Towards the Theory of Non--Abelian Tensor Fields I

We present a triangulation--independent area--ordering prescription which naturally generalizes the well known path ordering one. For such a prescription it is natural that the two--form ``connection'' should carry three ``color'' indices rather than two as it is in the case of the ordinary one--form gauge connection. To define the prescription in question we have to define how to {\it exponentiate} a matrix with three indices. The definition uses the fusion rule structure constants.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figure

Oscillations of high energy neutrinos in matter: Precise formalism and parametric resonance

We present a formalism for precise description of oscillation phenomena in matter at high energies or high densities, V > \Delta m^2/2E, where V is the matter-induced potential of neutrinos. The accuracy of the approximation is determined by the quantity \sin^2 2\theta_m \Delta V/2\pi V, where \theta_m is the mixing angle in matter and \Delta V is a typical change of the potential over the oscillation length (l \sim 2\pi/V). We derive simple and physically transparent formulas for the oscillation probabilities, which are valid for arbitrary matter density profiles. They can be applied to oscillations of high energy (E > 10 GeV) accelerator, atmospheric and cosmic neutrinos in the matter of the Earth, substantially simplifying numerical calculations and providing an insight into the physics of neutrino oscillations in matter. The effect of parametric enhancement of the oscillations of high energy neutrinos is considered. Future high statistics experiments can provide an unambiguous evidence for this effect.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, 1 figure. Linestyles in the figure corrected to match their description in the caption; improved discussion of the accuracy of the results; references added. Results and conclusions unchange

Chizhov and Petcov Reply

We have found in [1] new conditions for a total neutrino conversion in the case of neutrino oscillations taking place in a medium, consisting of n = 2 (or 3) alternating layers with constant densities $N_1$ and $N_2$. It is claimed in [4] that our results are particular case of enhancement of neutrino oscillations, which was suggested earlier by other authors and was widely discussed in the literature. We refute these claims, confirming the novelty of our results.Comment: 2 pages, LATEX; concise (essentially 1 page) and somewhat modified version of Ref. SISSA 5/2000/EP (hep-ph/0003110); reply on the ``Comment on New Conditions for a Total Neutrino Conversion in a Medium'', Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000) 3978; published as ``Chizhov and Petcov Reply'' in Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000) 397

Two Detector Reactor Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Kr2Det at Krasnoyarsk. Status Report

We consider status of the Kr2Det project aimed at sensitive searches for neutrino oscillations in the atmospheric neutrino mass parameter region around Dm2 ~ 3x10-3 eV2and at obtaining new information on the electron neutrino mass structure (Ue3).Comment: 4 pages in pdf file. Talk presented at NANP-2001 International Conference in Dubna, Russia, June 200

Beta decay and other processes in strong electromagnetic fields

We consider effects of the fields of strong electromagnetic waves on various characteristics of quantum processes. After a qualitative discussion of the effects of external fields on the energy spectra and angular distributions of the final-state particles as well as on the total probabilities of the processes (such as decay rates and total cross sections), we present a simple method of calculating the total probabilities of processes with production of non-relativistic charged particles. Using nuclear beta-decay as an example, we study the weak and strong field limits, as well as the field-induced beta-decay of nuclei stable in the absence of the external fields, both in the tunneling and multi-photon regimes. We also consider the possibility of accelerating forbidden nuclear beta-decays by lifting the forbiddeness due to the interaction of the parent or daughter nuclei with the field of a strong electromagnetic wave. It is shown that for currently attainable electromagnetic fields all effects on total beta-decay rates are unobservably small.Comment: LaTeX, 30 pages, 2 figures. Invited contribution to the special issue of Yadernaya Fizika dedicated to the centennial anniversary of birthday of A.B. Migdal. V2: references adde

Floquet theory of neutrino oscillations in the earth

We review the Floquet theory of linear differential equations with periodic coefficients and discuss its applications to neutrino oscillations in matter of periodically varying density. In particular, we consider parametric resonance in neutrino oscillations which can occur in such media, and discuss implications for oscillations of neutrinos traversing the earth and passing through the earth's core.Comment: LaTeX, 28 pages, 8 eps figures. Contribution to the special issue of Yad. Fiz. dedicated to the memory of A.B. Migda

The MSW effect and Matter Effects in Neutrino Oscillations

The MSW (Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein) effect is the adiabatic or partially adiabatic neutrino flavor conversion in medium with varying density. The main notions related to the effect, its dynamics and physical picture are reviewed. The large mixing MSW effect is realized inside the Sun providing the solution of the solar neutrino problem. The small mixing MSW effect driven by the 1-3 mixing can be realized for the supernova (SN) neutrinos. Inside the collapsing stars new elements of the MSW dynamics may show up: the non-oscillatory transition, non-adiabatic conversion, time dependent adiabaticity violation induced by shock waves. Effects of the resonance enhancement and the parametric enhancement of oscillations can be realized for the atmospheric and accelerator neutrinos in the Earth. Precise results for neutrino oscillations in the low density medium with arbitrary density profile are presented and the attenuation effect is described. The area of applications is the solar and SN neutrinos inside the Earth, and the results are crucial for the neutrino oscillation tomography.Comment: 18 pages, latex, 6 figures, talk given at the Nobel Symposium 129, ``Neutrino Physics'', Haga Slott, August 19 - 24, 200

COVID-19 Pandemic and Irritable Bowel Syndrome — is there a Relationship?

The aim: to reflect the features of the course of irritable bowel syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic.Key points. It has been noted that the COVID-19 may contribute to the formation of post-infectious functional gastrointestinal diseases, given that angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptors, the site of binding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to human cells, are also present in epithelial intestinal cells; virus was found in feces in about half of patients, gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea occur in about one fifth of patients, fecal calprotectin, a marker of GI inflammation is elevated in patients with COVID-19, macroscopically as well as histologically, patients show signs of damage mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, and also, as noted above, they have a dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota.Conclusion. It was shown that during the pandemic, more than 90 % of the interviewed patients with IBS had an exacerbation of IBS with an increase in symptoms such as bloating and cramps, and 75 % of them said that the exacerbation of symptoms was reflected in the activity of patients in everyday life. These factors dictate the need for an integrated approach in the management of such a group of patients with the use of modern multi-target drugs that affect the pathogenetic factors in the formation of functional gastrointestinal diseases, one of which is the Kolofort drug due to the triple multi-target mechanism of action on the pathogenesis of functional gastrointestinal diseases

On the relevance of quantum corrections to the matter stress-energy tensor in eternally expanding universes

We study a toy-model of continuous infinite expansion of space-time with the flat start. We use as the gravitational background a conformaly flat metric with an exponentially growing factor in conformal time. We aim to clarify some properties of quantum fields in such a gravitational background. In particular, we calculate one-loop corrections to the Keldysh propagator to verify the fact of secular growth of the occupation number and anomalous quantum average in the massless scalar field theory with selfinteractions. We perform the calculation in arbitrary dimensions with the use of the Schwinger-Keldysh technique. We get a secular growth which is not of a kinetic type. We provide some results for the case of generic interaction $\frac{\lambda}{b!}\phi^b$.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure