Searches for Gravitational Waves from Binary Neutron Stars: A Review

A new generation of observatories is looking for gravitational waves. These waves, emitted by highly relativistic systems, will open a new window for ob- servation of the cosmos when they are detected. Among the most promising sources of gravitational waves for these observatories are compact binaries in the final min- utes before coalescence. In this article, we review in brief interferometric searches for gravitational waves emitted by neutron star binaries, including the theory, instru- mentation and methods. No detections have been made to date. However, the best direct observational limits on coalescence rates have been set, and instrumentation and analysis methods continue to be refined toward the ultimate goal of defining the new field of gravitational wave astronomy.Comment: 30 pages, 5 Figures, to appear in "Short-Period Binary Stars: Observations, Analyses, and Results", Ed.s Eugene F. Milone, Denis A. Leahy, David W. Hobil

The AdS(5)xS(5) Semi-Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Theory

The generalized symmetric space sine-Gordon theories are a series of 1+1-integrable field theories that are classically equivalent to superstrings on symmetric space spacetimes F/G. They are formulated in terms of a semi-symmetric space as a gauged WZW model with fermions and a potential term to deform it away from the conformal fixed point. We consider in particular the case of PSU(2,2|4)/Sp(2,2)xSp(4) which corresponds to AdS(5)xS(5). We argue that the infinite tower of conserved charges of these theories includes an exotic N=(8,8) supersymmetry that is realized in a mildy non-local way at the Lagrangian level. The supersymmetry is associated to a double central extension of the superalgebra psu(2|2)+psu(2|2) and includes a non-trivial R symmetry algebra corresponding to global gauge transformations, as well as 2-dimensional spacetime translations. We then explicitly construct soliton solutions and show that they carry an internal moduli superspace CP(2|1)xCP(2|1) with both bosonic and Grassmann collective coordinates. We show how to semi-classical quantize the solitons by writing an effective quantum mechanical system on the moduli space which takes the form of a co-adjoint orbit of SU(2|2)xSU(2|2). The spectrum consists of a tower of massive states in the short, or atypical, symmetric representations, just as the giant magnon states of the string world sheet theory, although here the tower is truncated.Comment: 39 pages, references adde

Radiofrequency volumetric thermal ablation of fibroids: A prospective, clinical analysis of two years' outcome from the Halt trial

Background: Although most myomas are asymptomatic, quality of life is compromised for many women with uterine fibroid disease. Twelve-month outcomes from the Halt Trial have been reported in the literature. Here we analyze the clinical success of radiofrequency volumetric thermal ablation (RFVTA) of symptomatic uterine fibroids at two years of follow up.Methods: Prospective, multicenter, outpatient interventional clinical trial of fibroid treatment by RFVTA in 124 premenopausal women (mean age, 42.4 ± 4.4 years) with symptomatic uterine fibroids and objectively confirmed heavy menstrual bleeding (≥160 to ≤500 mL).Outcome measures included: subject responses to validated questionnaires, treatment-emergent adverse events, and surgical re-intervention for fibroids at 24 months postprocedure. Continuous and categorical variables were summarized using descriptive statistics and means and percentages. Comparisons between visits were based on t-tests using repeated measures models. P-values < 0.05, adjusted for multiplicity, were statistically significant.Results: One hundred twelve subjects were followed through 24 months. Change in symptom severity from baseline was -35.7 (95% CI, -40.1 to -31.4; p<.001). Change in health-related quality of life (HRQL) was 40.9 (95% CI, 36.2 to 45.6; p < .001). HRQL subscores also improved significantly from baseline to 24 months in all categories (concern, activities, energy/mood, control, self-consciousness, and sexual function) [p<.001]. Six patients underwent surgical re-intervention for fibroid-related bleeding between 12 and 24 months providing a re-intervention rate of 4.8% (6/124).Conclusion: Radiofrequency volumetric thermal ablation of myomas significantly reduces symptom severity and improves quality of life with low surgical re-intervention through 24 months of follow up.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00874029. © 2013 Guido et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Hierarchies of Susy Splittings and Invisible Photinos as Dark Matter

