4,242 research outputs found
Physics at BES-III
This physics book provides detailed discussions on important topics in
-charm physics that will be explored during the next few years at \bes3 .
Both theoretical and experimental issues are covered, including extensive
reviews of recent theoretical developments and experimental techniques. Among
the subjects covered are: innovations in Partial Wave Analysis (PWA),
theoretical and experimental techniques for Dalitz-plot analyses, analysis
tools to extract absolute branching fractions and measurements of decay
constants, form factors, and CP-violation and \DzDzb-oscillation parameters.
Programs of QCD studies and near-threshold tau-lepton physics measurements are
also discussed.Comment: Edited by Kuang-Ta Chao and Yi-Fang Wan
A mutation affecting the sodium/proton exchanger, SLC9A6, causes mental retardation with tau deposition
We have studied a family with severe mental retardation characterized by the virtual absence of speech, autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, late-onset ataxia, weakness and dystonia. Post-mortem examination of two males revealed widespread neuronal loss, with the most striking finding being neuronal and glial tau deposition in a pattern reminiscent of corticobasal degeneration. Electron microscopic examination of isolated tau filaments demonstrated paired helical filaments and ribbon-like structures. Biochemical studies of tau demonstrated a preponderance of 4R tau isoforms. The phenotype was linked to Xq26.3, and further analysis identified an in-frame 9 base pair deletion in the solute carrier family 9, isoform A6 (SLC9A6 gene), which encodes sodium/hydrogen exchanger-6 localized to endosomal vesicles. Sodium/hydrogen exchanger-6 is thought to participate in the targeting of intracellular vesicles and may be involved in recycling synaptic vesicles. The striking tau deposition in our subjects reveals a probable interaction between sodium/proton exchangers and cytoskeletal elements involved in vesicular transport, and raises the possibility that abnormalities of vesicular targeting may play an important role in more common disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and autism spectrum disorder
Production of intermediate-mass dileptons in relativistic heavy ion collisions
The production of intermediate mass dileptons in ultrarelativistic nuclear
collisions at SPS energies is studied. The acceptance and detector resolution
inherent to measurements by the NA50 experimental collaboration are accurately
modeled. The measured centrality dependence of the intermediate mass lepton
pair excess is also addressed.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, ReVTe
Evidence of the Generation of Isosaccharinic Acids and Their Subsequent Degradation by Local Microbial Consortia within Hyper-Alkaline Contaminated Soils, with Relevance to Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
The contamination of surface environments with hydroxide rich wastes leads to the formation of high pH (>11.0) soil profiles. One such site is a legacy lime works at Harpur Hill, Derbyshire where soil profile indicated in-situ pH values up to pH 12. Soil and porewater profiles around the site indicated clear evidence of the presence of the α and β stereoisomers of isosaccharinic acid (ISA) resulting from the anoxic, alkaline degradation of cellulosic material. ISAs are of particular interest with regards to the disposal of cellulosic materials contained within the intermediate level waste (ILW) inventory of the United Kingdom, where they may influence radionuclide mobility via complexation events occurring within a geological disposal facility (GDF) concept. The mixing of uncontaminated soils with the alkaline leachate of the site resulted in ISA generation, where the rate of generation in-situ is likely to be dependent upon the prevailing temperature of the soil. Microbial consortia present in the uncontaminated soil were capable of surviving conditions imposed by the alkaline leachate and demonstrated the ability to utilise ISAs as a carbon source. Leachate-contaminated soil was sub-cultured in a cellulose degradation product driven microcosm operating at pH 11, the consortia present were capable of the degradation of ISAs and the generation of methane from the resultant H2/CO2 produced from fermentation processes. Following microbial community analysis, fermentation processes appear to be predominated by Clostridia from the genus Alkaliphilus sp, with methanogenesis being attributed to Methanobacterium and Methanomassiliicoccus sp. The study is the first to identify the generation of ISA within an anthropogenic environment and advocates the notion that microbial activity within an ILW-GDF is likely to influence the impact of ISAs upon radionuclide migration
Intermediate-mass dilepton spectra and the role of secondary hadronic processes in heavy-ion collisions
