812 research outputs found
Chiral spin currents and spectroscopically accessible single merons in quantum dots
We provide unambiguous theoretical evidence for the formation of
correlation-induced isolated merons in rotationally-symmetric quantum dots. Our
calculations rely on neither the lowest-Landau-level approximation, nor on the
maximum-density-droplet approximation, nor on the existence of a spin-polarized
state. For experimentally accessible system parameters, unbound merons condense
in the ground state at magnetic fields as low as T and for as few
as N = 3 confined fermions. The four-fold degenerate ground-state at
corresponds to four orthogonal merons characterized by their
topological chirality and charge . This degeneracy is lifted by the
Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction, which we include perturbatively,
yielding spectroscopic accessibility to individual merons. We further derive a
closed-form expression for the topological chirality in the form of a chiral
spin current and use it to both characterize our states and predict the
existence of other topological textures in other regions of phase space, for
example, at N=5. Finally, we compare the spin textures of our numerically exact
meron states to ansatz wave-functions of merons in quantum Hall droplets and
find that the ansatz qualitatively describes the meron states.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; minor title change, typos fixe
Optical Response of SrRuO Reveals Universal Fermi-liquid Scaling and Quasiparticles Beyond Landau Theory
We report optical measurements demonstrating that the low-energy relaxation
rate () of the conduction electrons in SrRuO obeys scaling
relations for its frequency () and temperature () dependence in
accordance with Fermi-liquid theory. In the thermal relaxation regime,
1/\tau\propto (\hbar\omega)^2 + (p\pi\kB T)^2 with , and
scaling applies. Many-body electronic structure calculations using dynamical
mean-field theory confirm the low-energy Fermi-liquid scaling, and provide
quantitative understanding of the deviations from Fermi-liquid behavior at
higher energy and temperature. The excess optical spectral weight in this
regime provides evidence for strongly dispersing "resilient" quasiparticle
excitations above the Fermi energy
Physical activity and hypocaloric diet recovers osteoblasts homeostasis in women affected by abdominal obesity.
Obesity is a multifactorial disease linked to metabolic chronic disorders such as diabetes, and hypertension. Also, it has recently been associated with skeletal alterations and low bone mineral density. We previously demonstrated that exposure of osteoblasts to sera of sedentary subjects affected by obesity alters cell homeostasis in vitro, leading to disruption of intracellular differentiation pathways and cellular activity. Thus, the purpose of the present study has been to evaluate whether sera of sedentary obese women, subjected to physical activity and hypocaloric diet, could recover osteoblast homeostasis in vitro as compared to the sera of same patients before intervention protocol. To this aim, obese women were evaluated at time 0 and after 4, 6, and 12 months of individualized prescribed physical activity and hypocaloric diet. Dual-energy-X-ray absorptiometry measurements were performed at each time point, as well as blood was collected at the same points. Cells were incubated with sera of subjects before and after physical activity as described: obese at baseline and after for 4, 6, and 12 months of physical activity and nutritional protocol intervention. Osteoblasts exposed to sera of patients, who displayed increased lean and decreased fat mass (from 55.5 ± 6.5 to 57.1 ± 5.6% p ≤ 0.05; from 44.5 ± 1.1 to 40.9 ± 2.6% p ≤ 0.01 respectively), showed a time-dependent increase of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, versus cells exposed to sera of obese patients before intervention protocol, suggesting recovery of osteoblast homeostasis upon improvement of body composition. An increase in β-catenin nuclear accumulation and nuclear translocation was also observed, accompanied by an increase in Adiponectin receptor 1 protein expression, suggesting positive effect on cell differentiation program. Furthermore, a decrease in sclerostin amount and an increase of type 1 procollagen amino-terminal-propeptide were depicted as compared to baseline, proportionally to the time of physical activity, suggesting a recovery of bone remodeling modulation and an increase of osteoblast activity induced by improvement of body composition. In conclusion, our results show for the first time that sera of obese sedentary women who increased lean mass and decreased fat mass, by physical activity and hypocaloric diet, rescue osteoblasts differentiation and activity likely due to a reactivation of Wnt/β-catenin-pathway, suggesting that a correct life style can improve skeletal metabolic alteration induced by obesity
Superconducting properties of Nb thin films deposited on porous silicon templates
Porous silicon, obtained by electrochemical etching, has been used as a
substrate for the growth of nanoperforated Nb thin films. The films, deposited
by UHV magnetron sputtering on the porous Si substrates, inherited their
structure made of holes of 5 or 10 nm diameter and of 10 to 40 nm spacing,
which provide an artificial pinning structure. The superconducting properties
were investigated by transport measurements performed in the presence of
magnetic field for different film thickness and substrates with different
interpore spacing. Perpendicular upper critical fields measurements present
peculiar features such as a change in the H_c2(T) curvature and oscillations in
the field dependence of the superconducting resistive transition width at H=1
Tesla. This field value is much higher than typical matching fields in
perforated superconductors, as a consequence of the small interpore distance.Comment: accepted for publication on Journal of Applied Physic
Evidence of double-gap superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric Nb0.18Re0.82 single crystals
We combine point contact spectroscopy with specific heat measurements to probe the superconducting state in noncentrosymmetric Nb0.18Re0.82 single crystals. The conductance spectra clearly exhibit a two-peak structure that is well reproduced within a two-band model with isotropic gaps in the spectrum. Such an observation is confirmed by distinct features of the specific heat both at low temperatures and in the range approaching the transition to the normal state. The analyses provide convincing evidence that the two-gap superconducting pairing is a robust feature of Nb0.18Re0.82
Spin-Orbit-Induced Orbital Excitations in Sr2RuO4 and Ca2RuO4: A Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering Study
High-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the oxygen
K-edge has been used to study the orbital excitations of Ca2RuO4 and Sr2RuO4.
