Partial Supergravity Breaking and the Effective Action of Consistent Truncations

We study vacua of N = 4 half-maximal gauged supergravity in five dimensions and determine crucial properties of the effective theory around the vacuum. The main focus is on configurations with exactly two broken supersymmetries, since they frequently appear in consistent truncations of string theory and supergravity. Evaluating one-loop corrections to the Chern-Simons terms we find necessary conditions to ensure that a consistent truncation also gives rise to a proper effective action of an underlying more fundamental theory. To obtain concrete examples, we determine the N=4 action of M-theory on six-dimensional SU(2)-structure manifolds with background fluxes. Calabi-Yau threefolds with vanishing Euler number are examples of SU(2)-structure manifolds that yield N=2 Minkowski vacua. We find that that one-loop corrections to the Chern-Simons terms vanish trivially and thus do not impose constraints on identifying effective theories. This result is traced back to the absence of isometries on these geometries. Examples with isometries arise from type IIB supergravity on squashed Sasaki-Einstein manifolds. In this case the one-loop gauge Chern-Simons terms vanish due to non-trivial cancellations, while the one-loop gravitational Chern-Simons terms are non-zero.Comment: 44 pages, v2: minor changes, references adde

Quantifying the benefit of a proteome reserve in fluctuating environments.

The overexpression of proteins is a major burden for fast-growing bacteria. Paradoxically, recent characterization of the proteome of Escherichia coli found many proteins expressed in excess of what appears to be optimal for exponential growth. Here, we quantitatively investigate the possibility that this overexpression constitutes a strategic reserve kept by starving cells to quickly meet demand upon sudden improvement in growth conditions. For cells exposed to repeated famine-and-feast cycles, we derive a simple relation between the duration of feast and the allocation of the ribosomal protein reserve to maximize the overall gain in biomass during the feast

The Half-lives of 132^{132}La and 135^{135}La

The half-lives of $^{135}$La and $^{132}$La were determined via gamma spectroscopy and high-precision ionization chamber measurements. The results are 18.930(6) h for $^{135}$La and 4.59(4) h for $^{132}$La compared to the previously compiled values of 19.5(2) h and 4.8(2) h, respectively. The new results represent an improvement in the precision and accuracy of both values. These lanthanum isotopes comprise a medically interesting system with positron emitter $^{132}$La and Auger electron emitter $^{135}$La forming a matched pair for internal diagnostics and therapeutics. The precise half-lives are necessary for proper evaluation of their value in medicine and for a more representative tabulation of nuclear data.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

The Equity and Efficiency of Two-Part Tariffs in U.S. Natural Gas Markets

Residential natural gas customers in the United States face volumetric charges for natural gas that average about 30% more than marginal cost. The large markup on natural gas – which is used to cover the fixed infrastructure and operating costs of the local distribution companies – is widely recognized to be inefficient. Nonetheless, attempts to reduce volumetric charges, and cover the revenue shortfall through increased fixed monthly fees, have faced opposition based on the belief that current rate schedules have desirable distributional consequences. We evaluate this claim empirically using nationally-representative household-level data. We find that natural gas consumption is weakly correlated with household income, so current rate schedules are only mildly progressive. Under current rate schedules, high-volume customers pay a disproportionately large share of fixed costs, but these exhibit a weak correlation with high-income households. The correlation is somewhat weaker still when we consider alternative indicators of household financial stress, such as poverty status or number of children in the household. We show, for example, that poor households with multiple children would receive lower bills on average under marginal cost pricing. We present evidence that one cause of the weak redistributional impact of the current pricing policy is that the poor tend to live in less energy efficient homes.

Neodymium-140 DOTA-LM3:Evaluation of an <i>In Vivo</i> Generator for PET with a Non-Internalizing Vector

140Nd (t1/2 = 3.4 days), owing to its short-lived positron emitting daughter 140Pr (t1/2 = 3.4 min), has promise as an in vivo generator for positron emission tomography (PET). However, the electron capture decay of 140Nd is chemically disruptive to macrocycle-based radiolabeling, meaning that an in vivo redistribution of the daughter 140Pr is expected before positron emission. The purpose of this study was to determine how the delayed positron from the de-labeled 140Pr affects preclinical imaging with 140Nd. To explore the effect, 140Nd was produced at CERN-ISOLDE, reacted with the somatostatin analogue, DOTA-LM3 (1,4,7,10- tetraazacyclododecane, 1,4,7- tri acetic acid, 10- acetamide N - p-Cl-Phecyclo(d-Cys-Tyr-d-4-amino-Phe(carbamoyl)-Lys-Thr-Cys)d-Tyr-NH2) and injected into H727 xenograft bearing mice. Comparative pre- and post-mortem PET imaging at 16 h postinjection was used to quantify the in vivo redistribution of 140Pr following 140Nd decay. The somatostatin receptor-positive pancreas exhibited the highest tissue accumulation of 140Nd-DOTA-LM3 (13% ID/g at 16 h) coupled with the largest observed redistribution rate, where 56 ± 7% (n = 4, mean ± SD) of the in situ produced 140Pr washed out of the pancreas before decay. Contrastingly, the liver, spleen, and lungs acted as strong sink organs for free 140Pr3+. Based upon these results, we conclude that 140Nd imaging with a non-internalizing vector convolutes the biodistribution of the tracer with the accumulation pattern of free 140Pr. This redistribution phenomenon may show promise as a probe of the cellular interaction with the vector, such as in determining tissue dependent internalization behavior