Critical and Non-Critical Einstein-Weyl Supergravity

We construct N=1 supersymmetrisations of some recently-proposed theories of critical gravity, conformal gravity, and extensions of critical gravity in four dimensions. The total action consists of the sum of three separately off-shell supersymmetric actions containing Einstein gravity, a cosmological term and the square of the Weyl tensor. For generic choices of the coefficients for these terms, the excitations of the resulting theory around an AdS_4 background describe massive spin-2 and massless spin-2 modes coming from the metric; massive spin-1 modes coming from a vector field in the theory; and massless and massive spin-3/2 modes (with two unequal masses) coming from the gravitino. These assemble into a massless and a massive N=1 spin-2 multiplet. In critical supergravity, the coefficients are tuned so that the spin-2 mode in the massive multiplet becomes massless. In the supersymmetrised extensions of critical gravity, the coefficients are chosen so that the massive modes lie in a "window" of lowest energies E_0 such that these ghostlike fields can be truncated by imposing appropriate boundary conditions at infinity, thus leaving just positive-norm massless supergravity modes.Comment: 29 page

Massive Three-Dimensional Supergravity From R+R^2 Action in Six Dimensions

We obtain a three-parameter family of massive N=1 supergravities in three dimensions from the 3-sphere reduction of an off-shell N=(1,0) six-dimensional Poincare supergravity that includes a curvature squared invariant. The three-dimensional theory contains an off-shell supergravity multiplet and an on-shell scalar matter multiplet. We then generalise this in three dimensions to an eight-parameter family of supergravities. We also find a duality relationship between the six-dimensional theory and the N=(1,0) six-dimensional theory obtained through a T^4 reduction of the heterotic string effective action that includes the higher-order terms associated with the supersymmetrisation of the anomaly-cancelling \tr(R\wedge R) term.Comment: Latex, 32 Pages, an equation is corrected, a few new equations and a number of clarifying remarks are adde

Nonlinear Dynamics of Parity-Even Tricritical Gravity in Three and Four Dimensions

Recently proposed "multicritical" higher-derivative gravities in Anti de Sitter space carry logarithmic representations of the Anti de Sitter isometry group. While generically non-unitary already at the quadratic, free-theory level, in special cases these theories admit a unitary subspace. The simplest example of such behavior is "tricritical" gravity. In this paper, we extend the study of parity-even tricritical gravity in d = 3, 4 to the first nonlinear order. We show that the would-be unitary subspace suffers from a linearization instability and is absent in the full non-linear theory.Comment: 22 pages; v2: references added, published versio

On Topologically Massive Spin-2 Gauge Theories beyond Three Dimensions

We investigate in which sense, at the linearized level, one can extend the 3D topologically massive gravity theory beyond three dimensions. We show that, for each k=1,2,3... a free topologically massive gauge theory in 4k-1 dimensions can be defined describing a massive "spin-2" particle provided one uses a non-standard representation of the massive "spin-2" state which makes use of a two-column Young tableau where each column is of height 2k-1. We work out the case of k=2, i.e. 7D, and show, by canonical analysis, that the model describes, unitarily, 35 massive "spin-2" degrees of freedom. The issue of interactions is discussed and compared with the three-dimensional situation.Comment: 14 pages. v2: minor changes - published versio

Holographic two-point functions for 4d log-gravity

We compute holographic one- and two-point functions of critical higher-curvature gravity in four dimensions. The two most important operators are the stress tensor and its logarithmic partner, sourced by ordinary massless and by logarithmic non-normalisable gravitons, respectively. In addition, the logarithmic gravitons source two ordinary operators, one with spin-one and one with spin-zero. The one-point function of the stress tensor vanishes for all Einstein solutions, but has a non-zero contribution from logarithmic gravitons. The two-point functions of all operators match the expectations from a three-dimensional logarithmic conformal field theory.Comment: 35 pages; v2: typos corrected, added reference; v3: shorter introduction, minor changes in the text in section 3, added reference; published versio

