13,163 research outputs found
Lie symmetries of Einstein's vacuum equations in N dimensions
We investigate Lie symmetries of Einstein's vacuum equations in N dimensions,
with a cosmological term. For this purpose, we first write down the second
prolongation of the symmetry generating vector fields, and compute its action
on Einstein's equations. Instead of setting to zero the coefficients of all
independent partial derivatives (which involves a very complicated substitution
of Einstein's equations), we set to zero the coefficients of derivatives that
do not appear in Einstein's equations. This considerably constrains the
coefficients of symmetry generating vector fields. Using the Lie algebra
property of generators of symmetries and the fact that general coordinate
transformations are symmetries of Einstein's equations, we are then able to
obtain all the Lie symmetries. The method we have used can likely be applied to
other types of equations
EPR before EPR: a 1930 Einstein-Bohr thought experiment revisited
In 1930 Einstein argued against consistency of the time-energy uncertainty
relation by discussing a thought experiment involving a measurement of mass of
the box which emitted a photon. Bohr seemingly triumphed over Einstein by
arguing that the Einstein's own general theory of relativity saves the
consistency of quantum mechanics. We revisit this thought experiment from a
modern point of view at a level suitable for undergraduate readership and find
that neither Einstein nor Bohr was right. Instead, this thought experiment
should be thought of as an early example of a system demonstrating nonlocal
"EPR" quantum correlations, five years before the famous
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paper.Comment: 11 pages, revised, accepted for publication in Eur. J. Phy
Innovative experiences in teaching conservation. Involving communities’ interests on preservationtopics by fast investigations and social media dissemination
Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio workshop in the historical center of Vimercate, a town in the north east area of Milan, implementing a convention agreement between the Municipality and the Atheneum. The convention was arranged in order to set the relationship between the three academic courses of the Politecnico di Milano and the administration of Vimercate, supporting the teaching staff by providing ac- cessibility to various services and some public properties located in the city-cen- ter.
Thanks to this kind of agreement, the courses could be supported in their activities by document centers, public associations and the members of the local community, while the teaching staff offered a constant sharing of the main activ- ities by social media and periodical disseminations through public lectures. After maturing several years of didactical workshops on the main buildings of the his- torical center of Vimercate, this paper shows the results collected with the stu- dios: the
active class strategies, the on-site survey campaigns, the evolution of the results observed by year after year inspections, ND testing activities and local community involvement. The impact coming from the researches developed by the preservation classes and specific in depth studies realized by graduation thesis showed an increasing participation of the community to the topics connected to the city center: from conservation policies to future uses, historical buildings reached the attention of the people through the development of a new sensibility and perception of new values associated to the local architectural heritage
Study of MicroPattern Gaseous detectors with novel nanodiamond based photocathodes for single photon detection in EIC RICH
Identification of high momentum hadrons at the future EIC is crucial, gaseous
RICH detectors are therefore viable option. Compact collider setups impose to
construct RICHes with small radiator length, hence significantly limiting the
number of detected photons. More photons can be detected in the far UV region,
using a windowless RICH approach. QE of CsI degrades under strong irradiation
and air contamination. Nanodiamond based photocathodes (PCs) are being
developed as an alternative to CsI. Recent development of layers of
hydrogenated nanodiamond powders as an alternative photosensitive material and
their performance, when coupled to the THick Gaseous Electron Multipliers
(THGEM)-based detectors, are the objects of an ongoing R\&D. We report about
the initial phase of our studies.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, RICH2018 conference proceedin
Electrical plasmon detection in graphene waveguides
We present a simple device architecture that allows all-electrical detection
of plasmons in a graphene waveguide. The key principle of our electrical
plasmon detection scheme is the non-linear nature of the hydrodynamic equations
of motion that describe transport in graphene at room temperature and in a wide
range of carrier densities. These non-linearities yield a dc voltage in
response to the oscillating field of a propagating plasmon. For illustrative
purposes, we calculate the dc voltage arising from the propagation of the
lowest-energy modes in a fully analytical fashion. Our device architecture for
all-electrical plasmon detection paves the way for the integration of graphene
plasmonic waveguides in electronic circuits.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Transcriptomic signatures of neuronal differentiation and their association with risk genes for autism spectrum and related neuropsychiatric disorders.
Genes for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are also implicated in fragile X syndrome (FXS), intellectual disabilities (ID) or schizophrenia (SCZ), and converge on neuronal function and differentiation. The SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line, the most widely used system to study neurodevelopment, is currently discussed for its applicability to model cortical development. We implemented an optimal neuronal differentiation protocol of this system and evaluated neurodevelopment at the transcriptomic level using the CoNTeXT framework, a machine-learning algorithm based on human post-mortem brain data estimating developmental stage and regional identity of transcriptomic signatures. Our improved model in contrast to currently used SH-SY5Y models does capture early neurodevelopmental processes with high fidelity. We applied regression modelling, dynamic time warping analysis, parallel independent component analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis to identify activated gene sets and networks. Finally, we tested and compared these sets for enrichment of risk genes for neuropsychiatric disorders. We confirm a significant overlap of genes implicated in ASD with FXS, ID and SCZ. However, counterintuitive to this observation, we report that risk genes affect pathways specific for each disorder during early neurodevelopment. Genes implicated in ASD, ID, FXS and SCZ were enriched among the positive regulators, but only ID-implicated genes were also negative regulators of neuronal differentiation. ASD and ID genes were involved in dendritic branching modules, but only ASD risk genes were implicated in histone modification or axonal guidance. Only ID genes were over-represented among cell cycle modules. We conclude that the underlying signatures are disorder-specific and that the shared genetic architecture results in overlaps across disorders such as ID in ASD. Thus, adding developmental network context to genetic analyses will aid differentiating the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders
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