3,576 research outputs found
Excited hadrons on the lattice: Mesons
We present results for masses of excited mesons from quenched calculations
using chirally improved quarks at pion masses down to 350 MeV. The key features
of our analysis are the use of a matrix of correlators from various source and
sink operators and a basis which includes quark sources with different spatial
widths, thereby improving overlap with states exhibiting radial excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; version accepted to PR
Hybrid configuration content of heavy S-wave mesons
We use the non-relativistic expansion of QCD (NRQCD) on the lattice to study
the lowest hybrid configuration contribution to the ground state of heavy
S-wave mesons. Using lowest-order lattice NRQCD to create the heavy-quark
propagators, we form a basis of ``unperturbed'' S-wave and hybrid states. We
then apply the lowest-order coupling of the quark spin and chromomagnetic field
at an intermediate time slice to create ``mixed'' correlators between the
S-wave and hybrid states. From the resulting amplitudes, we extract the
off-diagonal element of our two-state Hamiltonian. Diagonalizing this
Hamiltonian gives us the admixture of hybrid configuration within the meson
ground state. The present effort represents a continuation of previous work:
the analysis has been extended to include lattices of varying spacings, source
operators having better overlap with the ground states, and the pseudoscalar
(along with the vector) channel. Results are presented for bottomonium
(, ) using three different sets of quenched lattices. We
also show results for charmonium (, ) from one lattice set,
although we note that the non-relativistic approximation is not expected to be
very good in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, version to appear in Phys Rev
The chloroplast RNA helicase ISE2 is required for multiple chloroplast RNA processing steps in Arabidopsis thaliana
INCREASED SIZE EXCLUSION LIMIT2 (ISE2) is a chloroplast-localized RNA helicase that is indispensable for proper plant development. Chloroplasts in leaves with reduced ISE2expression have previously been shown to exhibit reduced thylakoid contents and increased stromal volume, indicative of defective development. It has recently been reported that ISE2 is required for the splicing of group II introns from chloroplast transcripts. The current study extends these findings, and presents evidence for ISE2’s role in multiple aspects of chloroplast RNA processing beyond group II intron splicing. Loss of ISE2 from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves resulted in defects in C-to-U RNA editing, altered accumulation of chloroplast transcripts and chloroplast-encoded proteins, and defective processing of chloroplast ribosomal RNAs. Potential ISE2 substrates were identified by RNA immunoprecipitation followed by next-generation sequencing (RIP-seq), and the diversity of RNA species identified supports ISE2’s involvement in multiple aspects of chloroplast RNA metabolism. Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses revealed that ISE2 is a non-canonical Ski2-like RNA helicase that represents a separate sub-clade unique to green photosynthetic organisms, consistent with its function as an essential protein. Thus ISE2’s evolutionary conservation may be explained by its numerous roles in regulating chloroplast gene expression
Optical study of interactions in a d-electron Kondo lattice with ferromagnetism
We report on a comprehensive optical, transport and thermodynamic study of
the Zintl compound YbMnSb, demonstrating that it is the first
ferromagnetic Kondo lattice compound in the underscreened limit. We propose a
scenerio whereby the combination of Kondo and Jahn-Teller effects provides a
consistent explanation of both transport and optical data.Comment: 4 page
Screening of biocatalysts for synthesis of the Wieland-Miescher ketone.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedLipases, a versatile class of biocatalysts, have been shown to function in non-aqueous media/organic solvents and to possess “promiscuous� catalytic activity for a wide range of organic transformations. In this study, we explored the biocatalytic properties of a library of commercially available lipases by screening them for catalysis of a one-pot synthesis of Wieland–Miescher ketone, an important intermediate in the synthesis of biologically active compounds such as steroids and terpenoids, from methyl vinyl ketone and 2-methyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione. As a direct outgrowth of this screen, we created an optimized procedure for Wieland–Miescher ketone (WMK) synthesis using crude lipase preparations, characterizing both reaction yield and enantiomeric excess. We also identified principal components of the crude lipase mixture through proteomics and present evidence for a non-lipolytic origin of the observed catalysis. Finally, using the optimized conditions developed in this study, we propose a general absorbance-based screening methodology for assessing biocatalytic potential of crude enzyme preparations for synthesis of WMK.ECU Open Access Publishing Support Fun
Controlling Curie temperature in (Ga,Ms)As through location of the Fermi level within the impurity band
The ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As has emerged as the most studied
material for prototype applications in semiconductor spintronics. Because
ferromagnetism in (Ga,Mn)As is hole-mediated, the nature of the hole states has
direct and crucial bearing on its Curie temperature TC. It is vigorously
debated, however, whether holes in (Ga,Mn)As reside in the valence band or in
an impurity band. In this paper we combine results of channeling experiments,
which measure the concentrations both of Mn ions and of holes relevant to the
ferromagnetic order, with magnetization, transport, and magneto-optical data to
address this issue. Taken together, these measurements provide strong evidence
that it is the location of the Fermi level within the impurity band that
determines TC through determining the degree of hole localization. This finding
differs drastically from the often accepted view that TC is controlled by
valence band holes, thus opening new avenues for achieving higher values of TC.Comment: 5 figures, supplementary material include
Correlated metallic state of vanadium dioxide
The metal-insulator transition and unconventional metallic transport in
vanadium dioxide (VO) are investigated with a combination of spectroscopic
ellipsometry and reflectance measurements. The data indicates that electronic
correlations, not electron-phonon interactions, govern charge dynamics in the
metallic state of VO. This study focuses on the frequency and temperature
dependence of the conductivity in the regime of extremely short mean free path
violating the Ioffe-Regel-Mott limit of metallic transport. The standard
quasiparticle picture of charge conduction is found to be untenable in metallic
VO.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Thermodynamics with 3 and 2+1 Flavors of Improved Staggered Quarks
We present preliminary results from exploring the phase diagram of finite
temperature QCD with three degenerate flavors and with two light flavors and
the mass of the third held approximately at the strange quark mass. We use an
order Symanzik improved gauge action and an order
improved staggered quark action. The improved staggered
action leads to a dispersion relation with diminished lattice artifacts, and
hence better thermodynamic properties. It decreases the flavor symmetry
breaking of staggered quarks substantially, and we estimate that at the
transition temperature for an to lattice {\em all} pions will
be lighter than the lightest kaon. Preliminary results on lattices with
, 6 and 8 are presented.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, contribution to Lattice2001(hightemp) August
19--24, 2001, Berlin, German
Electrodynamics of the vanadium oxides VO2 and V2O3
The optical/infrared properties of films of vanadium dioxide (VO2) and
vanadium sesquioxide (V2O3) have been investigated via ellipsometry and
near-normal incidence reflectance measurements from far infrared to ultraviolet
frequencies. Significant changes occur in the optical conductivity of both VO2
and V2O3 across the metal-insulator transitions at least up to (and possibly
beyond) 6 eV. We argue that such changes in optical conductivity and electronic
spectral weight over a broad frequency range is evidence of the important role
of electronic correlations to the metal-insulator transitions in both of these
vanadium oxides. We observe a sharp optical transition with possible final
state (exciton) effects in the insulating phase of VO2. This sharp optical
transition occurs between narrow a1g bands that arise from the
quasi-one-dimensional chains of vanadium dimers. Electronic correlations in the
metallic phases of both VO2 and V2O3 lead to reduction of the kinetic energy of
the charge carriers compared to band theory values, with paramagnetic metallic
V2O3 showing evidence of stronger correlations compared to rutile metallic VO2.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
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