2,181 research outputs found
Theoretical survey of tidal-charged black holes at the LHC
We analyse a family of brane-world black holes which solve the effective
four-dimensional Einstein equations for a wide range of parameters related to
the unknown bulk/brane physics. We first constrain the parameters using known
experimental bounds and, for the allowed cases, perform a numerical analysis of
their time evolution, which includes accretion through the Earth. The study is
aimed at predicting the typical behavior one can expect if such black holes
were produced at the LHC. Most notably, we find that, under no circumstances,
would the black holes reach the (hazardous) regime of Bondi accretion.
Nonetheless, the possibility remains that black holes live long enough to
escape from the accelerator (and even from the Earth's gravitational field) and
result in missing energy from the detectors.Comment: RevTeX4, 12 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables, minor changes to match the
accepted version in JHE
Roy-Steiner equations for pion-nucleon scattering
Starting from hyperbolic dispersion relations, we derive a closed system of
Roy-Steiner equations for pion-nucleon scattering that respects analyticity,
unitarity, and crossing symmetry. We work out analytically all kernel functions
and unitarity relations required for the lowest partial waves. In order to
suppress the dependence on the high-energy regime we also consider once- and
twice-subtracted versions of the equations, where we identify the subtraction
constants with subthreshold parameters. Assuming Mandelstam analyticity we
determine the maximal range of validity of these equations. As a first step
towards the solution of the full system we cast the equations for the
partial waves into the form of a Muskhelishvili-Omn\`es
problem with finite matching point, which we solve numerically in the
single-channel approximation. We investigate in detail the role of individual
contributions to our solutions and discuss some consequences for the spectral
functions of the nucleon electromagnetic form factors.Comment: 106 pages, 18 figures; version published in JHE
A Universal Behavior of Half BPS Probes in the Superstar Ensemble
In this paper we probe the typical states of the superstar ensemble of
(hep-th/0508023) using half-BPS states of type-IIB string theory on AdS S. We find a very simple universal result that has the structure
\log\, \lag\lag \y \; \y \rag\rag_\calo \approx \a\, h \, \log N, where
is the conformal weight of the probe \y and \a is a constant that depends
mainly of the shape of the probe \y. A complete understanding of some
properties of this leading term from the dual effective superstar geometry
point of view is still lacking.Comment: 34 pages + appendice
Integrated information increases with fitness in the evolution of animats
One of the hallmarks of biological organisms is their ability to integrate
disparate information sources to optimize their behavior in complex
environments. How this capability can be quantified and related to the
functional complexity of an organism remains a challenging problem, in
particular since organismal functional complexity is not well-defined. We
present here several candidate measures that quantify information and
integration, and study their dependence on fitness as an artificial agent
("animat") evolves over thousands of generations to solve a navigation task in
a simple, simulated environment. We compare the ability of these measures to
predict high fitness with more conventional information-theoretic processing
measures. As the animat adapts by increasing its "fit" to the world,
information integration and processing increase commensurately along the
evolutionary line of descent. We suggest that the correlation of fitness with
information integration and with processing measures implies that high fitness
requires both information processing as well as integration, but that
information integration may be a better measure when the task requires memory.
