88 research outputs found
Structural and dielectric properties of SrTiO from first principles
We have investigated the structural and dielectric properties of
SrTiO,the first member of the SrTiO
Ruddlesden-Popper series, within density functional theory. Motivated by recent
work in which thin films of SrTiO were grown by molecular beam
epitaxy (MBE) on SrTiO substrates, the in-plane lattice parameter was
fixed to the theoretically optimized lattice constant of cubic SrTiO
(n=), while the out-of-plane lattice parameter and the internal
structural parameters were relaxed. The fully relaxed structure was also
investigated. Density functional perturbation theory was used to calculate the
zone-center phonon frequencies, Born effective charges, and the electronic
dielectric permittivity tensor. A detailed study of the contribution of
individual infrared-active modes to the static dielectric permittivity tensor
was performed. The calculated Raman and infrared phonon frequencies were found
to be in agreement with experiment where available. Comparisons of the
calculated static dielectric permittivity with experiments on both ceramic
powders and epitaxial thin films are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 8 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Chiral Multiplets of Heavy-Light Mesons
The recent discovery of a narrow resonance in D_s+pi^0 by the BABAR
collaboration is consistent with the interpretation of a heavy J^P(0+,1+) spin
multiplet. This system is the parity partner of the groundstate (0-,1-)
multiplet, which we argue is required in the implementation of SU(3)_L x
SU(3)_R chiral symmetry in heavy-light meson systems. The (0+,1+)->(0-,1-)+pi
transition couplings satisfy a Goldberger-Treiman relation, g_pi =
Delta(M)/f_pi, where Delta(M) is the mass gap. The BABAR resonance fits the 0+
state, with a kinematically blocked principal decay mode to D+K. The allowed
D_s+pi, D_s+2pi and electromagnetic transitions are computed from the full
chiral theory and found to be suppressed, consistent with the narrowness of the
state. This state establishes the chiral mass difference for all such
heavy-quark chiral multiplets, and precise predictions exist for the analogous
B_s and strange doubly-heavy baryon states.Comment: 10 pages; minor editorial revisions; recomputed M1 transitio
Nonresonant Three-body Decays of D and B Mesons
Nonresonant three-body decays of D and B mesons are studied. It is pointed
out that if heavy meson chiral perturbation theory (HMChPT) is applied to the
heavy-light strong and weak vertices and assumed to be valid over the whole
kinematic region, then the predicted decay rates for nonresonant charmless
3-body B decays will be too large and especially B^- --> pi^- K^+ K^- greatly
exceeds the current experimental limit. This can be understood as chiral
symmetry has been applied there twice beyond its region of validity. If HMChPT
is applied only to the strong vertex and the weak transition is accounted for
by the form factors, the dominant B^* pole contribution to the tree-dominated
direct three-body B decays will become small and the branching ratio will be of
order 10^{-6}. The decay modes B^- --> (K^- h^+ h^-)_{NR} and bar{B}^0 -->
(bar{K}^0 h^+h^-)_{NR} for h = pi, K are penguin dominated. We apply HMChPT in
two different cases to study the direct 3-body D decays and compare the results
with experiment. Theoretical uncertainties are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures. New experimental results of direct 3-body D
decays as Reported at ICHEP2002 are included. To appear in Phys. Re
Resonant and nonresonant D+ -> K- pi+ l+ nu(l) semileptonic decays
We analyse the semileptonic decay D+ -> K- pi+ l+ nu(l) using an effective
Lagrangian developed previously to describe the decays D -> P l nu(l) and D ->
V l nu(l). Light vector mesons are included in the model which combines the
heavy quark effective Lagrangian and chiral perturbation theory approach. The
nonresonant and resonant contributions are compared. With no new parameters the
model correctly reproduces the measured ratio Gamma(nres)/Gamma(nres + res). We
also present useful nonresonant decay distributions. Finally, a similar model,
but with a modified current which satisfies the soft pion theorems at the
expense of introducing another parameter, is analyzed and the results of the
models are compared.Comment: 17 pages, 3 Postscript figures, standard Latex, extended revision,
title, abstract and text (especially Sec. IV) changed, results unchange
Inflammatory breast cancer: dynamic contrast-enhanced MR in patients receiving bevacizumab. Initial experience
To retrospectively compare three dynamic contrast material-enhanced
magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (dynamic MR imaging) analytic methods to
determine the parameter or combination of parameters most strongly associated
with changes in tumor microvasculature during treatment with bevacizumab alone
and bevacizumab plus chemotherapy in patients with inflammatory or locally
advanced breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted in
accordance with the institutional review board of the National Cancer Institute
and was compliant with the Privacy Act of 1974. Informed consent was obtained
from all patients. Patients with inflammatory or locally advanced breast cancer
were treated with one cycle of bevacizumab alone (cycle 1) followed by six cycles
of combination bevacizumab and chemotherapy (cycles 2-7). Serial dynamic MR
images were obtained, and the kinetic parameters measured by using three dynamic
analytic MR methods (heuristic, Brix, and general kinetic models) and two
region-of-interest strategies were compared by using two-sided statistical tests.
