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Long- and short-range correlations for pairs of charged particles are studied via two-particle angular correlations in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV and p−Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV. The correlation functions are measured as a function of relative azimuthal angle Δφ and pseudorapidity separation Δη for pairs of primary charged particles within the pseudorapidity interval |η|<0.9 and the transverse-momentum interval 1<pT<4 GeV/c. Flow coefficients are extracted for the long-range correlations (1.6<|Δη|<1.8) in various high-multiplicity event classes using the low-multiplicity template fit method. The method is used to subtract the enhanced yield of away-side jet fragments in high-multiplicity events. These results show decreasing flow signals toward lower multiplicity events. Furthermore, the flow coefficients for events with hard probes, such as jets or leading particles, do not exhibit any significant changes compared to those obtained from high-multiplicity events without any specific event selection criteria. The results are compared with hydrodynamic-model calculations, and it is found that a better understanding of the initial conditions is necessary to describe the results, particularly for low-multiplicity events.
Modification of charged-particle jets in event-shape engineered Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV
(2023)
Charged-particle jet yields have been measured in semicentral Pb−Pb collisions at center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon collision sNN−−−√=5 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. These yields are reported as a function of the jet transverse momentum, and further classified by their angle with respect to the event plane and the event shape, characterized by ellipticity, in an effort to study the path-length dependence of jet quenching. Jets were reconstructed at midrapidity from charged-particle tracks using the anti-kT algorithm with resolution parameters R= 0.2 and 0.4, with event-plane angle and event-shape values determined using information from forward scintillating detectors. The results presented in this letter show that, in semicentral Pb−Pb collisions, there is no significant difference between jet yields in predominantly isotropic and elliptical events. However, out-of-plane jets are observed to be more suppressed than in-plane jets. Further, this relative suppression is greater for low transverse momentum (< 50 GeV/c) R= 0.2 jets produced in elliptical events, with out-of-plane to in-plane jet-yield ratios varying up to 5.2σ between different event-shape classes. These results agree with previous studies indicating that jets experience azimuthally anisotropic suppression when traversing the QGP medium, and can provide additional constraints on the path-length dependence of jet energy loss.
Results on the transverse spherocity dependence of light-flavor particle production (π, K, p, ϕ, K∗0, K0S, Λ, Ξ) at midrapidity in high-multiplicity pp collisions at s√=13 TeV were obtained with the ALICE apparatus. The transverse spherocity estimator (SpT=1O) categorizes events by their azimuthal topology. Utilizing narrow selections on SpT=1O, it is possible to contrast particle production in collisions dominated by many soft initial interactions with that observed in collisions dominated by one or more hard scatterings. Results are reported for two multiplicity estimators covering different pseudorapidity regions. The SpT=1O estimator is found to effectively constrain the hardness of the events when the midrapidity (|η|<0.8) estimator is used. The production rates of strange particles are found to be slightly higher for soft isotropic topologies, and severely suppressed in hard jet-like topologies. These effects are more pronounced for hadrons with larger mass and strangeness content, and observed when the topological selection is done within a narrow multiplicity interval. This demonstrates that an important aspect of the universal scaling of strangeness enhancement with final-state multiplicity is that high-multiplicity collisions are dominated by soft, isotropic processes. On the contrary, strangeness production in events with jet-like processes is significantly reduced. The results presented in this article are compared with several QCD-inspired Monte Carlo event generators. Models that incorporate a two-component phenomenology, either through mechanisms accounting for string density, or thermal production, are able to describe the observed strangeness enhancement as a function of SpT=1O.
Mitochondrial matrix peptidase CLPP is crucial during cell stress. Its loss causes Perrault syndrome type 3 (PRLTS3) with infertility, neurodegeneration and growth deficit. Its target proteins are disaggregated by CLPX, which also regulates heme biosynthesis via unfolding ALAS enzyme, providing access of pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP). Despite efforts in diverse organisms with multiple techniques, CLPXP substrates remain controversial. Here, avoiding recombinant overexpression, we employed complexomics in mitochondria from three mouse tissues to identify endogenous targets. CLPP absence caused accumulation and dispersion of CLPX-VWA8 as AAA+ unfoldases, and of PLPBP. Similar changes and CLPX-VWA8 comigration were evident for mitoribosomal central protuberance clusters, translation factors like GFM1-HARS2, RNA granule components LRPPRC-SLIRP, and enzymes OAT-ALDH18A1. Mitochondrially translated proteins in testis showed reductions to <30% for MTCO1-3, misassembly of complex-IV supercomplex, and accumulated metal-binding assembly factors COX15-SFXN4. Indeed, heavy metal levels were increased for iron, molybdenum, cobalt and manganese. RT-qPCR showed compensatory downregulation only for Clpx mRNA, most accumulated proteins appeared transcriptionally upregulated. Immunoblots validated VWA8, MRPL38, MRPL18, GFM1 and OAT accumulation. Coimmunoprecipitation confirmed CLPX binding to MRPL38, GFM1 and OAT, so excess CLPX and PLP may affect their activity. Our data elucidate mechanistically the mitochondrial translation fidelity deficits, which underlie progressive hearing impairment in PRLTS3.
Viruses that carry a positive-sense, single-stranded (+ssRNA) RNA translate their genomes soon after entering the host cell to produce viral proteins, with the exception of retroviruses. A distinguishing feature of retroviruses is reverse transcription, where the +ssRNA genome serves as a template to synthesize a double-stranded DNA copy that subsequently integrates into the host genome. As retroviral RNAs are produced by the host cell transcriptional machinery and are largely indistinguishable from cellular mRNAs, we investigated the potential of incoming retroviral genomes to directly express proteins. Here we show through multiple, complementary methods that retroviral genomes are translated after entry. Our findings challenge the notion that retroviruses require reverse transcription to produce viral proteins. Synthesis of retroviral proteins in the absence of productive infection has significant implications for basic retrovirology, immune responses and gene therapy applications.
According to the inflationary theory of cosmology, most elementary particles in the current universe were created during a period of reheating after inflation. In this work we self-consistently couple the Einstein-inflaton equations to a strongly coupled quantum field theory (QFT) as described by holography. We show that this leads to an inflating universe, a reheating phase and finally a universe dominated by the QFT in thermal equilibrium.
Viruses that carry a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA translate their genomes after entering the host cell to produce viral proteins, with the exception of retroviruses. A distinguishing feature of retroviruses is reverse transcription, where the ssRNA genome serves as a template to synthesize a double-stranded DNA copy that subsequently integrates into the host genome. As retroviral RNAs are produced by the host transcriptional machinery and are largely indistinguishable from cellular mRNAs, we investigated the potential of incoming retroviral genomes to express proteins. Here we show through various biochemical methods that HIV-1 genomes are translated after entry, in case of minimal or full-length genomes, envelopes using different cellular entry pathways and in diverse cell types. Our findings challenge the dogma that retroviruses require reverse transcription to produce viral proteins. Synthesis of retroviral proteins in the absence of productive infection has significant implications for basic retrovirology, immune responses and gene therapy applications.
The production of π±, K±, and (p¯¯¯)p is measured in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV in different topological regions. Particle transverse momentum (pT) spectra are measured in the ``toward'', ``transverse'', and ``away'' angular regions defined with respect to the direction of the leading particle in the event. While the toward and away regions contain the fragmentation products of the near-side and away-side jets, respectively, the transverse region is dominated by particles from the Underlying Event (UE). The relative transverse activity classifier, RT=NT/⟨NT⟩, is used to group events according to their UE activity, where NT is the measured charged-particle multiplicity per event in the transverse region and ⟨NT⟩ is the mean value over all the analysed events. The first measurements of identified particle pT spectra as a function of RT in the three topological regions are reported. The yield of high transverse momentum particles relative to the RT-integrated measurement decreases with increasing RT in both the toward and away regions, indicating that the softer UE dominates particle production as RT increases and validating that RT can be used to control the magnitude of the UE. Conversely, the spectral shapes in the transverse region harden significantly with increasing RT. This hardening follows a mass ordering, being more significant for heavier particles. The pT-differential particle ratios (p+p¯¯¯)/(π++π−) and (K++K−)/(π++π−) in the low UE limit (RT→0) approach expectations from Monte Carlo generators such as PYTHIA 8 with Monash 2013 tune and EPOS LHC, where the jet-fragmentation models have been tuned to reproduce e+e− results.
Human feline leukemia virus subgroup C receptor-related proteins 1 and 2 (FLVCR1 and 2) are members of the major facilitator superfamily1. Their dysfunction is linked to several clinical disorders, including PCARP, HSAN, and Fowler syndrome2–7. Earlier studies concluded that FLVCR1 may function as a putative heme exporter8–12, while FLVCR2 was suggested to act as a heme importer13, yet conclusive biochemical and detailed molecular evidence remained elusive for the function of both transporters14–17. Here, we show that FLVCR1 and FLVCR2 facilitate the transport of choline and ethanolamine across human plasma membranes, utilizing a concentration-driven substrate translocation process. Through structural and computational analyses, we have identified distinct conformational states of FLVCRs and unraveled the coordination chemistry underlying their substrate interactions. Within the binding pocket of both transporters, we identify fully conserved tryptophan and tyrosine residues holding a central role in the formation of cation-π interactions, essential for choline and ethanolamine selectivity. Our findings not only clarify the mechanisms of choline and ethanolamine transport by FLVCR1 and FLVCR2, enhancing our comprehension of disease-associated mutations that interfere with these vital processes, but also shed light on the conformational dynamics of these MFS-type proteins during the transport cycle.
In natural environments, background noise can degrade the integrity of acoustic signals, posing a problem for animals that rely on their vocalizations for communication and navigation. A simple behavioral strategy to combat acoustic interference would be to restrict call emissions to periods of low-amplitude or no noise. Using audio playback and computational tools for the automated detection of over 2.5 million vocalizations from groups of freely vocalizing bats, we show that bats (Carollia perspicillata) can dynamically adapt the timing of their calls to avoid acoustic jamming in both predictably and unpredictably patterned noise. This study demonstrates that bats spontaneously seek out temporal windows of opportunity for vocalizing in acoustically crowded environments, providing a mechanism for efficient echolocation and communication in cluttered acoustic landscapes.
One Sentence Summary: Bats avoid acoustic interference by rapidly adjusting the timing of vocalizations to the temporal pattern of varying noise.
The polarization of Λ and Λ¯ hyperons along the beam direction has been measured relative to the second and third harmonic event planes in isobar Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr collisions at sNN−−−−√ = 200 GeV. The second harmonic results follow the emission angle dependence as expected due to elliptic flow, similar to that observed in Au+Au collisions. The polarization relative to the third harmonic event plane, measured for the first time, deviates from zero with 4.8σ significance in 20-60\% centrality for 1.1<pT<6.0 GeV/c and exhibits a similar dependence on the emission angle. These results indicate the formation of a complex vortical structure in the system that follows higher harmonic anisotropic flow originating from the initial density fluctuations. The amplitudes of the sine modulation for the second and third harmonic results are comparable in magnitude, increase from central to peripheral collisions, and show a mild pT dependence. While the centrality dependence, except in peripheral collisions, is qualitatively consistent with hydrodynamic model calculations including thermal vorticity and shear contributions, the shape of the pT dependence is very different. Comparison to previous measurements at RHIC and the LHC for the second-order harmonic results shows little dependence on the collision system size and collision energy.
