242 research outputs found
Searching for Composite Neutrinos in the Cosmic Microwave Background
We analyze signals in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in theories where
the small Dirac neutrino masses arise as a consequence of the compositeness of
right-handed neutrinos. In such theories, the right-handed neutrinos are
massless ``baryons'' of a new strong gauge interaction. We find that the
results crucially depend on whether or not the new strong sector undergoes
chiral symmetry breaking. In the case with chiral symmetry breaking, we find
that there are indeed signals in the CMB, but none of them is a direct
consequence of neutrino compositeness. In contrast, if the underlying theory
does not undergo chiral symmetry breaking, the large scattering cross-section
among the composites gives rise to a sizable CMB signal over a wide region of
the parameter space, and it can potentially probe whether the neutrino mass
spectrum is hierarchical, inverse hierarchical, or degenerate. We also discuss
collider constraints on the compositeness in the context of the CMB signals.Comment: 26 pages. References and clarifying comments added. Version appearing
to JHE
CMB Signals of Neutrino Mass Generation
We propose signals in the cosmic microwave background to probe the type and
spectrum of neutrino masses. In theories that have spontaneous breaking of
approximate lepton flavor symmetries at or below the weak scale, light
pseudo-Goldstone bosons recouple to the cosmic neutrinos after nucleosynthesis
and affect the acoustic oscillations of the electron-photon fluid during the eV
era. Deviations from the Standard Model are predicted for both the total energy
density in radiation during this epoch, \Delta N_nu, and for the multipole of
the n'th CMB peak at large n, \Delta l_n. The latter signal is difficult to
reproduce other than by scattering of the known neutrinos, and is therefore an
ideal test of our class of theories. In many models, the large shift, \Delta
l_n \approx 8 n_S, depends on the number of neutrino species that scatter via
the pseudo-Goldstone boson interaction. This interaction is proportional to the
neutrino masses, so that the signal reflects the neutrino spectrum. The
prediction for \Delta N_nu is highly model dependent, but can be accurately
computed within any given model. It is very sensitive to the number of
pseudo-Goldstone bosons, and therefore to the underlying symmetries of the
leptons, and is typically in the region of 0.03 < \Delta N_nu < 1. This signal
is significantly larger for Majorana neutrinos than for Dirac neutrinos, and,
like the scattering signal, varies as the spectrum of neutrinos is changed from
hierarchical to inverse hierarchical to degenerate.Comment: 40 pages, 4 figure
Conformal Technicolor
We point out that the flavor problem in theories with dynamical electroweak
symmetry breaking can be effectively decoupled if the physics above the TeV
scale is strongly conformal, and the electroweak order parameter has a scaling
dimension d = 1 + epsilon with epsilon \simeq 1/few. There are many
restrictions on small values of epsilon: for epsilon << 1, electroweak symmetry
breaking requires a fine-tuning similar to that of the standard model; large-N
conformal field theories (including those obtained from the AdS/CFT
correspondence) require fine-tuning for d < 2; `walking technicolor' theories
cannot have d < 2, according to gap equation analyses. However, strong small-N
conformal field theories with epsilon \simeq 1/few avoid all these constraints,
and can give rise to natural dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking with a top
quark flavor scale of order 10^{1/epsilon} TeV, large enough to decouple
flavor. Small-N theories also have an acceptably small Peskin-Takeuchi S
parameter. This class of theories provides a new direction for dynamical
electroweak symmetry breaking without problems from flavor or electroweak
precision tests. A possible signal for these theories is a prominent scalar
resonance below the TeV scale with couplings similar to a heavy standard model
Higgs.Comment: 26 pages + References. Slight wording changes. Version appearing in
JHE
Mini Z' Burst from Relic Supernova Neutrinos and Late Neutrino Masses
In models in which neutrinos are light, due to a low scale of symmetry
breaking, additional light bosons are generically present. We show that the
interaction between diffuse relic supernova neutrinos (RSN) and the cosmic
background neutrinos, via exchange of these light scalars, can result in a
dramatic change of the supernova (SN) neutrinos flux. Measurement of this
effect with current or future experiments can provide a spectacular direct
