120 research outputs found
Spin-Lattice Relaxation of Coupled Metal-Radical Spin-Dimers in Proteins: Application to Fe2+-Cofactor (QA−, QB−,ϕ− ) Dimers in Reaction Centers from Photosynthetic Bacteria
AbstractThe spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) for the reduced quinone acceptors QA− and QB−, and the intermediate pheophytin acceptor ϕ−, were measured in native photosynthetic reaction centers (RC) containing a high spin Fe2+ (S=2) and in RCs in which Fe2+ was replaced by diamagnetic Zn2+. From these data, the contribution of the Fe2+ to the spin-lattice relaxation of the cofactors was determined. To relate the spin-lattice relaxation rate to the spin-spin interaction between the Fe2+ and the cofactors, we developed a spin-dimer model that takes into account the zero field splitting and the rhombicity of the Fe2+ ion. The relaxation mechanism of the spin-dimer involves a two-phonon process that couples the fast relaxing Fe2+ spin to the cofactor spin. The process is analogous to the one proposed by R. Orbach (Proc. R. Soc. A. (Lond.). 264:458–484) for rare earth ions. The spin-spin interactions are, in general, composed of exchange and dipolar contributions. For the spin dimers studied in this work the exchange interaction, Jo, is predominant. The values of Jo for QA−Fe2+, QB−Fe2+, and ϕ−Fe2+ were determined to be (in kelvin) −0.58, −0.92, and −1.3×10−3, respectively. The |Jo| of the various cofactors (obtained in this work and those of others) could be fitted with the relation exp(−βJd), where d is the distance between cofactor spins and βJ had a value of (0.66-0.86) Å−1. The relation between Jo and the matrix element |Vij|2 involved in electron transfer rates is discussed
Controlling spin relaxation with a cavity
Spontaneous emission of radiation is one of the fundamental mechanisms by
which an excited quantum system returns to equilibrium. For spins, however,
spontaneous emission is generally negligible compared to other non-radiative
relaxation processes because of the weak coupling between the magnetic dipole
and the electromagnetic field. In 1946, Purcell realized that the spontaneous
emission rate can be strongly enhanced by placing the quantum system in a
resonant cavity -an effect which has since been used extensively to control the
lifetime of atoms and semiconducting heterostructures coupled to microwave or
optical cavities, underpinning single-photon sources. Here we report the first
application of these ideas to spins in solids. By coupling donor spins in
silicon to a superconducting microwave cavity of high quality factor and small
mode volume, we reach for the first time the regime where spontaneous emission
constitutes the dominant spin relaxation mechanism. The relaxation rate is
increased by three orders of magnitude when the spins are tuned to the cavity
resonance, showing that energy relaxation can be engineered and controlled
on-demand. Our results provide a novel and general way to initialise spin
systems into their ground state, with applications in magnetic resonance and
quantum information processing. They also demonstrate that, contrary to popular
belief, the coupling between the magnetic dipole of a spin and the
electromagnetic field can be enhanced up to the point where quantum
fluctuations have a dramatic effect on the spin dynamics; as such our work
represents an important step towards the coherent magnetic coupling of
individual spins to microwave photons.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
Crystallization and X-ray Structure Determination of Cytochrome c_2 from Rhodobacter sphaeroides in Three Crystal Forms
Cytochrome c_2 serves as the secondary electron donor that reduces the photo-oxidized bacteriochlorophyll dimer in photosynthetic bacteria. Cytochrome c_2 from Rhodobacter sphaeroides has been crystallized in three different forms. At high ionic strength, crystals of a hexagonal space group (P6_122) were obtained, while at low ionic strength, triclinic (P1) and tetragonal (P4_12_12) crystals were formed. The three-dimensional structures of the cytochrome in all three crystal forms have been determined by X-ray diffraction at resolutions of 2.20 Ã… (hexagonal), 1.95 Ã…, (triclinic) and 1.53 Ã… (tetragonal). The most significant difference observed was the binding of an imidazole molecule to the iron atom of the heme group in the hexagonal structure. This binding displaces the sulfur atom of Met 100, which forms the axial ligand in the triclinic and tetragonal structures
Supergoop Dynamics
We initiate a systematic study of the dynamics of multi-particle systems with
supersymmetric Van der Waals and electron-monopole type interactions. The
static interaction allows a complex continuum of ground state configurations,
while the Lorentz interaction tends to counteract this configurational fluidity
by magnetic trapping, thus producing an exotic low temperature phase of matter
aptly named supergoop. Such systems arise naturally in gauge
