Possible Deviation from the Tri-bimaximal Neutrino Mixing in a Seesaw Model

We propose a simple but suggestive seesaw model with two phenomenological conjectures: three heavy (right-handed) Majorana neutrinos are degenerate in mass in the symmetry limit and three light Majorana neutrinos have the tri-bimaximal mixing pattern $V^{}_0$. We show that a small mass splitting between the first generation and the other two generations of heavy Majorana neutrinos is responsible for the deviation of the solar neutrino mixing angle $\theta^{}_{12}$ from its initial value $35.3^\circ$ given by $V^{}_0$, and the slight breaking of the mass degeneracy between the second and third generations of heavy Majorana neutrinos results in a small mixing angle $\theta^{}_{13}$ and a tiny departure of the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle $\theta^{}_{23}$ from $45^\circ$. It turns out that a normal hierarchy of the light neutrino mass spectrum is favored in this seesaw scenario.Comment: RevTex 12 pages (2 EPS figures included). More discussions and references adde

μ−τ\mu-\tau Symmetry and Radiatively Generated Leptogenesis

We consider a $\mu-\tau$ symmetry in neutrino sectors realized at GUT scale in the context of a seesaw model. In our scenario, the exact $\mu-\tau$ symmetry realized in the basis where the charged lepton and heavy Majorana neutrino mass matrices are diagonal leads to vanishing lepton asymmetries. We find that, in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the seesaw model with large $\tan\beta$, the renormalization group (RG) evolution from GUT scale to seesaw scale can induce a successful leptogenesis even without introducing any symmetry breaking terms by hand, whereas such RG effects lead to tiny deviations of $\theta_{23}$ and $\theta_{13}$ from $\pi/4$ and zero, respectively. It is shown that the right amount of the baryon asymmetry $\eta_B$ can be achieved via so-called resonant leptogenesis, which can be realized at rather low seesaw scale with large $\tan\beta$ in our scenario so that the well-known gravitino problem is safely avoided.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. Published in PR

Improving Students' Science Process Skills on Biology Using Bounded Inquiry Lab Model

This research is to improve the students' science process skills include four aspects: 1) formulating problem; 2)formulating hypotheses; 3) constructing experimental design; 4) apply concept in Senses System,by applying boundedinquiry lab model for second grade students at SMA Al Islam 1 Surakarta. This research is a classroom action research(CAR), conducted in two cycles. Each cycle consists of planning, action, observation, and reflection. The research subjectwas 35 students of science 3 at SMA Al Islam 1 Surakarta.Data collection techniques used: 1) non-test technique(observation, interviews, and documentations); 2) test for science process skills. Data was analysed using descriptivequalitative. The results show that there is an improvement of each aspect of science process skillsfrom Pre-Cycle to Cycle2, i.e. formulating problem (39,46%; 50%;82,35%); formulating hypotheses (34,05%; 49,12%; 81,48%); experimentaldesign 34,05%; 49,12%; 81,48%); application concept (36,76%; 38%; 64,75%).Itcanbe concluded that the application ofbounded inquiry lab model can improve students' science process skills

Bounds on the lightest Higgs boson mass with three and four fermion generations

We present lower bounds on the Higgs boson mass in the Standard Model with three and four fermion generations SM(3,4), as well as upper bounds on the lightest Higgs boson mass in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM with three and four generations MSSM(3,4). Our analysis utilizes the SM(3,4) renormalization-group-improved one-loop effective potential of the Higgs boson to find the upper bounds on the Higgs mass in the MSSM(3,4) while the lower bounds in the SM(3,4) are derived from considerations of vacuum stability. All the bounds increase as the degenerate fourth generation mass increases, providing more room in theory space that respects the increasing experimental lower limit of the Higgs mass.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Some additional discussion added. Final version to be published in International Journal of Modern Physics

The Dropping of In-Medium Hadron Mass in Holographic QCD

We study the baryon density dependence of the vector meson spectrum using the D4/D6 system together with the compact D4 baryon vertex. We find that the vector meson mass decreases almost linearly in density at low density for small quark mass, but saturates to a finite non-zero value for large density. We also compute the density dependence of the $\eta\prime$ mass and the $\eta\prime$ velocity. We find that in medium, our model is consistent with the GMOR relation up to a few times the normal nuclear density. We compare our hQCD predictions with predictions made based on hidden local gauge theory that is constructed to model QCD.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Comments on Baryon Melting in Quark Gluon Plasma with Gluon Condensation