We show the absence of an instability of homogeneous (chiral) condensates against spatially inhomogeneous perturbations for various 2+1-dimensional four-fermion and Yukawa models. All models are studied at non-zero baryon chemical potential, while some of them are also subjected to chiral and isospin chemical potential. The considered theories contain up to 16 Lorentz-(pseudo)scalar fermionic interaction channels. We prove the stability of homogeneous condensates by analyzing the bosonic two-point function, which can be expressed in a purely analytical form at zero temperature. Our analysis is presented in a general manner for all of the different discussed models. We argue that the absence of an inhomogeneous chiral phase (where the chiral condensate is spatially non-uniform) follows from this lack of instability. Furthermore, the existence of a moat regime, where the bosonic wave function renormalization is negative, in these models is ruled out.
The most precise measurements to date of the 3ΛH lifetime τ and Λ separation energy BΛ are obtained using the data sample of Pb-Pb collisions at √= 5.02 TeV collected by ALICE at the LHC. The 3ΛH is reconsNN structed via its charged two-body mesonic decay channel (3ΛH→ 3He + π− and the charge-conjugate process). The measured values τ=[253±11 (stat.)±6 (syst.)] ps and BΛ=[102±63 (stat.)±67 (syst.)] keV are compatible with predictions from effective field theories and confirm that the 3ΛH structure is consistent with a weakly-bound system.
The production of inclusive, prompt and non-prompt J/ψ was studied for the first time at midrapidity (−1.37<ycms<0.43) in p−Pb collisions at √sNN =8.16 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The inclusive J/ψ mesons were reconstructed in the dielectron decay channel in the transverse momentum (pT) interval 0<pT<14 GeV/c and the prompt and non-prompt contributions were separated on a statistical basis for pT>2 GeV/c. The study of the J/ψ mesons in the dielectron channel used for the first time in ALICE online single-electron triggers from the Transition Radiation Detector, providing a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 689±13μb−1. The proton−proton reference cross section for inclusive J/ψ was obtained based on interpolations of measured data at different centre-of-mass energies and a universal function describing the pT-differential J/ψ production cross sections. The pT-differential nuclear modification factors RpPb of inclusive, prompt, and non-prompt J/ψ are consistent with unity and described by theoretical models implementing only nuclear shadowing.
The knowledge of the material budget with a high precision is fundamental for measurements of direct photon production using the photon conversion method due to its direct impact on the total systematic uncertainty. Moreover, it influences many aspects of the charged-particle reconstruction performance. In this article, two procedures to determine data-driven corrections to the material-budget description in ALICE simulation software are developed. One is based on the precise knowledge of the gas composition in the Time Projection Chamber. The other is based on the robustness of the ratio between the produced number of photons and charged particles, to a large extent due to the approximate isospin symmetry in the number of produced neutral and charged pions. Both methods are applied to ALICE data allowing for a reduction of the overall material budget systematic uncertainty from 4.5% down to 2.5%. Using these methods, a locally correct material budget is also achieved. The two proposed methods are generic and can be applied to any experiment in a similar fashion.
Epigenetic neural glioblastoma enhances synaptic integration and predicts therapeutic vulnerability
(2023)
Neural-tumor interactions drive glioma growth as evidenced in preclinical models, but clinical validation is nascent. We present an epigenetically defined neural signature of glioblastoma that independently affects patients survival. We use reference signatures of neural cells to deconvolve tumor DNA and classify samples into low- or high-neural tumors. High-neural glioblastomas exhibit hypomethylated CpG sites and upregulation of genes associated with synaptic integration. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals high abundance of stem cell-like malignant cells classified as oligodendrocyte precursor and neural precursor cell-like in high-neural glioblastoma. High-neural glioblastoma cells engender neuron-to-glioma synapse formation in vitro and in vivo and show an unfavorable survival after xenografting. In patients, a high-neural signature associates with decreased survival as well as increased functional connectivity and can be detected via DNA analytes and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in plasma. Our study presents an epigenetically defined malignant neural signature in high-grade gliomas that is prognostically relevant.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical post-transcriptional regulators in many biological processes. They act by guiding RNA-induced silencing complexes to miRNA response elements (MREs) in target mRNAs, inducing translational inhibition and/or mRNA degradation. Functional MREs are expected to predominantly occur in the 3' untranslated region and involve perfect base-pairing of the miRNA seed. Here, we generate a high-resolution map of miR-181a/b-1 (miR-181) MREs to define the targeting rules of miR-181 in developing murine T-cells. By combining a multi-omics approach with computational high-resolution analyses, we uncover novel miR-181 targets and demonstrate that miR-181 acts predominantly through RNA destabilization. Importantly, we discover an alternative seed match and identify a distinct set of targets with repeat elements in the coding sequence which are targeted by miR-181 and mediate translational inhibition. In conclusion, deep profiling of MREs in primary cells is critical to expand physiologically relevant targetomes and establish context-dependent miRNA targeting rules.
A broad range of neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with alterations in macroscale brain circuitry and connectivity. Identifying consistent brain patterns underlying these disorders by means of structural and functional MRI has proven challenging, partly due to the vast number of tests required to examine the entire brain, which can lead to an increase in missed findings. In this study, we propose polyconnectomic score (PCS) as a metric designed to quantify the presence of disease-related brain connectivity signatures in connectomes. PCS summarizes evidence of brain patterns related to a phenotype across the entire landscape of brain connectivity into a subject-level score. We evaluated PCS across four brain disorders (autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease) and 14 studies encompassing ∼35,000 individuals. Our findings consistently show that patients exhibit significantly higher PCS compared to controls, with effect sizes that go beyond other single MRI metrics ([min, max]: Cohen’s d = [0.30, 0.87], AUC = [0.58, 0.73]). We further demonstrate that PCS serves as a valuable tool for stratifying individuals, for example within the psychosis continuum, distinguishing patients with schizophrenia from their first-degree relatives (d = 0.42, p = 4 x 10−3, FDR-corrected), and first-degree relatives from healthy controls (d = 0.34, p = 0.034, FDR-corrected). We also show that PCS is useful to uncover associations between brain connectivity patterns related to neuropsychiatric disorders and mental health, psychosocial factors, and body measurements.
In natural environments, background noise can degrade the integrity of acoustic signals, posing a problem for animals that rely on their vocalizations for communication and navigation. A simple behavioral strategy to combat acoustic interference would be to restrict call emissions to periods of low-amplitude or no noise. Using audio playback and computational tools for the automated detection of over 2.5 million vocalizations from groups of freely vocalizing bats, we show that bats (Carollia perspicillata) can dynamically adapt the timing of their calls to avoid acoustic jamming in both predictably and unpredictably patterned noise. This study demonstrates that bats spontaneously seek out temporal windows of opportunity for vocalizing in acoustically crowded environments, providing a mechanism for efficient echolocation and communication in cluttered acoustic landscapes.
One Sentence Summary Bats avoid acoustic interference by rapidly adjusting the timing of vocalizations to the temporal pattern of varying noise.
In response to pathogen infection, gasdermin (GSDM) proteins form membrane pores that induce a host cell death process called pyroptosis1–3. Studies of human and mouse GSDM pores reveal the functions and architectures of 24–33 protomers assemblies4–9, but the mechanism and evolutionary origin of membrane targeting and GSDM pore formation remain unknown. Here we determine a structure of a bacterial GSDM (bGSDM) pore and define a conserved mechanism of pore assembly. Engineering a panel of bGSDMs for site-specific proteolytic activation, we demonstrate that diverse bGSDMs form distinct pore sizes that range from smaller mammalian-like assemblies to exceptionally large pores containing >50 protomers. We determine a 3.3 Å cryo-EM structure of a Vitiosangium bGSDM in an active slinky-like oligomeric conformation and analyze bGSDM pores in a native lipid environment to create an atomic-level model of a full 52-mer bGSDM pore. Combining our structural analysis with molecular dynamics simulations and cellular assays, we define a stepwise model of GSDM pore assembly and demonstrate that pore formation is driven by local unfolding of membrane-spanning β-strand regions and pre-insertion of a covalently bound palmitoyl into the target membrane. These results yield insights into the diversity of GSDM pores found in nature and the function of an ancient post-translational modification in enabling a programmed host cell death process.
We report directed flow (v1) of multistrange baryons (Ξ and Ω) and improved v1 data for K−, p¯, Λ¯ and ϕ in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=27 and 200 GeV from the STAR at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). We focus on particles whose constituent quarks are not transported from beam rapidity rather produced in the collisions. In midcentral collisions, we observe a coalescence sum rule for hadron combinations with identical quark content and a difference (``splitting'') in the slope of v1 vs. rapidity for combinations having nonidentical quark content. The splitting strength appears to increase with the electric charge difference and strangeness content difference of the constituent quarks in the combinations, consistent with an electromagnetic effect. The peripheral collision statistics are insufficient to draw firm conclusions.
Post-merger gravitational-wave signal from neutron-star binaries: a new look at an old problem
(2023)
The spectral properties of the post-merger gravitational-wave signal from a binary of neutron stars encodes a variety of information about the features of the system and of the equation of state describing matter around and above nuclear saturation density. Characterising the properties of such a signal is an “old” problem, which first emerged when a number of frequencies were shown to be related to the properties of the binary through “quasi-universal” relations. Here we take a new look at this old problem by computing the properties of the signal in terms of the Weyl scalar ψ4. In this way, and using a database of more than 100 simulations, we provide the first evidence for a new instantaneous frequency, f ψ4 0, associated with the instant of quasi timesymmetry in the postmerger dynamics, and which also follows a quasi-universal relation. We also derive a new quasi-universal relation for the merger frequency f h mer, which provides a description of the data that is four times more accurate than previous expressions while requiring fewer fitting coefficients. Finally, consistently with the findings of numerous studies before ours, and using an enlarged ensamble of binary systems we point out that the ℓ = 2, m = 1 gravitational-wave mode could become comparable with the traditional ℓ = 2, m = 2 mode on sufficiently long timescales, with strain amplitudes in a ratio |h 21|/|h 22| ∼ 0.1 − 1 under generic orientations of the binary, which could be measured by present detectors for signals with large signal-to-noise ratio or by third-generation detectors for generic signals should no collapse occur.
The epitranscriptome embodies many new and largely unexplored functions of RNA. A major roadblock in the epitranscriptomics field is the lack of transcriptome-wide methods to detect more than a single RNA modification type at a time, identify RNA modifications in individual molecules, and estimate modification stoichiometry accurately. We address these issues with CHEUI (CH3 (methylation) Estimation Using Ionic current), a new method that concurrently detects N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and 5-methylcytidine (m5C) in individual RNA molecules from the same sample, as well as differential methylation between any two conditions. CHEUI processes observed and expected nanopore direct RNA sequencing signals with convolutional neural networks to achieve high single-molecule accuracy and outperforms other methods in detecting m6A and m5C sites and quantifying their stoichiometry. CHEUI’s unique capability to identify two modification types in the same sample reveals a non-random co-occurrence of m6A and m5C in mRNA transcripts in cell lines and tissues. CHEUI unlocks an unprecedented potential to study RNA modification configurations and discover new epitranscriptome functions.
Inclusive photon production at forward rapidities in pp and p–Pb
collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV
(2023)
A study of multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of inclusive photons measured in pp and p−Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon−nucleon collision of sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector in the forward pseudorapidity region 2.3<ηlab<3.9 is presented. Measurements in p−Pb collisions are reported for two beam configurations in which the directions of the proton and lead ion beam were reversed. The pseudorapidity distributions in p−Pb collisions are obtained for seven centrality classes which are defined based on different event activity estimators, i.e., the charged-particle multiplicity measured at midrapidity as well as the energy deposited in a calorimeter at beam rapidity. The inclusive photon multiplicity distributions for both pp and p−Pb collisions are described by double negative binomial distributions. The pseudorapidity distributions of inclusive photons are compared to those of charged particles at midrapidity in \pp collisions and for different centrality classes in p−Pb collisions. The results are compared to predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators. None of the generators considered in this paper reproduces the inclusive photon multiplicity distributions in the reported multiplicity range. The pseudorapidity distributions are, however, better described by the same generators.
Measurements of (anti)proton, (anti)deuteron, and (anti)3He production in the rapidity range −1<y<0 as a function of the transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair sNN−−−√=8.16 TeV are presented. The coalescence parameters B2 and B3, measured as a function of the transverse momentum per nucleon and of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density, confirm a smooth evolution from low to high multiplicity across different collision systems and energies. The ratios between (anti)deuteron and (anti)3He yields and those of (anti)protons are also reported as a function of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density. A comparison with the predictions of the statistical hadronization and coalescence models for different collision systems and center-of-mass energies favors the coalescence description for the deuteron-to-proton yield ratio with respect to the canonical statistical model.
This letter reports the first measurement of spin alignment, with respect to the helicity axis, for D∗+ vector mesons and their charge conjugates from charm-quark hadronisation (prompt) and from beauty-meson decays (non-prompt) in hadron collisions. The measurements were performed at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in proton-proton (pp) collisions collected by ALICE at the centre-of-mass energy s√=13 TeV. The diagonal spin density matrix element ρ00 of D∗+ mesons was measured from the angular distribution of the D∗+→D0(→K−π+)π+ decay products, in the D∗+ rest frame, with respect to the D∗+ momentum direction in the pp centre of mass frame. The ρ00 value for prompt D∗+ mesons is consistent with 1/3, which implies no spin alignment. However, for non-prompt D∗+ mesons an evidence of ρ00 larger than 1/3 is found. The measured value of the spin density element is ρ00=0.455±0.022(stat.)±0.035(syst.) in the 5<pT<20 GeV/c interval, which is consistent with a PYTHIA 8 Monte Carlo simulation coupled with the EVTGEN package, which implements the helicity conservation in the decay of D∗+ meson from beauty mesons. In non-central heavy-ion collisions, the spin of the D∗+ mesons may be globally aligned with the direction of the initial angular momentum and magnetic field. Based on the results for pp collisions reported in this letter it is shown that alignment of non-prompt D∗+ mesons due to the helicity conservation coupled to the collective anisotropic expansion may mimic the signal of global spin alignment in heavy-ion collisions.
Measurements of (anti)proton, (anti)deuteron, and (anti)3He production in the rapidity range −1<y<0 as a function of the transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair sNN−−−√=8.16 TeV are presented. The coalescence parameters B2 and B3, measured as a function of the transverse momentum per nucleon and of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density, confirm a smooth evolution from low to high multiplicity across different collision systems and energies. The ratios between (anti)deuteron and (anti)3He yields and those of (anti)protons are also reported as a function of the mean charged-particle multiplicity density. A comparison with the predictions of the statistical hadronization and coalescence models for different collision systems and center-of-mass energies favors the coalescence description for the deuteron-to-proton yield ratio with respect to the canonical statistical model.
A new, more precise measurement of the Λ hyperon lifetime is performed using a large data sample of Pb−Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02 TeV with ALICE. The Λ and Λ¯¯¯¯ hyperons are reconstructed at midrapidity using their two-body weak decay channel Λ→p+π− and Λ¯¯¯¯→p¯¯¯+π+. The measured value of the Λ lifetime is τΛ=[261.07±0.37 (stat.)±0.72 (syst.)] ps. The relative difference between the lifetime of Λ and Λ¯¯¯¯, which represents an important test of CPT invariance in the strangeness sector, is also measured. The obtained value (τΛ−τΛ¯¯¯¯)/τΛ=0.0013±0.0028 (stat.)±0.0021 (syst.) is consistent with zero within the uncertainties. Both measurements of the Λ hyperon lifetime and of the relative difference between τΛ and τΛ¯¯¯¯ are in agreement with the corresponding world averages of the Particle Data Group and about a factor of three more precise.
Natural scene responses in the primary visual cortex are modulated simultaneously by attention and by contextual signals about scene statistics stored across the connectivity of the visual processing hierarchy. Here, we hypothesized that attentional and contextual top-down signals interact in V1, in a manner that primarily benefits the representation of natural visual stimuli, rich in high-order statistical structure. Recording from two macaques engaged in a spatial attention task, we found that attention enhanced the decodability of stimulus identity from population responses evoked by natural scenes but, critically, not by synthetic stimuli in which higher-order statistical regularities were eliminated. Population analysis revealed that neuronal responses converged to a low dimensional subspace for natural but not for synthetic images. Critically, we determined that the attentional enhancement in stimulus decodability was captured by the dominant low dimensional subspace, suggesting an alignment between the attentional and natural stimulus variance. The alignment was pronounced for late evoked responses but not for early transient responses of V1 neurons, supporting the notion that top-down feedback was required. We argue that attention and perception share top-down pathways, which mediate hierarchical interactions optimized for natural vision.
Evading imminent predator threat is critical for survival. Effective defensive strategies can vary, even between closely related species. However, the neural basis of such species-specific behaviours is still poorly understood. Here we find that two sister species of deer mice (genus Peromyscus) show different responses to the same looming stimulus: P. maniculatus, which occupy densely vegetated habitats, predominantly dart to escape, while the open field specialist, P. polionotus, pause their movement. This difference arises from species-specific escape thresholds, is largely context-independent, and can be triggered by both visual and auditory threat stimuli. Using immunohistochemistry and electrophysiological recordings, we find that although visual threat activates the superior colliculus in both species, the role of the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG) in driving behaviour differs. While dPAG activity scales with running speed and involves both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in P. maniculatus, the dPAG is largely silent in P. polionotus, even when darting is triggered. Moreover, optogenetic activation of excitatory dPAG neurons reliably elicits darting behaviour in P. maniculatus but not P. polionotus. Together, we trace the evolution of species-specific escape thresholds to a central circuit node, downstream of peripheral sensory neurons, localizing an ecologically relevant behavioural difference to a specific region of the complex mammalian brain.
Selective attention implements preferential routing of attended stimuli, likely through increasing the influence of the respective synaptic inputs on higher-area neurons. As the inputs of competing stimuli converge onto postsynaptic neurons, presynaptic circuits might offer the best target for attentional top-down influences. If those influences enabled presynaptic circuits to selectively entrain postsynaptic neurons, this might explain selective routing. Indeed, when two visual stimuli induce two gamma rhythms in V1, only the gamma induced by the attended stimulus entrains gamma in V4. Here, we modeled induced responses with a Dynamic Causal Model for Cross-Spectral Densities and found that selective entrainment can be explained by attentional modulation of intrinsic V1 connections. Specifically, local inhibition was decreased in the granular input layer and increased in the supragranular output layer of the V1 circuit that processed the attended stimulus. Thus, presynaptic attentional influences and ensuing entrainment were sufficient to mediate selective routing.
Ribosomes translate the genetic code into proteins. Recent technical advances have facilitated in situ structural analyses of ribosome functional states inside eukaryotic cells and the minimal bacterium Mycoplasma. However, such analyses of Gram-negative bacteria are lacking, despite their ribosomes being major antimicrobial drug targets. Here we compare two E. coli strains, a lab E. coli K-12 and human gut isolate E. coli ED1a, for which tetracycline exhibits bacteriostatic and bactericidal action, respectively. The in situ ribosome structures upon tetracycline treatment show a virtually identical drug binding-site in both strains, yet the distribution of ribosomal complexes clearly differs. While K-12 retains ribosomes in a translation competent state, tRNAs are lost in the vast majority of ED1a ribosomes. A differential response is also reflected in proteome-wide abundance and thermal stability assessment. Our study underlines the need to include molecular analyses and to consider gut bacteria when addressing antibiotic mode of action.
Human language relies on hierarchically structured syntax to facilitate efficient and robust communication. The correct processing of syntactic information is essential for successful communication between speakers. As an abstract level of language, syntax has often been studied separately from the physical form of the speech signal, thus often masking the interactions that can promote better syntactic processing in the human brain. We analyzed a MEG dataset to investigate how acoustic cues, specifically prosody, interact with syntactic operations. We examined whether prosody enhances the cortical encoding of syntactic representations. We decoded left-sided dependencies directly from brain activity and evaluated possible modulations of the decoding by the presence of prosodic boundaries. Our findings demonstrate that prosodic boundary presence improves the representation of left-sided dependencies, indicating the facilitative role of prosodic cues in processing abstract linguistic features. This study gives neurobiological evidence for the boosting of syntactic processing via interaction with prosody.
We report a search for a heavier partner of the recently observed Zcs(3985)− state, denoted as Z′−cs, in the process e+e−→K+D∗−sD∗0+c.c., based on e+e− collision data collected at the center-of-mass energies of s√=4.661, 4.682 and 4.699 GeV with the BESIII detector. The Z′−cs is of interest as it is expected to be a candidate for a hidden-charm and open-strange tetraquark. A partial-reconstruction technique is used to isolate K+ recoil-mass spectra, which are probed for a potential contribution from Z′−cs→D∗−sD∗0 (c.c.). We find an excess of Z′−cs→D∗−sD∗0 (c.c.) candidates with a significance of 2.1σ, after considering systematic uncertainties, at a mass of (4123.5±0.7stat.±4.7syst.) MeV/c2. As the data set is limited in size, the upper limits are evaluated at the 90\% confidence level on the product of the Born cross sections (σBorn) and the branching fraction (B) of Z′−cs→D∗−sD∗0, under different assumptions of the Z′−cs mass from 4.120 to 4.140 MeV and of the width from 10 to 50 MeV at the three center-of-mass energies. The upper limits of σBorn⋅B are found to be at the level of O(1) pb at each energy. Larger data samples are needed to confirm the Z′−cs state and clarify its nature in the coming years.
Using a data sample of (1.0087±0.0044)×1010 J/ψ decay events collected with the BESIII detector at the center-of-mass energy of s√=3.097 GeV, we present a search for the hyperon semileptonic decay Ξ0→Σ−e+νe which violates the ΔS=ΔQ rule. No significant signal is observed, and the upper limit on the branching fraction B(Ξ0→Σ−e+νe) is determined to be 1.6×10−4 at the 90% confidence level. This result improves the previous upper limit result by about one order of magnitude.
Using data samples with an integrated luminosity of 22.42 fb−1 collected by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring, we measure the cross sections of the $e^{+}e^{-}\rightarrow\etaJ/\psi$ process at center-of-mass energies from 3.808 to 4.951 GeV. Three structures are observed in the line shape of the measured cross sections. A maximum-likelihood fit with ψ(4040), two additional resonances, and a non-resonant component is performed. The mass and width of the first additional state are (4219.7±2.5±4.5)MeV/c2 and (80.7±4.4±1.4)MeV, respectively, consistent with the ψ(4230). For the second state, the mass and width are (4386±13±17)MeV/c2 and (177±32±13)MeV, respectively, consistent with the ψ(4360). The first uncertainties are statistical and the second ones are systematic. The statistical significance of ψ(4040) is 8.0σ and those for ψ(4230) and ψ(4360) are more than 10.0σ.
