174 research outputs found
On the Thermodynamic Geometry and Critical Phenomena of AdS Black Holes
In this paper, we study various aspects of the equilibrium thermodynamic
state space geometry of AdS black holes. We first examine the
Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS (RN-AdS) and the Kerr-AdS black holes. In this context,
the state space scalar curvature of these black holes is analysed in various
regions of their thermodynamic parameter space. This provides important new
insights into the structure and significance of the scalar curvature. We
further investigate critical phenomena, and the behaviour of the scalar
curvature near criticality, for KN-AdS black holes in two mixed ensembles,
introduced and elucidated in our earlier work arXiv:1002.2538 [hep-th]. The
critical exponents are identical to those in the RN-AdS and Kerr-AdS cases in
the canonical ensemble. This suggests an universality in the scaling behaviour
near critical points of AdS black holes. Our results further highlight
qualitative differences in the thermodynamic state space geometry for electric
charge and angular momentum fluctuations of these.Comment: 1 + 37 Pages, LaTeX, includes 31 figures. A figure and a
clarification added
State-space Manifold and Rotating Black Holes
We study a class of fluctuating higher dimensional black hole configurations
obtained in string theory/ -theory compactifications. We explore the
intrinsic Riemannian geometric nature of Gaussian fluctuations arising from the
Hessian of the coarse graining entropy, defined over an ensemble of brane
microstates. It has been shown that the state-space geometry spanned by the set
of invariant parameters is non-degenerate, regular and has a negative scalar
curvature for the rotating Myers-Perry black holes, Kaluza-Klein black holes,
supersymmetric black holes, - configurations and the
associated BMPV black holes. Interestingly, these solutions demonstrate that
the principal components of the state-space metric tensor admit a positive
definite form, while the off diagonal components do not. Furthermore, the ratio
of diagonal components weakens relatively faster than the off diagonal
components, and thus they swiftly come into an equilibrium statistical
configuration. Novel aspects of the scaling property suggest that the
brane-brane statistical pair correlation functions divulge an asymmetric
nature, in comparison with the others. This approach indicates that all above
configurations are effectively attractive and stable, on an arbitrary
hyper-surface of the state-space manifolds. It is nevertheless noticed that
there exists an intriguing relationship between non-ideal inter-brane
statistical interactions and phase transitions. The ramifications thus
described are consistent with the existing picture of the microscopic CFTs. We
conclude with an extended discussion of the implications of this work for the
physics of black holes in string theory.Comment: 44 pages, Keywords: Rotating Black Holes; State-space Geometry;
Statistical Configurations, String Theory, M-Theory. PACS numbers: 04.70.-s
Physics of black holes; 04.70.Bw Classical black holes; 04.70.Dy Quantum
aspects of black holes, evaporation, thermodynamics; 04.50.Gh
Higher-dimensional black holes, black strings, and related objects. Edited
the bibliograph
Thermodynamic Geometry and Phase Transitions in Kerr-Newman-AdS Black Holes
We investigate phase transitions and critical phenomena in Kerr-Newman-Anti
de Sitter black holes in the framework of the geometry of their equilibrium
thermodynamic state space. The scalar curvature of these state space Riemannian
geometries is computed in various ensembles. The scalar curvature diverges at
the critical point of second order phase transitions for these systems.
Remarkably, however, we show that the state space scalar curvature also carries
information about the liquid-gas like first order phase transitions and the
consequent instabilities and phase coexistence for these black holes. This is
encoded in the turning point behavior and the multi-valued branched structure
of the scalar curvature in the neighborhood of these first order phase
transitions. We re-examine this first for the conventional Van der Waals
system, as a preliminary exercise. Subsequently, we study the Kerr-Newman-AdS
black holes for a grand canonical and two "mixed" ensembles and establish novel
phase structures. The state space scalar curvature bears out our assertion for
the first order phase transitions for both the known and the new phase
structures, and closely resembles the Van der Waals system.Comment: 1 + 41 pages, LaTeX, 46 figures. Discussions, clarifications and
references adde
Thermodynamical Metrics and Black Hole Phase Transitions
An important phase transition in black hole thermodynamics is associated with
the divergence of the specific heat with fixed charge and angular momenta, yet
one can demonstrate that neither Ruppeiner's entropy metric nor Weinhold's
energy metric reveals this phase transition. In this paper, we introduce a new
thermodynamical metric based on the Hessian matrix of several free energy. We
demonstrate, by studying various charged and rotating black holes, that the
divergence of the specific heat corresponds to the curvature singularity of
this new metric. We further investigate metrics on all thermodynamical
potentials generated by Legendre transformations and study correspondences
between curvature singularities and phase transition signals. We show in
general that for a system with n-pairs of intensive/extensive variables, all
thermodynamical potential metrics can be embedded into a flat (n,n)-dimensional
