Ambiguity of black hole entropy in loop quantum gravity

We reexmine some proposals of black hole entropy in loop quantum gravity (LQG) and consider a new possible choice of the Immirzi parameter which has not been pointed out so far. We also discuss that a new idea is inevitable if we regard the relation between the area spectrum in LQG and that in the quasinormal mode analysis seriously.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, error corrected, PRD published versio

The universal area spectrum in single-horizon black holes

We investigate highly damped quasinormal mode of single-horizon black holes motivated by its relation to the loop quantum gravity. Using the WKB approximation, we show that the real part of the frequency approaches the value $T_{\rm H}\ln 3$ for dilatonic black hole as conjectured by Medved et al. and Padmanabhan. It is surprising since the area specrtum of the black hole determined by the Bohr's correspondence principle completely agrees with that of Schwarzschild black hole for any values of the electromagnetic charge or the dilaton coupling. We discuss its generality for single-horizon black holes and the meaning in the loop quantum gravity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, references and comments adde

The Fate of a Five-Dimensional Rotating Black Hole via Hawking Radiation

We study the evolution of a five-dimensional rotating black hole emitting scalar field radiation via the Hawking process for arbitrary initial values of the two rotation parameters $a$ and $b$. It is found that any such black hole whose initial rotation parameters are both nonzero evolves toward an asymptotic state $a/M^{1/2}=b/M^{1/2}={\rm const}(\neq 0)$, where this constant is independent of the initial values of $a$ and $b$.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Continuous area spectrum in regular black hole

We investigate highly damped quasinormal modes of regular black hole coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics. Using the WKB approximation combined with complex-integration technique, we show that the real part of the frequency disappears in the highly damped limit. If we use the Bohr's correspondence principle, the area spectrum of this black hole is continuous. We discuss its implication in the loop quantum gravity.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

Quantitative Assessment of Thyroid Nodules Using Dual-Energy Computed Tomography: Iodine Concentration Measurement and Multiparametric Texture Analysis for Differentiating between Malignant and Benign Lesions

Background and Objectives. Thyroid nodules are increasingly being detected during cross-sectional imaging of the neck and chest. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) using iodine concentration measurement and multiparametric texture analysis of monochromatic images for differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. Materials and Methods. This retrospective study included 34 consecutive patients who presented with thyroid nodules and underwent noncontrast DECT between 2015 and 2016. Manual segmentation of each thyroid nodule by monochromatic imaging (40, 60, and 80 keV) was performed, and an in-house developed MATLAB-based texture analysis program was used to extract 41 textures. Iodine material decomposition and CT attenuation slopes were also measured. Histopathologic findings of ultrasound-guided biopsies over a follow-up period of at least one year were used as reference standards. Basic descriptive statistics and areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) were evaluated. Results. The 34 nodules comprised 14 benign nodules and 20 malignant nodules. Iodine content and Hounsfield unit curve slopes did not differ significantly between benign and malignant thyroid nodules (P=0.480–0.670). However, significant differences in the texture features of monochromatic images were observed between benign and malignant nodules: histogram mean and median, co-occurrence matrix contrast, gray-level gradient matrix (GLGM) skewness, and mean gradients and variance of gradients for GLGM at 80 keV (P=0.014–0.044). The highest AUC was 0.77, for the histogram mean and median of images acquired at 80 keV. Conclusions. Texture features extracted from monochromatic images using DECT, specifically acquired at high keV, may be a promising diagnostic approach for thyroid nodules. A further large study for incidental thyroid nodules using DECT texture analysis is required to validate our results

Design Studies on a High-Power Wide-Band RF Combiner for Consolidation of the Driver Amplifier of the J-PARC RCS

A power upgrade of the existing 8 kW solid-state driver amplifier is required for the acceleration of high intensity proton beams in the J-PARC 3 GeV rapid cycling synchrotron (RCS). The development of a 25 kW amplifier with gallium nitride (GaN) HEMTs and based on 6.4 kW modules is ongoing. The combiner is a key component to achieve such a high output power over the wide bandwidth required for multi-harmonic rf operation. This paper presents a preliminary design of the combiner. The circuit simulation setup and results, including the realistic magnetic core characteristics and frequency response of the cables are reported

Prostatic urinary tract visualization with super-resolution deep learning models

In urethra-sparing radiation therapy, prostatic urinary tract visualization is important in decreasing the urinary side effect. A methodology has been developed to visualize the prostatic urinary tract using post-urination magnetic resonance imaging (PU-MRI) without a urethral catheter. This study investigated whether the combination of PU-MRI and super-resolution (SR) deep learning models improves the visibility of the prostatic urinary tract. We enrolled 30 patients who had previously undergone real-time-image-gated spot scanning proton therapy by insertion of fiducial markers. PU-MRI was performed using a non-contrast high-resolution two-dimensional T2-weighted turbo spin-echo imaging sequence. Four different SR deep learning models were used: the enhanced deep SR network (EDSR), widely activated SR network (WDSR), SR generative adversarial network (SRGAN), and residual dense network (RDN). The complex wavelet structural similarity index measure (CW-SSIM) was used to quantitatively assess the performance of the proposed SR images compared to PU-MRI. Two radiation oncologists used a 1-to-5 scale to subjectively evaluate the visibility of the prostatic urinary tract. Cohen's weighted kappa (k) was used as a measure of agreement of inter-operator reliability. The mean CW-SSIM in EDSR, WDSR, SRGAN, and RDN was 99.86%, 99.89%, 99.30%, and 99.67%, respectively. The mean prostatic urinary tract visibility scores of the radiation oncologists were 3.70 and 3.53 for PU-MRI (k = 0.93), 3.67 and 2.70 for EDSR (k = 0.89), 3.70 and 2.73 for WDSR (k = 0.88), 3.67 and 2.73 for SRGAN (k = 0.88), and 4.37 and 3.73 for RDN (k = 0.93), respectively. The results suggest that SR images using RDN are similar to the original images, and the SR deep learning models subjectively improve the visibility of the prostatic urinary tract