The Cabbibo-favored decay Λ+c→Ξ0K+π0 is studied for the first time using 6.1 fb−1 of e+e− collision data at center-of-mass energies between 4.600 and 4.840 GeV, collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. With a double-tag method, the branching fraction of the three-body decay Λ+c→Ξ0K+π0 is measured to be (7.79±1.46±0.71)×10−3, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The branching fraction of the two-body decay Λ+c→Ξ(1530)0K+ is (5.99±1.04±0.29)×10−3, which is consistent with the previous result of (5.02±0.99±0.31)×10−3. In addition, the upper limit on the branching fraction of the doubly Cabbibo-suppressed decay Λ+c→nK+π0 is 7.1×10−4 at the 90% confidence level. The upper limits on the branching fractions of Λ+c→Σ0K+π0 and ΛK+π0 are also determined to be 1.8×10−3 and 2.0×10−3, respectively.
Using 448 million ψ(2S) events, the spin-singlet P-wave charmonium state hc(11P1) is studied via the ψ(2S)→π0hc decay followed by the hc→γηc transition. The branching fractions are measured to be BInc(ψ(2S)→π0hc)×BTag(hc→γηc)=(4.22+0.27−0.26±0.19)×10−4 , BInc(ψ(2S)→π0hc)=(7.32±0.34±0.41)×10−4, and BTag(hc→γηc)=(57.66+3.62−3.50±0.58)%, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The hc(11P1) mass and width are determined to be M=(3525.32±0.06±0.15) MeV/c2 and Γ=(0.78+0.27−0.24±0.12) MeV. Using the center of gravity mass of the three χcJ(13PJ) mesons (M(c.o.g.)), the 1P hyperfine mass splitting is estimated to be Δhyp=M(hc)−M(c.o.g.)=(0.03±0.06±0.15) MeV/c2, which is consistent with the expectation that the 1P hyperfine splitting is zero at the lowest-order.
Using a sample of 4.3×105 η′→ηπ0π0 events selected from the ten billion J/ψ event dataset collected with the BESIII detector, we study the decay η′→ηπ0π0 within the framework of nonrelativistic effective field theory. Evidence for a structure at π+π− mass threshold is observed in the invariant mass spectrum of π0π0 with a statistical significance of around 3.5σ, which is consistent with the cusp effect as predicted by the nonrelativistic effective field theory. After introducing the amplitude for describing the cusp effect, the ππ scattering length combination a0−a2 is determined to be 0.226±0.060stat±0.013syst, which is in good agreement with theoretical calculation of 0.2644±0.0051.
Using (10087±44)×106 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector, the radiative hyperon decay Σ→pγ is studied at an electron-positron collider experiment for the first time. The absolute branching fraction is measured to be (0.996±0.021stat.±0.018syst.)×10−3, which is lower than its world average value by 4.2 standard deviations. Its decay asymmetry parameter is determined to be −0.652±0.056stat.±0.020syst.. The branching fraction and decay asymmetry parameter are the most precise to date, and the accuracies are improved by 78% and 34%, respectively.
Using 15.6 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected at twenty-four center-of-mass energies from 4.0 to 4.6 GeV with the BESIII detector, the helicity amplitudes of the process e+e−→π+π−ω are analyzed for the first time. Born cross section measurements of two-body intermediate resonance states with statistical significance greater than 5σ are presented, such as f0(500), f0(980), f2(1270), f0(1370), b1(1235)±, and ρ(1450)±. In addition, evidence of a resonance state in e+e−→π+π−ω production is found. The mass of this state obtained by line shape fitting is about 4.2 GeV/c2, which is consistent with the production of ψ(4160) or Y(4220).
Using (10087±44)×106 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector, the radiative hyperon decay Σ→pγ is studied at an electron-positron collider experiment for the first time. The absolute branching fraction is measured to be (0.996±0.021stat.±0.018syst.)×10−3, which is lower than its world average value by 4.2 standard deviations. Its decay asymmetry parameter is determined to be −0.652±0.056stat.±0.020syst.. The branching fraction and decay asymmetry parameter are the most precise to date, and the accuracies are improved by 78% and 34%, respectively.
Parallel global edge switching for the uniform sampling of simple graphs with prescribed degrees
(2023)
The uniform sampling of simple graphs matching a prescribed degree sequence is an important tool in network science, e.g. to construct graph generators or null-models. Here, the Edge Switching Markov Chain (ES-MC) is a common choice. Given an arbitrary simple graph with the required degree sequence, ES-MC carries out a large number of small changes, called edge switches, to eventually obtain a uniform sample. In practice, reasonably short runs efficiently yield approximate uniform samples.
In this work, we study the problem of executing edge switches in parallel. We discuss parallelizations of ES-MC, but find that this approach suffers from complex dependencies between edge switches. For this reason, we propose the Global Edge Switching Markov Chain (G-ES-MC), an ES-MC variant with simpler dependencies. We show that G-ES-MC converges to the uniform distribution and design shared-memory parallel algorithms for ES-MC and G-ES-MC. In an empirical evaluation, we provide evidence that G-ES-MC requires not more switches than ES-MC (and often fewer), and demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of our parallel G-ES-MC implementation.
The quantum entangled J/ψ→Σ+Σ¯− pairs from (1.0087±0.0044)×1010 J/ψ events taken by the BESIII detector are used to study the non-leptonic two-body weak decays Σ+→nπ+ and Σ¯−→n¯π−. The CP-odd weak decay parameters of the decays Σ+→nπ+ (α+) and Σ¯−→n¯π− (α¯−) are determined to be −0.0565±0.0047stat±0.0022syst and 0.0481±0.0031stat±0.0019syst, respectively. The decay parameter α¯− is measured for the first time, and the accuracy of α+ is improved by a factor of four compared to the previous results. The simultaneously determined decay parameters allow the first precision CP symmetry test for any hyperon decay with a neutron in the final state with the measurement of ACP=(α++α¯−)/(α+−α¯−) = −0.080±0.052stat±0.028syst. Assuming CP conservation, the average decay parameter is determined as ⟨α+⟩=(α+−α¯−)/2 = −0.0506±0.0026stat±0.0019syst, while the ratios α+/α0 and α¯−/α¯0 are −0.0490±0.0032stat±0.0021syst and −0.0571±0.0053stat±0.0032syst, where α0 and α¯0 are the decay parameters of the decays Σ+→pπ0 and Σ¯−→p¯π0, respectively.
Improved measurement of the branching fractions of the inclusive decays D⁺ → Kₛ⁰X and D⁰ → Kₛ⁰X
(2023)
By analyzing 2.93 fb−1 of e+e− collision data taken at the center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, the branching fractions of the inclusive decays D+→K0SX and D0→K0SX are measured to be (32.78±0.13±0.27)% and (20.54±0.12±0.18)%, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results are consistent with the world averages of previous measurements, but with improved precision.
We present the first observation of the singly Cabibbo-suppressed decay Λ+c→ΛK+π0 with a significance of 5.7σ and the first evidence of Λ+c→ΛK+π+π− decay with a significance of 3.1σ, based on e+e− annihilation data recorded by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 6.4 fb−1, in the center-of-mass energy range from 4.600 GeV to 4.950 GeV. We determine the branching fractions of Λ+c→ΛK+π0 and Λ+c→ΛK+π+π− relative to their Cabibbo-favored counterparts to be B(Λ+c→ΛK+π0)B(Λ+c→Λπ+π0)=(2.09±0.39stat.±0.07syst.)×10−2 and B(Λ+c→ΛK+π+π−)B(Λ+c→Λπ+π+π−)=(1.13±0.41stat.±0.06syst.)×10−2, respectively. Moreover, by combining our measured result with the world average of B(Λ+c→Λπ+π0), we obtain the branching fraction B(Λ+c→ΛK+π0)=(1.49±0.27stat.±0.05syst.±0.08ref.)×10−3. This result significantly departs from theoretical predictions based on quark SU(3) flavor symmetry, which is underpinned by the presumption of meson pair S-wave amplitude dominance.
A light scalar X0 or vector X1 particles have been introduced as a possible explanation for the (g−2)μ anomaly and dark matter phenomena.
Using (8.998±0.039)×109 $\jpsi$ events collected by the BESIII detector, we search for a light muon philic scalar X0 or vector X1 in the processes J/ψ→μ+μ−X0,1 with X0,1 invisible decays. No obvious signal is found, and the upper limits on the coupling g′0,1 between the muon and the X0,1 particles are set to be between 1.1×10−3 and 1.0×10−2 for the X0,1 mass in the range of 1<M(X0,1)<1000~MeV/c2 at 90% confidence level.
The Cabbibo-favored decay Λ+c→Ξ0K+π0 is studied for the first time using 6.1 fb−1 of e+e− collision data at center-of-mass energies between 4.600 and 4.840 GeV, collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. With a double-tag method, the branching fraction of the three-body decay Λ+c→Ξ0K+π0 is measured to be (7.79±1.46±0.71)×10−3, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The branching fraction of the two-body decay Λ+c→Ξ(1530)0K+ is (5.99±1.04±0.29)×10−3, which is consistent with the previous result of (5.02±0.99±0.31)×10−3. In addition, the upper limit on the branching fraction of the doubly Cabbibo-suppressed decay Λ+c→nK+π0 is 7.1×10−4 at the 90% confidence level. The upper limits on the branching fractions of Λ+c→Σ0K+π0 and ΛK+π0 are also determined to be 1.8×10−3 and 2.0×10−3, respectively.
Using a sample of (10087±44)×106 J/ψ events, which is about fifty times larger than that was previously analyzed, a further investigation on the J/ψ→γ3(π+π−) decay is performed. A significant distortion at 1.84 GeV/c2 in the line-shape of the 3(π+π−) invariant mass spectrum is observed for the first time, which is analogous to the behavior of X(1835) and could be resolved by two overlapping resonant structures, X(1840) and X(1880). The new state X(1880) is observed with a statistical significance of 14.7σ. The mass and width of X(1880) are determined to be 1882.1±1.7±0.7 MeV/c2 and 30.7±5.5±2.4 MeV, respectively, which indicates the existence of a pp¯ bound state.
The elliptic (v2) and triangular (v3) azimuthal anisotropy coefficients in central 3He+Au, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 200 GeV are measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) at mid-rapidity (|η|<0.9), via the azimuthal angular correlation between two particles both at |η|<0.9. While the v2(pT) values depend on the colliding systems, the v3(pT) values are system-independent within the uncertainties, suggesting an influence on eccentricity from sub-nucleonic fluctuations in these small-sized systems. These results also provide stringent constraints for the hydrodynamic modeling of these systems.
The elliptic (v2) and triangular (v3) azimuthal anisotropy coefficients in central 3He+Au, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 200 GeV are measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) at mid-rapidity (|η|<0.9), via the azimuthal angular correlation between two particles both at |η|<0.9. While the v2(pT) values depend on the colliding systems, the v3(pT) values are system-independent within the uncertainties, suggesting an influence on eccentricity from sub-nucleonic fluctuations in these small-sized systems. These results also provide stringent constraints for the hydrodynamic modeling of these systems.
