Thermally-Assisted Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetization Reversal of Uniaxial Nanomagnets in Energy Space

The asymptotic behavior of switching time as a function of current for a uniaxial macrospin under the effects of both spin-torque and thermal noise is explored analytically by focusing on its diffusive energy space dynamics. The scaling dependence ($I\rightarrow 0$, $<\tau\propto\exp(-\xi(1-I)^2)$) is shown to confirm recent literature results. The analysis shows the mean switching time to be functionally independent of the angle between the spin current and magnet's uniaxial axes. These results have important implications for modeling the energetics of thermally assisted magnetization reversal of spin transfer magnetic random access memory bit cells.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1205.650

Thermally-Assisted Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetization Reversal in Uniaxial Nanomagnets

We simulate the stochastic Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) dynamics of a uniaxial nanomagnet out to sub-millisecond timescales using a graphical processing unit based micromagnetic code and determine the effect of geometrical tilts between the spin-current and uniaxial anisotropy axes on the thermally assisted reversal dynamics. The asymptotic behavior of the switching time ($I\rightarrow 0$, $\propto\exp(-\xi(1-I)^2)$) is approached gradually, indicating a broad crossover regime between ballistic and thermally assisted spin transfer reversal. Interestingly, the mean switching time is shown to be nearly independent of the angle between the spin current and magnet's uniaxial axes. These results have important implications for modeling the energetics of thermally assisted magnetization reversal of spin transfer magnetic random access memory bit cells.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Phase shifts of synchronized oscillators and the systolic/diastolic blood pressure relation

We study the phase-synchronization properties of systolic and diastolic arterial pressure in healthy subjects. We find that delays in the oscillatory components of the time series depend on the frequency bands that are considered, in particular we find a change of sign in the phase shift going from the Very Low Frequency band to the High Frequency band. This behavior should reflect a collective behavior of a system of nonlinear interacting elementary oscillators. We prove that some models describing such systems, e.g. the Winfree and the Kuramoto models offer a clue to this phenomenon. For these theoretical models there is a linear relationship between phase shifts and the difference of natural frequencies of oscillators and a change of sign in the phase shift naturally emerges.Comment: 8 figures, 9 page

The absolute age of the globular cluster M15 using near-infrared adaptive optics images from PISCES/LBT

We present deep near-infrared (NIR) J, Ks photometry of the old, metal-poor Galactic globular cluster M\,15 obtained with images collected with the LUCI1 and PISCES cameras available at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We show how the use of First Light Adaptive Optics system coupled with the (FLAO) PISCES camera allows us to improve the limiting magnitude by ~2 mag in Ks. By analyzing archival HST data, we demonstrate that the quality of the LBT/PISCES color magnitude diagram is fully comparable with analogous space-based data. The smaller field of view is balanced by the shorter exposure time required to reach a similar photometric limit. We investigated the absolute age of M\,15 by means of two methods: i) by determining the age from the position of the main sequence turn-off; and ii) by the magnitude difference between the MSTO and the well-defined knee detected along the faint portion of the MS. We derive consistent values of the absolute age of M15, that is 12.9+-2.6 Gyr and 13.3+-1.1 Gyr, respectively.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, ApJ accepte

Definition of miRNAs expression profile in glioblastoma samples: the relevance of non-neoplastic brain reference.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive brain tumor that may occur in adults. Regardless of the huge improvements in surgery and molecular therapy, the outcome of neoplasia remains poor. MicroRNAs are small molecules involved in several cellular processes, and their expression is altered in the vast majority of tumors. Several studies reported the expression of different miRNAs in glioblastoma, but one of the most critical point in understanding glioblastoma miRNAs profile is the comparison of these studies. In this paper, we focused our attention on the non-neoplastic references used for determining miRNAs expression. The aim of this study was to investigate if using three different non-neoplastic brain references (normal adjacent the tumor, commercial total RNA, and epileptic specimens) could provide discrepant results. The analysis of 19 miRNAs was performed using Real-Time PCR, starting from the set of samples described above and the expression values compared. Moreover, the three different normal RNAs were used to determine the miRNAs profile in 30 glioblastomas. The data showed that different non-neoplastic controls could lead to different results and emphasize the importance of comparing miRNAs profiles obtained using the same experimental condition