We explore how to generate hierarchies in the splittings between superpartners. Some of the consequences are the existence of invisible components of dark matter, new inflaton candidates, invisible monopoles and a number of invisible particles that might dominate during various eras, in particular between BBN and recombination and decay subsequently.Comment: 16 pages. v3: Ref. 27 has been modified. v4: Published versio

The complete mitochondrial genome of the foodborne parasitic pathogen Cyclospora cayetanensis

Cyclospora cayetanensis is a human-specific coccidian parasite responsible for several food and water-related outbreaks around the world, including the most recent ones involving over 900 persons in 2013 and 2014 outbreaks in the USA. Multicopy organellar DNA such as mitochondrion genomes have been particularly informative for detection and genetic traceback analysis in other parasites. We sequenced the C. cayetanensis genomic DNA obtained from stool samples from patients infected with Cyclospora in Nepal using the Illumina MiSeq platform. By bioinformatically filtering out the metagenomic reads of non-coccidian origin sequences and concentrating the reads by targeted alignment, we were able to obtain contigs containing Eimeria-like mitochondrial, apicoplastic and some chromosomal genomic fragments. A mitochondrial genomic sequence was assembled and confirmed by cloning and sequencing targeted PCR products amplified from Cyclospora DNA using primers based on our draft assembly sequence. The results show that the C. cayetanensis mitochondrion genome is 6274 bp in length, with 33% GC content, and likely exists in concatemeric arrays as in Eimeria mitochondrial genomes. Phylogenetic analysis of the C. cayetanensis mitochondrial genome places this organism in a tight cluster with Eimeria species. The mitochondrial genome of C. cayetanensis contains three protein coding genes, cytochrome (cytb), cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (cox1), and cytochrome C oxidase subunit 3 (cox3), in addition to 14 large subunit (LSU) and nine small subunit (SSU) fragmented rRNA genes

Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology with Gravitational Waves

Gravitational wave detectors are already operating at interesting sensitivity levels, and they have an upgrade path that should result in secure detections by 2014. We review the physics of gravitational waves, how they interact with detectors (bars and interferometers), and how these detectors operate. We study the most likely sources of gravitational waves and review the data analysis methods that are used to extract their signals from detector noise. Then we consider the consequences of gravitational wave detections and observations for physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.Comment: 137 pages, 16 figures, Published version <http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2009-2

The Relativistic Avatars of Giant Magnons and their S-Matrix

The motion of strings on symmetric space target spaces underlies the integrability of the AdS/CFT correspondence. Although these theories, whose excitations are giant magnons, are non-relativistic they are classically equivalent, via the Polhmeyer reduction, to a relativistic integrable field theory known as a symmetric space sine-Gordon theory. These theories can be formulated as integrable deformations of gauged WZW models. In this work we consider the class of symmetric spaces CP^{n+1} and solve the corresponding generalized sine-Gordon theories at the quantum level by finding the exact spectrum of topological solitons, or kinks, and their S-matrix. The latter involves a trignometric solution of the Yang-Baxer equation which exhibits a quantum group symmetry with a tower of states that is bounded, unlike for magnons, as a result of the quantum group deformation parameter q being a root of unity. We test the S-matrix by taking the semi-classical limit and comparing with the time delays for the scattering of classical solitons. We argue that the internal CP^{n-1} moduli space of collective coordinates of the solitons in the classical theory can be interpreted as a q-deformed fuzzy space in the quantum theory. We analyse the n=1 case separately and provide a further test of the S-matrix conjecture in this case by calculating the central charge of the UV CFT using the thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz.Comment: 33 pages, important correction to S-matrix to ensure crossing symmetr

Fluids in cosmology

We review the role of fluids in cosmology by first introducing them in General Relativity and then by applying them to a FRW Universe's model. We describe how relativistic and non-relativistic components evolve in the background dynamics. We also introduce scalar fields to show that they are able to yield an inflationary dynamics at very early times (inflation) and late times (quintessence). Then, we proceed to study the thermodynamical properties of the fluids and, lastly, its perturbed kinematics. We make emphasis in the constrictions of parameters by recent cosmological probes.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, version accepted as invited review to the book "Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics with Applications to Physics, Engineering and the Environment". Version 2: typos corrected and references expande