Polar Perturbations Research Articles

2021 Texas cold snap: Manifestation of natural variability and a recent warming trend

In this paper, we demonstrate that the extreme cold snap in Texas in February 2021 resulted from a large-scale background circulation anomaly over the North Pacific and North America that was a manifestation of both natural variability (namely, a negative Pacific–North American pattern, PNA) and a warming trend that began in the late 1990s. Numerical experiments revealed that the negative PNA pattern could be driven by negative (La Niña-like) sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the equatorial eastern Pacific on an interannual–decadal timescale and the SST warming trend in the subtropical North Atlantic on a longer timescale. We propose that the excitation of the most unstable mode of the Northern Hemisphere winter, which exhibits a combined negative PNA and positive East Atlantic pattern resulting from SST anomalies and trends, leads to the dominance of the large-scale circulation anomaly observed in February 2021 and over the last few decades.Our study demonstrated the key role of extratropical wave activity and the intrinsic mode in causing the extreme cold in North America. The arguments favoring polar or tropical influences may partially explain the source of variability, considering that extratropical weather and climate variability could be modulated by not only polar or tropical perturbations but also the enhanced tropical–extratropical interaction and mid-latitude instability. A systematic approach involving both empirical diagnostics and a suite of carefully designed numerical experiments is required to determine the relative influence of various sources of variability.Regarding future changes, models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 project a weakening, rather than an enhancement, of the negative PNA pattern that favors the occurrence of cold snaps despite failing to simulate the observed enhanced trend since the late 1990s.

Intracellular Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9: Recruitment and regulatory role in mitochondrial architecture and bioenergetic

Abstract Objective Circulating Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) captured the scientific community's attention as powerful target to fight against high serum cholesterol and its associated adverse consequences. Despite the well-described role of PCSK9 in impairing the recycling of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) on hepatocytes, its intracellular importance in metabolism modulations remain largely unexplored. Here, we describe a novel intracellular function of PCSK9 in hepatocyte metabolism and in liver regeneration. Methods A surgical model of partial hepatectomy (PH) was used to induce liver cell proliferation and serological and histological lipo- and glyco-metabolic perturbations were investigated in PCSK9 knockout and wild-type mice before and after PH. Mitochondrial bioenergetic level, compartmental architecture as well as intracellular localization and function of PCSK9 were further analyzed in vitro on murine primary isolated hepatocytes and PCSK9 lentiviral knockdown human liver cancer cell lines. Results Loss of PCSK9 expression led to a basal higher mitochondrial bioenergetic status in hepatocytes, characterized by a profound remodeling of mitochondrial architecture. Livers from PCSK9 knockout mice displayed a diffuse oxidative stress and a significant upregulation of cellular detoxification and superoxide radicals removal genes induced by the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway before PH. PCSK9 deficient mice showed a primed compensatory hepatic hyperplasia after PH, accompanied by an earlier transient regeneration-associated steatosis due to a higher LDLR expression and cholesterol uptake, with an increased β-oxidation, gluconeogenesis and glycolysis rate. Tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester staining of isolated hepatocytes and liver cancer PCSK9 knockdown clones revealed a significantly reduced mitochondrial membrane potential when compared to controls. Confocal live-cell imaging and proteins immunoprecipitation showed respectively a mitochondrial recruitment of PCSK9 in proliferating cells and its interaction with mitochondrial membrane carriers and chaperons. Conclusion Despite the role played by circulating PCSK9 in regulating systemic cholesterol levels, our data shed light on its intracellular impact on mitochondrial architecture, membrane polarization and related metabolic perturbations in compartmental bioenergetics.

Gravitational perturbations of the Einstein-Euler-Heisenberg black hole * *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11873001, 12047564, 12147102) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021CDJZYJH-003)

The prospect of using gravitational wave detections via the quasinormal modes (QNMs) to test modified gravity theories is exciting area of current research. Gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by a perturbed black hole (BH) will decay as a superposition of their QNMs of oscillations at the ringdown phase. In this work, we investigate the QNMs of the Einstein-Euler-Heisenberg (EEH) BH for both axial and polar gravitational perturbations. We obtain master equations with the tetrad formalism, and the quasinormal frequencies of the EEH BH are calculated in the 6th order Wentzel-Kramers-Brillöuin approximation. It is interesting to note that the QNMs of the EEH BH would differ from those of the Reissner-Nordström BH under the EH parameter, which indicates the EH parameter would affect the gravitational perturbations for the EEH BH.