We carry out a study of intermediate-mass (between 1 and 2.5 GeV) dilepton
spectra from hadronic interactions in heavy-ion collisions. The processes
considered are , , , , , and . The elementary cross sections for those are obtained
from chiral Lagrangians involving pseudoscalar, vector, and axial-vector
mesons. The respective electromagnetic form factors are determined by fitting
to experimental data for the reverse processes of . Based on
this input we calculate cross sections and thermal dilepton emission rates and
compare our results with those from other approaches. Finally we use these
elementary cross sections with a relativistic transport model and calculate
dilepton spectra in S+W collisions at SPS energies. The comparison of our
results with experimental data from the HELIOS-3 collaboration indicates the
importance of the secondary hadronic contributions to the intermediate-mass
dilepton spectra.Comment: 25 pages, including 20 postscript figure
Phenomenology of non-standard Z couplings in exclusive semileptonic b -> s transitions
The rare decays , and
are analyzed in a generic scenario where New Physics effects
enter predominantly via penguin contributions. We show that this
possibility is well motivated on theoretical grounds, as the vertex
is particularly susceptible to non-standard dynamics. In addition, such a
framework is also interesting phenomenologically since the coupling
is rather poorly constrained by present data. The characteristic features of
this scenario for the relevant decay rates and distributions are investigated.
We emphasize that both sign and magnitude of the forward-backward asymmetry of
the decay leptons in , , carry sensitive information on New Physics. The observable is proposed as a useful probe of
non-standard CP violation in couplings.Comment: Minor modifications; version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Random walk on sparse random digraphs
International audienceA finite ergodic Markov chain exhibits cutoff if its distance to equilibrium remains close to its initial value over a certain number of iterations and then abruptly drops to near 0 on a much shorter time scale. Originally discovered in the context of card shuffling (Aldous-Diaconis, 1986), this remarkable phenomenon is now rigorously established for many reversible chains. Here we consider the non-reversible case of random walks on sparse directed graphs, for which even the equilibrium measure is far from being understood. We work under the configuration model, allowing both the in-degrees and the out-degrees to be freely specified. We establish the cutoff phenomenon, determine its precise window and prove that the cutoff profile approaches a universal shape. We also provide a detailed description of the equilibrium measure
New Physics in b -> s mu+ mu-: CP-Conserving Observables
We perform a comprehensive study of the impact of new-physics operators with
different Lorentz structures on decays involving the b -> s mu+ mu- transition.
We examine the effects of new vector-axial vector (VA), scalar-pseudoscalar
(SP) and tensor (T) interactions on the differential branching ratios and
forward-backward asymmetries (A_{FB}'s) of Bsbar -> mu+ mu-, Bdbar -> Xs mu+
mu-, Bsbar -> mu+ mu- gamma, Bdbar -> Kbar mu+ mu-, and Bdbar -> K* mu+ mu-,
taking the new-physics couplings to be real. In Bdbar -> K* mu+ mu-, we further
explore the polarization fraction f_L, the angular asymmetry A_T^{(2)}, and the
longitudinal-transverse asymmetry A_{LT}. We identify the Lorentz structures
that would significantly impact these observables, providing analytical
arguments in terms of the contributions from the individual operators and their
interference terms. In particular, we show that while the new VA operators can
significantly enhance most of the asymmetries beyond the Standard Model
predictions, the SP and T operators can do this only for A_{FB} in Bdbar ->
Kbar mu+ mu-.Comment: 54 pages, JHEP format, 45 figures (included). 5/6/2013: typos in K*
mu mu angular coefficients corrected, typos in Eq. (D.12) corrected, added a
missing term in I3LT in Eq. (D.16). Numerical analysis unchange
Neutrophils in cancer: neutral no more
Neutrophils are indispensable antagonists of microbial infection and facilitators of wound healing. In the cancer setting, a newfound appreciation for neutrophils has come into view. The traditionally held belief that neutrophils are inert bystanders is being challenged by the recent literature. Emerging evidence indicates that tumours manipulate neutrophils, sometimes early in their differentiation process, to create diverse phenotypic and functional polarization states able to alter tumour behaviour. In this Review, we discuss the involvement of neutrophils in cancer initiation and progression, and their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets
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