234 research outputs found
The Absence of Vortex Lattice Melting in a Conventional Superconductor
The state of the vortex lattice extremely close to the superconducting to
normal transition in an applied magnetic field is investigated in high purity
niobium. We observe that thermal fluctuations of the order parameter broaden
the superconducting to normal transition into a crossover but no sign of a
first order vortex lattice melting transition is detected in measurements of
the heat capacity or the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) intensity.
Direct observation of the vortices via SANS always finds a well ordered vortex
lattice. The fluctuation broadening is considered in terms of the Lowest Landau
Level theory of critical fluctuations and scaling is found to occur over a
large H_{c2}(T) range
Single-strand selective monofunctional uracil-DNA glycosylase (SMUG1) deficiency is linked to aggressive breast cancer and predicts response to adjuvant therapy
Uracil in DNA is an important cause of mutagenesis. SMUG1 is a uracil DNA glycosylase that removes uracil through base excision repair. SMUG1 also processes radiation induced oxidative base damage as well as 5-fluorouracil incorporated into DNA during chemotherapy. We investigated SMUG1 mRNA expression in 249 primary breast cancers. SMUG1 protein expression was investigated in 1165 breast tumours randomised into two cohorts [training set (n=583) and test set (n=582)]. SMUG1 and chemotherapy response was also investigated in a series of 315 ER negative tumours (n=315). For mechanistic insights, SMUG1 was correlated to biomarkers of aggressive phenotype, DNA repair, cell cycle and apoptosis. Low SMUG1 mRNA expression was associated with adverse disease specific survival (p=0.008) and disease free survival (p=0.008). Low SMUG1 protein expression (25%) was associated with high histological grade (p<0.0001), high mitotic index (p<0.0001), pleomorphism (p<0.0001), glandular de-differentiation (p=0.0001), absence of hormonal receptors (ER-/PgR-/AR) (p<0.0001), presence of basal-like (p<0.0001) and triple negative phenotypes (p<0.0001). Low SMUG1 protein expression was associated with loss of BRCA1 (p<0.0001), ATM (p<0.0001) and XRCC1 (p<0.0001). Low p27 (p<0.0001), low p21 (p=0.023), mutant p53 (p=0.037), low MDM2 (p<0.0001), low MDM4 (p=0.004), low Bcl-2 (p=0.001), low Bax (p=0.003) and high MIB1 (p<0.0001) were likely in low SMUG1 tumours. Low SMUG1 protein expression was associated with poor prognosis in univariate (p<0.001) and multivariate analysis (p<0.01). In ER+ cohort that received adjuvant endocrine therapy, low SMUG1 protein expression remains associated with poor survival (p<0.01). In ER- cohort that received adjuvant chemotherapy, low SMUG1 protein expression is associated with improved survival (p=0.043). Our study suggests that low SMUG1 expression may correlate to adverse clinicopathological features and predict response to adjuvant therapy in breast cancer
The Yarkovsky Drift's Influence on NEAs: Trends and Predictions with NEOWISE Measurements
We used WISE-derived geometric albedos (p_V) and diameters, as well as
geometric albedos and diameters from the literature, to produce more accurate
diurnal Yarkovsky drift predictions for 540 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) out of
the current sample of \sim 8,800 known objects. As ten of the twelve objects
with the fastest predicted rates have observed arcs of less than a decade, we
list upcoming apparitions of these NEAs to facilitate observations.Comment: Accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. 41 pages, 3
figure
Uncovering flux line correlations in superconductors by reverse monte carlo refinement of neutron scattering data
Fermi surface and order parameter driven vortex lattice structure transitions in twin-free YBa2Cu3O7
We report on small-angle neutron scattering studies of the intrinsic vortex
lattice (VL) structure in detwinned YBa2Cu3O7 at 2 K, and in fields up to 10.8
T. Because of the suppressed pinning to twin-domain boundaries, a new distorted
hexagonal VL structure phase is stabilized at intermediate fields. It is
separated from a low-field hexagonal phase of different orientation and
distortion by a first-order transition at 2.0(2) T that is probably driven by
Fermi surface effects. We argue that another first-order transition at 6.7(2)
T, into a rhombic structure with a distortion of opposite sign, marks a
crossover from a regime where Fermi surface anisotropy is dominant, to one
where the VL structure and distortion is controlled by the order-parameter
