Detecting Stealth Dark Matter Directly through Electromagnetic Polarizability.

We calculate the spin-independent scattering cross section for direct detection that results from the electromagnetic polarizability of a composite scalar "stealth baryon" dark matter candidate, arising from a dark SU(4) confining gauge theory-"stealth dark matter." In the nonrelativistic limit, electromagnetic polarizability proceeds through a dimension-7 interaction leading to a very small scattering cross section for dark matter with weak-scale masses. This represents a lower bound on the scattering cross section for composite dark matter theories with electromagnetically charged constituents. We carry out lattice calculations of the polarizability for the lightest "baryon" states in SU(3) and SU(4) gauge theories using the background field method on quenched configurations. We find the polarizabilities of SU(3) and SU(4) to be comparable (within about 50%) normalized to the stealth baryon mass, which is suggestive for extensions to larger SU(N) groups. The resulting scattering cross sections with a xenon target are shown to be potentially detectable in the dark matter mass range of about 200-700 GeV, where the lower bound is from the existing LUX constraint while the upper bound is the coherent neutrino background. Significant uncertainties in the cross section remain due to the more complicated interaction of the polarizablity operator with nuclear structure; however, the steep dependence on the dark matter mass, 1/m(B)(6), suggests the observable dark matter mass range is not appreciably modified. We briefly highlight collider searches for the mesons in the theory as well as the indirect astrophysical effects that may also provide excellent probes of stealth dark matter.

Two-color gauge theory with novel infrared behavior.

Using lattice simulations, we study the infrared behavior of a particularly interesting SU(2) gauge theory, with six massless Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation. We compute the running gauge coupling derived nonperturbatively from the Schrödinger functional of the theory, finding no evidence for an infrared fixed point up through gauge couplings g(2) of order 20. This implies that the theory either is governed in the infrared by a fixed point of considerable strength, unseen so far in nonsupersymmetric gauge theories, or breaks its global chiral symmetries producing a large number of composite Nambu-Goldstone bosons relative to the number of underlying degrees of freedom. Thus either of these phases exhibits novel behavior.

Parity doubling and the S parameter below the conformal window.

We describe a lattice simulation of the masses and decay constants of the lowest-lying vector and axial resonances, and the electroweak S parameter, in an SU(3) gauge theory with N(f)=2 and 6 fermions in the fundamental representation. The spectrum becomes more parity doubled and the S parameter per electroweak doublet decreases when N(f) is increased from 2 to 6, motivating study of these trends as N(f) is increased further, toward the critical value for transition from confinement to infrared conformality.

Toward TeV conformality.

We study the chiral properties of an SU(3) gauge theory with N{f} massless Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation when N{f} is increased from 2 to 6. For N{f}=2, our lattice simulations lead to a value of psi psi/F{3}, where F is the Nambu-Goldstone-boson decay constant and psi psi is the chiral condensate, which agrees with the measured QCD value. For N{f}=6, this ratio shows significant enhancement, presaging an even larger enhancement anticipated as N{f} increases further, toward the critical value for transition from confinement to infrared conformality.

[The processes of α-synuclein amyloid protein complexes involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease]. / O protsessakh formirovaniia α-sinukleinovykh amiloidnykh belkovykh kompleksov, uchastvuiushchikh v patogeneze bolezni Parkinsona.

AIM: To analyze interactions between α-synuclein (αS) protein and lipids using biophysical methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Recombinant α-synuclein synthesized in prokaryotic cells was used. To characterize the interaction of αS with negatively charged vesicles of DOPS (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine, sodium salt) and DOPG (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol), sodium salt) and the consequences of such interactions on αS amyloid formation, combined circular dichroism, fluorescence and imaging methods in vitro were applied. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Lipid head-group chemistry modulates αS interactions and also affects amyloid fiber formation. Pre-formed αS oligomers, typically present in a small amount in the αS starting material, acted as templates for linear growth of anomalous amyloid fibers in the presence of vesicles. At the same time, the remaining αS monomers were restricted from vesicle-mediated nucleation of amyloid fibers. Although not a dominant process in bulk experiments, this hidden αS aggregation pathway may be of importance in vivo.