14,770 research outputs found
Flavor Gauge Models Below the Fermi Scale
The mass and weak interaction eigenstates for the quarks of the third
generation are very well aligned, an empirical fact for which the Standard
Model offers no explanation. We explore the possibility that this alignment is
due to an additional gauge symmetry in the third generation. Specifically, we
construct and analyze an explicit, renormalizable model with a gauge boson,
, corresponding to the symmetry of the third family. Having a
relatively light (in the MeV to multi-GeV range), flavor-nonuniversal gauge
boson results in a variety of constraints from different sources. By
systematically analyzing 20 different constraints, we identify the most
sensitive probes: kaon, , and Upsilon decays, mixing,
atomic parity violation, and neutrino scattering and oscillations. For the new
gauge coupling in the range the model is shown to
be consistent with the data. Possible ways of testing the model in physics,
top and decays, direct collider production and neutrino oscillation
experiments, where one can observe nonstandard matter effects, are outlined.
The choice of leptons to carry the new force is ambiguous, resulting in
additional phenomenological implications, such as non-universality in
semileptonic bottom decays. The proposed framework provides interesting
connections between neutrino oscillations, flavor and collider physics.Comment: 44 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; B physics constraints and references
added, conclusions unchange
On the renormalization of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian with a Higgs
We consider the scalar sector of the effective non-linear electroweak
Lagrangian with a light "Higgs" particle, up to four derivatives in the chiral
expansion. The complete off-shell renormalization procedure is implemented,
including one loop corrections stemming from the leading two-derivative terms,
for finite Higgs mass. This determines the complete set of independent chiral
invariant scalar counterterms required for consistency; these include bosonic
operators often disregarded. Furthermore, new counterterms involving the Higgs
particle which are apparently chiral non-invariant are identified in the
perturbative analysis. A novel general parametrization of the pseudoescalar
field redefinitions is proposed, which reduces to the various usual ones for
specific values of its parameter; the non-local field redefinitions reabsorbing
all chiral non-invariant counterterms are then explicitly determined. The
physical results translate into renormalization group equations which may be
useful when comparing future Higgs data at different energies
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Si elegans: a computational model of C. elegans muscle response to light
It has long been the goal of computational neuroscientists
to understand animal nervous systems, but their
vast complexity has made it very difficult to fully understand even basic functions such as movement. The C.
elegans nematode offers the opportunity to study a fully described connectome and link neural network to behaviour.
In this paper a model of the responses of the body wall
muscle in C. elegans to a random light stimulus is presented. An algorithm has been developed that tracks synapses in the nematode nervous system from the stimulus in the phototaxis sensory neurons to the muscles cells. A linear second order model was used to calculate the isometric force in each of the C. elegans body wall muscle cells. The isometric force calculated resembles that of previous investigations in muscle modelling
Relative phase stability and lattice dynamics of NaNbO from first-principles calculations
We report total energy calculations for different crystal structures of
NaNbO over a range of unit cell volumes using the all-electron
full-potential (L)APW method. We employed both the local-density approximation
(LDA) and the Wu-Cohen form of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA-WC)
to test the accuracy of these functionals for the description of the complex
structural behavior of NaNbO. We found that LDA not only underestimates the
equilibrium volume of the system but also predicts an incorrect ground state
for this oxide. The GGA-WC functional, on the other hand, significantly
improves the equilibrium volume and provides relative phase stability in better
agreement with experiments. We then use the GGA-WC functional for the
calculation of the phonon dispersion curves of cubic NaNbO to identify the
presence of structural instabilities in the whole Brillouin zone. Finally, we
report comparative calculations of structural instabilities as a function of
volume in NaNbO and KNbO to provide insights for the understanding of
the structural behavior of KNaNbO solid solutions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Substrate specificity and the effect of calcium on Trypanosomabrucei metacaspase 2
Metacaspases are cysteine peptidases found only in yeast, plants and lower eukaryotes, including the protozoa. To investigate the extended substrate specificity and effects of Ca<sup>2+</sup> on the activation of these enzymes, detailed kinetic, biochemical and structural analyses were carried out on metacaspase 2 from Trypanosoma brucei (TbMCA2). These results reveal that TbMCA2 has an unambiguous preference for basic amino acids at the P<sub>1</sub> position of peptide substrates and that this is most probably a result of hydrogen bonding from the P<sub>1</sub> residue to Asp95 and Asp211 in TbMCA2. In addition, TbMCA2 also has a preference for charged residues at the P<sub>2</sub> and P<sub>3</sub>positions and for small residues at the prime side of a peptide substrate. Studies into the effects of Ca<sup>2+</sup> on the enzyme revealed the presence of two Ca<sup>2+</sup> binding sites and a reversible structural modification of the enzyme upon Ca<sup>2+</sup> binding. In addition, the concentration of Ca<sup>2+</sup> used for activation of TbMCA2 was found to produce a differential effect on the activity of TbMCA2, but only when a series of peptides that differed in P<sub>2</sub> were examined, suggesting that Ca<sup>2+</sup>activation of TbMCA2 has a structural effect on the enzyme in the vicinity of the S2 binding pocket. Collectively, these data give new insights into the substrate specificity and Ca<sup>2+</sup> activation of TbMCA2. This provides important functional details and leads to a better understanding of metacaspases, which are known to play an important role in trypanosomes and make attractive drug targets due to their absence in humans
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