The Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term and its renormalisation in softly-broken supersymmetric theories

We consider the renormalisation of the Fayet-Iliopoulos D-term in a softly-broken abelian supersymmetric theory, and calculate the associated beta-function through three loops. We show that there exists (at least through three loops) a renormalisation group invariant trajectory for the coefficient of the D-term, corresponding to the conformal anomaly solution for the soft masses and couplings.Comment: 30 pages, Revtex, 15 Figures. Minor changes, and inadvertent omission of author from this abstract correcte

Anisotropic magnetoresistance in the organic superconductor β″–(BEDT-TTF)2SF5CH2CF2SO3

In this paper, we report transport measurements of interlayer magnetoresistance with field parallel and perpendicular to the current direction in an all organic superconductor β″–(BEDT-TTF)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃. For H∥I, the isothermal magnetoresistance R(H) at low temperatures (

Anomalous low-temperature and high-field magnetoresistance in the organic superconductor β″-(BEDT-TTF)2SF5CH2CF2SO3

We report direct observations of anomalous magnetic-field and temperature dependences of the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations in the organic superconductor β″-(BEDT-TTF)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃. Unlike other BEDT-TTF based organic superconductors, a nonmetallic temperature dependence of the background magnetoresistance is clearly observed. It is speculated that the nonmetallic behavior may arise from a partial nesting of the open orbits, similar to the field-induced density wave in the quasi-one-dimensional systems or a charge localization. The analysis of the magnetoresistance oscillations are found to deviate from the conventional Lifshitz-Kosevich description at high field and low temperatures. [S0163-1829(99)05433-8

Mapping our Universe in 3D with MITEoR

Mapping our universe in 3D by imaging the redshifted 21 cm line from neutral hydrogen has the potential to overtake the cosmic microwave background as our most powerful cosmological probe, because it can map a much larger volume of our Universe, shedding new light on the epoch of reionization, inflation, dark matter, dark energy, and neutrino masses. We report on MITEoR, a pathfinder low-frequency radio interferometer whose goal is to test technologies that greatly reduce the cost of such 3D mapping for a given sensitivity. MITEoR accomplishes this by using massive baseline redundancy both to enable automated precision calibration and to cut the correlator cost scaling from N^2 to NlogN, where N is the number of antennas. The success of MITEoR with its 64 dual-polarization elements bodes well for the more ambitious HERA project, which would incorporate many identical or similar technologies using an order of magnitude more antennas, each with dramatically larger collecting area.Comment: To be published in proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technolog

Neutrino Physics from Charged Higgs and Slepton Associated Production in AMSB

In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with bilinear R-Parity violation, terms that violate R-Parity and lepton number are introduced in the superpotential, and sneutrino vacuum expectation values are induced. As a result, neutrino masses and mixing angles are generated via a low energy see-saw mechanism. We show that this model embedded into an anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario is testable at a linear collider using charged Higgs boson production in association with a stau. This is possible in regions of parameter space where the charged Higgs and stau have similar mass, producing an enhancement of the charged scalar mixing angles. We show that the bilinear parameter and the sneutrino vev can be determined from charged scalar observables, and estimate the precision of this determination.Comment: 21 pages, including 8 figure

Maximizing the potential of aggressive mouse tumor models in preclinical drug testing.

Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is an aggressive embryonal brain tumor among infants and young children. Two challenges exist for preclinical testing in ATRT. First, genetically quiet, ATRT is a difficult tumor to target molecularly. Tumor cells need to divide to propagate tumor growth-intercepting the common crossroads in cell cycle progression is a feasible strategy. KIF11 is needed for bipolar spindle formation in metaphase. We identified KIF11 as a universal target of all ATRT-molecular-subtypes. Ispinesib, a KIF11-inhibitor, effectively inhibited tumor proliferation in all seven cell lines. A second challenge-a major challenge in preclinical drug testing in-vivo among aggressive tumor models, is the narrow therapeutic window to administer drugs within the limited murine lifespan. Our most aggressive ATRT tumor model was lethal in all mice within ~ 1 month of tumor implantation. Such short-surviving mouse models are difficult to employ for preclinical drug testing due to the narrow time window to administer drugs. To overcome this time restriction, we developed a clinical staging system which allowed physically-fit mice to continue treatment, in contrast to the conventional method of fixed drug-dose-duration regimen in preclinical testing which will not be feasible in such short-surviving mouse models. We validated this approach in a second embryonal brain tumor, medulloblastoma. This is a clinically relevant, cost-efficient approach in preclinical testing for cancer and non-cancer disease phenotypes. Widely used preclinical mouse models are not the most accurate and lack the aggressive tumor spectrum found within a single tumor type. Mice bearing the most aggressive tumor spectrum progress rapidly in the limited murine life-span, resulting in a narrow therapeutic window to administer drugs, and are thus difficult to employ in preclinical testing. Our approach overcomes this challenge. We discovered ispinesib is efficacious against two embryonal brain tumor types

Silencing BMI1 eliminates tumor formation of pediatric glioma CD133+ cells not by affecting known targets but by down-regulating a novel set of core genes

Abstract Clinical outcome of children with malignant glioma remains dismal. Here, we examined the role of over-expressed BMI1, a regulator of stem cell self-renewal, in sustaining tumor formation in pediatric glioma stem cells. Our investigation revealed BMI1 over-expression in 29 of 54 (53.7%) pediatric gliomas, 8 of 8 (100%) patient derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse models, and in both CD133+ and CD133− glioma cells. We demonstrated that lentiviral-shRNA mediated silencing of suppressed cell proliferation in vitro in cells derived from 3 independent PDOX models and eliminated tumor-forming capacity of CD133+ and CD133− cells derived from 2 PDOX models in mouse brains. Gene expression profiling showed that most of the molecular targets of BMI1 ablation in CD133+ cells were different from that in CD133- cells. Importantly, we found that silencing BMI1 in CD133+ cells derived from 3 PDOX models did not affect most of the known genes previously associated with the activated BMI1, but modulated a novel set of core genes, including RPS6KA2, ALDH3A2, FMFB, DTL, API5, EIF4G2, KIF5c, LOC650152, C20ORF121, LOC203547, LOC653308, and LOC642489, to mediate the elimination of tumor formation. In summary, we identified the over-expressed BMI1 as a promising therapeutic target for glioma stem cells, and suggest that the signaling pathways associated with activated BMI1 in promoting tumor growth may be different from those induced by silencing BMI1 in blocking tumor formation. These findings highlighted the importance of careful re-analysis of the affected genes following the inhibition of abnormally activated oncogenic pathways to identify determinants that can potentially predict therapeutic efficacy.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110124/1/40478_2014_Article_160.pd