Digging for Dark Matter: Spectral Analysis and Discovery Potential of Paleo-Detectors

Paleo-detectors are a recently proposed method for the direct detection of Dark Matter (DM). In such detectors, one would search for the persistent damage features left by DM--nucleus interactions in ancient minerals. Initial sensitivity projections have shown that paleo-detectors could probe much of the remaining Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) parameter space. In this paper, we improve upon the cut-and-count approach previously used to estimate the sensitivity by performing a full spectral analysis of the background- and DM-induced signal spectra. We consider two scenarios for the systematic errors on the background spectra: i) systematic errors on the normalization only, and ii) systematic errors on the shape of the backgrounds. We find that the projected sensitivity is rather robust to imperfect knowledge of the backgrounds. Finally, we study how well the parameters of the true WIMP model could be reconstructed in the hypothetical case of a WIMP discovery.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, code available at https://github.com/tedwards2412/paleo_detectors/ . v2: Added additional analysis theory details, matches version published in PR

Two-population replicator dynamics and number of Nash equilibria in random matrix games

We study the connection between the evolutionary replicator dynamics and the number of Nash equilibria in large random bi-matrix games. Using techniques of disordered systems theory we compute the statistical properties of both, the fixed points of the dynamics and the Nash equilibria. Except for the special case of zero-sum games one finds a transition as a function of the so-called co-operation pressure between a phase in which there is a unique stable fixed point of the dynamics coinciding with a unique Nash equilibrium, and an unstable phase in which there are exponentially many Nash equilibria with statistical properties different from the stationary state of the replicator equations. Our analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations of the replicator dynamics, and by explicit enumeration of Nash equilibria.Comment: 9 pages, 2x2 figure

New primary renal diagnosis codes for the ERA-EDTA

The European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry has produced a new set of primary renal diagnosis (PRD) codes that are intended for use by affiliated registries. It is designed specifically for use in renal centres and registries but is aligned with international coding standards supported by the WHO (International Classification of Diseases) and the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (SNOMED Clinical Terms). It is available as supplementary material to this paper and free on the internet for non-commercial, clinical, quality improvement and research use, and by agreement with the ERA-EDTA Registry for use by commercial organizations. Conversion between the old and the new PRD codes is possible. The new codes are very flexible and will be actively managed to keep them up-to-date and to ensure that renal medicine can remain at the forefront of the electronic revolution in medicine, epidemiology research and the use of decision support systems to improve the care of patients

Cues and knowledge structures used by mental-health professionals when making risk assessments

Background: Research into mental-health risks has tended to focus on epidemiological approaches and to consider pieces of evidence in isolation. Less is known about the particular factors and their patterns of occurrence that influence clinicians’ risk judgements in practice. Aims: To identify the cues used by clinicians to make risk judgements and to explore how these combine within clinicians’ psychological representations of suicide, self-harm, self-neglect, and harm to others. Method: Content analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews conducted with 46 practitioners from various mental-health disciplines, using mind maps to represent the hierarchical relationships of data and concepts. Results: Strong consensus between experts meant their knowledge could be integrated into a single hierarchical structure for each risk. This revealed contrasting emphases between data and concepts underpinning risks, including: reflection and forethought for suicide; motivation for self-harm; situation and context for harm to others; and current presentation for self-neglect. Conclusions: Analysis of experts’ risk-assessment knowledge identified influential cues and their relationships to risks. It can inform development of valid risk-screening decision support systems that combine actuarial evidence with clinical expertise