Cross-over versus first-order phase transition in holographic gravity-single-dilaton models of QCD thermodynamics

A dilaton potential is adjusted to recently confirmed lattice QCD thermodynamics data in the temperature range $(0.7 \ldots 3.5) T_c$ where $T_c = 155 \text{MeV}$ is the pseudo-critical temperature. The employed holographic model is based on a gravity--single-field dilaton dual. We discuss conditions for enforcing (for the pure gluon plasma) or avoiding (for the QCD quark-gluon plasma) a first-order phase transition, but still keeping a softest point (minimum of sound velocity).Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

Relativistic meson spectra on ion-trap quantum simulators

The recent rapid experimental advancement in the engineering of quantum many-body systems opens the avenue to controlled studies of fundamental physics problems via digital or analog quantum simulations. Here, we systematically analyze the capability of analog ion traps to explore relativistic meson spectra on current devices. We focus on the E8 quantum field theory regime, which arises due to longitudinal perturbations at the critical point of the transverse-field Ising model. As we show through exact numerics, for sufficiently strong long-range suppression in experimentally accessible spin chain models, absorption spectroscopy allows for the identification of the low-lying meson excitations with a good degree of accuracy even for small system sizes. Our proposal thus opens a way for probing salient features of quantum many-body systems reminiscent of meson properties in high-energy physics

Entanglement and confinement in lattice gauge theory tensor networks

We develop a transfer operator approach for the calculation of R\'enyi entanglement entropies in arbitrary (i.e. Abelian and non-Abelian) pure lattice gauge theory projected entangled pair states in 2+1 dimensions. It is explicitly shown how the long-range behavior of these quantities gives rise to an entanglement area law in both the thermodynamic limit and in the continuum. We numerically demonstrate the applicability of our method to the $Z_2$ lattice gauge theory and relate some entanglement properties to the confinement-deconfinement transition therein. We provide evidence that R\'enyi entanglement entropies in certain cases do not provide a complete probe of (de)confinement properties compared to Wilson loop expectation values as other genuine (nonlocal) observables.Comment: v2: minor extended discussion

Serological Response to Treatment of Syphilis According to Disease Stage and HIV Status

The serological response to treatment was studied in 264 syphilis patients; it was influenced by syphilis stage but not by human immunodeficiency virus infection and reinfection. Some of the recommendations of current guidelines are critically discussed, and amendments are propose

Thermalization in quenched open quantum cosmology

In this article, we study the quantum field theoretic generalization of the Caldeira-Leggett model in general curved space-time considering interactions between two scalar fields in a classical gravitational background. The thermalization phenomena is then studied from the obtained de Sitter solution using quantum quench from one scalar field model obtained from path integrated effective action. We consider an instantaneous quench in the time-dependent mass protocol of the field of our interest. We find that the dynamics of the field post-quench can be described in terms of the state of the generalized Calabrese-Cardy (gCC) form and computed the different types of two-point correlation functions in this context. We explicitly found the conserved charges of algebra that represents the gCC state after a quench in de Sitter space and found it to be significantly different from the flat space-time results. We extend our study for the different two-point correlation functions not only considering the pre-quench state as the ground state, but also a squeezed state. We found that irrespective of the pre-quench state, the post quench state can be written in terms of the gCC state showing that the subsystem of our interest thermalizes in de Sitter space. Furthermore, we provide a general expression for the two-point correlators and explicitly show the thermalization process by considering a thermal Generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE). Finally, from the equal time momentum dependent counterpart of the obtained results for the two-point correlators, we have studied the hidden features of the power spectra and studied its consequences for different choices of the quantum initial conditions

X-ray structure of the quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase from \u3ci\u3ePseudomonas aeruginosa\u3c/i\u3e: basis of substrate specificity

The homodimeric enzyme form of quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 17933 crystallizes readily with the space group R3. The X-ray structure was solved at 2.6 Å resolution by molecular replacement. Aside from differences in some loops, the folding of the enzyme is very similar to the large subunit of the quinoprotein methanol dehydrogenases from Methylobacterium extorquens or Methylophilus W3A1. Eight W-shaped β-sheet motifs are arranged circularly in a propeller-like fashion forming a disk-shaped superbarrel. No electron density for a small subunit like that in methanol dehydrogenase could be found. The prosthetic group is located in the centre of the superbarrel and is coordinated to a calcium ion. Most amino acid residues found in close contact with the prosthetic group pyrroloquinoline quinone and the Ca2+ are conserved between the quinoprotein ethanol dehydrogenase structure and that of the methanol dehydrogenases. The main differences in the active-site region are a bulky tryptophan residue in the active-site cavity of methanol dehydrogenase, which is replaced by a phenylalanine and a leucine side-chain in the ethanol dehydrogenase structure and a leucine residue right above the pyrrolquinoline quinone group in methanol dehydrogenase which is replaced by a tryptophan side-chain. Both amino acid exchanges appear to have an important influence, causing different substrate specificities of these otherwise very similar enzymes. In addition to the Ca2+ in the active-site cavity found also in methanol dehydrogenase, ethanol dehydrogenase contains a second Ca2+-binding site at the N terminus, which contributes to the stability of the native enzyme

From spin chains to real-time thermal field theory using tensor networks

One of the most interesting directions in theoretical high-energy and condensed-matter physics is understanding dynamical properties of collective states of quantum field theories. The most elementary tool in this quest is retarded equilibrium correlators governing the linear response theory. In this article we examine tensor networks as a way of determining them in a fully ab initio way in a class of (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theories arising as infrared descriptions of quantum Ising chains. We show that, complemented with signal analysis using the Prony method, tensor network calculations for intermediate times provide a powerful way to explore the structure of singularities of the correlator in the complex frequency plane and to make predictions about the thermal response to perturbations in a class of nonintegrable interacting quantum field theories