A more accurate Parameterization based on cosmic Age (MAPAge)

Recently, several statistically significant tensions between different cosmological datasets have raised doubts about the standard Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. A recent letter (Huang 2020) suggests to use “Parameterization based on cosmic Age” (PAge) to approximate a broad class of beyond-ΛCDM models, with a typical accuracy ∼1% in angular diameter distances at z ≲ 10. In this work, we extend PAge to a More Accurate Parameterization based on cosmic Age (MAPAge) by adding a new degree of freedom η 2. The parameter η 2 describes the difference between physically motivated models and their phenomenological PAge approximations. The accuracy of MAPAge, typically of order 10−3 in angular diameter distances at z ≲ 10, is significantly better than PAge. We compare PAge and MAPAge with current observational data and forecast data. The conjecture in Huang (2020), that PAge approximation is sufficiently good for current observations, is quantitatively confirmed in this work. We also show that the extension from PAge to MAPAge is important for future observations, which typically require sub-percent accuracy in theoretical predictions.

Reply to Vale et al. Comment on “Zhong et al. Sugar-Sweetened and Diet Beverage Consumption in Philadelphia One Year after the Beverage Tax. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1336”

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the recent letter to the editor regarding our paper “Sugar-Sweetened and Diet Beverage Consumption in Philadelphia One Year after the Beverage Tax” [...]

Is Presence Always Complicity? An Analysis of Presence, Its Moral Objects, and Scandal in Proximity to Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia

Catholic chaplains and clinicians who exercise their vocations in contexts wherein physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia (PAS-E) are legal may need to confront the difficult question of whether or not their presence in proximity to these acts and the processes that govern them is consistent with Catholic ethics. Debate on this question to date has focused on complicit presence and scandal. Drawing on Catholic theological ethics and the vision for end-of-life care espoused in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent letter, Samaritanus Bonus, I argue that some forms of presence in proximity to PAS-E are ethically justifiable. Core to this argument are the three elements of moral action: intention, object, and circumstance, alongside efforts to mitigate the risk of scandal informed by the teaching of Aquinas.

Evaluation Of The Rims2 Locus As A Risk Locus For Parkinson's Disease Dementia

In their recent letter entitled "Genome-wide survival study identifies a novel synaptic locus and polygenic score for cognitive progression in Parkinson's disease", Liu and colleagues report that in a genome-wide analysis of progression to dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) the RIMS2 locus is a determinant of dementia in PD (1). In this study we have evaluated the nominated loci in a well-powered longitudinal clinical-genetic study of 2536 individuals in the Tracking Parkinson's and Oxford Discovery cohorts. We have not identified any association between the RIMS2 locus or other loci from the discovery phase and the development of Parkinson's dementia. Further work is needed to understand the biological determinants of this important aspect of Parkinson's and to guide the search for new treatments.

Reply to Ferrés-Padró et al. Comment on “Lionte et al. Association of Multiple Glycemic Parameters at Hospital Admission with Mortality and Short-Term Outcomes in Acutely Poisoned Patients. Diagnostics 2021, 11, 361”

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the issues raised by Ferrés-Padró et al. in their recent letter to the editor [...]

Exactly solvable single-trace four point correlators in χCFT4

In this paper we study a wide class of planar single-trace four point correlators in the chiral conformal field theory (χCFT4) arising as a double scaling limit of the γ-deformed $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory. In the planar (t’Hooft) limit, each of such correlators is described by a single Feynman integral having the bulk topology of a square lattice “fishnet” and/or of an honeycomb lattice of Yukawa vertices. The computation of this class of Feynmann integrals at any loop is achieved by means of an exactly-solvable spin chain magnet with SO(1, 5) symmetry. In this paper we explain in detail the solution of the magnet model as presented in our recent letter and we obtain a general formula for the representation of the Feynman integrals over the spectrum of the separated variables of the magnet, for any number of scalar and fermionic fields in the corresponding correlator. For the particular choice of scalar fields only, our formula reproduces the conjecture of B. Basso and L. Dixon for the fishnet integrals.

A response to criticisms on “CMB constraints cast a shadow on CSL model”

Our recent letter “Cosmic Microwave Background Constraints Cast a Shadow On Continuous Spontaneous Localization Models” (Martin and Vennin Phys Rev Lett 124:080402, 2020, arXiv:1906.04405) has recently been criticised in Ref. (Bengochea et al. Eur Phys J C 80:1021, 2020a) (see also Ref. Bengochea et al. 2020b, arXiv:2006.05313). In this reply, we explain why the arguments presented in those articles are either incorrect or a confirmation of the robustness of our results.

Xerostomia and Taste Alterations in COVID-19

A recent letter published in the Ear, Nose & Throat Journal called attention to the hypothesis that the xerostomia reported in patients with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurs due to the neuroinvasive and neurotropism potential of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In fact, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2), the main site of entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the cell, was found to be present in the ductal elements of salivary gland and several other tissues. However, some points are worth to be addressed.

Communication through coherent control of quantum channels

A completely depolarising quantum channel always outputs a fully mixed state and thus cannot transmit any information. In a recent Letter\cite{ebler18}, it was however shown that if a quantum state passes through two such channels in a quantum superposition of different orders---a setup known as the ``quantum switch''---then information can nevertheless be transmitted through the channels. Here, we show that a similar effect can be obtained when one coherently controls between sending a target system through one of two identical depolarising channels. Whereas it is tempting to attribute this effect in the quantum switch to the indefinite causal order between the channels, causal indefiniteness plays no role in this new scenario. This raises questions about its role in the corresponding effect in the quantum switch. We study this new scenario in detail and we see that, when quantum channels are controlled coherently, information about their specific implementation is accessible in the output state of the joint control-target system. This allows two different implementations of what is usually considered to be the same channel to therefore be differentiated. More generally, we find that to completely describe the action of a coherently controlled quantum channel, one needs to specify not only a description of the channel (e.g., in terms of Kraus operators), but an additional ``transformation matrix'' depending on its implementation.