746 research outputs found
The effects of white matter hyperintensities and amyloid deposition on Alzheimer dementia
Background and purpose: Elevated levels of amyloid deposition as well as white matter damage are thought to be risk factors for Alzheimer Disease (AD). Here we examined whether qualitative ratings of white matter damage predicted cognitive impairment beyond measures of amyloid.
Materials and methods: The study examined 397 cognitively normal, 51 very mildly demented, and 11 mildly demented individuals aged 42â90 (mean 68.5). Participants obtained a T2-weighted scan as well as a positron emission tomography scan using 11[C] Pittsburgh Compound B. Periventricular white matter hyperintensities (PVWMHs) and deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMHs) were measured on each T2 scan using the Fazekas rating scale. The effects of amyloid deposition and white matter damage were assessed using logistic regressions.
Results: Levels of amyloid deposition (ps < 0.01), as well as ratings of PVWMH (p < 0.01) and DWMH (p < 0.05) discriminated between cognitively normal and demented individuals.
Conclusions: The amount of amyloid deposition and white matter damage independently predicts cognitive impairment. This suggests a diagnostic utility of qualitative white matter scales in addition to measuring amyloid levels
Electron self-trapping on a nano-circle
We study the self-trapping of quasiparticles (electrons, holes, excitons,
etc) in a molecular chain with the structure of a ring, taking into account the
electron-phonon interaction and the radial and tangential deformations of the
chain. A discrete system of equations is obtained and solved numerically. The
analytical solutions for the wave function of a quasiparticle and for the
molecule displacements that determine the distortion of the ring, are also
obtained and solved in the continuum approximation. The numerical solutions of
the system of discrete nonlinear equations reveals several regimes of
quasiparticle localisation in the chain which depend on the values of the
parameters of the system. It is shown that the transversal deformation of the
chain favours the formation of a soliton.Comment: 43 pages 9 figure
Full counting statistics of information content
We review connections between the cumulant generating function of full
counting statistics of particle number and the R\'enyi entanglement entropy. We
calculate these quantities based on the fermionic and bosonic path-integral
defined on multiple Keldysh contours. We relate the R\'enyi entropy with the
information generating function, from which the probability distribution
function of self-information is obtained in the nonequilibrium steady state. By
exploiting the distribution, we analyze the information content carried by a
single bosonic particle through a narrow-band quantum communication channel.
The ratio of the self-information content to the number of bosons fluctuates.
For a small boson occupation number, the average and the fluctuation of the
ratio are enhanced.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Improved tests of extra-dimensional physics and thermal quantum field theory from new Casimir force measurements
We report new constraints on extra-dimensional models and other physics
beyond the Standard Model based on measurements of the Casimir force between
two dissimilar metals for separations in the range 0.2--1.2 m. The Casimir
force between an Au-coated sphere and a Cu-coated plate of a
microelectromechanical torsional oscillator was measured statically with an
absolute error of 0.3 pN. In addition, the Casimir pressure between two
parallel plates was determined dynamically with an absolute error of mPa. Within the limits of experimental and theoretical errors, the results
are in agreement with a theory that takes into account the finite conductivity
and roughness of the two metals. The level of agreement between experiment and
theory was then used to set limits on the predictions of extra-dimensional
physics and thermal quantum field theory. It is shown that two theoretical
approaches to the thermal Casimir force which predict effects linear in
temperture are ruled out by these experiments. Finally, constraints on Yukawa
corrections to Newton's law of gravity are strengthened by more than an order
of magnitude in the range 56 nm to 330 nm.Comment: Revtex 4, 35 pages, 14 figures in .gif format, accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev.
