The substellar population of the young cluster lambda Orionis

By collecting optical and infrared photometry and low resolution spectroscopy, we have identified a large number of low mass stars and brown dwarf candidates belonging to the young cluster (~5 Myr) associated with the binary star lambda Orionis. The lowest mass object found is a M8.5 with an estimated mass of 0.02 Msun (~0.01 Msun for objects without spectroscopic confirmation). For those objects with spectroscopy, the measured strength of the Halpha emission line follows a distribution similar to other clusters with the same age range, with larger equivalent widths for cooler spectral types. Three of the brown dwarfs have Halpha emission equivalent widths of order 100 \AA, suggestive that they may have accretion disks and thus are the substellar equivalent of Classical T Tauri stars. We have derived the Initial Mass Function for the cluster. For the substellar regime, the index of the mass spectrum is alpha=0.60$+-0.06, very similar to other young associations.Comment: Astrophysica Journal, accepted April 2, 200

Noncommutative spaces, the quantum of time and the Lorentz symmetry

We introduce three space-times that are discrete in time and compatible with the Lorentz symmetry. We show that these spaces are no commutative, with commutation relations similar to the relations of the Snyder and Yang spaces. Furthermore, using a reparametrized relativistic particle we obtain a realization of the Snyder type spaces and we construct an action for them.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in PR

EQ-5D-5L Health-State Values for the Mexican Population.

OBJECTIVE: To generate a value set for the Mexican adult general population to support and facilitate the inclusion of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) into the health technology assessment process of the Mexican healthcare authorities. METHODS: A representative sample of the Mexican adult population stratified by age, sex and socio-economic status was used. Following version 2.0 of the EuroQol EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol, trained interviewers guided participants in completing composite time trade-off (cTTO) and discrete-choice experiment (DCE) tasks included in the EQ-VT software. Generalized least squares, Tobit and Bayesian models were used for cTTO data. The choice of value set model was based on criteria that included: theoretical considerations, parsimony, logical ordering of coefficients, and statistical significance. RESULTS: Based on quality control criteria and interviewer judgment, 1000 out of 1032 participants provided useable responses. Participants' demographic characteristics were similar to the 2010 Mexican Population Census and followed the socioeconomic structure defined by the Mexican Association of Marketing Research and Public Opinion Agencies (AMAI). The predicted index values in the final cTTO model (a heteroscedastic censored model with Bayesian estimation) ranged from - 0.5960 to 1, with 19.7% of all predicted health state scores less than 0 (i.e., worse than dead). CONCLUSION: This study has generated the first value set representing the stated preferences of the Mexican adult population for use in estimating QALYs. The resulting EQ-5D-5L value set is technically robust and will facilitate health economic analyses as well as quality-of-life studies

Low temperature microwave emission from molecular clusters

We investigate the experimental detection of the electromagnetic radiation generated in the fast magnetization reversal in Mn12-acetate at low temperatures. In our experiments we used large single crystals and assemblies of several small single crystals of Mn12-acetate placed inside a cylindrical stainless steel waveguide in which an InSb hot electron device was also placed to detect the radiation. All this was set inside a SQUID magnetometer that allowed to change the magnetic field and measure the magnetic moment and the temperature of the sample as the InSb detected simultaneously the radiation emitted from the molecular magnets. Our data show a sequential process in which the fast inversion of the magnetic moment first occurs, then the radiation is detected by the InSb device, and finally the temperature of the sample increases during 15 ms to subsequently recover its original value in several hundreds of milliseconds.Comment: changed conten

Phase-coherence threshold and vortex-glass state in diluted Josephson-junction arrays in a magnetic field

We study numerically the interplay of phase coherence and vortex-glass state in two-dimensional Josephson-junction arrays with average rational values of flux quantum per plaquette $f$ and random dilution of junctions. For $f=1/2$, we find evidence of a phase coherence threshold value $x_s$, below the percolation concentration of diluted junctions $x_p$, where the superconducting transition vanishes. For $x_s < x < x_p$ the array behaves as a zero-temperature vortex glass with nonzero linear resistance at finite temperatures. The zero-temperature critical currents are insensitive to variations in $f$ in the vortex glass region while they are strongly $f$ dependent in the phase coherent region.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Vortex Lattice Melting in 2D Superconducting Networks and Films

We carry out MC studies of 2D superconducting networks, in an applied magnetic field, for square and honeycomb geometries. We consider both dilute systems (f=1/q) and systems near full frustration (f=1/2-1/q). For the dilute case (which models a film as q->infinity), we find two transitions: at T_c(f)~1/q there is a depinning transition from a pinned to a floating vortex lattice; at T_m(f)~constant the floating vortex lattice melts into an isotropic liquid. We analyze this melting according to the Kosterlitz- Thouless theory of dislocation mediated melting, and find that the melting is weakly first order. For the case near full frustration, the system can be described in terms of the density of defects in an otherwise fully frustrated vortex pattern. We find pinned solid, floating solid, and liquid defect phases, as well as a higher sharp transition corresponding to the disordering of the fully frustrated background.Comment: 55 pages, RevTex3.0, 25 figures (available by mail by contacting [email protected]

