NNLO QCD Corrections to t-channel Single Top-Quark Production and Decay

We present a fully differential next-to-next-to-leading order calculation of t-channel single top-quark production and decay at the LHC under narrow-width approximation and neglecting cross-talk between incoming protons. We focus on the fiducial cross sections at 13 TeV, finding that the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections can reach the level of -6%. The scale variations are reduced to the level of a percent. Our results can be used to improve experimental acceptance estimates and the measurements of the single top-quark production cross section and the top-quark electroweak couplings.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, version appear on PRD rapid communicatio

Baryon Fields with U_L(3) \times U_R(3) Chiral Symmetry: Axial Currents of Nucleons and Hyperons

We use the conventional F and D octet and decimet generator matrices to reformulate chiral properties of local (non-derivative) and one-derivative non-local fields of baryons consisting of three quarks with flavor SU(3) symmetry that were expressed in SU(3) tensor form in Ref. [12]. We show explicitly the chiral transformations of the [(6,3)\oplus(3,6)] chiral multiplet in the "SU(3) particle basis", for the first time to our knowledge, as well as those of the (3,\bar{3}) \oplus (\bar{3}, 3), (8,1) \oplus (1,8) multiplets, which have been recorded before in Refs. [4,5]. We derive the vector and axial-vector Noether currents, and show explicitly that their zeroth (charge-like) components close the SU_L(3) \times SU_R(3) chiral algebra. We use these results to study the effects of mixing of (three-quark) chiral multiplets on the axial current matrix elements of hyperons and nucleons. We show, in particular, that there is a strong correlation, indeed a definite relation between the flavor-singlet (i.e. the zeroth), the isovector (the third) and the eighth flavor component of the axial current, which is in decent agreement with the measured ones.Comment: one typo correction, and accepted by PR

Low temperature induces two growth-arrested stages and change of secondary metabolites in Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

The third-stage dispersal juvenile (JIII) is the stage for survival and dispersal in the winter of the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Through investigations at different temperatures, we found two kinds of growth-arrested development, including the adult longevity extension and JIII formation induced by low temperature. They showed similar characters: densely packed lipid droplets and extended longevity. We considered that there were four stages in the formation of growth-arrested stages: induction, growth-arrested pathway, growth-arrested development and cold-tolerance duration. Moreover, at 4◦C there were significant changes in secondary metabolites, which may be related to signal communication and metabolism associated with the formation of growth-arrested stages. The results suggested that low temperature was necessary for the dispersal of pine wood nematode and influenced distribution and intensity of pine wilt

Deletion of the Complement C5a Receptor Alleviates the Severity of Acute Pneumococcal Otitis Media following Influenza A Virus Infection in Mice

There is considerable evidence that influenza A virus (IAV) promotes adherence, colonization, and superinfection by S. pneumoniae (Spn) and contributes to the pathogenesis of otitis media (OM). The complement system is a critical innate immune defense against both pathogens. To assess the role of the complement system in the host defense and the pathogenesis of acute pneumococcal OM following IAV infection, we employed a well-established transtympanically-induced mouse model of acute pneumococcal OM. We found that antecedent IAV infection enhanced the severity of acute pneumococcal OM. Mice deficient in complement C1qa (C1qa−/−) or factor B (Bf −/−) exhibited delayed viral and bacterial clearance from the middle ear and developed significant mucosal damage in the eustachian tube and middle ear. This indicates that both the classical and alternative complement pathways are critical for the oto-immune defense against acute pneumococcal OM following influenza infection. We also found that Spn increased complement activation following IAV infection. This was characterized by sustained increased levels of anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a in serum and middle ear lavage samples. In contrast, mice deficient in the complement C5a receptor (C5aR) demonstrated enhanced bacterial clearance and reduced severity of OM. Our data support the concept that C5a-C5aR interactions play a significant role in the pathogenesis of acute pneumococcal OM following IAV infection. It is possible that targeting the C5a-C5aR axis might prove useful in attenuating acute pneumococcal OM in patients with influenza infection

From chemical Langevin equations to Fokker-Planck equation: application of Hodge decomposition and Klein-Kramers equation

The stochastic systems without detailed balance are common in various chemical reaction systems, such as metabolic network systems. In studies of these systems, the concept of potential landscape is useful. However, what are the sufficient and necessary conditions of the existence of the potential function is still an open problem. Use Hodge decomposition theorem in differential form theory, we focus on the general chemical Langevin equations, which reflect complex chemical reaction systems. We analysis the conditions for the existence of potential landscape of the systems. By mapping the stochastic differential equations to a Hamiltonian mechanical system, we obtain the Fokker-Planck equation of the chemical reaction systems. The obtained Fokker-Planck equation can be used in further studies of other steady properties of complex chemical reaction systems, such as their steady state entropies.Comment: 6 pages, 0 figure, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Theo

Persistence, extinction and spatio-temporal synchronization of SIRS cellular automata models

Spatially explicit models have been widely used in today's mathematical ecology and epidemiology to study persistence and extinction of populations as well as their spatial patterns. Here we extend the earlier work--static dispersal between neighbouring individuals to mobility of individuals as well as multi-patches environment. As is commonly found, the basic reproductive ratio is maximized for the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) on diseases' persistence in mean-field theory. This has important implications, as it implies that for a wide range of parameters that infection rate will tend maximum. This is opposite with present results obtained in spatial explicit models that infection rate is limited by upper bound. We observe the emergence of trade-offs of extinction and persistence on the parameters of the infection period and infection rate and show the extinction time having a linear relationship with respect to system size. We further find that the higher mobility can pronouncedly promote the persistence of spread of epidemics, i.e., the phase transition occurs from extinction domain to persistence domain, and the spirals' wavelength increases as the mobility increasing and ultimately, it will saturate at a certain value. Furthermore, for multi-patches case, we find that the lower coupling strength leads to anti-phase oscillation of infected fraction, while higher coupling strength corresponds to in-phase oscillation.Comment: 12page

Twist-3 Distribute Amplitude of the Pion in QCD Sum Rules

We apply the background field method to calculate the moments of the pion two-particles twist-3 distribution amplitude (DA) $\phi_p(\xi)$ in QCD sum rules. In this paper,we do not use the equation of motion for the quarks inside the pion since they are not on shell and introduce a new parameter $m_0^p$ to be determined. We get the parameter $m_0^p\approx1.30GeV$ in this approach. If assuming the expansion of $\phi_p(\xi)$ in the series in Gegenbauer polynomials $C_n^{1/2}(\xi)$, one can obtain its approximate expression which can be determined by its first few moments.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

New Insights into Traffic Dynamics: A Weighted Probabilistic Cellular Automaton Model

From the macroscopic viewpoint for describing the acceleration behavior of drivers, this letter presents a weighted probabilistic cellular automaton model (the WP model, for short) by introducing a kind of random acceleration probabilistic distribution function. The fundamental diagrams, the spatio-temporal pattern are analyzed in detail. It is shown that the presented model leads to the results consistent with the empirical data rather well, nonlinear velocity-density relationship exists in lower density region, and a new kind of traffic phenomenon called neo-synchronized flow is resulted. Furthermore, we give the criterion for distinguishing the high-speed and low-speed neo-synchronized flows and clarify the mechanism of this kind of traffic phenomena. In addition, the result that the time evolution of distribution of headways is displayed as a normal distribution further validates the reasonability of the neo-synchronized flow. These findings suggest that the diversity and randomicity of drivers and vehicles has indeed remarkable effect on traffic dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter