A First-Quantized Formalism for Cosmological Particle Production

We show that the amount of particle production in an arbitrary cosmological background can be determined using only the late-time positive-frequency modes. We don't refer to modes at early times, so there is no need for a Bogolubov transformation. We also show that particle production can be extracted from the Feynman propagator in an auxiliary spacetime. This provides a first-quantized formalism for computing particle production which, unlike conventional Bogolubov transformations, may be amenable to a string-theoretic generalization.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX; v2: significantly revised for clarity; conclusions unchange

Analysis of Ωc∗(css)\Omega_c^*(css) and Ωb∗(bss)\Omega_b^*(bss) with QCD sum rules

In this article, we calculate the masses and residues of the heavy baryons $\Omega_c^*(css)$ and $\Omega_b^*(bss)$ with spin-parity ${3/2}^+$ with the QCD sum rules. The numerical values are compatible with experimental data and other theoretical estimations.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, slight versio

Glueball Matrix Elements on Anisotropic Lattices

The glueball-to-vacuum matrix elements of local gluonic operators in scalar, tensor, and pseudoscalar channels are investigated numerically on several anisotropic lattices with the spatial lattice spacing in the range 0.1fm -- 0.2fm. These matrix elements are needed to predict the glueball branching ratios in $J/\psi$ radiative decays which will help to identify the glueball states in experiments. Two types of improved local gluonic operators are constructed for a self-consistent check, and the finite volume effects are also studied. The lattice spacing dependence of our results is very small and the continuum limits are reliably extrapolated.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Lattice2003 (spectrum

Analysis of Ωb−(bss)\Omega_b^-(bss) and Ωc0(css)\Omega_c^0(css) with QCD sum rules

In this article, we calculate the masses and the pole residues of the ${1/2}^+$ heavy baryons $\Omega_c^0(css)$ and $\Omega_b^-(bss)$ with the QCD sum rules. The numerical values $M_{\Omega_c^0}=(2.72\pm0.18) \rm{GeV}$ (or $M_{\Omega_c^0}=(2.71\pm0.18) \rm{GeV}$) and $M_{\Omega_b^-}=(6.13\pm0.12) \rm{GeV}$ (or $M_{\Omega_b^-}=(6.18\pm0.13) \rm{GeV}$) are in good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, slight revisio

Diamagnetic Persistent Currents and Spontaneous Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Mesoscopic Structures

Recently, new strongly interacting phases have been uncovered in mesoscopic systems with chaotic scattering at the boundaries by two of the present authors and R. Shankar. This analysis is reliable when the dimensionless conductance of the system is large, and is nonperturbative in both disorder and interactions. The new phases are the mesoscopic analogue of spontaneous distortions of the Fermi surface induced by interactions in bulk systems and can occur in any Fermi liquid channel with angular momentum $m$. Here we show that the phase with $m$ even has a diamagnetic persistent current (seen experimentally but mysterious theoretically), while that with $m$ odd can be driven through a transition which spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry by increasing the coupling to dissipative leads.Comment: 4 pages, three eps figure

Experimental study of weak antilocalization effect in a high mobility InGaAs/InP quantum well

The magnetoresistance associated with quantum interference corrections in a high mobility, gated InGaAs/InP quantum well structure is studied as a function of temperature, gate voltage, and angle of the tilted magnetic field. Particular attention is paid to the experimental extraction of phase-breaking and spin-orbit scattering times when weak anti- localization effects are prominent. Compared with metals and low mobility semiconductors the characteristic magnetic field $B_{tr} = \hbar/4eD \tau$ in high mobility samples is very small and the experimental dependencies of the interference effects extend to fields several hundreds of times larger. Fitting experimental results under these conditions therefore requires theories valid for arbitrary magnetic field. It was found, however, that such a theory was unable to fit the experimental data without introducing an extra, empirical, scale factor of about 2. Measurements in tilted magnetic fields and as a function of temperature established that both the weak localization and the weak anti-localization effects have the same, orbital origin. Fits to the data confirmed that the width of the low field feature, whether a weak localization or a weak anti-localization peak, is determined by the phase-breaking time and also established that the universal (negative) magnetoresistance observed in the high field limit is associated with a temperature independent spin-orbit scattering time.Comment: 13 pages including 10 figure