We report the measurement of K∗0 meson at midrapidity (|y|< 1.0) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√~=~7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV collected by the STAR experiment during the RHIC beam energy scan (BES) program. The transverse momentum spectra, yield, and average transverse momentum of K∗0 are presented as functions of collision centrality and beam energy. The K∗0/K yield ratios are presented for different collision centrality intervals and beam energies. The K∗0/K ratio in heavy-ion collisions are observed to be smaller than that in small system collisions (e+e and p+p). The K∗0/K ratio follows a similar centrality dependence to that observed in previous RHIC and LHC measurements. The data favor the scenario of the dominance of hadronic re-scattering over regeneration for K∗0 production in the hadronic phase of the medium.
A decisive experimental test of the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) is considered one of the major scientific goals at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) towards understanding the nontrivial topological fluctuations of the Quantum Chromodynamics vacuum. In heavy-ion collisions, the CME is expected to result in a charge separation phenomenon across the reaction plane, whose strength could be strongly energy dependent. The previous CME searches have been focused on top RHIC energy collisions. In this Letter, we present a low energy search for the CME in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=27 GeV. We measure elliptic flow scaled charge-dependent correlators relative to the event planes that are defined at both mid-rapidity |η|<1.0 and at forward rapidity 2.1<|η|<5.1. We compare the results based on the directed flow plane (Ψ1) at forward rapidity and the elliptic flow plane (Ψ2) at both central and forward rapidity. The CME scenario is expected to result in a larger correlation relative to Ψ1 than to Ψ2, while a flow driven background scenario would lead to a consistent result for both event planes. In 10-50\% centrality, results using three different event planes are found to be consistent within experimental uncertainties, suggesting a flow driven background scenario dominating the measurement. We obtain an upper limit on the deviation from a flow driven background scenario at the 95\% confidence level. This work opens up a possible road map towards future CME search with the high statistics data from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Phase-II.
A decisive experimental test of the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) is considered one of the major scientific goals at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) towards understanding the nontrivial topological fluctuations of the Quantum Chromodynamics vacuum. In heavy-ion collisions, the CME is expected to result in a charge separation phenomenon across the reaction plane, whose strength could be strongly energy dependent. The previous CME searches have been focused on top RHIC energy collisions. In this Letter, we present a low energy search for the CME in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=27 GeV. We measure elliptic flow scaled charge-dependent correlators relative to the event planes that are defined at both mid-rapidity |η|<1.0 and at forward rapidity 2.1<|η|<5.1. We compare the results based on the directed flow plane (Ψ1) at forward rapidity and the elliptic flow plane (Ψ2) at both central and forward rapidity. The CME scenario is expected to result in a larger correlation relative to Ψ1 than to Ψ2, while a flow driven background scenario would lead to a consistent result for both event planes. In 10-50\% centrality, results using three different event planes are found to be consistent within experimental uncertainties, suggesting a flow driven background scenario dominating the measurement. We obtain an upper limit on the deviation from a flow driven background scenario at the 95\% confidence level. This work opens up a possible road map towards future CME search with the high statistics data from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Phase-II.
We present the first measurements of transverse momentum spectra of π±, K±, p(p¯) at midrapidity (|y|<0.1) in U+U collisions at √sNN = 193 GeV with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The centrality dependence of particle yields, average transverse momenta, particle ratios and kinetic freeze-out parameters are discussed. The results are compared with the published results from Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−−√= 200 GeV in STAR. The results are also compared to those from A Multi Phase Transport (AMPT) model.
We report the beam energy and collision centrality dependence of fifth and sixth order cumulants (C5, C6) and factorial cumulants (κ5, κ6) of net-proton and proton distributions, from sNN−−−−√=3−200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. The net-proton cumulant ratios generally follow the hierarchy expected from QCD thermodynamics, except for the case of collisions at sNN−−−−√ = 3 GeV. C6/C2 for 0-40\% centrality collisions is increasingly negative with decreasing sNN−−−−√, while it is positive for the lowest sNN−−−−√ studied. These observed negative signs are consistent with QCD calculations (at baryon chemical potential, μB≤ 110 MeV) that include a crossover quark-hadron transition. In addition, for sNN−−−−√≥ 11.5 GeV, the measured proton κn, within uncertainties, does not support the two-component shape of proton distributions that would be expected from a first-order phase transition. Taken in combination, the hyper-order proton number fluctuations suggest that the structure of QCD matter at high baryon density, μB∼750 MeV (sNN−−−−√ = 3 GeV) is starkly different from those at vanishing μB∼20MeV (sNN−−−−√ = 200 GeV and higher).
We report on measurements of sequential Υ suppression in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 200 GeV with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) through both the dielectron and dimuon decay channels. In the 0-60% centrality class, the nuclear modification factors (RAA), which quantify the level of yield suppression in heavy-ion collisions compared to p+p collisions, for Υ(1S) and Υ(2S) are 0.40±0.03 (stat.)±0.03 (sys.)±0.09 (norm.) and 0.26±0.08 (stat.)±0.02 (sys.)±0.06 (norm.), respectively, while the upper limit of the Υ(3S) RAA is 0.17 at a 95% confidence level. This provides experimental evidence that the Υ(3S) is significantly more suppressed than the Υ(1S) at RHIC. The level of suppression for Υ(1S) is comparable to that observed at the much higher collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider. These results point to the creation of a medium at RHIC whose temperature is sufficiently high to strongly suppress excited Υ states.
Elliptic flow of heavy-flavor decay electrons in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 27 and 54.4 GeV at RHIC
(2023)
We report on new measurements of elliptic flow (v2) of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.8) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 27 and 54.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. Heavy-flavor decay electrons (eHF) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 54.4 GeV exhibit a non-zero v2 in the transverse momentum (pT) region of pT< 2 GeV/c with the magnitude comparable to that at sNN−−−√=200 GeV. The measured eHF v2 at 54.4 GeV is also consistent with the expectation of their parent charm hadron v2 following number-of-constituent-quark scaling as other light and strange flavor hadrons at this energy. These suggest that charm quarks gain significant collectivity through the evolution of the QCD medium and may reach local thermal equilibrium in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=54.4 GeV. The measured eHF v2 in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√= 27 GeV is consistent with zero within large uncertainties. The energy dependence of v2 for different flavor particles (π,ϕ,D0/eHF) shows an indication of quark mass hierarchy in reaching thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions.
Elliptic flow of heavy-flavor decay electrons in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 27 and 54.4 GeV at RHIC
(2023)
We report on new measurements of elliptic flow (v2) of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.8) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 27 and 54.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. Heavy-flavor decay electrons (eHF) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 54.4 GeV exhibit a non-zero v2 in the transverse momentum (pT) region of pT< 2 GeV/c with the magnitude comparable to that at sNN−−−√=200 GeV. The measured eHF v2 at 54.4 GeV is also consistent with the expectation of their parent charm hadron v2 following number-of-constituent-quark scaling as other light and strange flavor hadrons at this energy. These suggest that charm quarks gain significant collectivity through the evolution of the QCD medium and may reach local thermal equilibrium in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=54.4 GeV. The measured eHF v2 in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√= 27 GeV is consistent with zero within large uncertainties. The energy dependence of v2 for different flavor particles (π,ϕ,D0/eHF) shows an indication of quark mass hierarchy in reaching thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions.
Elliptic flow of heavy-flavor decay electrons in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 27 and 54.4 GeV at RHIC
(2023)
We report on new measurements of elliptic flow (v2) of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays at mid-rapidity (|y|<0.8) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 27 and 54.4\,GeV from the STAR experiment. Heavy-flavor decay electrons (eHF) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 54.4\,GeV exhibit a non-zero v2 in the transverse momentum (pT) region of pT< 2\,GeV/c with the magnitude comparable to that at sNN−−−√=200 \,GeV. The measured eHF v2 at 54.4\,GeV is also consistent with the expectation of their parent charm hadron v2 following number-of-constituent-quark scaling as other light and strange flavor hadrons at this energy. These suggest that charm quarks gain significant collectivity through the evolution of the QCD medium and may reach local thermal equilibrium in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√=54.4\,GeV. The measured eHF v2 in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√= 27\,GeV is consistent with zero within large uncertainties. The energy dependence of v2 for different flavor particles (π,ϕ,D0/eHF) shows an indication of quark mass hierarchy in reaching thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions.
Density fluctuations near the QCD critical point can be probed via an intermittency analysis in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report the first measurement of intermittency in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 7.7-200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The scaled factorial moments of identified charged hadrons are analyzed at mid-rapidity and within the transverse momentum phase space. We observe a power-law behavior of scaled factorial moments in Au+Au collisions and a decrease in the extracted scaling exponent (ν) from peripheral to central collisions. The ν is consistent with a constant for different collisions energies in the mid-central (10-40\%) collisions. Moreover, the ν in the 0-5\% most central Au+Au collisions exhibits a non-monotonic energy dependence that reaches a possible minimum around sNN−−−√ = 27 GeV. The physics implications on the QCD phase structure are discussed.
Density fluctuations near the QCD critical point can be probed via an intermittency analysis in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report the first measurement of intermittency in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 7.7-200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The scaled factorial moments of identified charged hadrons are analyzed at mid-rapidity and within the transverse momentum phase space. We observe a power-law behavior of scaled factorial moments in Au+Au collisions and a decrease in the extracted scaling exponent (ν) from peripheral to central collisions. The ν is consistent with a constant for different collisions energies in the mid-central (10-40\%) collisions. Moreover, the ν in the 0-5\% most central Au+Au collisions exhibits a non-monotonic energy dependence that reaches a possible minimum around sNN−−−√ = 27 GeV. The physics implications on the QCD phase structure are discussed.
Observation of directed flow of hypernuclei Λ³H and Λ⁴H in √sNN = 3 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC
(2023)
We report here the first observation of directed flow (v1) of the hypernuclei 3ΛH and 4ΛH in mid-central Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 3 GeV at RHIC. These data are taken as part of the beam energy scan program carried out by the STAR experiment. From 165 × 106 events in 5%-40% centrality, about 8400 3ΛH and 5200 4ΛH candidates are reconstructed through two- and three-body decay channels. We observe that these hypernuclei exhibit significant directed flow. Comparing to that of light nuclei, it is found that the midrapidity v1 slopes of 3ΛH and 4ΛH follow baryon number scaling, implying that the coalescence is the dominant mechanism for these hypernuclei production in such collisions.
The linear and mode-coupled contributions to higher-order anisotropic flow are presented for Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 27, 39, 54.4, and 200 GeV and compared to similar measurements for Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The coefficients and the flow harmonics' correlations, which characterize the linear and mode-coupled response to the lower-order anisotropies, indicate a beam energy dependence consistent with an influence from the specific shear viscosity (η/s). In contrast, the dimensionless coefficients, mode-coupled response coefficients, and normalized symmetric cumulants are approximately beam-energy independent, consistent with a significant role from initial-state effects. These measurements could provide unique supplemental constraints to (i) distinguish between different initial-state models and (ii) delineate the temperature (T) and baryon chemical potential (μB) dependence of the specific shear viscosity ηs(T,μB).
The elliptic (v2) and triangular (v3) azimuthal anisotropy coefficients in central 3He+Au, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 200 GeV are measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) at mid-rapidity (|η|<0.9), via the azimuthal angular correlation between two particles both at |η|<0.9. While the v2(pT) values depend on the colliding systems, the v3(pT) values are system-independent within the uncertainties, suggesting an influence on eccentricity from sub-nucleonic fluctuations in these small-sized systems. These results also provide stringent constraints for the hydrodynamic modeling of these systems.