space. We also generalize the Ruppeiner metrics and they are all conformal to
the metrics constructed from the relevant thermodynamical potentials.Comment: Latex, 25 pages, reference added, typos corrected, English polished
and the Hawking-Page phase transition clarified; to appear in JHE
recA mediated spontaneous deletions of the icaADBC operon of clinical Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates: a new mechanism of phenotypic variations
Phenotypic variation of Staphylococcus epidermidis involving the slime related ica operon results in heterogeneity in surface characteristics of individual bacteria in axenic cultures. Five clinical S. epidermidis isolates demonstrated phenotypic variation, i.e. both black and red colonies on Congo Red agar. Black colonies displayed bi-modal electrophoretic mobility distributions at pH 2, but such phenotypic variation was absent in red colonies of the same strain as well as in control strains without phenotypic variation. All red colonies had lost ica and the ability to form biofilms, in contrast to black colonies of the same strain. Real time PCR targeting icaA indicated a reduction in gene copy number within cultures exhibiting phenotypic variation, which correlated with phenotypic variations in biofilm formation and electrophoretic mobility distribution of cells within a culture. Loss of ica was irreversible and independent of the mobile element IS256. Instead, in high frequency switching strains, spontaneous mutations in lexA were found which resulted in deregulation of recA expression, as shown by real time PCR. RecA is involved in genetic deletions and rearrangements and we postulate a model representing a new mechanism of phenotypic variation in clinical isolates of S. epidermidis. This is the first report of S. epidermidis strains irreversibly switching from biofilm-positive to biofilm-negative phenotype by spontaneous deletion of icaADBC
A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Autism Spectrum Disorder
We conducted a pilot randomized controlled trial to determine the feasibility and initial safety and efficacy of omega-3 fatty acids (1.3 g/day) for the treatment of hyperactivity in 27 children ages 3–8 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). After 12 weeks, hyperactivity, as measured by the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, improved 2.7 (±4.8) points in the omega-3 group compared to 0.3 (±7.2) points in the placebo group (p = 0.40; effect size = 0.38). Correlations were found between decreases in five fatty acid levels and decreases in hyperactivity, and the treatment was well tolerated. Although this pilot study did not find a statistically significant benefit from omega-3 fatty acids, the small sample size does not rule out small to moderate beneficial effects
Reliability of Eye Tracking and Pupillometry Measures in Individuals with Fragile X Syndrome
Recent insight into the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of fragile X syndrome (FXS) has led to the proposal and development of new pharmaceutical treatment strategies, and the initiation of clinical trials aimed at correcting core symptoms of the developmental disorder. Consequently, there is an urgent and critical need for outcome measures that are valid for quantifying specific symptoms of FXS and that are consistent across time. We used eye tracking to evaluate test–retest reliability of gaze and pupillometry measures in individuals with FXS and we demonstrate that these measures are viable options for assessing treatment-specific outcomes related to a core behavioral feature of the disorder
MiR-155 Induction by F. novicida but Not the Virulent F. tularensis Results in SHIP Down-Regulation and Enhanced Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Response
The intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis causes the disease tularemia and is known for its ability to subvert host immune responses. Previous work from our laboratory identified the PI3K/Akt pathway and SHIP as critical modulators of host resistance to Francisella. Here, we show that SHIP expression is strongly down-regulated in monocytes and macrophages following infection with F. tularensis novicida (F.n.). To account for this negative regulation we explored the possibility that microRNAs (miRs) that target SHIP may be induced during infection. There is one miR that is predicted to target SHIP, miR-155. We tested for induction and found that F.n. induced miR-155 both in primary monocytes/macrophages and in vivo. Using luciferase reporter assays we confirmed that miR-155 led to down-regulation of SHIP, showing that it specifically targets the SHIP 3′UTR. Further experiments showed that miR-155 and BIC, the gene that encodes miR-155, were induced as early as four hours post-infection in primary human monocytes. This expression was dependent on TLR2/MyD88 and did not require inflammasome activation. Importantly, miR-155 positively regulated pro-inflammatory cytokine release in human monocytes infected with Francisella. In sharp contrast, we found that the highly virulent type A SCHU S4 strain of Francisella tularensis (F.t.) led to a significantly lower miR-155 response than the less virulent F.n. Hence, F.n. induces miR-155 expression and leads to down-regulation of SHIP, resulting in enhanced pro-inflammatory responses. However, impaired miR-155 induction by SCHU S4 may help explain the lack of both SHIP down-regulation and pro-inflammatory response and may account for the virulence of Type A Francisella
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