Quasinormal modes of Schwarzschild black holes in four and higher dimensions
We make a thorough investigation of the asymptotic quasinormal modes of the
four and five-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole for scalar, electromagnetic
and gravitational perturbations. Our numerical results give full support to all
the analytical predictions by Motl and Neitzke, for the leading term. We also
compute the first order corrections analytically, by extending to higher
dimensions, previous work of Musiri and Siopsis, and find excellent agreement
with the numerical results. For generic spacetime dimension number D the
first-order corrections go as . This means that
there is a more rapid convergence to the asymptotic value for the five
dimensional case than for the four dimensional case, as we also show
numerically.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4. v2. Typos corrected, references adde
Unfolding of differential energy spectra in the MAGIC experiment
The paper describes the different methods, used in the MAGIC experiment, to
unfold experimental energy distributions of cosmic ray particles (gamma-rays).
Questions and problems related to the unfolding are discussed. Various
procedures are proposed which can help to make the unfolding robust and
reliable. The different methods and procedures are implemented in the MAGIC
software and are used in most of the analyses.Comment: Submitted to NIM
Implementation of the Random Forest Method for the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope MAGIC
The paper describes an application of the tree classification method Random
Forest (RF), as used in the analysis of data from the ground-based gamma
telescope MAGIC. In such telescopes, cosmic gamma-rays are observed and have to
be discriminated against a dominating background of hadronic cosmic-ray
particles. We describe the application of RF for this gamma/hadron separation.
The RF method often shows superior performance in comparison with traditional
semi-empirical techniques. Critical issues of the method and its implementation
are discussed. An application of the RF method for estimation of a continuous
parameter from related variables, rather than discrete classes, is also
discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Probing quantum gravity using photons from a flare of the active galactic nucleus Markarian 501 observed by the MAGIC telescope
We analyze the timing of photons observed by the MAGIC telescope during a
flare of the active galactic nucleus Mkn 501 for a possible correlation with
energy, as suggested by some models of quantum gravity (QG), which predict a
vacuum refractive index \simeq 1 + (E/M_{QGn})^n, n = 1,2. Parametrizing the
delay between gamma-rays of different energies as \Delta t =\pm\tau_l E or
\Delta t =\pm\tau_q E^2, we find \tau_l=(0.030\pm0.012) s/GeV at the 2.5-sigma
level, and \tau_q=(3.71\pm2.57)x10^{-6} s/GeV^2, respectively. We use these
results to establish lower limits M_{QG1} > 0.21x10^{18} GeV and M_{QG2} >
0.26x10^{11} GeV at the 95% C.L. Monte Carlo studies confirm the MAGIC
sensitivity to propagation effects at these levels. Thermal plasma effects in
the source are negligible, but we cannot exclude the importance of some other
source effect.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Phys. Lett. B, reflects published versio
Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B->eta' K and Search for B->eta'pi+
We report measurements for two-body charmless B decays with an eta' meson in
the final state. Using 11.1X10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector,
we find BF(B^+ ->eta'K^+)=(79^+12_-11 +-9)x10^-6 and BF(B^0 ->
eta'K^0)=(55^+19_-16 +-8)x10^-6, where the first and second errors are
statistical and systematic, respectively. No signal is observed in the mode B^+
-> eta' pi^+, and we set a 90% confidence level upper limit of BF(B^+->
eta'pi^+) eta'K^+- decays is
investigated and a limit at 90% confidence level of -0.20<Acp<0.32 is obtained.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Observation of Cabibbo-suppressed and W-exchange Lambda_c^+ baryon decays
We present measurements of the Cabibbo-suppressed decays Lambda_c^+ -->
Lambda0 K+ and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma0 K+ (both first observations), Lambda_c^+
--> Sigma+ K+ pi- (seen with large statistics for the first time), Lambda_c^+
--> p K+ K- and Lambda_c^+ --> p phi (measured with improved accuracy).
Improved branching ratio measurements for the decays Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+
K- and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ phi, which are attributed to W-exchange diagrams,
are shown. We also present the first evidence for Lambda_c^+ --> Xi(1690)^0 K+
and set an upper limit on the non-resonant decay Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+ K-.
This analysis was performed using 32.6 fb^{-1} of data collected by the Belle
detector at the asymmetric e+ e- collider KEKB.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett. B. v2: A small correction to the Authorlist
was made. An earlier version of this analysis was released as
BELLE-CONF-0130, hep-ex/010800
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