Decoherent Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy and Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry

A CPT violating decoherence scenario can easily account for all the experimental evidence in the neutrino sector including LSND. In this work it is argued that this framework can also accommodate the Dark Energy content of the Universe, as well as the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, some typos corrected, and discussion modified below eq (3), no effects on conclusion

Atomic Electric Dipole Moments: The Schiff Theorem and Its Corrections

Searches for the permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) of diamagnetic atoms provide powerful probes of CP-violating hadronic and semileptonic interactions. The theoretical interpretation of such experiments, however, requires careful implementation of a well-known theorem by Schiff that implies a vanishing net EDM for an atom built entirely from point-like, nonrelativistic constituents that interact only electrostatically. Any experimental observation of a nonzero atomic EDM would result from corrections to the point-like, nonrelativistic, electrostatic assumption. We reformulate Schiff's theorem at the operator level and delineate the electronic and nuclear operators whose atomic matrix elements generate corrections to "Schiff screening". We obtain a form for the operator responsible for the leading correction associated with finite nuclear size -- the so-called "Schiff moment" operator -- and observe that it differs from the corresponding operator used in previous Schiff moment computations. We show that the more general Schiff moment operator reduces to the previously employed operator only under certain approximations that are not generally justified. We also identify other corrections to Schiff screening that may not be included properly in previous theoretical treatments. We discuss practical considerations for obtaining a complete computation of corrections to Schiff screening in atomic EDM calculations.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures, typeset by REVTe

Statistical Origin of Black Hole Entropy in Matrix Theory

The statistical entropy of black holes in M-theory is considered. Assuming Matrix theory is the discretized light-cone quantization of a theory with eleven-dimensional Lorentz invariance, we map the counting problem onto the original Gibbons-Hawking calculation of the thermodynamic entropy.Comment: 9 pages, harvmac, (v2 References added, typo fixed), (v3 Some clarifying comments added.

Entanglement Entropy in Critical Phenomena and Analogue Models of Quantum Gravity

A general geometrical structure of the entanglement entropy for spatial partition of a relativistic QFT system is established by using methods of the effective gravity action and the spectral geometry. A special attention is payed to the subleading terms in the entropy in different dimensions and to behaviour in different states. It is conjectured, on the base of relation between the entropy and the action, that in a fundamental theory the ground state entanglement entropy per unit area equals $1/(4G_N)$, where $G_N$ is the Newton constant in the low-energy gravity sector of the theory. The conjecture opens a new avenue in analogue gravity models. For instance, in higher dimensional condensed matter systems, which near a critical point are described by relativistic QFT's, the entanglement entropy density defines an effective gravitational coupling. By studying the properties of this constant one can get new insights in quantum gravity phenomena, such as the universality of the low-energy physics, the renormalization group behavior of $G_N$, the statistical meaning of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy.Comment: 13 pages, published version, minor changes in the abstract, new reference

The neutron electric dipole form factor in the perturbative chiral quark model

We calculate the electric dipole form factor of the neutron in a perturbative chiral quark model, parameterizing CP-violation of generic origin by means of effective electric dipole moments of the constituent quarks and their CP-violating couplings to the chiral fields. We discuss the relation of these effective parameters to more fundamental ones such as the intrinsic electric and chromoelectric dipole moments of quarks and the Weinberg parameter. From the existing experimental upper limits on the neutron EDM we derive constraints on these CP-violating parameters.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Spherically symmetric space-time with the regular de Sitter center

The requirements are formulated which lead to the existence of the class of globally regular solutions to the minimally coupled GR equations which are asymptotically de Sitter at the center. The brief review of the resulting geometry is presented. The source term, invariant under radial boots, is classified as spherically symmetric vacuum with variable density and pressure, associated with an r-dependent cosmological term, whose asymptotic in the origin, dictated by the weak energy condition, is the Einstein cosmological term. For this class of metrics the ADM mass is related to both de Sitter vacuum trapped in the origin and to breaking of space-time symmetry. In the case of the flat asymptotic, space-time symmetry changes smoothly from the de Sitter group at the center to the Lorentz group at infinity. Dependently on mass, de Sitter-Schwarzschild geometry describes a vacuum nonsingular black hole, or G-lump - a vacuum selfgravitating particlelike structure without horizons. In the case of de Sitter asymptotic at infinity, geometry is asymptotically de Sitter at both origin and infinity and describes, dependently on parameters and choice of coordinates, a vacuum nonsingular cosmological black hole, selfgravitating particlelike structure at the de Sitter background and regular cosmological models with smoothly evolving vacuum energy density.Comment: Latex, 10 figures, extended version of the plenary talk at V Friedmann Intern. Conf. on Gravitation and Cosmology, Brazil 2002, to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys.

