Giant multipole resonances in the deformed fissionable nucleus 238U: breakdown of the hydrodynamical models?

The deformed, fissionable nucleus 238u was studied with inelastic scattering of 87.5 MeV electrons between 5 and 40 MeV excitation energy with inelastic momentum transfers ranging from 0.32 fm -1 to 0.58 fm -1 for an excitation energy of 15 MeV. Resonance cross sections extracted were compared with DWBA calculations using the Goldhaber-Teller, Steinwedel-Jensen, and Myers-Swiatecki models of the giant resonance. It is demonstrated that up to the first minimum of the form-factor the cross section is nearly completely determined by one parameter, the transition radius Rtr. Using the known systematics of various multipole resonances in other, non-fissionable, nuclei as a guide, it was found that the assumed ground state radius of 238u had to be enlarged by about 10% for all multipolarities, to bring the strength found in agreement with the systematics and with other experiments in 238u. In particular, while the model-independent values for position and width of the GDR agree well with photon experiments, a scaled version of the Myers-Swiatecki model had to be used to produce agreement in strength. Similarly a scaled Goldhaber-Teller model was used for the isoscalar E2 resonance at 9.9 MeV. The situation for the isovector states above the GDR, E2 and E3 (or EO) is even more complicated. It is argued that with proper caution and consideration of other available data the use of the collective models mentioned above may give valuable insight into the charge distribution of 238u at higher excitation energies

Sociodemographic predictors of attendance at a Scottish pain management programme

We examined relationships between various sociodemographic factors and attendance at the Glasgow Pain Management Programme (n = 2899 from 2011 to 2019). We tested for associations between gender, age and socioeconomic deprivation of patients who were invited to attend, and uptake to a programme when invited, attendance at screening assessment, eligibility, adherence and attendance at 3- and 6-month reviews. Uptake was significantly higher for patients from more affluent areas (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.93–0.99, p = 0.002) and for older patients (95% CI = 0.98–0.99, p = 0.006), although effect sizes were very small. Patients were significantly more likely to be assessed as suitable if they were younger (95% CI = 0.98–0.99, p = 0.013) or female (95% CI = 0.55–0.84, p < 0.001). Attendance at sessions and at 3- and 6-month reviews was higher for patients from more affluent areas (95% CI = 1–1.09, p = 0.001, and 95% CI = 1–1.1, p = 0.044 respectively). We argue that there are multiple potential explanations for these findings and that future work should attempt to determine whether these patterns replicate in other populations and to determine any modifiable causes

MNK1 and MNK2 mediate adverse effects of high-fat feeding in distinct ways

The MAP kinase-interacting kinases (MNK1 and MNK2) are non-essential enzymes which are activated by MAP kinases. They are implicated in controlling protein synthesis. Here we show that mice in which the expression of either MNK1 or MNK2 has been knocked out (KO) are protected against adverse effects of high-fat feeding, and in distinct ways. High-fat diet (HFD)-fed MNK2-KO show less weight gain than wild-type animals, and improved glucose tolerance, better insulin sensitivity and markedly diminished adipose tissue inflammation. This suggests MNK2 plays a role in adipogenesis and/or lipogenesis and in macrophage biology. MNK1-KO/HFD mice show better glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, but gain weight and show similar adipose inflammation to WT animals. These data suggest MNK1 participates in mediating HFD-induced insulin resistance. Our findings reveal distinct roles for the MNKs in a novel area of disease biology, metabolic dysfunction, and suggests they are potential new targets for managing metabolic disease

Complexity in Prefix-Free Regular Languages

We examine deterministic and nondeterministic state complexities of regular operations on prefix-free languages. We strengthen several results by providing witness languages over smaller alphabets, usually as small as possible. We next provide the tight bounds on state complexity of symmetric difference, and deterministic and nondeterministic state complexity of difference and cyclic shift of prefix-free languages.Comment: In Proceedings DCFS 2010, arXiv:1008.127

Operadic formulation of topological vertex algebras and Gerstenhaber or Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras

We give the operadic formulation of (weak, strong) topological vertex algebras, which are variants of topological vertex operator algebras studied recently by Lian and Zuckerman. As an application, we obtain a conceptual and geometric construction of the Batalin-Vilkovisky algebraic structure (or the Gerstenhaber algebra structure) on the cohomology of a topological vertex algebra (or of a weak topological vertex algebra) by combining this operadic formulation with a theorem of Getzler (or of Cohen) which formulates Batalin-Vilkovisky algebras (or Gerstenhaber algebras) in terms of the homology of the framed little disk operad (or of the little disk operad).Comment: 42 page

