7,380 research outputs found
Stringy Effects During Inflation and Reheating
We consider inflationary cosmology in the context of string compactifications
with multiple throats. In scenarios where the warping differs significantly
between throats, string and Kaluza-Klein physics can generate potentially
observable corrections to the cosmology of inflation and reheating. First we
demonstrate that a very low string scale in the ground state compactification
is incompatible with a high Hubble scale during inflation, and we propose that
the compactification geometry is altered during inflation. In this
configuration, the lowest scale is just above the Hubble scale, which is
compatible with effective field theory but still leads to potentially
observable CMB corrections. Also in the appropriate region of parameter space,
we find that reheating leads to a phase of long open strings in the Standard
Model sector (before the usual radiation-dominated phase). We sketch the
cosmology of the long string phase and we discuss possible observational
consequences.Comment: 33pp, RevTeX4, v2. minor changes, added ref
Phonon-induced quadrupolar ordering of the magnetic superconductor TmNiBC
We present synchrotron x-ray diffraction studies revealing that the lattice
of thulium borocarbide is distorted below T_Q = 13.5 K at zero field. T_Q
increases and the amplitude of the displacements is drastically enhanced, by a
factor of 10 at 60 kOe, when a magnetic field is applied along [100]. The
distortion occurs at the same wave vector as the antiferromagnetic ordering
induced by the a-axis field. A model is presented that accounts for the
properties of the quadrupolar phase and explains the peculiar behavior of the
antiferromagnetic ordering previously observed in this compound.Comment: submitted to PR
Deducing correlation parameters from optical conductivity in the Bechgaard salts
Numerical calculations of the kinetic energy of various extensions of the
one-dimensional Hubbard model including dimerization and repulsion between
nearest neighbours are reported. Using the sum rule that relates the kinetic
energy to the integral of the optical conductivity, one can determine which
parameters are consistent with the reduction of the infrared oscillator
strength that has been observed in the Bechgaard salts. This leads to improved
estimates of the correlation parameters for both the TMTSF and TMTTF series.Comment: 12 pages, latex, figures available from the author
Evidence for Excimer Photoexcitations in an Ordered {\pi}-Conjugated Polymer Film
We report pressure-dependent transient picosecond and continuous-wave
photomodulation studies of disordered and ordered films of
2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy) poly(para-phenylenevinylene). Photoinduced
absorption (PA) bands in the disordered film exhibit very weak pressure
dependence and are assigned to intrachain excitons and polarons. In contrast,
the ordered film exhibits two additional transient PA bands in the midinfrared
that blueshift dramatically with pressure. Based on high-order configuration
interaction calculations we ascribe the PA bands in the ordered film to
excimers. Our work brings insight to the exciton binding energy in ordered
films versus disordered films and solutions. The reduced exciton binding energy
in ordered films is due to new energy states appearing below the continuum band
threshold of the single strand.Comment: 5.5 pages, 5 figure
Analysis of phosphatases in ER-negative breast cancers identifies DUSP4 as a critical regulator of growth and invasion.
Estrogen receptor (ER)-negative cancers have a poor prognosis, and few targeted therapies are available for their treatment. Our previous analyses have identified potential kinase targets critical for the growth of ER-negative, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative and HER2-negative, or "triple-negative" breast cancer (TNBC). Because phosphatases regulate the function of kinase signaling pathways, in this study, we investigated whether phosphatases are also differentially expressed in ER-negative compared to those in ER-positive breast cancers. We compared RNA expression in 98 human breast cancers (56 ER-positive and 42 ER-negative) to identify phosphatases differentially expressed in ER-negative compared to those in ER-positive breast cancers. We then examined the effects of one selected phosphatase, dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4), on proliferation, cell growth, migration and invasion, and on signaling pathways using protein microarray analyses of 172 proteins, including phosphoproteins. We identified 48 phosphatase genes are significantly differentially expressed in ER-negative compared to those in ER-positive breast tumors. We discovered that 31 phosphatases were more highly expressed, while 11 were underexpressed specifically in ER-negative breast cancers. The DUSP4 gene is underexpressed in ER-negative breast cancer and is deleted in approximately 50 % of breast cancers. Induced DUSP4 expression suppresses both in vitro and in vivo growths of breast cancer cells. Our studies show that induced DUSP4 expression blocks the cell cycle at the G1/S checkpoint; inhibits ERK1/2, p38, JNK1, RB, and NFkB p65 phosphorylation; and inhibits invasiveness of TNBC cells. These results suggest that that DUSP4 is a critical regulator of the growth and invasion of triple-negative breast cancer cells
Accelerated expansion of the universe driven by tachyonic matter
It is an accepted practice in cosmology to invoke a scalar field with
potential when observed evolution of the universe cannot be
reconciled with theoretical prejudices. Since one function-degree-of-freedom in
the expansion factor can be traded off for the function , it is
{\it always} possible to find a scalar field potential which will reproduce a
given evolution. I provide a recipe for determining from in
two cases:(i) Normal scalar field with Lagrangian used in quintessence/dark energy
models. (ii) A tachyonic field with Lagrangian , motivated by recent string theoretic
results. In the latter case, it is possible to have accelerated expansion of
the universe during the late phase in certain cases. This suggests a string
theory based interpretation of the current phase of the universe with tachyonic
condensate acting as effective cosmological constant.Comment: 4 pages; uses revtex
Open issues in probing interiors of solar-like oscillating main sequence stars: 2. Diversity in the HR diagram
We review some major open issues in the current modelling of low and
intermediate mass, main sequence stars based on seismological studies. The
solar case was discussed in a companion paper, here several issues specific to
other stars than the Sun are illustrated with a few stars observed with CoRoT
and expectations from Kepler data.Comment: GONG 2010 - SoHO 24, A new era of seismology of the Sun and
solar-like stars, To be published in the Journal of Physics: Conference
Series (JPCS
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