Discharge Patterns of Single Fibers in the Cat's Auditory Nerve

Discharge patterns of single fibers in cat auditory nerve in response to controlled acoustic stimul

Intersubband absorption linewidth in GaAs quantum wells due to scattering by interface roughness, phonons, alloy disorder, and impurities

We calculate the intersubband absorption linewidth in quantum wells (QWs) due to scattering by interface roughness, LO phonons, LA phonons, alloy disorder, and ionized impurities, and compare it with the transport energy broadening that corresponds to the transport relaxation time related to electron mobility. Numerical calculations for GaAs QWs clarify the different contributions of each individual scattering mechanism to absorption linewidth and transport broadening. Interface roughness scattering contributes about an order of magnitude more to linewidth than to transport broadening, because the contribution from the intrasubband scattering in the first excited subband is much larger than that in the ground subband. On the other hand, LO phonon scattering (at room temperature) and ionized impurity scattering contribute much less to linewidth than to transport broadening. LA phonon scattering makes comparable contributions to linewidth and transport broadening, and so does alloy disorder scattering. The combination of these contributions with significantly different characteristics makes the absolute values of linewidth and transport broadening very different, and leads to the apparent lack of correlation between them when a parameter, such as temperature or alloy composition, is changed. Our numerical calculations can quantitatively explain the previously reported experimental results.Comment: 17 pages, including 15 figure

Interactions of a String Inspired Graviton Field

We continue to explore the possibility that the graviton in two dimensions is related to a quadratic differential that appears in the anomalous contribution of the gravitational effective action for chiral fermions. A higher dimensional analogue of this field might exist as well. We improve the defining action for this diffeomorphism tensor field and establish a principle for how it interacts with other fields and with point particles in any dimension. All interactions are related to the action of the diffeomorphism group. We discuss possible interpretations of this field.Comment: 12 pages, more readable, references adde

Phenomenology in the Zee Model with the A_4 Symmetry

The Zee model generates neutrino masses at the one-loop level by adding charged SU(2)_L-singlet and extra SU(2)_L-doublet scalars to the standard model of particle physics. As the origin of the nontrivial structure of the lepton flavor mixing, we introduce the softly broken A_4 symmetry to the Zee model. This model is compatible with the tribimaximal mixing which agrees well with neutrino oscillation measurements. Then, a sum rule m_1 e^{i alpha_12} + 2 m_2 + 3 m_3 e^{i alpha_32} = 0 is obtained and it results in Delta m^2_31 < 0 and m_3 > 1.8*10^{-2}eV. The effective mass |(M_nu)_{ee}| for the neutrinoless double beta decay is predicted as | (M_\nu)_{ee} | > 1.7*10^{-2}eV. The characteristic particles in this model are SU(2)_L-singlet charged Higgs bosons s^+_alpha (alpha=xi,eta,zeta) which are made from a 3-representation of A_4. Contributions of s^+_alpha to the lepton flavor violating decays of charged leptons are almost forbidden by an approximately remaining Z_3 symmetry; only BR(tau to ebar mu mu) can be sizable by the flavor changing neutral current interaction with SU(2)_L-doublet scalars. Therefore, s^+_alpha can be easily light enough to be discovered at the LHC with satisfying current constraints. The flavor structures of BR(s^-_alpha to ell nu) are also discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, version accepted by PR

Closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor and geodesic integrability

Assuming the existence of a single rank-2 closed conformal Killing-Yano tensor with a certain symmetry we show that there exist mutually commuting rank-2 Killing tensors and Killing vectors. We also discuss the condition of separation of variables for the geodesic Hamilton-Jacobi equations.Comment: 17 pages, no figure, LaTe

Vaccine-induced skewing of T cell responses protects against Chikungunya virus disease

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infections can cause severe and debilitating joint and muscular pain that can be long lasting. Current CHIKV vaccines under development rely on the generation of neutralizing antibodies for protection; however, the role of T cells in controlling CHIKV infection and disease is still unclear. Using an overlapping peptide library, we identified the CHIKV-specific T cell receptor epitopes recognized in C57BL/6 infected mice at 7 and 14 days post-infection. A fusion protein containing peptides 451, 416, a small region of nsP4, peptide 47, and an HA tag (CHKVf5) was expressed using adenovirus and cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccines. Mice vaccinated with CHKVf5 elicited robust T cell responses to higher levels than normally observed following CHIKV infection, but the vaccine vectors did not elicit neutralizing antibodies. CHKVf5-vaccinated mice had significantly reduced infectious viral load when challenged by intramuscular CHIKV injection. Depletion of both CD

Mating Season, Egg-Laying Season, and Internal Gametic Association in the Sympatrically Occurring Fluffy Sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi) and Rosy Sculpin (O. rubellio)

Some marine sculpins (Psychrolutidae) exhibit an unusual reproductive mode called internal gametic association (IGA), in which sperm transfer between the sexes occurs during copulation, but fertilization is delayed until the eggs are released in seawater. IGA is suggested in many internally inseminating marine sculpins, but experimental evidence of IGA is limited to a few species. The Fluffy Sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi) and its sister species, the Rosy Sculpin (O. rubellio), occur in sympatry in intertidal zones along the central California coast. Although these species likely exhibit internal insemination, their reproductive strategy is not well understood. Here, we investigate reproductive mode, mating season, egg-laying season, and sperm morphology and activity in Fluffy and Rosy Sculpins near Pillar Point, California. Delayed embryonic development was observed for one clutch of eggs of the Rosy Sculpin after exposure to seawater, indicating IGA in this species. We were unable to demonstrate IGA by initiation of development in the Fluffy Sculpin because we were unable to collect females with ovulated oocytes. Nevertheless, we found that sperm morphology with elongated head and high motility in isotonic solution while immotile in seawater in both species represent characteristics associated with IGA. Seasonal changes in gonadosomatic index (GSI) of both sexes revealed asynchronous gonadal maturation between the sexes in the Fluffy Sculpin and suggest a similar pattern in the Rosy Sculpin; however, the latter was affected by small sample size. These patterns indicate that males copulate with females before egg maturation, and females store sperm for several months. Our study supports the generality of IGA across marine sculpins and provides an understanding of its relationship to asynchrony in GSI between the sexes. Further, while Fluffy and Rosy Sculpins are similar in body morphology, habitat, and reproductive mode, the slight difference in mating season (pre-mating isolation) and sperm head and flagellum length (post-mating isolation) may have contributed to divergence in sympatry with reduced probability of hybridization

Synergistic Release of Ca2+ from IP3-Sensitive Stores Evoked by Synaptic Activation of mGluRs Paired with Backpropagating Action Potentials

AbstractIncreases in postsynaptic [Ca2+]i can result from Ca2+ entry through ligand-gated channels or voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, or through release from intracellular stores. Most attention has focused on entry through the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in causing [Ca2+]i increases since this pathway requires both presynaptic stimulation and postsynaptic depolarization, making it a central component in models of synaptic plasticity. Here, we report that repetitive synaptic activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), paired with backpropagating action potentials, causes large, wave-like increases in [Ca2+]i predominantly in restricted regions of the proximal apical dendrites and soma of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. [Ca2+]i changes of several micromolars can be reached by regenerative release caused by the synergistic effect of mGluR-generated inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) and spike-evoked Ca2+ entry acting on the IP3 receptor