101 research outputs found
Response of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate to a rotating elliptical trap
We investigate numerically the response of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate
to a weakly-elliptical rotating trap over a large range of rotation
frequencies. We analyse the quadrupolar shape oscillation excited by rotation,
and discriminate between its stable and unstable regimes. In the latter case,
where a vortex lattice forms, we compare with experimental observations and
find good agreement. By examining the role of thermal atoms in the process, we
infer that the process is temperature-independent, and show how terminating the
rotation gives control over the number of vortices in the lattice. We also
study the case of critical rotation at the trap frequency, and observe large
centre-of-mass oscillations of the condensate.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Interaction potential between dynamic dipoles: polarized excitons in strong magnetic fields
The interaction potential of a two-dimensional system of excitons with
spatially separated electron-hole layers is considered in the strong magnetic
field limit. The excitons are assumed to have free dynamics in the -
plane, while being constrained or `polarized' in the direction. The model
simulates semiconductor double layer systems under strong magnetic field normal
to the layers. The {\em residual} interaction between excitons exhibits
interesting features, arising from the coupling of the center-of-mass and
internal degrees of freedom of the exciton in the magnetic field. This coupling
induces a dynamical dipole moment proportional to the center-of-mass magnetic
moment of the exciton. We show the explicit dependence of the inter-exciton
potential matrix elements, and discuss the underlying physics. The unusual
features of the interaction potential would be reflected in the collective
response and non-equilibrium properties of such system.Comment: REVTEX - 11 pages - 1 fi
Collapse arrest and soliton stabilization in nonlocal nonlinear media
We investigate the properties of localized waves in systems governed by
nonlocal nonlinear Schrodinger type equations. We prove rigorously by bounding
the Hamiltonian that nonlocality of the nonlinearity prevents collapse in,
e.g., Bose-Einstein condensates and optical Kerr media in all physical
dimensions. The nonlocal nonlinear response must be symmetric, but can be of
completely arbitrary shape. We use variational techniques to find the soliton
solutions and illustrate the stabilizing effect of nonlocality.Comment: 4 pages with 3 figure
G-type antiferromagnetism and orbital ordering due to the crystal field from the rare-earth ions induced by the GdFeO_3-type distortion in RTiO_3 with R=La, Pr, Nd and Sm
The origin of the antiferromagnetic order and puzzling properties of LaTiO_3
as well as the magnetic phase diagram of the perovskite titanates are studied
theoretically. We show that in LaTiO_3, the t_{2g} degeneracy is eventually
lifted by the La cations in the GdFeO_3-type structure, which generates a
crystal field with nearly trigonal symmetry. This allows the description of the
low-energy structure of LaTiO_3 by a single-band Hubbard model as a good
starting point. The lowest-orbital occupation in this crystal field stabilizes
the AFM(G) state, and well explains the spin-wave spectrum of LaTiO_3 obtained
by the neutron scattering experiment. The orbital-spin structures for RTiO_3
with R=Pr, Nd and Sm are also accounted for by the same mechanism. We point out
that through generating the R crystal field, the GdFeO_3-type distortion has a
universal relevance in determining the orbital-spin structure of the perovskite
compounds in competition with the Jahn-Teller mechanism, which has been
overlooked in the literature. Since the GdFeO_3-type distortion is a universal
phenomenon as is seen in a large number of perovskite compounds, this mechanism
may also play important roles in other compounds of this type.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figure
The Hyperspherical Four-Fermion Problem
The problem of a few interacting fermions in quantum physics has sparked
intense interest, particularly in recent years owing to connections with the
behavior of superconductors, fermionic superfluids, and finite nuclei. This
review addresses recent developments in the theoretical description of four
fermions having finite-range interactions, stressing insights that have emerged
from a hyperspherical coordinate perspective. The subject is complicated, so we
have included many detailed formulas that will hopefully make these methods
accessible to others interested in using them. The universality regime, where
the dominant length scale in the problem is the two-body scattering length, is
particularly stressed, including its implications for the famous BCS-BEC
crossover problem Derivations and relevant formulas are also included for the
calculation of challenging few-body processes such as recombination.Comment: 66 pages, 33 figure
Condensed Matter Theory of Dipolar Quantum Gases
Recent experimental breakthroughs in trapping, cooling and controlling
ultracold gases of polar molecules, magnetic and Rydberg atoms have paved the
way toward the investigation of highly tunable quantum systems, where
anisotropic, long-range dipolar interactions play a prominent role at the
many-body level. In this article we review recent theoretical studies
concerning the physics of such systems. Starting from a general discussion on
interaction design techniques and microscopic Hamiltonians, we provide a
summary of recent work focused on many-body properties of dipolar systems,
including: weakly interacting Bose gases, weakly interacting Fermi gases,
multilayer systems, strongly interacting dipolar gases and dipolar gases in 1D
and quasi-1D geometries. Within each of these topics, purely dipolar effects
and connections with experimental realizations are emphasized.Comment: Review article; submitted 09/06/2011. 158 pages, 52 figures. This
document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was
subsequently accepted for publication in Chemical Reviews, copyright American
Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published
work, a link will be provided soo
Nonlocal interactions prevent collapse in negative scattering length Bose-Einstein gases
We study the effect of nonlocality on the collapse properties of a
self-focusing Nonlinear Schr\"odinger system related to Bose-Einstein
condensation problems.
Using a combination of moment techniques, time dependent variational methods
and numerical simulations we present evidences in support of the hypothesis
that nonlocal attractively interacting condensates cannot collapse when the
dominant interaction term is due to finite range interactions. Instead there
apppear oscillations of the wave packet with a localized component whose size
is of the order of the range of interactions.
