Medium-modified evolution of multiparticle production in jets in heavy-ion collisions

The energy evolution of medium-modified average multiplicities and multiplicity fluctuations in quark and gluon jets produced in heavy-ion collisions is investigated from a toy QCD-inspired model. In this model, we use modified splitting functions accounting for medium-enhanced radiation of gluons by a fast parton which propagates through the quark gluon plasma. The leading contribution of the standard production of soft hadrons is found to be enhanced by the factor $\sqrt{N_s}$ while next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections are suppressed by $1/\sqrt{N_s}$, where the nuclear parameter $N_s>1$ accounts for the induced-soft gluons in the hot medium. The role of next-to-next-to-leading order corrections (NNLO) is studied and the large amount of medium-induced soft gluons is found to drastically affect the convergence of the perturbative series. Our results for such global observables are cross-checked and compared with their limits in the vacuum and a new method for solving the second multiplicity correlator evolution equations is proposed.Comment: 21 pages and 8 figures, typo corrections, references adde

Generalized enthalpy model of a high pressure shift freezing process

High-pressure freezing processes are a novel emerging technology in food processing, offering significant improvements to the quality of frozen foods. To be able to simulate plateau times and thermal history under different conditions, in this work we present a generalized enthalpy model of the high-pressure shift freezing process. The model includes the effects of pressure on conservation of enthalpy and incorporates the freezing point depression of non-dilute food samples. In addition the significant heat transfer effects of convection in the pressurizing medium are accounted for by solving the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. We run the model for several numerical tests where the food sample is agar gel, and find good agreement with experimental data from the literature

Dynamics of Interacting Scalar Fields in Expanding Space-Time

The effective equation of motion is derived for a scalar field interacting with other fields in a Friedman-Robertson-Walker background space-time. The dissipative behavior reflected in this effective evolution equation is studied both in simplified approximations as well as numerically. The relevance of our results to inflation are considered both in terms of the evolution of the inflaton field as well as its fluctuation spectrum. A brief examination also is made of supersymmetric models that yield dissipative effects during inflation.Comment: 36 pages, 12 figures. Version published in the Physical Review

Brain-machine interfaces for rehabilitation in stroke: A review

BACKGROUND: Motor paralysis after stroke has devastating consequences for the patients, families and caregivers. Although therapies have improved in the recent years, traditional rehabilitation still fails in patients with severe paralysis. Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) have emerged as a promising tool to guide motor rehabilitation interventions as they can be applied to patients with no residual movement. OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews the efficiency of BMI technologies to facilitate neuroplasticity and motor recovery after stroke. METHODS: We provide an overview of the existing rehabilitation therapies for stroke, the rationale behind the use of BMIs for motor rehabilitation, the current state of the art and the results achieved so far with BMI-based interventions, as well as the future perspectives of neural-machine interfaces. RESULTS: Since the first pilot study by Buch and colleagues in 2008, several controlled clinical studies have been conducted, demonstrating the efficacy of BMIs to facilitate functional recovery in completely paralyzed stroke patients with noninvasive technologies such as the electroencephalogram (EEG). CONCLUSIONS: Despite encouraging results, motor rehabilitation based on BMIs is still in a preliminary stage, and further improvements are required to boost its efficacy. Invasive and hybrid approaches are promising and might set the stage for the next generation of stroke rehabilitation therapies.This study was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung BMBF MOTORBIC (FKZ13GW0053)andAMORSA(FKZ16SV7754), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the fortüne-Program of the University of Tübingen (2422-0-0 and 2452-0-0), and the Basque GovernmentScienceProgram(EXOTEK:KK2016/00083). NIL was supported by the Basque Government’s scholarship for predoctoral students

BEC-BCS crossover in a cold and magnetized two color NJL model

The BEC-BCS crossover for a NJL model with diquark interactions is studied in the presence of an external magnetic field. Particular attention is paid to different regularization schemes used in the literature. A thorough comparison of results is performed for the case of a cold and magnetized two-color NJL model. According to our results, the critical chemical potential for the BEC transition exhibits a clear inverse magnetic catalysis effect for magnetic fields in the range $1 \lesssim eB/m_\pi^2 \lesssim 20$. As for the BEC-BCS crossover, the corresponding critical chemical potential is very weakly sensitive to magnetic fields up to $eB \sim 9\ m_\pi^2$, showing a much smaller inverse magnetic catalysis as compared to the BEC transition, and displays a strong magnetic catalysis from this point on.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures; v2 PRD versio

An intrinsic state for an extended version of the interacting boson model

An intrinsic-state formalism for IBM-4 is presented. A basis of deformed bosons is introduced which allows the construction of a general trial wave function which has Wigner's spin-isospin SU(4) symmetry as a particular limit. Intrinsic-state calculations are compared with exact ones showing good agreement.Comment: 12 pages, TeX (ReVTeX). Content changed. Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Spin-orbit induced mixed-spin ground state in RRNiO3_3 perovskites probed by XAS: new insight into the metal to insulator transition

We report on a Ni L$_{2,3}$ edges x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) study in $R$NiO$_3$ perovskites. These compounds exhibit a metal to insulator ($MI$) transition as temperature decreases. The L$_{3}$ edge presents a clear splitting in the insulating state, associated to a less hybridized ground state. Using charge transfer multiplet calculations, we establish the importance of the crystal field and 3d spin-orbit coupling to create a mixed-spin ground state. We explain the $MI$ transition in $R$NiO$_3$ perovskites in terms of modifications in the Ni$^{3+}$ crystal field splitting that induces a spin transition from an essentially low-spin (LS) to a mixed-spin state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted as PRB - Rapid Comm. Dez. 200