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At least 397 records · Page 22

Di-Higgs production in the 4b channel and gravitational wave complementarity

We present a complementarity study of gravitational waves and double Higgs production in the 4 b channel, exploring the gauge singlet scalar extension of the SM. This new physics extension serves as a simplified benchmark model that realizes a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition necessary to generate the observed baryon asymmetry in the universe. In calculating the signal-to-noise ratio of the gravitational waves, we incorporate the effect of the recently discovered significant suppression of the gravitational wave signals from sound waves for strong phase transitions, make sure that supercooled phase transitions do complete and adopt a bubble wall velocity that is consistent with a successful electroweak baryogenesis by solving the velocity profiles of the plasma. The high-luminosity LHC sensitivity to the singlet scalar extension of the SM is estimated using a shape-based analysis of the invariant 4 b mass distribution. We find that while the region of parameter space giving detectable gravitational waves is shrunk due to the new gravitational wave simulations, the qualitative complementary role of gravitational waves and collider searches remain unchanged.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Holographic probes of inner horizons

We study the inner horizons of rotating and charged black holes in anti-de Sitter space. These black holes have a classical analytic extension through the inner horizon to additional asymptotic regions. If this extension survives in the quantum theory, it requires particular analytic properties in a dual CFT, which give a prescription for calculating correlation functions for operators placed on any asymptotic boundary of the maximally extended spacetime. We show that for charged black holes in three or greater dimensions, and rotating black holes in four or greater dimensions, these analytic properties are inconsistent in the dual CFT, implying the absence of an analytic extension for quantum fields past the inner horizon. Thus, we find that strong cosmic censorship holds for all AdS black holes except rotating BTZ. To further study the latter case, we insert classical perturbations near the boundary at late times, producing shockwaves traveling along the inner horizon. We holographically compute CFT correlators in this background that probe a high energy scattering process near the inner horizon and argue that the shockwave does not destabilize the inner horizon violently enough to prevent signaling between different asymptotic regions of the Penrose diagram. This provides evidence that the rotating BTZ black hole does violate the strong cosmic censorship conjecture.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

An implicit-in-time DPG formulation of the 1D1V Vlasov-Poisson equations

Efficient solution of the Vlasov equation, which can be up to six-dimensional, is key to the simulation of many difficult problems in plasma physics. The discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) finite element methodology provides a framework for the development of stable (in the sense of Ladyzhenskaya–Babuška–Brezzi conditions) finite element formulations, with built-in mechanisms for adaptivity. While DPG has been studied extensively in the context of steady-state problems and to a lesser extent with space-time discretizations of transient problems, relatively little attention has been paid to time-marching approaches. In the present work, we study a first application of time-marching DPG to the Vlasov equation, using backward Euler for a Vlasov-Poisson discretization. We demonstrate adaptive mesh refinement for two problems: the two-stream instability problem, and a cold diode problem. Furthermore, we believe the present work is novel both in its application of unstructured adaptive mesh refinement (as opposed to block-structured adaptivity, which has been studied previously) in the context of Vlasov-Poisson, as well as in its application of DPG to the Vlasov-Poisson system. We also discuss extensive additions to the Camellia library in support of both the present formulation as well as extensions to higher dimensions, Maxwell equations, and space-time formulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A note on the instability and pattern formation of shrinkage cracks in viscoplastic soils

In this work we present a theoretical study on the conditions for the onset of cracks, as well as the corresponding pattern formation, in saturated viscoplastic soils under isotropic loading (extension). The type of stress applied is left unspecified, to cover a variety of loadings including shrinkage due to desiccation, isotropic thermal expansion, mechanical loading and so forth. By treating the saturated soil as rigid viscoplastic, we obtain a 2D extension of the Cnoidal Waves equations (Veveakis and Regenauer-Lieb, 2015). By numerically solving the corresponding boundary value problem, we retrieve conditions for the onset of cracking instability in 2D loading, and identify the characteristic spacing between cracks to be a length scale combining all the hydro-mechanical parameters of the problem. Finally, we show that in a rectangular slab of clay under isotropic extension, patterns of triangular, rectangular and hexagonal cracks can tessellate the domain, with the hexagonal pattern being the energetically favored, as it minimizes the free energy of the system.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

