15336878
Hot subdwarfs from the stable Roche lobe overflow channel
Context. Hot subdwarfs are core-helium-burning stars with extremely thin envelopes. We discuss the formation and evolution of hot subdwarfs formed through the stable Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) channel of intermediate-mass binaries, although their formation channels are various. Aims. In this study, we concentrate on the formation and evolution of hot subdwarfs binaries through the stable RLOF channel of intermediate-mass binaries. We aim at setting out the properties of hot subdwarfs and their progenitors, so that we can understand the formation and evolution of hot subdwarfs. Methods. Employing Eggleton's stellar evolution code, we have computed conservative and nonconservative population I binary evolution sequences. The initial mass of the primary ranges from 2.2 to 6.3 M(circle dot), spaced by approximately 0.1 in log M, the initial mass ratio q(i) = M(1)/M(2) is between 1.1 and 4.5, and the Roche lobe overflow begins at the main sequence, the Hertzsprung gap and the first giant branch. In nonconservative binary evolution, we assume that 50 percent of the mass lost from the primary leaves the system, carrying away the specific angular momentum of the primary, and the remaining mass is accreted on to the secondary during the RLOF. Also, we have studied the distributions of the mass and orbital periods of hot subdwarfs using the population synthesis approach. Results. We have obtained the ranges of the initial parameters of progenitor binaries and the properties of hot subdwarfs through the stable RLOF channel of intermediate-mass binaries, e. g. mass, envelope mass and age of hot subdwarfs. We have found that hot subdwarfs could be formed through stable Roche lobe overflow at the main sequence and Hertzsprung gap. We have also found that some subdwarf B or OB stars have anomalously high mass (similar to 1 M(circle dot)) with a thick envelope (similar to 0.07 M(circle dot)-similar to 0.16) in our models. By comparing our theoretical results with observations on the hot subdwarfs in open clusters, we suggest that more hot subdwarfs in binary systems might be found in open clusters in the future.
24114301
Discovery of a selective inhibitor of oncogenic B-Raf kinase with potent antimelanoma activity
BRAFV600E is the most frequent oncogenic protein kinase mutation known. Furthermore, inhibitors targeting “active” protein kinases have demonstrated significant utility in the therapeutic repertoire against cancer. Therefore, we pursued the development of specific kinase inhibitors targeting B-Raf, and the V600E allele in particular. By using a structure-guided discovery approach, a potent and selective inhibitor of active B-Raf has been discovered. PLX4720, a 7-azaindole derivative that inhibits B-RafV600E with an IC50 of 13 nM, defines a class of kinase inhibitor with marked selectivity in both biochemical and cellular assays. PLX4720 preferentially inhibits the active B-RafV600E kinase compared with a broad spectrum of other kinases, and potent cytotoxic effects are also exclusive to cells bearing the V600E allele. Consistent with the high degree of selectivity, ERK phosphorylation is potently inhibited by PLX4720 in B-RafV600E-bearing tumor cell lines but not in cells lacking oncogenic B-Raf. In melanoma models, PLX4720 induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis exclusively in B-RafV600E-positive cells. In B-RafV600E-dependent tumor xenograft models, orally dosed PLX4720 causes significant tumor growth delays, including tumor regressions, without evidence of toxicity. The work described here represents the entire discovery process, from initial identification through structural and biological studies in animal models to a promising therapeutic for testing in cancer patients bearing B-RafV600E-driven tumors.
122970197
Multijet production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering at HERA and determination of alpha(s)
Multijet production rates in neutral current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) have been measured in the range of exchanged boson virtualities 10<Q2<5000 GeV2. The data were taken at the ep collider HERA with centre-of-mass energy using the ZEUS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 82.2 pb-1. Jets were identified in the Breit frame using the kT cluster algorithm in the longitudinally invariant inclusive mode. Measurements of differential multijet cross sections are presented as functions of jet transverse energy , pseudorapidity and Q2 with and . Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations describe the data well. The value of the strong coupling constant αs(MZ), determined from the ratio of the trijet to dijet cross sections, is .
36263241
New optimization methods for converging perturbative series with a field cutoff
We take advantage of the fact that in lambda phi ^4 problems a large field cutoff phi_max makes perturbative series converge toward values exponentially close to the exact values, to make optimal choices of phi_max. For perturbative series terminated at even order, it is in principle possible to adjust phi_max in order to obtain the exact result. For perturbative series terminated at odd order, the error can only be minimized. It is however possible to introduce a mass shift in order to obtain the exact result. We discuss weak and strong coupling methods to determine the unknown parameters. The numerical calculations in this article have been performed with a simple integral with one variable. We give arguments indicating that the qualitative features observed should extend to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. We found that optimization at even order is more efficient that at odd order. We compare our methods with the linear delta-expansion (LDE) (combined with the principle of minimal sensitivity) which provides an upper envelope of for the accuracy curves of various Pade and Pade-Borel approximants. Our optimization method performs better than the LDE at strong and intermediate coupling, but not at weak coupling where it appears less robust and subject to further improvements. We also show that it is possible to fix the arbitrary parameter appearing in the LDE using the strong coupling expansion, in order to get accuracies comparable to ours.
21618508
Dirac versus Weyl fermions in topological insulators: Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly in transport phenomena.
Dirac metals (gapless semiconductors) are believed to turn into Weyl metals when perturbations, which break either time reversal symmetry or inversion symmetry, are employed. However, no experimental evidence has been reported for the existence of Weyl fermions in three dimensions. Applying magnetic fields near the topological phase transition from a topological insulator to a band insulator in Bi1-xSbx we observe not only the weak antilocalization phenomenon in magnetoconductivity near zero magnetic fields (B<0.4  T), but also its upturn above 0.4 T only for E//B. This "incompatible" coexistence between weak antilocalization and "negative" magnetoresistivity is attributed to the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly ("topological" E·B term) in the presence of weak antilocalization corrections.