Higher Derivative Extension of 6D Chiral Gauged Supergravity

Six-dimensional (1,0) supersymmetric gauged Einstein-Maxwell supergravity is extended by the inclusion of a supersymmetric Riemann tensor squared invariant. Both the original model as well as the Riemann tensor squared invariant are formulated off-shell and consequently the total action is off-shell invariant without modification of the supersymmetry transformation rules. In this formulation, superconformal techniques, in which the dilaton Weyl multiplet plays a crucial role, are used. It is found that the gauging of the U(1) R-symmetry in the presence of the higher-order derivative terms does not modify the positive exponential in the dilaton potential. Moreover, the supersymmetric Minkowski(4) x S^2 compactification of the original model, without the higher-order derivatives, is remarkably left intact. It is shown that the model also admits non-supersymmetric vacuum solutions that are direct product spaces involving de Sitter spacetimes and negative curvature internal spaces.Comment: 32 pages; typos corrected, footnote in conclusions section adde

Upregulation of the microRNA cluster at the Dlk1-Dio3 locus in lung adenocarcinoma.

Mice in which lung epithelial cells can be induced to express an oncogenic Kras(G12D) develop lung adenocarcinomas in a manner analogous to humans. A myriad of genetic changes accompany lung adenocarcinomas, many of which are poorly understood. To get a comprehensive understanding of both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional changes that accompany lung adenocarcinomas, we took an omics approach in profiling both the coding genes and the non-coding small RNAs in an induced mouse model of lung adenocarcinoma. RNAseq transcriptome analysis of Kras(G12D) tumors from F1 hybrid mice revealed features specific to tumor samples. This includes the repression of a network of GTPase-related genes (Prkg1, Gnao1 and Rgs9) in tumor samples and an enrichment of Apobec1-mediated cytosine to uridine RNA editing. Furthermore, analysis of known single-nucleotide polymorphisms revealed not only a change in expression of Cd22 but also that its expression became allele specific in tumors. The most salient finding, however, came from small RNA sequencing of the tumor samples, which revealed that a cluster of ∼53 microRNAs and mRNAs at the Dlk1-Dio3 locus on mouse chromosome 12qF1 was markedly and consistently increased in tumors. Activation of this locus occurred specifically in sorted tumor-originating cancer cells. Interestingly, the 12qF1 RNAs were repressed in cultured Kras(G12D) tumor cells but reactivated when transplanted in vivo. These microRNAs have been implicated in stem cell pleuripotency and proteins targeted by these microRNAs are involved in key pathways in cancer as well as embryogenesis. Taken together, our results strongly imply that these microRNAs represent key targets in unraveling the mechanism of lung oncogenesis

Madagascar's grasses and grasslands:anthropogenic or natural?

Grasses, by their high productivity even under very low pCO2, their ability to survive repeated burning and to tolerate long dry seasons, have transformed the terrestrial biomes in the Neogene and Quaternary. The expansion of grasslands at the cost of biodiverse forest biomes in Madagascar is often postulated as a consequence of the Holocene settlement of the island by humans. However, we show that the Malagasy grass flora has many indications of being ancient with a long local evolutionary history, much predating the Holocene arrival of humans. First, the level of endemism in the Madagascar grass flora is well above the global average for large islands. Second, a survey of many of the more diverse areas indicates that there is a very high spatial and ecological turnover in the grass flora, indicating a high degree of niche specialization. We also find some evidence that there are both recently disturbed and natural stable grasslands: phylogenetic community assembly indicates that recently severely disturbed grasslands are phylogenetically clustered, whereas more undisturbed grasslands tend to be phylogenetically more evenly distributed. From this evidence, it is likely that grass communities existed in Madagascar long before human arrival and so were determined by climate, natural grazing and other natural factors. Humans introduced zebu cattle farming and increased fire frequency, and may have triggered an expansion of the grasslands. Grasses probably played the same role in the modification of the Malagasy environments as elsewhere in the tropics