PDBx/mmCIF Ecosystem: Foundational Semantic Tools for Structural Biology

PDBx/mmCIF, Protein Data Bank Exchange (PDBx) macromolecular Crystallographic Information Framework (mmCIF), has become the data standard for structural biology. With its early roots in the domain of small-molecule crystallography, PDBx/mmCIF provides an extensible data representation that is used for deposition, archiving, remediation, and public dissemination of experimentally determined three-dimensional (3D) structures of biological macromolecules by the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB, wwpdb.org). Extensions of PDBx/mmCIF are similarly used for computed structure models by ModelArchive (modelarchive.org), integrative/hybrid structures by PDB-Dev (pdb-dev.wwpdb.org), small angle scattering data by Small Angle Scattering Biological Data Bank SASBDB (sasbdb.org), and for models computed generated with the AlphaFold 2.0 deep learning software suite (alphafold.ebi.ac.uk). Community-driven development of PDBx/mmCIF spans three decades, involving contributions from researchers, software and methods developers in structural sciences, data repository providers, scientific publishers, and professional societies. Having a semantically rich and extensible data framework for representing a wide range of structural biology experimental and computational results, combined with expertly curated 3D biostructure data sets in public repositories, accelerates the pace of scientific discovery. Herein, we describe the architecture of the PDBx/mmCIF data standard, tools used to maintain representations of the data standard, governance, and processes by which data content standards are extended, plus community tools/software libraries available for processing and checking the integrity of PDBx/mmCIF data. Use cases exemplify how the members of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank have used PDBx/mmCIF as the foundation for its pipeline for delivering Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data to many millions of users worldwide.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Intense cyclic heating effects on thermo-fracture and thermal shock of solid tungsten and open-cell tungsten foam

Here we investigate here the effects of transient (cyclic) arc-jet plasma and laser heating on fracture behavior of W-foam and solid tungsten. The two key parameters that control the foam thermomechanical response are its density and mean cell size expressed in Pores Per Inch (PPI). Tungsten foam samples were fabricated with Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) with variety of PPI and relative density. These were tested under two types of qualitatively different conditions: (1) high-enthalpy arc-jet, and (2) high-power cyclic laser heating. None of the foam samples showed macroscopic through-thickness cracks. However, distributed micro-cracks were observed on ligaments and their triple junctions. Under the same loading conditions, W-foam and solid tungsten showed similar crack network pattern and characteristic length-scale. However, Crack Opening Displacement (COD) was twice as large in solid W as compared to W-foam. Foam samples that have been previously exposed to a low-pressure helium plasma showed significant changes in their surface forming nano-texture fuzz which was removed by subsequent testing in the arc-jet. Extensive fracture and re-crystallization were observed in the thin solid W disk that was fully-constrained from expansion. Thicker and fully-constrained solid W disks did not display recrystallization, grain growth, and extensive cracking. However, thicker disks that were free to expand showed some recrystallization and extensive through-thickness cracks due to less effective cooling and thus higher temperatures. Laser beam testing showed no visible damage formation at 0.19 GW/m 2 and 0.38 GW/m 2 for both low-density (23%) and high-density (43%) foams at low pulses (100-1000). Micro-cracks were observed after 10,000 pulses at 0.19 GW/m 2 in both foams, and in low-density foam after 100,000 at 0.38 GW/m 2 . The nature of thermomechanical damage in W-foam exposed to extreme power (GW/m 2 ) short-duration laser pulses was found to be qualitatively similar to that of high power (MW/m 2 ) long-duration arc-jet.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

In situ monitoring of dislocation, twinning, and detwinning modes in an extruded magnesium alloy under cyclic loading conditions

This work investigates the microscopic deformation mechanisms of an extruded, precipitation-strengthened AZ80 magnesium (Mg) alloy subjected to strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue using in situ neutron diffraction measurements. Results demonstrate that the plastic deformation during cyclic loading is dominated by the alternating {10.2} extension twinning and detwinning mechanisms. The observed deformation mode is strongly texture and precipitate dependent. For the initial texture, the tested material has two major texture components which result in the occurrence of extension twinning during both compression and reverse tension in the first two cycles. The prolonged detwinning process in the following cycles is proposed to relieve the shear stress field of {00.2} grains, leading to the disappearance of twinning. The precipitation strengthening results in an increase of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) by similar to 33 MPa for the extension twinning in this AZ80 alloy. Here, the synergistic effects of the initial texture, precipitation strengthening, and load sharing of various grain families and phases contribute to the complicated evolution of dominant deformation mechanisms, among which elevated dislocation activities are believed to be responsible for the relatively poor low-cycle-fatigue lifetime when compared to other Mg alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Lowering entry barriers to developing custom simulators of distributed applications and platforms with SimGrid

