A study of point discharge current observations in the thunderstorm environment at a tropical station during the year 1987 and 1988

The results of the measurements of point discharge current observations at Pune, India, during years 1987 and 1988 are presented by categorizing and studying their number of spells, polar current average durations, and current magnitudes in day-time and night-time conditions. While the results showed that the thunderstorm activity occupies far more day-time than the night-time the level of current magnitudes remains nearly the same in the two categories

Axial Anomaly and Transition Form Factors

We investigate the properties of the amplitude induced by the anomaly. In a relatively high energy region those amplitudes are constructed by the vector meson poles and the anomaly terms, in which the anomaly terms can be essentially evaluated by the triangle quark graph. We pay our attention to the anomaly term and make intensive analysis of the existing experimental data, i.e., the electromagnetic $\pi^0$ and $\omega$ transition form factors. Our result shows that it is essential to use the constituent quark mass instead of the current quark mass in evaluating the anomaly term from the triangle graph.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages + 4 figures, (figures are included as uuencoded files), KUNS-1210 HE(TH) 93/0

Wess-Zumino Terms in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

The Wess-Zumino term is constructed for supersymmetric QCD with two colors and flavors, and is shown to correctly reproduce the anomalous Ward identities. Supersymmetric QCD is also shown not to have topologically stable skyrmion solutions because of baryon flat directions, which allow them to unwind. The generalization of these results to other supersymmetric theories with quantum modified constraints is discussed.Comment: 4 pages (revtex

Low-lying even parity meson resonances and spin-flavor symmetry

A study is presented of the $s-$wave meson-meson interactions involving members of the $\rho-$nonet and of the $\pi-$octet. The starting point is an SU(6) spin-flavor extension of the SU(3) flavor Weinberg-Tomozawa Lagrangian. SU(6) symmetry breaking terms are then included to account for the physical meson masses and decay constants, while preserving partial conservation of the axial current in the light pseudoscalar sector. Next, the $T-$matrix amplitudes are obtained by solving the Bethe Salpeter equation in coupled-channel with the kernel built from the above interactions. The poles found on the first and second Riemann sheets of the amplitudes are identified with their possible Particle Data Group (PDG) counterparts. It is shown that most of the low-lying even parity PDG meson resonances, specially in the $J^P=0^+$ and $1^+$ sectors, can be classified according to multiplets of the spin-flavor symmetry group SU(6). The $f_0(1500)$, $f_1(1420)$ and some $0^+(2^{++})$ resonances cannot be accommodated within this SU(6) scheme and thus they would be clear candidates to be glueballs or hybrids. Finally, we predict the existence of five exotic resonances ($I \ge 3/2$ and/or $|Y|=2$) with masses in the range 1.4--1.6 GeV, which would complete the $27_1$, $10_3$, and $10_3^*$ multiplets of SU(3)$\otimes$SU(2).Comment: 43 pages, 2 figures, 61 tables. Improved discussion of Section II. To appear in Physical Review

Unitarity and the color confinement

We discuss how confinement property of QCD results in the rational unitarization scheme and how unitarity saturation leads to appearance of a hadron liquid phase at very high temperatures.Comment: 10 pages, no figire

Enhanced Nonperturbative Effects in Z Decays to Hadrons

We use soft collinear effective field theory (SCET) to study nonperturbative strong interaction effects in Z decays to hadronic final states that are enhanced in corners of phase space. These occur, for example, in the jet energy distribution for two jet events near E_J=M_Z/2, the thrust distribution near unity and the jet invariant mass distribution near zero. The extent to which such nonperturbative effects for different observables are related is discussed.Comment: 17 pages. Paper reorganized, and more discussion and results include

Deriving the existence of BBˉ∗B\bar{B}^* bound states from the X(3872) and Heavy Quark Symmetry