In combination with linear dichroism X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the
ruthenium 4d-orbital occupation and excitations were probed through their
hybridization with the oxygen p-orbitals. These results are described within a
minimal model, taking into account crystal field splitting and a spin-orbit
coupling \lambda_{so}=200~meV. The effects of spin-orbit interaction on the
electronic structure and implications for the Mott and superconducting ground
states of (Ca,Sr)2RuO4 are discussed.Comment: accepted in PRB 201
Effect of pre-season training phase on anthropometric, hormonal and fitness parameters in young soccer players
The aims of the study were to investigate 1) the effect of 8 weeks of PSP training on anthropometrics, salivary hormones and fitness parameters in youth soccer players, 2) the correlations between fitness and hormonal parameters, and 3) the impact of the experience of the coach and his methodology of training on these parameters. Weight, height, BMI, pubertal development (PDS), salivary Cortisol (sC), salivary Testosterone (sT), salivary sDHEAS, intermittent tests (VO2max), and countermovement jump test (CMJ) modifications of 35 youth soccer players (age: 14±0 yrs; BMI: 20.8±1.8 k/m2 ) from two Italian clubs (“Lupa Frascati” -LF-; “Albalonga” -AL) were analysed. A significant (p<0.05) time by club effect was observed in sC (F(1,31) = 9.7, ES = 1.13), sT (F(1,31) = 4.2, ES = 0.74), CMJ (F(1,28) = 26.5, ES = 1.94), and VO2max (F(1,28) = 8.5, ES = 1.10). Statistical differences (p<0.05) in weight (F(1,32) = 25.5, ES = 0.11), sC (F(1,31) = 32.1, ES = 1.43), sT/sC ratio (F(1,31) = 10.1, ES = 0.97), sDHEAS/sC ratio (F(1,31) = 6.3, ES = 0.70), and VO2max (F(1,28) = 64.3, ES = 1.74) were found within time factor. Between clubs, differences (p<0.05) in sC (F(1,32) = 8.5, ES = 1.17), sT (F(1,31) = 4.2, ES = 0.74), CMJ (F(1,28) = 26.5, ES = 1.50), and VO2max (F(1,28) = 8.5, ES = 1.10) were found. CMJ was inversely correlated with sDHEAS (r = -0.38) before PSP, while Δ of CMJ showed significant correlations with Δ of sC (r = 0.43) and ΔVO2max was inversely correlated with ΔBMI (r = -0.54) and ΔsC (r = -0.37) in all subjects. Considering each single club, ΔVO2max showed correlations with ΔBMI (r = -0.45) in AL, while ΔCMJ showed correlations with ΔPDS (r = 0.72) in LF club. Since the PSP is often limited training time to simultaneously develop physical, technical and tactical qualities, an efficient method to distribute the training load is important in youth soccer players to increase the performance and to avoid injuries
Symmetry, spin and orbital character of a van-Hove singularity in proximity to a Lifshitz transition in SrRuO
The physics of strongly correlated electron materials is often governed by
Van Hove singularities (VHss) in the vicinity of the Fermi energy. The
divergence of the density of states generated by the VHss can promote
electron-electron interactions and the emergence of new phases such as
superconductivity, ferromagnetism, metamagnetism, nematicity and density wave
orders. The shape and intensity of this divergence depends sensitively on the
order and symmetry of the VHs, and hence a detailed understanding of the
low-energy electronic structure is essential to understand the role of VHss in
emergent phases. A family of materials with a large diversity of emergent
phases that can be related to VHss close to the Fermi energy is the
Ruddlesden-Popper series of the strontium ruthenates. Here we study the
low-energy electronic structure at the surface of ferromagnetic
SrRuO by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy at
millikelvin temperatures. We identify multiple VHss close to the Fermi energy
and establish their spin character. Using quasiparticle interference we extract
the orbital character and symmetry of the VHs closest to the Fermi energy,
enabling us to identify a new mechanism for a field-induced Lifshitz transition
facilitated by spin-orbit coupling as the origin of the metamagnetic behaviour
in SrRuO.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures and supplementary materia
The surface layer of SrRuO: A two-dimensional model system for magnetic-field-tuned quantum criticality
Many of the exciting properties of strongly correlated materials are
intricately linked to quantum critical points in their phase diagram. This
includes phenomena such as high temperature superconductivity, unconventional
superconductivity in heavy fermion materials, as well as exotic nematic states
in SrRuO. One of the experimentally most successful pathways to
reaching a quantum critical point is tuning by magnetic field allowing studies
under well-controlled conditions on ultra-clean samples. Yet, spectroscopic
evidence of how the electronic states change across a field-tuned quantum phase
transition, and what the importance of quantum fluctuations is, is not
available so far. Here we show that the surface layer of SrRuO is an
ideal two-dimensional model system for a field-tuned quantum phase transition.
We establish the existence of four van Hove singularities in close proximity to
the Fermi energy, linked intricately to checkerboard charge order and
nematicity of the electronic states. Through magnetic field, we can tune the
energy of one of the van Hove singularities, with the Lifshitz transition
extrapolated at ~32T. Our experiments open up the ability to directly study
spectroscopically the role of quantum fluctuations at a field-tuned quantum
phase transition in an effectively 2D strongly correlated electron material.
Our results further have implications for what the leading instability in
SrRuO is, and hence for understanding the enigmatic superconductivity
in this material.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figure
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