichtkommutative Raumzeit kann man nun dadurch realisieren, dass man in einer gegebenen Wirkung alle Punktprodukte durch Moyal-Weyl Sternprodukte ersetzt. Die nach dieser Ersetzung erhaltene Wirkung ist dann nicht mehr invariant unter der ursprünglichen, sondern unter der nichtkommutativen Eichtransformation. In der zweite Annahme fordern wir, dass eben diese nichtkommutative Wirkung, die wir erhalten haben, nicht nur invariant unter nichtkommutativen sondern auch unter den gewöhnlichen Eichtransformationen sein soll. Dass die letzte Forderung tatsächlich Sinn macht und eine Wirkung existiert, die invariant unter beiden Eichtransformationen ist, zeigten Seiberg und Witten. Der Grund warum man die zweite Annahme fordert, liegt auf der Hand. Man erhält eine nichtkommutative Eichtheorie, die aber die kommutativen Eichstrukturen aufweist. Um der zweiten Annahme zu genügen, muss man die Felder in der nichtkommutativen Wirkung durch die sogenannten Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen ersetzen. Nachdem man diese Wirkung eichfixiert hat, erhält man die Wirkung, auf der unser Modell basiert. Wir wollen in dieser Arbeit das Hochenergieverhalten dieses Modells untersuchen. Deswegen ist es für unsere Zwecke nicht ausreichend, wenn die Wirkung nur bis zu einer endlichen Ordnung im nichtkommutativen Parameter \tMN entwickelt ist. Wir benötigen eine Wirkung, in der alle Ordnungen von \tMN resummiert sind. Das Moyal-Weyl Sternprodukt ist in allen Ordnungen in \tMN bekannt. Das Problem vor dem wir standen war es, die benötigten Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen in allen Ordungen im nichtkommutativen Parameter zu finden. Diesem Problem widmeten wir uns in Kapitel 3. Basierend auf der Arbeit von Barnich, Brandt and Grigoriev konnten wir diejenigen Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen in allen Ordnungen in \tMN bestimmen, die nötig waren um den Streuprozess der Elektronen-Positronen Paar Vernichtung auf Born Niveau zu berechnen. Aber bevor wir diese Berechnung in Angriff nahmen, untersuchten wir in Kapitel 4 die Seiberg-Witten Abbildung für das Eichfeld. Es stellte sich nämlich heraus, dass die Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen im Allgemeinen nicht eindeutig sind. Wie wir feststellten, führen diese Mehrdeutigkeiten tatsächlich zu unterschiedlichen Streuquerschnitten und somit zu unterschiedlichen Observablen. Was auf den ersten Blick als Nachteil erscheinen mag, beinhaltet aber auch eine Chance. Man kann diese Mehrdeutigkeiten dazu benutzen, um ein physikalisch sinnvolles Modell zu erstellen. Basierend auf den Berechnungen aus Kapitel 3 und den Erkenntnissen aus Kapitel 4 bestimmten wir die Feynman Regeln, die zu diesem Modell gehören. Mit den Feynman Regeln berechneten wir dann in Kapitel 6 die Elektronen-Positronen Paar Vernichtung $e^- e^+ \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ auf Born Niveau. Anhand dieses Streuprozesses untersuchten wir dann das Hochenergieverhalten (tree level unitarity) dieses Modells. Das Ergebnis war, dass das Modell, zumindest für diesen konkreten Prozess, "tree level" unitär ist, bzw. gemacht werden kann. Die Vorderung nach Unitarität schränkte die Mehrdeutigkeit der Seiberg-Witten Abbildung des Eichfeldes teilweise ein. Trotz dieser Einschränkung der Mehrdeutigkeit blieb der differentielle Wirkungsquerschnitt divergent für hohe Schwerpunktsenergien. Aber die eigentliche physikalische Observable, nämlich der integrierte Wirkungsquerschnitt, wird konstant. Das heißt, dass man die Unschärfe in der Schwerpunktsenergie als auch die Unschärfe in den Impulsen berücksichtigen muss, um einen Wirkungsquerschnitt zu erhalten, der "tree level" unitär ist. Wir haben somit in dieser Arbeit eine nichtkommutative abelsche Eichtheorie mit Seiberg-Witten Abbildungen entwickelt, die in allen Ordnungen im nichtkommutativen Parameter resummiert ist. Anhand des Prozesses der Elektronen-Positronen Paar Vernichtung konnten wir zeigen, dass dieses Modell "tree level" unitär ist

CD74 regulates complexity of tumor cell HLA class II peptidome in brain metastasis and is a positive prognostic marker for patient survival

Despite multidisciplinary local and systemic therapeutic approaches, the prognosis for most patients with brain metastases is still dismal. The role of adaptive and innate anti-tumor response including the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) machinery of antigen presentation is still unclear. We present data on the HLA class II-chaperone molecule CD74 in brain metastases and its impact on the HLA peptidome complexity. We analyzed CD74 and HLA class II expression on tumor cells in a subset of 236 human brain metastases, primary tumors and peripheral metastases of different entities in association with clinical data including overall survival. Additionally, we assessed whole DNA methylome profiles including CD74 promoter methylation and differential methylation in 21 brain metastases. We analyzed the effects of a siRNA mediated CD74 knockdown on HLA-expression and HLA peptidome composition in a brain metastatic melanoma cell line. We observed that CD74 expression on tumor cells is a strong positive prognostic marker in brain metastasis patients and positively associated with tumor-infiltrating T-lymphocytes (TILs). Whole DNA methylome analysis suggested that CD74 tumor cell expression might be regulated epigenetically via CD74 promoter methylation. CD74high and TILhigh tumors displayed a differential DNA methylation pattern with highest enrichment scores for antigen processing and presentation. Furthermore, CD74 knockdown in vitro lead to a reduction of HLA class II peptidome complexity, while HLA class I peptidome remained unaffected. In summary, our results demonstrate that a functional HLA class II processing machinery in brain metastatic tumor cells, reflected by a high expression of CD74 and a complex tumor cell HLA peptidome, seems to be crucial for better patient prognosis

