Aims
Sulphate‐reducing bacteria (SRB) are ecologically important group of anaerobic micro‐organisms that can reduce sulphate to form hydrogen sulphide—a toxic gas causing iron corrosion on metal ...surfaces. In this work, SRB strains were isolated from aquatic environments in the country of Georgia to determine their lysogenicity and the role of temperate phages in host metabolism.
Methods and Results
SRB strains were isolated in samples from the Black Sea coast of Georgia. Based on their genetic, cytological and physiological properties of bacteria, 10 Georgian isolates were assigned to the genus Desulfovibrio. Temperate bacteriophages were induced from three out of ten strains by UV‐exposure. Comparison of metal (Fe and Cr) reduction and utilization of various carbon sources by the wild‐type (lysogenic) bacterial strains and their UV‐irradiated counterparts was done.
Conclusions
Temperate phage in the cells of SRB could alter significant functions of bacteria and may have a contribution in the acquisition of different traits by SRB.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This article pointed to a significant role for temperate bacteriophages in the metabolism and metabolic potential of host strains of SRB, which were first isolated from the aquatic environment of Georgia.
Photospheric granulation may excite transverse kink pulses in anchored vertical magnetic flux tubes. The pulses propagate upward along the tubes with the kink speed, while oscillating wakes are ...formed behind the wave front in a stratified atmosphere. The wakes oscillate at the kink cutoff frequency of stratified medium and gradually decay in time. When two or more consecutive kink pulses with different polarizations propagate in the same thin tube, then the wakes corresponding to different pulses may be superimposed. The superposition sets up helical motions of magnetic flux tubes in the photosphere/chromosphere as seen in recent Hinode movies. The energy carried by the pulses is enough to heat the solar chromosphere/corona and accelerate the solar wind.
Evidence for the light-by-light scattering process, γγ→γγ, in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02TeV is reported. The analysis is conducted using a ...data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 390μb−1 recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering processes are selected in events with two photons exclusively produced, each with transverse energy ETγ>2GeV, pseudorapidity |ηγ|<2.4, diphoton invariant mass mγγ>5GeV, diphoton transverse momentum pTγγ<1GeV, and diphoton acoplanarity below 0.01. After all selection criteria are applied, 14 events are observed, compared to expectations of 9.0±0.9(theo) events for the signal and 4.0±1.2(stat) for the background processes. The excess observed in data relative to the background-only expectation corresponds to a significance of 3.7 standard deviations, and has properties consistent with those expected for the light-by-light scattering signal. The measured fiducial light-by-light scattering cross section, σfid(γγ→γγ)=120±46(stat)±28(syst)±12(theo)nb, is consistent with the standard model prediction. The mγγ distribution is used to set new exclusion limits on the production of pseudoscalar axion-like particles, via the ▪ process, in the mass range ▪.
A search is presented for new physics in events with two low-momentum, oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass ...energy of 13 TeV. The data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1. The observed event yields are consistent with the expectations from the standard model. The results are interpreted in terms of pair production of charginos and neutralinos (χ˜1± and χ˜20) with nearly degenerate masses, as expected in natural supersymmetry models with light higgsinos, as well as in terms of the pair production of top squarks (t˜ ), when the lightest neutralino and the top squark have similar masses. At 95% confidence level, wino-like χ˜1±/χ˜20 masses are excluded up to 230 GeV for a mass difference of 20 GeV relative to the lightest neutralino. In the higgsino-like model, masses are excluded up to 168 GeV for the same mass difference. For t˜ pair production, top squark masses up to 450 GeV are excluded for a mass difference of 40 GeV relative to the lightest neutralino.
A search for direct production of the supersymmetric (SUSY) partners of electrons or muons is presented in final states with two opposite-charge, same-flavour leptons (electrons and muons), no jets, ...and large missing transverse momentum. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at s=13TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016. The search uses the MT2 variable, which generalises the transverse mass for systems with two invisible objects and provides a discrimination against standard model backgrounds containing W bosons. The observed yields are consistent with the expectations from the standard model. The search is interpreted in the context of simplified SUSY models and probes slepton masses up to approximately 290, 400, and 450 GeV, assuming right-handed only, left-handed only, and both right- and left-handed sleptons (mass degenerate selectrons and smuons), and a massless lightest supersymmetric particle. Limits are also set on selectrons and smuons separately. These limits show an improvement on the existing limits of approximately 150 GeV.
