Scalar-Kinetic Branes

This work tries to find out thick brane solutions in braneworld scenarios described by a real scalar field in the presence of a scalar-kinetic term $F(X,\phi)=X\phi^m$ with a single extra dimension, where $X=\frac12\nabla_M\phi\nabla^M\phi$ stands for the standard kinetic term and $m=0,1,2\cdots$. We mainly consider bent branes, namely de Sitter and Anti-de Sitter four-dimensional slices. The solutions of a flat brane are obtained when taking the four-dimensional cosmological constant $\Lambda_4\rightarrow 0$. When the parameter $m=0$, these solutions turn to those of the standard scenario. The localization and spectrum of graviton on these branes are also analyzed.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, accepted by EP

The Canine Papillomavirus and Gamma HPV E7 Proteins Use an Alternative Domain to Bind and Destabilize the Retinoblastoma Protein

The high-risk HPV E6 and E7 proteins cooperate to immortalize primary human cervical cells and the E7 protein can independently transform fibroblasts in vitro, primarily due to its ability to associate with and degrade the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein, pRb. The binding of E7 to pRb is mediated by a conserved Leu-X-Cys-X-Glu (LXCXE) motif in the conserved region 2 (CR2) of E7 and this domain is both necessary and sufficient for E7/pRb association. In the current study, we report that the E7 protein of the malignancy-associated canine papillomavirus type 2 encodes an E7 protein that has serine substituted for cysteine in the LXCXE motif. In HPV, this substitution in E7 abrogates pRb binding and degradation. However, despite variation at this critical site, the canine papillomavirus E7 protein still bound and degraded pRb. Even complete deletion of the LXSXE domain of canine E7 failed to interfere with binding to pRb in vitro and in vivo. Rather, the dominant binding site for pRb mapped to the C-terminal domain of canine E7. Finally, while the CR1 and CR2 domains of HPV E7 are sufficient for degradation of pRb, the C-terminal region of canine E7 was also required for pRb degradation. Screening of HPV genome sequences revealed that the LXSXE motif of the canine E7 protein was also present in the gamma HPVs and we demonstrate that the gamma HPV-4 E7 protein also binds pRb in a similar way. It appears, therefore, that the type 2 canine PV and gamma-type HPVs not only share similar properties with respect to tissue specificity and association with immunosuppression, but also the mechanism by which their E7 proteins interact with pRb

Doping and temperature dependence of incommensurate antiferromagnetism in underdoped lanthanum cuprates

The doping, temperature and energy dependence of the dynamical spin structure factors of the underdoped lanthanum cuprates in the normal state is studied within the t-J model using the fermion-spin transformation technique. Incommensurate peaks are found at $[(1\pm\delta)\pi,\pi]$, $[\pi,(1\pm\delta)\pi]$ at relatively low temperatures with $\delta$ linearly increasing with doping at the beginning and then saturating at higher dopings. These peaks broaden and weaken in amplitude with temperature and energy, in good agreement with experiments. The theory also predicts a rotation of these peaks by $\pi/4$ at even higher temperatures, being shifted to $[(1\pm \delta/\sqrt{2})\pi,(1\pm \delta/\sqrt{2})\pi]$.Comment: 11 pages, PDF file, six figures are included, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Evidence for B- -> tau- nu_bar with a Semileptonic Tagging Method

We present a measurement of the decay B- -> tau- nu_bar using a data sample containing 657 million BB_bar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. A sample of BB_bar pairs are tagged by reconstructing one B meson decaying semileptonically. We detect the B- -> tau- nu_bar candidate in the recoil. We obtain a signal with a significance of 3.6 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B- -> tau- nu_bar) = [1.54+0.38-0.37(stat)+0.29-0.31(syst)]*10^-4. This result confirms the evidence for B- -> tau- nu_bar obtained in a previous Belle measurement that used a hadronic B tagging method.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, corrected references, to appear in PRD-R

de Sitter Thick Brane Solution in Weyl Geometry

In this paper, we consider a de Sitter thick brane model in a pure geometric Weyl integrable five-dimensional space-time, which is a generalization of Riemann geometry and is invariant under a so-called Weyl rescaling. We find a solution of this model via performing a conformal transformation to map the Weylian structure into a familiar Riemannian one with a conformal metric. The metric perturbations of the model are discussed. For gravitational perturbation, we get the effective modified P$\ddot{\text{o}}$schl-Teller potential in corresponding Schr$\ddot{\text{o}}$dinger equation for Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of the graviton. There is only one bound state, which is a normalizable massless zero mode and represents a stable 4-dimensional graviton. Furthermore, there exists a mass gap between the massless mode and continuous KK modes. We also find that the model is stable under the scalar perturbation in the metric. The correction to the Newtonian potential on the brane is proportional to $e^{-3 r \beta/2}/r^2$, where $\beta$ is the de Sitter parameter of the brane. This is very different from the correction caused by a volcano-like effective potential.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, published versio

Search for CP violation in the decay B0->D*+-D-+

We report a search for CP-violating asymmetry in B0 -> D*+- D-+ decays. The analysis employs two methods of B0 reconstruction: full and partial. In the full reconstruction method all daughter particles of the B0 are required to be detected; the partial reconstruction technique requires a fully reconstructed D- and only a slow pion from the D*+ -> D0 pi_slow+ decay. From a fit to the distribution of the time interval corresponding to the distance between two B meson decay points we calculate the CP-violating parameters and find the significance of nonzero CP asymmetry to be 2.7 standard deviations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure