262 research outputs found
Statistical analysis of entropy correction from topological defects in Loop Black Holes
In this paper we discuss the entropy of quantum black holes in the LQG
formalism when the number of punctures on the horizon is treated as a quantum
hair, that is we compute the black hole entropy in the grand canonical (area)
ensemble. The entropy is a function of both the average area and the average
number of punctures and bears little resemblance to the Bekenstein-Hawking
entropy. In the thermodynamic limit, both the "temperature" and the chemical
potential can be shown to be functions only of the average area per puncture.
At a fixed temperature, the average number of punctures becomes proportional to
the average area and we recover the Bekenstein-Hawking area-entropy law to
leading order provided that the Barbero-Immirzi parameter, , is
appropriately fixed. This also relates the chemical potential to . We
obtain a sub-leading correction, which differs in signature from that obtained
in the microcanonical and canonical ensembles in its sign but agrees with
earlier results in the grand canonical ensemble.Comment: 12 pages, no figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Entropy calculation for a toy black hole
In this note we carry out the counting of states for a black hole in loop
quantum gravity, however assuming an equidistant area spectrum. We find that
this toy-model is exactly solvable, and we show that its behavior is very
similar to that of the correct model. Thus this toy-model can be used as a nice
and simplifying `laboratory' for questions about the full theory.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. v2: Corrected mistake in bibliography, added
appendix with further result
Detailed black hole state counting in loop quantum gravity
We give a complete and detailed description of the computation of black hole
entropy in loop quantum gravity by employing the most recently introduced
number-theoretic and combinatorial methods. The use of these techniques allows
us to perform a detailed analysis of the precise structure of the entropy
spectrum for small black holes, showing some relevant features that were not
discernible in previous computations. The ability to manipulate and understand
the spectrum up to the level of detail that we describe in the paper is a
crucial step towards obtaining the behavior of entropy in the asymptotic (large
horizon area) regime
Consolidación de la memoria implÃcita: efecto de la valencia emocional y el tiempo de exposición mediante el uso de Priming perceptual
The effect of emotional valence and prime’s exposure length on implicit memory consolidation was examined using a modified masked perceptual priming paradigm for emotion recognition under conditions of limited awareness. Priming faces of either happiness, anger and neutral emotional expressions were displayed for different durations (17ms vs 33ms vs 83ms), followed by an implicit memory task (target’s facial emotion recall). Statistically significant differences were found in emotional valence across different exposure lengths in the perceptual processing task when compared to reaction times in the implicit memory consolidation task. Significant differences were also observed for exposure length between perceptual processing task and implicit memory consolidation task. Results showed a significant association between hit rate and emotional valence as a function of exposure length. Overall, our results suggest that emotional valence impacts on perceptual processing and implicit memory consolidation.Se estudió el efecto de la valencia emocional y los tiempos de exposición en la consolidación de la memoria implÃcita mediante el uso del paradigma de priming perceptual enmascarado modificado, con reconocimiento de emociones bajo condiciones de consciencia limitada. Se presentaron rostros priming con expresiones emocionales de felicidad, rabia y neutro, en tiempos de exposición de 17ms, 33ms y 83 ms; posteriormente, los sujetos ejecutaron la tarea de memoria implÃcita, la cual consistÃa en recordar la emoción del rostro target de la primera tarea. Se encontraron diferencias estadÃsticamente significativas a nivel de la valencia emocional entre los diferentes tiempos de exposición en la tarea de procesamiento perceptual, en comparación con la tarea de consolidación de la memoria implÃcita a nivel de los tiempos de reacción. Igualmente, se encontraron diferencias estadÃsticamente significativas en los tiempos de exposición al comparar la tarea de procesamiento perceptual y la de consolidación de la memoria implÃcita. Los resultados obtenidos explican que existe una correlación entre las respuestas correctas de esta última tarea y las valencias emocionales, con cada uno de los tres tiempos de exposición. Estos resultados sugieren que las valencias emocionales influyen diferencialmente en las tareas de procesamiento perceptual y consolidación de la memoria implÃcita
Revisiting the Simplicity Constraints and Coherent Intertwiners
In the context of loop quantum gravity and spinfoam models, the simplicity
constraints are essential in that they allow to write general relativity as a
constrained topological BF theory. In this work, we apply the recently
developed U(N) framework for SU(2) intertwiners to the issue of imposing the
simplicity constraints to spin network states. More particularly, we focus on
solving them on individual intertwiners in the 4d Euclidean theory. We review
the standard way of solving the simplicity constraints using coherent
intertwiners and we explain how these fit within the U(N) framework. Then we
