4,607 research outputs found
Dynamical Electroweak Breaking and Latticized Extra Dimensions
Using gauge invariant effective Lagrangians in 1+3 dimensions describing the
Standard Model in 1+4 dimensions, we explore dynamical electroweak symmetry
breaking. The Top Quark Seesaw model arises naturally, as well as the full CKM
structure. We include a discussion of effects of warping, and indicate how
other dynamical schemes may also be realized.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure
Finding Z' bosons coupled preferentially to the third family at CERN LEP and the Fermilab Tevatron
Z' bosons that couple preferentially to the third generation fermions can
arise in models with extended weak (SU(2)xSU(2)) or hypercharge (U(1)xU(1))
gauge groups. We show that existing limits on quark-lepton compositeness set by
the LEP and Tevatron experiments translate into lower bounds of order a few
hundred GeV on the masses of these Z' bosons. Resonances of this mass can be
directly produced at the Tevatron. Accordingly, we explore in detail the limits
that can be set at Run II using the process p pbar -> Z' -> tau tau -> e mu. We
also comment on the possibility of using hadronically-decaying taus to improve
the limits.Comment: LaTeX2e, 24 pages (including title page), 13 figures; version 2:
corrected typographical errors and bad figure placement; version 3: added
references and updated introduction; version 4: changes to compensate for old
latex version on arXiv server; version 5: additional references, and embedded
fonts in eps files for PRD; version 6: corrected some minor typos to address
PRD referee's comment
The structure of electroweak corrections due to extended gauge symmetries
This paper studies models with extended electroweak gauge sectors of the form
SU(2) x SU(2) x U(1) x [SU(2) or U(1)]. We establish the general behavior of
corrections to precision electroweak observables in this class of theories and
connect our results to previous work on specific models whose electroweak
sectors are special cases of our extended group.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; added a referenc
Effects of intersegmental transfers on target location by proteins
We study a model for a protein searching for a target, using facilitated
diffusion, on a DNA molecule confined in a finite volume. The model includes
three distinct pathways for facilitated diffusion: (a) sliding - in which the
protein diffuses along the contour of the DNA (b) jumping - where the protein
travels between two sites along the DNA by three-dimensional diffusion, and
finally (c) intersegmental transfer - which allows the protein to move from one
site to another by transiently binding both at the same time. The typical
search time is calculated using scaling arguments which are verified
numerically. Our results suggest that the inclusion of intersegmental transfer
(i) decreases the search time considerably (ii) makes the search time much more
robust to variations in the parameters of the model and (iii) that the optimal
search time occurs in a regime very different than that found for models which
ignore intersegmental transfers. The behavior we find is rich and shows
surprising dependencies, for example, on the DNA length.Comment: 40 pages, 14 figure
Decreasing childhood mortality and increasing proportion of malaria deaths in rural Burkina Faso
Beautiful Mirrors and Precision Electroweak Data
The Standard Model (SM) with a light Higgs boson provides a very good
description of the precision electroweak observable data coming from the LEP,
SLD and Tevatron experiments. Most of the observables, with the notable
exception of the forward-backward asymmetry of the bottom quark, point towards
a Higgs mass far below its current experimental bound. The disagreement, within
the SM, between the values for the weak mixing angle as obtained from the
measurement of the leptonic and hadronic asymmetries at lepton colliders, may
be taken to indicate new physics contributions to the precision electroweak
observables. In this article we investigate the possibility that the inclusion
of additional bottom-like quarks could help resolve this discrepancy. Two
inequivalent assignments for these new quarks are analysed. The resultant fits
to the electroweak data show a significant improvement when compared to that
obtained in the SM. While in one of the examples analyzed, the exotic quarks
are predicted to be light, with masses below 300 GeV, and the Higgs tends to be
heavy, in the second one the Higgs is predicted to be light, with a mass below
250 GeV, while the quarks tend to be heavy, with masses of about 800 GeV. The
collider signatures associated with the new exotic quarks, as well as the
question of unification of couplings within these models and a possible
cosmological implication of the new physical degrees of freedom at the weak
scale are also discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 4 embedded postscript figures, LaTeX. Two minor corrections
performe
Outcomes measured in polymyalgia rheumatica and measurement properties of instruments considered for the OMERACT core outcome set: A systematic review
Objective To systematically identify the outcome measures and instruments used in clinical studies of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and to evaluate evidence about their measurement properties.
Methods Searches based on the MeSH term ‘polymyalgia rheumatica’ were carried out in five databases. Two researchers were involved in screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment. Once outcomes and instruments used were identified and categorised, key instruments were selected for further review through a consensus process. Studies on measurement properties of these instruments were appraised against the COSMIN-OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology) checklist to determine the extent of evidence supporting their use in PMR.
