74 research outputs found
Vortex Plastic Flow, , Deep in the Bose Glass and Mott-Insulator Regimes
We present simulations of flux-gradient-driven superconducting vortices
interacting with strong columnar pinning defects as an external field is
quasi-statically swept from zero through a matching field . We
analyze several measurable quantities, including the local flux density , magnetization , critical current , and the
individual vortex flow paths. We find a significant change in the behavior of
these quantities as the local flux density crosses , and quantify it
for many microscopic pinning parameters. Further, we find that for a given pin
density can be enhanced by maximizing the distance between the pins
for .Comment: 4 pages, 4 PostScript Figure
Quantum depinning of a pancake-vortex from a columnar defect
We consider the problem of the depinning of a weakly driven ()
pancake vortex from a columnar defect in a Josephson-coupled superconductor,
where denotes the force acting on the vortex ( is the critical
force).
The dynamics of the vortex is supposed to be of the Hall type. The Euclidean
action is calculated in the entire temperature range; the result
is universal and does not depend on the detailed form of the pinning potential.
We show that the transition from quantum to classical behavior is second-order
like with the temperature of the transition scaling like
Special attention is paid to the regime of applicability of our results, in
particular, the influence of the large vortex mass appearing in the superclean
limit is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 4 figures inserte
Interactions, Distribution of Pinning Energies, and Transport in the Bose Glass Phase of Vortices in Superconductors
We study the ground state and low energy excitations of vortices pinned to
columnar defects in superconductors, taking into account the long--range
interaction between the fluxons. We consider the ``underfilled'' situation in
the Bose glass phase, where each flux line is attached to one of the defects,
while some pins remain unoccupied. By exploiting an analogy with disordered
semiconductors, we calculate the spatial configurations in the ground state, as
well as the distribution of pinning energies, using a zero--temperature Monte
Carlo algorithm minimizing the total energy with respect to all possible
one--vortex transfers. Intervortex repulsion leads to strong correlations
whenever the London penetration depth exceeds the fluxon spacing. A pronounced
peak appears in the static structure factor for low filling fractions . Interactions lead to a broad Coulomb gap in the distribution of
pinning energies near the chemical potential , separating
the occupied and empty pins. The vanishing of at leads to a
considerable reduction of variable--range hopping vortex transport by
correlated flux line pinning.Comment: 16 pages (twocolumn), revtex, 16 figures not appended, please contact
[email protected]
Thermally activated Hall creep of flux lines from a columnar defect
We analyse the thermally activated depinning of an elastic string (line
tension ) governed by Hall dynamics from a columnar defect modelled
as a cylindrical potential well of depth for the case of a small
external force An effective 1D field Hamiltonian is derived in order to
describe the 2D string motion. At high temperatures the decay rate is
proportional to with a constant of order of the
critical force and U(F) \sim{\left ({\epsilon V_{0}})}^{{1}/{2}}{V_{0}/{F}}
the activation energy. The results are applied to vortices pinned by columnar
defects in superclean superconductors.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures inserte
Vortex Pinning and the Non-Hermitian Mott Transition
The boson Hubbard model has been extensively studied as a model of the zero
temperature superfluid/insulator transition in Helium-4 on periodic substrates.
It can also serve as a model for vortex lines in superconductors with a
magnetic field parallel to a periodic array of columnar pins, due to a formal
analogy between the vortex lines and the statistical mechanics of quantum
bosons. When the magnetic field has a component perpendicular to the pins, this
analogy yields a non-Hermitian boson Hubbard model. At integer filling, we find
that for small transverse fields, the insulating phase is preserved, and the
transverse field is exponentially screened away from the boundaries of the
superconductor. At larger transverse fields, a ``superfluid'' phase of tilted,
entangled vortices appears. The universality class of the transition is found
to be that of vortex lines entering the Meissner phase at H_{c1}, with the
additional feature that the direction of the tilted vortices at the transition
bears a non-trivial relationship to the direction of the applied magnetic
field. The properties of the Mott Insulator and flux liquid phases with tilt
are also discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures included in text; to appear in Physical Review
Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases
The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of
aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs)
can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves
excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological
concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can
lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl
radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic
inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the
involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a
large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and
inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation
of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many
similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e.
iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The
studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic
and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and
lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and
longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is
thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As
systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have
multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent
patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of
multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the
decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference
Bryodin, a single-chain ribosome-inactivating protein, selectively inhibits the growth of HIV-1-infected cells and reduces HIV-1 production.
Bryodin, a single-chain ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) isolated from Bryonia cretica ssp dioica (cucurbitaceae), was found to selectively inhibit the growth of persistently HIV-1-infected T lymphoma cells (KE37/1) and human lung fibroblast when used in concentrations from 2-20 μg/ml. Uninfected KE37/1 cells remained unaffected at the same doses of bryodin. In addition, bryodin reduced HIV production in the surviving infected cells. Two isoforms of bryodin were purified by dye ligand chromatography. Both isoforms exerted the growth-inhibiting influence and reduced HIV production. Trichosanthin, another member of the RIP family, had similar inhibitory effects on the growth of HIV-1 infected cells and on HIV-1 production. Bryodin and trichosanthin were effective in about the same dose range. No selective effects for HIV-infected cells were observed with the RIPs gelonin and ricin
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