The Effect of the Random Magnetic Field Component on the Parker Instability

The Parker instability is considered to play important roles in the evolution of the interstellar medium. Most studies on the development of the instability so far have been based on an initial equilibrium system with a uniform magnetic field. However, the Galactic magnetic field possesses a random component in addition to the mean uniform component, with comparable strength of the two components. Parker and Jokipii have recently suggested that the random component can suppress the growth of small wavelength perturbations. Here, we extend their analysis by including gas pressure which was ignored in their work, and study the stabilizing effect of the random component in the interstellar gas with finite pressure. Following Parker and Jokipii, the magnetic field is modeled as a mean azimuthal component, $B(z)$, plus a random radial component, $\epsilon(z) B(z)$, where $\epsilon(z)$ is a random function of height from the equatorial plane. We show that for the observationally suggested values of $^{1/2}$, the tension due to the random component becomes important, so that the growth of the instability is either significantly reduced or completely suppressed. When the instability still works, the radial wavenumber of the most unstable mode is found to be zero. That is, the instability is reduced to be effectively two-dimensional. We discuss briefly the implications of our finding.Comment: 10 pages including 2 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

Three-Dimensional Evolution of the Parker Instability under a Uniform Gravity

Using an isothermal MHD code, we have performed three-dimensional, high-resolution simulations of the Parker instability. The initial equilibrium system is composed of exponentially-decreasing isothermal gas and magnetic field (along the azimuthal direction) under a uniform gravity. The evolution of the instability can be divided into three phases: linear, nonlinear, and relaxed. During the linear phase, the perturbations grow exponentially with a preferred scale along the azimuthal direction but with smallest possible scale along the radial direction, as predicted from linear analyses. During the nonlinear phase, the growth of the instability is saturated and flow motion becomes chaotic. Magnetic reconnection occurs, which allows gas to cross field lines. This, in turn, results in the redistribution of gas and magnetic field. The system approaches a new equilibrium in the relaxed phase, which is different from the one seen in two-dimensional works. The structures formed during the evolution are sheet-like or filamentary, whose shortest dimension is radial. Their maximum density enhancement factor relative to the initial value is less than 2. Since the radial dimension is too small and the density enhancement is too low, it is difficult to regard the Parker instability alone as a viable mechanism for the formation of giant molecular clouds.Comment: 8 pages of text, 4 figures (figure 2 in degraded gif format), to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, original quality figures available via anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.msi.umn.edu/pub/users/twj/parker3d.uu or ftp://canopus.chungnam.ac.kr/ryu/parker3d.u

Effective mass and decay of Θ+\Theta^+ in nuclear matter in quark-meson coupling model

The in-medium mass of a \thetaplus, \mtheta^*, in cold symmetric nuclear matter is calculated by using the quark-meson coupling model. The $\Theta^+$ is treated as an MIT bag with the quark content $uudd\bar s$. Bag parameters for a free \thetaplus are fixed to reproduce the observed mass of the \thetaplus. In doing so, we use three different values of the $s$-quark mass since the mass of the $s$-quark is not well known. As usual, the strengths of the $u$ and $d$ quark couplings to $\sigma$- and $\omega$-meson fields are determined to fit the nuclear saturation properties. However, the coupling constant $g_\sigma^s$ between the $s$-quark and the $\sigma$-meson cannot be fixed from the saturation properties, and thus we treat $g_\sigma^s$ as a free parameter and investigate how \mtheta^* depends on $g_\sigma^s$. %\mtheta^* is calculated up to 2.5 times the nuclear saturation density, %and we find that We find that \mtheta^* depends significantly on the value of $g_\sigma^s$ but not on the mass of the $s$-quark. Chemical potentials of the $\Theta^+$ and the $K+N$ system are calculated to discuss the decay of a $\Theta^+$ in nuclear matter. We calculate the effective mass of a kaon in nuclear matter in two ways; using the optical potential of $K^-$ in matter and using quark model. By comparing the effective masses calculated from these two methods, we find the magnitude of the real part of the optical potential that is consistent with the usual quark model is about 100 MeV.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Presumed pseudokinase VRK3 functions as a BAF kinase

Vaccinia-related kinase 3 (VRK3) is known as a pseudokinase that is catalytically inactive due to changes in motifs that are essential for kinase activity. Although VRK3 has been regarded as a genuine pseudokinase from structural and biochemical studies, recent reports suggest that VRK3 acts as an active kinase as well as a signaling scaffold in cells. Here, we demonstrate that VRK3 phosphorylates the nuclear envelope protein barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) on Ser4. Interestingly, VRK3 kinase activity is dependent upon its N-terminal regulatory region, which is excluded from the determination of its crystal structure. Furthermore, the kinase activity of VRK3 is involved in the regulation of the cell cycle. VRK3 expression levels increase during interphase, whereas VRK1 is enriched in late G2 and early M phase. Ectopic expression of VRK3 induces the translocation of BAF from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. In addition, depletion of VRK3 decreases the population of proliferating cells. These data suggest that VRK3-mediated phosphorylation of BAF may facilitate DNA replication or gene expression by facilitating the dissociation of nuclear envelope proteins and chromatin during interphase. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.1174Ysciescopu

