2,210 research outputs found
On the Ricci tensor in type II B string theory
Let be a metric connection with totally skew-symmetric torsion \T
on a Riemannian manifold. Given a spinor field and a dilaton function
, the basic equations in type II B string theory are \bdm \nabla \Psi =
0, \quad \delta(\T) = a \cdot \big(d \Phi \haken \T \big), \quad \T \cdot \Psi
= b \cdot d \Phi \cdot \Psi + \mu \cdot \Psi . \edm We derive some relations
between the length ||\T||^2 of the torsion form, the scalar curvature of
, the dilaton function and the parameters . The main
results deal with the divergence of the Ricci tensor \Ric^{\nabla} of the
connection. In particular, if the supersymmetry is non-trivial and if
the conditions \bdm (d \Phi \haken \T) \haken \T = 0, \quad \delta^{\nabla}(d
\T) \cdot \Psi = 0 \edm hold, then the energy-momentum tensor is
divergence-free. We show that the latter condition is satisfied in many
examples constructed out of special geometries. A special case is . Then
the divergence of the energy-momentum tensor vanishes if and only if one
condition \delta^{\nabla}(d \T) \cdot \Psi = 0 holds. Strong models (d \T =
0) have this property, but there are examples with \delta^{\nabla}(d \T) \neq
0 and \delta^{\nabla}(d \T) \cdot \Psi = 0.Comment: 9 pages, Latex2
Unit Killing Vector Fields on Nearly Kahler Manifolds
We study 6-dimensional nearly Kahler manifolds admitting a Killing vector
field of unit length. In the compact case it is shown that up to a finite cover
there is only one geometry possible, that of the 3--symmetric space
Precision high voltage divider for the KATRIN experiment
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the
absolute mass of the electron antineutrino from a precise measurement of the
tritium beta-spectrum near its endpoint at 18.6 keV with a sensitivity of 0.2
eV. KATRIN uses an electrostatic retardation spectrometer of MAC-E filter type
for which it is crucial to monitor high voltages of up to 35 kV with a
precision and long-term stability at the ppm level. Since devices capable of
this precision are not commercially available, a new high voltage divider for
direct voltages of up to 35 kV has been designed, following the new concept of
the standard divider for direct voltages of up to 100 kV developed at the
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The electrical and mechanical
design of the divider, the screening procedure for the selection of the
precision resistors, and the results of the investigation and calibration at
PTB are reported here. During the latter, uncertainties at the low ppm level
have been deduced for the new divider, thus qualifying it for the precision
measurements of the KATRIN experiment.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure
Sub-surface Oxygen and Surface Oxide Formation at Ag(111): A Density-functional Theory Investigation
To help provide insight into the remarkable catalytic behavior of the
oxygen/silver system for heterogeneous oxidation reactions, purely sub-surface
oxygen, and structures involving both on-surface and sub-surface oxygen, as
well as oxide-like structures at the Ag(111) surface have been studied for a
wide range of coverages and adsorption sites using density-functional theory.
Adsorption on the surface in fcc sites is energetically favorable for low
coverages, while for higher coverage a thin surface-oxide structure is
energetically favorable. This structure has been proposed to correspond to the
experimentally observed (4x4) phase. With increasing O concentrations, thicker
oxide-like structures resembling compressed Ag2O(111) surfaces are
energetically favored. Due to the relatively low thermal stability of these
structures, and the very low sticking probability of O2 at Ag(111), their
formation and observation may require the use of atomic oxygen (or ozone, O3)
and low temperatures. We also investigate diffusion of O into the sub-surface
region at low coverage (0.11 ML), and the effect of surface Ag vacancies in the
adsorption of atomic oxygen and ozone-like species. The present studies,
together with our earlier investigations of on-surface and
surface-substitutional adsorption, provide a comprehensive picture of the
behavior and chemical nature of the interaction of oxygen and Ag(111), as well
as of the initial stages of oxide formation.Comment: 17 pages including 14 figures, Related publications can be found at
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
Genetically altered AMPA-type glutamate receptor kinetics in interneurons disrupt long-range synchrony of gamma oscillation
Gamma oscillations synchronized between distant neuronal populations may be critical for binding together brain regions devoted to common processing tasks. Network modeling predicts that such synchrony depends in part on the fast time course of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in interneurons, and that even moderate slowing of this time course will disrupt synchrony. We generated mice with slowed interneuron EPSPs by gene targeting, in which the gene encoding the 67-kDa form of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67) was altered to drive expression of the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) glutamate receptor subunit GluR-B. GluR-B is a determinant of the relatively slow EPSPs in excitatory neurons and is normally expressed at low levels in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic interneurons, but at high levels in the GAD-GluR-B mice. In both wild-type and GAD-GluR-B mice, tetanic stimuli evoked gamma oscillations that were indistinguishable in local field potential recordings. Remarkably, however, oscillation synchrony between spatially separated sites was severely disrupted in the mutant, in association with changes in interneuron firing patterns. The congruence between mouse and model suggests that the rapid time course of AMPA receptor-mediated EPSPs in interneurons might serve to allow gamma oscillations to synchronize over distance
Pulsational and evolutionary analysis of the double-mode RR Lyrae star BS Com
We derive the basic physical parameters of the field double-mode RR Lyrae
star BS Com from its observed periods and the requirement of consistency
between the pulsational and evolutionary constraints. By using the current
solar-scaled horizontal branch evolutionary models of Pietrinferni et al.