theories as monopole-dyon mixtures, and in string theory as collections of
particles or black holes obtained by wrapping D-branes on internal space
cycles. After discussing the general system and its relation to quiver quantum
mechanics, we focus on the case of three particles. We give an exhaustive
enumeration of the classical and quantum ground states of a probe in an
arbitrary background with two fixed centers. We uncover a hidden conserved
charge and show that the dynamics of the probe is classically integrable. In
contrast, the dynamics of one heavy and two light particles moving on a line
shows a nontrivial transition to chaos, which we exhibit by studying the
Poincar\'e sections. Finally we explore the complex dynamics of a probe
particle in a background with a large number of centers, observing hints of
ergodicity breaking. We conclude by discussing possible implications in a
holographic context.Comment: 35 pages,11 figures. v2: updated references to include a previous
proof of classical integrability, exchanged a figure for a prettier versio
Quantum control of hybrid nuclear-electronic qubits
Pulsed magnetic resonance is a wide-reaching technology allowing the quantum
state of electronic and nuclear spins to be controlled on the timescale of
nanoseconds and microseconds respectively. The time required to flip either
dilute electronic or nuclear spins is orders of magnitude shorter than their
decoherence times, leading to several schemes for quantum information
processing with spin qubits. We investigate instead the novel regime where the
eigenstates approximate 50:50 superpositions of the electronic and nuclear spin
states forming "hybrid nuclear-electronic" qubits. Here we demonstrate quantum
control of these states for the first time, using bismuth-doped silicon, in
just 32 ns: this is orders of magnitude faster than previous experiments where
pure nuclear states were used. The coherence times of our states are five
orders of magnitude longer, reaching 4 ms, and are limited by the
naturally-occurring 29Si nuclear spin impurities. There is quantitative
agreement between our experiments and no-free-parameter analytical theory for
the resonance positions, as well as their relative intensities and relative
Rabi oscillation frequencies. In experiments where the slow manipulation of
some of the qubits is the rate limiting step, quantum computations would
benefit from faster operation in the hybrid regime.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, new data and simulation
Diabetes foot complications and standardized mortality rate in type 2 diabetes
Aim: To quantify the impact of foot complications on mortality outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and how routinely measured factors might modulate that risk. Materials and Methods: Data for individuals with T2D for 2010-2020, from the Salford Integrated Care Record (Salford, UK), were extracted for laboratory and clinical data, and deaths. Annual expected deaths were taken from Office of National Statistics mortality data. An index of multiple deprivation (IMD) adjusted the standardized mortality ratio (SMR_IMD). Life years lost per death (LYLD) was estimated from the difference between expected and actual deaths. Results: A total of 11 806 T2D patients were included, with 5583 new diagnoses and 3921 deaths during 2010-2020. The number of expected deaths was 2135; after IMD adjustment, there were 2595 expected deaths. Therefore, excess deaths numbered 1326 (SMR_IMD 1.51). No foot complications were evident in n = 9857. This group had an SMR_IMD of 1.13 and 2.74 LYLD. In total, 2979 patients had any foot complication recorded. In this group, the SMD_IMR was 2.29; of these, 2555 (75%) had only one foot complication. Patients with a foot complication showed little difference in percentage HbA1c more than 58 mmol/mol. In multivariate analysis, for those with a foot complication and an albumin-to-creatinine ratio of more than 3 mg/mmol, the odds ratio (OR) for death was 1.93, and for an estimated glomerular filtration rate of less than 60 mL/min/1.73m2, the OR for death was 1.92. Conclusions: Patients with T2D but without a foot complication have an SMR_IMD that is only slightly higher than that of the general population. Those diagnosed with a foot complication have a mortality risk that is double that of those without T2D
Electron spin coherence exceeding seconds in high purity silicon
Silicon is undoubtedly one of the most promising semiconductor materials for
spin-based information processing devices. Its highly advanced fabrication
technology facilitates the transition from individual devices to large-scale
processors, and the availability of an isotopically-purified Si form
with no magnetic nuclei overcomes what is a main source of spin decoherence in
many other materials. Nevertheless, the coherence lifetimes of electron spins
in the solid state have typically remained several orders of magnitude lower
than what can be achieved in isolated high-vacuum systems such as trapped ions.