A correlation of measures of information integration (but also information
processing) and fitness strongly suggests that these measures reflect the
functional complexity of the animat, and that such measures can be used to
quantify functional complexity even in the absence of fitness data.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, one supplementary figure. Three supplementary
video files available on request. Version commensurate with published text in
PLoS Comput. Bio
Empathy, engagement, entrainment: the interaction dynamics of aesthetic experience
A recent version of the view that aesthetic experience is based in empathy as inner
imitation explains aesthetic experience as the automatic simulation of actions,
emotions, and bodily sensations depicted in an artwork by motor neurons in the brain. Criticizing the simulation theory for committing to an erroneous concept of empathy and failing to distinguish regular from aesthetic experiences of art, I advance an alternative, dynamic approach and claim that aesthetic experience is enacted and skillful, based in the recognition of others’ experiences as distinct from one’s own. In combining insights from mainly psychology, phenomenology, and cognitive science, the dynamic approach aims to explain the emergence of aesthetic experience in terms of the reciprocal interaction between viewer and artwork. I argue that aesthetic experience emerges by participatory sense-making and revolves around movement as a means for creating meaning. While entrainment merely plays a preparatory part in this, aesthetic engagement constitutes the phenomenological side of coupling to an artwork and provides the context for exploration, and eventually for moving, seeing, and feeling with art. I submit that aesthetic experience emerges from bodily and emotional engagement with works of art via the complementary processes of the perception–action and motion–emotion loops. The former involves the embodied
visual exploration of an artwork in physical space, and progressively structures and organizes visual experience by way of perceptual feedback from body movements made in response to the artwork. The latter concerns the movement qualities and shapes of implicit and explicit bodily responses to an artwork that cue emotion and thereby modulate over-all affect and attitude. The two processes cause the viewer to bodily and emotionally move with and be moved by individual works of art, and consequently to recognize another psychological orientation than her own, which explains how art can cause feelings of insight or awe and disclose aspects of life that are unfamiliar or novel to the viewer
Dynamics of direct inter-pack encounters in endangered African wild dogs
Aggressive encounters may have important life history consequences due to the potential for injury and death, disease transmission, dispersal opportunities or exclusion from key areas of the home range. Despite this, little is known of their detailed dynamics, mainly due to the difficulties of directly observing encounters in detail. Here, we describe detailed spatial dynamics of inter-pack encounters in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), using data from custom-built high-resolution GPS collars in 11 free-ranging packs. On average, each pack encountered another pack approximately every 7 weeks and met each neighbour twice each year. Surprisingly, intruders were more likely to win encounters (winning 78.6% of encounters by remaining closer to the site in the short term). However, intruders did tend to move farther than residents toward their own range core in the short-term (1 h) post-encounter, and if this were used to indicate losing an encounter, then the majority (73.3%) of encounters were won by residents. Surprisingly, relative pack size had little effect on encounter outcome, and injuries were rare (<15% of encounters). These results highlight the difficulty of remotely scoring encounters involving mobile participants away from static defendable food resources. Although inter-pack range overlap was reduced following an encounter, encounter outcome did not seem to drive this, as both packs shifted their ranges post-encounter. Our results indicate that inter-pack encounters may be lower risk than previously suggested and do not appear to influence long-term movement and ranging
The expression of p53-induced protein with death domain (Pidd) and apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma
The Pidd (p53-induced protein with death domain) gene was shown to be induced by the tumour suppressor p53 and to mediate p53-dependent apoptosis in mouse and human cells, through interactions with components of both the mitochondrial and the death receptor signalling pathways. To study the role of Pidd in clinical tumours, we measured its expression by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR in microdissected oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) with and without p53 mutation. Tumour cell apoptosis was assessed by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling. Tumour proliferation was assessed by immunohistochemical staining for the Ki-67 antigen. We found a wide range of Pidd expression among OSCC. Statistical analysis revealed an association between Pidd expression and apoptotic index (Mann–Whitney test, P<0.001), consistent with a role of Pidd in apoptosis in this tumour type. Furthermore, we showed a positive correlation between apoptotic index and proliferative index that has not been previously described for OSCC. There was no correlation between Pidd expression and the p53 mutation status of these tumours, suggesting that Pidd expression may be regulated by p53-independent mechanisms. Further characterisation of these molecular defects in the control of proliferation and apoptosis should help in developing treatments that target OSCC according to their biological properties
Brain structural covariance networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a graph analysis from the ENIGMA Consortium.
