What Is the Gravitational Field of a Mass in a Spatially Nonlocal Quantum Superposition?

The study of the gravitational field produced by a spatially nonlocal, superposed quantum state of a massive particle is an interesting and active area of research. One outstanding issue is whether the gravitational field behaves like the classical superposition of the gravitational field of two particles separated by a spatial distance with half the mass at each position. Alternatively, does the gravitational field behave as a quantum superposition with a far more interesting and subtle behavior than a simple classical superposition? Quantum field theory is ideally suited to probe exactly this kind of question. We study the scattering of a massless scalar on a spatially nonlocal quantum superposition of a massive particle. We compute the differential scattering cross section corresponding to one-graviton exchange. We find that the scattering cross section disagrees with the Newton-Schrödinger picture of potential scattering from two localized sources with half the mass at each source. This suggests that experimental observation of gravitational scattering could inform the viability of the semiclassical treatment of the gravitational field, as in the Newton-Schrödinger description, vs the fully quantum mechanical treatment adopted here. We comment on the experimental feasibility of observing such effects in systems with many particles such as Bose-Einstein condensates.

Field theoretic description of the Abelian and non-Abelian Josephson effect.

We formulate the Josephson effect in a field theoretic language which affords a straightforward generalization to the non-Abelian case. Our formalism interprets Josephson tunneling as the excitation of pseudo Goldstone bosons. We demonstrate the formalism through the consideration of a single junction separating two regions with a purely non-Abelian order parameter and a sandwich of three regions where the central region is in a distinct phase. Applications to various non-Abelian symmetry breaking systems in particle and condensed matter physics are given.

Exercise body surface potential mapping in single and multiple coronary artery disease.

Body surface ST integral maps were recorded in 36 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients at: rest; peak, angina-limited exercise; and, 1 and 5 min of recovery. They were compared to maps of 15 CAD patients who exercised to fatigue, without angina, and eight normal subjects. Peak exercise heart rates were similar (NS) in all groups. With exercise angina, patients with two and three vessel CAD had significantly (p less than 0.05) greater decrease in the body surface sum of ST integral values than patients with single vessel CAD. CAD patients with exercise fatigue, in the absence of angina, had decreased ST integrals similar (NS) to patients with single vessel CAD who manifested angina and the normal control subjects. There was, however, considerable overlap among individuals; some patients with single vessel CAD had as much exercise ST integral decrease as patients with three vessel CAD. All CAD patients had persistent ST integral decreases at 5 min of recovery and there was a direct correlation of the recovery and peak exercise ST changes. Exercise ST changes correlated, as well, with quantitative CAD angiographic scores, but not with thallium perfusion scores. These data suggest exercise ST integral body surface mapping allows quantitation of myocardium at ischemic risk in patients with CAD, irrespective of the presence or absence of ischemic symptoms during exercise. A major potential application of this technique is selection of CAD therapy guided by quantitative assessment of ischemic myocardial risk.

Public health importance of rodents in South America.

Indigenous South American rodents are abundant, varied, and adaptable, and occupy most of the available natural habitats. Knowledge of their taxonomy and biology is generally superficial. Near human habitations the introduced Rattus and Mus are common and their contacts with man are often close. Cities in South America are expanding to keep pace with increases in the human population and hitherto virgin land is being settled or cleared for food production. Thus domestic rodents are brought into contact with indigenous species and the inevitable exchange of parasites may then produce unpredictable threats to human health. The role of both wild and domestic rodents in the transmission of certain infectious diseases, such as plague, sylvatic Venezuelan encephalitis, South American haemorrhagic fevers, murine typhus, and cutaneous leishmaniasis, is well established. The involvement of rodents in some other diseases, such as leptospirosis, American trypanosomiasis, South American hydatid disease, and vesicular stomatitis, is less well understood. In certain other infections, including bartonellosis and the South American spotted fevers, a wild rodent reservoir is inferred but not yet identified.