show how these constraints can be written as a closed u(N) algebra and we
propose a set of U(N) coherent states that solves all the simplicity
constraints weakly for an arbitrary Immirzi parameter.Comment: 28 page
Probing Loop Quantum Gravity with Evaporating Black Holes
This letter aims at showing that the observation of evaporating black holes
should allow distinguishing between the usual Hawking behavior and Loop Quantum
Gravity (LQG) expectations. We present a full Monte-Carlo simulation of the
evaporation in LQG and statistical tests that discriminate between competing
models. We conclude that contrarily to what was commonly thought, the
discreteness of the area in LQG leads to characteristic features that qualify
evaporating black holes as objects that could reveal quantum gravity
footprints.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Version accpeted by Phys. Rev. Let
Efficacy and Tolerability of 6-Month Treatment with Tamsulosin Plus the Hexanic Extract of Serenoa repens versus Tamsulosin Plus 5-Alpha-Reductase Inhibitors for Moderate-to-Severe LUTS-BPH Patients: Results of a Paired Matched Clinical Study
The objective of this subset analysis was to evaluate and compare the efficacy and tolerability of two combination treatments for men with moderate-to-severe lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH). Data were from a real-world, open-label, prospective, and multicenter study performed in outpatient urology clinics. Men with moderate-to-severe LUTS/BPH received 6-month treatment with tamsulosin (TAM) in combination with either the hexanic extract of S. repens (HESr) or a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor (5ARI). Changes in urinary symptoms and quality of life were measured using the IPSS and BII questionnaires, respectively. Treatment tolerability was assessed by recording adverse effects (AEs). Patients in the two study groups were matched using iterative and propensity score matching approaches. After iterative matching, data were available from 136 patients (n = 68 treated with TAM + 5ARI, n = 68 with TAM + HESr). After 6 months of treatment, mean (SD) IPSS total score improved by 7.7 (6.3) and 6.7 (5.0) points in the TAM + 5ARI and TAM + HESr groups, respectively (p = 0.272); mean BII total scores improved by 3.1 (2.9) and 2.9 (2.4) points (p = 0.751), respectively. AEs were reported by 26.5% and 10.3% of patients in the same groups, mostly affecting sexual function (p < 0.027). When used in a real-world setting to treat patients with moderate-severe LUTS/BPH, 6-month treatment with TAM + HESr was as effective as TAM + 5ARI, but with better tolerability. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
New insights in quantum geometry
Quantum geometry, i.e., the quantum theory of intrinsic and extrinsic spatial
geometry, is a cornerstone of loop quantum gravity. Recently, there have been
many new ideas in this field, and I will review some of them. In particular,
after a brief description of the main structures and results of quantum
geometry, I review a new description of the quantized geometry in terms of
polyhedra, new results on the volume operator, and a way to incorporate a
classical background metric into the quantum description. Finally I describe a
new type of exponentiated flux operator, and its application to Chern-Simons
theory and black holes.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; Proceedings of Loops'11, Madrid, submitted to
Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS
Protective role of vitamin B6 (PLP) against DNA damage in Drosophila models of type 2 diabetes
Growing evidence shows that improper intake of vitamin B6 increases cancer risk and several studies indicate that diabetic patients have a higher risk of developing tumors. We previously demonstrated that in Drosophila the deficiency of Pyridoxal 5' phosphate (PLP), the active form of vitamin B6, causes chromosome aberrations (CABs), one of cancer prerequisites, and increases hemolymph glucose content. Starting from these data we asked if it was possible to provide a link between the aforementioned studies. Thus, we tested the effect of low PLP levels on DNA integrity in diabetic cells. To this aim we generated two Drosophila models of type 2 diabetes, the first by impairing insulin signaling and the second by rearing flies in high sugar diet. We showed that glucose treatment induced CABs in diabetic individuals but not in controls. More interestingly, PLP deficiency caused high frequencies of CABs in both diabetic models demonstrating that hyperglycemia, combined to reduced PLP level, impairs DNA integrity. PLP-depleted diabetic cells accumulated Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) that largely contribute to CABs as α-lipoic acid, an AGE inhibitor, rescued not only AGEs but also CABs. These data, extrapolated to humans, indicate that low PLP levels, impacting on DNA integrity, may be considered one of the possible links between diabetes and cancer
Sub-femto-g free fall for space-based gravitational wave observatories: LISA pathfinder results
We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2 ± 0.1 fm s−2/√Hz or (0.54 ± 0.01) × 10−15 g/√Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8 ± 0.3) fm/√Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f ≤ 0.5 mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12 fm s−2/√Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave
observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA
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