791 research outputs found
Localized direction selective responses in the dendrites of visual interneurons of the fly
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The various tasks of visual systems, including course control, collision avoidance and the detection of small objects, require at the neuronal level the dendritic integration and subsequent processing of many spatially distributed visual motion inputs. While much is known about the pooled output in these systems, as in the medial superior temporal cortex of monkeys or in the lobula plate of the insect visual system, the motion tuning of the elements that provide the input has yet received little attention. In order to visualize the motion tuning of these inputs we examined the dendritic activation patterns of neurons that are selective for the characteristic patterns of wide-field motion, the lobula-plate tangential cells (LPTCs) of the blowfly. These neurons are known to sample direction-selective motion information from large parts of the visual field and combine these signals into axonal and dendro-dendritic outputs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fluorescence imaging of intracellular calcium concentration allowed us to take a direct look at the local dendritic activity and the resulting local preferred directions in LPTC dendrites during activation by wide-field motion in different directions. These 'calcium response fields' resembled a retinotopic dendritic map of local preferred directions in the receptive field, the layout of which is a distinguishing feature of different LPTCs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study reveals how neurons acquire selectivity for distinct visual motion patterns by dendritic integration of the local inputs with different preferred directions. With their spatial layout of directional responses, the dendrites of the LPTCs we investigated thus served as matched filters for wide-field motion patterns.</p
High precision measurement of the associated strangeness production in proton proton interactions
A new high precision measurement of the reaction pp -> pK+Lambda at a beam
momentum of 2.95 GeV/c with more than 200,000 analyzed events allows a detailed
analysis of differential observables and their inter-dependencies. Correlations
of the angular distributions with momenta are examined. The invariant mass
distributions are compared for different regions in the Dalitz plots. The cusp
structure at the N Sigma threshold is described with the Flatt\'e formalism and
its variation in the Dalitz plot is analyzed.Comment: accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
First Model-Independent Measurement of the Spin Triplet Scattering Length from Final State Interaction in the Reaction
The reaction has been measured with the
COSY-TOF detector at a beam momentum of . The polarized
proton beam enables the measurement of the beam analyzing power by the
asymmetry of the produced kaon (). This observable allows the
spin triplet scattering length to be extracted for the first time
model independently from the final-state interaction in the reaction. The
obtained value is . This value is
compatible with theoretical predictions and results from model-dependent
analyses.Comment: Revised version as accepted for publication in PR
Neuromorphometric characterization with shape functionals
This work presents a procedure to extract morphological information from
neuronal cells based on the variation of shape functionals as the cell geometry
undergoes a dilation through a wide interval of spatial scales. The targeted
shapes are alpha and beta cat retinal ganglion cells, which are characterized
by different ranges of dendritic field diameter. Image functionals are expected
to act as descriptors of the shape, gathering relevant geometric and
topological features of the complex cell form. We present a comparative study
of classification performance of additive shape descriptors, namely, Minkowski
functionals, and the nonadditive multiscale fractal. We found that the proposed
measures perform efficiently the task of identifying the two main classes alpha
and beta based solely on scale invariant information, while also providing
intraclass morphological assessment
Systematic study of the pp -> pp omega reaction
A systematic study of the production of omega-mesons in
proton-proton-collisions was carried out in a kinematically complete experiment
at three excess energies(epsilon= 92, 128, 173MeV). Both protons were detected
using the large-acceptance COSY-TOF spectrometer at an external beam line at
the Cooler Synchrotron COSY at Forschungszentrum J\"ulich. The total cross
section, angular distributions of both omega-mesons and protons were measured
and presented in various reference frames such as the overall CMS, helicity and
Jackson frame. In addition, the orientation of the omega-spin and invariant
mass spectra were determined. We observe omega-production to take place
dominantly in Ss and Sp final states at epsilon = 92, 128 MeV and,
additionally, in Sd at epsilon= 173 MeV. No obvious indication of resonant
omega-production via N^*-resonances was found, as proton angular distributions
are almost isotropic and invariant mass spectra are compatible with phase space
distributions. A dominant role of ^3P_1 and ^1S_0 initial partial waves for
omega-production was concluded from the orientation of the decay plane of the
omega-meson. Although the Jackson angle distributions in the omega-p-Jackson
frame are anisotropic we argue that this is not an indication of a resonance
but rather a kinematical effect reflecting the anisotropy of the omega angular
distribution. The helicity angle distribution in the omega-p-helicity frame
shows an anisotropy which probably reflects effects of the omega angular
momenta in the final state; this observable may be, in addition to the
orientation of the omega decay plane, the most sensitive one to judge the
validity of theoretical descriptions of the production process.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ
On the SigmaN cusp in the pp -> pK+Lambda reaction
Measurements of the reaction at = 2.28 GeV have
been carried out at COSY-TOF. In addition to the FSI and
resonance excitation effects a pronounced narrow structure is observed in the
Dalitz plot and in its projection on the -invariant mass. The
structure appears at the N threshold and is interpreted as
N cusp effect. The observed width of 20 MeV/ is substantially
broader than anticipated from previous inclusive measurements. Angular
distributions of this cusp structure are shown to be dissimilar to those in the
residual channel, but similar to those observed in the
channel
Improved study of a possible Theta+ production in the pp -> p K0 sigma+ reaction with the COSY-TOF spectrometer
The pp -> p K0 Sigma+ reaction was investigated with the TOF spectrometer at
COSY at 3.059 GeV/c incident beam momentum. The main objective was to clarify
whether or not a narrow exotic S = +1 resnance, the Theta+ pentaquark, is
populated at 1.53 GeV/c2 in the K0 p subsystem with a data sample of much
higher statistical significance compared to the previously reported data in
this channel. An analysis of these data does not confirm the existence of the
Theta+ pentaquark. This is expressed as an upper limit for the cross section
sigma (pp -> p K0 Sigma+) < 0.15 microbarn at the 95 percent confidence level.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
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