A P value of .01 was required for significance. RESULTS: In 19 patients, with use
of a whole-tumor region of interest, the authors observed a significant decrease
in the median values of three parameters measured from baseline to cycle 1:
forward transfer rate constant (Ktrans) (-34% relative change, P=.003), backflow
compartmental rate constant extravascular and extracellular to plasma (Kep) (-15%
relative change, P<.001), and integrated area under the gadolinium concentration
curve (IAUGC) at 180 seconds (-23% relative change, P=.009). A trend toward
differences in the heuristic slope of the washout curve between responders and
nonresponders to therapy was observed after cycle 1 (bevacizumab alone, P=.02).
The median relative change in slope of the wash-in curve from baseline to cycle 4
was significantly different between responders and nonresponders (P=.009).
CONCLUSION: The dynamic contrast-enhanced MR parameters Ktrans, Kep, and IAUGC at
180 seconds appear to have the strongest association with early physiologic
response to bevacizumab. Clinical trial registration no. NCT0001654
Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons
We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of
leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark,
either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to
determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model,
the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and . These
parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they
have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract
precise values of and from measurements, however,
requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm
and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions
governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is
relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into
hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches,
especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing
insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international
effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics
during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in
the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of
contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at
http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p
Rare Charm Decays in the Standard Model and Beyond
We perform a comprehensive study of a number of rare charm decays,
incorporating the first evaluation of the QCD corrections to the short distance
contributions, as well as examining the long range effects. For processes
mediated by the transitions, we show that sensitivity to
short distance physics exists in kinematic regions away from the vector meson
resonances that dominate the total rate. In particular, we find that
and are sensitive to non-universal
soft-breaking effects in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with
R-parity conservation. We separately study the sensitivity of these modes to
R-parity violating effects and derive new bounds on R-parity violating
couplings. We also obtain predictions for these decays within extensions of the
Standard Model, including extensions of the Higgs, gauge and fermion sectors,
as well as models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking.Comment: 45 pages, typos fixed, discussions adde
Intrauterine devices and endometrial cancer risk : a pooled analysis of the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium
Intrauterine devices (IUDs), long-acting and reversible contraceptives, induce a number of immunological and biochemical changes in the uterine environment that could affect endometrial cancer (EC) risk. We addressed this relationship through a pooled analysis of data collected in the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium. We combined individual-level data from 4 cohort and 14 case-control studies, in total 8,801 EC cases and 15,357 controls. Using multivariable logistic regression, we estimated pooled odds ratios (pooled-ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for EC risk associated with ever use, type of device, ages at first and last use, duration of use and time since last use, stratified by study and adjusted for confounders. Ever use of IUDs was inversely related to EC risk (pooled-OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.74-0.90). Compared with never use, reduced risk of EC was observed for inert IUDs (pooled-OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.58-0.82), older age at first use (≥35 years pooled-OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.43-0.67), older age at last use (≥45 years pooled-OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.50-0.72), longer duration of use (≥10 years pooled-OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.52-0.71) and recent use (within 1 year of study entry pooled-OR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.30-0.49). Future studies are needed to assess the respective roles of detection biases and biologic effects related to foreign body responses in the endometrium, heavier bleeding (and increased clearance of carcinogenic cells) and localized hormonal changes
Semileptonic Meson Decays in the Quark Model: An Update
We present the predictions of ISGW2, an update of the ISGW quark model for
semileptonic meson decays. The updated model incorporates a number of features
which should make it more reliable, including the constraints imposed by Heavy
Quark Symmetry, hyperfine distortions of wavefunctions, and form factors with
more realistic high recoil behaviors.Comment: All text and tables contained in the ".latex" file and all figures
(14) contained in the ".uu" file
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