Researchers in parallel and distributed computing (PDC) often resort to simulation because experiments conducted using a simulator can be for arbitrary experimental scenarios, are less resource-, labor-, and time-consuming than their real-world counterparts, and are perfectly repeatable and observable. Many frameworks have been developed to ease the development of PDC simulators, and these frameworks provide different levels of accuracy, scalability, versatility, extensibility, and usability. Further, the SimGrid framework has been used by many PDC researchers to produce a wide range of simulators for over two decades. Its popularity is due to a large emphasis placed on accuracy, scalability, and versatility, and is in spite of shortcomings in terms of extensibility and usability. Although SimGrid provides sensible simulation models for the common case, it was difficult for users to extend these models to meet domain-specific needs. Furthermore, SimGrid only provided relatively low-level simulation abstractions, making the implementation of a simulator of a complex system a labor-intensive undertaking. In this work we describe developments in the last decade that have contributed to vastly improving extensibility and usability, thus lowering or removing entry barriers for users to develop custom SimGrid simulators.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Dl-3-n-butylphthalide promotes neurite outgrowth of primary cortical neurons by Sonic Hedgehog signaling via upregulating Gap43

Highlights: • NBP promoted neurite outgrowth in immature primary cortical neurons. • NBP increased axon and dendrite extension in mature primary cortical neurons. • NBP promoted neuritogenesis and neuronal plasticity via Shh signaling pathway. • The Shh signaling pathway increased Gap43 expression in primary cortical neuron. • NBP promoted neurite outgrowth by Shh signaling via upregulating Gap43 expression. Neurite outgrowth is the basis for wiring during the development of the nervous system. Dl-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) has been recognized as a promising treatment to improve behavioral, neurological and cognitive outcomes in ischemic stroke. However, little is known about the effect and mechanism of NBP on the neurite outgrowth. In this study, we used different methods to investigate the potential effects of NBP on the neurite extension and plasticity of immature and mature primary cortical neurons and explored the underlying mechanisms. Our results demonstrated that in immature and mature cortical neurons, NBP promoted the neurite length and intersections, increased neuritic arborization, elevated numbers of neurite branch and terminal points and improved neurite complexity and plasticity of neuronal development processes. Besides, our data revealed that NBP promoted neurite extension and branching partly by activating Shh signaling pathway via increasing Gap43 expression both in immature and mature primary cortical neurons. The present study provided new insights into the contribution of NBP in neuronal plasticity and unveiled a novel pathway to induce Gap43 expression in primary cortical neurons.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Structural basis of DNA synthesis opposite 8-oxoguanine by human PrimPol primase-polymerase

PrimPol is a human DNA polymerase-primase that localizes to mitochondria and nucleus and bypasses the major oxidative lesion 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (oxoG) via translesion synthesis, in mostly error-free manner. We present structures of PrimPol insertion complexes with a DNA template-primer and correct dCTP or erroneous dATP opposite the lesion, as well as extension complexes with C or A as a 3'–terminal primer base. We show that during the insertion of C and extension from it, the active site is unperturbed, reflecting the readiness of PrimPol to accommodate oxoG(anti). The misinsertion of A opposite oxoG(syn) also does not alter the active site, and is likely less favorable due to lower thermodynamic stability of the oxoG(syn)•A base-pair. During the extension step, oxoG(syn) induces an opening of its base-pair with A or misalignment of the 3'-A primer terminus. Together, the structures show how PrimPol accurately synthesizes DNA opposite oxidatively damaged DNA in human cells.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Chromosome evolution and the genetic basis of agronomically important traits in greater yam

The nutrient-rich tubers of the greater yam, Dioscorea alata L., provide food and income security for millions of people around the world. Despite its global importance, however, greater yam remains an orphan crop. Here, we address this resource gap by presenting a highly contiguous chromosome-scale genome assembly of D. alata combined with a dense genetic map derived from African breeding populations. The genome sequence reveals an ancient allotetraploidization in the Dioscorea lineage, followed by extensive genome-wide reorganization. Using the genomic tools, we find quantitative trait loci for resistance to anthracnose, a damaging fungal pathogen of yam, and several tuber quality traits. Genomic analysis of breeding lines reveals both extensive inbreeding as well as regions of extensive heterozygosity that may represent interspecific introgression during domestication. These tools and insights will enable yam breeders to unlock the potential of this staple crop and take full advantage of its adaptability to varied environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Evolutionary reinforcement learning of dynamical large deviations

