1,107 research outputs found
Effective Potential on Fuzzy Sphere
The effective potential of quantized scalar field on fuzzy sphere is
evaluated to the two-loop level. We see that one-loop potential behaves like
that in the commutative sphere and the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism of the
radiatively symmetry breaking could be also shown in the fuzzy sphere system.
In the two-loop level, we use the heavy-mass approximation and the
high-temperature approximation to perform the evaluations. The results show
that both of the planar and nonplanar Feynman diagrams have inclinations to
restore the symmetry breaking in the tree level. However, the contributions
from planar diagrams will dominate over those from nonplanar diagrams by a
factor N^2. Thus, at heavy-mass limit or high-temperature system the quantum
field on the fuzzy sphere will behave like those on the commutative sphere. We
also see that there is a drastic reduction of the degrees of freedom in the
nonplanar diagrams when the particle wavelength is smaller than the
noncommutativity scale.Comment: Latex 18 pages, some typos correcte
Effective Finite Temperature Partition Function for Fields on Non-Commutative Flat Manifolds
The first quantum correction to the finite temperature partition function for
a self-interacting massless scalar field on a dimensional flat manifold
with non-commutative extra dimensions is evaluated by means of dimensional
regularization, suplemented with zeta-function techniques. It is found that the
zeta function associated with the effective one-loop operator may be nonregular
at the origin. The important issue of the determination of the regularized
vacuum energy, namely the first quantum correction to the energy in such case
is discussed.Comment: amslatex, 14 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.
A generic estimate of trans-Planckian modifications to the primordial power spectrum in inflation
We derive a general expression for the power spectra of scalar and tensor
fluctuations generated during inflation given an arbitrary choice of boundary
condition for the mode function at a short distance. We assume that the
boundary condition is specified at a short-distance cutoff at a scale which
is independent of time. Using a particular prescription for the boundary
condition at momentum , we find that the modulation to the power spectra
of density and gravitational wave fluctuations is of order , where
is the Hubble parameter during inflation, and we argue that this behavior is
generic, although by no means inevitable. With fixed boundary condition, we
find that the shape of the modulation to the power spectra is determined
entirely by the deviation of the background spacetime from the de Sitter limit.Comment: 15 pages (RevTeX), 2 figure
Inhibiting decoherence via ancilla processes
General conditions are derived for preventing the decoherence of a single
two-state quantum system (qubit) in a thermal bath. The employed auxiliary
systems required for this purpose are merely assumed to be weak for the general
condition while various examples such as extra qubits and extra classical
fields are studied for applications in quantum information processing. The
general condition is confirmed with well known approaches towards inhibiting
decoherence. A novel approach for decoherence-free quantum memories and quantum
operations is presented by placing the qubit into the center of a sphere with
extra qubits on its surface.Comment: pages 8, Revtex
Acute renal impairment in coronavirus-associated severe acute respiratory syndrome
Acute renal impairment in coronavirus-associated severe acute respiratory syndrome.BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerged infection from a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Apart from fever and respiratory complications, acute renal impairment has been observed in some patients with SARS. Herein, we describe the clinical, pathologic, and laboratory features of the acute renal impairment complicating this new viral infection.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of the plasma creatinine concentration and other clinical parameters of the 536 SARS patients with normal plasma creatinine at first clinical presentation, admitted to two regional hospitals following a major outbreak in Hong Kong in March 2003. Kidney tissues from seven other patients with postmortem examinations were studied by light microscopy and electron microscopy.ResultsAmong these 536 patients with SARS, 36 (6.7%) developed acute renal impairment occurring at a median duration of 20 days (range 5â48 days) after the onset of viral infection despite a normal plasma creatinine level at first clinical presentation. The acute renal impairment reflected the different prerenal and renal factors that exerted renal insult occurring in the context of multiorgan failure. Eventually, 33 SARS patients (91.7%) with acute renal impairment died. The mortality rate was significantly higher among patients with SARS and acute renal impairment compared with those with SARS and no renal impairment (91.7% vs. 8.8%) (P < 0.0001). Renal tissues revealed predominantly acute tubular necrosis with no evidence of glomerular pathology. The adjusted relative risk of mortality associated with the development of acute renal impairment was 4.057 (P < 0.001). By multivariate analysis, acute respiratory distress syndrome and age were the most significant independent risk factors predicting the development of acute renal impairment in SARS.ConclusionAcute renal impairment is uncommon in SARS but carries a high mortality. The acute renal impairment is likely to be related to multi-organ failure rather than the kidney tropism of the virus. The development of acute renal impairment is an important negative prognostic indicator for survival with SARS
Danggui Buxue Tang â A Chinese herbal decoction activates the phosphorylations of extracellular signal-regulated kinase and estrogen receptor α in cultured MCF-7 cells
AbstractDanggui Buxue Tang (DBT), a Chinese herbal decoction used to treat ailments in women, contains Radix Astragali (Huangqi; RA) and Radix Angelicae Sinensis (Danggui; RAS). The weight ratio of RA to RAS used in DBT must be 5:1 as stipulated as early as AD 1247; however, DBTâs mechanism of action has never been described. Here, the estrogenic effects of DBT were investigated by determining the phosphorylations of estrogen receptor α (ERα) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (Erk1/2) in cultured MCF-7 cells. The application of DBT triggered the phosphorylation of ERα and Erk1/2 in a time-dependent manner. In contrast to the effect of estrogen, DBT triggered ERα phosphorylation at both S118 and S167. This DBT-specific phosphorylation was not triggered by an extract of one of the individual herbs, or by mixing the extracts of RA and RAS. DBT-induced downstream signals are described here. These signals suggest the uniqueness of this Chinese herbal decoction that requires a well-defined formulation
Minimal modifications of the primordial power spectrum from an adiabatic short distance cutoff
As a simple model for unknown Planck scale physics, we assume that the
quantum modes responsible for producing primordial curvature perturbations
during inflation are placed in their instantaneous adiabatic vacuum when their
proper momentum reaches a fixed high energy scale M. The resulting power
spectrum is derived and presented in a form that exhibits the amplitude and
frequency of the superimposed oscillations in terms of H/M and the slow roll
parameter epsilon. The amplitude of the oscillations is proportional to the
third power of H/M. We argue that these small oscillations give the lower bound
of the modifications of the power spectrum if the notion of free mode
propagation ceases to exist above the critical energy scale M.Comment: 10 pages; matches version accepted by PR
Filaggrin-null mutations are associated with increased maturation markers on Langerhans cells
Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muon-induced Spallation Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory
AbstractMuon-induced neutrons are one of the major backgrounds to various underground experiments, such as dark matter searches, low-energy neutrino oscillation experiments and neutrino-less double beta-decay experiments. Previous experiments on the underground production rate of muon-induced neutrons were mostly carried out either at shallow sites or at very deep sites. The Aberdeen Tunnel experiment aims to measure the neutron production rate at a moderate depth of 611 meters water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises of six layers of plastic-scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons, and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid-scintillator for both neutron production and detection targets. In this paper, we describe the design and the performance of the apparatus. The preliminary result on the measurement of neutron production rate is also presented
Lack of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Transmission from Infected Camels
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