Azimuthal anisotropy measurement of (multi-)strange hadrons in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 54.4 GeV
(2023)
Azimuthal anisotropy of produced particles is one of the most important observables used to access the collective properties of the expanding medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this paper, we present second (v2) and third (v3) order azimuthal anisotropies of K0S, ϕ, Λ, Ξ and Ω at mid-rapidity (|y|<1) in Au+Au collisions at sNN−−−√ = 54.4 GeV measured by the STAR detector. The v2 and v3 are measured as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. Their energy dependence is also studied. v3 is found to be more sensitive to the change in the center-of-mass energy than v2. Scaling by constituent quark number is found to hold for v2 within 10%. This observation could be evidence for the development of partonic collectivity in 54.4 GeV Au+Au collisions. Differences in v2 and v3 between baryons and anti-baryons are presented, and ratios of v3/v3/22 are studied and motivated by hydrodynamical calculations. The ratio of v2 of ϕ mesons to that of anti-protons (v2(ϕ)/v2(p¯)) shows centrality dependence at low transverse momentum, presumably resulting from the larger effects from hadronic interactions on anti-proton v2.
Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange, a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a major challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely ϕ and K∗0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, while that for K∗0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for the ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, while a model with a connection to strong force fields, i.e. an effective proxy description within the Standard Model and Quantum Chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields.
Observation of χcJ → 3(K⁺K⁻)
(2023)
By analyzing (27.12±0.14)×108 ψ(3686) events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, the decay processes χcJ→3(K+K−) (J=0,1,2) are observed for the first time with statistical significances of 8.2σ, 8.1σ, and 12.4σ, respectively. The product branching fractions of ψ(3686)→γχcJ, χcJ→3(K+K−) are presented and the branching fractions of χcJ→3(K+K−) decays are determined to be Bχc0→3(K+K−)=(10.7±1.8±1.1)×10−6, Bχc1→3(K+K−)=(4.2±0.9±0.5)×10−6, and Bχc2→3(K+K−)=(7.2±1.1±0.8)×10−6, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic.
The process e+e−→Σ+Σ¯− is studied from threshold up to 3.04 GeV/c2 via the initial-state radiation technique using data with an integrated luminosity of 12.0 fb−1, collected at center-of-mass energies between 3.773 and 4.258 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The pair production cross sections and the effective form factors of Σ are measured in eleven Σ+Σ¯− invariant mass intervals from threshold to 3.04 GeV/c2. The results are consistent with the previous results from Belle and BESIII. Furthermore, the branching fractions of the decays J/ψ→Σ+Σ¯− and ψ(3686)→Σ+Σ¯− are determined and the obtained results are consistent with the previous results of BESIII.
Using e+e− annihilation data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.93 fb−1 taken at the center-of-mass energy s√=3.773~GeV with the BESIII detector, a joint amplitude analysis is performed on the decays D0→π+π−π+π− and D0→π+π−π0π0(non-η). The fit fractions of individual components are obtained, and large interferences among the dominant components of D0→a1(1260)π, D0→π(1300)π, D0→ρ(770)ρ(770) and D0→2(ππ)S are found in both channels. With the obtained amplitude model, the CP-even fractions of D0→π+π−π+π− and D0→π+π−π0π0(non-η) are determined to be (75.2±1.1stat.±1.5syst.)% and (68.9±1.5stat.±2.4syst.)%, respectively. The branching fractions of D0→π+π−π+π− and D0→π+π−π0π0(non-η) are measured to be (0.688±0.010stat.±0.010syst.)% and (0.951±0.025stat.±0.021syst.)%, respectively. The amplitude analysis provides an important model for binning strategy in the measurements of the strong phase parameters of D0→4π when used to determine the CKM angle γ(ϕ3) via the B−→DK− decay.
Evidence for the singly Cabibbo suppressed decay Λ+c→pπ0 is reported for the first time with a statistical significance of 3.7σ based on 6.0 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.600 and 4.843 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The absolute branching fraction of Λ+c→pπ0 is measured to be (1.56+0.72−0.58±0.20)×10−4. Combining with the branching fraction of Λ+c→nπ+, (6.6±1.2±0.4)×10−4, the ratio of the branching fractions Λ+c→nπ+ and Λ+c→pπ0 is calculated to be 4.2+2.2−1.9; this is an important input for the understanding of the decay mechanisms of charmed baryons. In addition, the absolute branching fraction of Λ+c→pη is measured to be (1.63±0.31stat±0.11syst)×10−3, which is consistent with previous measurements.
Evidence for the singly Cabibbo suppressed decay Λ+c→pπ0 is reported for the first time with a statistical significance of 3.7σ based on 6.0 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.600 and 4.843 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The absolute branching fraction of Λ+c→pπ0 is measured to be (1.56+0.72−0.58±0.20)×10−4, which distinctly exceeds the upper limit measured by Belle experiment. Combining with the branching fraction of Λ+c→nπ+, (6.6±1.3)×10−4, the ratio of the branching fractions of Λ+c→nπ+ and Λ+c→pπ0 is calculated to be 3.2+2.2−1.2. As an important input for the theoretical models describing the decay mechanisms of charmed baryons, our result indicates that the non-factorizable contributions play an essential role and their interference with the factorizable contributions should not be significant. In addition, the absolute branching fraction of Λ+c→pη is measured to be (1.63±0.31stat±0.11syst)×10−3, which is consistent with previous measurements.
Based on (10.09±0.04)×109 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, a partial wave analysis of the decay J/ψ→ϕπ0η is performed. We observe for the first time two new structures on the ϕη invariant mass distribution, with statistical significances of 24.0σ and 16.9σ; the first with JPC = 1+−, mass M = (1911 ± 6 (stat.) ± 14 (sys.))~MeV/c2, and width Γ= (149 ± 12 (stat.) ± 23 (sys.))~MeV, the second with JPC = 1−−, mass M = (1996 ± 11 (stat.) ± 30 (sys.))~MeV/c2, and width Γ = (148 ± 16 (stat.) ± 66 (sys.))~MeV. These measurements provide important input for the strangeonium spectrum. In addition, the f0(980)−a0(980)0 mixing signal in J/ψ→ϕf0(980)→ϕa0(980)0 and the corresponding electromagnetic decay J/ψ→ϕa0(980)0 are measured with improved precision, providing crucial information to understand the nature of a0(980)0 and f0(980).
Based on (10.09±0.04)×109 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, a partial wave analysis of the decay J/ψ→ϕπ0η is performed. We observe for the first time two new structures on the ϕη invariant mass distribution, with statistical significances of 24.0σ and 16.9σ; the first with JPC = 1+−, mass M = (1911 ± 6 (stat.) ± 14 (sys.))~MeV/c2, and width Γ= (149 ± 12 (stat.) ± 23 (sys.))~MeV, the second with JPC = 1−−, mass M = (1996 ± 11 (stat.) ± 30 (sys.))~MeV/c2, and width Γ = (148 ± 16 (stat.) ± 66 (sys.))~MeV. These measurements provide important input for the strangeonium spectrum. In addition, the f0(980)−a0(980)0 mixing signal in J/ψ→ϕf0(980)→ϕa0(980)0 and the corresponding electromagnetic decay J/ψ→ϕa0(980)0 are measured with improved precision, providing crucial information to understand the nature of a0(980)0 and f0(980).
Deviance detection describes an increase of neural response strength caused by a stimulus with a low probability of occurrence. This ubiquitous phenomenon has been reported for multiple species, from subthalamic areas to auditory cortex. While cortical deviance detection has been well characterised by a range of studies covering neural activity at population level (mismatch negativity, MMN) as well as at cellular level (stimulus-specific adaptation, SSA), subcortical deviance detection has been studied mainly on cellular level in the form of SSA. Here, we aim to bridge this gap by using noninvasively recorded auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) to investigate deviance detection at population level in the lower stations of the auditory system of a hearing specialist: the bat Carollia perspicillata. Our present approach uses behaviourally relevant vocalisation stimuli that are closer to the animals' natural soundscape than artificial stimuli used in previous studies that focussed on subcortical areas. We show that deviance detection in ABRs is significantly stronger for echolocation pulses than for social communication calls or artificial sounds, indicating that subthalamic deviance detection depends on the behavioural meaning of a stimulus. Additionally, complex physical sound features like frequency- and amplitude-modulation affected the strength of deviance detection in the ABR. In summary, our results suggest that at population level, the bat brain can detect different types of deviants already in the brainstem. This shows that subthalamic brain structures exhibit more advanced forms of deviance detection than previously known.
Cross sections for the process e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ at center-of-mass energies from 4.128 to 4.950 GeV are measured using data samples with a total integrated luminosity of 21.2 fb−1 collected by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring. The Y(4230) state is observed in the energy dependence of the e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ cross section for the first time with a statistical significance of 26.0σ. In addition, an enhancement around 4.710 GeV, called the Y(4710), is seen with a statistical significance of 4.2σ. There is no clear structure around 4.484 GeV. Using a fit with a coherent sum of three Breit-Wigner functions, we determine the mass and width of the Y(4230) state to be 4226.9±6.6±21.9 MeV/c2 and 71.7±16.2±31.4 MeV, respectively, and the mass and width of the Y(4710) state to be 4704.0±52.3±69.5 MeV/c2 and 183.2±114.0±90.8 MeV, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. In addition, the average Born cross section ratio of e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ to e+e−→K+K−J/ψ is measured to be 0.388+0.035−0.028±0.016, or 0.426+0.038−0.031±0.018 if three-body phase space is considered.
The STAR experiment at RHIC reports new measurements of jet quenching based on the semi-inclusive distribution of charged-particle jets recoiling from direct photon (γdir) and neutral pion (π0) triggers in p+p and central Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV, for triggers in the range 9<EtrigT<20 GeV. The datasets have integrated luminosities of 3.9 nb−1 for Au+Au and 23 pb−1 for p+p collisions. Jets are reconstructed using the anti-kT algorithm with resolution parameters R=0.2 and 0.5. The large uncorrelated jet background in central Au+Au collisions is corrected using a mixed-event approach, which enables precise charged-particle jet measurements at low transverse momentum pchT,jet and large R. Recoil-jet distributions are reported in the range pchT,jet<25 GeV. Comparison of the distributions measured in p+p and Au+Au collisions reveals strong medium-induced jet yield suppression for R=0.2, with markedly less suppression for R=0.5. These data provide new insight into the mechanisms underlying jet quenching, and the angular dependence of medium-induced jet-energy transport.
The differential cross section for Z0 production, measured as a function of the boson's transverse momentum (pT), provides important constraints on the evolution of the transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs). The transverse single spin asymmetry (TSSA) of the Z0 is sensitive to one of the polarized TMDs, the Sivers function, which is predicted to have the opposite sign in p+p →W/Z+X from that which enters in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering. In this Letter, the STAR Collaboration reports the first measurement of the Z0/γ∗ differential cross section as a function of its pT in p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 510 GeV, together with the Z0/γ∗ total cross section. We also report the measurement of Z0/γ∗ TSSA in transversely polarized p+p collisions at 510 GeV.