In this work, we show how to bound and calculate the likelihood of dynamical large deviations using evolutionary reinforcement learning. An agent, a stochastic model, propagates a continuous-time Monte Carlo trajectory and receives a reward conditioned upon the values of certain path-extensive quantities. Evolution produces progressively fitter agents, potentially allowing the calculation of a piece of a large-deviation rate function for a particular model and path-extensive quantity. For models with small state spaces, the evolutionary process acts directly on rates, and for models with large state spaces, the process acts on the weights of a neural network that parameterizes the model's rates. This approach shows how path-extensive physics problems can be considered within a framework widely used in machine learning.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Fast decay of classification error in variational quantum circuits

Variational quantum circuits (VQCs) have shown great potential in near-term applications. However, the discriminative power of a VQC, in connection to its circuit architecture and depth, is not understood. To unleash the genuine discriminative power of a VQC, we propose a VQC system with the optimal classical post-processing—maximum-likelihood estimation on measuring all VQC output qubits. Via extensive numerical simulations, we find that the error of VQC quantum data classification typically decays exponentially with the circuit depth, when the VQC architecture is extensive—the number of gates does not shrink with the circuit depth. This fast error suppression ends at the saturation towards the ultimate Helstrom limit of quantum state discrimination. On the other hand, non-extensive VQCs such as quantum convolutional neural networks are sub-optimal and fail to achieve the Helstrom limit, demonstrating a trade-off between ansatz complexity and classification performance in general. To achieve the best performance for a given VQC, the optimal classical post-processing is crucial even for a binary classification problem. To simplify VQCs for near-term implementations, we find that utilizing the symmetry of the input properly can improve the performance, while oversimplification can lead to degradation.

Zhang, Bingzhi↗

RF-Net 2: fast inference of virus reassortment and hybridization networks

Abstract Motivation A phylogenetic network is a powerful model to represent entangled evolutionary histories with both divergent (speciation) and convergent (e.g. hybridization, reassortment, recombination) evolution. The standard approach to inference of hybridization networks is to (i) reconstruct rooted gene trees and (ii) leverage gene tree discordance for network inference. Recently, we introduced a method called RF-Net for accurate inference of virus reassortment and hybridization networks from input gene trees in the presence of errors commonly found in phylogenetic trees. While RF-Net demonstrated the ability to accurately infer networks with up to four reticulations from erroneous input gene trees, its application was limited by the number of reticulations it could handle in a reasonable amount of time. This limitation is particularly restrictive in the inference of the evolutionary history of segmented RNA viruses such as influenza A virus (IAV), where reassortment is one of the major mechanisms shaping the evolution of these pathogens. Results Here, we expand the functionality of RF-Net that makes it significantly more applicable in practice. Crucially, we introduce a fast extension to RF-Net, called Fast-RF-Net, that can handle large numbers of reticulations without sacrificing accuracy. In addition, we develop automatic stopping criteria to select the appropriate number of reticulations heuristically and implement a feature for RF-Net to output error-corrected input gene trees. We then conduct a comprehensive study of the original method and its novel extensions and confirm their efficacy in practice using extensive simulation and empirical IAV evolutionary analyses. Availability and implementation RF-Net 2 is available at https://github.com/flu-crew/rf-net-2. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Markin, Alexey (ORCID:0000000332809050)↗

A gene desert required for regulatory control of pleiotropic Shox2 expression and embryonic survival

