Adhesion between atomically pure metallic surfaces Final report

Metallic adhesion from compression loads resulting in plastic deformatio

Adhesion between atomically pure metallic surfaces, part 4 Semiannual report

Adhesion between atomically pure metal surface

Adhesion between automatically pure metallic surfaces, part 4 Semiannual report

Contact resistance measurements to determine adhesion between atomically pure metallic surface

Improved Spin Dynamics Simulations of Magnetic Excitations

Using Suzuki-Trotter decompositions of exponential operators we describe new algorithms for the numerical integration of the equations of motion for classical spin systems. These techniques conserve spin length exactly and, in special cases, also conserve the energy and maintain time reversibility. We investigate integration schemes of up to eighth order and show that these new algorithms can be used with much larger time steps than a well established predictor-corrector method. These methods may lead to a substantial speedup of spin dynamics simulations, however, the choice of which order method to use is not always straightforward.Comment: J. Mod. Phys. C (in press

Techniques for the Synthesis of Reversible Toffoli Networks

This paper presents novel techniques for the synthesis of reversible networks of Toffoli gates, as well as improvements to previous methods. Gate count and technology oriented cost metrics are used. Our synthesis techniques are independent of the cost metrics. Two new iterative synthesis procedure employing Reed-Muller spectra are introduced and shown to complement earlier synthesis approaches. The template simplification suggested in earlier work is enhanced through introduction of a faster and more efficient template application algorithm, updated (shorter) classification of the templates, and presentation of the new templates of sizes 7 and 9. A novel ``resynthesis'' approach is introduced wherein a sequence of gates is chosen from a network, and the reversible specification it realizes is resynthesized as an independent problem in hopes of reducing the network cost. Empirical results are presented to show that the methods are effective both in terms of the realization of all 3x3 reversible functions and larger reversible benchmark specifications.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Power-dependent internal loss in Josephson bifurcation amplifiers

We have studied nonlinear superconducting resonators: lambda/2 coplanar-waveguide (CPW) resonators with Josephson junctions (JJs) placed in the middle and lambda/4 CPW resonators terminated by JJs, which can be used for the qubit readout as "bifurcation amplifiers." The nonlinearity of the resonators arises from the Josephson junctions, and because of the nonlinearity, the resonators with appropriate parameters are expected to show a hysteretic response to the frequency sweep, or "bifurcation," when they are driven with a sufficiently large power. We designed and fabricated resonators whose resonant frequencies were around 10 GHz. We characterized the resonators at low temperatures, T<0.05 K, and confirmed that they indeed exhibited hysteresis. The sizes of the hysteresis, however, are sometimes considerably smaller than the predictions based on the loaded quality factor in the weak drive regime. When the discrepancy appears, it is mostly explained by taking into account the internal loss, which often increases in our resonators with increasing drive power in the relevant power range. As a possible origin of the power-dependent loss, the quasiparticle channel of conductance of the JJs is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

TagF-mediated repression of bacterial type VI secretion systems involves a direct interaction with the cytoplasmic protein Fha

The bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS) delivers effectors into eukaryotic host cells or toxins into bacterial competitor for survival and fitness. The T6SS is positively regulated by the threonine phosphorylation pathway (TPP) and negatively by the T6SS-accessory protein TagF. Here, we studied the mechanisms underlying TagF-mediated T6SS repression in two distinct bacterial pathogens, Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found that in A. tumefaciens, T6SS toxin secretion and T6SS-dependent antibacterial activity are suppressed by a two-domain chimeric protein consisting of TagF and PppA, a putative phosphatase. Remarkably, this TagF domain is sufficient to post-translationally repress the T6SS, and this inhibition is independent of TPP. This repression requires interaction with a cytoplasmic protein, Fha, critical for activating T6SS assembly. In P. aeruginosa, PppA and TagF are two distinct proteins that repress T6SS in a TPP-dependent and -independent pathways, respectively. P. aeruginosa TagF interacts with Fha1, suggesting that formation of this complex represents a conserved TagF-mediated regulatory mechanism. Using TagF variants with substitutions of conserved amino acid residues at predicted protein-protein interaction interfaces, we uncovered evidence that the TagF-Fha interaction is critical for TagF-mediated T6SS repression in both bacteria. TagF inhibits T6SS without affecting T6SS protein abundance in A. tumefaciens, but TagF overexpression reduces the protein levels of all analyzed T6SS components in P. aeruginosa. Our results indicate that TagF interacts with Fha, which in turn could impact different stages of T6SS assembly in different bacteria, possibly reflecting an evolutionary divergence in T6SS control

Dynamical Properties of a Growing Surface on a Random Substrate

The dynamics of the discrete Gaussian model for the surface of a crystal deposited on a disordered substrate is investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. The mobility of the growing surface was studied as a function of a small driving force $F$ and temperature $T$. A continuous transition is found from high-temperature phase characterized by linear response to a low-temperature phase with nonlinear, temperature dependent response. In the simulated regime of driving force the numerical results are in general agreement with recent dynamic renormalization group predictions.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (RC

b-quark decay in the collinear approximation

The semileptonic decay of a b-quark, b--> c l nu, is considered in the relativistic limit where the decay products are approximately collinear. Analytic results for the double differential lepton energy distributions are given for finite charm-quark mass. Their use for the fast simulation of isolated lepton backgrounds from heavy quark decays is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys.Rev.