Thermal Pions at Finite Isospin Chemical Potential

The density corrections, in terms of the isospin chemical potential $\mu_I$, to the mass of the pions are studied in the framework of the SU(2) low energy effective chiral lagrangian. The pion decay constant $f_{\pi}(T, \mu_{I})$ is also analized. As a function of temperature for $\mu_I =0$, the mass remains quite stable, starting to grow for very high values of $T$, confirming previous results. However, there are interesting corrections to the mass when both effects (temperature and chemical potential) are simultaneously present. At zero temperature the $\pi ^{\pm}$ should condensate when $\mu_{I} = \mp m_{\pi}$. This is not longer valid anymore at finite $T$. The mass of the $\pi_0$ acquires also a non trivial dependence on $\mu_I$ due to the finite temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

The Equation of State for Dense QCD and Quark Stars

We calculate the equation of state for degenerate quark matter to leading order in hard-dense-loop (HDL) perturbation theory. We solve the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations to obtain the mass-radius relation for dense quark stars. Both the perturbative QCD and the HDL equations of state have a large variation with respect to the renormalization scale for quark chemical potential below 1 GeV which leads to large theoretical uncertainties in the quark star mass-radius relation.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Effect of naloxone on intake of cornstarch, sucrose and polycose diets in restricted and non-restricted rats

We studied the effect of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone on intake of three isocaloric diets containing cornstarch, sucrose, or Polycose as the predominant carbohydrate in ad libitum-fed and food-restricted rats. A large body of evidence suggests that opioids affect palatability (reward)-rater than hunger (energy deficit)-driven food intake. We expected food intake to be driven by both energy needs and palatability in ad libitum-fed rats, whereas in food-restricted rats we expected intake to be driven by energy needs with a relatively small palatability component in the preferred sucrose and Polycose diet groups. In the ad libitum-fed rats, naloxone significantly reduced nocturnal intake of all three diets at doses of 0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 mg/kg. In contrast, naloxone failed to alter intake of the cornstarch diet in chronically food-restricted rats. However, naloxone decreased intake of the sucrose diet in food-restricted rats at doses of 0.3, 1.0, and 3.0 mg/kg and decreased intake of the Polycose diet at the 3 mg/kg dose. These data lend further support to the notion that opioids are involved in some other component of feeding than that induced by energy needs. </jats:p