The electric dipole moment of the neutron from 2+1 flavor lattice QCD

We compute the electric dipole moment d_n of the neutron from a fully dynamical simulation of lattice QCD with 2+1 flavors of clover fermions and nonvanishing theta term. The latter is rotated into the pseudoscalar density in the fermionic action using the axial anomaly. To make the action real, the vacuum angle theta is taken to be purely imaginary. The physical value of d_n is obtained by analytic continuation. We find d_n = -3.8(2)(9) x 10^{-16} [theta e cm], which, when combined with the experimental limit on d_n, leads to the upper bound theta < 7.6 x 10^{-11}.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, matches PRL published versio

Yoctosecond photon pulses from quark-gluon plasmas

Present ultra-fast laser optics is at the frontier between atto- and zeptosecond photon pulses, giving rise to unprecedented applications. We show that high-energetic photon pulses down to the yoctosecond timescale can be produced in heavy ion collisions. We focus on photons produced during the initial phase of the expanding quark-gluon plasma. We study how the time evolution and properties of the plasma may influence the duration and shape of the photon pulse. Prospects for achieving double peak structures suitable for pump-probe experiments at the yoctosecond timescale are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; final version as accepted by PR

Localization of overlap modes and topological charge, vortices and monopoles in SU(3) LGT

We present selected recent results of the QCDSF collaboration on the localization and dimensionality of low overlap eigenmodes and of the topological density in the quenched SU(3) vacuum. We discuss the correlations between the topological structure revealed by overlap fermions without filtering and the confining monopole and P-vortex structure obtained in the Indirect Maximal Center Gauge

A Conserved Ribosomal Protein Has Entirely Dissimilar Structures in Different Organisms

\ua9 The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Ribosomes from different species can markedly differ in their composition by including dozens of ribosomal proteins that are unique to specific lineages but absent in others. However, it remains unknown how ribosomes acquire new proteins throughout evolution. Here, to help answer this question, we describe the evolution of the ribosomal protein msL1/msL2 that was recently found in ribosomes from the parasitic microorganism clade, microsporidia. We show that this protein has a conserved location in the ribosome but entirely dissimilar structures in different organisms: in each of the analyzed species, msL1/msL2 exhibits an altered secondary structure, an inverted orientation of the N-termini and C-termini on the ribosomal binding surface, and a completely transformed 3D fold. We then show that this fold switching is likely caused by changes in the ribosomal msL1/msL2-binding site, specifically, by variations in rRNA. These observations allow us to infer an evolutionary scenario in which a small, positively charged, de novo-born unfolded protein was first captured by rRNA to become part of the ribosome and subsequently underwent complete fold switching to optimize its binding to its evolving ribosomal binding site. Overall, our work provides a striking example of how a protein can switch its fold in the context of a complex biological assembly, while retaining its specificity for its molecular partner. This finding will help us better understand the origin and evolution of new protein components of complex molecular assemblies-thereby enhancing our ability to engineer biological molecules, identify protein homologs, and peer into the history of life on Earth

Probing the topological structure of the QCD vacuum with overlap fermions

Overlap fermions implement exact chiral symmetry on the lattice and are thus an appropriate tool for investigating the chiral and topological structure of the QCD vacuum. We study various chiral and topological aspects on Luescher-Weisz-type quenched gauge field configurations using overlap fermions as a probe. Particular emphasis is placed upon the analysis of the spectral density and the localisation properties of the eigenmodes as well as on the local structure of topological charge fluctuations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, talk given at the Workshop on Computational Hadron Physics, Nicosia, Cyprus, September 14-17, 2005; v2: Fig.6 corrected, statistics in Fig. 4-6 increased, minor text change

Spectra of heavy-light and heavy-heavy mesons containing charm quarks, including higher spin states for Nf=2+1N_f=2+ 1

We study the spectra of heavy-light and heavy-heavy mesons containing charm quarks, including higher spin states. We use two sets of $N_f = 2 + 1$ gauge configurations, one set from QCDSF using the SLiNC action, and the other configurations from the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal collaboration, using the HEX smeared clover action. To extract information about the excited states, we choose a suitable basis of operators to implement the variational method.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Talk presented at the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice2011, July 11-16, 2011, The Village at Squaw Valley, California, US

Exploring the structure of the quenched QCD vacuum with overlap fermions

Overlap fermions have an exact chiral symmetry on the lattice and are thus an appropriate tool for investigating the chiral and topological structure of the QCD vacuum. We study various chiral and topological aspects of quenched gauge field configurations. This includes the localization and chiral properties of the eigenmodes, the local structure of the ultraviolet filtered field strength tensor, as well as the structure of topological charge fluctuations. We conclude that the vacuum has a multifractal structure.Comment: 68 pages, 31 figures, file size: 1.7 MB (PDF