Light-Scattering by Longitudinal phonons in Supercooled Molecular Liquids II: Microscopic Derivation of the Phenomenological Equations

The constitutive equations for the orientational dynamics of a liquid formed of linear molecules are derived microscopically. The resulting generalised Langevin equations coincide with the phenomenological approach of Dreyfus et al. Formally exact expressions are given for the phenomenological coefficients and various constraints are shown to be consequences of this microscopic approach.Comment: 18 page

LHC/ILC Interplay in SUSY Searches

Combined analyses at the Large Hadron Collider and at the International Linear Collider are important to reveal precisely the new physics model as, for instance, supersymmetry. Examples are presented where ILC results as input for LHC analyses could be crucial for the identification of signals as well as of the underlying model. The synergy of both colliders leads also to rather accurate SUSY parameter determination and powerful mass constraints even if the scalar particles have masses in the multi-TeV range.Comment: 5 pages, contribution to the proceedings of EPS0

Neutralino Pair Production and 3-Body Decays at e+e−e^+e^- Linear Colliders as Probes of CP Violation in the Neutralino System

In the CP-invariant supersymmetric theories, the steep S-wave (slow P-wave) rise of the cross section for any non-diagonal neutralino pair production in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation, $e^+e^- \to \tilde{\chi}^0_i \tilde{\chi}^0_j$ ($i \neq j$), near threshold is accompanied by the slow P-wave (steep S-wave) decrease of the fermion invariant mass distribution of the 3-body neutralino decay, $\tilde{\chi}^0_i \to \tilde{\chi}^0_j f\bar{f}$ ($f=l$ or $q$), near the end point. These selection rules, unique to the neutralino system due to its Majorana nature, guarantee that the observation of simultaneous sharp S-wave excitations of the production cross section near threshold and the lepton and quark invariant mass distribution near the end point is a qualitative, unambiguous evidence for CP violation in the neutralino system.Comment: 11 pages, 1 eps figure, a reference adde

Combined LHC/ILC analysis of a SUSY scenario with heavy sfermions

We discuss the potential of combined analyses at the Large Hadron Collider and the planned International Linear Collider to explore low-energy supersymmetry in a difficult region of the parameter space characterized by masses of the scalar SUSY particles around 2 TeV. Precision analyses of cross sections for light chargino production and forward--backward asymmetries of decay leptons and hadrons at the ILC, together with mass information on chi^0_2 and squarks from the LHC, allow us to determine the underlying fundamental gaugino/higgsino MSSM parameters and to constrain the masses of the heavy, kinematically inaccessible sparticles. No assumptions on a specific SUSY-breaking mechanism are imposed. For this analysis the complete spin correlations between production and decay processes are taken into account.Comment: new figure added, updated to match the published versio

CP Phases in Correlated Production and Decay of Neutralinos in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model

We investigate the associated production of neutralinos $e^+e^-\to\tilde{\chi}^0_1\tilde{\chi}^0_2$ accompanied by the neutralino leptonic decay $\tilde{\chi}^0_2\to\tilde{\chi}^0_1 \ell^+\ell^-$, taking into account initial beam polarization and production-decay spin correlations in the minimal supersymmetric standard model with general CP phases but without generational mixing in the slepton sector. The stringent constraints from the electron EDM on the CP phases are also included in the discussion. Initial beam polarizations lead to three CP--even distributions and one CP--odd distribution, which can be studied independently of the details of the neutralino decays. We find that the production cross section and the branching fractions of the leptonic neutralino decays are very sensitive to the CP phases. In addition, the production--decay spin correlations lead to several CP--even observables such as lepton invariant mass distribution, and lepton angular distribution, and one interesting T--odd (CP--odd) triple product of the initial electron momentum and two final lepton momenta, the size of which might be large enough to be measured at the high--luminosity future electron--positron collider or can play a complementary role in constraining the CP phases with the EDM constraints.Comment: Revtex, 37 pages, 12 eps figure

