Tricritical point in strongly coupled U(1) gauge theory with fermions and scalars

We investigate the tricritical point in the lattice fermion--gauge--scalar model with U(1) gauge symmetry. In the vicinity of this point, in the phase with the broken chiral symmetry, we observe the scaling behavior of the chiral condensate and of the masses of composite fermion and composite scalar, indicating the existence of an interesting continuum limit of the model at this point.Comment: Contribution to Lattice 95, LaTeX file (4 pages), 5 ps-figures appended (uuencoded

Nonequilibrium perturbation theory for spin-1/2 fields

A partial resummation of perturbation theory is described for field theories containing spin-1/2 particles in states that may be far from thermal equilibrium. This allows the nonequilibrium state to be characterized in terms of quasiparticles that approximate its true elementary excitations. In particular, the quasiparticles have dispersion relations that differ from those of free particles, finite thermal widths and occupation numbers which, in contrast to those of standard perturbation theory evolve with the changing nonequilibrium environment. A description of this kind is essential for estimating the evolution of the system over extended periods of time. In contrast to the corresponding description of scalar particles, the structure of nonequilibrium fermion propagators exhibits features which have no counterpart in the equilibrium theory.Comment: 16 pages; no figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Perturbative nonequilibrium dynamics of phase transitions in an expanding universe

A complete set of Feynman rules is derived, which permits a perturbative description of the nonequilibrium dynamics of a symmetry-breaking phase transition in $\lambda\phi^4$ theory in an expanding universe. In contrast to a naive expansion in powers of the coupling constant, this approximation scheme provides for (a) a description of the nonequilibrium state in terms of its own finite-width quasiparticle excitations, thus correctly incorporating dissipative effects in low-order calculations, and (b) the emergence from a symmetric initial state of a final state exhibiting the properties of spontaneous symmetry breaking, while maintaining the constraint $\equiv 0$. Earlier work on dissipative perturbation theory and spontaneous symmetry breaking in Minkowski spacetime is reviewed. The central problem addressed is the construction of a perturbative approximation scheme which treats the initial symmetric state in terms of the field $\phi$, while the state that emerges at later times is treated in terms of a field $\zeta$, linearly related to $\phi^2$. The connection between early and late times involves an infinite sequence of composite propagators. Explicit one-loop calculations are given of the gap equations that determine quasiparticle masses and of the equation of motion for $$ and the renormalization of these equations is described. The perturbation series needed to describe the symmetric and broken-symmetry states are not equivalent, and this leads to ambiguities intrinsic to any perturbative approach. These ambiguities are discussed in detail and a systematic procedure for matching the two approximations is described.Comment: 22 pages, using RevTeX. 6 figures. Submitted to Physical Review

The parasitic worm-derived immunomodulator, ES-62 and its drug-like small molecule analogues exhibit therapeutic potential in a model of chronic asthma

Chronic asthma is associated with persistent lung inflammation and long-term remodelling of the airways that have proved refractory to conventional treatments such as steroids, despite their efficacy in controlling acute airway contraction and bronchial inflammation. As its recent dramatic increase in industrialised countries has not been mirrored in developing regions, it has been suggested that helminth infection may protect humans against developing asthma. Consistent with this, ES-62, an immunomodulator secreted by the parasitic worm Acanthocheilonema viteae, can prevent pathology associated with chronic asthma (cellular infiltration of the lungs, particularly neutrophils and mast cells, mucus hyper-production and airway thickening) in an experimental mouse model. Importantly, ES-62 can act even after airway remodelling has been established, arresting pathogenesis and ameliorating the inflammatory flares resulting from repeated exposure to allergen that are a debilitating feature of severe chronic asthma. Moreover, two chemical analogues of ES-62, 11a and 12b mimic its therapeutic actions in restoring levels of regulatory B cells and suppressing neutrophil and mast cell responses. These studies therefore provide a platform for developing ES-62-based drugs, with compounds 11a and 12b representing the first step in the development of a novel class of drugs to combat the hitherto intractable disorder of chronic asthma

Strongly coupled U(1) lattice gauge theory as a microscopic model of Yukawa theory

Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in a strongly coupled U(1) lattice gauge model with charged fermions and scalar is investigated by numerical simulation. Several composite neutral states are observed, in particular a massive fermion. In the vicinity of the tricritical point of this model we study the effective Yukawa coupling between this fermion and the Goldstone boson. The perturbative triviality bound of Yukawa models is nearly saturated. The theory is quite similar to strongly coupled Yukawa models for sufficiently large coupling except the occurrence of an additional state -- a gauge ball of mass about half the mass of the fermion.Comment: 4 page

Mobile tools for Windows: user guide : report produced in the context of the Inventory Data Capture Tools Risk Global Component

The aim of this document is to provide guidelines for the use of the digital Windows Mobile Tools that have been designed and built to collect building inventory pre- and post-earthquake events. The guide instructs users how to install the software on a Windows device and provides step-by-step instructions for collecting and managing the data that has been collected. It is expected that the field staff are already experts in collecting building inventory, therefore this guide does not provides instructions how to recognise or understand building structural components. Appendices to this guide also include the following: A copy of the paper Forms that are used to collect data in the field if the digital Mobile Tools are unavailable The Photos-4-GEM Protocol that provides guidance for photography of structures in the context of the Inventory Data Capture Tools and the GEM Taxonomy

Crossovers from parity conserving to directed percolation universality

The crossover behavior of various models exhibiting phase transition to absorbing phase with parity conserving class has been investigated by numerical simulations and cluster mean-field method. In case of models exhibiting Z_2 symmetric absorbing phases (the NEKIMCA and Grassberger's A stochastic cellular automaton) the introduction of an external symmetry breaking field causes a crossover to kink parity conserving models characterized by dynamical scaling of the directed percolation (DP) and the crossover exponent: 1/\phi ~ 0.53(2). In case an even offspringed branching and annihilating random walk model (dual to NEKIMCA) the introduction of spontaneous particle decay destroys the parity conservation and results in a crossover to the DP class characterized by the crossover exponent: 1/\phi\simeq 0.205(5). The two different kinds of crossover operators can't be mapped onto each other and the resulting models show a diversity within the DP universality class in one dimension. These 'sub-classes' differ in cluster scaling exponents.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted version in PR

Nonequilibrium perturbation theory for complex scalar fields

Real-time perturbation theory is formulated for complex scalar fields away from thermal equilibrium in such a way that dissipative effects arising from the absorptive parts of loop diagrams are approximately resummed into the unperturbed propagators. Low order calculations of physical quantities then involve quasiparticle occupation numbers which evolve with the changing state of the field system, in contrast to standard perturbation theory, where these occupation numbers are frozen at their initial values. The evolution equation of the occupation numbers can be cast approximately in the form of a Boltzmann equation. Particular attention is given to the effects of a non-zero chemical potential, and it is found that the thermal masses and decay widths of quasiparticle modes are different for particles and antiparticles.Comment: 15 pages using RevTeX; 2 figures in 1 Postscript file; Submitted to Phys. Rev.