Cross sections for the process e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ at center-of-mass energies from 4.128 to 4.950 GeV are measured using data samples with a total integrated luminosity of 21.2 fb−1 collected by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring. The Y(4230) state is observed in the energy dependence of the e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ cross section for the first time with a statistical significance of 26.0σ. In addition, an enhancement around 4.710 GeV, called the Y(4710), is seen with a statistical significance of 4.2σ. There is no clear structure around 4.484 GeV. Using a fit with a coherent sum of three Breit-Wigner functions, we determine the mass and width of the Y(4230) state to be 4226.9±6.6±21.9 MeV/c2 and 71.7±16.2±31.4 MeV, respectively, and the mass and width of the Y(4710) state to be 4704.0±52.3±69.5 MeV/c2 and 183.2±114.0±90.8 MeV, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. In addition, the average Born cross section ratio of e+e−→K0SK0SJ/ψ to e+e−→K+K−J/ψ is measured to be 0.388+0.035−0.028±0.016, or 0.426+0.038−0.031±0.018 if three-body phase space is considered.
Rhythmic flicker stimulation has gained interest as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases and a method for frequency tagging neural activity in human EEG/MEG recordings. Yet, little is known about the way in which flicker-induced synchronization propagates across cortical levels and impacts different cell types. Here, we used Neuropixels to simultaneously record from LGN, V1, and CA1 while presenting visual flicker stimuli at different frequencies. LGN neurons showed strong phase locking up to 40Hz, whereas phase locking was substantially weaker in V1 units and absent in CA1 units. Laminar analyses revealed an attenuation of phase locking at 40Hz for each processing stage, with substantially weaker phase locking in the superficial layers of V1. Gamma-rhythmic flicker predominantly entrained fast-spiking interneurons. Optotagging experiments showed that these neurons correspond to either PV+ or narrow-waveform Sst+ neurons. A computational model could explain the observed differences in phase locking based on the neurons’ capacitative low-pass filtering properties. In summary, the propagation of synchronized activity and its effect on distinct cell types strongly depend on its frequency.
Seed harvesting from wild plant populations is key for ecological restoration, but may threaten the persistence of source populations. Consequently, several countries have set guidelines limiting the proportions of harvestable seeds. Here, we use high-resolution data from 298 plant species to model the demographic consequences of seed harvesting. We find that the current guidelines only protect some species, but are insufficient or overly restrictive for others. We show that the maximum possible fraction of seed harvesting is strongly associated with harvesting frequency and generation time of the target species, ranging from 100% in long-lived species to <1% in the most annuals. Our results provide quantitative basis to guide seed harvesting legislation based on species’ generation time and harvesting regime.
The establishment and maintenance of protected areas (PAs) is viewed as a key action in delivering post-2020 biodiversity targets. PAs often need to meet multiple objectives, ranging from biodiversity protection to ecosystem service provision and climate change mitigation, but available land and conservation funding is limited. Therefore, optimizing resources by selecting the most beneficial PAs is vital. Here, we advocate for a flexible and transparent approach to selecting protected areas based on multiple objectives, and illustrate this with a decision support tool on a global scale. The tool allows weighting and prioritization of different conservation objectives according to user-specified preferences, as well as real-time comparison of the selected areas that result from such different priorities. We apply the tool across 1347 terrestrial PAs and highlight frequent trade-offs among different objectives, e.g., between species protection and ecosystem integrity. Outputs indicate that decision makers frequently face trade-offs among conflicting objectives. Nevertheless, we show that transparent decision-support tools can reveal synergies and trade-offs associated with PA selection, thereby helping to illuminate and resolve land-use conflicts embedded in divergent societal and political demands and values.
Improved integration of single cell transcriptome data demonstrated on heart failure in mice and men
(2023)
Biomedical research frequently uses murine models to study disease mechanisms. However, the translation of these findings to human disease remains a significant challenge. In order to improve the comparability of mouse and human data, we present a cross-species integration pipeline for single-cell transcriptomic assays.
The pipeline merges expression matrices and assigns clear orthologous relationships. Starting from Ensembl ortholog assignments, we allocated 82% of mouse genes to unique orthologs by using additional publicly available resources such as Uniprot, and NCBI databases. For genes with multiple matches, we employed the Needleman-Wunsch global alignment based on either amino acid or nucleotide sequence to identify the ortholog with the highest degree of similarity.
The workflow was tested for its functionality and efficiency by integrating scRNA-seq datasets from heart failure patients with the corresponding mouse model. We were able to assign unique human orthologs to up to 80% of the mouse genes, utilizing the known 17,492 orthologous pairs. Curiously, the integration process enabled the identification of both common and unique regulatory pathways between species in heart failure.
In conclusion, our pipeline streamlines the integration process, enhances gene nomenclature alignment and simplifies the translation of mouse models to human disease. We have made the OrthoIntegrate R-package accessible on GitHub (https://github.com/MarianoRuzJurado/OrthoIntegrate), which includes the assignment of ortholog definitions for human and mouse, as well as the pipeline for integrating single cells.
Natural scene responses in the primary visual cortex are modulated simultaneously by attention and by contextual signals about scene statistics stored across the connectivity of the visual processing hierarchy. We hypothesize that attentional and contextual top-down signals interact in V1, in a manner that primarily benefits the representation of natural visual stimuli, rich in high-order statistical structure. Recording from two macaques engaged in a spatial attention task, we show that attention enhances the decodability of stimulus identity from population responses evoked by natural scenes but, critically, not by synthetic stimuli in which higher-order statistical regularities were eliminated. Attentional enhancement of stimulus decodability from population responses occurs in low dimensional spaces, as revealed by principal component analysis, suggesting an alignment between the attentional and the natural stimulus variance. Moreover, natural scenes produce stimulus-specific oscillatory responses in V1, whose power undergoes a global shift from low to high frequencies with attention. We argue that attention and perception share top-down pathways, which mediate hierarchical interactions optimized for natural vision.
Using 7.33 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected by the BESIII detector at center-of-mass energies between 4.128 and 4.226~GeV, we observe for the first time the decay D±s→ωπ±η with a statistical significance of 7.6σ. The measured branching fraction of this decay is (0.54±0.12±0.04)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.
Grasping the meaning of everyday visual events is a fundamental feat of human intelligence that hinges on diverse neural processes ranging from vision to higher-level cognition. Deciphering the neural basis of visual event understanding requires rich, extensive, and appropriately designed experimental data. However, this type of data is hitherto missing. To fill this gap, we introduce the BOLD Moments Dataset (BMD), a large dataset of whole-brain fMRI responses to over 1,000 short (3s) naturalistic video clips and accompanying metadata. We show visual events interface with an array of processes, extending even to memory, and we reveal a match in hierarchical processing between brains and video-computable deep neural networks. Furthermore, we showcase that BMD successfully captures temporal dynamics of visual events at second resolution. BMD thus establishes a critical groundwork for investigations of the neural basis of visual event understanding.
An important question concerning inter-areal communication in the cortex is whether these interactions are synergistic, i.e. convey information beyond what can be performed by isolated signals. Here, we dissociated cortical interactions sharing common information from those encoding complementary information during prediction error processing. To this end, we computed co-information, an information-theoretical measure that distinguishes redundant from synergistic information among brain signals. We analyzed auditory and frontal electrocorticography (ECoG) signals in three common awake marmosets and investigated to what extent event-related-potentials (ERP) and broadband (BB) dynamics exhibit redundancy and synergy for auditory prediction error signals. We observed multiple patterns of redundancy and synergy across the entire cortical hierarchy with distinct dynamics. The information conveyed by ERPs and BB signals was highly synergistic even at lower stages of the hierarchy in the auditory cortex, as well as between lower and higher areas in the frontal cortex. These results indicate that the distributed representations of prediction error signals across the cortical hierarchy can be highly synergistic.
The multistep PROTAC (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras) degradation process poses challenges for their rational development, as rate limiting steps determining PROTAC efficiency remain largely unknown. Moreover, the slow throughput of currently used endpoint assays does not allow the comprehensive analysis of larger series of PROTACs. Here we developed cell-based assays using NanoLuciferase and HaloTags, that allow measuring PROTAC induced degradation and ternary complex formation kinetics and stability in cells. Using PROTACs developed for degradation of WDR5, the characterization of the mode of action of these PROTACs in the early degradation cascade revealed a key role of ternary complex formation and stability. Comparing a series of ternary complex crystal structures highlighted the importance of an efficient E3-target interface for ternary complex stability. The developed assays outline a strategy for the rational optimization of PROTACs using a series of live cell assays monitoring key steps of the early PROTAC induced degradation pathway.
Significance The multistep PROTAC induced degradation process of a POI poses a significant challenge for the rational design of these bifunctional small molecules as critical steps that limit PROTAC efficacy cannot be easily assayed at required throughput. In addition, the cellular location of the POI may pose additional challenges as some cellular compartments, such as the nucleus, may not be easily reached by PROTAC molecules and the targeted E3 ligases may not be present in this cellular compartment. We propose therefore a comprehensive assay panel for PROTACs evaluation in cellular environments using a sensor system that allows continuous monitoring of the protein levels of the endogenous POI. We developed a cell line expressing WDR5 from its endogenous locus in fusion with a small sequence tag (HiBIT) that can be reconstituted to functional NanoLuciferase (NLuc). This system allowed continuous monitoring of endogenous WDR5 levels in cells and together with HaloTag system also the continuous monitoring of ternary complex (E3, WDR5 and PROTAC) formation. As this assay can be run at high throughput, we used this versatile system monitoring three diverse chemical series of WDR5 PROTACs that markedly differ in their degradation properties. Monitoring cell penetration, binary complex formation (PROTAC-WDR5 and PROTAC-VHL) as well as ternary complex formation we found that PROTAC efficiency highly correlated with synergy of ternary complex formation in cells. This study represents a first data set on diverse PROTACs studying this property in cellulo and it outlines a strategy for the rational optimization of PROTACs. It also provided kinetic data on ternary complex assembly and dissociation that may serve as a benchmark for future studies utilizing also kinetic properties for PROTAC development. Comparative structural studies revealed larger PROTAC mediated interaction surfaces for PROTACs that efficiently formed ternary complexes highlighting the utility of structure based optimization of PROTAC induced ternary complexes in the development process.
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately or with a short delay following their response. Children’s learning was found to be sensitive to feedback timing modulations in their reaction time and inverse temperature parameter, which quantifies value-guided decision-making. They showed longitudinal improvements towards more optimal value-based learning, and their hippocampal volume showed protracted maturation. Better delayed model-derived learning covaried with larger hippocampal volume longitudinally, in line with the adult literature. In contrast, a larger striatal volume in children was associated with both better immediate and delayed model-derived learning longitudinally. These findings show, for the first time, an early hippocampal contribution to the dynamic development of reinforcement learning in middle childhood, with neurally less differentiated and more cooperative memory systems than in adults.
Non-coding variations located within regulatory elements may alter gene expression by modifying Transcription Factor (TF) binding sites and thereby lead to functional consequences like various traits or diseases. To understand these molecular mechanisms, different TF models are being used to assess the effect of DNA sequence variations, such as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). However, few statistical approaches exist to compute statistical significance of results but they often are slow for large sets of SNPs, such as data obtained from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) or allele-specific analysis of chromatin data.
Results We investigate the distribution of maximal differential TF binding scores for general computational models that assess TF binding. We find that a modified Laplace distribution can adequately approximate the empirical distributions. A benchmark on in vitro and in vivo data sets showed that our new approach improves on an existing method in terms of performance and speed. In applications on large sets of eQTL and GWAS SNPs we could illustrate the usefulness of the novel statistic to highlight cell type specific regulators and TF target genes.
Conclusions Our approach allows the evaluation of DNA changes that induce differential TF binding in a fast and accurate manner, permitting computations on large mutation data sets. An implementation of the novel approach is freely available at https://github.com/SchulzLab/SNEEP.
