Robustness of Sound Speed and Jet Quenching for Gauge/Gravity Models of Hot QCD

We probe the effectiveness and robustness of a simple gauge/gravity dual model of the QCD fireball that breaks conformal symmetry by constructing a family of similar geometries that solve the scalar/gravity equations of motion. This family has two parameters, one of which is associated to the temperature. We calculate two quantities, the speed of sound and the jet-quenching parameter. We find the speed of sound to be universal and robust over all the geometries when appropriate units are used, while the jet-quenching parameter varies significantly away from the conformal limit. We note that the overall structure of the jet-quenching depends strongly on whether the running scalar is the dilaton or not. We also discuss the variation of the scalar potential over our family of solutions, and truncate our results to where the associated error is small.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, LaTeX. v2:references added, minor correction to speed of sound; conclusions unchange

Stability of strings binding heavy-quark mesons

We investigate the stability against small deformations of strings dangling into AdS_5-Schwarzschild from a moving heavy quark-anti-quark pair. We speculate that emission of massive string states may be an important part of the evolution of certain unstable configurations.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Kinetics of Ordering in Fluctuation-Driven First-Order Transitions: Simulations and Dynamical Renormalization

Many systems where interactions compete with each other or with constraints are well described by a model first introduced by Brazovskii. Such systems include block copolymers, alloys with modulated phases, Rayleigh-Benard Cells and type-I superconductors. The hallmark of this model is that the fluctuation spectrum is isotropic and has a minimum at a nonzero wave vector represented by the surface of a d-dimensional hyper-sphere. It was shown by Brazovskii that the fluctuations change the free energy structure from a $\phi ^{4}$ to a $\phi ^{6}$ form with the disordered state metastable for all quench depths. The transition from the disordered to the periodic, lamellar structure changes from second order to first order and suggests that the dynamics is governed by nucleation. Using numerical simulations we have confirmed that the equilibrium free energy function is indeed of a $\phi ^{6}$ form. A study of the dynamics, however, shows that, following a deep quench, the dynamics is described by unstable growth rather than nucleation. A dynamical calculation, based on a generalization of the Brazovskii calculations shows that the disordered state can remain unstable for a long time following the quench.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures submitted to PR

Solving Solar Neutrino Puzzle via LMA MSW Conversion

We analyze the existing solar neutrino experiment data and show the allowed regions. The result from SNO's salt phase itself restricts quite a lot the allowed region's area. Reactor neutrinos play an important role in determining oscillation parameters. KamLAND gives decisive conclusion on the solution to the solar neutrino puzzle, in particular, the spectral distortion in the 766.3 Ty KamLAND data gives another new improvement in the constraint of solar MSW-LMA solutions. We confirm that at 99.73% C.L. the high-LMA solution is excluded.Comment: 6 eps figure

Screening length and the direction of plasma winds

We study the screening length of a heavy quark-antiquark pair in strongly coupled gauge theory plasmas flowing at velocity v following a proposal by Liu, Rajagopal, and Wiedemann. We analyze the screening length as the direction of the plasma winds vary. To leading order in v, this angle-dependence can be studied analytically for many theories by extending our previous formalism. We show that the screening length is locally a minimum (maximum) when the pair is perpendicular (parallel) to the plasma winds, which has been observed for the N=4 plasma. Also, we compare AdS/CFT results with weak coupling ones, and we discuss the subleading dependence on v for the Dp-brane.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, JHEP3; v2: discussion added and modifie

Response Functions in Phase Ordering Kinetics

We discuss the behavior of response functions in phase ordering kinetics within the perturbation theory approach developed earlier. At zeroth order the results agree with previous gaussian theory calculations. At second order the nonequilibrium exponents \lambda and \lambda_{R} are changed but remain equal.Comment: 29 page

Supersymmetry for Fermion Masses

It is proposed that supersymmetry (SUSY) maybe used to understand fermion mass hierarchies. A family symmetry Z_{3L} is introduced, which is the cyclic symmetry among the three generation SU(2) doublets. SUSY breaks at a high energy scale ~ 10^{11} GeV. The electroweak energy scale ~ 100 GeV is unnaturally small. No additional global symmetry, like the R-parity, is imposed. The Yukawa couplings and R-parity violating couplings all take their natural values which are about (10^0-10^{-2}). Under the family symmetry, only the third generation charged fermions get their masses. This family symmetry is broken in the soft SUSY breaking terms which result in a hierarchical pattern of the fermion masses. It turns out that for the charged leptons, the tau mass is from the Higgs vacuum expectation value (VEV) and the sneutrino VEVs, the muon mass is due to the sneutrino VEVs, and the electron gains its mass due to both Z_{3L} and SUSY breaking. The large neutrino mixing are produced with neutralinos playing the partial role of right-handed neutrinos. |V_{e3}| which is for nu_e-nu_{tau} mixing is expected to be about 0.1. For the quarks, the third generation masses are from the Higgs VEVs, the second generation masses are from quantum corrections, and the down quark mass due to the sneutrino VEVs. It explains m_c/m_s, m_s/m_e, m_d > m_u and so on. Other aspects of the model are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, revtex4; neutrino oscillation and many discussions added, smallness of the electron mass due to supersymmetry pointed out; v3: numerical errors correcte

CD40 signal rewires fatty acid and glutamine metabolism for stimulating macrophage anti-tumorigenic functions.

Exposure of lipopolysaccharide triggers macrophage pro-inflammatory polarization accompanied by metabolic reprogramming, characterized by elevated aerobic glycolysis and a broken tricarboxylic acid cycle. However, in contrast to lipopolysaccharide, CD40 signal is able to drive pro-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic polarization by some yet undefined metabolic programming. Here we show that CD40 activation triggers fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and glutamine metabolism to promote ATP citrate lyase-dependent epigenetic reprogramming of pro-inflammatory genes and anti-tumorigenic phenotypes in macrophages. Mechanistically, glutamine usage reinforces FAO-induced pro-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic activation by fine-tuning the NAD <sup>+</sup> /NADH ratio via glutamine-to-lactate conversion. Genetic ablation of important metabolic enzymes involved in CD40-mediated metabolic reprogramming abolishes agonistic anti-CD40-induced antitumor responses and reeducation of tumor-associated macrophages. Together these data show that metabolic reprogramming, which includes FAO and glutamine metabolism, controls the activation of pro-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic polarization, and highlight a therapeutic potential of metabolic preconditioning of tumor-associated macrophages before agonistic anti-CD40 treatments

Determination of superconducting anisotropy from magnetization data on random powders as applied to LuNi2_2B2_2C, YNi2_2B2_2C and MgB2_2

The recently discovered intermetallic superconductor MgB2 appears to have a highly anisotopic upper critical field with Hc2(max)/Hc2(min} = \gamma > 5. In order to determine the temperature dependence of both Hc2(max) and Hc2(min) we propose a method of extracting the superconducting anisotropy from the magnetization M(H,T) of randomly oriented powder samples. The method is based on two features in dM/dT the onset of diamagnetism at Tc(max), that is commonly associated with Hc2, and a kink in dM/dT at a lower temperature Tc(min). Results for LuNi2B2C and YNi2B2C powders are in agreement with anisotropic Hc2 obtained from magneto-transport measurements on single crystals. Using this method on four different types of MgB2 powder samples we are able to determine Hc2(max)(T) and Hc2(min)(T) with \gamma \approx 6