Evidence for a Two-stage Melting Transition of the Vortex Matter in Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O8+d Single Crystals obtained by Muon Spin Rotation

From muon spin rotation measurements on under- to overdoped Bi-2212 crystals we obtain evidence for a two-stage transition of the vortex matter as a function of temperature. The first transition is well known and related to the irreversibility line (IL). The second one is located below the IL and has not been previously observed. It occurs for all three sets of crystals and is unrelated to the vortex mobility. Our data are consistent with a two-stage melting scenario where the intra-planar melting of the vortex lattice and the inter-planar decoupling of the vortex lines occur independently.Comment: 9 pages and 3 figure

Critical depinning force and vortex lattice order in disordered superconductors

We simulate the ordering of vortices and its effects on the critical current in superconductors with varied vortex-vortex interaction strength and varied pinning strengths for a two-dimensional system. For strong pinning the vortex lattice is always disordered and the critical depinning force only weakly increases with decreasing vortex-vortex interactions. For weak pinning the vortex lattice is defect free until the vortex-vortex interactions have been reduced to a low value, when defects begin to appear with a simultaneous rapid increase in the critical depinning force. In each case the depinning force shows a maximum for non-interacting vortices. The relative height of the peak increases and the peak width decreases for decreasing pinning strength in excellent agreement with experimental trends associated with the peak effect. We show that scaling relations exist between the distance between defects in the vortex lattice and the critical depinning force.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Fluctuating diamagnetism in underdoped high temperature superconductors

The fluctuation induced diamagnetism of underdoped high temperature superconductors is studied in the framework of the Lawrence-Doniach model. By taking into account the fluctuations of the phase of the order parameter only, the latter reduces to a layered XY-model describing a liquid of vortices which can be either thermally excited or induced by the external magnetic field. The diamagnetic response is given by a current-current correlation function which is evaluated using the Coulomb gas analogy. Our results are then applied to recent measurements of fluctuation diamagnetism in underdoped YBCO. They allow to understand both the observed anomalous temperature dependence of the zero-field susceptibility and the two distinct regimes appearing in the magnetic field dependence of the magnetization.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures included, accepted for publication in PR

Changes in cytokine production in healthy subjects practicing Guolin Qigong : a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Guolin Qigong is a combination of meditation, controlled breathing and physical movement designed to control the vital energy (qi) of the body and consequently to improve spiritual, physical and mental health. Practice of Qigong has been reported to alter immunological function, but there have been few studies of its effects on cytokines, the key regulators of immunity. METHODS: Numbers of peripheral blood cytokine-secreting cells were determined by ELISPOT in 19 healthy volunteers aged 27 – 55, before they were taught the practice of Qigong and after 3, 7 and 14 weeks of daily practice. The effect of Qigong on blood cortisol was also examined. RESULTS: Numbers of IL4 and IL12-secreting cells remained stable. IL6 increased at 7 weeks and TNFα increased in unstimulated cultures at 3 and 7 weeks but decreased at these times in LPS and SAC-stimulated cultures. Of particular interest, IFNγ-secreting cells increased and IL10-secreting cells decreased in PHA-stimulated cultures, resulting in significant increases in the IFNγ:IL10 ratio. Cortisol, a known inhibitor of type 1 cytokine production, was reduced by practicing Qigong. CONCLUSION: These preliminary studies in healthy subjects, although not necessarily representative of a randomized healthy population and not including a separate control group, have indicated that blood levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol may be lowered by short-term practice of Qigong and that there are concomitant changes in numbers of cytokine-secreting cells. Further studies of the effect of Qigong in patients with clinical diseases known to be associated with type 2 cytokine predominance are merited

Evolution of edge states in topological superfluids during the quantum phase transition

The quantum phase transition between topological and non-topological insulators or between fully gapped superfluids/superconductors can occur without closing the gap. We consider the evolution of the Majorana edge states on the surface of topological superconductor during transition to the topologically trivial superconductor on example of non-interacting Hamiltonian describing the spin-triplet superfluid 3He-B. In conventional situation when the gap is nullified at the transition, the spectrum of Majorana fermions shrinks and vanishes after the transition to the trivial state. If the topological transition occurs without the gap closing, the Majorana fermion spectrum disappears by escaping to ultraviolet, where Green's function approaches zero. This demonstrates the close connection between the topological transition without closing the gap and zeroes in the Green's function. Similar connection takes place in interacting systems where zeroes may occur due to interaction.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, JETP Letters style, version submitted to JETP Letter