881 research outputs found
Quantum phase transition in ultrahigh mobility SiGe/Si/SiGe two-dimensional electron system
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) is an exceptional test bed for studying
strong electron correlations in two dimensions in the presence of disorder. In
the present study, it is found that in contrast to previous experiments on
lower-mobility samples, in ultra-high mobility SiGe/Si/SiGe quantum wells the
critical electron density, , of the MIT becomes smaller than the
density, , where the effective mass at the Fermi level tends to
diverge. Near the topological phase transition expected at , the
metallic temperature dependence of the resistance should be strengthened, which
is consistent with the experimental observation of more than an order of
magnitude resistance drop with decreasing temperature below K.Comment: Misprints corrected. As publishe
Beyond Eliashberg superconductivity in MgB2: anharmonicity, two-phonon scattering, and multiple gaps
Density-functional calculations of the phonon spectrum and electron-phonon
coupling in MgB are presented. The phonons, which involve in-plane
B displacements, couple strongly to the electronic bands. The
isotropic electron-phonon coupling constant is calculated to be about 0.8.
Allowing for different order parameters in different bands, the superconducting
in the clean limit is calculated to be significantly larger. The
phonons are strongly anharmonic, and the non-linear contribution to
the coupling between the modes and the p bands is significant.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Reevaluating electron-phonon coupling strengths: Indium as a test case for ab initio and many-body-theory methods
Using indium as a test case, we investigate the accuracy of the
electron-phonon coupling calculated with state-of-the-art ab initio and
many-body theory methods. The ab initio calculations -- where electrons are
treated in the local-density approximation, and phonons and the electron-phonon
interaction are treated within linear response -- predict an electron-phonon
spectral function alpha^2 F(omega) which translates into a relative tunneling
conductance that agrees with experiment to within one part in 1000. The
many-body theory calculations -- where alpha^2 F(omega) is extracted from
tunneling data by means of the McMillan-Rowell tunneling inversion method --
provide spectral functions that depend strongly on details of the inversion
process. For the the most important moment of alpha^2 F(omega), the
mass-renormalization parameter lambda, we report 0.9 +/- 0.1, in contrast to
the value 0.805 quoted for nearly three decades in the literature. The ab
initio calculations also provide the transport electron-phonon spectral
function alpha_{tr}^2 F(omega), from which we calculate the resistivity as a
function of temperature in good agreement with experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
Strained tetragonal states and Bain paths in metals
Paths of tetragonal states between two phases of a material, such as bcc and
fcc, are called Bain paths. Two simple Bain paths can be defined in terms of
special imposed stresses, one of which applies directly to strained epitaxial
films. Each path goes far into the range of nonlinear elasticity and reaches a
range of structural parameters in which the structure is inherently unstable.
In this paper we identify and analyze the general properties of these paths by
density functional theory. Special examples include vanadium, cobalt and
copper, and the epitaxial path is used to identify an epitaxial film as related
uniquely to a bulk phase.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Quantitative Assessment of Experimental Ocular Inflammatory Disease
Ocular inflammation imposes a high medical burden on patients and substantial costs on the health-care systems that mange these often chronic and debilitating diseases. Many clinical phenotypes are recognized and classifying the severity of inflammation in an eye with uveitis is an ongoing challenge. With the widespread application of optical coherence tomography in the clinic has come the impetus for more robust methods to compare disease between different patients and different treatment centers. Models can recapitulate many of the features seen in the clinic, but until recently the quality of imaging available has lagged that applied in humans. In the model experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), we highlight three linked clinical states that produce retinal vulnerability to inflammation, all different from healthy tissue, but distinct from each other. Deploying longitudinal, multimodal imaging approaches can be coupled to analysis in the tissue of changes in architecture, cell content and function. This can enrich our understanding of pathology, increase the sensitivity with which the impacts of therapeutic interventions are assessed and address questions of tissue regeneration and repair. Modern image processing, including the application of artificial intelligence, in the context of such models of disease can lay a foundation for new approaches to monitoring tissue health
Fluctuation Study of the Specific Heat of MgB2
The specific heat of polycrystalline MgB has been measured with
high resolution ac calorimetry from 5 to 45 K at constant magnetic fields. The
excess specific heat above T is discussed in terms of Gaussian
fluctuations and suggests that MgB is a bulk superconductor with
Ginzburg-Landau coherence length \AA . The transition-width
broadening in field is treated in terms of lowest-Landau-level (LLL)
fluctuations. That analysis requires that \AA . The underestimate
of the coherence length in field, along with deviations from 3D LLL
predictions, suggest that there is an influence from the anisotropy of B
between the c-axis and the a-b plane.Comment: Phys. Rev. B 66, 134515 (2002
Constitutive interferon signaling maintains critical threshold of MLKL expression to license necroptosis
Interferons (IFNs) are critical determinants in immune-competence and autoimmunity, and are endogenously regulated by a low-level constitutive feedback loop. However, little is known about the functions and origins of constitutive IFN. Recently, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IFN was implicated as a driver of necroptosis, a necrotic form of cell death downstream of receptor-interacting protein (RIP) kinase activation and executed by mixed lineage kinase like-domain (MLKL) protein. We found that the pre-established IFN status of the cell, instead of LPS-induced IFN, is critical for the early initiation of necroptosis in macrophages. This pre-established IFN signature stems from cytosolic DNA sensing via cGAS/STING, and maintains the expression of MLKL and one or more unknown effectors above a critical threshold to allow for MLKL oligomerization and cell death. Finally, we found that elevated IFN-signaling in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) augments necroptosis, providing a link between pathological IFN and tissue damage during autoimmunity
A Compensatory Mutation Provides Resistance to Disparate HIV Fusion Inhibitor Peptides and Enhances Membrane Fusion
Fusion inhibitors are a class of antiretroviral drugs used to prevent entry of HIV into host cells. Many of the fusion inhibitors being developed, including the drug enfuvirtide, are peptides designed to competitively inhibit the viral fusion protein gp41. With the emergence of drug resistance, there is an increased need for effective and unique alternatives within this class of antivirals. One such alternative is a class of cyclic, cationic, antimicrobial peptides known as θ-defensins, which are produced by many non-human primates and exhibit broad-spectrum antiviral and antibacterial activity. Currently, the θ-defensin analog RC-101 is being developed as a microbicide due to its specific antiviral activity, lack of toxicity to cells and tissues, and safety in animals. Understanding potential RC-101 resistance, and how resistance to other fusion inhibitors affects RC-101 susceptibility, is critical for future development. In previous studies, we identified a mutant, R5-tropic virus that had evolved partial resistance to RC-101 during in vitro selection. Here, we report that a secondary mutation in gp41 was found to restore replicative fitness, membrane fusion, and the rate of viral entry, which were compromised by an initial mutation providing partial RC-101 resistance. Interestingly, we show that RC-101 is effective against two enfuvirtide-resistant mutants, demonstrating the clinical importance of RC-101 as a unique fusion inhibitor. These findings both expand our understanding of HIV drug-resistance to diverse peptide fusion inhibitors and emphasize the significance of compensatory gp41 mutations. © 2013 Wood et al
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