anisotropy.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (2 color), minor change
The pairing state in KFe2As2 studied by measurements of the magnetic vortex lattice
Understanding the mechanism and symmetry of electron pairing in iron-based
superconductors represents an important challenge in condensed matter physics
[1-3]. The observation of magnetic flux lines - "vortices" - in a
superconductor can contribute to this issue, because the spatial variation of
magnetic field reflects the pairing. Unlike many other iron pnictides, our
KFe2As2 crystals have very weak vortex pinning, allowing
small-angle-neutron-scattering (SANS) observations of the intrinsic vortex
lattice (VL). We observe nearly isotropic hexagonal packing of vortices,
without VL-symmetry transitions up to high fields along the fourfold c-axis of
the crystals, indicating rather small anisotropy of the superconducting
properties around this axis. This rules out gap nodes parallel to the c-axis,
and thus d-wave and also anisotropic s-wave pairing [2, 3]. The strong
temperature-dependence of the intensity down to T<<Tc indicates either widely
different full gaps on different Fermi surface sheets, or nodal lines
perpendicular to the axis.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Determination of the Nature of the Tetragonal to Orthorhombic Phase Transition in SrFe_2As_2 by Measurement of the Local Order Parameter
SrFe2As2 is the end-member for a series of iron-pnictide superconductors and
has a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition near 200 K. Previous
macroscopic measurements to determine the nature of the transition gave
seemingly inconsistent results so we use electron microscopy to monitor the
local order parameter showing that the transformation is first order and that
the orthorhombic phase grows as needle domains. This suggests the transition
occurs via the passage of transformation dislocations, explaining the apparent
inconsistencies. This mechanism may be common to similar transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Supplementary information can be found at
http://cook.msm.cam.ac.uk/~supp_info/ An extra sentence in the second last
paragraph and reference 16 has been adde
Spin density wave induced disordering of the vortex lattice in superconducting LaSrCuO
We use small angle neutron scattering to study the superconducting vortex
lattice in LaSrCuO as a function of doping and magnetic field.
We show that near optimally doping the vortex lattice coordination and the
superconducting coherence length are controlled by a van-Hove singularity
crossing the Fermi level near the Brillouin zone boundary. The vortex lattice
properties change dramatically as a spin-density-wave instability is approached
upon underdoping. The Bragg glass paradigm provides a good description of this
regime and suggests that SDW order acts as a novel source of disorder on the
vortex lattice.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.
The orbit of 2010 TK7. Possible regions of stability for other Earth Trojan asteroids
Recently the first Earth Trojan has been observed (Mainzer et al., ApJ 731)
and found to be on an interesting orbit close to the Lagrange point L4 (Connors
et al., Nature 475). In the present study we therefore perform a detailed
investigation on the stability of its orbit and moreover extend the study to
give an idea of the probability to find additional Earth-Trojans. Our results
are derived using different approaches: a) we derive an analytical mapping in
the spatial elliptic restricted three-body problem to find the phase space
structure of the dynamical problem. We explore the stability of the asteroid in
the context of the phase space geometry, including the indirect influence of
the additional planets of our Solar system. b) We use precise numerical methods
to integrate the orbit forward and backward in time in different dynamical
models. Based on a set of 400 clone orbits we derive the probability of capture
and escape of the Earth Trojan asteroids 2010 TK7. c) To this end we perform an
extensive numerical investigation of the stability region of the Earth's
Lagrangian points. We present a detailed parameter study in the regime of
possible stable tadpole and horseshoe orbits of additional Earth-Trojans, i.e.
with respect to the semi-major axes and inclinations of thousands of fictitious
Trojans. All three approaches underline that the Earth Trojan asteroid 2010 TK7
finds himself in an unstable region on the edge of a stable zone; additional
Earth-Trojan asteroids may be found in this regime of stability.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure
- …