Fading Suppression for Distributed Acoustic Sensing Assisted With Dual-Laser System and Differential-Vector-Sum Algorithm

The sensing performance is severely affected by the intensity fading in the phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varphi $ </tex-math></inline-formula> -OTDR) based distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system. The intensity fading manifests a stochastic amplitude fluctuation in the scattering signal. To suppress the fading noise, a heterodyne <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varphi $ </tex-math></inline-formula> -OTDR system assisted with dual lasers with independent frequency, polarization, and initial phase is established to generate two pulses responses with different fading components at the same time. The backscattering signals from two individual probe pulses present different fading positions but possess the same phase change rate which is induced by the external disturbance. Through the differential-vector-sum algorithm including vectorization and phase differential, two complex Rayleigh backscattering beat signals from the two laser probes are efficiently synthesized, to simultaneously suppress the fading phenomenon caused by the inner pulse interference, polarization mismatch and phase mismatch. In the experimental validation, the probability of the fading channels in dual-laser scheme was significantly reduced from 9.4% to 1% compared with the single laser system, which is based on the resolution threshold of 2.1n <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\varepsilon / \surd $ </tex-math></inline-formula> Hz at 10Hz. Moreover, the dual-laser scheme also proves the polarization insensitivity by inducing a rapid polarization perturbation for two probe lasers. Owing to the fading noise suppression, the dynamic signal’s SNR of the dual-laser system was improved more than 20dB in the intensity fading channels, while the temporal and spatial resolution were not deteriorated. The proposed fading suppressed distributed sensing system possesses the excellent performance, which makes it play an important role for practical distributed acoustic sensing.

Breaking of isospectrality of quasinormal modes in nonrotating loop quantum gravity black holes

We study the quasinormal frequencies of three effective geometries of nonrotating regular black holes derived from loop quantum gravity. Concretely, we consider the Ashtekar-Olmedo-Singh and two Gambini-Olmedo-Pullin prescriptions. We compute the quasinormal frequencies of axial and polar perturbations adopting a WKB method. We show that they differ from those of classical general relativity and, more importantly, that isospectrality is broken. Nevertheless, these deviations are tiny, even for microscopic black holes, and they decay following an inverse power law of the size of the mass of the black holes. For the sake of completeness, we also analyze scalar and vector perturbations, reaching similar conclusions.

Propagation of axial and polar gravitational waves in Kantowski–Sachs universe

We apply the Regge-Wheeler formalism to study axial and polar gravitational waves in Kantowski-Sachs universe. The background field equations and the linearised perturbation equations for the modes are derived in presence of matter. To find analytical solutions, we analyze the propagation of waves in vacuum spacetime. The background field equations in absence of matter are solved by assuming the expansion scalar to be proportional to the shear scalar. Using the method of separation of variables, the axial perturbation parameter $ h_0(t, r) $ is obtained from its wave equation. The other perturbation $ h_1(t, r) $ is then determined from $ h_0(t, r) $. The anisotropy of the background spacetime is responsible for the damping of the axial waves. The polar perturbation equations are much more involved compared to their FLRW counterparts, as well as to the axial perturbations in Kantowski-Sachs background. In both the axial and polar cases, the radial and temporal solutions separate out as products. The temporal part of the polar perturbation solutions are plotted against time to obtain an order of magnitude estimate of the frequency of the propagating GWs and lies in the range 1000-2000 Hz. Using standard observational data for the GW strain we have placed constraints on the parameters in the polar perturbation solutions. The perturbation equations in presence of matter show that the axial waves can cause perturbations only in the azimuthal velocity of the fluid without deforming the matter field. But the polar waves must perturb the energy density, the pressure and also the non-azimuthal components of the fluid velocity.

