Dragging DD mesons by hot hadrons

We evaluate the drag and diffusion coefficients of a hot hadronic medium consisting of pions, nucleons, kaons and eta using open charm mesons as a probe. The interaction of the probe with the hadronic matter has been treated in the framework of effective field theory. It is observed that the magnitude of both the transport coefficients are significant, indicating substantial amount of interaction of the heavy mesons with the thermal hadronic system. The results may have noticeable impact on the experimental observable like the suppression of single electron spectra originating form the decays of heavy mesons in nuclear collisions at relativistic energies.Comment: One Latex and three eps files, form factor effects include

Spectral crossover in non-hermitian spin chains: comparison with random matrix theory

We systematically study the short range spectral fluctuation properties of three non-hermitian spin chain hamiltonians using complex spacing ratios. In particular we focus on the non-hermitian version of the standard one-dimensional anisotropic XY model having intrinsic rotation-time-reversal ($\mathcal{RT}$) symmetry that has been explored analytically by Zhang and Song in [Phys.Rev.A {\bf 87}, 012114 (2013)]. The corresponding hermitian counterpart is also exactly solvable and has been widely employed as a toy model in several condensed matter physics problems. We show that the presence of a random field along the $x$-direction together with the one along $z$ facilitates integrability and $\mathcal{RT}$-symmetry breaking leading to the emergence of quantum chaotic behaviour indicated by a spectral crossover resembling Poissonian to Ginibre unitary ensemble (GinUE) statistics of random matrix theory. Additionally, we consider two $n \times n$ dimensional phenomenological random matrix models in which, depending upon crossover parameters, the fluctuation properties measured by the complex spacing ratios show an interpolation between 1D-Poisson to GinUE and 2D-Poisson to GinUE behaviour. Here 1D and 2D Poisson correspond to real and complex uncorrelated levels, respectively.Comment: 15 Pages, 16 figure

Molecular identification of hookworm isolates in humans, dogs and soil in a tribal area in Tamil Nadu, India

Background : Hookworms (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale) remain a major public health problem worldwide. Infections with hookworms (e.g., A. caninum, A. ceylanicum and A. braziliense) are also prevalent in dogs, but the role of dogs as a reservoir for zoonotic hookworm infections in humans needs to be further explored. Methodology/Principal Findings : As part of an open-label community based cluster-randomized trial in a tribal area in Tamil Nadu (India; 2013-2015), a total of 143 isolates of hookworm eggs from human stool were speciated based on a previously described PCR-RFLP methodology. The presence of hookworm DNA was confirmed in 119 of 143 human samples. N. americanus (100%) was the most prevalent species, followed by A. caninum (16.8%) and A. duodenale (8.4%). Because of the high prevalence of A. caninum in humans, dog samples were also collected to assess the prevalence of A. caninum in dogs. In 68 out of 77 canine stool samples the presence of hookworms was confirmed using PCR-RFLP. In dogs, both A. caninum (76.4%) and A. ceylanicum (27.9%) were identified. Additionally, to determine the contamination of soil with zoonotic hookworm larvae, topsoil was collected from defecating areas. Hookworm DNA was detected in 72 out of 78 soil samples that revealed presence of hook-worm-like nematode larvae. In soil, different hookworm species were identified, with animal hookworms being more prevalent (A. ceylanicum: 60.2%, A. caninum: 29.4%, A. duodenale: 16.6%, N. americanus: 1.4%, A. braziliense: 1.4%). Conclusions/Significance : In our study we regularly detected the presence of A. caninum DNA in the stool of humans. Whether this is the result of infection is currently unknown but it does warrant a closer look at dogs as a potential reservoir