Inhaled Polymyxin in Treatment of Elderly Patients with Severe Community-Acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae-Induced Pneumonia

Background. Inhaled administration of antibacterial drugs (ABD) is a new insufficiently studied area of modern pulmonology. Its feasible advantages comprise a targeted drug delivery to the infection site, amplified antibiotic concentration in tracheobronchial secretion and reduced systemic toxicity risks. The most common inhaled ABDs include aminoglycosides and polymyxin­E (colistin).Aim. A comparison of patient cohorts with severe community­acquired pneumonia induced by Klebsiella pneumoniae receiving and not receiving inhaled colistin.Materials and methods. The study conducted is a retrospective multicentre controlled non­randomised assay. Among the 45 patients included, 20 were and 25 were not receiving colistin inhalation. The endpoint was survival. Data were analysed with Statistica 6.0.Results and discussion. The cohorts differed significantly neither in the main clinical and laboratory values, nor in point scoring of severity and outcome. However, statistical significance was obtained for differences in the ALV (p = 0.04) and pneumonia resolution (p = 0.044) times.Conclusion. Inhaled polymyxin­supplemented therapy for severe community­acquired pneumonia induced by Kl. pneumoniae significantly reduces the ALV and pneumonia resolution times in elderly and senile patients but does not affect survival

Space-Time Foam may Violate the Principle of Equivalence

The interactions of different particle species with the foamy space-time fluctuations expected in quantum gravity theories may not be universal, in which case different types of energetic particles may violate Lorentz invariance by varying amounts, violating the equivalence principle. We illustrate this possibility in two different models of space-time foam based on D-particle fluctuations in either flat Minkowski space or a stack of intersecting D-branes. Both models suggest that Lorentz invariance could be violated for energetic particles that do not carry conserved charges, such as photons, whereas charged particles such electrons would propagate in a Lorentz-inavariant way. The D-brane model further suggests that gluon propagation might violate Lorentz invariance, but not neutrinos. We argue that these conclusions hold at both the tree (lowest-genus) and loop (higher-genus) levels, and discuss their implications for the phenomenology of quantum gravity.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, the version accepted for publication in the International Journal of Modern Physics

Measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules: methods and data analysis

We recently reported a new measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules [Nature 473, 493 (2011)]. Here, we give a more detailed description of the methods used to make this measurement, along with a fuller analysis of the data. We show how our methods isolate the electric dipole moment from imperfections in the experiment that might mimic it. We describe the systematic errors that we discovered, and the small corrections that we made to account for these. By making a set of additional measurements with greatly exaggerated experimental imperfections, we find upper bounds on possible uncorrected systematic errors which we use to determine the systematic uncertainty in the measurement. We also calculate the size of some systematic effects that have been important in previous electric dipole moment measurements, such as the motional magnetic field effect and the geometric phase, and show them to be negligibly small in the present experiment. Our result is consistent with an electric dipole moment of zero, so we provide upper bounds to its size at various confidence levels. Finally, we review the prospects for future improvements in the precision of the experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Dynamical Determination of the Metric Signature in Spacetime of Nontrivial Topology

The formalism of Greensite for treating the spacetime signature as a dynamical degree of freedom induced by quantum fields is considered for spacetimes with nontrivial topology of the kind ${\bf R}^{D-1} \times {\bf T}^1$, for varying $D$. It is shown that a dynamical origin for the Lorentzian signature is possible in the five-dimensional space ${\bf R}^4 \times {\bf T}^1$ with small torus radius (periodic boundary conditions), as well as in four-dimensional space with trivial topology. Hence, the possibility exists that the early universe might have been of the Kaluza-Klein type, \ie multidimensional and of Lorentzian signature.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX file, 4 figure