29,184 research outputs found
What if Is Small?
In the basis where the charged lepton mass matrix is diagonal, the
left-handed neutrino mass matrix is invariant under the permutation of the
second and third generations if, and only if, the reactor angle
is zero and the atmospheric mixing angle is maximal. In the
presence of the seesaw mechanism, this symmetry leads to an inverted hierarchy,
with . This inverted mass spectrum is doubly protected if the
right-handed neutrinos also have a 2-3 symmetry
Real time demonstration of high bitrate quantum random number generation with coherent laser light
We present a random number generation scheme that uses broadband measurements
of the vacuum field contained in the radio-frequency sidebands of a single-mode
laser. Even though the measurements may contain technical noise, we show that
suitable algorithms can transform the digitized photocurrents into a string of
random numbers that can be made arbitrarily correlated with a subset of the
quantum fluctuations (high quantum correlation regime) or arbitrarily immune to
environmental fluctuations (high environmental immunity). We demonstrate up to
2 Gbps of real time random number generation that were verified using standard
randomness tests
Hybrid biomedical intelligent systems
"Copyright © 2012 Maysam Abbod et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited."The purpose of this special issue is to promote research and developments of the best work in the field of hybrid intelligent systems for biomedical applications
Direct Inhibition of T-Cell Responses by the Cryptococcus Capsular Polysaccharide Glucuronoxylomannan
The major virulence factor of the pathogenic fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii is the capsule. Glucuronoxylomannan (GXM), the major component of the capsule, is a high-molecular-weight polysaccharide that is shed during cryptococcosis and can persist in patients after successful antifungal therapy. Due to the importance of T cells in the anticryptococcal response, we studied the effect of GXM on the ability of dendritic cells (DCs) to initiate a T-cell response. GXM inhibited the activation of cryptococcal mannoprotein-specific hybridoma T cells and the proliferation of OVA-specific OT-II T cells when murine bone marrow-derived DCs were used as antigen-presenting cells. Inhibition of OT-II T-cell proliferation was observed when either OVA protein or OVA323-339 peptide was used as antigen, indicating GXM did not merely prevent antigen uptake or processing. We found that DCs internalize GXM progressively over time; however, the suppressive effect did not require DCs, as GXM directly inhibited T-cell proliferation induced by anti-CD3 antibody, concanavalin A, or phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate/ionomycin. Analysis of T-cell viability revealed that the reduced proliferation in the presence of GXM was not the result of increased cell death. GXM isolated from each of the four major cryptococcal serotypes inhibited the proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with tetanus toxoid. Thus, we have defined a new mechanism by which GXM can impart virulence: direct inhibition of T-cell proliferation. In patients with cryptococcosis, this could impair optimal cell-mediated immune responses, thereby contributing to the persistence of cryptococcal infections. SynopsisInfections due to the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in persons with impaired T-cell functions, particularly those with AIDS. The major virulence factor of Cryptococcus is its capsule, which is composed primarily of the polysaccharide glucuronoxylomannan (GXM). The capsule not only surrounds the organism but also is shed during cryptococcosis. GXM is taken up by macrophages in vitro and in vivo; however, little is known about the interaction between GXM and dendritic cells, which are the most potent cells capable of activating T cells. Because of the importance of T cells in the anticryptococcal response, the authors investigated the effect of GXM on the ability of dendritic cells to initiate a T-cell response. They found the polysaccharide was internalized by dendritic cells and inhibited antigen-specific T-cell responses. Furthermore, GXM had a direct, inhibitory effect on T-cell proliferation, independent of the effect on dendritic cells. These findings may help explain the persistence of cryptococcal infections and suggest that GXM could be therapeutic in situations where suppression of T-cell responses is desired.National Institutes of Health (R01 AI25780, R01 AI066087, R01 AI37532
Generalized Background-Field Method
The graphical method discussed previously can be used to create new gauges
not reachable by the path-integral formalism. By this means a new gauge is
designed for more efficient two-loop QCD calculations. It is related to but
simpler than the ordinary background-field gauge, in that even the triple-gluon
vertices for internal lines contain only four terms, not the usual six. This
reduction simplifies the calculation inspite of the necessity to include other
vertices for compensation. Like the ordinary background-field gauge, this
generalized background-field gauge also preserves gauge invariance of the
external particles. As a check of the result and an illustration for the
reduction in labour, an explicit calculation of the two-loop QCD
-function is carried out in this new gauge. It results in a saving of
45% of computation compared to the ordinary background-field gauge.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, 18 figures in Postscrip
Free Form Lensing Implications for the Collision of Dark Matter and Gas in the Frontier Fields Cluster MACSJ0416.1-2403
We present a free form mass reconstruction of the massive lensing cluster
MACSJ0416.1-2403 using the latest Hubble Frontier Fields data. Our model
independent method finds that the extended lensing pattern is generated by two
elongated, closely projected clusters of similar mass. Our lens model
identifies new lensed images with which we improve the accuracy of the dark
matter distribution. We find that the bimodal mass distribution is nearly
coincident with the bimodal X-ray emission, but with the two dark matter peaks
lying closer together than the centroids of the X-ray emisison. We show this
can be achieved if the collision has occurred close to the plane and such that
the cores are deflected around each other. The projected mass profiles of both
clusters are well constrained because of the many interior lensed images,
leading to surprisingly flat mass profiles of both components in the region
15-100 kpc. We discuss the extent to which this may be generated by tidal
forces in our dynamical model which are large during an encounter of this type
as the cores "graze" each other. The relative velocity between the two cores is
estimated to be about 1200 km/s and mostly along the line of sight so that our
model is consistent with the relative redshift difference between the two cD
galaxies (dz = 0.04).Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, 2 table
Implementing Unitarity in Perturbation Theory
Unitarity cannot be perserved order by order in ordinary perturbation theory
because the constraint UU^\dagger=\1 is nonlinear. However, the corresponding
constraint for , being , is linear so it can be
maintained in every order in a perturbative expansion of . The perturbative
expansion of may be considered as a non-abelian generalization of the
linked-cluster expansion in probability theory and in statistical mechanics,
and possesses similar advantages resulting from separating the short-range
correlations from long-range effects. This point is illustrated in two QCD
examples, in which delicate cancellations encountered in summing Feynman
diagrams of are avoided when they are calculated via the perturbative expansion
of . Applications to other problems are briefly discussed.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.
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