Eikonal quasinormal modes of black holes beyond general relativity. III. Scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity

In a recent series of papers, we have shown how the eikonal/geometrical optics approximation can be used to calculate analytically the fundamental quasinormal mode frequencies associated with coupled systems of wave equations, which arise, for instance, in the study of perturbations of black holes in gravity theories beyond General Relativity. As a continuation to this series, we focus here on the quasinormal modes of nonrotating black holes in scalar Gauss-Bonnet gravity assuming a small-coupling expansion. We show that the axial perturbations are purely tensorial and are described by a modified Regge-Wheeler equation, while the polar perturbations are of mixed scalar-tensor character and are described by a system of two coupled wave equations. When applied to these equations, the eikonal machinery leads to axial quasinormal modes that deviate from the general relativistic results at quadratic order in the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant. We show that this result is in agreement with an analysis of unstable circular null orbits around black holes in this theory, allowing us to establish the geometrical optics--null geodesic correspondence for the axial quasinormal modes. For the polar quasinormal modes, the small-coupling approximation forces us to consider the ordering between eikonal and small-coupling perturbative parameters, one of which we show, by explicit comparison against numerical data, yields the correct identification of the quasinormal modes of the scalar-tensor coupled system of wave equations. These corrections lift the general relativistic degeneracy between scalar and tensorial eikonal quasinormal modes at quadratic order in Gauss-Bonnet coupling in a way reminiscent of the Zeeman effect. In general, our analytic, eikonal quasinormal mode frequencies (normalized to the General Relativity ones) agree with numerical results with an error of $\mathcal{O}(10%)$ in the regime of small coupling constant. Finally, we find that the analytical expressions for the quasinormal modes are common to a broad class of scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theories to leading eikonal order, showing a degeneracy between the quasinormal modes of nonrotating black holes in particular scalar-Gauss-Bonnet theories in the geometrical optics limit.

Effect of gravitational wave on shadow of a Schwarzschild black hole

We have studied the shadows of a Schwarzschild black hole under a special polar gravitational perturbation, which is a particular solution of Einstein equations expanded up to first order. It is shown that the black hole shadow changes periodically with time and the change of shadow depends on the Legendre polynomial order parameter l and the frequency sigma of gravitational wave. For the odd order of Legendre polynomial, the center of shadow oscillates along the direction which is vertical to equatorial plane. For even l, the center of shadow does not move, but the shadow alternately stretches and squeezes with time along the vertical direction. Moreover, the presence of the gravitational wave leads to the self-similar fractal structures appearing in the boundary of the black hole shadow. We also find that this special gravitational wave has a greater influence on the vertical direction of black hole shadow.

Lessons from black hole quasinormal modes in modified gravity

Quasinormal modes (QNMs) of perturbed black holes have recently gained much interest because of their tight relations with the gravitational wave signals emitted during the post-merger phase of a binary black hole coalescence. One of the intriguing features of these modes is that they respect the no-hair theorem, and hence, they can be used to test black hole spacetimes and the underlying gravitational theory. In this paper, we exhibit three different aspects of how black hole QNMs could be altered in theories beyond Einstein’s general relativity (GR). These aspects are (i) the direct alterations of QNM spectra as compared with those in GR, (ii) the violation of the geometric correspondence between the high-frequency QNMs and the photon geodesics around the black hole, and (iii) the breaking of the isospectrality between the axial and polar gravitational perturbations. Several examples will be provided in each individual case. The prospects and possible challenges associated with future observations will be also discussed.

Polar gravitational perturbations and quasinormal modes of a loop quantum gravity black hole

In this work, we have calculated the polar gravitational quasinormal modes for a quantum corrected black hole model, that arises in the context of Loop Quantum Gravity, known as Self-Dual Black Hole. In this way, we have calculated the characteristic frequencies using the WKB approach, where we can verify a strong dependence with the Loop Quantum Gravity parameters. At the same time we check that the Self-Dual Black Hole is stable under polar gravitational perturbations, we can also verify that the spectrum of the polar quasinormal modes differs from the axial one \cite{Cruz:2015bcj}. Such a result tells us that isospectrality is broken in the context of Self Dual Black Holes.

Analytical proof of the isospectrality of quasinormal modes for Schwarzschild-de Sitter and Schwarzschild-Anti de Sitter spacetimes

The deep reason why the equations describing axial and polar perturbations of Schwarzschild black holes have the same spectrum is far from trivial. In this article, we revisit the original proof and try to make it clearer. Still focusing on uncharged and non-rotating black holes, we extend the results to spacetimes including a cosmological constant, which have so far mostly been investigated numerically from this perspective.

