A Dark Sector Extension of the Almost-Commutative Standard Model

We consider an extension of the Standard Model within the frame work of Noncommutative Geometry. The model is based on an older model [St09] which extends the Standard Model by new fermions, a new U(1)-gauge group and, crucially, a new scalar field which couples to the Higgs field. This new scalar field allows to lower the mass of the Higgs mass from ~170 GeV, as predicted by the Spectral Action for the Standard Model, to a value of 120-130 GeV. The short-coming of the previous model lay in its inability to meet all the constraints on the gauge couplings implied by the Spectral Action. These shortcomings are cured in the present model which also features a "dark sector" containing fermions and scalar particles

Krajewski diagrams and the Standard Model

This paper provides a complete list of Krajewski diagrams representing the standard model of particle physics. We will give the possible representations of the algebra and the anomaly free lifts which provide the representation of the standard model gauge group on the fermionic Hilbert space. The algebra representations following from the Krajewski diagrams are not complete in the sense that the corresponding spectral triples do not necessarily obey to the axiom of Poincare duality. This defect may be repaired by adding new particles to the model, i.e. by building models beyond the standard model. The aim of this list of finite spectral triples (up to Poincare duality) is therefore to provide a basis for model building beyond the standard model

Almost-Commutative Geometry, massive Neutrinos and the Orientability Axiom in KO-Dimension 6

In recent publications Alain Connes [1] and John Barrett [2] proposed to change the KO-dimension of the internal space of the standard model in its noncommutative representation [3] from zero to six. This apparently minor modification allowed to resolve the fermion doubling problem [4], and the introduction of Majorana mass terms for the right-handed neutrino. The price which had to be paid was that at least the orientability axiom of noncommutative geometry [5,6] may not be obeyed by the underlying geometry. In this publication we review three internal geometries, all three failing to meet the orientability axiom of noncommutative geometry. They will serve as examples to illustrate the nature of this lack of orientability. We will present an extension of the minimal standard model found in [7] by a right-handed neutrino, where only the sub-representation associated to this neutrino is not orientable

Influence of chance, history, and adaptation on digital evolution

We evolved multiple clones of populations of digital organisms to study the effects of chance, history, and adaptation in evolution. We show that clones adapted to a specific environment can adapt to new environments quickly and efficiently, although their history remains a significant factor in their fitness. Adaptation is most significant (and the effects of history less so) if the old and new environments are dissimilar. For more similar environments, adaptation is slower while history is more prominent. For both similar and dissimilar transfer environments, populations quickly lose the ability to perform computations (the analogue of beneficial chemical reactions) that are no longer rewarded in the new environment. Populations that developed few computational "genes" in their original environment were unable to acquire them in the new environment

Thermodynamic competition between membrane protein oligomeric states

Self-assembly of protein monomers into distinct membrane protein oligomers provides a general mechanism for diversity in the molecular architectures, and resulting biological functions, of membrane proteins. We develop a general physical framework describing the thermodynamic competition between different oligomeric states of membrane proteins. Using the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance as a model system, we show how the dominant oligomeric states of membrane proteins emerge from the interplay of protein concentration in the cell membrane, protein-induced lipid bilayer deformations, and direct monomer-monomer interactions. Our results suggest general physical mechanisms and principles underlying regulation of protein function via control of membrane protein oligomeric state.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Privacy as a Public Good

Privacy is commonly studied as a private good: my personal data is mine to protect and control, and yours is yours. This conception of privacy misses an important component of the policy problem. An individual who is careless with data exposes not only extensive information about herself, but about others as well. The negative externalities imposed on nonconsenting outsiders by such carelessness can be productively studied in terms of welfare economics. If all relevant individuals maximize private benefit, and expect all other relevant individuals to do the same, neoclassical economic theory predicts that society will achieve a suboptimal level of privacy. This prediction holds even if all individuals cherish privacy with the same intensity. As the theoretical literature would have it, the struggle for privacy is destined to become a tragedy. But according to the experimental public-goods literature, there is hope. Like in real life, people in experiments cooperate in groups at rates well above those predicted by neoclassical theory. Groups can be aided in their struggle to produce public goods by institutions, such as communication, framing, or sanction. With these institutions, communities can manage public goods without heavy-handed government intervention. Legal scholarship has not fully engaged this problem in these terms. In this Article, we explain why privacy has aspects of a public good, and we draw lessons from both the theoretical and the empirical literature on public goods to inform the policy discourse on privacy

On a Classification of Irreducible Almost Commutative Geometries, A Second Helping

We complete the classification of almost commutative geometries from a particle physics point of view given in hep-th/0312276. Four missing Krajewski diagrams will be presented after a short introduction into irreducible, non-degenerate spectral triples.Comment: 11 page