A Way to Reopen the Window for Electroweak Baryogenesis

We reanalyse the sphaleron bound of electroweak baryogenesis when allowing deviations to the Friedmann equation. These modifications are well motivated in the context of brane cosmology where they appear without being in conflict with major experimental constraints on four-dimensional gravity. While suppressed at the time of nucleosynthesis, these corrections can dominate at the time of the electroweak phase transition and in certain cases provide the amount of expansion needed to freeze out the baryon asymmetry without requiring a strongly first order phase transition. The sphaleron bound is substantially weakened and can even disappear so that the constraints on the higgs and stop masses do not apply anymore. Such modification of cosmology at early times therefore reopens the parameter space allowing electroweak baryogenesis which had been reduced substantially given the new bound on the higgs mass imposed by LEP. In contrast with previous attempts to turn around the sphaleron bound using alternative cosmologies, we are still considering that the electroweak phase transition takes place in a radiation dominated universe. The universe is expanding fast because of the modification of the Friedmann equation itself without the need for a scalar field and therefore evading the problem of the decay of this scalar field after the completion of the phase transition and the risk that its release of entropy dilutes the baryon asymmetry produced at the transition.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures; v2: minor changes, remark added at end of section 5 and in caption of figure 1; v3: references added, version to be publishe

Effects of the sex ratio and socioeconomic deprivation on male mortality

We explored relationships between male mortality and the sex ratio. (We tested relationships across 142 societies and in longitudinal data from Scotland. A male-biased sex ratio was associated with reduced mortality by intentional self-harm across 142 societies. This was replicated in longitudinal Scottish data, and men were less likely to die by suicide and assault when there were more men in the population only when levels of unemployment were low. We argue that this is consistent with a theoretical model in which men increase investment in relationships and offspring as “competition” under a male-biased sex ratio, and that the conflicting results of previous work may stem from divergent effects of the sex ratio on mortality depending upon relative deprivation

Chern-Simons production during preheating in hybrid inflation models

We study the onset of symmetry breaking after hybrid inflation in a model having the field content of the SU(2) gauge-scalar sector of the standard model, coupled to a singlet inflaton. This process is studied in (3+1)-dimensions in a fully non-perturbative way with the help of lattice techniques within the classical approximation. We focus on the role played by gauge fields and, in particular, on the generation of Chern-Simons number. Our results are shown to be insensitive to the various cut-offs introduced in our numerical approach. The spectra preserves a large hierarchy between long and short-wavelength modes during the whole period of symmetry breaking and Chern-Simons generation, confirming that the dynamics is driven by the low momentum sector of the theory. We establish that the Chern-Simons production mechanism is associated with local sphaleron-like structures. The corresponding sphaleron rates are of order 10^{-5} m^4, which, within certain scenarios of electroweak baryogenesis and a (not unnaturally large) additional source of CP violation, could explain the present baryon asymmetry of the universe.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, ReVTeX. With minor corrections, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Dark Matter, Light Stops and Electroweak Baryogenesis

We examine the neutralino relic density in the presence of a light top squark, such as the one required for the realization of the electroweak baryogenesis mechanism, within the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that there are three clearly distinguishable regions of parameter space, where the relic density is consistent with WMAP and other cosmological data. These regions are characterized by annihilation cross sections mediated by either light Higgs bosons, Z bosons, or by the co-annihilation with the lightest stop. Tevatron collider experiments can test the presence of the light stop in most of the parameter space. In the co-annihilation region, however, the mass difference between the light stop and the lightest neutralino varies between 15 and 30 GeV, presenting an interesting challenge for stop searches at hadron colliders. We present the prospects for direct detection of dark matter, which provides a complementary way of testing this scenario. We also derive the required structure of the high energy soft supersymmetry breaking mass parameters where the neutralino is a dark matter candidate and the stop spectrum is consistent with electroweak baryogenesis and the present bounds on the lightest Higgs mass.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures; version published in Phys.Rev.

Fitting the integrated Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies

Fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies is an almost universally used technique that has matured significantly in the last decade. Model predictions and fitting procedures have improved significantly over this time, attempting to keep up with the vastly increased volume and quality of available data. We review here the field of SED fitting, describing the modelling of ultraviolet to infrared galaxy SEDs, the creation of multiwavelength data sets, and the methods used to fit model SEDs to observed galaxy data sets. We touch upon the achievements and challenges in the major ingredients of SED fitting, with a special emphasis on describing the interplay between the quality of the available data, the quality of the available models, and the best fitting technique to use in order to obtain a realistic measurement as well as realistic uncertainties. We conclude that SED fitting can be used effectively to derive a range of physical properties of galaxies, such as redshift, stellar masses, star formation rates, dust masses, and metallicities, with care taken not to over-interpret the available data. Yet there still exist many issues such as estimating the age of the oldest stars in a galaxy, finer details ofdust properties and dust-star geometry, and the influences of poorly understood, luminous stellar types and phases. The challenge for the coming years will be to improve both the models and the observational data sets to resolve these uncertainties. The present review will be made available on an interactive, moderated web page (sedfitting.org), where the community can access and change the text. The intention is to expand the text and keep it up to date over the coming years.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc