The neural correlates of phonological short-term memory: A repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Neuropsychological reports and activation studies by means of positron emission tomography anti functional magnetic resonance imaging have suggested that the neural correlates of phonological short-term memory are located in the left hemisphere, with Brodmann's area (BA) 40 being, responsible for short-term storage and BA 44 for articulatory rehearsal. However, a careful review of the literature on the role of left BA 40 shows that the data are equivocal. We tested We hypotheses by means of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Participants performed four tasks: two phonological judgements, thought to require only articulatory rehearsal Without the contribution of short-term storage digit span, which involves both short-term storage and articudlatory rehearsal: and a pattern span, this last heing the control task. The sites of stimulation were left BA 40. left BA 44 anti the electrode location V-W plus a baseline without TMS. Reaction times increased and accuracy decreased in the case of the phonological judgement and digit span after stimulation of both left sites, suggesting that BA 40, in addition to BA 44. is involved in phonological judgements. Possible explanations are discussed, namely, the possibility that (i) the neural correlates of rehearsal are not limited to BA and (ii) phonological judgements invlove processes other than rehearsal. We also consider the effects of using different tasks and responses to resolve some of the descrepancies in the literature

Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources

Runaway stars are ejected from their formation sites well within molecular cores in giant dark clouds. Eventually, these stars can travel through the molecular clouds, which are highly inhomogeneous. The powerful winds of massive runaway stars interact with the medium forming bowshocks. Recent observations and theoretical modelling suggest that these bowshocks emit non-thermal radiation. As the massive stars move through the inhomogeneous ambient gas the physical properties of the bowshocks are modified, producing changes in the non-thermal emission. We aim to compute the non-thermal radiation produced in the bowshocks of runaway massive stars when travelling through a molecular cloud. We calculate the non-thermal emission and absorption for two types of massive runaway stars, an O9I and an O4I, as they move through a density gradient. We present the spectral energy distributions for the runaway stars modelled. Additionally, we obtain light curves at different energy ranges. We find significant variations in the emission over timescales of $\sim$ 1 yr. We conclude that bowshocks of massive runaway stars, under some assumptions, might be variable gamma-ray sources, with variability timescales that depend on the medium density profile. These objects might constitute a population of galactic gamma-ray sources turning on and off within years.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Coherent States of Accelerated Relativistic Quantum Particles, Vacuum Radiation and the Spontaneous Breakdown of the Conformal SU(2,2) Symmetry

We give a quantum mechanical description of accelerated relativistic particles in the framework of Coherent States (CS) of the (3+1)-dimensional conformal group SU(2,2), with the role of accelerations played by special conformal transformations and with the role of (proper) time translations played by dilations. The accelerated ground state $\tilde\phi_0$ of first quantization is a CS of the conformal group. We compute the distribution function giving the occupation number of each energy level in $\tilde\phi_0$ and, with it, the partition function Z, mean energy E and entropy S, which resemble that of an "Einstein Solid". An effective temperature T can be assigned to this "accelerated ensemble" through the thermodynamic expression dE/dS, which leads to a (non linear) relation between acceleration and temperature different from Unruh's (linear) formula. Then we construct the corresponding conformal-SU(2,2)-invariant second quantized theory and its spontaneous breakdown when selecting Poincar\'e-invariant degenerated \theta-vacua (namely, coherent states of conformal zero modes). Special conformal transformations (accelerations) destabilize the Poincar\'e vacuum and make it to radiate.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures. Additional information (resulting in four extra pages) and a slight change of focus has been introduced in order to make the line of arguments more clear. Title changed accordingl