Vortex solutions of a Maxwell-Chern-Simons field coupled to four-fermion theory

We find the static vortex solutions of the model of Maxwell-Chern-Simons gauge field coupled to a (2+1)-dimensional four-fermion theory. Especially, we introduce two matter currents coupled to the gauge field minimally: the electromagnetic current and a topological current associated with the electromagnetic current. Unlike other Chern-Simons solitons the N-soliton solution of this theory has binding energy and the stability of the solutions is maintained by the charge conservation laws.Comment: 7 pages, harvmac, To be published in Phys. Rev. D5

Modeling the Expected Performance of the REgolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS)

OSIRIS-REx is the third spacecraft in the NASA New Frontiers Program and is planned for launch in 2016. OSIRIS-REx will orbit the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu, characterize it, and return a sample of the asteroid's regolith back to Earth. The Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) is an instrument on OSIRIS-REx designed and built by students at MIT and Harvard. The purpose of REXIS is to collect and image sun-induced fluorescent X-rays emitted by Bennu, thereby providing spectroscopic information related to the elemental makeup of the asteroid regolith and the distribution of features over its surface. Telescopic reflectance spectra suggest a CI or CM chondrite analog meteorite class for Bennu, where this primitive nature strongly motivates its study. A number of factors, however, will influence the generation, measurement, and interpretation of the X-ray spectra measured by REXIS. These include: the compositional nature and heterogeneity of Bennu, the time-variable Solar state, X-ray detector characteristics, and geometric parameters for the observations. In this paper, we will explore how these variables influence the precision to which REXIS can measure Bennu's surface composition. By modeling the aforementioned factors, we place bounds on the expected performance of REXIS and its ability to ultimately place Bennu in an analog meteorite class.Comment: Presented at the SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference, 18 August 2014, San Diego, C

The Dynamical Behaviors in (2+1)-Dimensional Gross-Neveu Model with a Thirring Interaction

We analyze (2+1)-dimensional Gross-Neveu model with a Thirring interaction, where a vector-vector type four-fermi interaction is on equal terms with a scalar-scalar type one. The Dyson-Schwinger equation for fermion self-energy function is constructed up to next-to-leading order in 1/N expansion. We determine the critical surface which is the boundary between a broken phase and an unbroken one in ($\alpha_c,~ \beta_c,~ N_c$) space. It is observed that the critical behavior is mainly controlled by Gross-Neveu coupling $\alpha_c$ and the region of the broken phase is separated into two parts by the line $\alpha_c=\alpha_c^*(=\frac{8}{\pi^2})$. The mass function is strongly dependent upon the flavor number N for $\alpha > \alpha_c^*$, while weakly for $\alpha \alpha_c^*$, the critical flavor number $N_c$ increases as Thirring coupling $\beta$ decreases. By driving the CJT effective potential, we show that the broken phase is energetically preferred to the symmetric one. We discuss the gauge dependence of the mass function and the ultra-violet property of the composite operators.Comment: 19 pages, LaTex, 6 ps figure files(uuencoded in seperate file

The transcriptional response to Salmonella infection in swine

The porcine response to infection with Salmonella is the result of differential expression of host-specific genes. To characterize these alterations in gene expression, functional genomic analyses were performed on swine tissues following experimental inoculation of the pigs with Salmonella enterica serovars Choleraesuis and Typhimurium. Suppression subtractive hybridization and quantitative real-time RT-PCR revealed that the transcriptional profiles of the porcine response to the swine-adapted strain (Choleraesuis) and the non-host-adapted strain (Typhimurium) exhibit unique differences

Use of a Hanging-weight System for Isolated Renal Artery Occlusion

In hospitalized patients, over 50% of cases of acute kidney injury (AKI) are caused by renal ischemia 1-3. A recent study of hospitalized patients revealed that only a mild increase in serum creatinine levels (0.3 to 0.4 mg/dl) is associated with a 70% greater risk of death than in persons without any increase 1. Along these lines, surgical procedures requiring cross-clamping of the aorta and renal vessels are associated with a renal failure rates of up to 30% 4. Similarly, AKI after cardiac surgery occurs in over 10% of patients under normal circumstances and is associated with dramatic increases in mortality. AKI are also common complications after liver transplantation. At least 8-17% of patients end up requiring renal replacement therapy 5. Moreover, delayed graft function due to tubule cell injury during kidney transplantation is frequently related to ischemia-associated AKI 6. Moreover, AKI occurs in approximately 20% of patients suffering from sepsis 6.The occurrence of AKI is associated with dramatic increases of morbidity and mortality 1. Therapeutic approaches are very limited and the majority of interventional trials in AKI have failed in humans. Therefore, additional therapeutic modalities to prevent renal injury from ischemia are urgently needed 3, 7-9

