665 research outputs found
Nonlinear Relaxation in Population Dynamics
We analyze the nonlinear relaxation of a complex ecosystem composed of many
interacting species. The ecological system is described by generalized
Lotka-Volterra equations with a multiplicative noise. The transient dynamics is
studied in the framework of the mean field theory and with random interaction
between the species. We focus on the statistical properties of the asymptotic
behaviour of the time integral of the i-th population and on the distribution
of the population and of the local field.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, in press in Int. Journal of Fractals (2001
A simple quantum gate with atom chips
We present a simple scheme for implementing an atomic phase gate using two
degrees of freedom for each atom and discuss its realization with cold rubidium
atoms on atom chips. We investigate the performance of this collisional phase
gate and show that gate operations with high fidelity can be realized in
magnetic traps that are currently available on atom chips.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. One missing reference added in v2. To appear in
European Physical Journal
Casimir-Polder interatomic potential between two atoms at finite temperature and in the presence of boundary conditions
We evaluate the Casimir-Polder potential between two atoms in the presence of
an infinite perfectly conducting plate and at nonzero temperature. In order to
calculate the potential, we use a method based on equal-time spatial
correlations of the electric field, already used to evaluate the effect of
boundary conditions on interatomic potentials. This method gives also a
transparent physical picture of the role of a finite temperature and boundary
conditions on the Casimir-Polder potential. We obtain an analytical expression
of the potential both in the near and far zones, and consider several limiting
cases of interest, according to the values of the parameters involved, such as
atom-atom distance, atoms-wall distance and temperature.Comment: 11 page
The activation of KSHV lytic cycle blocks autophagy in PEL cells
This study confirms that autophagy is activated concomitantly with KSHV lytic cycle induction, and that autophagy inhibition by BECN1 knockdown reduces viral lytic gene expression. In addition, we extend previous observations and show that autophagy is blocked at late steps, during viral replication. This is indicated by the lack of colocalization of autophagosomes and lysosomes and by the LC3-II level that does not increase in the presence of bafilomycin A1 in primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) cells induced to enter the lytic cycle, either by TPA/sodium butyrate (BC3 and BCBL1) or by doxycycline (TRExBCBL1-Rta). The autophagic block correlates with the downregulation of RAB7, whose silencing with specific siRNA results in an autophagic block in the same cells. Finally, by electron microscopy analysis, we observed viral particles inside autophagic vesicles in the cytoplasm of PEL cells undergoing viral replication, suggesting that they may be involved in viral transpor
Collective decoherence of cold atoms coupled to a Bose-Einstein condensate
We examine the time evolution of cold atoms (impurities) interacting with an
environment consisting of a degenerate bosonic quantum gas. The impurity atoms
differ from the environment atoms, being of a different species. This allows
one to superimpose two independent trapping potentials, each being effective
only on one atomic kind, while transparent to the other. When the environment
is homogeneous and the impurities are confined in a potential consisting of a
set of double wells, the system can be described in terms of an effective
spin-boson model, where the occupation of the left or right well of each site
represents the two (pseudo)-spin states. The irreversible dynamics of such
system is here studied exactly, i.e., not in terms of a Markovian master
equation. The dynamics of one and two impurities is remarkably different in
respect of the standard decoherence of the spin - boson system. In particular
we show: i) the appearance of coherence oscillations, i) the presence of super
and sub decoherent states which differ from the standard ones of the spin boson
model, and iii) the persistence of coherence in the system at long times. We
show that this behaviour is due to the fact that the pseudospins have an
internal spatial structure. We argue that collective decoherence also prompts
information about the correlation length of the environment. In a one
dimensional configuration one can change even stronger the qualitative
behaviour of the dephasing just by tuning the interaction of the bath.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, two references adde
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