2,803 research outputs found
The impact of heavy-quark loops on LHC dark matter searches
If only tree-level processes are included in the analysis, LHC monojet
searches give weak constraints on the dark matter-proton scattering cross
section arising from the exchange of a new heavy scalar or pseudoscalar
mediator with Yukawa-like couplings to quarks. In this letter we calculate the
constraints on these interactions from the CMS 5.0/fb and ATLAS 4.7/fb searches
for jets with missing energy including the effects of heavy-quark loops. We
find that the inclusion of such contributions leads to a dramatic increase in
the predicted cross section and therefore a significant improvement of the
bounds from LHC searches.Comment: 12 pages, 1 table, 3 figures, v2: extended discussion and improved
relic density calculation - matches published versio
Recognition without identification, erroneous familiarity, and déjà vu
Déjà vu is characterized by the recognition of a situation concurrent with the awareness that this recognition is inappropriate. Although forms of déjà vu resolve in favor of the inappropriate recognition and therefore have behavioral consequences, typical déjà vu experiences resolve in favor of the awareness that the sensation of recognition is inappropriate. The resultant lack of behavioral modification associated with typical déjà vu means that clinicians and experimenters rely heavily on self-report when observing the experience. In this review, we focus on recent déjà vu research. We consider issues facing neuropsychological, neuroscientific, and cognitive experimental frameworks attempting to explore and experimentally generate the experience. In doing this, we suggest the need for more experimentation and amore cautious interpretation of research findings, particularly as many techniques being used to explore déjà vu are in the early stages of development.PostprintPeer reviewe
Effects of ecstasy/polydrug use on memory for associative information
Rationale
Associative learning underpins behaviours that are fundamental to the everyday functioning of the individual. Evidence pointing to learning deficits in recreational drug users merits further examination.
Objectives
A word pair learning task was administered to examine associative learning processes in ecstasy/polydrug users.
Methods
After assignment to either single or divided attention conditions, 44 ecstasy/polydrug users and 48 non-users were presented with 80 word pairs at encoding. Following this, four types of stimuli were presented at the recognition phase: the words as originally paired (old pairs), previously presented words in different pairings (conjunction pairs), old words paired with new words, and pairs of new words (not presented previously). The task was to identify which of the stimuli were intact old pairs.
Results
Ecstasy/ploydrug users produced significantly more false-positive responses overall compared to non-users. Increased long-term frequency of ecstasy use was positively associated with the propensity to produce false-positive responses. It was also associated with a more liberal signal detection theory decision criterion value. Measures of long term and recent cannabis use were also associated with these same word pair learning outcome measures. Conjunction word pairs, irrespective of drug use, generated the highest level of false-positive responses and significantly more false-positive responses were made in the divided attention condition compared to the single attention condition.
Conclusions
Overall, the results suggest that long-term ecstasy exposure may induce a deficit in associative learning and this may be in part a consequence of users adopting a more liberal decision criterion value
In-situ fluorescence spectroscopy indicates total bacterial abundance and dissolved organic carbon
We explore in-situ fluorescence spectroscopy as an instantaneous indicator of total bacterial abundance and faecal contamination in drinking water. Eighty-four samples were collected outside of the recharge season from groundwater-derived water sources in Dakar, Senegal. Samples were analysed for tryptophan-like (TLF) and humic-like (HLF) fluorescence in-situ, total bacterial cells by flow cytometry, and potential indicators of faecal contamination such as thermotolerant coliforms (TTCs), nitrate, and in a subset of 22 samples, dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Significant single-predictor linear regression models demonstrated that total bacterial cells were the most effective predictor of TLF, followed by on-site sanitation density; TTCs were not a significant predictor. An optimum multiple-predictor model of TLF incorporated total bacterial cells, nitrate, nitrite, on-site sanitation density, and sulphate (r2 0.68). HLF was similarly related to the same parameters as TLF, with total bacterial cells being the best correlated (ρs 0.64). In the subset of 22 sources, DOC clustered with TLF, HLF, and total bacterial cells, and a linear regression model demonstrated HLF was the best predictor of DOC (r2 0.84). The intergranular nature of the aquifer, timing of the study, and/or non-uniqueness of the signal to TTCs can explain the significant associations between TLF/HLF and indicators of faecal contamination such as on-site sanitation density and nutrients but not TTCs. The bacterial population that relates to TLF/HLF is likely to be a subsurface community that develops in-situ based on the availability of organic matter originating from faecal sources. In-situ fluorescence spectroscopy instantly indicates a drinking water source is impacted by faecal contamination but it remains unclear how that relates specifically to microbial risk in this setting
Closing in on Asymmetric Dark Matter I: Model independent limits for interactions with quarks
It is argued that experimental constraints on theories of asymmetric dark
matter (ADM) almost certainly require that the DM be part of a richer hidden
sector of interacting states of comparable mass or lighter. A general requisite
of models of ADM is that the vast majority of the symmetric component of the DM
number density must be removed in order to explain the observed relationship
via the DM asymmetry. Demanding the efficient
annihilation of the symmetric component leads to a tension with experimental
limits if the annihilation is directly to Standard Model (SM) degrees of
freedom. A comprehensive effective operator analysis of the model independent
constraints on ADM from direct detection experiments and LHC monojet searches
is presented. Notably, the limits obtained essentially exclude models of ADM
with mass 1GeV 100GeV annihilating to SM quarks via
heavy mediator states. This motivates the study of portal interactions between
the dark and SM sectors mediated by light states. Resonances and threshold
effects involving the new light states are shown to be important for
determining the exclusion limits.Comment: 18+6 pages, 18 figures. v2: version accepted for publicatio
Light dark matter and dark force at colliders
Light Dark Matter, GeV, with sizable direct detection rate is an
interesting and less explored scenario. Collider searches can be very powerful,
such as through the channel in which a pair of dark matter particle are
produced in association with a jet. It is a generic possibility that the
mediator of the interaction between DM and the nucleus will also be accessible
at the Tevatron and the LHC. Therefore, collider search of the mediator can
provide a more comprehensive probe of the dark matter and its interactions. In
this article, to demonstrate the complementarity of these two approaches, we
focus on the possibility of the mediator being a new gauge boson, which
is probably the simplest model which allows a large direct detection cross
section for a light dark matter candidate. We combine searches in the
monojet+MET channel and dijet resonance search for the mediator. We find that
for the mass of between 250 GeV and 4 TeV, resonance searches at the
colliders provide stronger constraints on this model than the monojet+MET
searches.Comment: 23 pages and 14 figure
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