Extended soft wall model with background related to features of QCD thermodynamics

The soft wall model is extended to accommodate at the same time (i) approximately linear $\rho$ meson Regge trajectories at zero temperature $T$, (ii) various options for the thermodynamics with reference to QCD (cross over or second-order transition or first-order transition at $T_c$), and (iii) the appearance of vector meson states at $T \leq T_c$. While the vector meson masses display some modest model dependence very near to $T_c$, they stay below $T_c$ to good accuracy independent of the temperature, that is nearly as at $T=0$, thus being very consistent with the thermo-statistical models widely employed in analyses of the hadron yields in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in a region where baryon densitiy effects can be neglected and the vacuum hadron masses are used

Holographic vector meson melting in a thermal gravity-dilaton background related to QCD

A holographic model of probe vector mesons (quarkonia) is presented, where the dynamical gravity-dilaton background is adjusted to the thermodynamics of 2 +1 flavor QCD with physical quark masses. The vector meson action is modified to account for various quark masses. We focus on the $\Phi$, $J/\psi$ and $\Upsilon$ meson melting in agreement with hadron phenomenology in heavy-ion collisions at LHC, that is the formation of hadrons at the observed freeze-out temperature of 155 MeV.Comment: Contribution to the 40th Max Born Symposiu

Exotic Cores with and without Dark-Matter Admixtures in Compact Stars

We parameterize the core of compact spherical star configurations by a mass ($m_x$) and a radius ($r_x$) and study the resulting admissible areas in the total-mass vs. total-radius plane. The employed fiducial equation-of-state models of the corona at radii $r \ge r_x$ and pressures $p \le p_x = p(r = r_x)$ are that (i) of constant sound velocity and (ii) a proxy of DY$\Delta$ DD-ME2 provided by Buchdahl's exactly solvable ansatz. The core ($r < r_x$) may contain any type of material, e.g. Standard-Model matter with unspecified equation of state or/and an unspecified Dark-Matter admixture. Employing a toy model for the cool equation of state with first-order phase transition we discuss also the mass-radius relation of compact stars with an admixture of Dark Matter in a Mirror-World scenario

Automatisierte Generierung und Simulation von Hyper-Heuristiken für stochastische Multi-Modus-Multi-Projekt-ressourcenbeschränkte Projekt- und Systemplanungsprobleme mit Umrüstzeiten

A simulation framework is presented which covers both generation and simulation of production planning and control problems which include transfer times and stochastic influences and therefore extend classical multi-mode multi-project RCPSPs. This allows for systematic and in-depth investigations of the quality and the behaviour of heuristics. In addition, the automated design of heuristics based on Boolean operators applied to relations of problem specific quantities leads on average to better results than a manual selection and adjustment of heuristic strategies

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Exotic Cores with and without Dark-Matter Admixtures in Compact Stars

We parameterize the core of compact spherical star configurations by a mass (mx) and a radius (rx) and study the resulting admissible areas in the total-mass&ndash;total-radius plane. The employed fiducial equation-of-state models of the corona at radii r&gt;rx and pressures p&le;px with p(r=rx)=px are that of constant sound velocity and a proxy of DY&Delta; DD-ME2 provided by Buchdahl&rsquo;s exactly solvable ansatz. The core (r&lt;rx) may contain any type of material, e.g., Standard-Model matter with unspecified equation of state or/and an unspecified Dark-Matter admixture. Employing a toy model for the cool equation of state with first-order phase transition, we also discuss the mass-radius relation of compact stars with an admixture of Dark Matter in a Mirror-World scenario