The effects of anomalies in high density QCD are striking. We consider a direct application of one of these effects, namely topological currents, on the physics of neutron stars. All the elements required for topological currents are present in neutron stars: degenerate matter, large magnetic fields, and parity violating processes. These conditions lead to the creation of vector currents capable of carrying momentum and inducing magnetic fields. We estimate the size of these currents for many representative states of dense matter in the neutron star and argue that they could be responsible for the large proper motion of neutron stars (kicks), the toroidal magnetic field and finite magnetic helicity needed for stability of the poloidal field, and the resolution of the conflict between type-II superconductivity and precession. Though these observational effects appear unrelated, they likely originate from the same physics-they are all P-odd phenomena that stem from a topological current generated by parity violation.

We suggest a mechanism that may resolve a conflict between the precession of a neutron star and the widely accepted idea that protons in the bulk of the neutron star form a type II superconductor. We will show that if there is a persistent, nondissipating current running along the magnetic flux tubes the force between magnetic flux tubes may be attractive, resulting in a type I, rather than a type II, superconductor. If this is the case, the conflict between the observed precession and the canonical estimation of the Landau-Ginzburg parameter κ > 1/ √ 2 (which suggests type-II behavior) will automatically be resolved. We calculate the interaction between two vortices, each carrying a current j , and demonstrate that when j >¯h c 2qλ , where q is the charge of the Cooper pair and λ is the Meissner penetration depth, a superconductor is always type-I, even when the cannonical Landau-Ginzburg parameter κ indicates type II behavior. If this condition is met, the magnetic field is completely expelled from the superconducting regions of the neutron star. This leads to the formation of the intermediate state, where alternating domains of superconducting matter and normal matter coexist. We further argue that even when the induced current is small j <¯h c 2qλ the vortex Abrikosov lattice will nevertheless be destroyed due to the helical instability studied previously in many condensed matter systems. This would also resolve the apparent contradiction with the precession of the neutron stars. We also discuss some instances where anomalous induced currents may play a crucial role, such as in neutron star kicks, pulsar glitches, the toroidal magnetic field and the magnetic helicity.

We propose a way to introduce the currents responsible for the chiral magnetic effect, and similar phenomena, into the AdS/CFT description. Such currents are thought to occur in heavy ion collisions due to topologically nontrivial field configurations and in dense stars due to beta decay. They may be responsible for the P and CP odd effects seen at RHIC and the anomalously large velocities observed in some pulsars. We discuss the boundary conditions that allow the phenomenon to exist in real systems and show how one would introduce similar boundary conditions into a holographic model of QCD such that the current is reproduced.

ObjectiveImpulsivity is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) that likely arises from combined genetic and environmental influences. The interaction of the low activity variant of the monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA-L) gene and early childhood adversity has been shown to predict aggression in clinical and non-clinical populations. Although impulsivity is a risk factor for aggression in BPD and ASPD, little research has investigated potential gene-environment (G×E) influences impacting its expression in these conditions. Moreover, G×E interactions may differ by diagnosis.MethodsFull factorial analysis of variance was employed to investigate the influence of monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) genotype, childhood abuse, and diagnosis on Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11) scores in 61 individuals: 20 subjects with BPD, 18 subjects with ASPD, and 23 healthy controls.ResultsA group×genotype×abuse interaction was present (F(2,49)=4.4, p=0.018), such that the interaction of MAOA-L and childhood abuse predicted greater BIS-11 motor impulsiveness in BPD. Additionally, BPD subjects reported higher BIS-11 attentional impulsiveness versus ASPD participants (t(1,36)=2.3, p=0.025).ConclusionThese preliminary results suggest that MAOA-L may modulate the impact of childhood abuse on impulsivity in BPD. Results additionally indicate that impulsiveness may be expressed differently in BPD and ASPD.

We show that kicks generated by topological currents may be responsible for the large velocities seen in a number of pulsars. The majority of the kicks builds up within the first second of the star's birth and generates a force about two orders of magnitude larger than a neutrino kick in the same temperature and magnetic field regime. Because of the nature of the topological currents, the star's cooling is not affected until it reaches 10 9 K; thereafter the current replaces neutrino emission as the dominant cooling process. A requirement for the kick to occur is a suitably thin crust on the star; this leads us to speculate that pulsars with large kicks are quark stars and those with small kicks are neutron stars. If true, this would be an elegant way to distinguish quark stars from neutron stars.