Polar quasinormal modes of the scalarized Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet black holes

We study the polar quasinormal modes of spontaneously scalarized black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory. In previous works we showed that a set of nodeless solutions of the fundamental branch of the model studied in [1] are stable under both radial [2] and axial perturbations [3]. Here we calculate the polar quasinormal modes and show that this set of solutions is stable against the polar perturbations as well. Thus for a certain region of the parameter space the scalarized black holes are potentially stable physically interesting objects. The spectrum of the polar quasinormal modes differs both quantitatively and qualitatively from the Schwarzschild one which offers the possibility to test the Gauss-Bonnet theory via the future gravitational wave observations.

Reflection and transmission of a Bessel vortex beam by a stratified uniaxial anisotropic slab

The reflection and transmission of a Bessel vortex beam incident on a stratified uniaxial anisotropic slab are analytically solved by use of the expansion of cylindrical vector wave functions (CVWFs). This work is an extension of our previous paper, in which the reflection and transmission of a Bessel vortex beam incident on a homogeneous uniaxial anisotropic slab were studied. A closed form of the expansion coefficients of the reflected and transmitted beams for a stratified slab is derived. Taking a three-layered uniaxial anisotropic slab as an example, the characteristics of the reflected and transmitted beams and its influencing factors are numerically analyzed, including the magnitude profiles of the electric field components, the energy conversion between the two transverse electric components, and the distortion of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states. The results indicate that the effects of the dielectric properties of each layer on the magnitude profiles of the reflected field components are prominent, while those of the transmitted beams are opposite, which could be applied in the design of optical devices. Compared with other polarization modes, the polarization perturbation for the circularly polarized caseis very slight. As for the oblique incidence, an increase of the incident angle can obtain a high-quality reflected beam with fewer derived OAM states, and the lossy media can also do the same. Since the uniaxial anisotropic media has many applications in optical communication, radar detection, microwave device manufacture, etc., and vortex beams are proved to increase the channel capacity of an optical communication systems, these numerical results are of use in optical communications, for example, reducing the crosstalk in optical communication.

Active compensation of extrinsic polarization errors using adaptive optics.

We present a scheme for active compensation of complex extrinsic polarization perturbations introduced into an optical system. Imaging polarimeter is used to measure the polarization state across a beam profile and a liquid crystal spatial light modulator controls the polarization of the input beam. A sequence of measurements permits determination of the birefringence properties of a perturbing specimen. The necessary correction is calculated and fed back to the polarization modulator to compensate for the polarization perturbation. The system capabilities are demonstrated on a range of birefringent specimens.

197TiP - GLOW: Zolbetuximab + CAPOX compared with placebo + CAPOX as first-line treatment for patients with Claudin18.2+/HER2– Locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma: A randomized phase III study

197TiP - GLOW: Zolbetuximab + CAPOX compared with placebo + CAPOX as first-line treatment for patients with Claudin18.2+/HER2– Locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma: A randomized phase III study

198TiP - SPOTLIGHT: Comparison of zolbetuximab or placebo + mFOLFOX6 as first-line treatment in patients with claudin18.2+/HER2– locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GEJ): A randomized phase III study

198TiP - SPOTLIGHT: Comparison of zolbetuximab or placebo + mFOLFOX6 as first-line treatment in patients with claudin18.2+/HER2– locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GEJ): A randomized phase III study

836TiP - GLOW: Randomized phase III study of zolbetuximab + CAPOX compared with placebo + CAPOX as first-line treatment of patients with CLD18.2+/HER2− locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma

836TiP - GLOW: Randomized phase III study of zolbetuximab + CAPOX compared with placebo + CAPOX as first-line treatment of patients with CLD18.2+/HER2− locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma

New results on the physical interpretation of black-brane gravitational perturbations

