Hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the muon g-2

We review recent developments concerning the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. We first discuss why fully off-shell hadronic form factors should be used for the evaluation of this contribution to the g-2. We then reevaluate the numerically dominant pion-exchange contribution in the framework of large-N_C QCD, using an off-shell pion-photon-photon form factor which fulfills all QCD short-distance constraints, in particular, a new short-distance constraint on the off-shell form factor at the external vertex in g-2, which relates the form factor to the quark condensate magnetic susceptibility in QCD. Combined with available evaluations of the other contributions to hadronic light-by-light scattering this leads to the new result a_{\mu}(LbyL; had) = (116 \pm 40) x 10^{-11}, with a conservative error estimate in view of the many still unsolved problems. Some potential ways for further improvements are briefly discussed as well. For the electron we obtain the new estimate a_{e}(LbyL; had) = (3.9 \pm 1.3) x 10^{-14}.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, to be published in the proceedings of the PhiPsi09 workshop, Oct. 13-16, 2009, Beijing, Chin

Street crossing behavior in younger and older pedestrians: an eye- and head-tracking study

Background Crossing a street can be a very difficult task for older pedestrians. With increased age and potential cognitive decline, older people take the decision to cross a street primarily based on vehicles’ distance, and not on their speed. Furthermore, older pedestrians tend to overestimate their own walking speed, and could not adapt it according to the traffic conditions. Pedestrians’ behavior is often tested using virtual reality. Virtual reality presents the advantage of being safe, cost-effective, and allows using standardized test conditions. Methods This paper describes an observational study with older and younger adults. Street crossing behavior was investigated in 18 healthy, younger and 18 older subjects by using a virtual reality setting. The aim of the study was to measure behavioral data (such as eye and head movements) and to assess how the two age groups differ in terms of number of safe street crossings, virtual crashes, and missed street crossing opportunities. Street crossing behavior, eye and head movements, in older and younger subjects, were compared with non-parametric tests. Results The results showed that younger pedestrians behaved in a more secure manner while crossing a street, as compared to older people. The eye and head movements analysis revealed that older people looked more at the ground and less at the other side of the street to cross. Conclusions The less secure behavior in street crossing found in older pedestrians could be explained by their reduced cognitive and visual abilities, which, in turn, resulted in difficulties in the decision-making process, especially under time pressure. Decisions to cross a street are based on the distance of the oncoming cars, rather than their speed, for both groups. Older pedestrians look more at their feet, probably because of their need of more time to plan precise stepping movement and, in turn, pay less attention to the traffic. This might help to set up guidelines for improving senior pedestrians’ safety, in terms of speed limits, road design, and mixed physical-cognitive trainings

On the nucleon self-energy in nuclear matter

We consider the nucleon self-energy in nuclear matter in the absence of Pauli blocking. It is evaluated using the partial-wave analysis of $NN$ scattering data. Our results are compared with that of a realistic calculation to estimate the effect of this blocking. It is also possible to use our results as a check on the realistic calculations.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Focusing on the Muon Anomaly

We present a model based on the implication of an exceptional E_{6}-GUT symmetry for the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. We follow a particular chain of breakings with Higgses in the 78 and 351 representations. We analyse the radiative correction contributions to the muon mass and the effects of the breaking of the so-called Weinberg symmetry. We also estimate the range of values of the parameters of our model.Comment: 14 RevTeX pages, 5 figure

Deconstructing Non-Abelian Gauge Theories at One Loop

Deconstruction of 5D Yang-Mills gauge theories is studied in next-to-leading order accuracy. We calculate one-loop corrections to the mass spectrum of the non-linear gauged sigma-model, which is the low energy effective theory of the deconstructed theory. Renormalization is carried out following the standard procedure of effective field theories. The relation between the radius of the compactified fifth dimension and the symmetry breaking scale of the non-linear sigma-model is modified by radiative corrections. We demonstrate that one can match the low lying spectrum of the gauge boson masses of the effective 4D gauged non-linear sigma-model to the Kaluza-Klein modes of the 5D theory at one-loop accuracy

Development and Validation of the Short-LIMOS for the Acute Stroke Unit-A Short Version of the Lucerne ICF-Based Multidisciplinary Observation Scale.

