Quantum cosmology and the accelerated Universe

The quantized Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model minimally coupled to a free massless scalar field is studied and interpreted in the Bohm-de Broglie framework. We analyze the quantum bohmian trajectories corresponding to a certain class of gaussian packets, solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. We show that these bohmian trajectories undergo an accelerated expansion in the middle of its evolution due to the presence of quantum cosmological effects in this period. It is shown that the luminosity-redshift relation in the quantum cosmological model can be made close to the corresponding relation coming from the classical model suplemented by a cosmological constant, for $z<1$. In this way we have the posibility of interpreting the present observations of high redshift supernovae as the consequence of a quantum cosmological effect.Comment: Talk given at X Marcell Grossmann Meeting, Rio de Janeiro, 2003. Added references and some minor typos correction

Dilepton production at HADES: theoretical predictions

Dileptons represent a unique probe for nuclear matter under extreme conditions reached in heavy-ion collisions. They allow to study meson properties, like mass and decay width, at various density and temperature regimes. Present days models allow generally a good description of dilepton spectra in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collision. For the energy regime of a few GeV/nucleon, important discrepancies between theory and experiment, known as the DLS puzzle, have been observed. Various models, including the one developed by the T\"{u}bingen group, have tried to address this problem, but have proven only partially successful. High precision spectra of dilepton emission in heavy-ion reactions at 1 and 2 GeV/nucleon will be released in the near future by the HADES Collaboration at GSI. Here we present the predictions for dilepton spectra in C+C reactions at 1 and 2 GeV/nucleon and investigate up to what degree possible scenarios for the in-medium modification of vector mesons properties are accessible by the HADES experiment.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Phys.Lett.

Low mass dimuons within a hybrid approach

We analyse dilepton emission from hot and dense hadronic matter using a hybrid approach based on the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) transport model with an intermediate hydrodynamic stage for the description of heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies. Focusing on the enhancement with respect to the contribution from long-lived hadron decays after freeze-out observed at the SPS in the low mass region of the dilepton spectra (often referred to as "the excess"), the relative importance of the emission from the equilibrium and the non-equilibrium stages is discussed.Comment: Proceedings of Hot Quarks 2010, 21-26 June 2010 Las Londe Les Maures; v2: Corrected typos and added a commen

A phylogenomic perspective on the radiation of ray-finned fishes based upon targeted sequencing of ultraconserved elements

Ray-finned fishes constitute the dominant radiation of vertebrates with over 30,000 species. Although molecular phylogenetics has begun to disentangle major evolutionary relationships within this vast section of the Tree of Life, there is no widely available approach for efficiently collecting phylogenomic data within fishes, leaving much of the enormous potential of massively parallel sequencing technologies for resolving major radiations in ray-finned fishes unrealized. Here, we provide a genomic perspective on longstanding questions regarding the diversification of major groups of ray-finned fishes through targeted enrichment of ultraconserved nuclear DNA elements (UCEs) and their flanking sequence. Our workflow efficiently and economically generates data sets that are orders of magnitude larger than those produced by traditional approaches and is well-suited to working with museum specimens. Analysis of the UCE data set recovers a well-supported phylogeny at both shallow and deep time-scales that supports a monophyletic relationship between Amia and Lepisosteus (Holostei) and reveals elopomorphs and then osteoglossomorphs to be the earliest diverging teleost lineages. Divergence time estimation based upon 14 fossil calibrations reveals that crown teleosts appeared ~270 Ma at the end of the Permian and that elopomorphs, osteoglossomorphs, ostarioclupeomorphs, and euteleosts diverged from one another by 205 Ma during the Triassic. Our approach additionally reveals that sequence capture of UCE regions and their flanking sequence offers enormous potential for resolving phylogenetic relationships within ray-finned fishes