15702909
The continuum limit of perturbative coefficients calculated with a large field cutoff
Abstract We report MC calculations of perturbative coefficients for lattice scalar field theory in dimensions l, 2 and 3, where the large field contributions are cutoff. This produces converging (instead of asymptotic) perturbative series. We discuss the statistical errors and the lattice effects and sho-kv that accurate calculations are possible even in a crossover region where no approximation works. We show that the field cutoff is also a UV regulator. We point out the relevance for QCD questions discussed by Tomboulis ad Trottier at this conference.
119229638
The short-period limit of contact binaries
The stability of mass transfer is important in the formation of contact binaries from detached binaries when the primaries of the initially detached binaries fill their Roche lobes. Using Eggletons stellar evolution code, we investigate the formation and the short-period limit of contact binaries by considering the effect of the instability of mass transfer. It is found that with decreasing initial primary mass from 0.89 to 0.63 M?, the range of the initial mass ratio decreases for detached binaries that experience stable mass transfer and evolve into contact. If the initial primary mass is less than 0.63 M?, detached binaries would experience dynamically unstable mass transfer when the primaries of detached binaries fill their Roche lobes. These systems would evolve into a common envelope situation and probably then to a complete merger of two components on a quite short time-scale. This results in a low mass limit at about 0.63 M? for the primary mass of contact binaries, which might be the main reason why the period distribution of contact binaries has a short limit of about 0.22 d. By comparing the theoretical period distribution of contact binaries with the observational data, it is found that the observed contact binaries are above the low mass limit for the primary mass of contact binaries and no observed contact binaries are below this limit. This suggests that the short-period limit of contact binaries can be explained by the instability of the mass transfer that occurs when the primaries of the initially detached binaries fill their Roche lobes.
15595923
VACUUM POLARIZATION IN AN ANTI-DE SITTER SPACE AS AN ORIGIN FOR A COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT IN A BRANE WORLD
We show that the vacuum polarization of quantum fields in an anti-de Sitter space can naturally give rise to a small but nonzero cosmological constant in a brane world living in it. To explain the extremely small ratio of mass density in the cosmological constant to the Planck mass density in our universe (≈10-123) as suggested by cosmological observations, all we need is a four-dimensional brane world (our universe) living in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with a curvature radius r0~10-3cm and a fundamental Planck energy MP~109GeV, and a scalar field with a mass $m\sim r^{-1}_0\sim 10^{-2} {\rm eV}$. Probing gravity down to a scale ~10-3 cm, which is attainable in the near future, will provide a test of the model.
119183267
Entanglement entropy in holographic p-wave superconductor/insulator model
A bstractWe continue our study of entanglement entropy in the holographic superconducting phase transitions. In this paper we consider the holographic p-wave superconductor/insulator model, where as the back reaction increases, the transition is changed from second order to first order. We find that unlike the s-wave case, there is no additional first order transition in the superconducting phase. We calculate the entanglement entropy for two strip geometries. One is parallel to the super current, and the other is orthogonal to the super current. In both cases, we find that the entanglement entropy monotonically increases with respect to the chemical potential.
119395907
Properties of kaonic nuclei in relativistic mean-field theory
The static properties of some possible light and moderate kaonic nuclei, from C to Ti, are studied using relativistic mean-field theory. The 1s and 1p state binding energies of K{sup -} are in the ranges of 73{approx}96 and 22{approx}63 MeV, respectively. The binding energies of the 1p states increase monotonically with the nucleon number A. The upper limit widths of the 1s and 1p states are about 42{+-}14 and 71{+-}10 MeV, respectively. The lower limit widths of the 1s and 1p state: are about 12{+-}4 and 21{+-}3 MeV, respectively. If V{sub 0}{<=}30 MeV, the discrete K{sup -} bound states should be identified in experiment. The shrinkage effect is found in the possible kaonic nuclei. The interior nuclear density increases obviously; the densest center density is about 2.1 {rho}{sub 0}.
15791171
Energy transfer and its effects on the secondaries in W Ursae Majoris type contact binaries
Based on the physical parameters of 133 W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) type contact binaries, energy transfer and its effects on the secondaries in W UMa contact binaries are investigated. Relations are given between the mass ratio (q) for W UMa contact binaries and the relative energy transfer rates, i.e. U(1), the ratio of the transferred luminosity to the surface luminosity of the primary, and U(2), the ratio of the transferred luminosity to the nuclear luminosity of the secondary. The theoretical curves(U(1) versus q and U(2) versus q) are derived based on various assumptions: that the two components in each W UMa system are nearly identical in effective temperature and just fill their inner Roche lobes, and the primaries are zero-age main-sequence stars. Although these curves can reflect the distribution of U(1) and U(2) versus q, some observational systems deviate significantly from these curves. This results mainly from the difference in effective temperatures of the components of W UMa systems. The radius and the density of the secondary are related to the relative energy transfer rate U(2): the higher U(2), the greater the expansion and the lower the density of the secondary in a W UMa system. In addition, it is found that the temperature difference of W UMa binary components is correlated with the relative energy transfer rate U(1) and decreases with increasing U(1). This might suggest that there is a thermal coupling between the two components in W UMa contact binaries, and that the classification of W UMa contact binaries into A or W types depends on the energy transfer from the primary to the secondary. The temperature difference of W UMa binary components is poorly correlated with the mass of the primary. This suggests that the properties of the common envelope of a W UMa contact binary might not have a significant effect on the energy transfer between the two components.