Scaling of nuclear modification factors for hadrons and light nuclei

The number of constituent quarks (NCQ-) scaling of hadrons and the number of constituent nucleons (NCN-) scaling of light nuclei are proposed for nuclear modification factors ($R_{cp}$) of hadrons and light nuclei, respectively, according to the experimental investigations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Based on coalescence mechanism the scalings are performed for pions and protons in quark level, and light nuclei $d (\bar d)$ and $^3$He for nucleonic level, respectively, formed in Au + Au and Pb + Pb collisions and nice scaling behaviour emerges. NCQ or NCN scaling law of $R_{cp}$ can be respectively taken as a probe for quark or nucleon coalescence mechanism for the formation of hadron or light nuclei in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Epigenetics in Friedreich's ataxia: Challenges and opportunities for therapy

Copyright © 2013 Chiranjeevi Sandi 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.Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder caused by homozygous expansion of a GAA·TTC trinucleotide repeat within the first intron of the FXN gene, leading to reduced FXN transcription and decreased levels of frataxin protein. Recent advances in FRDA research have revealed the presence of several epigenetic modifications that are either directly or indirectly involved in this FXN gene silencing. Although epigenetic marks may be inherited from one generation to the next, modifications of DNA and histones can be reversed, indicating that they are suitable targets for epigenetic-based therapy. Unlike other trinucleotide repeat disorders, such as Huntington disease, the large expansions of GAA·TTC repeats in FRDA do not produce a change in the frataxin amino acid sequence, but they produce reduced levels of normal frataxin. Therefore, transcriptional reactivation of the FXN gene provides a good therapeutic option. The present paper will initially focus on the epigenetic changes seen in FRDA patients and their role in the silencing of FXN gene and will be concluded by considering the potential epigenetic therapies.This study is supported by funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Grant agreement no. 242193/EFACTS; and by funding from theWellcome Trust (089757)

Ground State Energy for Fermions in a 1D Harmonic Trap with Delta Function Interaction

Conjectures are made for the ground state energy of a large spin 1/2 Fermion system trapped in a 1D harmonic trap with delta function interaction. States with different spin J are separately studied. The Thomas-Fermi method is used as an effective test for the conjecture.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Lensed Arcs and Inner Structure of Abell 697

We present new optical observations of the z=0.282 cluster Abell 697 from the Keck II telescope. Images show an unusual disturbed structure in the cD halo and a previously unknown faint gravitational lens arc. A spectrum of the arc did not yield a redshift, but its spectrum and colors suggest it lies at z>1.3. We construct models to reproduce the arc that show the potential is likely to be highly elliptical. We suggest that this cluster may have undergone a recent merger and is in the process of forming its cD galaxy. Analysis of X-ray data from ROSAT and ASCA suggests that the merging process is sufficiently advanced that the gas in the cluster has relaxed, and A697 lies near the L_x-T_x relation for normal clusters.Comment: LaTeX; 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJ Letter

Neutrino Mass from Triplet and Doublet Scalars at the TeV Scale

If the minimal standard model of particle interactions is extended to include a scalar triplet with lepton number $L=-2$ and a scalar doublet with $L=-1$, neutrino masses $m_\nu \sim \mu_{12}^4 v^2/M^5 \sim 10^{-2}$ eV is possible, where $v \sim 10^2$ GeV is the electroweak symmetry breaking scale, $M \sim 1$ TeV is the typical mass of the new scalars, and $\mu_{12} \sim 1$ GeV is a soft lepton-number-violating parameter.Comment: 6 pages, no figur

Beam energy dependence of Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii from a blast-wave model

The beam energy dependence of correlation lengths (the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss radii) is calculated by using a blast-wave model and the results are comparable with those from RHIC-STAR beam energy scan data as well as the LHC-ALICE measurements. A set of parameter for the blast-wave model as a function of beam energy under study are obtained by fit to the HBT radii at each energy point. The transverse momentum dependence of HBT radii is presented with the extracted parameters for Au + Au collision at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 200 GeV and for Pb+Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV. From our study one can learn that particle emission duration can not be ignored while calculating the HBT radii with the same parameters. And tuning kinetic freeze-out temperature in a range will result in system lifetime changing in the reverse direction as it is found in RHIC-STAR experiment measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure