arXiv subjects

James Osborne

Publications and source records attributed to James Osborne.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Towards a 384-channel magnetoencephalography system based on optically pumped magnetometers

Magnetoencephalography using optically pumped magnetometers (OPM-MEG) is gaining significant traction as a neuroimaging tool, with the potential for improved performance and practicality compared to conventional instrumentation. However, OPM-MEG has so far lagged conventional-MEG in terms of the number of independent measurements of magnetic field that can be made across the scalp (i.e. the number of channels). This is important since increasing channel count offers improvements in sensitivity, spatial resolution and coverage. Unfortunately, increasing channel count also poses significant technical and practical challenges. Here, we describe a new OPM-MEG array which exploits triaxial sensors and integrated miniaturised electronic control units to measure MEG data from up to 384 channels. We also introduce a high-speed calibration method to ensure the that the fields measured by this array are high fidelity. The system was validated using a phantom, with results showing that dipole localisation accuracy is better than 1 mm, and correlation between the measured magnetic fields and a dipole model is >0.998. We then demonstrate utility in human MEG acquisition: via measurement of visual gamma oscillations we demonstrate the improvements in sensitivity that are afforded by high channel density, and via a moviewatching paradigm we quantify improvements in spatial resolution. In sum, we show the first OPM-MEG system with a channel count larger than that of typical conventional MEG devices. This represents a significant step on the path towards OPMs becoming the sensor of choice for MEG measurement.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2024

Determining sensor geometry and gain in a wearable MEG system

Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are compact and lightweight sensors that can measure magnetic fields generated by current flow in neuronal assemblies in the brain. Such sensors enable construction of magnetoencephalography (MEG) instrumentation, with significant advantages over conventional MEG devices including adaptability to head size, enhanced movement tolerance, lower complexity and improved data quality. However, realising the potential of OPMs depends on our ability to perform system calibration, which means finding sensor locations, orientations, and the relationship between the sensor output and magnetic field (termed sensor gain). Such calibration is complex in OPMMEG since, for example, OPM placement can change from subject to subject (unlike in conventional MEG where sensor locations or orientations are fixed). Here, we present two methods for calibration, both based on generating well-characterised magnetic fields across a sensor array. Our first device (the HALO) is a head mounted system that generates dipole like fields from a set of coils. Our second (the matrix coil (MC)) generates fields using coils embedded in the walls of a magnetically shielded room. Our results show that both methods offer an accurate means to calibrate an OPM array (e.g. sensor locations within 2 mm of the ground truth) and that the calibrations produced by the two methods agree strongly with each other. When applied to data from human MEG experiments, both methods offer improved signal to noise ratio after beamforming suggesting that they give calibration parameters closer to the ground truth than factory settings and presumed physical sensor coordinates and orientations. Both techniques are practical and easy to integrate into real world MEG applications. This advances the field significantly closer to the routine use of OPMs for MEG recording.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2023

Spatial information allows inference of the prevalence of direct cell-to-cell viral infection

The role of direct cell-to-cell spread in viral infections - where virions spread between host and susceptible cells without needing to be secreted into the extracellular environment - has come to be understood as essential to the dynamics of medically significant viruses like hepatitis C and influenza. Recent work in both the experimental and mathematical modelling literature has attempted to quantify the prevalence of cell-to-cell infection compared to the conventional free virus route using a variety of methods and experimental data. However, estimates are subject to significant uncertainty and moreover rely on data collected by inhibiting one mode of infection by either chemical or physical factors, which may influence the other mode of infection to an extent which is difficult to quantify. In this work, we conduct a simulation-estimation study to probe the practical identifiability of the proportion of cell-to-cell infection, using two standard mathematical models and synthetic data that would likely be realistic to obtain in the laboratory. We show that this quantity cannot be estimated using non-spatial data alone, and that the collection of a data which describes the spatial structure of the infection is necessary to infer the proportion of cell-to-cell infection. Our results provide guidance for the design of relevant experiments and mathematical tools for accurately inferring the prevalence of cell-to-cell infection in $\textit{in vitro}$ and $\textit{in vivo}$ contexts.

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2022

Choice of spatial discretisation influences the progression of viral infection within multicellular tissues

There has been an increasing recognition of the utility of models of the spatial dynamics of viral spread within tissues. Multicellular models, where cells are represented as discrete regions of space coupled to a virus density surface, are a popular approach to capture these dynamics. Conventionally, such models are simulated by discretising the viral surface and depending on the rate of viral diffusion and other considerations, a finer or coarser discretisation may be used. The impact that this choice may have on the behaviour of the system has not been studied. Here we demonstrate that, if rates of viral diffusion are small, then the choice of spatial discretisation of the viral surface can have quantitative and even qualitative influence on model outputs. We investigate in detail the mechanisms driving these phenomena and discuss the constraints on the design and implementation of multicellular viral dynamics models for different parameter configurations.

q-bio.QM↗

arXiv2021

Multiscale modelling of desquamation in the interfollicular epidermis

Maintenance of epidermal thickness is critical to the barrier function of the skin. Decreased tissue thickness, specifically in the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the tissue), causes discomfort and inflammation, and is related to several severe diseases of the tissue. In order to maintain both stratum corneum thickness and overall tissue thickness it is necessary for the system to balance cell proliferation and cell loss. Cell proliferation in the epidermis occurs in the basal layer and causes constant upwards movement in the tissue. Cell loss occurs when dead cells at the top of the tissue are lost to the environment through a process called desquamation. Desquamation is thought to occur through a gradual reduction in adhesion between cells, due to the cleaving of adhesion proteins by enzymes, in the stratum corneum. In this paper we will investigate combining a (mass action) subcellular model of desquamation with a three dimensional (cell centre based) multicellular model of the interfollicular epidermis to better understand maintenance of epidermal thickness. These investigations show that hypothesised biological models for the degradation of cell-cell adhesion from the literature are able to provide a consistent rate of cell loss in the multicellular model. This loss balances proliferation, and hence maintains a homeostatic tissue thickness. Moreover, we find that multiple proliferative cell populations in the basal layer can be represented by a single proliferative cell population, simplifying investigations with this model. The model is used to investigate a disorder (Netherton Syndrome) which disrupts desquamation. The model shows how biochemical changes can cause disruptions to the tissue, resulting in a reduced tissue thickness and consequently diminishing the protective role of the tissue. A hypothetical treatment result is also investigated. [ABR]

q-bio.TO↗

arXiv2021

Narrow Resonances Revisited -- Simplifying Multidimensional Constraints

As we amass more LHC data, we continue to search for new and improved methods of visualizing search results, in ways that are as model-independent as possible. The simplified limits framework is an approach developed to recast limits on searches for narrow resonances in terms of products of branching ratios (BRs) corresponding to the resonance's production and decay modes. In this work, we extend the simplified limits framework to a multidimensional parameter space of BRs, which can be used to unfold an ambiguity in the simplified parameter $\zeta$ introduced when more than one channel contributes to the production of the resonance. It is also naturally applicable to combining constraints from experimental searches with different observed final states. Constraints can be visualized in a three-dimensional space of branching ratios by employing ternary diagrams, triangle plots which utilize the inherent unitarity of the sum of the resonance's BRs. To demonstrate this new methodology, we recast constraints from recent ATLAS searches in diboson final states for spin-0, 1, and 2 narrow resonances into constraints on the resonance's width-to-mass ratio and display them in the space of relevant branching ratios. We also demonstrate how to generalize the method to cases where more than three branching ratios are relevant by using N-simplex diagrams, and we suggest a broader application of the general method to digital data sets.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

The Return of the WIMP: Missing Energy Signals and the Galactic Center Excess

In a recent work, we emphasized that an excess in tri-lepton events plus missing energy observed by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC could be interpreted as a signal of low energy supersymmetry. In such a scenario the lightest neutralino mass is approximately $m_χ\simeq 60$ GeV and the direct Dark Matter detection cross section is naturally below the current bound. In this work we present simple extensions of this scenario that lead to an explanation of the gamma ray excess at the center of the galaxy observed by Fermi-LAT, as well as the anti-proton excess observed by AMS-02. These extensions include the addition of a small CP violating phase in the neutralino sector or the addition of a light CP-odd Higgs scalar. Our study is of special relevance in view of a recent analysis that casts doubt on the previously accepted preference for mili-second pulsars as the origin of the galactic center excess.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Maintaining the stem cell niche in multicellular models of epithelia

The maintenance of the proliferative cell niche is critical to epithelial tissue morphology and function. In this paper we investigate how current modelling methods can result in the erroneous loss of proliferative cells from the proliferative cell niche. Using an established model of the inter-follicular epidermis we find there is a limit to the proliferative cell densities that can be maintained in the basal layer (the niche) if we do not include additional mechanisms to stop the loss of proliferative cells from the niche. We suggest a new methodology that enables maintenance of a desired homeostatic population of proliferative cells in the niche: a rotational force is applied to the two daughter cells during the mitotic phase of division to enforce a particular division direction. We demonstrate that this new methodology achieves this goal. This methodology reflects the regulation of the orientation of cell division.

q-bio.TO↗

arXiv2018

Supersymmetry and LHC Missing Energy Signals

Current analyses of the LHC data put stringent bounds on strongly interacting supersymmetric particles, restricting the masses of squarks and gluinos to be above the TeV scale. However, the supersymmetric electroweak sector is poorly constrained. In this article we explore the consistency of possible LHC missing energy signals with the broader phenomenological structure of the electroweak sector in low energy supersymmetry models. As an example, we focus on the newly developed Recursive Jigsaw Reconstruction analysis by ATLAS, which reports interesting event excesses in channels containing di-lepton and tri-lepton final states plus missing energy. We show that it is not difficult to obtain compatibility of these LHC data with the observed dark matter relic density, the bounds from dark matter direct detection experiments, and the measured anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. We provide analytical expressions which can be used to understand the range of gaugino masses, the value of the Higgsino mass parameter, the heavy Higgs spectrum, the ratio of the Higgs vacuum expectation values $\tan β$, and the slepton spectrum obtained in our numerical analysis of these observables.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Studies of Lepton Flavor Violation at the LHC

We examine the charged lepton flavor violating process $gg \rightarrow μ^\pm τ^\mp$ at the $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV LHC. Operators generating this process can be induced by new physics (NP) at dimension 8. Despite the power suppression associated with dimension 8 operators, we show that the LHC's large gluon luminosity makes it possible to probe this channel. For an integrated luminosity of 100 fb$^{-1}$ at the LHC, we predict a constraint on the NP scale $Λ\gtrsim 3$ TeV. In addition, we point out that such operators can be induced through top quark loops in models that generate dimension 6 operators of the form $\overline{t} t \, μτ$. We find that the NP scale of these dimension 6 operators can be constrained to be $Λ\gtrsim 3.4-4.1$ TeV with 100 fb$^{-1}$ of data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Beauty-full Tetraquarks

In this article we present a calculation of the $bb\bar{b}\bar{b}$ tetraquark ground-state energy using a diffusion Monte Carlo method to solve the non-relativistic many-body system. The static potential for the four quark system is chosen to align with the flux-tube picture of QCD. Using this approach, we find that the $0^{++}$ state has a mass of $18.69\pm 0.03~\mbox{GeV}$, which is around 100 MeV below twice the $η_b$ mass. This bound state can behave as a four-lepton resonance via its decay to $Υ(1S) Υ(1S)^* \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^- \ell^+ \ell^-$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Phenomenology of Strongly Coupled Chiral Gauge Theories

A sector with QCD-like strong dynamics is common in models of non-standard physics. Such a model could be accessible in LHC searches if both confinement and big-quarks charged under the confining group are at the TeV scale. Big-quark masses at this scale can be explained if the new fermions are chiral under a new $U(1)^\prime$ gauge symmetry such that their bare masses are related to the $U(1)^\prime$-breaking and new confinement scales. Here we present a study of a minimal GUT-motivated and gauge anomaly-free model with implications for the LHC Run 2 searches. We find that the first signatures of such models could appear as two gauge boson resonances. The chiral nature of the model could be confirmed by observation of a $Z^\prime γ$ resonance, where the $Z^\prime$ naturally has a large leptonic branching ratio because of its kinetic mixing with the hypercharge gauge boson.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Search for Heavy Stops with Merged Top-Jets