Altered expression of the immunoregulatory ligand-receptor pair CD200-CD200R1 in the brain of Parkinson's disease patients

Neuroinflammation, in which activated microglia are involved, appears to contribute to the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the role of microglial activation and the mechanisms governing this process remain uncertain. We focused on one inhibitory mechanism involved in the control of microglial activation, the microglia inhibitory receptor CD200R1, and its ligand CD200, mainly expressed by neurons. The human CD200R1 gene encodes two membrane-associated and two soluble protein isoforms and the human CD200 gene encodes full-length proteins (CD200full) but also truncated (CD200tr) proteins which act as CD200R1 antagonists. Little is known about their expression in the human brain under pathological conditions. We used human peripheral blood monocytes and monocyte-derived microglia-like cells from control subjects to characterize the expression of the CD200R1 mRNA variants, which showed stimulus-specific responses. We provide evidence of increased CD200R1 (mRNA variants and protein isoforms) and CD200 expression (CD200tr mRNA) in brain tissue of PD patients, mainly in the hippocampus, as well as increased CD200 expression (CD200full and CD200tr mRNAs) in iPSCs-derived dopaminergic neurons generated from skin fibroblasts of PD patients. Our results suggest that CD200-CD200R1 signalling is altered in PD, which may affect the microglial function and constitute a potential target in therapeutic strategies for PD.© 2022. The Author(s)

Critical Exponents of the Fully Frustrated 2-D Xy Model

We present a detailed study of the critical properties of the 2-D XY model with maximal frustration in a square lattice. We use extensive Monte Carlo simulations to study the thermodynamics of the spin and chiral degrees of freedom, concentrating on their correlation functions. The gauge invariant spin-spin correlation functions are calculated close to the critical point for lattice sizes up to $240\times 240$; the chiral correlation functions are studied on lattices up to $96\times 96$. We find that the critical exponents of the spin phase transition are $\nu=0.3069$, and $\eta=0.1915$, which are to be compared with the unfrustrated XY model exponents $\nu=1/2$ and $\eta=0.25$. We also find that the critical exponents of the chiral transition are $\nu_{\chi}=0.875$, $2\beta=0.1936$, $2\gamma= 1.82$, and $2\gamma\>\prime=1.025$, which are different from the expected 2-D Ising critical exponents. The spin-phase transition occurs at $T_{U(1)}=0.446$ which is about 7\% above the estimated chiral critical temperature $T_{Z_{2}}= 0.4206$. However, because of the size of the statistical errors, it is difficult to decide with certainty whether the transitions occur at the same or at slightly different temperatures. Finally, the jump in the helicity modulus in the fully frustrated system is found to be about 23\% below the unfrustrated universal value. The most important consequence of these results is that the fully frustrated XY model appears to be in a novel universality class. Recent successful comparisons of some of these results with experimental data are also briefly discussed. (TO APPEAR IN PRB)Comment: 47 pages (PHYZZX

A natural little hierarchy for RS from accidental SUSY

We use supersymmetry to address the little hierarchy problem in Randall-Sundrum models by naturally generating a hierarchy between the IR scale and the electroweak scale. Supersymmetry is broken on the UV brane which triggers the stabilization of the warped extra dimension at an IR scale of order 10 TeV. The Higgs and top quark live near the IR brane whereas light fermion generations are localized towards the UV brane. Supersymmetry breaking causes the first two sparticle generations to decouple, thereby avoiding the supersymmetric flavour and CP problems, while an accidental R-symmetry protects the gaugino mass. The resulting low-energy sparticle spectrum consists of stops, gauginos and Higgsinos which are sufficient to stabilize the little hierarchy between the IR scale and the electroweak scale. Finally, the supersymmetric little hierarchy problem is ameliorated by introducing a singlet Higgs field on the IR brane.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures; v2: minor corrections, version published in JHE

Super-acceleration on the Brane by Energy Flow from the Bulk

We consider a brane cosmological model with energy exchange between brane and bulk. Parameterizing the energy exchange term by the scale factor and Hubble parameter, we are able to exactly solve the modified Friedmann equation on the brane. In this model, the equation of state for the effective dark energy has a transition behavior changing from $w_{de}^{eff}>-1$ to $w_{de}^{eff}<-1$, while the equation of state for the dark energy on the brane has $w>-1$. Fitting data from type Ia supernova, Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, our universe is predicted now in the state of super-acceleration with $w_{de0}^{eff}=-1.21$.Comment: Revtex, 11 pages including 2 figures,v2: tpos fixed, references added, to appear in JCA