Brain structural covariance networks reflect covariation in morphology of different brain areas and are thought to reflect common trajectories in brain development and maturation. Large-scale investigation of structural covariance networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may provide clues to the pathophysiology of this neurodevelopmental disorder. Using T1-weighted MRI scans acquired from 1616 individuals with OCD and 1463 healthy controls across 37 datasets participating in the ENIGMA-OCD Working Group, we calculated intra-individual brain structural covariance networks (using the bilaterally-averaged values of 33 cortical surface areas, 33 cortical thickness values, and six subcortical volumes), in which edge weights were proportional to the similarity between two brain morphological features in terms of deviation from healthy controls (i.e. z-score transformed). Global networks were characterized using measures of network segregation (clustering and modularity), network integration (global efficiency), and their balance (small-worldness), and their community membership was assessed. Hub profiling of regional networks was undertaken using measures of betweenness, closeness, and eigenvector centrality. Individually calculated network measures were integrated across the 37 datasets using a meta-analytical approach. These network measures were summated across the network density range of K = 0.10-0.25 per participant, and were integrated across the 37 datasets using a meta-analytical approach. Compared with healthy controls, at a global level, the structural covariance networks of OCD showed lower clustering (P < 0.0001), lower modularity (P < 0.0001), and lower small-worldness (P = 0.017). Detection of community membership emphasized lower network segregation in OCD compared to healthy controls. At the regional level, there were lower (rank-transformed) centrality values in OCD for volume of caudate nucleus and thalamus, and surface area of paracentral cortex, indicative of altered distribution of brain hubs. Centrality of cingulate and orbito-frontal as well as other brain areas was associated with OCD illness duration, suggesting greater involvement of these brain areas with illness chronicity. In summary, the findings of this study, the largest brain structural covariance study of OCD to date, point to a less segregated organization of structural covariance networks in OCD, and reorganization of brain hubs. The segregation findings suggest a possible signature of altered brain morphometry in OCD, while the hub findings point to OCD-related alterations in trajectories of brain development and maturation, particularly in cingulate and orbitofrontal regions
Quantum gravity effects in Myers-Perry space-times
We study quantum gravity effects for Myers-Perry black holes assuming that the leading contributions arise from the renormalization group evolution of Newton's coupling. Provided that gravity weakens following the asymptotic safety conjecture, we find that quantum effects lift a degeneracy of higher-dimensional black holes, and dominate over kinematical ones induced by rotation, particularly for small black hole mass, large angular momentum, and higher space-time dimensionality. Quantum-corrected space-times display inner and outer horizons, and show the existence of a black hole of smallest mass in any dimension. Ultra-spinning solutions no longer persist. Thermodynamic properties including temperature, specific heat, the Komar integrals, and aspects of black hole mechanics are studied as well. Observing a softening of the ring singularity, we also discuss the validity of classical energy conditions
Critical Trapped Surfaces Formation in the Collision of Ultrarelativistic Charges in (A)dS
We study the formation of marginally trapped surfaces in the head-on
collision of two ultrarelativistic charges in space-time. The metric of
ultrarelativistic charged particles in is obtained by boosting
Reissner-Nordstr\"om space-time to the speed of light. We show that
formation of trapped surfaces on the past light cone is only possible when
charge is below certain critical - situation similar to the collision of two
ultrarelativistic charges in Minkowski space-time. This critical value depends
on the energy of colliding particles and the value of a cosmological constant.
There is richer structure of critical domains in case. In this case
already for chargeless particles there is a critical value of the cosmological
constant only below which trapped surfaces formation is possible. Appearance of
arbitrary small nonzero charge significantly changes the physical picture.
Critical effect which has been observed in the neutral case does not take place
more. If the value of the charge is not very large solution to the equation on
trapped surface exists for any values of cosmological radius and energy density
of shock waves. Increasing of the charge leads to decrease of the trapped
surface area, and at some critical point the formation of trapped surfaces of
the type mentioned above becomes impossible.Comment: 30 pages, Latex, 7 figures, Refs. added and typos correcte
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