Results 46 studies were included. In decreasing order of frequency, the most common outcomes (and instruments) used were: markers of systemic inflammation (ESR/CRP), pain (visual analogue scale (VAS)), stiffness (duration in minutes) and physical function (elevation of upper limbs). Instruments selected for further evaluation were ESR, CRP, pain VAS, morning stiffness duration and Health Assessment Questionnaire. Five studies evaluated measurement properties of these instruments, but none met all of the COSMINOMERACT checklist criteria.
Conclusion Measurement of outcomes in studies of PMR lacks consistency. The critical patient-centred domain of physical function is poorly assessed. None of the candidate instruments considered for inclusion in the core outcome set had high quality evidence, derived from populations with PMR, on their full range of measurement properties. Further studies are needed to determine whether these instruments are suitable for inclusion in a Core Outcome Measurement set for PMR
Qubit Disentanglement and Decoherence via Dephasing
We consider whether quantum coherence in the form of mutual entanglement
between a pair of qubits is susceptible to decay that may be more rapid than
the decay of the coherence of either qubit individually. An instance of
potential importance for solid state quantum computing arises if embedded
qubits (spins, quantum dots, Cooper pair boxes, etc.) are exposed to global and
local noise at the same time. Here we allow separate phase-noisy channels to
affect local and non-local measures of system coherence. We find that the time
for decay of the qubit entanglement can be significantly shorter than the time
for local dephasing of the individual qubits.Comment: REVTeX, 9 pages, 1 figure, v2 with minor changes, reference adde
Scaling of the distribution of fluctuations of financial market indices
We study the distribution of fluctuations over a time scale (i.e.,
the returns) of the S&P 500 index by analyzing three distinct databases.
Database (i) contains approximately 1 million records sampled at 1 min
intervals for the 13-year period 1984-1996, database (ii) contains 8686 daily
records for the 35-year period 1962-1996, and database (iii) contains 852
monthly records for the 71-year period 1926-1996. We compute the probability
distributions of returns over a time scale , where varies
approximately over a factor of 10^4 - from 1 min up to more than 1 month. We
find that the distributions for 4 days (1560 mins) are
consistent with a power-law asymptotic behavior, characterized by an exponent
, well outside the stable L\'evy regime . To
test the robustness of the S&P result, we perform a parallel analysis on two
other financial market indices. Database (iv) contains 3560 daily records of
the NIKKEI index for the 14-year period 1984-97, and database (v) contains 4649
daily records of the Hang-Seng index for the 18-year period 1980-97. We find
estimates of consistent with those describing the distribution of S&P
500 daily-returns. One possible reason for the scaling of these distributions
is the long persistence of the autocorrelation function of the volatility. For
time scales longer than days, our results are
consistent with slow convergence to Gaussian behavior.Comment: 12 pages in multicol LaTeX format with 27 postscript figures
(Submitted to PRE May 20, 1999). See
http://polymer.bu.edu/~amaral/Professional.html for more of our work on this
are
The Dependence of the Superconducting Transition Temperature of Organic Molecular Crystals on Intrinsically Non-Magnetic Disorder: a Signature of either Unconventional Superconductivity or Novel Local Magnetic Moment Formation
We give a theoretical analysis of published experimental studies of the
effects of impurities and disorder on the superconducting transition
temperature, T_c, of the organic molecular crystals kappa-ET_2X and beta-ET_2X
(where ET is bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene and X is an anion eg I_3).
The Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) formula describes the suppression of T_c both by
magnetic impurities in singlet superconductors, including s-wave
superconductors and by non-magnetic impurities in a non-s-wave superconductor.
We show that various sources of disorder lead to the suppression of T_c as
described by the AG formula. This is confirmed by the excellent fit to the
data, the fact that these materials are in the clean limit and the excellent
agreement between the value of the interlayer hopping integral, t_perp,
calculated from this fit and the value of t_perp found from angular-dependant
magnetoresistance and quantum oscillation experiments. If the disorder is, as
seems most likely, non-magnetic then the pairing state cannot be s-wave. We
show that the cooling rate dependence of the magnetisation is inconsistent with
paramagnetic impurities. Triplet pairing is ruled out by several experiments.
If the disorder is non-magnetic then this implies that l>=2, in which case
Occam's razor suggests that d-wave pairing is realised. Given the proximity of
these materials to an antiferromagnetic Mott transition, it is possible that
the disorder leads to the formation of local magnetic moments via some novel
mechanism. Thus we conclude that either kappa-ET_2X and beta-ET_2X are d-wave
superconductors or else they display a novel mechanism for the formation of
localised moments. We suggest systematic experiments to differentiate between
these scenarios.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure
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