Anomaly-induced Quadrupole Moment of the Neutron in Magnetic Field

The neutrons cannot possess a quadrupole moment in the vacuum. Nevertheless, we show that in the presence of an external magnetic field the neutrons acquire a new type of quadrupole moment $Q^{ij}= \chi\,\sigma^i B^j$ involving the components of spin and magnetic field. This "chiral magnetic" quadrupole moment arises from the interplay of the chiral anomaly and the magnetic field; we estimate its value for the neutron in the static limit, and find $\chi \simeq 1.35\cdot10^{-2}\,{\rm fm}^4$. The detection of the quadrupole moment of the neutron would provide a novel test of the role of the chiral anomaly in low-energy QCD and can be possible in the presence of both magnetic and inhomogeneous electric fields. The quadrupole moment of the neutron may affect e.g. the properties of neutron stars and magnetars.Comment: 2 pages; extended versio

Potassium channels in cell cycle and cell proliferation

Normal cell-cycle progression is a crucial task for every multicellular organism, as it determines body size and shape, tissue renewal and senescence, and is also crucial for reproduction. On the other hand, dysregulation of the cell-cycle progression leading to uncontrolled cell proliferation is the hallmark of cancer. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is a tightly regulated process, with multifaceted and very complex control mechanisms. It is now well established that one of those mechanisms relies on ion channels, and in many cases specifically on potassium channels. Here, we summarize the possible mechanisms underlying the importance of potassium channels in cell-cycle control and briefly review some of the identified channels that illustrate the multiple ways in which this group of proteins can influence cell proliferation and modulate cell-cycle progression

The Gemini NICI Planet-Finding Campaign: The Offset Ring of HR 4796 A

We present J, H, CH_4 short (1.578 micron), CH_4 long (1.652 micron) and K_s-band images of the dust ring around the 10 Myr old star HR 4796 A obtained using the Near Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) on the Gemini-South 8.1 meter Telescope. Our images clearly show for the first time the position of the star relative to its circumstellar ring thanks to NICI's translucent focal plane occulting mask. We employ a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the offset vector between the two. The resulting probability distribution shows that the ring center is offset from the star by 16.7+/-1.3 milliarcseconds along a position angle of 26+/-3 degrees, along the PA of the ring, 26.47+/-0.04 degrees. We find that the size of this offset is not large enough to explain the brightness asymmetry of the ring. The ring is measured to have mostly red reflectivity across the JHK_s filters, which seems to indicate micron-sized grains. Just like Neptune's 3:2 and 2:1 mean-motion resonances delineate the inner and outer edges of the classical Kuiper Belt, we find that the radial extent of the HR 4796 A and Fomalhaut rings could correspond to the 3:2 and 2:1 mean-motion resonances of hypothetical planets at 54.7 AU and 97.7 AU in the two systems, respectively. A planet orbiting HR 4796 A at 54.7 AU would have to be less massive than 1.6 Mjup so as not to widen the ring too much by stirring.Comment: Accepted to A&A for publication on April 23, 2014 (15 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables

Dilepton and Photon Emission Rates from a Hadronic Gas III

We extend our early analyses of the dilepton and photon emission rates from a hadronic gas to account for strange mesons using a density expansion. The emission rates are reduced to vacuum correlation functions using three-flavor chiral reduction formulas, and the latters are assessed in terms of empirical data. Using a fire-ball, we compare our results to the low and intermediate mass dilepton data available from CERN. Our results suggest that a baryon free hadronic gas does not account for the excess of low mass dielectrons observed at CERES but do well in accounting for the intermediate dimuons at HELIOS. The same observations apply to the recent low and high $p_t$ dielectron rates from CERES.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX, 11 eps figure

Topology of the gauge-invariant gauge field in two-color QCD

We investigate solutions to a nonlinear integral equation which has a central role in implementing the non-Abelian Gauss's Law and in constructing gauge-invariant quark and gluon fields. Here we concern ourselves with solutions to this same equation that are not operator-valued, but are functions of spatial variables and carry spatial and SU(2) indices. We obtain an expression for the gauge-invariant gauge field in two-color QCD, define an index that we will refer to as the ``winding number'' that characterizes it, and show that this winding number is invariant to a small gauge transformation of the gauge field on which our construction of the gauge-invariant gauge field is based. We discuss the role of this gauge field in determining the winding number of the gauge-invariant gauge field. We also show that when the winding number of the gauge field is an integer $\ell{\neq}0$, the gauge-invariant gauge field manifests winding numbers that are not integers, and are half-integers only when $\ell=0$.Comment: 26 pages including 6 encapsulated postscript figures. Numerical errors have been correcte