A search for a narrow Z′ gauge boson with a mass between 5 and 70 GeV resulting from an Lμ−LτU(1) local gauge symmetry is reported. Theories that predict such a particle have been proposed as an ...explanation of various experimental discrepancies, including the lack of a dark matter signal in direct-detection experiments, tension in the measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, and reports of possible lepton flavor universality violation in B meson decays. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 77.3 fb−1 recorded in 2016 and 2017 by the CMS detector at the LHC. Events containing four muons with an invariant mass near the standard model Z boson mass are analyzed, and the selection is further optimized to be sensitive to the events that may contain Z→Z′μμ→4μ decays. The event yields are consistent with the standard model predictions. Upper limits of 10−8–10−7 at 95% confidence level are set on the product of branching fractions B(Z→Z′μμ)B(Z′→μμ), depending on the Z′ mass, which excludes a Z′ boson coupling strength to muons above 0.004–0.3. These are the first dedicated limits on Lμ−Lτ models at the LHC and result in a significant increase in the excluded model parameter space. The results of this search may also be used to constrain the coupling strength of any light Z′ gauge boson to muons.
A search is presented for the production of vector-like quark pairs, TT‾ or YY‾, with electric charge of 2/3 (T) or −4/3 (Y), in proton–proton collisions at s=13TeV. The data were collected by the ...CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.8fb−1. The T and Y quarks are assumed to decay exclusively to a W boson and a b quark. The search is based on events with a single isolated electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and at least four jets with large transverse momenta. In the search, a kinematic reconstruction of the final state observables is performed, which would permit a signal to be detected as a narrow mass peak (≈7% resolution). The observed number of events is consistent with the standard model prediction. Assuming strong pair production of the vector-like quarks and a 100% branching fraction to bW, a lower limit of 1295 GeV at 95% confidence level is set on the T and Y quark masses.
A search is presented for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons, where one decays into two photons and the other one into a bottom quark–antiquark pair. The analysis is performed using ...proton–proton collision data at s=13TeV recorded in 2016 by the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1. The results are in agreement with standard model (SM) predictions. In a search for resonant production, upper limits are set on the cross section for new spin-0 or spin-2 particles. For the SM-like nonresonant production hypothesis, the data exclude a product of cross section and branching fraction larger than 2.0fb at 95% confidence level (CL), corresponding to about 24 times the SM prediction. Values of the effective Higgs boson self-coupling κλ are constrained to be within the range −11<κλ<17 at 95% CL, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings are at their SM value. The constraints on κλ are the most restrictive to date.
A search is presented for single production of a vector-like quark (T) decaying to a Z boson and a top quark, with the Z boson decaying leptonically and the top quark decaying hadronically. The ...search uses data collected by the CMS experiment in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 2016, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1. The presence of forward jets is a particular characteristic of single production of vector-like quarks that is used in the analysis. For the first time, different T quark width hypotheses are studied, from negligibly small to 30% of the new particle mass. At the 95% confidence level, the product of cross section and branching fraction is excluded above values in the range 0.26–0.04 pb for T quark masses in the range 0.7–1.7 TeV, assuming a negligible width. A similar sensitivity is observed for widths of up to 30% of the T quark mass. The production of a heavy Z′ boson decaying to Tt, with T→tZ, is also searched for, and limits on the product of cross section and branching fractions for this process are set between 0.13 and 0.06 pb for Z′ boson masses in the range from 1.5 to 2.5 TeV.
A search for a massive resonance decaying into a pair of standard model Higgs bosons, in a final state consisting of two b quark–antiquark pairs, is performed. A data sample of proton–proton ...collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is used, collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in 2016, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9fb−1. The Higgs bosons are highly Lorentz-boosted and are each reconstructed as a single large-area jet. The signal is characterized by a peak in the dijet invariant mass distribution, above a background from the standard model multijet production. The observations are consistent with the background expectations, and are interpreted as upper limits on the products of the s-channel production cross sections and branching fractions of narrow bulk gravitons and radions in warped extra-dimensional models. The limits range from 126 to 1.4 fb at 95% confidence level for resonances with masses between 750 and 3000 GeV, and are the most stringent to date, over the explored mass range.
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