Here we examine electron spin coherence of donors in very pure Si
material, with a residual Si concentration of less than 50 ppm and donor
densities of per cm. We elucidate three separate mechanisms
for spin decoherence, active at different temperatures, and extract a coherence
lifetime up to 2 seconds. In this regime, we find the electron spin is
sensitive to interactions with other donor electron spins separated by ~200 nm.
We apply a magnetic field gradient in order to suppress such interactions and
obtain an extrapolated electron spin of 10 seconds at 1.8 K. These
coherence lifetimes are without peer in the solid state by several orders of
magnitude and comparable with high-vacuum qubits, making electron spins of
donors in silicon ideal components of a quantum computer, or quantum memories
for systems such as superconducting qubits.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, supplementary informatio
Herschel and SCUBA-2 observations of dust emission in a sample of Planck cold clumps
Context. Analysis of all-sky Planck submillimetre observations and the IRAS 100 mu m data has led to the detection of a population of Galactic cold clumps. The clumps can be used to study star formation and dust properties in a wide range of Galactic environments. Aims. Our aim is to measure dust spectral energy distribution ( SED) variations as a function of the spatial scale and the wavelength. Methods. We examined the SEDs at large scales using IRAS, Planck, and Herschel data. At smaller scales, we compared JCMT/SCUBA-2 850 mu m maps with Herschel data that were filtered using the SCUBA-2 pipeline. Clumps were extracted using the Fellwalker method, and their spectra were modelled as modified blackbody functions. Results. According to IRAS and Planck data, most fields have dust colour temperatures T-C similar to 14-18K and opacity spectral index values of beta = 1.5-1.9. The clumps and cores identified in SCUBA-2 maps have T similar to 13K and similar beta values. There are some indications of the dust emission spectrum becoming flatter at wavelengths longer than 500 mu m. In fits involving Planck data, the significance is limited by the uncertainty of the corrections for CO line contamination. The fits to the SPIRE data give a median beta value that is slightly above 1.8. In the joint SPIRE and SCUBA-2 850 mu m fits, the value decreases to beta similar to 1.6. Most of the observed T-beta anticorrelation can be explained by noise. Conclusions. The typical submillimetre opacity spectral index fi of cold clumps is found to be similar to 1.7. This is above the values of diffuse clouds, but lower than in some previous studies of dense clumps. There is only tentative evidence of a T-beta anticorrelation and beta decreasing at millimetre wavelengths.Peer reviewe
The TOP-SCOPE Survey of Planck Galactic Cold Clumps : Survey Overview and Results of an Exemplar Source, PGCC G26.53+0.17
The low dust temperatures (<14 K) of Planck Galactic cold clumps (PGCCs) make them ideal targets to probe the initial conditions and very early phase of star formation. "TOP-SCOPE" is a joint survey program targeting similar to 2000 PGCCs in J = 1-0 transitions of CO isotopologues and similar to 1000 PGCCs in 850 mu m continuum emission. The objective of the "TOP-SCOPE" survey and the joint surveys (SMT 10 m, KVN 21 m, and NRO 45 m) is to statistically study the initial conditions occurring during star formation and the evolution of molecular clouds, across a wide range of environments. The observations, data analysis, and example science cases for these surveys are introduced with an exemplar source, PGCC G26.53+0.17 (G26), which is a filamentary infrared dark cloud (IRDC). The total mass, length, and mean line mass (M/L) of the G26 filament are similar to 6200 M-circle dot, similar to 12 pc, and similar to 500 M-circle dot pc(-1), respectively. Ten massive clumps, including eight starless ones, are found along the filament. The most massive clump as a whole may still be in global collapse, while its denser part seems to be undergoing expansion owing to outflow feedback. The fragmentation in the G26 filament from cloud scale to clump scale is in agreement with gravitational fragmentation of an isothermal, nonmagnetized, and turbulent supported cylinder. A bimodal behavior in dust emissivity spectral index (beta) distribution is found in G26, suggesting grain growth along the filament. The G26 filament may be formed owing to large-scale compression flows evidenced by the temperature and velocity gradients across its natal cloud.Peer reviewe
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