VASP is a member of the Enabled/VASP protein family that is involved in cortical actin dynamics and may also contribute to the formation of gap junctions. In vessels, gap junctional coupling allows the transfer of signals along the vessel wall and coordinates vascular behavior. Moreover, VASP is reportedly a mediator of NO-induced inhibition of platelet aggregation. Therefore, we hypothesized that VASP exerts also important physiologic functions in arterioles. We examined the spread of vasodilations enabled by gap junctional coupling in endothelial cells as well as NO-induced arteriolar dilations in VASP-deficient mice by intravital microscopy of the microcirculation in a skeletal muscle in anesthetized mice. Conducted dilations were initiated by brief, locally confined stimulation of the arterioles with acetylcholine. The maximal diameters of the arterioles under study ranged from 30 to 40 μm. Brief stimulation with acetylcholine induced a short dilation at the local site that was also observed at remote, upstream sites without an attenuation of the amplitude up to a distance of 1.2 mm in control animals (wild-type). In contrast, remote dilations were reduced in VASP-deficient mice despite a similar local dilation indicating an impairment of conducted dilations. Superfusion of NOdonors induced a concentration-dependent dilation in wild-type mice. However, these dilations were slightly reduced in VASP-deficient animals. In contrast, dilations induced by the endothelial stimulator acetylcholine were fully preserved in VASP-deficient mice. In summary, this study suggests that VASP exerts critical functions in arteriolar diameter control. It is crucial for the conduction of dilator signals along the endothelial cell layer. The impairment possibly reflects a perturbed formation of gap junctions in the endothelial cell membrane. VASP also participates in the full dilatory potential of NOdonors although the effect of its deficiency is only subtle. In contrast, VASP is not required for dilations initiated by endothelial stimulation which are mediated in the murine microcirculation by an EDH-mechanism.
Human behaviour is inextricably linked to the interaction of emotion and cognition. For decades, emotion and cognition were perceived as separable processes, yet with mutual interactions. Recently, this differen-tiation has been challenged by more integrative approaches, but without addressing the exact neurophysiological basis of their interaction. Here, we aimed to uncover neurophysiological mechanisms of emotion-cognition interaction. We used an emotional Flanker task paired with EEG/FEM beamforming in a large cohort (N=121) of healthy human participants, obtaining high temporal and fMRI-equivalent spatial resolution. Spatially, emotion and cognition processing overlapped in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), specifically in pars triangularis. Temporally, emotion and cognition processing overlapped during the transition from emotional to cognitive processing, with a stronger interaction in β-band power leading to worse behavioral performance. Despite functionally segregated subdivisions in rIFG, frequency-specific information flowed extensively within IFG and top-down to visual areas (V2, Precuneus) – explaining the behavioral interference effect. Thus, for the first time we here show the neural mechanisms of emotion-cognition interaction in space, time, frequency and information transfer with high temporal and spatial resolution, revealing a central role for β-band activity in rIFG. Our results support the idea that rIFG plays a broad role in both inhibitory control and emotional interference inhibition as it is a site of convergence in both processes. Furthermore, our results have potential clinical implications for understanding dysfunctional emotion-cognition interaction and emotional interference inhibition in psychiatric disor-ders, e.g. major depression and substance use disorder, in which patients have difficulties in regulating emotions and executing inhibitory control.
Glioblastoma is a very aggressive tumor and represents the most common primary brain malignancy. Key characteristics include its high resistance against conventional treatments, such as radio- and chemotherapy and its diffuse tissue infiltration, preventing complete surgical resection. The analysis of migration and invasion processes in a physiological microenvironment allows for enhanced understanding of these processes and can lead to improved therapeutic approaches. Here, we combine two state-of-the-art techniques, adult organotypic brain tissue slice culture (OTC) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) of cleared tissues in a combined method termed OTCxLSFM. Using this methodology, we can show that glioblastoma tissue infiltration can be effectively blocked through treatment with arsenic trioxide, as well as genetic depletion of the tetraspanin, transmembrane receptor CD9. With our analysis-pipeline we gain single-cell level, three-dimensional information, as well as insights into the morphological appearance of the tumor cells.
Background: Biological psychiatry aims to understand mental disorders in terms of altered neurobiological pathways. However, for one of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), patients only marginally differ from healthy individuals on the group-level. Whether Precision Psychiatry can solve this discrepancy and provide specific, reliable biomarkers remains unclear as current Machine Learning (ML) studies suffer from shortcomings pertaining to methods and data, which lead to substantial over-as well as underestimation of true model accuracy.
Methods: Addressing these issues, we quantify classification accuracy on a single-subject level in N=1,801 patients with MDD and healthy controls employing an extensive multivariate approach across a comprehensive range of neuroimaging modalities in a well-curated cohort, including structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Diffusion Tensor Imaging as well as a polygenic risk score for depression.
Findings Training and testing a total of 2.4 million ML models, we find accuracies for diagnostic classification between 48.1% and 62.0%. Multimodal data integration of all neuroimaging modalities does not improve model performance. Similarly, training ML models on individuals stratified based on age, sex, or remission status does not lead to better classification. Even under simulated conditions of perfect reliability, performance does not substantially improve. Importantly, model error analysis identifies symptom severity as one potential target for MDD subgroup identification.
Interpretation: Although multivariate neuroimaging markers increase predictive power compared to univariate analyses, single-subject classification – even under conditions of extensive, best-practice Machine Learning optimization in a large, harmonized sample of patients diagnosed using state-of-the-art clinical assessments – does not reach clinically relevant performance. Based on this evidence, we sketch a course of action for Precision Psychiatry and future MDD biomarker research.
Motivation DNA CpG methylation (CpGm) has proven to be a crucial epigenetic factor in the gene regulatory system. Assessment of DNA CpG methylation values via whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) is, however, computationally extremely demanding.
Results We present FAst MEthylation calling (FAME), the first approach to quantify CpGm values directly from bulk or single-cell WGBS reads without intermediate output files. FAME is very fast but as accurate as standard methods, which first produce BS alignment files before computing CpGm values. We present experiments on bulk and single-cell bisulfite datasets in which we show that data analysis can be significantly sped-up and help addressing the current WGBS analysis bottleneck for large-scale datasets without compromising accuracy.
Availability An implementation of FAME is open source and licensed under GPL-3.0 at https://github.com/FischerJo/FAME.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred large-scale, inter-institutional research efforts. To enable these efforts, researchers must agree on dataset definitions that not only cover all elements relevant to the respective medical specialty but that are also syntactically and semantically interoperable. Following such an effort, the German Corona Consensus (GECCO) dataset has been developed previously as a harmonized, interoperable collection of the most relevant data elements for COVID-19-related patient research. As GECCO has been developed as a compact core dataset across all medical fields, the focused research within particular medical domains demands the definition of extension modules that include those data elements that are most relevant to the research performed in these individual medical specialties.
Objective To (i) specify a workflow for the development of interoperable dataset definitions that involves a close collaboration between medical experts and information scientists and to (ii) apply the workflow to develop dataset definitions that include data elements most relevant to COVID-19-related patient research in immunization, pediatrics, and cardiology.
Methods We developed a workflow to create dataset definitions that are (i) content-wise as relevant as possible to a specific field of study and (ii) universally usable across computer systems, institutions, and countries, i.e., interoperable. We then gathered medical experts from three specialties (immunization, pediatrics, and cardiology) to the select data elements most relevant to COVID-19-related patient research in the respective specialty. We mapped the data elements to international standardized vocabularies and created data exchange specifications using HL7 FHIR. All steps were performed in close interdisciplinary collaboration between medical domain experts and medical information scientists. The profiles and vocabulary mappings were syntactically and semantically validated in a two-stage process.
Results We created GECCO extension modules for the immunization, pediatrics, and cardiology domains with respect to the pandemic requests. The data elements included in each of these modules were selected according to the here developed consensus-based workflow by medical experts from the respective specialty to ensure that the contents are aligned with the respective research needs. We defined dataset specifications for a total number of 48 (immunization), 150 (pediatrics), and 52 (cardiology) data elements that complement the GECCO core dataset. We created and published implementation guides and example implementations as well as dataset annotations for each extension module.
Conclusions These here presented GECCO extension modules, which contain data elements most relevant to COVID-19-related patient research in immunization, pediatrics and cardiology, were defined in an interdisciplinary, iterative, consensus-based workflow that may serve as a blueprint for the development of further dataset definitions. The GECCO extension modules provide a standardized and harmonized definition of specialty-related datasets that can help to enable inter-institutional and cross-country COVID-19 research in these specialties.
Dendritic spines are crucial for excitatory synaptic transmission as the size of a spine head correlates with the strength of its synapse. The distribution of spine head sizes follows a lognormal-like distribution with more small spines than large ones. We analysed the impact of synaptic activity and plasticity on the spine size distribution in adult-born hippocampal granule cells from rats with induced homo- and heterosynaptic long-term plasticity in vivo and CA1 pyramidal cells from Munc-13-1-Munc13-2 knockout mice with completely blocked synaptic transmission. Neither induction of extrinsic synaptic plasticity nor the blockage of presynaptic activity degrades the lognormal-like distribution but changes its mean, variance and skewness. The skewed distribution develops early in the life of the neuron. Our findings and their computational modelling support the idea that intrinsic synaptic plasticity is sufficient for the generation, while a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic synaptic plasticity maintains lognormal like distribution of spines.
Assessment of the acute effects of 2C-B vs psilocybin on subjective experience, mood and cognition
(2023)
2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine (2C-B) is a hallucinogenic phenethylamine derived from mescaline. Observational and preclinical data have suggested it to be capable of producing both subjective and emotional effects on par with other classical psychedelics and entactogens. Whereas it is the most prevalently used novel serotonergic hallucinogen to date, it’s acute effects and distinctions from classical progenitors have yet to be characterised in a controlled study. We assessed for the first time the immediate acute subjective, cognitive, and cardiovascular effects of 2C-B (20 mg) in comparison to psilocybin (15mg) and placebo in a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 22 healthy psychedelic-experienced participants. 2C-B elicited alterations of waking consciousness of a psychedelic nature, with dysphoria, subjective impairment, auditory alterations, and affective elements of ego dissolution largest under psilocybin. Participants demonstrated equivalent psychomotor slowing and spatial memory impairments under either compound compared to placebo, as indexed by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Tower of London (TOL) and Spatial Memory Task (SMT). Neither compound produced empathogenic effects on the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). 2C-B induced transient pressor effects to a similar degree as psilocybin. The duration of self-reported effects of 2C-B was shorter than that of psilocybin, largely resolving within 6 hours. Present findings support the categorisation of 2C-B as a subjectively “lighter” psychedelic. Tailored dose-effect studies are needed to discern the pharmacokinetic dependency of 2C-B’s experiential overlaps.
The fundamental structure of cortical networks arises early in development prior to the onset of sensory experience. However, how endogenously generated networks respond to the onset of sensory experience, and how they form mature sensory representations with experience remains unclear. Here we examine this "nature-nurture transform" using in vivo calcium imaging in ferret visual cortex. At eye-opening, visual stimulation evokes robust patterns of cortical activity that are highly variable within and across trials, severely limiting stimulus discriminability. Initial evoked responses are distinct from spontaneous activity of the endogenous network. Visual experience drives the development of low-dimensional, reliable representations aligned with spontaneous activity. A computational model shows that alignment of novel visual inputs and recurrent cortical networks can account for the emergence of reliable visual representations.