arXiv subjects

Brian D. Wright

Publications and source records attributed to Brian D. Wright.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2014

Temporal sequences of spikes during practice code for time in a complex motor sequence

Practice of a complex motor gesture involves exploration of motor space to attain a better match to target output, but little is known about the neural code for such exploration. Here, we examine spiking in an area of the songbird brain known to contribute to modification of song output. We find that neurons in the outflow nucleus of a specialized basal ganglia- thalamocortical circuit, the lateral magnocellular nucleus of the anterior nidopallium (LMAN), code for time in the motor gesture (song) both during singing directed to a female bird (performance) and when the bird sings alone (practice). Using mutual information to quantify the correlation between temporal sequences of spikes and time in song, we find that different symbols code for time in the two singing states. While isolated spikes code for particular parts of song during performance, extended strings of spiking and silence, particularly burst events, code for time in song during practice. This temporal coding during practice can be as precise as isolated spiking during performance to a female, supporting the hypothesis that neurons in LMAN actively sample motor space, guiding song modification at local instances in time.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2002

Spike timing and the coding of naturalistic sounds in a central auditory area of songbirds

In nature, animals encounter high dimensional sensory stimuli that have complex statistical and dynamical structure. Attempts to study the neural coding of these natural signals face challenges both in the selection of the signal ensemble and in the analysis of the resulting neural responses. For zebra finches, naturalistic stimuli can be defined as sounds that they encounter in a colony of conspecific birds. We assembled an ensemble of these sounds by recording groups of 10-40 zebra finches, and then analyzed the response of single neurons in the songbird central auditory area (field L) to continuous playback of long segments from this ensemble. Following methods developed in the fly visual system, we measured the information that spike trains provide about the acoustic stimulus without any assumptions about which features of the stimulus are relevant. Preliminary results indicate that large amounts of information are carried by spike timing, with roughly half of the information accessible only at time resolutions better than 10 ms; additional information is still being revealed as time resolution is improved to 2 ms. Information can be decomposed into that carried by the locking of individual spikes to the stimulus (or modulations of spike rate) vs. that carried by timing in spike patterns. Initial results show that in field L, temporal patterns give at least ~20% extra information. Thus, single central auditory neurons can provide an informative representation of naturalistic sounds, in which spike timing may play a significant role.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv1998

A Solution to the Strong CP Problem with Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

We demonstrate that a certain class of low scale supersymmetric ``Nelson-Barr'' type models can solve the strong and supersymmetric CP problems while at the same time generating sufficient weak CP violation in the $K^{0}-\bar{K}^{0}$ system. In order to prevent one-loop corrections to $\barθ$ which violate bounds coming from the neutron electric dipole moment (EDM), one needs a scheme for the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters which can naturally give sufficient squark degeneracies and proportionality of trilinear soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters to Yukawa couplings. We show that a gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking sector can provide the needed degeneracy and proportionality, though that proves to be a problem for generic Nelson-Barr models. The workable model we consider here has the Nelson-Barr mass texture enforced by a gauge symmetry; one also expects a new U(1) gauge superfield with mass in the TeV range. The resulting model is predictive. We predict a measureable neutron EDM and the existence of extra vector-like quark superfields which can be discovered at the LHC. Because the $3\times 3$ Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix is approximately real, the model also predicts a flat unitarity triangle and the absence of substantial CP violation in the $B$ system at future $B$ factories. We discuss the general issues pertaining to the construction of such a workable model and how they lead to the successful strategy. A detailed renormalization group study is then used to establish the feasibility of the model considered.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1996

An Elusive Z' Coupled to Beauty

By extending the standard gauge group to SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_X with X charges carried only by the third family we accommodate the LEP measurement of R_b and predict a potentially measurable discrepancy in A_{FB}^{b} in e^+e^- scattering and that D^0\bar{D}^0 mixing may be near its experimental limit. The Z', which explicitly violates the GIM mechanism, can nevertheless be naturally consistent with FCNC constraints. Direct detection of the Z' is possible but challenging.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1995

Constraining $α_s(M_Z)$ from the Hidden Sector

By including the effects of superstring thresholds, we reconsider minimal string unification together with the requirement of producing a supersymmetry-breaking gluino condensate in the hidden sector. This gives, for examples of phenomenologically-viable $Z_8'$ and other related orbifolds, the constraint that $0.1215 \leq α_s(M_Z) \leq 0.1270$. In such models, a hidden photino can be a source of cosmological dark matter detectable by gravitational microlensing.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1994

Yukawa Coupling Thresholds: Application to the MSSM and the Minimal Supersymmetric SU(5) GUT

We consider a particular class of threshold corrections to Yukawa couplings and mass relations in the MSSM and supersymmetric grand unified models. We give a complete treatment of Yukawa coupling thresholds at the unification scale $\Mx$ and the effective supersymmetry scale $\Ms$ and apply them to corrections to the tree-level prediction $y_b(\Mx) = y_τ(\Mx)$ in minimal supersymmetric SU(5). We apply both gauge and Yukawa coupling thresholds to gauge unification and the above Yukawa unification condition to find predictions for the top quark mass, $M_t$, the superheavy vector boson mass $\Mv$ and the colored Higgs triplet mass $\Mhs$. We discuss the dependencies of $\Mx$ and $\Mhs$ on $α_s(M_Z)$, $M_t$ and the sparticle spectrum as well as those of $M_t$ on $\tanβ$, $α_s(M_Z)$ and the bottom quark mass, $M_b$. The effect of the Yukawa coupling thresholds on $M_t$ are given for representative sparticle spectra. We describe the quantitative differences between these effects for low and high $\tanβ$. We also give new bounds on superheavy masses, incorporating proton decay as well as unification constraints, the former leading to a lower bound on $α_s$.

hep-ph↗