We discuss the possibility and the description of bound states between $B$ and $\bar{B}^*$ mesons. We argue that the existence of such a bound state can be deduced from (i) the weakly bound X(3872) state, (ii) certain assumptions about the short range dynamics of the $D\bar{D}^*$ system and (iii) heavy quark symmetry. From these assumptions the binding energy of the possible $B\bar{B}^*$ bound states is determined, first in a theory containing only contact interactions which serves as a straightforward illustration of the method, and then the effects of including the one pion exchange potential are discussed. In this latter case three isoscalar states are predicted: a positive and negative C-parity $^3S_1-{}^3D_1$ state with a binding energy of $20\,{\rm MeV}$ and $6\,{\rm MeV}$ below threshold respectively, and a positive C-parity $^3P_0$ shallow state located almost at the $B\bar{B}^*$ threshold. However, large uncertainties are generated as a consequence of the $1/m_Q$ corrections from heavy quark symmetry. Finally, the newly discovered isovector $Z_b(10610)$ state can be easily accommodated within the present framework by a minor modification of the short range dynamics.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures; a sign error in the potential has been corrected and new predictions have been compute

Functional outcome of middle third humeral shaft fractures treated with anteromedial plate osteosynthesis through an anterolateral approach

Background: The main aim of treatment of the humeral shaft fractures is to establish union with an acceptable humeral alignment and to restore the patient to pre-injury level of function. Plate osteosynthesis remains the standard of surgical treatment displaced middle third humeral fractures. The most commonly used approaches for treating these fractures are posterior and anterolateral, but these approaches can have iatrogenic radial nerve injury. Our aim is to study the incidence of radial nerve palsy and functional outcome of anterolateral approach with anteromedial plating.Methods: A total of 26 patients in the age group of 21 to 62 years were included in this prospective study, who were treated by anteromedial plating through anterolateral approach for humerus shaft. Functional assessment was done using Rodriguez-Merchan criteria.Results: 26 patients with shaft humerus fracture were included in the study with 19 (73%) patients were less than 40 years age. Most common type of fracture pattern is A3 type and the mean duration of surgical time was 60±10 min for anteromedial plating. The time taken for the fracture union was less than 4 months in the most patients (88%). There was no evidence of iatrogenic radial nerve injury. Functional assessment done using Rodriguez-Merchan criteria showed 84.6% of the patients had good to excellent functional outcome.Conclusions: For treatment of displaced middle third humeral fractures open reduction with anteromedial plating through anterolateral approach is surgically safer and gives better functional outcome.

Diquark-Antidiquarks with Hidden or Open Charm and the Nature of X(3872)

Heavy-light diquarks can be the building blocks of a rich spectrum of states which can accommodate some of the newly observed charmonium-like resonances not fitting a pure c-cbar assignment. We examine this possibility for hidden and open charm diquark-antidiquark states deducing spectra from constituent quark masses and spin-spin interactions. Taking the X(3872) as input we predict the existence of a 2++ state that can be associated to the X(3940) observed by Belle and re-examine the state claimed by SELEX, X(2632). The possible assignment of the previously discovered states D_s(2317) and D_s(2457) is discussed. We predict X(3872) to be made of two components with a mass difference related to (m_u-m_d) and discuss the production of X(3872) and of its charged partner X^(+-) in the weak decays of B^(+,0).Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, revtex, minor typos correcte

Dynamic changes in synaptic plasticity genes in ipsilateral and contralateral inferior colliculus following unilateral noise-induced hearing loss

Unilateral noise-induced hearing loss reduces the input to the central auditory pathway disrupting the excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the inferior colliculus (IC), an important binaural processing center. Little is known about the compensatory synaptic changes that occur in the IC as a consequence of unilateral noise-induced hearing loss. To address this issue, Sprague–Dawley rats underwent unilateral noise exposure resulting in severe unilateral hearing loss. IC tissues from the contralateral and ipsilateral IC were evaluated for acute (2-d) and chronic (28-d) changes in the expression of 84 synaptic plasticity genes on a PCR array. Arc and Egr1 genes were further visualized by in situ hybridization to validate the PCR results. None of the genes were upregulated, but many were downregulated post-exposure. At 2-d post-exposure, more than 75% of the genes were significantly downregulated in the contralateral IC, while only two were downregulated in the ipsilateral IC. Many of the downregulated genes were related to long-term depression, long-term potentiation, cell adhesion, immediate early genes, neural receptors and postsynaptic density. At 28-d post-exposure, the gene expression pattern was reversed with more than 85% of genes in the ipsilateral IC now downregulated. Most genes previously downregulated in the contralateral IC 2-d post-exposure had recovered; less than 15% remained downregulated. These time-dependent, asymmetric changes in synaptic plasticity gene expression could shed new light on the perceptual deficits associated with unilateral hearing loss and the dynamic structural and functional changes that occur in the IC days and months following unilateral noise-induced hearing loss