The multicolored Asian lady beetle : Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) ; a not so new invasive insect in Colombia and South America

The first reports of the multicolored Asian lady beetle Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Colombia appeared in 2011. However, based on museum insect specimens, the introduction of H. axyridis in Colombia occurred in 1989 or earlier, making it the second oldest record of the species in South America after the deliberate releases of the species in Argentina in 1986. Currently in Colombia, H. axyridis is well established and is here recorded from the States of Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Nariño, Tolima and Valle del Cauca.Los primeros reportes de la mariquita multicolor asiática Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) aparecieron en el 2011. Sin embargo, con base en colecciones de insectos en museos, la introducción de H. axyridis en Colombia ocurrió en 1989 o antes, haciendo que este sea el segundo registro más antiguo de esta especie en Sur América, después de las liberaciones intencionales de la especie en Argentina en 1986. Actualmente en Colombia, H. axyridis está bien establecida y aquí se reporta en los departamentos de Antioquia, Caldas, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Nariño, Tolima y el Valle del Cauca

A formulation of the Yang-Mills theory as a deformation of a topological field theory based on background field method and quark confinement problem

By making use of the background field method, we derive a novel reformulation of the Yang-Mills theory which was proposed recently by the author to derive quark confinement in QCD. This reformulation identifies the Yang-Mills theory with a deformation of a topological quantum field theory. The relevant background is given by the topologically non-trivial field configuration, especially, the topological soliton which can be identified with the magnetic monopole current in four dimensions. We argue that the gauge fixing term becomes dynamical and that the gluon mass generation takes place by a spontaneous breakdown of the hidden supersymmetry caused by the dimensional reduction. We also propose a numerical simulation to confirm the validity of the scheme we have proposed. Finally we point out that the gauge fixing part may have a geometric meaning from the viewpoint of global topology where the magnetic monopole solution represents the critical point of a Morse function in the space of field configurations.Comment: 45 pages, 3 figures included in LaTe

Renormalizing a BRST-invariant composite operator of mass dimension 2 in Yang-Mills theory

We discuss the renormalization of a BRST and anti-BRST invariant composite operator of mass dimension 2 in Yang-Mills theory with the general BRST and anti-BRST invariant gauge fixing term of the Lorentz type. The interest of this study stems from a recent claim that the non-vanishing vacuum condensate of the composite operator in question can be an origin of mass gap and quark confinement in any manifestly covariant gauge, as proposed by one of the authors. First, we obtain the renormalization group flow of the Yang-Mills theory. Next, we show the multiplicative renormalizability of the composite operator and that the BRST and anti-BRST invariance of the bare composite operator is preserved under the renormalization. Third, we perform the operator product expansion of the gluon and ghost propagators and obtain the Wilson coefficient corresponding to the vacuum condensate of mass dimension 2. Finally, we discuss the connection of this work with the previous works and argue the physical implications of the obtained results.Comment: 49 pages, 35 eps-files, A number of typographic errors are corrected. A paragraph is added in the beginning of section 5.3. Two equations (7.1) and (7.2) are added. A version to be published in Phys. Rev.

On ghost condensation, mass generation and Abelian dominance in the Maximal Abelian Gauge

Recent work claimed that the off-diagonal gluons (and ghosts) in pure Yang-Mills theories, with Maximal Abelian gauge fixing (MAG), attain a dynamical mass through an off-diagonal ghost condensate. This condensation takes place due to a quartic ghost interaction, unavoidably present in MAG for renormalizability purposes. The off-diagonal mass can be seen as evidence for Abelian dominance. We discuss why ghost condensation of the type discussed in those works cannot be the reason for the off-diagonal mass and Abelian dominance, since it results in a tachyonic mass. We also point out what the full mechanism behind the generation of a real mass might look like.Comment: 7 pages; uses revtex

Thermodynamics of Lattice QCD with massless quarks and chiral 4-fermion interactions

We have simulated lattice QCD with an irrelevant 4-fermion interaction and 2 zero mass quarks. The chiral phase transition is observed to be second order and we discuss extraction of critical exponents.Comment: LATTICE98(hightemp

On Observing Top Quark Production at the Tevatron

A technique for separating top quark production from Standard Model background events is introduced. It is applicable to the channel in which one top quark decays semi-leptonically and its anti-quark decays hadronically into three jets, or vice versa. The method is shown to discriminate dramatically between Monte Carlo generated events with and without simulated top quarks of mass around 120 GeV and above. The simulations were performed with CDF detector characteristics incorporated, showing that the method is applicable to existing data.Comment: 8 pages, TUFTS-TH-92-G01 (Two minor TeX mistakes corrected

Dynamical mass generation in quantum field theory : some methods with application to the Gross-Neveu model and Yang-Mills theory

We introduce some techniques to investigate dynamical mass generation. The Gross-Neveu model (GN) is used as a toy model, because the GN mass gap is exactly known, making it possible to check reliability of the various methods. Very accurate results are obtained. Also application to SU(N) Yang-Mills (YM) is discussed.Comment: 8 LaTeX2e pages, uses Kluwer class file crckbked.cls. Kluwer package included. To appear in: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on "Confinement, Topology, and other Non-Perturbative Aspects of QCD", Stara Lesna, Slovakia, 21-27 jan 200

Ensemble of Vortex Loops in the Abelian-Projected SU(3)-Gluodynamics

Grand canonical ensemble of small vortex loops emerging in the London limit of the effective Abelian-projected theory of the SU(3)-gluodynamics is investigated in the dilute gas approximation. An essential difference of this system from the SU(2)-case is the presence of two interacting gases of vortex loops. Two alternative representations for the partition function of such a grand canonical ensemble are derived, and one of them, which is a representation in terms of the integrals over vortex loops, is employed for the evaluation of the correlators of both kinds of loops in the low-energy limit.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX2e, no figures, minor corrections, to appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Dynamics of Magnetic Defects in Heavy Fermion LiV2O4 from Stretched Exponential 7Li NMR Relaxation

7Li NMR measurements on LiV2O4 from 0.5 to 4.2 K are reported. A small concentration of magnetic defects within the structure drastically changes the 7Li nuclear magnetization relaxation versus time from a pure exponential as in pure LiV2O4 to a stretched exponential, indicating glassy behavior of the magnetic defects. The stretched exponential function is described as arising from a distribution of 7Li nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates and we present a model for the distribution in terms of the dynamics of the magnetic defects. Our results explain the origin of recent puzzling 7Li NMR literature data on LiV2O4 and our model is likely applicable to other glassy systems.Comment: Four typeset pages including four figure