We study an interesting region of phase space at the LHC for pair-produced stops decaying into hadronic top quarks and light neutralinos. After imposing a sizeable cut on the missing transverse energy, which is the key variable for reducing backgrounds, we have found that the two hadronic tops are likely to merge into a single fat jet. We develop a jet-substructure-based strategy to tag the two merged top-jets and utilize the MT2 variable to further reduce the backgrounds. We obtain about a 50% increase to the ratio of the signal over background and a mild increase on the signal discovery significance, based on a signal with a 1.2 TeV stop and a 100 GeV neutralino, for the 13 TeV LHC with 100 fb$^{-1}$. The general event kinematics could also occur and be explored for other new physics signatures with large missing transverse energy.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

$α_s$ from the updated ALEPH data for hadronic $τ$ decays

We extract the strong coupling $α_s(m_τ^2)$ from the recently updated ALEPH non-strange spectral functions obtained from hadronic $τ$ decays. We apply a self-consistent analysis method, first tested in the analysis of OPAL data, to extract $α_s(m_τ^2)$ and non-perturbative contributions. The analysis yields $α_s^{\rm FO}(m_τ^2)=0.296\pm0.010 $, using Fixed Order Perturbation Theory (FOPT), and $α^{\rm CI}_s(m_τ^2)= 0.310\pm0.014$, using Contour Improved Perturbation Theory (CIPT). The weighted average of these results with those previously obtained from OPAL data give $α_s^{\rm FO}(m_τ^2)=0.303\pm 0.009$ and $α_s^{\rm CI}(m_τ^2)=0.319\pm 0.012$, which gives, after evolution to the $Z$ boson mass scale, $α^{\rm FO}_s(m_Z^2)=0.1165\pm0.0012 $ and $α_s^{\rm CI}(m_Z^2)=0.1185\pm0.0015 $, respectively. We observe that non-perturbative effects limit the accuracy with which $α_s$ can be extracted from $τ$ decay data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Chromo-Rayleigh Interactions of Dark Matter

For a wide range of models, dark matter can interact with QCD gluons via chromo-Rayleigh interactions. We point out that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as a gluon machine, provides a superb probe of such interactions. In this paper, we introduce simplified models to UV-complete two effective dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions and identify the corresponding collider signatures, including four jets or a pair of di-jet resonances plus missing transverse energy. After performing collider studies for both the 8 TeV and 14 TeV LHC, we find that the LHC can be more sensitive to dark matter chromo-Rayleigh interactions than direct detection experiments and thus provides the best opportunity for future discovery of this class of models.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

The strong coupling from the revised ALEPH data for hadronic $τ$ decays

We apply an analysis method previously developed for the extraction of the strong coupling from the OPAL data to the recently revised ALEPH data for non-strange hadronic $τ$ decays. Our analysis yields the values $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.296\pm 0.010$ using fixed-order perturbation theory, and $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.310\pm 0.014$ using contour-improved perturbation theory. Averaging these values with our previously obtained values from the OPAL data, we find $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.303\pm 0.009$, respectively, $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.319\pm 0.012$. We present a critique of the analysis method employed previously, for example in analyses by the ALEPH and OPAL collaborations, and compare it with our own approach. Our conclusion is that non-perturbative effects limit the accuracy with which the strong coupling, an inherently perturbative quantity, can be extracted at energies as low as the $τ$ mass. Our results further indicate that systematic errors on the determination of the strong coupling from analyses of hadronic $τ$-decay data have been underestimated in much of the existing literature.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

$α_{s}$ from the (revised) ALEPH data for $τ$ decay

We present a new analysis of $α_s$ from hadronic $τ$ decays based on the recently revised ALEPH data. The analysis is based on a strategy which we previously applied to the OPAL data. We critically compare our strategy to the one traditionally used and comment on the main differences. Our analysis yields the values $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.296\pm 0.010$ using fixed-order perturbation theory, and $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.310\pm 0.014$ using contour-improved perturbation theory. Averaging these values with our previously obtained values from the OPAL data, we find $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.303\pm 0.009$, respectively, $α_s(m_τ^2)=0.319\pm 0.012$, as the most reliable results for $α_s$ from $τ$ decays currently available.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

The strong coupling from tau decays without prejudice

We review our recent determination of the strong coupling α_s from the OPAL data for non-strange hadronic tau decays. We find that α_s(m^2_τ) =0.325+-0.018 using fixed-order perturbation theory, and α_s(m^2_τ)=0.347+-0.025 using contour-improved perturbation theory. At present, these values supersede any earlier determinations of the strong coupling from hadronic tau decays, including those from ALEPH data.

hep-ph↗