NICI: combining coronagraphy, ADI, and SDI

The Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) is a high-contrast AO imager at the Gemini South telescope. The camera includes a coronagraphic mask and dual channel imaging for Spectral Differential Imaging (SDI). The instrument can also be used in a fixed Cassegrain Rotator mode for Angular Differential Imaging (ADI). While coronagraphy, SDI, and ADI have been applied before in direct imaging searches for exoplanets. NICI represents the first time that these 3 techniques can be combined. We present preliminary NICI commissioning data using these techniques and show that combining SDI and ADI results in significant gains.Comment: Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7014, 70141Z (2008

The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores: III: Low Mass Star Formation in a Small Group, L1251B

We present a comprehensive study of a low-mass star-forming region,L1251B, at wavelengths from the near-infrared to the millimeter. L1251B, where only one protostar, IRAS 22376+7455, was known previously, is confirmed to be a small group of protostars based on observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The most luminous source of L1251B is located 5" north of the IRAS position. A near-infrared bipolar nebula, which is not associated with the brightest object and is located at the southeast corner of L1251B, has been detected in the IRAC bands. OVRO and SMA interferometric observations indicate that the brightest source and the bipolar nebula source in the IRAC bands are deeply embedded disk sources.Submillimeter continuum observations with single-dish telescopes and the SMA interferometric observations suggest two possible prestellar objects with very high column densities. Outside of the small group, many young stellar object candidates have been detected over a larger region of 12' x 12'. Extended emission to the east of L1251B has been detected at 850 micron; this "east core" may be a site for future star formation since no point source has been detected with IRAC or MIPS. This region is therefore a possible example of low-mass cluster formation, where a small group of pre- and protostellar objects (L1251B) is currently forming, alongside a large starless core (the east core).Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, for the full resolution paper, visit "http://peggysue.as.utexas.edu/SIRTF/PAPERS/pap27.pub.pdf

Prompt Quark Production by exploding Sphalerons

Following recent works on production and subsequent explosive decay of QCD sphaleron-like clusters, we discuss the mechanism of quark pair production in this process. We first show how the gauge field explosive solution of Luscher and Schechter can be achieved by non-central conformal mapping from the O(4)-symmetric solution. Our main result is a new solution to the Dirac equation in real time in this configuration, obtained by the same inversion of the fermion O(4) zero mode. It explicitly shows how the quark acceleration occurs, starting from the spherically O(3) symmetric zero energy chiral quark state to the final spectrum of non-zero energies. The sphaleron-like clusters with any Chern-Simons number always produce ${\rm N_F} {\bar {\bf L}}{\bf R}$ quarks, and the antisphaleron-like clusters the chirality opposite. The result are relevant for hadron-hadron and nucleus-nucleus collisions at large $\sqrt{s}$, wherein such clusters can be produced

Holographic Pomeron and the Schwinger Mechanism

We revisit the problem of dipole-dipole scattering via exchanges of soft Pomerons in the context of holographic QCD. We show that a single closed string exchange contribution to the eikonalized dipole-dipole scattering amplitude yields a Regge behavior of the elastic amplitude; the corresponding slope and intercept are different from previous results obtained by a variational analysis of semi-classical surfaces. We provide a physical interpretation of the semi-classical worldsheets driving the Regge behavior for (-t)>0 in terms of worldsheet instantons. The latter describe the Schwinger mechanism for string pair creation by an electric field, where the longitudinal electric field E_L=\sigma_T tanh(\chi/2) at the origin of this non-perturbative mechanism is induced by the relative rapidity {\chi} of the scattering dipoles. Our analysis naturally explains the diffusion in the impact parameter space encoded in the Pomeron exchange; in our picture, it is due to the Unruh temperature of accelerated strings under the electric field. We also argue for the existence of a "micro-fireball" in the middle of the transverse space due to the soft Pomeron exchange, which may be at the origin of the thermal character of multiparticle production in ep/pp collisions. After summing over uncorrelated multi-Pomeron exchanges, we find that the total dipole-dipole cross section obeys the Froissart unitarity bound.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, version 2: minor typos corrected, references adde