153 research outputs found
Cosmology of Axions and Moduli: A Dynamical Systems Approach
This paper is concerned with string cosmology and the dynamics of multiple
scalar fields in potentials that can become negative, and their features as
(Early) Dark Energy models. Our point of departure is the "String Axiverse", a
scenario that motivates the existence of cosmologically light axion fields as a
generic consequence of string theory. We couple such an axion to its
corresponding modulus. We give a detailed presentation of the rich cosmology of
such a model, ranging from the setting of initial conditions on the fields
during inflation, to the asymptotic future. We present some simplifying
assumptions based on the fixing of the axion decay constant , and on the
effective field theory when the modulus trajectory is adiabatic, and find the
conditions under which these assumptions break down. As a by-product of our
analysis, we find that relaxing the assumption of fixed leads to the
appearance of a new meta-stable de-Sitter region for the modulus without the
need for uplifting by an additional constant. A dynamical systems analysis
reveals the existence of many fixed point attractors, repellers and saddle
points, which we analyse in detail. We also provide geometric interpretations
of the phase space. The fixed points can be used to bound the couplings in the
model. A systematic scan of certain regions of parameter space reveals that the
future evolution of the universe in this model can be rich, containing multiple
epochs of accelerated expansion.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, comments welcome, v2 minor correction
Competing orders in PZN-xPT and PMN-xPT relaxor ferroelectrics
Neutron and x-ray scattering studies on relaxor ferroelectric systems
Pb(ZnNb)O (PZN), Pb(MgNb)O (PMN), and
their solid solutions with PbTiO (PT) have shown that inhomogeneities and
disorder play important roles in the materials properties. Although a
long-range polar order can be established at low temperature - sometimes with
the help of an external electric field; short-range local structures called the
``polar nano-regions'' (PNR) still persist. Both the bulk structure and the PNR
have been studied in details. The coexistence and competition of long- and
short-range polar orders and how they affect the structural and dynamical
properties of relaxor materials are discussed.Comment: Article submitted for JPSJ Special Topics (Novel States of Matter
Induced by Frustration
Relic neutrino masses and the highest energy cosmic rays
We consider the possibility that a large fraction of the ultrahigh energy
cosmic rays are decay products of Z bosons which were produced in the
scattering of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos on cosmological relic
neutrinos. We compare the observed ultrahigh energy cosmic ray spectrum with
the one predicted in the above Z-burst scenario and determine the required mass
of the heaviest relic neutrino as well as the necessary ultrahigh energy cosmic
neutrino flux via a maximum likelihood analysis. We show that the value of the
neutrino mass obtained in this way is fairly robust against variations in
presently unknown quantities, like the amount of neutrino clustering, the
universal radio background, and the extragalactic magnetic field, within their
anticipated uncertainties. Much stronger systematics arises from different
possible assumptions about the diffuse background of ordinary cosmic rays from
unresolved astrophysical sources. In the most plausible case that these
ordinary cosmic rays are protons of extragalactic origin, one is lead to a
required neutrino mass in the range 0.08 eV - 1.3 eV at the 68 % confidence
level. This range narrows down considerably if a particular universal radio
background is assumed, e.g. to 0.08 eV - 0.40 eV for a large one. The required
flux of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos near the resonant energy should be
detected in the near future by AMANDA, RICE, and the Pierre Auger Observatory,
otherwise the Z-burst scenario will be ruled out.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, REVTeX
Gravitational clustering of relic neutrinos and implications for their detection
We study the gravitational clustering of big bang relic neutrinos onto
existing cold dark matter (CDM) and baryonic structures within the flat
CDM model, using both numerical simulations and a semi-analytical
linear technique, with the aim of understanding the neutrinos' clustering
properties for direct detection purposes. In a comparative analysis, we find
that the linear technique systematically underestimates the amount of
clustering for a wide range of CDM halo and neutrino masses. This invalidates
earlier claims of the technique's applicability. We then compute the exact
phase space distribution of relic neutrinos in our neighbourhood at Earth, and
estimate the large scale neutrino density contrasts within the local
Greisen--Zatsepin--Kuzmin zone. With these findings, we discuss the
implications of gravitational neutrino clustering for scattering-based
detection methods, ranging from flux detection via Cavendish-type torsion
balances, to target detection using accelerator beams and cosmic rays. For
emission spectroscopy via resonant annihilation of extremely energetic cosmic
neutrinos on the relic neutrino background, we give new estimates for the
expected enhancement in the event rates in the direction of the Virgo cluster.Comment: 38 pages, 8 embedded figures, iopart.cls; v2: references added, minor
changes in text, to appear in JCA
First-principles design and subsequent synthesis of a material to search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron
We describe the first-principles design and subsequent synthesis of a new
material with the specific functionalities required for a solid-state-based
search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron. We show
computationally that perovskite-structure europium barium titanate should
exhibit the required large and pressure-dependent ferroelectric polarization,
local magnetic moments, and absence of magnetic ordering even at liquid helium
temperature. Subsequent synthesis and characterization of
EuBaTiO ceramics confirm the predicted desirable
properties.Comment: Nature Materials, in pres
Subwavelength anti-diffracting beams propagating over more than 1,000 Rayleigh lengths
Propagating light beams with widths down to and below the optical wavelength require bulky large-aperture lenses and remain focused only for micrometric distances. Here, we report the observation of light beams that violate this localization/depth- of-focus law by shrinking as they propagate, allowing resolution to be maintained and increased over macroscopic propagation lengths. In nanodisordered ferroelectrics we observe a non-paraxial propagation of a sub-micrometre-sized beam for over 1,000 diffraction lengths, the narrowest visible beam reported to date. This unprecedented effect is caused by the nonlinear response of a dipolar glass, which transforms the leading opticalwave equation into a Klein-Gordon-type equation that describes a massive particle field. Our findings open the way to high-resolution optics over large depths of focus, and a route to merging bulk optics into nanodevices
Modelling Cell Polarization Driven by Synthetic Spatially Graded Rac Activation
The small GTPase Rac is known to be an important regulator of cell polarization, cytoskeletal reorganization, and motility of mammalian cells. In recent microfluidic experiments, HeLa cells endowed with appropriate constructs were subjected to gradients of the small molecule rapamycin leading to synthetic membrane recruitment of a Rac activator and direct graded activation of membrane-associated Rac. Rac activation could thus be triggered independent of upstream signaling mechanisms otherwise responsible for transducing activating gradient signals. The response of the cells to such stimulation depended on exceeding a threshold of activated Rac. Here we develop a minimal reaction-diffusion model for the GTPase network alone and for GTPase-phosphoinositide crosstalk that is consistent with experimental observations for the polarization of the cells. The modeling suggests that mutual inhibition is a more likely mode of cell polarization than positive feedback of Rac onto its own activation. We use a new analytical tool, Local Perturbation Analysis, to approximate the partial differential equations by ordinary differential equations for local and global variables. This method helps to analyze the parameter space and behaviour of the proposed models. The models and experiments suggest that (1) spatially uniform stimulation serves to sensitize a cell to applied gradients. (2) Feedback between phosphoinositides and Rho GTPases sensitizes a cell. (3) Cell lengthening/flattening accompanying polarization can increase the sensitivity of a cell and stabilize an otherwise unstable polarization
Three dysregulated miRNAs control kallikrein 10 expression and cell proliferation in ovarian cancer
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