Electron Correlations in a Quantum Dot with Bychkov-Rashba Coupling

We report on a theoretical approach developed to investigate the influence of Bychkov-Rashba interaction on a few interacting electrons confined in a quantum dot. We note that the spin-orbit coupling profoundly influences the energy spectrum of interacting electrons in a quantum dot. Inter-electron interaction causes level crossings in the ground state and a jump in magnetization. As the coupling strength is increased, that jump is shifted to lower magnetic fields. Low-field magnetization will therefore provide a direct probe of the spin-orbit coupling strength in a quantum dot

PGPR in Managing Root Rot Disease and Enhancing Growth in Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco.) Seedlings

Decline in general plant-health and fruit production in mandarin influenced by abiotic and biotic factors is a major threat to cultivars grown in Darjeeling and Sikkim hills. Fusarium root rot, caused by F. oxysporum, is one of the most serious diseases afflicted during early plant growth stage in Citrus. To address this, seven PGPR isolates - Pseudomonas poae (RMK03), Bacillus stratosphericus (RHS/CL-01), Ochrobactrum anthropi, Paenibacillus lentimorbus, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens were isolated from the rhizosphere of Citrus reticulata, C. limonia and Camellia sinensis, and used for evaluating their effect on growth of mandarin seedlings. Pseudomonas poae showed in vitro antagonism to Fusarium oxysporum. Better growth enhancement was noticed with P. poae, B. stratosphericus, O. anthropi and B. pumilus. Enhanced activity of chlorophyll, total protein, phenol, four major defense enzymeschitinase, β-1, 3-glucanase, peroxidase and phenyalanine ammonia lyase was observed upon application of PGPR. P. poae also suppressed root rot caused by Fusarium oxysporum. Use of PGPR, which promote growth besides reducing disease severity to some extent, may lead to use of eco-friendly approaches for controlling plant diseases

Stress and large-scale spatial structures in dense, driven granular flows

We study the appearance of large-scale dynamical heterogeneities in a simplified model of a driven, dissipative granular system. Simulations of steady-state gravity-driven flows of inelastically colliding hard disks show the formation of large-scale linear structures of particles with a high collision frequency. These chains can be shown to carry much of the collisional stress in the system due to a dynamical correlation that develops between the momentum transfer and time between collisions in these "frequently-colliding" particles. The lifetime of these dynamical stress heterogeneities is seen to grow as the flow velocity decreases towards jamming, leading to slowly decaying stress correlations reminiscent of the slow dynamics observed in supercooled liquids.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Wigner Oscillators, Twisted Hopf Algebras and Second Quantization

By correctly identifying the role of central extension in the centrally extended Heisenberg algebra h, we show that it is indeed possible to construct a Hopf algebraic structure on the corresponding enveloping algebra U(h) and eventually deform it through Drinfeld twist. This Hopf algebraic structure and its deformed version U^F(h) are shown to be induced from a more fundamental Hopf algebra obtained from the Schroedinger field/oscillator algebra and its deformed version, provided that the fields/oscillators are regarded as odd-elements of the super-algebra osp(1|2n). We also discuss the possible implications in the context of quantum statistics.Comment: 23 page

Spin Polarizations at and about the Lowest Filled Landau Level

The spin polarization versus temperature at or near a fully filled lowest Landau level is explored for finite-size systems in a periodic rectangular geometry. Our results at $\nu=1$ which also include the finite-thickness correction are in good agreement with the experimental results. We also find that the interacting electron system results are in complete agreement with the results of the sigma model, i.e., skyrmions on a torus have a topological charge of $Q \ge 2$ and the Q=1 solution is like a single spin-flip excitation. Our results therefore provide direct evidence for the skyrmionic nature of the excitations at this filling factor.Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX, and 4 .ps files, To be published in Europhysics Letter

Deconvolving mutational patterns of poliovirus outbreaks reveals its intrinsic fitness landscape.

Vaccination has essentially eradicated poliovirus. Yet, its mutation rate is higher than that of viruses like HIV, for which no effective vaccine exists. To investigate this, we infer a fitness model for the poliovirus viral protein 1 (vp1), which successfully predicts in vitro fitness measurements. This is achieved by first developing a probabilistic model for the prevalence of vp1 sequences that enables us to isolate and remove data that are subject to strong vaccine-derived biases. The intrinsic fitness constraints derived for vp1, a capsid protein subject to antibody responses, are compared with those of analogous HIV proteins. We find that vp1 evolution is subject to tighter constraints, limiting its ability to evade vaccine-induced immune responses. Our analysis also indicates that circulating poliovirus strains in unimmunized populations serve as a reservoir that can seed outbreaks in spatio-temporally localized sub-optimally immunized populations

Vortices in a rotating BEC under extreme elongation

We investigate a non-axisymmetric rotating BEC in a limit of rotation frequency for which the BEC transforms into a quasi-one-dimensional system. We compute the vortex lattice wavefunction by minimizing the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional in the lowest Landau level approximation for different confinement potentials. The condensate typically presents a changing number of vortex rows as a function of the interaction strength or rotation-confinement ratio. More specifically, the vortex lattices can be classified into two classes according to their symmetry with respect to the longitudinal axis. These two classes correspond to different local minima of the energy functional and evolve independently as a function of the various parameters.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure