173 research outputs found
A Holographic Quantum Critical Point at Finite Magnetic Field and Finite Density
We analyze the phase diagram of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with
fundamental matter in the presence of a background magnetic field and nonzero
baryon number. We identify an isolated quantum critical point separating two
differently ordered finite density phases. The ingredients that give rise to
this transition are generic in a holographic setup, leading us to conjecture
that such critical points should be rather common. In this case, the quantum
phase transition is second order with mean-field exponents. We characterize the
neighborhood of the critical point at small temperatures and identify some
signatures of a new phase dominated by the critical point. We also identify the
line of transitions between the finite density and zero density phases. The
line is completely determined by the mass of the lightest charged quasiparticle
at zero density. Finally, we measure the magnetic susceptibility and find hints
of fermion condensation at large magnetic field.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figure
Short-distance and short-time structure of a unitary Fermi gas
We consider the operator product expansions for unitarity fermions. We
compute the dynamic structure factor S(q,w) at large frequency and wavenumber
away from the one-particle peak. The overall normalization of S(q,w) is
determined by Tan's contact parameter, and the dependence on q and w is
obtained in closed analytic form. We also find energy deposited into the system
by small, rapid variations of the inverse scattering length.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Meeting the Challenge of Scientific Dissemination in the Era of COVID-19:Toward a Modular Approach to Knowledge-Sharing for Radiation Oncology
A holographic perspective on non-relativistic conformal defects
We study defects in non-relativistic conformal field theories. As in the
well-studied case of relativistic conformal defects, we find that a useful tool
to organize correlation functions is the defect operator expansion (dOPE). We
analyze how the dOPE is implemented in theories with a holographic dual,
highlighting some interesting aspects of the operator/state mapping in
non-relativistic holography.Comment: 20 page
Theory and Applications of Non-Relativistic and Relativistic Turbulent Reconnection
Realistic astrophysical environments are turbulent due to the extremely high
Reynolds numbers. Therefore, the theories of reconnection intended for
describing astrophysical reconnection should not ignore the effects of
turbulence on magnetic reconnection. Turbulence is known to change the nature
of many physical processes dramatically and in this review we claim that
magnetic reconnection is not an exception. We stress that not only
astrophysical turbulence is ubiquitous, but also magnetic reconnection itself
induces turbulence. Thus turbulence must be accounted for in any realistic
astrophysical reconnection setup. We argue that due to the similarities of MHD
turbulence in relativistic and non-relativistic cases the theory of magnetic
reconnection developed for the non-relativistic case can be extended to the
relativistic case and we provide numerical simulations that support this
conjecture. We also provide quantitative comparisons of the theoretical
predictions and results of numerical experiments, including the situations when
turbulent reconnection is self-driven, i.e. the turbulence in the system is
generated by the reconnection process itself. We show how turbulent
reconnection entails the violation of magnetic flux freezing, the conclusion
that has really far reaching consequences for many realistically turbulent
astrophysical environments. In addition, we consider observational testing of
turbulent reconnection as well as numerous implications of the theory. The
former includes the Sun and solar wind reconnection, while the latter include
the process of reconnection diffusion induced by turbulent reconnection, the
acceleration of energetic particles, bursts of turbulent reconnection related
to black hole sources as well as gamma ray bursts. Finally, we explain why
turbulent reconnection cannot be explained by turbulent resistivity or derived
through the mean field approach.Comment: 66 pages, 24 figures, a chapter of the book "Magnetic Reconnection -
Concepts and Applications", editors W. Gonzalez, E. N. Parke
Genetic Polymorphisms and Drug Susceptibility in Four Isolates of Leishmania tropica Obtained from Canadian Soldiers Returning from Afghanistan
Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a vector-borne parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of sandflies, resulting in sores on the skin. No vaccines are available, and treatment relies on chemotherapy. CL has been frequently diagnosed in military personnel deployed to Afghanistan and returning from duty. The parasites isolated from Canadian soldiers were characterized by pulsed field gels and by sequencing conserved genes and were identified as Leishmania tropica. In contrast to other Leishmania species, high allelic polymorphisms were observed at several genetic loci for the L. tropica isolates that were characterized. In vitro susceptibility testing in macrophages showed that all isolates, despite their genetic heterogeneity, were sensitive to most antileishmanial drugs (antimonials, miltefosine, amphotericin B, paromomycin) but were insensitive to fluconazole. This study suggests a number of therapeutic regimens for treating cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by L. tropica among patients and soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Canadian soldiers from this study were successfully treated with miltefosine
Four-Gene Pan-African Blood Signature Predicts Progression to Tuberculosis.
Rationale: Contacts of patients with tuberculosis (TB) constitute an important target population for preventive measures because they are at high risk of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and progression to disease.Objectives: We investigated biosignatures with predictive ability for incident TB.Methods: In a case-control study nested within the Grand Challenges 6-74 longitudinal HIV-negative African cohort of exposed household contacts, we employed RNA sequencing, PCR, and the pair ratio algorithm in a training/test set approach. Overall, 79 progressors who developed TB between 3 and 24 months after diagnosis of index case and 328 matched nonprogressors who remained healthy during 24 months of follow-up were investigated.Measurements and Main Results: A four-transcript signature derived from samples in a South African and Gambian training set predicted progression up to two years before onset of disease in blinded test set samples from South Africa, the Gambia, and Ethiopia with little population-associated variability, and it was also validated in an external cohort of South African adolescents with latent M. tuberculosis infection. By contrast, published diagnostic or prognostic TB signatures were predicted in samples from some but not all three countries, indicating site-specific variability. Post hoc meta-analysis identified a single gene pair, C1QC/TRAV27 (complement C1q C-chain / T-cell receptor-α variable gene 27) that would consistently predict TB progression in household contacts from multiple African sites but not in infected adolescents without known recent exposure events.Conclusions: Collectively, we developed a simple whole blood-based PCR test to predict TB in recently exposed household contacts from diverse African populations. This test has potential for implementation in national TB contact investigation programs
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