537 research outputs found
Time-dependent density functional theory: Past, present, and future
Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is presently enjoying
enormous popularity in quantum chemistry, as a useful tool for extracting
electronic excited state energies. This article discusses how TDDFT is much
broader in scope, and yields predictions for many more properties. We discuss
some of the challenges involved in making accurate predictions for these
properties.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
The stability of vacua in two-dimensional gauge theory
We discuss the stability of vacua in two-dimensional gauge theory for any
simple, simply connected gauge group. Making use of the representation of a
vacuum in terms of a Wilson line at infinity, we determine which vacua are
stable against pair production of heavy matter in the adjoint of the gauge
group. By calculating correlators of Wilson loops, we reduce the problem to a
problem in representation theory of Lie groups, that we solve in full
generality.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
Anomaly-matching and Higgs-less effective theories
We reconsider the low-energy effective theory for Higgs-less electroweak
symmetry breaking: we study the anomaly-matching in the situation where all
Goldstone fields disappear from the spectrum as a result of the Higgs
mechanism. We find that the global SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_{B-L} symmetry of
the underlying theory, which is spontaneously broken to SU(2)_{L+R} x
U(1)_{B-L} has to be anomaly-free. For the sake of generality, we include the
possibility of light spin-1/2 bound states resulting from the dynamics of the
strongly-interacting symmetry-breaking sector, in addition to the Goldstone
bosons. Such composite fermions may have non-standard couplings at the leading
order, and an arbitrary total B-L charge. In order to perform the
anomaly-matching in that case, we generalize the construction of the
Wess-Zumino effective lagrangian. Composite fermions beyond the three known
generations are theoretically allowed, and there are no restrictions from the
anomaly-matching on their couplings nor on their U(1)_{B-L} charge. Absence of
global anomalies for the composite sector as a whole does not preclude
anomalous triple gauge boson couplings arising from composite fermion
triangular diagrams. On the other hand, the trace of B-L over elementary
fermions must vanish if all Goldstone modes are to disappear from the spectrum.Comment: Keywords: Anomalies in Field and String Theories, Spontaneous
Symmetry Breaking, Beyond the Standard Model, Chiral Lagrangians. 33 pages, 7
figure
Far-from-equilibrium quantum many-body dynamics
The theory of real-time quantum many-body dynamics as put forward in Ref.
[arXiv:0710.4627] is evaluated in detail. The formulation is based on a
generating functional of correlation functions where the Keldysh contour is
closed at a given time. Extending the Keldysh contour from this time to a later
time leads to a dynamic flow of the generating functional. This flow describes
the dynamics of the system and has an explicit causal structure. In the present
work it is evaluated within a vertex expansion of the effective action leading
to time evolution equations for Green functions. These equations are applicable
for strongly interacting systems as well as for studying the late-time
behaviour of nonequilibrium time evolution. For the specific case of a bosonic
N-component phi^4 theory with contact interactions an s-channel truncation is
identified to yield equations identical to those derived from the 2PI effective
action in next-to-leading order of a 1/N expansion. The presented approach
allows to directly obtain non-perturbative dynamic equations beyond the widely
used 2PI approximations.Comment: 20 pp., 6 figs; submitted version with added references and typos
corrected
On the Nature of the Phase Transition in SU(N), Sp(2) and E(7) Yang-Mills theory
We study the nature of the confinement phase transition in d=3+1 dimensions
in various non-abelian gauge theories with the approach put forward in [1]. We
compute an order-parameter potential associated with the Polyakov loop from the
knowledge of full 2-point correlation functions. For SU(N) with N=3,...,12 and
Sp(2) we find a first-order phase transition in agreement with general
expectations. Moreover our study suggests that the phase transition in E(7)
Yang-Mills theory also is of first order. We find that it is weaker than for
SU(N). We show that this can be understood in terms of the eigenvalue
distribution of the order parameter potential close to the phase transition.Comment: 15 page
A case of carotid body paraganglioma and haemangioblastoma of the spinal cord in a patient with the N131K missense mutation in the VHL gene
The article describes paraganglioma case in woman with von Hippel–Lindau disease. She was found to be a carrier of a rare germline mutation in the VHL gene (393C>A; N131K). The patient developed large, untypical for von Hippel–Lindau disease, carotid body paraganglioma at the common carotid artery bifurcation. The carotid body paraganglioma coexisted with the haemangioblastoma situated intramedullary in region C5/C6. The haemangioblastoma reached the right-sided dorsal part of the spinal cord in section C5/C6. It produced radicular symptoms within C5/C6, followed by the later paresis of the right limbs. The haemangioblastoma was resected completely. Twelve months after the operation, the spinal symptoms receded and the carotid body paraganglioma still was asymptomatic. The current case of carotid body paraganglioma in patient with the 393C>A (N131K) missense mutation in the VHL gene, supports association of this specific mutation and VHL disease type 2, and suggests its correlation with susceptibility to paragangliomas
On the role of power expansions in quantum field theory
Methods of summation of power series relevant to applications in quantum
theory are reviewed, with particular attention to expansions in powers of the
coupling constant and in inverse powers of an energy variable. Alternatives to
the Borel summation method are considered and their relevance to different
physical situations is discussed. Emphasis is placed on quantum chromodynamics.