ABSTRACT The Shox2 homeodomain transcriptional regulator is known for its critical functions during mouse embryogenesis, enabling accurate development of limbs, craniofacial structures, neural populations and the cardiac conduction system. At the genomic level, the Shox2 gene is flanked by an extensive gene desert, a continuous non-coding genomic region spanning over 500 kilobases that contains a multitude of evolutionarily conserved elements with predicted cis -regulatory activities. However, the transcriptional enhancer potential of the vast majority of these elements in combination with the biological necessity of the gene desert have not yet been explored. Using transgenic reporter assays in mouse embryos to validate an extensive set of stringent epigenomic enhancer predictions, we identify several novel gene desert enhancers with distinct tissue-specific activities in Shox2 expressing tissues. 4C-seq chromatin conformation capture further uncovers a repertoire of gene desert enhancers with overlapping activities in the proximal limb, in a compartment essential for Shox2 -mediated stylopod formation. Leveraging CRISPR/Cas9 to delete the gene desert region contained in the Shox2 topologically associated domain (TAD), we demonstrate that this complex cis -regulatory platform is essential for embryonic survival and required for control of region-specific Shox2 expression in multiple developing tissues. While transcription of Shox2 in the embryonic limb is only moderately affected by gene desert loss, Shox2 expression in craniofacial and cardiac domains is nearly abolished. In particular, Shox2 transcripts in the sinus venosus (SV) encompassing the sinoatrial node (SAN) were depleted in embryos lacking the gene desert, likely accounting for the embryonic lethality due to Shox2 -dependency of the SAN pacemaker. Finally, we discover a 1.5kb SV enhancer within the deleted gene desert region, which may act as a genomic module controlling the development of the cardiac conduction system. In summary, our results identify a gene desert indispensable for pleiotropic patterning and highlight the importance of these extensive regulatory landscapes for embryonic development and viability.

Abassah-Oppong, Samuel↗

Spin liquid to spin glass crossover in the random quantum Heisenberg magnet

We study quantum SU($M$) spins with all-to-all and random Heisenberg exchange interactions of root-mean-square strength $J$. The $M \rightarrow \infty$ model has a spin liquid ground state with the spinons obeying the equations of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model. Numerical studies of the SU(2) model with $S=1/2$ spins show spin glass order in the ground state, but also display SYK spin liquid behavior in the intermediate frequency spin spectrum. We employ a $1/M$ expansion to describe the crossover from fractionalized fermionic spinons to a confining spin glass state with weak spin glass order $q_{EA}$. The SYK spin liquid behavior persists down to a frequency $\omega_\ast \sim J q_{EA}$, and for $\omega < \omega_\ast$, the spectral density is linear in $\omega$, thus quenching the extensive zero temperature entropy of the spin liquid. Furthermore, the linear $\omega$ spectrum is qualitatively similar to that obtained earlier using bosonic spinons for large $q_{EA}$. We argue that the extensive SYK spin liquid entropy is transformed as $T \rightarrow 0$ to an extensive complexity of the spin glass state.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Is the HEFT matching unique?

Physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) can be described in a consistent and general way through the Higgs effective field theory (HEFT). Measurements of model-independent HEFT coefficients allow one to constrain the parameter space of BSM models via a matching procedure. In this work, we show that this procedure is not unique and depends on the scalings of the parameters of the Lagrangian. As examples, we consider three BSM models: the real singlet extension of the SM with a Z 2 symmetry, the complex singlet extension of the SM and the two Higgs doublet model. We discuss several physical observables, and show that different scalings of the model parameters with the UV scale in the matching to the HEFT can yield quite different results. This complicates the interpretation of HEFT measurements in terms of parameters of BSM models. Additionally, as a byproduct, we report the first matching of the complex singlet extension to the HEFT. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Constraining cosmological parameters using the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect with CMB-S4 and future galaxy cluster surveys

We present a forecast of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) measurement that will be achievable with the future CMB-S4 experiment. CMB-S4 is the next stage for ground-based cosmic microwave background experiments, with a planned wide-area survey that will observe approximately 50% of the sky. We construct a simulated sample of galaxy clusters that have been optically selected in a Legacy Survey of Space and Time–like survey and have spectroscopic redshifts. For this cluster sample, assuming the likelihood is Gaussian, we predict that CMB-S4 will reject the null hypothesis of zero pairwise kSZ signal at 36⁢𝜎. We estimate the effects of systematic uncertainties such as scatter in the mass-richness scaling relation and cluster miscentering. We find that these effects can reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the CMB-S4 pairwise kSZ measurement by 20%. We explore the constraining power of the measured kSZ signal in combination with measurements of the galaxy clusters’ thermal SZ emission on two extensions to the standard cosmological model. The first extension allows the dark energy equation of state 𝑤 to vary. We find the CMB-S4 pairwise kSZ measurement yields a modest reduction in the uncertainty on 𝑤 by a factor of 1.36 over the Planck’s 2018 uncertainty. The second extension tests general relativity by varying the growth index 𝛾. In conclusion, we find that CMB-S4’s pairwise kSZ measurement will yield a 28⁢𝜎 constraint on 𝛾 and strongly constrain alternative theories of gravity.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