The Cosmic Microwave Background and Particle Physics

In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these links. Our primary focus is on new CMB tests of inflation. We explain how the inflationary predictions for the geometry of the Universe and primordial density perturbations will be tested by CMB temperature fluctuations, and how the gravitational waves predicted by inflation can be pursued with the CMB polarization. The CMB signatures of topological defects and primordial magnetic fields from cosmological phase transitions are also discussed. Furthermore, we review current and future CMB constraints on various types of dark matter (e.g. massive neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, axions, vacuum energy), decaying particles, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, exotic cosmological topologies, and other new physics.Comment: 43 pages. To appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Scienc

Reflective imaging improves spatiotemporal resolution and collection efficiency in light sheet microscopy

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Nature Communications 8 (2017): 1452, doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01250-8.Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) enables high-speed, high-resolution, and gentle imaging of live specimens over extended periods. Here we describe a technique that improves the spatiotemporal resolution and collection efficiency of LSFM without modifying the underlying microscope. By imaging samples on reflective coverslips, we enable simultaneous collection of four complementary views in 250 ms, doubling speed and improving information content relative to symmetric dual-view LSFM. We also report a modified deconvolution algorithm that removes associated epifluorescence contamination and fuses all views for resolution recovery. Furthermore, we enhance spatial resolution (to <300 nm in all three dimensions) by applying our method to single-view LSFM, permitting simultaneous acquisition of two high-resolution views otherwise difficult to obtain due to steric constraints at high numerical aperture. We demonstrate the broad applicability of our method in a variety of samples, studying mitochondrial, membrane, Golgi, and microtubule dynamics in cells and calcium activity in nematode embryos.This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at the National Institutes of Health. P.L. and H.S. acknowledge summer support from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, through the Whitman- and Fellows- program. P.L. acknowledges support from NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under grant number R01EB017293. C.S. acknowledges funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of NIH under Award Number R25GM109439 (Project Title: University of Chicago Initiative for Maximizing Student Development [IMSD]) and NIBIB under grant number T32 EB002103. Partial funding for the computation in this work was provided by NIH grant numbers S10 RRO21039 and P30 CA14599. A.U. and I.R.-S. were supported by the NSF grant number 1607645

The AFLOW Fleet for Materials Discovery

The traditional paradigm for materials discovery has been recently expanded to incorporate substantial data driven research. With the intent to accelerate the development and the deployment of new technologies, the AFLOW Fleet for computational materials design automates high-throughput first principles calculations, and provides tools for data verification and dissemination for a broad community of users. AFLOW incorporates different computational modules to robustly determine thermodynamic stability, electronic band structures, vibrational dispersions, thermo-mechanical properties and more. The AFLOW data repository is publicly accessible online at aflow.org, with more than 1.7 million materials entries and a panoply of queryable computed properties. Tools to programmatically search and process the data, as well as to perform online machine learning predictions, are also available.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Can Github issues be solved with Tree Of Thoughts?

While there have been extensive studies in code generation by large language models (LLM), where benchmarks like HumanEval have been surpassed with an impressive 96.3% success rate, these benchmarks predominantly judge a model's performance on basic function-level code generation and lack the critical thinking and concept of scope required of real-world scenarios such as solving GitHub issues. This research introduces the application of the Tree of Thoughts (ToT) language model reasoning framework for enhancing the decision-making and problem-solving abilities of LLMs for this complex task. Compared to traditional input-output (IO) prompting and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques, ToT is designed to improve performance by facilitating a structured exploration of multiple reasoning trajectories and enabling self-assessment of potential solutions. We experimentally deploy ToT in tackling a Github issue contained within an instance of the SWE-bench. However, our results reveal that the ToT framework alone is not enough to give LLMs the critical reasoning capabilities to outperform existing methods. In this paper we analyze the potential causes of these shortcomings and identify key areas for improvement such as deepening the thought process and introducing agentic capabilities. The insights of this research are aimed at informing future directions for refining the application of ToT and better harnessing the potential of LLMs in real-world problem-solving scenarios.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 7 table

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Synthesis of perhydrofuro[2,3-b]furans from isopentenyl alcohol through carbonyl-ene and wacker-type reactions