Introduction At hospital stroke units, the time available to assess the patient's limitations in activities and participation is limited, although being essential for discharge planning. Till date, there is no quick-to-perform instrument available that captures the patient's actual performance during daily activities from a motor, cognitive, and communication perspective within the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. Therefore, the aim was to develop and validate a shortened version of the Lucerne ICF-Based Multidisciplinary Observation Scale (Short-LIMOS) that observes the patient's performance across ICF-domains and is applicable in the context of an acute stroke unit. Methods The Short-LIMOS was developed by reducing the original 45-item LIMOS to the ten most important items using a multivariable linear regression ANOVA with data of 836 stroke patients collected during inpatient neurorehabilitation. The Short-LIMOS's reliability, validity, and responsiveness were evaluated with data of 416 stroke patients in the acute stroke unit. Results A significant equation [F (10,825) = 232.083] with R 2 of 0.738 was found for the following ten items for the Short-LIMOS: maintaining a body position (d415), changing basic body position (d410), climbing stairs (d4551), eating (d550), dressing (d540), communicating with-receiving-written messages (reading) (d325), applying knowledge, remembering facts (d179), solving complex problems (d1751), making simple decisions (d177), and undertaking a simple task (d2100). Principal component analysis revealed a Short-LIMOS motor and a Short-LIMOS cognition/communication component. The Short-LIMOS had a high internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. A moderate construct validity was shown by the significant correlation with the Barthel Index. The Short-LIMOS had neither floor nor ceiling effects. Discussion and Conclusion The developed Short-LIMOS was found to be reliable and valid within a population of (hyper)acute and subacute stroke patients. The added value of this multidisciplinary assessment is its comprehensiveness by capturing the patient's actual performance on the motor, cognitive, and communication domain embedded in an ICF-framework in <10 mins

The electroweak chiral Lagrangian reanalyzed

In this paper we reanalyze the electroweak chiral Lagrangian with particular focus on two issues related to gauge invariance. Our analysis is based on a manifestly gauge-invariant approach that we introduced recently. It deals with gauge-invariant Green's functions and provides a method to evaluate the corresponding generating functional without fixing the gauge. First we show, for the case where no fermions are included in the effective Lagrangian, that the set of low-energy constants currently used in the literature is redundant. In particular, by employing the equations of motion for the gauge fields one can choose to remove two low-energy constants which contribute to the self-energies of the gauge bosons. If fermions are included in the effective field theory analysis the situation is more involved. Even in this case, however, these contributions to the self-energies of the gauge bosons can be removed. The relation of this result to the experimentally determined values for the oblique parameters S, T, and U is discussed. In the second part of the paper we consider the matching relation between a full and an effective theory. We show how the low-energy constants of the effective Lagrangian can be determined by matching gauge-invariant Green's functions in both theories. As an application we explicitly evaluate the low-energy constants for the standard model with a heavy Higgs boson. The matching at the one-loop level and at next-to-leading order in the low-energy expansion is performed employing functional methods.Comment: 44 pages, Revtex. v2: Sections II and III interchanged. New section II now self-contained. Discussions improved in sections I, II, V.C and VI. Conclusions unchanged. Published versio

Hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the muon g-2: an effective field theory approach

The hadronic light-by-light contribution to a_{mu}, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, is discussed from the point of view of an effective low-energy theory. As an application, the coefficient of the leading logarithm arising from the two-loop graphs involving two anomalous vertices is computed, and found to be positive. This corresponds to a positive sign for the pion-pole contribution to the hadronic light-by-light correction to a_{mu}, and to a sizeable reduction of the discrepancy between the present experimental value of a_{mu} and its theoretical counterpart in the standard model.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. v2: published versio