Efficient Selfconsistent Calculations of Multiband Superconductivity in UPd2_2Al3_3

An efficient physically motivated computational approach to multiband superconductivity is introduced and applied to the study of the gap symmetry in a heavy-fermion, UPd$_2$Al$_3$. Using realistic pairing potentials and accurate energy bands that are computed within density functional theory, self-consistent calculations demonstrate that the only accessible superconducting gap with nodes exhibits d-wave symmetry in the $A_{1g}$ representation of the $D_{6h}$ point group. Our results suggest that in a superconductor with gap nodes the prevailing gap symmetry is dictated by the constraint that nodes must be as far as possible from high-density areas

A Solvable Regime of Disorder and Interactions in Ballistic Nanostructures, Part I: Consequences for Coulomb Blockade

We provide a framework for analyzing the problem of interacting electrons in a ballistic quantum dot with chaotic boundary conditions within an energy $E_T$ (the Thouless energy) of the Fermi energy. Within this window we show that the interactions can be characterized by Landau Fermi liquid parameters. When $g$, the dimensionless conductance of the dot, is large, we find that the disordered interacting problem can be solved in a saddle-point approximation which becomes exact as $g\to\infty$ (as in a large-N theory). The infinite $g$ theory shows a transition to a strong-coupling phase characterized by the same order parameter as in the Pomeranchuk transition in clean systems (a spontaneous interaction-induced Fermi surface distortion), but smeared and pinned by disorder. At finite $g$, the two phases and critical point evolve into three regimes in the $u_m-1/g$ plane -- weak- and strong-coupling regimes separated by crossover lines from a quantum-critical regime controlled by the quantum critical point. In the strong-coupling and quantum-critical regions, the quasiparticle acquires a width of the same order as the level spacing $\Delta$ within a few $\Delta$'s of the Fermi energy due to coupling to collective excitations. In the strong coupling regime if $m$ is odd, the dot will (if isolated) cross over from the orthogonal to unitary ensemble for an exponentially small external flux, or will (if strongly coupled to leads) break time-reversal symmetry spontaneously.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. Very minor changes. We have clarified that we are treating charge-channel instabilities in spinful systems, leaving spin-channel instabilities for future work. No substantive results are change

Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea. Methods We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15 072 746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates. Findings The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1–65·8), 17·4% (7·7–28·4), and 59·5% (34·2–86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage. Interpretation By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health

The Cholecystectomy As A Day Case (CAAD) Score: A Validated Score of Preoperative Predictors of Successful Day-Case Cholecystectomy Using the CholeS Data Set

Background Day-case surgery is associated with significant patient and cost benefits. However, only 43% of cholecystectomy patients are discharged home the same day. One hypothesis is day-case cholecystectomy rates, defined as patients discharged the same day as their operation, may be improved by better assessment of patients using standard preoperative variables. Methods Data were extracted from a prospectively collected data set of cholecystectomy patients from 166 UK and Irish hospitals (CholeS). Cholecystectomies performed as elective procedures were divided into main (75%) and validation (25%) data sets. Preoperative predictors were identified, and a risk score of failed day case was devised using multivariate logistic regression. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to validate the score in the validation data set. Results Of the 7426 elective cholecystectomies performed, 49% of these were discharged home the same day. Same-day discharge following cholecystectomy was less likely with older patients (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), higher ASA scores (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), complicated cholelithiasis (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.48), male gender (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.58–0.74), previous acute gallstone-related admissions (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.48–0.60) and preoperative endoscopic intervention (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.34–0.47). The CAAD score was developed using these variables. When applied to the validation subgroup, a CAAD score of ≤5 was associated with 80.8% successful day-case cholecystectomy compared with 19.2% associated with a CAAD score >5 (p < 0.001). Conclusions The CAAD score which utilises data readily available from clinic letters and electronic sources can predict same-day discharges following cholecystectomy