Momentum asymmetries as CP violating observables

Three body decays can exhibit CP violation that arises from interfering diagrams with different orderings of the final state particles. We construct several momentum asymmetry observables that are accessible in a hadron collider environment where some of the final state particles are not reconstructed and not all the kinematic information can be extracted. We discuss the complications that arise from the different possible production mechanisms of the decaying particle. Examples involving heavy neutralino decays in supersymmetric theories and heavy Majorana neutrino decays in Type-I seesaw models are examined.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures. Clarifying comments and one reference added, matches published versio

Decays of the MSSM Higgs Bosons with Explicit CP Violation

We study Higgs boson decays in the minimal supersymmetric standard model where the tree-level CP invariance of the Higgs potential is explicitly broken by loop effects of soft CP-violating Yukawa interactions related to scalar quarks of the third generation. The scalar-pseudoscalar mixing among two neutral CP-even Higgs bosons and one CP-odd Higgs boson due to explicit CP violation modifies their tree-level couplings to fermions, to the W^\pm and Z bosons and to Higgs bosons themselves significantly. We analyze the phenomenological impact of explicit CP violation on the branching ratios of the neutral Higgs boson decays in detail and discuss how to directly confirm the existence of explicit CP violation through \tau^+ \tau^- and t \bar{t} spin correlations in the decays of the neutral Higgs bosons into a tau-lepton pair and a top-quark pair.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, some references added and correcte

Statins interfere with the attachment of S. cerevisiae mtDNA to the inner mitochondrial membrane

The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme of the mevalonate pathway for the synthesis of cholesterol in mammals (ergosterol in fungi), is inhibited by statins, a class of cholesterol lowering drugs. Indeed, statins are in a wide medical use, yet statins treatment could induce side effects as hepatotoxicity and myopathy in patients. We used Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model to investigate the effects of statins on mitochondria. We demonstrate that statins are active in S.cerevisiae by lowering the ergosterol content in cells and interfering with the attachment of mitochondrial DNA to the inner mitochondrial membrane. Experiments on murine myoblasts confirmed these results in mammals. We propose that the instability of mitochondrial DNA is an early indirect target of statins

Dissociation and its biological and clinical associations in functional neurological disorder: : systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundStudies have reported elevated rates of dissociative symptoms and comorbid dissociative disorders in functional neurological disorder (FND); however, a comprehensive review is lacking.AimsTo systematically review the severity of dissociative symptoms and prevalence of comorbid dissociative disorders in FND and summarise their biological and clinical associations.MethodWe searched Embase, PsycInfo and MEDLINE up to June 2021, combining terms for FND and dissociation. Studies were eligible if reporting dissociative symptom scores or rates of comorbid dissociative disorder in FND samples. Risk of bias was appraised using modified Newcastle–Ottawa criteria. The findings weresynthesised qualitatively and dissociative symptom scores were included in a meta-analysis (PROSPERO CRD42020173263).ResultsSeventy-five studies were eligible (FND n = 3940; control n = 3073), most commonly prospective case–control studies (k = 54). Dissociative disorders were frequently comorbid in FND. Psychoform dissociation was elevated in FND compared with healthy (g = 0.90, 95% CI 0.66–1.14, I2 = 70%) and neurologicalcontrols (g = 0.56, 95% CI 0.19–0.92, I2 = 67%). Greater psychoform dissociation was observed in FND samples with seizure symptoms versus healthy controls (g = 0.94, 95% CI 0.65–1.22, I2 = 42%) and FND samples with motor symptoms (g = 0.40, 95% CI −0.18 to 1.00, I2 = 54%). Somatoform dissociation was elevated in FND versus healthy controls (g = 1.80, 95% CI 1.25–2.34,I2 = 75%). Dissociation in FND was associated with more severe functional symptoms, worse quality of life and brain alterations.ConclusionsOur findings highlight the potential clinical utility of assessing patients with FND for dissociative symptomatology. However, fewer studies investigated FND samples with motor symptoms and heterogeneity between studies and risk of bias were high. Rigorous investigation of the prevalence, features and mechanistic relevance of dissociation in FND is needed