109 research outputs found
Supershell structure in trapped dilute Fermi gases
We show that a dilute harmonically trapped two-component gas of fermionic
atoms with a weak repulsive interaction has a pronounced super-shell structure:
the shell fillings due to the spherical harmonic trapping potential are
modulated by a beat mode. This changes the ``magic numbers'' occurring between
the beat nodes by half a period. The length and amplitude of this beating mode
depend on the strength of the interaction. We give a simple interpretation of
the beat structure in terms of a semiclassical trace formula for the symmetry
breaking U(3) --> SO(3).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; In version 2, references added. The semiclassical
explanation of super-shell structure is refined. Version 3, as appeared in
Phys. Rev.
Super-shell structure in harmonically trapped fermionic gases and its semi-classical interpretation
It was recently shown in self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations that a
harmonically trapped dilute gas of fermionic atoms with a repulsive two-body
interaction exhibits a pronounced {\it super-shell} structure: the shell
fillings due to the spherical harmonic trapping potential are modulated by a
beat mode. This changes the ``magic numbers'' occurring between the beat nodes
by half a period. The length and amplitude of the beating mode depends on the
strength of the interaction. We give a qualitative interpretation of the beat
structure in terms of a semiclassical trace formula that uniformly describes
the symmetry breaking U(3) SO(3) in a 3D harmonic oscillator potential
perturbed by an anharmonic term with arbitrary strength. We show
that at low Fermi energies (or particle numbers), the beating gross-shell
structure of this system is dominated solely by the two-fold degenerate
circular and (diametrically) pendulating orbits.Comment: Final version of procedings for the 'Nilsson conference
R^4 counterterm and E7(7) symmetry in maximal supergravity
The coefficient of a potential R^4 counterterm in N=8 supergravity has been
shown previously to vanish in an explicit three-loop calculation. The R^4 term
respects N=8 supersymmetry; hence this result poses the question of whether
another symmetry could be responsible for the cancellation of the three-loop
divergence. In this article we investigate possible restrictions from the coset
symmetry E7(7)/SU(8), exploring the limits as a single scalar becomes soft, as
well as a double-soft scalar limit relation derived recently by Arkani-Hamed et
al. We implement these relations for the matrix elements of the R^4 term that
occurs in the low-energy expansion of closed-string tree-level amplitudes. We
find that the matrix elements of R^4 that we investigated all obey the
double-soft scalar limit relation, including certain
non-maximally-helicity-violating six-point amplitudes. However, the single-soft
limit does not vanish for this latter set of amplitudes, which suggests that
the E7(7) symmetry is broken by the R^4 term.Comment: 33 pages, typos corrected, published versio
Uniform semiclassical trace formula for U(3) --> SO(3) symmetry breaking
We develop a uniform semiclassical trace formula for the density of states of
a three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator (HO), perturbed by a term
. This term breaks the U(3) symmetry of the HO, resulting in a
spherical system with SO(3) symmetry. We first treat the anharmonic term in
semiclassical perturbation theory by integration of the action of the perturbed
periodic HO orbits over the manifold P which characterizes
their 4-fold degeneracy. Then we obtain an analytical uniform trace formula
which in the limit of strong perturbations (or high energy) asymptotically goes
over into the correct trace formula of the full anharmonic system with SO(3)
symmetry, and in the limit (or energy) restores the HO trace
formula with U(3) symmetry. We demonstrate that the gross-shell structure of
this anharmonically perturbed system is dominated by the two-fold degenerate
diameter and circular orbits, and {\it not} by the orbits with the largest
classical degeneracy, which are the three-fold degenerate tori with rational
ratios of radial and angular frequencies. The same
holds also for the limit of a purely quartic spherical potential .Comment: LaTeX (revtex4), 26pp., 5 figures, 1 table; final version to be
published in J. Phys. A (without appendices C and D
Revisiting the S-matrix approach to the open superstring low energy effective lagrangian
The conventional S-matrix approach to the (tree level) open string low energy
effective lagrangian assumes that, in order to obtain all its bosonic
order terms, it is necessary to know the open string (tree level)
-point amplitude of massless bosons, at least expanded at that order in
. In this work we clarify that the previous claim is indeed valid for
the bosonic open string, but for the supersymmetric one the situation is much
more better than that: there are constraints in the kinematical bosonic terms
of the amplitude (probably due to Spacetime Supersymmetry) such that a much
lower open superstring -point amplitude is needed to find all the
order terms. In this `revisited' S-matrix approach we have
checked that, at least up to order, using these kinematical
constraints and only the known open superstring 4-point amplitude, it is
possible to determine all the bosonic terms of the low energy effective
lagrangian. The sort of results that we obtain seem to agree completely with
the ones achieved by the method of BPS configurations, proposed about ten years
ago. By means of the KLT relations, our results can be mapped to the NS-NS
sector of the low energy effective lagrangian of the type II string theories
implying that there one can also find kinematical constraints in the -point
amplitudes and that important informations can be inferred, at least up to
order, by only using the (tree level) 4-point amplitude.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figure, Submitted on Aug 4, 2012, Published on Oct 15,
201
Physics of Neutron Star Crusts
The physics of neutron star crusts is vast, involving many different research
fields, from nuclear and condensed matter physics to general relativity. This
review summarizes the progress, which has been achieved over the last few
years, in modeling neutron star crusts, both at the microscopic and macroscopic
levels. The confrontation of these theoretical models with observations is also
briefly discussed.Comment: 182 pages, published version available at
<http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2008-10
Transcription Inhibition by DRB Potentiates Recombinational Repair of UV Lesions in Mammalian Cells
Homologous recombination (HR) is intricately associated with replication, transcription and DNA repair in all organisms studied. However, the interplay between all these processes occurring simultaneously on the same DNA molecule is still poorly understood. Here, we study the interplay between transcription and HR during ultraviolet light (UV)-induced DNA damage in mammalian cells. Our results show that inhibition of transcription with 5,6-dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB) increases the number of UV-induced DNA lesions (γH2AX, 53BP1 foci formation), which correlates with a decrease in the survival of wild type or nucleotide excision repair defective cells. Furthermore, we observe an increase in RAD51 foci formation, suggesting HR is triggered in response to an increase in UV-induced DSBs, while inhibiting transcription. Unexpectedly, we observe that DRB fails to sensitise HR defective cells to UV treatment. Thus, increased RAD51 foci formation correlates with increased cell death, suggesting the existence of a futile HR repair of UV-induced DSBs which is linked to transcription inhibition
Nucleolin Inhibits G4 Oligonucleotide Unwinding by Werner Helicase
The Werner protein (WRNp), a member of the RecQ helicase family, is strongly associated with the nucleolus, as is nucleolin (NCL), an important nucleolar constituent protein. Both WRNp and NCL respond to the effects of DNA damaging agents. Therefore, we have investigated if these nuclear proteins interact and if this interaction has a possible functional significance in DNA damage repair.Here we report that WRNp interacts with the RNA-binding protein, NCL, based on immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescent co-localization in live and fixed cells, and direct binding of purified WRNp to nucleolin. We also map the binding region to the C-terminal domains of both proteins. Furthermore, treatment of U2OS cells with 15 µM of the Topoisomerase I inhibitor, camptothecin, causes the dissociation of the nucleolin-Werner complex in the nucleolus, followed by partial re-association in the nucleoplasm. Other DNA damaging agents, such as hydroxyurea, Mitomycin C, and aphidicolin do not have these effects. Nucleolin or its C-terminal fragment affected the helicase, but not the exonuclease activity of WRNp, by inhibiting WRN unwinding of G4 tetraplex DNA structures, as seen in activity assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA).These data suggest that nucleolin may regulate G4 DNA unwinding by WRNp, possibly in response to certain DNA damaging agents. We postulate that the NCL-WRNp complex may contain an inactive form of WRNp, which is released from the nucleolus upon DNA damage. Then, when required, WRNp is released from inhibition and can participate in the DNA repair processes
Fluids and barriers of the CNS: a historical viewpoint
Tracing the exact origins of modern science can be a difficult but rewarding pursuit. It is possible for the astute reader to follow the background of any subject through the many important surviving texts from the classical and ancient world. While empirical investigations have been described by many since the time of Aristotle and scientific methods have been employed since the Middle Ages, the beginnings of modern science are generally accepted to have originated during the 'scientific revolution' of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe. The scientific method is so fundamental to modern science that some philosophers consider earlier investigations as 'pre-science'. Notwithstanding this, the insight that can be gained from the study of the beginnings of a subject can prove important in the understanding of work more recently completed. As this journal undergoes an expansion in focus and nomenclature from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into all barriers of the central nervous system (CNS), this review traces the history of both the blood-CSF and blood-brain barriers from as early as it was possible to find references, to the time when modern concepts were established at the beginning of the 20th century
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