128 research outputs found
Adiabatic Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg transition with or without dissipation in low spin molecular system V15
The spin one half molecular system V15 shows no barrier against spin
reversal. This makes possible direct phonon activation between the two levels.
By tuning the field sweeping rate and the thermal coupling between sample and
thermal reservoir we have control over the phonon-bottleneck phenomena
previously reported in this system. We demonstrate adiabatic motion of molecule
spins in time dependent magnetic fields and with different thermal coupling to
the cryostat bath. We also discuss the origin of the zero-field tunneling
splitting for a half-integer spin.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. B - Rapid Communication
First- and second-order transitions of the escape rate in ferrimagnetic or antiferromagnetic particles
Quantum-classical escape-rate transition has been studied for two general
forms of magnetic anisotropy in ferrimagnetic or antiferromagnetic particles.
It is found that the range of the first-order transition is greatly reduced as
the system becomes ferrimagnetic and there is no first-order transition in
almost compensated antiferromagnetic particles. These features can be tested
experimentally in nanomagnets like molecular magnets.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Europhys. Let
Quantum Coherence Oscillations in Antiferromagnetic Chains
Macroscopic quantum coherence oscillations in mesoscopic antiferromagnets may
appear when the anisotropy potential creates a barrier between the
antiferromagnetic states with opposite orientations of the Neel vector. This
phenomenon is studied for the physical situation of the nuclear spin system of
eight Xe atoms arranged on a magnetic surface along a chain. The oscillation
period is calculated as a function of the chain constant. The environmental
decoherence effects at finite temperature are accounted assuming a dipole
coupling between the spin chain and the fluctuating magnetic field of the
surface. The numerical calculations indicate that the oscillations are damped
by a rate , where is the number of spins and is
the relaxation time of a single spin.Comment: 10 pages, Latex, two postscript figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Nuclear spin driven quantum relaxation in LiY_0.998Ho_0.002F_4
Staircase hysteresis loops of the magnetization of a LiY_0.998Ho_0.002F_4
single crystal are observed at subkelvin temperatures and low field sweep
rates. This behavior results from quantum dynamics at avoided level crossings
of the energy spectrum of single Ho^{3+} ions in the presence of hyperfine
interactions. Enhanced quantum relaxation in constant transverse fields allows
the study of the relative magnitude of tunnel splittings. At faster sweep
rates, non-equilibrated spin-phonon and spin-spin transitions, mediated by weak
dipolar interactions, lead to magnetization oscillations and additional steps.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures, using RevTe
Analysis of the Association between CIMP and BRAFV600E in Colorectal Cancer by DNA Methylation Profiling
A CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) is displayed by a distinct subset of colorectal cancers with a high frequency of DNA hypermethylation in a specific group of CpG islands. Recent studies have shown that an activating mutation of BRAF (BRAFV600E) is tightly associated with CIMP, raising the question of whether BRAFV600E plays a causal role in the development of CIMP or whether CIMP provides a favorable environment for the acquisition of BRAFV600E. We employed Illumina GoldenGate DNA methylation technology, which interrogates 1,505 CpG sites in 807 different genes, to further study this association. We first examined whether expression of BRAFV600E causes DNA hypermethylation by stably expressing BRAFV600E in the CIMP-negative, BRAF wild-type COLO 320DM colorectal cancer cell line. We determined 100 CIMP-associated CpG sites and examined changes in DNA methylation in eight stably transfected clones over multiple passages. We found that BRAFV600E is not sufficient to induce CIMP in our system. Secondly, considering the alternative possibility, we identified genes whose DNA hypermethylation was closely linked to BRAFV600E and CIMP in 235 primary colorectal tumors. Interestingly, genes that showed the most significant link include those that mediate various signaling pathways implicated in colorectal tumorigenesis, such as BMP3 and BMP6 (BMP signaling), EPHA3, KIT, and FLT1 (receptor tyrosine kinases) and SMO (Hedgehog signaling). Furthermore, we identified CIMP-dependent DNA hypermethylation of IGFBP7, which has been shown to mediate BRAFV600E-induced cellular senescence and apoptosis. Promoter DNA hypermethylation of IGFBP7 was associated with silencing of the gene. CIMP-specific inactivation of BRAFV600E-induced senescence and apoptosis pathways by IGFBP7 DNA hypermethylation might create a favorable context for the acquisition of BRAFV600E in CIMP+ colorectal cancer. Our data will be useful for future investigations toward understanding CIMP in colorectal cancer and gaining insights into the role of aberrant DNA hypermethylation in colorectal tumorigenesis
Propagation of local decohering action in distributed quantum systems
We study propagation of the decohering influence caused by a local
measurement performed on a distributed quantum system. As an example, the gas
of bosons forming a Bose-Einstein condensate is considered. We demonstrate that
the local decohering perturbation exerted on the measured region propagates
over the system in the form of a decoherence wave, whose dynamics is governed
by elementary excitations of the system. We argue that the post-measurement
evolution of the system (determined by elementary excitations) is of importance
for transfer of decoherence, while the initial collapse of the wave function
has negligible impact on the regions which are not directly affected by the
measurement.Comment: 6 REVTeX pages, no figures. Introduction and discussion sections are
extende
Tunnel splitting and quantum phase interference in biaxial ferrimagnetic particles at excited states
The tunneling splitting in biaxial ferrimagnetic particles at excited states
with an explicit calculation of the prefactor of exponent is obtained in terms
of periodic instantons which are responsible for tunneling at excited states
and is shown as a function of magnetic field applied along an arbitrary
direction in the plane of hard and medium axes. Using complex time
path-integral we demonstrate the oscillation of tunnel splitting with respect
to the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field due to the quantum
phase interference of two tunneling paths of opposite windings . The
oscillation is gradually smeared and in the end the tunnel splitting
monotonously increases with the magnitude of the magnetic field when the
direction of the magnetic field tends to the medium axis. The oscillation
behavior is similar to the recent experimental observation with Fe
molecular clusters. A candidate of possible experiments to observe the effect
of quantum phase interference in the ferrimagnetic particles is proposed.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, acceptted to be pubblished in Physical Review
Quantum Relaxation of Magnetisation in Magnetic Particles
At temperatures below the magnetic anisotropy energy, monodomain magnetic
systems (small particles, nanomagnetic devices, etc.) must relax quantum
mechanically. This quantum relaxation must be mediated by the coupling to both
nuclear spins and phonons (and electrons if either particle or substrate is
conducting. We analyze the effect of each of these couplings, and then combine
them. Conducting systems can be modelled by a "giant Kondo" Hamiltonian, with
nuclear spins added in as well. At low temperatures, even microscopic particles
on a conducting substrate (containing only spins) will have their
magnetisation frozen over millenia by a combination of electronic dissipation
and the "degeneracy blocking" caused by nuclear spins. Raising the temperature
leads to a sudden unblocking of the spin dynamics at a well defined
temperature. Insulating systems are quite different. The relaxation is strongly
enhanced by the coupling to nuclear spins. At short times the magnetisation of
an ensemble of particles relaxes logarithmically in time, after an initial very
fast decay; this relaxation proceeds entirely via the nuclear spins. At longer
times phonons take over, but the decay rate is still governed by the
temperature-dependent nuclear bias field acting on the particles - decay may be
exponential or power-law depending on the temperature. The most surprising
feature of the results is the pivotal role played by the nuclear spins. The
results are relevant to any experiments on magnetic particles in which
interparticle dipolar interactions are unimportant. They are also relevant to
future magnetic device technology.Comment: 30 pages, RevTex, e:mail , Submitted to J.Low
Temp.Phys. on 1 Nov. 199
Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling and Dissipation of Domain Wall in Ferromagnetic Metals
The depinning of a domain wall in ferromagentic metal via macroscopic quantum
tunneling is studied based on the Hubbard model. The dynamics of the
magnetization verctor is shown to be governed by an effective action of
Heisenberg model with a term non-local in time that describes the dissipation
due to the conduction electron. Due to the existence of the Fermi surface there
exists Ohmic dissipation even at zero temperature, which is crucially different
from the case of the insulator. Taking into account the effect of pinning and
the external magnetic field the action is rewritten in terms of a collective
coordinate, the position of the wall, . The tunneling rate for is
calculated by use of the instanton method. It is found that the reduction of
the tunneling rate due to the dissipation is very large for a thin domain wall
with thickness of a few times the lattice spacing, but is negligible for a
thick domain wall. Dissipation due to eddy current is shown to be negligible
for a wall of mesoscopic size.Comment: of pages 26, to appear in "Quantum Tunneling of Magnetization, ed. B.
Barbara and L. Gunther (Kluwer Academic Pub.), Figures available by FAX
(81-48-462-4649
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