Estimation of SM backgrounds to SUSY search in the 1-lepton + jets + MET channel

The ATLAS Collaboration has reported the first results of the search for SUSY particles in 1-lepton + 3 jets + MET final states. An essential ingredient for these results is a reliable background estimation in the signal region, in particular of the ttbar, W+jets and QCD backgrounds. The estimation of these three backgrounds is explained in this paper. The ttbar and W+jets backgrounds are obtained from a background dominated control region and extrapolated to the signal region, whereas for the estimation of the QCD background a matrix method is used.Comment: Contribution to conference proceedings (46th Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Italy, 13 - 20 Mar 2011

Theoretical surgery: a new specialty in operative medicine

Theoretical surgery is defined as a nonoperative decision analysis and clinical and basic research supporting system for surgery. It developed to meet the needs of academic surgeons to coordinate communication with basic science disciplines. This article summarizes the development of this idea at the University of Marburg where theoretical surgery has reached departmental and institutional proportions. Its objectives and methods are described. Central to its operation are permanent working teams of 2 clinical surgeons, 1 basic scientist (theoretical surgeon), 1-2 technicians, and 1-2 students focusing on one problem in a joint interdisciplinary manner. Decision analysis with classification methods and the creation of decision trees and algorithms are central to the operation of this experiment. Lessons learned from this academic experiment and the accomplishments during the past 20 years are summarized on 3 levels of efficacy: performance, changing strategies, and outcome

Thermal expansion of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg-chain compound Cu(C4_4H4_4N2_2)(NO3_3)2_2

Compounds containing magnetic subsystems representing simple model spin systems with weak magnetic coupling constants are ideal candidates to test theoretical predictions for the generic behavior close to quantum phase transitions. We present measurements of the thermal expansion and magnetostriction of the spin-1/2-chain compound copper pyrazine dinitrate Cu(C$_4$H$_4$N$_2$)(NO$_3$)$_2$. Of particular interest is the low-temperature thermal expansion close to the saturation field $H_c \simeq 13.9 \mathrm{T}$, which defines a quantum phase transition from the gapless Luttinger liquid state to the fully saturated state with a finite excitation gap. We observe a sign change of the thermal expansion for the different ground states, and at the quantum critical point $H_c$ the low-temperature expansion approaches a $1/\sqrt{T}$ divergence. Thus, our data agree very well with the expected quantum critical behaviour.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the proceedings of the ICM 09 held in Karlsruhe, German

Mass administrations of antimalarial drugs.

Administration of antimalarial drugs to whole populations has been used as a malaria-control measure for more than 70 years. Drugs have been administered either directly as a full therapeutic course of treatment or indirectly through the fortification of salt. Mass drug administrations (MDAs) were generally unsuccessful in interrupting transmission but, in some cases, had a marked effect on parasite prevalence and on the incidence of clinical malaria. MDAs are likely to encourage the spread of drug-resistant parasites and so have only a limited role in malaria control. They could have a part to play in the management of epidemics and in the control of malaria in areas with a short transmission season. To reduce the risk of spreading drug resistance, MDAs should use more than one drug and, preferably include a drug, such as an artemisinin, which has a gametocidal effect

Unexpected correlations between gene expression and codon usage bias from microarray data for the whole Escherichia coli K-12 genome

Escherichia coli has long been regarded as a model organism in the study of codon usage bias (CUB). However, most studies in this organism regarding this topic have been computational or, when experimental, restricted to small datasets; particularly poor attention has been given to genes with low CUB. In this work, correspondence analysis on codon usage is used to classify E.coli genes into three groups, and the relationship between them and expression levels from microarray experiments is studied. These groups are: group 1, highly biased genes; group 2, moderately biased genes; and group 3, AT-rich genes with low CUB. It is shown that, surprisingly, there is a negative correlation between codon bias and expression levels for group 3 genes, i.e. genes with extremely low codon adaptation index (CAI) values are highly expressed, while group 2 show the lowest average expression levels and group 1 show the usual expected positive correlation between CAI and expression. This trend is maintained over all functional gene groups, seeming to contradict the E.coli–yeast paradigm on CUB. It is argued that these findings are still compatible with the mutation–selection balance hypothesis of codon usage and that E.coli genes form a dynamic system shaped by these factors

Solving the riddle of codon usage preferences: a test for translational selection

Translational selection is responsible for the unequal usage of synonymous codons in protein coding genes in a wide variety of organisms. It is one of the most subtle and pervasive forces of molecular evolution, yet, establishing the underlying causes for its idiosyncratic behaviour across living kingdoms has proven elusive to researchers over the past 20 years. In this study, a statistical model for measuring translational selection in any given genome is developed, and the test is applied to 126 fully sequenced genomes, ranging from archaea to eukaryotes. It is shown that tRNA gene redundancy and genome size are interacting forces that ultimately determine the action of translational selection, and that an optimal genome size exists for which this kind of selection is maximal. Accordingly, genome size also presents upper and lower boundaries beyond which selection on codon usage is not possible. We propose a model where the coevolution of genome size and tRNA genes explains the observed patterns in translational selection in all living organisms. This model finally unifies our understanding of codon usage across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Helicobacter pylori, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Homo sapiens are codon usage paradigms that can be better understood under the proposed model

From the Jordan product to Riemannian geometries on classical and quantum states

The Jordan product on the self-adjoint part of a finite-dimensional $C^{*}$-algebra $\mathscr{A}$ is shown to give rise to Riemannian metric tensors on suitable manifolds of states on $\mathscr{A}$, and the covariant derivative, the geodesics, the Riemann tensor, and the sectional curvature of all these metric tensors are explicitly computed. In particular, it is proved that the Fisher--Rao metric tensor is recovered in the Abelian case, that the Fubini--Study metric tensor is recovered when we consider pure states on the algebra $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$ of linear operators on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$, and that the Bures--Helstrom metric tensors is recovered when we consider faithful states on $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$. Moreover, an alternative derivation of these Riemannian metric tensors in terms of the GNS construction associated to a state is presented. In the case of pure and faithful states on $\mathcal{B}(\mathcal{H})$, this alternative geometrical description clarifies the analogy between the Fubini--Study and the Bures--Helstrom metric tensor.Comment: 32 pages. Minor improvements. References added. Comments are welcome

The role of noise and initial conditions in the asymptotic solution of a bounded confidence, continuous-opinion model

We study a model for continuous-opinion dynamics under bounded confidence. In particular, we analyze the importance of the initial distribution of opinions in determining the asymptotic configuration. Thus, we sketch the structure of attractors of the dynamical system, by means of the numerical computation of the time evolution of the agents density. We show that, for a given bound of confidence, a consensus can be encouraged or prevented by certain initial conditions. Furthermore, a noisy perturbation is added to the system with the purpose of modeling the free will of the agents. As a consequence, the importance of the initial condition is partially replaced by that of the statistical distribution of the noise. Nevertheless, we still find evidence of the influence of the initial state upon the final configuration for a short range of the bound of confidence parameter