(2004) and our linear non-adiabatic purely radiative pulsational models, we get
M/M(Sun) = 0.698 +/- 0.004, log(L/L(Sun)) = 1.712 +/- 0.005, T(eff) = 6840 +/-
14 K, [Fe/H] = -1.67 +/- 0.01, where the errors are standard deviations
assuming uniform age distribution along the full range of uncertainty in age.
The last two parameters are in a good agreement with the ones derived from the
observed BVIc colours and the updated ATLAS9 stellar atmosphere models. We get
T(eff) = 6842 +/- 10 K, [Fe/H] = -1.58 +/- 0.11, where the errors are purely
statistical ones. It is remarkable that the derived parameters are nearly
independent of stellar age at early evolutionary stages. Later stages,
corresponding to the evolution toward the asymptotic giant branch are most
probably excluded because the required high temperatures are less likely to
satisfy the constraints posed by the colours. We also show that our conclusions
are only weakly sensitive to nonlinear period shifts predicted by current
hydrodynamical models.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS on 2008 February 01. The paper
contains 4 figures and 8 table
Insights into the function of silver as an oxidation catalyst by ab initio, atomistic thermodynamics
To help understand the high activity of silver as an oxidation catalyst,
e.g., for the oxidation of ethylene to epoxide and the dehydrogenation of
methanol to formaldehyde, the interaction and stability of oxygen species at
the Ag(111) surface has been studied for a wide range of coverages. Through
calculation of the free energy, as obtained from density-functional theory and
taking into account the temperature and pressure via the oxygen chemical
potential, we obtain the phase diagram of O/Ag(111). Our results reveal that a
thin surface-oxide structure is most stable for the temperature and pressure
range of ethylene epoxidation and we propose it (and possibly other similar
structures) contains the species actuating the catalysis. For higher
temperatures, low coverages of chemisorbed oxygen are most stable, which could
also play a role in oxidation reactions. For temperatures greater than about
775 K there are no stable oxygen species, except for the possibility of O atoms
adsorbed at under-coordinated surface sites Our calculations rule out thicker
oxide-like structures, as well as bulk dissolved oxygen and molecular
ozone-like species, as playing a role in the oxidation reactions.Comment: 15 pages including 9 figures, Related publications can be found at
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
Inhibition of RNA Recruitment and Replication of an RNA Virus by Acridine Derivatives with Known Anti-Prion Activities
Small molecule inhibitors of RNA virus replication are potent antiviral drugs and useful to dissect selected steps in the replication process. To identify antiviral compounds against Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), a model positive stranded RNA virus, we tested acridine derivatives, such as chlorpromazine (CPZ) and quinacrine (QC), which are active against prion-based diseases.Here, we report that CPZ and QC compounds inhibited TBSV RNA accumulation in plants and in protoplasts. In vitro assays revealed that the inhibitory effects of these compounds were manifested at different steps of TBSV replication. QC was shown to have an effect on multiple steps, including: (i) inhibition of the selective binding of the p33 replication protein to the viral RNA template, which is required for recruitment of viral RNA for replication; (ii) reduction of minus-strand synthesis by the tombusvirus replicase; and (iii) inhibition of translation of the uncapped TBSV genomic RNA. In contrast, CPZ was shown to inhibit the in vitro assembly of the TBSV replicase, likely due to binding of CPZ to intracellular membranes, which are important for RNA virus replication.Since we found that CPZ was also an effective inhibitor of other plant viruses, including Tobacco mosaic virus and Turnip crinkle virus, it seems likely that CPZ has a broad range of antiviral activity. Thus, these inhibitors constitute effective tools to study similarities in replication strategies of various RNA viruses
Reconstruction of the gravitational wave signal during the Virgo science runs and independent validation with a photon calibrator
The Virgo detector is a kilometer-scale interferometer for gravitational wave
detection located near Pisa (Italy). About 13 months of data were accumulated
during four science runs (VSR1, VSR2, VSR3 and VSR4) between May 2007 and
September 2011, with increasing sensitivity.
In this paper, the method used to reconstruct, in the range 10 Hz-10 kHz, the
gravitational wave strain time series from the detector signals is
described. The standard consistency checks of the reconstruction are discussed
and used to estimate the systematic uncertainties of the signal as a
function of frequency. Finally, an independent setup, the photon calibrator, is
described and used to validate the reconstructed signal and the
associated uncertainties.
The uncertainties of the time series are estimated to be 8% in
amplitude. The uncertainty of the phase of is 50 mrad at 10 Hz with a
frequency dependence following a delay of 8 s at high frequency. A bias
lower than and depending on the sky direction of the GW is
also present.Comment: 35 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by CQ
Search for Large Extra Dimensions in Dielectron and Diphoton Production
We report a search for effects of large extra spatial dimensions in ppbar
collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV with the DZero detector, using
events containing a pair of electrons or photons. The data are in good
agreement with the expected background and do not exhibit evidence for large
extra dimensions. We set the most restrictive lower limits to date, at the 95%
confidence level, on the effective Planck scale between 1.0 TeV and 1.4 TeV for
several formalisms and numbers of extra dimensions.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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