evidence for the low scale models. We demonstrate how the observation of
neutrinos from SN1987A constrains the symmetry breaking scale of the above
models. We also discuss how current and future experiments may confirm or
further constrain the above models, either by detecting the ``accumulative
resonance'' that diffuse RSN go through or via a large suppression of the flux
of neutrinos from nearby < O(Mpc) SN bursts.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, version to be published in JHE
Abnormalities of the FHIT gene in human oral carcinogenesis
The abnormalities of the fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene in tissue samples of oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) along with several leukoplakias and an erythroplakia were examined to determine whether the FHIT gene is actually a frequent target in vivo for alteration during oral carcinogenesis. Abnormal transcripts of the FHIT gene were found in eight of 15 oral SCCs. Although these abnormal transcripts varied widely, deletion patterns incorporating a deletion of exon 5 were the most common. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis demonstrated that the abnormal FHIT transcripts found in cancer cells were attributable to abnormalities of the FHIT gene. Abnormal FHIT transcripts were also observed in two of seven premalignant lesions. Interestingly, in the case of one patient with a premalignant lesion showing an abnormal FHIT transcript, subsequent oral SCC developed during a 3-year follow-up period. On the other hand, in the two patients from whom both leukoplakia and SCC samples were taken simultaneously, abnormal FHIT transcripts were found only in the SCCs. Although the functional role of FHIT remains to be clarified, these results suggest that the FHIT alteration is actually involved in carcinogenesis of the oral epithelium. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig
Composite Dirac Neutrinos
We present a mechanism that naturally produces light Dirac neutrinos. The
basic idea is that the right-handed neutrinos are composite. Any realistic
composite model must involve `hidden flavor' chiral symmetries. In general some
of these symmetries may survive confinement, and in particular, one of them
manifests itself at low energy as an exact symmetry. Dirac neutrinos are
therefore produced. The neutrinos are naturally light due to compositeness. In
general, sterile states are present in the model, some of them can naturally be
warm dark matter candidates.Comment: 12 pages; Sec. IIC updated; minor corrections; published versio
Proposal of a decentralized peristaltic movement generation based on actual intestines and verification by content transfer experiment
Bone pain induced by multiple myeloma is reduced by targeting V-ATPase and ASIC3
Multiple myeloma (MM) patients experience severe bone pain (MMBP) that is undertreated and poorly understood. In this study, we studied MMBP in an intratibial mouse xenograft model which employs JJN3 human MM cells. In this model, mice develop MMBP associated in bone with increased sprouting of calcitonin gene-related peptide-positive (CGRP+) sensory nerves and in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) with upregulation of phosphorylated ERK1/2 (pERK1/2) and pCREB, two molecular indicators of neuron excitation. We found that JJN3 cells expressed a vacuolar proton pump (V-ATPase) that induced an acidic bone microenvironment. Inhibition of JJN3-colonized bone acidification by a single injection of the selective V-ATPase inhibitor, bafilomycin A1, decreased MMBP, CGRP+ SN sprouting, and pERK1/2 and pCREB expression in DRG. CGRP+ sensory nerves also expressed increased levels of the acid-sensing nociceptor ASIC3. Notably, a single injection of the selective ASIC3 antagonist APETx2 dramatically reduced MMBP in the model. Mechanistic investigations in primary DRG neurons co-cultured with JJN3 cells showed increased neurite outgrowth and excitation inhibited by bafilomycin A1 or APETx2. Further, combining APETx2 with bafilomycin A1 reduced MMBP to a greater extent than either agent alone. Lastly, combining bafilomycin A1 with the osteoclast inhibitor zoledronic acid was sufficient to ameliorate MMBP which was refractory to zoledronic acid. Overall, our results show that osteoclasts and MM cooperate to induce an acidic bone microenvironment that evokes MMBP as a result of the excitation of ASIC3-activated sensory neurons. Further, they present a mechanistic rationale for targeting ASIC3 on neurons along with the MM-induced acidic bone microenvironment as a strategy to relieve MMBP in patients
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