Design rules for self-assembled block copolymer patterns using tiled templates

Directed self-assembly of block copolymers has been used for fabricating various nanoscale patterns, ranging from periodic lines to simple bends. However, assemblies of dense bends, junctions and line segments in a single pattern have not been achieved by using sparse templates, because no systematic template design methods for achieving such complex patterns existed. To direct a complex pattern by using a sparse template, the template needs to encode the key information contained in the final pattern, without being a simple copy of the pattern. Here we develop a set of topographic template tiles consisting of square lattices of posts with a restricted range of geometric features. The block copolymer patterns resulting from all tile arrangements are determined. By combining tiles in different ways, it is possible to predict a relatively simple template that will direct the formation of non-trivial block copolymer patterns, providing a new template design method for a complex block copolymer pattern.Samsung Scholarship FoundationSemiconductor Research CorporationTokyo Electron LimitedTaiwan Semicondcutor Manufacturing CompanyNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award DMR1234169

Maxwell Chern-Simons Solitons from Type IIB String Theory

We study various three-dimensional supersymmetric Maxwell Chern-Simons solitons by using type IIB brane configurations. We give a systematic classification of soliton spectra such as topological BPS vortices and nontopological vortices in $\mathcal{N}=2,3$ supersymmetric Maxwell Chern-Simons system via the branes of type IIB string theory. We identify the brane configurations with the soliton spectra of the field theory and obtain a nice agreement with field theory aspects. We also discuss possible brane constructions for BPS domain wall solutions.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, 4 figures; (q_1,q_2)-string convention changed, minor correction

Genetic and neuronal regulation of sleep by neuropeptide VF

Sleep is an essential and phylogenetically conserved behavioral state, but it remains unclear to what extent genes identified in invertebrates also regulate vertebrate sleep. RFamide-related neuropeptides have been shown to promote invertebrate sleep, and here we report that the vertebrate hypothalamic RFamide neuropeptide VF (NPVF) regulates sleep in the zebrafish, a diurnal vertebrate. We found that NPVF signaling and npvf-expressing neurons are both necessary and sufficient to promote sleep, that mature peptides derived from the NPVF preproprotein promote sleep in a synergistic manner, and that stimulation of npvf-expressing neurons induces neuronal activity levels consistent with normal sleep. These results identify NPVF signaling and npvf-expressing neurons as a novel vertebrate sleep-promoting system and suggest that RFamide neuropeptides participate in an ancient and central aspect of sleep control

Massive-Star Forming Infrared Loop around the Crab-like Supernova Remnant G54.1+0.3: Post Main-Sequence Triggered Star Formation?

We report the discovery of a star-forming loop around the young, Crab-like supernova remnant (SNR) G54.1+0.3 using the AKARI infrared satellite. The loop consists of at least eleven young stellar objects (YSOs) embedded in a ring-like diffuse emission of radius ~1'. The YSOs are bright in the mid-infrared and are also visible in the Spitzer Space Telescope Galactic plane survey images. Their Spitzer colors are similar to those of class II YSOs in [3.6]-[5.8] but significantly redder in [8]-[24], i.e., 0<[3.6]-[5.8]<1.2 and 5<[8]-[24]<9. Most of them have near-infrared counterparts in the 2MASS JHKs images, and some of them have an optical counterpart too. Their JHKs colors and magnitudes indicate that the YSOs are massive (<= 10 Msun) pre-main-sequence stars at the same distance to the SNR, i.e., 8 kpc, which supports the association of the star-forming loop with the SNR. The dereddened spectral energy distributions are similar to eraly Herbig Be stars, which are early B-type pre-main-sequence stars with inner disks that have been destroyed. The confinement to a loop structure indicates that the YSOs are young, i.e., <= 2 Myr. We propose that their formation is triggered by the progenitor star of G54.1+0.3, which has a mass of <= 15 Msun. The triggering must have occurred near the end of the progenitor's life, possibly after it had evolved off the main sequence.Comment: 6 pages, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters; added a reference for section