Distribution and prognostic relevance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoints in human brain metastases

Simple cells in primary visual cortex were famously found to respond to low-level image components such as edges. Sparse coding and independent component analysis (ICA) emerged as the standard computational models for simple cell coding because they linked their receptive fields to the statistics of visual stimuli. However, a salient feature of image statistics, occlusions of image components, is not considered by these models. Here we ask if occlusions have an effect on the predicted shapes of simple cell receptive fields. We use a comparative approach to answer this question and investigate two models for simple cells: a standard linear model and an occlusive model. For both models we simultaneously estimate optimal receptive fields, sparsity and stimulus noise. The two models are identical except for their component superposition assumption. We find the image encoding and receptive fields predicted by the models to differ significantly. While both models predict many Gabor-like fields, the occlusive model predicts a much sparser encoding and high percentages of ‘globular’ receptive fields. This relatively new center-surround type of simple cell response is observed since reverse correlation is used in experimental studies. While high percentages of ‘globular’ fields can be obtained using specific choices of sparsity and overcompleteness in linear sparse coding, no or only low proportions are reported in the vast majority of studies on linear models (including all ICA models). Likewise, for the here investigated linear model and optimal sparsity, only low proportions of ‘globular’ fields are observed. In comparison, the occlusive model robustly infers high proportions and can match the experimentally observed high proportions of ‘globular’ fields well. Our computational study, therefore, suggests that ‘globular’ fields may be evidence for an optimal encoding of visual occlusions in primary visual cortex

Tumor-derived GDF-15 blocks LFA-1 dependent T cell recruitment and suppresses responses to anti-PD-1 treatment

Abstract Immune checkpoint blockade therapy is beneficial and even curative for some cancer patients. However, the majority don’t respond to immune therapy. Across different tumor types, pre-existing T cell infiltrates predict response to checkpoint-based immunotherapy. Based on in vitro pharmacological studies, mouse models and analyses of human melanoma patients, we show that the cytokine GDF-15 impairs LFA-1/β2-integrin-mediated adhesion of T cells to activated endothelial cells, which is a pre-requisite of T cell extravasation. In melanoma patients, GDF-15 serum levels strongly correlate with failure of PD-1-based immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Neutralization of GDF-15 improves both T cell trafficking and therapy efficiency in murine tumor models. Thus GDF-15, beside its known role in cancer-related anorexia and cachexia, emerges as a regulator of T cell extravasation into the tumor microenvironment, which provides an even stronger rationale for therapeutic anti-GDF-15 antibody development

Quantitative Signal Intensity in Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery and Treatment Effect in the WAKE-UP Trial

International audienceBackground and Purpose— Relative signal intensity of acute ischemic stroke lesions in fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery relative signal intensity [FLAIR-rSI]) magnetic resonance imaging is associated with time elapsed since stroke onset with higher intensities signifying longer time intervals. In the randomized controlled WAKE-UP trial (Efficacy and Safety of MRI-Based Thrombolysis in Wake-Up Stroke Trial), intravenous alteplase was effective in patients with unknown onset stroke selected by visual assessment of diffusion weighted imaging fluid-attenuated inversion recovery mismatch, that is, in those with no marked fluid-attenuated inversion recovery hyperintensity in the region of the acute diffusion weighted imaging lesion. In this post hoc analysis, we investigated whether quantitatively measured FLAIR-rSI modifies treatment effect of intravenous alteplase. Methods— FLAIR-rSI of stroke lesions was measured relative to signal intensity in a mirrored region in the contralesional hemisphere. The relationship between FLAIR-rSI and treatment effect on functional outcome assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) after 90 days was analyzed by binary logistic regression using different end points, that is, favorable outcome defined as mRS score of 0 to 1, independent outcome defined as mRS score of 0 to 2, ordinal analysis of mRS scores (shift analysis). All models were adjusted for National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale at symptom onset and stroke lesion volume. Results— FLAIR-rSI was successfully quantified in stroke lesions in 433 patients (86% of 503 patients included in WAKE-UP). Mean FLAIR-rSI was 1.06 (SD, 0.09). Interaction of FLAIR-rSI and treatment effect was not significant for mRS score of 0 to 1 ( P =0.169) and shift analysis ( P =0.086) but reached significance for mRS score of 0 to 2 ( P =0.004). We observed a smooth continuing trend of decreasing treatment effects in relation to clinical end points with increasing FLAIR-rSI. Conclusions— In patients in whom no marked parenchymal fluid-attenuated inversion recovery hyperintensity was detected by visual judgement in the WAKE-UP trial, higher FLAIR-rSI of diffusion weighted imaging lesions was associated with decreased treatment effects of intravenous thrombolysis. This parallels the known association of treatment effect and elapsing time of stroke onset