Cytogenetic characterization of Eurysternus caribaeus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): evidence of sex-autosome fusion and diploid number reduction prior to species dispersion

Mitotic and meiotic chromosomes of several populations of Eurysternus caribaeus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) were analysed through conventional staining, C-banding, base-specific fluorochromes, silver nitrate staining and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). All specimens showed 2n = 8 in their karyotypes, with a neo-XY sex system (Y is a submetacentric and X a metacentric) and three pairs of submetacentric autosomes. The analysis of constitutive heterochromatin (CH) revealed small blocks located in the centromeric region of all chromosomes which do not present positive staining under the fluorochromes CMA3 and DAPI. Silver nitrate staining revealed that the nucleolar organizer region (NORs) is associated with the sex chromosomes. The FISH technique revealed that rDNA sites in the X and Y are different in size. Data from different populations indicate that the diploid number reduction (2n = 8) observed in E. caribaeus is established and presumably has preceded the dispersion of this species. Moreover, this reduction occasioned the translocation of rDNA sites to the sex chromosomes, X and Y, an uncommon pattern in Scarabaeidae that was observed for the first time by the FISH in this work.

Preliminary Fusion Testing Between Whole Young Colonies of Coptotermes gestroi (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Expression and purification of human respiratory syncytial virus recombinant fusion protein

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Indirect constraints on the triple gauge boson couplings from Z -> b(b)over-bar partial width: An update

We update the indirect bounds on anomalous triple gauge couplings coming from the non-universal one-loop contributions to the Z --> width. These bounds, which are independent of the Higgs boson mass, are in agreement with the standard model predictions for the gauge boson self-couplings since the present value of R-b agrees fairly well with the theoretical estimates. Moreover, these indirect constraints on Delta g(1)(Z) and g(5)(Z) are most stringent than the present direct bounds on these quantities, while the indirect limit on lambda(Z) is weaker than the available experimental data.

Anomalous quartic gauge boson couplings at hadron colliders

We analyze the potential of the Fermilab Tevatron and CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to study anomalous quartic vector-boson interactions gamma gamma ZZ and gammaW(+)W(-). Working in the framework of SU(2)(L) circle times U(1)(Y) chiral Lagrangians, we study the production of photon pairs accompanied by l(+) l(-), l(+/-) v, and jet pairs to impose bounds on these new couplings, taking into account the unitarity constraints. We compare our findings with the indirect limits coming from precision electroweak measurements as well as with presently available direct searches at CERN LEPII. We show that the Tevatron run II can provide limits on these quartic limits which are of the same order of magnitude as the existing bounds from LEPII searches. LHC will be able to tighten considerably the direct constraints on these possible new interactions, leading to more stringent limits than the presently available indirect ones.

Integrable hierarchy for multidimensional Toda equations and topological-anti-topological fusion

The negative symmetry flows are incorporated into the Riemann-Hilbert problem for the homogeneous A(m)-hierarchy and its (gl) over cap (m + 1, C) extension.A loop group automorphism of order two is used to define a sub-hierarchy of (gl) over cap (m + 1, C) hierarchy containing only the odd symmetry flows. The positive and negative flows of the +/-1 grade coincide with equations of the multidimensional Toda model and of topological-anti-topological fusion. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Mean-field description of a dynamical collapse of a fermionic condensate in a trapped boson-fermion mixture

We suggest a time-dependent dynamical mean-field-hydrodynamic model for the collapse of a trapped boson-fermion condensate and perform numerical simulation based on it to understand some aspects of the experiment by Modugno et al. [Science 297, 2240 (2002)] on the collapse of the fermionic condensate in the K-40-Rb-87 mixture. We show that the mean-field model explains the formation of a stationary boson-fermion condensate at zero temperature with relative sizes compatible with experiment. This model is also found to yield a faithful representation of the collapse dynamics in qualitative agreement with experiment. In particular we consider the collapse of the fermionic condensate associated with (a) an increase of the number of bosonic atoms as in the experiment and (b) an increase of the attractive boson-fermion interaction using a Feshbach resonance. Suggestion for experiments of fermionic collapse using a Feshbach resonance is made.

Strength of the trilinear Higgs boson coupling in technicolor models

We discuss the strength of the trilinear Higgs boson coupling in technicolor (or composite) models in a model independent way. The coupling is determined as a function of a very general ansatz for the technicolor self-energy, and turns out to be equal or smaller than the one of the Standard Model Higgs boson depending on the dynamics of the theory. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Boson-boson effective nonrelativistic potential for higher-derivative electromagnetic theories in D dimensions

The problem of computing the effective nonrelativistic potential U-D for the interaction of charged-scalar bosons, within the context of D-dimensional electromagnetism with a cutoff, is reduced to quadratures. It is shown that U-3 cannot bind a pair of identical charged-scalar bosons; nevertheless, numerical calculations indicate that boson-boson bound states do exist in the framework of three-dimensional higher-derivative electromagnetism augmented by a topological Chern-Simons term.

Four-boson scale near a Feshbach resonance

We show that an independent four-body momentum scale mu((4)) drives the tetramer binding energy for fixed trimer energy (or three-body scale mu((3))) and large scattering length (a). The three- and four-body forces from the one-channel reduction of the atomic interaction near a Feshbach resonance disentangle mu((4)) and mu((3)). The four-body independent scale is also manifested through a family of Tjon lines, with slope given by mu((4))/mu((3)) for a(-1) = 0. There is the possibility of a new renormalization group limit cycle due to the new scale.

Search for particles decaying into a Z boson and a photon in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

We present the results of a search for a new particle X produced in p (p) over bar collisions at root s- = 1.96 TeV and subsequently decaying to Z gamma. The search uses 0.3 fb(-1) of data collected with the DO detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We set limits on the production cross section times the branching fraction sigma(p (p) over bar -> X) x B(X -> Z gamma) that range from 0.4 to 3.5 pb at the 95% C.L. for X with invariant masses between 100 and 1000 GeV/c(2), over a wide range of X decay widths. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

gg -> h -> tau(+)tau(-) at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron

We study the neutral Higgs boson production via the gluon fusion process with the tau(+)tau(-) final state at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron, including a complete simulation of signal channels and leading background processes. For the SM Higgs boson, this h --> tau(+)tau(-) channel may provide important addition for the Higgs boson discovery in the mass range 120 - 140 GeV. In minimal supersymmetric models, natural enhancement for the signal rate over the SM expectation makes the h, H, A --> tau(+)tau(-) signal observable for large tan beta and low MA, which may lead to full coverage for SUSY Higgs parameters at the Tevatron with a moderate integrated luminosity.

Fermionic bright soliton in a boson-fermion mixture

We use a time-dependent dynamical mean-field-hydrodynamic model to study the formation of fermionic bright solitons in a trapped degenerate Fermi gas mixed with a Bose-Einstein condensate in a quasi-one-dimensional cigar-shaped geometry. Due to a strong Pauli-blocking repulsion among spin-polarized fermions at short distances there cannot be bright fermionic solitons in the case of repulsive boson-fermion interactions. However, we demonstrate that stable bright fermionic solitons can be formed for a sufficiently attractive boson-fermion interaction in a boson-fermion mixture. We also consider the formation of fermionic solitons in the presence of a periodic axial optical-lattice potential. These solitons can be formed and studied in the laboratory with present technology.

Plethysms and interacting boson models

A short review of the plethysm technique aiming to its application in finding branching rules for the reduction of an irreducible representation of a group under the restriction to one of its subgroups is given. The algebraic structure of the interacting boson model and some of its extensions is given together with the branching rules needed to classify their basis states, obtained by the use of plethysms. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.