A range of 2-substituted perhydrofuro[2,3-b]furans have been synthesized in a stereoselective manner through a sequence involving the Lewis-acid catalyzed carbonyl-ene reaction of a protected isopentenyl alcohol with a variety of enophiles, deprotection of the corresponding monoprotected diols, and palladium-catalyzed intramolecular acetalization under Wacker-type reaction conditions.This work was generously supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), grant number CTQ2007-65218 and Consolider Ingenio 2010, grant number CSD2007-00006, the Generalitat Valenciana (GV; PROMETEO/2009/039), and Fondos Europeos para el Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). D. S. thanks the Vicerrectorado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación of the Universidad de Alicante for a predoctoral grant. M. R.-F. thanks the ISO of the Universidad de Alicante for a postdoctoral grant

Parallel Quantum Computing Emulation

Quantum computers provide a fundamentally new computing paradigm that promises to revolutionize our ability to solve broad classes of problems. Surprisingly, the basic mathematical structures of gate-based quantum computing, such as unitary operations on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, are not unique to quantum systems but may be found in certain classical systems as well. Previously, it has been shown that one can represent an arbitrary multi-qubit quantum state in terms of classical analog signals using nested quadrature amplitude modulated signals. Furthermore, using digitally controlled analog electronics one may manipulate these signals to perform quantum gate operations and thereby execute quantum algorithms. The computational capacity of a single signal is, however, limited by the required bandwidth, which scales exponentially with the number of qubits when represented using frequency-based encoding. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a method to extend this approach to multiple parallel signals. Doing so allows a larger quantum state to be emulated with the same gate time required for processing frequency-encoded signals. In the proposed representation, each doubling of the number of signals corresponds to an additional qubit in the spatial domain. Single quit gate operations are similarly extended so as to operate on qubits represented using either frequency-based or spatial encoding schemes. Furthermore, we describe a method to perform gate operations between pairs of qubits represented using frequency or spatial encoding or between frequency-based and spatially encoded qubits. Finally, we describe how this approach may be extended to represent qubits in the time domain as well.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing (ICRC

Eficacia De La Tomografía Abdominal Sin Contraste En El Diagnóstico De Apendicitis Aguda Perforada En El Hospital Alta Complejidad Virgen De La Puerta

Objetivo: Comprobar la especificidad de la tomografía abdominal sin contraste en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda perforada Material y métodos: Se llevó a cabo un estudio en el que se incluyeron a 173 pacientes adultos con apendicitis aguda, los cuales se dividieron en 2 grupos: perforada o no perforada ; calculándose la sensibilidad, especificidad, valor predictivo positivo y valor predictivo negativo. Resultados: No se apreciaron diferencias significativas respecto a las variables edad, gene ro, leucocitosis, hiponatremia, plaquetopenia, anisocitosis entre los pacientes con apendicitis perforada o n o per forada (p>0.05), la s sensibilidad, especificidad, valor predictivo positivo y valor predictivo negativo del líquido libre apendicular en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda perforada fue de 93%; 77%; 88% y 83% respectivamente, del apendicolito en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda perforada fue de 83%; 87%; 92% y 74% respectivamente, de la razón longitud diámetro apendicular en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda perforada fue de 80%; 97%; 98% y 73% respectivamente. Conclusión: La tomografía abdominal sin contraste tiene especificidad en el diagnóstico de apendicitis aguda perforadaObjecti ve: T o veri fy the specificity of abdominal tomography without contrast in the diagno sis of acute perforated appendicitis in patients Material and m ethods: A retrospective sectional study in 173 adult patients with acute appendicitis were included, which w ere d i vided into 2 groups: pe rforated or non perforated; calculating sensitivity, sp ecificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive val ue. Results: No significant differences were observed regarding the variables age, gender, leukocytosis, hyp onatr e mia, plateletopenia, an isocytosis between patients with perforated or non perf orated appendicitis (p>0.05), the sensitivity, specificity, posi tive predictive value and negative predictive value of the Appendiceal free fluid in the diagnosis of acute perfo r ated appendicitis was 9 3%; 77%; 88% and 83% respectively, of the appendicolith in the diagnosis of acute perforated appendicitis was 83%; 87%; 92% and 74% respectively, of the appendiceal diameter length ratio in the diagnosis of acute perforated app endic i tis was 80%; 97%; 98% a nd 73% respectively. Conclusion: Abdominal to mography w ithout contrast had specificity in the diagnosis of acute perfor ated appendicitis in patientsTesi