The linear perturbation theory applied to the study of black holes is a traditional and powerful tool to investigate some of the basic properties of these objects, such as the stability of the event horizon, the spectra of quasinormal modes, the scattering and the production of waves in a process of gravitational collapse. Since long ago, the physical interpretation of the linear fluctuations in the metric of spherically symmetric black holes has been established. In a multipolar expansion, it is known that polar perturbations of a monopole type ($l=0$) can only increase the black-hole mass, axial perturbations of a dipole type ($l=1$) induce a slow rotation in the system, and perturbations with $l\geq 2$ always lead to the production of gravitational waves. However, in relation to the planar Schwarzschild anti--de Sitter black holes (or black branes, for short), there is still no conclusive study on some aspects of the physical meaning of these perturbations. In particular, there is some controversy concerning the polar sector of fluctuations with zero wave number $(k=0)$. Some authors claim that this kind of perturbations causes only a variation in the black-brane mass parameter, while others obtained also evidence for the existence of gravitational waves associated to such modes. The present study aims to contribute to the resolution of this controversy by revealing the physical meaning of the gravitational perturbations of anti--de Sitter black branes. In this work we use the Chandrasekhar's gauge formalism to evaluate the linear variations in the complex Weyl scalars in terms of the Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli gauge-invariant quantities. Then we use the Szekeres' proposal for the meaning of the Weyl scalars and the Pirani's criterion for the existence of gravitational radiation in order to give a physical interpretation of the black-brane perturbations with arbitrary wave number value.

Perspectives on microwave coupling into cylindrical and spherical rotors with dielectric lenses for magic angle spinning dynamic nuclear polarization.

Continuous wave dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) increases the sensitivity of NMR, yet intense microwave fields are required to transition magic angle spinning (MAS) DNP to the time domain. Here we describe and analyze Teflon lenses for cylindrical and spherical MAS rotors that focus microwave power and increase the electron Rabi frequency, ν1s. Using a commercial simulation package, we solve the Maxwell equations and determine the propagation and focusing of millimeter waves (198 GHz). We then calculate the microwave intensity in a time-independent fashion to compute the ν1s. With a nominal microwave power input of 5 W, the average ν1s is 0.38 MHz within a 22 μL sample volume in a 3.2 mm outer diameter (OD) cylindrical rotor without a Teflon lens. Decreasing the sample volume to 3 μL and focusing the microwave beam with a Teflon lens increases the ν1s to 1.5 MHz. Microwave polarization and intensity perturbations associated with diffraction through the radiofrequency coil, losses from penetration through the rotor wall, and mechanical limitations of the separation between the lens and sample are significant challenges to improving microwave coupling in MAS DNP instrumentation. To overcome these issues, we introduce a novel focusing strategy using dielectric microwave lenses installed within spinning rotors. One such 9.5 mm OD cylindrical rotor assembly implements a Teflon focusing lens to increase the ν1s to 2.7 MHz within a 2 μL sample. Further, to access high spinning frequencies while also increasing ν1s, we analyze microwave coupling into MAS spheres. For 9.5 mm OD spherical rotors, we compute a ν1s of 0.36 MHz within a sample volume of 161 μL, and 2.5 MHz within a 3 μL sample placed at the focal point of a novel double lens insert. We conclude with an analysis and discussion of sub-millimeter diamond spherical rotors for time domain DNP at spinning frequencies >100 kHz. Sub-millimeter spherical rotors better overlap a tightly focused microwave beam, resulting in a ν1s of 2.2 MHz. Lastly, we propose that sub-millimeter dielectric spherical microwave resonators will provide a means to substantially improve electron spin control in the future.

Polarization perturbation 2D correlation fluorescence spectroscopy of edible oils: a pilot study

The investigation of the authenticity and classification of edible oils is particularly important. In this paper, polarization perturbation two-dimensional (2D) correlation fluorescence spectroscopy is explored as a quick and non-destructive discrimination method for characterizing and differentiating edible oils. Compared with fluorescence emission spectroscopy, 2D correlation fluorescence spectroscopy can enhance the spectroscopy resolution and provide more useful information of samples. The oils of rapeseed, soybean, peanut, sunflower, camellia and sesame are chosen as the experimental objects in this study. Fluorescence spectroscopy is obtained at 405 nm (excitation) and 400–800 nm (emission). By comparing the sign of peaks in synchronous and asynchronous maps, information on the response order of the peaks is achieved under polarization perturbation. Experimental results indicate that six samples can be identified more clearly by using this method. Polarization perturbation 2D correlation fluorescence spectroscopy is highly useful in the classification of edible oils.