We discuss the implications of the results to collapse phenomena in negative
scattering length Bose-Einstein condensates
High Light Induced Disassembly of Photosystem II Supercomplexes in Arabidopsis Requires STN7-Dependent Phosphorylation of CP29
Photosynthetic oxidation of water and production of oxygen by photosystem II (PSII) in thylakoid membranes of plant chloroplasts is highly affected by changes in light intensities. To minimize damage imposed by excessive sunlight and sustain the photosynthetic activity PSII, organized in supercomplexes with its light harvesting antenna, undergoes conformational changes, disassembly and repair via not clearly understood mechanisms. We characterized the phosphoproteome of the thylakoid membranes from Arabidopsis thaliana wild type, stn7, stn8 and stn7stn8 mutant plants exposed to high light. The high light treatment of the wild type and stn8 caused specific increase in phosphorylation of Lhcb4.1 and Lhcb4.2 isoforms of the PSII linker protein CP29 at five different threonine residues. Phosphorylation of CP29 at four of these residues was not found in stn7 and stn7stn8 plants lacking the STN7 protein kinase. Blue native gel electrophoresis followed by immunological and mass spectrometric analyses of the membrane protein complexes revealed that the high light treatment of the wild type caused redistribution of CP29 from PSII supercomplexes to PSII dimers and monomers. A similar high-light-induced disassembly of the PSII supercomplexes occurred in stn8, but not in stn7 and stn7stn8. Transfer of the high-light-treated wild type plants to normal light relocated CP29 back to PSII supercomplexes. We postulate that disassembly of PSII supercomplexes in plants exposed to high light involves STN7-kinase-dependent phosphorylation of the linker protein CP29. Disruption of this adaptive mechanism can explain dramatically retarded growth of the stn7 and stn7stn8 mutants under fluctuating normal/high light conditions, as previously reported
Disease recurrence in paediatric renal transplantation
Renal transplantation (Tx) is the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease. The incidence of acute rejection after renal Tx has decreased because of improving early immunosuppression, but the risk of disease recurrence (DR) is becoming relatively high, with a greater prevalence in children than in adults, thereby increasing patient morbidity, graft loss (GL) and, sometimes, mortality rate. The current overall graft loss to DR is 7–8%, mainly due to primary glomerulonephritis (70–80%) and inherited metabolic diseases. The more typical presentation is a recurrence of the full disease, either with a high risk of GL (focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis 14–50% DR, 40–60% GL; atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome 20–80% DR, 10–83% GL; membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis 30–100% DR, 17–61% GL; membranous nephropathy ∼30% DR, ∼50% GL; lipoprotein glomerulopathy ∼100% DR and GL; primary hyperoxaluria type 1 80–100% DR and GL) or with a low risk of GL [immunoglobulin (Ig)A nephropathy 36–60% DR, 7–10% GL; systemic lupus erythematosus 0–30% DR, 0–5% GL; anti-neutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated glomerulonephritis]. Recurrence may also occur with a delayed risk of GL, such as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, sickle cell disease, endemic nephropathy, and sarcoidosis. In other primary diseases, the post-Tx course may be complicated by specific events that are different from overt recurrence: proteinuria or cancer in some genetic forms of nephrotic syndrome, anti-glomerular basement membrane antibodies-associated glomerulonephritis (Alport syndrome, Goodpasture syndrome), and graft involvement as a consequence of lower urinary tract abnormality or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nephropathy. Some other post-Tx conditions may mimic recurrence, such as de novo membranous glomerulonephritis, IgA nephropathy, microangiopathy, or isolated specific deposits (cystinosis, Fabry disease). Adequate strategies should therefore be added to kidney Tx, such as donor selection, associated liver Tx, plasmatherapy, specific immunosuppression protocols. In such conditions, very few patients may be excluded from kidney Tx only because of a major risk of DR and repeated GL. In the near future the issue of DR after kidney Tx may benefit from alternatives to organ Tx, such as recombinant proteins, specific monoclonal antibodies, cell/gene therapy, and chaperone molecules
In vivo Hypoxia and a Fungal Alcohol Dehydrogenase Influence the Pathogenesis of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis
Currently, our knowledge of how pathogenic fungi grow in mammalian host environments is limited. Using a chemotherapeutic murine model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) and 1H-NMR metabolomics, we detected ethanol in the lungs of mice infected with Aspergillus fumigatus. This result suggests that A. fumigatus is exposed to oxygen depleted microenvironments during infection. To test this hypothesis, we utilized a chemical hypoxia detection agent, pimonidazole hydrochloride, in three immunologically distinct murine models of IPA (chemotherapeutic, X-CGD, and corticosteroid). In all three IPA murine models, hypoxia was observed during the course of infection. We next tested the hypothesis that production of ethanol in vivo by the fungus is involved in hypoxia adaptation and fungal pathogenesis. Ethanol deficient A. fumigatus strains showed no growth defects in hypoxia and were able to cause wild type levels of mortality in all 3 murine models. However, lung immunohistopathology and flow cytometry analyses revealed an increase in the inflammatory response in mice infected with an alcohol dehydrogenase null mutant strain that corresponded with a reduction in fungal burden. Consequently, in this study we present the first in vivo observations that hypoxic microenvironments occur during a pulmonary invasive fungal infection and observe that a fungal alcohol dehydrogenase influences fungal pathogenesis in the lung. Thus, environmental conditions encountered by invading pathogenic fungi may result in substantial fungal metabolism changes that influence subsequent host immune responses
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