Applications of the renormalon language to perturbation expansions (resummation
of bubble chains) in various QCD processes are reported and the importance of
observing the full renormalization-group invariance in predicting observables
is emphasized. News in applications of the Borel-plane formalism to
phenomenology are conveyed. The properties of the operator-product expansion
along different rays in the complex plane are examined and the problem is
studied how the remainder after subtraction of the first terms depends on
the distance from euclidean region. Estimates of the remainder are obtained and
their strong dependence on the nature of the discontinuity along the cut is
shown. Relevance of this subject to calculations of various QCD effects is
discussed.Comment: 50 pages, Latex, 1 Postscript figur
Morphine induces preconditioning via activation of mitochondrial KCa channels
PURPOSE: Mitochondrial calcium sensitive potassium (mK(Ca)) channels are involved in cardioprotection induced by ischemic preconditioning. In the present study we investigated whether morphine-induced preconditioning also involves activation of mK(Ca) channels. METHODS: Isolated rat hearts (six groups; each n = 8) underwent global ischemia for 30 min followed by a 60-min reperfusion. Control animals were not further treated. Morphine preconditioning (MPC) was initiated by two five-minute cycles of morphine 1 muM infusion with one five-minute washout and one final ten-minute washout period before ischemia. The mK(Ca) blocker, paxilline 1 muM, was administered, with and without morphine administration (MPC + Pax and Pax). As a positive control, we added an ischemic preconditioning group (IPC) alone and combined with paxilline (IPC + Pax). At the end of reperfusion, infarct sizes were determined by triphenyltetrazoliumchloride staining. RESULTS: Infarct size was (mean +/- SD) 45 +/- 9% of the area at risk in the Control group. The infarct size was less in the morphine or ischemic preconditioning groups (MPC: 23 +/- 8%, IPC: 20 +/- 5%; each P < 0.05 vs Control). Infarct size reduction was abolished by paxilline (MPC + Pax: 37 +/- 7%, P < 0.05 vs MPC and IPC + Pax: 36 +/- 6%, P < 0.05 vs IPC), whereas paxilline alone had no effect (Pax: 46 +/- 7%, not significantly different from Control). CONCLUSION: Cardioprotection by morphine-induced preconditioning is mediated by activation of mK(Ca) channel
Source analysis of beta-synchronisation and cortico-muscular coherence after movement termination based on high resolution electroencephalography
We hypothesized that post-movement beta synchronization (PMBS) and cortico-muscular coherence (CMC) during movement termination relate to each other and have similar role in sensorimotor integration. We calculated the parameters and estimated the sources of these phenomena.We measured 64-channel EEG simultaneously with surface EMG of the right first dorsal interosseus muscle in 11 healthy volunteers. In Task1, subjects kept a medium-strength contraction continuously; in Task2, superimposed on this movement, they performed repetitive self-paced short contractions. In Task3 short contractions were executed alone. Time-frequency analysis of the EEG and CMC was performed with respect to the offset of brisk movements and averaged in each subject. Sources of PMBS and CMC were also calculated.High beta power in Task1, PMBS in Task2-3, and CMC in Task1-2 could be observed in the same individual frequency bands. While beta synchronization in Task1 and PMBS in Task2-3 appeared bilateral with contralateral predominance, CMC in Task1-2 was strictly a unilateral phenomenon; their main sources did not differ contralateral to the movement in the primary sensorimotor cortex in 7 of 11 subjects in Task1, and in 6 of 9 subjects in Task2. In Task2, CMC and PMBS had the same latency but their amplitudes did not correlate with each other. In Task2, weaker PMBS source was found bilaterally within the secondary sensory cortex, while the second source of CMC was detected in the premotor cortex, contralateral to the movement. In Task3, weaker sources of PMBS could be estimated in bilateral supplementary motor cortex and in the thalamus. PMBS and CMC appear simultaneously at the end of a phasic movement possibly suggesting similar antikinetic effects, but they may be separate processes with different active functions. Whereas PMBS seems to reset the supraspinal sensorimotor network, cortico-muscular coherence may represent the recalibration of cortico-motoneuronal and spinal systems
A Quantitative and Dynamic Model for Plant Stem Cell Regulation
Plants maintain pools of totipotent stem cells throughout their entire life. These stem cells are embedded within specialized tissues called meristems, which form the growing points of the organism. The shoot apical meristem of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana is subdivided into several distinct domains, which execute diverse biological functions, such as tissue organization, cell-proliferation and differentiation. The number of cells required for growth and organ formation changes over the course of a plants life, while the structure of the meristem remains remarkably constant. Thus, regulatory systems must be in place, which allow for an adaptation of cell proliferation within the shoot apical meristem, while maintaining the organization at the tissue level. To advance our understanding of this dynamic tissue behavior, we measured domain sizes as well as cell division rates of the shoot apical meristem under various environmental conditions, which cause adaptations in meristem size. Based on our results we developed a mathematical model to explain the observed changes by a cell pool size dependent regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, which is able to correctly predict CLV3 and WUS over-expression phenotypes. While the model shows stem cell homeostasis under constant growth conditions, it predicts a variation in stem cell number under changing conditions. Consistent with our experimental data this behavior is correlated with variations in cell proliferation. Therefore, we investigate different signaling mechanisms, which could stabilize stem cell number despite variations in cell proliferation. Our results shed light onto the dynamic constraints of stem cell pool maintenance in the shoot apical meristem of Arabidopsis in different environmental conditions and developmental states
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