21,816 research outputs found
Non-analyticities in three-dimensional gauge theories
Quantum fluctuations generate in three-dimensional gauge theories not only
radiative corrections to the Chern-Simons coupling but also non-analytic terms
in the effective action. We review the role of those terms in gauge theories
with massless fermions and Chern-Simons theories. The explicit form of
non-analytic terms turns out to be dependent on the regularization scheme and
in consequence the very existence of phenomena like parity and framing
anomalies becomes regularization dependent. In particular we find
regularization regimes where both anomalies are absent. Due to the presence of
non-analytic terms the effective action becomes not only discontinuous but also
singular for some background gauge fields which include sphalerons. The
appearence of this type of singularities is linked to the existence of nodal
configurations in physical states and tunneling suppression at some classical
field configurations. In the topological field theory the number of physical
states may also become regularization dependent. Another consequence of the
peculiar behaviour of three-dimensional theories under parity odd
regularizations is the existence of a simple mechanism of generation of a mass
gap in pure Yang-Mills theory by a suitable choice of regularization scheme.
The generic value of this mass does agree with the values obtained in
Hamiltonian and numerical analysis. Finally, the existence of different
regularization regimes unveils the difficulties of establishing a Zamolodchikov
c-theorem for three-dimensional field theories in terms of the induced
gravitational Chern-Simons couplings.Comment: 21 pages; Contribution to Ian Kogan Memorial Collection, ``From
Fields to Strings: Circumnavigating Theoretical Physics'
From car to bike. Marketing and dialogue as a driver of change
The Paris Climate Agreement has sent a key message to the international community regarding the need to increase efforts to move towards a low-carbon economy and help slow climate change, while underpinning global long-term economic growth and sustainable development. COP 21 recognizes the social, economic and environmental value of voluntary mitigation actions and their co-benefits for adaptation, health and sustainable development. In this framework, the PTP Cycle project, running from 2013 to 2016 and funded by the European Commission through the Intelligent Energy Europe program, introduces a non-market approach through voluntary participation in the adoption of sustainable transport modes such as cycling, based on marketing to potential customers through Personalized Travel Plans. The medium-sized city of Burgos (Spain) and the cities of Ljubljana, Riga, Antwerp and London
(boroughs of Haringey and Greenwich) developed a new policy instrument (Personalized Travel Plans) in order to increase bike patronage. Beyond potential savings of CO2, the results show that PTP as a form of Active Mobility Consultancy is a suitable instrument to influence modal shift to public transport, walking and cycling, and to address the challenges of climate change, while fostering sustainable transportation by changing mobility behaviour. These results, matching with the state-of-the-art of studies and pilot applications in other countries, allows deriving differentiated results for medium-size and large urban areas
Implications of a Sub-Threshold Resonance for Stellar Beryllium Depletion
Abundance measurements of the light elements lithium, beryllium, and boron
are playing an increasingly important role in the study of stellar physics.
Because these elements are easily destroyed in stars at temperatures 2--4
million K, the abundances in the surface convective zone are diagnostics of the
star's internal workings. Standard stellar models cannot explain depletion
patterns observed in low mass stars, and so are not accounting for all the
relevant physical processes. These processes have important implications for
stellar evolution and primordial lithium production in big bang
nucleosynthesis. Because beryllium is destroyed at slightly higher temperatures
than lithium, observations of both light elements can differentiate between the
various proposed depletion mechanisms. Unfortunately, the reaction rate for the
main destruction channel, 9Be(p,alpha)6Li, is uncertain. A level in the
compound nucleus 10B is only 25.7 keV below the reaction's energetic threshold.
The angular momentum and parity of this level are not well known; current
estimates indicate that the resonance entrance channel is either s- or d-wave.
We show that an s-wave resonance can easily increase the reaction rate by an
order of magnitude at temperatures of approximately 4 million K. Observations
of sub-solar mass stars can constrain the strength of the resonance, as can
experimental measurements at lab energies lower than 30 keV.Comment: 9 pages, 1 ps figure, uses AASTeX macros and epsfig.sty. Reference
added, typos corrected. To appear in ApJ, 10 March 199
A Cholinergic Synaptically Triggered Event Participates in the Generation of Persistent Activity Necessary for Eye Fixation
An exciting topic regarding integrative properties of the nervous system is how transient motor commands or brief sensory stimuli are able to evoke persistent neuronal changes, mainly as a sustained, tonic action potential firing. A persisting firing seems to be necessary for postural maintenance after a previous movement. We have studied in vitro and in vivo the generation of the persistent neuronal activity responsible for eye fixation after spontaneous eye movements. Rat sagittal brainstem slices were used for the intracellular recording of prepositus hypoglossi (PH) neurons and their synaptic activation from nearby paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) neurons. Single electrical pulses applied to the PPRF showed a monosynaptic glutamatergic projection on PH neurons, acting on AMPA-kainate receptors. Train stimulation of the PPRF area evoked a sustained depolarization of PH neurons exceeding (by hundreds of milliseconds) stimulus duration. Both duration and amplitude of this sustained depolarization were linearly related to train frequency. The train-evoked sustained depolarization was the result of interaction between glutamatergic excitatory burst neurons and cholinergic mesopontine reticular fibers projecting onto PH neurons, because it was prevented by slice superfusion with cholinergic antagonists and mimicked by cholinergic agonists. As expected, microinjections of cholinergic antagonists in the PH nucleus of alert behaving cats evoked a gaze-holding deficit consisting of a re-centering drift of the eye after each saccade. These findings suggest that a slow, cholinergic, synaptically triggered event participates in the generation of persistent activity characteristic of PH neurons carrying eye position signals
Study of star-forming galaxies in SDSS up to redshift 0.4: I. Metallicity evolution
The chemical composition of the gas in galaxies versus cosmic time provides a
very important tool for understanding galaxy evolution. Although there are many
studies at high redshift, they are rather scarce at lower redshifts. However,
low redshift studies can provide important clues about the evolution of
galaxies, furnishing the required link between local and high redshift
universe. In this work we focus on the metallicity of the gas of star-forming
galaxies at low redshift, looking for signs of chemical evolution.
To analyze the metallicity contents star-forming galaxies of similar
luminosities and masses at different redshifts. With this purpose, we present a
study of the metallicity of relatively massive (log(M_star/M_sun)>10.5) star
forming galaxies from SDSS--DR5 (Sloan Digital Sky Survey--Data Release 5),
using different redshift intervals from 0.04 to 0.4.
We used data processed with the STARLIGHT spectral synthesis code, correcting
the fluxes for dust extinction, estimating metallicities using the R_23 method,
and segregating the samples with respect to the value of the
[NII]6583/[OII]3727 line ratio in order to break the R_23 degeneracy selecting
the upper branch. We analyze the luminosity and mass-metallicity relations, and
the effect of the Sloan fiber diameter looking for possible biases.
By dividing our redshift samples in intervals of similar magnitude and
comparing them, significant signs of metallicity evolution are found.
Metallicity correlates inversely with redshift: from redshift 0 to 0.4 a
decrement of ~0.1 dex in 12+log(O/H) is found.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
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