We consider a black hole solution with a non-trivial dilaton from IIB super gravity which is expected to describe a strongly coupled hot gauge plasma with non-vanishing gluon condensation present. We construct a rotating and moving baryon to probe the screening and phases of the plasma. Melting of the baryons in hot plasma in this background had been studied previously, however, we show that baryons melt much lower temperature than has been suggested previously.Comment: 3 figures, 12 page

s-Process Nucleosynthesis in Advanced Burning Phases of Massive Stars

We present a detailed study of s-process nucleosynthesis in massive stars of solar-like initial composition and masses 15, 20,25, and 30 Msun. We update our previous results of s-process nucleosynthesis during the core He-burning of these stars and then focus on an analysis of the s-process under the physical conditions encountered during the shell-carbon burning. We show that the recent compilation of the Ne22(alpha,n)Mg25 rate leads to a remarkable reduction of the efficiency of the s-process during core He-burning. In particular, this rate leads to the lowest overproduction factor of Kr80 found to date during core He-burning in massive stars. The s-process yields resulting from shell carbon burning turn out to be very sensitive to the structural evolution of the carbon shell. This structure is influenced by the mass fraction of C12 attained at the end of core helium burning, which in turn is mainly determined by the C12(alpha,gamma)O16 reaction. The still present uncertainty in the rate for this reaction implies that the s-process in massive stars is also subject to this uncertainty. We identify some isotopes like Zn70 and Rb87 as the signatures of the s-process during shell carbon burning in massive stars. In determining the relative contribution of our s-only stellar yields to the solar abundances, we find it is important to take into account the neutron exposure of shell carbon burning. When we analyze our yields with a Salpeter Initial Mass Function, we find that massive stars contribute at least 40% to s-only nuclei with mass A 90, massive stars contribute on average ~7%, except for Gd152, Os187, and Hg198 which are ~14%, \~13%, and ~11%, respectively.Comment: 52 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Acoustic black holes for relativistic fluids

We derive a new acoustic black hole metric from the Abelian Higgs model. In the non-relativistic limit, while the Abelian Higgs model becomes the Ginzburg-Landau model, the metric reduces to an ordinary Unruh type. We investigate the possibility of using (type I and II) superconductors as the acoustic black holes. We propose to realize experimental acoustic black holes by using spiral vortices solutions from the Navier-stokes equation in the non-relativistic classical fluids.Comment: 16 pages. typos corrected, contents expande

Myocardial hypothermia increases autophagic flux, mitochondrial mass and myocardial function after ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Animal studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of therapeutic hypothermia on myocardial function, yet exact mechanisms remain unclear. Impaired autophagy leads to heart failure and mitophagy is important for mitigating ischemia/reperfusion injury. This study aims to investigate whether the beneficial effects of therapeutic hypothermia are due to preserved autophagy and mitophagy. Under general anesthesia, the left anterior descending coronary artery of 19 female farm pigs was occluded for 90 minutes with consecutive reperfusion. 30 minutes after reperfusion, we performed pericardial irrigation with warm or cold saline for 60 minutes. Myocardial tissue analysis was performed one and four weeks after infarction. Therapeutic hypothermia induced a significant increase in autophagic flux, mitophagy, mitochondrial mass and function in the myocardium after infarction. Cell stress, apoptosis, inflammation as well as fibrosis were reduced, with significant preservation of systolic and diastolic function four weeks post infarction. We found similar biochemical changes in human samples undergoing open chest surgery under hypothermic conditions when compared to the warm. These results suggest that autophagic flux and mitophagy are important mechanisms implicated in cardiomyocyte recovery after myocardial infarction under hypothermic conditions. New therapeutic strategies targeting these pathways directly could lead to improvements in prevention of heart failure

Ultrasound IMT measurement on a multi-ethnic and multi-institutional database: Our review and experience using four fully automated and one semi-automated methods

Automated and high performance carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) measurement is gaining increasing importance in clinical practice to assess the cardiovascular risk of patients. In this paper, we compare four fully automated IMT measurement techniques (CALEX, CAMES, CARES and CAUDLES) and one semi-automated technique (FOAM). We present our experience using these algorithms, whose lumen-intima and media-adventitia border estimation use different methods that can be: (a) edge-based; (b) training-based; (c) feature-based; or (d) directional Edge-Flow based. Our database (DB) consisted of 665 images that represented a multi-ethnic group and was acquired using four OEM scanners. The performance evaluation protocol adopted error measures, reproducibility measures, and Figure of Merit (FoM). FOAM showed the best performance, with an IMT bias equal to 0.025 ± 0.225 mm, and a FoM equal to 96.6%. Among the four automated methods, CARES showed the best results with a bias of 0.032 ± 0.279 mm, and a FoM to 95.6%, which was statistically comparable to that of FOAM performance in terms of accuracy and reproducibility. This is the first time that completely automated and user-driven techniques have been compared on a multi-ethnic dataset, acquired using multiple original equipment manufacturer (OEM) machines with different gain settings, representing normal and pathologic case