Heavy light tetraquarks from Lattice QCD

We present preliminary results from a lattice calculation of tetraquark states in the charm and bottom sector of the type $ud\bar{b}\bar{b}$, $us\bar{b}\bar{b}$, $ud\bar{c}\bar{c}$ and $sc\bar{b}\bar{b}$. These calculations are performed on $N_f = 2 + 1 + 1$ MILC ensembles with lattice spacing of $a = 0.12~\mathrm{fm}$ and $a=0.06~\mathrm{fm}$. A relativistic action with overlap fermions is employed for the light and charm quarks while a non-relativistic action with non-perturbatively improved coefficients is used in the bottom sector. Preliminary results provide a clear indication of presence of energy levels below the relevant thresholds of different tetraquark states. While in double charm sector we find shallow bound levels, our results suggest deeply bound levels with double bottom tetraquarks.Comment: Corrected threshold for the $ud\bar{c}\bar{c}$ tetraquark state. Proceedings of the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain. TIFR preprint no : TIFR/TH/17-3

Light Hadron Properties From Lattice QCD

The subject of this thesis is mainly concerned with dynamics of light quarks. The question that will be attempted to answer is, What is the quark mass dependence of low lying hadrons ? In particular, this work will focus on the quark mass dependence of mesons and baryons with the tools of lattice calculations and effective field theories. The two and three flavor effective field theories are applied to pions and kaons respectively to study the quark mass dependence of their masses and decay constants. In addition, the phenomenologically interesting ƒ K / ƒpi, is analysed in three flavor theory. It is found that the results of extrapolation agree with experimental results indicating that the effective field theory correctly accounts for effects of lattice calculations. In the baryon sector, a calculation for the scalar strange content of the nucleon is performed. This quantity and the heavy quark matrix elements of the nucleon are of great phenomenological importance as they provide an estimate for the scattering cross-section of a dark matter candidate with nucleon. Within the limitation of this work, it is found the result is in agreement with the lattice average. xii

Step scaling with gradient flow and finite temperature

We combine gradient flow, step-scaling, and finite-temperature boundary conditions to scale-set 2+1+1 flavor QCD lattices with physical HISQ quarks at multiple spacings down to a=0.01378 fm, such that they represent the same temperature at the percent level and the same quark mass to a few percent. This preparatory work will allow the evaluation and continuum extrapolation of the topological susceptibility at up to 1 GeV temperatures with good control over quark-mass effects.Comment: 11 pages including 5 figures and 6 table

Study of doubly heavy tetraquarks in lattice QCD

We present the results of a lattice calculation of tetraquark states with quark contents q(1)q(2)(Q) over bar(Q) over bar, q(1), q(2) subset of u, d, s, c and Q equivalent to b, c in both spin-0 (J = 0) and spin-1 (J = 1) sectors. This calculation is performed on three dynamical N-f = 2 + 1 + 1 highly improved staggered quark ensembles at lattice spacings of about 0.12, 0.09, and 0.06 fm. We use the overlap action for light to charm quarks, while a nonrelativistic action with nonperturbatively improved coefficients with terms up to O(alpha(s)v(4)) is employed for the bottom quark. While considering charm or bottom quarks as heavy, we calculate the energy levels of various four-quark configurations with light quark masses ranging from the physical strange quark mass to that of the corresponding physical pion mass. This enables us to explore the quark mass dependence of the extracted four-quark energy levels over a wide range of quark masses. The results of the spin-1 states show the presence of ground state energy levels which are below their respective thresholds for all the light flavor combinations. Further, we identify a trend that the energy splittings, defined as the energy difference between the ground state energy levels and their respective thresholds, increase with decreasing the light quark masses and are maximum at the physical point for all the spin-1 states. The rate of increase is, however, dependent on the light quark configuration of the particular spin-1 state. We also present a study of hadron mass relations involving tetraquarks, baryons, and mesons arising in the limit of infinitely heavy quarks and find that these relations are more compatible with the heavy quark limit in the bottom sector but deviate substantially in the charm sector. The ground state spectra of the spin-0 tetraquark states with various flavor combinations are seen to lie above their respective thresholds

Shortest Reconfiguration of Matchings

Imagine that unlabelled tokens are placed on the edges of a graph, such that no two tokens are placed on incident edges. A token can jump to another edge if the edges having tokens remain independent. We study the problem of determining the distance between two token configurations (resp., the corresponding matchings), which is given by the length of a shortest transformation. We give a polynomial-time algorithm for the case that at least one of the two configurations is not inclusion-wise maximal and show that otherwise, the problem admits no polynomial-time sublogarithmic-factor approximation unless P = NP. Furthermore, we show that the distance of two configurations in bipartite graphs is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by the size $d$ of the symmetric difference of the source and target configurations, and obtain a $d^\varepsilon$-factor approximation algorithm for every $\varepsilon > 0$ if additionally the configurations correspond to maximum matchings. Our two main technical tools are the Edmonds-Gallai decomposition and a close relation to the Directed Steiner Tree problem. Using the former, we also characterize those graphs whose corresponding configuration graphs are connected. Finally, we show that deciding if the distance between two configurations is equal to a given number $\ell$ is complete for the class $D^P$, and deciding if the diameter of the graph of configurations is equal to $\ell$ is $D^P$-hard.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figure

Role of Surface Energy and Nano-Roughness in the Removal Efficiency of Bacterial Contamination by Nonwoven Wipes from Frequently Touched Surfaces

Healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) are responsible for substantial patient morbidity, mortality and economic cost. Infection control strategies for reducing rates of transmission include the use of nonwoven wipes to remove pathogenic bacteria from frequently touched surfaces. Wiping is a dynamic process that involves physicochemical mechanisms to detach and transfer bacteria to fibre surfaces within the wipe. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which systematic changes in fibre surface energy and nano-roughness influence removal of bacteria from an abiotic polymer surface in dry wiping conditions, without liquid detergents or disinfectants. Nonwoven wipe substrates composed of two commonly used fibre types, lyocell (cellulosic) and polypropylene, with different surface energies and nano-roughnesses, were manufactured using pilot-scale nonwoven facilities to produce samples of comparable structure and dimensional properties. The surface energy and nano-roughness of some lyocell substrates were further adjusted by either oxygen (O2) or hexafluoroethane (C2F6) gas plasma treatment. Static adpression wiping of an inoculated surface under dry conditions produced removal efficiencies of between 9.4% and 15.7%, with no significant difference (p < 0.05) in the relative removal efficiencies of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus or Enterococcus faecalis. However, dynamic wiping markedly increased peak wiping efficiencies to over 50%, with a minimum increase in removal efficiency of 12.5% and a maximum increase in removal efficiency of 37.9% (all significant at p < 0.05) compared with static wiping, depending on fibre type and bacterium. In dry, dynamic wiping conditions, nonwoven wipe substrates with a surface energy closest to that of the contaminated surface produced the highest E. coli removal efficiency, while the associated increase in fibre nano-roughness abrogated this trend with S. aureus and E. faecalis. Plasma modification of the nano-roughness and surface energy of fibres in nonwoven wipes was found to influence the relative removal efficiencies of common bacterial pathogens from model healthcare surfaces under dynamic wiping conditions

Optimizing the colour and fabric of targets for the control of the tsetse fly Glossina fuscipes fuscipes

Background: Most cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) start with a bite from one of the subspecies of Glossina fuscipes. Tsetse use a range of olfactory and visual stimuli to locate their hosts and this response can be exploited to lure tsetse to insecticide-treated targets thereby reducing transmission. To provide a rational basis for cost-effective designs of target, we undertook studies to identify the optimal target colour. Methodology/Principal Findings: On the Chamaunga islands of Lake Victoria , Kenya, studies were made of the numbers of G. fuscipes fuscipes attracted to targets consisting of a panel (25 cm square) of various coloured fabrics flanked by a panel (also 25 cm square) of fine black netting. Both panels were covered with an electrocuting grid to catch tsetse as they contacted the target. The reflectances of the 37 different-coloured cloth panels utilised in the study were measured spectrophotometrically. Catch was positively correlated with percentage reflectance at the blue (460 nm) wavelength and negatively correlated with reflectance at UV (360 nm) and green (520 nm) wavelengths. The best target was subjectively blue, with percentage reflectances of 3%, 29%, and 20% at 360 nm, 460 nm and 520 nm respectively. The worst target was also, subjectively, blue, but with high reflectances at UV (35% reflectance at 360 nm) wavelengths as well as blue (36% reflectance at 460 nm); the best low UV-reflecting blue caught 3× more tsetse than the high UV-reflecting blue. Conclusions/Significance: Insecticide-treated targets to control G. f. fuscipes should be blue with low reflectance in both the UV and green bands of the spectrum. Targets that are subjectively blue will perform poorly if they also reflect UV strongly. The selection of fabrics for targets should be guided by spectral analysis of the cloth across both the spectrum visible to humans and the UV region

On-treatment comparison between corrective His bundle pacing and biventricular pacing for cardiac resynchronization: A secondary analysis of His-SYNC

Background The His-SYNC pilot trial was the first randomized comparison between His bundle pacing in lieu of a left ventricular lead for cardiac resynchronization therapy (His-CRT) and biventricular pacing (BiV-CRT), but was limited by high rates of crossover. Objective To evaluate the results of the His-SYNC pilot trial utilizing treatment-received (TR) and per-protocol (PP) analyses. Methods The His-SYNC pilot was a multicenter, prospective, single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial comparing His-CRT vs BiV-CRT in patients meeting standard indications for CRT (eg, NYHA II–IV patients with QRS >120 ms). Crossovers were required based on prespecified criteria. The primary endpoints analyzed included improvement in QRS duration, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and freedom from cardiovascular (CV) hospitalization and mortality. Results Among 41 patients enrolled (aged 64 ± 13 years, 38% female, LVEF 28%, QRS 168 ± 18 ms), 21 were randomized to His-CRT and 20 to BiV-CRT. Crossover occurred in 48% of His-CRT and 26% of BiV-CRT. The most common reason for crossover from His-CRT was inability to correct QRS owing to nonspecific intraventricular conduction delay (n = 5). Patients treated with His-CRT demonstrated greater QRS narrowing compared to BiV (125 ± 22 ms vs 164 ± 25 ms [TR], P < .001;124 ± 19 ms vs 162 ± 24 ms [PP], P < .001). A trend toward higher echocardiographic response was also observed (80 vs 57% [TR], P = .14; 91% vs 54% [PP], P = .078). No significant differences in CV hospitalization or mortality were observed. Conclusions Patients receiving His-CRT on-treatment demonstrated superior electrical resynchronization and a trend toward higher echocardiographic response than BiV-CRT. Larger prospective studies may be justifiable with refinements in patient selection and implantation techniques to minimize crossovers