5,071 research outputs found
Comments on the classification of orientifolds
The simple current construction of orientifolds based on rational conformal
field theories is reviewed. When applied to SO(16) level 1, one can describe
all ten-dimensional orientifolds in a unified framework.Comment: 9 pages, Contribution to proceedings of RTN-workshop in Leuven,
Belgium, September 200
Ground state and bias current induced rearrangement of semifluxons in 0-pi long Josephson junctions
We investigate numerically a long Josephson junction with several phase
pi-discontinuity points. Such junctions are usually fabricated as a ramp
between an anisotropic cuprate superconductor like YBCO and an isotropic metal
superconductor like Nb. From the top, they look like zigzags with pi-jumps of
the Josephson phase at the corners. These pi-jumps, at certain conditions, lead
to the formation of half-integer flux quanta, which we call semifluxons (SF),
pinned at the corners. We show (a) that the spontaneous formation of SFs
depends on the junction length, (b) that the ground state without SFs can be
converted to a state with SFs by applying a bias current, (c) that the SF
configuration can be rearranged by the bias current. All these effects can be
observed using a SQUID microscope.Comment: ~8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR
Intersecting D5-brane models with massive vector-like leptons
We construct eight-stack intersecting D5-brane models, with an orbifold
transverse space, that yield the (non-supersymmetric) standard model up to
vector-like leptons. The matter includes right-chiral neutrinos and the models
have the renormalisable Yukawa couplings to tachyonic Higgs doublets needed to
generate mass terms for {\it all} matter, including the vector-like leptons.
The models are constrained by the requirement that twisted tadpoles cancel,
that the gauge boson coupled to the weak hypercharge does not get a
string-scale mass via a generalised Green-Schwarz mechanism, and that there are
no surviving, unwanted gauged U(1) symmetries coupled to matter.
Gauge coupling constant ratios close to those measured are easily obtained
for reasonable values of the parameters, consistently with having the string
scale close to the electroweak scale, as required to avoid the hierarchy
problem. Unwanted (colour-triplet, charged-singlet, and neutral-singlet) scalar
tachyons can be removed by a suitable choice of the parameters.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX fil
On the YM and QCD spectra from five dimensional strings
We consider a non-critical five dimensional string setup which could provide
a dual description of QCD in the limit of large number of colors and flavors.
The model corresponds to N_c color D3-branes and N_f D4/anti D4-brane pairs
supporting flavor degrees of freedom. The matching of the string model spectrum
with the dual field theory one is considered. We discuss the consequences of
the possible matching of the gravity modes with the light glueballs and the
interpretation of the brane spectrum in Yang-Mills and QCD.Comment: 21 pages; V2: added corrections and references to match the published
versio
Bunching visibility for correlated photons from single GaAs quantum dots
We study photon bunching phenomena associated with biexciton-exciton cascade
in single GaAs self-assembled quantum dots. Experiments carried out with a
pulsed excitation source show that significant bunching is only detectable at
very low excitation, where the typical intensity of photon streams is less than
the half of their saturation value. Our findings are qualitatively understood
with a model which accounts for Poissonian statistics in the number of
excitons, predicting the height of a bunching peak being determined by the
inverse of probability of finding more than one exciton.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figs to appear in Phys. Rev.
An Approximation for the rp-Process
Hot (explosive) hydrogen burning or the Rapid Proton Capture Process
(rp-process) occurs in a number of astrophysical environments. Novae and X-ray
bursts are the most prominent ones, but accretion disks around black holes and
other sites are candidates as well. The expensive and often multidimensional
hydro calculations for such events require an accurate prediction of the
thermonuclear energy generation, while avoiding full nucleosynthesis network
calculations. In the present investigation we present an approximation scheme
applicable in a temperature range which covers the whole range of all presently
known astrophysical sites. It is based on the concept of slowly varying
hydrogen and helium abundances and assumes a kind of local steady flow by
requiring that all reactions entering and leaving a nucleus add up to a zero
flux. This scheme can adapt itself automatically and covers situations at low
temperatures, characterized by a steady flow of reactions, as well as high
temperature regimes where a -equilibrium is established.
In addition to a gain of a factor of 15 in computational speed over a full
network calculation, and an energy generation accurate to more than 15 %, this
scheme also allows to predict correctly individual isotopic abundances. Thus,
it delivers all features of a full network at a highly reduced cost and can
easily be implemented in hydro calculations.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX using astrobib and aas2pp4, includes PostScript
figures; Astrophysical Journal, in press. PostScript source also available at
http://quasar.physik.unibas.ch/preps.htm
Tachyon Kinks in Boundary String Field Theory
We study tachyon kinks with and without electromagnetic fields in the context
of boundary string field theory. For the case of pure tachyon only an array of
kink-antikink is obtained. In the presence of electromagnetic coupling, all
possible static codimension-one soliton solutions such as array of
kink-antikink, single topological BPS kink, bounce, half kink, as well as
nonBPS topological kink are found, and their properties including the
interpretation as branes are analyzed in detail. Spectrum of the obtained kinks
coincides with that of Dirac-Born-Infeld type effective theory.Comment: LaTex, 29 pages, 17 Figure
Long distance decoy state quantum key distribution in optical fiber
The theoretical existence of photon-number-splitting attacks creates a
security loophole for most quantum key distribution (QKD) demonstrations that
use a highly attenuated laser source. Using ultra-low-noise, high-efficiency
transition-edge sensor photodetectors, we have implemented the first version of
a decoy-state protocol that incorporates finite statistics without the use of
Gaussian approximations in a one-way QKD system, enabling the creation of
secure keys immune to photon-number-splitting attacks and highly resistant to
Trojan horse attacks over 107 km of optical fiber.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Whole-genome sequencing of Theileria parva strains provides insight into parasite migration and diversification in the african continent
The disease caused by the apicomplexan protozoan parasite Theileria parva, known as East Coast fever or Corridor disease, is one of the most serious cattle diseases in Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. We performed whole-genome sequencing of nine T. parva strains, including one of the vaccine strains (Kiambu 5), field isolates from Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, or Rwanda, and two buffalo-derived strains. Comparison with the reference Muguga genome sequence revealed 34 814â121 545 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were more abundant in buffalo-derived strains. High-resolution phylogenetic trees were constructed with selected informative SNPs that allowed the investigation of possible complex recombination events among ancestors of the extant strains. We further analysed the dN/dS ratio (non-synonymous substitutions per non-synonymous site divided by synonymous substitutions per synonymous site) for 4011 coding genes to estimate potential selective pressure. Genes under possible positive selection were identified that may, in turn, assist in the identification of immunogenic proteins or vaccine candidates. This study elucidated the phylogeny of T. parva strains based on genome-wide SNPs analysis with prediction of possible past recombination events, providing insight into the migration, diversification, and evolution of this parasite species in the African continent
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